ENWorld Adventure Path: A Modest Proposal

[Steel_Wind]

Unfortunately, I understood our plan was to write an adventure for general consumption...which means we can't plan on a specific archetype, race, class, or even alignment.

Uhmm... Sure we can!

The number of modules submitted to Dungeon or published by TSR/WotC that don't assume a reasonably balanced party of four, and further, assume a party of good aligned or at least neutral with good tendencies is astonishingly low - and for a good reason.

Those assumptions are not there to annoy people. They are there to give context and flavor to the adventure in a manner which typically corresponds to the needs of the average gaming circle while permitting the designer a touchstone of assumptions around which to create the challenges the party will face.

If you try to write a campaign that is all things to all people, does not make basic assumptions about alignment and motivations, it will end up being little more than location based adventuring. The result is a campaign story arc that is watered down and entirely without a soul.

It does not mean a DM who runs such a campaign cannot pick and choose and tailor it to his or her own needs. But if you start down the path of adventure design leaving all options open and making no basic assumptions ... you will end up in a good deal of trouble in my opinion.

To assume an iconic, reasonably balanced party of four with resources of a fighter, wizard, rogue and cleric/druid type would not be inappropriate. It provides the same structure around which the CR and EL presumption in the core rules are based.

You can, further, include NPCs at certain stages of the adventure to ensure that presupposed skills which are vital to passing whatever obstacle you have created will be present if they are needed.

With respect to specific campaign items - what they are and what they do is wholly flexible and can provide for a very large ambit of customization depending on the needs of the DM and the paticular class, skills and feats of the specific player.

I suggest you can easily create items and ehancements from a pick list menu which a DM can use to customize the item for his player's needs. This provides flexibility while at the same time accomplishing the goal of offering something *neat* to the player which can assist in character development - all while enhancing and furthering the plot.

 

[Christian]

I would definitely be interested in participating in a project like this. I'm not great at working out long metaplots, but interesting NPC's & scenarios, rules crunching & balancing, I can definitely do ...

 

[ajanders]

[deletia]
If you try to write a campaign that is all things to all people, does not make basic assumptions about alignment and motivations, it will end up being little more than location based adventuring. The result is a campaign story arc that is watered down and entirely without a soul.
[deletia]
With respect to specific campaign items - what they are and what they do is wholly flexible and can provide for a very large ambit of customization depending on the needs of the DM and the paticular class, skills and feats of the specific player.

I suggest you can easily create items and ehancements from a pick list menu which a DM can use to customize the item for his player's needs. This provides flexibility while at the same time accomplishing the goal of offering something *neat* to the player which can assist in character development - all while enhancing and furthering the plot.

Well, I suppose I've revealed my preference for campaign design, haven't I?
I'm less than sanguine about the pick list concept, but I'll be interested to see what I can learn here.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Alright, it appears there is some interest in a project of this scope.

To perhaps drum up a little more support and get some metaplot concepts going:

What story arc have you been hankering to try as a metaplot?

Here's a few hooks:

1 - The Unlife: A foe that seeks the destruction of all life, without exception. It does not seek to conquer or dominate - but to destroy, simpliciter.

Such a metaplot would be almost Lovecraftian in its early stages, with the plot and ancient prophecies revealed in snippets, leading from one enemy to another as the True Danger is revealed. Such and adventure series might focus heavily on the undead at times, but in its later stages, would point to an alien extra-dimensional intelligence as the Foe.

If you are familiar with Paul Edwin Zimmer's Dark Border series, this might prove a helpful paradigm.

2 - The Githyanki: Never underestimate the power of this foe to challenge and provoke adventure. Whether it's a silver sword, a psionic war, and Mind Flayers as odd allies of a kind, the Gith and their Queen always present possibilities.

3- The Slaad: A foe which gets short shrift at time, the chaos of the Slaad Lords make up in chaotic purpose what they lack in evil intent, so much so that the two are often indistinguishable to civilization.

A story arc which attempts to flesh out the Slaad, bring definition and purpose to these outsiders and gives a new perspective on Limbo.

4- The Imprisoned: Long ago, in ancient times, scary beings of vile evil and unspeakable power were imprisoned in the earth following a near apocalyptic war. For inscrutable purposes, a cult now works at freeing these beings from their prisons, threatening destruction of civilization should they succeed.

By focusing on multiple prisons and BBEGs of varying power levels, the metaplot expands to provide beings of increasing power to pose a challenge to the PCs. Plot hooks abound, drawing the story forward to the next threat.

5- Apocalypse Now: In an after-battle report to any of the above ideas, the campaign arises in an era after Evil has won. The Apocalypse has descended upon the world and hope dies. Can the PCs role back the tide or preserve one last bastion of the light?

The list is endless. What appeals to you?

 

[Dexterward]

Next Steps

Steel_Wind and All,

Well I am all excited about doing this kind of project. I work on software development and software life cycle teams during the day so I know the value of communication and working with other talented people.

I will say I would not be interested in any SciFi themes (not that I dislike SciFi, just burnt out on it now).

So what's our next step to get the ball rolling? Should we start a brain storming session to get an overall concept knocked out?

 

[glass]

I'd like to take part also, it sounds like a lot of fun and very rewarding.

The only thing that worries me slightly is the mention of IRC. I have never used IRC before, but I'm sure I could figure it out. More of a worry is timing: I don't much fancy getting up at 3am (or whatever) for a scheduled IRC chat because the schedules are based on US time.

But, if that little wrinckle can be ironed out, count me in.

EDIT: I'd prefer something that was fairly standard D&D, too.

glass.

 

[Steel_Wind]

I'd like to take part also, it sounds like a lot of fun and very rewarding.

The only thing that worries me slightly is the mention of IRC. I have never used IRC before, but I'm sure I could figure it out. More of a worry is timing: I don't much fancy getting up at 3am (or whatever) for a scheduled IRC chat because the schedules are based on US time.

IRC is a great means of communication and fosters team building and the sharing of ideas. It permits friendships to grow and real participation in a collaborative project. And it's fun. This IS supposed to be fun, right?

I have used IRC to coordinate well over 30 people spanning 20 time zones.

Time zone shifts are not without their problems. At DLA, we hold a weekly meeting on Wednesday at 10:30 pm est, aimed at North American participants. This permits all time zones in NA to participate, more or less.

The log of the meeting is mailed out to everyone - including those who simply can't make it there as they are in Europe.

We hold a Euro Meeting the next day at 9:30 GMT for the Euro members as a continuation of the meeting. The log is mailed out again. This process has worked well for us.

The IRC channel is otherwise open 24/7 and becomes a familiar hangout online. Combined with Forums and Teamspeak/Skype and e-mail, the whole thing hangs together very nicely.

IRC is easy and very comfortable once you get used to it. I would not be concerned about this if I were you.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

I'd also probably be interested in helping out on something like this.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

The list is endless. What appeals to you?

After reading you list, Sunlight appeals to me.

My thought.

The Missing City: The Orial wander the world; trading, entertaining, and observing. Yet there is a purpose to their vagabond ways. They are the descendants of those left behind when the Shining City of Aria disappeared. As they travel, they search for signs of where their homeland went and how to return.

 

[Steel_Wind]

After reading you list, Sunlight appeals to me.

Too Dark for you?

I must say, I have run a very successful campaign in the past patterned after the Imprisoned plot line. It can be quite engaging and blends investigation, betrayal, high fantasy and dungeon crawling in fantastic ruins fairly well.

With a lil twist here, it's the Black Company and Bomanz' tale; with another, it's Wheel of Time and the Forsaken; with still another, it's a play on Mud Sorceror's Tomb.

If it has a fault, it is that it can be a touch cliche ~ so you have to make sure you don't fall into parody.

And there is no reason it cannot intersect with an Unhomed theme either.

Other ideas people?