greyscale1
First Post
I am so excited about DMing for 4th edition, I've got our campaign mostly planned out already! An epic tale spanning all 3 tiers of character advancement, starting at level one.
Firstly, allow me to say that my stated goal for this campaign (for all my players know) is a return to basics, a classic adventure! Swords and Sorcery! ACTUAL DUNGEONS WITH ACTUAL DRAGONS! Crazy I know, maybe not for most groups, but for us; we are usually more of a pulpy, non-heroic, Ebberon dwelling, serious, and maybe even a little evil group(subtly though
).
My players, despite our mutual enjoyment of grit and pulp, readily agreed, and rolled up an almost perfectly archetypal party: Paladin, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue. Level 1, honorable good mountain folk, all young adults, serious about doing some good in the world.
Of course, like any good DM, I was lying through my teeth about the campaign being straightforward. However, they will only start to get an inkling that something bigger is going on as they near paragon levels, allowing them to get their heroic dungeon-crawl on before being swamped in some quite nasty intrigue (they will love it, trust me )
Anyhoo, without further adu (Adoo? Adieu?) Here is the general outline of the entire campaign (read, extremely vague, because most of my work so far is contingency plans for different PC actions.
Heroic
The world has been has been shrouded in darkness for as long as anyone can remember, however, in the darkness, one of the brightest lights was the relatively isolated and geographically protected mountain town of Iselia, a bastion of racial and religious tolerance, equality and other nice stuff.
One day, unheralded, the darkness lifts (at least in a relative sense), however, all is not well, as the empire (Dessonens) that lords over the land has cracked down with insane taxes and other prohibitive and sudden rulings. The PCs quickly find themselves embroiled in the rising resistance, quickly becoming (willingly or not) figureheads of simple goodness and honor, a rallying point against the cruel local ruler and servant to the empire. Heroic tier closes as the PCs dethrone this evil pawn and take the gate city and local Desonnen capitol, thereby controlling the only means to move a large amount of troops from the Desonnen capitol in the north, through the treacherous mountain range, south to the heroic tier stomping grounds of the PCs.
paragon
Still with me? The plot now thickens, as the many many mysterious seeds sowed in the heroic tier start to bear fruit. Ill only list the basics for now.
PC's learn that the Desonnen empire is behind the darkness that has loomed over the world for so long, and now that it has partially lifted, they are in a state of frenzy, clearly looking for something: a mystical tower of some sort (all this the PCs can piece together from their clues). Now, that should be motivation enough for the PCs to set out to look for this tower themselves.
Bloop Bloop, stuff happens, tons of intrigue (if anyones interested Ill expand) they steal a prototype boat the Desonnens were going to use to help with their search off of the continent.
Almost forgot, the Desonnens have a strong Magitech feel, especially the higher ranked members of their society. This boat is similarly Magitech.
PCs find the tower, so do Desonnens. Struggle ensues. PC's learn that the tower connects this world to another, and that mana and light flows from one to the other like an hourglass. When one waxes the other wanes. The Desonnen leaders came here thousands of years ago and have been destroying the tower whenever it appeared, forcing the balance of power to stay in their world - sacrificing themselves, essentially.
The PC's also learn that in order to reverse the flow of mana through the tower, one of them will have to sacrifice their life, something the angels (another faction) have neglected to tell the PC's. I want the Desonnen emperor to be a sympathetic character, but one who is clearly a major threat to the PCs. He believes that his world's reliance on magi-technology would cause countless deaths should the mana leave, however, he has had no contact with his world since he made his sacrifice and left, thousands of years ago...
PC's and Emperor traverse the tower to the other world... and find it absolutely devastated. An overgrown horrible jungle, destroyed by its own terrible fecundity and the overabundance of radiant energy/mana. It is the polar opposite to the world of shadow - it has spent to long in the light - and has become saturated, fecund, and terrible. The powerful energy and sorrow at having inadvertently destroyed BOTH worlds, severely weaken the emperor (who is a vampire: how did you think he lived so long?) and the PCs are able to defeat him.
Epic
PC's have a chance to explore the ruined world. PC's learn that the angels devised the two world system as a way to contain the original creator deity after he went insane. They couldn't kill him because he was too powerful, and if they WERE able too, there goes the source of all life and matter. Poof! So they trapped him. But because there hasn't been mana flowing for many many years, the trap is weakened, and perhaps irreparable. Its a race against time to gather the weapons needed to face off against the mad lord of creation once he escapes, ARE THE PCs UP TO THE TASK?!
Maybe.
Thanks for reading my killer-long post. Any thoughts on my campaign? You guys are geniuses, any feedback will be deeply considered and appreciated. If you want to use anything or want more info (there is MUCH more info, most of it what will keep the plot compelling, and many factions) just tell me!
Thanks for being my favorite forum.
~Grey
Firstly, allow me to say that my stated goal for this campaign (for all my players know) is a return to basics, a classic adventure! Swords and Sorcery! ACTUAL DUNGEONS WITH ACTUAL DRAGONS! Crazy I know, maybe not for most groups, but for us; we are usually more of a pulpy, non-heroic, Ebberon dwelling, serious, and maybe even a little evil group(subtly though
).My players, despite our mutual enjoyment of grit and pulp, readily agreed, and rolled up an almost perfectly archetypal party: Paladin, Cleric, Wizard, Rogue. Level 1, honorable good mountain folk, all young adults, serious about doing some good in the world.
Of course, like any good DM, I was lying through my teeth about the campaign being straightforward. However, they will only start to get an inkling that something bigger is going on as they near paragon levels, allowing them to get their heroic dungeon-crawl on before being swamped in some quite nasty intrigue (they will love it, trust me
)Anyhoo, without further adu (Adoo? Adieu?) Here is the general outline of the entire campaign (read, extremely vague, because most of my work so far is contingency plans for different PC actions.
Heroic
The world has been has been shrouded in darkness for as long as anyone can remember, however, in the darkness, one of the brightest lights was the relatively isolated and geographically protected mountain town of Iselia, a bastion of racial and religious tolerance, equality and other nice stuff.
One day, unheralded, the darkness lifts (at least in a relative sense), however, all is not well, as the empire (Dessonens) that lords over the land has cracked down with insane taxes and other prohibitive and sudden rulings. The PCs quickly find themselves embroiled in the rising resistance, quickly becoming (willingly or not) figureheads of simple goodness and honor, a rallying point against the cruel local ruler and servant to the empire. Heroic tier closes as the PCs dethrone this evil pawn and take the gate city and local Desonnen capitol, thereby controlling the only means to move a large amount of troops from the Desonnen capitol in the north, through the treacherous mountain range, south to the heroic tier stomping grounds of the PCs.
paragon
Still with me? The plot now thickens, as the many many mysterious seeds sowed in the heroic tier start to bear fruit. Ill only list the basics for now.
PC's learn that the Desonnen empire is behind the darkness that has loomed over the world for so long, and now that it has partially lifted, they are in a state of frenzy, clearly looking for something: a mystical tower of some sort (all this the PCs can piece together from their clues). Now, that should be motivation enough for the PCs to set out to look for this tower themselves.
Bloop Bloop, stuff happens, tons of intrigue (if anyones interested Ill expand) they steal a prototype boat the Desonnens were going to use to help with their search off of the continent.
Almost forgot, the Desonnens have a strong Magitech feel, especially the higher ranked members of their society. This boat is similarly Magitech.
PCs find the tower, so do Desonnens. Struggle ensues. PC's learn that the tower connects this world to another, and that mana and light flows from one to the other like an hourglass. When one waxes the other wanes. The Desonnen leaders came here thousands of years ago and have been destroying the tower whenever it appeared, forcing the balance of power to stay in their world - sacrificing themselves, essentially.
The PC's also learn that in order to reverse the flow of mana through the tower, one of them will have to sacrifice their life, something the angels (another faction) have neglected to tell the PC's. I want the Desonnen emperor to be a sympathetic character, but one who is clearly a major threat to the PCs. He believes that his world's reliance on magi-technology would cause countless deaths should the mana leave, however, he has had no contact with his world since he made his sacrifice and left, thousands of years ago...
PC's and Emperor traverse the tower to the other world... and find it absolutely devastated. An overgrown horrible jungle, destroyed by its own terrible fecundity and the overabundance of radiant energy/mana. It is the polar opposite to the world of shadow - it has spent to long in the light - and has become saturated, fecund, and terrible. The powerful energy and sorrow at having inadvertently destroyed BOTH worlds, severely weaken the emperor (who is a vampire: how did you think he lived so long?) and the PCs are able to defeat him.
Epic
PC's have a chance to explore the ruined world. PC's learn that the angels devised the two world system as a way to contain the original creator deity after he went insane. They couldn't kill him because he was too powerful, and if they WERE able too, there goes the source of all life and matter. Poof! So they trapped him. But because there hasn't been mana flowing for many many years, the trap is weakened, and perhaps irreparable. Its a race against time to gather the weapons needed to face off against the mad lord of creation once he escapes, ARE THE PCs UP TO THE TASK?!
Maybe.
Thanks for reading my killer-long post. Any thoughts on my campaign? You guys are geniuses, any feedback will be deeply considered and appreciated. If you want to use anything or want more info (there is MUCH more info, most of it what will keep the plot compelling, and many factions) just tell me!
Thanks for being my favorite forum.
~Grey
