MomentaryCalm
First Post
Sorry about the long post but I am thinking of launching a new campaign and want to use a story telling style that is different to anything I have tried before.
I was wondering if anyone will give me feedback if they as players or DM’s have played or run anything similar. If so, has it been fun?
My campaign world is going to undergo a global event which will change the world completely. Apart from the normal campaign, I want the players to see how it affects the various locations and cultures.
I thought the best way to do this would be to intersperse my normal storyline with a series of short “chapters”, each set in a different location, with different characters and each story being self contained in that chapter – no effect on the campaign itself.
The characters would range from commoners to nobles and normal character classes -representing different organizations and how they deal with the effects of the events.
Basic Campaign Overview:
The campaign world is homebrew - standard fantasy - with one exception, the climate and fauna and flora are changing and becoming something quite alien.
The first signs are noticed by the druids. They begin to see subtle but marked changes to the natural order. Flocks of birds not returning in spring, fish in the oceans becoming fewer and then strange unknown species being seen and caught. Worse still are those creatures that seem changed, somehow corrupted.
It is only with the arrival of the shiploads of refugees from a distant continent that the truth becomes known. Elves, trolls and kobold, their differences put aside, had forged an alliance to stop the threat in their own lands and failed terribly.
Strange beings had appeared and with them the world began to change. The first signs were similar to what my players will see and in the end the land turned against its own. The animals they fed on were gone or changed, the crops they grew were poison and the air became strange to breath.
The elves, trolls and kobolds had tried to slay the strange creatures and destroy their temples but they failed and the creatures began to hunt them for slaves. Eventually they had no choice but to flee.
In short, mindflayers had arrived from beyond time and space and had begun to terraform the world, intent on making it their own.
Example “Chapter”:
While the first signs of a disturbance in the natural order are being sensed on the mainland, the Devilsmaw lighthouse remains far removed from the troubles. Isolated, they have no idea that their world is about to change.
Devilsmaw is a treacherous reef that off the coast of the continent on which my campaign is taking place. In the past it was infested with Sea Devils that lured shipped to their doom. After a lengthy campaign the Sea Devils were purged from the reef for good.
A lighthouse was built on the reef to ensure the shipping lanes remained safe. It can only be reached during high tide and even then only by rowboat - anything larger would get damaged on the rocks. After some time the isolation made it ideal for use as a prison from which no one has ever escaped and survived the ocean.
Instead of the usual heroes, the players will be able to choose characters made up of the staff (cooks, guards, fisherman, healers etc) and some of the prisoners. All characters will at least have a couple of levels of the appropriate “class”. The idea is that they will be low powered with limited resources and they will need to get creative to survive and possible escape the lighthouse.
Basicall, the lighthouse gets assaulted by alien lifeforms resulting from the terraforming - amphibious lifeforms that are intent on devouring all life within the lighthouse.
Think of it as survival horror D&D – the idea is to let the players experience the horror and power these alien lifeforms will have on the general population.
There it is, I am open to any suggestions or comments about the "chapters"
I was wondering if anyone will give me feedback if they as players or DM’s have played or run anything similar. If so, has it been fun?
My campaign world is going to undergo a global event which will change the world completely. Apart from the normal campaign, I want the players to see how it affects the various locations and cultures.
I thought the best way to do this would be to intersperse my normal storyline with a series of short “chapters”, each set in a different location, with different characters and each story being self contained in that chapter – no effect on the campaign itself.
The characters would range from commoners to nobles and normal character classes -representing different organizations and how they deal with the effects of the events.
Basic Campaign Overview:
The campaign world is homebrew - standard fantasy - with one exception, the climate and fauna and flora are changing and becoming something quite alien.
The first signs are noticed by the druids. They begin to see subtle but marked changes to the natural order. Flocks of birds not returning in spring, fish in the oceans becoming fewer and then strange unknown species being seen and caught. Worse still are those creatures that seem changed, somehow corrupted.
It is only with the arrival of the shiploads of refugees from a distant continent that the truth becomes known. Elves, trolls and kobold, their differences put aside, had forged an alliance to stop the threat in their own lands and failed terribly.
Strange beings had appeared and with them the world began to change. The first signs were similar to what my players will see and in the end the land turned against its own. The animals they fed on were gone or changed, the crops they grew were poison and the air became strange to breath.
The elves, trolls and kobolds had tried to slay the strange creatures and destroy their temples but they failed and the creatures began to hunt them for slaves. Eventually they had no choice but to flee.
In short, mindflayers had arrived from beyond time and space and had begun to terraform the world, intent on making it their own.
Example “Chapter”:
While the first signs of a disturbance in the natural order are being sensed on the mainland, the Devilsmaw lighthouse remains far removed from the troubles. Isolated, they have no idea that their world is about to change.
Devilsmaw is a treacherous reef that off the coast of the continent on which my campaign is taking place. In the past it was infested with Sea Devils that lured shipped to their doom. After a lengthy campaign the Sea Devils were purged from the reef for good.
A lighthouse was built on the reef to ensure the shipping lanes remained safe. It can only be reached during high tide and even then only by rowboat - anything larger would get damaged on the rocks. After some time the isolation made it ideal for use as a prison from which no one has ever escaped and survived the ocean.
Instead of the usual heroes, the players will be able to choose characters made up of the staff (cooks, guards, fisherman, healers etc) and some of the prisoners. All characters will at least have a couple of levels of the appropriate “class”. The idea is that they will be low powered with limited resources and they will need to get creative to survive and possible escape the lighthouse.
Basicall, the lighthouse gets assaulted by alien lifeforms resulting from the terraforming - amphibious lifeforms that are intent on devouring all life within the lighthouse.
Think of it as survival horror D&D – the idea is to let the players experience the horror and power these alien lifeforms will have on the general population.
There it is, I am open to any suggestions or comments about the "chapters"
