Help me on an idea for 1st level characters
- Thread starter ThorneMD
- Start date
Moe Ronalds
First Post
Depending on your campaign, the characters could be captured soldiers in a war
They could have been captured and enslaved by random evil dude
They could be captured by monsters for cattle (perhaps a tribe of particularly evil goblins/kobolds or whatever)
Roaming Vigalantes/Adventurers who mistook them for evil for some reason
Someone tied to the character's history, perhaps a noble or semi-powerful wizard (IE: not strong enough to whipe out the party) they slighted.
Religious fanatics looking for Sacrifices
The party is wandering through the woods in particularly nasty weather seeking shelter. They come across the shack of what appears to be a hermit, which actually turns out to be the entrance to the underground castle of the low-level Necromancer who has them caught by surprise and imprisoned, for use as "ingredients"
Angry eco-terrorist druids that take a group of people (including them) hostage, demanding that the nearby town be destroyed and replanted with trees (damned hippies
).
Hope these were of some help!
They could have been captured and enslaved by random evil dude
They could be captured by monsters for cattle (perhaps a tribe of particularly evil goblins/kobolds or whatever)
Roaming Vigalantes/Adventurers who mistook them for evil for some reason
Someone tied to the character's history, perhaps a noble or semi-powerful wizard (IE: not strong enough to whipe out the party) they slighted.
Religious fanatics looking for Sacrifices
The party is wandering through the woods in particularly nasty weather seeking shelter. They come across the shack of what appears to be a hermit, which actually turns out to be the entrance to the underground castle of the low-level Necromancer who has them caught by surprise and imprisoned, for use as "ingredients"
Angry eco-terrorist druids that take a group of people (including them) hostage, demanding that the nearby town be destroyed and replanted with trees (damned hippies
).Hope these were of some help!
Robbert Raets
Explorer
Do you mean to use this as campaign starter? Then maybe the PC's were really second level, they all died, and someone resurrected or reincarnated them?
In order to make it make sense, you should probably answer the why and then the who and then the how...
Possibilities:
*the PCs are all related or the last surviving relatives of someone long ago (though this would be hard if everyone is a different race, etc).
* Each PC has a family member that did something to the capturer and the capturer is essentially taking the PCs to exact his/her revenge on the other family members (living or dead). Will take some talking among the PCs with regards to their backgrounds to actually piece together the "why" (you came from that town too? your grandfather was at the battle of the kush mountains so was my aunt!...)
* The PCs (nor relatives) did not do anything to the capturer but rather, the capturer got a prophecy / information that the PCs _would_ do something in the future against him/her.
*Same as above but the capturer actually misinterpreted the prophecy and is not what he thinks.. though, for the time being, he thinks they have something to do with it
* They are completely random people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time - the capturer just wanted someone to test out his new little dungeon or wanted to feed his pet troll in the catacombs or something similar...
* blackmail: the capturer wants them to do something for him/her but he/she does not know how to just ask politely.. he strikes a deal, their freedom if he does this one request... possibly holding some other people (NPCs) until the PCs complete the task.
Possibilities:
*the PCs are all related or the last surviving relatives of someone long ago (though this would be hard if everyone is a different race, etc).
* Each PC has a family member that did something to the capturer and the capturer is essentially taking the PCs to exact his/her revenge on the other family members (living or dead). Will take some talking among the PCs with regards to their backgrounds to actually piece together the "why" (you came from that town too? your grandfather was at the battle of the kush mountains so was my aunt!...)
* The PCs (nor relatives) did not do anything to the capturer but rather, the capturer got a prophecy / information that the PCs _would_ do something in the future against him/her.
*Same as above but the capturer actually misinterpreted the prophecy and is not what he thinks.. though, for the time being, he thinks they have something to do with it
* They are completely random people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time - the capturer just wanted someone to test out his new little dungeon or wanted to feed his pet troll in the catacombs or something similar...
* blackmail: the capturer wants them to do something for him/her but he/she does not know how to just ask politely.. he strikes a deal, their freedom if he does this one request... possibly holding some other people (NPCs) until the PCs complete the task.
Silver Moon
Adventurer
Something new? Sounds to me like you've got something old, namely 1st Edition Module A4: Slave Pits of the Undercity. I believe that you can get an inexpensive download of it from the WOC site or probably find one cheap in an auction.ThorneMD said:
For other ideas, here's one that I've used before. The prison they are in is an air-filled room in a well guarded underwater lair of aquatic monters, who were hired to hold them somewhere that they could not easily escape from. Or go the opposite direction, with the prison being in a floating castle in the clouds.
presumed_druid
First Post
DUNGEON issue #80 has a good starter adventure with the same premise. It's called "The Scar" by Ray Wininger. It was writen as a companion to his "Dungeoncraft" column in DRAGON magazine. The column was about world-building, so the adventure is set in a unique world that may not be the easiest to adapt, although the adventure will still work.
Celebrim
Legend
Perhaps you can borrow an idea from my campaign world.
One of the few independent city states that survives on the western coast of the Sea of Swords is the small city of Dee. Dee has neither army nor navy. Dee does not even have a wall around the city, nor a fortress with engines of war overlooking its fine harbor.
Dee has The Master.
In the center of the city atop an unnatural spire of stone stands a fortress of proportions so immence that they stagger the imagination of travellers from Daros or Tether. It is as if some giant hand has stacked uncountable castles atop each other as a child might stack blocks. A vertible mountain of towers, keeps, outbuildings, and battlements on above the other in a combination of chaos and cunning design. No road nor path leads up to this fortress, and none are foolish enough to try to ascend the heights of The Master's Spire.
With two exceptions, The Master of Dee does not tax his subjects, nor regulate them, nor pass over them laws of any sort, nor indeed communicate his wishes with them in any way. If the Master wishes something done, it is simply done. The Master has but two requirements. First, that the privacy and tranquility of his retreat never be interupted. Long ago the armies of Tether marched on Dee. They and all thier baggage disappeared into the dust, never to be seen again. The Master abides no change in Dee that might interfere with his tranquility. Newly constructed buildings are sometimes found taken apart and thier blocks laid in neat stacks if they do not meet with The Master's since of aesthetics. Old buildings are sometimes found fully repaired in the morning. Storms which assail the city are often simply dispelled in a moment. Cool breezes are called in from the Sea during the summer.
The second requirement is servants. Once a year the master sends his Gargoyle servants into the city to steal away those upon which his eye has fallen. They are always young, most are female, and they are frequently handsome of form, but otherwise there are no patterns in who is chosen. Rich or poor, gifted or dull, atheletic or blind, all are exposed. What becomes of those that are tithed is not known to any in the city, though rumors of course abound. Some say that they are taken to an earthly paradise. Others, that they are sacrificed to the dark god that the Master serves. No one knows anything.
The party is part of such a tithe.
Of course, you don't have to have the mystery of the Master's Spire the same as it is in my world (and I'm not going to tell you The Master's secrets anyway), but clearly virtually anything could happen once the party is spirited away by such a person.
One of the few independent city states that survives on the western coast of the Sea of Swords is the small city of Dee. Dee has neither army nor navy. Dee does not even have a wall around the city, nor a fortress with engines of war overlooking its fine harbor.
Dee has The Master.
In the center of the city atop an unnatural spire of stone stands a fortress of proportions so immence that they stagger the imagination of travellers from Daros or Tether. It is as if some giant hand has stacked uncountable castles atop each other as a child might stack blocks. A vertible mountain of towers, keeps, outbuildings, and battlements on above the other in a combination of chaos and cunning design. No road nor path leads up to this fortress, and none are foolish enough to try to ascend the heights of The Master's Spire.
With two exceptions, The Master of Dee does not tax his subjects, nor regulate them, nor pass over them laws of any sort, nor indeed communicate his wishes with them in any way. If the Master wishes something done, it is simply done. The Master has but two requirements. First, that the privacy and tranquility of his retreat never be interupted. Long ago the armies of Tether marched on Dee. They and all thier baggage disappeared into the dust, never to be seen again. The Master abides no change in Dee that might interfere with his tranquility. Newly constructed buildings are sometimes found taken apart and thier blocks laid in neat stacks if they do not meet with The Master's since of aesthetics. Old buildings are sometimes found fully repaired in the morning. Storms which assail the city are often simply dispelled in a moment. Cool breezes are called in from the Sea during the summer.
The second requirement is servants. Once a year the master sends his Gargoyle servants into the city to steal away those upon which his eye has fallen. They are always young, most are female, and they are frequently handsome of form, but otherwise there are no patterns in who is chosen. Rich or poor, gifted or dull, atheletic or blind, all are exposed. What becomes of those that are tithed is not known to any in the city, though rumors of course abound. Some say that they are taken to an earthly paradise. Others, that they are sacrificed to the dark god that the Master serves. No one knows anything.
The party is part of such a tithe.
Of course, you don't have to have the mystery of the Master's Spire the same as it is in my world (and I'm not going to tell you The Master's secrets anyway), but clearly virtually anything could happen once the party is spirited away by such a person.
Last edited:
Robbert Raets
Explorer
There's also the Deep Spawn from MC: Monsters of Faerun....
synecdoche
First Post
Borrow from mythology:
A kingdom (that the PCs are from) was recently conquered by another kingdom (that the PCs are being held in). The "master" kingdom demands that the conquered kingdom send them a grop of xx people every year for sacrifice to some god/monster.
The kingdom the PCs are from deals with this by having some kind of lottery every months/six months/year and this time around, the PCs were the big "winners." Now they have been transported to the enemy land and are awaiting their fate.
It sounds like you already have an initial adventure in mind, but if you don't, this gives you one; the PCs can either escape or fight the monster that they are going to be sacrificed to.
It also gives you a plot you can use for a much larger campaign theme: liberating the conquered kingdom from the oppressive overlords.
-dave
A kingdom (that the PCs are from) was recently conquered by another kingdom (that the PCs are being held in). The "master" kingdom demands that the conquered kingdom send them a grop of xx people every year for sacrifice to some god/monster.
The kingdom the PCs are from deals with this by having some kind of lottery every months/six months/year and this time around, the PCs were the big "winners." Now they have been transported to the enemy land and are awaiting their fate.
It sounds like you already have an initial adventure in mind, but if you don't, this gives you one; the PCs can either escape or fight the monster that they are going to be sacrificed to.
It also gives you a plot you can use for a much larger campaign theme: liberating the conquered kingdom from the oppressive overlords.
-dave
Grishnak
First Post
I'm starting an adventure soon and my idea is pretty much the same as yours where I want the pc's starting off in the deep end with no equipment. My idea is helped by using the ravenloft 3e rules. I'm going to make all the pc's insane and have them stuck in an asylum where they have to not only fight the horrors in there but fight to get their sanity back. The part of the madness rules im using is delusions, and will basically be getting them to roll on a chart unknown of course to the pc's to see what the delusion each character is suffering from.
Maybe you can use something along these lines or alter it to your style.
Maybe you can use something along these lines or alter it to your style.
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