Ideas for Mini-campaigns?

[Rechan]

Chatty DM (now on Critical Hits) had previously put forward a neat idea. In order to let players play with a lot of different levels/characters while still maintaining some cohesiveness of story (and fitting lots of ideas in), he suggested this:

Mini-campaigns. A single story arc that spanned 5-12 sessions, then it ended, and moved on to a new story where people could play new PCs.

Since I'm moving soon, I was thinking this would be a nice way to break the ice with a new gaming group, get a feel for everyone before trying to start a longer-term campaign.

So what are some good mini-campaign ideas - self-contained campaign concepts that can be done in a low number of sessions, while having a satisfying over-arching plot? I would say that a Campaign's story is more of an accomplishment than say, a single adventure. For instance I once ran a 3 month campaign where some gypsy troupe members were separated from their caravan - who they got the impression were "lost" and needed to be freed. The story is "bigger" than 'go find the treasure'.

 

[Storminator]

I'm running a goblins-in-Eberron campaign. While the Heroic Tier focus is the rise in power of their goblin clan, I've run a couple interludes. In one, the players took on characters from one PC backstory and ran a 2 session adventure. In the other and a bunch of religiously related characters participated in the rescue of one dead PC from the Shadowfell. The players have the option of using these new PCs later.

I entertain the notion of introducing other groups within the clan and letting the players run those PCs for a while.

PS

 

[Kaodi]

How about a pursuit?

An elven prince or princess has run off in pursuit of his or her human lover who may or may not have been captured by hostile forces. The elven king has decreed that his child is to be brought back without the love interest, and the players are faced with a choice of either following their king's orders or heeding the pleas for help of the heir once they catch up with them.

 

[Rechan]

One idea I'm batting around is:

Escape a prison. Avoid the trackers. Make it through a treacherous landscape (as the prison is located in a very bad place geographically). Do something with yourselves once free.

Each part is a session. (Granted it will be tricky to encourage the PCs to stick together if they're playing PRISONERS.)

Another, stolen from Chatty, would be a zombie apocalypse in a fantasy setting - surviving the initial outbreak of zombified monsters, getting to an outpost with survivors, setting down order, acquiring supplies, etc.

 

[Gilladian]

Act as scouts/guards for a caravan traveling from point A to point B - either along a well-known trade route with large cities and towns and other travelers, or through wilderness to some reputed place.

Act as escorts for a group of pilgrims/merchants/refugees as above.

Follow and catch an escaped-prisoner/criminal/spy/diplomat and then return him/her to his prison/home/family.

Go on a quest to five separate locations (a dungeon, a cloud city, a swamp, a sargasso, a mountaintop) and retrieve 5 items/make five allies/slay 5 enemies...

 

[On Puget Sound]

Create a new settlement in the wilderness. Start with a disaster or war that has left a few hundred people homeless in dangerous territory; the PCs are the only competent ones to protect their families and friends as they make their way to (slightly) safer ground, search for a new settlement site, clear out the monsters, make shelter and a basic community, and eventually discover and exploit enough resources to have a thriving town.

 

[IronWolf]

Another good way to get some mini-campaign is to yank them from longer reaching campaigns. Just thinking of Paizo APs and there are all sorts of mini-campaign arcs you could transplant from the AP into your campaign. Tweak the beginning a bit, tweak the end a bit to give it a more obvious start and closure and instant mini-campaign. The same could be applied to any number of modules and such.

 

[Rechan]

These are great suggestions if I was looking for adventures, but they are too low-key for a Campaign. Since a mini-campaign is a game you're going to set aside, the entire scenario can be a little bit more severe and focused.

What I mean - or what I like - is something with higher stakes, something that applies to all of them rather than someone hiring them to dos omething.

Examples of ideas I'm kicking around:

Hell Scape

The characters were an adventuring group that messed up stopping some Cultists from opening a door to Hell. The result was the group and the cultists had their souls sucked right into Hell. The PCs, being Good, are a problem for Hell's management - souls that do not belong there are resulting in real issues.

So a Devil offers the PCs souls a deal: do some tasks for Me, and I'll free you, along with one of your adventuring party who was secretly evil, and who deserves to be here. If you don't help us, you can stay here, and we'll release the cultists to go do what they were doing (a lie).

The Shadowfell Smash and Grab

The Savior, the Chosen One, the One True General has died. This is serious bad news, because the advancing armies of the enemy will arrive in five days, and the Chosen One had the key to their defeat. So the King's viziers have an idea: retrieve the Chosen One from the land of the dead. It can be done, right?

The PCs, lieutenants to the One True General, have been tasked with going into the land of the dead and returning with the soul of The Savior. They must do so within the span of 5 days - any longer and it will be too late for the kingdom, and any longer, and the PCs will have been in the land of the dead too long, dieing themselves, unable to leave.

Torpor

The PCs awaken in a strange subterranean lab, lacking equipment, clothing, and memories of their identities and how they came to be here. They must discover who they are, why they are there, and where they are, while trying to escape.