The thing about post apocalyptic settings is you kind of have to let the players know on some level whether they are meant to merely survive or to fix it. In this scenario, if survival is the focus, they are not likely to want to leave the refuge of the dwarven city and the apocalypse becomes a backdrop to play. If they are meant to go on a quest to restore the world that was or something similar, then the dragons and the undead become direct opposition. Both are potentially interesting campaigns, but they are different and require different kinds of world building and game prep.
D&D General Let's Workshop Some Setting Elements
I feel like the Guard should have evolved into a full on paladin order with a strong monastic tradition along with the militant/protective tradition. And since she is kind of a living saint, it would be interesting if some member of that order was tasked with keeping her hair and nails groomed and the trimmings became relics.
The Grassy Gnoll
Explorer
There’s a nice idea I’ve seen in Trudvang, where magic has to be pulled toward the caster. In essence this means that elsewhere the magic becomes thinner. Think of the Faerunian ‘weave’ as actual fabric. Casting spells pulls on that fabric and it gets rouched up in places.
The Trudvang idea is best served by example. Say your wizard casts Fireball (I know, what are the chances?). She’s pulling on the magic ‘thread’ to bring fire to her location; so somewhere else, fire is reduced to feed her spell. Perhaps the fireplaces of a farmstead gutter and go out, or even a dungeon-delving party find their torches go out and won’t relight for an hour, with no explanation.
There’s plenty of magic to go round, so the creases in the magic weave tend to get ironed out (unless, say, there’s an almighty mage war), but it might help give some colour/things to add to random encounters.
On a more mundane level, for smaller spells, it could be that effects are drawn from the immediate vicinity - a little like the Wild Magic idea but very much based on the spell just cast. Eg cast Magic Missile, and your archer loses an arrow; cast Fly and the Cleric’s hair blows like it’s in an 80s rock ballad video for ten minutes; cast Shield and someone else in the party loses 2AC for a round. I dunno. An idea. Would make wizards be looked at askance.
Clerical magic would obey different rules, as clerical (Druidic, Paladine) magic creates rather than draws from an existing resource - hence why Cure Wounds doesn’t make some poor turnip farmer die in his field from an apparent sword cut.
Or...does it? Would definitely make ALL magic be viewed as dangerous and “not welcome ‘ere”...
The Trudvang idea is best served by example. Say your wizard casts Fireball (I know, what are the chances?). She’s pulling on the magic ‘thread’ to bring fire to her location; so somewhere else, fire is reduced to feed her spell. Perhaps the fireplaces of a farmstead gutter and go out, or even a dungeon-delving party find their torches go out and won’t relight for an hour, with no explanation.
There’s plenty of magic to go round, so the creases in the magic weave tend to get ironed out (unless, say, there’s an almighty mage war), but it might help give some colour/things to add to random encounters.
On a more mundane level, for smaller spells, it could be that effects are drawn from the immediate vicinity - a little like the Wild Magic idea but very much based on the spell just cast. Eg cast Magic Missile, and your archer loses an arrow; cast Fly and the Cleric’s hair blows like it’s in an 80s rock ballad video for ten minutes; cast Shield and someone else in the party loses 2AC for a round. I dunno. An idea. Would make wizards be looked at askance.
Clerical magic would obey different rules, as clerical (Druidic, Paladine) magic creates rather than draws from an existing resource - hence why Cure Wounds doesn’t make some poor turnip farmer die in his field from an apparent sword cut.
Or...does it? Would definitely make ALL magic be viewed as dangerous and “not welcome ‘ere”...
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
I take it spreads back out over time like water?
The Grassy Gnoll
Explorer
I guess so - higher level spells have a higher energy demand so they will pull from further away.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
you got any idea where the magic flows from?
also, you could have magic high areas and magic low areas.
The Grassy Gnoll
Explorer
I dunno - maybe tie it to the earlier idea of dragons and barrows?
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
I suppose that is an option.
Imaculata
Hero
I've recently had the idea for a Nightmare Creatures campaign, based on the Playstation 1 game of the same name. The players would be a variety of paranormal investigators with combat skills, trying to stop the evil sorcerer Adam Crowley from flooding London in 1834 with his demonic brood of monsters.
As I currently envision it, there would be a strategic element to this campaign. As Crowley spreads his influence, he tries to take control of various buroughs of victorian London. The players respond to monster sightings and limited intel, but through completing missions they can recruit new spies, soldiers and scientists to help them deal with the growing threat.
I want it to have some things in common with Xcom, where players can bring back corpses of new monsters and magic artifacts, to improve their own capabilities. Studying a monster may reveal its immunities, weaknesses and special abilities. Or it may aid in the development of new weapons. Of course this would mean I would also need to think of tech trees.
Likewise, Crowley may take hold of places of power, graveyards that help build his army, and recruit powerful allies. He may also attempt to kill valuable npc's before the players can recruit them. And I think this overlap between player and villain objectives could create a very organic and suspenseful unique play experience.
The hardest thing to work out, is how to track how Crowley and his followers undertake missions of their own, and keep this balanced. Do the players only know of Crowley's plans if they happen to have a spy in that part of the city? How fast should Crowley's evil spread? Does he complete a mission each day, and is he automatically succesful if the players do not interfere? Or should there be a roll to determine if he succeeds? Can the players stop Crowley from taking the city, or should it be inevitable that Crowley eventually takes the fight to their headquarters? Or should there be an upward curve, where things start pretty hopeless, but as the players eliminate key targets and recruit more people, they can eventually gain the upper hand?
This stuff is really difficult to balance.
As I currently envision it, there would be a strategic element to this campaign. As Crowley spreads his influence, he tries to take control of various buroughs of victorian London. The players respond to monster sightings and limited intel, but through completing missions they can recruit new spies, soldiers and scientists to help them deal with the growing threat.
I want it to have some things in common with Xcom, where players can bring back corpses of new monsters and magic artifacts, to improve their own capabilities. Studying a monster may reveal its immunities, weaknesses and special abilities. Or it may aid in the development of new weapons. Of course this would mean I would also need to think of tech trees.
Likewise, Crowley may take hold of places of power, graveyards that help build his army, and recruit powerful allies. He may also attempt to kill valuable npc's before the players can recruit them. And I think this overlap between player and villain objectives could create a very organic and suspenseful unique play experience.
The hardest thing to work out, is how to track how Crowley and his followers undertake missions of their own, and keep this balanced. Do the players only know of Crowley's plans if they happen to have a spy in that part of the city? How fast should Crowley's evil spread? Does he complete a mission each day, and is he automatically succesful if the players do not interfere? Or should there be a roll to determine if he succeeds? Can the players stop Crowley from taking the city, or should it be inevitable that Crowley eventually takes the fight to their headquarters? Or should there be an upward curve, where things start pretty hopeless, but as the players eliminate key targets and recruit more people, they can eventually gain the upper hand?
This stuff is really difficult to balance.
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