D&D 4E Level 1 4e campaign idea -- help me vet it

[Halivar]

I'm starting a level 1 4e campaign to pass the time until release, and I wanted to get some help fleshing out holes n' things in my campaign idea. This campaign needs to last about 8-10 weeks, but what I have down here looks like it will only take four. What can I add to stretch it out?

Four players inherit an old, abandoned keep near a remote, autonomous village in a deep forest (how do four characters, all without prior knowledge of each other, and all different races, co-inherit a keep that hasn't been inhabited for decades?).

Job #1: Clear out the keep. I'll have to make up some level 1 undead, with possibly a crypt-boss in the basement (Who is he? The previous owner? The previous owner's murdered lover?).

After the players set up shop in the keep and explore the town, they find out that the villagers annually sacrifice a virgin to a local dragon as "protection." The tribute is enforced by a selfish magistrate and ruthless county sheriff. Kobolds in service to the dragon have recently shown up in town as "dignitaries" in preparation for the "lottery festival."

Job #2: Either stop the lottery by taking out the sheriff and the town guard, or stop the kobolds from carrying the virgin back to the dragon. If option #2 is taken, the players will still have to deal with the sheriff when they return to town.

The dragon is displeased that the centuries-old agreement with the town has been broken, and orders his kobolds to raze the village.

Job #3: Defend the villagers, either by building defenses for the village, or moving the villagers into the keep and prepare for a siege. Most of the battle should take place off-panel, as the players face the kobold captain in the real action.

The dragon does not choose to come into play until his kobold forces have been decimated. He comes out and begin regularly strafing the village with his acid breath.

Job #4: The players must hunt down the dragon to his layer and kill him. For this, they will need to enlist the help of other NPC characters.

Some other ideas:
1) The deed to the keep also includes an old trading post in town. Since this is a PoL setting, the trading post is deserted, and little-to-no interaction takes place with nearby communities. The players may have to travel, themselves, to get the trading post back up and running. Of course, in a community this small, everything works on barter.
2) By inheriting the keep, the players have also inherited an ancient curse that doomed the previous owner (what is it?).
3) The keep is cared for by an old man who once acted as the previous lord's servant, and is now indentured by ancient tradition to the players. He also has not entered the keep in years. He has insights into the strange town and its happenings (he's a good guy, but with a dark secret. What is it?).
4) The "protection" the dragon offers is not just from himself. There really is something out there he's keeping out. When the dragon is dead, they're going to come calling (who are they?).

 

[Engilbrand]

How many levels should they be able to advance through? They should be able to hit level 2 pretty easily in what you have there anyway.
Different races and walks of life inherit a keep. 2 ideas:
1. They each had aunts or uncles who were adventurers. They adventured together and left it to their nieces and nephews. What happened to that older generation? Did they all recently die?
2. The keeper of the keep, the Keep Keeper, is actually a creation of the keep. It "knows" who is going to be a part the next great group of "heroes", so it uses him to set everything up and alert the people that they have "inherited" a keep.

Go along with the idea of the Dragon as a Malevolent Protector. His kobolds are looked down upon in town, but people still interact with them. Maybe have something else attack while the kobolds are in town. Competing dragons, maybe? What about some sort of aberration and its minions being held back by the dragon and his kobolds? The party can even help the kobolds fight the other things before they find out why the kobolds are in the town.

 

[Halivar]

How many levels should they be able to advance through? They should be able to hit level 2 pretty easily in what you have there anyway.

They won't be able to hit level 2 until the books come out. At that point they'll be given the opportunity to keep the characters they have, or roll up new ones.

 

[Quickleaf]

(how do four characters, all without prior knowledge of each other, and all different races, co-inherit a keep that hasn't been inhabited for decades?).

What if each PC has a competing claim, and they have to work together?

Eladrin - At one point the keep was an eladrin citadel before the local eladrin fled into the Feywild, leaving behind the PC's family (exiled? voluntarily staying behind? or was it an accident, and the PC is waiting to return to Feywild?).

Elf - An elf princess was married to the old eladrin lord, and the PC holds legitimate claim to the keep, and is the first to exert it in many years (most elves aren't interested).

Dwarf - All the stonework was done by dwarven slaves working for their giant masters, and when the dwarves were liberated by eladrin (who promptly denied any dwarven claim to the keep). The bitter PC claims the keep by virtue of his people's sweat.

Halfling - The PC's ancestor did a favor for an eladrin wizard of the keep during a time of crisis among the eladrin (a cunning drow infiltrator?), who rewarded the ancestor with a deed to the keep (much to the chagrin of the other eladrin). The PC accidentally came across the deed, and while he has no interest in being a mighty lord, knows that the source of the crisis could return, and he's got to do the right thing or his ancestor will never forgive him.

Human - Most recently the keep was human occupied, and humans are the dominant population of the area. Even if another race has an older claim, the PC would argue for being necessary figurehead to gain support of people. The old keep steward would recognize the human PC's claim.

Tiefling - The reason for the citadel's dilapidation and the suffering of the town is a curse dating back to Bael Turath, and the PC claims that so long as an ancestor of Bael Turath sits on the throne, the people shall know peace and prosperity.

 

[Dragonblade]

I really like your story!

Here are some ways you could draw it out. After the kobolds get their butts kicked, the dragon decides to bring in some hired muscle from out of town, the hobgoblins!

So then the players have to deal with the hobgoblins. At some point you might want to give the PCs some of the magic items from DDXP.

After dealing with the hobgoblins, the PCs could take the fight to the dragon. Its lair could be a veritable funhouse of traps and kobolds. You could throw in some other stuff like the chillborn too. This could easily span a couple of sessions.

Finally, I would give the players a chance to take an extended rest so that when they do fight the dragon they are at full strength.

 

[cr0m]

re: the keep, instead of inheriting it, make it a reward for four loyal servants/distinguished soldiers/influential nobles/troublesome wizards/etc. The Romans used to reward their soldiers with land in border areas when their enlistment was up: good for the soldiers, because they got farms, and good for Rome, because they got tough, veteran soldiers guarding the frontier.

You can tell the players that they've been rewarded by the local king/duke/assembly/whatever. They can tell you what they did to deserve the honor. Naturally it's up to them to make the keep profitable for themselves and keep up to date on their taxes.

Sounds like a fun game! Love the dragon/kobold/human sacrifice angle. You can even have some venal villagers who pay up to have their daughters' and sons' names secretly removed from the lottery, or to have their enemies names entered into the lottery. Who to trust?

 

[deathdonut]

I like the idea of inheriting the keep, but you should add the mystery of who is leaving it to them and why.

You can either have a representative from the estate lie about who it's from and why or just have him die before he can explain the situation (mysterious murder as he goes around back, arrow from the keep, mysterious poison on the seal of the will, etc). In any case, the PC's find him dead with no answers but a deed to the keep on him.

Then you have a deeper plot point to play around with. What do the PC's have in common? Who is this mysteriuos benefactor?

Maybe the benefactor isn't dead and just wanted the PC's to do some of his dirty work.
Maybe the PC's parents were protectors of a secret and the benefactor is passing it on.

In my experience, unsolved mysteries like that add some fun depth to a campaign. I like to run things a bit like the show Lost: Every answer adds new questions

 

[keterys]

With 4 PCs, you might want to use the white dragon instead of the black... though I suppose just getting lots of NPC help is an option. Perhaps having to go to a tomb where adventurers who once possessed mighty +1 amulets of resist acid 5 were entombed

 

[TerraDave]

Its good!

In the 3E classic, NeMoren's vault, the PCs are brought together as heirs. Each has a key given to them in a different way that signifies their right (If I recall correctly, the keys are used to actually access said vault).

Could be that the original heirs to the keep scattered to the four winds, and then passed on their shares to people they knew, who did they same...until you end up with seemingly disparate inheritors.

Still raises the question: why do they all come back at the same time?

Hmm...or....maybe the last lord died childless, the heroes (remember, they start a step above) had all done a good deed he knew about, so he leaves the keep...to all of them.

 

[hopeless]

A New Campaign Discussion

I'm starting a level 1 4e campaign to pass the time until release, and I wanted to get some help fleshing out holes n' things in my campaign idea. This campaign needs to last about 8-10 weeks, but what I have down here looks like it will only take four. What can I add to stretch it out?

Four players inherit an old, abandoned keep near a remote, autonomous village in a deep forest (how do four characters, all without prior knowledge of each other, and all different races, co-inherit a keep that hasn't been inhabited for decades?).

There was an old 3e adventure called Nemorien's Vault where the PCs were each given a silver key for actions they accomplished or inherited ebcause of a relative who has a link to said locale, later on each recd a message to come to the keep where they learned the key gave them the chance to become the new baron.

Off the top of my head I'd say they have arrived in the village and were observed by the old man/caretaker of the keep who selected them for reasons yet unrevealed and each were given a message perhaps a map telling of a treasure within the keep if they could reach it, they were each given a way in and this leads to them meeting each other and their only real chance of success requires them to work together but that is left for the players to figure out...

Job #1: Clear out the keep. I'll have to make up some level 1 undead, with possibly a crypt-boss in the basement (Who is he? The previous owner? The previous owner's murdered lover?).

Perhaps the curse is due to a failed oath and anyone assuming command of the keep is also fated to face the same test which only the true owner could pass.

Maybe the keep is being guarded by the souls of previous owner's or their kin whom wait for the true owner to appear and maybe revealing something about the secret behind the curse that afflicts the site.

After the players set up shop in the keep and explore the town, they find out that the villagers annually sacrifice a virgin to a local dragon as "protection." The tribute is enforced by a selfish magistrate and ruthless county sheriff. Kobolds in service to the dragon have recently shown up in town as "dignitaries" in preparation for the "lottery festival."

Their success has also earned the emnity of the local authorities who see their presence as a threat to their rule, the festival is a means to secure their control over the area and see any interference as a rival's attempts to seize control and use any means to prevent this.

Job #2: Either stop the lottery by taking out the sheriff and the town guard, or stop the kobolds from carrying the virgin back to the dragon. If option #2 is taken, the players will still have to deal with the sheriff when they return to town.

First the old man reveals to the successful pc's the treasure is the deed to the keep and the area not revealing that the map with the deed reveals the location of the dragon's lair which is what sparked off the curse as the previous owners' have been beset with avarice because of the dragon's hoard something that can either be ended by slaying the dragon or finding a way to resolve the situation that caused the dragon to settle in the area.

He will only help the PCs if they help him stop the sacrifice as his interference has made the sheriff select the old man's grand daughter as the latest sacrifice, if they do help he'll reveal the location of the dragon's lair and a secret rear entrance (think the Hobbit).

The dragon is displeased that the centuries-old agreement with the town has been broken, and orders his kobolds to raze the village.

Job #3: Defend the villagers, either by building defenses for the village, or moving the villagers into the keep and prepare for a siege. Most of the battle should take place off-panel, as the players face the kobold captain in the real action.

Preparing for the planned theft of the dragon's hoard they encounter evidence of the kobolds and realise their plans for the village given them the option of returning to wanr the village or proceed and in the process meet the dragon after entering its lair whilst it was outside resulting in them either choosing to flee or fight...

The Kobolds attack the village and the PC's are looking to return to the keep when the dragon flies overhead and they find the kobolds are between them and safety forcing them to fight to reach safety however whilst the village is in flames the PCs aided by the old man seek safety in the keep where the surviving villagers flee requiring someone to protect them

The dragon does not choose to come into play until his kobold forces have been decimated. He comes out and begin regularly strafing the village with his acid breath.

Job #4: The players must hunt down the dragon to his layer and kill him. For this, they will need to enlist the help of other NPC characters.

Some other ideas:
1) The deed to the keep also includes an old trading post in town. Since this is a PoL setting, the trading post is deserted, and little-to-no interaction takes place with nearby communities. The players may have to travel, themselves, to get the trading post back up and running. Of course, in a community this small, everything works on barter.
2) By inheriting the keep, the players have also inherited an ancient curse that doomed the previous owner (what is it?).
3) The keep is cared for by an old man who once acted as the previous lord's servant, and is now indentured by ancient tradition to the players. He also has not entered the keep in years. He has insights into the strange town and its happenings (he's a good guy, but with a dark secret. What is it?).
4) The "protection" the dragon offers is not just from himself. There really is something out there he's keeping out. When the dragon is dead, they're going to come calling (who are they?).

1,2 & 4) The former owner of the keep was responsible for bringing the dragon to the area to counter the threat posed by a neighbouring fiefdom said to be controlled by a warlock, however whilst it did dispatch the then ruler when he tried to seize control of the area the warlock cursed the owner and the warlock's descendants have been waiting for the chance to avenge their loss however the curse resulted in the dragon seizing the treasury and the owner and his descendants failed to slay the dragon which assumed control.
3) The old man is actually a descendant of the owner but escaped death because he was illegitimate but seeks to redeem his lineage by restoring the keep and the rule before he dies, he doesn't want his family to suffer from the curse and seeks someone else to succeed allowing him to pass on in peace.

The dragon keeps the area free of the warlocks BUT if slain the warlocks will begin plans to invade and the PCs will find their new home has many more secrets for them to uncover.

Hope that helps.