D&D 5E Looking for help fleshing out a campaign idea...

[LuisCarlos17f]

The psionic powers appear. The divine spellcasters says psionic manifesters should be trained and controlled by the temples. Arcane spellcasters don't agree (temples of the celestial technocrazy also say arcane magic is altering the weather, and this is partially true). The fae lords are plotting against the celestial courts. Really the fae lords are the puppets of the titan lords who lost the titanomachy, the old war between the titans against the armies of the celestial technocrazy.

Some fae lords are working with "idols", something like the vestiges but with a corporal body, to create new ocultist cults. Not all are evil, but...the tree is known by their fruits, and someones are really rotten.

 

[Mistwell]

Hey, everyone. I'm hoping I can get some help with ideas on how to start a new campaign I want to run for my wife and 3 kids. I'm struggling with the opening (actually, ALL of it, ha), so let me explain to you the basic premise and how I hope to have it open up. I am lacking a LOT of details, however, and so ideas are very welcome.

I want to have the campaign set in a remote area, possibly a small town (but bigger than a village) that is located in a valley surrounded by natural obstacles like dense forests and mountain ranges, which makes it easy to cut off from the rest of the world when forest paths become too dangerous or mountain passes get blocked. My basic idea is that something bad has happened, perhaps even cataclysmic, in the world at large and the natural world is sort of reacting like when Scar takes over in The Lion King. In that movie, it doesn't make much sense, but just because the "bad guy" is in charge, the grass dies and the rivers dry up and it is perpetually overcast. I maybe don't want to go to that extreme, but whatever has happened in the wider world has made it so that the natural world seems to be reacting, that crops don't grow as well, that the sun is constantly obscured by clouds, and what's more, the areas around the town are growing more and more dangerous. Dangerous wild creatures are coming closer and closer to town for unknown reasons. People who attempt to reach the outside world never come back, etc. The whole landscape seems to be growing more evil and malevolent.

This description (which I like) sounds like it would fit well with what was known as the Points of Light campaign setting for 4e D&D, which takes place in the Nentir Valley. If you search for either of those terms with 4e D&D you should find lots of material, like this one for example. The base town could be Harkenwold, which even has your tower ready for use.

 

[aco175]

I just saw that Fallcrest has its own page with all the descriptions, found here. I would still go through and add some 5e stuff and NPCs needed, but it is a great start. There is a wizards tower as well with some history worth stealing.

 

[jgsugden]

I started a Walking Dead campaign that fizzled due to player availability. The PCs were in a Hallowed area when a wave of necrotic energy dropped everyone in the world to 0 hps. Those that died rose as undead. Those that survived (because they rolled a 20 on their death save or had protective magics) arose and had to deal with this insane level of undead - and would rise as undead if they died.

Your setup reminded me of it - it can be an explanation as to why the world is dying around them.

 

[David Howery]

nice idea for a campaign. But... if the base of it is 'the natural world is turning against the town', I'd probably have gone with something more nature based, like the Unseelie Court from Monster Mythology... dark fey forces and all that. Maybe that group of NPCs that failed badly at something POd the Queen of Air and Darkness or something, and she's twisting the natural world around the village in sheer spite...

 

[DemoMonkey]

This kind of sounds like "Barovia: The Beginning".

Maybe mine Curse of Strahd for some ideas?

 

[NotAYakk]

The wizards should be known to the town. They are a recluse who sometimes helps, but don't ask her unless you really really need it, because sometimes you get what you don't want.

Put her in a tower.

Tell your players to start with a peasant lerson with no special abilities. And pick D&D classes they will gain in first adventure.

The disaster should be sudden and obvious. The PCs are picked to go see the wizard by the town council.

The PC, with crappy gear and no class abilities, have to do 1 fight first. The bad guys they fight are going to reoccur, but can be damaged by another fight.

The wizard is indeed dead. Sacrificed herself to sace the town. Isn't sure what happened.

The PCs each find a magical item that (A) is a D&D magic item (act like a weapon of legacy; it should level up), and (B) unlocks their class abilities.

The wizard gives these new heros quests (find out what happened). Later the town council has requests; the first happens when the ghost wizard is doing research (based on previous information the PCs get, but you can have mild conflict here eventually).

Chapter 1: Wizard's Tower (see above)

• One fight pre-powerup with reoccuring mooks.
• One fight post-powerup twice as many of the mooks
• One fight with unrelated mooks

Chapter 2: Ruins of Krestler's Keep (wizard needs info)
* Could be old ruins, could have been destroyed in the disaster, dunno
Chapter 3: What is going on in the Woods?
* Prompted by town council
Chapter 4: The Refugees (people fleeing disaster)
* A noble provides a 3rd patron to give quests
Chapter 5: Clearwater Mountain (River dries up, find out why)

• Dried up waterfall reveals path under it
• Dwarven tunnels, long dark
• A way out of valley

Chapter 6: All Things End (Reveal the worldwide disaster details)
* What is it?
Chapter 7: Operation Pheonix (Rebirth)
* Ghost of wizard has an idea to stop the disaster