My Campaign, Tier by Tier (Feedback?)

[weem]

<edit>Eric M from AG (you know who you are), do not read this!</edit>


Ok, so when I say Tier, I am indeed referring to 4e Tiers as they are structured...

"Open Grave" had some campaign ideas in it - they briefly described what could happen during each Tier. I had already done something like this for mine and I thought I would share - see what people thought - maybe you have some cool ideas? maybe you want to share yours?

Players Current Level(s): All level 7 (Heroic Tier)

The Plot

Heroic Tier

This Tier basically revolves around the discover of a box by the PC's and the mystery of its powers. It appears to have keyholes covering it, but no key fits and there are no seems that it would open from. The box from time to time hums and emits images (3d "movies" of things that have happened in the past the players think). It also attracts the attention of nearby ghosts sometimes, though they are intrigued by it for me most part, no violent.

During their search for answers as to the box's importance, they have come across a fortress in the swamps (Malpheggi Swamps on the Known World - Mystara). The fort appeared randomly one day atop the ruins of a temple (which is what they expected to find instead of a fort). Searching the fortress, they have discovered that this fort has moved around a bit residing in various locations (including some time at the bottom of an ocean based on discoveries within).

That's where we are as of now.

The box is simply a portal key allowing the owner to see the/a entrance to the Valley of the Hutaaka when in proximity to it.

Later in this Tier they will discover that a race of snake-like humanoids are looking to take control of the fort. Instead, with the help of a goat-like race from the Feywild, they will re-activate the fortress and move it to the Valley of the Hutaaka where they will inadvertently bring a large number of said snake people.

The end of this Tier and beginning of the next they will spend in the Valley getting to know the Hutaakan people and doing some light planar traveling and exploration helping these people with (I'm not sure yet).

Paragon Tier

During their time in the valley, the fort will disappear - odd, but no big deal to them. However, what will have happened was the snake people were able to activate and move the fort back to the feywild where they will clean it up and prepare it to go back and conquer the Valley.

The middle to last half of this tier or so will involve the re-appearance of the fort in the valley (under the control of the snake people) and the taking of the valley by the snake people. The players, with the Hutaakan, will fight a losing battle and will be forced to flee the valley (heading to the feywild probably).

Epic Tier

This tier I am imagining more planar travel (revisiting places and people they met during earlier travels) rallying support for a counter attack to take back the valley.

They will, some time during this period, come across the fortress (maybe) as it (on top of being able to be controlled) still has a strong connection to the feywild and has a tendency to randomly blink around. They may have to fight to clear out those snake people remaining within. Then, they will gather their allies, reactivate the fort and use it to get back to the valley which they will find has been completely overrun by the snake people and Yuan Ti - this is where the big epic final battle will take place

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Disclaimer to Mystara fans: I used to run Mystara as per all published material etc - this campaign however uses the map and I take liberty with everything else using things as I see fit at the time


That's about as simply as I can put it. Things can and will change of course - My games are pretty open and I try not to railroad, but at the same time my players are pretty predictable and I like to be prepared.

So, with that said...


1. What do you think? Do you have any ideas for something cool that could be added?

2. Feel like sharing yours by chance?

 

[defendi]

I would say that overall it looks decent. I think you need more reveals and maybe a bigger twist in the middle. The middle, for instance, just kinda happens. I think the act two twist needs to be heightened. For instance, the players might be trying really hard to get the castle there for some reason, I mean like, this-is-the-point-of-the-whole-campaign sort of reason. Then if the castle starts conquering people, the players can be really wrapped up and feeling responsible.

That's the obvious way to go, though. You might think of a better way to spin that.

I think you also need a big complication at the end of Heroic and a big reveal at the end of Paragon, but that's just my love of the three act structure.

 

[Ydars]

OK, so a couple of comments on what you have so far; It is a very nice beginning for a campaign and I love Mystara (apart from Alphatia and Thyatis). However, as written your campaign seems a bit inflexible.

A better design is: beating the Snake people from the Valley of the Hutaaka is an extended skill challenge that requires 6 successes before 3 failures, as follows. If the PCs fortify location X then they gain an automatic success. If they train the Hutaakans in combat for a month, then they gain another success etc. The outcome of the actual battles could contribute more successes for failures (you could use the War Machine rules from Companion to play this out). You get the idea anyway. Just write you game as a flow chart, and at every crucial point in the adventure their should be at least two branches depending upon the outcome. You need to have something ready at each branch point or else, unconsciously, you will steer the party, no matter how much you think you don't (believe me I speak from experience).

So you need to determine things like the reaction of the Snake people should they be defeated at the valley, because this is clearly a possibility. Just make it a reverse not a complete bust, and determine that they will do something else to gain their eventual goal. For this to work, you need to be very clear on WHY the snake people are so bothered with this valley? There must be something in the valley the want and you had better know what it is. I would go with the idea that their god is buried under one of the mountains and they want to free him. Maybe he is the "World Serpent" Jormunand referred to in the religons of Sodefjord and the Northlands?

I would also add some plot twists as follows; perhaps the snake people have travelled back in time and captured the three heroes of old in an attempt to change history (forget their names now; see the Grand Duchy Gazaater). If they kill the three at a particular lunar conjuction with the stars, then history will change and the snake people will have dominion over Mystara. So the PCs have to rescue them and in the process discover the Snake people's evil plan to awaken their god.

And if the PCs fail, you get to re-imagine Mystara with the snake people as the dominant empire and humans and other races as slaves and chattels. There has to be a way to reverse this of course, and get back to the normal timeline, but that is the fun of this game

All I can think of for now; might have something more coherent tonight.

 

[weem]

Thanks for the feedback, it's much appreciated

Some more info (incase it helps since there was a question or two)...

@Ydars

For this to work, you need to be very clear on WHY the snake people are so bothered with this valley?

They want it for the same reason anyone would like to control Sigil - the Valley (in my game) has a number of connections/portals to other realms, etc. With the valley (which is it's own dimension and doesn't actually exist ON the known world) they could control a very powerful tool of transportation allowing them to spread out and conquer a number of other locations, etc etc.

With that said, I do like your suggestions about their god and the idea of time travel, the former of which I have begun to touch on in game though it's been subtle so far and the players have not picked it up yet (clues whose meaning will be clear later, etc).

A better design is: beating the Snake people from the Valley of the Hutaaka is an extended skill challenge that requires 6 successes before 3 failures, as follows.

Love it - great idea. I had thought of using skill challenges at various points during a large conflict, but not of using it on that grand of a scale - but it makes sense. Very cool!

@defendi

I think you also need a big complication at the end of Heroic and a big reveal at the end of Paragon, but that's just my love of the three act structure.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into this and of course am open to hear more suggestions.


It's all much more open than I made it out to be - I just laid out the quick idea of what would probably happen as my players are pretty predictable - but I'm open enough to allow things to flow as they will.

Thanks again for the feedback so far

 

[Ydars]

Hi Weem! Some more musings to hopefully help you.

If I remember correctly, the Hutaakans were a jackal-headed people who taught the Traldar (ancient inhabitants of Karameikos) metallugy and other elements of civilisation.

You have a kind of weak area at the end of the Heroic Tier where the PCs are supposed to help the Hutaakans, but there is, as yet, no detail.

What immediately comes to mind is that the Hutaakans are being ravaged by a fatal but slow and progressive disease, that will see them extinct within a generation. I would also cast them as the "Guardians of the Valley" and would even suggest that the Valley is the place where the "Gods spoke aloud the words of creation that drew Mystara out of the void". This may also explain why Jormunand is in the Valley; it is a place of ancient power and is linked with the gods. Maybe the Hutaakans were servants of the Gods and used mis-used the knowledge to give humans forbidden knowledge (as sort of second-hand promethian-type vibe).

So the PCs have to go and find out why the Hutaakans are dying and how to cure them, hence the planar travels and first stop is probably the Shadowfell, due to the almost necromantic nature of the disease.

More tomorrow

 

[weem]

If I remember correctly, the Hutaakans were a jackal-headed people who taught the Traldar (ancient inhabitants of Karameikos) metallugy and other elements of civilisation.

You have a kind of weak area at the end of the Heroic Tier where the PCs are supposed to help the Hutaakans, but there is, as yet, no detail.

What immediately comes to mind is that the Hutaakans are being ravaged by a fatal but slow and progressive disease, that will see them extinct within a generation. I would also cast them as the "Guardians of the Valley" and would even suggest that the Valley is the place where the "Gods spoke aloud the words of creation that drew Mystara out of the void". This may also explain why Jormunand is in the Valley; it is a place of ancient power and is linked with the gods. Maybe the Hutaakans were servants of the Gods and used mis-used the knowledge to give humans forbidden knowledge (as sort of second-hand promethian-type vibe).

So the PCs have to go and find out why the Hutaakans are dying and how to cure them, hence the planar travels and first stop is probably the Shadowfell, due to the almost necromantic nature of the disease.

More tomorrow

Exactly why I posted this - excellent ideas there for sure. As far as your recollection of the events of Mystara that sounds right - it's been... many many years since I ran as per the canon (sp?) choosing instead to forget more and more of the details and make up my own while using the maps as I go

Very good ideas again, I love it - more would definitely be welcome!

 

[the Jester]

This diverges pretty far from your original outline, but...

What if you accelerated things a bit- the paragon tier has the snake people conquer the valley and culminates early in the epic tier with the pcs defeating them and destroying their big burly macguffin.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the snake people were attacking the valley to save the continent. Some terrible epic elder evil is breaking free of one of the planar gates, and only their big, destroyed macguffin could stop it. The thing breaks out and the pcs must epic quest to destroy it before it devours everything their continent- and more.

To be brutally honest, there's one thing I don't like about your outline. The scale never changes. The pcs start out in the valley, and never really break out to become bigger than their origins. I think at epic levels, they shouldn't be about just a valley anymore. They should be defending something bigger.

 

[weem]

@the Jester

To be brutally honest, there's one thing I don't like about your outline. The scale never changes. The pcs start out in the valley, and never really break out to become bigger than their origins. I think at epic levels, they shouldn't be about just a valley anymore. They should be defending something bigger.

ENW is all about being brutally honest - I love it, great feedback and you are right. I like the idea - not sure about going at it from that angle - as you mentioned, it's a little off from what I had in mind (though that's good too and may do something along those lines) - but I definitely agree about the scale. I'll have to think about that one for a bit.

Thanks again, much appreciated.

Anyone feel like posting their campaign plot?

 

[Ydars]

To incorporate what Jester said, it would help if the Scale did change and to this end, how about using the Isle of Dread?

What if the snake-people were trying to wake Jormunand because they percieve that his other head is about to awaken (Jormunand was sometimes depicted as a snake with two heads in Norse mythology). If the other head is sited on the Isle of Dread and is about to be awakened by the Void-Lords, then you have a nice campaign as follows;

The snake people have learned that their enemies, the Void Lords are trying to destroy Mystara before the Snake-people turn it into a breeding ground for their army, and hence use this world as a resource to further their "forever war" with the Void Lords. These two enemies are ancient foes and have fought a similar war across a dozen worlds.

The Void-Lords, who are just as evil as the snake people, have discovered Jormunand, who's awakening is supposed to signal the ending of the World, and are working to rouse the Southern Head (on the Isle of Dread). The Snake-people, worshippers of Jormunand, try to awaken his Northern head knowing that if both halves of the World Serpent awaken at the same time, then one head will bite the other and the poison will send the serpent back to sleep for another age.

Enter the PCs during Paragon Tier, who have just saved the Hutaakans from a terrible disease and now discover that the evil snake people are trying to awaken their ancient god. They stop the snake people, but in so doing, unwittingly further the agenda of the Void Lords, a fact they only discover after they put the Northern head to sleep for keeps (although how well they do this impacts upon the final battle; meat for another skill challenge me thinks).

Now they have to find where the Southern Head will awaken, get down to the Isle of Dread and battle the Void-Lords before they can awaken the Southern head and destroy Mystara. If they fail, the Serpent awakens and the PCs have a chance to batter the serpent before it can do untold damage. The difficulty of this fight could be also be decided as an extended skill challenge where rituals and artifacts could be used to weaken the serpent and gain successes before it awakens. The more gained, the weaker the serpent is. It should be nigh on impossible to battle the serpent and win without first weakening it using the rituals and this could be much of the meat for the Epic Tier adventures and planar travels. The PCs have time to sort all this out because Jormunand can only be awoken at a certain conjuction of stars and they must know when this will occur.

Well, this is all that occurs to me for now. Sift, keep what you like and blow away the chaff!

 

[Nightson]

Instead of just having the fortress appear, I was thinking something like this.

The PCs sneaking about stumble on the plan to invade the valley. Oh noes!
They fight a super soldier, it should either totally kick their ass or it should be very, very hard to kill.
The PCs find the edge of a cliff or other suitable place to see big area unobserved, the super soldiers stretch out as far as the eye can see. Oh %$&*@!
The PCs rush back to warn the valley, upon arrival they run into someone they know, and before the get a chance to say anything he/she says, "Good news guys, the castle just popped back in a few minutes ago!" Cue panic.

As an idea, instead of the Yuan'ti just popping the castle back, maybe they've figured out a way to suspend the castle in two places at once so that they can use it as an unlimited portal to carry troops across.

For the epic side, maybe the Valley being a nexus point of sorts is the only location in which the Yuan'ti can piece back together the remains of their dead god.

The Yuan'ti have desecrated the town, strange symbols written in blood cover the walls of the city. In the middle of the town, the Yuan'ti have erected a ziggurat which towers over the ruins of the surrounding buildings. At the top sits an egg fully thiry feet tall, mottled green and pulsing with dark energy. At the bottom of the egg figures dance, and the sound of their chanting can be heard even from here, building up towards crescendo. And with a sudden crack which you feel down to the pit of your soul, the egg begins to hatch...