Needing Renaissance era Adventure Ideas

[Thumper3333]

Check out the Swashbuckling adventures books. The core book offers a nice setting in that genre. Not sure how many modules are out there for it, but I recomend you check it out.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I'm going to be starting a renaissance era D&D game set on Earth, tho I'm having problems figuring out adventure ideas, the curse of depending on D&D tropes to set up adventures I suppose I'm figuring on setting it around 1498-1510 in Italy and having it wander from there. Any ideas?

Jonathan,

What role will arcane magic and divine magic have in this campaign? What about churches generally (i.e. it's basically impossible to understand the Renaissance Era in real life without understanding the influences of thinkers from Augustine to Aquinas to Luther)?

A friend of mine runs a campaign set in a modified real world around 1100 AD. In this campaign, Rome never completely fell, Britain never became too influenced by Rome (however, the Normans still succeeded there), Egypt developed strong powers in necromancy, and the Black Forest really was filled with elves and dragons and goblins.

Currently, in his campaign, the King of England is against arcane magic so his lords and other nobles have to figure out where their loyalties are. The elves that live on the island don't really respect human borders (much the way animals don't really respect human borders in the real world), but still have to deal with them anyway. So, there's lots to do, plenty of adventures, etc., even though there's more than enough of the sort of boring drudgery that made up a normal person's life back then.

Dave

 

[WizarDru]

There's always the Dr. Who approach, a la "Mask of Mandragora". That's got secret societies, evil wizards, a malefic alien intelligence and plenty of swordplay, to boot.

 

[Tumbler]

A sparknotes reading of almost any of shakespeare's comedies or tragedies should load you up with ideas. Many of them are set in Italy. Off the top of my head.

Othello is about a largely naval war, filled with intrigue and racial issues. The war would provide plenty of ideas on its own, but throw in factions who want the Moorish general to ascend and others who want to destroy him and you're set. In a fantasy version, Othello could be a half orc

Someone already mentioned R+J's feuding families.

In Midsummer Night's Dream, the king and queen of the fairies are fighting over a boy slave from Persia or India or something. This results in catastrophic weather, failing crops, and other natural disasters. Certainly an adventure there if not a campaign.

 

[qstor]

You could throw in a werewolf and gypsies like the Wolfman movie with Lon Chaney.

Intrigue involving dueling societies...

A mad count in a hard to reach sea side castle in Dalamtia kidnaps a young woman...her father hires the party to recover her...

I like the Cathar's idea..a fantasy campaign in the Renaissance doesn't have to stick exactly to the time line...


Mike

 

[Deadguy]

As a thouhgt, if you know anyone who has a copy of White Wolf's Mage the Sorcerers Crusade rulebook, it would be helpful for you, or better still, its add-on the Swashbuckling Handbook. The game is a version of Mage set around 1500. Both discuss somewhat of the real world (Swashbuckling Handbook moreso), and the main rules has an occult timeline, which might spark idea for events that can be fitted into something more 'historical' whilst being truly fantastical.

 

[Alhazred]

The Reformation. Officially began 31 October 1517 with Martin Luther nailing his 99 Theses (not feces, as a student of mine once said) to the door of the Wittenberg Catheral. Even before 1517, there were several emerging anti-Catholic and reform-Catholic sects, the Inquisition and witch trials. England's War of the Roses, the rise of the Tudor, Henry VIII assumes the English throne in 1509 and initiates English Reformation in c1529; France, Enlgand, the German states, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal (all right, most of Western Europe) begin a century's worth of religious wars at this time; discovery of the New World and Cortes' conquest of Mexico in 1519; rise and expansion of the merchant princes; emerging concepts of nationalism and national identity. And a lot more.

Good luck.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

While it might not be a perfect fit, The Phantom of the Opera makes for a wonderful adventure.

 

[Caspian Marqine]

Jonathan,

What role will arcane magic and divine magic have in this campaign? What about churches generally (i.e. it's basically impossible to understand the Renaissance Era in real life without understanding the influences of thinkers from Augustine to Aquinas to Luther)?

A friend of mine runs a campaign set in a modified real world around 1100 AD. In this campaign, Rome never completely fell, Britain never became too influenced by Rome (however, the Normans still succeeded there), Egypt developed strong powers in necromancy, and the Black Forest really was filled with elves and dragons and goblins.

Currently, in his campaign, the King of England is against arcane magic so his lords and other nobles have to figure out where their loyalties are. The elves that live on the island don't really respect human borders (much the way animals don't really respect human borders in the real world), but still have to deal with them anyway. So, there's lots to do, plenty of adventures, etc., even though there's more than enough of the sort of boring drudgery that made up a normal person's life back then.

Dave

Hmm, ok, my ideas so far:

Basing some ideas off Dungeon Damage's take on things with hints of Shadowrun and what not. Clerical and Arcane magic exist, to what strength I'm not really sure yet, the Church for the most part tries to regulate ALL magic, with opposition to how its conducted and its other practices leading to the reformation by Martin Luther.

Amusingly I thought a funny thing to do is have him be an Elf masquerading around as a human, and in a previous incarnation having his name being Jan Huss (leader of the Hussite Revolution some years earlier). Luther was accused of being a Hussite alot during the early bits so I figure that'd be a nice turnaround.

I have the Sorcerer's Crusade, but no supplements for it, thanks I had forgotten that was set in the same era.

My initial idea was have them around Naples in 1494 and somehow get involved in the death of King Ferrante which causes the French invasion of Italy. I guess I could move the Reformation timeline forwards too, cause I was thinking doing some stuff with that would be cool.

Rule wise I was thinking of going with a Vitality point system, and maybe in the spirit of the high fantasy bit, some kind of hero point system.

Also, wanting to dumb down the cleric somewhat and introduce a more "priestly" cleric, along the lines of the intellectual one presented in Unearthed Arcana but more capable of being the party voice, etc.



Jonathan

 

[nopantsyet]

Also, wanting to dumb down the cleric somewhat and introduce a more "priestly" cleric, along the lines of the intellectual one presented in Unearthed Arcana but more capable of being the party voice, etc.

Consider that a large number of priests were actually second sons of nobles. First son is heir, second son goes into the church. The church wielded a lot of power, and this was a way of ensuring one's interests were represented. Those guys aren't clerics, they're aristocrats. They end up in the upper echelons of church leadership.

Next, you have the average priests, guys who come from all walks of life. Experts and commoners.

Then are the visionaries. These guys are off the wall, usually affiliated with the church but also considered somewhat frings. Ascetics who live in a dirt hovels. Contemplatives in their tiny cells. These guys started out as either of the above (commoners, experts, aristocrats), but at high levels take the Contemplative PrC.

Finally you have your clerics. These are the true pastors of their flocks. Usually found in unlikely villages, they often spend only short periods of time in one place, but sometimes put down permanent roots in very remote places. Many are evangelists, who travel abroad spreading the word. They always try to avoid the gaze of the church. Despite their devotion, their extraordinary power frightens the church. The coexist through careful avoidance. As long as these don't organize or try to change the power structure of the church, the leadership will not move against them. In the end, the leaders know the church benefits from the works of these missionaries and prefer to be on the "same side."