[On-Topic] Help me think of a cool campaign concept!

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich
HEY EVERYBODY!

I've just been nominated the DM for the summer gaming group, and I need some help in whippin' up a few campaign ideas. Perhaps just a few minor adventure seeds to start out on or something, but a few good ideas nonetheless.

I'm planning on using an already-established world that I created. Not GH or FR or anything else. The setting is homebrew fantasy.

I'm interested in any sort of ideas, but if you want to tailor it, here's some world info, too:

CONTINENTS:
1) Laurasia: The main continent of the world, very "typical D&D." All the major races hail from here, and they all compete with each other. Recently a big elf-dwarf war that got over, still a lot of bad blood. A puppet human regime was set up, and the current leader is eager to win a name for himself as a king in his own right, not just a slave to the elf/dwarf powers.

2) Australasia: Just to the south of Laurasia, a place of islands and jungles and mountains. Kinda an oriental/indian feel, and the place where Psionics was born and is nurtured in this campaign (which has psionics are different on).

3) Pangea: A land only discovered by Laurasians recently, home to lots of dinosaurs and reptilian/avian creatures that have lots of dragon qualities. Generaly South American feel, with a bit of imperial-era politics thrown in. The legendary home of the "true dragons."

4) Cimmeria: To the northeast of Pangea, still undiscovered, this place is rife with prehistoric animals and beast-men of many stripes. Still untouched by civilization (though that might not last long). Kinda arctic/nordic theme.

5) Gondwana: To the southwest of Pangea, this continent was discovered quite a while ago, and has been traded with, but is largely independant. It's the place of many of the big, mythical bests (pegasus, gray renders, basilisk, etc.), ranchers, and "tribal" natives. Think Africa, only replace cheetah with displacer beasts.

6) Danderdia: To the north of Gondwana, far to the east of Laurasia, lies the land in shadow. Inspired by dark tales of Dracula and various similar regions, Danderdia is where the dungeon monsters lurk naturally. The natives are fearful, lurking shrouded in shadow in their rugged, mountainous home. Beneath the mountains, and often just a few valleys over, lay nightmare creatures waiting for a villager snack. O'course, most villagers who do live there are hardier than normal.

That's all, abouts. Any cool idea for a sweeping story to base a few smaller adventures on? Nothing *too* grand (we've only got the summer), but something that can feel significant?

I'm mostly lookin' for ideas. The more I can get, the better off I am.

--Unprepared DM, Midget
 

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Conquest!

Your new King in Laurasia needs to do something to secure his place, what better way to ensure his people's loyalty than to get them all excited about an enemy? The king through several advisors has a very good idea of what sort of people and creatures dwell in Danderdia, but he sends the adventurers off as part of a 'diplomatic' mission to Danderdia, knowing full well that the group will be attacked. The first few adventures will be repeated forays to discover what evil forces control this place with the stated goal of ultimately establishing a colonial presence and taking over Danderdia, as time progresse the PC's have to decide whether to support the King or if of a more chaotic bent maybe support the Danderdian monsters whose freedoms are really at risk....
 


Re: Conquest!

Larry Fitz said:
Your new King in Laurasia needs to do something to secure his place, what better way to ensure his people's loyalty than to get them all excited about an enemy? The king through several advisors has a very good idea of what sort of people and creatures dwell in Danderdia, but he sends the adventurers off as part of a 'diplomatic' mission to Danderdia, knowing full well that the group will be attacked. The first few adventures will be repeated forays to discover what evil forces control this place with the stated goal of ultimately establishing a colonial presence and taking over Danderdia, as time progresse the PC's have to decide whether to support the King or if of a more chaotic bent maybe support the Danderdian monsters whose freedoms are really at risk....
Or, the king sends them in a "diplomatic" mission and then publicly announces it and lets everyone know it. Secretly, he counts on the PCs to be slaughtered so that he has a casus belli to attack Danderdia and rally the population to "avenge" the poor diplomats. He even sends someone (an assassin) together with the PCs to make sure that they don't come back.

He succeeds, the only survivor is the assassin, and the war begins. The players know nothing of the king's scheme of course. They think their deaths were just part of the plot (true), and roll up new characters. These new characters are part of the first mission to settle a colony in Danderdia. They'll have plenty of occasions to adventure, in a place like that.

Until they somehow find out that the diplomats whose death started the war were really killed by a men sent by the king himself! At which point, the real fun begins...
 

Re: Re: Conquest!

Zappo said:
Or, the king sends them in a "diplomatic" mission and then publicly announces it and lets everyone know it. Secretly, he counts on the PCs to be slaughtered so that he has a casus belli to attack Danderdia and rally the population to "avenge" the poor diplomats. He even sends someone (an assassin) together with the PCs to make sure that they don't come back.

He succeeds, the only survivor is the assassin, and the war begins. The players know nothing of the king's scheme of course. They think their deaths were just part of the plot (true), and roll up new characters. These new characters are part of the first mission to settle a colony in Danderdia. They'll have plenty of occasions to adventure, in a place like that.

Until they somehow find out that the diplomats whose death started the war were really killed by a men sent by the king himself! At which point, the real fun begins...



you been watching princess bride too much!



Why not have the northern neighbors go on a Xenophobic rampage and wish to sterilize the pangea realm in the south. Sort of like the first Xanth book. Bring the age of man to the 'forsaken' and 'evil' realm.
 
Last edited:

Leopold said:
you been watching princess bride too much!
Uh... actually, I don't even know what that is. :confused: It just sounded cool to have the PCs murdered to set the background for the campaign.
 

Zappo said:
Uh... actually, I don't even know what that is. :confused: It just sounded cool to have the PCs murdered to set the background for the campaign.

no princess bride in italy..oh man what a deprived country ::) !
 

Have your pc work for the kings spymaster. My current DM is using this as the frame for his campaign. It's really cool: it lets the DM give his PC the resources they want and still keep a check on their actions and the flow of the campaign. Great fun as well: intrigue, assasination, covert diplomatic missions, info gathering,...
 

Have the queen start up an affair with one of the nobles of one of the other countries. You now have a love triangle and since there is no "right" answer the players get to chose who the good guys are (the jilted king, the queen trapped in a loveless marriage, or the noble who is either truly in love with the queen or making a power play against the king).

... which I stole from The Three Musketeers ... that last movie did the book no justice.
 

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