D&D 4E What will your first 4E campaign look like?

I'm torn.

On the one hand I really want to do a 4E campaign set in a fantasy analogue of the Medieval Southwestern United States - Giants run Chaco Canyon as a vast pilgrim empire where to dance in the ceremonies is to preserve the land at the cost of your own life, Eladrin cliff palaces fade into and out of the feywild in the canyons of Mesa Verde, etc. etc.

On the other, 4E Al-Quadim - Hot Damn!

If only there were a way to combine the two.
 

log in or register to remove this ad


However, I'm currently looking at ways of removing some of the higher power NPCs from their comfortable positions, and making the PCs "center stage" again... any thoughts?

Good ole' multiple nation shattering war is always a handy tool.



On the one hand I really want to do a 4E campaign set in a fantasy analogue of the Medieval Southwestern United States - Giants run Chaco Canyon as a vast pilgrim empire where to dance in the ceremonies is to preserve the land at the cost of your own life, Eladrin cliff palaces fade into and out of the feywild in the canyons of Mesa Verde, etc. etc.

Oh this is really cool. Maybe something to consider for future campaigns.
 

Darkwolf71 said:
You are likely to be eaten by a Grue. :]
After years of internet observation, I would like to propose what I call Zork's Law. Whenever the game "Zork" is mentioned in a thread on any message board, someone within the next 10 posts will always respond with "You are likely to be eaten by a Grue." Can we all agree this to be a law, or does it need to start out as Zork's Theorem?
 

Suudo said:
I just pre-ordered the books today, and I'm looking forward to getting ahold of them. Me being a guy who usually doesn't mess with D&D, to be honest. I have high hopes, though.

Anyhow. I was wondering:

What will your first 4E campaign look like?

What setting ideas do you have in mind? What adventures are you plotting out in your head? What NPCs, adversaries, challenges are you brewing up?

Will you be using the races and classes as is? No? How will you be changing them?

Etc, etc. Answer as broadly or as specifically as you wish. And sorry if the topic has been brought up before!

I'll be updating my "New World" setting by about 50-100 years and the players will be campaigning in the world they helped create. I'm starting with with Keep on the Shadowfell since it will be out before the books but after that, I'm not sure. Classes will be as is, races, depends on what they are like. I got a good group that none of us haven't played in a while that is really excited. We are even doing a pbp campaign until 4th edition comes out (with some online guys we don't know chiming in. I like the looks of the new edition and can't wait.
 

Suudo said:
Oh this is really cool. Maybe something to consider for future campaigns.

If you're interested I think I have it pretty well written up in short format.

I had been thinking about getting some commentary for it in a thread here on the boards, but I don't know that the 4E conversion is ready for prime time.

I really like my Eladrin, though, I went with a Haunted Mesa vibe and did some odd oil economy analogies.
 

If you're interested I think I have it pretty well written up in short format.

I had been thinking about getting some commentary for it in a thread here on the boards, but I don't know that the 4E conversion is ready for prime time.

I really like my Eladrin, though, I went with a Haunted Mesa vibe and did some odd oil economy analogies.

Definitely. I'd be glad to give you my thoughts.

jhswain at gmail dot com
 

*Cracks fingers*

Okay then... Where to start, well guess a bit of background:

The Beginning/The First War:

In the beginning the Gods came upon the universe as it lay dormant in time and space. Their eyes were drawn to the wonders of the Feywild and they carefully pruned and shaped it into life. This life however awoke a entity, a living-reality.

It had viewed this universe as its own, and so it struck out. So began The First War as the Gods rallied together and stood beside their chosen creatures of the Feywild, the Fae. The entity worked its way into the Feywild, its reality warping itself into abominations of the realities encompassed in the Feywild; aberrations.

Even the Gods do not know how long the war lasted, having let the sustainment of the universe to their avatars; of whom they shall not talk of that time. As the war waged on, the entity seemed on the verge of victory. Lolth one of the Gods, always cunning and trickery struck a deal with the entity. Her Fae became turn-coats, they helped in quickening the eventual collapse of the Feywild.

As the Feywild collapsed around them the Gods drew their power together, forcing the entity away into a distance plain; the Far Realm. Lolth having betrayed her kin was flung into the depths of the Elemental Chaos, she however did not die and became the Demon Queen of the Abyss, a seething pit of decay in the universe.

Awakening of The World and The Incursion:


As the Fae fled from the Feywild, they came across the lesser of the Tower Worlds (it is said a Tower holds upright the Worlds). This World having no true-name given by the Gods, was simply entitled The World.

As sections of the Feywild melded into The World and the seemingly-abandoned cities of The World and the Fae lived in these bastions of the Feywild and the newly defeated Drow fled into the Underdark; something awoke.

Humans began to awake, the Fae soon found themselves the guest of this once-sleeping race. They soon began to live in a turbulent peace; neither trusted eachother. The Fae because of their recent betrayal by the Drow, the Humans because of some deep inner instinct.

This continued for a number of centuries till the Incursion. Somehow the Far Realm began to tunnel its way into The World. Many believe it was the act of Thaumaturge (reality-bending) that caused the Incursion. The Fae having known of this threat from ages-past, left in droves to fight the Far Realm.

They soon returned in defeat, the aberrations and the spread of the Far Realm on their heels. This new war ended in a stand-still, the Far Realm has seeped into every aspect of The World, but the races and The World itself still survives.

Humans still rule most City-States, Tieflings the abominations of Human-birth tainted by the Far Realm have spread wide despite the superstition against them. The once noble Fae have split into two races; those that returned home to poverty and lose; the Eladrin and those that fled and began the life of the wanderer the Elves.

The Game and The World Today:


Not much has changed in many centuries past, superstitions as well as disbelief has grown more abundant as the Far Realm has become the norm and the aberrations distant and nearly unheard of.

Technology has advanced to a quasi-industrial period, with the lack of magick sparking this industrial revolution centuries ago.

Core aspects of the Far Realm that have grown common are:
-Children often experience sickness and headaches as it takes time for a Human, Eladrin or Elf to grow used to the taint of the Far Realm
-Aberrative creatures have become common-place, aberration-dogs, horses, cats, and livestock are common sights in many civilized areas of The World.
-The exsistence of Tieflings; both those that are almost human in appearance and others ghastly deformed.
-The superstition to downright hostility towards any Thaumaturge.

The PCs have grown in the Middle-Counties are area of villages and towns. They have very little technology compared to their neighbour City-State; Tavria, they make by however.

The PCs soon though find their lives changed however:

Possible Ideas for Change:
-They have dreams once; once considered luck now eerily correct about future events; till they are forced to leave by the town growing superstitious (would work extremely well with at least one Tiefling PC).
-They meet an intelligent aberrative-raven (has three eyes (inspired by SoIaF)) who saves them from a attack on their town and leads them away. This NPC will come into game in some form anyways
-They get sweeped up in the mad-frenzy of refugees, when trying to reach a neighbouring town for trade.

In either case, I plan on having them end-up in Tavria where they restock, and gather information. Here I will begin to lace the manipulative/political plot together. But before they can form any coherent idea they are thrown for a loop as rumours spread of a army marching towards Tavria, and word of safety in the neighbouring island of Berrica.

They end up heading on a steam-ferry to Berrica, before they reach it however. They stop off on a island where the population of the ferry is split up. Soon they discover the town on the island is under some sort of domination and flee. Winding up on a new ship they reach Berrica.

Here they find the island ruled by Aboleths (they are carried around in tanks similar to Navigators in Dune). The call to come here was a ruse to bring people to develop a army. The Aboleths having long since turned into rivals with the more dominant Illithid.

Here the PCs must decide what to do:
-They could lead a revolt
-Seek guidance from Elves or Eladrin
-Flee to the mainland
-Etc.

That is as far as my plot has gotten. But I plan to have them reach the city to the south, Areka; which is essentially a whole city built on top of a ancient spiralling tower. There they learn more ancient-knowledge of the Far Realm, perhaps seek help from ancient-magick there to go into the Shadowfell to contact the Gods who died during the warm etc.

Colour Scheme/Atmosphere/Appearance:


Since I enjoy drawing and art, I like my worlds to have certain colour or atmosphere themes and appearances.

So here are some for this campaign:

Colour: Greys, Blacks, Whites, Silvers, Blues, Greens, Purples, Browns, spattering of Red and White

Atmosphere: Claustrophobic, dank, dirty, old, mysterious, trepidations, cautious, scary, dread, wrongness (things feel weird).

Appearance:
Heavily industrialized; smoke stacks, factories, smog, everything covered in sot, steam everywhere, trains, telegraphs, electricity.

Combination of medieval and industrial/Victorian; clothing, buildings, weapons, armour, etc.

Aberrations are generally either grey, black or white of skin (including Tieflings).

Modern structures are built around or over top, very ancient crumbling buildings.
______________________________________________________________________________

That is my world in a VERY big nutshell, I plan to after this is done run either a Raj-India inspired campaign, or something of a mix of Ancient Egypt with realm mythological creatures and Gods meets industrial-Britain Expeditionary Force/French Foreign Legion.
 

JohnSnow said:
Whenever you're fighting an evil empire, you often have to go hunting in dungeons for appropriate artifacts, maps, or the lost weapons of another age.

Which are, of course, always in dungeons. ;)

Truely, good sir! And that will take care of one or two adventures for certain. Just got to think up senarios for about 28 others. :D

I do have a few ideas, though. Delving into an Imperial prison complex to save a leader of the Resistance and get him out of the country (Star Wars meets Casablanca... bonus points if I cam make the leader REALLY annoying :D ). One of the Playtest blogs on Gleemax had a party escaping through sewers, I might steal that. Traversing a mountain temple/dwarven stronghold in order to cut off an important messenger 'at the pass'.

For non-dungeoneering adventures: An adventure on the high seas fighting Empire-sponsored privateers from barbarian longships (and maybe gaining an alliance with sea elves). Saving a village Seven Samurai style from marauding bandits. Infiltrating a castle in order to assassinate an important official.

I also figure, considering that Succubi are now Devils, I can give the Emperor a truely Helenic Empress. :]
 

It will probably be a game updating my homebrew to 4.0. If not that, then Eberron. I'm waiting until August before I do anything in the Realms.
 

Remove ads

Top