Mercurius
Legend
I vaguely remember starting a thread like this some years ago, but have no idea what it was called or much memory as to its content. While replying to the Megadungeons thread, the question arose: How would I design a full D&D campaign (levels 1-20) with the design goal of including as many iconic D&D elements as possible, in a cohesive and interesting manner?
When I say "as many iconic D&D elements as possible," I don't mean an attempt to include all possible tropes, memes, unique qualities of D&D canon...that would be impossible. But how would a full campaign look that tried to "umbrella" the diversity of D&D ideas and iconic tropes?
Or more to the point, how would you do this?
Shortly after having the initial idea, I realized the obvious: there is no one way to do this, and if twenty people reply to this thread, we'll have twenty different campaigns. That's the point. There's no one true iconic D&D campaign, but what is yours? What elements are crucial? What are your favorite "D&Disms" and how would you integrate them into a cohesive (or not) whole? What must be included and what can you live without?
Another angle at this might be: if you could design the "D&D campaign to end all D&D campaigns" that you could run--or play in--which would touch upon as many of your favorite D&Disms as possible, what would it look like?
I know that for most of us, this is an impossible task--not only because we probably can't fit everything into one campaign without it being the "Soup of Too Many Ingredients"--but also, and perhaps moreso, because I'm sure we can all imagine different campaigns that we would love to play, a variety of styles and themes. But the point here is to try to do the impossible, to envision that One Campaign To Rule Them All. Give it a shot.
I look forward to your responses (and maybe I'll take a stab at it a bit later).
When I say "as many iconic D&D elements as possible," I don't mean an attempt to include all possible tropes, memes, unique qualities of D&D canon...that would be impossible. But how would a full campaign look that tried to "umbrella" the diversity of D&D ideas and iconic tropes?
Or more to the point, how would you do this?
Shortly after having the initial idea, I realized the obvious: there is no one way to do this, and if twenty people reply to this thread, we'll have twenty different campaigns. That's the point. There's no one true iconic D&D campaign, but what is yours? What elements are crucial? What are your favorite "D&Disms" and how would you integrate them into a cohesive (or not) whole? What must be included and what can you live without?
Another angle at this might be: if you could design the "D&D campaign to end all D&D campaigns" that you could run--or play in--which would touch upon as many of your favorite D&Disms as possible, what would it look like?
I know that for most of us, this is an impossible task--not only because we probably can't fit everything into one campaign without it being the "Soup of Too Many Ingredients"--but also, and perhaps moreso, because I'm sure we can all imagine different campaigns that we would love to play, a variety of styles and themes. But the point here is to try to do the impossible, to envision that One Campaign To Rule Them All. Give it a shot.
I look forward to your responses (and maybe I'll take a stab at it a bit later).