Post/Author/DateTime	Post
JStaton 05-31-07, 04:19 PM	Ok we've officially started the world we are going to play next. Its going to be based on Dragonlance a bit with a new style. The campaign is EXTREMELY low magic. Im playing it as if the gods are extremely weakened due to a great war that just ceased, and thus each gods level is around 20. There are some major factions, a orc horde which leaders are a bard and a wizard both at level 12. Theres a vampire coven which leader will be 15, and a drow house that has taken over all other drow houses in the world during the last war and united them, i havent worked out specifics on that group yet. The characters will probally get to level 10-12 max and magical items are far and few between. I don't exactly know how to kick off a epic storyline through what we have got so far and I was wondering If anyone could help out?
Goldenmaxter 06-05-07, 08:08 PM	I don't know, its hard to do an epic campaign without having your characters progress from lower levels. It really takes away from the development and personality of the character.
Ilinares 06-07-07, 04:42 AM	I am uncertain whether low magic campaigns are ever a good idea. Take, for instance, your stereotypical fighter: with lower-than-average magic item progression, he could become comparatively useless by the time your group hits level 10. However, be that as it may, I suggest that you follow the same technique I always follow when considering how to start a campaign: look at the characters your players have created, in particular their preexisting entanglements with power groups in your world, and make a (short) list of encounters that could take advantage of them. Try to build a short series of encounters that are connected and draw each of the players in immediately. By way of example, suppose one of your players is a devout worshipper of a deity with a grudge against the undead, and another is an exiled Drow clone-of-a-well-known-fantasy-hero. I would write an encounter with a group of low-level undead led by a Drow wizard who makes it clear he is acting on behalf of the house our Drow hero abandoned. OK, so the example is somewhat stereotypical, but the point remains - quick, easy encounters that link the players immediately into a plotline that appeals to the characters as they wrote them. From there, the players would begin to discover hints of something larger than the simple revenge plotline. Perhaps investigating the attack will lead them to discover that the house our hero used to be a member of is the one that has risen to dominance over the others, and is making a bid to reclaim the surface world. Perhaps they will discover that the assault was not sanctioned by the drow at all - rather, the vampire cabal was trying to manipulate them into providing a distraction to one of the few forces that poses a threat to them, and will take advantage of that distraction to manoeuvre for political power - or perhaps to achieve divinity while the standards of godhood are lowered, maybe by killing one of the weakened gods and drinking its blood? The specifics of the example aren't important: my advice is just to start with an encounter or series of encounters that appeals to the characters' backstory, then gradually tie it in to larger events in the campaign world, preferably in a way that is in some regard unexpected and allows the players to play a pivotal role in shaping their world. That's how I'd go about writing an epic campaign without resort to epic levels. Again, however, you will need to be careful about the difficulties of a given challenge for the PCs in a low-magic campaign, since the Challenge Ratings are written with a certain level of resources in mind. I imagine that's probably something you've already taken into account, but it may require some of what I've said to be taken with a pinch of salt. :)
Magrus 06-07-07, 01:39 PM	Epic progression + Dragonlance = bad idea. Really, why? That's what FR is for.