Rebuilding Civilization [Archive] - Wizards Community

Rebuilding Civilization [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
rethgryn
11-06-07, 01:53 AM Picture this. You come from a typical Dungeons and Dragons fantasy world, filled with elves, and orcs, and wizards, and warring nations. Somewhere in the depths of a crypt an adventuring party confronted a big bad level 25 wizard who is inches away from his evil plan to open the gates of hell and flood the world with demons and devils to turn it into a playground for the blood war. And they failed. The gates of hell opened, volcanos rose in the middle of civilization, metors fall, the pristine elven forests burned to the ground, demons are flying snatching up people using their bones as whetstones, evil gods walk the planet eating souls. The last remnants of the sentient races gathered their surviving family members, most treasured possessions and favorite livestock and followed that world's Eliminster/Mordenkeinen/Gandalf to an ancient portal, activates it, set the destination to "anywhere but here" and with the last of 3000 survivors through, blew up the portal to prevent the elder gods and their demonic minions from following.

And that was yesterday and this is where you come in. You have emerged on the other side, in a rocky valley surrounded by jungle, spending an uncomfortable night, amongst the refugees. But you are safe and you have a new start. Everyone is hungry. There are other adventurers and a few powerful academic wizards and clerics who have come along as well, and the clerics are doing what they can to create food and water but the resources may not last. You've brought dependents along who need looking after. The Wizard's companion a Paladin, was going to have taken on a leadership position but she has fallen ill. To make matters worse, this is a completely new world, with unfamiliar species, and nobody knows what it looks like in any direction. It sure would be nice if someone could do some scouting, maybe find a suitable location to rebuild civilization. Also there have been strange sightings of lights in the jungle, not to mention strange noises. The refugees themselves have come from all different backgrounds and old hatreds between warring nations die hard.

The whole Campaign would be what you do from there.

Could this work? What books have rules for players constructing buildings?
ScorpiusRisk
11-06-07, 10:52 AM This could work. In fact I think it's a great idea. The stronghold builder's guide has rules for this, that you may have to modify slightly because you have no cities or towns for supplies. It would be really easy though. My suggestion to you is, include a bard NPC who remembered to bring his Lye of Building (DMG).

The PCs will have enough to do in this brave new world without doing the building themselves. Have them find a safe place to build, protect the inhabitants while moving, secure natural resources, make first contact with the natives, design defensive structures, train a militia, but leave the day to day stuff for someone else. You wouldn't even need building instructions just a time lime of when things get completed.
rethgryn
11-06-07, 02:52 PM Another benefit is that I can make the geography and demographics of the new world a little bit at a time. I can have the players make up things about their backgrounds on the old world.

I've also considered a knight templar (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.KnightTemplar) like villian who before the cataclysm was a lieutenant in an army trying to wipe the lesser races from the world for the good of humanity and once he gets established decides to start things all over again.

Then there are the cloaked ones who will pop up a bit later on in the story who are magic using natives who seek to sabotage the efforts of the PCs.

At the same time though I kind of want to get away from a save the world from Snidley Whiplash style plot and I think this premise will help.
AffeTheFoul
11-06-07, 03:07 PM Yeah i agree this is a great concept for a campaign. What i think will be most interesting is how the PC's get along together in rebuilding the civilization. Without a common enemy at first the players might even try to gain influence and power over the other players.
fodigg
11-07-07, 05:15 PM One option would be to lead into my similar campaign concept: The Last Bastion of Civilization (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14044971).

After creating their own jungle outpost, they could find word of a last great city that somehow survived. It would be far more immediate of an event than what I describe in my original concept, but it could be adapted fairly easily.
Zousha_Omenohu
11-07-07, 06:52 PM This may not be as on-the-mark as Fodigg's campaign concept, but I have another potential post-apocalyptic scenario: Princes of the Universe (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=938432)

Where are the gods in thise scenario? Were they destroyed along with the rest of the old civilization? Maybe the saviours (like the wizard and paladin) could become minor gods or guardian spirits or something after death and the PCs could become the same.

Again, it may not be the kind of flavor you're going for, but I thought I'd mention it.
rethgryn
11-10-07, 08:25 PM I've come up with some more ideas. Since one of the reasons for this whole campaign in the first place has been that I want to only have to develop this world from the inside out, at my own pace, I decided to use an existing world as the old world that they are from, and since the gods are in the players handbook, I decided to make that Greyhawk, although I think it might be helpful to know the geography and politics of the Greyhawk world. I haven't been able to find a 3.5 edition world book for it. What is the name of it and where can I find it?

Forgotten Realms was the other option that I considered but the only thing I know about that setting is from Baldur's Gate II and Never Winter Nights 1.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
rethgryn 11-06-07, 01:53 AM	Picture this. You come from a typical Dungeons and Dragons fantasy world, filled with elves, and orcs, and wizards, and warring nations. Somewhere in the depths of a crypt an adventuring party confronted a big bad level 25 wizard who is inches away from his evil plan to open the gates of hell and flood the world with demons and devils to turn it into a playground for the blood war. And they failed. The gates of hell opened, volcanos rose in the middle of civilization, metors fall, the pristine elven forests burned to the ground, demons are flying snatching up people using their bones as whetstones, evil gods walk the planet eating souls. The last remnants of the sentient races gathered their surviving family members, most treasured possessions and favorite livestock and followed that world's Eliminster/Mordenkeinen/Gandalf to an ancient portal, activates it, set the destination to "anywhere but here" and with the last of 3000 survivors through, blew up the portal to prevent the elder gods and their demonic minions from following. And that was yesterday and this is where you come in. You have emerged on the other side, in a rocky valley surrounded by jungle, spending an uncomfortable night, amongst the refugees. But you are safe and you have a new start. Everyone is hungry. There are other adventurers and a few powerful academic wizards and clerics who have come along as well, and the clerics are doing what they can to create food and water but the resources may not last. You've brought dependents along who need looking after. The Wizard's companion a Paladin, was going to have taken on a leadership position but she has fallen ill. To make matters worse, this is a completely new world, with unfamiliar species, and nobody knows what it looks like in any direction. It sure would be nice if someone could do some scouting, maybe find a suitable location to rebuild civilization. Also there have been strange sightings of lights in the jungle, not to mention strange noises. The refugees themselves have come from all different backgrounds and old hatreds between warring nations die hard. The whole Campaign would be what you do from there. Could this work? What books have rules for players constructing buildings?
ScorpiusRisk 11-06-07, 10:52 AM	This could work. In fact I think it's a great idea. The stronghold builder's guide has rules for this, that you may have to modify slightly because you have no cities or towns for supplies. It would be really easy though. My suggestion to you is, include a bard NPC who remembered to bring his Lye of Building (DMG). The PCs will have enough to do in this brave new world without doing the building themselves. Have them find a safe place to build, protect the inhabitants while moving, secure natural resources, make first contact with the natives, design defensive structures, train a militia, but leave the day to day stuff for someone else. You wouldn't even need building instructions just a time lime of when things get completed.
rethgryn 11-06-07, 02:52 PM	Another benefit is that I can make the geography and demographics of the new world a little bit at a time. I can have the players make up things about their backgrounds on the old world. I've also considered a knight templar (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.KnightTemplar) like villian who before the cataclysm was a lieutenant in an army trying to wipe the lesser races from the world for the good of humanity and once he gets established decides to start things all over again. Then there are the cloaked ones who will pop up a bit later on in the story who are magic using natives who seek to sabotage the efforts of the PCs. At the same time though I kind of want to get away from a save the world from Snidley Whiplash style plot and I think this premise will help.
AffeTheFoul 11-06-07, 03:07 PM	Yeah i agree this is a great concept for a campaign. What i think will be most interesting is how the PC's get along together in rebuilding the civilization. Without a common enemy at first the players might even try to gain influence and power over the other players.
fodigg 11-07-07, 05:15 PM	One option would be to lead into my similar campaign concept: The Last Bastion of Civilization (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?p=14044971). After creating their own jungle outpost, they could find word of a last great city that somehow survived. It would be far more immediate of an event than what I describe in my original concept, but it could be adapted fairly easily.
Zousha_Omenohu 11-07-07, 06:52 PM	This may not be as on-the-mark as Fodigg's campaign concept, but I have another potential post-apocalyptic scenario: Princes of the Universe (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=938432) Where are the gods in thise scenario? Were they destroyed along with the rest of the old civilization? Maybe the saviours (like the wizard and paladin) could become minor gods or guardian spirits or something after death and the PCs could become the same. Again, it may not be the kind of flavor you're going for, but I thought I'd mention it.
rethgryn 11-10-07, 08:25 PM	I've come up with some more ideas. Since one of the reasons for this whole campaign in the first place has been that I want to only have to develop this world from the inside out, at my own pace, I decided to use an existing world as the old world that they are from, and since the gods are in the players handbook, I decided to make that Greyhawk, although I think it might be helpful to know the geography and politics of the Greyhawk world. I haven't been able to find a 3.5 edition world book for it. What is the name of it and where can I find it? Forgotten Realms was the other option that I considered but the only thing I know about that setting is from Baldur's Gate II and Never Winter Nights 1.