Swashbuckling D&D Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Swashbuckling D&D Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
rockfall22
09-17-04, 01:21 AM I'm developing a campaign set in an area very much like 17th century Europe. It does have multiple gods, monsters, spellcasting, magic weapons, and all that fun stuff. I am including muskets and pistols (nothing too advanced, really... just flintlocks). I was wondering if anyone had any really good plot ideas. Something involving lots of swordplay, disguises, innuendo, biting remarks and bluffing through situations. Any thoughts on how to jazz this thing up?
Sir Gimp
09-17-04, 05:44 PM Yeah man you could do something where the party are good (or whatever alignmet) pirates sorta like sinbad or something or mabey something similar to the musketeers :)
Tony Vargas
09-17-04, 09:29 PM I'd suggest doing some old-movie research, anything with Erol Flynn. ;)

You have a campaign in mind, do you have players lined up, and do they have any character ideas? What sort of role do you think they'll have - free-lance adventurers? king's musketeers? privateers? monster-hunters?

Some ideas:

Give small bonuses for putting in the effort to RP in-genre... not for being a 'good actor' or anything, since many players just aren't. It'll help get players into the feel of the setting.

For Plots:

Infiltration: The PCs have to (in disguise or using misinformation) gain entry into a group or place and find out information or steal a significant item.

Rescue: Very genre, steal back a stolen princess, kidnapped official, holy relic or whatever - twists: the kidnapee is actually the kidnapper, or is an adventuring type and quite a handful; the relic wasn't stolen but 'ascended' because the keeper was unworthy and the 'theft' is a cover-up.

Rebellion: The establishment is evil, the PCs are good. Free slaves, rob from tax collectors, run and hide from enforcers, try to gain powerful allies in neighboring good (or even just less-evil kingdoms).

Honor & Glory: The players are military - knights, musketeers, templars, scouts, war-wizards, whatever - and the kingdom is at war. As elites, they move about, capturing or defending critical fortresses or areas, helping resistance allies behind the lines, battling on the high seas, etc...

Revenge: At least one of the PCs is a deposed noble, good person wrongly-acused, or otherwise on the lam inspite of being in the right. Others may just be helping them and guilty by association. The campaign revolves around discovering the real wrong-doers, gathering allies against the usurper, gaining the power needed to defeat thier foes, and, of course, proving innocence/exposing the culprit/deposing the usurper.
RadicalTaoist
09-18-04, 01:43 AM Conspiracy: One or all of the PCs have been hired to do a task. This task can be of vital importance to the kingdom, which will be taken more seriously, or a deceptively minor quest. However, a separate group, unknown, attempts to sabotage the PCs' efforts. The employers ask that these interlopers be disabled or eliminated for the good of the task, but are tight-lipped as to why. Attempts to find out information about your foes lead to suspicious dead ends. And the foes try to contact the PCs with messages throwing doubt on the motives of their employers. Are the PCs to be set up? Who can they trust?
Lanoitakude
09-18-04, 10:43 PM Make sure you know how to handle fights with lots of complex factors. Tables, stairs, chairs, all sorts of things become important in a swashbuckling fight.
Morka
09-21-04, 10:53 AM If you remember that a good aligned character don't have to love everyone, or that an evil aligned character don't need to kill everyone, everything could be swashbuckling. Here are some ideas:
- A vampire in the city. In most adventures, the Big Bad Evil Vampire wish to turn all the citizen of a city to mere cattle, and rule them all. Read a bit of Anne Rice: the vampires could have sophisticated tastes. The Vampire could be a new performer in the city, seducing a good-looking person, and then living the city. Also, in Stephen King's Salem, the vampire need to visit the same person a few nights in a row to kill her or to turn her into a vampire, and the vampire can only visit one person by night. If someone in the city begin to have strange customs, beware!
- The witches. You hear rumors that there is witches in a small town near a swamp. It could be a covent of Green Hags, searching to take control of the town and make themselves rich with the area trade. Now those three Green Hags could be anyone: the mayor's wife (with the poor man under a charm spell), the beautiful shepherdess, etc. And to add a twist, add a CG elven sorceress living alone nearby...
- Have a recurent NPC party be lead by a NG bard, and this bard absolutely hate one of the PCs (perhaps because the PC seduced the bard's girlfriend). This party will never truely attack the PCs, but they could cause much other harms!
Earthmaster
09-21-04, 11:00 PM Check out The Man in the Iron Mask (movie) or The Count of Monte Cristo (movie) for some good stuff on 17th- or 18th-Century France.

I saw both those movies, they were SO GOOD!!
Lanoitakude
09-22-04, 10:40 PM *begin rant*
I'm sorry, the movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo is trash compared to the book.

It has been a while since I read the book, but I believe he built up his revenge over the course of 10 years or something, finally obtaining sweet revenge. He didn't just kill them, he ruined their entire lives and family's lives for several generations.

In the movie, he does some sword fighting, kills his enemy, whatever.

*end rant*

Sorry, that movie, while fine on its own, was bad compared to the original (like a lot of movies today).

The movie The Princess Bride has some great sword fighting scenes in it. This movie, while not having the most masculine of titles, it is just awesome.
kankoran
09-24-04, 01:39 PM Check out "The Pirate Hunter" by Richard Zacks for an absolutely awesome look at what things were like in the 17th century. It tells the true story of Captain Kidd. As a GM running a pirate campaign, this gave me so many ideas and little bits of colour to throw into my descriptions. Fantastic.

Also, speaking of Dumas, read the original novel The Three Musketeers. Milady is the all time queen villianess. I have never once seen a villianess to match her. Do not accept the portrayal of Milady in the movies (Say the '91 Disney) as they are way too tame. otherwise, three musketeers will give you everything you're looking for in dialogue, repartee, intrigue, etc.

Also, if you've not seen "Brotherhood of the Wolf", see it ASAP. This is the best movie ever set in that period, and frankly, I regard it as a D&D movie. "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006ADEM/qid=1096046936/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6065750-1938404?v=glance&s=dvd)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
rockfall22 09-17-04, 01:21 AM	I'm developing a campaign set in an area very much like 17th century Europe. It does have multiple gods, monsters, spellcasting, magic weapons, and all that fun stuff. I am including muskets and pistols (nothing too advanced, really... just flintlocks). I was wondering if anyone had any really good plot ideas. Something involving lots of swordplay, disguises, innuendo, biting remarks and bluffing through situations. Any thoughts on how to jazz this thing up?
Sir Gimp 09-17-04, 05:44 PM	Yeah man you could do something where the party are good (or whatever alignmet) pirates sorta like sinbad or something or mabey something similar to the musketeers :)
Tony Vargas 09-17-04, 09:29 PM	I'd suggest doing some old-movie research, anything with Erol Flynn. ;) You have a campaign in mind, do you have players lined up, and do they have any character ideas? What sort of role do you think they'll have - free-lance adventurers? king's musketeers? privateers? monster-hunters? Some ideas: Give small bonuses for putting in the effort to RP in-genre... not for being a 'good actor' or anything, since many players just aren't. It'll help get players into the feel of the setting. For Plots: Infiltration: The PCs have to (in disguise or using misinformation) gain entry into a group or place and find out information or steal a significant item. Rescue: Very genre, steal back a stolen princess, kidnapped official, holy relic or whatever - twists: the kidnapee is actually the kidnapper, or is an adventuring type and quite a handful; the relic wasn't stolen but 'ascended' because the keeper was unworthy and the 'theft' is a cover-up. Rebellion: The establishment is evil, the PCs are good. Free slaves, rob from tax collectors, run and hide from enforcers, try to gain powerful allies in neighboring good (or even just less-evil kingdoms). Honor & Glory: The players are military - knights, musketeers, templars, scouts, war-wizards, whatever - and the kingdom is at war. As elites, they move about, capturing or defending critical fortresses or areas, helping resistance allies behind the lines, battling on the high seas, etc... Revenge: At least one of the PCs is a deposed noble, good person wrongly-acused, or otherwise on the lam inspite of being in the right. Others may just be helping them and guilty by association. The campaign revolves around discovering the real wrong-doers, gathering allies against the usurper, gaining the power needed to defeat thier foes, and, of course, proving innocence/exposing the culprit/deposing the usurper.
RadicalTaoist 09-18-04, 01:43 AM	Conspiracy: One or all of the PCs have been hired to do a task. This task can be of vital importance to the kingdom, which will be taken more seriously, or a deceptively minor quest. However, a separate group, unknown, attempts to sabotage the PCs' efforts. The employers ask that these interlopers be disabled or eliminated for the good of the task, but are tight-lipped as to why. Attempts to find out information about your foes lead to suspicious dead ends. And the foes try to contact the PCs with messages throwing doubt on the motives of their employers. Are the PCs to be set up? Who can they trust?
Lanoitakude 09-18-04, 10:43 PM	Make sure you know how to handle fights with lots of complex factors. Tables, stairs, chairs, all sorts of things become important in a swashbuckling fight.
Morka 09-21-04, 10:53 AM	If you remember that a good aligned character don't have to love everyone, or that an evil aligned character don't need to kill everyone, everything could be swashbuckling. Here are some ideas: - A vampire in the city. In most adventures, the Big Bad Evil Vampire wish to turn all the citizen of a city to mere cattle, and rule them all. Read a bit of Anne Rice: the vampires could have sophisticated tastes. The Vampire could be a new performer in the city, seducing a good-looking person, and then living the city. Also, in Stephen King's Salem, the vampire need to visit the same person a few nights in a row to kill her or to turn her into a vampire, and the vampire can only visit one person by night. If someone in the city begin to have strange customs, beware! - The witches. You hear rumors that there is witches in a small town near a swamp. It could be a covent of Green Hags, searching to take control of the town and make themselves rich with the area trade. Now those three Green Hags could be anyone: the mayor's wife (with the poor man under a charm spell), the beautiful shepherdess, etc. And to add a twist, add a CG elven sorceress living alone nearby... - Have a recurent NPC party be lead by a NG bard, and this bard absolutely hate one of the PCs (perhaps because the PC seduced the bard's girlfriend). This party will never truely attack the PCs, but they could cause much other harms!
Earthmaster 09-21-04, 11:00 PM	Check out The Man in the Iron Mask (movie) or The Count of Monte Cristo (movie) for some good stuff on 17th- or 18th-Century France. I saw both those movies, they were SO GOOD!!
Lanoitakude 09-22-04, 10:40 PM	begin rant I'm sorry, the movie version of The Count of Monte Cristo is trash compared to the book. It has been a while since I read the book, but I believe he built up his revenge over the course of 10 years or something, finally obtaining sweet revenge. He didn't just kill them, he ruined their entire lives and family's lives for several generations. In the movie, he does some sword fighting, kills his enemy, whatever. end rant Sorry, that movie, while fine on its own, was bad compared to the original (like a lot of movies today). The movie The Princess Bride has some great sword fighting scenes in it. This movie, while not having the most masculine of titles, it is just awesome.
kankoran 09-24-04, 01:39 PM	Check out "The Pirate Hunter" by Richard Zacks for an absolutely awesome look at what things were like in the 17th century. It tells the true story of Captain Kidd. As a GM running a pirate campaign, this gave me so many ideas and little bits of colour to throw into my descriptions. Fantastic. Also, speaking of Dumas, read the original novel The Three Musketeers. Milady is the all time queen villianess. I have never once seen a villianess to match her. Do not accept the portrayal of Milady in the movies (Say the '91 Disney) as they are way too tame. otherwise, three musketeers will give you everything you're looking for in dialogue, repartee, intrigue, etc. Also, if you've not seen "Brotherhood of the Wolf", see it ASAP. This is the best movie ever set in that period, and frankly, I regard it as a D&D movie. "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006ADEM/qid=1096046936/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6065750-1938404?v=glance&s=dvd)