Campaign Idea [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign Idea [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
darko blades
05-30-07, 06:40 PM Probably not the first time a DM has aired his budding campaign idea on these fine forums but here goes:

I have been into cyberpunk, post apocalyptic campaigns and the eberron campaign setting for some time now and have wanted to tie the pieces together.

Without obliterating the whole of Khorvaire i thought of the one place thats already seen the apocalypse: the Mournland.

The theme of most apocalyptic campaigns is that the players are survivors of the cataclysm or slept through it (in the case of rip van teams) and strive to cut out their own piece of civilisation in this new lawless world.

How do you survive the mourning? i dunno but the players wont know to start off with either.

I'm thinking to get the cyberpunk element in there the players could all be part of an elite House Cannith Unit. Now i know House C didn't, and wasn't allowed to have its own army, but i think that their artificers would have ran some experiments. Fitting humanoids with warforged components (like a warforged arm or warforged eyes or armour plating) much the same way a Cannith Mastermaker can. These wouldn't be as powerful as the afformention Mastermakers Warforged fist but would aid them as new players. Of course a Warforged character would be fine aswell.

Part of the reason for giving the players a warforged component is to get round the healing issue. In the Mournland cure spells down work, but repair spells do. So if every player was part living construct we could say they could be healed with repair spells. This would also help explain why they could survive in the Mournland for so long.

The campaign would revolve around (as do most post apocalyptic campaigns) survival, setting up a base, bring law to this lawless place, unravelling the mystery of the mourning.

Anyway i look forward to your comments (good or bad) and will post some more stuff as some more ideas pop into my head (there is plenty of room in there after all) Thanks. DB
Rechan
05-30-07, 07:50 PM Classes would probably be (or be working towards): Cannith Wand Adept (Sharn: CoT), Alchemist Savant (Magic of Eberron), or Cyre Scout (Dragonmarked), and possibly an Ex-member of Cyre's secret service, or something of that fashion. When it comes to Cyberpunk, the Blastificer, Archificer and Hordeficer builds especially fit into this setting.

A construct graft would fit the bill for cyberwear. I forget which book they're in, maybe they were in Dragon, but I have seen Construct grafts recently. Also Undead grafts might work, as Negative energy is not prevented in the Mournlands, and healing via negative energy (while cheap and twinky) is possible.

You might also want to consider allowing PCs to be mutated by their environment, allowing them to take feats or something that would represent the Mournland effecting them mentally and physically. Maybe one of the PCs sprouts an Aberrant Mark, takes a class in Warlock, or some other effects.

Though I'm familiar with Cyberpunk elements - you need Noir, you need an oppressive city filled with Corporations and you need Fixers who are looking for people with a death wish to send in places. The Dragonmarked Houses and the Aurum are the closest things you're going to get to a Corporation. If you wanted to impliment this element, perhaps the PCs aren't in the Mournlands when the crap hits the fan, but instead they are trained by Cyre West, Cyre South or Cyre East to go into the Mournlands. Perhaps to recover important artifacts/technology/momentos, look for survivors, or to take out the Lord of Blades himself. Along the way they must do all the rest. Maybe one of them is even working for another faction of Cannith, so they double-cross the other person, or somehow their contacts/supplies/way out malfunctions and they're stuck in the Mournlands.

On this end, Charles Phipps over on 1001 Eberron Adventure Seeds (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=771642) suggested this:
Train Job: A Cyrean entrepeneur with the aid of Merrix D'Cannith has created a vast rail system to cross over the Mournland in an astoundingly short period of time. This has been without the usual problems of monsters, warforged attacks, and undead assaults that are normally expected of such. It's believed that this will create a vast and powerfully wealthy addition to commerce in the Four Nations as the Mourners are outraged over the fact that it was constructed without their permission or payment.

The owner's success can be contributed to the fact that he's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Having lost everything, he's made a deal with a Daelkyr's minion to deliver the entire train population into the hands of his minions to be dragged off to Xoriat when a Manifest Zone occurs right in the center of the train trip and the train breaks down for it. The Lord of Blades has also been promised prisoners from it including the inaugeral riding of the Crown Princess of Breland. Having pocketed most of the investors money for the project, he will escape by the aid of Emerald Claw allies while leaving the rest to die.

There will even be an attack by Mourner terrorists to shut it down. Oh and the PCs recieve free tickets in a mail gift! Can they lead the survivors in an exodus away from the horror or can they repair the machine to take them past a horde of horrors?

Don't forget 1001 Mournland Horrors (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=407341) while we're at it.

As a side note, the other area that's Apocalyptic is the Demon Wastes. I've wanted to run a Demon Wastes campaign for a long time - basically the PCs crash land in the middle and they must somehow try and make it out. But this would have more heavily Dark Sun elements than Cyberpunk.
kentonblack
05-30-07, 08:03 PM construct grafts appered, oddly enough, in the Faiths of ebberon supplement(go fig).they range from 1000gp(mighty arms granting a slam attack and the ability to attach arm components) to 14000gp*(wakeful mind garanting an immunity to sleep and the non-need for sleep). In my opinion, they would be very nice, if slightly powerful gifts for low level gamers, but still very viable gifts considering the dangers of the mournland

one thing to consider is the ournlands lack of an economy. unless the PC's start trading with the lord of blades(or a certain lich who shows up in the marked for death book series) they will have noone to sell magic items to. just a thought tho'.
Vharuck
05-30-07, 10:38 PM I'd say let them use regular healing spells but they only work half as well (like with warforged). This really stresses the survival aspect without being a total hardcore experience as the Mournlands usually are.
darko blades
06-03-07, 11:33 AM Thanks so much for the comments thus far. Lots of good ideas coming from the boards. :) Keep it coming.

p.s Faith of Eberron is now on my wish list ;)
DoveArrow
06-05-07, 01:42 PM Keep in mind that there are ways of getting around the healing restrictions of the Mournlands. For example, a PC could cast rope trick, creating an extradimensional space where they could heal normally. Also, keep in mind that the Mournlands are mysterious, and that nobody is really sure about what happened, how it happened, or if it will happen again. With that in mind, you may decide that one of the House Cannith facilities survived for reasons surpassing explanation, and that it exists inside a pocket where healing can be used normally. Just some thoughts.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
darko blades 05-30-07, 06:40 PM	Probably not the first time a DM has aired his budding campaign idea on these fine forums but here goes: I have been into cyberpunk, post apocalyptic campaigns and the eberron campaign setting for some time now and have wanted to tie the pieces together. Without obliterating the whole of Khorvaire i thought of the one place thats already seen the apocalypse: the Mournland. The theme of most apocalyptic campaigns is that the players are survivors of the cataclysm or slept through it (in the case of rip van teams) and strive to cut out their own piece of civilisation in this new lawless world. How do you survive the mourning? i dunno but the players wont know to start off with either. I'm thinking to get the cyberpunk element in there the players could all be part of an elite House Cannith Unit. Now i know House C didn't, and wasn't allowed to have its own army, but i think that their artificers would have ran some experiments. Fitting humanoids with warforged components (like a warforged arm or warforged eyes or armour plating) much the same way a Cannith Mastermaker can. These wouldn't be as powerful as the afformention Mastermakers Warforged fist but would aid them as new players. Of course a Warforged character would be fine aswell. Part of the reason for giving the players a warforged component is to get round the healing issue. In the Mournland cure spells down work, but repair spells do. So if every player was part living construct we could say they could be healed with repair spells. This would also help explain why they could survive in the Mournland for so long. The campaign would revolve around (as do most post apocalyptic campaigns) survival, setting up a base, bring law to this lawless place, unravelling the mystery of the mourning. Anyway i look forward to your comments (good or bad) and will post some more stuff as some more ideas pop into my head (there is plenty of room in there after all) Thanks. DB
Rechan 05-30-07, 07:50 PM	Classes would probably be (or be working towards): Cannith Wand Adept (Sharn: CoT), Alchemist Savant (Magic of Eberron), or Cyre Scout (Dragonmarked), and possibly an Ex-member of Cyre's secret service, or something of that fashion. When it comes to Cyberpunk, the Blastificer, Archificer and Hordeficer builds especially fit into this setting. A construct graft would fit the bill for cyberwear. I forget which book they're in, maybe they were in Dragon, but I have seen Construct grafts recently. Also Undead grafts might work, as Negative energy is not prevented in the Mournlands, and healing via negative energy (while cheap and twinky) is possible. You might also want to consider allowing PCs to be mutated by their environment, allowing them to take feats or something that would represent the Mournland effecting them mentally and physically. Maybe one of the PCs sprouts an Aberrant Mark, takes a class in Warlock, or some other effects. Though I'm familiar with Cyberpunk elements - you need Noir, you need an oppressive city filled with Corporations and you need Fixers who are looking for people with a death wish to send in places. The Dragonmarked Houses and the Aurum are the closest things you're going to get to a Corporation. If you wanted to impliment this element, perhaps the PCs aren't in the Mournlands when the crap hits the fan, but instead they are trained by Cyre West, Cyre South or Cyre East to go into the Mournlands. Perhaps to recover important artifacts/technology/momentos, look for survivors, or to take out the Lord of Blades himself. Along the way they must do all the rest. Maybe one of them is even working for another faction of Cannith, so they double-cross the other person, or somehow their contacts/supplies/way out malfunctions and they're stuck in the Mournlands. On this end, Charles Phipps over on 1001 Eberron Adventure Seeds (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=771642) suggested this: Train Job: A Cyrean entrepeneur with the aid of Merrix D'Cannith has created a vast rail system to cross over the Mournland in an astoundingly short period of time. This has been without the usual problems of monsters, warforged attacks, and undead assaults that are normally expected of such. It's believed that this will create a vast and powerfully wealthy addition to commerce in the Four Nations as the Mourners are outraged over the fact that it was constructed without their permission or payment. The owner's success can be contributed to the fact that he's robbing Peter to pay Paul. Having lost everything, he's made a deal with a Daelkyr's minion to deliver the entire train population into the hands of his minions to be dragged off to Xoriat when a Manifest Zone occurs right in the center of the train trip and the train breaks down for it. The Lord of Blades has also been promised prisoners from it including the inaugeral riding of the Crown Princess of Breland. Having pocketed most of the investors money for the project, he will escape by the aid of Emerald Claw allies while leaving the rest to die. There will even be an attack by Mourner terrorists to shut it down. Oh and the PCs recieve free tickets in a mail gift! Can they lead the survivors in an exodus away from the horror or can they repair the machine to take them past a horde of horrors? Don't forget 1001 Mournland Horrors (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=407341) while we're at it. As a side note, the other area that's Apocalyptic is the Demon Wastes. I've wanted to run a Demon Wastes campaign for a long time - basically the PCs crash land in the middle and they must somehow try and make it out. But this would have more heavily Dark Sun elements than Cyberpunk.
kentonblack 05-30-07, 08:03 PM	construct grafts appered, oddly enough, in the Faiths of ebberon supplement(go fig).they range from 1000gp(mighty arms granting a slam attack and the ability to attach arm components) to 14000gp*(wakeful mind garanting an immunity to sleep and the non-need for sleep). In my opinion, they would be very nice, if slightly powerful gifts for low level gamers, but still very viable gifts considering the dangers of the mournland one thing to consider is the ournlands lack of an economy. unless the PC's start trading with the lord of blades(or a certain lich who shows up in the marked for death book series) they will have noone to sell magic items to. just a thought tho'.
Vharuck 05-30-07, 10:38 PM	I'd say let them use regular healing spells but they only work half as well (like with warforged). This really stresses the survival aspect without being a total hardcore experience as the Mournlands usually are.
darko blades 06-03-07, 11:33 AM	Thanks so much for the comments thus far. Lots of good ideas coming from the boards. :) Keep it coming. p.s Faith of Eberron is now on my wish list ;)
DoveArrow 06-05-07, 01:42 PM	Keep in mind that there are ways of getting around the healing restrictions of the Mournlands. For example, a PC could cast rope trick, creating an extradimensional space where they could heal normally. Also, keep in mind that the Mournlands are mysterious, and that nobody is really sure about what happened, how it happened, or if it will happen again. With that in mind, you may decide that one of the House Cannith facilities survived for reasons surpassing explanation, and that it exists inside a pocket where healing can be used normally. Just some thoughts.