Need help thinking up Campaign idea [Archive] - Wizards Community

Need help thinking up Campaign idea [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Renvale999
03-01-07, 04:37 PM Hello everyone,

So, my group just picked up two new players and we are probably going to begin a new game with me as the DM. Now my problem lies in the fact that I've been running so long (2 years with no break) that I've run out of ideas. I'm asking the people on this forum to please help me out.

As far as I'm concerned, the people on these boards are the most brilliant on the D&D forums, and I mean that in all honesty. So I'm hoping that you most brilliant ladies and gentlemen can help me out.

The campaign would start at lvl one and I would shoot for epic lvls. Any idea's, even campaigns you've run in the past, would be most helpful.

Thank you

Best Regards,

Renvale
bloodtalon
03-02-07, 10:49 AM before i could give any advice i need some more info.
are you looking for an intriged filled campaign or a mitlitary one.
which part of the realms will you be starting and hopefully where would you be ending.
Lord Karsus
03-02-07, 12:16 PM -The Dungeon Master's Guide has a list of 101 Campaign Ideas, just so you know.
MerrikCale
03-02-07, 09:01 PM As far as I'm concerned, the people on these boards are the most brilliant on the D&D forums, and I mean that in all honesty.

Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided
Tergiver
03-02-07, 09:01 PM How about including your players in the process (slash making them do some of the heavy lifting?)

Ask them to come up with a party concept and (if you don't care) an area of the realms to start in. They could decide to be members of a thieves guild, a mercenary company, or something.

You can also farm out some of the background development to the PCs by requiring them to come up with 1 to 3 NPCs, or something similar. You could also hand out some subplot cards similar to the old Torg or Masterbook games - Romance, Connection (the "I know a guy..." card), Mistaken Identity, Personal Stake, Nemesis, or anything else you come up with. Write up one to three of each card on index cards, and randomly hand them out to the players. When they level, they get a new one (and lose their old one if they haven't spent it yet).

When I started my game, I tried to give all the players one short-term and one long-term goal. That seems to have helped (and not everyone has solved their long-term goal yet, almost three years later...)
MarkusTay63
03-02-07, 09:20 PM Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguidedI'm fairly certain he wasn't talking about YOU. :P

:D :rofl:
BrennonGoldeye
03-02-07, 09:23 PM Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided

But Merrik, you look so sexy in that profile. Give yourself some credit.;)

Renvale999. Let them aim themselves in a direction and go with it. Tell them to write down their goals, fears, and favorite fruit. Then make them fear ever having to eat the fruit on the journey to their goal. I hope that made some kind of sense. Sorry, it been a very long week, and I keep getting Stigger's stray thoughts running through our..my..head.
MerrikCale
03-03-07, 02:22 PM But Merrik, you look so sexy in that profile. Give yourself some credit.;)

good point.
darksyngr
03-03-07, 05:53 PM I can give you small side quest things to do. As for long winded campaign that is a bit harder.

Never fail with an impending war that your party has to help prepare for. Most of my campaigns include several plots. I often make plots surrounding my players past and goals.

Currently my plot started with an all out drunken bar brawl. Always fun because your party can survive a fight against higher level characters and it allows for some amusing role playing. For example, the two dwarven fighters in my campaign were the loudest, drunkest, and clumsiest. By fitting chance both dwarves kept rolling botches.

Now they are running through the magic district trying to capture a magically mutated rabbit that is wrecking havok.

The larger picture is a quest to rebuild an ancient kingdom and piece together an artifact.
Renvale999
03-04-07, 12:04 PM Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided

I'm not misguided or sucking up, just being honest. I spend alot of time over on the What's a DM to do and D&D General, and it seems like 90% of the people over there are either really mean or 12 years old. Over here atleast you've got decent folk.
Renvale999
03-04-07, 12:06 PM before i could give any advice i need some more info.
are you looking for an intriged filled campaign or a mitlitary one.
which part of the realms will you be starting and hopefully where would you be ending.

I'm toying with the idea of a dragon based campaign and running the Red Hand of Doom in the middle. Not sure if I'm going to push it to epic but I would like to face down an avatar of Tiamat I think. I've been reading Dragons of Faerun cover to cover and I'm still looking for ideas.

Any help would be appreciated.

P.S. I decided last night that I would like to start in Beregost, south of Waterdeep with the PC's level 1.
BrennonGoldeye
03-04-07, 01:49 PM I'm not misguided or sucking up, just being honest. I spend alot of time over on the What's a DM to do and D&D General, and it seems like 90% of the people over there are either really mean or 12 years old. Over here atleast you've got decent folk.

We try, or at least some of us do.:ayyyy!:
MerrikCale
03-04-07, 02:48 PM Over here atleast you've got decent folk.

could you point them out for me. :)
Renvale999
03-04-07, 11:27 PM could you point them out for me. :)

Lord Karsus
BrennonGoldenEye
MerrikCale
Markus
Brian Critchley
Renvale999

That's all I can think of right now lol :D
Lord Karsus
03-04-07, 11:33 PM Lord Karsus

-Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t:

-Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could!
Renvale999
03-04-07, 11:43 PM -Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t:

-Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could!

How many times do I have to point out to you, you weren't evil, just really misunderstood and made the biggest blunder this side of Kara-Tur, but look you've been forgiven and to be honest I wish you would cast that spell again and get rid of Cyric. I think he's the biggest non-useful god there is.

Here I go de-railing my own thread :rolleyes:
Lord Karsus
03-04-07, 11:45 PM How many times do I have to point out to you, you weren't evil, just really misunderstood and made the biggest blunder this side of Kara-Tur, but look you've been forgiven and to be honest I wish you would cast that spell again and get rid of Cyric. I think he's the biggest non-useful god there is.

-Most people don't see it that way. Priests and Priestess' of Mystra, and to a lesser degree, Azuth, Denier and Oghma, still teach the little children about 'Big, Bad, Crazy Karsus', and how hubris, pride and power lead down slippery slopes. Talk about a bad rep...:rolleyes:
Renvale999
03-05-07, 07:17 PM -Most people don't see it that way. Priests and Priestess' of Mystra, and to a lesser degree, Azuth, Denier and Oghma, still teach the little children about 'Big, Bad, Crazy Karsus', and how hubris, pride and power lead down slippery slopes. Talk about a bad rep...:rolleyes:

Well of course the gods are going to say you were bad, you stole from them their precious divinity!!! A mere mortal called down the thunder of the gods and took it for himself. The gods are more petty than any mortal, in my opinion and that's how I DM them.

They're just mad cause you were awesome and they sucked big monkey toes! lol.

Anyway Lord Karsus, you got any helpful advice for my campaign? lol.
msatran
03-05-07, 08:31 PM Why don't you try this? Post your email address here. I will mail you my "Terrible Revenge of Roungouze Haballanter" outline and background pregens.

Here's how it works.

First, read the original Waterdeep and The North Supplement adventure hooks section in the back. You can download it off the site if you've never seen it. There is a hook in there entitled "The Unmourned Passing of Roungouze Haballanter."

Second, change the adventuring groups in the prelude to fit your campaign.

Third, put the characters into a hat, keyed to colored stones or d8s or something. You should easily be able to figure out which character is linked to which adventure and work them in.

Fourth, have them pick from the hat. All the ones they don't pick become allies or nemeses at your discretion. Run the campaign. Enjoy!
BrennonGoldeye
03-05-07, 09:00 PM Lord Karsus
BrennonGoldenEye
MerrikCale
Markus
Brian Critchley
Renvale999

That's all I can think of right now lol :D

Nice list, good company. It's Goldeye by the way. GoldenEye, lol, thats funny. I'm married to a Dr. Noe.;)
MerrikCale
03-05-07, 09:32 PM -Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t:

-Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could!

How the heck did you get top billing?
Renvale999
03-06-07, 07:42 AM Cause if I don't appease him he'll go and take down another goddess and bring down another civilization, but shhhhhhh don't tell him I told you Merrik.

Sorry Brennon, I saw that I made a mistake but then I was too lazy to change it lol.
Lord Karsus
03-06-07, 09:25 AM Anyway Lord Karsus, you got any helpful advice for my campaign? lol.

-Well, like I said, the DMG has a list of 100 Campaign Ideas, a list which I find useful. If I had the DMG in front of me, I could give you the page. I believe it is in one of the 'World Building' Chapters.

How the heck did you get top billing?

-Because Everyone loves Karsus. (Coming Fall 2008 on FOX)
Karsus the Mad
03-06-07, 10:14 AM A Lantanese nutcase rogue artificer has miraculously created a method of somehow utilizing spinning cogs and springs to create an unstable, and temporary dead-magic zone! Utilizing the epidermes of a metalmaster, he builds a device to pass the chunks of magnetic slug repeatedly through a copper coil super fast, generating a strange localized phenomena that disrupts the threads of the two weaves. Now, he's built a steam engine to do the peddling for him (tired feet), and he's learned the faster the magnetic slug chunks are passed through the copper coil, the larger the area of effect. So now, he's worked out a way of utilizing a volcano to provide the heat for the giant steam engine, and has diverted a small river to supply the water, and intends on crafting the biggest and weirdest copper coil ever so that he can turn all of Toril into a dead-magic zone and everyone would be forced to buy his quirky devices instead of using magic, and for the glory of Gond of course....
I did say he was a nutcase....
MerrikCale
03-06-07, 09:24 PM -
-Because Everyone loves Karsus. (Coming Fall 2008 on FOX)

if ntohing else, you deserve top billing just for that line. Nice.
BrennonGoldeye
03-06-07, 09:56 PM :waits: ...Oh nevermind.....

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Renvale999 03-01-07, 04:37 PM	Hello everyone, So, my group just picked up two new players and we are probably going to begin a new game with me as the DM. Now my problem lies in the fact that I've been running so long (2 years with no break) that I've run out of ideas. I'm asking the people on this forum to please help me out. As far as I'm concerned, the people on these boards are the most brilliant on the D&D forums, and I mean that in all honesty. So I'm hoping that you most brilliant ladies and gentlemen can help me out. The campaign would start at lvl one and I would shoot for epic lvls. Any idea's, even campaigns you've run in the past, would be most helpful. Thank you Best Regards, Renvale
bloodtalon 03-02-07, 10:49 AM	before i could give any advice i need some more info. are you looking for an intriged filled campaign or a mitlitary one. which part of the realms will you be starting and hopefully where would you be ending.
Lord Karsus 03-02-07, 12:16 PM	-The Dungeon Master's Guide has a list of 101 Campaign Ideas, just so you know.
MerrikCale 03-02-07, 09:01 PM	As far as I'm concerned, the people on these boards are the most brilliant on the D&D forums, and I mean that in all honesty. Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided
Tergiver 03-02-07, 09:01 PM	How about including your players in the process (slash making them do some of the heavy lifting?) Ask them to come up with a party concept and (if you don't care) an area of the realms to start in. They could decide to be members of a thieves guild, a mercenary company, or something. You can also farm out some of the background development to the PCs by requiring them to come up with 1 to 3 NPCs, or something similar. You could also hand out some subplot cards similar to the old Torg or Masterbook games - Romance, Connection (the "I know a guy..." card), Mistaken Identity, Personal Stake, Nemesis, or anything else you come up with. Write up one to three of each card on index cards, and randomly hand them out to the players. When they level, they get a new one (and lose their old one if they haven't spent it yet). When I started my game, I tried to give all the players one short-term and one long-term goal. That seems to have helped (and not everyone has solved their long-term goal yet, almost three years later...)
MarkusTay63 03-02-07, 09:20 PM	Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguidedI'm fairly certain he wasn't talking about YOU. :P :D :rofl:
BrennonGoldeye 03-02-07, 09:23 PM	Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided But Merrik, you look so sexy in that profile. Give yourself some credit.;) Renvale999. Let them aim themselves in a direction and go with it. Tell them to write down their goals, fears, and favorite fruit. Then make them fear ever having to eat the fruit on the journey to their goal. I hope that made some kind of sense. Sorry, it been a very long week, and I keep getting Stigger's stray thoughts running through our..my..head.
MerrikCale 03-03-07, 02:22 PM	But Merrik, you look so sexy in that profile. Give yourself some credit.;) good point.
darksyngr 03-03-07, 05:53 PM	I can give you small side quest things to do. As for long winded campaign that is a bit harder. Never fail with an impending war that your party has to help prepare for. Most of my campaigns include several plots. I often make plots surrounding my players past and goals. Currently my plot started with an all out drunken bar brawl. Always fun because your party can survive a fight against higher level characters and it allows for some amusing role playing. For example, the two dwarven fighters in my campaign were the loudest, drunkest, and clumsiest. By fitting chance both dwarves kept rolling botches. Now they are running through the magic district trying to capture a magically mutated rabbit that is wrecking havok. The larger picture is a quest to rebuild an ancient kingdom and piece together an artifact.
Renvale999 03-04-07, 12:04 PM	Talk about sucking up. Or maybe he's just really misguided I'm not misguided or sucking up, just being honest. I spend alot of time over on the What's a DM to do and D&D General, and it seems like 90% of the people over there are either really mean or 12 years old. Over here atleast you've got decent folk.
Renvale999 03-04-07, 12:06 PM	before i could give any advice i need some more info. are you looking for an intriged filled campaign or a mitlitary one. which part of the realms will you be starting and hopefully where would you be ending. I'm toying with the idea of a dragon based campaign and running the Red Hand of Doom in the middle. Not sure if I'm going to push it to epic but I would like to face down an avatar of Tiamat I think. I've been reading Dragons of Faerun cover to cover and I'm still looking for ideas. Any help would be appreciated. P.S. I decided last night that I would like to start in Beregost, south of Waterdeep with the PC's level 1.
BrennonGoldeye 03-04-07, 01:49 PM	I'm not misguided or sucking up, just being honest. I spend alot of time over on the What's a DM to do and D&D General, and it seems like 90% of the people over there are either really mean or 12 years old. Over here atleast you've got decent folk. We try, or at least some of us do.:ayyyy!:
MerrikCale 03-04-07, 02:48 PM	Over here atleast you've got decent folk. could you point them out for me. :)
Renvale999 03-04-07, 11:27 PM	could you point them out for me. :) Lord Karsus BrennonGoldenEye MerrikCale Markus Brian Critchley Renvale999 That's all I can think of right now lol :D
Lord Karsus 03-04-07, 11:33 PM	Lord Karsus -Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t: -Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could!
Renvale999 03-04-07, 11:43 PM	-Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t: -Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could! How many times do I have to point out to you, you weren't evil, just really misunderstood and made the biggest blunder this side of Kara-Tur, but look you've been forgiven and to be honest I wish you would cast that spell again and get rid of Cyric. I think he's the biggest non-useful god there is. Here I go de-railing my own thread :rolleyes:
Lord Karsus 03-04-07, 11:45 PM	How many times do I have to point out to you, you weren't evil, just really misunderstood and made the biggest blunder this side of Kara-Tur, but look you've been forgiven and to be honest I wish you would cast that spell again and get rid of Cyric. I think he's the biggest non-useful god there is. -Most people don't see it that way. Priests and Priestess' of Mystra, and to a lesser degree, Azuth, Denier and Oghma, still teach the little children about 'Big, Bad, Crazy Karsus', and how hubris, pride and power lead down slippery slopes. Talk about a bad rep...:rolleyes:
Renvale999 03-05-07, 07:17 PM	-Most people don't see it that way. Priests and Priestess' of Mystra, and to a lesser degree, Azuth, Denier and Oghma, still teach the little children about 'Big, Bad, Crazy Karsus', and how hubris, pride and power lead down slippery slopes. Talk about a bad rep...:rolleyes: Well of course the gods are going to say you were bad, you stole from them their precious divinity!!! A mere mortal called down the thunder of the gods and took it for himself. The gods are more petty than any mortal, in my opinion and that's how I DM them. They're just mad cause you were awesome and they sucked big monkey toes! lol. Anyway Lord Karsus, you got any helpful advice for my campaign? lol.
msatran 03-05-07, 08:31 PM	Why don't you try this? Post your email address here. I will mail you my "Terrible Revenge of Roungouze Haballanter" outline and background pregens. Here's how it works. First, read the original Waterdeep and The North Supplement adventure hooks section in the back. You can download it off the site if you've never seen it. There is a hook in there entitled "The Unmourned Passing of Roungouze Haballanter." Second, change the adventuring groups in the prelude to fit your campaign. Third, put the characters into a hat, keyed to colored stones or d8s or something. You should easily be able to figure out which character is linked to which adventure and work them in. Fourth, have them pick from the hat. All the ones they don't pick become allies or nemeses at your discretion. Run the campaign. Enjoy!
BrennonGoldeye 03-05-07, 09:00 PM	Lord Karsus BrennonGoldenEye MerrikCale Markus Brian Critchley Renvale999 That's all I can think of right now lol :D Nice list, good company. It's Goldeye by the way. GoldenEye, lol, thats funny. I'm married to a Dr. Noe.;)
MerrikCale 03-05-07, 09:32 PM	-Woo Hoo! I am decent! :w00t: -Take that stereotype of an evil wizard who killed the goddess of magic because he could! How the heck did you get top billing?
Renvale999 03-06-07, 07:42 AM	Cause if I don't appease him he'll go and take down another goddess and bring down another civilization, but shhhhhhh don't tell him I told you Merrik. Sorry Brennon, I saw that I made a mistake but then I was too lazy to change it lol.
Lord Karsus 03-06-07, 09:25 AM	Anyway Lord Karsus, you got any helpful advice for my campaign? lol. -Well, like I said, the DMG has a list of 100 Campaign Ideas, a list which I find useful. If I had the DMG in front of me, I could give you the page. I believe it is in one of the 'World Building' Chapters. How the heck did you get top billing? -Because Everyone loves Karsus. (Coming Fall 2008 on FOX)
Karsus the Mad 03-06-07, 10:14 AM	A Lantanese nutcase rogue artificer has miraculously created a method of somehow utilizing spinning cogs and springs to create an unstable, and temporary dead-magic zone! Utilizing the epidermes of a metalmaster, he builds a device to pass the chunks of magnetic slug repeatedly through a copper coil super fast, generating a strange localized phenomena that disrupts the threads of the two weaves. Now, he's built a steam engine to do the peddling for him (tired feet), and he's learned the faster the magnetic slug chunks are passed through the copper coil, the larger the area of effect. So now, he's worked out a way of utilizing a volcano to provide the heat for the giant steam engine, and has diverted a small river to supply the water, and intends on crafting the biggest and weirdest copper coil ever so that he can turn all of Toril into a dead-magic zone and everyone would be forced to buy his quirky devices instead of using magic, and for the glory of Gond of course.... I did say he was a nutcase....
MerrikCale 03-06-07, 09:24 PM	- -Because Everyone loves Karsus. (Coming Fall 2008 on FOX) if ntohing else, you deserve top billing just for that line. Nice.
BrennonGoldeye 03-06-07, 09:56 PM	:waits: ...Oh nevermind.....