Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GrinningDemon 05-30-05, 08:49 PM	So my friends and I play a lot of D&D but our campaigns usually end quickly due to a lack of intrigue. They like me to DM but I am having trouble thinking of a good campaign idea. If anyone has any good ideas Im all ears. (And please dont suggest I go and buy some supplement guide. Im really short on money.)
Rabid Dire Wolverine 05-30-05, 08:51 PM	Ask them what kind of adventure they want- if they're bored, maybe they want more battles. There's also free adventures to use on this site. They're in "downloads".
deadDMwalking 05-30-05, 09:06 PM	Buy the newest issue of Dungeon. Buy the next 12 issues. Run the Age of Worms Adventure Path. You'll have fun. You'll have everything you'll need. Your players will remember this for a long time. If your group gets ahead, sidetrek them, but not far. Try to make each issue last a month of play. Failing that, you can purchase the "Shackled City" adventure path in a hardback in a couple of months for $60.
Ni! 05-30-05, 09:07 PM	http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/genre.html
Dragontooth 05-30-05, 09:36 PM	Here is an idea There was 3 rings given to the race of Dwarves. There was 9 rings given to the race of Elves. There was 12 rings given to the race of Humans. These rings were used to give power to the lands each held. But a powerful evil forged one ring to control them all.
Ariarig 05-30-05, 10:42 PM	Use the "One hundred adventure ideas" from the Dungeon Master's Guide, p. 44-45... It could help :looloo:
Dragon4217 05-30-05, 11:24 PM	Come up with an overall theme, and build your game around that. I like to use the downloads as adventures, but tailor them to the campaign theme. Some of the low level ones really get players interested. Anyway, read it to see if you would like to play it, then read it again before you run it to be sure you know what's going on, and what you want to change. For campaigns, I like to keep cohesion with a treasure hunt. I.E. PCs need to get the 7 parts of the ancient sword of awesomeness, or find the princess, and they are the only ones who can do it, because it is written in the prophecy that "Rogar the Barbarian , Nimble the Thief, Ambrose (Magellan) the Wizard, and Newmoon the Elf...Oh yeah, and Mark the Red, must make the Journey" Sorry DG, I couldn't help it. :D
Skeane 05-30-05, 11:44 PM	depends on your style of play; I usually like to kick off starting campaigns with a simple dungeon crawl session and branch that out; build on the stuff that your party liked and build upon it.
SneakyPetey 05-30-05, 11:58 PM	Find out what your players want from their characters. Let them play characters that interest them (as long as these characters aren't so powerful they will upset the balance of the campaign). Help the players develop a character background that gives them a reason to care about the campaign. Then start developing a string of adventures that integrate the different character backgrounds and motivations. One adventure might not interest everyone in the party, but it should get enough of them involved that the othes will tag along in hopes the next adventure does interest them. Don't give them what they've been striving for immediately, but don't expect them to keep going on a wing and a prayer for a long time either. Set up a series of intermediate goals for the group to achieve. You don't have to share these goals with the players in the form of some hokey list; instead gently guide them so they can figure it out on their own. (The key word being gently.) If they embark on the occasional "side adventure" that has nothing to do with the "grand schemel" of the campaign, so be it. As long as they're enjoying the campagin, who cares? Let them enjoy each success (and failure) on the road to their final destination... Was that too vague? I hope not. At any rate, that is how I've sustained the same campaign since 1993. I hope this helps.
Karota 05-31-05, 12:29 AM	my newest adventure consists of this: 1.- The party is following the trace of a "person" who burned out their villages, and they arrive to a town tha was burned out too; there they meet with Emmet, an old man whos asks them to find his son, who is a child warforged, whose body contains parts of gold and silver. He was kidnapped by a band of gnolls, and his boss, a drow necromancer This drow kidnapped many people from this town, and even stole dead bodies from the graveyard, because he makes flesh-golems and sell them as undead soldiers in the war... the character free the boy and then learn that the drow had been controlled by a more powerful being, who left, so the character has to follow him, because it seems to be their original prey. 2.- They visit an old kingdom. The inhabitants are humans, and lack of a queen because their last one is dead and buried ina enormous mausoleum. They can´t have a new queen because the roya, crown and staff are in the tomb, so the characters could go and look for it. The dead queen is a vampire, living in the treasure chamber (she was buried in a vault apart from the treasure, but it was buerind there as a tribute to the dead queen. The setting is a dungeon with vaious levels, with secret door that can be opened by activating the right controls, everywhere in the crypt. 3.- They follow the trace of their enemy and reach the wild zone, where they meet an old civilization; they need to make their godess (Kourabi) come back to life, but they need the sea-bones (corals), and the characters have to find them. When Kourabi awakes, she tells them their enemy is Abbod A´Hai, a powerful and frenzied lich, and the only way to destriy him is using the wyrm stone, but it is hidden in the tower of the wyrm, the stone is protected by 8 seals (8 dragons, 4 occidenta and 4 oriental); the 6 first are around the world (underdark, woods, coast, desert, ice zone and mountains), the other two are living in the tower, but it only appears if the 6 first are destroyed. Maybe it can help you.
siege72 05-31-05, 12:52 AM	Find out what your players want from their characters. Let them play characters that interest them (as long as these characters aren't so powerful they will upset the balance of the campaign). Help the players develop a character background that gives them a reason to care about the campaign. Then start developing a string of adventures that integrate the different character backgrounds and motivations. One adventure might not interest everyone in the party, but it should get enough of them involved that the othes will tag along in hopes the next adventure does interest them. I've done this a few times, and it can work out very well. One lesson I learned the hard way: give the backgrounds of the most stable players priority. You don't want a major plotline being derailed because a player is a frequent no-show, or who decides to change characters "just because".
GrinningDemon 05-31-05, 08:15 PM	Thank you all for your help. I think I have quite a few ideas now. I am thinking of having my players involved in a large war. (As a special tactics unit or something to avoid having to deal with too many mass battles.) But I would like to do a few mass battles. Thing is this is one thing I've never done, and I have no clue. Other than that I think I've got all else down. I've even got a world map all drawn out and everything. Also how do you all deal with players metagame thinking? Again, thanks. I know it can be bothersome helping a newb.
Karota 05-31-05, 08:27 PM	One of my friends always analyses what i say, and tries to gues what i am planning. His character doesn´t have a way to know what my frien knows, so, when i notice he is trying to be one step further me, i change everything, and take the events in different situations.
Destiny_Forgot_me 05-31-05, 11:51 PM	I have fun making the players think they know what they are doing. have a key PC, the others are his friends/companions and are out to help him. could be any of them. because what you do is, give them if they don't already, a great magical item, a family heirloom. then let them go off and destroy a clan of goblins/orcs (whatever, it doesn't matter). when they come back, their family is dead. an assassin... now the hunt is on. the assassin, wasn't after the family, but make it look like he/she (women are sometimes more evil than men) was aiming for the father, the head of the family. and so after the killing ran away... leaving a trail for the PCs to track. the true goal, is for the assassin, is to bring the PCs out into the middle of nowhere, and get the magical item. wether that be killing them, or stealing it, or leading them into all sorts of nasty things along the way. I find it amusing to let the players think that they are the hunters, only when they get slack, and over confiedant, does the trap snap shut! Of course the assassin could either be working alone, or for some rich overlord that heard about the item, and wanted it for his collection (depending on the power of the PCs, depends on the overlord- Dragons who have polymorphed into humanoids to gain treasure is a nice surprise) This plotline, can fit into almost any other campaign, its just another thing for the PCs to worry about. Multiply plots and twists are always good (if you can keep a hold of them) that way they will never know which way to turn. Have I mentioned I like being a evil bastard? Mmwaahh ha hah hah! (evil laughter)
braindead345 06-01-05, 01:09 AM	I am going to give you a free idea. Go to your local public library and read Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, particularly Sharpe's Gold and translate it into game terms. Other books to consider as source material: Donald Westlake's The Hot Rock and Don't Ask -ideal for rogue parties. Robert Asperin's Myth Conceptions (I hope that's the right title, the one where Skeeve & Aahz are hired to defeat the invading army). The Codex by (I'm sorry I've forgotten the name it's either Peterson or Patterson). Great book! Rich old coot takes all his wealth with him to be burried in hiding. His children must work together to find his tomb and loot it if they want any inheritance.
SneakyPetey 06-01-05, 06:57 PM	One lesson I learned the hard way: give the backgrounds of the most stable players priority. You don't want a major plotline being derailed because a player is a frequent no-show, or who decides to change characters "just because". Good call! :)