Campaign Ideas Need for Main Plot [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign Ideas Need for Main Plot [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Joe Pacelli
03-13-05, 01:02 PM I asking everyone for some ideas for a main plot for a new campaign I'm planning to start. I would like to give the players a basic 1 to 2 page summary of what the campaign entails but the only thing I've got are small quests.

The campaign needs to run for at least 1.5 to 2 years. We meet every 3rd Saturday from 4pm - midnight. Like I said I've got all these great story lines but none of them can be spanned for 1.5-2yrs and be a main storyline.

So if you have any suggestions let's hear them. The world is a standard D&D world.

Joe
LadyCreator
03-13-05, 01:12 PM You should check out the sticky that has useful links for DMs. From that list I found a site that has tons of plots, most of which I haven't started looking at yet.

http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/length.html

Other than that, I'd suggest that you put a couple of your small storylines together, come up with a creative way to link them - maybe the same villain is behind both, maybe the one leads to the other, maybe resolving one has an unexpected terrible consequence....
Board_Rider
03-13-05, 01:14 PM With your small quests have some big time BBEG behind the scenes...plotting somehow.
Early for me...not too creative. right now.
However if you look on the "main" boards you will find a thread named "Creative Corner" and that will help you.
Fixxxer
03-13-05, 01:41 PM You might think about finding the issues of Dungeon magazine that either deal with the Incursion adventure (the gith finally attack into the Prime Material plane) or the adventures in the city of Cauldron (evil cultists, a replace mayor...the works). As I recall, both of these were fairly long adventures. The first one was a major, world-shaking adventure, while the second one was important, but a lot more subtle.
fdnickerson
03-13-05, 01:47 PM You might think about finding the issues of Dungeon magazine that either deal with the Incursion adventure (the gith finally attack into the Prime Material plane) or the adventures in the city of Cauldron (evil cultists, a replace mayor...the works). As I recall, both of these were fairly long adventures. The first one was a major, world-shaking adventure, while the second one was important, but a lot more subtle.

Issues 100 and 97 respectively from what a brief web search tells me.
Vatras
03-13-05, 02:51 PM That would average a total of 25-34 sessions, which by the usual rate of progress indicate a maximum character level of 12 to 17, nothing epic. I also assume the party is not evil or consists out of monsters or undead, which would require a different approach.

As the main theme should be able to surface at any time, we need something flexible that can involve many things. So lets make some basic decisions first:
- Is there to be a BBEG? That means a final powerful guy whose ambition is the driving force for the main theme.
Options for BBEGs are many and varied ones, ranging from an evil demonprince to the ruling council of an evil nation, from an archwizard to the elder brain of an illithid community.
- Do we want the main thing to be independent, and not a BBEG at all?
Options here are a condition which is getting worse all the time, until the PCs find the solution, like magic getting slowly out of control, an uncureable disease spreading slowly but steady (e.g. as Corprus in "Morrowind"), the climate changing with all its harmful side effects, or a quest set by someone for the players, which will take the whole campaign to accomplish (e.g. recollect all pieces of a broken/destroyed item, like the Nether Scrolls or the pieces of a legendary weapon).

The more popular choice is to have a personal foe for the PCs, your typical BBEG, who gets faced off in the showdown. So lets run with a secret society as the main foe. We can choose between many goals for such an organisation, but lets choose one that undeniably evil to avoid moral disputes later. We will also choose a non-human race for them, which will be the root of the conflict.
Our bad guys are the Fangs of Seth, led by a council of five (one fanatic from each of the five tribes of the yuan-ti), who are yuan-ti. The goal of the Fangs is to subvert human cities and society; they will first try to become the power behind the throne, then start to convert more people into yuan-ti with the long-term goal (couple of thousand years) of world domination by the snake people, eradicating the mammal races.
They have arcane and divine classes among them, and also number a lot of psionics. According to the "Serpent Kingdoms" they are no strangers to magic/psionic bio-engineering and accomplished alchemists (they produce many and potent drugs and poisons). They see themselves as the heirs of the Ssarrukh, their creators (who died out after falling into decadence and boredom...their empire went with a whimper, not with a bang), and it is their birthright to dominate the world.
The yuan-ti are politically and philosophically not a united race, and have internal factions vie for power, as well as very different goals. The goal to propagate the race as a whole at other races expense is one of the few things all five tribes would agree upon.
It does not matter, what the groups motivation is, pick the one you think most fitting: religious zeal (they believe to act on the wishes of their gods), lust for power and wealth, racial hatred and contempt for the later mammal races, the simple drive to conquer and rule the earth. According to this focus you pick your major NPCs, the five leaders of the Fangs. If the are religious, include more priests, if they are conquerors, use melee classes, and so on. This focus will also determine, how they go about their goals, and what means they have. Do a very extensive design for the leaders and the organisation (wealth, magic/psionics available) to determine what powers they have at their command, and then never go beyond that (this will instill after a while a sense of how they work in the players; it gives them a feeling they understand their enemy, and finally they will try to adapt to that; its much more satisfying to the players if they "know" their enemy instead of having faceless opponents of unknown limits).

After having worked out the whole organisation (do a roster with rang, name, homebase, level, job, etc.), which can be as small as the leaders, a few lieutenants and a couple of agents to set things in motion, or large enough to field a small army (this will take a while, but is a very helpful reference for you when planning adventures), you have to work out what they actually do.
Lets say the Five are based in an underground ruin in the wilder part of the area they want to subvert (in the FR this could be in the Evermoors) and direct everything from there. Next step is to determine how they communicate with their minions, and who knows what about whom. The whole thing is secret, so certain cut-out procedures and safety measures must be in place. This will also allow you to judge, if the PCs are able to track them, and up to what point.
Communication from the inner circle to their direct minions shall be by magic (sending, a summoned messenger or telepathy are the most likely ways). The base of operations in a city and the cover of their primary agents is usual commercial. So agents can come and go, unnoticed between the customers.
We need also some guidelines how the Fangs work. This goes like "never employ humans where they can betray us", "never ever use divine servants of anyone but Seth for our plans", "never use magic, when money and drugs can achieve the same", "the dagger is mightier than the sword", "dont risk our lives, when we can risk someone else", and so on. We plan their actions later along these guidelines.

You can see where it goes from here :)

The main theme needs not be introduced at once, but should slowly come to the awareness of the players. Once they hit upon it, they should be able to make connections to things they observed earlier. Maybe regarding it as a fluke at first, but realizing that things are much worse as they thought later on. Since we have several BBEGs, its possible to stage a showdown in the later campaign with one of them, possibly making them believe that things are solved now.
On another note: since the players cannot know whom they can trust after realizing what is going on (maybe impress it on them with an incident: if they try to take it to "the authorities" they get attacked by yuan-ti assassins shortly afterwards), they cannot turn to help from the government or other important people (anybody could already be converted).

We say the yuan-ti are going to start afresh in a city the PCs visit often or are living in. They send a merchant in alchemical stuff who establishes a business and will become the local headquarters. An secret agent will also come and establish himself with the underworld as a peddler of drugs to raise funds (all bases are supposed to finance themselves after a while). After a while they will have found out who is who in the city and start to go for certain targets. This includes military and police officers (to subvert, charm or bribe them), spellcasters/psionics (to assassinate if subversion fails) and other important people (rich merchants, political figures), until they can get into the reach of the ruler(s) (subvert or stage a coup de etat to bring a puppet to power).
Since we now know what the bad guys do where and when, and also what the PCs are doing, we know where and when they might have some form of contact, or who could possibly ask them for help (which will give us hooks).

So, that was my contribution to campaign ideas :)
Joe Pacelli
03-13-05, 07:58 PM Vatras,
Like the ideas. I've got some small plots with Yuan-Ti but not much more. I'll have to pick up th e Serpent Kingdom this week and see if I can exapand on the plots I have and incorporate some of your ideas.

Thanks, Much appreciated
Joe
Fixxxer
03-13-05, 08:54 PM Issues 100 and 97 respectively from what a brief web search tells me.

Interestingly enough, shortly after posting, I was unpacking a box from my closet and I found issue #100. Strange.

Something I didn't mention before, Joe Pacelli, is that the Slayer's Guide books by Mongoose Publishing always include a number of good plot hooks for including the monsters the particular book is based on. Might be worth a look.
Mizik
03-13-05, 09:50 PM well the main plot in my campian is the infernal invation of the matirial plane. A epic level dragon and a epic level devil are plotting to rearange the planare universe by use of an epic level spell. Resulting in the celestial plane being cast off into the great beyond (exiling the plane from the rest; no planer travel nothing). and hard tieing the material plane to the abyss and hell.

the devil and dragon are mutual partners and will backstab eachother when they are finished. Depending on players actions one or the other will win, becoming the main BBEG.

Basicly if the players screw up the plane will litteraly go to hell. but heck they are still level 9 they won't find out untill epic i think :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Joe Pacelli 03-13-05, 01:02 PM	I asking everyone for some ideas for a main plot for a new campaign I'm planning to start. I would like to give the players a basic 1 to 2 page summary of what the campaign entails but the only thing I've got are small quests. The campaign needs to run for at least 1.5 to 2 years. We meet every 3rd Saturday from 4pm - midnight. Like I said I've got all these great story lines but none of them can be spanned for 1.5-2yrs and be a main storyline. So if you have any suggestions let's hear them. The world is a standard D&D world. Joe
LadyCreator 03-13-05, 01:12 PM	You should check out the sticky that has useful links for DMs. From that list I found a site that has tons of plots, most of which I haven't started looking at yet. http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/alex/Handbooks/WWWPlots/length.html Other than that, I'd suggest that you put a couple of your small storylines together, come up with a creative way to link them - maybe the same villain is behind both, maybe the one leads to the other, maybe resolving one has an unexpected terrible consequence....
Board_Rider 03-13-05, 01:14 PM	With your small quests have some big time BBEG behind the scenes...plotting somehow. Early for me...not too creative. right now. However if you look on the "main" boards you will find a thread named "Creative Corner" and that will help you.
Fixxxer 03-13-05, 01:41 PM	You might think about finding the issues of Dungeon magazine that either deal with the Incursion adventure (the gith finally attack into the Prime Material plane) or the adventures in the city of Cauldron (evil cultists, a replace mayor...the works). As I recall, both of these were fairly long adventures. The first one was a major, world-shaking adventure, while the second one was important, but a lot more subtle.
fdnickerson 03-13-05, 01:47 PM	You might think about finding the issues of Dungeon magazine that either deal with the Incursion adventure (the gith finally attack into the Prime Material plane) or the adventures in the city of Cauldron (evil cultists, a replace mayor...the works). As I recall, both of these were fairly long adventures. The first one was a major, world-shaking adventure, while the second one was important, but a lot more subtle. Issues 100 and 97 respectively from what a brief web search tells me.
Vatras 03-13-05, 02:51 PM	That would average a total of 25-34 sessions, which by the usual rate of progress indicate a maximum character level of 12 to 17, nothing epic. I also assume the party is not evil or consists out of monsters or undead, which would require a different approach. As the main theme should be able to surface at any time, we need something flexible that can involve many things. So lets make some basic decisions first: - Is there to be a BBEG? That means a final powerful guy whose ambition is the driving force for the main theme. Options for BBEGs are many and varied ones, ranging from an evil demonprince to the ruling council of an evil nation, from an archwizard to the elder brain of an illithid community. - Do we want the main thing to be independent, and not a BBEG at all? Options here are a condition which is getting worse all the time, until the PCs find the solution, like magic getting slowly out of control, an uncureable disease spreading slowly but steady (e.g. as Corprus in "Morrowind"), the climate changing with all its harmful side effects, or a quest set by someone for the players, which will take the whole campaign to accomplish (e.g. recollect all pieces of a broken/destroyed item, like the Nether Scrolls or the pieces of a legendary weapon). The more popular choice is to have a personal foe for the PCs, your typical BBEG, who gets faced off in the showdown. So lets run with a secret society as the main foe. We can choose between many goals for such an organisation, but lets choose one that undeniably evil to avoid moral disputes later. We will also choose a non-human race for them, which will be the root of the conflict. Our bad guys are the Fangs of Seth, led by a council of five (one fanatic from each of the five tribes of the yuan-ti), who are yuan-ti. The goal of the Fangs is to subvert human cities and society; they will first try to become the power behind the throne, then start to convert more people into yuan-ti with the long-term goal (couple of thousand years) of world domination by the snake people, eradicating the mammal races. They have arcane and divine classes among them, and also number a lot of psionics. According to the "Serpent Kingdoms" they are no strangers to magic/psionic bio-engineering and accomplished alchemists (they produce many and potent drugs and poisons). They see themselves as the heirs of the Ssarrukh, their creators (who died out after falling into decadence and boredom...their empire went with a whimper, not with a bang), and it is their birthright to dominate the world. The yuan-ti are politically and philosophically not a united race, and have internal factions vie for power, as well as very different goals. The goal to propagate the race as a whole at other races expense is one of the few things all five tribes would agree upon. It does not matter, what the groups motivation is, pick the one you think most fitting: religious zeal (they believe to act on the wishes of their gods), lust for power and wealth, racial hatred and contempt for the later mammal races, the simple drive to conquer and rule the earth. According to this focus you pick your major NPCs, the five leaders of the Fangs. If the are religious, include more priests, if they are conquerors, use melee classes, and so on. This focus will also determine, how they go about their goals, and what means they have. Do a very extensive design for the leaders and the organisation (wealth, magic/psionics available) to determine what powers they have at their command, and then never go beyond that (this will instill after a while a sense of how they work in the players; it gives them a feeling they understand their enemy, and finally they will try to adapt to that; its much more satisfying to the players if they "know" their enemy instead of having faceless opponents of unknown limits). After having worked out the whole organisation (do a roster with rang, name, homebase, level, job, etc.), which can be as small as the leaders, a few lieutenants and a couple of agents to set things in motion, or large enough to field a small army (this will take a while, but is a very helpful reference for you when planning adventures), you have to work out what they actually do. Lets say the Five are based in an underground ruin in the wilder part of the area they want to subvert (in the FR this could be in the Evermoors) and direct everything from there. Next step is to determine how they communicate with their minions, and who knows what about whom. The whole thing is secret, so certain cut-out procedures and safety measures must be in place. This will also allow you to judge, if the PCs are able to track them, and up to what point. Communication from the inner circle to their direct minions shall be by magic (sending, a summoned messenger or telepathy are the most likely ways). The base of operations in a city and the cover of their primary agents is usual commercial. So agents can come and go, unnoticed between the customers. We need also some guidelines how the Fangs work. This goes like "never employ humans where they can betray us", "never ever use divine servants of anyone but Seth for our plans", "never use magic, when money and drugs can achieve the same", "the dagger is mightier than the sword", "dont risk our lives, when we can risk someone else", and so on. We plan their actions later along these guidelines. You can see where it goes from here :) The main theme needs not be introduced at once, but should slowly come to the awareness of the players. Once they hit upon it, they should be able to make connections to things they observed earlier. Maybe regarding it as a fluke at first, but realizing that things are much worse as they thought later on. Since we have several BBEGs, its possible to stage a showdown in the later campaign with one of them, possibly making them believe that things are solved now. On another note: since the players cannot know whom they can trust after realizing what is going on (maybe impress it on them with an incident: if they try to take it to "the authorities" they get attacked by yuan-ti assassins shortly afterwards), they cannot turn to help from the government or other important people (anybody could already be converted). We say the yuan-ti are going to start afresh in a city the PCs visit often or are living in. They send a merchant in alchemical stuff who establishes a business and will become the local headquarters. An secret agent will also come and establish himself with the underworld as a peddler of drugs to raise funds (all bases are supposed to finance themselves after a while). After a while they will have found out who is who in the city and start to go for certain targets. This includes military and police officers (to subvert, charm or bribe them), spellcasters/psionics (to assassinate if subversion fails) and other important people (rich merchants, political figures), until they can get into the reach of the ruler(s) (subvert or stage a coup de etat to bring a puppet to power). Since we now know what the bad guys do where and when, and also what the PCs are doing, we know where and when they might have some form of contact, or who could possibly ask them for help (which will give us hooks). So, that was my contribution to campaign ideas :)
Joe Pacelli 03-13-05, 07:58 PM	Vatras, Like the ideas. I've got some small plots with Yuan-Ti but not much more. I'll have to pick up th e Serpent Kingdom this week and see if I can exapand on the plots I have and incorporate some of your ideas. Thanks, Much appreciated Joe
Fixxxer 03-13-05, 08:54 PM	Issues 100 and 97 respectively from what a brief web search tells me. Interestingly enough, shortly after posting, I was unpacking a box from my closet and I found issue #100. Strange. Something I didn't mention before, Joe Pacelli, is that the Slayer's Guide books by Mongoose Publishing always include a number of good plot hooks for including the monsters the particular book is based on. Might be worth a look.
Mizik 03-13-05, 09:50 PM	well the main plot in my campian is the infernal invation of the matirial plane. A epic level dragon and a epic level devil are plotting to rearange the planare universe by use of an epic level spell. Resulting in the celestial plane being cast off into the great beyond (exiling the plane from the rest; no planer travel nothing). and hard tieing the material plane to the abyss and hell. the devil and dragon are mutual partners and will backstab eachother when they are finished. Depending on players actions one or the other will win, becoming the main BBEG. Basicly if the players screw up the plane will litteraly go to hell. but heck they are still level 9 they won't find out untill epic i think :)