Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dee'hem 01-28-05, 10:03 PM	Ok, here's the scenario. I have 4 players itching to start playing, and not a clue as to what kind of campaign to write for them. I tend to want to write campaigns that are capable of lasting from 1st to epic levels, and they are set in the Core Rules setting. Help! I also thought a thread like this could act as a springboard for other people in the same situation. I have been searching and searching, and have not come across anything. So please help me!
Board_Rider 01-28-05, 10:25 PM	Well you could simply run a module, even a free one from this site. Use this as a springboard for something larger. I personally run a free flow style and introduce new things as the adventure progresses. Try this....you may find that it helps. Let it flow buddy.....
Vriishnak 01-28-05, 10:26 PM	Well, what type of campaign are you looking to run? Details like alignment, classes, character backgrounds, and anything else you can squeeze out of the players tend to be a good starting point for your plot, and it's hard to come up with anything if they give you nothing to work with.
Alynn 01-28-05, 10:34 PM	If you are having trouble comeing up with ideas of a full campaign, you can do something as simple as just run a couple of dungeon crawlers, while ideas have time to form, your chars may give you an idea, how they react to an NPC... anything. You can then backtrack using whatever notes you kept about your previous adventures, and find ways to incorperate them, maybe there were some Tattos that all of them had in common (that they didn't pay any attention to at first, but one of them remembers, "Oh I've seen that symbol before") If they are impatient to play thats an option to go about doing it. For years now I've avoided the whole PC's mess up my plans by doing stuff unexpected by just coming up with the beginning, and the end... and the basic This is whats going on, and adjusting sesions as necessary. Because players can surprise you, and kill the ugly evil monster (which was really an ugly good monster) that had important information.... but anyway... I talk too much...
Xixt412 01-28-05, 11:28 PM	Hmm... How about a demonic or diabolical cult trying to recover some artifact. Throw in some other groups after the same artifact, and afterwards once you have established villians, create some links that get the PCs involved with demon or devil lords. Come up with some good detail work around this basic concept and it will work even though it's a little cliche. Or come up with something using whatever of these concepts helps you: -assassination of a king or notable politician -a plague than threatens to destroy massive quantities of crops and cause mass famine. Or maybe its just a plague that kills peoples. Maybe throw in some cancer mages behind the entire thing. -Black markets and smuggling of illegal goods -Threat of war with a neighboring nation, possibly caused by evildoers who stand to profit somehow from the war -Invaders from another dimension (if you use MotP) -Some sort of natural or supernatural cataclysm threatens to cause mass destruction -PCs are framed of commiting a major crime -PCs become involved in the hunting down of a major criminal/villian/monster -PCs become involved with overthrowing the corrupt government -fun with time travel! (This can get really complicated, so make sure you know what your doing and can handle time travel in your campaign) -fun with ancient/lost civilizations, temples, and/or artifacts! -fun with a certain type of monster (like vermin, goblinoids, or dragons) Hopefully that gives you and others a few ideas to work with.
DarkCaller 01-30-05, 07:52 PM	I don't know if you are a big reader Dee'hem but many fantasy books are bursting with campaign ideas. For example, author David Edding's writes the series called: The Elenium. If you were to read the three books in the series there would be one whole campagin. The only problem would be writing it out on paper. Also, you can always use the Vicious Venues articles on the Dungeons and Dragons Homepage. They are great time spenders and allow for stalling between game sessions. They'll eat up a full hour to hour and a half if you play your ideas out right. Movis are also bulging with campaigns. Lord of the Rings is a great example. Or the Jurassic Park movies. The Monster Manual 3 holds many new dinosaurs for an island dinosaur vs. humanoid campaign.
Ibbins 01-30-05, 09:19 PM	my advice is.....wing it. Just don't say "um," and dont change your mind about anything. and dont let them know. It's foolproof. I was forced into a wing-it situation, because we were starting a session before we knew who the DM was, then i was nominated. It turned into my greatest campaign so far.