Campaign in Greyhawk, Tell me what you think [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign in Greyhawk, Tell me what you think [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DMOrwen
12-28-06, 03:22 PM So here is the summary:
In the city of Critwall, within the Shield Lands, a major calamity between the Countess Katarina and the remaining forces of the demi-god Luz. The creatures of the Old One's armies have broken through the wards and earth protecting the last temple to their master outside the city. The Place of Evil has a history of terrible magic and destruction. Once a dungeon, then a crypt, and finally used for the worship of the Demon Child. Since the opening of the first level many adventurers have entered and come out with various treasures, and some not at all. The Countess seeing an opportunity has chosen to hold a quest, a challenge to all heroes to vanquish the evil within, rescuing all valuables for the rebuilding of the Shield Lands. She has offered full titles and privileges to any group who can successfully complete this task.

So the level ranges are pretty open, naturally the lower levels of the dungeon are going to be harder. The dungeon itself is 22 levels, from top to bottom. Traps, treasure, monsters, competing parties, and villains eager to claim the power of Luz stand in the adventurer's way.

The final level of the dungeon will be a showdown with Luz himself. Up until then the encounters are levelled properly starting with CR 1 encounters, traps, puzzles and rewards on the first level and increasing as the party progresses deeper.

Also the city of Critwall also provides encounters as attention grows and attracts more people. Commonwealth lords and ladies will try to gain the support of the most likely to succeed adventurers while sabotaging their competitors.

Some levels have rooms that can not be opened without special means that are found in lower levels as well as other places in GreyHawk altogether. The dungeon is the main focus but when parties get tired of dungeon delving these rooms provide a fresh distraction and a means of intriguing the characters further.

The Hard part: Creating a large 22 level dungeon scaled properly with room for small customizations. Creating competing parties and villains to challenge the party as well as complete some of the challenges within the dungeon to rob the party of their treasures and experience.

I'm open to any intelligent suggestions, comments, and help in creating this adventure. Generators and such are helpful.
Absolon
12-28-06, 07:40 PM Well I have several thoughts on this...first to intrigue your players and second to ease the burden on you.

1) Design the Dungeon to get larger as they descend - say the first level is only 40x40 feet and they have to solve a puzzle or something to open a door to the second level...also give them some alternate way to work around it like a phase door or some other secret door...perhaps a trap door for fun and have them fall down a shoot in to some nasty mung juice in the crypt.

2) Design it as an inverted pyramid...have it get smaller as they go down to the vault that contains the ultimate evil and ultimate treasure. Mix the layers between combat...puzzles and politics. Maybe a player can make a deal with a devil to get to a level...but it puts his soul in danger.

As for scale: design the dungeon from the stand point of pre-fab. Not ever room should be custom...some should just be like a vault (which is just another word for room really)..but the room could have been used for storage of supplies or a make-shift bedroom.

Use ideas like having passages unlit so that only players with darkvision can even see well without torch light.

Make the air get stale as you descend and the torch color change as perhaps methane or some other gas is present from the decaying corpses.

Throw in neat things like portals...trapped doors...bridges over chasms (rickety bridges or narrow stone bridges with no rails...things like that)

If you want magical architecture I can suggest a few things...

1) for the crypt areas: have a Bier of Inquisition that is slightly broken so when your cleric or whatever tries to communicate with the spirits they aren't bound in place and instead attack the players for disturbing their rest. or have the corpse turn in to a zombie as the magic was corrupted.

2) A desecrated shrine to hamper turning undead and such.

3) engraved magical focus circles whether its vs an alignment...or a summoning circle with great power...or a trap its up to you.

You should allow players multiple ways to get tot he same goal. Let them take the lead. Most of all set the tone...tell them what they see when they enter a chamber. Don't be afraid to be theatric. Your descriptions might give them hints on what actions they should take, but don't be afraid to set off a trap door...or series of sliding walls that turn the area in to a maze that each must navigate to over come certain obstacles.

I hope I've helped
Absolon
12-28-06, 07:47 PM As to the city itself...offer character developing side quests. Like your rogue knows someone who knows someone in the local theives guild and he wants to steal from the thieves just to get their ire and earn some brownie points with the lesser of the thieves guilds in the city.

I'm sure you know how to design a city... but giving it flavor is the most fun part. over the course of the adventure as your players come out of the dungeon and back to the inn to rest or recruit new members as someone has died from a dead-fall trap or some beast split someone's gut open have them get involved with local politics...or at the least develop a reputation..if they die alot have make it harder to recruit quality adventuerers as they will have a stigma...if they come back with loads of gold...perhaps some players will want to turn a bit to the self-interest side and start embezzling or outright stealing from the party treasure.

Have the local lords demand tribute from you...ummm if you want to bouce some ideas off me feel free.
DMOrwen
12-29-06, 12:26 AM The reverse pyramid idea is nice, but there won't be an ultimate treasure just ultimate battle. Unfortunately I'm good at coming up with the neat flavor ideas and concepts, but when it comes down to planning the actual mechanics of the game, rooms, traps and such. I have never been able to make anything challenging or fair enough it's either too hard or too easy. The puzzles make no sense to the dungeon or they're too obvious.
I run a game for 6 people. Ages 18-50. Some of the characters have been around since the blue book and others just picked up their first book this year. It's hard to find something to challenge the old players but at the same time make the game fun for the new players.

Your ideas help though and for that I'm grateful I'm going to see about getting a good dungeon creator program. That will help a lot too.
Mitchell
12-29-06, 04:00 AM Just a nit-pick...
It's Iuz, not Luz. Pronounced eye-ooze, which is kind of nasty in it's own right. :)
As far as dungeon design, start collecting maps. Any interior map will do, then you can put them together into one giant dungeon with the insertion of a few stairwells, elevators, and/or magical teleportation gates. All that would be left is to stock the thing.
Alternately, you could buy The World's Largest Dungeon (http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/a/alderac/featuredBrands/d20System/v5748btpy73t9&source=search) and just do some restocking. (Honestly, even though you could possibly find it at a better price, that may be way too much work, and it would likely be too expensive just to salvage the maps from it).
DMOrwen
12-29-06, 12:34 PM Thanks for clearing that up, Iuz sounds alot more scary then Luz.

I can't use the World's largest dungeon because I've already run them through all of it. But good thinking on that one. I'll just start picking up different dungeon maps and start piecing them together. I thought about having certain levels of it styled after certain elemental plains, with a trap or puzzle of some kind that actually transforms the level into either an illusion or actual aspects of the plane it's modeled after. For example The party enters this level and find everything made out of dark crimson stone laced with gold, all the designs seem to be wild, curving patterns with statues of salamanders, efreetis and other creatures native to the plane of Fire. At some point there is a trap that triggers and makes the walls become flame walls, the floor becomes desert sand. So on and so forth.

I think it's pretty cool but again we got to keep the realism up so most likely it'll all be an illusion. But illusions still hurt those that believe them.

Thanks for the help so far, and keep it coming I'm putting together a fantastic campaign.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DMOrwen 12-28-06, 03:22 PM	So here is the summary: In the city of Critwall, within the Shield Lands, a major calamity between the Countess Katarina and the remaining forces of the demi-god Luz. The creatures of the Old One's armies have broken through the wards and earth protecting the last temple to their master outside the city. The Place of Evil has a history of terrible magic and destruction. Once a dungeon, then a crypt, and finally used for the worship of the Demon Child. Since the opening of the first level many adventurers have entered and come out with various treasures, and some not at all. The Countess seeing an opportunity has chosen to hold a quest, a challenge to all heroes to vanquish the evil within, rescuing all valuables for the rebuilding of the Shield Lands. She has offered full titles and privileges to any group who can successfully complete this task. So the level ranges are pretty open, naturally the lower levels of the dungeon are going to be harder. The dungeon itself is 22 levels, from top to bottom. Traps, treasure, monsters, competing parties, and villains eager to claim the power of Luz stand in the adventurer's way. The final level of the dungeon will be a showdown with Luz himself. Up until then the encounters are levelled properly starting with CR 1 encounters, traps, puzzles and rewards on the first level and increasing as the party progresses deeper. Also the city of Critwall also provides encounters as attention grows and attracts more people. Commonwealth lords and ladies will try to gain the support of the most likely to succeed adventurers while sabotaging their competitors. Some levels have rooms that can not be opened without special means that are found in lower levels as well as other places in GreyHawk altogether. The dungeon is the main focus but when parties get tired of dungeon delving these rooms provide a fresh distraction and a means of intriguing the characters further. The Hard part: Creating a large 22 level dungeon scaled properly with room for small customizations. Creating competing parties and villains to challenge the party as well as complete some of the challenges within the dungeon to rob the party of their treasures and experience. I'm open to any intelligent suggestions, comments, and help in creating this adventure. Generators and such are helpful.
Absolon 12-28-06, 07:40 PM	Well I have several thoughts on this...first to intrigue your players and second to ease the burden on you. 1) Design the Dungeon to get larger as they descend - say the first level is only 40x40 feet and they have to solve a puzzle or something to open a door to the second level...also give them some alternate way to work around it like a phase door or some other secret door...perhaps a trap door for fun and have them fall down a shoot in to some nasty mung juice in the crypt. 2) Design it as an inverted pyramid...have it get smaller as they go down to the vault that contains the ultimate evil and ultimate treasure. Mix the layers between combat...puzzles and politics. Maybe a player can make a deal with a devil to get to a level...but it puts his soul in danger. As for scale: design the dungeon from the stand point of pre-fab. Not ever room should be custom...some should just be like a vault (which is just another word for room really)..but the room could have been used for storage of supplies or a make-shift bedroom. Use ideas like having passages unlit so that only players with darkvision can even see well without torch light. Make the air get stale as you descend and the torch color change as perhaps methane or some other gas is present from the decaying corpses. Throw in neat things like portals...trapped doors...bridges over chasms (rickety bridges or narrow stone bridges with no rails...things like that) If you want magical architecture I can suggest a few things... 1) for the crypt areas: have a Bier of Inquisition that is slightly broken so when your cleric or whatever tries to communicate with the spirits they aren't bound in place and instead attack the players for disturbing their rest. or have the corpse turn in to a zombie as the magic was corrupted. 2) A desecrated shrine to hamper turning undead and such. 3) engraved magical focus circles whether its vs an alignment...or a summoning circle with great power...or a trap its up to you. You should allow players multiple ways to get tot he same goal. Let them take the lead. Most of all set the tone...tell them what they see when they enter a chamber. Don't be afraid to be theatric. Your descriptions might give them hints on what actions they should take, but don't be afraid to set off a trap door...or series of sliding walls that turn the area in to a maze that each must navigate to over come certain obstacles. I hope I've helped
Absolon 12-28-06, 07:47 PM	As to the city itself...offer character developing side quests. Like your rogue knows someone who knows someone in the local theives guild and he wants to steal from the thieves just to get their ire and earn some brownie points with the lesser of the thieves guilds in the city. I'm sure you know how to design a city... but giving it flavor is the most fun part. over the course of the adventure as your players come out of the dungeon and back to the inn to rest or recruit new members as someone has died from a dead-fall trap or some beast split someone's gut open have them get involved with local politics...or at the least develop a reputation..if they die alot have make it harder to recruit quality adventuerers as they will have a stigma...if they come back with loads of gold...perhaps some players will want to turn a bit to the self-interest side and start embezzling or outright stealing from the party treasure. Have the local lords demand tribute from you...ummm if you want to bouce some ideas off me feel free.
DMOrwen 12-29-06, 12:26 AM	The reverse pyramid idea is nice, but there won't be an ultimate treasure just ultimate battle. Unfortunately I'm good at coming up with the neat flavor ideas and concepts, but when it comes down to planning the actual mechanics of the game, rooms, traps and such. I have never been able to make anything challenging or fair enough it's either too hard or too easy. The puzzles make no sense to the dungeon or they're too obvious. I run a game for 6 people. Ages 18-50. Some of the characters have been around since the blue book and others just picked up their first book this year. It's hard to find something to challenge the old players but at the same time make the game fun for the new players. Your ideas help though and for that I'm grateful I'm going to see about getting a good dungeon creator program. That will help a lot too.
Mitchell 12-29-06, 04:00 AM	Just a nit-pick... It's Iuz, not Luz. Pronounced eye-ooze, which is kind of nasty in it's own right. :) As far as dungeon design, start collecting maps. Any interior map will do, then you can put them together into one giant dungeon with the insertion of a few stairwells, elevators, and/or magical teleportation gates. All that would be left is to stock the thing. Alternately, you could buy The World's Largest Dungeon (http://paizo.com/store/byCompany/a/alderac/featuredBrands/d20System/v5748btpy73t9&source=search) and just do some restocking. (Honestly, even though you could possibly find it at a better price, that may be way too much work, and it would likely be too expensive just to salvage the maps from it).
DMOrwen 12-29-06, 12:34 PM	Thanks for clearing that up, Iuz sounds alot more scary then Luz. I can't use the World's largest dungeon because I've already run them through all of it. But good thinking on that one. I'll just start picking up different dungeon maps and start piecing them together. I thought about having certain levels of it styled after certain elemental plains, with a trap or puzzle of some kind that actually transforms the level into either an illusion or actual aspects of the plane it's modeled after. For example The party enters this level and find everything made out of dark crimson stone laced with gold, all the designs seem to be wild, curving patterns with statues of salamanders, efreetis and other creatures native to the plane of Fire. At some point there is a trap that triggers and makes the walls become flame walls, the floor becomes desert sand. So on and so forth. I think it's pretty cool but again we got to keep the realism up so most likely it'll all be an illusion. But illusions still hurt those that believe them. Thanks for the help so far, and keep it coming I'm putting together a fantastic campaign.