Campain Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campain Ideas [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Monoxide
12-23-03, 04:48 PM I need some adventutre ideas and hooks. The adventure has to be really good and interesting. Try to keep it short and simple.

My characters are going to start at level 6. They haven't started playing yet. So there is nothing that happened yet. So don't ask things like, "So what have the PCs done so far?" or "What are the PCs playing as?"

You can either help this idea out or just suggest your own capain ideas and hooks.

The PCs are being hunted down by assassins. Sooner or later they find out they are comming from the future. So they decide to find out more they have to go to the future. And so they have to hunt down a device that will acomplish this task that will create a portal. They go to the future and everything is dark. The world is ruled by a dark lord who is half dragon... Okay this is where I need help. What happens next? Why did he send assassins to rid the PCs? Do the PCs reconize him from somewhere?
deathsdead1
12-23-03, 05:49 PM I don't know about you but i like to creat the adventures that my players play. And so far they love it. but then there is the problem of comming up with ideas for each one.
now i know that you could come up with some killer :smirk: ones on your own but when your finally out, you can always turn to the trusty hook random generator :
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/hook/Welcome.asp
they did a pretty nice job, so check it out.
:b:
avian tiefling
12-23-03, 07:37 PM here's a couple ideas:

-the half-dragon, during the "present age" (before the PCs take the portal) divined that the party would be a threat to his world-domination.

-when you have the party retrieve this time-traveling device, have them fight the half-dragon to get it. in the time that the party skips when they jump forwards, they find that the half-dragon steals it from them (during the skipped time) and so there are actually TWO of the devices, and the half-dragon was using HIS to sent the assassins back. or, instead of there being two of them, the party's would vanish the moment they coem through the portal, and they have to kill he half-dragon before they can go back.

let me know what you think.
The Tiefling
Dasein
12-23-03, 08:05 PM I've found that time travel leads to major causality and continuity issues, so I'd advise you to avoid it at all costs. At some point, you'll end up with the future causing events in the past, and the contradictions this causes will lead to many more problems, which put more and more strain on the internal consistency of the campaign. You'd be better off using alternate material planes or parallel universes or whatver best fits your cosmology rather than time travel.

Dasein
MinusInnocence
12-23-03, 08:52 PM This sounds like a backwards Earthbound scenario.

In Earthbound, the last vestiges of purity and defiance in the universe sent a messenger ten years into the past. This messenger was meant to warn those destined to fight - apparently, they forgot to ask them about it before Evil actually took hold. The game really didn't bother to take time to explain why they had to come back in time to ask you for your aid - they only said you were prophecied to assist them.

Anyway, maybe your PCs are those messengers... or, better yet, maybe they are the ones who must fight! But, when they were sent back in time (perhaps in a last moment effort to save their lives, so that the Universe might be spared), something happened to their memory. They don't recall anything about the future, and it may just be a fluke that they discover they are from the future, at all.

I agree with Dasein, however, that time travel causes a lot of problems. Numerous threads have been written and rehashed on this topic - you might want to do a quick Search on the term "Multiverse Instance Hopping". It's a term I coined, and although the theory trivializes the whole point of time travel, it also seems to be the only one that really works.

See, each moment in time is just a potentiality. The Western conception of time as a linear mode of progression is inherently flawed - time isn't just one line across a page, it's an infinite amount of dots spread out all across the book. When you jump through "Time", you are actually just selecting a different Instance. Some instances are connected - for instance, the Instance of me submitting this post to the forums, and the one that follows with the next person who reads it. That isn't relevant, for the purposes of our discussion.

The problem here, though, is that you're not traveling through Time at all. You can't change the past by going back to it - because even you traveling back into time has been accounted for as a possibility. It's part of the Multiverse. So, the PCs won't be able to save their own "future" under this theory, since anything they change in the past won't really help to fix things in the future. It was already accounted for that they would go into the past - or, to explain it more appropriately, the PCs don't even HAVE a "past" or "future". They only have a string of Instances, linked by coincidence.

But, maybe the PCs only jumped back into the "past" because they wanted to escape for a little while. The half-dragon warlord may suspect planehopping, but time travel could possibly throw him for a loop, at least for a little while. Also, whatever process the PCs underwent to carry this plan out may be as costly or as inexpensive as you wish - the more expensive it is, the less likely he'll be able to marshal his full strength against them.

So, after all of that explanation, we come down to this - the only reason the PCs would possibly want to go back into the past is to escape, at least for the time being. They need time to catch their breath before they jump back into the fray... then they can go into the future (or, rather, the Instance where they leapt back into the past) and finish what they started.

Keep in mind, however, that this is also fruitless. There are an infinite number of Instances in the Multiverse depicting the half-dragon as ultimately victorious. Some of them even involve everything that has happened to the PCs, up to this point. So, trying to screw around and save yourselves isn't going to accomplish much of anything in the long run... and if you use this theory because it seems tempting to eliminate Paradox, be careful not to depress your players with the simple fact that they are powerless to stop what was going to happen whether they took part in it, or not.

PCs are heroes, and as such, they don't like being told that there is no hope, that they should give up, and that it's time to make new characters. If they somehow come out on top, don't bother mentioning that somewhere in the stretch of Instances, they weren't so fortunate.
Everach
12-24-03, 11:30 AM Originally posted by Dasein
...time travel leads to major causality and continuity issues, so I'd advise you to avoid it at all costs...

I'm with him.

Try this on for size.

The Dragon Lord has a secret. He possesses an artifact kept safely in his castle that makes him immortal.

The PC wizard (or rogue) and an NPX rogue (or wizard) decided over a night of drinking to enter the Lord's castle and see what they could steal. They found the artifact, and when the Dragon Lord found them, he assumed the PC/NPC where there to destroy it.

The Dragon lord captured the PC while the NPC fled. The PC was interrogated, his memory erased and found bru9ised outside of a bar by the PCs. A team of guards are sent to monitor the PC and make note of everyone he comes into contact with.

Two weeks go by and the guards have nothing for their trouble. No NPC. So they try to kill the PC. They fail. Interrogation provides the name of the NPC, but not the employer of the assassins.

The PCs find the NPc just as a well known assassin arrives, intent on killing the PC, the NPC and the rest of the party, per orders from the Dragon Lord himself. The PCs escape, barely. This is a great time for the NPC to sacrifice himself.

The PCs travel to the thieve's guild to get a map of the lord's castle. the thieve's remember the PC/NPC and make it generally difficult to get the map.

The PCs hire a wizard/sage/bard to tell them about the artifact.

The PCs travel to an ancient ruin that holds a sword that can destroy the artifact. The Dragon Lord learns of this and is now aware of the PCs.

The PCs enter the castle, where the Dragon Lord is waiting for them.

Enjoy.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Monoxide 12-23-03, 04:48 PM	I need some adventutre ideas and hooks. The adventure has to be really good and interesting. Try to keep it short and simple. My characters are going to start at level 6. They haven't started playing yet. So there is nothing that happened yet. So don't ask things like, "So what have the PCs done so far?" or "What are the PCs playing as?" You can either help this idea out or just suggest your own capain ideas and hooks. The PCs are being hunted down by assassins. Sooner or later they find out they are comming from the future. So they decide to find out more they have to go to the future. And so they have to hunt down a device that will acomplish this task that will create a portal. They go to the future and everything is dark. The world is ruled by a dark lord who is half dragon... Okay this is where I need help. What happens next? Why did he send assassins to rid the PCs? Do the PCs reconize him from somewhere?
deathsdead1 12-23-03, 05:49 PM	I don't know about you but i like to creat the adventures that my players play. And so far they love it. but then there is the problem of comming up with ideas for each one. now i know that you could come up with some killer :smirk: ones on your own but when your finally out, you can always turn to the trusty hook random generator : http://www.wizards.com/dnd/hook/Welcome.asp they did a pretty nice job, so check it out. :b:
avian tiefling 12-23-03, 07:37 PM	here's a couple ideas: -the half-dragon, during the "present age" (before the PCs take the portal) divined that the party would be a threat to his world-domination. -when you have the party retrieve this time-traveling device, have them fight the half-dragon to get it. in the time that the party skips when they jump forwards, they find that the half-dragon steals it from them (during the skipped time) and so there are actually TWO of the devices, and the half-dragon was using HIS to sent the assassins back. or, instead of there being two of them, the party's would vanish the moment they coem through the portal, and they have to kill he half-dragon before they can go back. let me know what you think. The Tiefling
Dasein 12-23-03, 08:05 PM	I've found that time travel leads to major causality and continuity issues, so I'd advise you to avoid it at all costs. At some point, you'll end up with the future causing events in the past, and the contradictions this causes will lead to many more problems, which put more and more strain on the internal consistency of the campaign. You'd be better off using alternate material planes or parallel universes or whatver best fits your cosmology rather than time travel. Dasein
MinusInnocence 12-23-03, 08:52 PM	This sounds like a backwards Earthbound scenario. In Earthbound, the last vestiges of purity and defiance in the universe sent a messenger ten years into the past. This messenger was meant to warn those destined to fight - apparently, they forgot to ask them about it before Evil actually took hold. The game really didn't bother to take time to explain why they had to come back in time to ask you for your aid - they only said you were prophecied to assist them. Anyway, maybe your PCs are those messengers... or, better yet, maybe they are the ones who must fight! But, when they were sent back in time (perhaps in a last moment effort to save their lives, so that the Universe might be spared), something happened to their memory. They don't recall anything about the future, and it may just be a fluke that they discover they are from the future, at all. I agree with Dasein, however, that time travel causes a lot of problems. Numerous threads have been written and rehashed on this topic - you might want to do a quick Search on the term "Multiverse Instance Hopping". It's a term I coined, and although the theory trivializes the whole point of time travel, it also seems to be the only one that really works. See, each moment in time is just a potentiality. The Western conception of time as a linear mode of progression is inherently flawed - time isn't just one line across a page, it's an infinite amount of dots spread out all across the book. When you jump through "Time", you are actually just selecting a different Instance. Some instances are connected - for instance, the Instance of me submitting this post to the forums, and the one that follows with the next person who reads it. That isn't relevant, for the purposes of our discussion. The problem here, though, is that you're not traveling through Time at all. You can't change the past by going back to it - because even you traveling back into time has been accounted for as a possibility. It's part of the Multiverse. So, the PCs won't be able to save their own "future" under this theory, since anything they change in the past won't really help to fix things in the future. It was already accounted for that they would go into the past - or, to explain it more appropriately, the PCs don't even HAVE a "past" or "future". They only have a string of Instances, linked by coincidence. But, maybe the PCs only jumped back into the "past" because they wanted to escape for a little while. The half-dragon warlord may suspect planehopping, but time travel could possibly throw him for a loop, at least for a little while. Also, whatever process the PCs underwent to carry this plan out may be as costly or as inexpensive as you wish - the more expensive it is, the less likely he'll be able to marshal his full strength against them. So, after all of that explanation, we come down to this - the only reason the PCs would possibly want to go back into the past is to escape, at least for the time being. They need time to catch their breath before they jump back into the fray... then they can go into the future (or, rather, the Instance where they leapt back into the past) and finish what they started. Keep in mind, however, that this is also fruitless. There are an infinite number of Instances in the Multiverse depicting the half-dragon as ultimately victorious. Some of them even involve everything that has happened to the PCs, up to this point. So, trying to screw around and save yourselves isn't going to accomplish much of anything in the long run... and if you use this theory because it seems tempting to eliminate Paradox, be careful not to depress your players with the simple fact that they are powerless to stop what was going to happen whether they took part in it, or not. PCs are heroes, and as such, they don't like being told that there is no hope, that they should give up, and that it's time to make new characters. If they somehow come out on top, don't bother mentioning that somewhere in the stretch of Instances, they weren't so fortunate.
Everach 12-24-03, 11:30 AM	Originally posted by Dasein ...time travel leads to major causality and continuity issues, so I'd advise you to avoid it at all costs... I'm with him. Try this on for size. The Dragon Lord has a secret. He possesses an artifact kept safely in his castle that makes him immortal. The PC wizard (or rogue) and an NPX rogue (or wizard) decided over a night of drinking to enter the Lord's castle and see what they could steal. They found the artifact, and when the Dragon Lord found them, he assumed the PC/NPC where there to destroy it. The Dragon lord captured the PC while the NPC fled. The PC was interrogated, his memory erased and found bru9ised outside of a bar by the PCs. A team of guards are sent to monitor the PC and make note of everyone he comes into contact with. Two weeks go by and the guards have nothing for their trouble. No NPC. So they try to kill the PC. They fail. Interrogation provides the name of the NPC, but not the employer of the assassins. The PCs find the NPc just as a well known assassin arrives, intent on killing the PC, the NPC and the rest of the party, per orders from the Dragon Lord himself. The PCs escape, barely. This is a great time for the NPC to sacrifice himself. The PCs travel to the thieve's guild to get a map of the lord's castle. the thieve's remember the PC/NPC and make it generally difficult to get the map. The PCs hire a wizard/sage/bard to tell them about the artifact. The PCs travel to an ancient ruin that holds a sword that can destroy the artifact. The Dragon Lord learns of this and is now aware of the PCs. The PCs enter the castle, where the Dragon Lord is waiting for them. Enjoy.