Artifacts Campaign - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Artifacts Campaign

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
drizztrocks
Nov 07, 2008 23:10:48 Hey guys. I havent been here for a while, because ever since free users couldn't look at all the issues I've been hanging out at the CBG forums.

I'm going to be running a campaign set in my campaign setting, Xearic, a very generic campaign setting, but some things were changed alot to fit my players intrest. Anyway, the characters are all starting out level fives. I have four players. An old human wizard, a treasure hunting rogue, a bounty hunter fighter who weilds a crossbow, and an orc barbarian who's tribe was destroyed and now he ****** at everybody.

The campaign is all about many artifacts, all used decades ago to bring peace to Xearic, but once the war happened, they were hidden in some of the most dangerous, forbidden places of Xearic. All the artifacts have special powers that its weilder can use.

A young, hyperactive scholar finds a book marking the locations and uses of all the artifacts, buried deep in his library. He finds the PCs in the nick of time, and begs them to help him. They accept, and he brings them to a room he constructed, filled with portals to all the places he would need to go.

The first artifact {and the first adventure} is lost in an ancient ruin in the middle of a lost jungle. Savage natives and horrible beasts infest the site, and a great temple-pyramid holds inside of it the Eye of the Jaguar, one of the artifacts. The temple is filled with booby traps, rolling balls and flaming hallways.

My plan is, that after the PCs find the ruins lost in the jungle, after some encounters with wild jungle beasties :evillaugh The barbarian, me knowing him, will charge strait in and kill everything he sees, getting into the middle of the battle. And then the rest of the PCs get surrounded, making it an interesting fight. And then I expect them to infiltrate the temple Indiana Jones style {except for the overconfident barbarian who just charges into and through anything}. After the PCs get past countless traps inside the temple, they will try to get out, and then go back to the portal.

This is when mercaneries, hired by some unknown master, show up near the portal. A few elf archers and many human swordmen, all demanding that the PCs give them the artifact or they'll just kill them and take it. The PCs, I hope, will try to put up a fight.

So for the rest of the campaign, while exploring and finding artifacts in new exotic locations, they'll be competing with a huge gang of mercenaries also interested in the artifacts.

After the first game i'll post about how it happened in detail.
#2
drizztrocks
Nov 12, 2008 17:29:11 No posts?
#3
matthewswift
Nov 12, 2008 17:37:35 My campaign is very similar, with books that provide the programming for the world instead of artifacts...

It sounds legit. :D Just not sure what you would like folks to say...
#4
krichaiushii
Nov 14, 2008 9:55:27 Perhaps instead of having a monolithic bad guy hunting down ALL of the other artifacts (just how powerful, btw - the PCs are bound to try and use/keep them), why not have multiple bad guys (and not bad guys) tracking down individual artifacts.

After all, items used to guarantee world peace would certainly interest many good-aligned (or maybe just lawfully-aligned) religions and organizations.

Over time, some of the artifacts may have shifted locations due to discovery and/or natural events. Also, some may have been corrupted due to location stored.

Unless you know your players very well, don't bank on them getting into situations exactly how you envision it.
#5
danmarlok
Nov 19, 2008 10:07:40 What prevents the PC's from just keeping the artifacts? Or going along till there was a reasonable sized cache of them at the scholar's house and taking them all?

It sounds workable. You have a plausible reason to get the characters to new and intersting places without a trek to and from.

I would advise that at least once the scholar mess up and send the party into an area way over their ability to take and they have to run for it. It would just be funny, allow for social interaction with the npc,

"WTH?! That wasn't some tribe of half assed fighters guarding that thing, it was a bunch of the old Bronze Destroyer constructs?! ZOMG are you trying to get us killed?!"
#6
Bobfred21
Nov 20, 2008 1:06:31 Honestly, I hate to be a nit-picker but it sounds a bit cliched and over the top. Mind you, when I first started DMing I ran the same kinds of plots. The portals especially feel very video gamey. Not that there's anything wrong with video games but this particular aspect of having a portal to zip you to the battlefield all or even a large amount of the time seems a bit too easy to me. For me both as a player and a DM part of the adventure is what happens along the way. The travelling merchants/bards, the fellow group of adventurers you meet in the tavern, the refugees fleeing a pillaged village.

It makes for a very stale, inorganic world is all. On the other hand, maybe your players just want to kill things, which this set up could do very well, portal in, kill ****, portal out. The barbarian sounds like the type.

I'm sure there'll be some roleplaying on each individual quest but it seems to me like a lot of it is just "hey go get this, oh and you'll have to fight some things to get to it".

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 drizztrocks Nov 07, 2008 23:10:48	Hey guys. I havent been here for a while, because ever since free users couldn't look at all the issues I've been hanging out at the CBG forums. I'm going to be running a campaign set in my campaign setting, Xearic, a very generic campaign setting, but some things were changed alot to fit my players intrest. Anyway, the characters are all starting out level fives. I have four players. An old human wizard, a treasure hunting rogue, a bounty hunter fighter who weilds a crossbow, and an orc barbarian who's tribe was destroyed and now he ****** at everybody. The campaign is all about many artifacts, all used decades ago to bring peace to Xearic, but once the war happened, they were hidden in some of the most dangerous, forbidden places of Xearic. All the artifacts have special powers that its weilder can use. A young, hyperactive scholar finds a book marking the locations and uses of all the artifacts, buried deep in his library. He finds the PCs in the nick of time, and begs them to help him. They accept, and he brings them to a room he constructed, filled with portals to all the places he would need to go. The first artifact {and the first adventure} is lost in an ancient ruin in the middle of a lost jungle. Savage natives and horrible beasts infest the site, and a great temple-pyramid holds inside of it the Eye of the Jaguar, one of the artifacts. The temple is filled with booby traps, rolling balls and flaming hallways. My plan is, that after the PCs find the ruins lost in the jungle, after some encounters with wild jungle beasties :evillaugh The barbarian, me knowing him, will charge strait in and kill everything he sees, getting into the middle of the battle. And then the rest of the PCs get surrounded, making it an interesting fight. And then I expect them to infiltrate the temple Indiana Jones style {except for the overconfident barbarian who just charges into and through anything}. After the PCs get past countless traps inside the temple, they will try to get out, and then go back to the portal. This is when mercaneries, hired by some unknown master, show up near the portal. A few elf archers and many human swordmen, all demanding that the PCs give them the artifact or they'll just kill them and take it. The PCs, I hope, will try to put up a fight. So for the rest of the campaign, while exploring and finding artifacts in new exotic locations, they'll be competing with a huge gang of mercenaries also interested in the artifacts. After the first game i'll post about how it happened in detail.
#2 drizztrocks Nov 12, 2008 17:29:11	No posts?
#3 matthewswift Nov 12, 2008 17:37:35	My campaign is very similar, with books that provide the programming for the world instead of artifacts... It sounds legit. :D Just not sure what you would like folks to say...
#4 krichaiushii Nov 14, 2008 9:55:27	Perhaps instead of having a monolithic bad guy hunting down ALL of the other artifacts (just how powerful, btw - the PCs are bound to try and use/keep them), why not have multiple bad guys (and not bad guys) tracking down individual artifacts. After all, items used to guarantee world peace would certainly interest many good-aligned (or maybe just lawfully-aligned) religions and organizations. Over time, some of the artifacts may have shifted locations due to discovery and/or natural events. Also, some may have been corrupted due to location stored. Unless you know your players very well, don't bank on them getting into situations exactly how you envision it.
#5 danmarlok Nov 19, 2008 10:07:40	What prevents the PC's from just keeping the artifacts? Or going along till there was a reasonable sized cache of them at the scholar's house and taking them all? It sounds workable. You have a plausible reason to get the characters to new and intersting places without a trek to and from. I would advise that at least once the scholar mess up and send the party into an area way over their ability to take and they have to run for it. It would just be funny, allow for social interaction with the npc, "WTH?! That wasn't some tribe of half assed fighters guarding that thing, it was a bunch of the old Bronze Destroyer constructs?! ZOMG are you trying to get us killed?!"
#6 Bobfred21 Nov 20, 2008 1:06:31	Honestly, I hate to be a nit-picker but it sounds a bit cliched and over the top. Mind you, when I first started DMing I ran the same kinds of plots. The portals especially feel very video gamey. Not that there's anything wrong with video games but this particular aspect of having a portal to zip you to the battlefield all or even a large amount of the time seems a bit too easy to me. For me both as a player and a DM part of the adventure is what happens along the way. The travelling merchants/bards, the fellow group of adventurers you meet in the tavern, the refugees fleeing a pillaged village. It makes for a very stale, inorganic world is all. On the other hand, maybe your players just want to kill things, which this set up could do very well, portal in, kill ****, portal out. The barbarian sounds like the type. I'm sure there'll be some roleplaying on each individual quest but it seems to me like a lot of it is just "hey go get this, oh and you'll have to fight some things to get to it".