Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 foxmanfx Dec 16, 2008 11:23:21	Elven Blood: a 4e Campaign (PEACH) I’m going through the creative throws of creating a campaign for my players. The purpose of this thread is two-fold: 1) Set down some ideas and write them out. Develop them. 2) Get some feedback, some ideas and help fleshing out the campaign. NOTE: I still have to pick up the Manual of the Planes – some of this may or may not alter depending on the material therein. Outline: This is intended to be a sweeping epic style campaign, covering the Fall (civil war) of the Eladrin and the split into the three races of Elves, Eladrin & Drow and the player characters are central figures during this time. - Campaign world: Elven Blood is set a LONG time ago in the D&D core cannon. 1) Eladrin are the only race of elves and they live for thousands of years. 2) Tieflings have not been created – the human empire of Bael Turath is still thriving and not yet corrupted. 3) Dragonborn empire is alive and strong (pre-war) 4) The feywild touches closer to the world. In the feywild is the “Tree of Life” it is connected to all life in the Shadowfell, The World and the Feywild. All of life flows from it and to it. Few outside the Eladrin are aware of the Tree of Life or its connection. The Eladrin are the guardians of the Tree of Life. There is a King and Queen of the Eladrin and they have three daughters. - Characters: This is a campaign that starts out will all the characters playing Eladrin. I would like to have the following classes in the party: Swordmage, Ranger, Cleric (maybe Paladin) of Corellon. - Plot: This campaign takes place over thousands of years – with some years/decades/centuries being skipped. The characters start out as the young turks – all born within the same “generation” say within 50 or so years of each other. They are all minor nobility, and all related distantly (by blood or by marriage – like uncles, wife’s cousins husbands daughter). During the heroic tier they meet a human noble of Bael Turath, “Badguy 1”. They figure he is invading their feywild lands, he figures they are invading his empire lands – but he has more men then and captures them and then delivers them back to the Eladrin King, or something like that. Basically he embarrasses them, making them dislike him. Later on Badguy 1 negotiates a peace/alliance treaty with the Eladrin and the King marries of his 2nd daughter to the Emperor of Bael Turath. She takes with her a sizeable retinue of followers. She becomes the mother of Elves. (A question I asked myself is what do you get when you cross a Human and an Eladrin. The answer? An Elf!) Later on she flees the empire when it goes bad (Tieflings) OR dies when it happens, OR becomes tainted by the devils. Badguy 1 becomes a Vampire (how I’m not sure yet – needs more work). I think he’s outcast from or flees the Tiefling empire. Deciding to take vengeance on all living things he creates an alchemical vampire plague to release on the world, destroying everything and turning every one into vampires. (Maybe he becomes the 1st vampire? Experimenting? Hmmmm) The party fights him and defeats him, and searching the lab develops a cure. However there is no way to dispense the cure in time. Except one way. Inject the cure into the Tree of Life, which is connected to all life. This however would destroy the Tree of Life. Thus begins the civil war of the Eladrin. The oldest daughter sides with her father the King. And through events she becomes the Queen of the Eladrin. The youngest daughter sides with the ‘Rebels’ (the PC’s). A war is fought and the Rebels win. They inject the cure into the Tree of Life. This kills the Tree but saves all life in the world and in the Feywild/Shadowfell. The Feywild is rent further from the World and harder to access. The King and Queen of the Eladrin die during the war (with/when the Tree is killed?). However, before she dies, the Queen calls a terrible curse down upon the rebels. Without the Tree of Life the world is a dimmer place – they shall be as black as their hearts and know no colour. The darkness shall be their home. The sky and the surface shall not welcome them. They shall be cast into darkness. The party’s skin turns black and tada – they are drow. The youngest daughter of the King/Queen becomes the mother of the Drow. With the death of the tree of life, no Elf/Eladrin/Drow born has the long life (1000’s of years) as previously. Their lifespans are now less then 400 years. However the PC’s (and the queen of the drow) were born before the death of the Tree of Life and so continue to live for a long long time. The PC’s must then make a home for their new race under the surface of the world, cast out of the feywild. They must learn to adapt. And the spider queen – who’s plot this all was in the first place (ah-ha!) leads the drow down the path of evil and gives them “gifts” to help them survive. Redemption: Should I finish it there? Or should I write the redemption of the Drow for the epic level? Perhaps a seed of the tree of life? Thoughts/comments/suggestions on the overall plot?
#2 Goober4473 Dec 17, 2008 13:27:17	I really like the idea of playing characters over the course of a very long time. If I had time for more games, I'd love to use that concept. The specific story looks pretty decent. I think you shouldn't tell the players it's in the past though. Just say it's an alternate setting and let them figure it out.