First I started small , a city and a couple adventure hooks , mustly through various npc's in the city .
Pallisium is a city centered around 3 major guilds, the travellors (devoted to Avandra) the arcane college, and the Libraries of Ioun (which will have several branches and an elitist sort of attitude) . Pallisium was once a fortification protecting the borderlands . (The rest of the world is pretty vague right now, I know there is an area that is currently in a state of war, known regionally as the Goblin Wars. Also the dwarves in my game are broken down into to warring clans, the warforgers and the stonecutters. There fabled lost city of Fendarkar lies somewhere off the initial map.)
So I have the city and some major albeit vague hooks. I've broken the series of adventures into groups , geared towards the different PC tiers . Of course if the Pc's rather do quests that I have considered to be higher level stuff, I will change the creatures etc. to fit their level. I'm not a killer dm, though I probably should be.
First , I think using the travellors guild as a hook.
The guild is designed to house important travellors and adventures , keeping the major roads and highways safe. They usually contract from within the guild , but if the Pc's are too cheap to cough up the 10gp entrance fee, (which gives them free room and board for life!) I will obviously change it for the sake of the game. Some brief rundowns of hooks:
-The gnolls of Horseain Pass have been causing trouble for pilgrims travelling from the eastern lands of Nessilium . (A nice little adventure for 1st-3rd level)
Basic go kill the damn thing quest.
-The EarthGiants of Spindle Spire Mts. have destroyed the bridge spanning the eaglespit gorge. This one obviously a bit higher level.
-Firefly swamp, a more vague request by the guildmaster. Havent fleshed this one out but I am thinking of a ghost hunt or somthing similiar.
These are just suggestions that the guildmaster gives, none of these have to be done in particular order, But if the Pc's go after the gnolls, the Giants might come down and attack the city. Etc. I want the gameworld to be open ended as possible, and I realize the best ideas come from PC's in-game actions. I guess I am going for the most non-linear game I can come up with.
-Library of Ioun To gain access to the libraries , players must pay a fee of 100gp , pretty steep, but also they are required to donate any significant historical or arcane manuscript , tome , tapestry etc. The guildmaster they meet and interact with can give the pc's several leads.
I'm thinking of using Bael Turith as a recurring theme, especially if any PC plays a tiefling. Given how badass they are (I'm playing a tief. warlock in another game) the chances are high. Bael Turith , of course is the long fallen Tiefling empire.
The quests I design for this , hopefully will build upon somthing one of the Pc's comes up with in the game, I.E. if there is a dwarf pc, he might say somthing like, do I have a family tree? The appropriate dm reply is, oh sure , but you gotta find the fabled city of your ancestors, Fendarkar , legend tells of a great hall a mile long with the history of your clan cut into stone. etc.
But outside of accomadating the pcs:
-Ancient Pallisium texts , There is legend of a temple devoted to the old gods of Zanthem (the name of the region) long lost, but rumours abound of it's location beneath the cities arena .
-Bael Turith There is a text describing the last cataclysm that finally toppled the might empire. The Corcormadon lost in the Advari Library , which was swallowed by the earth in the last great earthquake.
-Fendarkar I really , really , really want my players to look for this city , hopefully they will . If not I will shelf it for some other time. This is a hunt for the family trees of the stonecutters (called Garron) and the warforgers(called Azgarron) , In the ancient days the stonecutters built the cities, and the warforgers crafted the weapons. Thats the only reason they have the division. Oh yea and that quarrel about who is the rightful heir to the coming "new" era of dwarven rule.
Anyways those are all major quest lines. Of course I have some smaller hooks,
a few surprises and the final major epic holy **** crap your pants last adventure. (where the pc's go down in a blaze of crap after a couple really bad nat 1's. )
-P
Looks like you have a good start. I don't really have anything to add at the moment.
Right your are giving 3 choices of different levels. It's ok to describe the other quests if you but i highly suggest that you describe another group of high level looking npcs enter the room and take the quest of the giant ... for example. Or keep them till later.
The guild master knows their newbies in the guild he should not suggest them high level jobs, unless he doesnt like them.
My sugestions examples :
quest 1
the gnolls is ok althought a bit high profile :
quest 2 : goblins have been ambushing lone travelers on the spikestone road that border the green skin marshes. if they pcs don't take the quest you could tell them it seems the goblins are getting more organised. they started attacking groups of people / small caravans and that hobgoblins and/or bugbears have been reported to fight along the goblins by survivors.
quest 3 : Engeneers and rat catchers have been prevented from doing their jobs in the sewers near 4th district watergate by traps and skirmishes with a small clans of kobolds that recently escaped from an kobold extermination raid planned last month in the nearby mines of Draven StoneBelt which extract iron for the region. If players don't take the quest tell them that a larger part of sewer are now occupied and that the city's employees refuse to return in the sewers since 5 of thier collegues have been fund dead with huge chunks of their body were bitten off and acid burns were all over fund them.
(black dragon named NightHorn came from the nearby greenskin marsh and is actively trying to kill / ruin the dwarf in charge of the sewer system who before retireing 60 years ago participated in BlackHorn's mother hunt as an adventurer. )
As a player I like to see a bit of a domino effect. Meaning event 1 happens and that sort of cascades into another event. Like with the gnolls harassing travelers good first quest solid with tangible goals... but to mix it up a bit, on the way back to the town, the characters hear what sounds like bickering not to far off the road. They come across a couple of Goblin/Orc scouts. It seems the "goblin war" (which i love by the way), might be making it's way to Pallisium. Now the players have a hook that wasn't handed out right to them.
That system has it's merits and flaws. Sometimes it feels forced like it's the want ads in the paper, and others it's the best way to get people in gear.
I would definetly try to mix it up, and allow your players to discover stories rather then apply for them. Unless your group is fine with how that plays out.
As far as some of the setting elements are concerned, great stuff. You have a lot of nice idea's floating around that can certainly create a memorable game.
-wrecan, your friendly neighborhood forum lead[/highlight]
1. You have a 3rd power center in the city, the Arcane College. Do you have any adventure hooks planned for this organization?
2. Why is the Arcane College separated from the Libraries of Ioun? If they are separate, it may be because the Dwarves aren't the only ones with a little sibling rivalry going on.
How does this sound:
The 3 power centers include the Travelers' Guild (sounds something like the Travelers' Aid Society of the old _Traveler_ sci-fi RPG, a great concept, btw), The Libraries of Ioun, which includes the locally famed Arcane College, and the Pallisium Protectorate, which includes the Dwarven crafters of the region, who make the weapons and infrastructure to support the military forces still tasked with the safety of the region.
These power centers have specific areas of responsibility. The Travelers' Guild protecting the caravan route and roadways to the other places that you'll design eventually, and it may be a local branch of something that was set up during the Empire, but has "kept the lights on" even after the Empire's collapse from the Goblin Wars. The Pallisium Protectorate is the local government and is tasked with maintaining the peace in Pallisium and its immediate vicinity. They aren't representing the Empire any more, but they recognize they still have a job to do. Finally, the Arcane College is the most powerful force inside the city walls, with prestige and influence enough to motivate the building of multiple libraries in one city. Ioun would be proud, if only they'd stop bickering over whether to seek knowledge for its own sake or the power that magic brings.
Also, because everyone likes extra, here is another idea you may enjoy: a fourth power center in the city. The Voracius family, a local crime syndicate which has corrupted the Protectorate just enough that they can operate as long as they keep a low profile and nothing major gets stolen. The Voracii can be counted on to pursue their own interests, which sometimes coincide with that of the rest of Pallisium.
It's a great setting - can't wait to find out what awaits in the ruins of Fendarkar.
Anyhow-
My game has been going for about 4 sessions now, and really I just took what the players gave me and ran with it. Some pc's left the game, due to some drama so the face of the party changed drastically, its now a 3 human,1 half-elf, and 1 eladrin party ; with a good mix of classes, Roge,Wiz,Ranger,Cleric, and Fighter.
They actually dodged the guilds! After taking a tour of the city and talking with the guild heads , they went to the bar, (I think they just wanted to jump into combat, 4ed. Combat is very, very, sweeeeet.
They ran into an NPC I had not planned on them meeting until later, but the night was dragging on and I decided to throw them into somthing before the game lost steam. The NPC was a troubled ex-soldier now working as a city-guard. He talls the PC's one of his war-buddies died, and on his deathbed asked the NPC(the city-guard, Amus) to retrieve a lockbox at his estate and return it to his love(the dying NPC , Farven).
Farvens father had an old estate up in the hills near the city, When the war broke out the father and son both went off and got killed. The Pc's had learned kobolds had been moving in on local manor-houses and farms around the city, from the Travellors-Guild , and this provided at least a little verisimilitude. Off the PC's go to find the lockbox; five encounters later, they find that they have neither the skill or the magic to open the thing up. (which they really shouldnt sneak-about like that as they are all inherintantly GOOD pc's).
It's turned into a really gritty, low-magic game so far, I'm thinking of later plotlines and how to just react to my PC's actions. The lockbox will be a bit more than what Amus described it. (The king had died in the war, leaving no heir, maybe a secret heirs name will be in the box)
I havent really figured out what I'm going to run next, as this is only my 2nd ever adventure/campaign.(First was in 3.5)
As of now, a shady, wealthy tavern-owner (not the portly,greasy back-woods kind. Think DON CORLEONE in medieval garb) actually he owns all of the taverns/inns in the city, is trying to have the PC's killed.
I did'nt plan on this but a PC gave me the opportunity in the first game, He was a rogue eager to try out his new characters abilities and he attempted to pickpocket this guy..
I'm just running with it for now.. I've stashed all my extensive notes for later, and basically writing the adventure a week ahead of game time.
It's working out great.
-P
I'm just running with it for now.. I've stashed all my extensive notes for later, and basically writing the adventure a week ahead of game time.
It's working out great.
-P
That's the problem with allowing PCs to do what they want! I guess I'm just used to winging it. Okay, I hate making notes, my typical session notes are a bunch of unrelated doodles, a few suggested encounters limited to three words each ('man with fish') and some arrows and question marks that show how the PCs may progress, the rest I have to make up as I go along.
Just have a few different ideas on the go (keep mentioning subtley that the rats seem to becoming bolder and leaving the sewers in droves to see if they take a hint), it seems really easy to populate an encounter with monsters in 4e. Add your cool ideas for the setting slowly and see which baited worms the PCs bite, figure out which hooks they go for and you can steer them without them realising.
My main suggestion would be to make a rough sketch of the world. Im not talking about a fully fleshed out world, but just something so that everything is in a rough area outline.
Yax (from DungeonMastering.com) has published a few articles for this:
One of these is: http://www.dungeonmastering.com/tools-resources/drawing-dd-maps
He wrote another one that I can't remember, but the main thing was do what you want to the map.
Johnn (from RolePlayingTips.com):
http://www.dungeonmastering.com/tools-resources/drawing-dd-maps
http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=60
Your setting seems very nice.
If you poke around the forums, you'll find map-making tips.
Good Luck!
I'm just running with it for now.. I've stashed all my extensive notes for later, and basically writing the adventure a week ahead of game time.
It's working out great.
-P
Well good for you! I was going to make some suggestions about the town and the guilds and such, but it really sounds like you are making your campaign fun. Congrats on making the open-ended world work (I know it's difficult) and meeting your PCs half-way in a way that everyone enjoys.
If you need any brainstorming help for further ideas we're here to help, otherwise go you!