[Homebrew 3.5] Campaign Need Help! - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

[Homebrew 3.5] Campaign Need Help!

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Delandel
Jul 10, 2008 14:25:21 Hey everyone, I'm a fairly new DM, led about 4 sessions so far. Me and a bunch of friends are supposed to play DnD tommorrow and I'm supposed to DM it, but it was sort of a last second call and I'm stuck the day before to write a campaign -- with only my PHB and no other books!

I'll have access to all my books tommorrow, but only a couple hours before we're scheduled to start, so I want to try and get as much accomplished before that time.

My biggest problem is lack of a monster manual. Without the off-hand knowledge to think of appropriate creatures that fit my environments, I'm left to leave them blank for now -- I'm hoping if I post my campaign overview here maybe some people can help fill in the blanks with me.

The very raw basic premise is that two different factions on different planes that hate each other wish to use the world the campaign is set in (Naveed) as a stepping stone to attack the other's home plane. I call them X and Y for now. The only factions I can think off offhand that MIGHT fit the bill is lawful evil versus chaotic evil, but I may just invent the 2 factions.

And here's my campaign overview:
Background:

Naveed:
Earth-like world, only one large continent. A frozen region to the north called Icaria, desert region to the south called Tazaris, the majority of the western / middle area is nearly all forest called The Great Forest, and the eastern middle is mostly plains called Ravinca.

Icaria:
Not explored much yet. Primarily home to Blank (I dunno, frost giants?).

Tazaris:
Not explored much yet either. There have been rare reports of bronze / blue dragon sightings. Other inhabitants include Blank (I dunno).

The Great Forest:
An enormous forested region, controlled primarily by an elven kingdom called Seleria. Other powers in the region include blank (dunno), and some other creatures living in this area include Blank (dunno). A notable region near the eastern outskirts of the forest is Dragon's End (referred to later).

Seleria:
For centuries Seleria has been the driving force for advances in magic, constantly seeking ways to make everyday life more manageable and easygoing through magical means. In recent history, however, many guilds and high-ranking officials have been using magic far more recklessly and drawing the attention of powerful planar beings. This kingdom is currently engulfed in civil war, one faction advocating restrictions on magic use while the other wishes to continue
advancing their magical powers and conquer new planes. Some kingdoms in Ravinca, most notably the Mandalore, are currently greatly profiting from Seleria's war by trading supplies to both sides.

Ravinca:
The area of Ravinca is mostly a temperate zone, with grasslands, plains, rolling hills. The eastern coast boasts a long mountain range called Redridge Mountains, which gets its name from the reddish volcanic ash that covers the area. Multiple human kingdoms control the majority of this area. Other prominent (and hostile) races include goblins, orcs, trolls, and ogres. These races have their own respective clans or kingdoms, and generally fight amongst themselves
as much as they do with their human neighbors and haven't posed a threat to human settlements for quite some time.

Thirty years ago Ravinca's human kingdoms were engulfed in war, mostly for territory, since up until this point the kingdoms were free to grow and spread without fear of encroaching on another kingdom's territory. The war went on for ten years, bloody and messy, with enormous losses on all sides. Eventually the kingdoms declared a ceasefire and the war officially ended with the signing of the Treatise of Ravinca, forbidding any kingdom to increase his military might larger than a self-dependant kingdom would need for defense against bandits, upholding laws, etc. If a kingdom were to drastically increase their military might to a war-like size, all other kingdoms involved in the treatise are forced to unite and declare war. The signing of the treatise ushered in a time of relative peace and prosperity, all kingdoms very reluctant to enter in hostilities with each other again.

Mandalore:
Mandalore sticks out from the other human kingdoms by being the largest, most prosperous kingdom at this time, but not too far ahead of the others to be seen as a problem. They are situated near the western edge of Ravinca close to The Great Forest, making them one of the closest suppliers to Seleria.

King Arecles, the current ruler of Mandalore, that lusts for more power. He believes himself to be a great visionary and wants to "unite" the entire continent under his rule, despite there being peace in his time. Arecles is disgusted by what he feels is a slow pace of human advancement during times of peace and remembers how the Great War thirty years ago pushed on humanity advancements in war technology, magic, and medicine. He has a jealous hatred of Seleria and their magical prowess.

Revan is one of the most powerful human wizards on the continent. He used to be the head advisor to King Arecles, but when he found out about the ambassador Vao and Arecles' dreams of conquest, he cut off his affiliation to Mandalore and quickly went into hiding in the Great Forest to avoid the King's wrath. Revan now seeks a way to remove X's and Y's influence from Naveed, and wishes to destroy the Dragon's Eye so that his world can be safe from the threat of planar invasion.

X vs. Y (because I don't know yet):
The creatures of the X plane have been at war with the Y plane for countless milennia. Since they cannot directly face each other due to planar restrictions, they wage their war on other planes, generally using mortals to fight for them. A couple centuries ago they became aware of the Dragon's Eye on Naveed, and both sides realized that they
could use this artifact to finally attack their enemy's planar home. Unfortunately for them, Naveed is also magically warded against planar intrusion, and both X and Y can only send few ambassadors to the world as ghosts / shades, relying on manipulating the mortals of the world to accomplish their goals.

Dragon's End:
Dragon's End used to be the home of many dragons that acted as guardians to the Dragon's Eye, not allowing anyone to approach the artifact. But something occured 1,000yrs ago that killed most of the dragons living there and drove the rest of them into hiding, leaving a ashen grey valley of bones of dragons and fallen armies. Dragon's End is now regularly used by a fledgling necromancer's guild that thankfully do not understand the significance of the artifact.

Dragon's Eye:
An artifact located in the center of Dragon's End. It's a large onyx arch that once every 1,000yrs can be used to open a gate to any plane, regardless of magical restrictions. It's sought after by both X and Y so they can invade the other's home plane. The Eye will be ready to activate again 6 months after the campaign starts.

Third Eye:
The fledgling necromancer's guild camping beside Dragon's End.

[b]The Campaign Story:[b]
Arecles is contacted by an ambassador of X plane, in the form of a shade. The ambassador, Vao, offers Arecles a method of attaining his dreams of conquest, so long as Arecles does one favor in return. The king, under Vao's advice, indirectly sets up a mercenary army called Crimson Serpent to start attacking the fringes of his own kingdom. Arecles uses these attacks as an excuse to increase his own army to defend his people, and although the other kingdoms are wary of this, they are reluctant to take action with the Great War fresh in their minds, and allow Arecles to continue raising his army. Around this time Revan uncovers the king's plot, refuses to cooperate, and goes into hiding.

Vao's real agenda is simply to use Arecles to gain a massive army and when the Dragon's Eye is activated, send the army into Y's domain.

At the same time Y is not oblivious to X's actions, and attempts to do the same type of manipulation with another kingdom called Carthon. They also have spies in Mangalore's army, including the king's most trusted general, Lando, who directs the largest portion of the king's army.

ENTER THE PARTY. The PCs are a group of characters from various backgrounds that have been hired by an unknown source to kill Grom'luk, an ogre chieftan that has been making successful raids on villages on the eastern edge of Mangalore Kingdom, and return with his blackened sword as proof. The group successfully disposed of the chieftan and recovered his weapon right before the campaign starts, and start off in a small town called Vaskella for some R&R.

The party has three days until they need to head to the marked location to collect their bounty. The location is actually the middle of the road from Vaskella to Bryth, the nearest town west (and further into Mangalore). They need to be there by sunset. When they arrive, no one is there to greet them. Only when the sun is completely gone and
it is dark does the party have their first contact with their employer -- the terrorists known as Crimson Serpent. A decent-sized squad ambushes them, they attempt to disarm whoever is wielding the blackened sword (known as Ebon Blade), and they attempt to retreat if they succeed in stealing the weapon.

Eventually the party will come to realise that the Ebon Blade is a powerful magic item, that when used properly inspires courage and strength in all allies with a 100yrd radius. Arecles wants this weapon to help give his army an extra fighting edge.

If the party succeeds in killing the leader of the group that attacks them, they'll find a note on his body leading them to Thunder encampments. Regardless, they can head back to Vaskella or Bryth and continue side-quests in either location.

Regardless of the city they head towards they will find an incredibly large bounty for Revan, apparently a traitor to Mangalore and leader of the terrorists called Thunder. From here they can progress the main storyline by either finding clues about Revan's whereabouts and eventually confronting him, or finding clues about Thunder and confront their hierarchy (and find out the king is the true leader of the group).

If they confront Revan, they can either side with him or kill him. If they kill him, they can collect his bounty at Mangalore City where the king resides. The king will seek audience with the PCs, congratulate them, and offer them great wealth and power if they work under him. If they agree he will task them to 1) find and exterminate the spies in
his kingdom, most notably Lando 2) Clear out Third Eye from Dragon's End 3) Finally, assume the role of general of the king's armies and march through the Dragon's Eye leading the charge.

If they side with Revan, the wizard will task them to 1) help him expose Vao and dethrone the king 2) destroy the Dragon's Eye.

If they don't go for Revan and continue doing side-quests in the various towns, they will be periodically ambushed by larger and tougher Thunder forces (spies spot them as they move through towns unless they wear disguises). This will continue happening until they decide to take the fight to Thunder, track down their encampments, find the supposed "leader," and uncover the truth about Arecles. When they dispose of Thunder, Revan will seek them out as allies.

There it is. As you can see, there's alot of things still left missing, because I don't have my books with me. I don't know which hostile monsters should populate forested areas, which ones should be in frozen landscapes, which ones in deserts, which ones in mountain areas. I also don't know which group of extra-planars X and Y will be.

Any help filling blanks, or just overall criticism, would be very helpful! Thanks.
#2
dirtyfrank
Jul 12, 2008 20:20:18 I didn't read much of your thread (only the first few paragraphs and the last few but that should be all I need to help you).

First, your are over planning the whole world/campaign. You should read the dungeoncraft articles under the dungeon tab on the D&D main page. Those articles are written by James Wyatt who is author to the 4E core books. He gives great advice on making a campaign around a town called Greenbrier. One of the BIG tips he gives is not to make more than what you well need. If during your next adventure the PCs are staying in a town then you only need to flesh out the town and not the whole world.

Use creatures when you need them and make a note of where they were used. You then could give a why and now in your world that creature know populates that area/region. Let the PCs help create the world and adventure as the story progresses. All that you need to start with is a rough outline of the campaign and only need to plane about one adventure ahead.

With 3.5E I over planned my world and didn't allow much room for creativity but with the release of 4E I move my new campaign to about 1 to 2 thousand years into the past allowing me to free up most of the map and call it unexplored. With an empty map I am able to introduce races, societies, monsters, and ruins into my game when it is convenient and I hope to keep it that way.
#3
cal-vigu
Jul 15, 2008 22:32:06 So, ditto on Dirtyfrank's advice about not over-thinking it too much at the start!

...by the way, since your post says "supposed to play DnD tommorrow and I'm supposed to DM it" - I'm assuming that game night has happened by now. How'd it go?

I tend to think that a great place to start is always some sort of "home base" like a town, or city, or even a little Hamlet with a road or two going off into the unknown. Then add some rumor of something interesting buzzing on the mouth's of the townsfolk - perhaps some recent bandit attacks that have people riled up. Trace the bandit group back to a nearby cave or ruined building, maybe with a small underground tunnels.

I mean, if you're preparing on really short notice - that's enough to get things begun.

There's that town (Fallcrest) and adventure (Kobold Hall) in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide. EDIT: wait, sorry that in the 4.0e DMG and you're talking 3.5?

Should give you breathing space while you begin to build the rest of your world and stuff out from there. The write-up in your post sounds pretty big and sweeping - but you could easily place a small town with bandit troubles in the middle without disturbing the big, overall story.

...cause it sounds like you've actually got a pretty good start, you just need time to flesh it out. Go for just a candy-bar or two now to keep em happy while you prepare the banquet.
#4
bleedingstar
Jul 17, 2008 13:55:06 I would look in the Dungeon link in the wizards webcite on the dnd link and use somthing from there, best bet and that way you are not rushed.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Delandel Jul 10, 2008 14:25:21	Hey everyone, I'm a fairly new DM, led about 4 sessions so far. Me and a bunch of friends are supposed to play DnD tommorrow and I'm supposed to DM it, but it was sort of a last second call and I'm stuck the day before to write a campaign -- with only my PHB and no other books! I'll have access to all my books tommorrow, but only a couple hours before we're scheduled to start, so I want to try and get as much accomplished before that time. My biggest problem is lack of a monster manual. Without the off-hand knowledge to think of appropriate creatures that fit my environments, I'm left to leave them blank for now -- I'm hoping if I post my campaign overview here maybe some people can help fill in the blanks with me. The very raw basic premise is that two different factions on different planes that hate each other wish to use the world the campaign is set in (Naveed) as a stepping stone to attack the other's home plane. I call them X and Y for now. The only factions I can think off offhand that MIGHT fit the bill is lawful evil versus chaotic evil, but I may just invent the 2 factions. And here's my campaign overview: Background: Naveed: Earth-like world, only one large continent. A frozen region to the north called Icaria, desert region to the south called Tazaris, the majority of the western / middle area is nearly all forest called The Great Forest, and the eastern middle is mostly plains called Ravinca. Icaria: Not explored much yet. Primarily home to Blank (I dunno, frost giants?). Tazaris: Not explored much yet either. There have been rare reports of bronze / blue dragon sightings. Other inhabitants include Blank (I dunno). The Great Forest: An enormous forested region, controlled primarily by an elven kingdom called Seleria. Other powers in the region include blank (dunno), and some other creatures living in this area include Blank (dunno). A notable region near the eastern outskirts of the forest is Dragon's End (referred to later). Seleria: For centuries Seleria has been the driving force for advances in magic, constantly seeking ways to make everyday life more manageable and easygoing through magical means. In recent history, however, many guilds and high-ranking officials have been using magic far more recklessly and drawing the attention of powerful planar beings. This kingdom is currently engulfed in civil war, one faction advocating restrictions on magic use while the other wishes to continue advancing their magical powers and conquer new planes. Some kingdoms in Ravinca, most notably the Mandalore, are currently greatly profiting from Seleria's war by trading supplies to both sides. Ravinca: The area of Ravinca is mostly a temperate zone, with grasslands, plains, rolling hills. The eastern coast boasts a long mountain range called Redridge Mountains, which gets its name from the reddish volcanic ash that covers the area. Multiple human kingdoms control the majority of this area. Other prominent (and hostile) races include goblins, orcs, trolls, and ogres. These races have their own respective clans or kingdoms, and generally fight amongst themselves as much as they do with their human neighbors and haven't posed a threat to human settlements for quite some time. Thirty years ago Ravinca's human kingdoms were engulfed in war, mostly for territory, since up until this point the kingdoms were free to grow and spread without fear of encroaching on another kingdom's territory. The war went on for ten years, bloody and messy, with enormous losses on all sides. Eventually the kingdoms declared a ceasefire and the war officially ended with the signing of the Treatise of Ravinca, forbidding any kingdom to increase his military might larger than a self-dependant kingdom would need for defense against bandits, upholding laws, etc. If a kingdom were to drastically increase their military might to a war-like size, all other kingdoms involved in the treatise are forced to unite and declare war. The signing of the treatise ushered in a time of relative peace and prosperity, all kingdoms very reluctant to enter in hostilities with each other again. Mandalore: Mandalore sticks out from the other human kingdoms by being the largest, most prosperous kingdom at this time, but not too far ahead of the others to be seen as a problem. They are situated near the western edge of Ravinca close to The Great Forest, making them one of the closest suppliers to Seleria. King Arecles, the current ruler of Mandalore, that lusts for more power. He believes himself to be a great visionary and wants to "unite" the entire continent under his rule, despite there being peace in his time. Arecles is disgusted by what he feels is a slow pace of human advancement during times of peace and remembers how the Great War thirty years ago pushed on humanity advancements in war technology, magic, and medicine. He has a jealous hatred of Seleria and their magical prowess. Revan is one of the most powerful human wizards on the continent. He used to be the head advisor to King Arecles, but when he found out about the ambassador Vao and Arecles' dreams of conquest, he cut off his affiliation to Mandalore and quickly went into hiding in the Great Forest to avoid the King's wrath. Revan now seeks a way to remove X's and Y's influence from Naveed, and wishes to destroy the Dragon's Eye so that his world can be safe from the threat of planar invasion. X vs. Y (because I don't know yet): The creatures of the X plane have been at war with the Y plane for countless milennia. Since they cannot directly face each other due to planar restrictions, they wage their war on other planes, generally using mortals to fight for them. A couple centuries ago they became aware of the Dragon's Eye on Naveed, and both sides realized that they could use this artifact to finally attack their enemy's planar home. Unfortunately for them, Naveed is also magically warded against planar intrusion, and both X and Y can only send few ambassadors to the world as ghosts / shades, relying on manipulating the mortals of the world to accomplish their goals. Dragon's End: Dragon's End used to be the home of many dragons that acted as guardians to the Dragon's Eye, not allowing anyone to approach the artifact. But something occured 1,000yrs ago that killed most of the dragons living there and drove the rest of them into hiding, leaving a ashen grey valley of bones of dragons and fallen armies. Dragon's End is now regularly used by a fledgling necromancer's guild that thankfully do not understand the significance of the artifact. Dragon's Eye: An artifact located in the center of Dragon's End. It's a large onyx arch that once every 1,000yrs can be used to open a gate to any plane, regardless of magical restrictions. It's sought after by both X and Y so they can invade the other's home plane. The Eye will be ready to activate again 6 months after the campaign starts. Third Eye: The fledgling necromancer's guild camping beside Dragon's End. [b]The Campaign Story:[b] Arecles is contacted by an ambassador of X plane, in the form of a shade. The ambassador, Vao, offers Arecles a method of attaining his dreams of conquest, so long as Arecles does one favor in return. The king, under Vao's advice, indirectly sets up a mercenary army called Crimson Serpent to start attacking the fringes of his own kingdom. Arecles uses these attacks as an excuse to increase his own army to defend his people, and although the other kingdoms are wary of this, they are reluctant to take action with the Great War fresh in their minds, and allow Arecles to continue raising his army. Around this time Revan uncovers the king's plot, refuses to cooperate, and goes into hiding. Vao's real agenda is simply to use Arecles to gain a massive army and when the Dragon's Eye is activated, send the army into Y's domain. At the same time Y is not oblivious to X's actions, and attempts to do the same type of manipulation with another kingdom called Carthon. They also have spies in Mangalore's army, including the king's most trusted general, Lando, who directs the largest portion of the king's army. ENTER THE PARTY. The PCs are a group of characters from various backgrounds that have been hired by an unknown source to kill Grom'luk, an ogre chieftan that has been making successful raids on villages on the eastern edge of Mangalore Kingdom, and return with his blackened sword as proof. The group successfully disposed of the chieftan and recovered his weapon right before the campaign starts, and start off in a small town called Vaskella for some R&R. The party has three days until they need to head to the marked location to collect their bounty. The location is actually the middle of the road from Vaskella to Bryth, the nearest town west (and further into Mangalore). They need to be there by sunset. When they arrive, no one is there to greet them. Only when the sun is completely gone and it is dark does the party have their first contact with their employer -- the terrorists known as Crimson Serpent. A decent-sized squad ambushes them, they attempt to disarm whoever is wielding the blackened sword (known as Ebon Blade), and they attempt to retreat if they succeed in stealing the weapon. Eventually the party will come to realise that the Ebon Blade is a powerful magic item, that when used properly inspires courage and strength in all allies with a 100yrd radius. Arecles wants this weapon to help give his army an extra fighting edge. If the party succeeds in killing the leader of the group that attacks them, they'll find a note on his body leading them to Thunder encampments. Regardless, they can head back to Vaskella or Bryth and continue side-quests in either location. Regardless of the city they head towards they will find an incredibly large bounty for Revan, apparently a traitor to Mangalore and leader of the terrorists called Thunder. From here they can progress the main storyline by either finding clues about Revan's whereabouts and eventually confronting him, or finding clues about Thunder and confront their hierarchy (and find out the king is the true leader of the group). If they confront Revan, they can either side with him or kill him. If they kill him, they can collect his bounty at Mangalore City where the king resides. The king will seek audience with the PCs, congratulate them, and offer them great wealth and power if they work under him. If they agree he will task them to 1) find and exterminate the spies in his kingdom, most notably Lando 2) Clear out Third Eye from Dragon's End 3) Finally, assume the role of general of the king's armies and march through the Dragon's Eye leading the charge. If they side with Revan, the wizard will task them to 1) help him expose Vao and dethrone the king 2) destroy the Dragon's Eye. If they don't go for Revan and continue doing side-quests in the various towns, they will be periodically ambushed by larger and tougher Thunder forces (spies spot them as they move through towns unless they wear disguises). This will continue happening until they decide to take the fight to Thunder, track down their encampments, find the supposed "leader," and uncover the truth about Arecles. When they dispose of Thunder, Revan will seek them out as allies. There it is. As you can see, there's alot of things still left missing, because I don't have my books with me. I don't know which hostile monsters should populate forested areas, which ones should be in frozen landscapes, which ones in deserts, which ones in mountain areas. I also don't know which group of extra-planars X and Y will be. Any help filling blanks, or just overall criticism, would be very helpful! Thanks.
#2 dirtyfrank Jul 12, 2008 20:20:18	I didn't read much of your thread (only the first few paragraphs and the last few but that should be all I need to help you). First, your are over planning the whole world/campaign. You should read the dungeoncraft articles under the dungeon tab on the D&D main page. Those articles are written by James Wyatt who is author to the 4E core books. He gives great advice on making a campaign around a town called Greenbrier. One of the BIG tips he gives is not to make more than what you well need. If during your next adventure the PCs are staying in a town then you only need to flesh out the town and not the whole world. Use creatures when you need them and make a note of where they were used. You then could give a why and now in your world that creature know populates that area/region. Let the PCs help create the world and adventure as the story progresses. All that you need to start with is a rough outline of the campaign and only need to plane about one adventure ahead. With 3.5E I over planned my world and didn't allow much room for creativity but with the release of 4E I move my new campaign to about 1 to 2 thousand years into the past allowing me to free up most of the map and call it unexplored. With an empty map I am able to introduce races, societies, monsters, and ruins into my game when it is convenient and I hope to keep it that way.
#3 cal-vigu Jul 15, 2008 22:32:06	So, ditto on Dirtyfrank's advice about not over-thinking it too much at the start! ...by the way, since your post says "supposed to play DnD tommorrow and I'm supposed to DM it" - I'm assuming that game night has happened by now. How'd it go? I tend to think that a great place to start is always some sort of "home base" like a town, or city, or even a little Hamlet with a road or two going off into the unknown. Then add some rumor of something interesting buzzing on the mouth's of the townsfolk - perhaps some recent bandit attacks that have people riled up. Trace the bandit group back to a nearby cave or ruined building, maybe with a small underground tunnels. I mean, if you're preparing on really short notice - that's enough to get things begun. There's that town (Fallcrest) and adventure (Kobold Hall) in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide. EDIT: wait, sorry that in the 4.0e DMG and you're talking 3.5? Should give you breathing space while you begin to build the rest of your world and stuff out from there. The write-up in your post sounds pretty big and sweeping - but you could easily place a small town with bandit troubles in the middle without disturbing the big, overall story. ...cause it sounds like you've actually got a pretty good start, you just need time to flesh it out. Go for just a candy-bar or two now to keep em happy while you prepare the banquet.
#4 bleedingstar Jul 17, 2008 13:55:06	I would look in the Dungeon link in the wizards webcite on the dnd link and use somthing from there, best bet and that way you are not rushed.