I will admit, I've never actually DMed any sort of campaign before, and I chose D20 primarily because none of my other college friends that I knew of had anything to do with the system at the time, and I had the Core Rulebook and Weapons Locker in my posession, staring me in the eye on my bookshelf. So, to tackle both, I decided to gather some of my closest friends and benevolent DMs and attempt a 1-shot of the system. For extra flavor, I asked the players to provide two names and some back story of the names, their contacts, to help ground the characters in the reality provided to them (An idea I borrowed from Shadowrun). I also disregarded the experience system in favor of leveling them every few sessions, starting the party at level 2.
I spent about a week of off-and-on work setting up the session, jotting down their exact path and the lines my GMPC would say to them, and the attack on Div-7 base during their selection process to stir them into action.
They breezed through that encounter, and I hoped to continue, but at that time I needed to return home to find a job so that I could start paying off college loans later that month. So, I offered to do the campaign over Skype with everyone through webcams and the like, and they agreed, for the most part.
Party shuffling left me with 3 players out of an original 5, so I ended up occasionally using my DMPC(s) to help them out through the next few missions, planning on going into a Dark-Matter/X-files campaign with intrigue and stuff like that, but then a night of inspiration gave me ideas for where to take the campaign: Alternate reality, time travel, or zombie apocalypse. I posed this question to my then-party, and majority went to Zombies, which I had DooM I/II in mind (The other two were Command & Conquer: Tiberium Dawn, and your generic Pulp Fiction WWII thriller).
For either option, the setup was going to be the same: The attack on Division 7 was by another corporation to acquire an artifact, a Richman Tablet if you will. These three Richman Tablets were used by a primitive-yet-advanced society centuries ago in Honduras in a ceremony, and the party was supposed to prevent this corporation from collecting all 3 tablets and stop the warp event, which they wouldn't. The Zombie version is detailed as the society being wiped out by the zombie invasion, but due to a lack of warm bodies, the zombies die out and the portal collapses. Years later, a Mr. Richman finds the temple of worship and blah blah blah present day. The three Richman tablets are split, one to Div-7 for study, one to Washington, D.C. at the (American) History Museum, and the last to England.
Over the next two sessions, I took ideas from pre-made sources (MP_Pipeline from CoD4:MW1, then a map of the American History Museum) to creat the sessions, but I started to ad-lib the session a lot more for the party, using my DMPC until I could get another person for the party to finally make a steady party of 4. The next two sessions were created from where my party left off, ad-libbing for the most part, and dealing with trying to run a campaign over Skype with webcams and a markerboard.
Last session, I structured it to ensure that what I wanted to happen (Party gets captured and witnesses the portal to hell open, then escape from the temple).
This leaves me/us where I have yet to put them.
Next session will leave them in the Div-7 headquarters fending off an attack of Demons, only to have a trio or so of snipers start shooting at them from across the street. That portion, the snipers, will be for the rifleman of the party, and I will set it up so that he will be shown a drawing of the building and have to choose which area he will watch for the snipers (A sort of FPS kind of effect), while the rest of the party defends the building as usual.
I haven't quite thought out the rest of that session, if there will be any additional hooks or the like. I am primarily working on getting a fixed day to hold the sessions, since the next semester of college starts this week, and I need to request time off from my job that meshes up with my party.
Other sessions are planned so that the party can choose what they want to accomplish, but with mild reprecussions. For instance, if they choose to save a supply vehicle from attack one session, the next objective, securing the hydrolic plant in the city, the party will be more equipped, but fatigued due to insuffecient water supplies, whereas securing the power plant before the supply vehicle, the party will have insuffecient ammo or other resources.
The overall picture of the coming campaign will be to slowly and deliberately push the Doom enemies back until a final showdown with Johnny Romero's head on a stick behind the master demon's exploded head. Varios plot points will include 'shopping' at a supermarket for scent masking agents for the party, freeing tillable land for agricultural purposes, exploring a nuclear power plant to retrieve power cells with which plasma rifles may be built for the party, securing other parts of the city like waste disposal, and others as I think of them.
The enemies I will have to build myself, with the exception of Ghouls, which are taken from the Menace Manual. Lost Souls, Cyberdemons, Imps, Cacodemons, Hell Knights, and Barons of Hell will be built with help from the creature builder and kept fairly true to their natures and attacks (Monster in-fighting, for example), as well as a few monster ideas taken from Dead Space.
The tips and tricks I've been told already: Use different means to set the mood (having my party turn off lights for dark, spooky areas, etc.), don't be afraid to kill the party (Something I've been battling with the entire time. I want them to have fun, so I try to ensure that they stay alive, which means, generally, pathetically-easy enemies), a difficult twist each session to put the party in a difficult situation that they must get out of (having their transportation smashed in to, and they need to find other transportation themselves, for example), and to let the party get through things themselves.
Any thoughts, ideas, concerns, and criticisms are appreciated. This thread was inspired by sleep deprivation, so I appologize for spelling/grammar and babbling.
Cyberdemon
Construct, huge
HD: 15d10+40
HP: 115
Defense: 9-2=7
width: 20ft square.
Reach: 10ft
Speed: 20
Str - 29
Con - -----
Dex - 8
int - ----
wis - 12
cha - 6
BaseAttack: +11/+6/+1 (+9/+4/-1)
Fort: +9
Ref: +4
Will: +6
Special:
Darkvision: 80 ft, LL 80ft
Weakness - Exposed Parts: Reloading device is visible in rear of Cyberdemon, Int check (no target yet) to spot this weakness, disable device (No target yet) to exploit and cause loading jam in rocket launcher.
Attacks:
Slam - 3d6, throws object 15 ft (25 crit), +2d6 if object hits solid surface perpindicular to ground (like a wall)
1 rocket - 5d6, 20ft range, 5ft splash
Full-round attack
3 rockets - 5d6, 1 target (One person), 20ft range, 5ft splash
CacodemonMagical beast, medium
HD: 6d10
HP: 30
Defense: 11
Speed: 15 ft
Str - 6
Con - 16
Dex - 12
int - 12
wis - 8
cha - 6
BaseAttack: +6/+1
Fort: +5
Ref: +5
Will: +2
Special:
Keen Sight - Darkvision 60ft, LL 60ft
Flotation - Hovers to move
No Crit dmg - Crits do not cause more damage.
Weakness: Massive eye - Int (20) to discern weakness. Must crit hit to destroy eye, or perform called shot (Will write up rules for this later, but will likely be +4/+6 to defense to Cacodemon for hitting the target)
Attacks:
Electric ball - 4d6 electric against square (treated as a medium electricity attack), 20 ft range. Crit: 20/Temp paralysis. Splash: 15ft @2d6
Fort save (15) halves damage/Prevents stun.
Lost Soul
Tiny Abberration
HD: 2d8
HP: 8
Defense: 12
Speed: 10/50 (See the 'Bull Rush' attack) ft
Str - 13
Con - 12
Dex - 10
int - 6
wis - 8
cha - 3
BaseAttack: +3
Fort: 0
Ref: 0
Will: +3
Special:
Keen Sight - Darkvision 60ft, LL 60ft
Flotation - Hovers to move, 10ft/Rnd
No Crit dmg - Crits do not cause more damage.
Zombies! - Can create ghouls, see note.
Attack, full round-
Bull rush/Charge - 2d6+1, 50ft range. 19/20 crit Zombification*
Note- Zombification applies the 'Ghoul' template to target over 1 round to living/recently deceased (up to 1 hour), and 3 rounds for beings dead longer, but with a working muscular structure.
Wall Demon
(A putty-like growth on the wall with a human head and many flailing tentacle-like appendages. See Dead Space for a good example)
Medium Aberration
HD: ---
HP: ---
Defense: ---
Speed: ---
Str - 30
Con - 15
Dex - 14
int - 8
wis - 5
cha - 2
BaseAttack: +5
Fort: ---
Ref: ---
Will: +5
Special:
Blind - No sight
Air/Tremorsense - Uses cilia on appendages to sense air changes, and tremmors on the wall. To move past this monster's threatened squares, Stealth(25), or 5 rounds of uninterrupted sneaking @ DC10
Immobile - cannot move
Invulnerability - Only prolonged fire kills the demon (3 continuous rounds, must do at least 1 point of damage)
Attacks - Full
Grapple - This creature does damage by grappling, and then dismembering, its opponents. Follow grappling rules, but a a successful Hold check does 1d3+7 of nonlethal, a pin does the same in Lethal, and a second consecutive pin causes immediate (and very messy) death.
...Thoughts? I use the creature generator, but don't follow the Attribute suggestions.
[Edit 2/15/11: Added the Lost Soul and the Wall Demon]
Reading the cyberdemons weakness leads me to believe that you have read the doom novels, at least the first one. If you haven't I suggest you find a copy for cheap, there are four in the series and they are on amazon for about $7USD. They are in no way well written, but they are mindless fun and will give you a lot ideas for adventures. Knee deep in the dead, and hell on earth are the first two and likely the best for ideas, they are also in my opinion the only ones worth reading.
You have a great thing started, I love the idea of blending FPS and RTS with a RPG. You can create a lot of suspense by keeping a close eye on ammo count and carrying capacity, forcing players to make hard choices about what to bring and use at any given moment. (Yeah rockets take out a heard of ghouls easy but ammo isn't popping up in the back of every truck now is it)
As far as the cyberdemons weapon range I would make it equal to a standard rifles range or half that, but that my friend, is only my opinion.
I'm sure you already have tons of stuff built up for this but here's some ideas anyway.
BFG (superior DooM 1 version)
Damage 10d10, Critical 20, Damage Type fire, Range 60', Rate of Fire Single, Magazine 1, Size large, Weight 12 lbs. Notes: damages a 15' radius area (no save), the weapons use destroys all internal electronics making it a one time use weapon only.
Blue orb thingy (A vary technical term)
A blue sphere about a foot and a half in diameter with a hideous face on it floating about three feet off the ground. Touching the sphere will cause it to pop covering the one who touched it with blue goo, that disapears in three rounds. They are immediately stabilized if dieing, on the next round they will be at full hit points, and the round after that they gain 2d10+10 temporary hit points that will last for ten minutes. The sphere is activated as soon as it is touched making it impossible to administer to others or store for later. The best you can do for an unconscious teammate would be to just throw them into it and hope you don't touch it first on accident.
No great loss missing the 4th book, most of it was retelling of the first book in a new way. The supermarket and dark alley fights from the second are great adventure ideas. Even some of the stuff from the first book would be a cool idea, giant rooms made of flesh, rivers of toxic sludge, the adrenalin shot.
Adrenalin Boost: Taken as a full round action the player gains +4 to Str and Con, -4 to defense. These effects last for 1 minute, then the player is fatigued for 1d4+1 hours. The Player also becomes a violent killing machine that will attack friend and foe alike, will save DC 12 allows them to recognize friend from foe, other wise they will attack whatever is nearest to them. At the GM's discretion the player may retake this will save anytime they may do something they would regret. Tiny object, purchase dc 14 (Military +3)
Kinda wanna play through Dead Space I as well, use some ideas from that game, too. I watched friends play it when it came out, but I never did, because it was on console, though I've got it for PC now. I will try to incorporate some zero-g areas when/if they finally get off Earth to halt the invasion.
First session since the end of last semester (trying to get a set date, tried to start early february, but plenty of false starts due to silly reasons and having to cancel because I work during our meet times.) Used Katherine, the party's overt feline-moreau handler to recap some guidelines for the rest of the campaign, including the use of Apocalypse for the trade units instead of wealth, saving brass due to ammo shortages, and covering the necessary background. Well, during/after the meeting with their handler, the headquarters was attacked, so the party ran to their battlestation, the third level of a section of the building. Below is a screenshot of their part of the encounter.
(s) is their starting point, and (e) is the location of a small group of enemies, consisting of one Hell-knight, two 'Zombie Guys' and two weaker zombies, dubbed 'Civies' due to them being, well, civilian zombies. (Will post stats on these after this post, up in the mosters post I made earlier). Wondering about the shaded areas up above?
BLown out wall. Used for cover against the sniper that hid himself in the building across the street, about 100 feet or so (Been bad with visualizing distances, always have been).
Lawl, my blue-jeans at the bottom, and my late-night snack on the floor beside me, and my mad artistic skillz.
Yes, that is, indeed, the SIDE of the building, not the top.
I planned on (ab)using the marksman of the party with his PSG-1, giving him a sort of FPS-esque Full Spectrum Warrior feel, letting him focus his attention on a small area of the building and use a ready-action to shoot the sniper when he reveals himself inside the area (I chose the area of a CD for this). Of course, I used the 5-foot-step to allow the sniper to peak around, shoot, then hide again.
When the actual encounter came around, the party took the divide-and-conquer approach, taking out the 30-hp Hell Knight in short order (Jeez 2d10 can be a lot), then the marksman focused on the enemy sniper across the street, while the other three party members focused with the rest.
Well, one character, finding himself without anything to do, had his character twiddle his thumbs, So, that earned the party two Cacodemons in the street after they finished mopping the floor. Second cacodemon got its eye shot out, both eventually succombed to their injuries and explode into electric fireworks, like shredded Edward Cullens tossed into a bright, sunny sky.
Things that I've learned from this session:
1) Monster count should be a little more, depending on the mix. I did do some damage,
2) Probably will need to re-do the monsters, prevent any glass-cannons, but one session does not equal playtested. Must wait and see.
3)I'm on the right track with innovative mechanics. The party really liked the building-side sniper/counter-sniper idea I implemented.
Gave the party the option of securing a convoy of supplies that went dark, or to secure a water-treatment plant, they chose the supplies. For ammo plentifullness, will likely either do temporary damage to all character's select attributes due to dehydration and a large amount of monsters, or something similar. Saving the convoy will likely take multiple sessions, if I wanna do it properly.
Thoughts? Any ideas for building-hopping difficulties? I was thinking getting them used to the idea of thinking outside the box, like forcing them to try to blend-in with their enemies, when possible, by doing the exact kind of **** that Bill Murray did in Zombieland and the characters from the Doom series in the supermarket, like a 'Do this or you die' suggestion... Or a helpful hint or two from their CO.
All fear the IRS army... LOL I totally forgot all about those traitorous scum.
I always have the same trouble, trying to balance out the enemies to the party. I normally have to just throw a few more enemies at them in the end. Sometimes giving the enemies just a few more hit points works too, no one said that everything has to have average hp. You can do anything with them, give them more hit dice, special powers, damage reduction, whatever... and you don't even have to have it all figured out when you start. It's true the best GM's will just do stuff on the fly; monster getting it's but kicked, have it pull out a new weapon or alt ammo, party members dieing when yo don't want them to, pull your punches a bit. As the GM you have all the power, never let your self be constrained by the material or the writen rules.
As a quick example. My buddy ran a game set in a post apocalyptic world and had zombies made by nanites, he gave them a damage reduction of 10 vs ballistic damage, it made us have to get real close to them, upping the chance of infection. I was the only one who got the nanites in my blood, I was on the verge of dieing for like three sessions after that as my con slowly dropped until an EMP gernade accidentally cured me. After a bit we got real good at killing them, so he made one mutate after it died and come back with new powers and full hp. Then we had to deal with a swirling mass of mono filament tendrils that cut us up as we tried the same old tactics against a brand new foe.
Again I can't tell you how great your idea is. You're on the right path and shouldn't worry about the details to much, just remember the point of the game is to get together and have fun. Keep the story moving, the action intriguing, and never let a player get board. Zombieland that's another good place for ideas, give your players some rules to live by and then give them a rason to break them. Building-hopping? You mean like jumping a gap to another building? It depends on the didtance of the gap, The jump DC is like the distance you want to jump in feet +5 (jumping a 10' gap requires a jump check dc 15) hope that helps.
Problem is, though, that my party members are all 6 hours away, and we're doing this over skype. I can't just grab a character sheet from theirs to get a better idea of what's going on with them, I gotta ask them to read it off only to forget later. Need to get them to send character sheet picture or something... Maybe.
Hell Khight
Medium Humanoid
HD: 9d8
HP: 36
Defense: 11
Speed: 30
Str - 16
Con - 16
Dex - 12
int - 6
wis - 6
cha - 8
BaseAttack: +6/+1
Fort: +6
Ref: +3
Will: +3
Special:
Keen Sight - Darkvision 60ft, LL 60ft
Attack, standard -
slam - 3d6 bludgeoning +Str mod
Attack, full round-
Acid splash - 3d6, 5t radius, 20 foot range. Crit (probably a loss of equipment, or unreliable weapon.)
Note: Playtested this one last session, feels like a glass cannon. Sniper potshotted this to death in two hits, but that's to be expected with that large of damage it does. Will probably add DR of 1 or 2 to even it out.
Baron of Hell
Large Humanoid (-1 to def/attack)
HD: 11d8
HP: 44
Defense: 12
Speed: 30
Str - 18
Con - 16
Dex - 14
int - 8
wis - 8
cha - 8
BaseAttack: +8/+3 (+7/+2 after size mods)
Fort: +7
Ref: +3
Will: +3
Special:
Keen Sight - Darkvision 60ft, LL 60ft
Attack, standard -
slam - 4d6 bludgeoning +Str mod
Attack, full round-
Acid splash - 4d6, 10t radius, 30 foot range. +1 to attack roll for preferred weapon.
Note: This one probably doesn't need DR, but I am unsure at this point. Won't be against the party for a while, if ever.
Regular Zombie, v1 (aka Civy)
Medium Human w/ Ghoul template
HD: 1d12
HP: 6
Defense: 14
Speed: 30
Str - 14
Con - ---
Dex - 14
int - 11
wis - 4
cha - 7
BaseAttack: +1
Fort: +1
Ref: 0
Will: 0
Special:
Zombie! - Can be fooled by Zombie behavior (and citrus smell along with this leads to even better disguise, see below)
Create spawn - If target contracts disease from a bite (fort 14), character dies and forms ghoul
Undead - HEY I'M A ZOMBIEderp.
Disease - if bitten, and fort throw failed, roll again, take 1d3 con damage. If second throw is failure, 1 dmg is drain instead.
Over days, subject slowly dies. Surgery check (25) to remove disease, otherwise disease returns in 1d3 days.
Funny smell - smells like lemon/lime. Areas populated by zombies smell faintly as such for 1 day after populated, unless acted on by water.
Keen eye - Darkvision 30 ft.
Attacks:
Claw- 1d3
Bite - 1d6
Zombie Guy, v2
Medium Human w/ Ghoul template
HD: 2d12
HP: 12
Defense: 14
Speed: 30
Str - 14
Con - ---
Dex - 16
int - 11
wis - 6
cha - 7
BaseAttack: +2
Fort: +1
Ref: 0
Will: 0
Special:
Zombie! - Can be fooled by Zombie behavior and citrus smell. Wisdom check (15) to notice a creature within 10 ft.
Create spawn - If target contracts disease from a bite (fort 14), character dies and forms ghoul
Undead - HEY I'M A ZOMBIEderp.
Disease - if bitten, and fort throw failed, roll again, take 1d3 con damage. If second throw is failure, 1 dmg is drain instead.
Over days, subject slowly dies. Surgery check (25) to remove disease, otherwise disease returns in 1d3 days.
Funny smell - smells like lemon/lime. Areas populated by zombies smell faintly as such for 1 day after populated, unless acted on by water.
Keen eye - Darkvision 30 ft.
Attacks:
Claw- 1d3
Bite - 1d6
Full attack:
M9, 2d6, 20 ft range.
Scrit - A large tick-shaped insect that feeds off of flesh. Hive-like, there are three types: Queen, Drone, and Scout. Queens are the egg-layer, Drones feed the Queen and maintain the hive, Scouts secure food sources and nests. Scouts are 6"x6", drones 1'x1'. Queens are yet to be constructed, likely in the 'Very, very big' size category. Hive boundaries are established by mucus/blood trails left by drones and scouts. Heavy mucus concentrations denote proximity to hive. Drones more likely the closer to the queen and nest, while only scouts venture out beyond the mucus patch (Think of the Zerg from StarCraft. Similar to that). Due to light sensitivity, and weather affects, Scrit take to dark, dry places more easily than other areas. So, use the scrit in long-derelict buildings.
Scouts hunt in packs of 2-4 and jump to attack to bury their mandibles into the target, while drones use massive jaws to slice flesh into more managable pieces before carrying the flesh back to the nest.
Scrit(scout)
Diminutive vermin(+4 def/atk)
(-12 grapple, +12 hide)
Str 4
Dex 17
Con 9
int -
Wis 8
Cha 6
HD 1/6D8 (3)
HP 2
Base attack: +6
Def: 17
Climb: 20
Fort:+3
Will/Ref: +1
Special
Darkvision 20 ft, Scent 1ft, Sensitive to light, will not approach unless provoked.
Fire weakness, will flee!
Other-worldly presence: Similar to frightful presense, but only for the location. Will save(10) to prevent shaken affects/dilusions. If success, immune to check for 30 minutes. If failure, -2 to skills/attack rolls/ saves until location is left, or 3 successful consecutive saves, 10 minutes apart.
Immobilizing enemy- If opponent is gored w/ 4 or more Scout Scrit, -1 to skills, attacks, and actions requiring movement or concentration.
Attacks:
Bite: 1d2
Full attack:
Gore: 1d3 (Ranged jump attack, 5 foot range if level with opponent) Damage from this attack is both from the bite and the legs attaching to the opponent. Scrit is then attached to opponent (Not grappled with), granting no attack rolls or defense bonus, but may bite the opponent without an attack roll once per turn.
Note: 1 pt of damage is incurred by forcefully removing an attached scrit. Wisdom check DC(12) to prevent this damage.
Scrit(Drone)
Tiny vermin(+2 def/atk)
(-8 grapple, +8 hide)
Str 8
Dex 15
Con 9
int -
Wis 8
Cha 6
HD 1/4D8 (3)
HP 3
Base attack: +3
Def: 14
Climb: 20
Fort:+3
Will/Ref: +1
Special
Darkvision 20 ft, Scent 2ft, Sensitive to light, will approach in curiosity
Fire weakness, will flee!
Other-worldly presence: Similar to frightful presense, but only for the location. Will save(10) to prevent shaken affects/dilusions. If success, immune to check for 30 minutes. If failure, -2 to skills/attack rolls/ saves until location is left, or 3 successful consecutive saves, 10 minutes apart.
Single-mind: Will not attack unless provoked.
Attacks:
Bite: 1d6