Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Newlight May 29, 2015 19:52:22	I am going to be a new DM in the near future. I am currently working on a Lycan VS Vampire campaign (I know it is over done). I have worked out most of the campaign. It will have 3 parts: Part 1 will be my players getting infected, dealing with/ accepting the curse, and finally fighting against a faction of Lycan/Vampire Hunters (based vaugely on the Anime Hellsing). Part 2 will be based on the group accidently releasing Dracula from the control of the Hellsing family (when defeating the Hunters in Part 1), and they will have to navigate through a small Labyrinth to reach the front gates of Dracula's Castle. They then have to defeat 4 levels of the castle. The gate, the courtyard, the 1st floor of the castle, and the top floor. If the group triggers a trap entering the top floor then they will fall into a dungeon and have to find their way out and back to the top floor to fight Dracula. Part 3 begins with the group having just seen Dracula take on a gaseous form and escape death. They head north and find the primary Lycan stronghold (thus far a mysterious character has been guiding their path). The king of the stronghold informs them that Dracula has emassed an army and is headed for them. He charges the group with defeating the vast army that approaches. Now along with this there will be a bounty board, a quest board, several shops, a temple for the moon goddess, and several elder Lycans. One of which is the mysterious figure that has been guiding them this whole time. The shops here are going to have the ability to sale homes, keeps, castles, large castles, motes, etc etc.... and this is where I begin to have some future questions arise. After the final battle of Part 3, some of the players will have castles and other fortifications. So I want to offer an optional 4th Part. The 4th part would be that only one of them can be the Alpha of the pack. They all have there own fortifications, or for those who dont they can jump in with someone that does, or form a rouge party etc etc... Here is the problem, they are all inheriently Lawfully Good. With them being Lawfully Good and all having varying fortifications and strengths, what would be the best way to initiate and play this Campaign Segment? Also is this even doable with the rules and mechanics of the game? Lastly, I want to implement it so that the Mysterious figure that has been leading them around is now playable as my DM character. Is any of this possible or am I chasing pipe dreams?
#2 SadisticLeprechaun May 30, 2015 9:41:33	Hmm, LG lycans . . . overcoming that obstacle, in many editions of D&D druids do battle for position, but it is not real combat, part real and part illusions aka dualing or whatever. Perhaps it is a battle to the death even, with a cleric with raise dead nearby? An honor fight, so in the end people are still friends, but a pecking order is established?   Sounds like a fun game.
#3 AdrastusDarke May 30, 2015 10:57:25	The idea seems like tons of fun so there are no problems there. I do have a couple of concerns however. Firstly it seems as if you have a very linear idea of what is going to happen, first this then this e.t.c the issue with this is that it takes away some control on the part of the players. The actions of the players may not conform to your expectations and that will derail your plans. What I would suggest to prevent this is to instead focus on a general idea of what is happening in the moment, what the motivations of the antagonists are and what their plans are, you can pretty much wing it from there. I find that not knowing what is going to happen and playing to find out is a lot more exciting than pre planning everything beforehand. secondly is the issue of the dm character. I'm afraid these rarely work out very well in play. It often sounds good to be able to play a character and dm at the same time but the result is usually a character that overshadows the pcs which will make the game less fun for them. I suggest running npcs parallel to the pcs that they can interact with but these characters should be clearly set apart from player characters. The player characters are the protagonists of the game and the dm is there to present challenges and to adjudicate their actions. I hope this was helpful. your idea for the campaign is awesome and I wish you all the best with it!
#4 Newlight May 30, 2015 19:13:51	Thank you for the help and suggestions. I shouldbe able to better implement my campaign stratagies thanks to you guys.   @AdrastusDarke: My explination of it is very linear, I do agree, but for the most part the campaign has several ways to play out to the outcomes I am wanting for each Part. I am not even sure if the players will survive to see the end results of the campaign lol. I was just recently in a campaign and the DM wasn't prepared for us to play together as well as we did. So the scenerio he had set up for us that week was vastly underwhelming and instead of us playing for our usual three hour block, we were done in about 45 minutes. So for mine I am making multiple options, paths, traps, etc etc.   For instance, in Part 1 after the group is infected by the curse and turning the first time, they can take small doses of belledonna to hide the effects of the curse from the towns people. If they want then they can choose as a group to go out and live in the wilderness until they have control of their affliction. No matter what they do they will be attacked by members of Hellsing. This will spawn some mini quests to find out more about the Hellsing Collective and why they are being targeted by them. The whole time they will have to deal with their lycanthropy each full moon. The way I have it setup is that after the first change everyone will role a DC 15 Wisdom save. If anyone is able to roll that or higher then they will become aware of their affliction. Whether they tell the rest of the group or not is up to them. If they become aware then once per month (game session) they can roll another DC 15 wisdom save to try and further understand the afliction. After 6 succesful attempts they will have control over the change and be able to assume the form with a DC 10 save (once per long rest). After so many times turning the belledonna no longer hides the effects of the curse and you show characteristics of the base creature. Eyes, claws, hair, ears, teeth, etc etc.... I am going to enforce 3 of these on each player. There will be 6 diformities with 4 options. to determine what you get it is a 1d6 roll and then a 1d4 roll.   As you can see the story and explanation are getting long and I have barely covered anything that will happen. I am hoping that you can see that it isnt quite so linear lol. If you still think it is, could you provide me with a non linear approach? As I said I am new to this and learning so all feedback and critiques are welcomed. Thank you.
(Reply to #4) AdrastusDarke	Newlight wrote:
#6 AdrastusDarke May 31, 2015 3:24:56	I think this episode will also be very helpful for you https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p3hj5R2FbEM
#7 Newlight May 31, 2015 8:25:49	Thank you. I will give those a look and hopefully they will give me a better understanding of how to implement this campaign. Everyday new stuff is popping up in my head and this campaign has become nearly infinite with possibilities. I may have to find a way to reign it in a bit.   Anyway, thank you for all the help.
(Reply to #7) AdrastusDarke	Newlight wrote: