Color/texture for campaign
Jonathan Hayward
Hello... I'm currently designing a campaign, and have the basic framework laid
out, but would like some pieces to add more color and texture to it (I don't
want a generic thud'n'blunder). I am particularly interested in good
puzzles and bits of social role play/colorful NPC's, but any suggestions would
be appreciated.
The rough framework of the campaign is four parts: city, countryside, dungeon,
sea. It's a quest to slay the Leviathan; they will start in the city, travel a
distance through the countryside, go down through the dungeon to find a super
boat, and then hunt the Leviathan on the open sea.
City: I want this to be a place of social role play with colorful characters to
encounter. I'm thinking of having them go on a vaguely spy/thiefish
practical joke mission and stumble on the quest... I don't have this
too well filled out, yet.
Countryside: I'd like a few good events other than random encounters. At least
a couple of things for interest's sake...
Dungeon: I plan a liberal distribution of puzzles aside from the usual fare,
but would be interested in any pieces of color for this, too.
Sea: What goes into a good chase on the open sea? Is there anything in
particular to make this a dramatic climax?
Thanks in advance...
-Jonathan
S. Topp
In article <58ldfq$6...@vixen.cso.uiuc.edu>,
Jonathan Hayward <jhay...@symcom.math.uiuc.edu> wrote:
>Hello... I'm currently designing a campaign, and have the basic framework laid
>out, but would like some pieces to add more color and texture to it (I don't
>want a generic thud'n'blunder). I am particularly interested in good
>puzzles and bits of social role play/colorful NPC's, but any suggestions would
>be appreciated.
>
>The rough framework of the campaign is four parts: city, countryside, dungeon,
>sea. It's a quest to slay the Leviathan; they will start in the city, travel a
>distance through the countryside, go down through the dungeon to find a super
>boat, and then hunt the Leviathan on the open sea.
>
> a couple of things for interest's sake...
>
>
One interesting thing which could occur in the countryside is a
possible ambush by a cult that has found out about the PCs
mission, and worships the Leviathan. This would not only add a
couple of encounters, but a bit of a sideplot as well (also, there
could be some occurances afterwards, due to the Cult being upset
that the PCs killed the Leviathan).
>Thanks in advance...
>
>
> -Jonathan
You're welcome.
-Steve
D.G. Larush
Here'r some ideas for your four pronged adventure;
City: Here's one I think is cute (and intend to use)... a prophet who
wanders the city fortelling doom and gloom for the PC's and giving vague
images of what the PC's must do. Most players will automatically assume
that any prophet knows his onions and will listen intently regardless of
the opinions of other NPC's, the thing is THIS prophet is a genuinely
insane old man who broadcasts gloom and doom for everyone. When the PC's
come back angrily to find out why they didn't get a +3 sword for cutting
down the tallest tree in the forest with a herring, have the prophets
worried daughter show up and lead the poor old coot home...
Countryside: How about a farming village with some sort of dire problem?
Of course the villagers are not skilled adventurers and could probably be
fooled into thinking some local bandits in costumes are pillaging Satyrs...
Your choice, the village can have a serious problem; like an Ankegh or
Werewolf, or a lesser problem like a 1st level mage terrorizing them (and
for good ideas on how to pump up a 1st level wizard, see one of the other
thread on this newsgroup).
Dungeon: How about an old mine shaft that some monsters built a shelter in?
You can have support columns, collapsed tunnels, old mining tools strewn
about, perhaps a few loose, uncut gemstones (for characters with the
little used Gemcutting skill), mining carts (a la Indiana Jones), and
vertical shafts with rickety old ladders or bucket elevators. Perhaps
the mine was abandoned because they eventually hit and underground river
and it became too expensive to bail out (the water that is), the whole
"bottom floor" of your mine can be chest deep in water with interesting
aquatic creatures...
Sea: One thing that could make a sea chase interesting is an unusual sea
hazard. Remember the Odessey? There were two islands floating back and
forth to crush ships. If that weren't enough, there was a monster
waiting under the water near each island. When the islands were far
enough aprat to safely traverse by ship, you had to sail EXACTLY down the
centre. Too far one way, and the whole ship would be sucked into a
whirlpool created by Charbydis. Too far the other, and the six-headed
Scylla would grab one sailor per hungry mouth.
Another sea hazard (bited from the obscure tv show "Dark Water") was a
narrow channel known as "the Dragon's Maw", hazardous to sail because
"the Dragon's Teeth" (huge jagged pillars of rock), would bob to the
surface threatening to impale ships...
There a loads of interesting places one could find on a sea voyage. You
might want to consider watching movies such as Sinbad or Jason and the
Argonauts.
Have fun!
David
Larry Dillingham Jr.
that your players will have a great time. Especially with a DM who puts
this much thought into his work.
I will warn you about over planning. I'm the king of over planning. I
even created a 30 level mountain, consisting of 267 maps, and never had
a single room played yet. Partly because I moved out of state, partly
because the group got older and went to college, years back.
You might want to do some of these things.
I keep several different notebooks with me when I DM.
1. Towns (Generally several different layouts of un-named towns or
cities. You never know when the party decides to do something different
than your original plans.)
2. Graveyards (For every, "We want to go this way instead." This gives
you a chance to throw a graveyard in the way. Players love graveyards,
but they don't like all the creatures that could inhabit one.)
3. NPC's (Very important. Simple one page datasheets. Nothing too
definitive. You can make it up as you go, and write it on the sheet to
remember. I do try to give them all names. This always seems to be the
hardest thing to do on the fly. And uncreative names generally don't
work well in the campaign. Players don't feel like this is a planned
part of the game.)
4. Maps (Dungeons, one level houses, things that are relatively small in
nature. Caves. I use these to spice up an intelligent game. Example:
We all have one of those great campaigns where everyone is thinking and
having a great time, and then wham! We lose the pace and silence starts
to come over the group. Almost like an unwanted downtime. If this
occurs, I use one of the players as a tool. I tell them that they
notice something in the trees, woods, grass, over the hillside. Usually
the players will jump back into the game. I'll use one of the generic
maps to create a quick side adventure, providing a mental rest before
jumping back into the main story.
I could go on, but those are all I really needed to keep the players on
there toes. They help out, sometimes. On occasion, no 'prepared extras'
are going to save the night.
-Raredon the Diviner