Hints and tips for stories...

[Northern Dungeon Master]

Cant figure out who (or what) the main bad guy should be?
Need locations in your story?
Or just need some help starting from scratch?

Post what help you need here and lets see what we can do. Note that I am going to be here as often as possible and creative writing is one of my strong points.

So hit me with your best shot and I'll see what I can do...

[Azon Blackheart]

I find that basic concepts generally turn into interesting campaigns. Sometimes campaigns are swelled up in a lot of bravada and over-sensationalism which sometimes devalues the players experience.

One campaign that I did which used mid-level players was based on an NPC party that were hell-bent for adventure. The player characters were lawful good and decided to shadow the NPC's along their journey (which was based around the Dales in Forgotten Realms). The NPC's found their way into Myth Drannor in a bad way and it was up to the player party to "rescue" them.

Myth Drannor was a setting that gave plenty of hack-and-slash, however the campaign needed an antagonist. I used a theiving guild, but the Zhenterim could have worked nicely.

City campaigns are always great, especially in large, older cities.

Here's one for you, maybe you could develop this into something.

Have a large, walled city - perhaps a city/state governed as a patriarchy with a nominated legislating council. A prominant politician is involved in a scandal. Plans for a coup were found in his chambers, however this councilman is claiming that he is being framed. He is in the process of being "tried" by the patriarch and fears a death penalty.

The player characters are contacted by the councilman's assistant and offered a very generous sum to investigate the matter. Time is of the essence since judgement is expected within the week.

Now, there are parts that can't be elaborated on at this time for spoiler reasons, but there are a lot of directions that can be taken.

[Jon Irenicus]

That actually sounds REALLY fun.

[The Black Knight]

Because of the nature of DnD, ANYTHING can become an adventure. There are no limits to speak of. I've had several interesting campaign ideas, several of which are going to play out in my White Knight campaign.

[yilduz]

Those are some cool ideas. The one about the councilman is something I've been trying to think of. I don't mean specifically, but something political in nature. I'm getting a lot of ideas for adventures together for when I start a campaign.

[Azon Blackheart]

I have another one that I did several versions of, it works well with mid to higher level PC's.

Prison setting, the PC's have to be incarcerated for one reason or another. Essentially it focuses on the PC's abilities and not the items they have accumulated through their adventures since they have been seized by their captors.

These limitations make the campaign interesting since the DM would throw a bone to them every now and then. How valuable is a cheap short sword when that's all you have?

Plus, a campaign like this can spawn another campaign. The outcome of the prison campaign could define the direction the PC party is going. If they manage to exhonerate themselves somehow, that could lead into a sort of lawful good campaign. If they hack their way out, they could become fugitives which opens a lot of adventuring doors.

[yilduz]

Apr 20, 2008 10:39:44 GMT -5 Azon Blackheart said:

I have another one that I did several versions of, it works well with mid to higher level PC's.

Prison setting, the PC's have to be incarcerated for one reason or another. Essentially it focuses on the PC's abilities and not the items they have accumulated through their adventures since they have been seized by their captors.

These limitations make the campaign interesting since the DM would throw a bone to them every now and then. How valuable is a cheap short sword when that's all you have?

Plus, a campaign like this can spawn another campaign. The outcome of the prison campaign could define the direction the PC party is going. If they manage to exhonerate themselves somehow, that could lead into a sort of lawful good campaign. If they hack their way out, they could become fugitives which opens a lot of adventuring doors.

That reminds me of when my party was sold into slavery. It's really exactly what you say - a dagger (in our case) is very valuable when you have no other weapon. Hell, one guy was using the leg of a table he broke off to attack with. You do what you can with what you have. The spellcasters ended up being pretty valuable at that time. We had two sorcerers and their abilities weren't hindered nearly as much as the rest of the party was, but they still had issues.

Slave revolts are fun. ;D

[Jon Irenicus]

All of your idea's sound interesting.

[Azon Blackheart]

Thanks, Jon. I'm looking forward to DM-ing a game or two, but I really want to play through a campaign or two first - just to get the hang of online roleplaying.

I've been playing the game on paper for around 20 years, but never had an off-paper campaign.

[yilduz]

Apr 20, 2008 20:02:22 GMT -5 Azon Blackheart said:

Thanks, Jon. I'm looking forward to DM-ing a game or two, but I really want to play through a campaign or two first - just to get the hang of online roleplaying.

I've been playing the game on paper for around 20 years, but never had an off-paper campaign.

It's not that bad. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but it's D&D - so it couldn't be all bad.

[Azon Blackheart]

Apr 20, 2008 20:16:57 GMT -5 yilduz said:

Apr 20, 2008 20:02:22 GMT -5 Azon Blackheart said:

Thanks, Jon. I'm looking forward to DM-ing a game or two, but I really want to play through a campaign or two first - just to get the hang of online roleplaying.

I've been playing the game on paper for around 20 years, but never had an off-paper campaign.

It's not that bad. It has its advantages and disadvantages, but it's D&D - so it couldn't be all bad.

Yeah, once I get to ride it once or twice - I'll have it down to a science. It's just the stuff like the character creation thing that sort of stumped me. I've never done anything like that.

[The Black Knight]

I've sadly never actually been able to be a player in any real sort of offline game (I ALWAYS DM...), so the online stuff is second nature to me. I can often make a character in a couple hours.

[Northern Dungeon Master]

Ok

the city with the senior politician about to be hung

Im presuming that the first thing that happens is that the servant contacts your party

If you want to jump straight into the combat maybe the meeting could be ambushed either after it happens or in the middle of the meeting, this could be cool because it means that the party only have a limited time to question the servant before someone who wants the politician to die kicks the door down and combat ensues. Obviously you dont have to go down the road and let everything go as planned, but by having the door kicked in you could make it that the party are constantly hounded by unseen forces that would benefit from the politicians death...

From there an obvious mix of detective work and brutish vigilante violence could be used.

To make things interesting there could maybe be a rather elusive enemy that is seen but never caught, escaping in the nick of time too his dark haven (or lavish apartment).

i do of course realise just how cliche this is but lets face it its hard to come up with anything else... like this:

the man is being framed for murder but not for political gain, the cities respectable patriarch is in fact a major player in a cult whos influences are all incredibly powerful. It appears that the man is on the surface a political prisoner who is to be hung for treason, the reality is that he is a sacrifice, chosen for his unique blood and this framing is part of an elaborate plan years in the making. The cult is too powerful for the party to take down, but there is hope for the captured Politician. Although the cult will be protected by the gaurd, not to mention their own private army of cult members, it must appear that the politician is to be given a fair trial and then hanged for treason, as such he will have to put into a normal jail cell until he is put under scruteny. This is the only weak point in the cult's plan and must be used. The idea is to spring the politician and get him out of the city before the cult realises this.

There are two ways to get at this, first is to hack and slash your way in and out, not the smart way
the second is too try and bluff your way through with a forged (or forced) signature and release the prisoner and dash out into the country side and safety...

what do you think?

[Jon Irenicus]

Sounds ok to me.

[Azon Blackheart]

NDM - sounds a little like how I might have taken it, but go with it. Looks good, just don't give too much on the forum and spoil the plot.