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View Full Version : Looking for help on my first campaign/setting



Gadora
2009-02-13, 09:48 PM
First of all, I guess I'd best be listing the books that I have available.
I have the three core rulebooks (3.5), Savage Species, Player's Handbook II, Heroes of Horror, the Dragon Compendium, Arms and Equipment Guide, Races of {Destiny, the Dragon, the Wild}, Sword and Fist, Tome and Blood, and Defenders of the Faith. I also have Libris Mortis and Cityscape on the way from eBay. I want to keep things somewhat close to base D&D, because of the three of us, I've played a PC only at conventions, and previously DMed two sessions at the local library (bit of a story, that), the second person has played D&D once, and the third hasn't played since (I think) the Eighties.

Anywho, what I've got so far is pretty bare bones in my opinion, but I'm running with city-states (governments undecided, leaning towards plutocracies) and dangerous wilderness. Each city is surrounded by farmland, and is protected by a dragon. The dragon lairs just outside, if not in, the city, and is given wealth to add to its hoard in the form of a "dragon tax" on all goods and services within the city's lands. Travel is mostly accomplished by the airships found in the Arms and Equipment Guide.

I am not yet sure what populates the wilderness, but I like the idea of dinosaurs, dire animals and immobile monstrous plants more than my idea of "things with the Create Spawn ability." I want the wilderness to be dangerous so that I have a way to naturally contain the PCs within the cities until mid-high levels when I should hopefully be comfortable with overland travel.

It looks I've got a total of three weeks before we start up a campaign and I'm somewhat stuck as to where to go from here. Could people help me flesh this out a bit more? Maybe help me decide on what is out past the farms? As to the campaign itself, I've got a BBEG (I'm modifying the dragon from this module (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20040227a)), a way to bring the party together that avoids taverns, and a few ideas for the later levels, but, at least until Cityscape arrives, I'm stuck for ideas as to adventures at levels 2-4.

Edit from 2/17:
When I was compiling my list of which dragons are most likely to serve as Protectors (note the imaginative title they've been given), I noticed that the only one that has forests listed as its environment, was the green dragon. Since cities, in this setting, that lack dragon guardians are unheard of, I began to play with the idea of elves being evil, thus justifying the fact that they are guarded by evil dragons. When I mention this idea to one of players, he became quite opposed to the idea that they would not be evil. After running this past my other player, I found that he has no particular fondness for elves, and that he could go either way on this.

So, to sum up, elves are now evil, probably LE.

Flickerdart
2009-02-13, 09:56 PM
You've got dragons in cities? These cities must be populated with Kobolds. They will likely outnumber the other races living in said cities.

Depending on the dragon colour, the city is either prosperous or struggling. Dragons will frequently wage war on other dragons to take their treasure, but since leaving a city makes it exposed to other dragons, they hire PCs to do it for them. Decide how they treat heredity (are the dragon kids kicked out with a bunch of settlers?). Perhaps you can have a dragon send the PCs to defend a tiny village owned by that dragon's wyrmling offspring.

Rangers with Favoured Enemy: Dragon are going to be persecuted repeatedly and in the face. Therefore, the wild will be full of them (since they're perfectly comfortable there).

Olo Demonsbane
2009-02-13, 10:11 PM
Cool idea for a setting!

Good city adventures include:

Dragons hate thieves. Dragons would probably hire PCs to try and hurt/destroy a thieves guild.

A small dungeon is discovered below a boarded up house.

A necromancer in the city is raising up everything that died around the city (left and got eaten immidiately by all the monsters).

A Dragon wants a specific item that can only be found in another city. He will pay the characters to go buy it for him. They must go in the airships and defend it from [flying creatures] (think stirges and dire bats).

Also, have you considered starting the characters at higher level? That always could work.

Hope my ideas were helpful in some way.

Gadora
2009-02-14, 05:32 PM
Also, have you considered starting the characters at higher level? That always could work.

Hope my ideas were helpful in some way. They want to start at level one, but, while I work on the setting, we're running their characters through the level one adventures available on WotC's website. With regards to the story of the campaign, these adventures never occurred, but they get to keep the loot and experience. A little odd, perhaps, but it does gain all of us familiarity with the rules, and it gives me an interesting way to start them at level two.

Your adventure ideas were very helpful by the way.

I'll be back later to address what Flickerdart said and to update the original post with some new information.

Mobey_Wee
2009-02-14, 11:23 PM
I really liked the Dragonspawn from MM4. That would give you a lot of stuff to incorporate. The bluespawn godslayers or whatever they were called were my personal fave, but you'll have a while before being able to sick your players on them.

Once you get far enough away from the dragon's "jurisdiction," giants could rule. Nothing says base D&D like dragons and giants. Except for maybe dungeons and dragons. that says it pretty well too.

For the low levels. The town has been getting attacked from the inside by goblins or gnolls or whatever you feel like hurting them with. Have the players find a sewer network or cave or something connecting to tunnels leading out of the city, that they will have to follow back for the dragon. They come out a ways from the city (not so far out as to be giant food), in a large camp of the enemy, and have to fight/sneak their way back to the city, and let the dragon know about the camp.

edit: removed needless apostrophe

Gadora
2009-02-17, 05:24 PM
Sorry about the delay in my responding, things got busy, and then things stopped working.

You've got dragons in cities? These cities must be populated with Kobolds. They will likely outnumber the other races living in said cities.

I didn't really think about kobolds being in the cities, but the idea has grown on me to the point where I may go ahead and have a kobold population in some of the cities.


Depending on the dragon colour, the city is either prosperous or struggling. Dragons will frequently wage war on other dragons to take their treasure, but since leaving a city makes it exposed to other dragons, they hire PCs to do it for them. Decide how they treat heredity (are the dragon kids kicked out with a bunch of settlers?). Perhaps you can have a dragon send the PCs to defend a tiny village owned by that dragon's wyrmling offspring.
Most cities have a LG dragon as their protector, so there won't be much inter-city warfare over hoards, but there are, for lack of a better term, "wild" or "uncivilized" dragons that sometimes will come after the hoards of the city dragons. I wasn't sure how to handle the draconic offspring, but I think I make the tradition to just kick the kids out once they're old enough, however one or two cities will be using the village method you suggested.


Rangers with Favoured Enemy: Dragon are going to be persecuted repeatedly and in the face. Therefore, the wild will be full of them (since they're perfectly comfortable there).
I like this idea, but don't think it quite fits what I'm going for.


I really liked the Dragonspawn from MM4. That would give you a lot of stuff to incorporate. The bluespawn godslayers or whatever they were called were my personal fave, but you'll have a while before being able to sick your players on them.
Unfortunately, I don't have MM4 and it would be a few months before I could fit it into my budget. It is, however, now on my buy list. I have also put it on hold at the library.


Once you get far enough away from the dragon's "jurisdiction," giants could rule. Nothing says base D&D like dragons and giants. Except for maybe dungeons and dragons. that says it pretty well too.
Actually, though I was trying to avoid changing alignments and such, my players like this idea, so elves are being changed from CG to LE. I'll update the original post with more information on this. I may go ahead and ally them with giants.


For the low levels. The town has been getting attacked from the inside by goblins or gnolls or whatever you feel like hurting them with. Have the players find a sewer network or cave or something connecting to tunnels leading out of the city, that they will have to follow back for the dragon. They come out a ways from the city (not so far out as to be giant food), in a large camp of the enemy, and have to fight/sneak their way back to the city, and let the dragon know about the camp.


I think I just might use this.