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Nad
2010-03-23, 02:20 PM
Hello all,

Thanks for taking a minute to read my thread.

A number of my players have expressed an interest in playing D&D Dungeon Keeper Style. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Keeper)

I’ve been thinking about a number of ways to do this and I think I’ve come up with a solid plot. I’ll have the players roll up normal characters for a normal, level 1 dungeon delve that is going to go horribly wrong. In the end they’ll be captured by kobolds and sacrificed on an altar to an evil god. This god will accept the sacrifice and decide to use their souls for his own devices… namely making each of the PCs into a kobold and using them to expand kobold interests…

So the PCs are re-incarnated as Level 1 adventurer kobolds who are influenced by the god with the mission of building a kobold lair.

I’ve toyed with the idea of when they complete their “mission” allowing them to somehow upgrade to another race, level up an adventuring level or possibly some other reward. I’ve also thought that instead of experience, I could replace it with treasure… since monsters in D&D hoard treasure, it seems like the logical thought anyway.

I would make the game a 25% in the lair doing monster things – building traps, running a tribal economy crafting, 50% defending the lair from other monsters, dealing with problems and NPC adventuring parties/assaults from the nearby town and 25% monster PC adventure.

Does anyone know of a campaign or game system that exists that is along these lines? Anyone care to give feedback/ideas?

I’m starting an outline of what I need to make this a fun game system for the PCs and so far my thoughts are to combine PC games/Survival Genre/D&D together to do it.

Thanks for your comments and time!

-Nad

Lysander
2010-03-23, 02:53 PM
Why even bother starting them off as adventurers? Why not make them kobolds to start with? Even better, make them minions of a BBEG red dragon lurking in an underground cave. He has a habit of going out and eating virgins, and so heroes from across the land are questing to kill him. He doesn't want to be bothered by all these petty adventurers so its up to the kobold PCs to trap and set up guards to stop all the adventurers from ever reaching the dragon. The dragon has said he'll be cross if he's disturbed, which means death for the kobolds if they fail. Fortunately each time an enemy party of heroes attacks they get more xp, more magical items, and can afford bigger improvements on the dungeon.

Nad
2010-03-23, 03:02 PM
Why adventurers first?

1. Have to make these kobolds/monster PCs "Special." Why aren't other Orcs/Goblins/Kobolds like them...

2. God story gives a good in game reason to lead in to progression/goals

Why not the dragon?

I think any adventurers coming to slay a dragon are going to be able to dispatch kobolds easily and I think the PCs will resent having a more powerful monster around.

Thanks for the feedback but I see this campaign going in order of building up from weak to strong. Maybe defending a dragon's cave would be something more mid-level for them.



What I'm really searching for is HOW the PCs will play monsters. Not the combat, traps and things like that but what do they do between defending the lair from adventurers and raiding caravans... you know monster stuff?

Do I make a crafting system? Do I have monster technology tree that they can research? How do I determine how they build their lair?

Moose Fisher
2010-03-23, 03:20 PM
If the PCs hire more monsters to defend the dungeon, be sure to give a good number of them unique characteristics and flesh them out. Your players may give them value instead of treating them like a mindless resource.

You should also throw in some mini-plots to go with the dungeon defending. Perhaps they need to settle a feud between the miner's guild and trapmaker's guild?

Krimm_Blackleaf
2010-03-23, 03:32 PM
I've envisioned this countless times, and most of the time I pictured it going something like the PC's go in and clear out whatever minuscule menace stands before them and whatever little treasures they have inside. Then someone stands in the middle of a room and says "Y'know guys. This place has potential. Let's shnaz it up a bit. Magical barrier here, golem or two here. It'll be great, man!"
And after that point, the whole of the game is either defending their home or going out to get things to enhance/repair it. At some point soon I expect my adventuring party to be making base in the fortress of an NPC they befriended and defending against armies of cultists/demons.

Lysander
2010-03-23, 03:34 PM
Ever play the PC game Dungeonkeeper? You should try to simulate that somehow, but with extra D&D freedom.

Kyouhen
2010-03-23, 03:36 PM
Why adventurers first?

1. Have to make these kobolds/monster PCs "Special." Why aren't other Orcs/Goblins/Kobolds like them...

2. God story gives a good in game reason to lead in to progression/goals

Why not the dragon?

I think any adventurers coming to slay a dragon are going to be able to dispatch kobolds easily and I think the PCs will resent having a more powerful monster around.

Thanks for the feedback but I see this campaign going in order of building up from weak to strong. Maybe defending a dragon's cave would be something more mid-level for them.



What I'm really searching for is HOW the PCs will play monsters. Not the combat, traps and things like that but what do they do between defending the lair from adventurers and raiding caravans... you know monster stuff?

Do I make a crafting system? Do I have monster technology tree that they can research? How do I determine how they build their lair?

You can make them 'special' by having them blessed by Tiamat or something. There is an ancient dragon under an immensely powerful sleep spell that has been resting in the caverns for ages. It is going to awaken soon, and nearby villages can sense it's presence. Tiamat wants the dragon to wake, so she blesses a set of Kobolds to protect it from the adventurers that will inevitably come to destroy it before it can. As it comes closer to the time of the dragon's awakening, seers and priests from other religions become aware of it and begin sending ever more powerful troops to destroy it.

Set it up so the players have lots of down time between attacks. Let them plan out what they want to build and work out how much time it will take to dig out a new room/set traps/etc. Don't let them go raiding caravans themselves, have them send out other Kobolds to take care of that for them while they watch the base. You can use the crafting system that already exists in D&D, and let them decide what they want to craft.

Lord Vukodlak
2010-03-23, 04:16 PM
Have you ever heard of the RPG kobolds ate my babies.
Its a game focused around being kobolds fighting heroes and is rather tongue and cheek.
For example the primary stat for divine casting kobolds is speed so they can run away from there angry deity.

Creed
2010-03-23, 04:21 PM
There is the opportunity where the chaacters are reicarnated as Dominarks, my own creation. Dominarks are ambitious monstreous humanoids that lead large groups of minions. The players each get their own tribe of kobolds and the fun begins in a Dungeon Defender esque way. Because as a PC I detested when I got polymorphed into a kobold on accident.....