Your ideas in this scenario?

[WarKitty]

Here's the opening scenario that I'm going to give my players:

"You begin having vague disturbing dreams of a great shadow and chaos. You also dream of a great stone archway in the mountains, and feel strangely drawn to it. As time passes you find yourself slowly packing up and traveling. You for some reason know unerringly what the fastest way to travel is. Finally you reach the archway. There are 8 other people there. You build camp under the arch. As you camp that night, a great storm unlike anything you have ever seen rages outside. It is as though all the elements have been unleashed and are raging in unison. The storm dies down after 3 days and you feel that you can venture out."

As they venture further they find that basically everything has been destroyed. Many people are dead or insane. Magic items function erratically or not at all. Mundane items gain strange magic abilities.

As a player, how would you react to this? What would you be thinking?

[Magdela]

Obvious, get to know the 8 others at the camp. :P Pack up, move into Springvale nearest village and figure out what in the world just happened. Ask people where the biggest city is or cast locate city. (without bombing it) From there, figure out how to survive/what corrupt government has taken over ect.

[Crossblade]

Get busy repopulating?

[WarKitty]

Obvious, get to know the 8 others at the camp. :P Pack up, move into Springvale nearest village and figure out what in the world just happened. Ask people where the biggest city is or cast locate city. (without bombing it) From there, figure out how to survive/what corrupt government has taken over ect.

The villagers have no more idea of what happened than you do. Just that some sort of great storm happened and everything started behaving erratically. The cities have descended into gang warfare. The PC's can establish their own government if they wish (they are level 11).

[Dr.Epic]

As a player, how would you react to this? What would you be thinking?

As a player (and not a person in that world) I would be disappointed. There's little to actually do in terms of what I as a PC would want to do and the campaign seems to be railroaded.

[Snake-Aes]

As a player (and not a person in that world) I would be disappointed. There's little to actually do in terms of what I as a PC would want to do and the campaign seems to be railroaded.
Will you call "You all start in a tavern. There is a civil war raging and it'll soon reach the city. Feel free to do whatever you want" railroading?

[Magdela]

The villagers have no more idea of what happened than you do. Just that some sort of great storm happened and everything started behaving erratically. The cities have descended into gang warfare. The PC's can establish their own government if they wish (they are level 11).
So they'll go to the nearest tavern. ...oh wait.
How about the center of government? ...oh right.
Worse comes to worse: You put them on the plot tracks, they realize it and don't enjoy the ride.

Epic, railroading is designed to be fun and not something DMs do just to annoy players.

[WarKitty]

As a player (and not a person in that world) I would be disappointed. There's little to actually do in terms of what I as a PC would want to do and the campaign seems to be railroaded.

Really? It's supposed to be the exact opposite - here's the scenario and a world map, you can do anything at all that you want. I don't have any sort of plot in mind at the moment at all. The idea in mind is that there's a planar conjunction with pure chaos that occurs every couple of millenia. The players can try to create a civilization that survive, they can just rule for now, whatever they want.


So they'll go to the nearest tavern. ...oh wait.
How about the center of government? ...oh right.
Worse comes to worse: You put them on the plot tracks, they realize it and don't enjoy the ride.

Epic, railroading is designed to be fun and not something DMs do just to annoy players.

There are no plot rails. There is no plot. They find something to do.

[Chambers]

Character level 11? Planeshift. Get somewhere outside the local system, in a manner of speaking, and find out if things are messed up everywhere else too.

Planar Binding, perhaps. Call in some outsiders and see if they know what's going on, as I'm pretty sure random mobs of people laying waste to what used to be civilization don't have a good idea of what happened.

Find some way of speaking to some immortal beings, basically, and find out what their contingency plan is, seeing as how this happens every couple of milennia. The players & characters wouldn't necessarily know what's going on, or that these immortal beings/powers would have a plan ready to go, but if it's standard D&D they can assume that someone more powerful than them has answers, and they have the means to get their questions asked.

[Sewercop]

-That my magical items do not function unless you are ok with it.(Now, thats railroading)

-That you railroad me more than I like.(Those three days you take away... I would like to use them actually)

-That the storm should wipe out 99,9% of the population since it makes a level 11 hide in a corner.

-That I hope i did not make any melee dude stuck on this plane\world.

[WarKitty]

-That my magical items do not function unless you are ok with it.(Now, thats railroading)

-That you railroad me more than I like.(Those three days you take away... I would like to use them actually)

-That the storm should wipe out 99,9% of the population since it makes a level 11 hide in a corner.

-That I hope i did not make any melee dude stuck on this plane\world.

Oh. The magic items that the players have with them function normally. The intermittent functioning was to keep the players from looting every single magic shop they can find. I'm not sure why the 3 days bugs you - this is the very first session, it's not any different from starting the campaign 3 days later. It's supposed to be a post-apocalyptic style game, it would be weird if there was no background reason at all.

[Coidzor]

Find survivors, take advantage of the chaos and all the wild and wooly things coming out of the woodwork to get a good fight for a change, lay claim to the last of the good alcohol that's going to be produced for a long time in the quite likely event that the brewers and distillers and vintners are all dead.

Edit: If a necromancer, take advantage of plentiful dead to form a huge army of skeletons, preferably Karrnathi, and use them to carve out a demesne.

[kyoryu]

I think the reason people are finding this to be "railroading" is that it's too empty.

"You're in a desert. You can see nothing in any direction. What do you do?" There's no reason to go anywhere, as there's nothing there. There's nothing to interact with. This feels railroaded, as there's no real choice on doing anything. As a player, you end up assuming that something is going to be going down, and you just have to wait for it.

"You're in a desert. Off in the distance, you see Bartertown. What do you do?" By providing context and things to interact with, you've opened things up to the players. They can enter Bartertown and look for work. They can go and take over Bartertown. They can set up a trade (er... Barter) empire. They can attack people entering or exiting Bartertown. They can ignore it, and walk away from it to try and hook up with the hot underage girls at the nearby watering hole.

[Snake-Aes]

I think the reason people are finding this to be "railroading" is that it's too empty.

"You're in a desert. You can see nothing in any direction. What do you do?" There's no reason to go anywhere, as there's nothing there. There's nothing to interact with. This feels railroaded, as there's no real choice on doing anything. As a player, you end up assuming that something is going to be going down, and you just have to wait for it.

"You're in a desert. Off in the distance, you see Bartertown. What do you do?" By providing context and things to interact with, you've opened things up to the players. They can enter Bartertown and look for work. They can go and take over Bartertown. They can set up a trade (er... Barter) empire. They can attack people entering or exiting Bartertown. They can ignore it, and walk away from it to try and hook up with the hot underage girls at the nearby watering hole.

At the same time, if a character has a backstory, it'll have a reason to do something other than standing around. If people called "featureless area" "railroading", giving them a single town will also be railroading. It reaches a point of ridiculousness that kinda wastes the thread.

[Sewercop]

Oh. The magic items that the players have with them function normally. The intermittent functioning was to keep the players from looting every single magic shop they can find. I'm not sure why the 3 days bugs you - this is the very first session, it's not any different from starting the campaign 3 days later. It's supposed to be a post-apocalyptic style game, it would be weird if there was no background reason at all.

See, you have thought about it. You are actually afraid the characters would loot item shops, so you decide to nerf them for as long as you need to tell your story.
What if i told you that i robbed the other 8 guys there blind during the storm?
That chaos and darkness feels good since i am CE?

You are telling a story that the players have no say in. Thats railroading.
Does not matter that it is the first session.
You could let the players get the story and intro before making the charcaters.That would satisfy my needs.

Perhaps we just have different styles of gaming? I like the idea, just not how its implemented(right word? my english-fu is rusty).
I am not telling you wrong, just that it is not my cup of tea :)

Setting wise, I like it :)

[thompur]

-That my magical items do not function unless you are ok with it.(Now, thats railroading)

-That you railroad me more than I like.(Those three days you take away... I would like to use them actually)
-That the storm should wipe out 99,9% of the population since it makes a level 11 hide in a corner.

-That I hope i did not make any melee dude stuck on this plane\world.

Do you mean that you would like to play out those 3 days under the Arch, or that you don't want to be one of the people under the protective shelter, and just take your chances out in the GLOBAL STORM OF THE MILLENIA!

I also don't recall WK saying that 99.9% of people were killed, just a lot of them. I would be curious to know if the PC's could suss out what ratio of powerful types vs. commoners were killed. And do they know that they were killed;ie are there bodies, or are they just gone? Plus the idea that once mundane objects seem to have magical properties. Hmmm... a +5 holy chamber pot, Murlynd's wagon wheel, a dinner plate of dexterity. I'm not sure if Detect Magic would be really useful, or really confusing.

I'd probably try to organise the decent, non-violent people into communities for their own protection, then explore to find what cities are structurally sound, and take one over as a base to help reorganise the world. Also, find out how other races were affected. Were the dwarves safer inside their mountains, the Drow in the underdark? Maybe find a library to see if there are any history books or scrolls that discuss similar events in the past.

This actually sounds like a really fun game!
Edit: I just realised that I would first try to find out if my family survived, unless they had already died in my back story.

[Coidzor]

A society where only relatively high level peeps and monsters survived.

*shudder* Just think of the children.

...Then again, I guess as long as they didn't die of massive tunnel flooding, the kobolds would still be around...

Oh. Also, find some kind of food supply, since that sort of storm would destroy the crops currently around. And if it's enough to kill off most of the population, the granaries are not likely to be in very good state.

So food is actually an issue if they don't have a magic item or spell slots for it. And more so if they want to take over any survivors.

[Lysander]

I don't think it's railroading to have a starting premise. The players have total freedom to do what they want, you just presented a challenge and mystery for them, as you should.

If I were playing in that game I would A) Try to rebuild civilization/protect what I care about that still exists, and B) Try to solve the mystery of the disaster, and why we eight were summoned by dreams.

[WarKitty]

Well, the reason they're not getting the story beforehand is they wanted to reuse their old characters. Which is also why I'm pretty sure they're not going to try to rob each other blind during the three days. They've been warned OOC that this is a sandbox game, so standing around looking for the plot isn't going to work. Most of them anyways have already provided backstories with families and homes and such, so I presume they will have some idea of things to do.

If anyone has ideas on how you'd prefer it I'm open to them.

[thompur]

I don't think it's railroading to have a starting premise. The players have total freedom to do what they want, you just presented a challenge and mystery for them, as you should.

If I were playing in that game I would A) Try to rebuild civilization/protect what I care about that still exists, and B) Try to solve the mystery of the disaster, and why we eight were summoned by dreams.

What he said.

[Lysander]

Well, the reason they're not getting the story beforehand is they wanted to reuse their old characters. Which is also why I'm pretty sure they're not going to try to rob each other blind during the three days. They've been warned OOC that this is a sandbox game, so standing around looking for the plot isn't going to work. Most of them anyways have already provided backstories with families and homes and such, so I presume they will have some idea of things to do.

If anyone has ideas on how you'd prefer it I'm open to them.

Well, you still need to provide some plot. Just because it's open ended doesn't mean you can't have NPC villains.

How about inventing a few different NPCs that threaten their family and homes in some way. For example, a bandit lord gathering an army. The players can choose to fight the bandit lord, or they can offer him tribute for protection, or they can ally with him against a mutual foe, or anything else they can come up with. Come up with a few different threats of varying types, and let you players choose how to handle them. Here are a few threat NPCs ideas to get you started:

*Bandit lord raiding villages
*Messianic cleric of a violent cult that believes this is the end times
*Orc tribes taking advantage of the chaos to conquer human territory
*Remnants of the old nobility fighting each other for the crown of the slain king, not caring about the common people hurt in their wars
*A power hungry warlock protecting villages that swear to serve him
*A group of wizards stealing formerly mundane magic items that commoners are using for survival

[Coidzor]

I mean, really, it depends on how devastated it all is.

Presumably, since the party is going to stay together, they'll work out where they'll figure out how bad it is and what sort of order they'd check in on their home turf.

[mucat]

First: I can see no reason why people would call this scenario railroading or accuse you of "telling a story to your players." I won't try to address those points, because I can't even see their points in the first place.

So returning to your original question...what I would do depends a lot on my character's history and personality. (You did say these were establishes characters, right?)

So, just thinking of the 8 or so characters I most recently played in PbP games.


One would try to make a beeline for where he last saw his kids.

One would start to head for her home and family, but probably end up getting sidetracked helping people she met along the way. (Assuming that this disaster has put everyone in dire straits.)

One would gather survivors and try to protect them, forging alliances with other well-meaning communities until they had a working society again.

One would head for the nearest great center of learning, both to salvage any knowledge in danger of being destroyed, and to join forces with other educated people, whom he would expect had the best chance of putting things right.

One would try to rally her fellow elves, and actively sabotage the human efforts to rebuild.

One would simply set out to explore, and react to what he found one day at a time.

One would salvage all she could, piece together a lab and start building, possibly someday leading her implacable army of golems to found a magitech empire...then abandon her position as supreme dictator because it didn't leave her enough time to tinker in the lab.


All of them would have a good time. (Well, no, that's not true. Some would be devastated. But I would have a good time playing them, and hopefully add to the fun of the other players too.) And none of them would feel railroaded.

[valadil]

Really? It's supposed to be the exact opposite - here's the scenario and a world map, you can do anything at all that you want. I don't have any sort of plot in mind at the moment at all. The idea in mind is that there's a planar conjunction with pure chaos that occurs every couple of millenia. The players can try to create a civilization that survive, they can just rule for now, whatever they want.


The premise is considered railroady because it tells the players what to do with no chance for them to find another path. If they don't go where you're telling them to, they'll all die.

How I would react to this scenario depends on the character I'm playing. A social character would be very, very disappointed. A wizard would ditch the other 7 survivors and run towards the nearest library, where he could finally read in peace.

As a player, I'd be pissed if I was stuck with the wrong character for this game. Now, there are plenty of characters that would thrive here. So I second the idea that people should hear the premise and then be asked to flesh out one of the survivors.


Well, the reason they're not getting the story beforehand is they wanted to reuse their old characters.

If anyone has ideas on how you'd prefer it I'm open to them.

Ah. I still say you can give them the premise and then tell them their old characters were among the survivors. They can continue playing their old PC or run with one of the new ones. I'm very attached to some of my former PCs, but I'd rather not play them in the wrong game. I expect some of your players may feel the same way. (Which is not to say that this is the wrong game for them - I obviously don't know any of these characters and can't judge how they'd feel about this situation.)

[kyoryu]

First: I can see no reason why people would call this scenario railroading or accuse you of "telling a story to your players." I won't try to address those points, because I can't even see their points in the first place.

Hey, to be clear, I'm not saying it's railroading. I'm trying to figure out why others are saying that.

[mucat]

The premise is considered railroady because it tells the players what to do with no chance for them to find another path. If they don't go where you're telling them to, they'll all die.

Hmm...I still don't agree, but I might be starting to understand the crux of the disagreement. You do realize that the campaign starts just after the storm, right? (Because yeah, if the prelude were part of the main action, it would be on very rigid rails. But what happens afterward sounds like it is not.)

[thubby]

as a player? i would want to know what im supposed to do next.

my character can do whatever i want, but im clearly supposed to be with this group. so we need some kind of goal as a collective.

[WarKitty]

The premise is considered railroady because it tells the players what to do with no chance for them to find another path. If they don't go where you're telling them to, they'll all die.

How I would react to this scenario depends on the character I'm playing. A social character would be very, very disappointed. A wizard would ditch the other 7 survivors and run towards the nearest library, where he could finally read in peace.

As a player, I'd be pissed if I was stuck with the wrong character for this game. Now, there are plenty of characters that would thrive here. So I second the idea that people should hear the premise and then be asked to flesh out one of the survivors.



Ah. I still say you can give them the premise and then tell them their old characters were among the survivors. They can continue playing their old PC or run with one of the new ones. I'm very attached to some of my former PCs, but I'd rather not play them in the wrong game. I expect some of your players may feel the same way. (Which is not to say that this is the wrong game for them - I obviously don't know any of these characters and can't judge how they'd feel about this situation.)

Meh, personally I don't think it's any worse than "you all start in a tavern." I tend to hate traditional starts...I have a background and family and everything, my character has no reason to be in this stupid seedy tavern! None of my characters even like to drink!

[thubby]

Meh, personally I don't think it's any worse than "you all start in a tavern." I tend to hate traditional starts...I have a background and family and everything, my character has no reason to be in this stupid seedy tavern! None of my characters even like to drink!

taverns are (at least in my experience) also inns.

[Coidzor]

as a player? i would want to know what im supposed to do next.

my character can do whatever i want, but im clearly supposed to be with this group. so we need some kind of goal as a collective.

Yeah, this is probably the biggest one. As otherwise, why stick around with these people you had to spend an irritated, stressful three days with when you have things to check on in different parts of the world?

[thubby]

a better way to get them together before the apocalypse might come out better.
for something simple, they were all hired for a job and the world comes apart on their way back from it. at the very least this encourages them to stay together and gives them a (highly optional) goal.

[chiasaur11]

What to do?

Hmm. Depends on the type of survivors, I suppose.

If it's an eclectic collection of commoners and low level schmucks lucky enough to find shelter, then it's a good idea to start building sustainable little cities in the safe zones. Might happen again, best to be ready, and a position of power could be nice.

If it's mainly the big nasty types left?

Cower in the fetal position for a few hours.

[Lysander]

a better way to get them together before the apocalypse might come out better.
for something simple, they were all hired for a job and the world comes apart on their way back from it. at the very least this encourages them to stay together and gives them a (highly optional) goal.

Well, you could make the mountain very far out of the way of civilization. So they all have to head back in the same general direction for at least a few days, and traveling together makes a lot more sense on the dangerous roads. On the way back present a few baddies and threats that illustrate they need each other to survive.

[Tyndmyr]

As a player (and not a person in that world) I would be disappointed. There's little to actually do in terms of what I as a PC would want to do and the campaign seems to be railroaded.

This. Don't describe to the players what they are doing. Compulsions are also generally bad form, especially if they avoid the usual game mechanics.

Instead, play through the luring of them to the gate. It will feel vastly more realistic. Find out what interests your players, and use that to bait them.

[WarKitty]

This. Don't describe to the players what they are doing. Compulsions are also generally bad form, especially if they avoid the usual game mechanics.

Instead, play through the luring of them to the gate. It will feel vastly more realistic. Find out what interests your players, and use that to bait them.

Unfortunately I can't come up with anything that would be interesting to all of them. Many of them are not adventurers by trade and aren't going to leave their homes unless forced out.

[Tyndmyr]

If the characters are not adventurers, and do not wish to leave home, then...perhaps these are not appropriate characters for an adventure.

Also, why the importance on travelling to this specific area pre-apocalypse? Couldn't you merely have it happen regardless of where they are, and count the players among the survivors?

[WarKitty]

If the characters are not adventurers, and do not wish to leave home, then...perhaps these are not appropriate characters for an adventure.

Also, why the importance on travelling to this specific area pre-apocalypse? Couldn't you merely have it happen regardless of where they are, and count the players among the survivors?

Well they wanted to use these characters. I mean, they're competent adventurers, but we have characters like a retired mercenary who's settled down, a hired temple guard, etc. I need them in the same place at the beginning of the campaign because otherwise I'm going to be essentially running 6 or 8 different campaigns for characters who will probably never find each other.

[Tyndmyr]

Are they all from the same campaign? Surely they must have some common thread that ties them together, even if it's merely shared experiences.

Consider why the storm happens, and see if you can't tie that mystery in to something they might already know about, and ensure they are given clues. Now, these might not be enough to make them seek each other out prior to the storm, but afterward...

[elpollo]

If the characters are not adventurers, and do not wish to leave home, then...perhaps these are not appropriate characters for an adventure.

Have you read Tolkien? They make the most interesting characters.



This. Don't describe to the players what they are doing. Compulsions are also generally bad form, especially if they avoid the usual game mechanics.

Instead, play through the luring of them to the gate. It will feel vastly more realistic. Find out what interests your players, and use that to bait them.

But that puts focus on the wrong part of the game. If you do this the premise of the game becomes "Survive the apocalypse", whereas WarKitty seems to want a "Survive after the apocalypse" scenario. This is no different from a Land of the Dead style set-up, and I bet none of you would have a problem with that.



As a player (and not a person in that world) I would be disappointed. There's little to actually do in terms of what I as a PC would want to do and the campaign seems to be railroaded.

How are you railroaded? There are still people. There are still towns. There are still monsters in need of slaying and princesses in need of rescuing, political parties in need of assuaging and doors in need of kicking. What we have here is not a railroad - it is a setting. Do you call a game set in any other world railroading?



So they'll go to the nearest tavern. ...oh wait.
How about the center of government? ...oh right.
Worse comes to worse: You put them on the plot tracks, they realize it and don't enjoy the ride.

Epic, railroading is designed to be fun and not something DMs do just to annoy players.

Yeah, nobody ever said everything was gone. People are still there, as are buildings, and people are still going to want alcohol. Governments can still be around, and people can create new ones. There are no plot tracks.



See, you have thought about it. You are actually afraid the characters would loot item shops, so you decide to nerf them for as long as you need to tell your story.
What if i told you that i robbed the other 8 guys there blind during the storm?
That chaos and darkness feels good since i am CE?

I... seriously? If you say that then you're told that D&D is a team game so please come back when you've learnt that. Making magic items strange is no worse than not having magic item shops. Y'know, since almost nobody in the world can afford them and so in the vast majority of towns it would be a completely unprofitable business and all. Actually, it's "better", since they are still there and there's an element of risk to using them.



You are telling a story that the players have no say in. Thats railroading.
Does not matter that it is the first session.
You could let the players get the story and intro before making the charcaters.That would satisfy my needs.

People want to use their old characters.



I am not telling you wrong, just that it is not my cup of tea :)

Actually you kinda are. You've told WarKitty that he's nerfing characters and railroading - both of these are considered negative things for DMs to do.



The premise is considered railroady because it tells the players what to do with no chance for them to find another path. If they don't go where you're telling them to, they'll all die.

Except no more than any other D&D game. The apocalypse has happened. It's done. Finito. If they walk into a swamp and drown, sure, "that's railroading because they were killed for taking the wrong path".



How I would react to this scenario depends on the character I'm playing. A social character would be very, very disappointed. A wizard would ditch the other 7 survivors and run towards the nearest library, where he could finally read in peace.

Why? There are people to talk to, and a lot of people are going to be very scared. A lot of people are going to be looting and killing to ensure their survival. There is more than enough talking to do in such a situation.

Why would a wizard run to a library? All wizards spend all their time in libraries, do they? This isn't The Twilight Zone (although my god, if it were that would be an interesting twist).



As a player, I'd be pissed if I was stuck with the wrong character for this game. Now, there are plenty of characters that would thrive here. So I second the idea that people should hear the premise and then be asked to flesh out one of the survivors.

When is "Wizard who wants to spend all their time in a library" ever appropriate?



as a player? i would want to know what im supposed to do next.

my character can do whatever i want, but im clearly supposed to be with this group. so we need some kind of goal as a collective.

They are playing established characters. Their motivation to stay together is that they know each other, are friends, know they are competant, are friends, etc. Sandbox games don't have a specific something to do next. The point is you can choose.



To WarKitty: make sure there is a lot of stuff to do, people to meet, etc. Sometimes sandbox games can leave players feeling aimless, as people have shown, so I'd give them quite a lot of options to begin with, then if you really want them to do their own thing stop replacing them with new ones as they are resolved.

I imagine a big goal will be finding why this all happened and trying to ensure it never happens again. This would probably take precedence over setting up a new society for a lot of players.

[WarKitty]

Are they all from the same campaign? Surely they must have some common thread that ties them together, even if it's merely shared experiences.

Consider why the storm happens, and see if you can't tie that mystery in to something they might already know about, and ensure they are given clues. Now, these might not be enough to make them seek each other out prior to the storm, but afterward...

About half of them are. Unfortunately they are sort of scattered across the world, and if I don't get them together beforehand I'm pretty sure they won't get together - if it happens while they are at home they'll spend too much time focused on each person's individual home.

The previous plot was a powerful entity that randomly teleported them to its home plane. While there, it was explained to them that a set of powerful artifacts had gone missing. The entity needed them to go find these artifacts and return them in order to keep the world functioning properly.

Flash forward 10 years. It turns out this actually happens every 7 years, that the artifacts need to be reclaimed. The past set of adventurers finally failed, despite being the most suitable to be found. The artifacts were in fact used to protect the multiverse (well material plane section - the multiverse here is a bit different from standard D&D, there's a bunch of material planes) during a conjunction with the plane of chaos. Without them, the chaos plane bleeds into the material world during the time of the conjunction.

They all received a tattoo at the end of the last campaign that's linked to this entity. He's using it to draw them together to safety this time. They are his ones chosen to re-establish order in the world.

[Techsmart]

Compared to most campaigns I have played in, this does not seem like its railroading. Yes, you could be one of the people that chose not to go in the hole, then you could just make a different character. I mean, most times that a conflict of some sort is introduced, there will be some railroading, it's how you treat that conflict that determines how much you control them. The campaigns I have had the most people enjoy are the ones where I did a lot of control, but made them think they had a say in the matter.

I like the concept. It's not only very open for the players (post-conflict), it's also very open for you. What's to say this apocalyptic event did not create new monsters, or changed the way that magic worked as a whole (not just magic items), Created a new magical artifact? It also allows for a wide spectrum of events. You can have some serious things, as well as plenty of points of humor (as said before, a +5 holy chamberpot, or better yet, a chamberpot with permanent ghost sound).

From my guesses, you could pull a lot of ideas from fallout/borderlands and make them medieval appropriate and use them. Bandits and thieves are going to be a problem if the natural landscape has been decimated. If the land went unaffected, I see this being a smaller problem, since food/supplies will be common still.

[WarKitty]

Wow more comments than I expected!

I probably will send the premise to all my players before the campaign (they have the option of either reusing their characters or making new ones).

It might be a good time to spring pisonics on them as a way of making things more interesting. Somehow the chaos contact mutated certain creatures into displaying strange new powers. Will have to give the bandits idea some thought - the way this world works the PC's are among the highest-level characters in the world, so they're going to splatter your average bandit lord before he even sees them. Mutated bandits, now...

I'm not going to mess with the PC's magic powers unless any specifically express an interest in it. Others powers might have changed, though. The players are already pretty used to my monsters not bearing much resemblance to anything in the monster manual half the time.

[chiasaur11]

Just remember one thing in any post apocalypse scenario:

Master Blaster runs Bartertown!

[thubby]

Well, you could make the mountain very far out of the way of civilization. So they all have to head back in the same general direction for at least a few days, and traveling together makes a lot more sense on the dangerous roads. On the way back present a few baddies and threats that illustrate they need each other to survive.

the casters should be able to teleport (or something similar) by then.

[WarKitty]

the casters should be able to teleport (or something similar) by then.

Thankfully for my sanity they're fairly caster-lite (although I don't know what the 2 new players will chose). We have a sorcerer and a bard, plus a hybrid ranger/arcane archer. That said the sorcerer does know teleport.