Brave New World

[Draig]

Ok playground my current campaign is drawing to an end But that does not mean it is over forever. I've begun tossing around ideas for the groups next adventure. Because we have a few new people I am starting it at level 1. The idea I have for it so far is inspired by the recent flood of Pirates of the Caribbean craze. I want to start them off working for a pirate or a privateer but I'm not quite sure so playground.

My questions for you are 1) what are some fun or interesting campaign settings that you've either used, played in, or thought of? And 2) what are some interesting ideas if I choose to continue on the pirate route for the next campaign

[Zaq]

Ok playground my current campaign is drawing to an end But that does not mean it is over forever. I've begun tossing around ideas for the groups next adventure. Because we have a few new people I am starting it at level 1. The idea I have for it so far is inspired by the recent flood of Pirates of the Caribbean craze. I want to start them off working for a pirate or a privateer but I'm not quite sure so playground.

My questions for you are 1) what are some fun or interesting campaign settings that you've either used, played in, or thought of? And 2) what are some interesting ideas if I choose to continue on the pirate route for the next campaign

If you're after high seas adventure and you're willing to put in the effort, I always thought it would be an absolute blast to play in a campaign inspired by Wind Waker. Lots of hopping from little uncharted island to little uncharted island, occasionally landing on one that requires a lot more in-depth exploration. With a sufficiently densely-populated sea, you can even use the rules for getting lost (from Stormwrack) and still end up with an adventure. You pretty much HAVE to draw out a pretty good map of the ocean ahead of time, though, so it's a lot of work from the GM's perspective.

[Draig]

If a campaign has me as the dm wracking my brain and spending time making exciting adventures for the group I never have a problem with it, my only problem with wind waker is I never played it so I'm not familiar with it.

[Elboxo]

To stormwrack! Bring on the gliding monkeys!

[Zaq]

If a campaign has me as the dm wracking my brain and spending time making exciting adventures for the group I never have a problem with it, my only problem with wind waker is I never played it so I'm not familiar with it.

Well, I don't mean the plot of WW specifically. I just mean the feel of the world.

Nutshell, the world is covered with water, and there are only islands here and there. Every island has at least one interesting thing on it, but some have more than others (some have towns, some have dungeons, some just have a single NPC or puzzle or whatever). The point is that you really have this great feeling of exploring the uncharted wilderness in a way that I don't usually get from most games. If there's enough islands out there, then even getting lost is interesting (no one wants "OK, you lose a week's worth of rations getting back on course, now roll your checks again to see if you make it back"). What's more, the islands tend to be small, so you can just make them little bite-sized adventures instead of full-fledged towns and tribes and whatever (though of course you have the option of plopping down a full dungeon or whatever if you want something bigger—the point is that you don't HAVE to).

tl;dr: Island-hopping campaign where the PCs are tasked with mapping out the wilderness, exploring a bunch of little islands no matter where they go. The plot itself isn't important at this juncture.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Use Stormwrack.

For a campaign setting, Eberron would be pretty good. The Lhazaar Principalities, the Crimson Ship, the various seas, the Straits of Sharguun, sky pirates...

[Draig]

I never use pre-made worlds like Ebberon (sp). I normally create aspects of the world I've built. Everyone of my campaigns has taken place somewhere in my world but it is definitely possible to introduce an area of the world that is nothing but small islands.

[Hiro Protagonest]

I never use pre-made worlds like Ebberon (sp). I normally create aspects of the world I've built. Everyone of my campaigns has taken place somewhere in my world but it is definitely possible to introduce an area of the world that is nothing but small islands.

You did ask for a campaign setting.

[Draig]

Oh I'm more than willing to incorporate things from these settings, its just I've played for over 6 years and have never once dm'ed or had a PC I made set foot in forgotten realms, ebberron, etc. So its hard for me to follow ideas that are put forth without a little detail into them.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Oh I'm more than willing to incorporate things from these settings, its just I've played for over 6 years and have never once dm'ed or had a PC I made set foot in forgotten realms, ebberron, etc. So its hard for me to follow ideas that are put forth without a little detail into them.

Alright.

Lhazaar Principalities: Relatively easy to convert if your players haven't visited every coast on the continents they've been on. Alternatively, you can turn it into an archipelago a few dozen to couple hundred miles off the coast.

The basics of the Lhazaar Principalities is that there are a bunch of warring factions. Three of the major one's are a LN faction, the largest one, that's trying to gain complete control of the Principalities, a CE one that also wants to take over it all and completely switch to piracy (the Principalities currently fly both pirate and merchant flags), and a recent one, a LG one that's gained a surprising number of support but is still quite small and has most of the Principalities against it. The Principalities were founded by two human heroes, Lhazaar and... someone that used a double sword.

For more info on the Lhazaar Principalities, there's Eberron Campaign Setting and Eberron Player's Guide (or was it Player's Guide to Eberron? Well, one of the two is 4e, the other is 3.5).

[Draig]

Wow see that actually sounds like something I could definitely throw into my world

[Hiro Protagonest]

Oh yeah, there's also the Crimson Ship.

The Crimson Ship is a ghost ship, led by an evil outsider that is neutral in alignment and doesn't have an evil aura when seen using Detect Evil. It has some Dimension Fog ability that let's it go anywhere in a few minutes, even across planes. Its travel seems random, but the captain appears to be following some plan, and it is most likely to appear when there's either a storm or someone bleeding from the beach into the water, or both.

[Draig]

Oh yeah, there's also the Crimson Ship.

The Crimson Ship is a ghost ship, led by an evil outsider that is neutral in alignment and doesn't have an evil aura when seen using Detect Evil. It has some Dimension Fog ability that let's it go anywhere in a few minutes, even across planes. Its travel seems random, but the captain appears to be following some plan, and it is most likely to appear when there's either a storm or someone bleeding from the beach into the water, or both.


Sweet lord baby jesus. That's like the BBEG right there. Or at least a sweet plot hook.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Sweet lord baby jesus. That's like the BBEG right there. Or at least a sweet plot hook.

Oh yeah, I forgot. The Crimson Ship will take you anywhere you want, but you must do something for the Captain first. Typically killing a monster or retrieving something guarded by a monster, which the Captain will sail the ship to or near, and wait for the group on the ship while they do the task.

As for the BBEG thing, that's unlikely since the Captain's true neutral.

I also have a nagging feeling I forgot something about the Lhazaar Principalities, but the best I can remember is just clarifying that it's set somewhere with a lot of islands, but at least a dozen miles in between them. It's a cluster a couple hundred miles wide.