ENCOUNTERS! (3.5 homebrew campaign)

[Whisper rider]

Greetings!

i'm starting a new campaign, post apocalyptic world where evil dragons rule, and dragon-ish/reptiloidish creatures are the dominant races...
I'm trying to get ideas for encounters.. I already have the outline of the campaing.. So what i'm trying, is to find what other people have to offer, im always looking for new ideas.
Right now they are in this small town that has resisted the Dragon apocalipsis, and that is soon to be betrayed by one of the elders from the council.

This first stage it's to make the players related to the setting, and to their characters, making them like the heroes of this small town, before been betrayed, cheated etc... So they have to run away, and end up looking as the bad guys


The party is lvl1, this chapter of the campaign will go from lvl 1 to lvl 4.

I'm looking for their first recurrent enemy, the will end up killing it, when the party is about lvl 3 or 4. (so it will be lvl 5/6)

Other minor plot lines, it doesn't matter what... side quest, hopefully not dragon related so they can experience something diferent.

Exotic sites, something like an old tower build centuries ago, that no one gets near because its hunted, or is devil/demon related, its the entrance to another plane or whatever.

So, you got an idea of what i'm looking for... Any help will be most appreciated.

[Dok42]

The elder seems like a good reoccurring foe, but the last confrontation should be someone else, someone unexpected.

[Mikeavelli]

Honestly, I don't plan out specific recurring foes. This leads to situations where the PC's will get a lucky shot (series of crits, dude fails a will save, whatever) off and kill the enemy that is supposed to be recurring, fouling your plans all up, or forcing you to cheat in order to get them back on the rails.

Instead, during most combats, have NPC's start to run away or try to surrender when it becomes clear they're going to lose the combat. The ones that actually live... Become recurring NPC's.

The ones that die are dead.

[Canarr]

Why not use kobolds? They make great enemies for starting PCs, and their chief could be a kobold sorcerer or maybe cleric of the appropriate level.

[Godskook]

MMIV contains the dragonspawn, which, along with kobolds, makes a great army for dragon overlords.

White dragonspawn come in CRs 1, 4(6 for a barbarian one), and 6. The hordelings would make great opponents for a low-level party, and would lead rather conveniently into a face-off with a low-CR white dragon, young or juevenile based on your expected ECL estimates.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Honestly, I don't plan out specific recurring foes. This leads to situations where the PC's will get a lucky shot (series of crits, dude fails a will save, whatever) off and kill the enemy that is supposed to be recurring, fouling your plans all up, or forcing you to cheat in order to get them back on the rails.

Instead, during most combats, have NPC's start to run away or try to surrender when it becomes clear they're going to lose the combat. The ones that actually live... Become recurring NPC's.

The ones that die are dead.

You're the DM. Some cheating is expected.

[Godskook]

You're the DM. Some cheating is expected.

1.He's the DM, he doesn't need to cheat.

2.I find that DM 'cheating' is not conducive to a setting that feels 'real'. Survivable villains are villains who can actually, y'know, *SURVIVE*.