Ranting Fool
2012-04-30, 12:25 PM
*Spoiler Warning* Oh you lurking brothers of mine, reading this thread will/could spoil any/all upcoming plot hooks. So Eisenford the Nameless and Mortuus Vivant if you don't want to ruin the game/get a rule book chucked at you don't read this.
Right now that is sorted out I would like to enlist the help of the Playground with my campaign since you guys have been very helpful over the last few weeks.
Feel free to ask questions, point out flaws or plot holes, tell me something is just plain bad. I will endeavour to give full answers where I can though sometimes the answer will end up being "I don't know yet" or "Oh hadn't thought of that".
Note: Most names are just shorted since it makes no difference and I find using a descriptive name for an NPC in my notes helps me remember who's who and what's what. Also Warning Wall Of Text.
Also feel free to pinch any bit you like for your own campaigns if you like an idea expressed here.
The Setting
My campaign is based around a "New World" style idea. Think along the lines of European powers starting to colonize America and the resulting skirmishes and outright wars over territory and the displacing of the native populations.
Magic is used a fair bit but all of it on the low level scale. Example: The highest pure caster the players have encountered so far from the old world was Level 7. (Not counting random Goblin Artificer of unknown level)
It's been 10 years since the last major war, world war in scale but a ceesefire was agreed up once the big magic was unleashed and a few cities got wiped out. The major factions want to Rule people not a wasteland.
Why has this land only now just been discovered.
Well as far as people knew (and if the high level mages/clerics knew different they never said and claimed innocence) the endless sea was... well endless as in you'd end up right back to where you started. Called the endless sea as no vessel had ever gone all the way round (even ones buffed up with magic) and if you were to Scry the area all you'd see is water.
Well about 3 years ago some bright sparks from the Free Cities designed a new type of ocean going vessel that didn't use magic and would be able to cross the endless sea... why? Mostly because they could, the idea was to prove how sea worthy these new ships were so they could sell the design since most major factions only ever used costal hugging ships.
Also it has been proven that any magically enchanted ship will not make it to the new world. No one knows (or is saying) why these ships didn't arrive though there are many theriors on it. The whole conternet can't be scried from the outside so maybe there is some sort of wall of dispell somewhere in the middle of the ocean. A big magic eating sea monster takes the ships? Powerful magic just exploads in deep sea. Spell casters have taken these new mundane ships to the new world (though no one very high yet) and magic items have gone back and forth fine (again nothing of major power) sailors believe that having any Spellcaster on their ship will doom them.
Main powers who have started to settle in this new world.
Old Empire (Used to own everything but after a bunch of civil wars and the last big war have become greatly reduced in power) LN civ. They would have a lot of Knightly Orders, and Colleges of Magic as well as being the ones to bring about the formation of Warmages.
New Empire (The blokes who split off) LN civ. Big on religion, started off as rebels but then grew and became rather expansionist and started off the last big war. Known for Clerics / Pally's / mages who joined their side.
Sorcerer slavers : LE, these guys are more a bunch of back stabbing lords with large portions of land that are rather inhospitable (ranging from deserts to jungles) they have power because the ruling class are all Sorcerers (or wizards who pretend to be pure blood) also known to have deals with Dragons.
Free Cities (mostly independent city states who group together so they don't get absorbed by the larger empires, also have higher Gnome/Dwarf/Elf populations or settlements nearby. Our heroes come from these cities.
The Players
Currently we are rather a small gaming group, due to people living too far who would like to play or just not able to meet up at the same times so there is me as DM
A level 6 Deathtouched Warlock, strong focus on UMD and bluff to be a right sneaky little creature. (He was playing a Druid but retired him in the large underground jungle to be talked about later)
A level 6 Human Wizard, focusing feats on crafting as much as possible. Very much keeping his options open.
And two other DMPC's run by me (though the Wizard is up for making a second PC/take one of mine off my hands for less paperwork)
The New World
So far isn't uninhabited, there are many different small tribes of humans, as well as Goblins, Orcs, Ogres. And littered about the place are ruins of a very powerful magical civilization (Human from what the tribes tell them though the tribes tell newcomers that all these ruins are cursed)
The Humans are often referred to as Barbarian which isn't really very accurate, yes there is a high level of illiteracy they aren't very aggressive (only enough to keep Goblin types from raiding) most are nomadic believing that to settle down in one place and build would bring the curse of the old ones upon them.
The Big Bad
After a bit of exploring and questing our heroes have found out that all the tribes are afflicted (if that is the right word) by Druids ordering them to Cull a hundred sentient lives.
From what they have found out it works like this: Most tribes look to the druids (who live apart) for guidance and aid (healing and the like since they are very low magic) but every so often a Druid (often in Animal form or in a dream) will order a member of the tribe to go on a "Cull"
Now CG guys go off and die trying to kill 100 Goblins or other evil do-ers
and CE guys often kill anyone they find who is weak. For this reason anyone on a Cull is shunned for fear they are evil.
Now the players only know a little about this as the tribes don't talk about it, they have met a Halfling Necromancer (DMPC) who has been ordered to go on a Cull (He was in a pit in one of these old ruins infested with Goblins) from what they've found out from him is that those who don't obey the Cull are punished, either they drop dead (He himself starts to look sick if the party isn't out slaying things, evil things but still needs to go slaying) or their tribe or loved ones (often exactly 100 people) die or herds become plagued and the tribe exile them.
Also the ones who are chosen to go on a Cull are always those who show promises or have gained power, the brave warrior who has slain a mighty beast, the son of a wealthy tribe who has a way with people and could unite a few tribes under one leader. Basically anyone with a few class levels.
Also there is a cult of the God Hextor, all from the Old World, they seem to be grabbing the Undead from the Ruins of the old ones/doing something downright evil the players just aren't sure.
There have been two of these deep sea ships sunk by "A coast hugging small row boat that came out of an unnatural fog that used magic acid to sink the ship right away"
They are currently looking for this boat now.
Almost forgot: Help needed!
Right now I've yet to deside if these "Old ones" are fully dead of if they just either left this plane because of some big bad or they moved into Trippyvese style mega cities and left the wilds alone.
The Druids: Are they evil? What reason could they have for wanting this Cull.
Will war brake out: Should I have war brake out between the major powers, or should I just do lots of small scale fights between settlers.
What happens when a person on a Cull kills 100 (One of the players is on one, he became a Deathtouched and a warlock by making a deal with a Necromancer to remove the curse of the cull but woke up with these powers, he was an Expert/Accountent before for a shipping company)
Who is running this evil boat? Priests of Hextor? One of the Nations?
Problems you have with the set up/questions?
Plot holes I really need to sort out?
I'll add more things a bit later :smallbiggrin:
Right now that is sorted out I would like to enlist the help of the Playground with my campaign since you guys have been very helpful over the last few weeks.
Feel free to ask questions, point out flaws or plot holes, tell me something is just plain bad. I will endeavour to give full answers where I can though sometimes the answer will end up being "I don't know yet" or "Oh hadn't thought of that".
Note: Most names are just shorted since it makes no difference and I find using a descriptive name for an NPC in my notes helps me remember who's who and what's what. Also Warning Wall Of Text.
Also feel free to pinch any bit you like for your own campaigns if you like an idea expressed here.
The Setting
My campaign is based around a "New World" style idea. Think along the lines of European powers starting to colonize America and the resulting skirmishes and outright wars over territory and the displacing of the native populations.
Magic is used a fair bit but all of it on the low level scale. Example: The highest pure caster the players have encountered so far from the old world was Level 7. (Not counting random Goblin Artificer of unknown level)
It's been 10 years since the last major war, world war in scale but a ceesefire was agreed up once the big magic was unleashed and a few cities got wiped out. The major factions want to Rule people not a wasteland.
Why has this land only now just been discovered.
Well as far as people knew (and if the high level mages/clerics knew different they never said and claimed innocence) the endless sea was... well endless as in you'd end up right back to where you started. Called the endless sea as no vessel had ever gone all the way round (even ones buffed up with magic) and if you were to Scry the area all you'd see is water.
Well about 3 years ago some bright sparks from the Free Cities designed a new type of ocean going vessel that didn't use magic and would be able to cross the endless sea... why? Mostly because they could, the idea was to prove how sea worthy these new ships were so they could sell the design since most major factions only ever used costal hugging ships.
Also it has been proven that any magically enchanted ship will not make it to the new world. No one knows (or is saying) why these ships didn't arrive though there are many theriors on it. The whole conternet can't be scried from the outside so maybe there is some sort of wall of dispell somewhere in the middle of the ocean. A big magic eating sea monster takes the ships? Powerful magic just exploads in deep sea. Spell casters have taken these new mundane ships to the new world (though no one very high yet) and magic items have gone back and forth fine (again nothing of major power) sailors believe that having any Spellcaster on their ship will doom them.
Main powers who have started to settle in this new world.
Old Empire (Used to own everything but after a bunch of civil wars and the last big war have become greatly reduced in power) LN civ. They would have a lot of Knightly Orders, and Colleges of Magic as well as being the ones to bring about the formation of Warmages.
New Empire (The blokes who split off) LN civ. Big on religion, started off as rebels but then grew and became rather expansionist and started off the last big war. Known for Clerics / Pally's / mages who joined their side.
Sorcerer slavers : LE, these guys are more a bunch of back stabbing lords with large portions of land that are rather inhospitable (ranging from deserts to jungles) they have power because the ruling class are all Sorcerers (or wizards who pretend to be pure blood) also known to have deals with Dragons.
Free Cities (mostly independent city states who group together so they don't get absorbed by the larger empires, also have higher Gnome/Dwarf/Elf populations or settlements nearby. Our heroes come from these cities.
The Players
Currently we are rather a small gaming group, due to people living too far who would like to play or just not able to meet up at the same times so there is me as DM
A level 6 Deathtouched Warlock, strong focus on UMD and bluff to be a right sneaky little creature. (He was playing a Druid but retired him in the large underground jungle to be talked about later)
A level 6 Human Wizard, focusing feats on crafting as much as possible. Very much keeping his options open.
And two other DMPC's run by me (though the Wizard is up for making a second PC/take one of mine off my hands for less paperwork)
The New World
So far isn't uninhabited, there are many different small tribes of humans, as well as Goblins, Orcs, Ogres. And littered about the place are ruins of a very powerful magical civilization (Human from what the tribes tell them though the tribes tell newcomers that all these ruins are cursed)
The Humans are often referred to as Barbarian which isn't really very accurate, yes there is a high level of illiteracy they aren't very aggressive (only enough to keep Goblin types from raiding) most are nomadic believing that to settle down in one place and build would bring the curse of the old ones upon them.
The Big Bad
After a bit of exploring and questing our heroes have found out that all the tribes are afflicted (if that is the right word) by Druids ordering them to Cull a hundred sentient lives.
From what they have found out it works like this: Most tribes look to the druids (who live apart) for guidance and aid (healing and the like since they are very low magic) but every so often a Druid (often in Animal form or in a dream) will order a member of the tribe to go on a "Cull"
Now CG guys go off and die trying to kill 100 Goblins or other evil do-ers
and CE guys often kill anyone they find who is weak. For this reason anyone on a Cull is shunned for fear they are evil.
Now the players only know a little about this as the tribes don't talk about it, they have met a Halfling Necromancer (DMPC) who has been ordered to go on a Cull (He was in a pit in one of these old ruins infested with Goblins) from what they've found out from him is that those who don't obey the Cull are punished, either they drop dead (He himself starts to look sick if the party isn't out slaying things, evil things but still needs to go slaying) or their tribe or loved ones (often exactly 100 people) die or herds become plagued and the tribe exile them.
Also the ones who are chosen to go on a Cull are always those who show promises or have gained power, the brave warrior who has slain a mighty beast, the son of a wealthy tribe who has a way with people and could unite a few tribes under one leader. Basically anyone with a few class levels.
Also there is a cult of the God Hextor, all from the Old World, they seem to be grabbing the Undead from the Ruins of the old ones/doing something downright evil the players just aren't sure.
There have been two of these deep sea ships sunk by "A coast hugging small row boat that came out of an unnatural fog that used magic acid to sink the ship right away"
They are currently looking for this boat now.
Almost forgot: Help needed!
Right now I've yet to deside if these "Old ones" are fully dead of if they just either left this plane because of some big bad or they moved into Trippyvese style mega cities and left the wilds alone.
The Druids: Are they evil? What reason could they have for wanting this Cull.
Will war brake out: Should I have war brake out between the major powers, or should I just do lots of small scale fights between settlers.
What happens when a person on a Cull kills 100 (One of the players is on one, he became a Deathtouched and a warlock by making a deal with a Necromancer to remove the curse of the cull but woke up with these powers, he was an Expert/Accountent before for a shipping company)
Who is running this evil boat? Priests of Hextor? One of the Nations?
Problems you have with the set up/questions?
Plot holes I really need to sort out?
I'll add more things a bit later :smallbiggrin: