Creative Minds Needed, Campaign Rewrite [3.5]]

[Aemoh87]

I have ran the same campaign 3 times in the last three years and I have fallen in love with it. At this point in time I am very capable of working out alot of the kinks, but I feel like it needs more dramatic punch. I want it to stand out to new and experienced players alike. It is centered around a Metropolis in a desert, inside the city there is a great deal of political intrigue while outside the city survival against the elements is the challenge. When the campaign is finished I plan to publish and release it as a free module online. For the next run I want to cut the campaign down to about 10-15 sessions with 6 hours of play. But that is not important, I was wondering if you had any creative trap, encounter, or NPC suggestions. Let me tell you alittle about the areas that need polish:

Dungeon 1 (Desert Canyon): Help me decorate a hag's cove. They are dune hags who hunt a Canyon that contains special plants the party is after. I have lots of good monsters, but what are some cool stuff you would find with dune hags, just in case the party decides to raid their camp.

Dungeon 2 (Artificer's Den): The tower of a recently deceased wizard. There is alchemical, arcane, and clockwork elements to this tower, it really lacks good traps can could maybe use one more interesting monster. The challenge is this dungeon should not contain anything over a CR 6 and has a difficult boss fight at the end. I want it to feel like it was the home of an eccentric wizard just as much as a fun/challenging dungeon. Maybe a good puzzle would fit perfect. Also any cool and whacky loot should go here.

Dungeon ? (Merchant's Republic): This dungeon has been the hardest. It is an infiltration mission destined to go wrong leading to a chase throughout the city. The bad guys are a merchants guild who specializes in divination though are not incredibly powerful. They are explicitly NOT shadow or enchantment themed, but focusing more on assassination more than brute force. The only enemy I have gotten to stick is a variation of the Nimblewright from MM2. I need interesting enemies as well as fun skill challenges one would encounter while running through a busy city. Is there any fun twists on divination that aren't scry and die? Also I don't want generic assassins, I want them to really stand out as assassins from this guild, so they must represent law, commerce, and divination.

Dungeon ? (Dwarven Ruins): This one is the dungeon most people think is boring. The party is going here to find a fingertip of a rogue who lost it to a trap, so he can be resurrected. I use the Dwarf Ancestor construct from MM3, but the rest of my monsters feel out of place. I used undead Dwarves but the party didn't really wanna fight more things immune to critical. What enemies would you find, also this is the place for sweet and classic traps to appear. What are some good ways to show that the rogue they are looking for has been through here, what are some traps that could incorporate this? And most importantly what monsters should inhabit this underground ruin?

The Orcs: This is my primary bad guy, it's a big army of orcs threatening the metropolis. Yes how is there a big army in the desert, well it's supposed to feel weird because it is. They are divided into three groups themed Fire, Fear, Disease. Any cool orc stuff or just stuff that fits these themes. Also any fire stuff that isn't just a fire ball. Maybe disease stuff that doesn't just give the party a disease. I would accept fear suggestions but for the most part I have that figured out. The orcs also use strange technologies, fleshwarping and grafts are going to be common among them, so any suggestions there would also be fine.

My Metropolis: Any cool shop or tavern ideas I can steal? :)

Also any interesting ideas you just want to share, I know I have made a bunch of cool encounters that just don't fit in this campaign

Thanks for helping touch up my campaign, when it is finished (end of august), I will post it on Gitp!

[ShadowPsyker]

D1) Enchanted dinghy that works on sand (Sinks in water), A journal of some type of monster cataloger (Last entries; these hags. Note: you could drop some hints about the orcs from later on), A book entitled "Loving your food: A guide to avoid falling in love with your prey," Enchanted underwear (Never chaffs/self cleaning/ and +2 on saves to avoid heat if male).

D2) A 6-inch tall clockwork man who constantly tries to make/bring you tea (no, it's not tasty), Robe of blending (+10 to make mixed drinks), Orcish lingerie booklet (with models), An enchanted oven that makes fresh muffins on request (Takes 1 hour per 4, weight: 900 lbs [the oven, not the muffins]) there are some in there now; still fresh, An 8 year old girl (No she does not know why she is there if pressed begins crying; will stop if given tea and muffin) after a while she suddenly turns back into a puppet Note: If she was real when they met her does the fact that she was only a polymorphed object mean she didn't have a soul? can they save her?

[Amoren]

The Unseen Seer might make a good prestige class for the divination guild. It's a rogue/arcane caster hybrid that gets bonuses to divination spells.

For the Dwarven ruins, perhaps include chalk markings (some of them half-wiped off/washed away, some gone completely except by high spot checks to notice the remains) which warn of/points out traps by the rogue who's finger they're trying to recover. As for enemies, perhaps some type of permanent unseen servents, charged by the dwarves in ages past to maintain the constructs, reset the traps, and maintain the ruins (as best they can?).