Da'Shain
2012-09-30, 10:52 PM
My friend just finished reading Caine Black Knife (an awesome entry into one of my favorite series of all time, go read it!), and remarked that he really wanted to play in a campaign based on some of the events in that book. I agreed, and we have a few other people who like the pitch, but no one who wants to DM. So I have decided to take a whack at it.
I have only DMed a couple of times before, for brief periods, so I am not particularly experienced. I am also relatively new to Pathfinder, but I don't want to revert to 3.5 D&D after trying PF and loving it as I have in the past couple months; the players also agree that PF is awesome. So what we're gonna have here is a relatively green DM that is still not 100% up on the system we'll be running. What can go wrong, right?
I've got some basic setup already, but what I really want some input on is power level and class/monster selection, as well as some ideas for some pretty cool relics. To set the stage, here's the intro that I'll be sending the players:
The city of Kairost is a booming metropolis on the southern edge of the loosely connected city-states of the Free Alliance. Over its entire lifespan it has fought tooth and nail with the orc, goblin and kobold tribes that inhabit its mountains, and in the past decade has finally managed to push these savage races back far enough to have breathing room. In this time, Feyallaran University has emerged as a haven for explorers and archaeologists, eager to plunder the lands recently vacated by Kairost's enemies, and sell the artifacts they find back to the city's wealthy patrons for top coin.
An expedition of forty adventurers, treasure hunters and explorers has been commissioned by the sorcerous scion of House Geldar, Simm. He plans to "lead" this incursion himself. The aim: find the lost elven city of Qel'amon, rumored to lie many leagues to the south of where Kairost now stands. But in the way, unmapped by even the savage tribes that recently lived on its outskirts, lies the Desolation, a mountainous desert that is home to nothing but monsters. Create a character of X level. Arrange your ability scores as you see fit, but remember: this is a desert campaign, and Constitution will be of great importance. Also be aware that the orc tribes have not necessarily been entirely vanquished.
Now, what I say about monsters in the desert is true, but they will not be the focus of the campaign. What will be is the city of Qel'amon, which will be uninhabited when the party arrives, but show signs of having been lived in much more recently than centuries ago; and as the party explores, they will look out to see the Gore Dancers descending on them.
The Gore Dancers are the tribe that other orcs scare their children with. They have been encountered by Kairost before as elite warbands and raids that are more brutal and savage than even the worst of the other clans, because Gore Dancers don't seem to have any aims except for victory in battle, and torturing their enemies to death before eating them. What the players will find out, though, is that the Gore Dancer nation is far larger than it's appeared, and that they've stumbled right smack dab into the middle of a gathering of the ENTIRE CLAN. The campaign will be based around surviving and escaping, while possibly having a chance to deal the clan a mortal wound.
A major part of this is going to be character death, which I've made clear to all players. I'm not going to try and kill everyone, but I expect several at least to die, which is where the forty person party comes in: when they die, I want them to be able to roll up a new character and continue playing. Hopefully at least a few of the originals will survive all the way through, but I want the feeling to be one of extreme struggle with dwindling resources against absolutely overwhelming odds. I also expect them to be captured at at least one point, so I might need to devise rules for torture.
So like I said, my main concern is power level. The main enemies are going to be orcs, and a lot of them; there will be powerful fighters and barbarians spread among the orcs, but the real leadership is going to be a cabal of witches, who serve a dark power that is somehow tied to Qel'amon. I want there to not be any simple ways out of the situation, so I'm toying with the idea of simply making Qel'amon teleportation proof and the like, but would it be better to simply limit PCs to, say, level 5, before anything but Fly is available to trivialize an escape? For the Gore Dancers, I thought Blood Orcs fit pretty well with what I was going for, except to give many of them a class level or two, with the occasional champion.
So, thoughts, advice? It'll be an orc-heavy campaign, so while I'm confident of my ability to keep the roleplaying varied and interesting, I'm dreading possibly having the combat be too samey all the time. Is there a good way to mix things up?
I have only DMed a couple of times before, for brief periods, so I am not particularly experienced. I am also relatively new to Pathfinder, but I don't want to revert to 3.5 D&D after trying PF and loving it as I have in the past couple months; the players also agree that PF is awesome. So what we're gonna have here is a relatively green DM that is still not 100% up on the system we'll be running. What can go wrong, right?
I've got some basic setup already, but what I really want some input on is power level and class/monster selection, as well as some ideas for some pretty cool relics. To set the stage, here's the intro that I'll be sending the players:
The city of Kairost is a booming metropolis on the southern edge of the loosely connected city-states of the Free Alliance. Over its entire lifespan it has fought tooth and nail with the orc, goblin and kobold tribes that inhabit its mountains, and in the past decade has finally managed to push these savage races back far enough to have breathing room. In this time, Feyallaran University has emerged as a haven for explorers and archaeologists, eager to plunder the lands recently vacated by Kairost's enemies, and sell the artifacts they find back to the city's wealthy patrons for top coin.
An expedition of forty adventurers, treasure hunters and explorers has been commissioned by the sorcerous scion of House Geldar, Simm. He plans to "lead" this incursion himself. The aim: find the lost elven city of Qel'amon, rumored to lie many leagues to the south of where Kairost now stands. But in the way, unmapped by even the savage tribes that recently lived on its outskirts, lies the Desolation, a mountainous desert that is home to nothing but monsters. Create a character of X level. Arrange your ability scores as you see fit, but remember: this is a desert campaign, and Constitution will be of great importance. Also be aware that the orc tribes have not necessarily been entirely vanquished.
Now, what I say about monsters in the desert is true, but they will not be the focus of the campaign. What will be is the city of Qel'amon, which will be uninhabited when the party arrives, but show signs of having been lived in much more recently than centuries ago; and as the party explores, they will look out to see the Gore Dancers descending on them.
The Gore Dancers are the tribe that other orcs scare their children with. They have been encountered by Kairost before as elite warbands and raids that are more brutal and savage than even the worst of the other clans, because Gore Dancers don't seem to have any aims except for victory in battle, and torturing their enemies to death before eating them. What the players will find out, though, is that the Gore Dancer nation is far larger than it's appeared, and that they've stumbled right smack dab into the middle of a gathering of the ENTIRE CLAN. The campaign will be based around surviving and escaping, while possibly having a chance to deal the clan a mortal wound.
A major part of this is going to be character death, which I've made clear to all players. I'm not going to try and kill everyone, but I expect several at least to die, which is where the forty person party comes in: when they die, I want them to be able to roll up a new character and continue playing. Hopefully at least a few of the originals will survive all the way through, but I want the feeling to be one of extreme struggle with dwindling resources against absolutely overwhelming odds. I also expect them to be captured at at least one point, so I might need to devise rules for torture.
So like I said, my main concern is power level. The main enemies are going to be orcs, and a lot of them; there will be powerful fighters and barbarians spread among the orcs, but the real leadership is going to be a cabal of witches, who serve a dark power that is somehow tied to Qel'amon. I want there to not be any simple ways out of the situation, so I'm toying with the idea of simply making Qel'amon teleportation proof and the like, but would it be better to simply limit PCs to, say, level 5, before anything but Fly is available to trivialize an escape? For the Gore Dancers, I thought Blood Orcs fit pretty well with what I was going for, except to give many of them a class level or two, with the occasional champion.
So, thoughts, advice? It'll be an orc-heavy campaign, so while I'm confident of my ability to keep the roleplaying varied and interesting, I'm dreading possibly having the combat be too samey all the time. Is there a good way to mix things up?