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Jeivar
2013-01-15, 03:25 PM
Ugh, it sure is a LOT easier to come up with cool ideas for adventure than it is to make all the threads hang together, and structure things so that the PC's will reliably find the right path.

Anyway, I'm a couple of days from running my first Pathfinder campaign and I'm trying to create an old fashioned cheesy questy-travely heroic journey, good for several sessions.

The skeleton I've built is that:
*The PC's (level 5) start off being hired to recapture goods taken by bandits, discover that the bandit operation is huge, funded by some outside force which funnels the money to some mysterious purpose.

*The PC's travel to the area capital to pick up their reward and are hired to look into kidnappings. They turn out to be the cause of a mad cult of the dead god Atep, led by the Antipaladin Gargan. He has had the still-living heart of Atep grafted into his chest in a horrible ritual, and means to actually BECOME at least semi-divine by unlocking the heart's true power (a rescued prisoner reveals all this.)

*Back at the city, the PC's are told by a mystic that Gargan wishes to reach the Pool of Life in order to bathe in it and hopes to thereby unlock the heart. The Pool is hidden in a cave far up in the mountains, and was long ago sealed off by ancient magic to prevent misuse. One would need at least two of four keys in existence to open it.

*Wouldn't you know it, just then Gargan attacks the city with some Wyverns and tunneling goblins he hired with the bandit loot, and tries to get at the key kept in the city. Depending on the PC's he either gets the key and flees on Griffin-back, or is struck down. Due to the heart he can't truly be killed, however, and the Wyverns carry him off.

*The goblins besiege the city, and the PC's are given the quest to escape it, travel far to find either one or two keys (depending on whether Gargan got one in the assault), and then stop the ritual at the Pool. That single or latter key the PC's must find will be in the tomb of an ancient Paladin hero, which also contains a weapon capable of truly killing Gargan.

*The PC's travel a difficult road to the Pool and, go figure, arrive just after Gargan has gained entry and is starting the ritual. Cue epic, final battle with Gargan and his cultists.

Seems okay? I'll also include some minor bounty missions the PC's can take before the goblins attack the city, as well as some roadside events.
I also want the heart within Gargan to cause some growing supernatural menace which killing him ends. Probably a zombie plague.

JoshuaZ
2013-01-15, 03:54 PM
This sounds like an interesting campaign idea but:


Ugh, it sure is a LOT easier to come up with cool ideas for adventure than it is to make all the threads hang together, and structure things so that the PC's will reliably find the right path.


PCs will run off and do things you don't expect. That's just what they do. Any campaign arc that is this long is going to more or less inevitably have them go do something very different from you expect. You can try to subtlely get them back on the same track by dropping extra clues and the like, but you really can't structure things in any way that guarantees that PCs will follow the right path.

Iceforge
2013-01-15, 04:25 PM
I 2nd what JoshuaZ said; The PC's are going to do something unexpected, which means you need to plan for that.

You got a strong story going with a lot of cool information and hooks, I think you need to add contingencies(apologize for my spelling); i.e. something to add when/if the players choose to ignore a given quest line, a way to provide the hook/information at a later point.


*The PC's (level 5) start off being hired to recapture goods taken by bandits, discover that the bandit operation is huge, funded by some outside force which funnels the money to some mysterious purpose.

Back-up plan: Well, if the go off the rails even from the basic starting "get-the-group-together" quest, you got your hands full! If they do not deal with the bandits, have prices on trade-good go up a lot in the region; if they ask why and try and find out, its because caravans are constantly attacked and robbed by the increasing number of bandits in the area; some merchants will even tell them that they heard that the bandit leader is gathering funds to state a coup (rumours should never be 100% accurate)


*The PC's travel to the area capital to pick up their reward and are hired to look into kidnappings. They turn out to be the cause of a mad cult of the dead god Atep, led by the Antipaladin Gargan. He has had the still-living heart of Atep grafted into his chest in a horrible ritual, and means to actually BECOME at least semi-divine by unlocking the heart's true power (a rescued prisoner reveals all this.)

Back-up-plan: At a later point, after ignoring the quest to help those kidnapped, they hear about another group of adventures who has saved the kidnapped people from a wicked Nerull church, lead by a mighty warrior with a heart so foul, thats is black outline is visible on his chest.
By luck, in a tavern, they stumble upon one of those actually rescued; He will tell that it wasn't Nerull, but some other God, a dead god, that they worshipped (and a knowledge religion DC X check will let them know which from his description of the holy symbol), and say that it was an actually beating heart, supposedly from their dead God, that the wicked leader, Gargan, had outside his armor.


*Back at the city, the PC's are told by a mystic that Gargan wishes to reach the Pool of Life in order to bathe in it and hopes to thereby unlock the heart. The Pool is hidden in a cave far up in the mountains, and was long ago sealed off by ancient magic to prevent misuse. One would need at least two of four keys in existence to open it.

Well, at any point after they know about Gargan, they can stumble into a mystic who tells them this, whatever they are in the city or not.


*Wouldn't you know it, just then Gargan attacks the city with some Wyverns and tunneling goblins he hired with the bandit loot, and tries to get at the key kept in the city. Depending on the PC's he either gets the key and flees on Griffin-back, or is struck down. Due to the heart he can't truly be killed, however, and the Wyverns carry him off.

Back-up-plan: Well, none needed here either, as you can just launch the attack whenever they are in the city (or even another city), they might not know why he is attacking and invading the city, but they can make an educated guess.
If the mystic tells them where 1 of the keys are, in a specific city, and they given plenty of chances to go there, still dont go there for a long time, let them hear about a devastating raid on the city and remove it from the world; It has been burned to cinders, and all the people (including the children) who lived there are charcoal now. At bit later, they meet the mystic from above again, who somehow escaped; He tells them off another location that has a key, the only other key he knows about, and pleads with them to go help protect it and warn people that Gargan is most likely heading their way.
If they ignore the mystic this time, well, doomsday is about to happen and thats their own fault.


*The goblins besiege the city, and the PC's are given the quest to escape it, travel far to find either one or two keys (depending on whether Gargan got one in the assault), and then stop the ritual at the Pool. That single or latter key the PC's must find will be in the tomb of an ancient Paladin hero, which also contains a weapon capable of truly killing Gargan.

Back-up-plan: Well, this is simple, either this one plays or they ignored all pleads and signs to do something about Gargan; So if this one does not play out, well, then they failed and Gargan has already won.


*The PC's travel a difficult road to the Pool and, go figure, arrive just after Gargan has gained entry and is starting the ritual. Cue epic, final battle with Gargan and his cultists.

Main problem here is that it is static; No matter what they do, how well they do it and how smart they go about it, you are going to make them arrive to excatly the same, from the sounds of it, i.e. arriving JUST after Gargan who is starting the ritual...
Thats up to you, but for me, it is a big NO-NO when the outcome is the same, no matter what I/the players do