Advice for my campaign idea?

[flamewolf393]

Here is the basic premise: The characters are going to be over-the-top evil villains that have been called to a great destiny by a powerful devil lord. He has commanded them to build him an evil fortress to tower over the land below.

I plan on them starting with just a small hole in the side of a hill and they have to expand it out from there. I figure that all expansions (digging out/building up more space) will just require X amount of labor hours that can be filled by the characters or hirelings. Everything else from furniture to traps to weapons will cost a flat X amount to create. This again can be paid for with crafting skills (which will reduce the price as normal) or hirelings with the skills (which will cost the hirelings standard rate) or buying the item outright (which may cost as much as double normal price depending on rarity/power)

As they progress in levels and loyalty to the devil lord, they will gain access to a kind of market within his realm where they can buy basically anything they want (with limits based on level, aka being rewarded with access to better merchants and rarer items). He may grant them special boons based on other factors and events.

To make money, they must do typical evil stuff. Starting at basic banditry at low level to wiping out entire holy orders and selling off their loot at epic levels. Everything from farmers hut to merchant caravan to town and city will have specific gold value that represents just how much can be looted from it before there is nothing left of value. A farmer may have a few gold hidden away and his basic tools. A large city may have gold and items valuing into the absurd.

One major problem for these guys... their activities dont go unnoticed by the local do-gooders. Every evil act will increase their notoriety, attracting more and more powerful heroes, adventurers, and eventually armies to attack their lair. The baddies have to build traps, hire monsters, and fight head on to protect their lord's future home.

Did I miss any basic concepts? How should I go about planning this out? ANy advice you guys have you help.

[Waker]

What are the goals that will be presented to the party? Will the Demon Lord give them free reign to spread terror or will he check up on them and give them missions to run?
Is the party on-board with the idea of building a fortress? Some people may prefer to wander around the world and not be bound to a certain locale.

[flamewolf393]

The story as such will be mostly player run, but with the enforced long term goal of building this fortress. Within the heart of the fortress will be a semi-stabilized rift that will get more powerful as certain aspects of the fortress are completed. This rift can be closed/destroyed by heroes, so defense of the fortress is paramount. Think along the lines of dungeon keeper, lol.

Beyond that it is up to the party where they want to go and how they want to earn the funds required.

And yes, the party is on board with the idea. Though they seem intent on subverting the very idea... One of them wants to hire an army of bards as her fund-raising attmept... and its not even evil to earn notoriety...

[Waker]

The party will definitely want to consider having at least one spellcaster in the party. Having a cleric Desecrate the complex and tie it with a spell like dimensional anchor, a wizard to apply Mage's Sanctum, a druid to use Shape Stone to restructure the mountain and so on will make the place that much easier to defend. But that is getting into party strategies, which is stuff that they need to come up with.

Mechanically I see no issue with this. You'll want to make a chart to determine the Notoriety rank as well as how much they need to build to fully open the portal (Need 100 Evil Points. Founding an orphanage for possessed children is 2 points. Building a Necromancer Academy is 5 points...) so they can plan accordingly. That way they can build the fortress to their liking.

[flamewolf393]

So a friend gave me a new idea. Originally I was going to have the players have access to a market in a hell metropolis, where they could buy just about anything they want. The new idea is that they have to use the local currency: souls. I will have to give them a way to capture souls, but my question is what kind of value should a soul have? I was thinking along the lines of 100g per ECL of the soul, with certain kinds, like paladins, being worth more.

Also, should i have it be like a merchant shop where they just open the gate and there is a guy that can sell them anything? Or should they have to wander the streets of this hell city trying to figure it out themselves? That would make for some interesting encounters...

"You fail your balance check and accidentally bump into the 20' tall demon. He turns and glares angrily at you as he pulls out a flaming greatsword..."

[Ace Nex]

Make sure you give something compelling to. Not all PCs are evil for evils sake, some will think of some kind of back story about why they're evil. Not to mention, evil doesn't always work well together. If I'm playing an evil character, and I can off the fighter in the party to get some extra favor/money/support I'll do it. Also, why should I work with the other guys when I can do a better job on my own and I don't have to share? The problem with evil is that it isn't always 100% cohesive. Both demons and devils are evil, but they hate each other very much.

[The Ravensong]

A way to measure souls?
Hit Dice is a wonderful way to measure the value of a creature's soul... Maybe bonus points based on whose soul it is. For example, random goblin 1HD goblin is worth just that, 1HD. A 10HD paladin whose illustrious carrier has earned him an honored place in his diety's hall? Maybe that's worth a little more since that particular soul can be used as a bargaining chip that said paladin's deity would have to perform some favor for your diabolic patron to get it back.

One interesting thing you could do is have your players be the lackeys for your villainous devil as far as the rules for villainous organizations in Exemplars of Evil, with each character gaining minions based on his level+charisma (as per the table).

These minions could, perhaps, be exemplary students/professors with extra time on their hands from the earlier mentioned school of necromancy the party could start... or kids who have "aged out" of the local orphanage who haven't been able to find honest work... or cultists of the party's patron whose divinations have shown them that the party represent his chosen heralds for is coming to the material plane... or recruits into the assassin's guild a party member could start.

[dascarletm]

Also, should i have it be like a merchant shop where they just open the gate and there is a guy that can sell them anything? Or should they have to wander the streets of this hell city trying to figure it out themselves? That would make for some interesting encounters...

"You fail your balance check and accidentally bump into the 20' tall demon. He turns and glares angrily at you as he pulls out a flaming greatsword..."

Maybe in the lower levels an imp can act as a courier bringing you goods and taking the souls, but later as they want access to better stuff, they need to go in themselves (when they can handle an encounter if it happens). At first when they go in (maybe first time or two) have something happen, but then later I would hand-wave it until they reach a new level.

You could have them get access to the "shops" on each level in order. first Bel's level, then Dis, etc. You could even theme the top grade merchandise in each level accordingly. Dis has the best defensive items etc. While also increasing the overall value of your "all items under X gold available."