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Mr.MeowMeowmers
2013-06-24, 08:56 AM
Hello there lads and girls!

So im running a campaign for some time now and i guess that me and my players are doing pretty good. Lots of fun, lots of laughters and hella lots of random things that are happening. The plot is going okay but still the players find more than enough things to do, to keep them occupied and make me improvise a lot , but i guess thats a good thing? ;)

So, anyway!

So far, my campaign is based on a continent. This continent is ruled by two major factions. A rather religious and traditional republic in the west and a rather totalitary empire in the east, which is on its way to industrialization and doesn't care too much about religion.
In the middle of these factions is a huge neutral city. Almost any races can be found there and live together. Orcs, Goblins, Men, Dwarfs, Kobolds....you name it.

Right now the party is at the crossroads, deciding where to go next.
The neutral city is the closest, the plot important one is the one in the west but some bounty might lead them to the east.

I need to keep them entertained on their journey!

So far i've planned that if they decide to go to the neutral town, that they might first find a tribe of gnolls.
If they decide to go to the west, they'll have a good chance to end up in the lair/labyrinth of a couple minotaurs.
And if they do the opposite, they meet some angry druids in the east, mourning about how the empire is burning down their forests to keep the factories running.

I need some cool ideas for the characters!
So if you have any ideas, even from your old campaigns or whatsoever, feel free to tell me!

Any ideas for a gnoll leader? Some wandering merchang? A gang of bards? Plundering halflings? A lonely troll? Let your creativity free and help a rather new DM out !

Thanks and have a nice week everybody!

Rabidmuskrat
2013-06-24, 04:11 PM
If you need to keep the PC's entertained while they travel, I suggest making a Random Event Table. It is like a random encounter table, except it doesn't prescribe the exact monster they face, only the kind of encounter. The exact monster would depend on the area they find themselves (or can be chosen from its own random encounter table!).

For example: Roll d100 every day.
1-5) Double Whammy - Roll again twice.
6-12) Very dangerous area - 50% chance of an appropriate random encounter every hour. PCs should attempt to avoid most encounters.
13 - 22) Dangerous area - 10% chance of an appropriate random encounter every hour. Fighting is possible, but generally unprofitable.
23 - 30) Powerful foe - Random encounter with an appropriate opponent with a CR way above the party level. Fight would use up valuable resources.
31 - 40) Disturbed Rest - Appropriate random encounter when the party next decides to make camp and rest. Most likely an ambush, but that depends on the monster.
41 - 50) Encounter - Area appropriate monster encounter. Need not be hostile immediately.
51 - 60) Being Followed - An appropriate, sufficiently intelligent monster is following the party. It will attack the next time they are weakened. Spot checks to see it, etc.
61 - 80) Boooriiiing! - Nothing happens.
81- 90) Injured Monster - A big nasty area appropriate monster has been previously injured. Easy xp or a potentially valuable ally? You decide!
91 - 100) Monty Haul - Some silly monster has left his stash unguarded. Help yourselves! Just watch for when he comes back.

And so on. Adjust numbers however you see fit. You can also modify the table as you go on, removing events that have become stale through overuse and changing them to something new and interesting. It requires a little improv to make best use of, but I've been using it in my campaign very successfully. Random encounters become fun without being prescripted and unavoidable.

As an added hint, if you know (or suspect) your party is going to be travelling, roll up the results and figure it out as part of your preperation.

Mr.MeowMeowmers
2013-06-24, 04:33 PM
Well, thanks alot for that mate!

We usually try to keep the fights down to 1-2 encounters a session, most of the time its roleplaying. So the fights are usually tougher encounters, or sometimes very easy ones.

The group is level 7, right now they are:
An Alchi/Bard/Rogue/Hybrid who is a doctor/lawyer/translater... ( pretty useless in fights :P)
Dwarf Inquisitor with good equipment.
A summoner whos also pretty good.
A ninja.
The rest won't be joining the next session.
...
Oh and the level 1/2 commoner whos with them right now . ..
And due to "the bracelet of rats and other small animals"
They got an army of about 60 little fellas following them around, mostly rabbids and hamsters and so on.

So, i want them to fight something tough and exciting, nothing thats just simply cleared by charging it until its done.

Any ideas for a good mob around this level?
Maybe something with nasty special abilities or just something unpredictable?

Thanks!

Rabidmuskrat
2013-06-25, 02:49 AM
Personally, when I do random encounters I completely ignore the party level. If they meet something too strong for them, it is up to them to run away like little girls. Hell, trying to escape from something is an encounter all on its own.

Neutral Town - The party comes across some gnolls looting a bunch of dead bugbears. The gnolls themselves aren't so tough a challenge, but after defeating them a stronger group of bugbear reinforcements arrive! (a little anti-nova fun). You can track the gnolls back to their camp (or catch one alive and make it tell you where it is) for even more loot. The bugbears come from too far away.

West - Guerilla Warfare with minotaurs. One night, repeatedly have a group of 3 minotaurs use their powerful charge on the players (in the surprise round, preferably) before doing a full withdraw on their very next turn. Party is free to heal up as much as they want between attacks, the goal here is simply to bleed resources. If you want, give the minotaurs a few levels in rogue for sneak attack/hide/move silently since minotaurs aren't naturally a very stealthy bunch.

East - The first night that the party makes a campfire (from wood gathered from the forest) have rather gruff druid appear and demand to know whether they are friends or foes of the Empire. If they say friends (as adventurers who aren't listening might be prone to do) then the druid attacks (mid level druid at close range, but the party is probably a bit unprepared). If they say foes, the druid warns them that the empire's actions have riled up the animals, but that it is not the animals' fault and they should not be harmed before leaving.
During the next few days, hit the party with lots of animal encounters.
If they fought the druid, have the encounters be dire animals mixed in with a few more mid level druids. They all run away at 50% hp and come back later healed up (druids can heal).
If they talked with the druid, have the encounters be low cr normal animals with only a few dires sprinkled in, but with the kicker that if they kill any of the animals, they get hit with lots of mid-level druids.

Just an idea :smalltongue:

rt_tlp
2013-06-25, 09:31 AM
I'm always partial to NPCs, because I feel like monsters are rather overused and get watered-down in terms of their scariness because of it. Also, NPCs provide the flexibility to work for any party level and any environment, it's just up to you to make them what they need to be.

You could go as simple as bandits waylaying the party to as complex as the party coming across a brawl between two warring families arguing over some mildly insignificant event. Or another interesting thought, have them pass by the entourage of some really insignificant noble who's so self-important that he orders his guard to attack the party for some perceived slight on his honor.

Again, NPCs are my suggestion.

ikosaeder
2013-06-25, 10:19 AM
1.)
Because someone mention them in my campaign development:
Gypsies
The characters meet a group of traveling gypsies and are invited to camp with them that night. Together with a heavy feast, there is music and booze and dancing through half of the night. One women is trying to seduce one of the pc's.
The next morning they awake without remembering much from the last night. But the gypsies surround them, weapons drawn and demanding that the pc has to marry the women he dishonored.

2.)
In some distance, the group sees a lone person doing something. He is walking slowly from left to right and the back, putting some sticks in the ground. When they come closer, they can see that he is measuring something on the ground. He is paying no attention to the group however. When they are only a few rounds away he stops and casts a spell. A gate opens and a demon comes out, killing the caster.
If the group doesn't fight them monster it simply runs away in the direction of one city after a few rounds.

Background: The caster has tried a test for entering a prestige class and obviously failed. If he is raised he will explain the test. Otherwise the body will be teleported away after 10 rounds.

3.)
The party spots some glittering object in the grass beside the road. They find a crystal ball with a diameter of 1 ft. Inside the ball is a diminutive creature. The creature does not move or react in any way on what is happening outside. "Identify" will reveal that the ball will give some bonus on divination spells if used as a focus. Breaking the ball will release the creature which will show the party the way to some ruins with hidden treasure as a reward.

Deathkeeper
2013-06-25, 10:33 AM
Here's a few thoughts based on your ideas:
-The gnolls are a mercantile tribe. They're very touchy though and will become hostile if the PCs question their society, where their goods come from, or try to cheat them.
-The minotaurs are part of the republic's primary guild of engineers. They're as gruff as you'd expect, so the PCs may get stabby before they realize they'd be offered hospitality if they shut up and let them work.
-The Druids are burning the empire's crops in an attempt to bring balance to what it's doing.

Other encounters:
-The PCs encounter a merchant being threatened by a bandit crew (I used a Tengu rogue, but if this isn't PF anything will do.) He convinces the bandits that the Party is his reinforcements and ropes them into the fight unless they talk fast, although playing along or killing the bandits will let them look at his inventory including his hidden merchandise, which is (surprise) mostly blades. Bonus points if he comes back with better weapons later in the campaign and/or you can do a good Sleazy Merchant voice.
-The PCs meet the world's only werewolf bard. He's apparently too honest to lie about his heritage and prefers his hybrid form, but this makes most people too afraid to hear his (actually extremely good) show. He asks for company and career advice for a day.
-the party finds a town in which a number of goblins have befriended the town children. The elders offer them pay to drive the nuisances away, as they're a bad influence.
- the party meets an odd man on the road. If allowed to accompany them, he'll try to steal their food at night but nothing else before fleeing.
-As before, but it's a halfling who takes minor <10 gp items and replaces them with objects of equal value.
-A group of marauding Orc slavers, all Fighter and Barbs. Classic!

Mr.MeowMeowmers
2013-06-27, 07:22 AM
First of all, thanks to everyone!

I REALLY liked the idea of the guerilla minotaurs! I'll make sure that they'll be pissing off the players soon enough ;)

So, two days ago we had our session... it went...well...
I guess i could say it "****calated".

Remember when i told you, that the plan was that the group decides which way to go in the beginning of the sessions and then i've got some nice stuff for them to do? Well....

The sessions ENDED, with them arriving at the crossroads!
The players decided to go pretty mad :D

Lets summarize!

The players:

Bombur Ironbeard, Inquisitor, cursed with an everfollowing cruel and mental parrot, who's staying in his shoulder.
Jynx, paranoid cleptomanic ratfolk ninja..
Doctor Friendly "Won't hurt anyone", lawyer, bard, alchemist, scientist....and so on.
Briggelbrixx, pretty friendly, a little random, our gnome alchemist
And Adelayne, the dhampir summoner, who is CE and likes to make the worst decisions in the worst moments.

So, the dwarf inqusitor:
Almost broke his back.
Got turned into stone.
Got shaved.
Got some paintings on his face while beeing a statue.
Was paralyzed by a demon.
Was put into sleep by a demon.
Got critted a couple times.
Lost an arm due to picking up a cursed axe which replaced it.
Is one-eyed.
Almost drowned.
Keeps falling down from EVERYTHING.
Is the parties leader of " rolling ones"
Oh, and he got hit by lightning....and burned.
Found a sword which keeps on challenging everyone who wields a weapon to a duel until death....spoons count as wielding a weapon.
Found a mirror which makes his beard fabulous. Also everyone else who looks into it gets a huge beard.

The gnome:
Managed to make everyone deaf on the ship he was one.
Almost died after putting his bombs into a cannon and missfired.
Got crit by a goblin with a pistol (...rolled a double 20 on the attack :P)

The rat ninja:
Almost had sex with the pirate captain, on which ship they travelled to the mainland, who is not a captain noir a pirate, but an actor who got kicked out of university and won a ship at a dice game and now pretends to be a pirate and take tourists around the islands. Got a fake hook, fake pirate, fake eyepatch...fake ARRRR
So the rat also got mindcontrolled and tried to kill the party.
Almost dies EVERY encounter.
Also keeps falling down from everywhere and lls perception ones like a bauss.

The summoner:
Well........
Signed a soul contract with the lord of hell, is now LE.
Got an eidolon who looks like a giant black furby, plus some blades.
Also got knocked out.
And got knocked out again.
Decided to summon a demon in a fight, which she couldn't control.
Decided to cast "mad monkeys" on a public kitchen in a village.
Decided to cast "mad monkeys" on a travelling merchants.
.. Keeps casting "mad monkeys" on whatever she finds.
Found a " bracelet of rodents" and is constantly beeing followed by hordes of hamsters, beavers, rabbits, rats and so on.
Found a sword which is afraid of blood, hurting people, getting hit and fighting.
Also the sword keeps on crying and saying stuff " Why coulnd't i be a necklace? or a shiny ring? whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

The doctor:
Pretty useless in combat but is the plot carry, since he is the only one who is not only doing random **** :D
Keeps on measuring people of races he doesn't know.
Keeps on operating on everything.
Kinda digs poison.
Rolled a 1 while looking at the insignias inside a prison, decided its an alien spaceship.
Tried to fly the alien spaceship.
Released a group of basilisks.


But hey, now they've decided to go north!
So it's time to for some gnolls and hobgoblins!
Also i've build a kraken which is burrowing in sand and is going to make sure, they will move and not just sit around and get themselves killed :P


So, now that they go north, they will come to the neutral city.
The city is called "DazDaz", and ruled by "WazDaz" and his advisor "DazWaz".
WazDaz is a character of one of our former campaigns, he kinda became a running gag after blowing up the alchemist district of the capitol, after buying broken fireworks and remembering the words " if you don't see where you are or what you're looking for, light one of these" and managed to shoot a rocket into a laboratory....good times.
Also died and gave Gromsh a bitchslap, was then revived.
Finally died after the group halfling was reborn in his stomach.

So, WazDaz is the ruler of the city. DazWaz is his adviser, hes an high int goblin, while the half-orc is a straight forward barbarian who loves fireworks and candy.

The city is a rather chaotic place.
Orcs, Kobolds, Goblins, Men, Dwarf, all the races pretty much live together in almost harmony.
They'd kill themselves but the ongoing wars keep them busy.
Also the kobolds and goblins managed to steal some airships....or build them by taking regular ships and making them somekind of ship under a zeppelin.


Anyone got some fun ideas for some stuff in the city for the players to do?
Maybe some funny mini-quests?
Like a "who can eat more halflings tournament" or a "beerdrinking until death challenge" against some ruthless dwarf who lost his legs and is now running a tavern?

Keep the ideas going!

And again, thanks alot to everyone!

Deathkeeper
2013-06-27, 07:43 AM
You could have them meet a group of kobolds trying to hire them to find materials for their zeppelin before the goblins finish theirs. Because steampunk kobolds are awesome.
And You should get more intelligent weapons so everyone has one :smallwink:

Blightedmarsh
2013-06-27, 08:04 AM
kobald Sand kraken hunters who harpoon the beasts from their air/sandships.

Anti sand kraken hunting protesters outraged by the callous slaughter of these majestic, intelligent and now sadly endangered creatures.

A one legged goblin captain utterly obsessed with hunting the great white squid who tore apart his last sandship and ate his leg.

The wolds largest Marijuana plantation run by a pseudo-philosophical stoner gnoll by the name of Boone. Wears a loud Hawaiian tunic, clogs and a feathered hat. Speaks with a singsong welsh ascent and a lisp.

Mr.MeowMeowmers
2013-06-27, 08:20 AM
LordDeathKeeper and Blightedmarsh, thanks!
I really like these ideas.

The competition between goblins and kobolds was already planned, but the run for the best zeppelin in the known world.... that could become awesome.

Our campaign already features a goblin captain. His name is Captain Mancooker, or short: Captain Cookiee.

In the first session he and his crew attacked the ship of the players.
Well...they shot goblins at their ship with their cannons and... it didn't work out well.

So i guess i'm going to make him the one who is hunting the squid then ;)

I think of the following:
Theres a large bounty and loads of fame for the ones who bring down the kraken.
Both the kobolds and the goblins know this, so they tried to build an airship, able to take the beast down!
Since there can only be one winner, they are having a fierce race. Think of the cold war time, the russians and the US, whos gonna walk on the moon first ;)

So the players can either join on of them and go hunting or ally with the band of nature lovers and try to sabotage the construction of those vessels greenpeace style!

Oh and about the magic items:

The party already has some quite interesting stuff.
They have the two swords of the brothers.
Epic longswords. One of them belonged to the firstborn of a king. He was a hero, a ladiesman...he was a douchebag but he knew how to fight.
The other one was his younger brother. Smaller, weaker, but better at talking, a person who flourished the more pretty things in life.
So thats why one of the swords permanently cries and bitches about whats going on while the other one is trying to show off an fight everyone.

They also got a cursed parrot construct which is trying to mess with them at every occasion. When they destroy it, it comes back bigger. When they throw it away...well...it has some nice teleporting abilities!

Also they have the "ring of security" which keeps on warning them about things that might endanger them.
For example:
They tried to sneak past some guards, telling them they are some higher commanders from the capitol. They rolled badly, the guard rolled okay.
So the ring keeps on shouting: " Darn lads! They wont believe ya! They know dats a lie! Ya better run!"

The Dwarf also has the "Mask of Bearsomeness", which is a bearmask...
If he wears it, he's pretty in touch with nature.
But also suffers from werebearism :D

Oh... and the summoner is beeing followed by a clown doll. It's not doing any harm... it's just creepy.

They also really liked the "invisible cloak of blinding"

Its a cloak that makes the wearer invisible. But to use this effect, they have to pull the hood all over their face. So... You can't see anyone, but no one can see you.

Deathkeeper
2013-06-27, 09:14 AM
Wait, so he has lycanthropy as long as he wears the mask? Can't he just take it off before the full moon? Or is he forced to transform when he wears it?

Mr.MeowMeowmers
2013-06-30, 02:56 PM
@LoreDeathKeeper

Oh, he doesn't know the effects yet, only be good sides about it. Thing is, it got a nice DC to take it off, after wearing it for a longer time. Right now he got it in his backpack. But once fullmoon is coming closer, he'll want to wear it unless he gets over the will DC. It's not too hard though!

So yeah... today everything was random.
The party managed to get to the city after some airship picked them up, since they were lost in the desert. The captain of the small ship was a legless dwarf, who is permanently drunk and passes out every couple minutes.
So during the most important conversations, he decides a good ol' 5 minutes of rest wont hur't :P

Well...
in the city our ratfolk ninja broke into the barracks of some hobgoblins.
Before they attacked him, he told em: "I wanna be one of you guys"
So they knocked him out.
Next thing he knows is, that he wakes up in a line. Infront and behind him hobgoblins. His righthand gets a branding, he get's some gear and a uniform and stands in middle of a hobgoblin battalion.

After killing a leutenant of the hobgoblins, he becomes the new leutenant and gets his own troop of 15 hobgoblins. His first orders were to go to the town market and make sure everything is under control and safe.... so he started using the hobgoblins to pillage and steal from all the vendors 0.o

This guy...hes such a random person. Always try to "Sparta-Kick" people down from high spots, or steal in the worst situations.
Kinda hard to handle, but good for a lot of laughs :P

So, beginning of the next session, they will encounter the large sand-kraken called " the great white one".

Any ideas for that?

Right now they are on a airship full of goblins which is boarsting with cannons and ammunition. And loads of liqour.

Blightedmarsh
2013-07-01, 01:03 AM
Some thoughts:

The squid is of course a direct reference to mobi **** so you could draw references from that.

The squid may rise up and attack the city; summoning a force of heat rack packing tripod constructs. Cookies ship proceeded to go all thunderchild on them.

The squid guardians try to sabotage the boat. It turns out they are a squid worshiping cult of sand skarn (desert deep ones). They are insane and practice human sacrifice, cannibalism and profane magic.

The ship is attacked by squid ridding desert kobalds for attempting to steal their "spice". They fight an honor duel against one of the party and if he wins they hail him as the messiah.

The squid has atomic fire ink that causes status effects and on going damage and status effects. It has DR, energy resistance and regeneration. It has a roar that sounds like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bczScmRUE).

Other thoughts:

You might also encounter the Swiss family Goblinson who have been shipwrecked on a desert mountain.

You could have sky captains from both of the major powers locked in a deadly struggle of cat and snake. You could draw direct parallels on Horatio Hornblower for this.

They encounter a sunken "lost mountain" full of bizarre and deadly creatures, it is the resting place of the great squid. They are chartered by the remnants of a physically and psychologically shattered party to evacuate them. Their mad ravings speak of unimaginable wealth and indescribable horrors.

Lothmar
2013-07-01, 03:23 PM
When you said a couple of minotaur's, for some reason I began to picture a dysfunctional minotaur couple who live in the same maze and are constantly yelling at each other from across the maze and no longer stay together etc.

Effectively introduce a possible non violent mechanic to solving the minotaur problem and get a guide to show them through the maze if the party works to get the couple back together. ~chuckle~

Effectively making it mandatory that they A) Kill both minotaur's B) kill one minotaur for the other after convincing them they're better of without the other C) Get the couple back together so that neither has to die.