Starting my first campaign in DnD [Archive] - Giant in the Playground Forums

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LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 05:49 PM

Hello everyone. New guy here. I've been reading OOTS and visiting these forums for several years now, but I've only registered just now, and I come to you with a request.

About a year ago, a couple of my friends and I had the idea to start our own DnD campaign. As none of us (myself included) have ever played DnD, the game not being well (or at all) known in my country, it fell to me to be the Dungeon Master. Now even though I have no experience playing or directing these kinds of board games and know full well that I should probably start out with a pre-made dungeon crawl or adventure, my delusions of grandeur got the better of me, and I began constructing my own homebrew campaign. Today, as I was writing out the lore of my world and the details of the campaign, I came upon what seems at the moment to be an insurmountable hurdle.

The archvillain of my campaign was to be a psion. Imagine my surprise when I skimmed through the player manual and the Dungeon Master's guide to find out that there was no mention of psionics anywhere. I hope this gives you an idea about how little I know of DnD. Looking it up on wikipedia, I discovered there are literally tens of rulebooks detailing every minor adjustment you might make to your campaign, such as integrating horror elements or psionics. At first I thought creating a campaign would only be a matter of sketching out the lore, the villains and the geography of the world and then playing without having to refer to anything but my DM guide. Now I've found out I don't know the first thing about it all. Note that at this time, I have not yet read ANY of the rulebooks, not even the 3 core ones. I know this is rather irresponsible of me and that I should've done that before I began sketching out my campaign, but there it is. I have aproximately 2-3 months to show my friends this baby, but I'm afraid it'll be stillborn.

What I would ask of you is this: I have decided to create a campaign with 3.5 rules. Due to my financial state, I cannot afford ANY books, figurines or what have you (we'll probably be rolling our dice with a dice-rolling program online even), so I'm limited to what the internet can provide, that is pdf files of any books that might be online. I will post the details of the campaign here and it'd be great if someone could just give me a nudge in the right direction. I don't want you to write my campaign for me, just alert me to whatever rulebooks I might need to create it, which things to tone down or discard completely and maybe give me some tips from your own experiences as DMs. All help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for whatever assistance you can provide.

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 05:50 PM

Below is basically what I've thought up so far. I know it is generic to the max, but it's my first game and my imagination leaves a lot to be desired. I may update this post as I progress with creating the campaign. I also realise the categories below aren't really in order, but I hope the information is comprehensible enough.
Go ahead and remind of any discrepancies between core rules and the current version of the campaign (apart from the psion).

Plot
Beginning
Starts out in a prison; the heroes are awakened by ruckus caused by the warden’s daughter developing a sorcerer’s powers. Warden asks them to deliver the child to the temple. I have decided to allow the players to decide why they are imprisoned, as long as it is something to do with magic. Keeping in with the theme, I won't be allowing sorcerers or wizards unless I'm given a really compelling argument. Two of the PCs will be guards sent by the warden, or I'll send 2 NPC guards with them so as to prevent them from killing the girl/turning her in for an official pardon for their crimes.
Overview
The goal is to deliver the daughter of the warden to the temple; should they succeed, the villain will launch his armada against the north. I haven't yet decided as to why this one girl would spark the invasion, but I will likely make it so that either sorcerers are extremely rare and she's the one missing piece of the puzzle or that she is powerful to the point where the plan can be immediately put into motion. Eventually, the plan will succeed either way, even if the PCs defeat the villain - a chance for the next campaign (if it'll happen) to occur on another world (won't be the planned-for world so as to prevent the full realisation of the plan).

Villains
Arch villain
TBD (psion probably). ,,Leader'' of the island country. More like first-among-equals or something of the kind.
Plan
Use sorcerers to open a doorway through which to summon an out-world army to first unite the island kingdom and then conquer the rest of the world (out-worlder plan – create a permanent doorway to take over this planet and several others). The planet is apparently highly magically unstable and thus the perfect route for (malevolent) travellers between worlds.
Henchmen
Mage-hunters: Classes TBD, the name says it all

World
Largely unknown to the inhabitants of the island except through stories, the official government info is that the island is the only existing landmass (destruction of historical records).
Island Country – the Serene People’s Republic of Tryl
Races
TBD, likely only humans, but I'd like to try and incorporate other races.
Politics
I will try to incorporate a socialism-like environment. Magic is outlawed, studying it is punishable by death, while mage-hunters hunt down and take away children with sorcerer powers. Associating with magic users, magic items, historians (see above) is punishable by a prison sentence. Nonetheless, the country is not a dictatorship but functions fairly well as a society of equals.
Temple in the North
Situated on a peninsula. Asylum for mages. Protected by a paladin order. The only part of the island not under the influence of the Republic. The reason for its existence is to prevent malevolent mages and sorcerers from carrying out something similar to the archvillain's plan.

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 05:52 PM

Masterfully drawn map of the island (over 9000 hours in paint). Details such cities etc. to be added later on.

http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b587/Lord_Nelloz/Island_zps7331edd9.jpg

Sir Chuckles

2014-01-05, 05:52 PM

Two links first:
D20 SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/)
And D&D Tools (http://dndtools.eu/)

The three core rules books, plus some variants, including psionics, are all in the SRD.
D&D Tools has much more information, but I've always seen it better for classes, rather than actual rules.

That's really all you need (I highly recommend directing your players to the SRD) for a first time 3.5 campaign.

From there, we need to know what you and your group's goals are. What do you, as a DM, want to present? What kind of game? High combat, little roleplay, with a lot of smashing things with big enemies? Political intrigue matches that don't rely on a Diplomacy check, but an actual in-character conversation?

You also need to know your players. For instance, I have one player who loves roleplay, even when in combat, but doesn't like all the secretarial work of leveling and numbers. Conversly, I have a player who can't roleplay beyond a high-Mary Sue (http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm) very munchkin-y self insert, but loves killing everything, if given the opportunity.

Learn what your players want (Talk to them one on one, discuss classes, I'd recommend keeping to the basic Player's Handbook classes on the SRD, and find out who, what, and how they're going to play. It'll help mold your campaign building to better suit them and give them more fun). Guide each other through the rules and figure it out in a pre-session meeting. Use this time to also help build characters that work in your campaign setting, but remind everyone to build a character for the setting, not the campaign. That is to say: "No, you cannot be a Half-Ogre Titan with a Vampire bloodline when there are no Vampires, Titans, or Ogre in this setting."

Keep things simple. There's a HUGE amount of additional classes, races, and various thingies that can easily overwhelm even a veteran player.

Juntao112

2014-01-05, 05:58 PM

Zweisteine

2014-01-05, 06:06 PM

The best advice I can give you is to stick to core for your first adventure. Not to the SRD, but to core. Don't have any psionics, and don't have anything fancier than what is in those three essential rulebooks.

Better yet, don't start out with a big plan. Run a few short adventures, nothing too complex, just to get an idea of how to rules work in practice. Save the big stuff for after you've figured it all out. Don't plan far ahead until you know you'll actually be going far ahead.

Keep it simple until you know what you're doing.

Brookshw

2014-01-05, 06:10 PM

There's certainly a wealth of free info online, but you're right, d&d is very rules heavy and has a veritable cornicopia if splatbooks available (optional and probably overwhelming if the groups just starting out). It might help to know what experience you and the group have with rpgs in general and what systems.

Crake

2014-01-05, 06:15 PM

It's worth noting that you can always design your campaign without including support for certain things (like say, binders, or incarnum), and then simply adding that stuff to your campaign at a later date. You don't need every tiny bit of detail to be predetermined, all you need is the big picture, with finer detail around where your players are, and if the players want to explore any of the optional elements, then you can take the time to include them.

You don't need to have read every supplemental rule book to design your own world. They're called supplemental for a reason, they're non-essential, you use them to supplement your game, not build your world around them.

Captnq

2014-01-05, 06:20 PM

Well, Yer in luck, pal.

Check back with in about... two months. I'll have the Psionomicon done by then. I'm sure of it. In the meantime, Go HERE (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9479.msg153181#msg153181) and read the Noob Handbook. For that is what you are.

In the meantime, if you want to know about "STUFF" in general. Check out:
The Encyclopedia Vinculum Draconis (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=11953.msg204497#msg204497), currently in beta release.
Think of it as a meta handbook. I looted everyone else's handbooks for the best stuff and stuck it all together. As the old commercial once said:

If it's out there, it's in here.

There is a price, however. I am working on a Handbook for Noob DMs. It's on the backburner until I finish my project involving creating the definitive guide to psionics, but I like to plan ahead. You being a Noob DM can help by simply asking questions. Either Post here, or make a new thread, but either way, make sure to PM me when you have a new question, so I can track what advice other people give you, as well as possibly give you my own.

Or don't. Your call.

Hey, Only been running RPGs for 25 years now. What do I know? If I was so awesome, I'd find a way to make money at this instead of playing with spreadsheets and handing it out for free.
"My life is a lie!"
Bonus points if you can determine the source of that quote

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 06:29 PM

Ok. Whoa. Wasn't expecting so many (extremely helpful) responses in such a short time span. I've posted some additional info on what I've thought up for the campaign above.

@Sir Chuckles: I haven't a clue on what they want yet, so they'll probably just get what I decide to throw at them. I've sent them the three core books and directed them to read them thoroughly (as I will). We will likely have a few pre-game meetings so I can explain the setting and they can create characters based on it. Thanks for all your advice, this will help me immensely.

@Juntao: if you have some helpful tips, I'd prefer you post them here. Thanks in advance for your help.

@Captnq: Thanks for this. I'll be sure to check this out.

I haven't really thought of adding anything out of core beyond the psion archvillain and even that won't be neccessary if I change my mind about his class. I am in need of waaay simpler information. Like where online to get character sheets and so on. THAT'S how new I am to this.

Juntao112

2014-01-05, 06:34 PM

@Juntao: if you have some helpful tips, I'd prefer you post them here. Thanks in advance for your help.

In that case, let me simply suggest, like several others, that you keep it in core for now and read up on the Player's Handbook. A psionic villain can be build as a sorcerer who specializes in Divination and Enchantment, which should make things simpler, at least for a starting DM.

Kennisiou

2014-01-05, 06:47 PM

In that case, let me simply suggest, like several others, that you keep it in core for now and read up on the Player's Handbook. A psionic villain can be build as a sorcerer who specializes in Divination and Enchantment, which should make things simpler, at least for a starting DM.

I'd actually suggest you try core + completes. It's a ruleset I tend to favor for first-timers, since the "complete" books tend to add a lot of good things for players to use to customize characters of the appropriate type, and aside from "complete adventurer" and "complete champion" it's pretty clear what complete book you'll want to familiarize yourself with based on what type of character you're playing. The books involve very few new systems to familiarize yourself with (luck feats and skill tricks in scoundrel and devotion feats in complete champion are basically the most you'll have to familiarize with, and they're pretty easy to understand) and a lot of material to use to expand the world with. In short they're easy to implement as the players learn more about the game and are looking for more ways to enhance their characters, but don't involve changing builds to accomodate or massively changing the world to explain where all these psychic people/soulshapers/martial artists came from.

If you want to look into spaces to expand things after that, dragon compendium is not a bad start, and if you feel like introducing new systems ever then tome of battle and the expanded psionics handbook are both pretty straightforward and fit roles that players latch on to fairly easily that are absent from core and completes (although be wary of the "complete psionics" handbook, since it's includes a number of new systems that aren't in base psionics and was pretty poorly edited overall so a lot of the material is unbalanced to be either a lot too strong or way too weak).

Captnq

2014-01-05, 07:00 PM

Ok. Whoa. Wasn't expecting so many (extremely helpful) responses in such a short time span.

I am the terror that flaps in the night. I am the currently laid off government employee who hangs out on chat boards because he has too much time on his hands! I am, DARKWING DUCK.

@Sir Chuckles: I haven't a clue on what they want yet, so they'll probably just get what I decide to throw at them. I've sent them the three core books and directed them to read them thouroughly (as I will). We will likely have a few pre-game meetings so I can explain the setting and they can create characters based on it. Thanks for all your advice, this will help me immensely.

Whoa! Settle down there, tex! You jumping right into a pre-meeting without a committee to plan how the pre-meeting structure? I suggest you check out Robert's Rules of order and get your Parliamentary Inquiry on!

Seriously. You learn by doing. Make up a bunch of 1st level goblins. Tell your players make up a bunch of 1st level barbarians. Kill each other. Just the first game. Then move onto something more complicated once everyone has the general idea of how the flow of combat is going to take place.

Get a grid. Any grid. I went to salvation army and found three giant 1" grid patterns for pinning clothes to before sewing them into garmets. Dunno if you'll find that. Suggest looking on-line for terrain print outs. A bunch of free stuff out there.

Get minatures. I again, go to salvation army. I loot Chess sets and any cheap games with cool pieces. My pirates of the Caribbian chess set is awesome. Although if you need minions, and can find it, "Power Trip" The game sucks ASS, but it comes with a million plastic robe dudes that are just the right size.

Or get them on line, print stuff out, and fold it. Look up cardstock commies from West End games. Macho Women with guns has some awesome print and folds. Or look around the house. Lord know when I'm trolling the Dollar store I have bought a few dozen things just because I said, "Now that plastic tomb stone will be perfect. Of look, a bag of giant ants! A little glue, a 2"x2" square base, tah-dah!" Gorilla Glue. Yes, it foams, but it holds very well. And a little goes a long way. A LONG way.

I haven't really thought of adding anything out of core beyond the psion archvillain and even that won't be neccessary if I change my mind about his class. I am in need of waaay simpler information. Like where online to get character sheets and so on. THAT'S how new I am to this.

Ah. My Advice? Wing it.

Boring, unloved DM: "Alright. You fall down the pit and land on a force wall. You take no damage. You meet the level 12 psion. He's standing over here. He's got three defensive powers up. You see four ioun stones orbiting his head. He says nothing and he attacks immediately. Roll for Initiative."
or...
Free Wheeling Off the Cuff DM: "Your descent is abated by the sudden introduction of a crackling wall of pure, telekinetic force. Your Nemisis, Brother Fehlmen, harvester of souls, floats three inches off the ground before you. Various small crystals whirl around his head as unseen and barely detectable leylines of mental strength ebb and flow about this horrible creature. No Quarter is asked. With the knowledge of the attrocities that you have witnessed, no quarter is to be given. Without preamble, the combat that will define your existance... BEGINS!"

Can a psionist do any of that crap? Damned if I know. By I already have a bunch of powers in my head as to what he can do, dice he'll roll, combat values, and I just typed this out like, five minutes ago. I just made them up.

You? You'll need a bit more prep work, I suspect. But well... HERE (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9479.msg153184#msg153184). Skip down to Trap 6. it'll explain what I mean when I say, "Sometimes a title is just a title."

BTW, Please go to your post above with the map:
Click on Edit.
Go to the map.
Above the map type with no space: [ SPOILER]
Below the map type with no space: [ /SPOILER]

That picture is exploding my Web Browser.

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 07:23 PM

Whoa! Settle down there, tex! You jumping right into a pre-meeting without a committee to plan how the pre-meeting structure? I suggest you check out Robert's Rules of order and get your Parliamentary Inquiry on!

Seriously. You learn by doing. Make up a bunch of 1st level goblins. Tell your players make up a bunch of 1st level barbarians. Kill each other. Just the first game. Then move onto something more complicated once everyone has the general idea of how the flow of combat is going to take place.

Alright, that took care of my worst fear: a tiny detail destroying my ,,perfect'' creation, or the campaign being ruined because nobody knows what they're doing.

Get a grid. Any grid. I went to salvation army and found three giant 1" grid patterns for pinning clothes to before sewing them into garmets. Dunno if you'll find that. Suggest looking on-line for terrain print outs. A bunch of free stuff out there.

Get minatures. I again, go to salvation army. I loot Chess sets and any cheap games with cool pieces. My pirates of the Caribbian chess set is awesome. Although if you need minions, and can find it, "Power Trip" The game sucks ASS, but it comes with a million plastic robe dudes that are just the right size.

Or get them on line, print stuff out, and fold it. Look up cardstock commies from West End games. Macho Women with guns has some awesome print and folds. Or look around the house. Lord know when I'm trolling the Dollar store I have bought a few dozen things just because I said, "Now that plastic tomb stone will be perfect. Of look, a bag of giant ants! A little glue, a 2"x2" square base, tah-dah!" Gorilla Glue. Yes, it foams, but it holds very well. And a little goes a long way. A LONG way.

Taking into account my financial situation, I'll look to LEGO minifigures and chess pieces I guess :smallbiggrin: I've already thought out how to present the setting: The paint map for general overview, made-on-the-go maps with Settlers of Catan pieces for a more detailed look of the landscape and detailed buildings and dungeons drawn for each seperate session.

Ah. My Advice? Wing it.

Boring, unloved DM: "Alright. You fall down the pit and land on a force wall. You take no damage. You meet the level 12 psion. He's standing over here. He's got three defensive powers up. You see four ioun stones orbiting his head. He says nothing and he attacks immediately. Roll for Initiative."
or...
Free Wheeling Off the Cuff DM: "Your descent is abated by the sudden introduction of a crackling wall of pure, telekinetic force. Your Nemisis, Brother Fehlmen, harvester of souls, floats three inches off the ground before you. Various small crystals whirl around his head as unseen and barely detectable leylines of mental strength ebb and flow about this horrible creature. No Quarter is asked. With the knowledge of the attrocities that you have witnessed, no quarter is to be given. Without preamble, the combat that will define your existance... BEGINS!"

Can a psionist do any of that crap? Damned if I know. By I already have a bunch of powers in my head as to what he can do, dice he'll roll, combat values, and I just typed this out like, five minutes ago. I just made them up.

You? You'll need a bit more prep work, I suspect. But well... HERE (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=9479.msg153184#msg153184). Skip down to Trap 6. it'll explain what I mean when I say, "Sometimes a title is just a title."
I'll try and study your guide as well as the core rulebooks. You're being of great help here, thank you very much. I'll appreciate any additional info.

BTW, Please go to your post above with the map:
Click on Edit.
Go to the map.
Above the map type with no space: [ SPOILER]
Below the map type with no space: [ /SPOILER]

That picture is exploding my Web Browser.
That 'orrible eh?

Captnq

2014-01-05, 08:00 PM

Gonna gut and past some advice for some other DMs I gave

BTW, I should warn you I'm more of a Drill Sergent at boot camp then a happy, fluffy let's-hug sort of teacher. I'm a big fan of "That which does not kill you (when you have time to heal and build up scar tissue) makes you stronger." So, if yer of a mild outlook, I suggest a more... people friendly role-model.

The one constant thing in all your failed campaigns is YOU.

It is a poor DM who blames his players.

It's okay to root for the players, but if the time comes, murder them without mercy.

Do not figure out how the players can win. Figure out how the NPCs win and see if the PCs figure out how to stop them. The first way, there is only one way the players can win and an infinity how they can lose. The second way, it is reversed.

Ask your players:
Did they enjoy themselves? Were they entertained? Did play move swiftly? Any suggestions? Anything that didn't work?

The way you need to measure your success should not be by the number of monster's killed, but by the entertainment generated.
Will this night be a night to be remembered? No? You failed.

It's perfectly fine to murder the crap out of your players. You should do it a few times. They'll take things much more seriously. I'll bet they start to work together as a team much better as soon as they start turning into corpses.

The final questions of every game session: So what do you think happened? What do you think is going to happen next? What do you want to get done next session?

Why? One, the players might have better ideas then you. Steal them and take the credit. Two, It helps to cement the idea that they want to come back next week. Three, you can plan for what they want to do.

Once a week, write out four ideas. Throw out the worst two. Use one idea, but the other one away from later. That way you'll only run with the best ideas. Also, when the players ignore your plot, you'll have a back up. If you run for a couple dozen weeks, you'll have dozens of backup plots.

If you really really REALLY like an idea, NPC, Plot, Concept.... Destroy it. Nothing holds a DM back then trying to show favortism to his own genius. Abandon plot lines at the drop of a hat (have them quietly go on in the background without player interference, heh heh heh.)

If you really like your NPC hero you made. He HAS to die. Drop some sort of foreshadowing. Drop a clue. Maybe give the players a chance to save him. but he MUST DIE. This is a game about CONFLICT. Without conflict, there can be no adversary. Without a villian, your campaign is a Lifetime Movie Network Christmas Special.

Don't save the players. It's okay if it all ends in horrible flames. They may feel sad that they all died, but then when they play again, they will know when they DO win, it's because they EARNED it, not because you saved them.

It's okay to bend the rules, but only if you bend it back. Lets say a PC is about to die a pointless death. You save his ass from bad dice rolls, because dying by falling on a rake is stupid. it's a karmic balance. Later, to make it fair, when it would be much more dramatic, Pile it on and try your level best to Murder him. Murder him as hard as you can. Don't CHEAT. Set the rules and stack it against him. If he gets lucky, great. If he doesn't, he was supposed to be dead two sessions ago, anyways.

Captnq

2014-01-05, 08:19 PM

That 'orrible eh?

No. Just too big. My laptop screen ain't that big and I got bad eyesight.

You should see my notes sometimes. I got squiggles with notes like... "STUFF" and "THANGS". Got a whiteboard for a wall in dah man cave

OH! I'm an idiot.

I happen to love: http://www.crystalballsoft.com/crystalball.html
Crystal ball 3.2.

I'm not a big fan of crystal ball lite.

When organizing your campaign, I use:

http://classic.tiddlywiki.com/

I know NOTHING about the new version. I abhor change. I only recently upgraded to 10.8 for my OS. Like... 3 years after everyone else. (HEY! it took me a while to read the end user agreement. You can't just click those "I Agree" buttons willy-nilly, you know. Not unless you want the ghost of Steve Jobs to turn you into a Human CentiPad.)

The tiddlywiki is free. CB is not, but I think it has a free trial.

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 08:32 PM

All this is... wow. I want to play a game with you as a DM

LordNelloz

2014-01-05, 08:42 PM

It just came to me how incredibly insane it would be for a warden to trust his young daughter to a gang of prisoners associated with the worst crime you can possibly commit in this setting (dealing with magic), but I really don't want this adventure to start out in a boring inn. How can I make this plausible?

EDIT: never mind that, found a solution

Captnq

2014-01-05, 11:28 PM

Thoughts on your plot:

If you have, in general, Magic Is Bad, That's okay. Perfectly acceptable setting. I however, suggest that you go with, "Unapproved Magic Is Bad." For example, Approved Gods and the clerics of that god are okay. All other Gods are BAD.

Since you are basically in sandbox mode, I'll throw out some ideas, you run with it or ignore it, or beat my ideas like a red-headed step child. Lord knows I do.

You might want to think of a few gods for your sandbox: Download the EVD, Go to Folder: Spells
Open The Spell Lists v4.02.doc
Search ^pCleric Domains

Me? I'm a top down sort of guy. What are the gods doing? What are the god's minons doing? What are the other ultra powerful being doing? What are those creatures minions doing? This sets the over all ebb and flow of the setting. Even if the players never find out, you'll know, and it'll help you to know how things are interacting.

First, How interactive are your gods? I suggest your gods currently are few, and have a gentleman's agreement. No personally stepping in to settle things. Followers handle the fighting. For now, no real hard feelings between any of them, but they do enjoy their petty personal one-up-manship. So no "Godsfall" senario.

In your sand box, for now, each God should have 4 domains. For sandbox mode, god don't share.(BTW, If you are wondering why I'm putting so much effort into this, I plan on coming back to the thread later for my handbook. Playgrounder's reactions appreachated.)

You should have the 4 elements to cover your bases. Air, Earth, Fire, Water.

Couple more you could have (Whatever jumps out at me): Animal, Balance, Cavern, City, Commerce, Community, Corruption, Courage, Craft, Creation, Darkness, Death, Destruction, Divination, Endurance, Elf, Family, Fury, Glory, Hatred, Healing, Joy, Knowledge, Liberation, Life, Luck, Lust, Madness, Magic, Mentalism (For your psionic villian's god), Moon, Nobility, Ocean, Plant, Pride, Sand, Shadow, Sky, Spite, Storm, Strength, Sun, Summer, Time, Trade, Travel, Trickery, Tyranny, Wealth, Winter, Wrath

Now, the four alignments are mostly filler Good, Evil, Law, Chaos. However, in your case, lets not make them filler.

There are also racial domains: Demonic, Diabolic, Dragon, Drow, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling, Kolbold, Orc, Scalykind, Seafolk

I'm putting it a spoiler so it's not quite so messy.

WHEH! That's a WHOLE mess of domains! Wait. What? Oh. What's a Domain? Oh. Sorry. Skipped over that, didn't I? When you are a cleric, you get extra bonus spells based on your God. You get to pick two domains and you get perks based on those domains as well as extra spells. We don't care about that right now.

Right now, you're trying to put together a little patch of conflict. Not TOO conflicted, but up there. You want a high level of control for now. Gods are a good way to handle that.

However, how do you make a God? Don't worry about that. The rules for Gods are so Byzantine as to be next to useless. Here's how you play it. They are gods, the players are bugs. The Gods can cast Big G's Crushing Thumb and they go splat. It's only the fact that other gods might be interested in the players that they dont all just crush everyone.

So what are all those domains FOR? Well, for you, think of them as God Traits. What the word means to you, is what they god is like. If you aren't sure, look up the spells under the domain. If those are the MUST HAVE spells a god is handing out to his clerics, then that should tell you what sort of god he is.

Now, when a God has a domain, assume he has control over it. I'm the god of death. You wanna come back from the dead, you talk to ME. It gives you the means to give them broad powers whgile setting a limit on them. Unlimited power is boring. Ultimate cosmic power with an itty-bitty living space? Far more interesting.

For your scaled down sandbox, we're going to stick with just the humans. If you want to throw in some non human gods, just make One god of say "elves." and give him the domain of Elf and then pick a few from the Spell List and move on.

Lets start with the basics Good, Evil, Law, Chaos. These are normally shared portfolios, but for this example, lets not, shall we?

Good
Evil
Law
Chaos

Now we have the elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air. Lets keep this simple and add it to our current four gods. Now, looking up our planar cosmology in the DMG, we find that Air opposes earth, Fire against water.

Good, Fire
Evil, Water
Law, Earth
Chaos, Air

So, Why that order? Just because. You can mix and match, but a Good Water god is different from lawful one. See what I mean? Are you getting an idea of what types of gods these are. Now then, I threw up a list, Lets pick out any obvious Opposites:

Summer-Winter
Sun-Moon
Liberation-Tyranny
Death-Life
Creation-Destruction
Ocean-Sky

Now, Summer Winter and Sun-Moon Aren't the same, but they share similar traits.Let's ditch one. Summer-Winter is gone. And Ocean-Sky is alot like the Air and water. Don't need it. So lets take our remaining 4 pairs and add them to our gods. Now, I got two general choices. Here's the first:

Good, Fire, Sun, Liberation
Evil, Water, Moon, Tyranny
Law, Earth, Death, Destruction
Chaos, Air, Life, Creation

Ouch. Our gods clearly hate each other's guts. They have noting in common. God's one/two and three/four will be at each other's throats! We want lower conflict. Option 2:

Good, Fire, Sun, Creation
Evil, Water, Liberation, Life
Law, Earth, Moon, Tyranny
Chaos, Air, Destruction, Death

Wow. Them some f'ed up gods. However, I have spread out the conflicting pairs so each god has at least one other god that they oppose in some fashion. God 1 Strongly Dislikes 2, But has some conflict with God 3 and God 4. No God will totally trust the others, so they will have an uneasy truce.

God 1: He's your typical Sun God. Good, Creator of things, Bringer of fire. He likes the world. I will call him, "Sol". He is the bringer of light and knowledge. His problem is his vanity and pride. He is the creator. He is the center of creation. He believes he is in charge of the Pantheon, but the others merely roll their eyes and humor him. he is straight line movement and when something must be done, he does it with passion and a flame strike.
God 2: The ocean god. Selfish a cruel. However an island nation is dependant on fishing to sustain it's population, so we have the ocean is the bringer of life. And because when you live on the water you can just sail away, its a liberating god that encourages people to think of themselves. A far more selfish goddess of evil, then a god who enjoys the suffering of others. I will make her female and call her, "The Green Eyed Cat" Sailors will throw a some meat overboard when leaving port "For the cat". Also why they don't like females on boats, "The cat has green eyes" Meaning she is a jealous Goddess
God 3: The moon god. Being a large rocky body in the air, he competes with the sun god for attention. He is about order out of chaos. To impose order on an imperfect world. The moon has a large crater in the middle, making it look like a huge unblinking eye. The moon makes a complete orbit in two weeks, so it's closer to the world then ours, making it look like a huge eye if watching the planet. Since it goes from Full to New moon in a week, week is called a "Wink," and two Winks becomes a "Blink" and A Month is called a "Glare" because when you glare you need two eyes, and two blinks is two eyes. This god is a Male god and I shall call him "The Eye".
God 4: Wow, this clearly is a god of storms. Chaotic, Destructive, Air that brings death. To balance things out, we shall make her Female. However, she is not an evil god. but the bringer of change. She destroys that which must die. She knows that life will come in her path, but life cannot begin anew without the old being swept away. She hates undead. She is not cruel, and nor without mercy, but when and where she grants kindness is at but a whim. She annoys the others, but without her all would stall and become static. God 3 would love to see her stopped, but the first two understand the need for her. She is called "The Last" by those who fear her because it is said to say her name is to invite her to visit, but her followers know her as "Sanguine Joy"

WOW! Those some interesting gods. But if it was just the four, it woun't be that interesting. But our four can handle most of the heavy lifting. If you want, you can stick with them. But lets add a few minor gods into the mix. Grab a few Domains at random and see what happens.

Lust, Plant, Family, Travel
Magic, Cavern, City, Spite
Madness, Trickery, Luck, Hatred
Darkness, Craft, Corruption, Commerce

I swear I set up a random generator. Because these are some badass gods.

Well, Lets stop at 8. Toss out the extra domains and look at our remaining 4.

God 1: We have some sort of horny plant goddess who I suspect is the goddess of the fae. All the wild faerie creatures come to her in a "family" and they move about. Yes, she is the bright Mother.
God 2: The God of magic. he dwells in the heart of the city, and deep benieth the earth. He is without pity. He sought power and domain over all magic, but the first four gods would not give him his due. Now he dwells, plotting against teh first four gods out of hate and spite. (I can see why your world has such a negative opinion of magic). Not evil nor good, but amoral and driven. To his most devoted followers he tells them his true name. He is "The Poet"
God 3: What's to say About a very lucky insane god who is a bundle of hate and enjoys outsmarting you? By subterfuge or rage he throws himself against his enemies, if he could only remember who they were. I shall call him "The Fool"
God 4: The god of craft and commerce was once a good god. But greed wormed into his heart. the desire for more and more. He started to hide his things in the dark from the other gods so they could not steal his shiney things. But without light, one cannot see beauty. His heart grew cold and now he is the god of greed and known to his followers as "Avarice".

Whoa. Dark Bunch. These four do not fit in with the first four. So. Now we have the Original 4 gods, and the final 4. the first four are most likely the strongest gods and here originally. The First gods. Know by the people as the True Gods. The other four are known collectively as the Usurpers. They are the Gods of the outcasts and those who feel they have been wronged. The first four gods are powerful, but aloof, but the Usurpers are weaker, and thus need to be much more attentive to their followers. You are much more likely to get your prayers heard by the usurpers.

Final God List:
The "True" Gods

Good, Fire, Sun, Creation - "Sol"
Evil, Water, Liberation, Life - "The Green Eyed Cat"
Law, Earth, Moon, Tyranny - "The Eye"
Chaos, Air, Destruction, Death - "Sanguine Joy"
The Usurpers

Lust, Plant, Family, Travel - "Bright Mother"
Magic, Cavern, City, Spite - "The Poet"
Madness, Trickery, Luck, Hatred - "The Fool"
Darkness, Craft, Corruption, Commerce - "Avarice"

Okay, you did all this crazy crap. WHY???

Well, now you have some basis for dividing up your nation. Now you have some conflict. Let's take your nation. You can have multiple nations/areas broken up by the four main gods. Sol has the capital of the island and a good fourth of the island, The Green Eyed Cat has the coastal areas, The Eye has a fourth of the island as well, but his areas are much more rocky and mountainous. The Sanguine joy perfers to control the wild places and so she has control of one fourth of the island, but her areas are patchy and at random.

I think your nation is run by a government who follows "The Eye". However, lets say that followers of The Poet and Avarice have joined forces to inflitrate the government. They corrupt the nation from within. The leaders follow more the rule of money then the rule of law.

The warden of the prison knows that many of his prisoners are there on false charges. He also knows that his daughter has displayed the powers of a sorcerer. Automatic death sentence. Most magic that isn't state approved results in imprisionment, but Sorcerers are seen as the agents of "the Poet". Lately, anyone the corrupt state doesn't like is being accussed of witchcraft and being sent to prison.

The warden checks over his logs to find the most likely prisoners to be there on false charges and checks them out. He figures out these are good people and then has his loyal guards bring them to a meeting:

"You are here on false charges. I know this, you know this, but there is no way you are going to get a fair trial. I need a job done. This will get you out of the country. It will get you to the coast where the laws are much more lax. If you take this job, you will not be able to come back, but you will be free. If you fail to complete this job, I swear, I will find you. I will do... things. Things that will take twenty years to kill you and you will scream for mercy in the first... ten... SECONDS."

Long pause

"Or you can go back to your cell and await trial. Your choice."

Do you see how knowing your Gods and taking a top down approach helps to flesh things out? Now you had an idea for a villian. A psionist. Maybe he is a follower of the Fool and seeks to spread insanity in his wake. Maybe he follows the Bright Mother and is sick and tired of how the fae just keep losing to Humanity. Maybe psionics are "faeire Abilities", an otherworldly magic. Maybe he's just a greedy S.O.B. who is using his unique powers to rule the world and a thrawl of Avarice.

Who knows? YOU know. Your campaign. Your rules. Make up new gods, add your own. Ignore everything I just wrote.

Note: While this took me like... 2 hours. I will point out that I already came up with and threw out several ideas already. Never be afraid to mothball something and revisit it later. Sometimes, an idea just doesn't fit. Maybe none of my gods fit. Maybe you won't use a single one. That's okay. Come up with many ideas, pick the best one. That's how you make a good game.

Captnq

2014-01-06, 12:11 AM

Last minute idea jumped out at me.

Assuming the main four gods have effectively chopped up the island into four parts. If you want to get impressive, the main city in the God Sol's area is built on a volcano that constantly errupts, pouring lava into the sea to create more island. The city itself is protected by Sol's good graces and thus people live and work in a city that is suspended over and built into a volcano. The magma is "mined" for materials.

The Lands of "The Eye" Would be at the other end, where new land is no longer being made. Part of that part of the island has long dormant volcanos that are slowly being erroded away. Tall peeks that were once volcano cities, but now long since abandoned and fallen into disrepair. By law these places are forbidden and often the location of cults to the Usurper Gods.

Lava tubes criss-cross your Massive Island Nation, thus allowing all sorts of subterranean creatures and other fell abombinations to fester and breed, forming their own twisted societies based on scarcity and rule of Might Makes Right. Who knows what eldrich nightmares are in the "Obsidion Nation" other than death awaits you with sharp, nasty, pointy TEETH!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Mgx8Ytjag

Endarire

2014-01-06, 12:20 AM

My sig has some info. I also wrote a spiffy first level module (with its own campaign setting) called The Metaphysical Revolution. It's available here (http://campbellgrege.com/work-listing/the-metaphysical-revolution-dd-3-5-module/).

LordNelloz

2014-01-06, 07:56 PM

@Captnq: Thanks for the awesome post about deities, but I wasn't really thinking along the lines of making religion a major part of this campaign, nor the reason for why magic (I forgot to specify I only meant arcane, not divine magic) is outlawed, the reason is as I've said above to control magic users and use them for a certain purpose, but that's (mainly) a man's plan, it doesn't involve divine conflict. Is that possible?