New DM seeking campaign/story idea help (3.5)

[Lady Moreta]

I need some help. I recently talked a friend into trying D&D, and that got me thinking that I've been playing for five or six years now but I've never DM'd and I'd kinda like to try. My friend is willing to be my guinea pig, but I am a little stuck on story/campaign/plot ideas.

The basic premise is as follows:

Aspellino is a new town, on the south-east corner of the Javu coast. It's master, Aspelli, is having some trouble however with the natives sending raiding parties, farmers with blights on their crops, and discontent among the population. He has put out a call for adventurers to come and enter his employ to solve these problems and nip others in the bud.

The world is very familiar to me (it's the one my husband created for my last RL game), and I can deal with looking up mechanics etc, but it's the actual problems I'm having trouble with.

So my question is two-fold

1. Does anyone have any pre-gen adventures they know of, that I could easily adapt to my own world?

2. Does anyone have any ideas or plot suggestions they'd be willing to share, so I can maybe get this ball rolling?

My friend is keen, but I don't want to start anything until I'm sure I have enough material to keep it going. It'll be a play-by-post game as well, if that makes any difference.

[Know(Nothing)]

Red Hand of Doom(a premade adventure) can work with a single PC if you increase the starting level quite a bit.

As far as deviating from a premade adventure, if you plan on running a one-PC campaign, make sure you give them opportunity to hire party members and/or find allies. We need some more factors, though.

What level will your PC be starting at?
What class are they?
How adept at optimizing are they?
What things are you banning as DM? (books, spells, classes, tiers, whatever)

[Lady Moreta]

As far as deviating from a premade adventure, if you plan on running a one-PC campaign, make sure you give them opportunity to hire party members and/or find allies. We need some more factors, though.

I was planning on asking a couple of other friends to join, for a party of three (or possibly four), so the one-PC thing shouldn't be a problem.


What level will your PC be starting at?
Something low, level 1-3. Probably level 3, just to make life a little more interesting.


What class are they?
She is a rogue, haven't yet asked the others so I don't know what they want. I liked the idea of a more urban adventure, but I went with this setting because it gives the option to get out in the wild as well. (And this particular continent is only sparsly populated, with very few towns or settlements, so when I say 'wild' I mean it literally.)


How adept at optimizing are they?
Not at all. This would be her second character. The friends I'm thinking of asking are more so, but I'm useless at optimising myself, so the simpler the better.


What things are you banning as DM? (books, spells, classes, tiers, whatever)
As books go, I will be banning everything I don't personally have access to. Actually, I think I'll be allowing the PHB, PBH2, Dungeonscape and all the Complete books, with things from the Races books on a by-request basis (I have the books, but I've never looked at them before). Everything else will be banned.

Spells and classes, the same. Anything from those books I mentioned is allowed, everything else is not. Though again, I may say spells from the Spell Compendium may be allowed upon request, because I also have access to that book.

I have never understood the tier concept, except very vaguely, so I'll probably be ignoring it entirely. Though all homebrew will be banned.

I'm trying to keep it as simple as possible, while making allowances for my own penchant for complicating matters. Likewise with rulings. Every so often in games I've played in, I've found some rules that I thought were just plain stupid. So while I will be following the rules, I will also make it clear that I may screw with them occassionally if I find something I think is silly.

[Know(Nothing)]

I think any number of premade adventures will work with your situation. Look up some Dungeon Magazines and/or some some general googling will point you the right way. Like I said, Red Hand of Doom is a good one to use, but I think that starts things off around level 5.

Something to keep in mind with people of different levels of optimization, a simple class choice can utterly obviate a party member pretty easily. An unoptimized Rogue is going to feel pretty useless past level 6 or so if the other players are Druids and Clerics and Wizards and such. Keep an eye on that.

As far as ideas for campaign stuff, early level stuff with Rogues makes for fun crime/investigation missions. Wrongful accusations of theft/murder, powerful artifacts that are being used to subjugate the populace and need to be stolen, etc. Information gathering, blackmailing, swindling, bartering-- low-level stuff is the Rogue's wheelhouse. Set up a city, thicken it up with characters and history and conflict, and let em loose in your world. Excitement will happen pretty quick.

[Lady Moreta]

Something to keep in mind with people of different levels of optimization, a simple class choice can utterly obviate a party member pretty easily. An unoptimized Rogue is going to feel pretty useless past level 6 or so if the other players are Druids and Clerics and Wizards and such. Keep an eye on that.

Will do, thanks :smallsmile: The friends I was thinking about asking, I trust to either help my friend who knows nothing, or keep themselves to a similar power level. Failing that, I can ask my husband for help.


As far as ideas for campaign stuff, early level stuff with Rogues makes for fun crime/investigation missions. Wrongful accusations of theft/murder, powerful artifacts that are being used to subjugate the populace and need to be stolen, etc. Information gathering, blackmailing, swindling, bartering-- low-level stuff is the Rogue's wheelhouse. Set up a city, thicken it up with characters and history and conflict, and let em loose in your world. Excitement will happen pretty quick.

Oooh, crime mission. I like that idea :smallbiggrin: Thanks.

[JeminiZero]

Lets see, Campaign Ideas...

A man has gone missing in the woods. His wife request the PC's to find him. Plenty of directions it could go from here.
-Perhaps the man is alive, trapped under a fallen tree.
-Maybe the man was killed by a wild animal, or native raiding party.
-Or he could have become a charmed puppet for Nixies (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/sprite.htm), and is being used a labour, a fate the PCs may share if they are not careful!

The PCs stumble upon what looks like a map, with a conspicuous 'X' marked on a spot not too far from the village. However, it is deep in native/wild animal/haunted/other dangerous territory. Will they go poke their noses? What will they find there?

[Blackhawk748]

I recommend the Fright at Tristor for a good low lvl quest. Its got a nice mix of combat, investigation, skill usage, and RP scenarios, AND the enemies actually fight intelligently. Though i do recommend uping the HP of a few things, though i always recommend that.

[gr8artist]

Well, without knowing a whole lot about the world, its hard to tell what might fit or not. If you're looking for a humorous game, I had a lot of success with a troubled little town called Brine. The citizens of Brine were all based on old villains like Dr. Frankenstein, the Phantom of the Opera, Jack the Ripper, and Sweeney Todd. The town was neck deep in a crime spree (JtR) and the PC's were hired to help. What they would come to find out was that Jack was an aasimar paladin, and the local prostitutes were all being transformed into succubi.
I also sent my players on an elaborate quest to gather six rare gems, each formed from the blood of a long forgotten dragon. I used custom dragon themes, and though the dragons were extinct, the cults that worshipped them still lived on.
Raging undead in Scorsus' temple, so filled with anger that they could reanimate themselves when intruders approached.
BDSM, body mutilation, and self flagellation in Belorkind's temple. Emulkar's temple was filled with intoxication, confusion, and plants which caused spell-like emotion effects such as rage, hideous laughter, or fear. A pyramid devoted to Val'ker was overrun by jinn, and the temple to Alscar was haunted by the ghosts of his most loyal scribes and mages. An island far from the coast had been home to the cult of Charsios, though they'd been enchanted by sirens and were becoming sahuagin.
I have maps of all the temples, and I have to say that the temple of Belorkind has always remained our favorite. It was creepy, challenging, and a lot of fun.
Pm me if you're interested in using any of this.