How Playable Is This Campaign Idea?

[kalasulmar]

I'm currently running a Forgotten Realms 3.x game and the characters are nearing the end of the story arc. I'm thinking of having them come across The Nexus Room from the Dungeon Adventure "The Door From Everywhere" while on their way to the climactic events and BBEG fight. If you are unfamiliar with this adventure, the Nexus Room is the hub of a fairly extensive portal network left over from the ruins of an ancient and powerful magocracy. The idea is to have them discover it but not have enough time to flesh it out properly, thus leaving the door open for their next set of characters to come in where they left off. Depending on the ultimate success (or failure) of the current party, the newbies would follow the now famous heroes by trying to seize control of the portal network for the good guys. Here's the twist: the portal network not only connects different parts of Faerun to the Nexus Room, but also many other Prime Material worlds. I could Sliders/Quantum Leap the party through all of the famous settings as they try each and every one of the portals. What could be some possible pitfalls and game-killers to look out for? None of the players seem interested in psionics, so Dark Sun might be especially alien to them. They are all very big Elder Scrolls fans, so a Skyrim/Oblivion story might be a big hit. Any other suggestions or warnings?

[weckar]

How are you going to avoid the first party abandoning their mission to investigate it?

[kalasulmar]

Fate of the world, super important mcguffin. By that point in the story, the BBEG will be trying to end all magic in the world. They can't afford distractions or rocks fall and everyone dies. Sounds railroady but saving the world usually is.

[Ingus]

How are you going to avoid the first party abandoning their mission to investigate it?

My suggestion is: putting them into rush (I believe it is the original idea all along).

As a general idea, it is really funny.
My suggestion is to leave this option open for the next campaign, to avoid the original party to take a trip into another dimension.
OR the option is unlocked by the first party to activate the "right" portal in the first place.
You can describe it as...
"All of you make a spot check"
...
"In the last moment you see the Nexus, you see that the glowing energy you used to activate the portal has started to diffuse around the walls. The second the portal closes after you, you see another portal opening where there was nothing than rock wall"


For the worlds you're about to put your next party in, I suggest you to take a good look at the setting and thinking in advance.

For example, in Dragonlance magic is a wonder of the Gods - or almost equally godlike wizards - and, to say, a +1 longsword is a family legacy.
If you throw your party in Dragonlance with a Xmas tree set of gear, they can easily buy a city (or a nation, depending on level) with the fighter backup weapon.

Dark Sun is even trickier. A Decanter of Endless Water may put you as king of the world, while a simple Waterskin full of water can make you a local Donald Trump

For the Skyrim-ish game, I can't help. Never played Elder Scroll :smallredface:

[kalasulmar]

To handle the level of magic problem I can just set the order of worlds from low-magic to high. Start in Dark Sun, end in Skyrim chasing dragons.

[Sith_Happens]

Fate of the world, super important mcguffin. By that point in the story, the BBEG will be trying to end all magic in the world. They can't afford distractions or rocks fall and everyone dies. Sounds railroady but saving the world usually is.

Rule #1 of DMing: No plan survives contact with the players.

You throw a portal in front of your party, they WILL go through it, fate of the world be damned. Heck, as soon as they realize some of the portals go to other worlds anyways they'll decide they don't really need to save Toril after all, they can just move.

[malonkey1]

To handle the level of magic problem I can just set the order of worlds from low-magic to high. Start in Dark Sun, end in Skyrim chasing dragons.

This does beg the question of what magic works where, and how. Would Truenaming get an extreme boost in Tamriel, seeing as that's basically what Thu'ums are. Does a Dark Sun arcanist still drain life force while in Eberron? And so on.

[Trasilor]

I'm currently running a Forgotten Realms 3.x game and the characters are nearing the end of the story arc. I'm thinking of having them come across The Nexus Room from the Dungeon Adventure "The Door From Everywhere" while on their way to the climactic events and BBEG fight. If you are unfamiliar with this adventure, the Nexus Room is the hub of a fairly extensive portal network left over from the ruins of an ancient and powerful magocracy. The idea is to have them discover it but not have enough time to flesh it out properly, thus leaving the door open for their next set of characters to come in where they left off. Depending on the ultimate success (or failure) of the current party, the newbies would follow the now famous heroes by trying to seize control of the portal network for the good guys. Here's the twist: the portal network not only connects different parts of Faerun to the Nexus Room, but also many other Prime Material worlds. I could Sliders/Quantum Leap the party through all of the famous settings as they try each and every one of the portals. What could be some possible pitfalls and game-killers to look out for? None of the players seem interested in psionics, so Dark Sun might be especially alien to them. They are all very big Elder Scrolls fans, so a Skyrim/Oblivion story might be a big hit. Any other suggestions or warnings?


Sounds awesome...where do i sign up?:smallamused:

[kalasulmar]

Rule #1 of DMing: No plan survives contact with the players.

You throw a portal in front of your party, they WILL go through it, fate of the world be damned. Heck, as soon as they realize some of the portals go to other worlds anyways they'll decide they don't really need to save Toril after all, they can just move.

These guys will only abandon the quest if they feel their imminent death approaching. The best thing about an extremely heroic party is the ease with which you can steer them in the direction you want them to go.

[Nibbens]

Rule #1 of DMing: No plan survives contact with the players.

You throw a portal in front of your party, they WILL go through it, fate of the world be damned. Heck, as soon as they realize some of the portals go to other worlds anyways they'll decide they don't really need to save Toril after all, they can just move.

But the problem is, you have to at least expect the possibility of this. At least have a general answer for the giant "what if" in the room. Maybe the rogue only sticks his head in to look around - maybe the PC's try to lure the BBEG into the room and blow it all up or something ridiculous like that. PC's often come up with hair-brained ideas when you least expect it.

Point is, no matter how well you know them, plan as though they will break all heck lose. :)

[JusticeZero]

Portals are Dwemer artifacts maybe? I've never had luck with multi world portal stuff myself. Way too many moving parts, and it quickly turns into something similar to a game with spaceships ten minutes after the party and twenty minutes before the GM realizes that having a spaceship means more than just transportation between adventures.

[Cyrion]

...and it quickly turns into something similar to a game with spaceships ten minutes after the party and twenty minutes before the GM realizes that having a spaceship means more than just transportation between adventures.

Seconded. Be careful about introducing alternate tech into your worlds. Magic in a non-magic setting, advanced tech in a low-tech setting, etc. can make for dramatic imbalances.

That being said, if you've figured out how you're going to manage that issue, it can make for a great campaign. Robert Asprin got a lot of mileage out of a similar idea. :smalltongue:

[RegalKain]

Seconded. Be careful about introducing alternate tech into your worlds. Magic in a non-magic setting, advanced tech in a low-tech setting, etc. can make for dramatic imbalances.

That being said, if you've figured out how you're going to manage that issue, it can make for a great campaign. Robert Asprin got a lot of mileage out of a similar idea. :smalltongue:

This problem is easy to manage, put down your D&D 3.5 books and pick up your BESM books.

[kalasulmar]

Tech won't be an issue, as this would be fantasy only. I was thinking Greyhawk, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Tamriel, and maybe Westeros or Middle Earth.

[HammeredWharf]

I'd replace Ravenloft with Rokugan, because free travel to and from Ravenloft would break it.

How are you going to choose which setting they'll visit next? If they can travel between the worlds freely, you've essentially got multiple different campaigns to prep for each session, especially if the players decide that the one thing they absolutely need right now is in another setting.

[malonkey1]

I'd replace Ravenloft with Rokugan, because free travel to and from Ravenloft would break it.

Or make it a story to figure out how to escape Ravenloft.

[JusticeZero]

As noted, way too many moving parts. There are an absurd number of ways to break any given pairing of settings by playing setting quirks off of each other, and the party can then abuse that broken-ness elsewhere. Trade water to Dark Sun for psionic items to sell for steel ingots elsewhere, take steel ingots to the metal-poor place, etc.. you can easily build demand chains that will let you nuke WBL from orbit and shred the settings. Or just use the portals for other purposes than "You appear in place X, where an adventure seed drops in your lap" which is how people imagine it will be. They'll weaponize the portals, use the portals for strange and unpredictable things that will have crazy results.

[Captnq]

Oh No! The BBEG! He's going to destroy the world!

Hey look, a portal that can take us to wherever we want. You know, as much as I'd like to fight the BBEG on our own, I think we're outclassed here. Better go through the portal and find someone to help us. The selfish thing would be to hog all the glory, but the heroic thing is to get help and save the world.

And that's how your heroic party runs off through the portal. You will have to railroad them. Just don't include it unless you are going to use it. You are cluttering the plotline.