Hirsute
2015-01-18, 02:48 PM
Okay, I'm a relatively inexperienced GM and a new poster to these forums, though I've read them for a while. I'm working on a self-written campaign set in Golarion for my group. The wall of text below is what I've got as a starting point. I'm interested in what thoughts people have about points I need to be thinking of/mindful of, suggestions for improvements, and other thoughts. I'm not looking for validation specifically here. If you think it's just an uninteresting idea, or bad for some other reason, it's fine by me if you share that opinion.
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A cleric of Iomedae takes the crusader's oath and takes a large group of crusaders into The World Wound to aid in cleansing the area of demons. He establishes a camp on the outskirts of the area, and slowly builds a thriving community, but falls in combat after several years in the field in a very unequal battle that leaves the survivors running at top speed for their lives. The cleric is believed to be dead, and left as such. In reality, he was not dead. He stabilizes, and recovers alone but is very disoriented from exposure, and begins to wander in search of others. During this time, Nocticula and Socothbenoth take note of him, and form a plan not only to destroy this cleric and his now-large camp, but also to further their own plans for ascension to godhood. Because of the shifting geography and general thinness of reality in the area, our cleric wanders for days in search of his camp, with no success until Nocticula appears to him, taking on the guise of Iomedae herself. Because of his weakened, disoriented state, he is unable to see through the ruse, and takes her to actually be Iomedae, who leads him back to his camp, but not before he "discovers" an artifact, which she tells him is called the Midnight Star. She tells him that casting a daylight spell on it will cause it to shed bright light as the spell, only this will bring the entire area in a 6,000 foot radius light enough to raise the intensity to that of bright light, and will create a barrier at the edge of the light beyond which demons can neither sense nor pass. What she does not tell him, is that it exerts a very gradual degradation on the characters of all those within its radius, such that after being bathed in its light for 87,600 hours (24 hours daily for a full year), even the most pure and good characters will have been bent to evil acts. If a person is out of its influence for two weeks, its effects will begin to wane, but only if that person has not performed any strongly evil acts while influenced by the star.
Upon returning to camp, our cleric sets the midnight star in a tower at the center of camp, and assigns all in the camp who can cast a daylight spell shifts to renew the stars effects and bathe the camp in perpetual daylight, even during normal daylight hours, both as a symbol of the ever-shining light of Iomedae and because of its demon deterrent effects. His own morality had already begun to slip because of his close association with the demon at a very susceptible time, and he subsequently gains levels as a low templar. He becomes more and more fanatical in his dedication to The Light, and less complete in his worship of Iomedae. Nocticula continues to appear to him from time to time, reinforcing his slow perversion of the worship of Iomedae.
Fast forward 6 years. His camp has grown to a bustling metropolis, and has attracted the attention of many. They are surprisingly effective in their destruction of demons in the Wound, but some, including adherents of other religions, are troubled by his efforts to keep night eternally at bay.
Adherents of Desna and Gozreh have sent parties of their own to join in the efforts to heal the world wound and restore balance to the land, and have been allowed to establish camps within our cleric's camp-city, where they watch, and do their best to heal the damaging effects of a complete loss of night on the land, at first by sending magical rain storms and clouds of thick fog into their camp, to bring some semblance of balance back to those areas, and the land does seem to be healing. Their success in their parts of the camp have led them to push out further, beyond their areas of the camp, with their efforts. Some of those in the cleric's camp, including our cleric's brother, have been sent as emissaries to these camps to ask them to stop interfering, with no success. The cleric's brother even begins to agree with those in the opposition camps, that balance is needed for life to thrive, and he takes up a home within the opposition camp under the guise of ongoing negotiations. Our cleric sees through this, however, and sees this as a deep betrayal. He cannot act against his brother directly, fearing reprisal, so he summons, through a very successful and very irritated blacksmith who lives right next to the opposition camps and often finds it hard to work when the fog rolls out, a group of unaffiliated adventurers (enter our party) to... do his dirty work for him in secret. He wishes to have his brother, and the leaders of the other camps killed, but wishes to ensure no one from his camp can be tied to this.
In the mean time, Socothbenoth has begun to corrupt the worship of Desna and Gozreh within the opposition camp, and those he has corrupted are seeking to rise in power in their own camps and spread their own, corrupted brand of worship among the camps.
The end goal of the demon lords is the destruction of all members of both camps and stealing of their souls to be reborn as demons under their command.
The characters will know only that they have been offered a contract to help a blacksmith in a crusader camp called Beacon with sundry things that trouble him. The rest of the above information will be doled out to them as they seek it out and spend more time up there, getting to know people and asking questions, and progressing through several sub-tasks I'm working on (most of which will be helpful for them to complete, but not necessary, particularly if they manage to get the information some other way).
Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance!
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A cleric of Iomedae takes the crusader's oath and takes a large group of crusaders into The World Wound to aid in cleansing the area of demons. He establishes a camp on the outskirts of the area, and slowly builds a thriving community, but falls in combat after several years in the field in a very unequal battle that leaves the survivors running at top speed for their lives. The cleric is believed to be dead, and left as such. In reality, he was not dead. He stabilizes, and recovers alone but is very disoriented from exposure, and begins to wander in search of others. During this time, Nocticula and Socothbenoth take note of him, and form a plan not only to destroy this cleric and his now-large camp, but also to further their own plans for ascension to godhood. Because of the shifting geography and general thinness of reality in the area, our cleric wanders for days in search of his camp, with no success until Nocticula appears to him, taking on the guise of Iomedae herself. Because of his weakened, disoriented state, he is unable to see through the ruse, and takes her to actually be Iomedae, who leads him back to his camp, but not before he "discovers" an artifact, which she tells him is called the Midnight Star. She tells him that casting a daylight spell on it will cause it to shed bright light as the spell, only this will bring the entire area in a 6,000 foot radius light enough to raise the intensity to that of bright light, and will create a barrier at the edge of the light beyond which demons can neither sense nor pass. What she does not tell him, is that it exerts a very gradual degradation on the characters of all those within its radius, such that after being bathed in its light for 87,600 hours (24 hours daily for a full year), even the most pure and good characters will have been bent to evil acts. If a person is out of its influence for two weeks, its effects will begin to wane, but only if that person has not performed any strongly evil acts while influenced by the star.
Upon returning to camp, our cleric sets the midnight star in a tower at the center of camp, and assigns all in the camp who can cast a daylight spell shifts to renew the stars effects and bathe the camp in perpetual daylight, even during normal daylight hours, both as a symbol of the ever-shining light of Iomedae and because of its demon deterrent effects. His own morality had already begun to slip because of his close association with the demon at a very susceptible time, and he subsequently gains levels as a low templar. He becomes more and more fanatical in his dedication to The Light, and less complete in his worship of Iomedae. Nocticula continues to appear to him from time to time, reinforcing his slow perversion of the worship of Iomedae.
Fast forward 6 years. His camp has grown to a bustling metropolis, and has attracted the attention of many. They are surprisingly effective in their destruction of demons in the Wound, but some, including adherents of other religions, are troubled by his efforts to keep night eternally at bay.
Adherents of Desna and Gozreh have sent parties of their own to join in the efforts to heal the world wound and restore balance to the land, and have been allowed to establish camps within our cleric's camp-city, where they watch, and do their best to heal the damaging effects of a complete loss of night on the land, at first by sending magical rain storms and clouds of thick fog into their camp, to bring some semblance of balance back to those areas, and the land does seem to be healing. Their success in their parts of the camp have led them to push out further, beyond their areas of the camp, with their efforts. Some of those in the cleric's camp, including our cleric's brother, have been sent as emissaries to these camps to ask them to stop interfering, with no success. The cleric's brother even begins to agree with those in the opposition camps, that balance is needed for life to thrive, and he takes up a home within the opposition camp under the guise of ongoing negotiations. Our cleric sees through this, however, and sees this as a deep betrayal. He cannot act against his brother directly, fearing reprisal, so he summons, through a very successful and very irritated blacksmith who lives right next to the opposition camps and often finds it hard to work when the fog rolls out, a group of unaffiliated adventurers (enter our party) to... do his dirty work for him in secret. He wishes to have his brother, and the leaders of the other camps killed, but wishes to ensure no one from his camp can be tied to this.
In the mean time, Socothbenoth has begun to corrupt the worship of Desna and Gozreh within the opposition camp, and those he has corrupted are seeking to rise in power in their own camps and spread their own, corrupted brand of worship among the camps.
The end goal of the demon lords is the destruction of all members of both camps and stealing of their souls to be reborn as demons under their command.
The characters will know only that they have been offered a contract to help a blacksmith in a crusader camp called Beacon with sundry things that trouble him. The rest of the above information will be doled out to them as they seek it out and spend more time up there, getting to know people and asking questions, and progressing through several sub-tasks I'm working on (most of which will be helpful for them to complete, but not necessary, particularly if they manage to get the information some other way).
Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks in advance!