Blake Hannon
2015-05-20, 07:20 AM
Howdy, GitP. Long time lurker, first time poster.
I'm starting a DnD campaign soon with a group that includes some complete newbies. My goal for the intro dungeoncrawl is to give them a short, mostly self-contained adventure, beatable in a single play session (or two sessions at most), that teaches them all the important game mechanics and introduces them to the campaign's playstyle. I've been reading/watching a lot of game design material for the past year or two (The Angry DM, Extra Credits, etc), and I'm eager to try out what I've learned. I'm already a somewhat experienced DM, but I want this campaign to be the next level.
I'm going to run the intro adventure by you guys so you can point out anything important I might have omitted, or advise me on how I could do things better and more subtly. Ideally, this adventure will be a "tutorial level" that doesn't actually feel like one.
The system is a heavily houseruled 4e, but the system isn't the focus here.
The setting is a Mediterranean-like sea full of island chains. Over the past centuries the dominant civilizations of the region fell into decline, culminating in a total collapse about sixty years before the present. Cities and palaces lie in ruins, slowly being reclaimed by the wilderness, some of which still contain unplundered treasures and volumes of lost knowledge, and monsters have come out of their hidey holes to prowl openly. Think "Aegean dark age" meets "Wind Waker."
The PC's are a group of explorer-slash-plunderers for hire who recover things from the ruins at the behest of their patrons. The campaign revolves around finding the locations of important dungeons, diplomancing or defeating the people/creatures that control the area, dungeoncrawling, and getting the loot back (by land or by sea) to the people who will pay for it. In the process, they play a role in opening diplomatic and trade relations between isolated societies, and eventually get sucked into the politics of newborn polities. There's also going to be an evil sorcerer because of course there is.
The main theme of the campaign is Discovery, with dungeoncrawling, exploration, and seafaring being the major activities. The more of that I can touch on in the intro adventure without it being too much too fast, the better.
All human, and first level.
Fighter: greatsword, offensive build, tons of HP. From a formerly aristrocratic family, so she's trained in History as well as the usual fightery skills.
Player: "I want to be Brienne of Tarth."
Rogue: physical skill monkey, Acrobatic, Dungeoneering, and Thievery out the wazoo, but less social stuff than some rogues. Ranged combat crossbow-centric build.
Player: "Stealthy sniper guy, like what I play in Skyrim." "I guess he's a tomb robber, good at getting into places."
Warlord: short sword and longspear. Tactical build, lots of repositioning and combo attack moves, and some social skills. An ex-sergeant from the army of a failed upstart conqueror.
Player: "She's ex-military and looking for something to do with herself and she fights just like my character in Dark Souls and I'm super enthusiastic about absolutely everything squeeeeeee!!! :3"
Warlock: fey-pact, refluffed as more spooky. Lots of Knowledge skills, and some Dungeoneering. Well traveled, well educated, and hungry for knowledge and power.
Player: "A Lovecraft character, more or less. Wandering scholar with dangerous magic he plundered from ruined temples and libraries."
Ideally, I want the intro adventure to show everyone their strengths and their weaknesses, and encourage each player to think about how to use their characters' abilities.
So, here's a list of things I want to accomplish with the first adventure, in no particular order:
Teach the players how to use Knowledge skills, which will be very important in the campaign.
Establish the adventure vehicle of "PC's are hired to explore X or recover Y."
Give them a variety of terrain and combat challenges to show them that creativity and varied tactics are important, with a soft difficulty curve.
Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each PC.
Give them a feel for the setting, with its overgrown ruins and lost wonders waiting to be rediscovered.
Either include a ship in the adventure, or at least hint at how important seafaring will be.
The trick is going to be fitting all these things into an adventure that can be completed in just a few hours of play.
If anyone's interested in helping, advising, critiquing, or just telling me what a ****ing horrible DM I am, I'll start posting what I have for the adventure so far.
I'm starting a DnD campaign soon with a group that includes some complete newbies. My goal for the intro dungeoncrawl is to give them a short, mostly self-contained adventure, beatable in a single play session (or two sessions at most), that teaches them all the important game mechanics and introduces them to the campaign's playstyle. I've been reading/watching a lot of game design material for the past year or two (The Angry DM, Extra Credits, etc), and I'm eager to try out what I've learned. I'm already a somewhat experienced DM, but I want this campaign to be the next level.
I'm going to run the intro adventure by you guys so you can point out anything important I might have omitted, or advise me on how I could do things better and more subtly. Ideally, this adventure will be a "tutorial level" that doesn't actually feel like one.
The system is a heavily houseruled 4e, but the system isn't the focus here.
The setting is a Mediterranean-like sea full of island chains. Over the past centuries the dominant civilizations of the region fell into decline, culminating in a total collapse about sixty years before the present. Cities and palaces lie in ruins, slowly being reclaimed by the wilderness, some of which still contain unplundered treasures and volumes of lost knowledge, and monsters have come out of their hidey holes to prowl openly. Think "Aegean dark age" meets "Wind Waker."
The PC's are a group of explorer-slash-plunderers for hire who recover things from the ruins at the behest of their patrons. The campaign revolves around finding the locations of important dungeons, diplomancing or defeating the people/creatures that control the area, dungeoncrawling, and getting the loot back (by land or by sea) to the people who will pay for it. In the process, they play a role in opening diplomatic and trade relations between isolated societies, and eventually get sucked into the politics of newborn polities. There's also going to be an evil sorcerer because of course there is.
The main theme of the campaign is Discovery, with dungeoncrawling, exploration, and seafaring being the major activities. The more of that I can touch on in the intro adventure without it being too much too fast, the better.
All human, and first level.
Fighter: greatsword, offensive build, tons of HP. From a formerly aristrocratic family, so she's trained in History as well as the usual fightery skills.
Player: "I want to be Brienne of Tarth."
Rogue: physical skill monkey, Acrobatic, Dungeoneering, and Thievery out the wazoo, but less social stuff than some rogues. Ranged combat crossbow-centric build.
Player: "Stealthy sniper guy, like what I play in Skyrim." "I guess he's a tomb robber, good at getting into places."
Warlord: short sword and longspear. Tactical build, lots of repositioning and combo attack moves, and some social skills. An ex-sergeant from the army of a failed upstart conqueror.
Player: "She's ex-military and looking for something to do with herself and she fights just like my character in Dark Souls and I'm super enthusiastic about absolutely everything squeeeeeee!!! :3"
Warlock: fey-pact, refluffed as more spooky. Lots of Knowledge skills, and some Dungeoneering. Well traveled, well educated, and hungry for knowledge and power.
Player: "A Lovecraft character, more or less. Wandering scholar with dangerous magic he plundered from ruined temples and libraries."
Ideally, I want the intro adventure to show everyone their strengths and their weaknesses, and encourage each player to think about how to use their characters' abilities.
So, here's a list of things I want to accomplish with the first adventure, in no particular order:
Teach the players how to use Knowledge skills, which will be very important in the campaign.
Establish the adventure vehicle of "PC's are hired to explore X or recover Y."
Give them a variety of terrain and combat challenges to show them that creativity and varied tactics are important, with a soft difficulty curve.
Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each PC.
Give them a feel for the setting, with its overgrown ruins and lost wonders waiting to be rediscovered.
Either include a ship in the adventure, or at least hint at how important seafaring will be.
The trick is going to be fitting all these things into an adventure that can be completed in just a few hours of play.
If anyone's interested in helping, advising, critiquing, or just telling me what a ****ing horrible DM I am, I'll start posting what I have for the adventure so far.