LastCenturion
2016-02-23, 08:21 AM
I started a campaign a few weeks ago, and despite establishing a very short-term and very long-term story arc, I can't think of much to do as the filler. So far I've taken the group of two (A Bard and a Monk, if that makes a difference. 4e, because they wouldn't let me do anything else) through the first fight, against a pair of birdlike creatures modeled on the Deathjump Spider from MM1, but leveled down quite a bit. As far as story goes, here's what they know:
They got on a boat, apparently not knowing each other. They were both wealthy-ish students, bound for offshore colleges for various subjects. I don't think this is relevant to the story, but it might be.
The boat, a little over halfway through the voyage, was attacked by a creature that just so happens to look and act exactly like the Lagiacrus from Monster Hunter III Ultimate (I steal shamelessly. Don't sue me please.)
Everyone on the boat but them was killed by the thing. They got to control sailors as they tried to avoid it, but it killed them anyways because story.
The PC's swam to a nearby island because the monster wanted something in the boat and ignored them.
The PC's tracked the aforementioned bird things ("Feral Dodos" according to the players) to a cave, where they killed one and knocked out the second
The PC's explored the island, and managed to catch a ride with some boaters that were leaving, and on the island because story.
Once they made it back to town, the PC's went shopping and met a few different shopkeepers, along with a mysterious lady in the street who they know but appear to not care too much about. the street lady figures into my long term plans, I'll cover those later.
They eventually went to a tavern, and a weird lady approached them (Client or antagonist, depending on what the players want to do) and asked them for help, quite rudely. The whole reason she might not be a client is because she's designed to piss off the PC's so much that they want nothing to do with her.
I know I want the tavern lady, who I call "A," to start building up dissent with the players, because I want them to have an actual choice. The sea thing they "fought" earlier (They had no means of beating it) is their other option. I'm planning to also include a graveyard scene, because I found a thread on this forum last night that I thought was too funny not to use a source. This campaign is more humorous than anything else, by the way. I have no other real short term plans.
Over the 30 levels I think this campaign might go for, I've divided it into five groups, each about 6 levels long. The main idea of the story is material stability--that is, the idea that atoms, etc. might lose their ability to stay together in things. I guess. It's hard to explain. Overall I have only a few concrete things, all of which are explained in more detail in the following five spoilers.
Here's the story arc I've planned so far:
The first part of the story is just a "getting the feel for the world" idea, where the main characters (most of them) are introduced, the major conflict of the story is introduced, basically where everything gets introduced. This is one of the only sections that I actually have some of fleshed out in detail.
Basically, I plan to have the characters figure out the relationship between the two prospective antagonists: the sea creature from act 0, and A. The idea is that, in the world I've designed, (Not unlike the Giant's world in "The New World") the dominant forces are air and water. The world is basically a continent composed mostly of mountains, lakes, and mountain lakes. And surrounded by a few archipelagos. The idea is that the two potential antagonists are conceptualizations (Can't think of a better word) for the two. The Sea Creature (I'm just going to call him {It's a him, by the way} V, because I accidentally gave the players a name, and it starts with V) is the leader of water, kind of like Aquaman, while A is the commander (?) of air. The PC's learn this from a few choice characters tasked with giving exposition and pretty much useless besides that.
The second chapter is resolving the huge tension between V and A, because it's screwing over the world. Hurricanes and stuff. Basically, some of the recurring characters come back, and along with V and A themselves, force the PC's into the conflict. Most of the tension here is because I fully expect the players to disagree, and their characters might even split. The way that the final battle of this chapter goes will determine pretty much the tone of the rest of the campaign.
The third part comes right after the second (Duh). After the final battle of chapter two, depending on who won, one of the forms of matter (Liquid if A won, Gas if V won, Solids if PC's somehow forced a tie) becomes unstable, attempting to condense, freeze, melt, sublimate, evaporate, etc. The PC's spend most of this chapter trying to stop it, and I have no idea how I'm going to end this chapter. This is one of the sketchiest points for me by any means, so if you have any advice whatsoever, I need it. The only thing I have for this section is I'd like to reintroduce street lady, from long long ago at this point, as a key figure.
In this chapter, I'd like to have a problem that whatever the solution the PC's find in the third bit, doesn't last. The PC's can keep spending resources, possibly nonrenewable, on maintaining the stability of matter, but eventually everything is going to collapse. This is (hopefully) the most tense and time-sensitive chapter. In this part, I plan to introduce the behind-the-scenes villain, or villainous organization, that has been playing all the sides thus far. Some sort of over-achieving nihilist, potentially depressed. Again, for the humor aspect. Again, I don't have any real plans for this section, but hopefully someone else does?
In the final chapter, the PC's will have to face down whoever has been messing with universal constants, who will probably use a metric gigacrapload (real term :smallwink:) to explain his evil plan. Eventually the PC's will probably have to sacrifice themselves to become new standards of reality? Something like that, where they have to choose between themselves and other people, most of whom have been complete jerks to them so far. ("It's your fault my blood doesn't want to be liquid!" "What did you do? I can barely breathe this air!" etc.) And should probably include some other forms of heavy decisions.
Two brownie points to everyone who leaves a constructive suggestion. Or criticism. Or just responds in a way that isn't "Your idea is stupid! Go away!" (I don't THINK that will be a problem, having read this forum for a while.) so please, comment away. Thanks for reading this. I hope it wasn't, like, way too long. It took way too long to type.
And hey; thanks.
They got on a boat, apparently not knowing each other. They were both wealthy-ish students, bound for offshore colleges for various subjects. I don't think this is relevant to the story, but it might be.
The boat, a little over halfway through the voyage, was attacked by a creature that just so happens to look and act exactly like the Lagiacrus from Monster Hunter III Ultimate (I steal shamelessly. Don't sue me please.)
Everyone on the boat but them was killed by the thing. They got to control sailors as they tried to avoid it, but it killed them anyways because story.
The PC's swam to a nearby island because the monster wanted something in the boat and ignored them.
The PC's tracked the aforementioned bird things ("Feral Dodos" according to the players) to a cave, where they killed one and knocked out the second
The PC's explored the island, and managed to catch a ride with some boaters that were leaving, and on the island because story.
Once they made it back to town, the PC's went shopping and met a few different shopkeepers, along with a mysterious lady in the street who they know but appear to not care too much about. the street lady figures into my long term plans, I'll cover those later.
They eventually went to a tavern, and a weird lady approached them (Client or antagonist, depending on what the players want to do) and asked them for help, quite rudely. The whole reason she might not be a client is because she's designed to piss off the PC's so much that they want nothing to do with her.
I know I want the tavern lady, who I call "A," to start building up dissent with the players, because I want them to have an actual choice. The sea thing they "fought" earlier (They had no means of beating it) is their other option. I'm planning to also include a graveyard scene, because I found a thread on this forum last night that I thought was too funny not to use a source. This campaign is more humorous than anything else, by the way. I have no other real short term plans.
Over the 30 levels I think this campaign might go for, I've divided it into five groups, each about 6 levels long. The main idea of the story is material stability--that is, the idea that atoms, etc. might lose their ability to stay together in things. I guess. It's hard to explain. Overall I have only a few concrete things, all of which are explained in more detail in the following five spoilers.
Here's the story arc I've planned so far:
The first part of the story is just a "getting the feel for the world" idea, where the main characters (most of them) are introduced, the major conflict of the story is introduced, basically where everything gets introduced. This is one of the only sections that I actually have some of fleshed out in detail.
Basically, I plan to have the characters figure out the relationship between the two prospective antagonists: the sea creature from act 0, and A. The idea is that, in the world I've designed, (Not unlike the Giant's world in "The New World") the dominant forces are air and water. The world is basically a continent composed mostly of mountains, lakes, and mountain lakes. And surrounded by a few archipelagos. The idea is that the two potential antagonists are conceptualizations (Can't think of a better word) for the two. The Sea Creature (I'm just going to call him {It's a him, by the way} V, because I accidentally gave the players a name, and it starts with V) is the leader of water, kind of like Aquaman, while A is the commander (?) of air. The PC's learn this from a few choice characters tasked with giving exposition and pretty much useless besides that.
The second chapter is resolving the huge tension between V and A, because it's screwing over the world. Hurricanes and stuff. Basically, some of the recurring characters come back, and along with V and A themselves, force the PC's into the conflict. Most of the tension here is because I fully expect the players to disagree, and their characters might even split. The way that the final battle of this chapter goes will determine pretty much the tone of the rest of the campaign.
The third part comes right after the second (Duh). After the final battle of chapter two, depending on who won, one of the forms of matter (Liquid if A won, Gas if V won, Solids if PC's somehow forced a tie) becomes unstable, attempting to condense, freeze, melt, sublimate, evaporate, etc. The PC's spend most of this chapter trying to stop it, and I have no idea how I'm going to end this chapter. This is one of the sketchiest points for me by any means, so if you have any advice whatsoever, I need it. The only thing I have for this section is I'd like to reintroduce street lady, from long long ago at this point, as a key figure.
In this chapter, I'd like to have a problem that whatever the solution the PC's find in the third bit, doesn't last. The PC's can keep spending resources, possibly nonrenewable, on maintaining the stability of matter, but eventually everything is going to collapse. This is (hopefully) the most tense and time-sensitive chapter. In this part, I plan to introduce the behind-the-scenes villain, or villainous organization, that has been playing all the sides thus far. Some sort of over-achieving nihilist, potentially depressed. Again, for the humor aspect. Again, I don't have any real plans for this section, but hopefully someone else does?
In the final chapter, the PC's will have to face down whoever has been messing with universal constants, who will probably use a metric gigacrapload (real term :smallwink:) to explain his evil plan. Eventually the PC's will probably have to sacrifice themselves to become new standards of reality? Something like that, where they have to choose between themselves and other people, most of whom have been complete jerks to them so far. ("It's your fault my blood doesn't want to be liquid!" "What did you do? I can barely breathe this air!" etc.) And should probably include some other forms of heavy decisions.
Two brownie points to everyone who leaves a constructive suggestion. Or criticism. Or just responds in a way that isn't "Your idea is stupid! Go away!" (I don't THINK that will be a problem, having read this forum for a while.) so please, comment away. Thanks for reading this. I hope it wasn't, like, way too long. It took way too long to type.
And hey; thanks.