So I Have an Idea for an Campaign...

[PoiuytSmith]

I'm going to be running a campaign pretty soon, my first, and wanted to come up with a good story to move the party around the world I've built. So I came up with this:
An ancient silver dragon has safeguarded dozens of powerful magical artifacts, mostly evil in origin, for decades. But now his hoard is becoming more powerful: with so many artifacts crammed together, they are beginning leech power off each other and grow more dangerous. The dragon is worried he won't be able to contain all of them himself so he seeks out a group of adventurers to help him distribute them to safe guardians.

So basically it will involve the party picking up artifacts and traveling to different locations; paladin orders, well-guarded tombs, and maybe a few druidic order (for nature themed Mcguffans). Maybe I'll have some groups figure out what's going on and try to steal the artifacts in transit. I was hoping for some feedback on good locations and artifacts, I have a few but I'm hoping to make pretty long campaign out of this.

I'm kind of thinking that the PC's could use the items while they have them, though I want to make sure there's a downside (curse or maybe it takes a human sacrifice to function).
I'd be grateful for any advice on how to run this idea, and any ideas for good Mcguffans.

[Kane0]

That sounds pretty solid to me, its a nice reversal of the typical McGuffin plot and allows you to keep it simple (which is important for your first time, don't want to dive straight into the deep end).

For your artifacts they're all evil so a couple that are also intelligent would make a great villain (collectively), especially if the party is carrying them around one at a time! Corrupting influence could be a real problem, even after they have been delivered.

What kinds of context can you give already? Any details about the world, artifacts you already have in mind? A number you want to work with?

[PoiuytSmith]

Thanks! I like the idea of the artifacts becoming the villain, I might also have the dragon being slowly corrupted; each time they come back he's a little more reluctant to give up an artifact. Or an early artifact might poison the group the party took it to, make them think that they have to acquire all the items as they are the only fit guardians.

As for setting, I'm aiming for something around high fantasy, but I'm willing to include some horror mechanics for the Mcguffans. The party is starting out in a backwater-turned-trade hub continent, with three main cities for them to mess with. So far there are two groups who are likely candidates for stewardship: an order of paladins called Elbrite's Faithful (Elbrite is an ancient hero), and a group called the Order of the Mage Slayers who basically think all magic is evil and should be stopped. For locations, the only one I have so far for a resting place is some nearby barrows, which are the tombs for ancient Mountain Kings.

I do think I want to do some sentient items, but I also want to keep some of them mysterious or random. I'm also toying with the idea of some of them being good artifacts that were either misclassified or considered to powerful for common use. I don't have any good ideas for specific items though... something connected to Elbrite or another important group of archanists: the Mord, might be a good tie-in to the world.

[uraniumrooster]

So basically it will involve the party picking up artifacts and traveling to different locations

Yep. Sounds like a D&D game. :smallcool:


I was hoping for some feedback on good locations and artifacts, I have a few but I'm hoping to make pretty long campaign out of this.

I'm kind of thinking that the PC's could use the items while they have them, though I want to make sure there's a downside (curse or maybe it takes a human sacrifice to function).
I'd be grateful for any advice on how to run this idea, and any ideas for good Mcguffans.

One of the artifacts could be the required special component for an Imprisonment spell. A Hedged Prison or Minimus Containment gem would work pretty well. The nature and identity of the creature imprisoned within could be lost to time, but conveniently another artifact could be the key to ending the spell (possibly unbeknownst to the players, until they accidentally release the imprisoned creature). The creature might be good, evil, friendly, hostile, grateful, deceitful, driven completely mad after several millennia of imprisonment... or all of the above? Your choice!

[Reaver25]

So I had a few ideas for ya:

-Make the dragon be in human form the first time they meet. He can be a bit more mysterious that way, and if the evil does corrupt him then he can show his full power.
-Alternatively, the guy they turn this stuff into can be a black or red dragon in human form, and he is gathering all of them for his Dragonborn/Kobold children.

-some good magic items are the Berserker Axe and the Sword that pretends to be good but is actually evil.

This is a great idea for a campaign, though!

[Brendanicus]

Sounds like a solid concept! Maybe you could use some of the following ideas:

If the dragon hasn't simply destroyed the artifacts, there must be a reason for it. Maybe some of the artifacts are tomes of dark magic, powerful weapons that corrupt the user, etc. Things that could potentially be used for good, but only on a strictly necessary basis.
Don't worry too hard about players "killing" a major villain. This sort of plot means that villains could come out of the woodwork whenever you want. If you keep it organic and adaptable, recurring villains will happen without you having to choose one or two as THE bbeg.
Maybe some of the items are like the One Ring, and can only be destroyed in a very specific manner. That could mix things up aside from players acting as couriers all the time; e.g: having to find three different angels to touch the Dark Idol in order to destroy it.
Look for ways to mix up the format of "Take X to Y". Maybe a Druid circle the players seek out has schismed since the dragon was last there, and players must decide which faction is more trustworthy. Maybe a PC knows about a particular temple, contact, or other institution that the artifact could be entrusted to. Maybe a PC has a backstory involving one of the macguffins. Try to steer the plot to incorporate the PC's backstories and personalities.

[ZanettonBR]

My ideas are:
-Ask for all of them to have "selfish reasons" to go after these artifacts, like "my mom is sick and this may save her" or "i always heard about the legends when i was little".

- If they dont know each other, make sure their reasons to go adventuring are all compatible. You dont want to have a guy who just wnts to find his gf in the middle of a bunch of rogues who want money for example (but dont be too rigid, just suggest. if the player cant handle it, then it becomes a problem)

- Dont let them know who the dragon is or what they are getting into until they can not get out of it. Maybe the arifact is a dragon egg that hatches and other adventurers also want the rare baby. After a while the dragon kinda "coaches" the team and they end up eventually discovering the plan of the dragon ,causing some intrigue, but they are already heroes, there's no turning back.

-Dont be afraid to let villains also know how to use the artifacts, if you're gong to give them out to the players.

-Dont let them get confortable with the idea of being immortals.Almost kill them in 1 out of 5 sessions. Maybe less if you dont know how to balance the encounters yet

And most importantly:

-Have fun and change stuff on the fly so players can also have fun, this includes placing backstory references to the characters where there weren't originally ones.

Hope it helped, good luck on your Dungeon Master adventure :)

[Kane0]

Some Ideas:
12 Lesser artifacts (Uncommon and Rare) and 6 Greater artifacts (Very Rare and Legendary) would be a good, solid number of unique magic items. You can also hand out 'regular' magic items like straight +x weapons/armor or Wands of Y if you think it necessary. Try to avoid throwing out more unique stuff from the DMG as they will compete for both player attention and character attunement.
The artifacts should vary in form and function, but they don't all have to be outright malicious (although some definitely should). You can make them as dark as you want with lore to match (for example, the Silver tongue might actually be a creatures tongue that's been silvered and enchanted). Make sure that at least some of the more powerful ones are intelligent and evil if you want them to be your BBEG, using the others as assets to their own goals. The DMG features some nice tables to roll on if you need motivations and such.


Some examples (All of these require atunement, which may or may not be a nasty experience):

Blood Razor (Uncommon): Regular dagger becomes +1 when covered in fresh blood

Meteor Belt (Uncommon): Holds 4 orbs that can be thrown as Magic Missiles (except Necrotic Damage). Replenishes 1 each morning.

Voodoo Mask (Uncommon): Grants ritual casting as if a level 3 Druid

Fortune Pendant (Uncommon): Grants 1 portent die (see Diviner Wizard) each morning

Dancer's Boots (Uncommon): Grants proficiency and expertise in performance skill

Sharpening Scabbard (Uncommon): On the round a weapon is drawn from the scabbard it scores a critical hit on a 19 or 20

Ring of Projection (Rare): Can cast Minor Illusion and Disguise Self as per the spells at will, plus Silent Image and Mirror Image each once per day

The Silver Tongue (Rare): Grants proficiency and expertise in persuasion skill

Third-Arm Sash (Rare): Belt that acts as if it were another arm under your control. Slight tendency to strangle people.

Jade Scarab (Rare): Once per day can be hurled at a creature as an action (30' ranged weapon attack). On a hit it burrows into the creature's flesh and heads for the heart. If not interrupted by healing magic or being torn out (action that deals 3d12 damage) it will reach the heart in 1d4 +1 rounds and kill the target

Many-Facet Crystal (Very Rare): Once per day as action can split user into multiple duplicates (up to 3). Duplicates share HP, spell slots and other limited abilities but act individually. Each duplicate is a different aspect of the user's personality