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View Full Version : Midnight RPG.... Help with Overarching Plot.



Lord_Xaedien
2016-10-21, 01:46 AM
I'm looking to DM a 5e version of a game set in the midnight campaign setting from fantasy flight games. I've played and loved the setting... but I'm struggling to come up with a big overarching plot for a game. Looking for something in the 6th-12th level variety... but honestly I'm just looking for good plot ideas to flesh out. I don't need a pre-made game (although I won't turn those down). Any DMs have some good ideas to share?

Mutazoia
2016-10-21, 02:50 AM
I'm looking to DM a 5e version of a game set in the midnight campaign setting from fantasy flight games. I've played and loved the setting... but I'm struggling to come up with a big overarching plot for a game. Looking for something in the 6th-12th level variety... but honestly I'm just looking for good plot ideas to flesh out. I don't need a pre-made game (although I won't turn those down). Any DMs have some good ideas to share?

Okay....are you looking for an overarching plot? Or adventure ideas?

Lord_Xaedien
2016-10-21, 10:45 AM
Overarching Plot... I'm just having weird writers block.

Mutazoia
2016-10-21, 06:47 PM
Overarching Plot... I'm just having weird writers block.

How about:

What would have happened if Sauron had reclaimed the One Ring? The heroes must find another way to bring down the Dark Lord that doesn't (necessarily) involve scenic road trips to active volcanoes.

The Fury
2016-10-22, 11:55 PM
I've had some experience playing in the Midnight setting, as a rule I generally don't like dark fantasy settings, but I liked Midnight. Midnight as I've always understood it is a world that's so horribly broken so it's really a matter of what do you feel like fixing? No matter which thing you pick it's going to be a rough road ahead, but not necessarily impossible.

When my friend ran Midnight, I gather that he was going for an angle of "it actually is possible to destroy The Shadow and restore the world somewhat." Though it seemed to be based around the idea that it would take several groups, maybe even generations of heroes trying to do so, as he seemed to have ideas for several campaigns in the setting. It was a pretty ambitious idea and I never got to see if it panned out. Hopefully that helps a little. If nothing else, I guess talk to your players about what they'd like and see if there's any coherent thread between them that you can build a plot off of.

Anderlith
2016-10-23, 12:37 AM
So i cant remember specifics so ajust this accordingly

Whatever great Houses of nobles & such that live to serve the super bad guy or one of his cronies, i vaguely remember a dragon... anyhow, the Houses have rule over the worthless peons & land & such but only so that the BBEG doesnt have to do paperwork. They are all vying for favor. The biggest one, lets call it House Evessti or Dreggor or something, has suddenly lost its patriarch or Househead, the guy who rules the House has died, vanished, was assassinated, or something more interesting. This has left a power vaccuum among the other High Houses, leading up to a war. The only qualifiable heirs for the House Evessti/Dreggor/coolnamehere, is a foppish puppet currently sitting, & a dreadful warrior-necromancer/darksorceror but he is long estranged from the patriarch who died & up in some mountains brooding & ruling over an army of ghosts or something.

So the players can be from all kinds of different Houses with different agendas, who may or may not be interested in finding a new heir, winning the war for a certain faction. Or moving another House to usurp. The heir-apparent may or may not be amicable to returning, may or may not be waiting for the Houses to war & then move his ghost army in to rule everything etc. Lots of adventure points

Anonymouswizard
2016-10-23, 05:53 AM
How about:

What would have happened if Sauron had reclaimed the One Ring? The heroes must find another way to bring down the Dark Lord that doesn't (necessarily) involve scenic road trips to active volcanoes.

That's of the setting, but we need one for the campaign, and that plot doesn't quite work for Midnight.

The thing is, that compared to Lord of the Rings, Midnight is much more focused on the small scale. While it might be possible to defeat the Shadow (I forget it's name) it's not something that will be done with what is likely millennia of work, and you have to work against the fact that it is the only god in the setting, so it's minions have a massive advantage you don't (although I do want to run a Servants of the Shadow game if I ever pick up the setting again), and so the PC's victories are likely to be small scale, such as finding a secluded place to set up a new kingdom out of reach of the Shadow (I believe it's up to the GM if the human homelands have been conquered, so there's possible precedent), or setting up a smuggling network to get supplies into a conquered city, or destroying a key industrial site for the shadow.

Also remember that the Shadow's forces aren't unified, the Night Kings certainly aren't, and the Legates don't like the master they've been assigned.

Now Midnight isn't the sort of Dark Fantasy setting I like, I mainly enjoyed midnight for it's dwarves and it's sea elves (to the point I'm now reluctant to have forest-dwelling elves) as well as several elements in the Shadow's forces, as at some points it's too bleak and at some points the heroes can be too successful, but if you dial back the scale there are a lot of interesting things you can do with it. There is also the possibility of playing in an earlier era, such as one of the wars against the Shadow or one of the various eras where the Shadow is regain strength and sending scouting missions into the civilised lands.

Hopeless
2016-10-23, 10:05 AM
So they're playing the Wraiths sent to recover the stolen artefact and prevent the terrorists from endangering the realm in their attempt to destroy said artefact?

Or they're sent after a noted dwarven activist who was last seen in the vicinity of a Halfling settlement.
Investigating they discover he met up with an infamous Wizard, a local Halfling and about 10 to 11 of his own people and have set out to upset the Realm by deliberately awakening a legendary drake so whilst its rampaging they can secure his long lost dwarven home...

My favourite is take their characters and have them all linked to a long destroyed city, they're recruited to help the heir pay his respects to his ancestors in return for access to a hidden treasure trove but the bad guys are aware one of their number isn't who they're supposed to be.
How would they react if one of their number is one of the last surviving members of a holy order that the rulers of the Realm never defeated?
They literally discover one of their number is their Realm's last hope, but would they be willing to risk everything to protect someone whose ultimate destiny is just to tutor a new era of heroes in preparation for an attempt to overthrow the existing Empire an effort that will take literally generations to complete?