LordofLazy
2018-01-29, 03:51 PM
Hello, I am looking to start a campaign soon and I am looking for some advice/insight.
I have ran a few games in 3.5, but they were pretty much just tropes and fights(and mostly fights at that).
I am now in 5E and am looking to start a campaign that will allow for plenty of RP as well as interesting fights and interactions.
Soooo, here is what I have so far(I do not have my notes in front of me right now so I may make some edits/additions later that I will annotate at the bottom of this post)
This will be a world that is hostile for magic users.
The world that the players start in was the site of a major battle between Deities
Essentially the story(as far as the General Public knows) is that the Gods fought each other here because, "Why would I mess up my own house?"(more or less)
The result was that there are bodies of Gods left eternally bleeding throughout the landscape
The blood from these Gods form rivers that periodically spawn servants to that god
These servants tend to not care too much about the impact they have on the inhabitants of this world
These rivers of blood and the energy they carry have damaged the weave and caused "scar tissue" to form around them in the form of crystals
Because of the spawning of the servants, most of the world's natives have been forced into cities(more info below*0) that have powerful wards maintained by powerful wizards
These wards keep the servants out, but require massive amounts of magical energy
Between the massive pull required to protect these cities and the damage caused by these rivers of blood, The Weave has been stretched thin
With the Weave thinning whenever you cast a spell you must draw on the energy around you, which can cause... consequences...
Whenever you cast, you user your own "life energy" and kind of auto-replenish from the energy around you
So if you say cast in a basement and draw on a bunch of rats, you start to take on rat like qualities(can be physical or mental/personality)(haven't decided if this will be permanent or not)
There are 2 work-arounds for this:
-The crystals that form around the rivers of blood can be(and are regularly) harvested and used to store magical energy(more info below*1)
-There will be a special Alchemist feat your character can take(more info below*2)
*0)These cities/towns typically range between 2 points we will call them good and bad for simplicity
GOOD cities typically are protected by a powerful wizard who just wants to help people no matter the cost to themselves
BAD cities are created by powerful wizards who want to charge people for protection
GOOD cities are inhabited by people who care about the wizard protecting them and "almost" worship him/her for their sacrifice
BAD cities are inhabited by people being "taxed" heavily and cannot get out to another town
GOOD cities tend to have sorcerers that devote themselves to helping the wizard (almost like clergy)
BAD cities usually have a semi-underground sorcerer-slave trade(Buy a sorcerer to donate to the wizard and increase your social stature)
This I believe will create a lot of opportunities for interesting interactions ie:
You are a sorcerer and there are people trying to kidnap you
You are a sorcerer and there are people trying to pressure you into joining the wizard clergy
You just found a really awesome magical item and people are pressuring you to "donate" it to the wizard
*1)The crystals are a fairly common item as most cities have expedition parties that go out to harvest them, but this is dangerous work
During a short or long rest a magic user can charge these crystals by focusing and purifying the energy around them and channeling it into the crystal
Most living things will regenerate a small amount of their energy every day so a small amount of pull from this won't kill them
Crystals are bought and sold by the amount of charge they can hold, which is easily discernible by anyone with the slightest amount of magical attunement
Spells use one charge per level (lvl 1 uses 1 charge, lvl 9 uses 9 charges)
whenever the last of the magical energy is drained from a crystal there is a chance that it will break( I am thinking of a DC equal to the spell lvl that was cast that drained it DC9 for a lvl 9 spell)
It is not intended for the crystals to be a rare resource, just something that the caster has to keep in mind
Cantrips can be cast without the use of crystals as they use only small amounts of energy
Rituals can also be cast without the use of crystals
*2)There will be an Alchemist feat which will allow the caster to create inert potions that will work as vessels for spells
The potions ingredients will be based of the magical receptiveness of ingredient rather than what the ingredient is(one night shade petal might work well while another does not work at all)
When taking the Feat you learn how to "feel" which ingredient will work or not
As an action you can charge a spell to a potion without having to draw on any external energy, and as a bonus action you can throw or toss the potion
Once you charge the potion it is good for 1 hour before it goes inert again
Whenever the glass breaks the spell is cast on that location
Anyway that is all I can think of right now. This is my first post on the forum, so i am hoping for some good advice.
So the main quest line I am planning on running through this world is:
The party's main "quest" will be removing the "corpses" of the gods
They will quickly discover that they are not dead, just continuously dying(like losing health as fast as they gain it)
This will add a multitude of options for both DM and Players as now they can speak to these gods
It will become less of a good or evil issue and more of a trust or distrust issue
"This good diety says that if we help him he will leave this plane, but there is also the chance that he is lying"
"This God is evil but he says if we get rid of this Good deity then he will leave too"
Through these Quests they will start to learn what really happened and how the war started
These gods they interact with will start dropping clue and the party will learn of the "cloaked figure"
The "cloaked figure" offered very special weapons to the gods
Since gods are very difficult to kill even for other gods, these weapons offered a loophole, they would pin them to a plane of existence
So all the gods went to war on the mortal plane, and unbeknownst to them, the "cloaked figure" was selling to both sides
At this point it is intended to make the story look like this "cloaked figure" is amassing favors, weapons, wealth and general power, but it will later be revealed that the end game of this plan is the blood of the gods themselves. The "Cloaked figure"'s end game is that he is trying to create a secret second weave, made from the power pouring out of these gods, one that only he would have access to.
That is what I have so far. I am also intending to run the occasional one shot in this world and have them leave "easter eggs" for the main campaign.
Thanks for your time.
I have ran a few games in 3.5, but they were pretty much just tropes and fights(and mostly fights at that).
I am now in 5E and am looking to start a campaign that will allow for plenty of RP as well as interesting fights and interactions.
Soooo, here is what I have so far(I do not have my notes in front of me right now so I may make some edits/additions later that I will annotate at the bottom of this post)
This will be a world that is hostile for magic users.
The world that the players start in was the site of a major battle between Deities
Essentially the story(as far as the General Public knows) is that the Gods fought each other here because, "Why would I mess up my own house?"(more or less)
The result was that there are bodies of Gods left eternally bleeding throughout the landscape
The blood from these Gods form rivers that periodically spawn servants to that god
These servants tend to not care too much about the impact they have on the inhabitants of this world
These rivers of blood and the energy they carry have damaged the weave and caused "scar tissue" to form around them in the form of crystals
Because of the spawning of the servants, most of the world's natives have been forced into cities(more info below*0) that have powerful wards maintained by powerful wizards
These wards keep the servants out, but require massive amounts of magical energy
Between the massive pull required to protect these cities and the damage caused by these rivers of blood, The Weave has been stretched thin
With the Weave thinning whenever you cast a spell you must draw on the energy around you, which can cause... consequences...
Whenever you cast, you user your own "life energy" and kind of auto-replenish from the energy around you
So if you say cast in a basement and draw on a bunch of rats, you start to take on rat like qualities(can be physical or mental/personality)(haven't decided if this will be permanent or not)
There are 2 work-arounds for this:
-The crystals that form around the rivers of blood can be(and are regularly) harvested and used to store magical energy(more info below*1)
-There will be a special Alchemist feat your character can take(more info below*2)
*0)These cities/towns typically range between 2 points we will call them good and bad for simplicity
GOOD cities typically are protected by a powerful wizard who just wants to help people no matter the cost to themselves
BAD cities are created by powerful wizards who want to charge people for protection
GOOD cities are inhabited by people who care about the wizard protecting them and "almost" worship him/her for their sacrifice
BAD cities are inhabited by people being "taxed" heavily and cannot get out to another town
GOOD cities tend to have sorcerers that devote themselves to helping the wizard (almost like clergy)
BAD cities usually have a semi-underground sorcerer-slave trade(Buy a sorcerer to donate to the wizard and increase your social stature)
This I believe will create a lot of opportunities for interesting interactions ie:
You are a sorcerer and there are people trying to kidnap you
You are a sorcerer and there are people trying to pressure you into joining the wizard clergy
You just found a really awesome magical item and people are pressuring you to "donate" it to the wizard
*1)The crystals are a fairly common item as most cities have expedition parties that go out to harvest them, but this is dangerous work
During a short or long rest a magic user can charge these crystals by focusing and purifying the energy around them and channeling it into the crystal
Most living things will regenerate a small amount of their energy every day so a small amount of pull from this won't kill them
Crystals are bought and sold by the amount of charge they can hold, which is easily discernible by anyone with the slightest amount of magical attunement
Spells use one charge per level (lvl 1 uses 1 charge, lvl 9 uses 9 charges)
whenever the last of the magical energy is drained from a crystal there is a chance that it will break( I am thinking of a DC equal to the spell lvl that was cast that drained it DC9 for a lvl 9 spell)
It is not intended for the crystals to be a rare resource, just something that the caster has to keep in mind
Cantrips can be cast without the use of crystals as they use only small amounts of energy
Rituals can also be cast without the use of crystals
*2)There will be an Alchemist feat which will allow the caster to create inert potions that will work as vessels for spells
The potions ingredients will be based of the magical receptiveness of ingredient rather than what the ingredient is(one night shade petal might work well while another does not work at all)
When taking the Feat you learn how to "feel" which ingredient will work or not
As an action you can charge a spell to a potion without having to draw on any external energy, and as a bonus action you can throw or toss the potion
Once you charge the potion it is good for 1 hour before it goes inert again
Whenever the glass breaks the spell is cast on that location
Anyway that is all I can think of right now. This is my first post on the forum, so i am hoping for some good advice.
So the main quest line I am planning on running through this world is:
The party's main "quest" will be removing the "corpses" of the gods
They will quickly discover that they are not dead, just continuously dying(like losing health as fast as they gain it)
This will add a multitude of options for both DM and Players as now they can speak to these gods
It will become less of a good or evil issue and more of a trust or distrust issue
"This good diety says that if we help him he will leave this plane, but there is also the chance that he is lying"
"This God is evil but he says if we get rid of this Good deity then he will leave too"
Through these Quests they will start to learn what really happened and how the war started
These gods they interact with will start dropping clue and the party will learn of the "cloaked figure"
The "cloaked figure" offered very special weapons to the gods
Since gods are very difficult to kill even for other gods, these weapons offered a loophole, they would pin them to a plane of existence
So all the gods went to war on the mortal plane, and unbeknownst to them, the "cloaked figure" was selling to both sides
At this point it is intended to make the story look like this "cloaked figure" is amassing favors, weapons, wealth and general power, but it will later be revealed that the end game of this plan is the blood of the gods themselves. The "Cloaked figure"'s end game is that he is trying to create a secret second weave, made from the power pouring out of these gods, one that only he would have access to.
That is what I have so far. I am also intending to run the occasional one shot in this world and have them leave "easter eggs" for the main campaign.
Thanks for your time.