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View Full Version : Explorers in the New World [Campaign Idea]



Knight In Armor
2007-08-27, 10:14 PM
Hey everyone. I'm hoping to get some suggestions/advice on a campaign idea that's been banging around my head since the beginning of the summer. It's set in a preexisting campaign world. The players are to be from one of two continents already existing. One is the 'Europe' of the campaign world. Inhabited mainly by humans and dwarves, it has a single large continent stretching over it that is in actuality more like two kingdoms, due to cultural and political differences between the Northeast and Southwest (Spanish and French type cultures respectively) additionally, there are the 'Free Cities' wich are small city states which populate the southeast of this continent. The other continent is the home of the Elves, and any elven characters would be from this society.

Essentially, the players are to be adventurers/explorers on a brand spanking new continent, where there are few inhabitants from their own culture. All that has been established are a few trading settlements and small colonies. Little is known about the interior, and contact has been made with the lizard folk and human tribes that live close to and on the coast. They are mainly peaceable, and happy to trade for steel tools and other trinkets. What has attracted people's attention is that they have gold baubles in an abundance, but the few small gold mining operations established near the coast have determined that there is no where near enough in the area to support the amount that some of the tribes seem to have. When quizzed about this, they merely respond that the gold has belonged to them for as long as they can remember and that some of it is found from time to when digging or foraging in the jungles that grow thicker as one moves further inland.

Of course, this has given rise to speculation that there must be a "city of gold" somewhere in the interior and many are eager to find it and become rich beyond all imagination. The PCs are to have been hired by some speculators from the continent, most likely merchants from the Free Cities. Their job is to explore inland, find the source of this gold if possible and report on the viability of setting up mining operations. Of course, there are things deeper into the jungle that no one knows about, and there are whispers of tribes of lizard folk and human alike that worship dark gods and offer up living sacrifices. Very few who have left the coast have returned, and those that do are often alone and raving mad after an exhausting and taxing trip through the wilderness. And there is always the competition that seeks to sabotage a competitors expedition.

Anyway, the PCs would start in one of the established coastal settlements, buy any further supplies they need and set out from there for glory and adventure! Any suggestions, thoughts, constructive critiques, etc. are most appreciated.

Solo
2007-08-27, 10:39 PM
The ROOOOOOOOOAD to El Dorado!

Yakk
2007-08-27, 10:54 PM
Be careful about divination and transportation magic.

Selv
2007-08-28, 05:04 AM
It's a solid flavour that I, personally, love.

My advice is to think in advance whether you want a "Good versus Evil, let's go bust some heads and swash some buckle" adventure or an "This is a complicated issue with much to be said for both sides" adventure. Examples:


Are the friendly locals trading at the coast the same culture who are sacrificing folks up at the pyramid?
Do the people welcome or resent the growing foreign influence?
Is Colonialism a Bad Thing?
If the local culture changes dramatically by introduction of higher Old World standards of living, is that Colonialism?
Do settlers and natives intermarry, or keep seperate?
What is the relationship between the colonies and the mother nation?
Are Old World diseases a problem for the New World people?
Are New World diseases a problem for Old World people?


Your approaches to these and other issues will all depend on what you and your players prefer, and how they think about these issues. I, and my British countrymen, have a lot of guilt over our Imperial past but it's mixed with pride because we did, after all, build a lot of railways. Americans seem to have an instinct to support colonial autonomy.

Arlanthe
2007-08-28, 05:36 AM
Wow, this is a creative and innovative idea. I like the flavor too, and it provided a lot of opportunity to explore some concepts and themes relevant to the real world, and that aren't often brought up in D&D.

Selv's list is nice.

Also- are the Elves tribal/clan based, or united? Native tribes "took sides" during Continental conflicts in the 17th and 18th century, as well as fought against all encroaching nations. Or helped all of the colonists. That dtnamic can be explored in your world as well...

Maybe one elf group aligns itslef with one kingdom, another tribe with the second main kingdom, a third tribe with some of the free cities. Also, you could have clans of xenophobic wild elves that all hate all the colonists, and try to thwart them as they explore the new world.

I see many interesting stories and plot hooks here. Elves that mistreat "collaborators", lots of room for diplomacy and social finesse, colonists sympathetic to the natives, uprisings, cooperation, conflict, and the like.

Very good idea, I would play in this world.

Krrth
2007-08-28, 09:25 AM
We currently have a similar campain setting we are playing in. Some of the things we've run into....different languages. A whole other panthieon, that isn't very happy to see us(potentually triggering a God's war) Ruins that we have no idea about. Our group has to figure out how to set up a colony, so as to be able to resupply. None of the group can teleport, so that is a problem. Empires that we don't know the customs of. Different magic spells, races, and classes. This is a perfect time to try out some of the more exotic races, classes, and spells from the various splat books. All in all, have fun.

DraPrime
2007-08-28, 09:29 AM
Be careful about divination and transportation magic.

Please do. These types of magic have ruined many campaigns. Just a thought, but you might want to use some new races. They'll make the world all the more exotic.

Yakk
2007-08-28, 10:58 AM
So I had thought up a similar world, with slightly different premises.

It was the dawn of human civilization. The Eternal Emperor rules the Empire, and his Blood are his Lieutenants, Nobles and Shock Troops.

On the Imperial Continent, the Emperor rules over a huge chunk of territory, bounded by the Dwarf mountains and other territory that isn't practical to expand into (Plague Steppes, Lizardman Swamps, etc). Imperial technology is strictly bronze-age, and their magic is very primitive. It is a despotism, with those of the Blood bound by no law but loyalty to their Emperor.

The Emperor is a half-dragon human, currently at least 500 years old. He has built up the Empire city by city, using his Blood to run the Empire.

The only legal worship for a human is Emperor (and Blood, as his representatives) worship. The only legal magic for a human is Blood magic (sorcery). For the most part, other kinds of magic are not known.

The Bards, traveling loremasters, have decoded and figured out some of the Sorcerous magic, as well as some of the Dwarven magics.

The Gods are hands-off: mortals are less important to them at this point. Dwarves have Paladins, but nobody has any Clerics.

The Dwarves know iron and steel working, but no Dwarven iron/steel tool, nor any Dwarf that knows of the secrets of iron/steel working, may leave Dwarven lands, barring being a personal gift of the council. The Dwarves are worried about the Empire. The rare ones that do are the equivalent of magical items.

The campaign takes place on a nearby continent. Imperial colonies are being built up on this savage coast.

The nearby continent is populated by:
At least two classes of Elves. The Wood and High elves.

The Wood elves are stone age, but with Ranger level magic relatively common. Their high council contains Druids.

The High Elves know Druidic magic, but are currently engaged with Wizard magic (which they call Dragon magic). They are far beyond the coast, living in an inland plateau. They are the nobles of the Wood elves.

There are tribes of Halfling wolf riders, mostly Barbarians, with the occasional Ranger shaman.

Finally, there are the Orc tribes.

The grip of the Empire is weaker on this newly explored continent.

Knight In Armor
2007-08-28, 11:07 AM
Neat suggetions and what not so far guys, thanks! And I think I may have been a bit vague about the elf thing. The elves come from an 'Old World' continent and have a large and ancient kingdom, while the Old World humans come from a continent that is teetering closer and closer to a massive civil war.

The natives are seen as friendly, if inferior, example of sentient races. The human natives and the lizardfolk natives generally dislike each other and often fight small skirmishes over small excuses("That human stole those fish I caught! let's go get him, brothers!" or "Those scalies are trespassing on our hunting grounds again!"). These have gotten larger as some of the Colonists encourage them to fight, figuring it will make them easier to run over once they need to subjugate the wild lands further from the coast.

So far, the colonies have not really grown large enough so that friction from the mother land would be a problem. And the colonies are seen as a great way for youngest sons of impoverished lords, those down on their luck or anyone with troubles to "get a new beginning" so you see lots of people who have reason to leave the Old World out there.


I'm thinking about introducing early firearms, as the campaign as thus far had a 'High middle ages with magic" flavor, e.g. mounted knights and so forth. They will, of course, be nastily expensive, inaccurate and difficult to use without proper training. But, on the other hand, they are perfect for impressing those primitives that may get in your way.

SoulCatcher78
2007-08-28, 11:43 AM
You mentioned "a new beginning" for some. Try expanding on that and use the new land as a penal colony (workers for the various mining operations that are being run) run by the nobles. All those criminals (debtors fall into this as well) need somewhere to go and using them as a cheap labor force is a better idea then just hanging them. If you plan on using the typical classes (or even PRCs), take into account the effects of the climate on armor...high humidity will literally eat away at the metal and leather of most armor not to mention the insanely high temperatures (heat index including the humidity will make you understand why everyone seems to be wearing loincloths) that will keep movement rates low with the risk of heat induced damage. Do some reading/research into the many explorations of Africa and South America for ideas on what to throw at the characters (diseases are a big one, better bring a druid or cleric along to purify the water or it's gonna be a reallllly short trip).

Sounds like a great setting but it might be more suited to a system like Savage Worlds than to D&D since your going to have to do some seroious editing to the mechanics to make it playable/workable.

Limiting the whole teleportation thing is going to be key to keeping the campaign mysterious. Make it expensive or more dangerous than it would normally be (old world) to keep it under control. Flight spells are easier to tone down due to large flying things that might eat you being more common the further you go inland (or people/things shooting at you from the jungle).

Matthew
2007-08-29, 07:54 PM
Have you taken a look at the old 2e Campaign Setting Maztica? There are some downloads of PDFs available on the Wizards Previous Edition Download Page that you might find useful.