PDA

View Full Version : Crazy Setting Ideas



The Mormegil
2007-09-29, 02:33 PM
Well, it all started with me reading Unearthed Arcana, and finding out that it could be fun doing an Ethernal Champion campaign. Don't ask why, I only wanted to try it out.

But then another problem came out: three (I mean, THREE) settings needed.:smallconfused:

So, I need ideas. Fire at will.

Landy
2007-09-29, 04:01 PM
I've personally haven't read anything about Unearthed Arcana that wasn't open source, and the Etheral Champion isn't jumping to mind right now if it is in there, but I'll give three settings a shot.

1. The Paraelemental Plane of Broken Glass (also known as the Plane of Slashing and Piercing Damage)

2. The American Revolution as transformed into DnD (I was messing around in U.S. History, and somehow this came out of it. Imaging Washington as a fighter, King George as a Red Dragon, and North America's "friendly" native monster population.)

3. Both the PCs and the BBEG have access to time traveling artifacts, and must race against time to stop the others from preserving/corrupting the past (Seems self explainitory, but is more of a plot hook than a setting.)

Pauwel
2007-09-29, 04:11 PM
1: Anime-style campaign focused on stone-scissors-paper; thematically basically the same as Pokémon/Yu-Gi-Oh/Beyblade/countless other shows, the sport it's focused on is just incredibly dumb.

2: Also, Pokéthulhu.

3: Anything from this generator: http://www.penguinking.com/premise.php

goat
2007-09-29, 04:26 PM
Everyone's blind, and you're trying to kill the one-eyed man.

It's a standard medieval-with-magic type setting, but everyone's a strict pacifist vegetarian. You have to overcome problems with rampaging animals, randomly appearing demons and invasions from other planes without killing ANYTHING.

All conflicts in the setting are settled by a game of golf. There are skills such as spin, bunker play, distraction, cheating, and green reading. You can get a do-over through applying diplomacy in the 19th hole.

Everybody in the (modern day) world woke up to discover that they were only 1/4 as tall as they were the day before.

There's been a nuclear war. It's 30 years later and the survival ark you were born in is reopening. Some groups chose to early open, greatly increasing their numbers, but reducing their health and lifespan. Others are still locked shut, keeping secrets hidden inside. The landscape isn't barren, but nor is it welcoming. Will you establish civilisation? Become warlords? Trade techonology/food/knowledge? Or will you simply die in the wastelands. There are no mutants.

22 years ago, someone discovered the anti-ageing gene and how to trigger it in the 0.5% of the population who possessed it. After massive rioting, almost everyone who carried it was killed. You have been raised in a small commune in the mountains, kept away from society and its influences. You are not immortal, but you're damn determined to hunt down anyone left alive who is.

You're all ducks. Ducks with an average IQ of 80 and a taste for blood.

hippie_dwarf
2007-09-29, 04:27 PM
Base it on either Limbo or Pandemonium. Objective gravity... and let the madness flow :smallbiggrin:

Glyphic
2007-09-29, 04:31 PM
Something cosmic happens in the universe. as a (un)intended result, the pcs unknowingly gain certain control over time. The radius they control starts huge, and gradually lessens as they progress in power (and funky stuff starts happening). This 'power' is stasis. In a direct area around the pcs, time functions normally. Outside this area, Time can either stop, slow down, or speed up immensely. The Subtle DM (YOU) gives tiny -tiny- hints as to what's really happening and how much influence the PC's really have over the world.

When Pc's become aware of their powers, things get messy! Some players may wish to restore the universe to it's right state. others may wish to restore it.. with themselves as a God!

goat
2007-09-29, 04:40 PM
You're all secret service agents trying to protect the president. Unfortunately, he's a suicidal depressive, there's a group in the military trying to stage a violent coup and at least 80% of your fellow agents hate him. The first lady keeps encouraging him to shave with a straight razor, his popularity rating is 4%, and you believe that 4 people in his close staff are spies and agents from various other nations. HOWEVER, if he dies, his vice president will become leader and use his position of power to invoke an ancient spell that summons Cthulhu.

You're the defenders of a dungeon being raided by the Good King Bernard. Though you will die, ancient magicks will re-incarnate you in a specific position after 2 rounds. There are many choke points in the dungeon, and you must hold it while the dungeon master makes his escape. Piling up your bodies to block doorways is a valid technique.

It's the olympics! But the umpires are nowhere to be found. You must win the decathlon AT ALL COSTS.

Hecore
2007-09-29, 05:28 PM
Generated a few sets of ideas until I found 3 I liked...

Premise: Madmen seek an artifact of unimaginable power in a virtual world.
Genre: Sci-Fi

I kind of like the concept of setting your adventure 'online'. Pull something vaguely akin to .Hack and you have an idea of what I'm talking about.


Premise: Catholic Übermenschen battle superhuman foes in Revolution-era America.
Genre: Fantasy/Alternative History

The South is losing the war, and in desperation they make a pact with the Devil. Undead, Demons and dark magics join the fight, and it isn't long until the Confederacy has won the civil war. However, the deal with the Devil is sour - he demands great sacrifices, and many innocents are killed so the South can fulfill their end of the bargain.

Those who fight back are killed, and any resistance melts away in the face of hellfire and an army of the damned. Finally, the prayers of the truly devout are heard by God. Rather then directly intervene, he grants some of his followers extraordinary powers so they have a chance against the unnatural foes. The PCs are, of course, those followers.

Premise: Avian pizza delivery men try to get laid across infinite dimensions of time and space.
Genre: Epic

This is the best campaign setting. Ever. Run it and you will become as a God.

goat
2007-09-29, 05:35 PM
Premise: Avian pizza delivery men try to get laid across infinite dimensions of time and space.
Genre: Epic

This is the best campaign setting. Ever. Run it and you will become as a God.

Too easy. Infinite dimensions of time and space mean they're guaranteed to be able to find SOMETHING that finds them attractive, Limit them to one dimension, and give them a time limit. Make it a challenge.

Azerian Kelimon
2007-09-29, 05:36 PM
Nah, too easy still. But if you ban Lichloved, then it's harder.

slexlollar89
2007-09-29, 05:42 PM
I have a continent in my campaign world that has an alignment trait: strongly chaotic.

basically it is a normal par of the materil plane, except everything thta happens has a cartoon like effect (e.g. the good guy falls off a liff, takes 21d6 falling damge, and walks off as an accordian person...).

then the BBEG uses a fire bal, and deals normal damage, but evryone just turns all black and scorhed, not seriously hurt.

You could turn this into an entire demension, and wouldnt even have to map anything by excusing the world to change chaoticlly.

DnD meets Bugs Bunny! What's up cleric? I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at waterdeep...

Guy_Whozevl
2007-09-29, 06:28 PM
Campaigns are always better with the... *drumroll*

Greater rod of wonder!

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20060807a

Alex12
2007-09-29, 06:55 PM
I have a continent in my campaign world that has an alignment trait: strongly chaotic.

basically it is a normal par of the materil plane, except everything thta happens has a cartoon like effect (e.g. the good guy falls off a liff, takes 21d6 falling damge, and walks off as an accordian person...).

then the BBEG uses a fire bal, and deals normal damage, but evryone just turns all black and scorhed, not seriously hurt.

You could turn this into an entire demension, and wouldnt even have to map anything by excusing the world to change chaoticlly.

DnD meets Bugs Bunny! What's up cleric? I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at waterdeep...

That would be awesome. Oh, you could make a reflex save to eliminate falling damage! (looking up really hard)

And Fumbling should have some really spectacular results.



How about a world where the majority of every sentient race (even things like Illithids and Beholders and dragons and vampires) are Good-aligned and live in and contribute to normal society. If you want to see something of an example of that, look at Ankh-Morpork (Zombie lawyers, a werewolf cop, and a vampire who works for the city newspaper as a photographer, among other things) Imagine that with a group of veteran players used to seeing those creaturesas evil.

Hecore
2007-09-29, 07:14 PM
That would be awesome. Oh, you could make a reflex save to eliminate falling damage! (looking up really hard)

And Fumbling should have some really spectacular results.



You've given me an idea. A player can continue to run on thin air as long as they started running on a solid surface. However, each round they must make a DC 15 Will save to keep from looking down. A failed save means they look down and begin to fall as usual. The DC for this save increases by 5 for each round they continue to sucessfully run on thin air.

Quellian-dyrae
2007-09-29, 07:32 PM
Hmm...you could set it up so that in each of, say, four settings the characters are trying to essentially control the world through a differing alignment. In the LG world they are trying to found a supreme global kingdom of peace, prosperity, etc. In the CG world they are trying to improve the lots, power, capability, whatever of everyone so that everybody becomes an equally valued individual with no need for government and so on. In the LE world they try to rule the planet with iron fists. In the CE world they try to destroy everything. Successes in one world may lead to challenges or to advantages in others (maybe a LG success gives a good-based advantage to the CG world and a law-based advantage to the LE world). There may also be a group of neutrals as NPCs that are trying to thwart the eternal champions in all four worlds, possibly requiring a massive crossover battle at the end.

For another twist on the theme, each world could actually begin at the opposite state. The CG champions would live in a world where powerful LE beings have taken over, the CE champions may live in a great world-spanning kingdom, etc. Not sure if that would improve the setting or not (since then it basically becomes morphing the worlds rather than actually changing them) but it would also open up the possibility of massive time paradoxes. Not that I would ever condone time paradoxes.