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View Full Version : A Campaign Where All The Party Is Dead...But Came Back (Idea Thread)



Leliel
2007-10-11, 03:57 PM
As a connoisseur of D&D, another chief ambition of mine (Besides the all-lycanthrope campaign) has been a game where all the party is dead or is made dead near or before the start, but before going on to the afterlife, a mysterious grim reaper figure/a strange force revives them, but not quite resurrects them. Simply put, they are intelligent Undead (NOT DEATHLESS), and they can't move on until they finish the quest that they initially failed, and in the process, find out who/what killed them in the first place. My question/subject is:

How would you, the forumites, run a game for a non-evil undead party? Who would be the villains (besides other, not-so-nice undead)? What would be the main objective (other than the ones outlined above)? How would one factor in the party's backstory? How the hell is one supposed to keep the guy who plays an intelligent shadow from breaking the game with his spawn (besides banning shadows or that particular ability)? What is the correct quantity of dark humor to inject into the campaign? And finally, how many nails should I put into the board I use to smack the unoriginal dweeb who inevitably tries to play an "Angsty Vampire" wannabe?

Of course, this game assumes the "Animate Dead does not trap the soul and should not be considered evil, nor should its products" rule (I personally think that anyone who believes Negative Energy is evil should be exposed to a mild amount of it so as to kill the cancerous tumor that has apparently taken up residence in his or her brain). I also should note here that this applies to all mindless undead.

A few guidelines/rules to remember:

1) Allips are not evil, and should never have been made that way.. Sure, they are depressed, and probably somewhat insane, but suicide is not evil, and neither are its products. Just a warning for anyone trying to use them a villains.

2) The ghoul is also not evil, for the reason that nowhere does it state that they have to eat fresh bodies. If they did, they would be, but they don't, so that also shuts them off.

3) Mummies do not decrease in intelligence. That trope is a product of poor Western movies, and should be shot.

4) The players are allowed to play intelligent zombies and skeletons, if they so desire.

5) On the "how do you revive the PCs" issue, I already have an idea for an artifact that turns the resurrection spell into an "Undead" version of it. Probably a MacGuffin, as well (Okay not technically a MacGuffin, but it isn't the central focus of the story but still an important-yet-unnecessary aspect, so thats what I'm going to call it).

6) Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT turn this into a debate about Negative Energy! I know I insulted those who believe it is evil, but if you want to complain about it, send complaints to me, via PM, not the thread! UNDERSTAND?! Excuse me, I seem to be on a caffeine binge.

So...Lets Begin!

Fax Celestis
2007-10-11, 03:58 PM
I'd run it as a Ghostwalk campaign.

Pronounceable
2007-10-11, 05:47 PM
How would you, the forumites, run a game for a non-evil undead party? Who would be the villains (besides other, not-so-nice undead)? What would be the main objective (other than the ones outlined above)? How would one factor in the party's backstory? How the hell is one supposed to keep the guy who plays an intelligent shadow from breaking the game with his spawn (besides banning shadows or that particular ability)? What is the correct quantity of dark humor to inject into the campaign? And finally, how many nails should I put into the board I use to smack the unoriginal dweeb who inevitably tries to play an "Angsty Vampire" wannabe?

Answering in order:

Same way I run any campaign. Set the setting, get the NPCs, storm the brain, create PCs and improvise the rest.

Zealous clerics of anti undead gods. Paladin orders. Nemesii (nemesises?) from life. Ambitious clerics of evil gods.

Achieve the eternal rest. See to the safety and well being of family.

Spawn are NPCs. They remember their lives and hate their master for their current state. They let the master know how good a life they had, how happy they were with their family, how their little kids will miss them, how their moms will cry, etc... Anyone would be pissed if they were murdered and forced to stay with the murderer after that. (Let the non-evil PC worry about his abilities, that's not your job.)

About 3 cc per gaming minute would be sufficient.

Nails? Don't bother with nails. Use a chainsaw.


EDIT: Add Beetlejuice. Somehow.

Toric
2007-10-11, 06:16 PM
Obviously clerics and druids would be enemies, as well as animals that become unnerved and hostile toward undead.

The characters' involvement with their backstories would be interesting. Should they ever meet up with loved ones or acquaintances, how will these people react to the guys being dead yet seemingly their normal selves?

Use your own judgement on when to use dark humor and death puns, but avoid beating a dead horse. (See Episode 7 for an example (http://www.yugiohtheabridgedseries.com/episodes/)) And you can count on the players coming up with their own jokes that you won't think of.

As for the main objective, hmm..... Stopping a mastermind from killing/controlling the personification of Death is always a good one, or somebody siphoning divine power from various gods. Other than that, it could be any other earth-shattering plot worth bringing people back from the other side for.

Sgilti
2007-10-11, 06:51 PM
On the issue of resurrecting the undead, the process could be something like this: have a shared party item that harbors the souls of the dead party members (as well as prevents them from moving on before they're allowed to, if the end-game reward is final peace) that's like a lich's phylactery. Then, come up with any pre-requisits you want that are needed before the soul can be returned to the original body. Then once that's accomplish, the soul is allowed to inhabit its body.

Jarlax
2007-10-11, 08:09 PM
I'd run it as a Ghostwalk campaign.

same, i thought about this for a while at one point. having the PCs die so suddenly they don't even know they are dead. floating around as ghosts like nothing happened until one of them realizes what happened.

the next step was going to be having them complete quests in the mortal world but create challenges that would test how inventive they can be when given the tools available to a ghost. much like the soul reaver games.

TimeWizard
2007-10-11, 10:55 PM
Check out the Deathless template in BoED.

Archpaladin Zousha
2007-10-11, 11:02 PM
He just said NOT DEATHLESS.

Leliel
2007-10-12, 03:39 PM
I'd run it as a Ghostwalk campaign.

Eh...Whats Ghostwalk?:smallconfused:

Fax Celestis
2007-10-12, 04:05 PM
Eh...Whats Ghostwalk?:smallconfused:

A setting by Monte Cook about the City of Manifest, a city inhabited by the fallen. Decent book.

puppyavenger
2007-10-12, 07:28 PM
Check out the Deathless template in BoED.

er why exactly?

Goober4473
2007-10-12, 07:53 PM
I'm planning to run an undead-based game, but the entire setting is very undead-heavy, and the primary society is undead (see also Undead Society (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57839&)). In this world, negative energy is not evil. In fact, many undead feel positive energy is evil, as its only use it to harm (this is a limited point of view, much like the human idea that negative energy is evil because it can only harm). However, I also don't use alignments, so "evil" is really subjective.

Perhaps their quest is to destroy some powerful undead creature, but before they can, they must learn and accept that undeath, and negative energy, is a necessary part of the world?

I'd limited or remove all spawn-creating abilities for this. In my setting, spawn creation is limited by rank, and even at the highest rank, control. If you lose control of your spawn, you're in trouble with the other members of the society, plus responsible for whatever your spawn do, let alone what they do to you.


suicide is not evil

Cowardice, rejecting life, acceptance of futility, giving up on doing good, selfishness (not caring about what will happen to anyone else with you gone)... Sounds evil to me. Doesn't make the person inherently evil though. It's just one evil act.


The ghoul is also not evil

They psychotically attack all living beings, as far as I remember. Look up the Gravetouched ghoul though. They remember their life and have free will.


The players are allowed to play intelligent zombies and skeletons, if they so desire.

Check out Bone Creature and Corpse Creature from Book of Vile Darkness. Bone Creature would be LA +3, and replace half damage from slashing and piercing with damage reduction 5/bludgeoning. Corpse Creatures would be LA +2, and add damage reduction 5/slashing and can't run.