Making a campaign. please help

[MaxieZeus]

So, this was a campaign I ran nearly 3-4 years ago now, and I want to try it again, this time with some experience and maybe a little help. The campaign was my attempt to make an "evil" campaign, which really boiled down to "******* mercenary party that stab each other in the back all the time" it was a lot of fun, but it was held together with toilet paper and only because one of us did literally NOTHING evil the entire campaign. They were just an aimless guy hanging around because a joke that went to far revealed another player was his dad. (He was playing a Half-Orc looking for his dad, and another player happened to make a full Orc that ****ed a lot, so, um... yeah) and another player was my best friend who was super good at keeping the party on track for me.

I want to ditch the Evil side of the campaign, but more or less keep the premise and story, because I thought it was pretty cool.

So, the party starts with the players in prison (this was why I wanted them to be evil before). But not just any prison, this is SUPER MAXIMUM INESCAPABLE PRISON MK13!!! Or rather, it was a big ol Dungeon in the middle of a Desert. And the Prison was partially overseen by this nearby village of Yuan-Ti under the ownershiprulership of a Lich. The Lich had actually turned all the Yuan-Ti in the village into Vampires, which made it impossible for them to escape since they live in a desert and if they want too far at night, the sun will rise and they'll have no way to protect themselves.

The players were expected to fight their way out of the Prison and beat up the Lich running the town, and escape. This lead to more setup down the line including a Vampire Lord running a Winery Cabal, cornering the price on alcohol all over the country, to a Druid that was researching necromancy and behind both the Lich and the Vampire lord because they want to learn the source behind all necromancy and erase it all from existance. (including innocent undead like the vampire Yuan-Ti)

But for all intents and purposes, let's stick to just 2 things. The Prison, and the Lich. The Lich actually isn't as strong as a normal Lich because they didn't earn their Lichdom through hardwork and SCIENCE. No, they were used as an experiment by the organization the Druid ran to try and figure out how necromancy works. So the Lich is more or less just an Undead Rogue with a few spells that he's picked up since taking over this village. Because of this I don't think the difficulty will be THAT hard, but he should be a pretty difficult boss. at least CR 5, maybe 7.

When I first made the prison, I barely did anything at all, and the players more or less escaped the prison in the first session just by making good stealth roles. Considering I want this to actually be a campaign, this needs a big ol make-over.

Any suggestions I can learn from?

[Sparky McDibben]

OK, you've got a lot going on here. Let's focus on the Prison for now:

1) I'd have the players give you a reason their characters got dumped here (or at least, the reason their character knows about). There could be another meta-reason but let the players tell you why their character wound up there. If a player is struggling, suggest that maybe they got framed, or were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

2) How big is the prison? Who supplies food and water? If the yuan-ti are vampires, who provides security during the day? Is it run by undead? If the desert is the prime security measure, are there even walls in this prison? Do you need a big security setup if there's a massive inescapable desert out there? Are the criminals just let to roam around looking for food and water while the yuan-ti hide in a walled village?

3 [Optional]) Also, why is there a prison here? The reason we have prisons in the real world is to hold people who don't deserve to die (for whatever reasons societies make that call). So why did someone pay to have the PCs dumped here, pay to feed and house them, and pay to secure them? In other words, why didn't someone just kill the violent felons (aka, the PCs) instead of jailing them?

4) You probably want to start the players as prisoners, which means they have no equipment, no food, and no water. So you'll need to familiarize yourself with the Extreme Heat and Starvation rules in the DMG. Now you've created goals for the PCs: we want our stuff back, and we want out of here. So develop the area in the prison where the prisoners things are kept (or maybe the guards draw lots to see who gets what, and now the PCs have a motivation to go after the guard carrying their mom's rapier). Keep in mind the PCs might improvise stuff, too, including crazy stuff like trying to use braided fishing twine as a rope, for example.

5) What are the ways out? Are there caravans every few days? Teleportation circles keyed with secret runes? Tunnels? All of the above? Let the PCs find one or two of them, and then let them develop their own plans. Do not create a "right way," and don't get mad if they bypass your Lich-Rogue. They might; just roll with it, and two or three sessions later, they find wanted posters up of themselves.

6) Prep content. There are two ways to run a heist (prison-breaks are just heists in reverse, in my experience): the prep is already done, the players have all the information, and you refer to the "planning stage" through flashbacks. This might look like this at the table:

PC: "I want to sneak past the guard"

DM: "Please give me a Stealth check."

PC: "Nat 20!"

DM: "You remember the painstaking work you've put in timing the guard's routes, and Jerkface [the guard's nickname] always takes a smoke break...now! You break for the wall with no one the wiser. Roll Athletics to climb the wall."

PC: "...that's a 5."

DM: "Ouch! Unfortunately as you try to climb over the wall, you discover that the guards replaced several boards, eliminating the handholds you had been counting on! Instead of making your break for freedom, you slide back down. That guard'll be back around in sixty seconds. What do you do?"

Alternatively, you can run a tense planning session, where everyone tries to map out the prison. If you do this, have three sets of blueprints ready. One is your copy, one is a really good version if the players do well, and one is a version that has several blank spots if the players do poorly. Also be sure to let the players identify an exit strategy to bypass the desert. If their strategy is "we walk into the desert," make sure you have rules support for food and water weight. My standard is that one waterskin holds half a days water, so they either need to resupply or have a friendly druid. Just be aware that "you're in a prison, what do you do?" has the implied task of "kill all the guards, get my stuff, and get out." If you're going for a tense planning session, you'll need to clue the PCs in on that, either OOC with a session zero, or IC with an NPC leading a breakout (think Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy), or both. You'll also need to let them know they have no armor or weapons.

[Keravath]

Lich and vampire lord yuan-ti with an "inescapable" prison with who knows what for guards.

Do the characters start at level 11? 15? 20? The problem is that to defeat a bunch of vampire yuan-ti and a lich, the characters must be very high level to start with. Or do they go from level 1-10 escaping the prison?

The problem is that if they start at high level, the nature of a prison designed to contain high level spellcasters must be very different from a prison for an average humanoid. Dimension door is available at level 7 ... though perhaps you remove all of their material components and take away their casting foci?

----

Anyway, the point I am making is that it is very hard to make suggestions if we don't know at least the rough power level of the party of characters involved.

Normal campaigns would typically start at low level. However, low level characters can't deal with the creature running the prison or the other creatures in the nearby village. Even one vampire might be a TPK depending on level ... a whole village of vampire yuan-ti? Cool concept but sounds like insta-death for anything but higher level parties.

[Tawmis]

So, the party starts with the players in prison (this was why I wanted them to be evil before). But not just any prison, this is SUPER MAXIMUM INESCAPABLE PRISON MK13!!! Or rather, it was a big ol Dungeon in the middle of a Desert. And the Prison was partially overseen by this nearby village of Yuan-Ti under the ownershiprulership of a Lich. The Lich had actually turned all the Yuan-Ti in the village into Vampires, which made it impossible for them to escape since they live in a desert and if they want too far at night, the sun will rise and they'll have no way to protect themselves.
The players were expected to fight their way out of the Prison and beat up the Lich running the town, and escape. This lead to more setup down the line including a Vampire Lord running a Winery Cabal, cornering the price on alcohol all over the country, to a Druid that was researching necromancy and behind both the Lich and the Vampire lord because they want to learn the source behind all necromancy and erase it all from existance. (including innocent undead like the vampire Yuan-Ti)
But for all intents and purposes, let's stick to just 2 things. The Prison, and the Lich. The Lich actually isn't as strong as a normal Lich because they didn't earn their Lichdom through hardwork and SCIENCE. No, they were used as an experiment by the organization the Druid ran to try and figure out how necromancy works. So the Lich is more or less just an Undead Rogue with a few spells that he's picked up since taking over this village. Because of this I don't think the difficulty will be THAT hard, but he should be a pretty difficult boss. at least CR 5, maybe 7.
When I first made the prison, I barely did anything at all, and the players more or less escaped the prison in the first session just by making good stealth roles. Considering I want this to actually be a campaign, this needs a big ol make-over.
Any suggestions I can learn from?

Some things to consider as ideas...

The characters used to be criminals - or at the very least - ACCUSED of a crime (perhaps even framed).
This lands them in prison.
So that way if someone wants to play a good aligned character, perhaps they were incorrectly thrown in jail, or even framed. (Framed works better, because this gives the character something else to work towards after escaping the prison).

Now each of them has been sentenced to "death" - and because whatever kingdoms in your world don't want to get their own hands dirty - they ship them off to this prison which is run by said Lich.

The world pretty much lets this Lich and the Yuan-Ti vampires do their thing, because the townsfolk use the prison for the prisoner's "death sentence" knowing the vampires will be appeased by the constant food source and the prison is more of a "meat kennel" as far as the vampires are concerned. (It could even be that the characters were set up - or simply chosen, maybe against their will - to ship people to this prison to keep the vampires fed, and prevent them from having the need to go out and feed - sort of like Hunger Games - they were "volunteered/voluntold as tribute").

So depending on the level you start this, maybe the primary prison is run by goblins and orcs who, begrundingly work for the vampires. So the party needs to come together and work to over throw some orcs and goblins. Then as they make their way up the prison (I imagine most of the prison being built underground - like a dungeon for the ease of the vampires) - anyway, as they work their way up, there's tougher monsters along the way (bugbears on one floor, ogres on another).

You could even make it that some of the prisoners threaten to make noise and alert the guards if the party doesn't free them also - so now they've got to free them - and maybe some try to kill the party and escape, or they make noise that draws attention, or they're young, elderly, whatever. Fun things that the party, if they are good people, would normally want to help so innocent people are not fed upon - but maybe not everyone in the cells is innocent. And casting spells to do zone of truth and ask questions is sure to draw attention.

The plus side, when they finally get out of the prison - the vampires have become fat and lazy, due to having a constant food supply. That way, you as a DM can be generous at first towards the party taking down some of the vampire residents.

Word can get to the Lich and he alerts the residents by ringing the bell - now the party has to stealth-fully make their way out - or go to the sewers, where they encounter slimes, gelatenious cubes, wererats, etc.

Just spit balling ideas.

[MaxieZeus]

Lich and vampire lord yuan-ti with an "inescapable" prison with who knows what for guards.

The Vampire Lord is not part of this quest. He's a separate villain that's related to the macro-story. and the Lich isn't a full lich, he's basically got the undead resistances and immunities that Liches have and a FEW spells, but he's significantly weaker than the average Lich.


Do the characters start at level 11? 15? 20? The problem is that to defeat a bunch of vampire yuan-ti and a lich, the characters must be very high level to start with. Or do they go from level 1-10 escaping the prison?

Normal campaigns would typically start at low level. However, low level characters can't deal with the creature running the prison or the other creatures in the nearby village. Even one vampire might be a TPK depending on level ... a whole village of vampire yuan-ti? Cool concept but sounds like insta-death for anything but higher level parties.

Players will be starting around 1-3 Im not sure the exact starting level. 1 tends to be how low-level modules start, but you are also so weak at level 1, Im not sure. I could also start at level 5 if I want to give the players difficulty right away. Like I said with the OP, I didn't have this campaign properly planned out when i did it years ago.

HOWEVER, the Yuan-Ti are not bad people. They were forcible turned into Vampires by the lich as a way of controlling them. They were normal people just living in the desert as Arabian sand-people before the Lich came over. The sorta theme with the campaign is "Undead=/=Evil, Undead is a state that someone is put into."

Regarding the Guards, in my original campaign, the majority of guards were basic zombies set on predetermined routes around the Prison with some living guards controlling everything from a booth.


Some things to consider as ideas...

The characters used to be criminals - or at the very least - ACCUSED of a crime (perhaps even framed).
This lands them in prison.
So that way if someone wants to play a good aligned character, perhaps they were incorrectly thrown in jail, or even framed. (Framed works better, because this gives the character something else to work towards after escaping the prison).

Now each of them has been sentenced to "death" - and because whatever kingdoms in your world don't want to get their own hands dirty - they ship them off to this prison which is run by said Lich.

The world pretty much lets this Lich and the Yuan-Ti vampires do their thing, because the townsfolk use the prison for the prisoner's "death sentence" knowing the vampires will be appeased by the constant food source and the prison is more of a "meat kennel" as far as the vampires are concerned. (It could even be that the characters were set up - or simply chosen, maybe against their will - to ship people to this prison to keep the vampires fed, and prevent them from having the need to go out and feed - sort of like Hunger Games - they were "volunteered/voluntold as tribute").

So depending on the level you start this, maybe the primary prison is run by goblins and orcs who, begrundingly work for the vampires. So the party needs to come together and work to over throw some orcs and goblins. Then as they make their way up the prison (I imagine most of the prison being built underground - like a dungeon for the ease of the vampires) - anyway, as they work their way up, there's tougher monsters along the way (bugbears on one floor, ogres on another).

You could even make it that some of the prisoners threaten to make noise and alert the guards if the party doesn't free them also - so now they've got to free them - and maybe some try to kill the party and escape, or they make noise that draws attention, or they're young, elderly, whatever. Fun things that the party, if they are good people, would normally want to help so innocent people are not fed upon - but maybe not everyone in the cells is innocent. And casting spells to do zone of truth and ask questions is sure to draw attention.

The plus side, when they finally get out of the prison - the vampires have become fat and lazy, due to having a constant food supply. That way, you as a DM can be generous at first towards the party taking down some of the vampire residents.

Word can get to the Lich and he alerts the residents by ringing the bell - now the party has to stealth-fully make their way out - or go to the sewers, where they encounter slimes, gelatenious cubes, wererats, etc.

Just spit balling ideas.

Yeah the original idea was that it was just an underground dungeon the players had to climb out of. Though I do like the idea of the prisoners being used like cattle for the Vampires to survive off of, as little food is available otherwise to them.


2) How big is the prison? Who supplies food and water? If the yuan-ti are vampires, who provides security during the day? Is it run by undead? If the desert is the prime security measure, are there even walls in this prison? Do you need a big security setup if there's a massive inescapable desert out there? Are the criminals just let to roam around looking for food and water while the yuan-ti hide in a walled village?

Originally the idea was to have the Prison be this big underground nextwork. I was heavily inspired by One Piece's Impel Down, where the players had to move from the most deadly areas at the bottom, to go up and make their way slowly there. But Im not sure how to structure that in a believable way. why would these nobodies be bothered to be put in the maximum security section, and why all 4-5 of them who each have unique circumstances being there? It makes more sense to put them in the easy place but force them to get in there.

Perhaps the Prison works on a Level system, with Level 1 being out in the middle of the desert. No immediate danger besides the elements. There's even a small house with a platform to go down. If you WANT to go to Level 2 of the Prison you can. but the basically make it a game, seeing how long you can survive in the Desert before you either die of heatstroke/dehydration or you give up and go to Level 2.

After Level 2, the system is automized and under the control of the Vampires running it. At Level 3 there's an underground tunnel that leads from the Prison to the Yuan-Ti city, this way the Vampires can bypass the sunlight. HOWEVER, the Guard-room in Level 3 can't actually be accessed at Level 3, they are just at the same level. I don't know how to map it out yet, but you'd need to go all the way down to Level 5, in order to go back up to Level 3 and get out.

Im not entirely sure how the Yuan-Ti manage the prisoners in this situation, since they'd be entering Level 2 voluntarily. Perhaps they have guards posted ready to move them to a cell immediately?


3 [Optional]) Also, why is there a prison here? The reason we have prisons in the real world is to hold people who don't deserve to die (for whatever reasons societies make that call). So why did someone pay to have the PCs dumped here, pay to feed and house them, and pay to secure them? In other words, why didn't someone just kill the violent felons (aka, the PCs) instead of jailing them?

I like Tawmis's idea that the Prison works as a sorta Cattle-farm for the Yuan-Ti to survive off of. Maybe the Lich also uses the Prisoners for necromancy experiments, and he used his political connects to set up a deal with the other neighboring Lords to basically buy their criminals. Maybe the prison sorta works like a Quarry or Oil Pump, where there's this super rare resource that they use Prisoners to hall out the stuff, and then the Necromancer sells the resource back to the Lords he bought the Criminals from. So there'd be 4 general status assigned to Prisoners. "Basic" where they aren't doing anything. "Workers" where they haul the resource out. "Cattle" Prisoners who get selected to be food for the Yuan-Ti and are never seen or heard from again. and "Victims", special Prisoners the Lich uses for his experiments. (Perhaps one of the mini-bosses in the dungeon is one of these Experiments. Housed on the lower floors)


4) You probably want to start the players as prisoners, which means they have no equipment, no food, and no water. So you'll need to familiarize yourself with the Extreme Heat and Starvation rules in the DMG. Now you've created goals for the PCs: we want our stuff back, and we want out of here. So develop the area in the prison where the prisoners things are kept (or maybe the guards draw lots to see who gets what, and now the PCs have a motivation to go after the guard carrying their mom's rapier). Keep in mind the PCs might improvise stuff, too, including crazy stuff like trying to use braided fishing twine as a rope, for example.

I like the idea of their good being kept by the nation they were sold from. But maybe the Criminals in the Prison have managed to set up a sorta black-market system with the Yuan-Ti in exchange for good. Even rare magic stuff that the Lich "misplaced" or some magic was traded to them from outside the Prison. Perhaps there could be some sub-quests where the PC's do stuff for the Black Market guy to get equipment to help them on their mission


5) What are the ways out? Are there caravans every few days? Teleportation circles keyed with secret runes? Tunnels? All of the above? Let the PCs find one or two of them, and then let them develop their own plans. Do not create a "right way," and don't get mad if they bypass your Lich-Rogue. They might; just roll with it, and two or three sessions later, they find wanted posters up of themselves.

In the original campaign I just had a wall of sandstorm surrounding the desert that required the players to defeat the Lich in order to break out.


6) Alternatively, you can run a tense planning session, where everyone tries to map out the prison. If you do this, have three sets of blueprints ready. One is your copy, one is a really good version if the players do well, and one is a version that has several blank spots if the players do poorly. Also be sure to let the players identify an exit strategy to bypass the desert. If their strategy is "we walk into the desert," make sure you have rules support for food and water weight. My standard is that one waterskin holds half a days water, so they either need to resupply or have a friendly druid. Just be aware that "you're in a prison, what do you do?" has the implied task of "kill all the guards, get my stuff, and get out." If you're going for a tense planning session, you'll need to clue the PCs in on that, either OOC with a session zero, or IC with an NPC leading a breakout (think Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy), or both. You'll also need to let them know they have no armor or weapons.

I like this version more, as I love making the prepping stage an interactive status with mini-stages in between that they need to overcome.

[Sparky McDibben]

Maybe the Lich also uses the Prisoners for necromancy experiments,

Wait, I thought this lich was basically an arcane trickster who didn't get their powers from an arcane transformation? What reason and training do they have to do necromantic experiments?


I like the idea of their good being kept by the nation they were sold from. But maybe the Criminals in the Prison have managed to set up a sorta black-market system with the Yuan-Ti in exchange for good. Even rare magic stuff that the Lich "misplaced" or some magic was traded to them from outside the Prison. Perhaps there could be some sub-quests where the PC's do stuff for the Black Market guy to get equipment to help them on their mission

That's good stuff!


In the original campaign I just had a wall of sandstorm surrounding the desert that required the players to defeat the Lich in order to break out.

So this raises a different problem, though one that could be hand-waved: if there's a giant sandstorm, how is food getting in? Even if the guards are all undead, you'd still need to feed the prisoners. Possible solutions:

1) Caravans: the lich extorts the prisoners home countries for money (gee, it'd be terrible if this guy managed to get loose...), which it uses for supplies (not just food, but rare magical components, etc)
2) Prison Farm: Harder to pull off, but in your world you might have a druid or someone who can cast plant growth that enables subsistence living even in a desert environment
3) Soylent Green: There's a reason that the prisoners get meat two weeks after someone goes missing...
4) Myconids: The fungal garden is actually a group of myconids who have been taken over by the lich. He forces them to grow fungus to feed the prisoners, which has the side effect of drugging most of them into complacency.
5) Teleportation circle: Similar to caravans but magic.
6) No Food: There is no food; the prisoners eat each other

Have fun!

[MaxieZeus]

Wait, I thought this lich was basically an arcane trickster who didn't get their powers from an arcane transformation? What reason and training do they have to do necromantic experiments?

Yeah, he's basically an arcane trickster, but that doesn't mean he can't be TRYING to learn more. like "ok, I kinda suck at being a Lich, and since Im bored running this super lucritive Prison business with my own vampire slaves, I might as well TRY and learn how this necromancy works. He's also not literally an arcane trickster, so he's not obligated to focus his magic on illusion and enchantment. He can't cast that many spells, but he might know some rituals or possess scrolls, or even be building wands.


So this raises a different problem, though one that could be hand-waved: if there's a giant sandstorm, how is food getting in? Even if the guards are all undead, you'd still need to feed the prisoners. Possible solutions:

1) Caravans: the lich extorts the prisoners home countries for money (gee, it'd be terrible if this guy managed to get loose...), which it uses for supplies (not just food, but rare magical components, etc)
2) Prison Farm: Harder to pull off, but in your world you might have a druid or someone who can cast plant growth that enables subsistence living even in a desert environment
3) Soylent Green: There's a reason that the prisoners get meat two weeks after someone goes missing...
4) Myconids: The fungal garden is actually a group of myconids who have been taken over by the lich. He forces them to grow fungus to feed the prisoners, which has the side effect of drugging most of them into complacency.
5) Teleportation circle: Similar to caravans but magic.
6) No Food: There is no food; the prisoners eat each other

Have fun!

I wasn't saying i had to include the sandstorm, just that that was what I did last time. It honestly feels kinda a cop out (and it doesn't really explain how the Prisoners got there in the first place outside of teleportation runes.

I like the idea of Soylent Greens. Like, once every two weeks, the Vampires pick some of the prisoners to be "released" for good behavior. They get taken through the tunnel. Then, the next week, suddenly the Vampires feel generous and give the the prisoners all this fresh meat (which is just the drained corpses of the victims they finally finished draining to a pulp)

In terms of vegetables and such, there could be a small subset of Workers assigned to scavenge the desert on Level 1 to hunt for roots and Cacti and the occasional Hare, which is then shared with the Prisoners. Perhaps when the players first arrive in the desert, they find themselves all confused, with just a small house next to them. If they wait an hour before going in, they run into the Scavengers, coming back in from their day's search for food.

There could also be Black Market resources for fresh fruits and vegitables, which are SUPER expensive and the Vampires basically sell it to the Prisoners in exchange for extra labor.

Of course, not sure yet what these Black Market missions might be, or what this overall structure might look like. just, 4 floors and the outside. If I want this to sorta work in a layer-system, where the more dangerous the criminal, the lower the level. Perhaps the Level 2 is just this Sandstone structure with Prisoners occassionally traveling down to Level 3 to mine, or to Level 1 to scavenge, and they sorta live in this peaceful community, occassionally interrupted by the newest criminals or an abusive guard.

Prisoners are only permanently transfered to lower Levels when they cause problems. Get into a fist fight on Level 2 and you get sent to level 3. Murder a Prisoner and you get sent to Level 4. Not sure whats worth being sent down to Level 5, maybe people who attack guards or incite riots. Basically the people they most want to punish personally, isolated from anyone who may want to help them.

Level 3 is a giant mining complex, deep enough under the sand and sandstone that people can actually mine through solid rock. Perhaps the mine is an Adamantine mine, meaning the miners can't actually carve out the resource, they have to dig around it because none of their equipment can break it. Once the Ore is removed from the earth, it's shipped back to the main Vampire Village, where it's magically smelted and turned into Ore to be sold to other nations.

I have no idea what happens in Level 4 besides "more mining" but that doesn't sound interesting. What kind of punishment awaits those who commit murder on another Prisoner?

[Sparky McDibben]

Yeah, he's basically an arcane trickster, but that doesn't mean he can't be TRYING to learn more.

I love it when bad guys are committed to self-improvement! :)




What kind of punishment awaits those who commit murder on another Prisoner?

Maybe they get promoted? The yuan-ti might still have the means to make more yuan-ti in secret. So level 4 is where they take prisoners who have the requisite skills (violent, loyal, none too bright), and transform (in a terrible rite that lasts days) into regular yuan-ti. They're doing this because they want to escape, and having these prisoners able to cross the desert might come in very, very handy.

Also, you now have a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy (conspira-ception?) so that might get a little hard to track.

It sounds like a really fun and interesting campaign starter!!

[MaxieZeus]

I love it when bad guys are committed to self-improvement! :)

Self Care is very important


Maybe they get promoted? The yuan-ti might still have the means to make more yuan-ti in secret. So level 4 is where they take prisoners who have the requisite skills (violent, loyal, none too bright), and transform (in a terrible rite that lasts days) into regular yuan-ti. They're doing this because they want to escape, and having these prisoners able to cross the desert might come in very, very handy.

Also, you now have a conspiracy-within-a-conspiracy (conspira-ception?) so that might get a little hard to track.

It sounds like a really fun and interesting campaign starter!!

So like, Level 4 is just this super-secret flood that only higher-ranking Yuan-Ti can access, the normal floor go directly from Level 3 to 5 when they specifically want to torture and destroy a prisoner for directly harming or usurping the power of the guards. However, every now and then a prisoner will be taken below Level 3, but they don't go to Level 5, instead their body is never recovered. Some prisoners in Level 5 who were given mercy and returned to Level 3 admit they never saw those few Prisoners who went down. Are they killed? Why the secrecy? Plenty of Prisoners are just murdered, or taken beyond he Prison walls. What mystery lies deep within the Prison.

So, basic structure of the Premise is as follows


Players are teleported to the middle of a Desert by the government to serve in the "Prison of Im bad at names". There they find the blinding sun and intense heat. There is a single house, a tiny shack standing 30ft away. Closer inspection and an Arcana check will reveal small crystal runes along the house's roof, which teleported you here. Should you wait for more than an hour in the blistering sun, you will encounter Scavengers carrying roots or the bodies of small foxes and hares. They say the land is empty for thousands of miles. Many have tried to treck out. Those that returned said the sand nearly killed them. If you heed the warning of the Scavengers and head inside the house, or go in before meeting them, you will find a stairwell that leads to Level 2.

Level 2 is a small place, rooms connected by corridors, some small tables with people playing games with boards drawn into the sand and small pebbles as game pieces. The walls and floor are thick sandstone. Occassionally you'll find a Yuan-Ti Abomination in elaborate Leather Armor with either monitoring from the shadows or even playing one of the games. Upon entering Level 2 you'll be introduced to some NPCs that explain what this Prison is, who runs it, and the basic rules. You'll also meet Maddock, a Bugbear who has connections to a black market built in the Prison, and promises to offer rare goods for coin. How you'll get coin is up to you. You will have options to go down to Level 3 by approaching a guard and asking. They will hand you a wooden plaque that lists you as a Level 2 Prisoner. You can't lose it or you'll be stuck in Level 3. If you pick a fight with the other Prisoners you will be tossed into Level 3 with no plaque as well.

In Level 3, you have a stone quarry, deep under the Prison now. Here the Prisoners mine for Adamantine in exchange for Copper pieces Guards offer. The Prisoners can exchange the Copper for fresh food and water from the Guards, possible utility items like toiletries, or go to the Black Market to acquire more rare items. Level 2 is also divided between various labor groups, which have deals worked out with the Guards to have access to the largest Ore deposits, so whenever Ore is found, if you aren't part of the gang, you don't get any. There are three gangs in total in Level 3, North, South, and East. The Western half of the Prison is not allowed to be dug into and its where the Guard outpost is situated. It's actually impossible to get into the outpost from Level 3, as the entire Outpost is sealed, with scrying stones used to monitor the Prison from there. The only way guards get into the Prison section of Level 3, is by going up from Level 4. But if you go to Level 4, if you ever come back at all, you'll return horrifically scared and mutilated. The only way to get to Level 4, is to kill someone.

What the Prisoners do not know, is that between Level 3 and 4 is a secret floor known as "Level 3.5" where the Yuan-Ti do even MORE grusome and twisted experiments, and even study to recreate the Yuan-Ti formula, in addition to bizarrely, studying the effects of HOLY Magic. Druids and Clerics and Paladins are more likely than any other kind of Prisoner to vanish into Level 3.5.

I think that's a good structure to the Prison. Though now I need to figure out how the players are even going to be able to get out. And what means they can to earn money in order to get the supplies needed to get out. Just having the players spend 90% of the campaign digging in a mine is not exactly exciting gameplay