Dwarf Campaign Help

[frankbelmont]

I made a post a while ago about a dwarf barbarian that i needed help. I loved the dwarf race so much that i decided now that i am dm again to start a new dwarf party based (maybe throw a gnome in the mix) campaign. I will use PHB DMG MM and races of stone books. What i need is source material for inspiration and ideas where to look for information about the lore and architecture.

[Nifft]

Hi ho, hi ho... what do you mean Snow White isn't a D&D sourcebook?!

Races of Stone would be an obvious choice.

Any of Tolkien's works might be of value, since the D&D Dwarf draws much from his interpretation.

[Biggus]

Tolkien got his inspiration for dwarves primarily from Norse mythology, so that might be worth a look. In Frostburn there's the Midgard dwarfs which, as their name suggests, are based on Norse dwarfs.

[Cygnia]

A similar question is would you be open to the other dwarven variants out there? As examples, Dragon Magic has Fireblood Dwarves and Sandstorm has Badlands Dwarves.

And, as a GM, you may have players who want to be Duergar and Derro -- which might twist the campaign in a more evil direction if you're not careful.

[frankbelmont]

I will allow drwarfs, dream and gold and possibly gnomes,forest and maybe whisper not goliath. I think a neutral campaign towards good but evil is not prohibited if they play it right. My idea is that they will try to restore their clan and reclaim an abandoned dwarven outpost.

[Saintheart]

I will allow drwarfs, dream and gold and possibly gnomes,forest and maybe whisper not goliath. I think a neutral campaign towards good but evil is not prohibited if they play it right. My idea is that they will try to restore their clan and reclaim an abandoned dwarven outpost.

Please tell me you're going to have a dragon as the end boss and a NPC halfling with a ring of invisibility.

[Calthropstu]

Duergar would be a great nemesis.

You could also borrow gully dwarves from krynn, but if you do that you should only have 2. No more than 2...

Instead of a token gnome, you could have it be a svirfneblin. Would give a reason to go deep underground.

Dwarven siege weapons are... terrifying. They live underground so throwing big boulders usually isn't productive. Instead, they custom make rollers set specifically to the width of their halls which act as steamrollers/meat grinders (and other such monstrosities).

Make sure, however, that the players understand that in dwarven society, honor is everything. King and country -> Clan -> upper family -> lower family -> self. If the clan demands that a dwarf surrender his second born to a soldiers life, then he will see it done. Dwarven societies tend to be lawful to a fault. Responsibility is everything. If they decide to do something "just cuz" come down with a giant justice hammer.

[Nifft]

I will allow drwarfs, dream and gold and possibly gnomes,forest and maybe whisper not goliath. I think a neutral campaign towards good but evil is not prohibited if they play it right. My idea is that they will try to restore their clan and reclaim an abandoned dwarven outpost.

Gnomes are a good idea.

For antagonists, try picking foes which highlight Dwarf virtues.

Poison, for example, and spells. Yuan-ti are good antagonists because they're venomous spellcasters.

Traps which modify stonework highlight another solid Dwarf strength; also monsters which imitate stonework (e.g. gargoyles) or monsters which modify stone (e.g. gibbering mouther).

Orcs and goblinoids are obvious and good choices, thanks to the attack bonus; Giants are also obvious thanks to the defense bonus. Specifically, try using orcs or goblins as minions (low HP) so hitting once is all the PCs might need, thus maximizing the value of the Dwarven attack bonus; and on the other side, try using a giant as the boss so endurance is key to victory, which maximizes the value of the defense bonus.

[frankbelmont]

Thanks for the replies and the answers very helpful. Yeah the options for enemies are many i also thought making antagonists kobolds and duergar spies lead by a durzagon or a maeluth maybe a rogue faction of wild elves or lizardfolk that want control of the area. I just started playing dragon age origins again as a dwarf and really helped me to get a grasp of the concept.

[Skunkheart]

What is it specifically about dwarfs that attracted you to the idea? Is it the crafting, the honor, the gruffness, the whistling while they work, the fact that they are maggots consuming the flesh of the corpse from which the world is made*, the berserkers with bright orange mohawks, the possibility of steampunk? Why did you choose the subraces you chose?

How long ago was this outpost abandoned, in dwarfin generations? Is this "recover the territory my daddy or grandaddy lost" or is this "searching for the ancient glory only recalled in the mists of myth" or somewhere in-between?

What are the relationships between the dwarfs and the gnomes and the svirfneblin and the devils and the duergar and the derro? How does that inform the politics and landscape of the campaign?

A couple of inspirations I might take in creating the campaign if I was DMing it:

Tolkien dwarfs are famously inspired by Norse myths and have somehow become Scottish in the fan imagination over the years. But Tolkien's dwarfish language Khuzdul is based on Hebrew. I might suggest pulling on Jewish history and culture for significant elements of dwarfin life ~ magic items out of the Torah and midrashim, gods based on the angels and sephira, the merkabah as a major artifact, etc. To note a possible pitfall: dwarfs are sometimes depicted as particularly miserly merchants;mixing that image in with this suggestion almost certainly creates an awful lot of ick. I would avoid that combination.
Dero have an interesting origin in ichard Shaver's stories, where they are very creepy and sci-fi and abduct people for strange experiments. If you use them, I would probably pull heavily on that. Pathfinder's deros draw rather heavily from that original description.
The old 90s-era M:tG novel Ashes of the Sun describes a fascinating conflict in minotaur culture between religious traditionalists and forward-looking scientists. It's one of my favorite books, actually, and I might pull on it for ideas.
If you add in durzagons and maeluths, it seems like th campaign might be addressing issues of what a lawful alignment means, why it's better than chaotic, and the struggle inherent to it in not going too far / "just following orders" / giving up one's individual Will or other ways of just going too far with it....



* No fooling, this is what they are in Norse myth

[Blackhawk748]

Well the first question here is, is where are your Dwarves? Are they in the far North, the desert, or are they in the more normal temperate zones?

Because each of these makes a very different type of Dwarf