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View Full Version : How to make an enjoyable arcane-ish campaign



Hyozo
2007-11-13, 09:21 PM
Okay, I'm planning on starting a PbP arcane-ish campaign on GITP's PBP forum in about a month or two. By arcane-ish I mean that the allowed classes will be any arcane caster, any ToM classes, and possibly clerics with the magic domain or archivists. It will be set in a slightly altered standard D&D world, and the players will mostly be allowed to do as they wish (although there will be limits, and the result of ignoring plot hooks will not be death for everybody but the PCs). What I want is:

Suggestions on where I should place limits.

What I should prepare for (Yes, I know to prepare for lots of fire and crime, anything ELSE?)

About how much plot is appropriate to niether bore the players with plot nor bore the players with lack thereof.

NOTE: I am not looking for plot hooks, and the fact that the PCs are all arcane casters DOES NOT mean the rest of the world is the same way.

TheLogman
2007-11-13, 10:04 PM
In a world where everyone is a Magic-user, some limits must be in place, right? The higher-up Archmages will have taken Shape-Spell and using Arcane Development the players cannot reach, made permanent Anti-magic fields around public areas, the city grouds, ect. However, the spell can be shaped so that some of the appliances of the city (Gates to other planes, Continual flame torches, Magic-dueling arenas) still function.

Also, know the rules for counterspelling, since the players could attack an NPC spellcaster, and in a world where everyone uses magic, NPC's know what spells a spellcaster traditionally attacks with, and could counterspell them easily.

As for Plothooks, in a world with a lot of magic, Wild-Magic zones will form from residual magic, perhaps the Pc's need to clear them out. Another thing to consider is a group of Living Spells. They fit well with the campaign, and are more of a template, allowing you to combine lots of fun spells into one fun Ooze.

Hyozo
2007-11-13, 10:33 PM
In a world where everyone is a Magic-user, some limits must be in place, right? The higher-up Archmages will have taken Shape-Spell and using Arcane Development the players cannot reach, made permanent Anti-magic fields around public areas, the city grouds, ect. However, the spell can be shaped so that some of the appliances of the city (Gates to other planes, Continual flame torches, Magic-dueling arenas) still function.

Also, know the rules for counterspelling, since the players could attack an NPC spellcaster, and in a world where everyone uses magic, NPC's know what spells a spellcaster traditionally attacks with, and could counterspell them easily.

As for Plothooks, in a world with a lot of magic, Wild-Magic zones will form from residual magic, perhaps the Pc's need to clear them out. Another thing to consider is a group of Living Spells. They fit well with the campaign, and are more of a template, allowing you to combine lots of fun spells into one fun Ooze.

The problem is that is nearly the polar opposite of where I'm headed. My idea is a campaign where arcane magic is incredibly rare (amoung humanoids), and the shared ability to cast is what first brings the characters together. Still, I suppose permanent AMFs can be implimented in a different way. Since I'm planning on having Karsites make up a fairly large portion of the population, I suppose that it wouldn't be too much of a strech to say that their constant presence has effectibely deadened magic in heavily traficed areas.

Xuincherguixe
2007-11-14, 05:51 AM
Have strange things that would terrify magic users. Perhaps some sort of ancient evil that eats magic, and is immune to spells. Some people show up that are able to violate important principles on which magic is founded that are on the scale of dividing by zero (and for this example, it would be like getting a meaningful result from dividing by zero)

The magical authorities want to keep the phenomenom covered up supposedly because it would create panic, but truthfully they don't want to let anyone know there is something they have no control over.

That should give plot some good chance to grow.