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View Full Version : Primewalkers (Campaign idea) Warning: High levels of silly.



Unscrewed
2008-04-05, 05:49 PM
I like crazy. I like silly, weird, chaotic situations that even the most cunning DM couldn't come up with. I also have a bit of a soft spot for crossovers. Thus, Primewalkers.

The idea is that whatever campaign settings are involved are simply different dimensions where travel from one to the other is nigh impossible, bar extreme levels of improbability. But Something went wrong. Perhaps a mad scientist from D20 Modern opened a portal to Toril. Perhaps the Aurum popped open an old Gatekeeper seal and decided to team up with the Illumanati. Heck, maybe reality simply imploded and dumped a confused Thay wizard in the middle of Manifest. Essentially, I want a massive crossover for every D20 setting in existence.

Naturally, this is going to lead to a few problems. First, conversions. There are a few subtle differences between settings. Right now I know of two: Action Points and Massive Damage.
Action points: I'm going to give everyone action points, using the Eberron rules. Since they're effectively the mechanics for awesome, they go well with the bizzare, zany, holey-crud-did-that-just-happen feel that I'm going for.
Massive Damage/B]: I think the D&D rules for massive Damage are best here. A threshold any lower and PC's will die left and right.

Second, balance. Balance is hard enough to maintain even without the massive mixing I want to do. When it comes to inter-world travel, I'm thinking a gadget that creates a short lived gate once per week. Flexible, yet hard to abuse by taking massive amounts of weapons or items from one world to the other. I've got three ideas so far:
1. [B]Core only: Only allow D&D core, D20 Modern, D20 Future, D20 arcana, ECS, Forgotten Realms, and Ghostwalk. Pro: Less stuff to handle, balance will probably be easier. Con: Puts a limit on what can happen.

2Everything Goes: If you give it to me and I approve it, it can go in. All books and homebrew/online classes allowed. Pro: Sheer possibility makes me cackle with glee. Con: Balancing is gonna by tough as hell, loads and loads of books to haul around.

3Core and Computer: Same as D&D core, plus any online material I approve. Pro: More variety than core, less books to haul around. Con: Online material untested, there's bound to be unforeseen balance problems.

And the Third, Plot. This one I think I have down, though. Find the big, secret, conspiracy organization from whatever settings are involved, and have them working together for world takeover. PC's pick up on trail of homeworld organization, run into each other at portal machine. They find the once-week portal device I mentioned, then go out to figure out what in the name of God (Heronious, or whatever) is going on.

I need input. Any ideas?

puppyavenger
2008-04-05, 06:20 PM
remember that D20 modern is significantly lower powerd than D&D, with only 5th level spells and below
and you forgot Eboron,
and there's a book called D20 past for cononiaal and exploration age settings
what PL for the future campaign?

Ponce
2008-04-05, 06:32 PM
I'm sure you could find plenty of ideas in Planescape.

Unscrewed
2008-04-05, 07:04 PM
remember that D20 modern is significantly lower powerd than D&D, with only 5th level spells and below
and you forgot Eboron,
and there's a book called D20 past for cononiaal and exploration age settings
what PL for the future campaign?

...Somewhere an English teacher is crying.

To actually answer your comments:

1. I know that D20 modern has lower spells. I was thinking guns and other advanced weaponry would make up for it (handguns do 2d6 damage per hit, which is a lot more than bows. Plus, there's submachine guns and assault rifles).

2. ECS: Eberron Campaign Setting.

3. I've heard of D20 past. I'll have to look for it.

4. Future setting PL? Whatever number space ships show up in. (Energy age?) I thinks that's PL 7.

puppyavenger
2008-04-05, 07:14 PM
...Somewhere an English teacher is crying.

To actually answer your comments:

1. I know that D20 modern has lower spells. I was thinking guns and other advanced weaponry would make up for it (handguns do 2d6 damage per hit, which is a lot more than bows. Plus, there's submachine guns and assault rifles).

2. ECS: Eberron Campaign Setting.

3. I've heard of D20 past. I'll have to look for it.

4. Future setting PL? Whatever number space ships show up in. (Energy age?) I thinks that's PL 7.

sorry, I'm tired.
1. not sure, also no one person flying, magic item, etc, not sure how technoagy makes up for it, just remebering a thread on the forums.
2. oops sorry.
3. sure
4. from the SRD PL6, 7's when they're commonplace .

UglyPanda
2008-04-05, 07:37 PM
A guy I knew tried to do this once, and had enough trouble making it that he gave up and ran a vanilla campaign.

Some thoughts:
-Guns are obscene in d20 modern & future. A good roll or a critical will hit the massive damage threshold. In regular D&D, not so much, since the threshold is 50.
-d20 modern & future characters have AC bonuses from class levels. If they have access to magic armor, it would make some character's AC absurdly high.
-Each d20 future progress level is much better than the one before it. You could compensate by making more advanced equipment more expensive, but that just turns future tech into something the players will eventually buy.
-You need to determine whether or not bullets and lasers count as arrows and bolts for the purposes of some effects (Wind wall, deflect arrows, etc.)
-All of the decent melee weapons in d20 modern require a feat.
-You need to think about what characters are supposed to do about ammo and supplies when outside of their proper time periods.
-Characters should only be allowed to access feats and classes from their own time periods.

Kol Korran
2008-04-06, 01:00 PM
my advice here is a bit limited, since the only d20 system i used is D&D (played other systems for othjer genres, but that is beside the point). anyway, my ideas:

1) the bad people/s plan should be one world domination, but all the worlds. also, i'd suggest to make them as mixed as the party might be (i'll get to that in a minute). but, as a side twist, i'd suggest that the real power behind the scenes, is something OUTSIDE any of the worlds! some villanin/ BBEG/ force that has entirely different mechanics, powers, and such than are in any of the systems! that way you get it to realy be unique, and add some distinguishing aspect to the entire campaign.
hey, you might even have the villain be a DM! (saying it is a "god" and "creator" of the multiverse, testing it's creations, when it is realy someone with massive reality altering powers, who got caught in this place, and is having soem nasty fun... did i say DM?)

2) let there be a few organizations, each competing with each other (the party could originally be reqruited by one). each is inspired by some secret information/ council of leaders/ secret god or whatever. each think they are right, and perhaps all are just orchestrated to compete for the main villain/s (furthering their plan, or perhaps justtesting various team combinations)

3) have each PC come from a different setting. the first few meetings are solo meetings, with each player in his/ her setting, following the trail and affects of the "gateway" activation and setting, until they find members of the recruiting organization, who lead them all to some place. also, if yougo with the DM idea, throw a few realy inexplicable challanges at times, and have the organization people becoem awed at the party overcomign that. "indeed, you were chosen by the creator!" (the DM while not busy with other stuff and bored, picks on this team. think Xykon in terms of mentality, attantion span, and random use of power).

4) each setting should have it's own unique feel, which other than fluff should also include mechanics. maybe some settings limit magic, some technology, eberron may add more action points, and more... characters originating from a settign should have both the familiarity advantage (imagine an Eberron character stepping into FR... "why all the gods? WHAT? you must believe in them or your soul vanishes? what a stupid lame ass thing is that, how do you even know they are real? oh you said they walked the earth? we had demons called Rakshasa do that i our plane... this is an evil place indeed!"), and some sort of mechanical advantage (such as avialability of feats, skills, equipment and more...)

5) crossing between settings: as the little hope above demonstrated, even the simplest of things can be utterly shocking and confusing when crossing between worlds. or in other words- rolepaly opportunities. examine everything you percieve as basic upon each setting (electricity? gods? physics?), and play it out! i'd suggest you allow skills on the lines of knowledge (setting) to be acquired. these may produce modifiers for dealing with any aspect of another worlds. also, prepare some will or panic saves for dealing with overwhelmingly different situations (such as a modern d20 meeting a ost of undead? i have no knowledge of the setting but it seems an out-of-common-experience experience)

6) think hard about "power sources". the magic of FR comes from the weave of Chantaue (i think that is how it is spelled). what will the casters do when traveling abroad? and the clercis with out access to their gods? many modern devices require regular maintanance, recharging, or batteries. how long to thos last? and i have no idea about the future setting, but it should apply.

7) culture shock and moving away: some PCs might decide they like another world better ("i'm moving to Eberron! close enough to what i know, and the dragonmarked houses make life better!" or "i'm moving to toril! you just pick a god and your soul goes to somewhere wonderfull, who needs Dollurh!" or an artificer/ rouge/ mechanic type "i'm moving to <modern d20 world>! i like thos guns and stuff! who needs magic!" and so on...) how do they aclimitize? what challanges await? this could be a hell of a roleplay challange!

you're trying out a potentially very complex idea, which i personally wouldn't try (i like my settings more... orderly in terms of knowing the rules, my "wackiness" occurs with the campaign themselves), but i wish you the best of luck. remmeber there is a fine line between it being a great success, and it being percieved as a badly construed idea. my best advice for this sort of venture- prepare, prepare, prepare.

let us know how it went though!

Illiterate Scribe
2008-04-07, 04:38 AM
I like crazy. I like silly, weird, chaotic situations that even the most cunning DM couldn't come up with. I also have a bit of a soft spot for crossovers. Thus, Primewalkers.

The idea is that whatever campaign settings are involved are simply different dimensions where travel from one to the other is nigh impossible, bar extreme levels of improbability. But Something went wrong. Perhaps a mad scientist from D20 Modern opened a portal to Toril. Perhaps the Aurum popped open an old Gatekeeper seal and decided to team up with the Illumanati. Heck, maybe reality simply imploded and dumped a confused Thay wizard in the middle of Manifest. Essentially, I want a massive crossover for every D20 setting in existence.


I echo Ponce LeRue. What you are talking about here is pretty much Planescape, with a hefty dose of Spelljammer.

Cainen
2008-04-07, 04:48 AM
Planescape. Existing setting, amazing fluff, etcetera. The difference is that you want to make portals rare.

Remember, if some evil organization discovers a portal and starts using it to plot, they will build around it. And fortify it. And make sure it's hidden.