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AgentPaper
2008-12-10, 07:51 PM
Okay, so I'm still relatively new to DMing, and I'd like some input into the next part of the campaign I'm making. I'm still not confident of my DMing skills, so I'd like to take this chance to get some input from the more experienced members on this board to improve the next part of my campaign and my own skills. one of the troubles I have is how much I should plan out, and how much I should make up as I go.

First off, Zeta Kai was nice enough to make me this awesome map of the continent that the next part of the campaign will be taking place on:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s228/zetakai/PT5b.jpg

The basic idea is that, long ago, there used to be 4 main empires on this continent, the humans, to the north, the minotaur, in the mountains to the east, the illithid, in the swamps to the south-west. There was also going to be another race to the south-east, but I'm not sure what race to use. Probably another bestial race.

At any rate, the empires were mostly destroyed in some calamity that killed ALL of the humans, and most of the illithid. The minotaur fared the best, but are disorganized and have fallen to centuries of in-fighting, which still rages even now. What happened to the last empire depends on what we use for them.

One thing that I know this continent has to have is "the tomb of an ancient elven king", which the players have come here to explore. They heard rumors about it that may not be entirely correct, but I don't want to make it flat-out false. Another thing that is there is a expedition from their home continent, which is made up for humans, dwarves, dragonborn, tieflings, halflings, and a few elves. (pretty much all PHB races but eladrin, though they do exist)

The party is currently level 12, and heading for the continent on an airship they stole from the military. Right now they're stuck in the feywild, but will soon be out and back on their ship, or possibly somewhere on the continent. They recently escaped a conflict between 2 empires on the other continent, which ended badly for them. They were betrayed by a dragonborn noble who had adventured with them for a bit, and were accused by the empire they served for treason and imprisoned for 2 years. Afterward, they escaped the prison with a halfling rouge, and decided to steal a airship and investigate the tomb they'd heard about in prison. The dragonborn will likely be a recurring villain, showing up on this new continent to expand the influence of the empire he's working for. (He's a high-ranking general by this point)

Anyways, anyone willing to help me plan out the next part of this campaign? If you have any questions or need more info, feel free to ask. Thanks in advance! :smallsmile:

Tacoma
2008-12-10, 08:04 PM
I'd put some ancient Elven city on the tiny land bridge connecting the southwest part with the rest. The city spans the width with a canal, which is long out of use and is open for use if the debris is cleared. With airships it won't matter so much but it's cool.

And then in the city I'd have an expeditionary force from two different countries of the mainland trying to explore and delve into its ruins. They fight occasionally and steal artifacts and tools from each other. If one sets up a working forge the other soon sabotages it. If the other sets up a magical communication link to the mainland, the other steals it and tries to change the signal to work for them. Etc.

Have the PCs encounter someone in one of these city digs (there won't be many since the Elves here were so long ago) who is more of a scholar than a fighter. He can provide the PCs with some information on where such a tomb might be. Have them go to an ancient library with the scholar, who wants to get at the books there, and in exchange the scholar will find the Elven King's name and four or five possible tomb locations.

But along the way the PCs rub the expedition leader the wrong way, a soldier who is here to find magical artifacts and not silly books, who is more physical than intellectual (not stupid, he just doesn't think book learning is important).

So make up a few different locations, any of which could lead to the tomb. The final one they reach will be the tomb location. But the previous ones have lower areas that provide clues and such and maybe open up a sixth possible tomb location on the continent.

So work it like a plug and socket adventure. Where you have an "A" side and a "B" side, and you can connect any B to any A. The real tomb is one of the Bs and it connects to the last A the PCs try.

After that I dunno. What's so special about this tomb?

EDIT: Nice map btw.

Who_Da_Halfling
2008-12-10, 08:40 PM
Yeah, that map reminds me of the Fractals images that I see every now and again.

Neat and simple twist: Change "Tomb of the Ancient Elven King" to "LAIR of the Ancient Elven King." As in, the King was thought to be dead, but he's not. He could either be an elder of a fairly high class, or possibly an intelligent Undead like a Lich or something. Make it a dungeon, lots of minions in there to boot, possibly drop some hints that the King isn't as dead as they think.

just a basic thought. BTW, from your mention of PHB races, this seems to be a 4E campaign, yes?

-JM

AgentPaper
2008-12-10, 08:52 PM
Yes, 4E, though it doesn't affect much really. And I do like the idea that the ancient elven king isn't quite dead. I was also thinking of putting the whole place on some sort of flying island of sorts. Perhaps the tomb was the royal tomb, with hundreds of other family members and royal guardsmen also buried in there. When his death was close, he turned himself into a lich, and lifted the entire tomb into the air using some artifact. (A Macguffin? Could be related to the calamity I spoke of)

Inyssius Tor
2008-12-10, 09:06 PM
I've been holding on to a plot idea involving the realm of an ancient not-quite dead elven king for a while... so, the king was an astonishingly powerful psion. He basically controlled everything within his sphere of influence, even projecting this aura of awesomeness that made all the old elves so stupidly good at everything. Anyway. A long time ago, he was poisoned. He managed to put himself to sleep, to slow it down, but it hasn't worked completely; he's still up there in his ancient palace, asleep but dreaming, and his dreams are slowly being twisted by the poison in his heart and mind.

And, as it has always been, those dreams are becoming reality.

So, basically, the heartlands of the elven kingdom are slowly but surely becoming this completely insane hell-realm.