Campaign ideas?

[The Pressman]

I realize that this might not be threadworthy, but I'd like to know of anyone has some ideas for a campaign. Basically, I'm trying to make a campaign that is quirky and yet engaging. I'd also like to avoid meet-in-a-tavern style cliches.
EDIT: 3.5, level 1, setting would probably just be made up, nonspecific.

[Sindri]

Okay, so you're all inside a purple worm, when...

[Eldan]

You could do Planescape... there's a free campaign setting, free books and a free adventure available over at Planewalker.

[BobVosh]

Level, system, and campaign setting(if applicable) would all help.

Otherwise the Mask of Winter is invading your city, and it is important for your circle to stop this. Because you don't want to be dead.

The Emperor is attacking your planet, and it is important for your scrappy rebel band to stop this. Because you don't want to be dead.

The Order of the Nail is invading your city, and it is important for your guild to stop this. Because you don't want to be dead.

Seriously, need a bit more information if you want anything even mildly interesting.

[The Pressman]

Sorry. I added that to the top.

[Sindri]

Have the players be on the other side; they play kobolds or goblins or orcs, when suddenly a band of adventurers tear through their camp/town.

[Sindri]

Have the PCs start out as hirelings or men-at-arms to the "heroes" who are then killed in a dungeon-crawl gone wrong. They need to escape the dungeon, and then continue their employers work or find something new to do with their lives.

Edit: or maybe the heroes have been captured, and the PCs need to rescue them. Stealth and intelligence are a lot more important than power, because the monsters that took down high-level adventurers are practically invulnerable to 1st level PCs.

[The_Admiral]

Have daleks

[Lord Loss]

Dalek! Dalek! Dalek!

Anyway, to the thread:

Here's what we're doing now. The players escape from a prison under the control cruel Tyrant from the Underdark who takes the Topsiders (creatures from the Upperlands). They are unleashed into a dim and desperate wasteland and it's up to them to overthrow this evil being.

[The_Admiral]

Hey Daleks are cool

[The Pressman]

No matter how cool they may be, they're not quite a good fit.

[Ponderthought]

run a campaign film noir style. Harboiled detectives, femme fatales and intricate, even convoluted plots. Could make for a wonderful change of pace from the stock fantasy story.

[The Pressman]

run a campaign film noir style. Harboiled detectives, femme fatales and intricate, even convoluted plots. Could make for a wonderful change of pace from the stock fantasy story.

I might try that. My friends will tell you that if I'm anything I'm convoluted.

[Ponderthought]

if you do, avoid the self-narration. It's a staple of the genre, but it tends to push table top games more into the realms of comedy. You can probably get away with stealing liberally from Sam Spade and movies like Chinatown though.

[The Pressman]

if you do, avoid the self-narration. It's a staple of the genre, but it tends to push table top games more into the realms of comedy. You can probably get away with stealing liberally from Sam Spade and movies like Chinatown though.

I know to avoid the whole narration thing, but I think what would be really fun transposing all of the situations into traditional, renaissance, D&D. That'll teach 'em not to not max out diplomacy!

[Archpaladin Zousha]

I've had a number of interesting campaign ideas over the years.

One was for the PCs to all meet in a tavern...and then the apocalypse happens. For some reason, the PCs and a few other lucky (or unlucky) people across the world not only survived the end of the world, but have recieved a portion the divine essences of the now-dead gods. The PCs then learn that they can take the essences from other survivors by killing them, and when they collect enough, they become a full-fledged god in their own right (yes, I flat out stole that from Highlander), and when all the essence is collected and there are only gods left, those gods will leave the world they called home to dissolve into the immaterial, while they leave to forge a new world of their own.

Another idea was to have the PCs teleported from across multiverses into a strange competition called The Games, where they are forced to adventure through demiplanes controlled by The Masters, seemingly omnipotent beings who make the rules for The Games and challenge the players. The PCs gain rewards for fulfilling challenges from the Masters and have to contend with unscrupulous players who may try to kill them to curry favor with the Masters or steal their stuff, etc. Throughout the demiplanes, however, the PCs find clues and hints as to the true natur of the Masters, until finally they've gained enough power that they're contacted by the Grandmaster, who created the demiplanes The Games take place in and created the Masters by promoting powerful or interesting players. The Grandmaster has them do tasks that start causing the Masters to fight amongst themselves, until finally they're all gone, whether destroyed by one of their rival Masters, by the PCs, or resigned voluntarily. The Grandmaster congradulates the PCs and they now have the choice to become new Masters themselves, simply leave, or try to overpower the Grandmaster and end the Games once and for all.

[Yahzi]

some ideas for a campaign.

Why, yes, I do have some campaign ideas.

[The Pressman]

Why, yes, I do have some campaign ideas.

Interesting, but I've only just got used to regular D&D, and while I'd be willing to play a game with that, most of the people in the group probably wouldn't.

[The_Admiral]

No matter how cool they may be, they're not quite a good fit.

Oi you can just arm pepper pot shaped warforged with wands of disintergration

[miibtp]

maybe your players could start out as wannabe adventurers who admire a certain group of fantastic adventurers. when the adventures go missing, the pcs volunteer to find them, and discover that the missing adventuring group was actually an evil group bent on stealing the towns resources.

i dunno. pretty much anything from terry pratchet of isaac asimov works.

[The Pressman]

maybe your players could start out as wannabe adventurers who admire a certain group of fantastic adventurers. when the adventures go missing, the pcs volunteer to find them, and discover that the missing adventuring group was actually an evil group bent on stealing the towns resources.

i dunno. pretty much anything from terry pratchet of isaac asimov works.

I'm fairly sure Captain Carrot is a paladin of law.

[Calmar]

The players wake up in a dungeon. Not some happy monster hunting ground, but a prison full of brutal guards. Their goal is to escape. Maybe one of them will be a traitor, if your players like that sort of stuff.

[The Pressman]

I was reading somewhere on these fora about a reverse dungeon; ie, they get a quest from a shadowy stranger in the bar to rescue a princess from a dragon; dungeoncrawl ensues. However, when they reach the lair, the princess says wait, I came here of my own free will, and that man wants to usurp the throne, etc. You then go back to town, healing and apologizing to the monsters, and kill the cloaked man. Or not. You could bounce them back and forth, each time the one being chased after having a reason for you to go after the other. Again. Mind control, lies, evil, etc, gradually weaving together a plot that is greater than this quest-based game of racquetball, and when resolved, will shake the foundations of the halls of power.

[Rasman]

Have the players be on the other side; they play kobolds or goblins or orcs, when suddenly a band of adventurers tear through their camp/town.

I second this, the opposite side of the fence is always awesome

[The Pressman]

I second this, the opposite side of the fence is always awesome

Hmm. So what are the stereotypical bad guys? Are orcs, kobolds, and goblins it?

[Sindri]

well, there's goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, orcs, lizardfolk, ogres, giants, kobolds, harpies, gnolls, ghouls, medusas, minotaurs, rakshasa, sahuagin, trolls, drow, illithids, aboleths...

which you choose depends on power level, setting, and what general flavor you want. I'd recommend against mixed groups, unless you want to fix the RHD/LA problems, or whoever took more class levels and a less powerful race would be more powerful than the rest of the party.