Looking for ideas for a darker, gritter campaign.

[Vectros]

Hello,

I'll be DMing a campaign in a couple months. The group has decided we'd like to try a darker feeling campaign, instead of the typical fantasy we've run in the past-werewolves and vampires running amok alongside undead and liches, that sort of thing.

I've come up with a few ideas I'll post in a moment that I'd like to include, but I'm really looking for more ideas. Monsters, character ideas for npcs, orders such as Paladins that may go well here-whatever you've seen before or think would be cool in this type of dark setting, I'm looking for. Any input on my background and intents on my story are welcome. The gist of what I have so far:

The Empire of Man/Imperial Empire/etc, was defeated in a war past. Dark gods powers were unleashed, and they sent their servants to the Realm intent on enslaving/destroying everything in their path. The gods of Light were caught off guard, or perhaps the Dark Ones had a powerful spell which prevented them from intervening in a timely fashion-the truth has been lost to time. Regardless, it was in the Final Hour that the world would have truly ended, when the gods of Light banded their power together to cut off access to the Realm from outside it-be it good or evil. Direct intervention has ceased for either side almost entirely-with some rare exceptions, such as powerful artifacts to create a small channel between dimensions. Various factions of the Dark Ones have sprouted in the centuries since. Powerful Vampire Lords vying for power amongst themselves, Necromancers raising huge armies of mindless servants, and Werewolf Kings run amok, with several human cults having sprung up serving them or other dark powers, while other rarer, more powerful creatures roam the eternal darkness-that is to say, true daylight has not been seen since the Final Hour. "Daytime" is a mild light akin to twilight, lasting roughly 8 hours in a 24 hour period, and is when creatures of darkness find themselves at their weakest, and they typically slumber.

As for Mankind and the other humanoid races, they were all driven to near extinction, having withdrawn to their greatest strongholds during the Final Hour. Smaller hubs are scattered about, well hidden from the creatures of the night and with various wards in place to help hide their scent and deter the forces of evil. Powerful heroes like those of old are few and far between; the only way one can gain magic, or other similar abilities such as a Barbarians rage, is through a bloodline link, a magically enchanted rune, or for those willing to serve a darker purpose, channeling through artifacts, the Demons who were defeated and forced to withdraw from the world by the other factions of darkness.

My story will start with the characters trapped in the dungeon of a Vampire Lord. Various ways of escape will be provided. Players already talked about starting some sort of prison ring, kind of like gangs in real prisons, so for all I know, they may never leave the prison if they so choose. Ideas on what I may do with this to expand on it so I'm ready would be appreciated.

If players end up actually escaping, (I'll make it as clear as possible the Vampire Lord is well beyond their power at the beginning) they'll run into a NPC who will help prepare them over time to combat the Vampire and his army. At the end of the day, NPC will turn out to be the son of the Lord, and thanks to an old incantation or other magical means, he'll absorb his fathers powers if he dies. Players will be given hints of this throughout, and if they end up discovering it/killing npc beforehand, well, the plot will deviate...

Ok, that's all I got at the moment, I'm all ears. What other ideas would be awesome, what gaps are in my background and story (which is barebones), etc?

UPDATE 1/18:
I'm still working on the various local factions. Open to ideas to further develop them, or if something sounds dumb to change it. Mind you I want this to feel very open for the players-while the Vampire will appear to be the main villain for them to take on, I'd like every dark faction to have 3 main characters (leader+2 generals) developed so they can chase after whatever sounds interesting.

The Vampire Lord it turns out was a human at the Final Hour. Believing humanity would end and wanting to save it, he performed a dark ritual which turned him into a Vampire. He captures all the humans and other humanoid species he can to protect them from the other dark forces, placing them in an elaborate dungeon under his castle. Has a son who was outcast for showing a distaste for humans. Players will run into him and he'll attempt to lead them to bring up an army to take back the castle, and take his fathers power for his own-to become the strongest Vampire Lord. He also has a daughter, whom the players will witness slaughter in the first session-all they know is he killed his daughter. They won't realize she'd been found out as working for a rival Vampire Lord, attempting to open up back doors to get to the humanoids within.

There is a forested area known as "The Cursed Forest". It's not the only forest around, but it feels discernibly different. A chill runs down your spine when you walk near it, and it's said the trees come alive and devour tresspassers.

The Cursed Forest is lead by a trio of Nymphs (NOTE: How can I amp up the CR on this? Players are starting level 5, need bosses to be stronger, looking for unique suggestions other than additional HP/armor as described in the manual-don't expect them to fight them right away, so a good boss fight for level 7 party probably). They have pixies, fairies, sirens, and similar creatures under their command (looking for more ideas here). As it turns out, the Mother entered the world during the final hour, a beautiful creature of great power, who created an immense forest as far as the eye could see. The armies of the other dark realms intruded on her land and overpowered her. In her last breath, she used the last of her power to shoot forth a seed, projecting it across the continent, in hopes her child would spread a new, beautiful forest as she dreamed of. The seed turned out to be 3 nymphs, who knew from birth of their mothers fate and her intentions, yet were angered that she was slaughtered by the other realms. They began to grow a forest, but in an ironic twist, it was the most wilted, grimy and cursed forest one could imagine-not the thing of beauty their mother had wanted. Some of the local plants will suck small portions of the life force of whatever they touch, which then produces fruit-that is then eaten by the Nymphs to increase their power, in hopes of slaying all other creatures of darkness one day.

Undead-haven't come up with much on this yet. I' m going to integrate some of the ideas you guys have given me, but need inspiration for the motives and leaders.

Werewolves are in the same boat as Undead. I'd like to have more than a hungry Werewolf King who hates vampires.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Instead of light and darkness, how about order and chaos? Basically channeling some Moorcock.

Then, drop the idea on them that the forces of order aren't actually very good or nice, just ambivalent to the idea of continued mortal existence.

Then reveal that the vampire lord is actually a creature of order, meant to ensure the continued survival of mankind, no matter how miserable that is.

And the son?

Scion of Chaos. He's not kidding when he says he wants to overthrow his father and grant them freedom. He just neglects to mention that this reintroduces more chaos into the world, and that his end goal is a bestial world of might makes right that humanity can't survive.

[HappyDaze]

Are you limiting yourself to D&D? There are a number of other systems that do dark fantasy very well (and, IMO, better than D&D).

[moonfly7]

Instead of light and darkness, how about order and chaos? Basically channeling some Moorcock.

Then, drop the idea on them that the forces of order aren't actually very good or nice, just ambivalent to the idea of continued mortal existence.

Then reveal that the vampire lord is actually a creature of order, meant to ensure the continued survival of mankind, no matter how miserable that is.

And the son?

Scion of Chaos. He's not kidding when he says he wants to overthrow his father and grant them freedom. He just neglects to mention that this reintroduces more chaos into the world, and that his end goal is a bestial world of might makes right that humanity can't survive.

Expand on this, but to make it even crazier consider this: anything with free will is by definition chaotic. True order can only really be established if we're all lawful flesh robots. Obviously you can't have only order or only chaos, but teach the players that who they often think is "good" or "evil" won't be decided by the side they're on because both sides have the equivalent of legitimately good knights in shining armor, but they also have the dark sorcerers and fallen beings. And you can never truly tell which is which.

Have the lich follower of vecna who erected an army of undead whose destroying celestial who made it to our plain turn out to be fighting to stop them forcibly converting settlements to their religion to preserve their right of choice.

Have demons that did the opposite of fall from grace, they rose from hell itself. Have fallen angels working as double agents risking their very souls for the mortals sake, have gods of life be cruel and bipolar, because life is always changing and never fair. Have the ghosts of dead family members call for help only to try and steal their children's bodies to live again.
Basically, turn everything on its head. Your at your most terrified when the world doesn't make sense, and while this might not be a horror campaign, your PCs should always have a thought lingering in the back of their head "will I really live through tomorrow? Do I want to?"

[MrStabby]

I like knowledge in quests, plots and worlds.

Maybe there is way to reverse the twilight, to bring back enough day to grow crops etc. but doing so requires an understanding of religion and the arcane beyond what a mortal could achieve. Some vampires have chosen an undead existence as a way to prolong their studies, likewise others have chosen lichdom for the same reason. There has been some success, but always at a price. The somewhat noble aims get corrupted by their existence. As undead sages creep closer and closer to undoing the events their cooperation breaks down as they begin to vie for power and even survival in the coming days.

This gives a setting where you can have evil vs evil, some evils not quite so bad as others, good working against the interests of the world, chaos being destructive or creative depending on the context.

The world can have a bit of a survival horror element, intrigue and there can be a slow transition from exploration and discovery as you build your campaign setting with your players through to actively working with factions and taking the initiative to drive change and push forward the plot. Putting knowledge as the key to it all provides your players with an incentive to explore and understand your world, to seek out lore and history and to help build the richness that makes your world a bit cooler.

[Waterdeep Merch]

Expand on this, but to make it even crazier consider this: anything with free will is by definition chaotic. True order can only really be established if we're all lawful flesh robots. Obviously you can't have only order or only chaos, but teach the players that who they often think is "good" or "evil" won't be decided by the side they're on because both sides have the equivalent of legitimately good knights in shining armor, but they also have the dark sorcerers and fallen beings. And you can never truly tell which is which.

Have the lich follower of vecna who erected an army of undead whose destroying celestial who made it to our plain turn out to be fighting to stop them forcibly converting settlements to their religion to preserve their right of choice.

Have demons that did the opposite of fall from grace, they rose from hell itself. Have fallen angels working as double agents risking their very souls for the mortals sake, have gods of life be cruel and bipolar, because life is always changing and never fair. Have the ghosts of dead family members call for help only to try and steal their children's bodies to live again.
Basically, turn everything on its head. Your at your most terrified when the world doesn't make sense, and while this might not be a horror campaign, your PCs should always have a thought lingering in the back of their head "will I really live through tomorrow? Do I want to?"

Going further down the rabbit hole, have several different NPC's on both sides that have an end goal they genuinely believe to be the best possible world. But each is horrifying in one way or another when you dig into it.

An angel that wants a world of perfect harmony- a point in time frozen, forever, incapable of ever progressing forward again.

A demon that wants to be free from social inhibitions- people will be born and die across infinite worlds, drifting further apart with each incarnation until they find themselves on a world of their own making, alone forevermore.

A lonely child that wants everyone to be friends forever- whether they want to be or not. And whether they technically constitute as alive or not.

A brave warrior that believes that battle is the only way one can truly grow- a world where the war will never end, and only escalate endlessly as each generation becomes more powerful and vicious than the last.

A meditative monk that believes in transcending the world of flesh- the complete dissolution of all things, a world of insensate will.

Things like that.

[Addaran]

Shadow of the demon lord is an excellent system and setting for really dark and gritty campaign. It's a lot easier to die then in D&D and just the feel of some races, spells and classes are darker. It's also a D20 system pretty similar to D&D but different class structure.

One of my favorite spell, from the forbidden school forcefully fuse two targets together into a grotesque Ettin kind of character.

Even if you don't use the system, you can steal some ideas of monsters and quests.

[moonfly7]

Going further down the rabbit hole, have several different NPC's on both sides that have an end goal they genuinely believe to be the best possible world. But each is horrifying in one way or another when you dig into it.

An angel that wants a world of perfect harmony- a point in time frozen, forever, incapable of ever progressing forward again.

A demon that wants to be free from social inhibitions- people will be born and die across infinite worlds, drifting further apart with each incarnation until they find themselves on a world of their own making, alone forevermore.

A lonely child that wants everyone to be friends forever- whether they want to be or not. And whether they technically constitute as alive or not.

A brave warrior that believes that battle is the only way one can truly grow- a world where the war will never end, and only escalate endlessly as each generation becomes more powerful and vicious than the last.

A meditative monk that believes in transcending the world of flesh- the complete dissolution of all things, a world of insensate will.

Things like that.

Exactly. Sometimes the greatest terrors and horrors are created When we're only trying to help. And it's something that scares you on a primal level, showing that this world is just wrong.

[Vectros]

Thanks everyone for your ideas.

I think it'd be great if I could come up with a major faction outside the usual werewolves/vampires/undead. Any ideas you guys got on that?

Are you limiting yourself to D&D? There are a number of other systems that do dark fantasy very well (and, IMO, better than D&D).

Yep, it's the system I know best and like to run, sticking to it, but thanks for the idea.

This gives a setting where you can have evil vs evil, some evils not quite so bad as others, good working against the interests of the world, chaos being destructive or creative depending on the context.

The world can have a bit of a survival horror element, intrigue and there can be a slow transition from exploration and discovery as you build your campaign setting with your players through to actively working with factions and taking the initiative to drive change and push forward the plot. Putting knowledge as the key to it all provides your players with an incentive to explore and understand your world, to seek out lore and history and to help build the richness that makes your world a bit cooler.

I think this tickles my fancy quite a bit!

Going further down the rabbit hole, have several different NPC's on both sides that have an end goal they genuinely believe to be the best possible world. But each is horrifying in one way or another when you dig into it.

Think I'll try this out too!

[Vectros]

Shadow of the demon lord is an excellent system and setting for really dark and gritty campaign. It's a lot easier to die then in D&D and just the feel of some races, spells and classes are darker. It's also a D20 system pretty similar to D&D but different class structure.

One of my favorite spell, from the forbidden school forcefully fuse two targets together into a grotesque Ettin kind of character.

Even if you don't use the system, you can steal some ideas of monsters and quests.

Well, we're gonna be doing D&D but I'll take a look at the system for monster/quest ideas, thanks! Though I'm not looking to make players die easier, just give the dark vibe for them. They aren't the type of group that appreciates dying a lot.

[djreynolds]

I'm watching " Predators" right now.

No meeting up in bar this time.

Meet up in the jungle or somewhere worse.

You pick the hunters. Sounds fun?

[Garfunion]

Plane Shift: Innistrad, could provide a good baseline for your dark world. It has a lot of vampires, werewolves, and undead stuff.

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/d..._Innistrad.pdf

[Vectros]

Plane Shift: Innistrad, could provide a good baseline for your dark world. It has a lot of vampires, werewolves, and undead stuff.

https://media.wizards.com/2016/dnd/d..._Innistrad.pdf

Thanks for pointing this out!

[HappyDaze]

Shadow of the demon lord is an excellent system and setting for really dark and gritty campaign. It's a lot easier to die then in D&D and just the feel of some races, spells and classes are darker. It's also a D20 system pretty similar to D&D but different class structure.

One of my favorite spell, from the forbidden school forcefully fuse two targets together into a grotesque Ettin kind of character.

Even if you don't use the system, you can steal some ideas of monsters and quests.

Shadow of the Demon Lord would be at or near the top of my list for such a campaign too.

[Corsair14]

Just stick them in Ravenloft. Pick up the Domains book and find the dark beautiful domain that you like. I love sending my PCs to Soureign(sp?), 1500s New Orleans-esque with a huge swamp.

Even better when you just drop them there through the mists from a world with no magic and a history of "burn the witch!"

[carrdrivesyou]

I might suggest crazed mages brewing up wicked monsters and strange things that cannot be explained. Like they accidentally create a massive ooze that just eats small villages. The PCs find an empty village with all their tools and clothes and stuff, but no PEOPLE.

In short, a LACK of things can be just as paranoia inducing as a horde of SOMETHING. Just food for thought.

[moonfly7]

Sentient golems and other constructs bent on the destruction of the fleshy ones would be cool.

[NRSASD]

If you haven't taken a look at the world of The Witcher, specifically The Witcher III, I highly recommend it. The monsters are quite gruesome and horrific, the themes are complex, and there is a lot of intrigue and moral ambiguity.

Additionally, one of our very own Playgrounders wrote a Ravenloft campaign journal that has been quite useful and inspirational for my own games, which can be found here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...light=aambrust. Definitely worth a look or two for a world infested with monsters or just general horror.

Finally, if you haven't had the chance to yet, take a look at Curse of Strahd. It's really quite excellent at selling a world where the forces of good lost, and lost hard.

[1Pirate]

Have a faction of shadow dragons(transformed by the events of the Final Hour) that's trying to exterminate all living humanoids as a way of cutting off the vampires, liches, and werewolves from their sustenance/recruits. This goal may or may not be a secret.

[Magicspook]

Thanks everyone for your ideas.

I think it'd be great if I could come up with a major faction outside the usual werewolves/vampires/undead. Any ideas you guys got on that?

A forest that has gorged itself on blood and found it liked the taste. Vampiric blights, awakened trees with bloodstained roots and hanged people in its boughs, thorny tendrils that extend for miles from the forest's edge to snatch up unsuspecting people, skeletons reanimated by vines... if you want more intelligent foes, the trees have grown to form corrals and prisons for humans, or have taken up the personalities of those that died on their roots (of course, dying and then loving on as a tree drives you quite mad). The trees repeat the death screams of those who died in the forest at night, so that none can sleep peacefully there.

I also second the suggestion of playing the witcher 3, at least up to Novigrad. It's got so many good inspirations for a gritty campaign.

[MrStabby]

A forest that has gorged itself on blood and found it liked the taste. Vampiric blights, awakened trees with bloodstained roots and hanged people in its boughs, thorny tendrils that extend for miles from the forest's edge to snatch up unsuspecting people, skeletons reanimated by vines... if you want more intelligent foes, the trees have grown to form corrals and prisons for humans, or have taken up the personalities of those that died on their roots (of course, dying and then loving on as a tree drives you quite mad). The trees repeat the death screams of those who died in the forest at night, so that none can sleep peacefully there.

I also second the suggestion of playing the witcher 3, at least up to Novigrad. It's got so many good inspirations for a gritty campaign.

I would totally play this... So many opportunities for unusual encounters, great atmosphere and a chance to have threats to people and places you know.

[Vectros]

Got a little busy and haven't checked back in a while. Thanks again for the new suggestions everyone!

I'm still working on the various local factions. Open to ideas to further develop them, or if something sounds dumb to change it. Mind you I want this to feel very open for the players-while the Vampire will appear to be the main villain for them to take on, I'd like every dark faction to have 3 main characters (leader+2 generals) developed so they can chase after whatever sounds interesting.

The Vampire Lord it turns out was a human at the Final Hour. Believing humanity would end and wanting to save it, he performed a dark ritual which turned him into a Vampire. He captures all the humans and other humanoid species he can to protect them from the other dark forces, placing them in an elaborate dungeon under his castle. Has a son who was outcast for showing a distaste for humans. Players will run into him and he'll attempt to lead them to bring up an army to take back the castle, and take his fathers power for his own-to become the strongest Vampire Lord. He also has a daughter, whom the players will witness slaughter in the first session-all they know is he killed his daughter. They won't realize she'd been found out as working for a rival Vampire Lord, attempting to open up back doors to get to the humanoids within.

There is a forested area known as "The Cursed Forest". It's not the only forest around, but it feels discernibly different. A chill runs down your spine when you walk near it, and it's said the trees come alive and devour tresspassers.

The Cursed Forest is lead by a trio of Nymphs (NOTE: How can I amp up the CR on this? Players are starting level 5, need bosses to be stronger, looking for unique suggestions other than additional HP/armor as described in the manual-don't expect them to fight them right away, so a good boss fight for level 7 party probably). They have pixies, fairies, sirens, and similar creatures under their command (looking for more ideas here). As it turns out, the Mother entered the world during the final hour, a beautiful creature of great power, who created an immense forest as far as the eye could see. The armies of the other dark realms intruded on her land and overpowered her. In her last breath, she used the last of her power to shoot forth a seed, projecting it across the continent, in hopes her child would spread a new, beautiful forest as she dreamed of. The seed turned out to be 3 nymphs, who knew from birth of their mothers fate and her intentions, yet were angered that she was slaughtered by the other realms. They began to grow a forest, but in an ironic twist, it was the most wilted, grimy and cursed forest one could imagine-not the thing of beauty their mother had wanted. Some of the local plants will suck small portions of the life force of whatever they touch, which then produces fruit-that is then eaten by the Nymphs to increase their power, in hopes of slaying all other creatures of darkness one day.

Undead-haven't come up with much on this yet. I' m going to integrate some of the ideas you guys have given me, but need inspiration for the motives and leaders.

Werewolves are in the same boat as Undead. I'd like to have more than a hungry Werewolf King who hates vampires.

[The Fury]

As for the undead stuff, I'd look at the Midnight campaign setting. While it's definitely a dark setting, it doesn't quite have the cold existential dread of something like Ravenloft. It's still got some interesting ideas.

Specifically, the Fell. To give a half-remembered background, the world of Midnight is cut off from the outer planes, meaning that the souls of the dead have no place to go when people die. So souls just return to their bodies and reanimate the corpse, and that's how Fell are made. When someone dies and returns as Fell, they need to eat flesh in order to keep their sanity and their body from rotting. If a Fell is too far gone they eventually become a murderous, crazed, skeletal monster.

Ultimately, most people in the setting consider Fell to be far more trouble than they're worth, so standard practice is to dismember and/or burn the body of anyone who dies to keep it from reanimating.

[Vectros]

As for the undead stuff, I'd look at the Midnight campaign setting. While it's definitely a dark setting, it doesn't quite have the cold existential dread of something like Ravenloft. It's still got some interesting ideas.

Specifically, the Fell. To give a half-remembered background, the world of Midnight is cut off from the outer planes, meaning that the souls of the dead have no place to go when people die. So souls just return to their bodies and reanimate the corpse, and that's how Fell are made. When someone dies and returns as Fell, they need to eat flesh in order to keep their sanity and their body from rotting. If a Fell is too far gone they eventually become a murderous, crazed, skeletal monster.

Ultimately, most people in the setting consider Fell to be far more trouble than they're worth, so standard practice is to dismember and/or burn the body of anyone who dies to keep it from reanimating.

This sounds epic, thanks for the idea!