Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

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vizier
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Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by vizier »

Id like to use this thread to discuss what types of adventures you guys would like to see. I have a few story arcs in mind already but I am completely willing to scrap them all and move the game in a new direction IF the players want that. Here are some ideas I have floating around in my brain:

1) Stay in Tyr and keep the game mostly urban - I really love Tyr and I have enough source material for any number of campaigns focusing on all things Tyr. The citizens of Tyr are restless and all it would take is a spark to ignite full scale revolution. The outcome of such revolution is unclear, but would be awesome to explore.

2) Hire on as caravan guards for House Vordon and explore Athasian wilds. Eventually ending up in other cites.

3) Start working with the Draqomen and explore the wastes of Tyr freely. Search ancient ruins from the Green Age and battle waste fiends. Shelter will be difficult to find but the rewards could be very great indeed.

4) Change the setting completely and go to one of the more hospitable areas of Athas. There are forests and jungles on Athas, they are just very rare. The Emerald Jungle holds the ruins of an ancient city, known only as The City of Mist. The city was once the center of a huge civilization. The civilization vanished long ago for unknown reasons and city they left behind is still filled with their vast knowledge, as well as a deadly secret.

5) Anything else.

Sabin Stargem
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by Sabin Stargem »

Generally, 4th Edition D&D is considered to work in three tiers of power and scope. Heroic Tier, or levels 1-10 is mostly related to smaller things, like helping villages, escort missions, and other things that fairly good mercenaries could carry out. Two such examples of Heroic adventurers is Tintin and Bilbo Baggins. Paragon is the next step up, in which adventures become continental in scope, and consequently involves creatures like adult dragons. The Terminator and Lina Inverse generally are on the level of Paragon heroes(?), from levels 11 to 20. 21 through 30 is epic, in which things get big, like in Gurren Lagann where the Anti-Spirals could pick up and throw galaxies. In D&D, it isn't quite that drastic, but it is still rather extreme. Aslan, Goku, Q, and several other varieties of almighty beings are the theme of that tier.


With these three tiers in mind, I suggest building your storyline around each one. This ought to allow you to make some fairly long storylines, but to be able to eventually switch tracks for something else.


In any case, here is my personal preferences: Exploration and solving problems, like traps or puzzles would appeal to me, alongside the collecting of artifacts. However, I also want to eventually help Athas to recover and become a much better place to live, so the emphasis I enjoy is altering the world through the party's actions, so it becomes green, lively, and generally less like Dark Sun. By the way, what caused Athas to become like this anyway? Is that something to be discovered by the party?

vizier
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by vizier »

Athas became the wasteland it is today because of wizards. Arcane magic drains the lifeforce of the land and after centuries of powerful wizards casting the planet slowly burned.

The dragon had a large role in Athas' destruction as well. His spells are more devastating than all the sorcerror kings combined...

vizier
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by vizier »

Lina Inverse??? Who is that? There is a hero in an awesome game I play called Dota that is named Lina Inverse as well. IN the game she casts fiersome fire spells.

Psybuster
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by Psybuster »

Lina Inverse comes from the classic Slayers anime series. I'm fine with anything except #2.
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vizier
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by vizier »

Hah thats what shes called too "Slayer". PS dota is one of the best games ever made if you like RPG themed HIGHLY competitive games. Its not like any other game ive played and even though its technically a mod for WC3 its grown way beyond that into a new untapped genre. Oh yeah its free too! Just google dota allstars and prepare to be consumed for months if not years. It can take months of constant practice to master one hero and theres almost 100 of them.

Sabin Stargem
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by Sabin Stargem »

Yo, here is the first episode of Slayers, courtesy of Youtube's anime channel. Certainly worth watching if you enjoy anime. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSC4nCa6Qw4

trapline
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by trapline »

lets make sure the campaign doesn't turn into that!

Sabin Stargem
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by Sabin Stargem »

Actually, the roleplaying and non-boss fights in Slayers is pretty good in my opinion. The bosses are the only major weakness, mostly because they suffer from Dragonballzia, which can be diagnosed by how an boss can take two or more episodes to defeat in a single battle. Mind you, Dragonball is also pretty good, it is just that Dragonball Z loses the adventuring aspects, and tends to drag on too long.

flarebright
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by flarebright »

Number 3 (exploring ruins) sounds really good. But the rest of the choices would be fun for me too so I am cool with everything. We can even alternate the types of adventures to have variety

Tepshen
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by Tepshen »

I think it might be a bit more interesting to get out of town for awhile. Some of the magic users with us are taking alot of risks hanging out in Tyr. This is not to suggest we should leave the city completely but rather make it more of a place to visit than a place to stay.
Tepshen Lahl
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vizier
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Re: Campaign Story Arc - Player Input

Post by vizier »

Thanks for the input guys keep it coming! I will be releasing the travel rules for exploring the waste. They are basically identical to the check in the official Dark Sun rules but instead of taking damage you start losing healing surges for failed endurance checks. Wearing heavy armor or metal armor will penalize these checks. Dont fear though, there is a lot of equipment you can get that can help you with these checks. Waste travel can be brutal, and yes even deadly. The deep wastes can get over 160 F. The main thing is to ask the right questions before you leave or better yet hire a guide to advise you...

The Draqomen station near the caravan gate would be a good place to start...

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