One of my campaign groups is reaching its end, and some if not all the members will likely want to continue on with a new story. I could see some appetite for sticking to a storybook like Frostmaiden or the like, but in addition/instead of that I've been mulling a few ideas of my own. One such idea is basically premised on the PCs being sent, accidentally, way back in time into a world that's much more wild than "modern" Faerun – a concept heavily borrowing from a lot of games and movies so not unfamiliar I'm sure. The idea being that this setting would, initially, be challenging in part because the PCs will be immediately up against some monsters which are more powerful than they are, and the story arc of the campaign would have the PCs go from needing to run to surviving a fight with some of the bigger monsters. The other challenges would be some kind of survival mechanics; it's often taken for granted that PCs have food and firewood and shelter and whatnot, so taking away that given and making the day's adventure being to get enough supplies for a certain amount of time. I could see that being short-term enjoyable, but I can also imagine it being pretty limited to just the one "we went foraging today" session, necessitating other guidance and hooks.
This being the distant past as well, certain other things would also be altered as part of the world building. Like, some of the gods exist – kinda – but in a less all powerful way. Magic would less "schooled", but is even more prominent and potent. Similarly, magic items would be nonexistent in the conventional sense, but because wild magic is infused almost everywhere the PCs themselves – with the right skills – could find it much easier to make their own magical items/armor/gear, incentivizing some investment in developing roleplay skills. And there'd be very few friendlies in the mostly-megafauna/megaflora world, and what other humanoids they find might pass for some early Feywild crossovers living in isolated pockets. The current loosely-constructed story arc is them finding a way back to their present, with the cause of what sent them back in the first place existing in the past along with them and being something they'd need to find, or otherwise homebrewing a difficult but achievable chronomancer spell.
So that's the idea in a nutshell. Haven't thought much more on it, and it's not clear if there'd be much interest in it vs a storybook or another homebrew concoction. But thought to get it out on digital paper and see what others think when they hear it!
Sounds interesting, though if you want to emphasize the survival aspect of the campaign, you might want to consider what you're going to do regarding backgrounds and classes with abilities that can trivialize it, like the Outlander background.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I really like the idea. One thing I would definitely consider adding though is dinosaurs. Like, have dinosaurs everywhere. Also, I would suggest having lots of really massive monsters be pretty common, to really reinforce the necessity of people coming into towns to defend against them. Another fun idea would be to have some of the gods still be mortal prophets that are actively gaining followers. For example, there could be the great prophet Selune, going from town to town, convincing people of the cosmic power of the moon and gaining followers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quokkas are objectively the best animal, anyone who disagrees needs a psychiatric evaluation
I really like the idea. One thing I would definitely consider adding though is dinosaurs. Like, have dinosaurs everywhere. Also, I would suggest having lots of really massive monsters be pretty common, to really reinforce the necessity of people coming into towns to defend against them. Another fun idea would be to have some of the gods still be mortal prophets that are actively gaining followers. For example, there could be the great prophet Selune, going from town to town, convincing people of the cosmic power of the moon and gaining followers.
That's the idea, to really make the early grind be one of man vs nature/you can't win this easily they're so much larger than you etc etc. The first arc of the game might then be "survival", the second arc being "exploration" - and learning of the ways they could get back home perhaps, and the third arc being the doing-of to get back home which would be hard as shit so like level 15-20 kinda content. I like the idea too of having some of the gods walking and living on the world too but in a much weaker state, playing into the idea that mythologies develop over time so the great god Melora was at this time just a more powerful NPC; these characters might end up being the only friendlies/main adversaries for the PCs, along with whatever early Feywild immigrants.
A couple f things to take note of - * Faerun’s history goes back at least 37,000 years and is split into at least 7 great ages: 1) the era of the Sarrukh (-35,000 DR to -33,000 DR) 2) the era of the Batrachi (-32,000 DR to -31,000 DR) 3) the era of the Aerriee (-31,0000 DR to -30,000 DR) 4) the era of the dragons (and Giants) (-30,000 DR to -25,000 DR) 5) the era of the elves (and dwarves) (-25,000 DR to -9,000 DR) 6) the era(s) of the great human magical cultures (Netheril, Calimshan, Imaskar etc) (-8000 DR to -339 DR) 7) modern era (-339 DR to present (1493? DR))
during this time there were 3 major changes to the structure of the land - the tearfall, the sundering and the separation of Abier and Toril. Dragons enter Faerun with the tearfall, elves enter shortly after and the humanoid races other than humans enter after that. Humans, albeit very primitive have been around since the begining. The goblinoids may have entered with the elves as both came from Feyrie. so you have lots of ways and places - many of which won’t even exist in the modern world, to place your campaign. Setting it in a homebrew may actually be easier because the historical lore is all your own.
Another thing about a primitive world is that (at least in theory) most monstrosities and aberations shouldn’t be present as the mages that created them or opened the portals to their worlds etc haven’t been born yet. It may also be true that not only are there many more wild animals not common to the modern world ( because they haven’t been wiped out yet) but there may be many plants et that are unknown and therefore the rangers and Druids and outsiders etc won’t actually know them so you can reduce their rolls (they roll regularly rather than with advantage/expertise) and everyone else rolls at disadvantage which should make for a more challenging and interesting game (there are steps you can take to test new plants etc for safety so if you know them and the players can describe them then give them a boost. You could have lots of fun with things like domesticating wolf pups or wild horses etc and teaching it to the peoples of the time and getting the players becoming myths and legends that pass down to their times when they return. Imagine their surprise when they return to their own time to find that there are now old legends about hero’s doing what they did and realizing that they are the hero’s but the myths and legends are very different from the reality they remember.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
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One of my campaign groups is reaching its end, and some if not all the members will likely want to continue on with a new story. I could see some appetite for sticking to a storybook like Frostmaiden or the like, but in addition/instead of that I've been mulling a few ideas of my own. One such idea is basically premised on the PCs being sent, accidentally, way back in time into a world that's much more wild than "modern" Faerun – a concept heavily borrowing from a lot of games and movies so not unfamiliar I'm sure. The idea being that this setting would, initially, be challenging in part because the PCs will be immediately up against some monsters which are more powerful than they are, and the story arc of the campaign would have the PCs go from needing to run to surviving a fight with some of the bigger monsters. The other challenges would be some kind of survival mechanics; it's often taken for granted that PCs have food and firewood and shelter and whatnot, so taking away that given and making the day's adventure being to get enough supplies for a certain amount of time. I could see that being short-term enjoyable, but I can also imagine it being pretty limited to just the one "we went foraging today" session, necessitating other guidance and hooks.
This being the distant past as well, certain other things would also be altered as part of the world building. Like, some of the gods exist – kinda – but in a less all powerful way. Magic would less "schooled", but is even more prominent and potent. Similarly, magic items would be nonexistent in the conventional sense, but because wild magic is infused almost everywhere the PCs themselves – with the right skills – could find it much easier to make their own magical items/armor/gear, incentivizing some investment in developing roleplay skills. And there'd be very few friendlies in the mostly-megafauna/megaflora world, and what other humanoids they find might pass for some early Feywild crossovers living in isolated pockets. The current loosely-constructed story arc is them finding a way back to their present, with the cause of what sent them back in the first place existing in the past along with them and being something they'd need to find, or otherwise homebrewing a difficult but achievable chronomancer spell.
So that's the idea in a nutshell. Haven't thought much more on it, and it's not clear if there'd be much interest in it vs a storybook or another homebrew concoction. But thought to get it out on digital paper and see what others think when they hear it!
Sounds interesting, though if you want to emphasize the survival aspect of the campaign, you might want to consider what you're going to do regarding backgrounds and classes with abilities that can trivialize it, like the Outlander background.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I really like the idea. One thing I would definitely consider adding though is dinosaurs. Like, have dinosaurs everywhere. Also, I would suggest having lots of really massive monsters be pretty common, to really reinforce the necessity of people coming into towns to defend against them. Another fun idea would be to have some of the gods still be mortal prophets that are actively gaining followers. For example, there could be the great prophet Selune, going from town to town, convincing people of the cosmic power of the moon and gaining followers.
Quokkas are objectively the best animal, anyone who disagrees needs a psychiatric evaluation
That's the idea, to really make the early grind be one of man vs nature/you can't win this easily they're so much larger than you etc etc. The first arc of the game might then be "survival", the second arc being "exploration" - and learning of the ways they could get back home perhaps, and the third arc being the doing-of to get back home which would be hard as shit so like level 15-20 kinda content. I like the idea too of having some of the gods walking and living on the world too but in a much weaker state, playing into the idea that mythologies develop over time so the great god Melora was at this time just a more powerful NPC; these characters might end up being the only friendlies/main adversaries for the PCs, along with whatever early Feywild immigrants.
A couple f things to take note of -
* Faerun’s history goes back at least 37,000 years and is split into at least 7 great ages:
1) the era of the Sarrukh (-35,000 DR to -33,000 DR)
2) the era of the Batrachi (-32,000 DR to -31,000 DR)
3) the era of the Aerriee (-31,0000 DR to -30,000 DR)
4) the era of the dragons (and Giants) (-30,000 DR to -25,000 DR)
5) the era of the elves (and dwarves) (-25,000 DR to -9,000 DR)
6) the era(s) of the great human magical cultures (Netheril, Calimshan, Imaskar etc) (-8000 DR to -339 DR)
7) modern era (-339 DR to present (1493? DR))
during this time there were 3 major changes to the structure of the land - the tearfall, the sundering and the separation of Abier and Toril. Dragons enter Faerun with the tearfall, elves enter shortly after and the humanoid races other than humans enter after that. Humans, albeit very primitive have been around since the begining. The goblinoids may have entered with the elves as both came from Feyrie.
so you have lots of ways and places - many of which won’t even exist in the modern world, to place your campaign. Setting it in a homebrew may actually be easier because the historical lore is all your own.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Another thing about a primitive world is that (at least in theory) most monstrosities and aberations shouldn’t be present as the mages that created them or opened the portals to their worlds etc haven’t been born yet. It may also be true that not only are there many more wild animals not common to the modern world ( because they haven’t been wiped out yet) but there may be many plants et that are unknown and therefore the rangers and Druids and outsiders etc won’t actually know them so you can reduce their rolls (they roll regularly rather than with advantage/expertise) and everyone else rolls at disadvantage which should make for a more challenging and interesting game (there are steps you can take to test new plants etc for safety so if you know them and the players can describe them then give them a boost. You could have lots of fun with things like domesticating wolf pups or wild horses etc and teaching it to the peoples of the time and getting the players becoming myths and legends that pass down to their times when they return. Imagine their surprise when they return to their own time to find that there are now old legends about hero’s doing what they did and realizing that they are the hero’s but the myths and legends are very different from the reality they remember.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.