I have had an idea for a campaign that I think sounds cool and I would like to see what others think about it. It would start in a normal Dnd setting, the players would be low level, around level one or level three. The first session(s) would end with them coming across an ancient artifact that is a fossilized ammonite amulet. The artifact would grow in power as the campaign goes along but would start out relatively weak except for its main power. That is to travel back in time to when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. It could only do this maybe two or three times a day, and they can only travel back a certain amount of time, they can't choose how far back they go. So if they spend a week in the jurasic, then when they travel to the future a week will have passed. This will be to avoid a bunch of problems and paradoxes like them meeting themselves.
The campaign would involve a lot of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals like sabre toothed tigers and dire wolves. I would have to homebrew more dinosaurs and make them interesting. I would create dire dinosaurs, weredinos, and more mythical ones like that, maybe a centaur-dinosaur creature, and I have already created a four-armed tyranosaurus just for fun. Also, I plan on using a lot of dragons and reskin them as more prehistoric looking, they would resemble dinosaurs more. I also plan on using Kobolds and make them resemble velociraptors, and use lizardfolk and maybe tortles in the dinosaur setting. I may also use a lot of elemental and primordial forces and use monstrous plants too. I guess I could also have a side adventure where ithilids land in the prehistoric times and set up a whole unerground empire. Then in the present, after centuries of building their power, they attack and they conquer the world. The characters must travel back in time and wipe out the mind flayers while they are still vulnerable in order to save the future.
I plan on switching time periods a lot and creating little puzzles out of it, like the players are on a mountain and they switch to dinosaur times and find themselves standing on a rock in the middle of a volcano. Another instance would be them standing near a stream in the dinosaur times and switching to the present to find themselves at the bottom of a canyon and they have used up all charges of the artifact so they either wait till dawn for the artifact to regain the charges, or they navigate through the canyon to find a way out. Also, I plan on making two maps of the region where they will be adventuring. One will be the present world, and the other will be the far past. The maps will be similar and have major geographical changes like volcanoes, islands, canyons, rivers, lakes, and mountains being in different places on the maps.
For the overall campaign, the players discover that there is an ancient god-like power that ruled the world during the past, but has foreseen that their race would be destroyed. They are now trying to figure out how to prevent the catastrophe that destroyed the dinosaurs and so they created the artifact to send to the future in order to find a way to save their kind. They are probably evil though and are really trying to keep their hold as the tyrant lizard king. If they succeed, then most modern civilizations would be destroyed and dinosaurs would make it so most humanoids won't exist. There will also be a powerful creature that lives underwater called the Coelacanth, the Survivor and Ageless One, based on that really old fish. The players might have to seek out the Coelacanth in modern times in order to find out what killed the dinosaurs in order to make sure it happens so that society can develop. They would also have to work around dinosaur-like dragons and could explore the reptilian societies of the Lizardfolk, Kobolds, and Tortle. (And Maybe Dragonborn, I am not sure.) I also think I will have them accidentally set loose a bunch of dinosaurs in modern time and they have to round them up to protect people from the prehistoric threats.
So, what do y'all think about this idea? I like it and my six year old self is hopping about with glee, but would it work well for a full campaign to be based around time travel like this?
What monsters should be used in the past or present?
Do you have any ideas on special abilities the players could unlock with the artifact they have?
Are there any ideas you have about the ancient power that is trying to stop the dinosaurs from dying and for Coelacanth. Also Dinosaur dragons, how would they work?
Are there any encounters or adventure ideas that you think would be cool to add in a setting like this?
As you can see I have a lot of work to do and would appreciate any help and/or advice you can give me.
Wow, this is really cool and also sounds like a lot of work. I think you have plenty here for a 6 month+ campaign for sure. Not sure how long everyone is committed for but I could even see this being a year campaign.
Anyway, I love it! I also have some dino's in my campaign rn.
You've got the monsters down, just use what you have in your ideas.
As far as special abilities goes, could be anything but maybe you allow them to craft heavy-duty equipment made from dino-material (like Monster Hunter) to make some cool dino-themed gear. Or items that are dino-themed but tied to real dnd items. Like instead of the fly statue it's the pteradon statue, that allows them to fly.
I like the stakes you raise with trying the extinction of the dinos to the oncoming extinction of humanoids or life. Really focus in on that.
Love your idea and honestly would love to play in a campaign like that. Best of luck, you've definitely got your work cut out for ya :)
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Dungeon Master and player. Homebrewed multiple campaigns with 5-6+ party members. Currently DM'ing a homebrew campaign in 5e, while getting ready to play Pathfinder 2e. Also homebrewing a Cyber Punk campaign with some buddies.
Thanks, the more I think about it, the more I want to do it. I liked your idea about the pteranadon statue and will probably use that. The fly statue could also be a fly frozen in amber that they summon. I also will probably allow them to craft dino-themed gear from what they find in the past, and they could bring stuff like dino-hide and prehistoric fruit back to the present to sell for a really good price. Thanks for the response.
The adventure will probably start with a bunch of crazy cultists who try to open a portal to the past and they use the ammonite amulet to do so, and the adventures will be trying to stop them, but they don't really know exactly what the enemy is doing. The enemy will also have a velociraptor attack the party which will seem out of place in that setting. If the party fails to stop the cultists (which might be kobolds or lizardfolk) then a bunch of dinosaurs will appear and the party will have to stop them. If they win then they will have the amulet and will be able to travel back in time. I also might put in as a side character, a tortle warlock of Coelacanth (either fathomless, undying, or great old one) who is kind of crazy and he will have been alive since the dinosaur ages. He could help the party, or seriously threaten them. If they anger him in the past, then he could kill them in the future by preventing their birth or by killing them when they are still young. He could be helpful by providing information on the whereabouts of Coelacanth, but he would be more of a neutral party. Maybe they could persuade them to help by providing him with something in the past that went extinct in the present and he misses it. They might also find an artificer that has built a way to travel back in time and is now in the past researching the dinosaurs. He might be a gnome and not understand the danger he is in from the coming extinction and from Kurtulmak. He would be there though mostly to provide roleplay opportunities in the past and to provide another way to travel back to the future in case their amulet is stolen by the many creatures that wish to do so.
There could also be an evil creature, maybe a medusa, who got banished to the past by a mage who didn't know what he was doing. The mage accidentally banished the entire town to the past, sealing their fate. So the party would come across a town overrun by the jungle, and stone statues would be all over the place. Since medusas are supposed to have gained immortality, the medusa would be waiting for thousands of years when it is the present again in order to seek her revenge, but what she doesn't know is that she will die during whatever killed the dinosaurs, and if she finds out she will do anything in her power to find a way to prevent the catastrophe or to escape it. She might also have several pterodactyl-harpies to serve her.
I also need to figure out who the ancient superpower is that is trying to prevent the extinction of dinosaurs. They may be some dragon-dinosaur -like monster, or they may be a humanoid figure with a dinosaur head (could explain dinosaur headed ardlings). I don't really know what they should be able to do or what they are. I also want to have the amber prince, who is another ancient power, maybe connected to insects, who has been trapped and preserved in amber and so still exists in the present. He would still be able to think and somewhat use his power, but he is trapped in amber and so he is severely weakened. I need to decide what he is too. I also want to have a more ice-age like power that dwells in the north who might be a undead monstrosity that has been preserved in the ice for thousands of years. So far, all of these seem evil so I want to come up with another one who is benevolent, and is willing to help the adventures, even though doing so will seal their fate and they will not survive the extinction. Edit: Also, since I am planning on using kobolds a bunch, I might say that Kurtulmak the Kobold King was imprisoned in the past by Garl Glittergold instead of deep in the ground. He would be aiding the other powers in trying to prevent their destruction but would escape to the future, leaving the others to extinction if he could find a way to. I may or may not include a Yuan-ti god who survives the extiction, but I am not sure about that one.
For monsters, I have a bunch that I want to homebrew, like the Tree-rex and the sabre toothed wampus cat, but for the most part I think I have them covered. I might create a dino-hydra too.
I really need to figure out what causes the extinction of the dinosaurs. It could be a meteor, but that seems a little boring. It might be the arrival of the present day celestials. They could all have arrived on earth in a meteor, and the force of the magical impact killed most of the things that were living then. They then come out and began shaping the world so that it becomes what it is today. This could result in a final battle between the old powers and the new ones, both sides of immortals will have been weakened to the point where they could be killed and if the party is a high enough level they could pick sides and aid in the battle.
Sorry, this a whole lot, I have been using this to brainstorm so it has grown to be alot. Thank you for your time if you have read this.
If you want some etra bits and pieces have a look at Planeshift: Ixalan (pdf available on the wiki: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift) It has a chapter on dinosaurs but its all themed on the setting from Magic the Gathering.
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I think I have seen that before, that should be useful, thanks.
I need to come up with a benevolent ancient god who is willing to let the extinction occur and sacrifice themselves to allow the players to fight back against the evil ancients.
I also need to figure out who the new celestials are that came crashing down on this planet, I have a few but I need more. So far there are:
Oothret Lord of Knowledge and Magic and he may be the patron of the Owlin race. He takes the form of a giant owl-man with a feathered cloak. He carries a golden trident that has candles instead of spearpoints. He also is always followed by floating ethereal candles.
Maybe Bahamat, he will probably come later though and not be involved in the fight.
There are two twins, the Sun Archer and The Moon Archer who fire the sun arrow and moon arrow across the sky each day and night. Before they arrived a giant flying pteradactyl of flame probably provided the earth light. (By the way, my world is on the back of a flying space turtle) When they first arrive they probably will just be normal archers who will later slay the sun flyer and the moon flyer (both magical pteranadon like dragons) and make the sun arrow and the moon arrow out of their bones.
Michabo, though he might come later, was a magical hare that was in Native American mythology. He would be the patron of Harengon.
The Porpoise of Life, a life lord (can be the patron of life clerics) a magical porpoise with life giving and healing powers. Takes the form of a porpoise headed man when he needs to travel on land. Will probably battle the Leviathan that rules the sea.
The Morrigan, crow patron of death, war, fertility, and cattle. She might be their, I am not sure.
Xolotl, Dog headed Aztec god of death, lightning, fire, deformaties, and axolotl. He will be one of the death lords but will also fill the role of storm and fire lord. He might transform into an axolotl and hide if he is weakened to much, like he did in mythology. He isn't evil and does care for humans.
Queztcoatl, dragon-like aztec god, good friends with Xolotl.
Gruumsh, the Orc Lord of war. He will probably ally with the Ancients when he arrives but will escape or be imprisoned if he loses.
Xolotl, Inuit spirit of justice and law who either takes the form of a giant flying eyeball, or a weird spiky maned monster with funky teeth and eyes. He also might struggle with depression in his mythology.
Rhydern (Inspired by the Snow Goose) Protector and Guardian of the Wilds. He is a crippled hunchback who is also the Patron of painters. When he arrives, I think he will look around at the destruction, see the wildlife being destroyed and do his best to save as much of it as he can. He will create a small region where the dinosaurs can seek safety and defend it, that way, when I play in this world later, not all dinosaurs are extinct and I can still use them, but they are only in secluded and hidden regions deep in the wild. He may become crippled because he is wounded by one of the ancients and so is twisted into his hunchback and crippled form. He is also married to Flittra, the Guardian of the Hunted and Prey. She will also probably aid him.
Hephaestus, he will probably be twisted and ugly because he was badly damaged in the impact of the landing and then was wounded in battle afterwards.
Goreaxe, brother of Gruumsh. He is a vile hunter who kills for the fun of it. He protects murderers and poachers, and is also associated with war. He may or may not be a traitor like Gruumsh.
Denethorn the Noble Hunter. Master woodsman. He hunts down dangerous monsters to protect civilization. He is a patron of rangers and some paladins.
Nanook, inuit bear lord and wind master.
Ana, Mother of disease, is a fey queen
Myridon the Twin-trunked, don't know what he is the lord of yet, but he is a giant elephant man with two trunks.
Zankallala, tiny hairy man who rides a jerboa, has a swarm of bees for a hat, scorpions are tied to his feet for spurs, a snake is his walking stick, and is constantly surrounded by a swarm of birds who sing his praise. He is from African Mythology.
I might make more, these are just the first that pop into my head, and most are from mythology and stories. I might use different ones or make more, I don't know which ones will work yet. More can come after the first ones arrive on the meteor, so my entire pantheon doesn't have to be present. I am planning on having them weakened by the crash, so many might just use solar and empyrean stats, and the party can aid them in fighting off the Ancients, who were also weakened by the crash. That way the players have the chance to kill god-like creatures and maybe gain some of their powers. If they fail, then the Ancients will survive and the dinosaurs will continue to rule the world and so most societies will never develop and the future will be wiped out. If they win, the Ancients will be wiped out, or at least trapped in amber or preserved in ice, and the future will survive.
So far my list of Ancients are:
Kurtulmak the Kobold King, he is the son of Tiamat who will arrive much later with Bahamat, but was sent back in time and imprisoned in the past by Garl Glittergold.
The Prince of Amber, I need ideas for what he is but he will survive the extinction by preserving himself in amber. He may be related to insects, but I am not sure.
Mammonar. He is a savage warrior of the Ice-age like north who will also fight with the Ancients. Don't know his appearance yet, but will be "killed" and fall to the ice and be entombed in it. He can then resurface as an undead lord that has been frozen in the ice for thousands of years and so is somewhat preserved. He might attack the characters in the present to try to stop them from stopping him in the past.
Dinotyrranus. I don't know, he is supposed to be the biggest one, the head honcho, the one who created the amulet to try to stop the extinction from occurring. But I can't think of what he is, what he can do, or what his name should be. I don't like the one I just used, but what do you name an ancient Dinosaur lord who is trying to stop the extinction from happening in order to stay the Tyrant Lizard King.
Coelacanth lives in the depths of the sea and is neutral. It won't help either side, but it might help the party if they win its favor or do something for it. I don't know what it would want from them.
There will also be a Leviathan that dwells in the ocean that will aid them. Various Primordial figures might help, like Olhydra, a Zaratan, and/or an Elder Tempest. These will not be killed though, and will actually end up in the Elemental Planes if defeated.
I am also planning on having several Ancient Dragons and/or Greatwyrms that are dinosaur-like in appearance and will also help.
I might also add a tarrasque to the fight.
I think I need a few more ideas for them. Sorry, this is a humongous amount of writing, thank you if you took the time to read any of it. I really am enjoying making this and I hope I get the chance to DM the whole thing at sometime, but it will last for a while.
Wow, this is really cool and also sounds like a lot of work. I think you have plenty here for a 6 month+ campaign for sure. Not sure how long everyone is committed for but I could even see this being a year campaign.
Anyway, I love it! I also have some dino's in my campaign rn.
You've got the monsters down, just use what you have in your ideas.
As far as special abilities goes, could be anything but maybe you allow them to craft heavy-duty equipment made from dino-material (like Monster Hunter) to make some cool dino-themed gear. Or items that are dino-themed but tied to real dnd items. Like instead of the fly statue it's the pteradon statue, that allows them to fly.
I like the stakes you raise with trying the extinction of the dinos to the oncoming extinction of humanoids or life. Really focus in on that.
Love your idea and honestly would love to play in a campaign like that. Best of luck, you've definitely got your work cut out for ya :)
You said that you also have dinosaurs in your campaign, how are you doing so? Is there a reason ancient prehistoric creatures are roaming your world or did they never go extinct and so they are naturally found in your world?
You said that you also have dinosaurs in your campaign, how are you doing so? Is there a reason ancient prehistoric creatures are roaming your world or did they never go extinct and so they are naturally found in your world?
This campaign is based on an homebrewed island, that was birthed by the magma of a dragon. The island then sprouted up new life rapidly. Strangely, the life and creatures of the island are from ages past, featuring dinos and other ancient creatures thought to have passed in time. All major cities have sent groups to the island for exploration and the party is one of these groups (from waterdeep)
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Dungeon Master and player. Homebrewed multiple campaigns with 5-6+ party members. Currently DM'ing a homebrew campaign in 5e, while getting ready to play Pathfinder 2e. Also homebrewing a Cyber Punk campaign with some buddies.
Here are a bunch of monsters I have made/modified for the campaign I am planning. This is both for others to enjoy and it helps me keep all the stuff I will be using in one place. (I hope I am setting up the links properly, I am not at all tech savy.)
The mindflayer side quest will now involve them attacking the mind flayers ship soon after it lands, and the mind flayers are defending the elder brain. They will also have mind controlled dinosaur thralls that serve them. When the party defeats the mind flayers, they won't find the elder brain, it vanishes before they get there. The elder brain made a pact with whatever the lead Ancient is, I am still working on that, and the lead Ancient (Who I will now call the Ancient One) will help it escape, and give it more power if it promises to serve him. The elder brain will then be implanted on the head of a tyrannosaurus, and it will aid the ancients in the final battle against the arriving gods.
A similar thing might happen with the medusa that was imprisoned in the past, it will flee, right before being killed, and ally with the Ancient One. He will then become an even more monstrous medusa/dinosaur/stone elemental monstrosity and be able to aid in the battle with the new gods. Now I have more people in that fight for the bad guys because I needed more, and I have to worry less about the party getting to use the medusa head to turn all their enemies to stone.
I am also thinking about having Yeenoghu be on the Ancient's side. He is completely savage and seems a good fit to the prehistoric wilds. I don't know what he would be connected to though, he is to furry to be a dinodude, and I already have Mammonar lording over the Ice Age creatures. I really don't know. In the Extinction battle he would be defeated and cast into the Abyss where he started the whole Abyssal jazz. That would make him the oldest and original demon. Maybe the Demagorgon would work too? If he is included, I will have to add in another campaign a section where they travel to his layer of the abyss and they find a bunch of fiendish dinosaurs there. It makes sense to me, he would like that
I need a good way to have the characters be able to join the all out war between the Ancients and the Celestials. They will be level 20 by then (I may have them skip a few levels in the leveling up process near the end to get there.) and hopefully have some epic boons, maybe some epic banes too, and they will have some powerful allies on their side. I might make them fight through some of the weaker enemies, like the elder brain dino and the beefed up medusa, and gain a few levels doing that. Before they get to level twenty, that way they don't just skip five levels and have a whole bunch of unexplained powers. I would then have the other Celestials fight the Amber Prince, Kurtulmak, Mammonar, Gruumsh and the Ancient One, that way they are defeated but the party doesn't have to worry about them until level 20. Then, at level 20, the party attacks the Ancient One and have one big final battle. If they win, they might be accepted to the ranks of the Celestials and I will include there characters in my pantheon from now on, if they fail, the extinction does not fully occur and civilization never rises because all the dinosaurs, orcs (from Gruumsh who allied with the Ancient Ones), and primordial forces rampaging across the landscape.
How does that sound? Are there any major problems that need to be fixed? As always, thank you to anyone who had the time and was willing to spend it on my nerdy little world.
I mentioned Hephaestus a while ago and it got me thinking about how he will be involved.
He is an extremely ugly, short blacksmith who will be the Patron of the dwarves in my world. I am basing him off of Greek mythology but since there aren't many other greek gods in my world, a lot of his backstory will change.
As he was crashing to the earth with the other celestials, Gruumsh the orc god decided that he wanted to gain more power and conquer the creations of the other celestials. He had great plans for his orcs, but he knew the quiet Hephaestus was cooking something up in that brilliant mind of his and he decided to eliminate the competition. But instead of attacking Hephaestus, who he knew would be an equal match if not stronger, he targeted his sister Jalaena. Jalaena was much younger than Hephaestus, and she was a being of unsurpassed beauty and light. Gruumsh threw her from the rest of the gods, and she plummeted to earth separately from the rest. (To all the dinosaurs and the party down on the earth, this would look like a flaming meteor hurtling to the ground when a small piece of it breaks off from the rest and descends at another trajectory . Hephaestus rushed after her, (Another larger flame breaks off from the meteor and dashes after the other piece, catching up to it and merging together. ) and shielded her from the impact of the landing. The damage of the crash horribly disfigured and weakened Hephaestus, and it gave him an eternal hatred for orcs that would carry on in the dwarves he created.
The characters who will witness this from the ground will then get to choose whether to head towards where the larger meteor hit, or go to where Hephaestus has landed. If they go to the crash sight of all the other celestials, Gruumsh will meet them before they arrive. He will attempt to persuade them to attack the other gods, who he fled from because of his action against Hephaestus. They will then fight the weakened gods, but they will probably clear up any confusion the party has, and while that happens, Gruumsh, and probably his brother Goreaxe, will team up with the Ancients.
If they go to where Hephaestus has crashed, they will find Jalaena healing his wounds. He will tell them what really happened, and probably give them an epic boon. He will also send them to the rest of the gods where they will (hopefully) ally. I will also note that the other celestials will not be aware of the fact that the Ancients are about to attack them in their weakened state so they need a warning or else they will be badly damaged from that fight.
The backstory thing I wrote for Hephaestus, Jalaena, and Gruumsh, explains the dwarf and orc rivalries. It also causes the goddess of beauty to be his beloved sister instead of a pretty horrible wife. I like that better, and she may then help found the race of elves.
I have had an idea for a campaign that I think sounds cool and I would like to see what others think about it. It would start in a normal Dnd setting, the players would be low level, around level one or level three. The first session(s) would end with them coming across an ancient artifact that is a fossilized ammonite amulet. The artifact would grow in power as the campaign goes along but would start out relatively weak except for its main power. That is to travel back in time to when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. It could only do this maybe two or three times a day, and they can only travel back a certain amount of time, they can't choose how far back they go. So if they spend a week in the jurasic, then when they travel to the future a week will have passed. This will be to avoid a bunch of problems and paradoxes like them meeting themselves.
The campaign would involve a lot of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals like sabre toothed tigers and dire wolves. I would have to homebrew more dinosaurs and make them interesting. I would create dire dinosaurs, weredinos, and more mythical ones like that, maybe a centaur-dinosaur creature, and I have already created a four-armed tyranosaurus just for fun. Also, I plan on using a lot of dragons and reskin them as more prehistoric looking, they would resemble dinosaurs more. I also plan on using Kobolds and make them resemble velociraptors, and use lizardfolk and maybe tortles in the dinosaur setting. I may also use a lot of elemental and primordial forces and use monstrous plants too. I guess I could also have a side adventure where ithilids land in the prehistoric times and set up a whole unerground empire. Then in the present, after centuries of building their power, they attack and they conquer the world. The characters must travel back in time and wipe out the mind flayers while they are still vulnerable in order to save the future.
I plan on switching time periods a lot and creating little puzzles out of it, like the players are on a mountain and they switch to dinosaur times and find themselves standing on a rock in the middle of a volcano. Another instance would be them standing near a stream in the dinosaur times and switching to the present to find themselves at the bottom of a canyon and they have used up all charges of the artifact so they either wait till dawn for the artifact to regain the charges, or they navigate through the canyon to find a way out. Also, I plan on making two maps of the region where they will be adventuring. One will be the present world, and the other will be the far past. The maps will be similar and have major geographical changes like volcanoes, islands, canyons, rivers, lakes, and mountains being in different places on the maps.
For the overall campaign, the players discover that there is an ancient god-like power that ruled the world during the past, but has foreseen that their race would be destroyed. They are now trying to figure out how to prevent the catastrophe that destroyed the dinosaurs and so they created the artifact to send to the future in order to find a way to save their kind. They are probably evil though and are really trying to keep their hold as the tyrant lizard king. If they succeed, then most modern civilizations would be destroyed and dinosaurs would make it so most humanoids won't exist. There will also be a powerful creature that lives underwater called the Coelacanth, the Survivor and Ageless One, based on that really old fish. The players might have to seek out the Coelacanth in modern times in order to find out what killed the dinosaurs in order to make sure it happens so that society can develop. They would also have to work around dinosaur-like dragons and could explore the reptilian societies of the Lizardfolk, Kobolds, and Tortle. (And Maybe Dragonborn, I am not sure.) I also think I will have them accidentally set loose a bunch of dinosaurs in modern time and they have to round them up to protect people from the prehistoric threats.
So, what do y'all think about this idea? I like it and my six year old self is hopping about with glee, but would it work well for a full campaign to be based around time travel like this?
What monsters should be used in the past or present?
Do you have any ideas on special abilities the players could unlock with the artifact they have?
Are there any ideas you have about the ancient power that is trying to stop the dinosaurs from dying and for Coelacanth. Also Dinosaur dragons, how would they work?
Are there any encounters or adventure ideas that you think would be cool to add in a setting like this?
As you can see I have a lot of work to do and would appreciate any help and/or advice you can give me.
Wow, this is really cool and also sounds like a lot of work. I think you have plenty here for a 6 month+ campaign for sure. Not sure how long everyone is committed for but I could even see this being a year campaign.
Anyway, I love it! I also have some dino's in my campaign rn.
You've got the monsters down, just use what you have in your ideas.
As far as special abilities goes, could be anything but maybe you allow them to craft heavy-duty equipment made from dino-material (like Monster Hunter) to make some cool dino-themed gear. Or items that are dino-themed but tied to real dnd items. Like instead of the fly statue it's the pteradon statue, that allows them to fly.
I like the stakes you raise with trying the extinction of the dinos to the oncoming extinction of humanoids or life. Really focus in on that.
Love your idea and honestly would love to play in a campaign like that. Best of luck, you've definitely got your work cut out for ya :)
Dungeon Master and player. Homebrewed multiple campaigns with 5-6+ party members. Currently DM'ing a homebrew campaign in 5e, while getting ready to play Pathfinder 2e. Also homebrewing a Cyber Punk campaign with some buddies.
Thanks, the more I think about it, the more I want to do it. I liked your idea about the pteranadon statue and will probably use that. The fly statue could also be a fly frozen in amber that they summon. I also will probably allow them to craft dino-themed gear from what they find in the past, and they could bring stuff like dino-hide and prehistoric fruit back to the present to sell for a really good price. Thanks for the response.
The adventure will probably start with a bunch of crazy cultists who try to open a portal to the past and they use the ammonite amulet to do so, and the adventures will be trying to stop them, but they don't really know exactly what the enemy is doing. The enemy will also have a velociraptor attack the party which will seem out of place in that setting. If the party fails to stop the cultists (which might be kobolds or lizardfolk) then a bunch of dinosaurs will appear and the party will have to stop them. If they win then they will have the amulet and will be able to travel back in time. I also might put in as a side character, a tortle warlock of Coelacanth (either fathomless, undying, or great old one) who is kind of crazy and he will have been alive since the dinosaur ages. He could help the party, or seriously threaten them. If they anger him in the past, then he could kill them in the future by preventing their birth or by killing them when they are still young. He could be helpful by providing information on the whereabouts of Coelacanth, but he would be more of a neutral party. Maybe they could persuade them to help by providing him with something in the past that went extinct in the present and he misses it. They might also find an artificer that has built a way to travel back in time and is now in the past researching the dinosaurs. He might be a gnome and not understand the danger he is in from the coming extinction and from Kurtulmak. He would be there though mostly to provide roleplay opportunities in the past and to provide another way to travel back to the future in case their amulet is stolen by the many creatures that wish to do so.
There could also be an evil creature, maybe a medusa, who got banished to the past by a mage who didn't know what he was doing. The mage accidentally banished the entire town to the past, sealing their fate. So the party would come across a town overrun by the jungle, and stone statues would be all over the place. Since medusas are supposed to have gained immortality, the medusa would be waiting for thousands of years when it is the present again in order to seek her revenge, but what she doesn't know is that she will die during whatever killed the dinosaurs, and if she finds out she will do anything in her power to find a way to prevent the catastrophe or to escape it. She might also have several pterodactyl-harpies to serve her.
I also need to figure out who the ancient superpower is that is trying to prevent the extinction of dinosaurs. They may be some dragon-dinosaur -like monster, or they may be a humanoid figure with a dinosaur head (could explain dinosaur headed ardlings). I don't really know what they should be able to do or what they are. I also want to have the amber prince, who is another ancient power, maybe connected to insects, who has been trapped and preserved in amber and so still exists in the present. He would still be able to think and somewhat use his power, but he is trapped in amber and so he is severely weakened. I need to decide what he is too. I also want to have a more ice-age like power that dwells in the north who might be a undead monstrosity that has been preserved in the ice for thousands of years. So far, all of these seem evil so I want to come up with another one who is benevolent, and is willing to help the adventures, even though doing so will seal their fate and they will not survive the extinction. Edit: Also, since I am planning on using kobolds a bunch, I might say that Kurtulmak the Kobold King was imprisoned in the past by Garl Glittergold instead of deep in the ground. He would be aiding the other powers in trying to prevent their destruction but would escape to the future, leaving the others to extinction if he could find a way to. I may or may not include a Yuan-ti god who survives the extiction, but I am not sure about that one.
For monsters, I have a bunch that I want to homebrew, like the Tree-rex and the sabre toothed wampus cat, but for the most part I think I have them covered. I might create a dino-hydra too.
I really need to figure out what causes the extinction of the dinosaurs. It could be a meteor, but that seems a little boring. It might be the arrival of the present day celestials. They could all have arrived on earth in a meteor, and the force of the magical impact killed most of the things that were living then. They then come out and began shaping the world so that it becomes what it is today. This could result in a final battle between the old powers and the new ones, both sides of immortals will have been weakened to the point where they could be killed and if the party is a high enough level they could pick sides and aid in the battle.
Sorry, this a whole lot, I have been using this to brainstorm so it has grown to be alot. Thank you for your time if you have read this.
If you want some etra bits and pieces have a look at Planeshift: Ixalan (pdf available on the wiki: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Plane_Shift) It has a chapter on dinosaurs but its all themed on the setting from Magic the Gathering.
I think I have seen that before, that should be useful, thanks.
I need to come up with a benevolent ancient god who is willing to let the extinction occur and sacrifice themselves to allow the players to fight back against the evil ancients.
I also need to figure out who the new celestials are that came crashing down on this planet, I have a few but I need more. So far there are:
Oothret Lord of Knowledge and Magic and he may be the patron of the Owlin race. He takes the form of a giant owl-man with a feathered cloak. He carries a golden trident that has candles instead of spearpoints. He also is always followed by floating ethereal candles.
Maybe Bahamat, he will probably come later though and not be involved in the fight.
There are two twins, the Sun Archer and The Moon Archer who fire the sun arrow and moon arrow across the sky each day and night. Before they arrived a giant flying pteradactyl of flame probably provided the earth light. (By the way, my world is on the back of a flying space turtle) When they first arrive they probably will just be normal archers who will later slay the sun flyer and the moon flyer (both magical pteranadon like dragons) and make the sun arrow and the moon arrow out of their bones.
Michabo, though he might come later, was a magical hare that was in Native American mythology. He would be the patron of Harengon.
The Porpoise of Life, a life lord (can be the patron of life clerics) a magical porpoise with life giving and healing powers. Takes the form of a porpoise headed man when he needs to travel on land. Will probably battle the Leviathan that rules the sea.
The Morrigan, crow patron of death, war, fertility, and cattle. She might be their, I am not sure.
Xolotl, Dog headed Aztec god of death, lightning, fire, deformaties, and axolotl. He will be one of the death lords but will also fill the role of storm and fire lord. He might transform into an axolotl and hide if he is weakened to much, like he did in mythology. He isn't evil and does care for humans.
Queztcoatl, dragon-like aztec god, good friends with Xolotl.
Gruumsh, the Orc Lord of war. He will probably ally with the Ancients when he arrives but will escape or be imprisoned if he loses.
Xolotl, Inuit spirit of justice and law who either takes the form of a giant flying eyeball, or a weird spiky maned monster with funky teeth and eyes. He also might struggle with depression in his mythology.
Rhydern (Inspired by the Snow Goose) Protector and Guardian of the Wilds. He is a crippled hunchback who is also the Patron of painters. When he arrives, I think he will look around at the destruction, see the wildlife being destroyed and do his best to save as much of it as he can. He will create a small region where the dinosaurs can seek safety and defend it, that way, when I play in this world later, not all dinosaurs are extinct and I can still use them, but they are only in secluded and hidden regions deep in the wild. He may become crippled because he is wounded by one of the ancients and so is twisted into his hunchback and crippled form. He is also married to Flittra, the Guardian of the Hunted and Prey. She will also probably aid him.
Hephaestus, he will probably be twisted and ugly because he was badly damaged in the impact of the landing and then was wounded in battle afterwards.
Goreaxe, brother of Gruumsh. He is a vile hunter who kills for the fun of it. He protects murderers and poachers, and is also associated with war. He may or may not be a traitor like Gruumsh.
Denethorn the Noble Hunter. Master woodsman. He hunts down dangerous monsters to protect civilization. He is a patron of rangers and some paladins.
Nanook, inuit bear lord and wind master.
Ana, Mother of disease, is a fey queen
Myridon the Twin-trunked, don't know what he is the lord of yet, but he is a giant elephant man with two trunks.
Zankallala, tiny hairy man who rides a jerboa, has a swarm of bees for a hat, scorpions are tied to his feet for spurs, a snake is his walking stick, and is constantly surrounded by a swarm of birds who sing his praise. He is from African Mythology.
I might make more, these are just the first that pop into my head, and most are from mythology and stories. I might use different ones or make more, I don't know which ones will work yet. More can come after the first ones arrive on the meteor, so my entire pantheon doesn't have to be present. I am planning on having them weakened by the crash, so many might just use solar and empyrean stats, and the party can aid them in fighting off the Ancients, who were also weakened by the crash. That way the players have the chance to kill god-like creatures and maybe gain some of their powers. If they fail, then the Ancients will survive and the dinosaurs will continue to rule the world and so most societies will never develop and the future will be wiped out. If they win, the Ancients will be wiped out, or at least trapped in amber or preserved in ice, and the future will survive.
So far my list of Ancients are:
Kurtulmak the Kobold King, he is the son of Tiamat who will arrive much later with Bahamat, but was sent back in time and imprisoned in the past by Garl Glittergold.
The Prince of Amber, I need ideas for what he is but he will survive the extinction by preserving himself in amber. He may be related to insects, but I am not sure.
Mammonar. He is a savage warrior of the Ice-age like north who will also fight with the Ancients. Don't know his appearance yet, but will be "killed" and fall to the ice and be entombed in it. He can then resurface as an undead lord that has been frozen in the ice for thousands of years and so is somewhat preserved. He might attack the characters in the present to try to stop them from stopping him in the past.
Dinotyrranus. I don't know, he is supposed to be the biggest one, the head honcho, the one who created the amulet to try to stop the extinction from occurring. But I can't think of what he is, what he can do, or what his name should be. I don't like the one I just used, but what do you name an ancient Dinosaur lord who is trying to stop the extinction from happening in order to stay the Tyrant Lizard King.
Coelacanth lives in the depths of the sea and is neutral. It won't help either side, but it might help the party if they win its favor or do something for it. I don't know what it would want from them.
There will also be a Leviathan that dwells in the ocean that will aid them. Various Primordial figures might help, like Olhydra, a Zaratan, and/or an Elder Tempest. These will not be killed though, and will actually end up in the Elemental Planes if defeated.
I am also planning on having several Ancient Dragons and/or Greatwyrms that are dinosaur-like in appearance and will also help.
I might also add a tarrasque to the fight.
I think I need a few more ideas for them. Sorry, this is a humongous amount of writing, thank you if you took the time to read any of it. I really am enjoying making this and I hope I get the chance to DM the whole thing at sometime, but it will last for a while.
As always, I am open to suggestions and ideas.
Have you ever play Ark: survival evolved?
No I haven't but I think I know of it. Would it help with the adventure I am making?
You said that you also have dinosaurs in your campaign, how are you doing so? Is there a reason ancient prehistoric creatures are roaming your world or did they never go extinct and so they are naturally found in your world?
This campaign is based on an homebrewed island, that was birthed by the magma of a dragon. The island then sprouted up new life rapidly. Strangely, the life and creatures of the island are from ages past, featuring dinos and other ancient creatures thought to have passed in time. All major cities have sent groups to the island for exploration and the party is one of these groups (from waterdeep)
Dungeon Master and player. Homebrewed multiple campaigns with 5-6+ party members. Currently DM'ing a homebrew campaign in 5e, while getting ready to play Pathfinder 2e. Also homebrewing a Cyber Punk campaign with some buddies.
That sounds like a cool campaign.
Here are a bunch of monsters I have made/modified for the campaign I am planning. This is both for others to enjoy and it helps me keep all the stuff I will be using in one place. (I hope I am setting up the links properly, I am not at all tech savy.)
I will be creating more, and will update this when I do.
The mindflayer side quest will now involve them attacking the mind flayers ship soon after it lands, and the mind flayers are defending the elder brain. They will also have mind controlled dinosaur thralls that serve them. When the party defeats the mind flayers, they won't find the elder brain, it vanishes before they get there. The elder brain made a pact with whatever the lead Ancient is, I am still working on that, and the lead Ancient (Who I will now call the Ancient One) will help it escape, and give it more power if it promises to serve him. The elder brain will then be implanted on the head of a tyrannosaurus, and it will aid the ancients in the final battle against the arriving gods.
A similar thing might happen with the medusa that was imprisoned in the past, it will flee, right before being killed, and ally with the Ancient One. He will then become an even more monstrous medusa/dinosaur/stone elemental monstrosity and be able to aid in the battle with the new gods. Now I have more people in that fight for the bad guys because I needed more, and I have to worry less about the party getting to use the medusa head to turn all their enemies to stone.
I am also thinking about having Yeenoghu be on the Ancient's side. He is completely savage and seems a good fit to the prehistoric wilds. I don't know what he would be connected to though, he is to furry to be a dinodude, and I already have Mammonar lording over the Ice Age creatures. I really don't know. In the Extinction battle he would be defeated and cast into the Abyss where he started the whole Abyssal jazz. That would make him the oldest and original demon. Maybe the Demagorgon would work too? If he is included, I will have to add in another campaign a section where they travel to his layer of the abyss and they find a bunch of fiendish dinosaurs there. It makes sense to me, he would like that
I need a good way to have the characters be able to join the all out war between the Ancients and the Celestials. They will be level 20 by then (I may have them skip a few levels in the leveling up process near the end to get there.) and hopefully have some epic boons, maybe some epic banes too, and they will have some powerful allies on their side. I might make them fight through some of the weaker enemies, like the elder brain dino and the beefed up medusa, and gain a few levels doing that. Before they get to level twenty, that way they don't just skip five levels and have a whole bunch of unexplained powers. I would then have the other Celestials fight the Amber Prince, Kurtulmak, Mammonar, Gruumsh and the Ancient One, that way they are defeated but the party doesn't have to worry about them until level 20. Then, at level 20, the party attacks the Ancient One and have one big final battle. If they win, they might be accepted to the ranks of the Celestials and I will include there characters in my pantheon from now on, if they fail, the extinction does not fully occur and civilization never rises because all the dinosaurs, orcs (from Gruumsh who allied with the Ancient Ones), and primordial forces rampaging across the landscape.
How does that sound? Are there any major problems that need to be fixed? As always, thank you to anyone who had the time and was willing to spend it on my nerdy little world.
I mentioned Hephaestus a while ago and it got me thinking about how he will be involved.
He is an extremely ugly, short blacksmith who will be the Patron of the dwarves in my world. I am basing him off of Greek mythology but since there aren't many other greek gods in my world, a lot of his backstory will change.
As he was crashing to the earth with the other celestials, Gruumsh the orc god decided that he wanted to gain more power and conquer the creations of the other celestials. He had great plans for his orcs, but he knew the quiet Hephaestus was cooking something up in that brilliant mind of his and he decided to eliminate the competition. But instead of attacking Hephaestus, who he knew would be an equal match if not stronger, he targeted his sister Jalaena. Jalaena was much younger than Hephaestus, and she was a being of unsurpassed beauty and light. Gruumsh threw her from the rest of the gods, and she plummeted to earth separately from the rest. (To all the dinosaurs and the party down on the earth, this would look like a flaming meteor hurtling to the ground when a small piece of it breaks off from the rest and descends at another trajectory . Hephaestus rushed after her, (Another larger flame breaks off from the meteor and dashes after the other piece, catching up to it and merging together. ) and shielded her from the impact of the landing. The damage of the crash horribly disfigured and weakened Hephaestus, and it gave him an eternal hatred for orcs that would carry on in the dwarves he created.
The characters who will witness this from the ground will then get to choose whether to head towards where the larger meteor hit, or go to where Hephaestus has landed. If they go to the crash sight of all the other celestials, Gruumsh will meet them before they arrive. He will attempt to persuade them to attack the other gods, who he fled from because of his action against Hephaestus. They will then fight the weakened gods, but they will probably clear up any confusion the party has, and while that happens, Gruumsh, and probably his brother Goreaxe, will team up with the Ancients.
If they go to where Hephaestus has crashed, they will find Jalaena healing his wounds. He will tell them what really happened, and probably give them an epic boon. He will also send them to the rest of the gods where they will (hopefully) ally. I will also note that the other celestials will not be aware of the fact that the Ancients are about to attack them in their weakened state so they need a warning or else they will be badly damaged from that fight.
The backstory thing I wrote for Hephaestus, Jalaena, and Gruumsh, explains the dwarf and orc rivalries. It also causes the goddess of beauty to be his beloved sister instead of a pretty horrible wife. I like that better, and she may then help found the race of elves.