Hey. I'm currently taking on the task of writing a huge campaign for players level 5 to level 20. The point of the campaign to have the players fight rare monster, ie monsters NOT in the Monster Manual (using monsters mainly from Monsters of the Multiverse, as well as some monsters from campaigns, like the jabberwock or vampire gnoll). The point of the campaign is something is wrong in the multiverse. It begins with a Cranium rat infestation in the small port town of Uthmere in Impiltur that leads to a general infestation of aberrations (star spawns. YAY!) I need help coming up with a general flow chart though. That's my biggest problem. I'm experienced at making homebrew races, backgrounds, and items, but not campaigns.
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
I don't have the time right now to leave in in-depth suggestion, but elaborate a bit about how you want the campaign to go and what things you want the party to run across and I'll take a look later and make some suggestions.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Okay. The party starts in Uthmere, where they will deal with a Cranium rat infestation. From there, something that will involve star spawns....wait. I got it. I'll have the campaign center around cults. Early on, it will begin with the Cults of Elder Evil, but as the characters become known for dealing with evil cults, the cults will become progressively powerful and lead to stronger enemies and even different planes (because I want them to fight an astral dreadnought). I guess after the cranium rats, I'd want the party to investigate their source, leading to a cult of Elder Evil, where'd they'd fight some Star Spawn Grues. As they increase in level, they would strive to take out the Elder Evil, before setting their eyes on demon cults. My biggest problem is going to be filling things in.
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
My biggest problem is going to be filling things in.
Once you get it started, the story of the game will help you there. You can and should listen to the players talk about the game in the meta and steal their best ideas :)
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
If you don't have players, don't write too much of the concrete campaign yet. It depends on how many players you can gather (for balancing) and also if you want to potentially involve or theme their backgrounds and class choices to the campaign theme.
However, I do think the idea for the campaign is really interesting! If there is multiple eldritch or super-evil cults in the campaign, maybe make it so that they are in a power struggle or war? Additionally make sure that the cults themselves are unique as possible compared to each other.
Hilariously, my group did a video on making a dungeon involving a cult of star spawn worshipers. Skip to about 20 minutes in for the actual dungeon design.
For this "pre-adventure outline" that you are working up, I'd suggest working out a few interesting encounters that you want for sure to have happen (like your cranium rat encounter early on). Then decide a bit how you want to introduce the various cults and the eventual Astral Dreadnaught encounter.
A good adventure to use as a template for this sort of run is Princes of the Apocalypse. It has the cults introduced and broken up well, and has a decent path for your players to follow that can be edited easily enough to fit your plan.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
I'm a long-time 1e DM who is making the transition to 5e so I don't recognize any of your monster references, but they sound pretty high level (demons and plane jumping, etc). You wrote that you're good at making up items, so if you're looking to flesh out some lower level stuff, then just craft a unique item that has some fun but not overpowering abilities and figure out why it's at the bottom of your dungeon, or at the top of the tower and just work backwards toward the entrance. If you're worried about power levels, then just populate the early encounters with a large supply of low level mooks. if the party is strong then they'll just mow through these early encounters, and you won't lose too much game time (or you throw in a leader with a magic item that the party will need later). During these low-mid level adventures you will drop tantalizing hints about the larger forces at work, bigger quests with the Big Boy McGuffins!
Is this what you're looking for or do you want more specific ideas?
Ooooh, nice. McGuffins are always a good idea! (lol)
And maybe the magic items work towards the next goals? Like, for instance, a boss/miniboss has a key or password that allows access to a cult headquarters or something. Or an item needs to be stolen (heist mission, methinks?).
You get the idea. Personally, I prefer to make the McGuffin something cool (my players loved recovering the blue flame that could expedite the process of crafting magic weapons) rather than the medallion that helps you locate the Well of Souls, but that's also fun, and hey, why not both?
Cults are good because they can be about summoning bizarre and malign creatures. You can create some deadlines before the next summoning, etc.
Exactly! An excuse to use weird and wonderful creatures, as well as adding realistic stakes that make combats naturally more difficult if progression takes too long.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Literally him
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey. I'm currently taking on the task of writing a huge campaign for players level 5 to level 20. The point of the campaign to have the players fight rare monster, ie monsters NOT in the Monster Manual (using monsters mainly from Monsters of the Multiverse, as well as some monsters from campaigns, like the jabberwock or vampire gnoll). The point of the campaign is something is wrong in the multiverse. It begins with a Cranium rat infestation in the small port town of Uthmere in Impiltur that leads to a general infestation of aberrations (star spawns. YAY!) I need help coming up with a general flow chart though. That's my biggest problem. I'm experienced at making homebrew races, backgrounds, and items, but not campaigns.
Character(s): Chak-tha, Thri-kreen Battlemaster Fighter, Théodmon Rokas, Eladrin Druid, Grayhawk the Aerial Ace, Aarakocra Bladesinger Wizard
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
Check out the Chatty Tavern | Jester and Breadman's Character Bakery
My title from drummer is Wielder of Whispers
I don't have the time right now to leave in in-depth suggestion, but elaborate a bit about how you want the campaign to go and what things you want the party to run across and I'll take a look later and make some suggestions.
Okay. The party starts in Uthmere, where they will deal with a Cranium rat infestation. From there, something that will involve star spawns....wait. I got it. I'll have the campaign center around cults. Early on, it will begin with the Cults of Elder Evil, but as the characters become known for dealing with evil cults, the cults will become progressively powerful and lead to stronger enemies and even different planes (because I want them to fight an astral dreadnought). I guess after the cranium rats, I'd want the party to investigate their source, leading to a cult of Elder Evil, where'd they'd fight some Star Spawn Grues. As they increase in level, they would strive to take out the Elder Evil, before setting their eyes on demon cults. My biggest problem is going to be filling things in.
Character(s): Chak-tha, Thri-kreen Battlemaster Fighter, Théodmon Rokas, Eladrin Druid, Grayhawk the Aerial Ace, Aarakocra Bladesinger Wizard
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
Check out the Chatty Tavern | Jester and Breadman's Character Bakery
My title from drummer is Wielder of Whispers
Once you get it started, the story of the game will help you there. You can and should listen to the players talk about the game in the meta and steal their best ideas :)
I don't have players yet lol.
Character(s): Chak-tha, Thri-kreen Battlemaster Fighter, Théodmon Rokas, Eladrin Druid, Grayhawk the Aerial Ace, Aarakocra Bladesinger Wizard
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
Check out the Chatty Tavern | Jester and Breadman's Character Bakery
My title from drummer is Wielder of Whispers
If you don't have players, don't write too much of the concrete campaign yet. It depends on how many players you can gather (for balancing) and also if you want to potentially involve or theme their backgrounds and class choices to the campaign theme.
However, I do think the idea for the campaign is really interesting! If there is multiple eldritch or super-evil cults in the campaign, maybe make it so that they are in a power struggle or war? Additionally make sure that the cults themselves are unique as possible compared to each other.
Literally him
Hilariously, my group did a video on making a dungeon involving a cult of star spawn worshipers. Skip to about 20 minutes in for the actual dungeon design.
For this "pre-adventure outline" that you are working up, I'd suggest working out a few interesting encounters that you want for sure to have happen (like your cranium rat encounter early on). Then decide a bit how you want to introduce the various cults and the eventual Astral Dreadnaught encounter.
A good adventure to use as a template for this sort of run is Princes of the Apocalypse. It has the cults introduced and broken up well, and has a decent path for your players to follow that can be edited easily enough to fit your plan.
Okay. I'm actually running Princes of the Apocalypse in PbP, so I'll definitely do that.
Character(s): Chak-tha, Thri-kreen Battlemaster Fighter, Théodmon Rokas, Eladrin Druid, Grayhawk the Aerial Ace, Aarakocra Bladesinger Wizard
Current Campaign(s): Dungeons, Darkness, Drow, and Demons, an Out of the Abyss Adventure, Dungeon Delvers, a Dungeon of the Mad Mage Adventure, Jungle of Evil, a Tomb of Annihilation Adventure
Check out the Chatty Tavern | Jester and Breadman's Character Bakery
My title from drummer is Wielder of Whispers
I'm a long-time 1e DM who is making the transition to 5e so I don't recognize any of your monster references, but they sound pretty high level (demons and plane jumping, etc). You wrote that you're good at making up items, so if you're looking to flesh out some lower level stuff, then just craft a unique item that has some fun but not overpowering abilities and figure out why it's at the bottom of your dungeon, or at the top of the tower and just work backwards toward the entrance. If you're worried about power levels, then just populate the early encounters with a large supply of low level mooks. if the party is strong then they'll just mow through these early encounters, and you won't lose too much game time (or you throw in a leader with a magic item that the party will need later). During these low-mid level adventures you will drop tantalizing hints about the larger forces at work, bigger quests with the Big Boy McGuffins!
Is this what you're looking for or do you want more specific ideas?
Ooooh, nice. McGuffins are always a good idea! (lol)
And maybe the magic items work towards the next goals? Like, for instance, a boss/miniboss has a key or password that allows access to a cult headquarters or something. Or an item needs to be stolen (heist mission, methinks?).
Literally him
You get the idea. Personally, I prefer to make the McGuffin something cool (my players loved recovering the blue flame that could expedite the process of crafting magic weapons) rather than the medallion that helps you locate the Well of Souls, but that's also fun, and hey, why not both?
Cults are good because they can be about summoning bizarre and malign creatures. You can create some deadlines before the next summoning, etc.
Exactly! An excuse to use weird and wonderful creatures, as well as adding realistic stakes that make combats naturally more difficult if progression takes too long.
Literally him