Okay, so I've got this campaign planned out for my gaming group, but I need some advice on where to take it. First up, the gist of the campaign:
Setting is a homebrew world loosely based on Forgotten Realms (same races, pantheon, planes etc), but with a twist: the land (named Dorestir) is inhabited only by nonhuman races, and humans and half-humans live across the ocean (in the land of Sironde) and are generally viewed as evil. A view justified as the party has discovered that humans are actually landing in Dorestir and getting up to various evil shenanigans. So far they've encountered a gang of humans kidnapping a red dragon wyrmling, and a group of human ghouls that were holed up in an old abandoned watchtower for at least a century. Seems they have plans involving a monstrous beast named Kor Villiath and a place in the Frozen North called Dar Kunor (why yes I am a Gloryhammer and Rhapsody of Fire fan, how could you tell?).
Here's the spoiler: Kor Villiath is the human name for the Tarrasque, and it's said that Dar Kunor is an ancient cavern where there lies a tome that details a ritual to summon Kor Villiath, which the humans plan to do in order to ravage Dorestir and conquer it (whether they'd actually be able to control the Tarrasque is another matter). The ritual involves the sacrificing of 1 of each kind of chromatic dragon (hence why the humans were kidnapping a wyrmling).
Here is the current breakdown of scenarios I have so far:
- the party has discovered details about Kor Villiath from a previous adventure, and are heading to the Capital to inform the High Council. On their way they find a coastal village being raided by a human warband. When they intervene they drove them off but capture one human officer (my party has a history of knocking people out and kidnapping them) which they take to the capital.
- At the capital they go before the High Council and present their findings and their captive who, under interrogation, reveals that the humans are planning an invasion, one part of which is to summon Kor Villiath, using the tome hidden in Dar Kunor. The Council asks the party to go and retrieve the tome for safekeeping before the humans find it, taking an escort with them from the Dorestiri army of their choosing, while the Council prepare to fend off the invasion.
- The party and their escort travel to Dar Kunor (which they have been directed to by some helpful mages) and after many trials and tribulations retrieve the tome. But once they escape Dar Kunor, their escort reveals themselves to be a traitor, who attacks the party, steals the book and teleports away (with a Helm of Teleportation).
Question is, after this bit where should I take it? The humans have the Tome and Dorestir is anticipating invasion, but what next? Any ideas that spring to mind would be awesome, since this is one of my first homebrew campaigns and I wanna make it a memorable one.
Also a few other points that might help:
- the party consists of a Yuan Ti Warlock, a Grung Artificer and a Goliath Barbarian.
- the party has an ally in a village of Dragonborn that they helped resolve a century long feud.
- the party also has an ally in a copper dragon they helped out of a tricky situation, and are in communication with via Sending Stones.
- my current idea for the big finale is the party going up against the human invaders as they attempt the summoning, and possibly contending with the Tarrasque/Kor Villiath itself.
So yeah, sorry for the wall of text, but come at me with some ideas where I could take the campaign next. Spitball me some ideas!
A few quick questions to hopefully give inspiration.
If the humans plan to use the tarrasque to conquer Dar Kunor, they would most likely have some sort of plan to kill, restrain, or otherwise incapacitate it, right? What could this be?
Why does the ritual require chromatic dragons to be sacrificed? Is Kor Viliath more draconic than the traditional tarrasque? If you're going that route, I'd actually advise just using Tiamat's stat block, since she's literally a chromatic dragon hydra. Is it instead some seal to keep Kor Viliath trapped somewhere? If so, who put it in place, and why the connection to dragons?
Is there a metallic equivalent? Vil Koriath or something, idk.
What's so important about the tome itself? If the humans have it, why can't they just scribble down the ritual on a paper napkin and not need the tome anymore?
You know what the bad guys' plan is. You know what further steps they need to take before they're able to make their move. Let that dictate where you go next. They need five dragons and a book. They have the book, do they have the dragons? Is there a specific place where the Tarrasque is summoned from? Is there a particular place where an invasion fleet would likely land? If I were the High Council, I'd be looking to get answers to these questions. I'd send them to Sironde to meet up with the spy network there and try to get answers from Evil Human High Command. They could do this by a break-in, a kidnapping, flipping a human asset by promising them that they can be in charge of the next regime or whatever.
They have an obvious natural ally in the Chromatic dragons who may not want humans to sacrifice their young.
They have an obvious natural ally in the Chromatic dragons who may not want humans to sacrifice their young.
That could be quite interesting, as Chromatics are traditionally nasty little feckers. It'd be a sort of "The enemy of my enemy will hold off on eating my head for maybe a little while" situation.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I'd suggest also maybe taking a step back and decide on motivations. The humans want to conquer the land (or at least invade it and release the tarrasque). Why? Why would they leave the safety of their own homes, go to the expense of outfitting an army and go across an ocean to mess with the demi-humans? What is he point of that? Their motivation can help guide their plan. Is it a religious cult who think of the tarrasque as some kind of messiah figure and who's members believe if they're killed in the effort they go straight to heaven? Are they low on some kind of resource and decided that trading for them would not work so they're sending armies instead? These groups will behave very differently, both in terms of how they plan their actions, and how zealously they follow them. The cultists likely won't be willing to be taken alive and questioned, for example. The soldiers might include some mercenaries who would talk if it lets them go home and see their family again, or switch sides if they get paid enough.
Also who? Someone (or a cabal of someones) back there on the human continent is leading this effort. Who are they, and why are they doing this? The best stories have villains with believable motivations, other than just wanting to twirl their mustache and get power for its own sake. Maybe they want to release the tarrasque because something even worse is rampaging on their continent, and they want to bring it there to fight it, Godzilla style. Do ALL the humans want to do this, or is this (more likely, since humans are rarely completely united) just a faction or one human nation doing this? Might there be some humans, either a splinter group or different faction or other human nation who think that no matter the reason, this goes too far and would be willing to help the demi-humans? or if not to help the demi-humans, to undermine whoever it is that's doing this.
Figure out the who and the why, and it will make them act in a more reasonable, coordinated manner. That will make it easier for you to figure out what they do next, and therefore easier for you to help gives clues to the party about what's happening next.
Also, don't count on things that might not happen. And any time the party is involved, things might not happen. They may not see what you think is an obvious clue and decide to go a different way. They may do better than you think. For example, it's a little cheesy that the party selects the escort and they will inevitably be a traitor. What if they cast zone of truth when they are interviewing possible escorts? Or make a good perception check (or the traitor makes a bad deception check? Honestly, the traitor planning to betray them should be making regular deception rolls) along the way. And even if they do end up with the traitor, and the traitor keeps tricking them, what if the traitor fails in their attempt to steal the book? What does that do to the human plans and to the campaign? Just be careful about the whole plot hinging on the party acting a certain way, because they often won't act that way.
All I can say is that I hope you have backup plans. This is a pretty detailed order of things, but all parties find a way to derail stuff. I swear that it's an innate ability they gain only when playing.
Oh, I missed something. This is what you HOPE happens? Not what has ALREADY happened? Yeah, don't write yourself into a situation where the PCs aren't allowed to unmask the traitor before he strikes. Too many things can go wrong. Say the humans already stole it and the party needs to try to steal it back.
I admit I'm a bit of a dragon fan, so in a creature-races-are-good-guys setting, it doesn't make much sense to me to write an entire nonhuman race (like chromatic dragons) as unambiguously evil, so I'm generally viewing all dragon races as chaotic neutral at worst.
You know what the bad guys' plan is. You know what further steps they need to take before they're able to make their move. Let that dictate where you go next. They need five dragons and a book. They have the book, do they have the dragons? Is there a specific place where the Tarrasque is summoned from? Is there a particular place where an invasion fleet would likely land? If I were the High Council, I'd be looking to get answers to these questions. I'd send them to Sironde to meet up with the spy network there and try to get answers from Evil Human High Command. They could do this by a break-in, a kidnapping, flipping a human asset by promising them that they can be in charge of the next regime or whatever.
Now there's an idea :) all good epic-scale campaigns need an overseas voyage to a distant land. I just had a thought that it could be a chance to flesh out the humans a bit. Maybe have them be not as bad as Dorestiri prejudice has had the party believe, and that the Tarrasque plan is actually being carried out by a splinter group of humans or something.
Oh, I missed something. This is what you HOPE happens? Not what has ALREADY happened? Yeah, don't write yourself into a situation where the PCs aren't allowed to unmask the traitor before he strikes. Too many things can go wrong. Say the humans already stole it and the party needs to try to steal it back.
Yeah, that actually makes more sense. I could have it that the humans have already stolen the book, and the traitors plan was to escort the party to Dar Kunor and kill them where nobody would probably ever find their bodies (Dar Kunor being a remote underdark stronghold deep in an icy mountain range).
I admit I'm a bit of a dragon fan, so in a creature-races-are-good-guys setting, it doesn't make much sense to me to write an entire nonhuman race (like chromatic dragons) as unambiguously evil, so I'm generally viewing all dragon races as chaotic neutral at worst.
Wait, so it makes sense to have all humans be evil, but not all chromatic dragons?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Now there's an idea :) all good epic-scale campaigns need an overseas voyage to a distant land. I just had a thought that it could be a chance to flesh out the humans a bit. Maybe have them be not as bad as Dorestiri prejudice has had the party believe, and that the Tarrasque plan is actually being carried out by a splinter group of humans or something.
The humans can be three-dimensional, but don't miss the chance to ratchet up the tension as your group has to travel around the enemy capital undetected. A Yuan-Ti purebred might be able to pass as human, but a grung would have to stay covered up and a Goliath would attract a LOT of attention. Having to stay in a cramped safehouse, wondering if their contacts are selling them out, is good for some thrills.
Maybe the splinter faction is the ruling faction. They don't have the support of most of the humans, but they can maintain power through terror and magic.
I admit I'm a bit of a dragon fan, so in a creature-races-are-good-guys setting, it doesn't make much sense to me to write an entire nonhuman race (like chromatic dragons) as unambiguously evil, so I'm generally viewing all dragon races as chaotic neutral at worst.
Wait, so it makes sense to have all humans be evil, but not all chromatic dragons?
Change of plans, I've decided that the whole humans-are-evil thing would just be Dorestiri prejudice, and most humans aren't actually that bad. It's just a splinter faction of sorts that are planning the invasion and harbouring the anti-creature-race sentiments. It'd make for an interesting twist when the party get to Sironde.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Okay, so I've got this campaign planned out for my gaming group, but I need some advice on where to take it. First up, the gist of the campaign:
Setting is a homebrew world loosely based on Forgotten Realms (same races, pantheon, planes etc), but with a twist: the land (named Dorestir) is inhabited only by nonhuman races, and humans and half-humans live across the ocean (in the land of Sironde) and are generally viewed as evil. A view justified as the party has discovered that humans are actually landing in Dorestir and getting up to various evil shenanigans. So far they've encountered a gang of humans kidnapping a red dragon wyrmling, and a group of human ghouls that were holed up in an old abandoned watchtower for at least a century. Seems they have plans involving a monstrous beast named Kor Villiath and a place in the Frozen North called Dar Kunor (why yes I am a Gloryhammer and Rhapsody of Fire fan, how could you tell?).
Here's the spoiler: Kor Villiath is the human name for the Tarrasque, and it's said that Dar Kunor is an ancient cavern where there lies a tome that details a ritual to summon Kor Villiath, which the humans plan to do in order to ravage Dorestir and conquer it (whether they'd actually be able to control the Tarrasque is another matter). The ritual involves the sacrificing of 1 of each kind of chromatic dragon (hence why the humans were kidnapping a wyrmling).
Here is the current breakdown of scenarios I have so far:
- the party has discovered details about Kor Villiath from a previous adventure, and are heading to the Capital to inform the High Council. On their way they find a coastal village being raided by a human warband. When they intervene they drove them off but capture one human officer (my party has a history of knocking people out and kidnapping them) which they take to the capital.
- At the capital they go before the High Council and present their findings and their captive who, under interrogation, reveals that the humans are planning an invasion, one part of which is to summon Kor Villiath, using the tome hidden in Dar Kunor. The Council asks the party to go and retrieve the tome for safekeeping before the humans find it, taking an escort with them from the Dorestiri army of their choosing, while the Council prepare to fend off the invasion.
- The party and their escort travel to Dar Kunor (which they have been directed to by some helpful mages) and after many trials and tribulations retrieve the tome. But once they escape Dar Kunor, their escort reveals themselves to be a traitor, who attacks the party, steals the book and teleports away (with a Helm of Teleportation).
Question is, after this bit where should I take it? The humans have the Tome and Dorestir is anticipating invasion, but what next? Any ideas that spring to mind would be awesome, since this is one of my first homebrew campaigns and I wanna make it a memorable one.
Also a few other points that might help:
- the party consists of a Yuan Ti Warlock, a Grung Artificer and a Goliath Barbarian.
- the party has an ally in a village of Dragonborn that they helped resolve a century long feud.
- the party also has an ally in a copper dragon they helped out of a tricky situation, and are in communication with via Sending Stones.
- my current idea for the big finale is the party going up against the human invaders as they attempt the summoning, and possibly contending with the Tarrasque/Kor Villiath itself.
So yeah, sorry for the wall of text, but come at me with some ideas where I could take the campaign next. Spitball me some ideas!
A few quick questions to hopefully give inspiration.
If the humans plan to use the tarrasque to conquer Dar Kunor, they would most likely have some sort of plan to kill, restrain, or otherwise incapacitate it, right? What could this be?
Why does the ritual require chromatic dragons to be sacrificed? Is Kor Viliath more draconic than the traditional tarrasque? If you're going that route, I'd actually advise just using Tiamat's stat block, since she's literally a chromatic dragon hydra. Is it instead some seal to keep Kor Viliath trapped somewhere? If so, who put it in place, and why the connection to dragons?
Is there a metallic equivalent? Vil Koriath or something, idk.
What's so important about the tome itself? If the humans have it, why can't they just scribble down the ritual on a paper napkin and not need the tome anymore?
fightforthekingforthehammerandtheringfightfortheancientstoryfightforyourlifewemustfightforFifeforthepowerandthegloryfighttillwedieinthebattleintheskyfightallthefoesbeforetheeHootsforcearise!
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
You know what the bad guys' plan is. You know what further steps they need to take before they're able to make their move. Let that dictate where you go next. They need five dragons and a book. They have the book, do they have the dragons? Is there a specific place where the Tarrasque is summoned from? Is there a particular place where an invasion fleet would likely land? If I were the High Council, I'd be looking to get answers to these questions. I'd send them to Sironde to meet up with the spy network there and try to get answers from Evil Human High Command. They could do this by a break-in, a kidnapping, flipping a human asset by promising them that they can be in charge of the next regime or whatever.
They have an obvious natural ally in the Chromatic dragons who may not want humans to sacrifice their young.
That could be quite interesting, as Chromatics are traditionally nasty little feckers. It'd be a sort of "The enemy of my enemy will hold off on eating my head for maybe a little while" situation.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
I'd suggest also maybe taking a step back and decide on motivations. The humans want to conquer the land (or at least invade it and release the tarrasque). Why? Why would they leave the safety of their own homes, go to the expense of outfitting an army and go across an ocean to mess with the demi-humans? What is he point of that? Their motivation can help guide their plan. Is it a religious cult who think of the tarrasque as some kind of messiah figure and who's members believe if they're killed in the effort they go straight to heaven? Are they low on some kind of resource and decided that trading for them would not work so they're sending armies instead? These groups will behave very differently, both in terms of how they plan their actions, and how zealously they follow them. The cultists likely won't be willing to be taken alive and questioned, for example. The soldiers might include some mercenaries who would talk if it lets them go home and see their family again, or switch sides if they get paid enough.
Also who? Someone (or a cabal of someones) back there on the human continent is leading this effort. Who are they, and why are they doing this? The best stories have villains with believable motivations, other than just wanting to twirl their mustache and get power for its own sake. Maybe they want to release the tarrasque because something even worse is rampaging on their continent, and they want to bring it there to fight it, Godzilla style. Do ALL the humans want to do this, or is this (more likely, since humans are rarely completely united) just a faction or one human nation doing this? Might there be some humans, either a splinter group or different faction or other human nation who think that no matter the reason, this goes too far and would be willing to help the demi-humans? or if not to help the demi-humans, to undermine whoever it is that's doing this.
Figure out the who and the why, and it will make them act in a more reasonable, coordinated manner. That will make it easier for you to figure out what they do next, and therefore easier for you to help gives clues to the party about what's happening next.
Also, don't count on things that might not happen. And any time the party is involved, things might not happen. They may not see what you think is an obvious clue and decide to go a different way. They may do better than you think. For example, it's a little cheesy that the party selects the escort and they will inevitably be a traitor. What if they cast zone of truth when they are interviewing possible escorts? Or make a good perception check (or the traitor makes a bad deception check? Honestly, the traitor planning to betray them should be making regular deception rolls) along the way. And even if they do end up with the traitor, and the traitor keeps tricking them, what if the traitor fails in their attempt to steal the book? What does that do to the human plans and to the campaign? Just be careful about the whole plot hinging on the party acting a certain way, because they often won't act that way.
All I can say is that I hope you have backup plans. This is a pretty detailed order of things, but all parties find a way to derail stuff. I swear that it's an innate ability they gain only when playing.
Oh, I missed something. This is what you HOPE happens? Not what has ALREADY happened? Yeah, don't write yourself into a situation where the PCs aren't allowed to unmask the traitor before he strikes. Too many things can go wrong. Say the humans already stole it and the party needs to try to steal it back.
I admit I'm a bit of a dragon fan, so in a creature-races-are-good-guys setting, it doesn't make much sense to me to write an entire nonhuman race (like chromatic dragons) as unambiguously evil, so I'm generally viewing all dragon races as chaotic neutral at worst.
Now there's an idea :) all good epic-scale campaigns need an overseas voyage to a distant land. I just had a thought that it could be a chance to flesh out the humans a bit. Maybe have them be not as bad as Dorestiri prejudice has had the party believe, and that the Tarrasque plan is actually being carried out by a splinter group of humans or something.
Yeah, that actually makes more sense. I could have it that the humans have already stolen the book, and the traitors plan was to escort the party to Dar Kunor and kill them where nobody would probably ever find their bodies (Dar Kunor being a remote underdark stronghold deep in an icy mountain range).
Wait, so it makes sense to have all humans be evil, but not all chromatic dragons?
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
The humans can be three-dimensional, but don't miss the chance to ratchet up the tension as your group has to travel around the enemy capital undetected. A Yuan-Ti purebred might be able to pass as human, but a grung would have to stay covered up and a Goliath would attract a LOT of attention. Having to stay in a cramped safehouse, wondering if their contacts are selling them out, is good for some thrills.
Maybe the splinter faction is the ruling faction. They don't have the support of most of the humans, but they can maintain power through terror and magic.
Change of plans, I've decided that the whole humans-are-evil thing would just be Dorestiri prejudice, and most humans aren't actually that bad. It's just a splinter faction of sorts that are planning the invasion and harbouring the anti-creature-race sentiments. It'd make for an interesting twist when the party get to Sironde.