So soon(ish) I'm going to be DMing a new campaign that will take place in the (modified for lore) Dragon Age Universe.
Usually when designing the premise of a campaign I like to think of it as "X, But while Y is happening". For example, my previous long running campaign's general premise was "The return of ancient gods and magic, but while a war was brewing"
For this DA campaign, I have the "X" but I don't have a Y... I think what I'm going for is "cult is trying to bring on the blight to purge the world" but I'm looking for a main "sub-plot"
This doesn't have to be directly tied to DA lore, could be more generic. I'm going to be modifying it anyway. It isn't going to be set in any particular time frame from the games, I'm just borrowing the setting.
The only problem I have with taking from the games is that one of the players has played them as much as I have so he'd DEFINITELY recognize if I stole something lol
There's an actual Dragon Age RPG already, so what I'd do to be honest is go and seek out copies of that (your local library might have overdrive or similar ebook lending abilities where you can read the game books). There are a few adventures there that might inspire you and that you can then turn round and bring into your campaign. There are also tons of DA expanded universe stuff from comics to novellas and such. Any one of them might give you ideas...so again check out if your library has any of this stuff, or an eBook lending service to allow you to access it.
The other route you might take is looking at a D&D adventure or 3rd Party Published adventure, swop out the written monsters for darkspawn and ask why the darkspawn might be there.
So soon(ish) I'm going to be DMing a new campaign that will take place in the (modified for lore) Dragon Age Universe.
Usually when designing the premise of a campaign I like to think of it as "X, But while Y is happening". For example, my previous long running campaign's general premise was "The return of ancient gods and magic, but while a war was brewing"
For this DA campaign, I have the "X" but I don't have a Y... I think what I'm going for is "cult is trying to bring on the blight to purge the world" but I'm looking for a main "sub-plot"
This doesn't have to be directly tied to DA lore, could be more generic. I'm going to be modifying it anyway. It isn't going to be set in any particular time frame from the games, I'm just borrowing the setting.
You could steal from the games, and have a mage rebellion happening.
Or the quanari start some kind of holy war to bring everyone into the qun.
The dalish elves find a relic that unlocks all their lost knowledge, and are now a force to be reckoned with.
The grey wardens have died out, and the various groups are looking for a way to bring them back.
The dwarves finally lost to the darkspawn and have been driven topside.
ooooooo, I really like the Warden idea!
The only problem I have with taking from the games is that one of the players has played them as much as I have so he'd DEFINITELY recognize if I stole something lol
There's an actual Dragon Age RPG already, so what I'd do to be honest is go and seek out copies of that (your local library might have overdrive or similar ebook lending abilities where you can read the game books). There are a few adventures there that might inspire you and that you can then turn round and bring into your campaign. There are also tons of DA expanded universe stuff from comics to novellas and such. Any one of them might give you ideas...so again check out if your library has any of this stuff, or an eBook lending service to allow you to access it.
The other route you might take is looking at a D&D adventure or 3rd Party Published adventure, swop out the written monsters for darkspawn and ask why the darkspawn might be there.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
You could also check out some actual plays of the Dragon Age RPG and steal ideas from them:
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
I knew about the DA ttrpg! But after reading the rules (several times) I reeeeally can't get into the idea of running it.
But you bring up a good point of using it for story ideas! I hadn't even thought about that lol