I'm starting to develop my first homebrew campaign, and I was wondering what would be a suitable opening for a campaign set in a mysterious, primeval tropical forest. There will be things like ancient temples, cultists, feral wood elves, and cultists. Also, if you have any ideas for the adventure I'd be happy to hear them!
Have the players start in a small town in the middle if the jungle. It was founded by an old empire but later abandoned, and is now cut of from the outside world, giving the players a home base to stay and forcing them to explore the jungle to progress. I’ve been running something similar with a large boreal forest inspired by Celtic Germania, and they’re loving it so far. As for campaign ideas… A tribe of savage goblins that festoon themselves with a piece of the body of each of their victims, and worship an ancient demonic deity. To allow this entity to pass into the materiel plane, they must first re-activate the beacons within seven ancient temples, leading the players into a race to stop the tribe from achieving their goal. Hope this is useful!
Begin it in medias res, in the middle of the scene. Action! Jungle! Ruined temples! Big snakes!
GM: You cut your way through the final stretch of greenery. All of you are sweaty and insect-bitten but that is forgotten you finally see the Pyramid of Jaguars in front of you. Suddenly one of your bearers screams as they disappear into a hole in the ground. As you start to ready ropes for a rescue a group of naked warpainted feral halflings, armed with bows and spears, appear on top of a rock and start screaming at you. Player 1, what does your character do?
After they resolve the rescue and feral halfling encounter (come on, a jungle adventure has to have feral halflings!), go back in time and introduce the adventure.
GM: It is a week in the past. You are sitting in a private room on board the sailing ship Wings of a Dove. Your employer, the sage Epimetres, has just asked you, "What do you know of the Jaguar Cult?".
Alternatively, use a cold open. It's much the same as the above but you don't do anything back in time, just explain things as the scene progresses.
GM: You cut your way through the final stretch of greenery. All of you are sweaty and insect-bitten but that is forgotten you finally see the Pyramid of Jaguars in front of you. Your guide, Bêlit, is obviously very pleased. "Finally, " she exclaims, "The temple that Epimetres hired us to find. All we need to do now is get inside, find the scrolls, and leave. All without offending the natives." As she says that, some of the natives appear , and they look pretty offended. What do you do?
I would start the game in a small outpost-town at the edge of the jungle. The outpost is an edge of civilisation, whowing all the worst parts of it - the rich ruling over the poor, all the "police" being hired thugs to keep the rich in power, that sort of thing. Then I would have it that the group have come to this new and unexplored land to find their riches, and they might meet an eccentric archeologist with an ancient map there, or win the map in gambling, or hear tell of tribes of pygmies in the north, and so on. Give them some plot hooks while they explore the small town, and then send them on their way into the jungle!
Best suited to a low level party. Just dump the party on a beach with minimal equipment. They were on the ship as crew or passengers going another place, but fates intevened and the ship sunk in foul weather. Now they awake salt and sand encrusted on a bit of timber next to a wall of jungle with no sign of civilization in sight. They may have heard rumours of a city or camp or other where they might find some sort of civilization and transportation to where they were headed in the first place.
Lots of ancient ruins and lots of monsters, too really give the jungle that wilderness feel. Consider including more survival elements to enforce the idea that civilization is sparse out there.
Shipwreck is always a classic, on a voyage to the end of the known world fate intervenes and smashes their ship on unknown savage shores. Then again it really depends on what sort of story hook you want from the campaign, how primal are these forests? On the edge of civilization where some sort of force has prevented colonization of the untamed jungle? Or completely uncharted save for a few small expeditions of varying success? Why are the players there? Are they part of an archeology team or expedition set to explore the ancient ruins for artifacts or treasure? A crew of misfits who found an ancient artifact that had clues leading them to the jungle? A search and rescue team looking for a crew that went missing and failed to report back within the appropriate time frame? Or just some unfortunate souls who survived the aforementioned and need to find a way to survive and escape this hellhole?
Depending on the situation you could always start them on the boat on their way there, in a settlement set up on the edge of the jungle that was set up as a more permanent outpost as a foothold for those going on expeditions to explore the deeper recesses of the jungle, or in an archaology campsite in the middle of the jungle, a temporary base camp for the expedition as they plan their next moves.
I'm starting to develop my first homebrew campaign, and I was wondering what would be a suitable opening for a campaign set in a mysterious, primeval tropical forest. There will be things like ancient temples, cultists, feral wood elves, and cultists. Also, if you have any ideas for the adventure I'd be happy to hear them!
Well.... you can always go the "predators" route, and just have each character "come to" with a hazy memory (from modified memory spell) as they are falling through the sky.....
You might want to check out Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. It's a supplement book for the Curse of Strahd campaign, but it has interesting notes on how to run horror-style games with different themes, one of which is being hunted through the jungle by an unknown enemy.
Look for the chapter on Vallachan - you may even be able to use the notes on the Domains of Dread to help with getting the players into the setting. Obviously, the easiest way to get them to Vallachan would be to use a variation of the Creeping Fog adventure hook from CoS, but a couple of users above me mentioned a shipwreck which could be another great option.
If this is a one-shot adventure, the jungle might release them after they defeat the Dark Lord of Vallachan. If this is a full campaign, the only way to truly free Vallachan could be to discover what gave the Dark Lord his/her powers and destroy it, to take up the mantle of the Dark Lord themselves, or otherwise find a way to permanently remove Vallachan from the Domains of Dread.
Ok, so I've come up with an idea. So, it's kind of hard to explain the lore of my setting, but basically there's a big empire called the Iron Empire (placeholder name). It has the colonial aspects of the British Empire, but if the British Empire was an authoritarian dictatorship. So I was thinking the party are part of a chain gang, forced to mine copper on the edge of the jungle, sent there for committing crimes against the empire. Like how the British sent convicts to Australia. At night, they sleep in a small town which is mostly populated by people native to the region, but is occupied by the Iron Empire. From there, they'll hear about disappearances, escape, and the adventure will unfold. The only thing is, I needd a good reason for them to escape, and for them to look for the missing people. Any ideas?
Well the escape part is easy, I mean who wants to be stuck as a slave on the chain gang? Doubly so if their imprisonment is unjust (that said I don't know what characters you have playing at the table, whether they are actually criminals or innocent and if the empire is corrupt or just a strict authoritarian empire).
As for their reason for looking for the missing people that is a harder one, unless their characters have specific ties to the people who went missing (friends or family members) I can't imagine escaped convicts would really have much reason to look into missing people, if it is merely fellow prisoners going missing then it could be reasonably assumed that they escaped from the camp or depending on how corrupt the empire is kind of expected that prisoners are going to go missing or be disposed of in some fashion and that the players could very well be next on the chopping block which ties into their motivation to escape. If it is the guards and prison officials going missing then I doubt the prisoners are really going to care all that much beyond looking out for their own safety. Only reason I can see as to why the prisoners would look into it would be to get on the good side of the prison and earn their freedom which unless it is sanctioned by the prison or the empire itself (negating the need to escape) I really don't see the prisoners taking on this duty on their own accord as escaping would no doubt just make things worse in regards to their standing with the Empire.
I mean you could have the prisoners escape first and then on their journey they find clues that point to the disappearances and reasons to care after?
Yes, I just want them to have an objective after they escape. I'm not a big fan of sandbox campaigns.
Also, to give some background on the setting, it's a fantasy world where the angels (good guy gods) have disappeared. A band of heroes failed to stop a cult from summoning dark gods from the Otherworld, and the evil beings killed all the angels, or so they think... Former followers of the angels (knights) have gone mad, been killed in the chaos, or worse... Some of them have sworn themselves to the very beings they used to protect the world from, the Vile Ones. They have gained immense power but have lost their humanity in the process. The cultists who let the Vile Ones reach into this world have ascended into Dark Lords, hiding in their fortresses, always plotting and scheming. The world was ravaged by hordes of undead, and orcs born in the vats of dark alchemists' dungeons. So imagine peoples relief when, from out of the darkness, came a light. What was to be the Iron Empire discovered a HUGE vein of iron in the mountains. Now, anything that has been tainted by sorcery has a weakness to iron. This was a secret of the knights, forgotten in the chaos. But this gave the Empire the upper hand in fighting the darkness. The Empire expanded, and gave people hope. But the Empire has a dark secret at it's heart...
Yes, I just want them to have an objective after they escape. I'm not a big fan of sandbox campaigns.
Also, to give some background on the setting, it's a fantasy world where the angels (good guy gods) have disappeared. A band of heroes failed to stop a cult from summoning dark gods from the Otherworld, and the evil beings killed all the angels, or so they think... Former followers of the angels (knights) have gone mad, been killed in the chaos, or worse... Some of them have sworn themselves to the very beings they used to protect the world from, the Vile Ones. They have gained immense power but have lost their humanity in the process. The cultists who let the Vile Ones reach into this world have ascended into Dark Lords, hiding in their fortresses, always plotting and scheming. The world was ravaged by hordes of undead, and orcs born in the vats of dark alchemists' dungeons. So imagine peoples relief when, from out of the darkness, came a light. What was to be the Iron Empire discovered a HUGE vein of iron in the mountains. Now, anything that has been tainted by sorcery has a weakness to iron. This was a secret of the knights, forgotten in the chaos. But this gave the Empire the upper hand in fighting the darkness. The Empire expanded, and gave people hope. But the Empire has a dark secret at it's heart...
Out of The Abyss does a very similar start campaign and such thing
So the above is a module... that has a similar concept start. I put the spoiler because ... it spoils stuff. But, It also gives you a place to look where there's already a "outline" of "how" to do it.
Spoilers related stuff aside....
you can draw out how long/hard it is to escape from a travel perspective... and have "situations" arise as they come as they travel that build up a reason for them to be like "well... can we even run from THIS? Should we?" kinda thing.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blank
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm starting to develop my first homebrew campaign, and I was wondering what would be a suitable opening for a campaign set in a mysterious, primeval tropical forest. There will be things like ancient temples, cultists, feral wood elves, and cultists. Also, if you have any ideas for the adventure I'd be happy to hear them!
Soon to be DM.
Currently in a homebrew post-apocalyptic game.
Have the players start in a small town in the middle if the jungle. It was founded by an old empire but later abandoned, and is now cut of from the outside world, giving the players a home base to stay and forcing them to explore the jungle to progress. I’ve been running something similar with a large boreal forest inspired by Celtic Germania, and they’re loving it so far.
As for campaign ideas…
A tribe of savage goblins that festoon themselves with a piece of the body of each of their victims, and worship an ancient demonic deity. To allow this entity to pass into the materiel plane, they must first re-activate the beacons within seven ancient temples, leading the players into a race to stop the tribe from achieving their goal.
Hope this is useful!
Be Excellent to one another. Rock on dude.
Begin it in medias res, in the middle of the scene. Action! Jungle! Ruined temples! Big snakes!
GM: You cut your way through the final stretch of greenery. All of you are sweaty and insect-bitten but that is forgotten you finally see the Pyramid of Jaguars in front of you. Suddenly one of your bearers screams as they disappear into a hole in the ground. As you start to ready ropes for a rescue a group of naked warpainted feral halflings, armed with bows and spears, appear on top of a rock and start screaming at you. Player 1, what does your character do?
After they resolve the rescue and feral halfling encounter (come on, a jungle adventure has to have feral halflings!), go back in time and introduce the adventure.
GM: It is a week in the past. You are sitting in a private room on board the sailing ship Wings of a Dove. Your employer, the sage Epimetres, has just asked you, "What do you know of the Jaguar Cult?".
Alternatively, use a cold open. It's much the same as the above but you don't do anything back in time, just explain things as the scene progresses.
GM: You cut your way through the final stretch of greenery. All of you are sweaty and insect-bitten but that is forgotten you finally see the Pyramid of Jaguars in front of you. Your guide, Bêlit, is obviously very pleased. "Finally, " she exclaims, "The temple that Epimetres hired us to find. All we need to do now is get inside, find the scrolls, and leave. All without offending the natives." As she says that, some of the natives appear , and they look pretty offended. What do you do?
I would start the game in a small outpost-town at the edge of the jungle. The outpost is an edge of civilisation, whowing all the worst parts of it - the rich ruling over the poor, all the "police" being hired thugs to keep the rich in power, that sort of thing. Then I would have it that the group have come to this new and unexplored land to find their riches, and they might meet an eccentric archeologist with an ancient map there, or win the map in gambling, or hear tell of tribes of pygmies in the north, and so on. Give them some plot hooks while they explore the small town, and then send them on their way into the jungle!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
Shipwreck?
Best suited to a low level party. Just dump the party on a beach with minimal equipment. They were on the ship as crew or passengers going another place, but fates intevened and the ship sunk in foul weather. Now they awake salt and sand encrusted on a bit of timber next to a wall of jungle with no sign of civilization in sight. They may have heard rumours of a city or camp or other where they might find some sort of civilization and transportation to where they were headed in the first place.
Lots of ancient ruins and lots of monsters, too really give the jungle that wilderness feel. Consider including more survival elements to enforce the idea that civilization is sparse out there.
Consider looking at the Tomb of Annihilation book. That has a jungle exactly as you described, and the descriptions are plentiful and fun.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I can’t believe no one has said either, Start in a tavern or, Start in prison. They’re classics for a reason.
Shipwreck is always a classic, on a voyage to the end of the known world fate intervenes and smashes their ship on unknown savage shores. Then again it really depends on what sort of story hook you want from the campaign, how primal are these forests? On the edge of civilization where some sort of force has prevented colonization of the untamed jungle? Or completely uncharted save for a few small expeditions of varying success? Why are the players there? Are they part of an archeology team or expedition set to explore the ancient ruins for artifacts or treasure? A crew of misfits who found an ancient artifact that had clues leading them to the jungle? A search and rescue team looking for a crew that went missing and failed to report back within the appropriate time frame? Or just some unfortunate souls who survived the aforementioned and need to find a way to survive and escape this hellhole?
Depending on the situation you could always start them on the boat on their way there, in a settlement set up on the edge of the jungle that was set up as a more permanent outpost as a foothold for those going on expeditions to explore the deeper recesses of the jungle, or in an archaology campsite in the middle of the jungle, a temporary base camp for the expedition as they plan their next moves.
Well.... you can always go the "predators" route, and just have each character "come to" with a hazy memory (from modified memory spell) as they are falling through the sky.....
Blank
Thanks for the answers guys. I've gotten some good ideas.
Soon to be DM.
Currently in a homebrew post-apocalyptic game.
You might want to check out Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. It's a supplement book for the Curse of Strahd campaign, but it has interesting notes on how to run horror-style games with different themes, one of which is being hunted through the jungle by an unknown enemy.
Look for the chapter on Vallachan - you may even be able to use the notes on the Domains of Dread to help with getting the players into the setting. Obviously, the easiest way to get them to Vallachan would be to use a variation of the Creeping Fog adventure hook from CoS, but a couple of users above me mentioned a shipwreck which could be another great option.
If this is a one-shot adventure, the jungle might release them after they defeat the Dark Lord of Vallachan. If this is a full campaign, the only way to truly free Vallachan could be to discover what gave the Dark Lord his/her powers and destroy it, to take up the mantle of the Dark Lord themselves, or otherwise find a way to permanently remove Vallachan from the Domains of Dread.
Hmmm...interesting choice. Roll initiative.
Let us know how it goes!
Blank
Ok, so I've come up with an idea. So, it's kind of hard to explain the lore of my setting, but basically there's a big empire called the Iron Empire (placeholder name). It has the colonial aspects of the British Empire, but if the British Empire was an authoritarian dictatorship. So I was thinking the party are part of a chain gang, forced to mine copper on the edge of the jungle, sent there for committing crimes against the empire. Like how the British sent convicts to Australia. At night, they sleep in a small town which is mostly populated by people native to the region, but is occupied by the Iron Empire. From there, they'll hear about disappearances, escape, and the adventure will unfold. The only thing is, I needd a good reason for them to escape, and for them to look for the missing people. Any ideas?
Soon to be DM.
Currently in a homebrew post-apocalyptic game.
Well the escape part is easy, I mean who wants to be stuck as a slave on the chain gang? Doubly so if their imprisonment is unjust (that said I don't know what characters you have playing at the table, whether they are actually criminals or innocent and if the empire is corrupt or just a strict authoritarian empire).
As for their reason for looking for the missing people that is a harder one, unless their characters have specific ties to the people who went missing (friends or family members) I can't imagine escaped convicts would really have much reason to look into missing people, if it is merely fellow prisoners going missing then it could be reasonably assumed that they escaped from the camp or depending on how corrupt the empire is kind of expected that prisoners are going to go missing or be disposed of in some fashion and that the players could very well be next on the chopping block which ties into their motivation to escape. If it is the guards and prison officials going missing then I doubt the prisoners are really going to care all that much beyond looking out for their own safety. Only reason I can see as to why the prisoners would look into it would be to get on the good side of the prison and earn their freedom which unless it is sanctioned by the prison or the empire itself (negating the need to escape) I really don't see the prisoners taking on this duty on their own accord as escaping would no doubt just make things worse in regards to their standing with the Empire.
I mean you could have the prisoners escape first and then on their journey they find clues that point to the disappearances and reasons to care after?
Yes, I just want them to have an objective after they escape. I'm not a big fan of sandbox campaigns.
Also, to give some background on the setting, it's a fantasy world where the angels (good guy gods) have disappeared. A band of heroes failed to stop a cult from summoning dark gods from the Otherworld, and the evil beings killed all the angels, or so they think... Former followers of the angels (knights) have gone mad, been killed in the chaos, or worse... Some of them have sworn themselves to the very beings they used to protect the world from, the Vile Ones. They have gained immense power but have lost their humanity in the process. The cultists who let the Vile Ones reach into this world have ascended into Dark Lords, hiding in their fortresses, always plotting and scheming. The world was ravaged by hordes of undead, and orcs born in the vats of dark alchemists' dungeons. So imagine peoples relief when, from out of the darkness, came a light. What was to be the Iron Empire discovered a HUGE vein of iron in the mountains. Now, anything that has been tainted by sorcery has a weakness to iron. This was a secret of the knights, forgotten in the chaos. But this gave the Empire the upper hand in fighting the darkness. The Empire expanded, and gave people hope. But the Empire has a dark secret at it's heart...
Soon to be DM.
Currently in a homebrew post-apocalyptic game.
Out of The Abyss does a very similar start campaign and such thing
So the above is a module... that has a similar concept start. I put the spoiler because ... it spoils stuff. But, It also gives you a place to look where there's already a "outline" of "how" to do it.
Spoilers related stuff aside....
you can draw out how long/hard it is to escape from a travel perspective... and have "situations" arise as they come as they travel that build up a reason for them to be like "well... can we even run from THIS? Should we?" kinda thing.
Blank