I am currently writing a campaign for my friends, and just running normal 5e rules. I know that I want to have the 'final boss' be Orcus, and I want to run with a theme of undead. So far, I have them in a tavern, and a group walks in, 3 drink something, and turn into zombies while the last 2, who both have noticable tattoos, run out. Past this, I am not sure what to do. All advice would be amazing.
If I'm at a loss for what to do I usually work from the decisions the party may make. For example, what would happen if they fight the zombies, or if they chase the tattoo people. Maybe setup stuff if the party stealthfully followers the tattoo group, where do they go? do they have a hideout? Who's in charge of that hideout and what are his/her motivations? And keep working from there. Each step up the chain are probably higher level bosses each with their own influence and expertise until you get to Orcus. Hope it helps.
Well Orcus is cr 26, so you might have a few steps between them and then. However, if you want to introduce orcus early, id look up the Kalarel the Vile story from Matt Colville, its his example recommended starting adventure and it ties into Orcus! With some adjusting you can likely tie it into what you've already thought of. However Kalarel will likely get them to level 5ish. However, you probably don't need to plan much further than that for now.
Many campaigns fissile out so writing 1-20 will likely be exhausting and unfulfilling, also loosely outlining 1-5 and filling it out as they go will do a few things, first off it'll prevent some railroading, writing out an entire story and expecting your players to stick to it is impossible instead consider making some plot points and letting them write the story, of course you're still in control but it's much more interesting when everyone is working together to tell a story. Secondly, this will save you plenty of time and writers block. Thirdly writing over a longer period of time gives you more time to let ideas simmer and grow into more interesting ones than they started as.
My major recommendations for starting a campaign is this, consider the characters your friends have made - are they generic heroes or tyrants in waiting or of course somewhere between, are they invested in anything in the world that's specified in there backstories, and what are they motivated by. Once you have those things understood you can start to plot your story. A hero will spring into action to save a maiden, but a thief may not. Is there any parents, friends, or goals you can exploit that the players have gifted you. Next, plan the starting area - maybe the current city, local powers, local governments, organizations, and npcs. Maybe hand them some of this info in order to let them connect themselves deeper into the world with their backstory, players will be more interesting in the story if it affects them. Then consider those powers you've placed in the world and specifically which ones will come into conflict with the players. Using the Kalarel the Vile opening you've introduced the players to a power, but they might not bite the story hook. So place many around the world, some may be connected to the same fishing line, but they won't see that as easily. Also always be ready for them to go off the rails, have some tools for this such as extra names/full npcs, and a few ideas of how to move your story hooks into their view. They might've not gone to the blacksmith (with a conveniently missing daughter), but he might be at the place they go to first.
Next only plan the next one or two sessions out, and don't make it a book's story. Having the areas nearest to their intentions fleshed out is a great idea, but is you scaffold the story, they'll start to realize that they don't have anywhere to go that you don't want them to. The more specific your notes, the more railroading you'll do. Remember a dm's job is not to write the story. The story happens at the table, but it is a dm's job to bring that story to life. Which happens to be easier to do the week before the game.
So instead of writing a campaign with a big bad evil guy ahead of time write a local setting with a few possible bbegs. Then let the players find the one that pisses them off the most, and let them have at it. Maybe whichever one they choose will have ties to a cult of Orcus, maybe any one that they choose will, but they don't have to know that. Once they beat that first big evil guy let them know all the ones they ignored are now more powerful, and expand your range of planned setting. From city to kingdom, then from kingdom to world. It doesn't all need to happen at once, and as a dm that is your greatest tool. Above all have fun as a table, and enjoy your position as the man behind the curtain in oz.
My advice would be not to try to write that entire campaign, but to instead start slightly smaller.
If you know that you want Orcus to be the final villain, maybe start by thinking about what low-level organisation might have some sort of allegiance to him, but don’t make this link too obvious to start with. You probably want to build up to some sort of reveal of Orcus as the ultimate puppetmaster as the campaign progresses.
Maybe there is a merchant group operating in your starting city that has recently been taken over by a powerful undead creature (say, a vampire) who is loyal to Orcus for some reason. The vampire has begun to direct the merchant group’s activities to benefit Orcus, but most of the members of the group don’t know that yet. They know only that the new boss holds staff meetings at night, insisted that they get “loyalty tattoos” and that they have orders to test their new “product” on some innocent tavern goers, which is what they have just done.
That approach gives you an immediate and obvious enemy (the merchant group whose plans must clearly be foiled), sets up an eventual lower-level boss monster (the vampire in charge) and bakes in some connections to your campaign end-goal (once the vampire is defeated, a search of his notes reveals that he has been receiving instructions sent from an infamous lich-lord, long thought to have been destroyed, but who has been somehow restored to unlife in order to oversee Orcus’s evil plans for the world).
That's awesome, thank you so much. I thought that maybe I'll have a cult, but when they defeat the cult master, they're at a dead end, until they witness a vampire kill someone, and go after him. Something like that.
My advice following up on some great stuff above, is to check out Keep on the Shadowfell. It's where Kalarel appears for the first time (AFAIK). It's an introductory adventure that you could tweak however you like. It's a 4e adventure, but super easy to convert - just use the 5e equivalents and go from there. IIRC there was information put out in Dungeon magazine about changing the setting from it's original (Points of Light/Nentir Vale) to Forgotten Realms, and I think someone worked out a lengthy campaign connecting several of those 4e modules in a campaign that ultimately culminates in a fight with Orcus. See if there are some ideas you can steal from that stuff.
I think you’ve gotten some great advice. What I would add at your early stage is, consider what will keep the players invested in the campaign all the way through. Apart from you guys just having fun, the most common reasoning my view is that their PC is personally invested in what happens.
Introducing a link to the big baddie early on is a great step.But also, see if you can work in something for each PC in their backstory (backgrounds, ideal, flaws, bonds) that can be used later in the campaign.
For example:
- One PC has a missing sibling as one reason for leaving home. He or she meant much. No clues apart from that. During the starting adventure, there is nothing about him or her. Then the sibling turns up working for the merchant group suggested earlier. The PC is given indicator that the sibling is a nobody in the group. When the vampire is revealed and defeated, the sibling disappears. The evidence left shows that he or she is in fact a messenger, it seems, of the Lich. This indicates something sinister, but nothing more. Many adventure later when they face the Lich, the sibling is not only a messenger but a trusted ally of the Lich.
If you get things rolling related to each PC early on that in various ways means much later (and done right, you don’t need much of a clue for now what that will be). It’s a cool feeling as a player if youan be surprised by something like this 20 sessions into a campaign.
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I am currently writing a campaign for my friends, and just running normal 5e rules. I know that I want to have the 'final boss' be Orcus, and I want to run with a theme of undead. So far, I have them in a tavern, and a group walks in, 3 drink something, and turn into zombies while the last 2, who both have noticable tattoos, run out. Past this, I am not sure what to do. All advice would be amazing.
Thanks so much,
-Krispy
If I'm at a loss for what to do I usually work from the decisions the party may make. For example, what would happen if they fight the zombies, or if they chase the tattoo people. Maybe setup stuff if the party stealthfully followers the tattoo group, where do they go? do they have a hideout? Who's in charge of that hideout and what are his/her motivations? And keep working from there. Each step up the chain are probably higher level bosses each with their own influence and expertise until you get to Orcus. Hope it helps.
Well Orcus is cr 26, so you might have a few steps between them and then. However, if you want to introduce orcus early, id look up the Kalarel the Vile story from Matt Colville, its his example recommended starting adventure and it ties into Orcus! With some adjusting you can likely tie it into what you've already thought of. However Kalarel will likely get them to level 5ish. However, you probably don't need to plan much further than that for now.
Many campaigns fissile out so writing 1-20 will likely be exhausting and unfulfilling, also loosely outlining 1-5 and filling it out as they go will do a few things, first off it'll prevent some railroading, writing out an entire story and expecting your players to stick to it is impossible instead consider making some plot points and letting them write the story, of course you're still in control but it's much more interesting when everyone is working together to tell a story. Secondly, this will save you plenty of time and writers block. Thirdly writing over a longer period of time gives you more time to let ideas simmer and grow into more interesting ones than they started as.
My major recommendations for starting a campaign is this, consider the characters your friends have made - are they generic heroes or tyrants in waiting or of course somewhere between, are they invested in anything in the world that's specified in there backstories, and what are they motivated by. Once you have those things understood you can start to plot your story. A hero will spring into action to save a maiden, but a thief may not. Is there any parents, friends, or goals you can exploit that the players have gifted you. Next, plan the starting area - maybe the current city, local powers, local governments, organizations, and npcs. Maybe hand them some of this info in order to let them connect themselves deeper into the world with their backstory, players will be more interesting in the story if it affects them. Then consider those powers you've placed in the world and specifically which ones will come into conflict with the players. Using the Kalarel the Vile opening you've introduced the players to a power, but they might not bite the story hook. So place many around the world, some may be connected to the same fishing line, but they won't see that as easily. Also always be ready for them to go off the rails, have some tools for this such as extra names/full npcs, and a few ideas of how to move your story hooks into their view. They might've not gone to the blacksmith (with a conveniently missing daughter), but he might be at the place they go to first.
Next only plan the next one or two sessions out, and don't make it a book's story. Having the areas nearest to their intentions fleshed out is a great idea, but is you scaffold the story, they'll start to realize that they don't have anywhere to go that you don't want them to. The more specific your notes, the more railroading you'll do. Remember a dm's job is not to write the story. The story happens at the table, but it is a dm's job to bring that story to life. Which happens to be easier to do the week before the game.
So instead of writing a campaign with a big bad evil guy ahead of time write a local setting with a few possible bbegs. Then let the players find the one that pisses them off the most, and let them have at it. Maybe whichever one they choose will have ties to a cult of Orcus, maybe any one that they choose will, but they don't have to know that. Once they beat that first big evil guy let them know all the ones they ignored are now more powerful, and expand your range of planned setting. From city to kingdom, then from kingdom to world. It doesn't all need to happen at once, and as a dm that is your greatest tool. Above all have fun as a table, and enjoy your position as the man behind the curtain in oz.
My advice would be not to try to write that entire campaign, but to instead start slightly smaller.
If you know that you want Orcus to be the final villain, maybe start by thinking about what low-level organisation might have some sort of allegiance to him, but don’t make this link too obvious to start with. You probably want to build up to some sort of reveal of Orcus as the ultimate puppetmaster as the campaign progresses.
Maybe there is a merchant group operating in your starting city that has recently been taken over by a powerful undead creature (say, a vampire) who is loyal to Orcus for some reason. The vampire has begun to direct the merchant group’s activities to benefit Orcus, but most of the members of the group don’t know that yet. They know only that the new boss holds staff meetings at night, insisted that they get “loyalty tattoos” and that they have orders to test their new “product” on some innocent tavern goers, which is what they have just done.
That approach gives you an immediate and obvious enemy (the merchant group whose plans must clearly be foiled), sets up an eventual lower-level boss monster (the vampire in charge) and bakes in some connections to your campaign end-goal (once the vampire is defeated, a search of his notes reveals that he has been receiving instructions sent from an infamous lich-lord, long thought to have been destroyed, but who has been somehow restored to unlife in order to oversee Orcus’s evil plans for the world).
That's awesome, thank you so much. I thought that maybe I'll have a cult, but when they defeat the cult master, they're at a dead end, until they witness a vampire kill someone, and go after him. Something like that.
My advice following up on some great stuff above, is to check out Keep on the Shadowfell. It's where Kalarel appears for the first time (AFAIK). It's an introductory adventure that you could tweak however you like. It's a 4e adventure, but super easy to convert - just use the 5e equivalents and go from there. IIRC there was information put out in Dungeon magazine about changing the setting from it's original (Points of Light/Nentir Vale) to Forgotten Realms, and I think someone worked out a lengthy campaign connecting several of those 4e modules in a campaign that ultimately culminates in a fight with Orcus. See if there are some ideas you can steal from that stuff.
I think you’ve gotten some great advice. What I would add at your early stage is, consider what will keep the players invested in the campaign all the way through. Apart from you guys just having fun, the most common reasoning my view is that their PC is personally invested in what happens.
Introducing a link to the big baddie early on is a great step. But also, see if you can work in something for each PC in their backstory (backgrounds, ideal, flaws, bonds) that can be used later in the campaign.
For example:
- One PC has a missing sibling as one reason for leaving home. He or she meant much. No clues apart from that. During the starting adventure, there is nothing about him or her. Then the sibling turns up working for the merchant group suggested earlier. The PC is given indicator that the sibling is a nobody in the group. When the vampire is revealed and defeated, the sibling disappears. The evidence left shows that he or she is in fact a messenger, it seems, of the Lich. This indicates something sinister, but nothing more. Many adventure later when they face the Lich, the sibling is not only a messenger but a trusted ally of the Lich.
If you get things rolling related to each PC early on that in various ways means much later (and done right, you don’t need much of a clue for now what that will be). It’s a cool feeling as a player if you an be surprised by something like this 20 sessions into a campaign.