Alright, since I am largely sure most of my Gaming group does not use DnD beyond, I think I am safe to ask how the hell I can rework this concept I have for a campaign opening.
So, my original idea for my campaign is set in a world that takes place after a World War 1 event, with grinding attrition warfare matched with magic and other creatures, to create a war that had a high body count. the campaign starts around 100 years or so after the last battle on a memorial day in a kingdom that is close to the largest battlefield and largest naval battle of the war. The town itself boasts a large grave yard dedicated to those fallen in the war, and every year a bell is rung in memory of the event at midnight.
so my first idea involving this is necromancer coven taking control of the bell and ceremony to start a mass raise dead ritual within the town and the harbor to cause havoc, with the defenders of the town rushing to fight against this threat while the real ritual takes place in the battlefield to create an undead army out of those still lost on the field to lay siege to the town. I'm talking about Verdun Level of casualties being raised as zombies and such.
problem is, my gaming group is already doing a necromancy type of enemy in another campaign (we alternate games every other week) so, at risk of having to fight too many zombies, I need to change my idea of the main big bad, from necromancy and zombies to... something else that fits with the idea I have above. my other thought is involving demons or devils in place of zombies, but really have no clue how to fit that in mechanically. I could use some help talking this over...
I think you kind of wrote yourself into a corner. I'd suggest maybe keeping the idea of a group or cult hijacking the memorial bell to raise a mass of undead, because that idea is really neat. However, maybe adjust their reasons for needed that distraction. Maybe they are a demon cult that is using the undead to distract the city's defenders so that they can steal something of great power or value in the confusion. Maybe this is an elaborate kidnapping of a royal heir or some important arcanist that they cult needs to sacrifice later to their demon masters?
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I think you kind of wrote yourself into a corner. I'd suggest maybe keeping the idea of a group or cult hijacking the memorial bell to raise a mass of undead, because that idea is really neat. However, maybe adjust their reasons for needed that distraction. Maybe they are a demon cult that is using the undead to distract the city's defenders so that they can steal something of great power or value in the confusion. Maybe this is an elaborate kidnapping of a royal heir or some important arcanist that they cult needs to sacrifice later to their demon masters?
thanks for the ideas! I know i'm keeping the general idea of a cult hijacking the bell, and the idea for a distraction would be a good idea. my overall idea is that after this initial siege where the party stops one of the rituals in one place, is that they learn that almost every major settlement across the continent (both sides of the war) have been the target of a different sort of attack but still damaged (thinking one city fighting a typhoon dragon, one getting a massive gang war uprising, and another a different cult causing general havoc) as this cabal finally shows themselves, each achieving hidden goals or just overpowering the enemy. goal is to conquer the world, or to create a new demon prince for their realm out of one of the good gods.
still, i'm torn between undead and having a demons attack from the graveyards, as possibly focus points for the intense emotions of war and destruction being used to summon them, maybe even into corpses as hosts. dunno exactly what type of enemies to throw at them in this case. I want my players to be highish levels (5 or 8, don't know yet) but don't exactly know what types of enemies would be good for this.
If this is to be a one shot, you have a good story going on, and Metamongoose pretty much sums it up by saying that the ritual is a diversion for a larger or more sinister plot.
"As the bell tolls you watch the ground shudder, the decaying claws of fallen soldiers burst from the soil as a black miasma seeps across the cemetery." Elsewhere: "The massive use of necromantic power draws him ever closer to the Prime Material, awakening a primal hunger, a feral longing. This Lieutenant of Orcus has now found a way to bring his master back..."
Sounds like trouble to me :)
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If this is to be a longer adventure, then I would say that you have the perfect ending written up and simply need to make a new beginning. Start the players off as emissaries, they're to escort a powerful person to the kingdom, on the way they are tasked with finding certain trinkets, unwittingly helping find the items needed for a large scale raise dead spell.
If this is to be a one shot, you have a good story going on, and Metamongoose pretty much sums it up by saying that the ritual is a diversion for a larger or more sinister plot.
"As the bell tolls you watch the ground shudder, the decaying claws of fallen soldiers burst from the soil as a black miasma seeps across the cemetery." Elsewhere: "The massive use of necromantic power draws him ever closer to the Prime Material, awakening a primal hunger, a feral longing. This Lieutenant of Orcus has now found a way to bring his master back..."
Sounds like trouble to me :)
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If this is to be a longer adventure, then I would say that you have the perfect ending written up and simply need to make a new beginning. Start the players off as emissaries, they're to escort a powerful person to the kingdom, on the way they are tasked with finding certain trinkets, unwittingly helping find the items needed for a large scale raise dead spell.
yea that's the general idea, but I kinda want to jump them right into the action (plus, the other campaign is also using objects to make zombies and we have to find them)
so with a guinness in hand I think I have thought up a good opening. General lay out like this:
after a day of ceremonies, memorial services and speeches the players find themselves at a rather popular tavern, a gathering place for the kind of patrons who want to share their memories of war and service. an elderly man, probably a colonel in the army, asks the party who they are, and they are allowed to give backstory and information about their characters. at the end of some general information another man stands and begins a toast to fallen family and friends just as the clock is about to strike midnight and the bell is to be rung.
After the toast the bell begins to ring, only it sounds... different. everyone who found themselves in this town knows what the Great Bell of Vator sounds like, and this... this isn't it. this isn't right. this new tone's sound feels like it's echoing through the soul, and as it rings it feels like it is gripping your heart, each toll feeling like a hand getting closer and closer to ripping it out. the tone is getting louder and louder.... Players roll wisdom saving through against toll the dead
Just as the toll reaches it's peak there is a horrible breaking sound, as if stone is being shattered and the bell has been broken from it's holding. as your senses come back to the players they look around to see many patrons laying dead on the ground, with other patrons checking on them, including the old man they were talking with. a few seconds later they could hear screams, both inside and outside the tavern, as the dead began to claw and attack at the other patrons checking on them, and soon on any other living soul around them.
__________________
with a help of someone else I could just use reskinned dretches as the zombies, maybe as a take on DOOM 2016's version of zombies just being possesed bodies. I don't think they would have the myasma cloud but they could make some very good not-zombies for the players to fight.
Edit: or Lemures and use devils as the main enemies...
so here is the encounter set up I may need help on working out the DR. the party is starting out at level 5 because I like higher levels personally and it allows much more customization of the characters
encounter 1: tavern brawl- party of 5 / 6 level 5's encounter possessed locals after the cataclysm. party is set to fight 12 dretch stated possessed humans with minimal effort
Presented with choice: go to graveyard to support monk monastery or go to harbor to fight alongside paladins. right now here is the graveyard fight
Encounter 2: party encounters the elemental monk monastery fighting an endless tide of dretches / skeletons and demons, and the party is tasked to help hold the next wave off as they prepare a way to get to the belltower in the center of the graveyard. planned on party fighting 24 of these mobs( groups of three are counted on one base, party can attack said group to kill them off as they keep coming) until monks summon a tidal wave, which clears a path to the tower.
_______Short rest given to players without wasting time___________
Encounter 3: Run and Gun: Party makes a series of attacks / dodge rolls or ability checks in order to get to the tower before the horde closes on them
encounter 4: Tower Guard: Party fights three bearded devils before advancing, to the ritual circle
___Short rest given to players without wasting time________
encounter 5: Ritual Caster: Party encounters evil cleric with a fleshgolem as a warrior. Party must figure out that they can attack the necromancer to make the golem not- resistant to all damages, and then proceeds to destroy the circle.
thoughts on this chain of events?
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Alright, since I am largely sure most of my Gaming group does not use DnD beyond, I think I am safe to ask how the hell I can rework this concept I have for a campaign opening.
So, my original idea for my campaign is set in a world that takes place after a World War 1 event, with grinding attrition warfare matched with magic and other creatures, to create a war that had a high body count. the campaign starts around 100 years or so after the last battle on a memorial day in a kingdom that is close to the largest battlefield and largest naval battle of the war. The town itself boasts a large grave yard dedicated to those fallen in the war, and every year a bell is rung in memory of the event at midnight.
so my first idea involving this is necromancer coven taking control of the bell and ceremony to start a mass raise dead ritual within the town and the harbor to cause havoc, with the defenders of the town rushing to fight against this threat while the real ritual takes place in the battlefield to create an undead army out of those still lost on the field to lay siege to the town. I'm talking about Verdun Level of casualties being raised as zombies and such.
problem is, my gaming group is already doing a necromancy type of enemy in another campaign (we alternate games every other week) so, at risk of having to fight too many zombies, I need to change my idea of the main big bad, from necromancy and zombies to... something else that fits with the idea I have above. my other thought is involving demons or devils in place of zombies, but really have no clue how to fit that in mechanically. I could use some help talking this over...
I think you kind of wrote yourself into a corner. I'd suggest maybe keeping the idea of a group or cult hijacking the memorial bell to raise a mass of undead, because that idea is really neat. However, maybe adjust their reasons for needed that distraction. Maybe they are a demon cult that is using the undead to distract the city's defenders so that they can steal something of great power or value in the confusion. Maybe this is an elaborate kidnapping of a royal heir or some important arcanist that they cult needs to sacrifice later to their demon masters?
thanks for the ideas! I know i'm keeping the general idea of a cult hijacking the bell, and the idea for a distraction would be a good idea. my overall idea is that after this initial siege where the party stops one of the rituals in one place, is that they learn that almost every major settlement across the continent (both sides of the war) have been the target of a different sort of attack but still damaged (thinking one city fighting a typhoon dragon, one getting a massive gang war uprising, and another a different cult causing general havoc) as this cabal finally shows themselves, each achieving hidden goals or just overpowering the enemy. goal is to conquer the world, or to create a new demon prince for their realm out of one of the good gods.
still, i'm torn between undead and having a demons attack from the graveyards, as possibly focus points for the intense emotions of war and destruction being used to summon them, maybe even into corpses as hosts. dunno exactly what type of enemies to throw at them in this case. I want my players to be highish levels (5 or 8, don't know yet) but don't exactly know what types of enemies would be good for this.
If this is to be a one shot, you have a good story going on, and Metamongoose pretty much sums it up by saying that the ritual is a diversion for a larger or more sinister plot.
"As the bell tolls you watch the ground shudder, the decaying claws of fallen soldiers burst from the soil as a black miasma seeps across the cemetery."
Elsewhere:
"The massive use of necromantic power draws him ever closer to the Prime Material, awakening a primal hunger, a feral longing. This Lieutenant of Orcus has now found a way to bring his master back..."
Sounds like trouble to me :)
---
If this is to be a longer adventure, then I would say that you have the perfect ending written up and simply need to make a new beginning. Start the players off as emissaries, they're to escort a powerful person to the kingdom, on the way they are tasked with finding certain trinkets, unwittingly helping find the items needed for a large scale raise dead spell.
yea that's the general idea, but I kinda want to jump them right into the action (plus, the other campaign is also using objects to make zombies and we have to find them)
so with a guinness in hand I think I have thought up a good opening. General lay out like this:
after a day of ceremonies, memorial services and speeches the players find themselves at a rather popular tavern, a gathering place for the kind of patrons who want to share their memories of war and service. an elderly man, probably a colonel in the army, asks the party who they are, and they are allowed to give backstory and information about their characters. at the end of some general information another man stands and begins a toast to fallen family and friends just as the clock is about to strike midnight and the bell is to be rung.
After the toast the bell begins to ring, only it sounds... different. everyone who found themselves in this town knows what the Great Bell of Vator sounds like, and this... this isn't it. this isn't right. this new tone's sound feels like it's echoing through the soul, and as it rings it feels like it is gripping your heart, each toll feeling like a hand getting closer and closer to ripping it out. the tone is getting louder and louder.... Players roll wisdom saving through against toll the dead
Just as the toll reaches it's peak there is a horrible breaking sound, as if stone is being shattered and the bell has been broken from it's holding. as your senses come back to the players they look around to see many patrons laying dead on the ground, with other patrons checking on them, including the old man they were talking with. a few seconds later they could hear screams, both inside and outside the tavern, as the dead began to claw and attack at the other patrons checking on them, and soon on any other living soul around them.
__________________
with a help of someone else I could just use reskinned dretches as the zombies, maybe as a take on DOOM 2016's version of zombies just being possesed bodies. I don't think they would have the myasma cloud but they could make some very good not-zombies for the players to fight.
Edit: or Lemures and use devils as the main enemies...
so here is the encounter set up I may need help on working out the DR. the party is starting out at level 5 because I like higher levels personally and it allows much more customization of the characters
encounter 1: tavern brawl- party of 5 / 6 level 5's encounter possessed locals after the cataclysm. party is set to fight 12 dretch stated possessed humans with minimal effort
Presented with choice: go to graveyard to support monk monastery or go to harbor to fight alongside paladins. right now here is the graveyard fight
Encounter 2: party encounters the elemental monk monastery fighting an endless tide of dretches / skeletons and demons, and the party is tasked to help hold the next wave off as they prepare a way to get to the belltower in the center of the graveyard. planned on party fighting 24 of these mobs( groups of three are counted on one base, party can attack said group to kill them off as they keep coming) until monks summon a tidal wave, which clears a path to the tower.
_______Short rest given to players without wasting time___________
Encounter 3: Run and Gun: Party makes a series of attacks / dodge rolls or ability checks in order to get to the tower before the horde closes on them
encounter 4: Tower Guard: Party fights three bearded devils before advancing, to the ritual circle
___Short rest given to players without wasting time________
encounter 5: Ritual Caster: Party encounters evil cleric with a fleshgolem as a warrior. Party must figure out that they can attack the necromancer to make the golem not- resistant to all damages, and then proceeds to destroy the circle.
thoughts on this chain of events?