Eighth_Seraph
2006-08-23, 08:20 PM
I'm DMing the first session of my first D&D campaign this saturday and was hoping htere was someone who could help me with a few general tips. My world is basically a combination between Rich's articles in the Gaming section and a combination of Dragon issue#340.
So yeah, lots of emphasis on the Sun and Moon. It's an eight player campaign and I've personally made up all the character's basic outlines (class, race, basic equipment) and have given the character sheets back to the players for finishing. It's called Pseudelity.
The basic story is this: The Sun and Moon made the world (which was originally greatly similar to orthodox 3.5 D&D). The Sun was a being of strength, law, discipline and hope (physical description ripped off Rich's work.) The Moon was a being of subtlety, freedom, learning and enjoyment. The sun made humans in her image and the moon made gnomes in his. This eventually led to a great and bloody war between the two, in which most of both populations was destroyed. The sun and moon saw this, and upon seeing their intededly peaceful creation torn by this barrier, sought of a way to end it. The moon finally suggested that they tear their connections to their creations, so that any of either race that was born during the day would be under the sun's guidance and protection and any born at night would be under the moon's. The sun agreed for peace's sake, but begrudged the loss of an instrument of law. So eventually peace reigned between the two races.
Generations later, however, a group of gnomes who called themselves the 'Night-touched' and considered themselves superior by virtue of their race and being born under a night with a new moon, sailed away towards the west, never to be seen again by mortal eyes. They began to draw from the divine energies of the sun and moon, owing no allegience to either, and became the discoverers of arcane magic, a great force that though derived from the sources of light; was not of light and psionics, a power drawn from the Nighttouched themseleves. Their power grew, and it became manifest as a sentient being: the embodiment of shadow, for so he was: an absence from the sun and moon's power. This shadow consumed the Nighttouched's descendants, turning them into slaves and engines of destruction against each other, until out of the very magic that spawned the shadow, a seal was forged. The seal required a living being of great power to serve as the seal, as well as twelve artifacts made by the Nighttouched as sources of power; and the gnomes' greatest wizard was used as the focus for the seal. He sealed the shadow with the help of seven powerful psions, but in the process the new land of the nighttouched was laid waste and barren, so in great ships the survivors returned to the eastern land of their fore fathers, to try and continue their existence.
That's basically origins, and the beginning of the campaign takes place about 800 years later, three generations by gnome standings. The seal is weakening because the wizard who serves as the focus is dying of old age, despite his magically enhanced lifetime. Four of the characters are suntouched, born during a lunar eclipse, and the others are moontouched, born during a solar eclipse. Each is given a minor spell-like ability afiliated with his or her heavenly body. I plan to have them all be subconsciuosly led to travel abroad and end up in the same small village, where the eveidence of evil is first showing up.
I've made it so that the seven artifacts serve as keys for the seal, which were hidden when the high gnomes (as they are now known for their inherent magical abilities) returned so that the seal won't be opened. I've also made it so that the wizard of the party is really trying to release the shadow, and is secretely using the party to further his cause by finding the keys and defeating the guardians by convincing them is the only way to re-seal the shadow.
I've also made it so that the sorcerers get their powers directly from the sun or moon for the purposes of some great destiny; in this case; stopping the shadow. He has been given an embodiment of the sun's power to aid him (fire elemental familiar). There are up to three sorcerers alive at any given point, with the average being one. Wizardry is unknow to all but the nighttouched's descendants. This sorcerer does not know his destiny, only that it's an important one, and the wizard's words should convince him that this is it.
Now the artifacts really are the keys to the seal, only that they are not used to close it, but to open it. The only way to close the seal is to find a new focus, which the sorcerer is destined to be. Once all the artifacts are collected and they make the trek to the western shores, the shadow is released fully and all hell breaks loose until they manage to go into his domain and confront him directly (Epic level challenge).
That's the basic story, though the characters obviously don't know it yet. It's sloppy and not as specific as my official version, but it's a good summary. Any ideas, pointers? I had real problems getting through lower levels, because I can't fiind a decent challenge low enough for them. I want to make the other characters more important, because they're really just serving as guardians at this point. Can anyone help?
Mechanics:
I'm limiting sentient races to humans and gnomes until later in the game when the shadow is released with his armies of hellspawn. I know that the wizard and the sorcerer are definitely getting the major brunt of the storyline, but I can't find anything else to make the other characters except the destined sealers of the shadow, with the sorcerer being the seal. Anyone have something else I can do?
Before anyone makes mention (flames) of the race restrictions, I made subraces for each, as follows:
Humans
--Humans (as PHB) Played by Sorcerer and Cleric
--Northmen (viking-ish; basically blond half-orcs minus darkvision) Played by Barbarian
--Icemen (Inuit; flabby dwarves minus stonecunning and appraise bonus) Played by Fighter
Gnomes
--High Gnomes (as PHB, except +2Int instead of Con) Played by Wizard
--Mountain Gnomes (-2Str, +2Con; they basically have the dwarf thing going on, including stonecunning and appraise, but to gems, not metalwork) Played by Bard
--Forest Gnomes; (Halfling replacement; -2Str, +2Dex; bonuses to climb, jump, etc.) Played by Ranger and Rogue
I tweaked the bard. Well, I took the bard and bent it in a pretzel. Basically, I gave bards born under the moon the Cleric spell list with less spells per day and took away the bardic knowledge ability, as well as allowing their music to affect undead. I kept in mind that the player was known for a certain amount of incompetence, so I don't think any nerfing should be required, what do you think?
Yeah, it's an eight-person party. Yeah, it's gonna be annoying getting shecules to coincide. Other than that, what would the CR change be? I'm going for +3, because, quite frankly, I've seen these people play before, and most are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into a world where they can't drop a flask of alchemist fire while flying with wings they got from being a half-dragon into a mine field to instantly destroy the three skeletons conveniently standing on a lethal fire trap.
P.S. I'm working with a PHB, MM, and DMG; all 3rd. I also am currently borrowing Dragon MAgazine #340.
So yeah, lots of emphasis on the Sun and Moon. It's an eight player campaign and I've personally made up all the character's basic outlines (class, race, basic equipment) and have given the character sheets back to the players for finishing. It's called Pseudelity.
The basic story is this: The Sun and Moon made the world (which was originally greatly similar to orthodox 3.5 D&D). The Sun was a being of strength, law, discipline and hope (physical description ripped off Rich's work.) The Moon was a being of subtlety, freedom, learning and enjoyment. The sun made humans in her image and the moon made gnomes in his. This eventually led to a great and bloody war between the two, in which most of both populations was destroyed. The sun and moon saw this, and upon seeing their intededly peaceful creation torn by this barrier, sought of a way to end it. The moon finally suggested that they tear their connections to their creations, so that any of either race that was born during the day would be under the sun's guidance and protection and any born at night would be under the moon's. The sun agreed for peace's sake, but begrudged the loss of an instrument of law. So eventually peace reigned between the two races.
Generations later, however, a group of gnomes who called themselves the 'Night-touched' and considered themselves superior by virtue of their race and being born under a night with a new moon, sailed away towards the west, never to be seen again by mortal eyes. They began to draw from the divine energies of the sun and moon, owing no allegience to either, and became the discoverers of arcane magic, a great force that though derived from the sources of light; was not of light and psionics, a power drawn from the Nighttouched themseleves. Their power grew, and it became manifest as a sentient being: the embodiment of shadow, for so he was: an absence from the sun and moon's power. This shadow consumed the Nighttouched's descendants, turning them into slaves and engines of destruction against each other, until out of the very magic that spawned the shadow, a seal was forged. The seal required a living being of great power to serve as the seal, as well as twelve artifacts made by the Nighttouched as sources of power; and the gnomes' greatest wizard was used as the focus for the seal. He sealed the shadow with the help of seven powerful psions, but in the process the new land of the nighttouched was laid waste and barren, so in great ships the survivors returned to the eastern land of their fore fathers, to try and continue their existence.
That's basically origins, and the beginning of the campaign takes place about 800 years later, three generations by gnome standings. The seal is weakening because the wizard who serves as the focus is dying of old age, despite his magically enhanced lifetime. Four of the characters are suntouched, born during a lunar eclipse, and the others are moontouched, born during a solar eclipse. Each is given a minor spell-like ability afiliated with his or her heavenly body. I plan to have them all be subconsciuosly led to travel abroad and end up in the same small village, where the eveidence of evil is first showing up.
I've made it so that the seven artifacts serve as keys for the seal, which were hidden when the high gnomes (as they are now known for their inherent magical abilities) returned so that the seal won't be opened. I've also made it so that the wizard of the party is really trying to release the shadow, and is secretely using the party to further his cause by finding the keys and defeating the guardians by convincing them is the only way to re-seal the shadow.
I've also made it so that the sorcerers get their powers directly from the sun or moon for the purposes of some great destiny; in this case; stopping the shadow. He has been given an embodiment of the sun's power to aid him (fire elemental familiar). There are up to three sorcerers alive at any given point, with the average being one. Wizardry is unknow to all but the nighttouched's descendants. This sorcerer does not know his destiny, only that it's an important one, and the wizard's words should convince him that this is it.
Now the artifacts really are the keys to the seal, only that they are not used to close it, but to open it. The only way to close the seal is to find a new focus, which the sorcerer is destined to be. Once all the artifacts are collected and they make the trek to the western shores, the shadow is released fully and all hell breaks loose until they manage to go into his domain and confront him directly (Epic level challenge).
That's the basic story, though the characters obviously don't know it yet. It's sloppy and not as specific as my official version, but it's a good summary. Any ideas, pointers? I had real problems getting through lower levels, because I can't fiind a decent challenge low enough for them. I want to make the other characters more important, because they're really just serving as guardians at this point. Can anyone help?
Mechanics:
I'm limiting sentient races to humans and gnomes until later in the game when the shadow is released with his armies of hellspawn. I know that the wizard and the sorcerer are definitely getting the major brunt of the storyline, but I can't find anything else to make the other characters except the destined sealers of the shadow, with the sorcerer being the seal. Anyone have something else I can do?
Before anyone makes mention (flames) of the race restrictions, I made subraces for each, as follows:
Humans
--Humans (as PHB) Played by Sorcerer and Cleric
--Northmen (viking-ish; basically blond half-orcs minus darkvision) Played by Barbarian
--Icemen (Inuit; flabby dwarves minus stonecunning and appraise bonus) Played by Fighter
Gnomes
--High Gnomes (as PHB, except +2Int instead of Con) Played by Wizard
--Mountain Gnomes (-2Str, +2Con; they basically have the dwarf thing going on, including stonecunning and appraise, but to gems, not metalwork) Played by Bard
--Forest Gnomes; (Halfling replacement; -2Str, +2Dex; bonuses to climb, jump, etc.) Played by Ranger and Rogue
I tweaked the bard. Well, I took the bard and bent it in a pretzel. Basically, I gave bards born under the moon the Cleric spell list with less spells per day and took away the bardic knowledge ability, as well as allowing their music to affect undead. I kept in mind that the player was known for a certain amount of incompetence, so I don't think any nerfing should be required, what do you think?
Yeah, it's an eight-person party. Yeah, it's gonna be annoying getting shecules to coincide. Other than that, what would the CR change be? I'm going for +3, because, quite frankly, I've seen these people play before, and most are going to be dragged kicking and screaming into a world where they can't drop a flask of alchemist fire while flying with wings they got from being a half-dragon into a mine field to instantly destroy the three skeletons conveniently standing on a lethal fire trap.
P.S. I'm working with a PHB, MM, and DMG; all 3rd. I also am currently borrowing Dragon MAgazine #340.