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View Full Version : DM Help Turning a one-shot into a campaign? Help!



Shugercube
2017-08-17, 08:47 AM
TL;DR: First time DMing I ran what I planned to be a one-shot, and now the players want to continue with it, and I don't know what to do. I would love advice and ideas on how to turn a one-shot into a longer campaign.

OK, this is long. I am a new DM, just did my very first dungeon last week. I planned it out to be more of a one-shot, but they liked it so much they want to keep going, and now I have no idea what I'm doing! LOL. I think I bit off more than I can chew and probably fudged and messed up a LOT because I'm not super creative and since it was just a one-shot, I didn't put much foresight into developing much more outside of what I thought we'd need for that session (which didn't even end up playing out all the way), so I'm not sure if I should keep going with what I started with, or just introduce all new villains/NPCs next session.

Basically, the gist was that they were called to meet with a mysterious NPC to retrieve a map from a tomb. The tomb holds the fallen heroes of a special order, who have been sworn to keep and protect a special dragonbane weapon, which has been carefully hidden somewhere. Hidden inside this tomb is a piece of map, which is the last piece the NPC needs to complete it (the map leads to the weapon, or if I decide to run with this idea and draw it out, then the NPC will discover that the map is just one of many pieces of a puzzle, just the first step of many to find this weapon). While meeting with this person, an "emergency" came up (which they also decided to take on) that involved rescuing a girl from a cult who had taken over this tomb. The cult are worshippers of a great wyrm, who they are making sacrifices to as the time nears for him to awaken (I don't know why he's supposedly sleeping, or how long he's been sleeping, or anything, I totally flubbed that up). Anyway, the party rescued the girl, and found and returned the map fragment to the NPC. Well, the NPC is really a black dragon (I had it set up in my mind to be THE wyrm that the cult is worshipping, but that doesn't really make sense if he's supposed to be hibernating?), who is using a phylactery of change to appear as a human. Which, fine, for a one shot, I figured it was whatever, but I am realizing now, that HELLO, a dragon would be too OP for a new low level party if any of them decided to question or make him mad. The goal was and would not be to have him fight the party (at least not any time soon), but if there's one thing I know, it's to never underestimate what the party will do. LOL. Anyway, I've gotten myself all in a mess, and I'm not sure where to go from here. The dragon is a level 3 (which, I don't even know if that's even technically possible to be a level 3 wyrm LOL), but still because of the age of a wyrm it's got ridiculous stats. The dragon wants to find the bane weapon so that he can destroy it before its used against him. Now, I was thinkging I could draw things out, let the PCs continue working for him, and little by little drop hints that they are working for the enemy, and be sure they know who they are helping before they actually find the weapon, so that by the time they've reached that point they are high enough in levels to decide to turn on him with the weapon. BUT I'm not sure if that's a good plan or not.... and why would he want their help, why not do it himself, or have his followers do it? For this one dungeon I had decided the tomb was warded, so he couldn't enter. But then I started thinking I could just make his human form a separate NPC, like maybe a good or neutral half-dragon or something that has beef with the wyrm for some reason, but I don't want any NPCs fighting the dragon, and again, why would a higher level half-dragon need/want help from level 1s? I'm seriously stuck! Luckily my players are all new too, and we are learning this together... No one even asked "why should we help you?" Or "why can't you do it yourself" or anything of the sort, they heard "gold. lots of gold" and didn't ask any questions. LOL! So I have a lot of wiggle room, because they don't even know who or what the NPC is, just that they wanted this missing piece of map to find the weapon. So, what do I do now???

ngilop
2017-08-17, 09:15 AM
TL;DR: First time DMing I ran what I planned to be a one-shot, and now the players want to continue with it, and I don't know what to do. I would love advice and ideas on how to turn a one-shot into a longer campaign.

OK, this is long. I am a new DM, just did my very first dungeon last week. I planned it out to be more of a one-shot, but they liked it so much they want to keep going, and now I have no idea what I'm doing! LOL. I think I bit off more than I can chew and probably fudged and messed up a LOT because I'm not super creative and since it was just a one-shot, I didn't put much foresight into developing much more outside of what I thought we'd need for that session (which didn't even end up playing out all the way), so I'm not sure if I should keep going with what I started with, or just introduce all new villains/NPCs next session.

Basically, the gist was that they were called to meet with a mysterious NPC to retrieve a map from a tomb. The tomb holds the fallen heroes of a special order, who have been sworn to keep and protect a special dragonbane weapon, which has been carefully hidden somewhere. Hidden inside this tomb is a piece of map, which is the last piece the NPC needs to complete it (the map leads to the weapon, or if I decide to run with this idea and draw it out, then the NPC will discover that the map is just one of many pieces of a puzzle, just the first step of many to find this weapon).
While meeting with this person, an "emergency" came up (which they also decided to take on) that involved rescuing a girl from a cult who had taken over this tomb. The cult are worshippers of a great wyrm, who they are making sacrifices to as the time nears for him to awaken (I don't know why he's supposedly sleeping, or how long he's been sleeping, or anything, I totally flubbed that up). Anyway, the party rescued the girl, and found and returned the map fragment to the NPC. Well, the NPC is really a black dragon (I had it set up in my mind to be THE wyrm that the cult is worshipping, but that doesn't really make sense if he's supposed to be hibernating?), who is using a phylactery of change to appear as a human.
Which, fine, for a one shot, I figured it was whatever, but I am realizing now, that HELLO, a dragon would be too OP for a new low level party if any of them decided to question or make him mad. The goal was and would not be to have him fight the party (at least not any time soon), but if there's one thing I know, it's to never underestimate what the party will do. LOL. Anyway, I've gotten myself all in a mess, and I'm not sure where to go from here. The dragon is a level 3 (which, I don't even know if that's even technically possible to be a level 3 wyrm LOL), but still because of the age of a wyrm it's got ridiculous stats.
The dragon wants to find the bane weapon so that he can destroy it before its used against him. Now, I was thinkging I could draw things out, let the PCs continue working for him, and little by little drop hints that they are working for the enemy, and be sure they know who they are helping before they actually find the weapon, so that by the time they've reached that point they are high enough in levels to decide to turn on him with the weapon. BUT I'm not sure if that's a good plan or not.... and why would he want their help, why not do it himself, or have his followers do it? For this one dungeon I had decided the tomb was warded, so he couldn't enter.
But then I started thinking I could just make his human form a separate NPC, like maybe a good or neutral half-dragon or something that has beef with the wyrm for some reason, but I don't want any NPCs fighting the dragon, and again, why would a higher level half-dragon need/want help from level 1s? I'm seriously stuck! Luckily my players are all new too, and we are learning this together... No one even asked "why should we help you?" Or "why can't you do it yourself" or anything of the sort, they heard "gold. lots of gold" and didn't ask any questions. LOL! So I have a lot of wiggle room, because they don't even know who or what the NPC is, just that they wanted this missing piece of map to find the weapon. So, what do I do now???



SOUNDS AWESOME.. no wonder they want to continue.

HERE is an idea MWHAHA.. The black dragon IS the sleeping wyrm the cult worships. instead of being disguised as a human, his mind is stuck in a human body while his body (dragon body) is in some sort of stasis. and the sacrifices/rituals are what will finally merge his mind back to his true body and the POWAHH that comes with it.

He is an old and smart being so of course he has numerous plans to get what he wants. he has the cults to bring him back to full strength and he has adventurers hired to collect the map so he can destroy the one thing that can end him. he is good at covering all his bases

also GOLD lots of GOLD is normally the only thing ANYBODY here and is usually enough to convince most to do something. So you do not need too much of a reason at the start for the dragon-in-human-body to give the adventurers to collect the map pieces.

of course you should drop hints that something is up, the main hint being really all he ever says is 'but gold' when you guys ask for justification.

Geddy2112
2017-08-17, 09:38 AM
First off, give yourself a pat on the back for running a good adventure and leaving your players coming back for more!

Second, you actually are at an advantage for not fluffing out most of the world. This means you can paint towns, mountains, crypts, oceans, etc as needed as your players explore and discover. You might want to make a basic layout of the known continent though-even if your players are ignorant bumpkins they will eventually be exposed to the world.

Third, your players like gold and treasure, and have already bought the plot hook. Maybe the map leads to several pieces of the sword, or it is incomplete and you need more pieces of the map. Make sure there is a lot of places to go with unique(magic) things to find, but also give each of these a story, name, and maybe a unique power. You can limit access to the ye old magic shop(depending on the system) to make specific treasure really powerful.




HERE is an idea MWHAHA.. The black dragon IS the sleeping wyrm the cult worships. instead of being disguised as a human, his mind is stuck in a human body while his body (dragon body) is in some sort of stasis. and the sacrifices/rituals are what will finally merge his mind back to his true body and the POWAHH that comes with it.

He is an old and smart being so of course he has numerous plans to get what he wants. he has the cults to bring him back to full strength and he has adventurers hired to collect the map so he can destroy the one thing that can end him. he is good at covering all his bases
I like this, and this lets you have a level 3 "scion" of the dragon. The dragon's conciousness is stuck in a random NPC, and while the dragon can control the NPC his power is limited to the ability of the NPC. He can scheme and plot, but only to an extent. This also gives you a backup should your players ghost the NPC-the dragon simply chooses another host. Maybe the players can figure out that there are draconic bloodlines running around and they will become hosts.

Likewise, the NPC can level with the party, or if the NPC dies a level appropriate one appears.

Shugercube
2017-08-17, 09:43 AM
HERE is an idea MWHAHA.. The black dragon IS the sleeping wyrm the cult worships. instead of being disguised as a human, his mind is stuck in a human body while his body (dragon body) is in some sort of stasis. and the sacrifices/rituals are what will finally merge his mind back to his true body and the POWAHH that comes with it.

YES!! This is GOLD! THANK YOU!! :) I feel better about this now!

Rules question- "Dragon mind Trapped in a human body" would follow similar guidelines to the polymorph spell? For example, the physical stats would be that of a human, but the mental stats would be the dragon's? Just want to make sure I don't overly fudge things ;) (I know ultimately the DM can do what they want, but better if I have something to back up my decisions)

Tinkerer
2017-08-17, 09:52 AM
YES!! This is GOLD! THANK YOU!! :) I feel better about this now!

Rules question- "Dragon mind Trapped in a human body" would follow similar guidelines to the polymorph spell? For example, the physical stats would be that of a human, but the mental stats would be the dragon's? Just want to make sure I don't overly fudge things ;) (I know ultimately the DM can do what they want, but better if I have something to back up my decisions)

It depends on how the dragon wound up trapped in there. If it wound up there as a result of a spell like reincarnate that would be fairly accurate, though it would still be quite powerful compared to a normal human. Of course the dragon would most likely still have a massive inferiority complex because it's nowhere near as powerful as it used to be.

If it wound up there as a result of a soul transfer type spell then yep, same mental stats with whatever physical stats the human had. Plus then the dragon may have a built in hostage if the human spirit is still in the body.

EDIT: Sorry you were asking for system back-up. Look up the spells Reincarnate and Magic Jar... Although I just realized I don't know what edition you are running...

Shugercube
2017-08-17, 09:58 AM
It depends on how the dragon wound up trapped in there. If it wound up there as a result of a spell like reincarnate that would be fairly accurate, though it would still be quite powerful compared to a normal human. Of course the dragon would most likely still have a massive inferiority complex because it's nowhere near as powerful as it used to be.

If it wound up there as a result of a soul transfer type spell then yep, same mental stats with whatever physical stats the human had. Plus then the dragon may have a built in hostage if the human spirit is still in the body.

EDIT: Sorry you were asking for system back-up. Look up the spells Reincarnate and Magic Jar... Although I just realized I don't know what edition you are running...

Thank you! Sorry, I never mentioned it!! I am running D&D 3.5.

I think Magic jar would be closest to what I'm trying to do, but would need it to be longer lasting somehow. I suppose anything can be made a "continuous" magical item for the right price, right? I'm sure a wyrm would have plenty of gold stashed away ;)

ngilop
2017-08-17, 10:37 AM
Yeah, I feel that magic jar would be the best way to effectively reproduce this in game mechanics.

the best part about this whole idea is: you can say the dragon has been sleeping for thousands of years, it just took him this long to find the pieces of the map in various dungeons.

this also allows you to basically do a bunch of dungeon 1 shots in case your players get bored of what ever is going on.

Its not the wyrm who needs to be pay for the continuous magic jar item. It the cabal of wizards and priest who performed a ritual that shunted the dragons psyche from his body, there is ton of supporting material for this in all kinds of fantasy novels, games, and movies. The dragon is weakened by not being able to be in his body, but is 'immortal' as long as his body is in stasis, when the body he is inhabiting dies it goes to the next body around think that movie with denzel Washington and John Goodman where at the end the demon is forced into a random cats body.

Jonagel
2017-08-17, 12:54 PM
As everyone has said, great first job! Love the idea, and apparently your players did too -- whatever you're doing is fun for them and that's all that matters!

That said, I'm on board with everyone's suggestions. I just have a few more to add (of course)!

1) Why is the dragon sleeping? Clearly this order of fallen heroes has something to do with. They either put him in stasis, or think they killed the dragon. Maybe, this great wyrm was in the process of becoming greater but put in statis to avert a continent wide disaster? Maybe the Wyrm was tampering with undeath or demons? Making himself a dracolich or binding a Balrog to him soul to grant him more power! This might let you add more flavor other than draconic stuff (i.e. undead, demons, devils, whatever fits your fancy!). Or, maybe the old heroes put the dragon to sleep and then intended to use the weapon to kill the dragon but were stopped from the inside as the dragon took over the mind of one of the heroes while it was in statis. Thus the heroes were killed, broken apart, but not before they laid clues for others to finish their goal...but everything went south and the heroes all died along with the Dragon's first pawn.

2) What does the dragon do when it wake up? This should flow from the first question pretty easily I assume...finish what is was doing! Conquer the continent, become a demi-god, combine itself with demons and undeath so it can challenge a deity, enslave all living dragons and turn the world into a Draco's paradise? Maybe that's why he was put away, for trying to find a way to take over the minds of all draconic beings so as to enslave and destroy all lesser races....that might explain why he is still able to take over one mind at a time from his deep slumber, so long as that creature has draconic blood somewhere in its history?

3) If your players love it, err on the side of extra content/ideas. If they don't like something, or start to get bored, it lets you change gears quickly or skip ahead to the stuff you think they'll like.

4) Have fun, and congrats again!

Quertus
2017-08-17, 04:56 PM
Allow me to echo the sentiment that, if they want you to turn a one-off into a campaign, you must be doing something right.

Now, I'll break from the pack in suggesting that you not string things out. If you said that the map leads to the sword, then make the map lead to the sword. Of course, retrieving the sword can be quite the adventure in itself.

Now, me, I'd probably have the quest giver be cautious around the sword, not touch it directly, etc. If asked, he may say that, like most sorcerers, he has dragon blood in his veins - which is technically true.

Later, he may ask the party to help him acquire some materials "to test a new armor to protect against dragons" - also technically true, but his primary purpose is to try to destroy the bloody sword. The deadly acid, the eternal fire, the heart of cold, etc that he sends the party after all prove ineffective (although he does make good on his promise, and start providing the party with minor resistance items as fruits of his labors).

I'd likely have the cult be ignorant of his true identity, and perhaps and assassins after him at some point. Perhaps they fail, perhaps they succeed. If they succeed, his "apprentice" will pick up where he left off, and perhaps even know where that armor the quest giver was working on has gotten off to.

Why is he working against the cult? Maybe it's a "survival of the fittest" thing. Or maybe they have some hold over him (allowing another potential win avenue for the party, should he awaken). Or perhaps centuries of pretending to be human has changed him, and he no longer believes in his former cult's goals - or is just bloody insane. Or maybe he doesn't want to awaken (yet?), as he prefers manipulating events from the shadows to having a huge "kill and loot me" sign over his head.

daniel_ream
2017-08-17, 10:23 PM
Lots of good ideas here; I'm just going to address the "why is he asking adventurers to do this" question.

Because the cultists are doing other things that are more important - rituals, perhaps, or subverting a local church, or something that requires their particular attentions. Most likely, the cultists are just townspeople or something, they aren't accomplished tomb robbers. The dragon's got gold and tons of it, and there are tons of mercenary adventurers out there who will do just about anything for gold, no questions asked, like the PCs. If they fail to get the sword? He'll hire somebody else. If they get the sword and decide not to give it to him? He'll hire somebody else, and get them to go after the PCs. He's a dragon. He's got time and money, he can just keep doing this indefinitely until he gets his claws on the sword.

He doesn't even have to be magic jarred to not want to do this himself, either; again, why not get someone else to do it? Why put in the effort if you don't have to? And if they decide to attack him? Why would he do anything except cast Sleep or Stinking Cloud or something and just leave? Keeping his plan a secret is more important than killing some mercenary adventurers.

Lvl 2 Expert
2017-08-22, 12:57 AM
Yes, keep going with what you had planned, as the others said (and use their suggestions too).

If this is going to be a campaign, maybe offer them a job restarting that ancient secret order. They will still just be a party of adventurers, but now with matching red capes embroidled with the orders emblem (did I say secret order?),
and some minor powers or artifacts specifically useful against dragons. (Or you know, the sword you mentioned.) The ghost of the last leader might still be able to appear in the tomb. He or she would be perfect for giving out the job offer. Whether the dragon cult gets away with its current plan or not, someone will have to fight them.