Beginning to pull together stuff for a major campaign starting in the next month or so. I’m not the typical campaign DM but have run a number of one-shots for the group.
What are some thing you’d encourage me to incorporate, remember, etc?
Reincorporate. Re-use plot elements from prior dungeons, and find ways to relate them together. Also have consequences arise from what players accomplish in the dungeons. They clear out the Stormkeep goblins? How does that affect the Stormkeep? Do clerics come to cleanse the Lich’s Tomb that the adventurers have removed the warding-stones from?
Think about how their escapades impact the entire world, and figure out a metaplot that you can build against that.
A rival party is always fun, and would fit perfectly with the Torchbearer play style.
A pseudo town with mini activities like a Gypsy Caravan can be a great respite from a crawl and be a great place the grab hooks. But carpe and littlejeans are right, theirs nothing like continuity and a rat race.
Keep a list of the towns and the town events that have happened in each. Make travel an adventure—or don’t make travel a test at all.
Some thoughts I’ve had:
Adventurers are from a little podunk area and have never seen real civilization.
Opening quest line plunges them into a massive cavern system, leaving them desperate for resources. I want to set the tone early.
Eventually tasked with getting out of podunkville to complete a task from their original quest-giver(a dying priest).
Players have to return some mundane looking artifact to another temple several hundred miles away before a certain time or very, very bad things will happen to the world.
Thought it would be interesting to give their dead priest friend a very intense background that they uncover over time.
Figured some rivals would arise who are intending to stop the players from reachng the temple, to ensure very, very bad things happen to the world.
I want travel to be both interesting and challenging. I was thinking of requiring checks as they go. Maybe cartography, scout, and pathfinder and the players travel a distance relative to their successes and the. Have a chance to come across some obstacle. Brnong throu resources and supplies as they go.
Creating a compelling, and driving motivator will be the challenge. I was thinking the priest might turn out to be one of the player’s parents or something. I want to avoid too many tropes though, and I find that can always be difficult.
Don’t forget the players’ relationships; enemies make for great rivals, of course, but friends, parents and mentors also make for great contacts and connections that tie the characters to the game world - if events are threatening your parents or your home town, it’s easy to get riled up.
Good call. I was thinking of having some of the enemies show up as help for the rival sect attempting to unleash evil. Wll have to find ways to tie in other people since the whole campaign is about leaving home.
Do hard work. Be organized. “Combat” Conflicts are easy to slap together, but get tedious if that’s the only thing you do. Be creative. Go over the top. Add depth and meaning to every room.
Steal liberally from other sources.
IF the group I’m beginning through 3 Squires wants to continue, my tentative plan in to use some Paizo material “Crown of the Kobold King” & Revenge to keep working the kobold theme, and then maybe transition into my old MERP modules. I’ve got a ton of those old MERP modules and most I never ran. I think the fantasy level of BW and Torchbearer lends itself pretty well to MiddleEarth anyway and those old MERP modules definitely have a very dungeoncrawly bent to them.
Crown of the Kobold King would make a pretty good Torchbearer adventure!
I would add: Think about the ramifications of the adventures the characters go on. Did they leave any loose ends? Maybe those play out a couple of adventures down the road.
Did they clear a dungeon? Maybe something else eventually moves in to fill the void. They’ll sure alter the place a bit to suit their needs.
MERP modules are a fantastic idea! I have a ton of those I never ran as well. Dol Guldur…
If I recall Dol Guldur, Goblin Gate, Gundabad, Moria, and other sprawling locations even have random dungeon charts. You can kick it super old skool.
Phantom of the Northern Marches was the one I was thinking really hard about. It even has a riddle game with a giant!