Starting a new campaign... from scratch!

[Forged Goo]

I am starting a new campaign and I was hoping for some ideas on how you might approach the same idea.

The characters will start on a small island amongst a group of islands and will know little else geographically.

The characters will start as first level NPC classes (blacksmith, copper, huntsman, temple acolyte) with a history tied to the one small town on the island knowing little else other than their simple skills.

There will be very few "fantasy" threats on the island or in the surrounding sea and what the characters know of those will be in a "textbook" I am creating from their childhood schooling.

Something horrible will happen to introduce the characters on their road to becoming heroes.

They will have to roleplay becoming a PC class. I am going to use a homebrew world (which this will by my first attempt) and either creatures I design or obscure later edition Monster Manual creatures so they won't be able to metagame because they really wont know what things are or what the world is like.

Any thoughts?
Goo

[Kobold Catgirl]

Sounds good. Personally, I prefer renesscience.

[Forged Goo]

Sounds intriguing but I will have to admit that I don't know what "renescience" is. Is it some hybrid Renaissance world with more science than typical fantasy settings?

Goo

[damnitall22]

I would say that it sounds good so far. However I would try to take old 2nd Ed. Monster Manuals and convert the creatures(depending on how long your group has been gaming). Keep us informed.

[Kobold Catgirl]

Sorry, couldn't remember the spelling of 'Renaissance', and the spell check wasn't giving any hints. But i did mean Renaissance.

[Forged Goo]

I like our new word though...hurry up and copywrite it!

We just need a defiinition.

I smell a whole new game world based on renaissance + science.

Goo

[Charles Evans 25]

Forged Goo:
Please describe your group of players, and approximately what they are used to? Also what kind of game (monster killing to role-playing scale) they prefer to play in, and whether or not you feel like indulging them on that c*%% this time. You have indicated that they are fairly experienced players, but what classes and alignments do they tend to gravitate towards?
Also (best, sadistic, DM grin) do you intend to make them roll 3d6 for each stat, in order, or (disappointed look) take 4d6 aranged in any order or a point buy?

And I am assuming that you are running 3.5, when for al know yu may be on 1st, 2nd, or 3.0. It makes a difference t what can be thrown at them, and what long-term villains can lurk effectively in the background, driving any storylines...

[Charles Evans 25]

Okay; It's been over an hour and I haven't any further information to work on, so I'll respond as best I can.

Assuming a group of entirely experienced players, but entirely new to me as the DM.

1) Explain right now, at the start, if I haven't already done so what books will be acceptable for classes/spells/equipment later on in the campaign. Maybe hint at home-brewed prestige classes or classes from unusual sources (such as old Dragon magazine issues) that may become available later on.

2) Briefly outline the area where the campaign starts. Possibly provide a 'player' version of a map of the immediate region around where they start if it is a home-brew world or a part of an 'official' world for none of them have details.

N.B.
At this point, if you are using an official world, you must make clear either 'yes, this game will conform to the official characters/history' or the more usual 'I reserve the right to have changed things to the history/NPCs from what you may in fact be familiar with from line 'x' of novels. In this version of the FR, an evil Drow Warlord by the name of Drizzt in fact completed the conquest of the Faerunian continent in the name of House do'Urden fifteen years ago...'

3) Explain what the race/character class/language/equipment options immediately available are going to be, then proceed to rolling stats. for first level characters, by whatever method is prefered by you as DM. Then, once they have stated what class they are going to take, allow rolling of gold, equipment, and the other work of creating a 1st level character.

In circumstances where you already know and trust the players, you have the option to brief them by e-mail or other means as to 1) & 2) so that they can bring pre-generated characters along. (And preferably spare ones, in case of early fatalities.)

[Charles Evans 25]

Actually, Ray Winninger write a series of articles in the Dungeoncraft column of Dragon Magazine, a while back, on 'creating a new world from scratch' which cover this subject a lot better than I could hope to do so. I'll try to summarise some of the headings of each one for you, but the server has just eaten one of my posts on the subject (toook to long over it, guess), and I'm going to have to keep it short, and/or edit creatively to get it done by degrees...

Dragon #255 covers whether or not you should DM, and looks at the players
Dragon #256 covers the basics of world creation
Dragon #257 covers the homebase for the players, and the local government/economy
Dragon #258 covers the campaign mythology/pantheon for your world
Dragon #259 covers names and languages for your world
Dragon #260 covers filling in the details (NPCs & services) for the players homebase
Dragon #261 covers filling in the details (The Rumour Mill, NPCs, and drawing the map) for the players homebase
Dragon #262 covers more on NPCs for your campaign
Dragon #263 covers detailing and statting NPCS for your campaign
Dragon #264 covers mapping the first 60 miles around the PCs home
Dragon #265 covers detailing the map of the area around the PCs home
Dragon #266 covers general outlines for creating adventures (with regard to the players)
Dragon #267 covers general outlines for creating adventures (with regard to the characters)
Dragon #268 covers creating the concept and detailing a specific 'first adventure' (as in the one where the PCs first get together)
Dragon #269 covers designing a dungeon (identifying the specific areas and creatures that you want in it, and then mapping)
Dragon #270 covers rounding out a dungeon
Dragon #271 covers DM preparation (inc. character creation sessions)
Dragon #272 covers some of Ray's useful tips for the basics of DMing

There were several more Dungeoncraft articles, before it moved to Dungeon magazine, but they had got away from the subject of creating a world from scratch, and moved on to other topics.

Ray Winninger's Rules of Dungeoncraft:
1) Never force yourself to create more than you must.
2) Whenever you fill in a major piece of the campaign world, always devise at least one secret related to that piece. (So the players can be 'rewarded' with discoveries for achievements.)
3) Whenever you have no idea what the probability of success should be for a particular stuaton, consider it 50%.
4) Challenge both the Characters and the players.

The above is probably the best general advise that I can point you in the direction of; if you want personal thoughts/ideas, then PLEASE BE SPECIFIC. There who people out here who want to help, but some of us aren't mind-readers, and will end up writing paragraphs going all over the place, engaging our wits and imaginations without even necessarily hitting a point that we can usefully provide help on.

[Forged Goo]

Holy advice Batman! Thanks for all that info. I believe I even have most of those Dragon mags to refer to.

As for being specific, I guess I was thinking of the whole thing from a different angle. I had 3 main goals in mind. 1) I wanted to run a campaign where the players started as common folk and literally worked their way to becoming heroes. 2) I wanted to try and avoid metagaming by avoiding the possibility of metagaming. "Hey look at the werecreature, quick get the silver!" If the players don't know much about the gaming world than the characters can't. 3) I want to make my own world just because I never have.

The start of this came from a game of Warhammer Quest I was playing and thought, "What if I made a D&D world where the Quest guys we have been playing turned out to be heroes/deities?" I don't know if it will end up being that but that was the seed of inspiration.

As for playing style and rules books and the like, the players are all older experienced players who like a mix of roleplaying and combat but it ultimately comes down to them wanting to have fun and socializing with their friends. That is why I believe the early NPC levels will be fine because they will probably get a kick out of being the local sawbones or the like.

We have almost all of the supplemental books that are not Forgotten Realms (we have nothing against it but never really played it as we were Greyhawkers and have only so much money you know). We allow use of any oddball rule pretty much and the decision is made by consensus. If you bring up a rule and are mercilessly made fun of you pretty much get the point and drop the request.

As a group we getting along exceptionally well and have been friends for years so rules issues are normally not issues. I have been developing some house rules that we may formalize for the campaign also. So if you have any that you think are well done let me know. When this is all said and done it may not look anything like D&D anymore but what the heck.

Wow, I never write this much.

Thanks for all your help,
Goo

[Yasha0006]

An introductory adventure on an island setting? Hmm.

Depending on how you want to start things off you could do this...

First, does the island have more than one settlement. I'd suggest yes. For visuals of the island itself...randomly I am getting some imagery like Besaid Island from Final Fantasy X. Good design for a tropical island.

You could then, again this depends on if you want to send them off to the mainland or not, have an invasion of the island happen. Start at the settlement on the other side of the island, have people start seeing smoke, then a strange ship sailing off the coast of the island, etc.

You can then have some sort of marauders start combing the island. This'll give some baddies for the PCs to deal with, and also has them trying to protect their hometown.

To complicate matters, this can be either a piratical-type raid, or an invasion of more and more enemy ships arriving. For interesting flavor, you could have this invading or raiding force by a race not really encountered yet. This would be a good time to introduce a humanoid race that you want to figure strongly in your campaign.

To further complicate matters, while preparing to either defend their hometown or get the townsfolk to flee on ships, have the players get into another confrontation with the raiding folk attacking the town. Have them focus on going after food (though not to the exclusion of defending themselves). Make it an actual raid, after food, grains, supplies. In the aftermath, make one or more of the enemies female. Especially if the invading race doesn't make use of female warriors.

Basically, heres the idea and points.

-Enemies come to the island.
-Other Village is burned/raided/destroyed (shows the enemy seriousness)
-Bad guys encountered. (Gives them a face, straight-forward encounter)
Bascially a face to the nasty monsters invading their homeland.
-The ships they see from shore (Foreshadowing, more of them are coming, cause fear/worry).
-The raid (they are after food...not just killing)
-The female (warrior societies, unless 50/50, don't often include women)

This will give them things to think about and gives you breathing room to do all sorts of complicated stuff. The enemies don't have to be a humanoid race either. They could also just be a different or strange culture as well. Either way, they could be bent on conquest, or they could be refugees fleeing aboard their ships for new land to settle, to escape whatever it was that invaded their homelands. Giving you as DM a group that invaded the characters homeland, who later might have to ally with the PCs to try and save their homeland or just keep from this land from being invaded as well. If you can't tell, I like complicated games.

[varianor]

As long as your players are on board with being "up and coming commoners" that's cool. (Or put spin on it - "ascendant heroes".)

What I think you can do is similar to how I handled a similar campaign in years past. You're going for deep involvement, development, growth and depth. So start with them as kids, ages 10-12, or maybe 14-15, and run a miniadventure. I did one where I had each PC just experience one minor episode from their late childhood and early teenagerdom. Example: the party wizard got to help a man with a leg wound during a freezing rainstorm. They made it back to the village. Later in the game, that man showed up. Give the PCs some one on one time with you, the DM, let them start off with a little feel for their upbringing, then bring them together doing purely mundane, village stuff. As the group comes together in groups of twos or threes, make it a little more heroic. You might even allow them bonus commoner, aristocrat, expert and warrior levels that are the reward for their early adventuring.

[Forged Goo]

Yasha0006 - great idea to introduce a new race (or 2) during some sort of raid. If it is a major race in the game world it could be a good stepping stone and perhaps provide the motivation to leave the island.

I have been struggling with the idea of how many settlements to have on the island. If I have more than one (which I am leaning toward) they will have a good relationship. I don't want the early conflict to be too internal or built in.

varianor - great post as usual and thanks for the help. I really like the idea of having the first adventure or two being when the PCs are kids. This could be a great way to pre-introduce (if that makes any sense to any one but me)their heroic qualities and start to tie the PCs together as a party.

Thanks!
Goo

[Charles Evans 25]

Size of an island is important. If there is not enough room on an island to support agriculture (or a lower population density hunter-gatherer system, for that matter), then any inhabitants will be reduced to combing the shore/having to fish daily for food- unless there is a magical means of providing food and drink or regular trade. A very small island may not even have freshwater. On that subject, unless the terrain is sufficiently elevated to force the formation of clouds, in some latitudes rain may not occur at all on a regular basis without magical intervention. (Although shore areas may still gain the benefit of morning fogs spreading dew such as on stretches of the real world African and South-American coastlines, if you have a cold water current just offshore.)

Another consideration when dealing with an island is the coastline. Reefs or sandbanks may make it impossible for ships of any size to get close to some coasts, and if you have a seetlement with a strong fishing tradition, or that is a port for visiting vessel, then it is going to require breakwaters to keep vessels protected from the worst of any storms, or very favourable natural defenses (headlands/promontories). Also please consider the physical makeup (in terms of rock/soil) of the landward part of your coastline. Sands/muds tend to disappear into the sea with great speed during powerful storms- especially without the protection of very broad beeches, perhaps afforded by sediment from a nearby river estuary- meaning that buildings close to or on the edge of cliffs can disappear into the sea overnight. Here in the UK there have been several incidents of cliff erosion on the east coast that have been serious enough in terms of property damage to make the news in recent years.

Good points about an island are that things don't get there unless they can come by sea (or by magical means in a fantasy setting). Animals that carry rare and deadly diseases, unless they can fly or swim for long distances, can't get to them without being brought over on a boat. So if you want to start a campaign with a really BIG catastrophe, have the closest continent ravaged by a devastating plague of some sort in the space of a couple of days (or attacked by an army of undead that have difficulty crossing open water) and have the PCs wonder why the usual mail-boat/supply ship hasn't turned up. At that point their island effectively becomes their castle/stronghold against the nasty outside world, and from which they have to sally forth to put everything to rights.... (Whilst making sure that WHATEVER IT WAS does not come back with them from one of their expeditions, or can not otherwise get in.) I think in Day of the Triffids (the book, I don't know about any films) almost everyone was turned blind by orbitting weapons that went wrong, and the Triffids (little problem with a lot of people who could see) got rapidly out of control, forcing the few sighted survivors to retreat to locations such as The Isle of Wight in the British case. (They could manage to clear the Isle of Wight of the relatively few triffids that were there already, and to deal with any seeds that blew over from the mainland each spring.) (I think triffids were popular, even though they had poison stings, because they were very good plants for making high quality vegetable oil from or something like that, so everyone wanted them for fuel/plastics, etc.)

That's some more random thoughts for you.

[Core]

Forged Goo wrote:

Any thoughts?

Goo

A decent starting adventure for this sort of thing is Treasure Hunt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Hunt_%28D%26D_module%29

You can naturally tailor it for your own homebrew world but it contains a lot of what you wanted. As I recall the adventure eventually leads PCs to different classes and alignments based on their actions. It is also island based, so it may be useful with your current ideas.