Hey, so I don’t know if this is posted in the right forum, but I need a little help with an idea for where to start a campaign.
So I know its par for the course to start off with an adventure involving goblins or kobolds, but I am the starting a campaign soon, and need some good ideas for where to start a campaign...
I don’t have a lot of DMing expertise, but have run a Star Wars RPG campaign since 2002, and I have run other campaigns including Buffy RPG and LotR RPG. I have run D&D but not for a VERY long time...
So here is my question, I have some extremely savvy gamers, who are ho hum about goblins, and kobolds, having run adventures involving them for 10 or more years, what I need is something that a campaign of first level players could handle, with more than a little difficulty (we have very much enjoyed REALISTIC challenges), that might be surprising, unusual or memorable to a group made up of long time players, mostly made up of cynical former and current DMs/GMs...
I just need help with the ideas and maybe the names of the books any of those creatures are in, as I am still acclimating to all of the books, and trying to find stuff can be a hassle on the fly, so I don’t intend to do that...
Lastly, I have to say that most printed game modules, though I find them fun to run, end entirely differently for my group of gamers than the intended path lays out. In Star Wars so far they have fought when a mission was obviously set up for them to run, they have run when negotiation seemed the best option, they have negotiated when fighting was their best bet, and for instances like this I LOVE my group of gamers, since I have to be on the ball at all times, being that the way I expect things to go is VERY rarely the way things end up, but a decent GM can always cobble the broken pieces of an adventure into something usable. There is NO WAY I would reign in my gamers, they would be annoyed and feel railroaded...
That said, I just need any ideas that might help me out... Much appreciated...
Sounds like a job for "Tuckers Kobolds" - try not to invent something completely new, try getting the most out of basic challenges. Google for Tuckers Kobolds, and you will find some ideas. Basically, these Kobolds were extremely clever and absolutely ruthless and gave the PCs invading their home territory a hell of a challenge.
Stefan
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Have you tried using PHB races? a human, gnome, or half-orc commoner with baseline stats (adjusted for modifiers) is a slightly tougher challenge than a goblin/kobold, but still well within the ability of a 1st level party.
If you want to play up the monstrous nature of the opponents, have them wear masks or dark hoods. Or just give them dog heads and say they're half-gnoll.
Here's a commoner that looks scary, but isn't.
Thuds, Enforcer for the White Tail Gang
CE Male Human Commoner 1
Str 10
Dex 10
Con 10
etc...
feats: Light Armor Proficiency, Martial Weapon Proficiency: Greatclub (probably described as a gargantuan mace)
With leather/studded armor, you can describe him as a warrior, but he'll still be easy to hit. 2-handed weapon means no shield, low strength means no bonus damage. The greatclub's crit makes it unlikely to autokill a PC. It's still possible, but less likely than with most other simple/martial weapons.
And they can all work for a diabolical Duergar warrior (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/dwarf.htm). A couple of fights with these guys, and your players will be second level, and you can crack open the MM and use some orcs, hobgoblins, and so on.
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For a low level adventure that doesn't involve Kobolds or Goblins, try a non-humanoid threat.
Some insane set of circumstances led to a Giant Ant Queen becoming Awakened (as a Vermin, she wasn't normally an option for Awakenage, hence the bizarreness of the circumstances). She's a 3rd level Adept with a fanatically loyal bunch of subjects, including heretofore unknown flying Ant Soldiers (same stats as Ant Soldiers, but with a Fly speed). She's also got ranks in Craft, and outfitted herself with Chain Shirt barding that she's made from the bits of armor that she's salvaged from the graves her tunneling minions have disturbed.
From beneath the town, her minions come up by night and steal farm animals and loners who probably shouldn't have been out alone anyway. She 'marks' the prey for her minions convenience by having her Bat familiar fly out and spritz them with a foul-smelling liquid, since she's having trouble explaining certain concepts to her mindless minions...
Cattle start disappearing from the fields, with the farmers coming out at morning to find huge blood splotches left in the field (as the ants chop up the larger prey on the spot, for ease of carrying off into their tunnels). The town drunk is missing, and was rambling the day before about seeing 'big bugs' behind the tavern. And now, a couple of village children have disappeared. Can the adventurers help, or are they blamed for the strange events that seemed to start when they blew into town and roped into finding the true culprits to clear their names (and avoid a torch and pitchforks scenario)?
[Turns out the Queen has gotten tired of having no one to talk to, with her big old brain, and when the kids stumbled into her warrens while playing and were captured by her Soldiers, she choose to keep them alive and prisoner, to keep her company. The kids are not exactly having the time of their life, and would very much like to be rescued.]
What Awakened the Ant Queen? Could it be some intelligent insect species with a variation on the Awaken spell that wants to 'soften up' the town for their eventual invasion? Could it be an outcast Dark Elf, practicing a new spell safely far away from his own city? Could it be a naturally magical location, and could the other Ants in the colony also be slowly Awakening, or perhaps only the newest eggs laid by the Queen, leading to the possibility that the problem will get exponentially worse as the Worker Ants, Soldier Ants and Flying Soldier Ants start taking Feats and Skills and Class levels in Warrior, Fighter, Expert, Adept, Sorcerer and / or Rogue?
Set has a very cool suggestion. But perhaps an even easier option is Burnt Offerings. Yes, the primary antagonists are Goblins, but Paizo has reimagined them completely differently so that they have a personality and a feel that is all their own. Now the are stupid, mad, crazy, evil little freaks. Sure to whock your jaded gamers out of their cynicism.
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Set has a very cool suggestion. But perhaps an even easier option is Burnt Offerings. Yes, the primary antagonists are Goblins, but Paizo has reimagined them completely differently so that they have a personality and a feel that is all their own. Now the are stupid, mad, crazy, evil little freaks. Sure to whock your jaded gamers out of their cynicism.
I like all of the examples here, and agree with all of them ( I prefer non humanoid threats myself) I think that either the ants or pick apart burnt offerings for what you need are your best bets. Burnt offerings has plenty of side things to do in town. you don't need to include the glassworks, and you can make your own reason for the goblin raid that fits what you want to do. (my brain is mush so if this doesn't make sense I'm sorry)
give the kobolds or goblins hp, ac and a little flavor.
PLAYER: a nat 20, I crit the kobold with my longsword *yawn*
YOU: the kobold looks at your blade as you remove it from his body, a rumbling like a furnace comes from his belly. Smoke seeps from his snarling mouth, it belches and sulfer polutes the air. It swings its rusty blade
PLAYER: I said I CRIT the kobold...
YOU: yes and now it is fire-breathing angry...
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give the kobolds or goblins hp, ac and a little flavor.
PLAYER: a nat 20, I crit the kobold with my longsword *yawn*
YOU: the kobold looks at your blade as you remove it from his body, a rumbling like a furnace comes from his belly. Smoke seeps from his snarling mouth, it belches and sulfer polutes the air. It swings its rusty blade
PLAYER: I said I CRIT the kobold...
YOU: yes and now it is fire-breathing angry...
or just "your blade goes through the kobold without hitting solid object. *next round after they find all the kobolds are mirror images they notice slime coming from the ceiling, as 6 kobold thieves and a magic user drop from the ceiling on slurks - backstabbing in the surprise round
Another possibility is to take the players completely out of their comfort zone by dropping them into a world with an entirely different social structure. A cruel, anarchic place where orcs, gnolls, or somesuch bad guys are the dominant species and all other humanoids are inferiors, minorities or outright slaves. For the standard PC races, even a wayside village could be as hostile as a low-level dungeon and securing weapons, supplies and provisions could well become more vital (and dangerous) than looting treasure.
Such a setting gives very definite campaign goals (firstly, survival and then guerilla warfare to carve out a safe haven for themselves and their fellow sufferers - perhaps using powerful artefacts liberated from local dungeons or the ruins of previous societies) and you could structure these goals towards the final end whilst allowing the players complete freedom in how they attain them.
Of course, it rather turns the usual concepts on their heads when adventurers have to hide their equipment and adopt an air of submissiveness before entering a tavern or town and they can only feel safe(ish) in carefully prepared dens in the wilderness, but that's all part of delivering a new and challenging experience to veterans with preconceptions of how D&D worlds 'ought' to work.
You could, of course, just get them all to play orcs or gnolls and drop them into a 'normal' world, for pretty much the same effect, but in this way, you let them remain the 'good guys' and benefit from a certain righteous zeal towards reformation.
Speaking of reformation, another idea would be to have them all members of a religion that is distinctly at odds with the main religion of the state in which they live. You (or, preferably, your players) can choose where good and evil lies and then the goal can be to advance their own interests against the current establishment in an entirely different way. This approach lends itself more to urban intrigue and still allows PCs to benefit from the local taverns and markets if they keep a low profile, whilst still placing them in an unremittingly hostile environment that will tax their skills in ways that they may never have encounterd before.
Finally, you could turn an old roleplaying cliche on its head. For example, the PCs are approached by a noble who tells them his lower-class lover has been consigned to a mental asylum by his family and wants them to rescue her. Unbeknownst to them, the noble is disturbed and delusional, but the name and description he gives (tallying with a milkmaid on his father's estate) coincidentally matches that of a real inmate who has been seriously abused by someone with the same name as the noble (and isn't going to react well to people trying to 'rescue' her and take her to someone of that name). If your players like planning elaborate operations, then they'll face all sorts of trouble getting into the place, forcibly removing the unwilling prisoner and being met by disbelief and scorn when they proudly present their 'damsel in distress' to their patron. With any luck, the runaway nobleman's family will intercede and pay them well for their silence, but they could equally decide to eliminate the PCs to save the family reputation. This can be done at almost any level and afterwards the players might well feel grateful for the opportunity to go back to beating up goblins and kobolds for a while.
One way to mix it up is to have a lot of diffrent combat situations. The first adventure in one of my campagains involved a cart of stolen liquor that the PCs had to rescue for a freindly bar owner. After killing the drunken bandits, they were nearly run over by a goblin warsled pulled by worgs that had just taken the liquid loot. A "car chase" of sorts ensued, with goblins tossing burning barrels of rum back at the PCs. When they finally caught up, the fighters jumped into the goblin cart, kicked some ass, and then jumped out as the driverless sled crashed into a rock (taking care of the CR 2 worgs).
Or you could use the low levels to do a lot of roleplaying, with the PCs defusing conflicts between advarsaires that are too tough to fight, and also laying the foundation for future storylines. Most of the NPCs I use I introduce the PCs to early.
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After reading through the Gamemastery mini-adventure Throne of the Gorilla King, that would certainly make for a unique 'Goblin encounter.'
Spoiler for said adventure;
Convert the adventure to have a dozen Baboons who are 1st level Warriors (former Goblins), a Baboon Adept 2 (their former leader, complete with Monkey familiar), led by an Ape Barbarian 1 (former 1/2 Orc, unrelated adventurer who died in the area) and you've got a scary encounter. Tweak the alignment requirement (perhaps the reincarnation works on anyone willing to convert to CE in exchange for a vaguely worded new lease on life 'with the strength and savagry of the jungle lords,' and you could even have some of the Baboons be former adventurers that the party has met or heard of, who can be recognized from their equipment (the baboons are wearing the missing people's gear!) and other features (wait, not only is the baboon wearing the missing sorceresses clothes, it's also casting spells and speaking Common!)
The shrine could work in two ways, tempting the recently departed with offers of reincarnation (not mentioning that they will come back as apes), and also bestowing the 'gift of strength' upon CE sorts who show up and sacrifice to the shrine, transforming them permanantly into apes, but retaining their mental attributes (minus a couple of points of Intelligence, 'cause 'savagery' is part of the 'gift') and any class levels.
This would result in a totally different low-level adventure, and may or may not involve Goblins as a base.