Idea for a new campaign: War in Golarion

[YarrrByrd]

Hey guys and girls,
I want to start a new campaign in Golarion and new some ideas/advices.
First of all it should include a war between to nations or several factions, none of them should be like "true" evil. The pcs can choose between them, try to prevent the war or just switch between them (treachery). Now different settings and nations come into mind.

1. The River Kingdoms:
A lot of tensions here between the small "kingdoms", nations, cities etc.
Pcs could choose to pick the side with one of the princes/lords/whatever or just a city.

2. Numeria versus the River Kingdoms
The PC can pick their side, try to unify the River Kingdoms to defeat the armies of Numeria etc. I would include some new stuff discovered in the parts of the fallen starship, like a small army of golems which can be controlled by the Black Sovereign himself, but this goes more into the direction of: Hey let's defend the River Kingdom

3. Geb versus Nex, Alkenstar between.
A lot of motivations between Geb and Nex, maybe Nex appeared again...

Would be pleased to get more ideas by the community or some advices.
I like plotwists, betrayels etc. so any suggestions are welcome.

[Alexander Kilcoyne]

4. "Cold War" between Taldor and Cheliax, as both of them don't want to be seen directly acting against one another immediately, you have the PC's as agents of one of the two kingdoms, clearing the way for war with strategic missions.

[Krome]

I was thinking of Taldor and Cheliax as well. WIth Andoran caught in the middle it can brew into a very interesting war.

In fact throw in Qadira perhaps as the behind the scenes instigators, concentrating the inciting incidents in Andoran so as to get both Taldor and Cheliax mad at one another so they go to war using Andoran as the battlefield The goal is to weaken Taldor sufficiently to make them vulnerable to an invasion by Qadira. If Andoran and Cheliax are weakened enough for Qadira to continue its invasion all the better.

[Blazej]

I don't have much to add to this thread at the moment but it reminded me of someone bringing up a similar thread a year ago.

Bringing War To Golarion. You might be able to pull some of the ideas from that old thread.

I might just throw out a civil war in Brevoy or a war between Molthune and Nirmathas. I have my own sympathies for one side in each of the conflicts, but I don't think either really has a side that does it just to be evil.

[yellowdingo]

Events of the War

An army of a thousand Skeleton Archers land by boat on the Beaches of Sandpoint. They wear the cloth of Numeria. They are led by Sgo Giand - an Alchemist of 15th Level.
Each Archer has a flask of Explosive Chemicals wired in his Ribcage to function as a suicide device.

[YarrrByrd]

yellowdingo wrote:

Events of the War

An army of a thousand Skeleton Archers land by boat on the Beaches of Sandpoint. They wear the cloth of Numeria. They are led by Sgo Giand - an Alchemist of 15th Level.
Each Archer has a flask of Explosive Chemicals wired in his Ribcage to function as a suicide device.

Nice idea... but nah ;)

First of all, thanks for the ideas.

I thought about a scenario The River Kingdoms vs. Numeria where the pcs discover by accident a small part of a preparing army. They could tell the discovery to the nearest town or something else. But that's again a "good" vs. "evil" scenario. Same for Geb versus Nex (even if Nex is supposed to be neutral) Not shure yet, any suggestions?

[W E Ray]

With your two examples the first thing that jumps at me is the gross difference between settings. Geb and Nex are gonna be radically different setting-flavor-wise than Numeria and the River Kingdoms.

What are you and your Players more in the mood for? Numeria has technology and the River Kingdoms are independent adventurers and such carving out their own mini-empires. Do want the technology of Numeria? Are you in the mood for the deserts and North Africa stuff for Geb?

All the stuff you want: plot twists, betrayals, no "true" evil, works in either of your examples.

My other concern is that your statement PCs see an army and report it sounds close to Railroading. I realize that's only the first sentence of a really nebulous Campaign starter but it did catch my eye. If you want the PCs to report what they see then make sure what they see is something that makes them really want to report it and even then, come up with some back up plans in case they do something else.

[Charles Evans 25]

I repeat the basic idea I posted on the thread which Blazej linked to in his post above: Taldor invades Galt.
You could cast the PCs as 1st level characters who are life-long inhabitants of Galt, living on the border as the invasion commences, or maybe as a band of merceneries from the River Kingdoms travelling in the region looking for employment and/or patronage...

[YarrrByrd]

W E Ray wrote:

With your two examples the first thing that jumps at me is the gross difference between settings. Geb and Nex are gonna be radically different setting-flavor-wise than Numeria and the River Kingdoms.

What are you and your Players more in the mood for? Numeria has technology and the River Kingdoms are independent adventurers and such carving out their own mini-empires. Do want the technology of Numeria? Are you in the mood for the deserts and North Africa stuff for Geb?

All the stuff you want: plot twists, betrayals, no "true" evil, works in either of your examples.

My other concern is that your statement PCs see an army and report it sounds close to Railroading. I realize that's only the first sentence of a really nebulous Campaign starter but it did catch my eye. If you want the PCs to report what they see then make sure what they see is something that makes them really want to report it and even then, come up with some back up plans in case they do something else.

Yeah you are right about the railroading, that's something i don't want . I thought about something different like during their first adventures they find something that was an ambush with some corpses lying around, if they are looting the body then will find a very interesting note about the fortifications and number of troops in a city. So now they can either choose to warn the city or to bring the note to an agent or something of that nation.

I will take with my players and ask them which setting they want, more like a classical setting or more exotic. After that i will decide which nations I choose etc. pp.

Thanks for the advice.

[TheWarriorPoet519]

If I had to pick two Inner Sea nations to go to war with one another, it would actually be Andoran and Cheliax, likely over either A: Slavery, or B: A return to Chelaxian expansionist policies.

I'm actually building a campaign around this idea, presently, with the catalyst being an attempt by certain individuals in Cheliax to spark a restarting of the Everwar in Varisia, with Andoran getting involved, and Taldor attempting to play both sides against one another to weaken two of its wayward child-states.

[Troubled_child]

TheWarriorPoet519 wrote:

If I had to pick two Inner Sea nations to go to war with one another, it would actually be Andoran and Cheliax, likely over either A: Slavery, or B: A return to Chelaxian expansionist policies.

I'm actually building a campaign around this idea, presently, with the catalyst being an attempt by certain individuals in Cheliax to spark a restarting of the Everwar in Varisia, with Andoran getting involved, and Taldor attempting to play both sides against one another to weaken two of its wayward child-states.

Damn Chelaxians again. It's time we Shoanti drove them back into the see.

[fopalup]

How's this for an idea - Land of the Linnorm Kings invade Varisia? Actually it's more of an enlarged immigration as the Linnorm people are being forced out by Irrisen who is themselves spreading across the north? The players are forced to face the people of Linnorm in their 'invasion' and may try to force them back to their lands, wipe them out completely, or try to get to the root cause, Irrisen, and stop those invaders so the people of the Linnorm Kings can go back to their homes. This could be very challenging as the players would have to deal with making alliances of the various factions around Varisia but not weakening it enough to allow other invasions to occur, such as from Belzken, or even the Shoanti!

This could be Kingmaker part 2!

[Fnipernackle]

i am actually getting ready to run a game in which Molthune, being the colonial expansionists that they are, become more like Nazi Germany with a new Imperial governor and start to take over a lot of the nations surrounding Lake Encarthan.

[W E Ray]

I really like that idea -- I can totally see Molthune taking out Nirmathas and then turning south and east for Isger's money. With those two nations under Molthune's rule they should have no problem consolidating their power. Druma, on the other side of the mountains would be safe from full invasion.

[Set]

Qadira and Taldor have a pretty nice stretch of border to fight along, and I could see Osirioni interests getting their hands quietly into it, offering aid publically to the Qadiri, and privately to the Taldans (since they would love to see Qadira get it's butt kicked, after their own ignominous period of Qadiri rule).

Absalomi and Chelish mercantile interests might ruthlessly capitalize on the strife to dominate the seas, while the Qadiri and Taldan ships and ports are turned to military matters, with factions in both societies being all to happy to stoke the flames, so long as they can reap some coin from the situation. Indeed, the surrounding nations may be more invested in Qadira and Taldor fighting than Qadira and Taldor are...

[W E Ray]

Looking at my post I see I confused Isger and Druma.

[Steve Geddes]

It's not quite what you asked for, I guess, but my suggestion would be a gradually escalating power struggle between Magnimar and Korsova. It would begin with border skirmishes as each tried to 'poach' satellite communities from each other, then gradually escalate as mercenary companies, allied nations, other factions, etcetera sent more and more forces to ensure their stake in the 'new varisia'.

I think something like that would be an easy way to work low level adventurers in - gradually growing in power and authority as they developed through the campaign whilst the threats and opposition also steadily built.

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

Steve Geddes wrote:

It's not quite what you asked for, I guess, but my suggestion would be a gradually escalating power struggle between Magnimar and Korsova. It would begin with border skirmishes as each tried to 'poach' satellite communities from each other, then gradually escalate as mercenary companies, allied nations, other factions, etcetera sent more and more forces to ensure their stake in the 'new varisia'.

I think something like that would be an easy way to work low level adventurers in - gradually growing in power and authority as they developed through the campaign whilst the threats and opposition also steadily built.

That's a really nifty idea. Especially for a group that might have finished RotRL and CotCT. Plenty of opportunities for old PCs to make cameos (or even be the masterminds behind such a plan - each group believing that after all they've been through it's best if they keep watch over Varisia themselves... Until the Drow beneath Riddleport get other ideas...)

[Mikaze]

For some reason, I can't help but think that Razmir vs Any One Or More Of Its Neighbors is inevitable. That's one country that just seems like it would be on the "Has to go" list and would have difficulty sustaining itself in any protracted conflict.

[Wilstrene]

Bonjours à tous, je suis un peu en retard mais bien présent :p
pour se qui est de l'Isger j'ai commencé à travailler dessus, bien que cela ne soit pas officiel.
Si vous voulez un lien pour voir le travail déjà fait, faite moi le savoir.

Amicalement Wilstrene.

[Shizvestus]

Qadira, Taldor, Andoran, Cheliax, Absalom, Osirion... With Pirates from Riddleport and Linnorm Kings... and Mercs from all over... and Undead Units from Nex/Geb witchever...