Here's the basis for the last campaign I ran (back in 3.5):
150. Centuries ago the known world was spanned by a sophisticated, magicly rich empire when two gifted but twisted brothers rose to promenance. Far surpassing their peers in arcane knowledge, soon the brothers bent the empire to their wills even as they turned against each other. After extending their lives to the limit their mastery of the arcane allowed, both brothers raced to secure true immortality to extend their reign, one through necromancy, the other through pacts with powerful demons. Their bids for immortality resulted in a magical cataclysm that laid waste to the world.
The party begins living in the post-apocolyptic fantasy world that has never recovered, making their living as treasure hunters in a small isolated settlement on the edge of a ruined ancient city. The players soon stumble on information that nearby is an underground necropolis ruled by the Ghoul King, the now immortal brother that dabbled in necromancy. Not only does he command an army of the living dead, but his continuing arcane research threatens to unravel reality itself! But within one of the Ghoul King's many treasure vaults, the party finds an ancient map, preserved by powerful protective magic, that shows the citadel/tomb of the other brother who, after failing to achieve immortality, was buried with a powerful weapon that may be the only way to kill the Ghoul King!
Can the PC's cross a post-apocolyptic continent to recover the weapon that is their only hope from the demon haunted ruins before the Ghoul King sacrifices the whole world to feed his lust for power?! Tune in next week to find out!
(This campaign works great for a group that wants a party of odd character oncepts and monsters, as what little society there is has a Gamma World feel of freaks banded together in small groups for survival)
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151. Something has begun to taint druidic magic. It's spells have begun to turn. Summoned monsters are uncontrollable. Spells meant to preserve are beginning to corrupt and the forests themselves are no longer safe to travel. The Druids themselves are fearful and those that have tried to commune with the earth have been driven mad...Has mother nature had enough or is there something else tipping the balance?
152. The neighboring kingdom has been destroyed. Refugees tell of a large floating orb that settled over the city and released a destructive blast. Then came the fog. Those that survived the blast were lost to the fog... All you could hear from inside the impenetrable fog were cries and screams of mercy. Wen the fog vanished not a single body was found. Now the orb is slowly moving North towards you. What is this orb? Who controls it? Are those that were taken in the fog still alive?
153. You and your group of bandits have made quite a name for themselves. However, your latest raid on a seemingly nondescript caravan has yielded some surprises. The king and young prince was in the caravan. They were fleeing the castle and they are now your prisoners. The King promises you and your men a title and lands if they could kill the queen, an evil witch.
Whether or not you agree to help or simply kill the king and prince the Queen blames you for the kings death and declares you a blight upon the lands. The bounty on your head has been raised attracting all sorts of unwanted attention. Now the forces of good and those looking to make a quick buck are hot on your tail. Do you fight for the side of good? Simply try to stay alive? Or make a move for the crown?
Here's the basis for the last campaign I ran (back in 3.5):
150. Centuries ago the known world was spanned by a sophisticated, magicly rich empire when two gifted but twisted brothers rose to promenance. Far surpassing their peers in arcane knowledge, soon the brothers bent the empire to their wills even as they turned against each other. After extending their lives to the limit their mastery of the arcane allowed, both brothers raced to secure true immortality to extend their reign, one through necromancy, the other through pacts with powerful demons. Their bids for immortality resulted in a magical cataclysm that laid waste to the world.
The party begins living in the post-apocolyptic fantasy world that has never recovered, making their living as treasure hunters in a small isolated settlement on the edge of a ruined ancient city. The players soon stumble on information that nearby is an underground necropolis ruled by the Ghoul King, the now immortal brother that dabbled in necromancy. Not only does he command an army of the living dead, but his continuing arcane research threatens to unravel reality itself! But within one of the Ghoul King's many treasure vaults, the party finds an ancient map, preserved by powerful protective magic, that shows the citadel/tomb of the other brother who, after failing to achieve immortality, was buried with a powerful weapon that may be the only way to kill the Ghoul King!
Can the PC's cross a post-apocolyptic continent to recover the weapon that is their only hope from the demon haunted ruins before the Ghoul King sacrifices the whole world to feed his lust for power?! Tune in next week to find out!
(This campaign works great for a group that wants a party of odd character concepts and monsters, as what little society there is has a Gamma World feel of freaks banded together in small groups for survival)
The other brother, died and was reborn as a demon prince. Now he's a demon lord, and his summoning name is on the weapon.
Going to use 143. Cheers.
143 is actually a campaign I've been planning on doing for a long time and will eventually start sometime next year with my gaming group. I'd love to hear how yours goes!
16. You are shocked to learn that your idyllic valley home is actually a demiplane created by a magnificent gold dragon in order to rescue a handful of survivors from the apocalypse. The dragon now believes the devastation is over and needs a few scouts to return to the world to find out what's left.
I actually was thinking of this one, and imagined it as something almost urban fantasy. Essentially where the dragon removed the people during the return of magic to the world and a resulting cataclysm, and now is releasing them to make their own way, and maybe, reforge civilization, or at least see if it survived.
154. you've just appeared in town, literally out of thin air, with no memory of where you've been for the past 15 years. The last thing you remember was the night your parents died at the hands of a vicious fey killer with a wicked blade and creepy grin. Since you've been gone the fey were quiet but just in the past few weeks the reclusive pranksters have gotten much worse.
155. Your youngest sister, the one with the cute red cap she wears everywhere, has been complaining of nightmares and visions of your grandmother who's been dead since before she was born. When you woke up this morning you found your sister missing; a basket, a small cake and her cap were gone as well. A trail of crumbs and small footprints leads into the old, gnarled forest; a forest notorious for worgs.
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156.
WEST OF HOUSE
You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded up front door.
There is a mailbox here.
>
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157. There was a flash and a momentary roaring sound. Now the city you grew up in has muted colors and it's snowing ashes. There are undead everywhere. An angel is offering to be your patron if you gather up the rest of the "survivors' as you fight the evil dead. (GM notes, There was a nuclear blast and the survivors are all phantom hitchhikers, the angel can't bring himself to tell you, you are dead. Drop hints from Silent Hill.)
10. In a world were magic is a thing of the past and legends and magicians perform mostly parlor tricks the first dragons reawake and magic returns just in time to face the armies of the long forgotten enemy.
I can only read this with the voice of "The Action Movie Announcer Guy's" voice. Only.
158. We're all on this big doughnut, and there's this snake with a vest...
159. You're in the town, the one the duke's castle overlooks from a few miles away. From where the PCs stand they can see several of the towers over the distant trees. Of a sudden the trees buckle, followed by the sound of a massive boom muted only by the miles. The event marks the moment when the castle crumbled into the sea...
dot
160. The PCs begin as part of a conscription to the local lord. On patrol w/their liege they happen upon a young girl of bewitching beauty who says she's being hunted by a malevolent evil. The lord takes her on in his company and commands the troop forward. In the woods they meet this great evil and only the PCs return alive while the girl disappears. Returning to town the party finds the girl saved the lord and now has an honored place in his court, but there is something off about her.
161. The PCs begin in a town. Tales from the surrounding villages to the west report that young men are disappearing with no traces; since word travels so slowly this has been going on for weeks. That evening one of the village lads that disappeared wanders through the back streets of the town, no worse the wear but having completely forgotten everything over the past few months and with a scar on his forehead.
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162. The PCs are all young children (-2 Str, Con and Int, +2 Dex and Cha, one size category smaller, ages varying for their respective races) that find themselves lost in a mystic wood being pursued by a child-scenting, people eating Witch.
163. The PCs all awaken in the bowels of a mad alchemist's castle, with scars on various body parts. Give each a random power associated with said part. They must use these powers and whatever gear they can find to escape. During this egress they uncover the fact that they have been implanted with the body parts of a legendary undead scourge of the land and this is the source of their power. They also realize they can't remember anything before they awoke in the lab.
164. The party is trapped in a small community in the midst of a flood. They must not only work with each other and the town to survive the rising water, but then deal with a land transformed in the wake of the storm. Worst thing is; this is the dry season. There is no earthly explanation for the torrential rains or devastation.
158. We're all on this big doughnut, and there's this snake with a vest...
That sounds dirty!
160: She sound like a real fox...
That sounds dirty!158. We're all on this big doughnut, and there's this snake with a vest...
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Main character is asked "Do you have dreams Pee-Wee?" 158 was his response. So classic...
165. Monkeyshines and shennanigans! The PCs are all plagued by annoyances such as waking every morning to find their backpack unpacked and their gear on the roof; their boots tie themselves to one another while sitting at the inn; their horses in the stable next door are found to have their hair braided with pretty pink ribbons and the beasts refuse to be moved. A traveling salesman just HAPPENS to have a charm that will cure it all, for a mere 5 GP...
166. An old woman is found wandering the road, muttering about her lost son; he'd died 30 years earlier as a child but she swears she was just holding him in her arms a moment ago. Other children have been sited. For a creepy twist, throw a child into one of the PCs starting backgrounds, then make them see it too...
167. You remember being killed by the Overlord with his soul-stealing sword. You awaken with a small group of people around the broken sword.
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168. Your mother and her all-female adventuring band were heroes of great renown in your kingdom. You grew up not wanting for anything, as you and your family were almost nobility. However, tragedy has struck as you have recently lost two of your childhood friends, each of whom were like cousins to you as they were the children of members of the aforementioned band. They died exactly a fortnight apart from each other, and one death was under extremely mysterious circumstances. Your mother has been keeping you at arms length since the second death, and in your skulkings around the house to find out the reason behind this sudden change in behavior, you happened upon an ersatz reunion of the band, who were all insisting that it was now time for her to "destroy her part of the phylactery," whatever that means. She loudly protested, and a fight broke out. You ran off the instant you saw blades drawn against her, and you were in no way as quiet in your egress as you were earlier.
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169. You and your friends are related by family in common; this is the link of your adventuring band. But just this morning the party gets a sobering visit from a desperate adventurer: "I don't know how to tell you this but here it is - your family is a cult. A very evil cult and not your kin at all. They have this town enslaved and intend to unleash a plague that will claim thousands of lives, maybe more!" The rest of the stranger's words were cut short as your brothers Caleb and Mortikai politely retrieved the man to give him a tour of the old corn fields, after which he was never found...
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170. You awaken w/your gear one bright spring morning. The air is crisp and you're surrounded by your future party, though none of you have ever met. On the ground a huge "X" is painted and there is a sign which reads: "There is but one rule: Survive" It suddenly occurs to you that you have no idea where you are..
170. You awaken w/your gear one bright spring morning. The air is crisp and you're surrounded by your future party, though none of you have ever met. On the ground a huge "X" is painted and there is a sign which reads: "There is but one rule: Survive" It suddenly occurs to you that you have no idea where you are..
I'd love to see a more "Battle Royale" version of this.
dot.
Dot.
170: I've seen hunger games. There should be about 10 other teams, that cannot leave the game area till the other teams are dead. There should be something useful buried under that X, in addition to some shovels.
170: I've seen hunger games. There should be about 10 other teams, that cannot leave the game area till the other teams are dead. There should be something useful buried under that X, in addition to some shovels.
You don't see any other teams. You dig for hours and finally find that deep down, beneath the x a series of stone partitions divide the earth into 4 divided coffins, each roughly the same size and shape as the members of your party.
Upon uncovering the last the lids explode open and corpse-versions of yourselves leap up. They don't attack, but rather they implore: "RUNNNN...you idiotssss... this issss no GAMMMEEEE... and the only thing we hungerrrr for is the sweeeetttt taste of DEATHHHHH... now RUNNNNNN!!!!" With that last I need everyone to give me a Will save; this is a fear effect...
170: I've seen hunger games. There should be about 10 other teams, that cannot leave the game area till the other teams are dead. There should be something useful buried under that X, in addition to some shovels.You don't see any other teams. You dig for hours and finally find that deep down, beneath the x a series of stone partitions divide the earth into 4 divided coffins, each roughly the same size and shape as the members of your party.
Upon uncovering the last the lids explode open and corpse-versions of yourselves leap up. They don't attack, but rather they implore: "RUNNNN...you idiotssss... this issss no GAMMMEEEE... and the only thing we hungerrrr for is the sweeeetttt taste of DEATHHHHH... now RUNNNNNN!!!!" With that last I need everyone to give me a Will save; this is a fear effect...
Cool, wood for staking your foes.
If I ever find myself playing Ravenloft again, I plan to get a big barrel of oil and a lamp, so I can immolate myself and as many monsters as possible.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
170: I've seen hunger games. There should be about 10 other teams, that cannot leave the game area till the other teams are dead. There should be something useful buried under that X, in addition to some shovels.
Feh. Battle Royale is older and clearly superior.
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171.) You know you're guilty, and you're not sorry. The bastard had it coming, anyway. You didn't put up much of a fight when the constabulary came to arrest you, and you put up a plea of not guilty only because you felt you had to put up SOME kind of resistance. You were sentenced to death by hanging, clapped in irons, and marched to the gallows. You received your last rites and the magical black bag was put over your head blocking out all light and sound. But that was at least five minutes ago. Why won't they pull the damn latch to end this miserable farce?
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A slightly different take
171 a. Sentenced...clapped in irons...and you're in a cell the night before your execution. A woman appears, led by the guards who seem almost in a trance. She says she likes your handiwork, as well as the work of a few other reprobates she's met down here (other PCs) so she's come to offer you a deal...
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172. Your valley has long been a place of peace and harmony. The orcs do not enter, the game is ample and the harvest is always a success. But now fire will not burn and the snow which has never entered your valley before has begun to fall.
173. Evandorf the notorious catpurse has escaped from prison and is on the run. Rumor has it he stole something that the Duke desires. Do you join the team that is going to be sent out after him or do you leave your half-brother to the mercy of the posse?
174. For the dwarven party. The mines of clan Redshield were legendary. Once producing nearly all of the mithral in the region. Then one day the production stopped and the clan simply vanished. Now nearly 250 years later your small dwarven town was attacked and all of the ogres were wielding mithral weapons with the red shield stamp.
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175. a madman named Vengalishk has rotted in prison for the past 5 years; all attempts to carry out his death sentence have proven...unsuccessful. The muttering mage simply refuses to die. Just this morning however he finally took actions against his jailors and merely strode out of Dununder Prison as one would wander through a park leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Now Vengalishk sits in the center of your favorite tavern amid a pile of corpses, bidding you all enter and greeting you each by name.
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176. An awakened demilich has taken residence in a demiplane, and has begun to infect worlds of the Material plane with a variant of flux slime. The slime is funneling magical power to the demilich's demiplane, powering his eventual ascention to divinity.
Although you probably wouldn't want to begin this campaign proper until the PCs reach at the middle levels, it could definately be hinted at as the world is being drained of magic.
177. (I had a cool flavor text, but since Paizo timed out my message, I lost it... so I'll just summarize it quickly.)
You wake inside of a large room and you see a dead warrior with a gorgon's head in his hand, and a scroll in a pouch with the year "950" written on it. You pick your contract and read "930". You've been petrified for 20 years... and a lot happened.
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178. The party is in the market square on an unremarkable day; they don't know one another yet but coincedence has them within handspans. Suddenly a figure has their attention and all of them see him as one; a man in common garb standing on a stone, his face downturned and obscured in a deep hood. In his hand he bears a pole topped by a gavel. "It's over you see..." he says in a disinterested voice with merely his jaw in view, "but not for you; not yet." With that he grins and ceremoniously raises the gavel, then slams the butt of the pole on the stone. With that everyone, EVERYONE within sight of this moment simply crumples and falls like puppets with their strings cut and a deafening silence instantly replaces the bustle present just a heartbeat ago. "Judgement." the man proclaims, and then he's gone.
179.
You awaken to a large crowd's cheers and after shaking off the drowsy feeling, you see someone across what appears to be an arena, apparently in the same situation you are. There is a large door behind yourself and behind the person across the way, however it won't budge an inch and the room is enclosed. Suddenly you hear amongst the cheering of the crowd, "3..2..1..FIGHT!"
You and your opponent look at each other confused, when suddenly your opponent starts charging up some sort of fire which is probably intended for you. It's time to fight.
(This could be made to be a group battle to begin with or separate each fight for each player. Either way it's more of an ancient Rome colosseum made more magical and fun. Goal is to find or earn their way out.)
180.
You and your brothers and sisters (rest of the party, some may be adopted) are the only survivors of what was once a large and happy family. As it turns out a powerful queen decided she wanted to build her luxurious summer get away on top of a beautiful hill side. Too bad your families estate was right where she wanted her 14th new palace. Deal with it.
(if party is willing to use religion as their unifying force)
181. A few disparate souls are gathered in the old cathedral for evening services, including the party. Outside a storm rages and the preacher matches it's ferocity with the damnation that awaits you should you stray from righteousness. Suddenly there is a flash of blue-white light accompanying a thundering boom and the brilliance of shattered stained glass. Moments later (though it may have been longer) you awaken in a haze of ozone and multicolored shards. You should be dead, as should the others who are rising around you. The rest of the church is conspicuously devoid of the other parishoners and the preacher as well.
just a thought.
182. 6 travelers each recieve letters telling of enormous power and wealth. all they had to do what show up at this cave they get there and get anbushed. they complete the dungeon and the dragon at the end flys away. hte mysterious person who sent the letters arrives and informs them of the legendary 6 Warriors of old days who hasn't been seen for 7 thousand years this will take them accross different worlds.
not the best worded but its a thought
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<_<
>_>
"Alpha, Rita's escaped, recruit a team of teenagers with Atitudes!"
^ ported to the genre/setting.
183. Players were stolen away to the First World as infants and now must return to the material plane many years later as agents of the faire court.
Caveat to this: time flows differently so the PCs arrive in the material and suddenly begin aging. They need regular infusions of some special fey brew or trips to the court in order to survive.
184. You and your allies attempted to surprise attack a witch coven on a brisk night in some haunted woods. When you make your attack, you were ambushed; someone betrayed you. You managed to defeat all of the enemies save for the betrayer and 1 powerful witch, however in the process all of you were cursed. Each curse effecting on of your senses (Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell, Touch). Now you must find the last witch and kill her, or else live with the curse forever.
[Curses could be taking the sense away completely (if the DM is brutal) or mess with them. Example: You may see something that's not there, feel pain when you should feel pleasure, smell rot all of the time, hear voices that may or may not be there.]
185. You and your allies heard of a trumpet that once played would summon a genie who would grant almost any wish within its power, but would more than likely attempt to twist the wish in unwanted ways. You found the trumpet and the genie appeared and just as you were about to make your wish, a long time nemesis leaped from the shadows and shouted a wish for unbelievable power.
Normally the genie would have twisted the wish, but seeing as you summoned him, he felt it fitting to give your enemy the power he asked for just for giggles before the trumpet vanished presumably being transported to an unknown location. Using the new found power, your nemesis teleported you inside a ship that is currently in the middle of sinking.
186. (Most likely high level) - You and your party have just finished signing a contract stating that you'd destroy the enemies of the other contract signer in return for great riches. Just as you finish signing the contract, the man with whom you made the deal shows who he truly is, a powerful demon and as he tells you, his enemies are the angels (your choice of which kind). Either you destroy an allotted amount of angels and celestial beings as noted by the contract, or you instantly die, giving your soul to hell.
185. The world has ended, but no one knows it, except who stumbles on some dark, dooming hint about that.
186. The gods are growing bored with the world they have created.
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175. a madman named Vengalishk has rotted in prison for the past 5 years; all attempts to carry out his death sentence have proven...unsuccessful. The muttering mage simply refuses to die. Just this morning however he finally took actions against his jailors and merely strode out of Dununder Prison as one would wander through a park leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Now Vengalishk sits in the center of your favorite tavern amid a pile of corpses, bidding you all enter and greeting you each by name.
That gives me chills.
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188) While traveling, you come upon a small town besieged by the appearance of a terrible necromancer who has taken up residence in an old tower on the cliffs overlooking the town. The townsfolk have been secretly stashing away money and goods (nonmagical, or at least only a few very minor items) that they will give to you if you stop the necromancer from kidnapping and experimenting on their neighbors.
Upon reaching the tower, you find only a little old man and his stunning granddaughter living there. No signs of evil sorceries can be found anywhere. Detect alignment only shows good from them both, and though they've heard the stories, they have no idea where they came from.
The long and the short of it is this. The little old man suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. Most of the time he's a kindly old man who loves to sit in his study, read, and tend to his extensive botanical collections. But sometimes he switches and becomes a (insert level here) necromancer with all the deadly powers that come with it. And neither personality knows of the other. What do you do? Killing the wizard will kill the kindly old man... and so on. And to complicate things, his granddaughter knows his secret and will stop at nothing to protect him.
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188) While traveling, you come upon a small town besieged by the appearance of a terrible necromancer who has taken up residence in an old tower on the cliffs overlooking the town....The long and the short of it is this. The little old man suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. Most of the time he's a kindly old man who loves to sit in his study, read, and tend to his extensive botanical collections. But sometimes he switches and becomes a (insert level here) necromancer with all the deadly powers that come with it. And neither personality knows of the other. What do you do? Killing the wizard will kill the kindly old man... and so on. And to complicate things, his granddaughter knows his secret and will stop at nothing to protect him.
I imagine a scene where he decides to show you the greenhouse. Down the center aile is a wide trough of deep soil in which he's growing several trees. As the old man waxes on his face suddenly clouds over while staring at the roots of a particular sapling. A decent perception check reveals a corpse's hand, just at the surface of the dirt.
The man is appalled, horrified! His granddaughter (an apprentice necromancer) appears just as the thing begins to rise. Combat ensues and the girl obviously commands the creature to cover thm both as they disappear into the house. As night is falling you suddenly realize; there are body-sized potted plants all through the manor and the grounds are filled with immaculate gardens!
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189) The whole party was born and raised in a small but prosperous town on the edge of civilization. It's been a hard life but you are all safe, comfortable, surrounded by loved ones and content. There is absolutely no conflict in your perfect utopia. Then one night a young stranger happens into the bar. Before your eyes this boy, appearing no more than 12, stands in the doorway, serenely staring into the dim interior. The barman, Old Reg, notices the lad and immediately his face peels back to reveal a hideously horned pig face with a mouth the splits sideways filled with rows of razor sharp teeth.
With a shriek the thing that WAS Old Reg, it's "skin hat" bouncing on the back of it's neck, vaults over the bar with a wickedly twisted cleaver. The lad, without fear or malice, merely raises 2 fingers and there is a flash of divine light causing the onrushing creature to explode with gore across the tavern.
All of this happens within 12 seconds. The boy looks over at you, a faint smile on his lips. "All that you know has been a lie, created solely to inhibit the force you shall yet become. This place must be cleansed that you might realize your potential. So collect your belongings beside you, leave every other possession or relation behind, and go. Do not tarry and do not look back until you pass beyond the Southern Stones, lest you share the fate of these things." As if to punctuate the point a slop of grume falls from ceiling to floor with a "SCLUPP!"
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190 - Each of your allies and yourself have each received a gift. Eager to see what the gifts were, you each opened your packages and inspected your newly acquired items. Not long after, you realized something was wrong; each of the items are cursed, each in a different manner. Try as you might you can't relieve yourself of your cursed items, even through the means of spells.
The realization fully set in, smoke fills the tavern room you had gathered in. The smoke is coming from the fireplace the fire itself snuffed out, but that isn't the only thing coming from the fireplace; you see a large heavy built silhouette walking through the smoke and towards you. A man with narrowed eyes, white hair and equally white beard emerges from the smoke, crimson clothing with white fur trimming somehow unaffected by the soot.
The large man pulls out a list and proceeds to name each and every one of you by name reciting some evil or potentially naughty act you've done shorty after the name is said. "You've all been very naughty. Very naughty indeed. If you each achieve but one good and noble deed, you will be relieved of the gifts you've earned. If not, these may very will be the last gifts anyone gives you."
The man proceeds to place his mitten covered finger to the side of his nose and winks an eye, disappearing in an instant. A note sits on the floor, written in very elegant calligraphy spelling out the deed(s) you each must do to rid yourself of the cursed items.