431. The PCs are desperately looking for money in a small coastal city, once part of a large elvish empire. Fifty years ago, a rebellion ended the tyranny of elves, but some loyalists are determined to bring back the old days. Finding a job under an halfling innkeeper (once a hero of the rebellion), the PCs become part of a game way bigger than themselves.
(this is actually my current ongoing campaign)
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432. Heirs of Heroes
You know no other life than that in your village. Your parents know all the other parents in the village, and you've been friends with all the other kids as long as you can remember. And all that time, you've been enamored with the stories of great heroes told by the local storyteller. Warriors, mages and scalawags who performed seemingly impossible deeds. One morning, however, everything changes. All the parents have disappeared. The storyteller hurriedly gets you out of the village as a pack of monsters comes to ravage it, apparently looking for your parents. When you're out of danger, he tells you his stories were not only all true, but that your parents were the heroes of those stories. The entire village was founded by them as a place to retire and hide. But it's clear that has failed, as some great evil your parents sealed away long ago has broken loose and is out for revenge. He gives each of you a famous tool your parent used in their heroics, and sends you off to fulfill your destiny.
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433. The Keep
One of the pcs (or an NPC friend) has just inherited a Keep. It is right on the edge of civilization, in an area infested with (insert evil humanoids of choice). Along with it comes a small village and attendant villagers.
But it is also near the location of an ancient evil, one that has begun to awaken...
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434. What IS that smell?
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435. Who summoned me?
At random and sometimes inopportune times, the PCs are summoned (as per the spell) to serve at the behest of an "outsider" spellcaster. Once the service is completed, questions answered or spell duration ends you are returned, sometimes in worse condition, spells expended, potions and scrolls used. Individual results and experiences may vary.
Your reputation has preceded you. Names discovered, specimens obtained (barbers/groomers/tailors could always use a few extra GP), gifts of minor magic accepted/conveniently looted. Really you should take better precautions to avoid being at another's beck and call.
Then again, What is good for the goose is good for the summoned gander.
I am sure they'll run out of hair samples soon enough. ;-)
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436. CUBE - They party awakes to find themselves trapped within a gigantic, mechanical, cubical structure of unknown purpose and origin, made up of lots of smaller cubical rooms. Each of these rooms has six doors, one on each face of the cube, which lead into adjacent, identically decorated rooms, only differing by color. Some of these rooms are "safe", while others are equipped with deadly traps. Similarly, there are dangerous monsters dwelling within some of the rooms.
Hmm, some of my more interesting campaign ideas: (Apologies for the threadjack)
Greyhavens Campaign: Mostly a psionic campaign. Dwarven elemental sorcerers believe their dreams are keeping the world moving, while elves have lost their magic and turned to advanced technologies which are powered by the dreams of sleeping elves.
The Singing Spheres Campaign: The Regalia of Good, Regalia of Neutrality, and Regalia of Evil are split up and stored in various protected locations, while two pantheons (one good, one evil) send their clerics and agents to retrieve these powerful artifacts from their protected locations and put them in other protected locations. The Orbs of Good, Neutrality, and Evil are kept by an order of mage-priests who reside in an extraplanar fortress.
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437. Fairy Tales A famous author/artist has passed away and, for their various reasons, the PCs have come this his old mansion to participate in the auction of his old stuff. After the auction the auctioneer brings the PCs to a back room for a limited offer of buying the recently unfinished project the author/artist started working on before his death. Upon inspection the party is sucked into the book to discover a horrendous secret: It was actually a form of modified phylactery and the PC must travel through the imagination of the author/artist one Genre at a time to escape, and perhaps discover the truth of the artisan's death.
439. The Mage tower of (city name) is under siege from within. All through the night the people of the city have heard explosions, seen flashes of light, and felt the earth shake. Something inside the tower has been on the rampage and it seems that the Wizards inside are unable to stop it. Finally as dawn breaks a lone apprentice emerges from the tower screaming "They're all dead."
440. Exploring an ancient crypt the party reaches the big boss. After a battle the floor beneath them gives way and they fall into an even older structure. When the dust settles they find themselves in a tomb with a single Sarcophagus. Written on the walls in every known language are the words "Danger: Let no magic enter this room". Whoops.
441. Vampires... Who feed on magic.
7. A council of high-ranking officials from cults of each of the evil gods have plans to take over the country (or even...THE WORLD!).
Oooh...its like the Legion of Doom! All they need is a helmet shaped underwater base in a swamp!
442. The Frog of Destiny
the PC's (including a Grippli) are new roommates at a Mythic University, each of them learning the ways of their particular Caster Class. Soon it becomes known that there is a prophecy about the group, they are meant to find Great Artifacts, for good or ill, but the World will be surely doomed if they don't find their respective Fated Artifact! Will they be the Savorers or Destroyers of the know Worlds? And how well did they do on last week's pop quiz in Potion's?
by the Grand Mythic Eye Conjunction
There shall come something Tragic
Or perhaps Beginnings Masked as Destruction. ”
“Frog, Cat, Fox, Monkey, the Reborn, & Crow
will discover Things thought Lost
with each find their Power will Grow
Little knowing how much the Cost.”
“If Frog and companions stay True,
When in the Darkest Hour
then they shall be able to Subdue
the Darkness and steal its Power.”
“Wand, Rod, Sword, Scroll, Ring,& Beads
each Connected to one of the Hexad
with which they do Great Deeds
and Need in order to Abide.”
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443. The Farmers
After years of diplomacy, a druid grove had finally gotten a gotten a family of hill giants to give up their marauding ways and give farming a try. However, it worked a little too well, and now the natural order of the plains has beem disrupted by farming of a hill-giant sized scale. To make matters worse, due to a combination of better nutrition and generations of patient training, the hill giant family is no longer a collection of dullards, but is now quite intelligent and ready to defend their farm (which happens to include the pcs base of operations) with force.
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444. The State of Overly-Goodness
A new Lawful Good city has suddenly grown in size at a remarkable speed and is conscripting a holy army for the church of Iomedae. Travellers, merchants and mercenaries enter the city but never leave. Reports say that the people suddenly took a liking to the city of Iomedae and settled down for good, even though they have families or business waiting at their original home.
Will you be the investigators that will find out what convinced the people to suddenly settle here?
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445. The PCs lay siege to a bandits stronghold only to discover that it is only guarded by a token force. By the time they are ready to leave however the entire bandit hoard is at the front gate and now the PC must do their best to keep them out.
446. A new constellation appears/disappears in the heavens.
406. For reasons unknown, everyone has had their genders swapped.
We had this happen in an Eberron game, only we Changlings were 'immune'!
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447. A recluse wizard's humble home in the city imploded leaving nothing but a shadowed version of itself. Black, white and shades of grey, the house reappears at dusk to disappear at dawn. Curious and daredevil explorers, the few that have returned tell of an darker uninhabited version of the city.
447a. A few weeks later, the shadow portal house was violently dispersed to remove the threat to the city and safeguard its citizens. However, the shards of portal were blown around to drift like autumn leaves. Across town, some remnants have attached to solid objects creating darker shadows than expected, others remain a smaller more fragile portal. There have been some attempts to harvest these or stake ownership of a few for personal use. On the other side, the shadow city is a bit brighter attracting predators like moth to a flame.
449. After the Goddess of Death died and her remains rained over the earth like falling stars, nobody was left to ferry the souls of the dead to the afterlife. Now, none may pass the Veil of Death and all those who have died since grow restless in their graves. What god could, would or should take up her domain?
450. The Word that Wrote the World was lost when the Word-Worker was finished creating the world. It was said that each of the languages of the world contained one letter of the Word. One obsessive and enigmatic immortal being has made it it's quest to catalog and analyse all of the languages in creation. The players earn its interest when they accidentally uncover a black cube covered in glowing runes of an hitherto unknown language.
451. Strange things happen in Silvercliff. Nobody knows how the human town is able to mine so much mithril with such a small population. No mine-workers seem to ever emerge from the mine, although strange clacking and moaning sounds can sometimes be heard from the depths of the tunnels. Why does the entrance of the mine resemble Dwarven stonecraft? Who is the mysterious priest whose arrival coincides with the town's boon of wealth and why are he and his followers so secretive about their patron deity?
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452. Human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together... mass hysteria!
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453. Marcus Trail is a druid with the profession Naturalist(researcher). He has figured out that a world tree, or sacred oak, is what makes a demi-plane grow into a normal plane. He has gathered the party to find such a magic tree and get some acorns to use in such a demi-plane to prove his theory. Many organizations, good and bad are after these genesis acorns, which is why you are all being followed.
454. Demons (representing both demons and devils) have raided the realm in a storm of holocaust and destruction, conquering the countryside and laying waste to the heroes. They have even managed to pull down and consume 6 of the nine gods, leaving only the three good gods in power. Of those, the Vigilant Defender (lawful good) has been trapped in mortal form and chained beneath a mountain, the Benevolent One (Neutral Good) has be poisoned and frail, while the only beacon of hope lies in the Redeemer (Chaotic Good), the the B!?@# Queen can't apply 'organized' to anything, and never mind a resistance.
Many worlds cry out for heroes, but this one needs them. Can you be that hero?
455. The Parliament has decided the king is no longer needed, and his whole line must be removed. Of his eight children, two are part of an 'exchange of hostages' in other countries, one is studying at a wizard title, two are on the front lines of a war, one is paladin training directly under the king, and the others seem to be useless fops that are taking great strides in discrediting themselves without help.
Who do you fight for? King and Country, or just Country?
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456. Nearly a century ago a blue dragon and her kobold horde laid siege to a paladin's castle. The outer defenses fell in the siege while for weeks the dragon used magic to call down great storms on the keep. In the end the paladin made a suicide attempt to meet the dragon in the heart of the storm. He was slain and his body fell to earth; the dragon disappeared.
Ever since freak storms have rolled in on the ruined castle off the sea. Locals call these Dragon Squalls and they dissipate beyond a few miles from the citadel. In the decades since kobolds of many different types have returned and delved dungeons deep; the fey (a perennial enemy of the paladin as well) have reclaimed woodlots to the south and grown them into a mad labyrinth; a new order of paladins based on the fallen hero has emerged at the site; a group of dwarven mercenaries have seized a hill to the north and begun carving a Hall.
All of this pales though to what was recently reported: Brasskin Kobolds. When the paladin's order began to explore and retake some of the outer ruins they encountered noble kobolds already dedicated to the memory of fallen hero who himself was also a sorcerer with the blood of a brass dragon flowing through his veins. These odd creatures have raised a mausoleum and a series of underground tunnels which they use to make strikes against the dangerous dungeon denizens.
These Brasskin Kobolds provided a final resolution. The old blue mistress who slew the paladin did not die; she is imprisoned in an eldritch tempest which rides the heavens for all time. Many of their misguided brethren who lair below the ruin have dedicated themselves to freeing her and they fear it is only a matter of time.
Now the call has gone out. Heroes and sellswords from all around have begun to assemble at the nearby town of Ravenhurst to join the quest. Some for the chance to hack the dungeons and loot the treasure there; others to redeem the failed divinity of the place; others still to find what arcane secrets the kobold sorcerers have hoarded. Yet all fear the Dragon Squalls and the retribution of the imprisoned mistress. Will you join the fight?
457. The party must forge a greater artifact sword to slay a god. Not only must they discover how the ancient heroes of the past created artifacts at the dawn of time but they must also find allies willing to help them create something so capable of changing the balance of power in the Planes.
458. There used to be a remote temple on an isolated island where huge monsters were kept in temporal statis after being defeated or subdued. The builders of this temple also conjured a Divine Guardian Dragon (Guardian Dragon + Divine Guardian Template, both from B4) to protect and defend the temple.
Unfortunately, an evil cult found the island, killed its guardian and released ALL of the monsters from their statis. Be for enjoying the chaos, satisfying a planar domination or simply covering another plan up, champions have to band together to not only find the monsters, but the evil cult as well, which might not be an easy task considering their prowess to defeat the island's protector.
For this seed, kaijus, behemoths, Great Old Ones, the Tarrasque, Great Wyrms, Colossi, name it, any Gargantuan or Colossal creature can work here.
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460: Giant monsters have been foretold, and the first one has broken free from it's icy prison. Epic level characters are brought out of retirement to build gargantuan golems with cockpits in them to fight these things.
460: Giant monsters have been foretold, and the first one has broken free from it's icy prison. Epic level characters are brought out of retirement to build gargantuan golems with cockpits in them to fight these things.
God, yes.
Been nearly a month since the last post, so it's time to resurrect this thread.
461. The Free City
10 years ago, the great war between humanoids came to an end, but tensions are still high. The Empire of Humanity has found an ancient deserted Fortress in a secluded oasis in the desert that lies between several of the different races territories, and has decided to convert it to a Free City, run by a council of all the races. This will serve as a place to engage in trade and diplomacy. Representatives of every known race go there to discuss diplomatic problems, though it is dominated by 5 main representatives (Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Goblinoids and Celestials).
But a mysterious ancient Evil is rising on the world; it begins in the shadows, influencing powerful organisations and supporting ambitious individuals, but eventually it ends up with sudden mysterious strikes against communities of races who have not aligned themselves with the shadowy Evil. Can the races join together to defeat it or will individual races defect until there is not enough to oppose them. What do the ancient, mysterious celestials know of this evil and will they help oppose it?
#315: A little girl wants to play! Yep. Just a little girl. Totally not secretly a demideity with a 5-year-old's maturity that plans on shrinking the party down to really freakin' tiny and toying terribly with them sending rats and bunnies at them or whatever a demideity little girl's creativity plans to be doing. Yep. Just a little girl.
Have a look at P.K.Dick's "The Cosmic Puppeteers"
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462. Oathbound
Each of the PCs finds themselves summoned magically to an elder oak in the heart of some ancient woodland. Here they are met by a pixie known to them only as Valyx. He/She claims to be the herald of a powerful dryad who'd made oaths long ago with the party's ancestors when the forest was still mere seedlings; now it falls to them to end the threat to this place. As if on cue a herd of the living dead come snarling out of the forest.
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I haven't been around much but I came on here just to find this thread... Thought I'd try to bring it back to life.
463. Sweet sweet revenge
You and your companions are the only survivors of a raid on your village when you were children. Sold into slavery by the raiders you have now gained your freedom, reunited with the other survivors, and plan on hunting down and killing the men who burnt your village to the ground. All you know if that they flew a banner with two snakes facing each other.
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This one would best be saved until after the party finishes a quest or two, something noteworthy. Admittedly, this would be something that would start better at low-level, like, around level 2 or 3.
464. The Teller of Tales
You and your companions have arrived during [town name]'s spring festival after dealing with the threat that plagued the sleepy village. There's an old man sitting with his back to the bonfire, reading stories to the ring of children around him from a very large leather book in his lap. The tale you hear when you [approach/pass by], is a very detailed account of the quest your party had just finished. After this tale, he stands, and retreats to his tent. Later that night, as you all sleep, you dream of the massive leather tome... When you awake, you find yourselves in a world unlike any you've heard of... Except, as a child.
Basically, it's the plot hook/point/narration for a fairy tale campaign my GF and I are designing. Using all the old classics, mainly from the Brothers Grimm...
465B. Flip the script. The legion is all elves, dryads, and a unicorn that were slaughtered by the town's founders.
409. The Swarmlord Cometh: The vermin are rising. The wilds and dark bowers of man's domain teem with the swarming things. They crawl and fly and infest everything. At first they were a mere annoyance; pests used for testing the metal of young sellswords and adventurers. Then came the wicked mites in their own hordes, riding the night and haunting the dreams of all who beheld them. Now new and deadly strains of the Unkillable as they are collectively known rise daily and still none can find their source. The blights spread, the death toll rises, and somewhere in the darkness the whispered Swarmlord, master of all vermin, readies itself for a new genesis of devastation.
To prep for this, I'd recommend reading a short book by Patricia Wrightson called "A Little Fear". Old Mrs Tucker survives by herself on her rural family farm, but one day she accidentally angers a fey spirit, the Njimbin. The Njimbin is a small spirit, like a pixie or sprite, it doesn't have the power to simply smite her from existence, but it can speak to animals and insects ...
467. Night of the Comet a strange green orb with a flaming tail rode the night sky some weeks back. Since it's passing the world has descended into chaos. The dead rise from their graves while the living mutate into monsters. Those who are somehow immune to the warping effects have gathered in scattered refuges throughout the region. The survivors crave answers and the gods have yet to provide them - now its up to mortals to brave the wilds and seek the truth themselves.
468. The Kobolds Return this region was once haunted by a black dragon and his kobold minions. Together they plied the swampy banks of the lake and inland, hunting among men and raiding their halls. The beast and it's underlings also tore down much of the old forest on the south banks, spreading the dragon's foul power and making bogs among the denuded hills. The legacy of Mordalith is known in the land as the Rootrender tribe of kobolds, the Mordmere amid Loch Soth and the Bleakmoss Moors.
Then came the hero Elsbryn. He gathered men, scattered the Rootrenders and tricked the dragon to chase him across the moors. High on a hillside obscured by trees Elsbryn impaled the tyrant on a palisade. The hero and his few lieutenants celebrated by raising a feasting place on the spot which they called Mordalith Hall.
Elsbryn dared deeper into the swamps finding the dragon's lair. The treasure was recovered and returned to the hall but soon the men of the region demanded restitution. A castle was built around the hall. Today the ruin of Drakenfall Castle still stands resolute outside the port town that grew in its shadow. No one ever successfully sieged the vaults and dungeons beneath the hall; no one ever found Elsbryn's treasure.
Centuries have passed. None have sought the treasure as civilization grew, waned, then began again. The once-ancient chieftainships have been organized into Elsbrynshire in the County of Rukenvall. The port town of Netlenstadt has endured wars, blight and supernatural calamity. However taxes may now finally be its downfall.
The sheriff claims she is powerless to stop the taxation. The people of the shire are growing desperate; some have turned to banditry. Meanwhile merchants and mercenaries now act on Sheriff Harkness' behalf to maintain order and trade in the shire and on Loch Soth. Amid all of this mundane plight are rumors of kobolds once more stalking the Nettlewood. The Rootrenders have hidden for all this time, returning to their numbers and strength. Now they move to claim the ancient treasure that was rightfully theirs.
Finally, as if all of this were not enough to entice young adventurers to delve the ruins, there is one more point to explore. There are whispers that Sheriff Harkness, herself a Pharasmin Inquisitor has employed blasphemy. The dragon's bones of Mordalith Hall now stir. Strange lights have been seen in the ruins of Castle Drakenfall and many claim that the dragon's skeleton whispers secrets and portents. It may only be a matter of time before a new tyrant rises.
469) Rogue Printing Press - A large influential kingdom had begun the process of introducing paper currency to their kingdom. In order to overcome counterfeiting problems that plagued the previous attempt, they are using a magic printing press that creates a unique arcane mark on each note, as well as incorporating mundane methods of fooling counterfeiting (serial numbers, special paper). There are rumors that the kingdom's intelligence agency has a printing press of there own, and a mysterious NPC offers to sell this information to the PCs. Who is this person, why tell the PCs and what does the NPC gain from the PCs success/failure?
470)Beyond The Wall Two brothers, a kid and his older brother, with a frog and a chatty bluebird are looking for Adilade. They think the witch will help them find their way home. Everything they say about where they came from makes no sense. DC 20 knowledge nature to recognize the frog is actually a Grippli.
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471. Ready, set, go: Once every 25 years comes the Great Race to Freedom. It is a time when the city of Dantre allows 1,000 of its slave a chance to be free. The first 25 slaves to make it to the isle of Dryas are hailed as heroes, given a title, 10 acres, and slaves of their own. The rest are condemned to death and sacrificed to appease the gods.
All you need do is avoid being killed by your fellow slaves, defeat the creatures that are sent out to hunt you down, and get past the devious traps placed between you and your freedom.
You and your companions have been trained by your master, who has a great deal of money riding on your survival, in the various arts. Now all you have to do is survive. No problem right?
472)What is Torchwood Near and above the mountain of teshnology is the Sky Rift. The nearby towns send out hunting parties to fight the unfriendly monsters and collect the sweet manna that the weird storms bring. There are weird magic items, metal junk that magic won't power, the hard wax that some call plastic, strange coins of precious metals, and even jewelry. Your party has an edge. The man who fell out of it in a strange chariot he called a BMW. In return for any "clips" or "ammo" you can find he will guide you on your quest. He talks about Torchwood, his guild or something, and has crafted the emblem on some pendants for you to wear. Tomorrow you go out into the jetsam fields and confront the unknown.
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473) 4-7 Adventurers In Search of an Exit: You awaken, with no memory of your past nor your identity save for the distinctive skills you know you possess, at the bottom of a perfect gray cylinder with no doors, windows, or stairs....
474) The Silver Horde: You've been retired from adventuring for nearly 100 years, now...but that's enough of that.
475) Dahlver-Nar's Revenge: A humanoid mouth contains exactly 32 teeth - so why did you wake up this morning with 35?
476) X once was the mightiest wizard of the world, he had a vast collection of magic items. Then something went wrong,was it an experiment? An attack? No one knows. But everyone knows it took the whole a country with it.
(475 is the best idea yet)
477. The World Untameable You're part of an expedition force of mighty worlds spanning empire on a new world. There's a few problems though. The natives are neutral at best towards you, there's another worlds spanning empire trying to stake their claim, ancient ruins and dark magic litter the world with prophecies of doom for all sentient life, and kaiju's and other mega fauna are the apex predators.
Dotting
479.Your friends and you are bored and decide to try to take over the town.