Creating a campaign

[DeadEnough]

Hello fellow forum dwellers! I know I have come to lean on my pathfinder brethren in my quest for knowledge in this game we love to play and I am here to do so once more!

Currently, I am creating a world that is in its own age of despair. the world itself is generally negative. most people do things to help themselves and will act with bad intentions almost all the time. There are a few bright spots such as the Towns of Redwood and the major human capital Waterstone.

The premise if the game happens when an evil diety was cast out do to him being "too evil". He fell to the planet and has since been imprisoned by the great tree. Unfortunately for the world, his evil has spread to the denizens occupying the planet. Furthermore, his taint is spreading to the land which could spell ruin for all!

What I need help with is anything you guys can throw my way. Towns, villians you have used, adventure hooks, etc. if you personally have a character that I can use as a mayor, knight, lord, etc proVide me the details on him/her.

This is my first campaign running and I want to pull out all.the stops. Political intrigue, plot twists, OMG moments, and general fear. I LOVE a horror feel.

thanks in advance!

P.S. So far the human capital is trying to build a wall to keep the evil contained. They are spread too thin to do so with the rumored Orc invasion on the brink. The PC's can help build the wall, become emissaries to the other lands, or thwart the Orc invasion.

[pipedreamsam]

For some campaigns I like to just work off of my PC's backstories for a couple sessions until they have gained enough wealth/power/fame to gain the attention of important politician/nation/monster/deity.

As far as villains and towns go try basing some of them off of the PFS world of Golarion CLIKCK ME. You can grab some NPC's from there if need be too, but as far as BBEGs go a spellcaster of some type is typically required to defend against scrying and such (liches and vampires are great at this). Speaking of undead if your world is so filled with negative energy undead could be more common than normal and entire societies of them might even exist. Check out Dhampirs I think they have roots with undead or at least negative energy.

Are your players generally new to pathfinder? What kinds of races/classes are they playing?

[DeadEnough]

pipedreamsam wrote:

For some campaigns I like to just work off of my PC's backstories for a couple sessions until they have gained enough wealth/power/fame to gain the attention of important politician/nation/monster/deity.

As far as villains and towns go try basing some of them off of the PFS world of Golarion CLIKCK ME. You can grab some NPC's from there if need be too, but as far as BBEGs go a spellcaster of some type is typically required to defend against scrying and such (liches and vampires are great at this). Speaking of undead if your world is so filled with negative energy undead could be more common than normal and entire societies of them might even exist. Check out Dhampirs I think they have roots with undead or at least negative energy.

Are your players generally new to pathfinder? What kinds of races/classes are they playing?

keep in mind I'm posting from my phone as I am waiting for my car to be completed with maintenance.

We have an elven druid, human telepath, rogue, sorceror, and a melee of some sort. They are not new to pathfinder or the 3.5 universe. Their back stories will play an important role but will not be the sole focus. I do have some villains created but I just don't have enough to fill it all. My concept is to build inside out, I.E. to build areas important to the world.

As the PCs wander, they will in fact develop the world further. I even toyed around with them being the cartographers...

[sleepydm]

If you're new to DM'ing:

Then I'd really recommend a module or maybe even an Adventure Path. In the same way you can't really be a good writer until you've read a few things, I believe that you can't be a good DM until you've seen how your stuff might compare to the "pros". It'll help you prepare for what a normal campaign will look like

But if this isn't your first merry-go-round, then I'd direct your PCs to
this.

The highest form the game can attain is collaborative storytelling, and stories are really about characters. What better characters to focus on than the PCs? I guess it might seem a little masturbatory, but having most of the drama orbit the players sounds like a good way to go; if you want characters to invest in your world, your world should invest in the characters. The above link is a really good way to flesh them out and provide story hooks all at once.

[Darthnny]

sleepydm wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

But if this isn't your first merry-go-round, then I'd direct your PCs to
this.

The highest form the game can attain is collaborative storytelling, and stories are really about characters. What better characters to focus on than the PCs? I guess it might seem a little masturbatory, but having most of the drama orbit the players sounds like a good way to go; if you want characters to invest in your world, your world should invest in the characters. The above link is a really good way to flesh them out and provide story hooks all at once.

Totally agree.

You need to figure out what kind of a game the players want and then collaborate with them. What are you character? If you have a bunch of big nasty warrior types then there is a good chance that they want COMBAT!

Once you get an idea of the game the players want you need to get some hooks into them. Bind them together. An important aspect of GMing is to empower the characters. You don't wan them to feel like they are along for the ride.

I would also say that simpler is best. Make a very basic story plot a kidnapping, a murder mystery, seven samurai...look at some classic movies and there base plots and make something similar in your world. The great thing about low levels is that travel can be slow so you don't need to create a map with 1000 towns, cities landmarks. As a matter of fact I like to avoid maps all together. What does it matter? When ever you create a map the players thing...hrm it is on the map so it must be important. Why not switch that around and have them denote their own importance and make their own map. Similiar to the cartographer idea above.

Nny