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First, I'd like to say that I honestly have too many PF projects going on in my head that it is positively exhausting both physically and mentally. That said, I'm creating a campaign set in a homebrew world that will possibly take place within a single kingdom of the world. However, the events of the campaign itself will effect the entire world. This is mostly due to the fact that I haven't had time to flesh out the rest of the world due to mental stress and fatigue. That said, here it goes.
Ages pasts, evil beings (demons, devils, and the like) invaded the world of Illphyria. The only beings who actually stood against them were the Dragons (both metallic and chromatic). Dragonkind took massive losses, but using Arcane magic, the managed to seal the portal to the evil planes, saving the world of Illphyria. You'd think everyone would be happy right? I thought so too, but instead of rejoicing, the world came to fear the dragons and began a genocide of dragonkind. A handful of dragons of each kind, sensing the end of their race, sought a few human families. They each promised to protect the families in exchange the families would allow the dragons to mate with them to assure that dragon blood will remain in the world. The dragons took their new "families" and spirited them to a far off land (This resulted in a playable race in my game called Dragonkin or dragontouched to give you an idea). Ages have pasted since then and dragons have been all but forgotten by the lesser races. In particular, one country has reciently outlawed Arcane magic, and began to purge their land of all arcane casters in recient years(Bards kinda get overlooked due to the difference in their magic compared to a Sorc, Magus, Witch, or Wizard, but I'm not 100% sure why).
The first few adventures center around a small village where young girls and beautiful women are either going missing or turning up dead. I'm shot for ideas right now. Do you think you guys could ask me some simple questions about the campaign to get my juices flowing?
Do the disappearances happen at night?
Are the women virgins?
Do they have families?
Has anyone threatened or cursed the village?
If the women are kidnapped, have any returned?
If so, what kind of condition are they in when they do?
Are the missing people local, visiting friends or family, or strangers who were passing through?
Have there been any recent events such as forest or house fires, floods, earth tremors, or people disturbing old ruins or burial mounds?
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Did similar events happen in the same place in ages past ? Or more recently but in other places ?
Do these victims fit the description of components/sacrifice for devil-calling rituals ?
Are there legends concerning what Dragons did to this kind of persons ?
What is the common link between the ones who turn up dead ? What is the common link between those who disappear ? What is the difference between those who disappear and those who die ?
What measures were taken to protect the remaining girls/women ? Which worked out and which did not ? Is it purely happenstance that some people who fit the profile have not yet disappeared/been killed ?
When did this first start ? When and how did the locals realize that it was something on a large scale ?
What are the features of the area where they bodies turned up?
Are there any prominent land types nearby? (Forest, Swamp, Volcanic Mountain, Barren Ice Field or Scorched Desert perhaps?)
What links the ladies?
What did the women look like?
Who runs the town and who REALLY has all the power?
Who/what are the PCs likely to go to in order to discover the truth?
Is there no spoon?
Are any of the PCs allowed to know about dragons?
Who shot JR?
Are there any usual suspects in the village?
How were the women killed, and what time of day?
What time of year is it?
Is it bigger than a bread box?
Animal/vegetable/mineral?
What is the primary kind of monster you want them fighting in this first adventure?
What level?
Do the disappearances happen at night?
Are the women virgins?
Do they have families?
Has anyone threatened or cursed the village?
Yes, they do happen at night.
The young women are virgins, but one of the victims was the mayor's wife, who isn't a virgin.
Almost all of them have families.
Not that anyone knows of.
If the women are kidnapped, have any returned?
If so, what kind of condition are they in when they do?
Some have returned...none of them alive. All appear to have no wounds indicating cause of death, except the mayor's wife. Her heart was torn out.
Are the missing people local, visiting friends or family, or strangers who were passing through?
Have there been any recent events such as forest or house fires, floods, earth tremors, or people disturbing old ruins or burial mounds?
All three in some instances.
Well, something's happened to displace a small group of kobolds from their cave.
Did similar events happen in the same place in ages past ? Or more recently but in other places ?
Do these victims fit the description of components/sacrifice for devil-calling rituals ?
Are there legends concerning what Dragons did to this kind of persons ?
What is the common link between the ones who turn up dead ? What is the common link between those who disappear ? What is the difference between those who disappear and those who die ?
What measures were taken to protect the remaining girls/women ? Which worked out and which did not ? Is it purely happenstance that some people who fit the profile have not yet disappeared/been killed ?
When did this first start ? When and how did the locals realize that it was something on a large scale ?
They're all beautiful, regardless of if they're found dead or have simply vanished. There are no differences other than that some families have the closure of knowing that their dear loved ones are dead.
Guards wander the town at night, PCs have been called in to investigate. Yes, it is happenstance. Some girls have gone to the trouble of making themselves ugly, but even some of those have vanished too.
3 months prior to the campaign start. When the mayor's was was found. She is the only one with any distinctive marks on her body. She DOES have a beautiful virgin daughter...
What are the features of the area where they bodies turned up?
Are there any prominent land types nearby? (Forest, Swamp, Volcanic Mountain, Barren Ice Field or Scorched Desert perhaps?)
Who runs the town and who REALLY has all the power?
Who/what are the PCs likely to go to in order to discover the truth?
Is there no spoon?
Are any of the PCs allowed to know about dragons?
Are there any usual suspects in the village?
What time of year is it?
What is the primary kind of monster you want them fighting in this first adventure?
What level?
There is a forest to the west witht he town being built at the foot of a mountain.
The mayor runs the town with a council of elders, one of whom is the local priest.
The priest.
Yes, there IS a spoon and it has something to do with a bard.
Only those that are Dragonkin, and they will be hiding their identities.
Nope.
It's autumn.
I have no clue on that one.
They begin at level 1 going all the way to level 20.
Ok, new quesion! What kinds of low CR devil/demons are there either in PF or 3.5 that a low level party can fight?
By low CR, you mean 1-5 ?
Also, yay for early dot here.
What kind of marks did they have on bodies? Claw marks, bite marks, slashes, stabs?
Edit: To the new question, dretch is first thing that came up to my mind, but they are slightly dumb.
No marks, except for the Mayor's wife.
Ooo...a Dretch...yes, they are a little...lacking in intelligence...
By low CR, you mean 1-5 ?
Also, yay for early dot here.
Yeah. Something from 1-5. I'm expecting this part of the adventure to close out at level 5.
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Wait, what? They just droped dead without any wound? What kind of expression of face did they have? Fearful?
Did Major's wife have any enemies or had a fight with any of the peasants in the village?
What kind of reaction did Major bring up if asked about his wife?
Is her heart torn out by a hand? Heal check? :D
Are there any track's around the spot where wife was found or other girl's that were found?
Would the priest be able to sense the presence of undead or effects of undead or stench on victims?
I love this topic!
I'd suggest lots of dumb henchman undead or fiends, led by the CR 4 or 5 leader who has managed to get the others to work better.
Imp/quasit mastermind could be a familiar of a spellcaster.
I would use the priests son/daughter as the BBEG.
Have him/she be a student in a far of city and visiting 1/month or so.
Give the son/daughter the power to summon demons/devils.
Bearded devils should be a decent challenge for low lvl player characters, throw in a few lemures for extra mobs.
As for reason to pick up young beautiful women, maybe some kind of ritual payment for the power to call extra planer creatures for a future BBEG.
Maybe the devil needs the virgins for retaining its human form or something like that.
Its always nice to leave the name of a future BBEG in the notes of the Summoner and maybe a spell to contact the BBEG or even summon it.
Wait, what? They just droped dead without any wound? What kind of expression of face did they have? Fearful?
Did Major's wife have any enemies or had a fight with any of the peasants in the village?
What kind of reaction did Major bring up if asked about his wife?
Is her heart torn out by a hand? Heal check? :D
Are there any track's around the spot where wife was found or other girl's that were found?
Would the priest be able to sense the presence of undead or effects of undead or stench on victims?
I love this topic!
It would seem that way. Each once simply looked as if they had fallen asleep.
No, the mayor is good to his people, with the exception that the priest had once loved the mayor's former wife before they were married.
I dunno...make a heal check, Malag.
Just footsteps leading into the woods.
The priest doesn't seem overly concerned as to what is going on. The only person he seemed to care about wias the mayor's wife.
Thanks guys for all the questions. I finally broke that block.
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So we have:
Particular individual that keeps grabing young beautiful women for his own purpose each night.
Such individual is probably male and works alone. He doesn't seem to be a creature or person which prefer's gory death to much and I would say that Major's wife death is either unrelated or killed from specific reason.
He probably has some power to wield around with, which he uses to paralyze his targets but I wouldn't say he is physically powerful being.
I would say my answer is: Fey creature.
I would go with Story/behind a Story/behind a Story approach on this :X (crazed animal lord spirit?)
So we have:
Particular individual that keeps grabing young beautiful women for his own purpose each night.
Such individual is probably male and works alone. He doesn't seem to be a creature or person which prefer's gory death to much and I would say that Major's wife death is either unrelated or killed from specific reason.
He probably has some power to wield around with, which he uses to paralyze his targets but I wouldn't say he is physically powerful being.I would say my answer is: Fey creature.
I would go with Story/behind a Story/behind a Story approach on this :X (crazed animal lord spirit?)
Major's wife may have been protecting her daughter
Somebody or something has disturbed the kobolds.
Not necessarily male - Count Elizabeth Bathory allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth.
So we have:
Particular individual that keeps grabing young beautiful women for his own purpose each night.
Such individual is probably male and works alone. He doesn't seem to be a creature or person which prefer's gory death to much and I would say that Major's wife death is either unrelated or killed from specific reason.
He probably has some power to wield around with, which he uses to paralyze his targets but I wouldn't say he is physically powerful being.I would say my answer is: Fey creature.
I would go with Story/behind a Story/behind a Story approach on this :X (crazed animal lord spirit?)
Wait, what? Why a boy?
Imagine that all the young girls are both pretty and abducted and killed at night. That IMO smacks of a hag.
1. the girls are pretty: the old crone could be stealing their youth and beauty.
2. they have no marks, except the mayor's wife: maybe the wife's heart was stolen to seduce the mayor, while the other girls (see above)
3. throw in a wrinkle: one of the girls was pregnant. Now the hag has her baby growing in her own, twised womb.
If it were me: there's a green hag out there using her fell magics to appease a demon. Over the course of the next few months she plans on seducing the mayor by perfectly impersonating his wife OR by acting as a mistress. Either way she'll be the secret power in the town, all the while claiming that the baby is his. Then the climax is that by level 5 its revealed that the mayor was having an affair with the dead pregnant girl; the baby really IS his. However after mistaking him for the BBEG he is finally redeemed and does what he can to help stop the hag. After all, it turns out she's having the baby as part of a devilish rite.
Now its a race against time. The party has to use the mayor's fragmented memories, piece together where the hag's secret woodland lair is, and then stop the rite. Even if they get there in time, make them wait until she's HAD the baby - that way they save the child and get it back to the mayor who is then forever in their debt.
Level 1 is about establishment - the mayor acting shifty, the forest being haunted by the hag's minions, and the dead girls. Level 2 is about finding out that the mayor had an affair, making him one of the prime suspects. However a side trek takes the party out of town. The side trek gets them some mcguffin they will eventually use to kill the hag. Level 3 is the heroes returning to town and finding out the mayor has been seen with a mysterious woman. Before the party can do any serious investigation though the town is struck by a mysterious disease and the party has to gather ingredients in the forest and mountains to help fight it. This gives them a good lay of the land, possible clues to the hag's eventual location.
Level 4 it all comes to a head. Evidence all stacks up against the mayor and his mistress claims he's attacked her too, even though she's pregnant with his child. Battle ensues, the party has to get the mayor alive though to pay for his crime. The level ends with the bombshell of interviewing the mayor and finding out the real truth. Now level 5 is that race against time I mentioned. Will they save the day or does an unholy devil pact with a night hag get sealed with the delivery of a human child?
What say you?
So we have:
Particular individual that keeps grabing young beautiful women for his own purpose each night.
Such individual is probably male and works alone. He doesn't seem to be a creature or person which prefer's gory death to much and I would say that Major's wife death is either unrelated or killed from specific reason.
He probably has some power to wield around with, which he uses to paralyze his targets but I wouldn't say he is physically powerful being.I would say my answer is: Fey creature.
I would go with Story/behind a Story/behind a Story approach on this :X (crazed animal lord spirit?)
Wait, what? Why a boy?
Imagine that all the young girls are both pretty and abducted and killed at night. That IMO smacks of a hag.
1. the girls are pretty: the old crone could be stealing their youth and beauty.
2. they have no marks, except the mayor's wife: maybe the wife's heart was stolen to seduce the mayor, while the other girls (see above)
3. throw in a wrinkle: one of the girls was pregnant. Now the hag has her baby growing in her own, twised womb.
If it were me: there's a green hag out there using her fell magics to appease a demon. Over the course of the next few months she plans on seducing the mayor by perfectly impersonating his wife OR by acting as a mistress. Either way she'll be the secret power in the town, all the while claiming that the baby is his. Then the climax is that by level 5 its revealed that the mayor was having an affair with the dead pregnant girl; the baby really IS his. However after mistaking him for the BBEG he is finally redeemed and does what he can to help stop the hag. After all, it turns out she's having the baby as part of a devilish rite.
Now its a race against time. The party has to use the mayor's fragmented memories, piece together where the hag's secret woodland lair is, and then stop the rite. Even if they get there in time, make them wait until she's HAD the baby - that way they save the child and get...
I feel pwned...Well, my juices are flowing. -_- ...that came out wrong...in any case, I may be putting this game up to run as an online campaign. That said, due to the fact that this thread is here...some of the info I posted may or may not be misleading. After cooking for two days, drawing encounter maps, working on two races, one of which is detailed here in post number 44 close to the bottom of page 1, and the general tomfoolery that I get myself into...such as drinking before 8 o' clock in the morning...I was all tapped out for ideas. I love you guys more than a fat kid loves cake. Thank you for all your help. Now I just have to figure out how to start an online campaign here on the forums.
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@Mark & Chief
I figured that it's male because percentage's say so. It's simply more likely that the attacker is male.
There is still the possibility that it might be female hag or such, but draining their youth doesn't really get me. Their skin would shrivelled or something. If anything is taken, it's soul or life energy.
Level 1 is about establishment - the mayor acting shifty, the forest being haunted by the hag's minions, and the dead girls. Level 2 is about finding out that the mayor had an affair, making him one of the prime suspects. However a side trek takes the party out of town. The side trek gets them some mcguffin they will eventually use to kill the hag. Level 3 is the heroes returning to town and finding out the mayor has been seen with a mysterious woman. Before the party can do any serious investigation though the town is struck by a mysterious disease and the party has to gather ingredients in the forest and mountains to help fight it. This gives them a good lay of the land, possible clues to the hag's eventual location.
Level 4 it all comes to a head. Evidence all stacks up against the mayor and his mistress claims he's attacked her too, even though she's pregnant with his child. Battle ensues, the party has to get the mayor alive though to pay for his crime. The level ends with the bombshell of interviewing the mayor and finding out the real truth. Now level 5 is that race against time I mentioned. Will they save the day or does an unholy devil pact with a night hag get sealed with the delivery of a human child?
I love the above layout of a "level synopsis". I say we repurpose this thread to coming up with "adventure seeds" in the above format for those needing help to just flesh out on their own. They already have the bread, now they have to add the filling to their (and their player's) taste. What say you guys?
Just a small advice. Player's get jumpy if they don't have anything to hit for long time, at least at my table. So you might insert some bar fight which shows that not everyone likes players in the village or their level of stress because of the situation.
You get hit by that hobo who is really a wizard because he has a monocle. He hits you with his +1 broken ale bottle. Fort save v Stench.
@ Malag: totally agree buddy - a hag stealing their youth would leave some tell-tale signs, like withered flesh. That bit might have been a stretch. Let me just say: I've been working on a homebrew for a year that has hags/witches/evil fey/lycanthropes/humanoids and other "fairy tale" staples, so I guess I just have hags on the brain!
for that reason Luna, since your game is yours not mine and my own players are pretty good about staying off these boards, here's my own next arc:
The basic synopsis for levels 3-6 is to find and destroy a major threat to the party's home town. The town is warded by elite rangers called Thornwalkers and they have wilderness "blinds" scattered all around the hinterlands - a tree-fort here, an underground bunker there and so on. Some of these are fairly large and many are being unearthed by a horde of worgs and goblins who are apparently looking for something. This arc's main villain is a mastermind worg named Frostbite. He's a white haired worglock who is organizing this at the command of the Goblin Queen to find a journal left behind by one of the PCs fathers.
Level 3 starts off with a fire in town. Borrowing largely from the opening of ROTRL, goblins sneak into town and create a burning diversion in the center of town while worgs and more goblins siege the Thornwalker Guildhall. The opening gambit is itself a diversion, meant to get the PC out into the wilds. Here his trail is crossed by a frail, runty worg with streaks of white in his fur. Together they find a minor cluster of worgs and goblins torturing local fey and liberate the hapless creatures.
Level 4 sees the party off earnestly in search of the book now. Since it will take a couple of adventures to find it this should provide a few small dungeon hacks. Also while wandering about they stumble into a Twilit Realm - a place of the first world where the Shadow taints everything. Here they live out a fairy tale and realize that the power of the fey is getting not only stronger but darker.
level 5 has the party return with the journal only to have it stolen. A woman in town reveals herself as one of the fey but claims to be on the party's side, with knowledge of where they can find both the journal and the worg Frostbite. They then have to go after the creature before he can use the book to locate a major gate into the heart of a first world realm and finally claim it for the Shadow.
@ Malag: I also concur - players like beating on things. In my exp as a GM it usually takes 2 to 3 adventures per level for the first couple levels (if using Medium progression and tracking XP, which I do but many others don't bother with) to advance in level, so my stuff above figures that each level will take at least 2 adventures. In that case each level could be further broken down to those individual adventures and combats could be added for the players to beat on.
For example in level 1 you want an intro to your world and then an intro to the plot. The party could begin in any fashion - meet in a bar, already in town, caravan guards, what have you. But it should be something that reinforces the themes and memes of the arc. Since in my version of the story there's a decidedly hag/intrigue thing happening, I say you begin nebulously, but with a touch of drama.
Adventure 1/Level 1 begins with the PCs already on their way to Dead Girl Town, for one reason or another, crossing through a dark mountain pass on the edge of the woods. They are part of a larger force, a caravan, and give them a chance to interact w/the caravan like a moving tavern - a brawl, some conversation, maybe some skill challenges. Then heavy snow sets in and finally an avalanche - the PCs are the only survivors.
Adventure 2/Level 1 has the party coming through the wooded foothills with no guide, no map, and the main road completely snowed in so they must make it through the woods. Skill challenges, arguments among the players over who's the leader, some attacks by whatever hag-minions you want to throw at them. The adventure can end though with the party drawing close to the town when they happen upon a freshly slain girl. Moments after their grisly discovery they in turn are found by a patrol of guards and have to explain the situation. They may end up in a dungeon cell, suspected of having some involvement in the events or if they are savvy and diplomatic they may be ignored or even escorted INTO town by grateful lawmen.
Mark Hoover, you've almost inspired me to take my game in a completely different direction... <.< -> That Way.
Glad to help. Another way to do it would be the dragons. They're taking back their draconnity.
Each girl slain is completely unknown to the community. However one of the PCs who is a Dragonkin looks squint-eyed at one and realizes that, with some scales and lizard eyes it might be their missing cousin Dracovina...
With horror he realizes his hunch is right - Dracovina disappeared the night before but her "heritage" is gone which is what killed her. The mayor's wife had her heart ripped out as a message: Mr Mayor, tell us what we want or suffer the concequences. You see there's a cult of kobolds and humans looking to reclaim the heritage for an evil dragon and the mayor (or rather that OFFICE over the last age) has accumulated a list of all the families.
So now it becomes more of an evil cult thing. The dragon's already gotten enough genetic fodder for 6 eggs but now he's just getting greedy and terrorizing the whole countryside. Whether the party ends the cult or not there's already SOME dragons on the way.
Of course they had to be girls so they could carry this MALE dragon's seed (thanks for the idea Malag; this time it's a boy!) and he's using some ancient rite to advance them in age fast enough to begin the mating seasons. Let the re-population begin!