I got together with a couple buddies of mine and discussed an idea of a campaign. Once I brought up my idea the conversation picked up and idea were flying left and right. So now I bring it to my fellow GM's.
In the following you will learn the history of my idea and what I have so far. I haven't fleshed anything out and the names you read here are made up on the fly. I would like some feed back and your ideas on this plot of mine. So without further ado...
History
Every faction has its leaders and its ranks. On particular faction is the Arcane Counsel. The highest rank being Arc Mage. Arc Mage Vilimir (Elven Sorcerer), who has been in his station for many millenia. He stood faithfully by the side of his elven sorceress wife, Nyla. Vilimir and Nyla bore six children;(born in order) Andimir (Magus), Briandor (Sorcerer), Davian (Inquisitor), Harivian (Summoner), Dandilous (Warlock...male witch?), and Kaelius (Wizard). Nyla died giving birth to Kaelius. Each child was born ten years apart. A millenium had gone by when Kaelius died to the hands of another wizard in a wizard duel. Seven years later Dandilous died in his sleep by being poisoned Tears of Death. Seven years later, Harvian, dies in a troll incident. Again, seven years later, Davian dies to the flame of a red dragon, then seven years after, Briandor dies to a Finger of Death from a wizard, and finally Andimir, was assassinated in his sleep with a bad case of a slit throat.
Years have passed and it is getting close to name a successor for Arc Mage, when Vilimir, was assassinated. No markings, no struggle, and no witnesses. Without an heir to the seat or someone being named successor, the Arcane Counsel is in an uproar. A schism has began dividing factions and allies. Factions pointing fingers at each other with accusations of murder. All out war has broke out arcane casters have been taken out in the streets, buildings blown up, arcane societies flee in terror from one another and into hiding. Two masses of arcane casters are growing in power. Casters mount horses, dragons, and other beasts to gain an edge in battle. War has not broke out as of yet, but its only a matter of time.
My Ideas
The players are brought forth to investigate the assassination. No arcane casters will be allowed due to the Arcane Counsel's decision of an unbiased investigation. They are allowed into the murder scene and are able to take notes. The Arcane Counsel wishes them luck in their investigation with hand shakes and parting gifts of weapons and armor that level with the players (Like the was found in Drow Wars by Mongoose Publishing).
Things that players find out: Kaelius, is very much alive...well, when I say alive I mean vampire...well when I say vampire I mean Vampire Lich. Like it could get worse. Maybe a Worm that Walks, but that would make no sense at all. Kaelius systematically killed his brothers by various means. Kaelius is also is on the Arcane Counsel under a false guise. When shaking the players hands, he casts a spell on their bones, for easy scrying (yes, I know there is no rules for this. But it was a great idea brought forth from my buddy). So the entire investigation they are being scryed upon and hunting parties are sent out to put a stop to them.
Kaelius's brothers are also alive...ish. When I say this they came back as wraiths, lost souls sent to haunt Kaelius. But Kaelius was smart and trapped their souls in a gem. With this soul gem he made an aberration of their former selves. To give you a mental picture, think of the ring wraiths from Lord of the Rings. These wraiths are controlled by Kaelius, he sees what they see, and he gives them orders. These are not normal wraiths, if they are killed they comeback 24 hours later in a new shell. The only way to kill them is from different sources. One has to be killed by a woman, one killed by a gnome, one by a half-orc, one by an elf, and one by a human. Each wraith has the lich template and spells.
Kaelius want the war to happen so when him and his wraiths come on to the battle field and start decimating everything people with side with him or cower in his power.
A Bit About the Wraith
Each wraith had a hatred in life, a bane if you will it. But they were also put in charge of different elements after Kaelius's death and are as followed:
Andimir - Element of Water - hated gnomes
Briandor - Element of Air - hated orcs
Harvian - Element of Earth - hated his fellow elves
Dandilous - Element of Fire - hated humans
Davian - Element of Shadow - hated females
Now somewhere in the past all these boys have been wiped from the face of the earth, except snippets here and there, but never revealing their name.
The players need to piece together who killed the Arc Mage, place how the wraiths fit in, learn how to kill them, and try to prevent millions of people dieing.
The wraiths are named in their books which are guarded by their elements. A library of sorts. They have to figure out where the library is and how to get into and survive the trip. This will require some gathering of the information. Each book will tell them the true name of the corresponding wraith and how to kill him.
So what do you guys think? Is it good? What are your ideas? Help me out please.
I've never run or planned a campaign before, but I have a potentially noobish idea if you're so inclined.
Depending on the timeline you want to use, and how long a campaign you want, the murder investigation could just be the start of it all. After their investigation shows Kaelius to be the BBEG, he could add to the upcoming wizard war tensions creating chaos and preventing anyone from focussing on solving the murder (hard to run an investigation and fight a war after all). The war erupts, casters battle in the streets the destructive chaotic power of magic is unleashed, maybe a tribe of superstitious barbarians enter the fray, hellknights, etc... (Basically everyone takes the opportunity to cut a piece of the pie) giving you plenty of factions and goals to play with.
The PCs get a lead on where to find something important to the quest but it's right in the heart of the fiercest wizard fighting (which has now erupted into the full scale war that was simmering earlier). The city is being annihilated in the fighting, posing lots of hazards for the party, maybe they stumble right into the battlefield, and have to navigate between all the rays, AOEs, and summoned critters destroying everything in their path (Stalingrad with magic). When the PCs finally reach their destination and the key to reigning everything under control, it was a trap and they are frozen in time by a friendly NPC who happened to be a traitor who had to remove the threat the party posed in order to secure his position with Kaelius.
Time passes, Kaelius secures his reign, a small faction brings the PCs back and they go from solving a murder, to having to bring down an evil emperor with the institutions under his control.
I like the idea of "what if the bad guy won?", also allows for plenty of options for the party to put Kaelius out of power, and the various factions you could bring in give the party choices as to who to work with, etc... Doesn't play on the wraith angle very much, but that can be slotted in where ever you feel like.
Or it could be cliched and boring and I'm way off base, but I'm just throwing the idea out there.
You don't need to do anything with the bones. Have him cast arcane mark on the unique magic items doled out to the players. He can then scry on them as needed.
To rid the scrying effect, players have to throw away magic items...a tough call.
On a bigger scale, you'll have to make sure players don't feel hamstrung without magic. Getting kicked arou d by invisible mages isn't fun if it's every session.
Think carefully about how you will handle character creation.
^ this.
Is this an elf-only council? Bring in dwarves, gnomes, humans as casters. Bards and witches, summoners, too. Non-traditional 'arcane casters.' Elves are their own hierarchy, so arcanists removed from the inner circle should be fair and impartial investigators.
And if he's powerful, he's got a bunch of crystal balls with all the trimmings to scry the pants off everyone. If all his elven kin were arcanists then they'll have a boatload of stuff they 'left to him' in their wills.
Plus as the main villain he's got mooks to shadow their movements, report back, interrupt the PCs. If he's smart, he's not even around to meet them, being off on some 'hot trail' to find Brother 3's killer or whatever, leaving a lieutenant to meet, evaluate, and battle the PCs, scrying the lot of them all-the-while.
On the other hand, instead of disallowing arcane casters maybe the council wouldn't allow anyone who wouldn't understand the delicate art of arcane mastery. At this point you could specify that you would allow ONLY people with some arcane ability.
This makes fights interesting and you'll have to adjust accordingly, but that's doable. A team of arcane casters can get past encounters, maybe not in an optimal sense but it will certainly make them think. Also fosters a healthy fear of swords.
The PCs are also directly involved in arcane business and would probably start scheming. THATS GOOD! There's this big backstory about casters scheming against each other, you know their personalities and how they function. This allows you to easily form challenges for a new caster cabal! Think about it, the PCs are a new cabal of mages, the ones who could possibly reshape the world.
It all sounds good. I havent written anything down yet. Just seeing what you guys think and thank you for your ideas.
I've never run or planned a campaign before, but I have a potentially noobish idea if you're so inclined.
Depending on the timeline you want to use, and how long a campaign you want, the murder investigation could just be the start of it all. After their investigation shows Kaelius to be the BBEG, he could add to the upcoming wizard war tensions creating chaos and preventing anyone from focussing on solving the murder (hard to run an investigation and fight a war after all). The war erupts, casters battle in the streets the destructive chaotic power of magic is unleashed, maybe a tribe of superstitious barbarians enter the fray, hellknights, etc... (Basically everyone takes the opportunity to cut a piece of the pie) giving you plenty of factions and goals to play with.
The PCs get a lead on where to find something important to the quest but it's right in the heart of the fiercest wizard fighting (which has now erupted into the full scale war that was simmering earlier). The city is being annihilated in the fighting, posing lots of hazards for the party, maybe they stumble right into the battlefield, and have to navigate between all the rays, AOEs, and summoned critters destroying everything in their path (Stalingrad with magic). When the PCs finally reach their destination and the key to reigning everything under control, it was a trap and they are frozen in time by a friendly NPC who happened to be a traitor who had to remove the threat the party posed in order to secure his position with Kaelius.
Time passes, Kaelius secures his reign, a small faction brings the PCs back and they go from solving a murder, to having to bring down an evil emperor with the institutions under his control.
I like the idea of "what if the bad guy won?", also allows for plenty of options for the party to put Kaelius out of power, and the various factions you could bring in give the party choices as to who to work with, etc... Doesn't play on the wraith angle very much, but that can be slotted in where ever you feel
...
Good point. But Vilimir, is very resourceful in his tactics. It wont be just mages going after them. Not only will they have a variety of classes but with finding the information out about Vilimir's brothers they are going to go up against some elementals and what not. And thank you for your input! Very much appreciated.
On a bigger scale, you'll have to make sure players don't feel hamstrung without magic. Getting kicked arou d by invisible mages isn't fun if it's every session.
Think carefully about how you will handle character creation.
No, no, don't think of it that way. This was a pure elf family. The counsel has other races on it. Sorry, I wasn't clear on that. I forgot to put in that he was named Arc Mage but a human magus. Thank you for pointing that out.
As far as his "mooks", yes he does. Im still trying to pin point what the hell Vilimir IS. I was thinking Sorcerer with a vampire template and add in a little of lich template. I just don't know which way to take him yet. I have a long time to plot this out. We are about to be lead through the Slumbering Tsar, so I have a long while. We just finished Age of Worms
^ this.
Is this an elf-only council? Bring in dwarves, gnomes, humans as casters. Bards and witches, summoners, too. Non-traditional 'arcane casters.' Elves are their own hierarchy, so arcanists removed from the inner circle should be fair and impartial investigators.
And if he's powerful, he's got a bunch of crystal balls with all the trimmings to scry the pants off everyone. If all his elven kin were arcanists then they'll have a boatload of stuff they 'left to him' in their wills.
Plus as the main villain he's got mooks to shadow their movements, report back, interrupt the PCs. If he's smart, he's not even around to meet them, being off on some 'hot trail' to find Brother 3's killer or whatever, leaving a lieutenant to meet, evaluate, and battle the PCs, scrying the lot of them all-the-while.
This would be handy, on the other hand there is always arguments going on in the group and nit picking. I dont need to add fuel to a fire thats already a bon fire, you know? Plus the fact the counsel want the investigation to be unbiased. Which I think is going to add some difficulties to the fray. Thanks for the ideas though. Keep them coming!
On the other hand, instead of disallowing arcane casters maybe the council wouldn't allow anyone who wouldn't understand the delicate art of arcane mastery. At this point you could specify that you would allow ONLY people with some arcane ability.
This makes fights interesting and you'll have to adjust accordingly, but that's doable. A team of arcane casters can get past encounters, maybe not in an optimal sense but it will certainly make them think. Also fosters a healthy fear of swords.
The PCs are also directly involved in arcane business and would probably start scheming. THATS GOOD! There's this big backstory about casters scheming against each other, you know their personalities and how they function. This allows you to easily form challenges for a new caster cabal! Think about it, the PCs are a new cabal of mages, the ones who could possibly reshape the world.