Given a campaign where either the PCs are the only humanoids, or the local population of humanoids is vanishingly small, how would you tackle the issue of death and replacement PCs?
I'm wrestling with the issues of 1) making death more than a five minute inconvenience and 2)replacing dead PCs that are no longer interesting to the player.
Some ideas I've kicked around:
1) Introduce a magic/technology-based mechanic early in the campaign that resurrects characters at Home Base, sans equipment.
2) Aperiodic Planar Gates that deposit new PCs at Home Base.
3) New PCs come from the local population, which can result in extinction/Campaign Over if there are way too many deaths.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or feedback.
How often do you expect deaths to happen? Are the PCs always in danger? What level of magic is this world?
There a lot of questions regarding your topic. Give me some more info and I'll be happy to give my thoughts.
How often do you expect deaths to happen? Are the PCs always in danger? What level of magic is this world?
- With my group, every 4-5 sessions. With a reasonably careful group, death only happens when the dice hate you, or you stumble into Really Bad Things and don't run.
- Home Base is the only place of real safety.- There are no magic item vendors. Everything must be found or created, though there are no restrictions on what may appear in a secret cache or treasure trove. Also, since currency has reduced value in such a campaign, randomly generated treasure will (collectively) more heavily favor magical items.
How did the PCs end up in this place in the first place? That might make a difference in my suggestion.
I would avoid making resurrection completely insignificant. What exactly is the situation with the lack of humanoids? Has the world just been overtaken by monsters? Would it be feasible for there to be other pockets of surviving humanoids elsewhere in the world that could be a source of new adventurers? IE the new pc is party of another party that was also decimated by an encounter with monsters with the pc being the only suriviving member?
The civilization of this particular world has been overrun completely in the last 100 years. The particulars aren't fleshed out, but even if there are any of the standard humanoid races left on the planet, they are decidedly unfriendly. No organized group of creatures exists beyond that which might rule a city.
I originally had the PCs stumbling upon a forgotten planar gate very early in their careers, and eking out their survival in the heart of a devastated metropolis. "Home Base" is relatively safe, but not well supplied. Through the course of the campaign they would eventually recover some Macguffin that would fix their end of the gate and allow them to go home.
An alternate start I've considered is having the PCs arrive as new recruits of The Company. The Company is in the business of reclaiming fallen/forgotten worlds, and reaches those worlds by Gates or Interplanetary Teleport. The world is the same, but the campaign is based around the reclamation of the metropolis. Terrible Things have happened at "Home Base", but The Company has most of its resources dedicated elsewhere, and it's up to the PCs to succeed or be written off. As they progress, "Home Base" grows in sophistication, from recovered items, and in population, as The Company sends more, but scant, help.
So there is at least room for small pockets of humanoids to be 'found'. Even if they are initially hostile, its possible for a few standouts to want to contribute to an effort to recover the world from the chaos of the last 100 years. You shouldnt have too much of an issue with introducing new characters, they'd just have to have this very specific backstory.
So there is at least room for small pockets of humanoids to be 'found'. Even if they are initially hostile, its possible for a few standouts to want to contribute to an effort to recover the world from the chaos of the last 100 years. You shouldnt have too much of an issue with introducing new characters, they'd just have to have this very specific backstory.
This would work, or the replacement PCs could come from rescued prisoners or slaves kept by the monsters. The latter is a hoary old trope going all the way back to first-1st Edition D&D..... but y'know, it works! ;D
I suggest doing something similar to what Velcro Zipper did with his Worlds Largest Dungeon Campaign. I copied his idea for mine and it worked great!
Basically, let the players find humanoids throughout their adventures, and encourage them to build a commune. Once a base is established, roleplay it as a shining beacon of light for any suffering humanoids. Everytime they return to home base, add a few new faces to the commune. Crack open the ARG, splash in a few NPC templates and bam! Instant PC Mart.
Everytime they return to home base, add a few new faces to the commune.
This is in the same vein as the alternate start. The Company isn't going to send in more people than necessary. BUT, after some initial success by the PCs, they would need NPCs to man Home Base, perform research, or keep the Thingamabobs running at full capacity so Terrible Things don't happen again.
I guess the original request spawned from a desire to make the campaign feel more like Adventuring with a dash of Survival Horror. You are encouraged to explore, to recover lost treasures, but nothing here is friendly, and until you produce some results, you are on your own.
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Have your PCs roll two or three back up characters, and have them already existent in this game world, but out doing other things.
I had a group that was juggling 3-4 different campaigns and I did that. Gave them a home base and they could pull different pcs for different missions. We tied up everything in each of the respective campaigns, and everyone loved it. You didn't have to wait to die to try something new, and they could customize the group as needed. Pcs not currently active crafted and bought goods and services while the others were out. XP was reduced by 25% but every character lvled.
There was a cleric at the home base that no one wanted to play but he would Rez and restore if needed. Random treasure was saved for characters who could use it as well.
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One other thing you could consider is making backup characters part of the loot. The pcs fight a manticore and find an ancient scroll with there break enchantment spells on it. Then, in the lair of ths Medusa or on an ancient battlefield they find a hero or two who has been Turned to stone. Maybe a dungeon they explore later has a clone of a long forgotten wizard still in stasis. The spell that was supposed to wake him up failed, but the PCs can wake him up now. Further along, they might find a princess in enchanted sleep or an ancient time recoung ow an evil demigod used an imprisonment spell on his rivals.
You could also treat it as an opportunity to allow some far-out PCs. The ghostlord survived the apocalypse in his fastness in the thornwaste. Maybe he will ally with the PCs for a while. Or you could let someone play the monadic deva who stayed trapped in a summoning circle for a thousand years after the apocalypse killed his summoner.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone, they are appreciated.