Lemme catch you up on my Homebrew campaign.
The PC's exist in the world of Thear. Humans are the only playable race. The soul is bound to the body, so that even horrific mauling does not 'kill' the person, but rather drives them insane as they continue to feel the pain of the trauma.
Ned'E is the last human kingdom as far as the PCs know. Mindless, murderous mobs roam the wilds outside and few venture out by choice. The population is kept to a strict 750. Cleanly divided half male, half female. A lottery is held every 15 years to determine which couples may have a child, which they then have 5 years to prep. Three of my PCs were born 25 years ago as part of the 'cycle'.
Those born outside the 'cycle' are 'cleansed' by a ritual that severs the soul from the body and truly kills the host. In rare instances, if a boy is born, the father may surrender his right to live in the kingdom by leaving the walls in exile so the son may live, same with the mother if a daughter is born. One of my PCs is one of these children, both his parents decided rather than choose who must die, they would face the darkness together. Only the child survived into adulthood.
My antagonist was born to the King and Queen during the same cycle as my PCs. During a siege on the castle his right side was horrifically gouged. The King and Queen hid this knowledge from the masses as the child slowly devolved into madness, but somehow through sheer will maintained his composure. During the following lottery he appeared by himself, stating his parents had been killed and he would be assuming the title as King. He mentions a great artifact that could end the suffering of all of retrieved from ancient ruins outside the walls and volunteers the three PCs. On their way to retrieve it the fourth PC joins.
The 'ruins' are actually the still standing rubble of an American city, the temple, a nuclear research facility, and the artifact, the core for a nuclear warhead. Cifer (antagonist) has already changed his title to Emperor by the time they return and hosts a great festival. During the festivities, he activates a nuke in the castle (aided by clockwork constructs). PCs are teleported back to the ruins by a VERY old woman who lives in the ruins and showed them the temple.
Mushroom cloud.
They know Cifer has survived, and they know they must level a bit before they return. What I am looking for is a personal side quest for each PC.
My the consists of a Barbarian, a Monk, a Cleric, and a Ninja. (Also a very wise old Cleric the Ninja convinced to leave with them, the old Lady, and Tiny... a nine foot tall idiot brute that I used the cyclops beastiary for).
For the Barbarian, I'm thinking some great Barbarian long ago is the reason why the one for one parent for child law exists. He fathered a child, and after doing great damage to the guards who showed to take his child, he was offered to leave in exile for his child's life. He went off into the wilderness never to be heard from again, but even a thousand years later, the Barbarian clan spoke of his great hammer.
For the Monk, perhaps a venture to find four Sulis that will teach her elemental assault, or should she decide to focus on one element, the trade off trait. They wouldn't REALLY be Sulis... maybe the last humanoid constructs of a weather altering system or something.
The cleric? Uh... maybe something the old Cleric knows a legend about?
The Ninja? Um... Ninja stuff?
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
The cleric must undergo a test of faith by the old cleric to find the location of the monastery where those who maintain the vault where the barbarian's hammer is hidden.
The monk must undergo a series of trial given my the monks to be given the location of the vault.
The ninja must brave a trap-filled dungeon built by the ninja who hid the hammer to get the key to the vault.
The barbarian must face the defenders of the vault in combat. They're all the other barbarians, living and dead, who went into exile.
Perhaps I should be a little more specific. While those are all great weekend ideas, I want each side quest to be a full team, full session event. The Barbarian one needs some more fleshing out.. thinking he will use a flesh golem templete, kept from resolving into mindlessness by his limitless rage.
The PCs have weapons which can cleave the soul from the body, so by killing him they will allow him to rest.
No sure why autocorrect felt the need to insert the word weekend...
This is a cool idea. Are there guns?
I had an idea for a world much like this, where it's pseudo-fantasy because most "modern" tech before the apocalypse is all rusted and useless now. But the PCs would still have their main jobs as scavengers and collectors. You know, raiding city ruins for useful stuff. And quite frankly, I see that job as providing limitless side quests, if you map out the cities and know what they'd find in each one.
Alternatively, they could find work in other cities(if they find those cities) as Couriers, or handimen, or legbreakers...really, anything.
There ARE guns... though as they are not a part of the society the PCs were raised in, they have no idea what they are. An M-16 would just appear to be a really odd, fragile club.
As for the other cities, these are the only humans left... but that is not to say that in the 10,000 years or so past another sentient race did not emerge.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
What would the PCs be returning to? You've said a nuke went off in a community of 750 people, that's not going to leave much.
Is this a quest to punish the king, or is there some way turn back the clock?
Vengeance is a part of it, of course. The PC's families were there. I do have an end game thought out that involves them returning. The Emperor will not rest until he has finished them off as well, he sees them as flaws in his perfect world.
As for a way to turn back the clock, there is a way, and I will reveil it after they have beaten him. But it's not 'turn back before the nuke' it's turn it waaaaaaaay back... at least in the real world.
I intend to have the end of the game tie into the origin story of Christianity. The kingdom Ned'E... Eden spelled backwards. Two of the PCs are Daam and Vee... Adam and Eve.
Question: what kind of role do gods play in your campaign? I mean, is it like Athas, where the divine power came from a powerful magic authority, or are there actual gods (or just one God, given the biblical inspiration you took for the story? The cleric's mission could be finding the "truth" about the deities he (or others) serve... This also could bring a spark of light in the darkness concerning the ending you planned, hinting at a "greater meaning" behind the whole campaign.
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The Gods play very little real role in the happenings. Magic exists through manipulation of the nanites that bind the soul to the body. All knowledge of that has been lost over the ages. The Gods are simply a method used to describe the phenomenon, much like Native American spirits or Greek mythology.
It's kind of Matrix like if you really want to dig into it. The Cleric can channel divine energy because he believes the Gods have given him the power to... but if he realized that he was the one in control the whole time...
I could delve much further into that, but I don't intend on letting the nanite bug out of the bag until the end game. I have no desire to have a group of quasi Neos and Morpheuses running around.
In the end, in order to end the cycle and give the human race a chance once more, they will be given the choice to disable the nanites, once again rendering humans mortal and erasing magic from the world.
The players already realize they are not in Golaron (sp?). They haven't realized that Thear is a play on Earth and the ruins of Lattana is the rubble of Atlanta.
Wow. That's some ending you got there. And I thought my illithid spaceship battle in 3.5 was badass...
I love your take on divine power, and I agree, you really shouldn't hint at the nanite thing until the end. However, your cleric's side quest could have him face an "anticipation" of the final dilemma: he could come in touch with some culture that had to make a similar choice about something completely different. This if you think the player impersonating the cleric would be fascinated by such "analogy".
I'm really trying to play up both the Cleric and the Monk, Daam and Vee respectively. Both are first time players and I want to make sure they enjoy it.
With the nanites disabled, the roving hoards will fall as their souls will be released. Daam and Vee will have their DNA scrambled to prevent having their children suffer from incest for a few generations... and my Apocolypse becomes Genesis.
I already have a backstory for why these nanites exist in the first place, and in order to deactivate them they will have to destroy the perfectly preserved first specimen... a 12 year old girl with an inoperable brain tumor.
She won't go down easy should they choose to do that. She has near perfect control and understanding of the nanites after all. Thinking of using the Kraken page out of the beastiary, toned down a bit, in place of her in a central vat surrounded by hoses and cables turned tentacle.
But I digress. Barb wants a hammer. Monk wants her fists to take on some elemental properties. Cleric... I sapose I can just have him grow stronger and drop hints about the back story along the way.
Maybe another race that has gained sentience, but being nonhuman is unaffected by the nanites. Once every few decades or so they must commit mass suicide so that the next generation may be birthed from their bodies... some ultimate sacrifice bit that they understand is completely natural no matter how heart wrenching it is for the PCs to watch.
Session is tomorrow night, and the Ninja can't make it. Any final suggestions before I start drawing file charts?
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
In keeping with your Adam and Eve theme have the knowledge of how to defeat the first specimen given to them by a snake-like creature, perhaps one that serves as an adviser to them throughout the quest, and describe the specimen's body as being treelike.
Or you could have everything be kind of a trick. Your first specimen (or serpent) is actually trying to restart the human race and your PC's quests are designed to activate nukes secretly buried under the cities of these non-human races you mentioned, wiping the slate clean for "true humanity" to be restored.
I dig it, though that is more of an end game bit. The Cleric's side quest could tie into that a bit.
I was actually looking at the Gillmen (frog people) as my alluding to factor. They will meet one who they assume through actions and personality to be somewhere between adolescent and adult. He will be overly excited to meet the party, having never seen sane humans before, maybe invite them back to a huge feast.
During the feast there will be an insane amount of food, the entire tribe's food store set out over logs and such. In the center a pyramid of eggs. The Gilmen will sing, play games, stuff themselves, everything you would expect from a party... then one by one they will begin to swallow their tongues.
The sight of the tadpoles drives them into a feeding frenzy where only the strong may survive so instead, they kill themselves, letting their bodies rot to feed their children.
A hundred thanks for all your responses! The perfect idea came to me this morning that ties the frog people (Giples or something like that) into the story.
The group will hear about an ancient library of the 'Old Men' and will set off to find it. That's where they will meet the tribe. I intend on their entire culture to be built around the 'God' Kermit. His teachings spurred from an endless loop of sesame street episodes played over and over in the children's corner.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
DirtSailor wrote: I intend on their entire culture to be built around the 'God' Kermit. His teachings spurred from an endless loop of sesame street episodes played over and over in the children's corner.
Must. Resist. Miss. Piggy. Jokes....
Lol I wanted to make it heart wrenching, but at the same time as much a fact of life as one eagle chick killing another in the nest. This will give some allusion to the sacrifice the PCs must give at the end.
Intelligece wise, these frog folks are going to be dumb as rocks... I mean... they focus their entire belief system of sharing and trusting openly from the recorded teachings of a puppet who also happens to be a frog. Wisdom wise, they are beyond their years. Fangs will begin to sprout from their new friend's mouth as he tries to explain quickly while his brothers and sisters convulse and die around the party.
In a last cling to sanity, he will beg the party to kill him as he lunges towards the clutch of eggs...
Oh. Then they will find the library... and hear Kermit's preachings.
I think he said MURLOCKS!!!
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