Hello all!
I'm beginning to home-brew an adventure that as of right now I'm calling "The Murder-World"
Basically there is a land of 4 kingdoms whom are at constant war with one another. The "Gods" see this strife an devise a competition to end the fighting.
The "Gods" build a giant labyrinth, meant to test those that enter it an allow only the worthy to pass. The Labyrinth is basically a giant Stone Box with four entrances, and giant murals covering it's sides.
The Labyrinth appears in the middle of the ocean with it's Angelic caretaker. The Caretaker tells the four kingdoms to "assemble a team of four champions, and send them forth in four months time to the Labyrinth. Then they will enter the Labyrinth, the victors shall exit with the power to end your wars."
The story takes place at the end of this 4 months time, The champions are assembled, the teams are ready and the contest is about to begin.
What I'm going to do is pre-assemble the four teams of four characters, based on their starting kingdoms. I will then allow my players to vote and pick one of the teams. I will take control of the three others.
I need help assembling what will be the Labyrinth, Suggestions on traps and monster and dangers to help them gain experience.
I'd also like suggestion on the four teams. I have some ideas, which i will list after this, but I'm always open to suggestions.
I don't want to use Samurai or Cavaliers as there requirement on steeds.
Team-1 (No Arcane)
Gunslinger
Cleric
Fighter
Rogue
Team-2 (Eastern Kingdom)
Alchemist
Ninja
Monk
Sorcerer
Team-3 (The Wild Ones)
Witch
Druid
Ranger
Barbarian
Team-4 (The Holy Empire)
Paladin
Cleric
Bard
Wizard
These are the basics I'm working with, I'm open to suggestions.
Please and Thank you!
-Glitch-
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Since this whole dungeon has been summoned into existence by gods, there's really no limit on what you can throw in. This is a dungeon specifically created for the adventurers who will delve it, so it should show a degree of customization. Since it was created in response to a war, the dungeon should somehow comment on this war and the celestials' opinions on it. You should probably do a little thought about what makes each faction in the war different, and tailor a few encounters to the faction that the players pick.
Assuming the four example groups you gave are supposed to be what each faction considers their "champions", I can only assume that the first faction is strongly against arcane magic. Maybe if the players choose that group, there'll be some challenges that explore the evils of arcane magic, or tempt the PCs to use freely-provided arcane wands to test their commitment to their values.
As for what's in the dungeon, perhaps instead of traditional NPCs there are faces carved into the walls, or statues, that can talk to the PCs. I'm imagining it like the Demon Doors from Fable-- a face carved on a door might agree to open if the PCs do it a sidequest. Perhaps a statue NPC can give directions or clues... or riddles... or snarky political commentary on the warring factions. This could be a simple way to build up the campaign's backstory. Maybe another statue is also a merchant, a sort of "living vending machine" that allows the PCs to buy certain goods without leaving the labyrinth.
Silent Saturn: thanks for those, that's awesome! I love The Demon Door idea, and the vending machine statues. Genius suggestions my friend!
Small sized cavaliers, paladins, and the like can have medium sized mounts, and that lets you use all those fancy mounted feats inside dungeons, buildings, barrooms, etc.
What level are the champions starting at, and do all four kingdoms have access to champions that are will to participate? What level are the champions suppose to be when they get to the end? Will each team get a chance to meet each other? What about re-supply; are there going to be areas they can get more potions or better equipment? If a team member dies, are they simply dead, can they be raised by a member of the party, do they appear at the start point, or a 'save' point? If the whole team dies, then what? What will the gods do if all the team die?
What about rest an food? Does the party bring their own, or is it provided? How big the maze? Can it be traveled in a day, a week, a year, a century? Does time even pass inside the maze?
Are there monsters in this maze or is all traps and constructs? If there are living monsters, how do they eat? Do they interact with their neighbors, or are their separate areas for each?
Can outside forces invade the maze? Did a necromancer climb in and set up shop in levels 12 through 34? Can one of the nations decide to tip the scale in their favor and send in an army after a few hours/days/months/years have passed?
Do any of the gods favor a team over the others, and is that god or gods able to help them out? Could divine spells be counted as "divine favoritism"?
...and so on.
On a side note, a high-level warmonger who loves the constant fighting might volunteer to run the maze, if only to sabotage all the teams, so that no one wins, letting the wars continue, would be interesting. As so, getting the heroes gathered for each team sounds kinda like a campaign of its own.
There should be like a Minotaur. But not as in a standard monster, like a Big Guy that has to be run from. Think of him like Doomsday or something, something to keep the players on their toes.
I like the basic idea.
What I'm going to do is pre-assemble the four teams of four characters, based on their starting kingdoms. I will then allow my players to vote and pick one of the teams. I will take control of the three others.
This is the part I don't like, you are telling the players what classes to play. I would suggest, you set up the empires and then let the players pick which empire they will represent. Then they can choose which classes best represent it. Otherwise an interesting idea.
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I like the basic idea.
This is the part I don't like, you are telling the players what classes to play. I would suggest, you set up the empires and then let the players pick which empire they will represent. Then they can choose which classes best represent it. Otherwise an interesting idea.
What I'm going to do is pre-assemble the four teams of four characters, based on their starting kingdoms. I will then allow my players to vote and pick one of the teams. I will take control of the three others.
That occurred to me too, though if the players aren't bothered than this could be a cool idea. I know some groups can never decide on what to play. Others try to build a balanced party, but then show up having all rolled barbarians or something. Some players would rankle at the thought of having their DM choose their group loadout, but others might be grateful for the guarantee that their party will cover all the bases.
If your players do object to their party being chosen for them, you could instead give them four lists of classes to choose from. The first list has no arcane casters, the second list has nothing too "western" (paladin, gunslinger, rogue, maybe inquisitor), etc.
Gator the Unread - The wars will continue outside of this event, so it would not be wise to send their greatest warriors into a contest with no guarantees. This was their chance to send their most promising, not most accomplished.
Each room is going to be a self contained event. Sometimes it will be a normal room, a market place, a wilderness, a trap, and anything else.
They will start at level 1 and complete the adventure at level 5. After this time I have another story in the works for them. Any attempted tampering by an outside force will be met with harsh action by the caretakers.
Vamptastic: thanks for the suggestion, I'll play with it a bit.
Valandil Ancalime: I would in most cases agree that a DM shouldn't make this call for their players, however this time it is done with reason. My group has almost no time for sessions, so I talked to them about the basics of the idea and they all agreed to let me create their characters so that we could jump right into the first session. They'd rather spend time role-playing instead of character creating. That and the fact that, to be honest, they aren't all that creative. Most of their groups are the same four characters over and over again (Ranger, Wizard, Rogue, Paladin). I'm trying to get them to extend their comfort ranges.
What are some of the best traps for things like this?
I would present the flaco(u)r of each nation and have the players agree on one. Its kind of exciting when all an entire group agrees on a theme. But for sure I would let them choose their own class and race.If you are clever with the descriptions you should be able to covertly steer them towards certain classes and races anyways.
I would present the flaco(u)r of each nation and have the players agree on one. Its kind of exciting when all an entire group agrees on a theme. But for sure I would let them choose their own class and race.If you are clever with the descriptions you should be able to covertly steer them towards certain classes and races anyways.
I'm not sure what the big deal with this is. Every DM I've ever had has had at least one campaign where they designed the characters, and my groups have never had a real problem with it. I had one of my favorite characters come from this.
If your group won't have a problem with it, then proceed as you intend. Internet forums are intended to provide feedback. If you simply want people to agree with you then look elsewhere. What you presented sounds intetesting. It alto sounded like you wanted opinions.