So after this weekend my players have progressed through the plot like a rocket and I find myself in the odd situation that I'm running out of plot.
The premise of the game is that the pc's are working for a nobleman that investigates supernatural threats and throughout this "season" (I'm using tv-terms here for simplicity) they have been building their organization and gathering resources.
Last session they got the secret approval from the leader of the land and are now a small secret society dedicated to unrooting evil in the land. The campagin uses undeads as main opponents and the(1st/current) BBEG is an ancient vampire that they have some beef with.
I have about 4 stories almost ready for the next session, no details but enough to wing it. they migh progress through these way faster than I have thought originally.
1. a cursed village of zombies in the desert - no idea to the reason yet. but one of the causes is a revenant that they dispatched previously.
2. they still haven't finished my version of the skinsaw AP, and need to find Xaneshas hideout and to rid foxglove manor of ghosts.
3. a farmland community that sacrifices travellers to a statue that is secretly a demon turned to stone.
4 a red herring where they chase down the vampire in a remote village and realize it's just one of his spawn in the end (this wil be the tie-in to the final fight.)
-When we are done with these stories the next major plot-point will be the travel into cloudy mountains to confront the bbeg. but between here and there I want some more stories like the supernatural show, with monsters of the week and new challenges to give them some more levels and to let them enjoy the feeling of having a faction to watch their back.
They have currently fought: ghouls, zombies, a werewolf, savage hobgoblins, faceless stalkers, evil cultists, a frankensteins golem, a will-o-wisp, wolves and bandits.
TL;DR? I need story ideas for what a group of secret "inquisitors" can get involved with in a low magic setting with a dominant undead theme.
Major inspirations are any film or show like van helsing or solomon kane, and the supernatural show.
So what do you suggest? :)
- A second team of undead-hunters (freelance, maybe?), who'll alternately help or get in the way of the party.
- A plague that makes people seem undead.
- A popular movement among the commoners which romanticises being undead, fuelled behind the scenes by the BBEG.
What level are your characters? That is something worth considering.
Anyway, how your number 1 idea, the cursed village, check out Colour Out of Space and the color-blighted template with it. It's a bit similar to the standard zombie apocalypse, but just unfamiliar enough to be eerie and unnatural even for your party. Makes me think of the Supernatural episode where they first encountered the Croatoan virus.
Other random idea:
1. The party discovers the high command of the kingdom's army is being led by a revered war hero who is actually aFext in disguise, and he is working to quietly replace the other leaders with disguised undead loyal only to him (perhaps spirits with Malevolence, i.e. body snatching) before working up to bestowing the same fate on the king.
2. Many pilgrims have failed to return from an ancient shrine of a monk who sought enlightenment high in the mountain and the village at the base of the mountain whispers tales of a vengeful god returned there, the monk reborn but filled with hatred due to the world's continuing wickedness. What's really happening? Wendigo, perhaps one with scaled back abilities, and a cult is beginning to arise around its presence on the mountain.
3. The party arrives at a small town and during a dark and stormy night they and many towns people hear screams and find a woman ripped apart in an alleyway. A search goes under way and more bodies are found. The party must investigate the cause of this over the course of the night and it will lead them to the town's dark secret concerning a mob lynching a young woman suspected of witchcraft, who was found to be innocent after her horrific death. She has now arisen on the anniversary of her death as a Harionago, perhaps summoned for revenge by a family member of hers, the one who actually is secretly a witch.
What level are your characters? That is something worth considering.
Anyway, how your number 1 idea, the cursed village, check out Colour Out of Space and the color-blighted template with it. It's a bit similar to the standard zombie apocalypse, but just unfamiliar enough to be eerie and unnatural even for your party. Makes me think of the Supernatural episode where they first encountered the Croatoan virus.
Other random idea:
1. The party discovers the high command of the kingdom's army is being led by a revered war hero who is actually aFext in disguise, and he is working to quietly replace the other leaders with disguised undead loyal only to him (perhaps spirits with Malevolence, i.e. body snatching) before working up to bestowing the same fate on the king.
2. Many pilgrims have failed to return from an ancient shrine of a monk who sought enlightenment high in the mountain and the village at the base of the mountain whispers tales of a vengeful god returned there, the monk reborn but filled with hatred due to the world's continuing wickedness. What's really happening? Wendigo, perhaps one with scaled back abilities, and a cult is beginning to arise around its presence on the mountain.
3. The party arrives at a small town and during a dark and stormy night they and many towns people hear screams and find a woman ripped apart in an alleyway. A search goes under way and more bodies are found. The party must investigate the cause of this over the course of the night and it will lead them to the town's dark secret concerning a mob lynching a young woman suspected of witchcraft, who was found to be innocent after her horrific death. She has now arisen on the anniversary of her death as a...
Some of these ides are things I have plans for the late game (if we play past the bbeg-showdown)
-they just killed a bunch of ghouls and ghasts that were masquarading as monks in a remote monastary.-the leader of the land is a rakshahsa, and is running the kingdom fairly but also uses it as his playground when he wants an orgy or a massacre, depending on his whim.
-I really want to do a wendigo-story, but the one in bestiary 2 is waaay to high cr for my party. any suggestions for a replacement or scaled-down version.
-the color-blight-angle seems cool, it might work with the region, since it's a mining area and maybe there is some corrupting ore that is causing the change. cool stuff.
the party all have 2 lvls of a npc class and 3 or 4 levels of a base class. they are:
A warrior2/paladin3,
a warrior2/rogue4,
an expert2/ranger4,
and an aristocrat2/bard4.
and as a side note, the paladin is the only one that comes up with tactics most of the time and the bard is made of paper and hits like a sligh breeze. the rogue is a flanking stabwhore and the ranger is a cowardly crossbow user.
so I've started treating them like a lvl 3/4 party in terms of cr lately.
- A second team of undead-hunters (freelance, maybe?), who'll alternately help or get in the way of the party.
This, but the second team are horribly incompetent and misinformed and they have to be saved for one reason or another. :P
Here are a few of my own for side quest type stuff or red herring cases:
1. There seems to be supernatural mischief in a local town, turns out it's the local orphanage's kids getting up to trouble due to teen rebellion.
2. Supernatural attacks of some sort in a ritual manner, really it's a NPC who has had a psychotic break and is just a mundane serial killer.
3. Someone hired a wizard illusionist to pull a Scooby-Doo on someone because their land has a natural resource. Victims: Orphanage, poor family, minor noble. Location: Somewhat isolated and a bit of a trip from a town proper, but still considered close to civilization.
Concerning the Wendigo you could run it less as an encounter to be defeated so much as an obstacle to be evaded... but the party won't realize that until they are already lost in the mountains with the Wendigo controlling the weather.
If you want it to be something they face head to head eventually, you could just do a quick and dirty edit and just arbitraily subtract numbers from its AC/HP/Saves/Attack/Damage/Ability DCs in advance until it is in line with something dangerous, but not unbeatable for your PCs.
Alternatively, you could leave all that as is to keep up the horror angle, but attach some kind of super weakness to Wendigo. Perhaps there is an item at the shrine, a relic of the monk on the mountain, that is suffused with divine power from the outrage of the spirits that this creature is corrupting their place of calm. I like this idea the most, as it would let you have both a tense "sir you are being hunted" aspect to the adventure while simultaneously letting the PCs turn the tables and win against an obviously superior foe if they survive the pilgrimage to the shrine. Once the item's purpose is fulfilled, it will of course revert to being a minor (or not) magical curio.
This campaign sounds fun.
How about an ancient cursed location that slowly affects anyone, even the PC's. You can make up the mechanic and it can be mainly cosmetic. If you have "From Shore to Sea" we had a mutation table in there that was fun.
Something like:
When they arrive they notice the locals are a bit odd. Dress in robes or bandages, very covered up. Many limp or hiss or portray other strange features. The locals also seem to really want the PC's to hang around to do something (read spend enough time to be tainted by curse)
First hour in the area: you feel itchy
After 12 hours: hair begins to grey or fall out
2nd day: skin sags or becomes scaly
Eventually PC's can grow boils or gain humps, get cat eyes or snake tongues.
You can apply minor penalties or even bonuses to the various changes. Everything is of course solved by solving the curse which could involve simply leaving the area or destroying a cursed idol or tainted shrine of Lamashtu, etc.
Juju Oracle paired with a Vivisectionist Alchemist are stealing bodies from a graveyard and maybe are paying out adventurers for monster bodies.
A doppelganger conspiracy where important people are being replaced one by one.
Alternatively, important people are tricked into wearing 'brain slugs', so they fall under the collective mind. The brain slugs are hidden by hats or helmets, of course.
Gelatinous cubes find their way out of the dungeon and are eating everything in the local forest. Soil, trees, shrubs, fuzzy bunnies, all fall victim to their hunger. Given their new nearly unlimited food source, the gelatinous cubes are exponentially multiplying and growing out of control. Soon they will consume all organic matter, ending life as we know it. Alternatively, have just one gelatinous cube, but have it large enough to swallow an entire village, and it is still growing.