Welcome friends thank you for taking time to read this. My players have stated that they want to have a campaign based on Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne with some steampunk mixed in. I will be using Pathfinder books to build it and I have assess to all book. Please leave any references in book and page format.
Now I am currently building the background story. The story so far is based in 1880-1920. A older gentleman around 70-80 has discovered insert A reason to know about the center of the earth. He needs funding and skilled individuals. My Pcs are both leaning toward the rich background being backers of the older gentleman.
Now too get to the meat of the post I would love some help with any ideas. Ideas as to how or why they should go. How to get into the center of the world whats down there and why? Maybe a few Npc to join them on there journey with backgrounds. Thank you agin for reading this Will be working on this setting for the next week and would take any suggestions seriously.
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Isn't this the plot of Atlantis.
Isn't this the plot of Atlantis.
I haven't seen Atlantis Watching journey to the center of the earth as we speak.
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Isn't this the plot of Atlantis.I haven't seen Atlantis Watching journey to the center of the earth as we speak.
Honestly, I recommend Atlantis! It was substantially underrated, as a Dismey film!
Out of curiosity, which film? '59? '89? '93? '08 theater? '08 television?
This will greatly influence your take on the story!
This band is rockin' way too hard!
To explain (as I don't know how familiar you may be with any of the stuff in this link), this is the '08 theater movie with some epic bards and someone dubbing over the dialogue of the trailer.
... which a rich old guy could do worse than funding a mosh party to find his favorite bards... which, depending on how PF you want to go, could be drow or duergar or something, hence living underground...
As a related possibility, he found a <recording device> of some sort, that had images and sounds of a performing troupe of a group of underground dwellers that he slowly became obsessed with; maybe he shares this with his few recruited, or maybe he keeps it a secret. Perhaps the device has or had mental manipulation powers - the effects of the bardspng or other spells were built into it, affecting his mind upon review. Maybe it was a way to capture slaves or inspire hope in the hopeless. Either way, his secret goal could be to go forth and listen to that music in-person. Of that sounds banal... it is; but see, being a rich old guy, perhaps this was the one thing that brought his life comfort or joy now; or, perhaps, he had found this recording device when he was young and the desire to see and hear and experience the world within has driven him his whole life to work his way up from paupacy to wealth just to go there in person. It's possible that the event was a one-time-only event - maybe he erased the recording after watching it, on accident, or the recording device was shattered or broken beyond repair, or something; this could drive him to find that magical experience from his youth, while explaining why he couldn't convince people of his "vision" - it all depends on how you want to play it.
Aaaaaand a joke post suddenly became a legit idea. Sigh. XD
There is, of course, something more standard, like the ever-classic hunt for Unobtanium!
Oh, also: which system is this for? PF? 5E? This thread might be better served to be flagged to move elsewhere!
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This band is rockin' way too hard!
Ok. I laughed way too much at that.. lol
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I really don't have much in the way of suggestions, but I can tell you I'd love to play in a steampunk version of Journey to the Center of the Earth.
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Perhaps they encounter steampunk type Drow and Duergar, though they're weapons and artifacts are powered by magic rather than science.
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Oh, also: which system is this for? PF? 5E? This thread might be better served to be flagged to move elsewhere!
I have hard copies of all pathfinder books and would like to keep reference materials along that lines.
As a related possibility, he found a <recording device> of some sort
I really like this idea.
Out of curiosity, which film? '59? '89? '93? '08 theater? '08 television?
We just watched 59 Now were gonna watch the 08 one Brandon Frazier One.
Perhaps they encounter steampunk type Drow and Duergar, though they're weapons and artifacts are powered by magic rather than science.
Trying to keep what they have to deal with monster or race wise to creatures not intellectually interactive to start at least.
My guess is that he meant later on down the road.
That said, a lot of exotic non-intelligent creatures are available!
Depending on how tied to the source material/open to Pathfinderisms you are, there are plenty of radioactive thingies (scientific term) that could lead to various templates. So, for example, you could have a mutant or mana waste mutant template to a behir or Wyvern (perhaps replacing the fly speed with a swim or climb or even burrow speed) or even kobolds or refluffed orcs to net INT penalties to effectively make non-INT encounters with "prehistoric" creatures (in addition to things like axebeaks and dinosaurs). Maybe these were the slaves of the drow/duergar who were experimented on, freed, or are just bred in the wild. Or they could be stars with entirely refluffed aspects like a "dinodog" medium creature with tusks and a razor bite that happens to have identical stats to a orc warrior with a battle axe.
Anyway, out of time! Got to go!
Oh! Before I forget!
You might want to steal heavily from APs and printed adventures you own, even if you don't run the whole AP itself.
Encounter structures, build-stats, and even thematic elements can be entirely altered or repurposed to the benefit of those you run for.
This will vastly speed up your prep time and, if properly repainted, can go unnoticed (though use the same ones took much, and players will start to learn the patterns!); it's helped immensely in the past.
One other tug I enjoy is taking the setting of an AP, roughly converting that to another world, and then placing the PCs in it. For example, Westcrown is an awesome adventure site, even if you're not replaying Council of Thieves, and some of the encounters can be placed in entirely diffenernt locations in that city, without making them feel the same.
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This band is rockin' way too hard!Ok. I laughed way too much at that.. lol
I need to link that more often... I don't get enough opportunities!
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You might want to steal heavily from APs and printed adventures you own, even if you don't run the whole AP itself.
I don't own a lot of the preferring to make most of my material myself but I am working a lot of hours at work and don't have that much time to write up stuff. Can anyone recommend which ones I could buy to steal from?
It depends heavily on what you need.
If you want more structured outdoor-like adventures, much of Rise of the Runelords actually fits this ideal, as does Serpent's Skull. Both come with juxtaposing outdoor style adventuring with local, contained dungeons.
Not everything will apply, of course - book 2 of RotR is moooooostly just one dungeon and some local mystery; but a proper reflavored could allow you to use S'sS book one, even though that's technically a deserted island.
Kingmaker (especially the early books) could be useful for having a large "region" that is untamed to explore Sand-box style. Reign of Winter has a "and here is where we are this time!" series of strange portals and weird new worlds/ecosystems you jump through. Skull & Shackles and Jade Regent each have different unique rules that may be helpful: ships rules and caravan rules.
Things like Second Darkness and the latter two entries to Serpent's Skull have huge underground sections: a major plot point for both.
All of this is to say: what is best for you to steal depends heavily on what you want to do, and how you plan on handling the game, and on how comfortable you are with scratching out names and details and replacing your own.
I'm pretty familiar with RotR, CotCT, CoT, Kingmaker (up to book 5 only; I'm a player), S'sS, [CC[/i], and SS, and a few modules; I'm somewhat familiar with JR, and have been introduced to tropes and spoilers for SD, S&S, HR, HV, and a smattering of other things.
Though it should be clear, I wish to clarify: you should not feel obligated to purchase things. My recommendation is based on the fact that we all have limited amounts of time, and I find borrowing ideas from published sources - even if the specific application doesn't appear like it, in the end - to be an enormous time-and-effort saver. As I am a father of two, time and effort are at a premium in my life. Hence...
But really, it depends on what you want to do. I don't know how active your players are on these forums, and Indont meant you to post things you're uncomfortable with, but if you have a basic idea for how you want the adventure to go, if you tell us, I (and others) could give you more targeted advice.
Hope all this rambling helps!