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Hello!
I'd like to know if any of you did something similar, having the players as the monsters.
I'm thinking about starting a new campaign, with a little twist: I'd like my heroes to be a group of undead awakened from their hibernating status.
The idea behind it is something of the sort: a group of adventures (NPCs) goes into some ruins and while exploring it awakens an ancient evil being (lich, demon, or whatever). With him, his loyal generals get awakened too (my players), who will instantly have to fight the adventurers.
Once the fight is resolved, they find themselves in a place they don't recognise. They will eventually figure out their corpses were moved from their original fortress, and are now in a long abandoned dungeon.
Given the long "stasis", their boss (the demon or whatevs) doesn't have all its power yet, so it's up to them to help him regain his power and try to keep his return a secret as long as they can (to avoid an army to march there immediately to wipe them out again. They could also try to improve their current lair if they wish.
So while their boss will take the role of "main quest giver", I'm having some issues finding actual quests that would make sense.
A few ideas for quests I had are:
- Finding a way to gain allies within other monster races. Could be done by diplomacy (maybe with a side quest), or by brute force.
- Clearing an area of their lair from mindless monsters (e.g. oozes), or from unintelligent monsters (that could maybe be tamed if they try)
- Stealing supplies (weapons, tools, building materials) from nearby villages, without getting caught. Even better if they plant evidence to point to someone else.
The idea is to spend the first part of the campaign to reinforce their base and raise an army, in order to then unleash chaos on the land once they are strong enough to fight the kingdom's guards. Realistically, if a weakened demon would attack a few villages, the king would send an army of paladins to death with him before he gets too powerful.
So what would you have them do? Given their status, they will probably start around lvl 5 or higher.
I have run and played in “monster campaigns”, but the monsters were gnolls, goblins, orcs, etc. Undead would be new territory for me. Sounds like an interesting premise though.
It sounds like the characters would all be evil. Are your players down for this? Do you think they can handle it? Some players can play evil well, others can not. Some players use it as an excuse to be a murderous sociopath or wot not. I’ve seen it done, and while its amusing in the short term its not something of want for a campaign. Besides, this demon boss would have chosen minions who are in it for the long term victory - not just for thrills. I supppose your group could have a mix of traits, but the demon boss would still want reliable minions.
I don’t think you need to start them at level 5 or higher. It could be that they begin at level 1 and must regain the power they once had. There should be additional undead emtombed, so one of them can awaken that when one of the characters is robbed of its undead life force.
Looks like you have a good starting point for missions. Just keen brainstorming, and maybe take suggestions from your players. You can draw inspiration from prewritten advantures as well - just flip the hooks from good guy stuff to bad guy stuff.
A long term plot hook could be an evil wizard who gets first introduced to the group by kidnapping the slumbering boss. The party is revived from their stasis to rescue the boss before he gets bound into a contract to serve the wizard.
The wizard obviously looks down on the party. If they attack he'll go defensive for a few rounds casting spells like mirror image before he decides if the party is a threat or an opportunity. If the party is smart they will realize the boss is being bound by a magic circle and do something to 'cut' it. Once the circle is broken the Wizard gets all panicky and teleports away to his real hideout.
After that the party needs to gather intelligence on the surrounding lands. Who is a potential threat, who is a potential target, who might become an ally, and especially any info they can get on this wizard!
What kind of monster the boss is becomes really important. Goals should be tied to what kind of monster it is. A Lich will want to secure its safety, privacy, information, and will want to continue its research. A Demon will want to carve a bloody path through the region and lord over it. A Devil will want to rule a well ordered society under his thumb. Preferably from a position of strength, but being able to usurp a kingdom is just as good. A Dragon will more likely want to increase its horde and fame. A Vampire...umm...that could be anything. But very likely controlling a major population center from which it can feed. Maybe create a new brood...or not.
Ciaran Barnes wrote: It sounds like the characters would all be evil. Are your players down for this? Do you think they can handle it? I was thinking a Lawful-Evil alignment for them. It would make sense to me, given they are like "high ranking officers" in a sort-of evil kingdom.
I've seen them play evil characters before, they like subterfuge and long-term evil actions, more than the classic murder-hobo style, so I'm not too worried.
Ciaran Barnes wrote: I don’t think you need to start them at level 5 or higher. It could be that they begin at level 1 and must regain the power they once had. There should be additional undead emtombed, so one of them can awaken that when one of the characters is robbed of its undead life force. True, their levelling up could be them slowly gaining back their former powers. Love the idea of other bodies, thanks!
Meirril wrote: A long term plot hook could be an evil wizard who gets first introduced to the group by kidnapping the slumbering boss. The party is revived from their stasis to rescue the boss before he gets bound into a contract to serve the wizard. I like the idea of another evil guy being the "real" enemy, while the forces of good would be more of an hazard. The wizard of sorts could be a good idea, but in case they start at low level I wouldn't put them against him immediately; it would make no sense for a wizard, powerful enough to bound the boss, to flee.
Meirril wrote: What kind of monster the boss is becomes really important. Goals should be tied to what kind of monster it is. A Lich will want to secure its safety, privacy, information, and will want to continue its research. A Demon will want to carve a bloody path through the region and lord over it. A Devil will want to rule a well ordered society under his thumb. Preferably from a position of strength, but being able to usurp a kingdom is just as good. A Dragon will more likely want to increase its horde and fame. A Vampire...umm...that could be anything. But very likely controlling a major population center from which it can feed. Maybe create a new brood...or not. Surely the kind of boss will change a lot the plot. The idea behind it is something that was defeated in the past, and either banished or somehow trapped; that would allow for the "awakening" of it at the beginning. I'd guess that rules out Dragons (but I like the idea so I'll probably add it as a possible ally).
I'm more inclined towards a lawful creature, so a Devil would probably work well, a Vampire or a Lich could work too. Thinking about it Demons wouldn't fit well the scenario, due to their chaotic nature.
What kind of undead will the characters be?
I'm not sure yet.
On one side, I'd like them to be something powerful, because it would fit nicely the idea of them being more important than common zombies and such, and I'm sure they would like it a lot.
On the other, undead template already gives them plenty of stuff, and I wouldn't want to give them too much power, making common monsters too weak for them...
Any suggestion?
You could do a bit of a mix. One might be a skeletal champion, another a grave knight, one a vampire, and maybe a ghoul/ghast.
You can adjust their class levels as appropriate for different templates.
I just recommend that because having everyone be LE skeletal champions could get kind've boring. If you're worried about them being too strong, just make the enemies stronger.
Watch them freak out by tossing them a red Mantis Assassin with the death slayer prestige class, or a knight of ozem or something like that.
I like the idea of mixing them up. I would just have to make sure they are balanced, I wouldn't want them feeling overshadowed by another player if he has a stronger undead race
Or your PC’s could be unwilling undead minions of the lich/demon. Cooperating to buy time and gain strength to break free of their bonds. That way they dont need to be evil.
If it were me I would probably start them out as just a basic undead, but sentient of course. More or less just a standard character with the undead type. Other than being undead, no special powers.
Then I would either through feats or free bonus gifts let them access more undead powers as they level, probably via a tree structure. So they could become 'vampire-like' or 'ghoul-like' or whatever.
Your mileage may vary, but in my experience the 'build a base and raise an army theme' is pretty difficult to make work. The tasks can end up feeling repetitive and it can devolve more into a bookkeeping exercise rather than really feeling like an adventure. I would think about having another primary quest along more traditional lines be the focus of the campaign (something like find the things to restore the boss to power or defeat a nemesis) and have the build a base and raise an army be only a secondary theme with the occasional quest furthering that goal.
My suggestion is to just use normal races/classes and apply the undead template to them. It'll give them some buffs, but also some drawbacks so they aren't OP right out of the gate. Once they begin to level up, they can take the abilities of specific undead as feats. As far as how to run the adventure, they can easily just wear concealing clothing or use illusion magic to conceal their undead appearances when trying to peacefully interact with Good or Neutral NPCs. Evil characters would likely see being undead as nothing special, or even as an asset.
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