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A bit of background:
I had been running a campaign for a group of relatively new players for about a year, and they had gotten to that point that I think most players reach at some point, where they would much rather make a new character with the knowledge they had gained. I could especially tell during combat, that my players weren't all that happy with their characters. So, I did the only natural thing, and orchestrated a TPK.
I know, I know, that's nearly always a terrible idea, but it was more of a mercy this time, and I didn't want to just do any old TPK, so instead for about a month the campaign shifted to "an alien race from an undiscovered far away continent is about to invade, we gotta prepare". It was slightly better executed than that, but for the sake of brevity, there ended up being a huge D-day style amphibian attack, and humanity (by humanity I mean typical PC races) lose the battle.
And thus, the second half of the campaign is Post-Cataclysm. The new characters find themselves about a month after the invasion, and the world as they know it is largely controlled by the "aliens" (I don't actually call them aliens, but the image works...) The "aliens" are more like parasites, they cant reproduce without using a body as a base. On their home continent they had a densely packed breeding center, but disease killed off their "cattle", so they were desperate to find a new source of bodies, and are utilizing humanity's infrastructure, by enslaving small villages and towns, and giving them limited autonomy in exchange for 2/3 of their children. All large cities and capitals have been completely leveled.
We've only had one session (a prison break), and the PC's are just trying to avoid the huge goliaths they see roaming the horizons so far.
TLDR: Alien invasion, humanity is largely crushed, and the PC's are roaming through a lost world, but hopefully, one day, they can work to rebuild society.
I'm having trouble finding inspiration at this point however, I'd like them to discover some hidden group of resistance, but I don't want to do it right away, and I'd like to really build up the tension, I want them to go through a difficult time as scavengers, where everyday is a struggle to survive, before they get to the point where they are storming citadel's and saving the world.
Do any players have any epic stories about revolutions, post-apocalyptic campaigns, or just gritty campaigns? And do any DMs have stories or tips on how to develop this idea? I was thinking about using symbols similar to hobo signs in order to hint at the underground survivors, but I hit a bit of DM's block at this point.
Thanks!
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Almost always (if not ever) bad to use TPK to progress the plot. Because:
- If the players knows that the game will have an obligatory bad ending they will have little reason to take the game seriously.
- If the players don't know they can be upset with the game because they usually wasted time and have created affection for their characters. As a player I never like when happen a TPK, especially if this was programed by GM or scenario.
The best option IMO is follow in the first part end the game with they winning or losing normally as any other adventure. If they loose, and you not forced this, they probably will understand when you continue to post-apocalyptic part. But if they win, just continue the story explain that even with that victory this wasn't sufficient to change the tides of invasion and you can explain that their chars disappear during the process (or even has been killed after some time after their final battle) and now they will start with new characters or you can allow them live and join to some resistance in the post-apocalyptic part.
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Almost always (if not ever) bad to use TPK to progress the plot. Because:
- If the players knows that the game will have an obligatory bad ending they will have little reason to take the game seriously.
- If the players don't know they can be upset with the game because they usually wasted time and have created affection for their characters. As a player I never like when happen a TPK, especially if this was programed by GM or scenario.The best option IMO is follow in the first part end the game with they winning or losing normally as any other adventure. If they loose, and you not forced this, they probably will understand when you continue to post-apocalyptic part. But if they win, just continue the story explain that even with that victory this wasn't sufficient to change the tides of invasion and you can explain that their chars disappear during the process (or even has been killed after some time after their final battle) and now they will start with new characters or you can allow them live and join to some resistance in the post-apocalyptic part.
I must not have explained myself clearly.
1. The old party already died
2. They had no affection for their characters, in fact some actively disliked their character
3. The first half of the campaign was just a chance for the players to experiment with the game, and get a better grasp of the mechanics. This second part is the "true campaign". Now players know what they are doing, have created characters they enjoy, and know the events that led up to the world being taken over (without some lengthy introduction or backstory which these new players would likely find overwhelming and tiring).
I'm not really looking for input on the TPK, because I know the stigma behind it, and it already happened, I was more reaching out for any interesting stories, tropes, or tips from players or DM's who have relevant experience.
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Sorry was a misunderstand of my part.
I'm having trouble finding inspiration at this point however, I'd like them to discover some hidden group of resistance, but I don't want to do it right away, and I'd like to really build up the tension, I want them to go through a difficult time as scavengers, where everyday is a struggle to survive, before they get to the point where they are storming citadel's and saving the world.
You can use several movies/novels stories, even not necessary post-apocalyptic, like Star Wars for example as inspiration.
Usually the hidden resistance finds the players and recruit them when they are escaping from a too dangerous situation or when they are trying to do everything alone. You can do this when do you think it's enough for them to face their daily difficult or when they begin to claim too much attention.But this is just one idea. You can take several references from many post-apocalyptic invasion media where the humanity or freedom looses.
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There was a setting I believe called Midnight for 3.X where evil had won and heroes had to scrape out what victories they could. It's on the extreme end of grimdark, but your setting reminded me of that.
For early levels, I'd say keep off the radar. Quiet kills, select saves of citizens. If the players/PCs are already fearful as you've said, that makes for good moral dilemmas: risk discovery to save maiden or not?
For the most part though, not much needs to be changed once PCs leave civilization except maybe the macguffins. So you could borrow adventures from throughout D&D & PF's history.
-Lost temple full of loot? Now lost temple full of resources, like weapons or magic, and possibly the temple as a secret, secure base for rebels.
-Dragon lair? Maybe kill because he's allied with the enemy or maybe PCs can frame the enemy and provoke a dragon's wrath on them.
-Rescue a person? Now that person might have the info about the enemies needed, perhaps tactical or biological, which would segue into another adventure.
As higher levels approach, the campaign can go two directions (or more obviously, players being players), with the first option being the PCs act alone, which is fairly simple, yay! More likely the players want to recruit allies and form a network for a revolution. And that's going to be quite hard. You could keep that stuff offscreen (much like major battle scenes in modules hinge on the combat(s) the PCs participate in). Or you can research. Kingmaker AP and Skull & Shackles AP as well as Hell's Rebels AP and Council of Thieves AP have the PCs build organizations, the latter two under the radar of powers-that-be.
Maybe run those, just swap Cheliax for "alien government" and devils for "aliens' monstrous allies".
Perhaps the toughest problem offhand would be equipping PCs as they get into higher levels. The lack of a marketplace (because why would the aliens want powerful items available to humans?) will be a hurdle so you might want to introduce a mechanic (perhaps one uncovered by a PC quest) where the PCs can power up their gear to match their inner strength (akin to automatic bonus progression rules). The advice for implementing ABP can also be useful for PCs having less access to magic & consumables.
Not that the party couldn't quest for or steal their gear, but that route can grow stale especially if they have to do so every other level to maintain their level strength. Which is a reminder to adjust encounter difficulty to account for PCs having less gear (or perhaps more gear after a spike meant to last several levels).
So yeah, the adventures outside civilization can remain fairly normal w/ tweaks, and might even be more hospitable than civilization itself. :)
Last idea that struck me that I used on a successful "party vs. empire" campaign long ago. I made a list of all the empire's resources devoted to the cause in question. So when the PCs became a thorn in their side, the local leader could put stronger resources at key points, i.e. a Hill Giant manned a bridge the empire knew the low-level PCs were on the opposite side of (and he had good line of sight too). Naturally the party avoided that bridge when they learned that! Until they couldn't and earned a great victory (and a near PPK/TPK!).
The trick there was to always have alternate paths available (even if the PCs didn't yet know of them). In that case there were tunnels under the river, yet those tunnels weren't PC friendly either. Plus forewarning. Boy, did the players learn the value of scouting!
Not sure how you'd end a campaign like that without a major plot macguffin since it's not like there should be enough rebels to make a difference if the standing armies failed AND the enemy has entrenched themselves. Then you get into the genocide scenarios where it's the PCs unleashing unnatural havoc on the enemy: disease, powerful weapon, a rival horde, curse, environmental disaster (perhaps one not so bad for allies).
Knight has a Vampire Earth series where the enemies work poorly together and use the humans as cattle. It's grimdark with victories important to the cast, but of little consequence to the whole situation (but it ramps up in scale). So one last thing, there's a reason many major dungeon complexes were filled with Chaotic Evil baddies, so that coordination went against their nature. Now that your aliens have overcome their existential threat, maybe they fracture into neutrality, rivals, or even enemies of one another. The PCs might even be able to pit them against each other if the characters have the espionage skills for it.
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If they escaped from prison you could lead them to a city with the excuse of having to get resources and then pointing out that they have bounties on their heads. Make them have to hide their identities, be careful when police/military forces show up, etc. You can even acuse them on their bounty posters of heinous crimes as a way of showing how those aliens want to manipulate people into cooperation.
In general making them see firsthand how the new society operates would make them more invested when the resistance show up.
Also, why not try to make them BE the resistance? If they show a little bit of initiative on this make them take the lead. Trying to get people to join them, investigating allies to see if they are not crossing them, organize operations and even building an stronghold.
About the TPK, I don't like that kind of thing but what is done is done. As long as your players are enyoing the campaign more you are doing a good job.
Heh, sounds pretty Nu-XCOM 2 to me. ;)
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Usually the hidden resistance finds the players and recruit them when they are escaping from a too dangerous situation or when they are trying to do everything alone. You can do this when do you think it's enough for them to face their daily difficult or when they begin to claim too much attention.
Ah ya, I like that, even if they were to just come across a small group of scavengers who have some rudimentary base, it could give them some hope, and get them into the mindset of, "we should be trying to establish some kind of infrastructure".
The lack of a marketplace (because why would the aliens want powerful items available to humans?) will be a hurdle so you might want to introduce a mechanic (perhaps one uncovered by a PC quest) where the PCs can power up their gear to match their inner strength (akin to automatic bonus progression rules). The advice for implementing ABP can also be useful for PCs having less access to magic & consumables.
Originally, I assumed it would be a bit akin to Kingmaker, where they would purchase from marketplaces that they built in their hideout, created by blacksmiths and artificers they saved, but using ABP could lend itself very well to a temple hideout. Perhaps it becomes Warhammer End Times-esk, where the adventurers are supported by their gods, who provide them with equipment and limited assistance.
Not sure how you'd end a campaign like that without a major plot macguffin since it's not like there should be enough rebels to make a difference if the standing armies failed AND the enemy has entrenched themselves
Ya, this is my main concern, it may depend on how the adventure evolves, but right now I was thinking about pulling an Ender's Game, since the creatures came from another continent, perhaps in a final epic adventure, they could have to fight through waves of the fungoids (because that's what they are, a parasitic fungus that completely transforms the victim) to activate some ancient magic device that would destroy the queen remotely. I have always wanted to send players to the moon, so perhaps there is a magical death laser on the moon that they could use to kill the hive mind?
Heh, sounds pretty Nu-XCOM 2 to me. ;)
Ha! As an avid XCOM fan myself, I can't believe I didn't think about the connection, but your totally right, the canon ending to XCOM 1 was the first half of the campaign, and this second half is XCOM 2.
Thanks all! Definitely some great ideas all around! Pretty pumped now to get some ideas on paper.