Tomorrow's the big day.

Tomorrow. No one dies. I will cheat the rolls if I have to but no one will die on the first day of this campaign.

I've made some big decisions about this one. I took the players off of Fearun and moved them to another plane. It's a very similar plane just a whole knew world. I like to start out fresh a lot, I like knowing that I can do whatever I want to do. So here it is:

This world has been in a war for hundreds of years. The players have fought a few battles in the war (this happened before we start) and therefore know each other quite well. The war ends just as the campaign starts which will leave a war-torn-world for the PC's to do what they wish with.

Points of interest:
Magic is rare. I mean REALLY rare. Mages were hunted down and killed during the war. Anyone that knows how to use magic is pretty quiet about it. (it was the easiest way to make sure your opponent didn't throw a fireball or chain lightning at you.
So that makes magic items very uncommon, not so much rare, just really hard to find. And very expensive.
Elves, they were a formidable foe, so logically they had to go. There are still some elves around but they hide... a lot.

I have some final preparations to make but I'm sure I have enough to get started tomorrow. I'll update sometime after the session concludes. Leave comments here about what you think, what you want to know and what you'd like to see!

NOoooooo!

Nothing new to write about just yet, I spent the weekend moving. Which I guess wasn't that big of a loss because I would have spent it working anyway. The big day is soon though. Six more days untill the little PC's start the new campaign, I really can't wait. Other than feeling a little under prepared I think it'll work out good.

Far out?

Has anyone ever heard of Dragonstar? It's a very fun mod to DnD. I was toying with the idea of this campaign taking place on one of the planets in the outter fringe. If so then around level 10 the players will learn about this when they either find some technology or encounter an "alien".
Fun stuff either way.

"On the pedistal in front of you is what appears to be a oddly craftedcrossbow. You can not figure out where to insert the bolts though. This itemis heavy, 20 lbs, and seems to be made out of a metal that you can'tidentify. Even the dwarf and gnome seemed stumped by this. The gnome howeverwants to touch it!"

Of course item would be a plasma rifle with around 20 shots left in the battery. I would then have to scatter more tech items around the world for them to find and eventually take them off world to expand the playing universe. Any thoughts on this approach?

It all looked so good in my head.

But the players don't get to see in my head so I decided it wasn't going to work out as well as I thought. Which, like anything sucessful, meant restructuring. So I wrote down the direction I wanted the main plotline to take, then I wrote down what I had and started to link them all together.
Now, admitidly, I've never done a campaign like this. I usually have a good starting point figured out and then just run with it from there. We also, as a group, NEVER have premade treasure which slows the action down so much.

I did decide that in the world this is all taking place magic is a grand and powerful thing, like most places. However, here, the bad guys have the resources to hunt down and kill any magic users that aren't on their side. Shhhh the Players don't know that, they aren't from this plane of existance. =D
I know, I'm evil.

THE sword

I have completed it, it took awhile and it's super over powered but it will add a huge twist to the campaign that I think will make everything much more interesting. I don't intend on allowing it to be found untill around level 7 or so.

At one point it begins to increase your AC, another it increases saving throws. That's all you get for hints untill after it's found. I wouldn't want anyone that plays to read about it ahead of time.

A Sword?

Yes. A sword. An amazingly evil sword that gets stronger everytime you kill someone with it. Well not every time but in incriments.

For example: After 10 kills it may get a +1 modifier. 25 kills, a +2 modifier. Maybe after 50 kills you get a +1 to strength while wielding it.

It's just a concept at the moment I have to lay everything out on paper to see how far apart the kill spread should be. I do know, however, that despite it being an evil sword anyone will be able to use it. They'll just become a little power hungry with every "enemy" felled in combat (or out of combat) and consequently a little more evil.
The sword may even hint that it doesn't like the wielders party members and thus grating more power if they're offed.

A little teaser

Once completed this campaign will run for around a year, meeting every other week. Places that the PCs will eventually have to travel:

The Sulfur Flats
The Dead Lake
The Mountain of Trials
The Caves of Sorrow
The Ruins of Tamarack

This is just a taste of things to come. I haven't yet decided what encounters will be in each place or which quests will lead them there. I have just created the areas.

I thought that it would be fun, and I'm evil, to make the players choose thier race and class BEFORE they roll their ability score. No more "I'm going to be a paladin", rolls lower than expected, "I think I'll be a cleric instead".
Any thoughts on that?

First!

My DnD group hasn't played in over a year which, to me, is unacceptable. So I decided to do something about it. I started a new campaign, not playing it but creating it. I've DM'd before but have never really sat down and created a whole campaign from begining to end. I'm also trying a new method of creation.

I'm going to write this entire campaign in a movie-esque style: Flashbacks, Jumps forward in time, separating the characters. I know that with a campaign with 5 people in it separating the action between them sounds like a horrible idea. My hope here is that each separation in stories will be entertaining enough for the other players to just sit back and enjoy the story.

I plan on giving each separate story line the same amount of XP as all they will be is a little development arc for each character. I may even do some of the story arcs based on what the PCs write as their backgrounds. So instead of just "this is what happened to me" the PCs can all live it.

Anyway I'm nowhere near completion on this and we have set a play date of February 29th. I'll update sporadically until then and then I'll post how the first campaign went. If anyone has any idea's I'd love to hear them. Also, once I'm done with the campaign I'll post the DMs notes so anyone can try it themselves.