Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

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Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

This is one of the biggest post i have ever made ^^. Sorry for the lenght, hope you will read anyway, and let me know what you think :)

After a long break, my player asked me to reboot our campaign. I will keep the adventure and the timeline as it is, but i want to change a little the start and the end. We will start and continue from the point they stopped in the last campaign, but we will have a very different start for their characters.
I'd like to hear what you think of this start, and more in general of the entire campaign: If it works, if you would change something, how would you Chain events, etc!
I did not feel like writing 3 new backgrounds, connecting 3 new plot, having 3 new stories. So i made a choice. No background. No memories. Nothing.

I had this Idea from a game: Dark souls. You start the game, and you know nothing. The games tells you very little about what you have to do, and what's your job here. I always liked this kind of silent storytelling.

I put here a rough timeline and adventures order (this do not fully follow the canon timeline, and I will add adventures and events at any point, as I see fit. Those below, anyway, are the important ones) just to give you an idea of my plan:

The Night of the Walking Dead (Lv. 1-3) 736 BC(Dec)
Touch of Death (Lv. 3-5) & VR – Ancient Dead (Lv. 7-9) 737 BC
Feast of Goblyns (Lv. 4-7) 738 BC
VR – The Surgeon Blade (Lv. 6-8) 738 BC
Ship of Horrors (Lv. 8-10) 739 BC
From Shadows (Lv. 9-12) 740 BC
Roots of Evil (Lv. 9-12) 740 BC
VR – Chilling Tales – The Taskmaster’s Leash (Lv. 7+) 741 BC
VR – A Truly Twisted Tale (Lv. 5-7) 742 BC
The Evil Eye (Lv. 4-7) 747 BC
The Grim Harvest – Death Unchained (Lv. 5-7) 749 BC
The Grim Harvest – Death Ascend (Lv. 6-8) 749 BC
The Grim Harvest – Death Triumphant (Lv. 6-10) 750 BC
Bleak House – Seas of Madness (Lv. 5-7) 750 BC
Bleak House – Homecoming (Lv. 7-12) 750 BC
The Grim Harvest – Death Triumphant (Lv. 6-10) 750 BC(Dec)

The story: The Start, and the End...
(Please, if you play with me do not read)
VIEW CONTENT:
They will wake up in a big, circular stone room. The room looks like a tomb, or something similar, even though the floor looks natural. The walls are full of bas-reliefs (actually representing three heroes fighting the force of darkness and saving the world, or something similar. I'm still thinking about it. If you have any suggestion about how to expose this let me know, but read below first.). In the room with them there will be a lot of dead bodies, skeletons for the most part.
Probably at the beginning they will think they just awakened in a tomb, maybe they were dead. But why did they rise? they will have many questions, questions that will remain unanswered for a long time.
PC will not have any memory of what happened to them, except this: A big blue flash, crackling sound, And an explosion, Than nothing. (This has been suggested by another member in one of my older post, and since i liked the idea, i'll use it :D, thanks again for this hint!)
They will not know what this memory is until the very end of the campaign.

(A little explanation: Dead bodies are actually Member of the Fraternity of shadows (Read all, and tell me if the fraternity is a decent choice or if there is someone else who would do something like this). The fraternity attempted an ancient ritual to bring the PC Back to life, sacrifying their own life to complete this very ritual. The purpose of this sacrifice is to prevent Azalin's Doomsday Device to destroy the demiplane.
If i'm not wrong, Doomsday device had a malfunction and instead of breaking the demiplane (Freeing Azalin), it created necropolis. In the adventure the PCs will be there and will be the cause of this malfunction. )

Actually PC's souls are not their own souls. Their souls are the souls of their former characters - The heroes in the bas-reliefs. (They will think that those bas-reliefs are something like a prophecy for them, but that's not the case. Those are the reminiscence of another timeline - The timeline of the last campaign). Those characters are from another timeline, and same stands for the FoS dead members in the chamber. The former characters (From now on i'll call them "The Heroes") fought Azalin to stop the doomsday device and failed, but just by a noose. In that reality Ravenloft just exploded (If it is plausible, let me know) freeing azalin and everyone who is trapped inside RL (with a very high chance of being disrupted during this process anyway). This is the reason that made FoS choose them to be worth the sacrifice and give them a second chance in this reality to save the world they spent their life to study. (I know FoS is actually Neutral Evil, this is why i'm not totally convinced about this point. If you have any other candidate for the "Resurrection Ritual" i would be glad to hear).

First problem: How could I proceed from here? I need them to go in souragne and fight against the walking dead. I need them to find the scroll of Hyskosa prophecy and i need them to follow this path.
For this I can have them "spawn" in Souragne already, and as soon as they come out of the cave they see Marais d'Tarascon, and as soon as they get in town they will witness a murder, and then the adventure will go on from there.
If they'll believe the bas-relief is a prophecy (as I could suggest as DM :diamabel: ...) they could actually feel like they have a job to do, and probably they will go and find out more about this Scroll of hyskosa.

What will happen at the end? Well, IF they will reach the end of the campaign, after doomsday device explode i will describe it like this: "A big blue flash, crackling sound, an explosion, Than Darkness." At this point it will be clear (even if reaching this point will take months) what happened. They will have their memories back (many ways to justify this... Mist, magic, the doomsday device, Timeline collapsing into one, anything else...) and they will understand that the bas-reliefs story is their story.

The Fraternity could do something like this? what could be the reason? How can I improve this story?

Now that you know the full plan, how would you describe the bas-relief? what events should be shown in there? Be careful because i would like to give them the impression of a prophecy about them, but in the end I would like to have the Player figure out that this is actually not the case. I'd like that in the end they think that the answer was under their nose all the time, and they just didn't get it.
Consider that if I put any of the adventure on the bas-reliefs (For example the Scroll of Hyskosa that they will find very soon, the undead, the pyramid of harakir and so on...) they will feel like they are completing the prophecy, but if I want that bas-relief to be the story of their former characters it should end with their death, not their triumph... Edit: Meanwhile i was reading this, it just come into mind this idea: I could have the last part of the story missing from the bas-reliefs (it could be broken into pieces, it could be cracked from the wall, anything that makes it un-readable). This way they will not be sure of what to expect and they will only know once they will find the Truth during the Doomsday device event (by having them see some cut-scenes, even some scenes of which they could not be witness to have a bigger and better explanation).
The downside of this possibility is that by having the end of the story cracked or ruined they will not have the full puzzle, and thus they will not think that the answer has been always under their noses. So if you have any ideas on how to let them think this is a prophecy, and at the same time give them everything they need to solve this "puzzle" let me know. I think this little detail would improve the feeling at the climax by a ton.
Let me know what you think!

As you can see the timeline tries to follow the canon, and there is (usually) a space of an year between adventures. How could i justify this "time lapse"? I dont want to describe it as "An year passes, and very little happens, until...". I'd like to have something more enjoyable to explain this jump, or find a way to avoid it completely and have them play an adventure after the another (Of course i'll give them time to do stuff in city and so on...). What do you think? how could I get rid of this little problem?

I also thought about having them not completely humans. But i'm not sure about this point. They have been resurrected through a very ancient and sinister ritual, and I'd like that they do not age (at the very least, they do not age like normal people, but slower). This because if they start the campaign with a character who's around 30 years, at the very end their character will be almost 50 years (consider that I will go on if they want to, even after the doomsday event). I don's see a 50 yo man fight azalin, even if this man is a renown hero :mrgreen: . What you think? How could i proceed about this point?
I did not read all the adventures, so i could be totally wrong about some point.
If you find anything that miss, or if anything of what i have typed above is totally wrong/incomplete feel free to tell me, and if you feel like it, I'd be glad to have your advice on how to improve the story.

Thanks in advance to anyone who will join this topic :D.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Just a few quick thoughts:
The fraternity is vehemently opposed to necromancy, so unless you change that stance, you'll need another benefactor group.
You don't have to stick with the timeline exactly. It's probably fine to go straight from one adventures to the next. But if you want to keep the gaps, you could explain it as a side effect of the ritual. Their resurrected bodies fall into a coma when not "needed" and their benefactors collect and store therm between "missions", perhaps even transporting them to where they need to be.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:Just a few quick thoughts:
The fraternity is vehemently opposed to necromancy, so unless you change that stance, you'll need another benefactor group.
You don't have to stick with the timeline exactly. It's probably fine to go straight from one adventures to the next. But if you want to keep the gaps, you could explain it as a side effect of the ritual. Their resurrected bodies fall into a coma when not "needed" and their benefactors collect and store therm between "missions", perhaps even transporting them to where they need to be.

Thank you! Have you any advice about which group could actually fit more the story?
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Nox wrote:Thank you! Have you any advice about which group could actually fit more the story?
Had to do a little research first, as nothing came straight to mind.

Some options:
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... _of_Mortis
(Problem: they are based in Paridon, but you could move them.)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Category:Ebon_Fold
(This would be a little weird, as they serve Azalin, but you could have a splinter group form, dissatisfied with how the Requiem panned out.)

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/wiki ... The_Kargat
(see Ebon Fold)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... _the_Grave
(Another weird one, as they wouldn't really exist without the Requiem, but maybe your original Requiem wiped them out, and they want a re-do)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... Opal_Guild
(I haven't read this one, but it sounds promising)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... n_Gargoyle
(OK, most people rightly despise this one, but you could rework it. If anyone wants to thwart Azalin, it's Strahd. And he's not at all above a little necromancy)

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Cat ... do_Traders
(This would be an interesting one, as they are far-reaching enough to pop up nearly anywhere. Jacqueline has several heads of wizards she could use to do the animating. Not sure what motive would be. Maybe if Azalin succeeds, her original head is lost forever?)
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by alhoon »

Wow... What did you just remind me Gon... The Black Opal.
I need to refresh them for 5e.

In any case, the Black Opal guild has no stated goal aside of advancing in necromancy but they have a strong interest in the grim harvest. An NPC I made as an example was active in Il Aluk before the Requiem and was fascinated by it.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

I really like the Ebon fold as it fit well with the life ritual, but my campaign is good aligned.. The final objective is to stop Azalin and the requiem. Kargat as we well know works for Azalin, so does Ebon fold. Any suggestions?
The life spell reanimate as construct, can't gain experience and can't cure through cure wounds spell. This is interesting as goes for the "immortality" of the characters, but it doesnt seems much playable as PC to me due to the healing spells and the experience....
How could I adapt it?
Taking into account your first suggestion (the splinter cell, unsatisfied), I could actually have them reanimate the Pc, but how could I have the PC find out the story of the splinter cell? Keep into account that most of the revelations will be revealed (uh, that sounds strange...) at the climax and that I would like to keep this mysterious start..
Do you think that the climax revelation thing works well?

Edit: just to know, what does "fold" stand for? Translator gives me a few different possible traduction and I am a bit confused. (fold: crease, sheep fold, flock, knocker)
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Nox wrote:Edit: just to know, what does "fold" stand for? Translator gives me a few different possible traduction and I am a bit confused. (fold: crease, sheep fold, flock, knocker)
It's often used as a metaphor, with the "sheep fold" (pen or enclosure) being likened to a church and its members (sometimes called a "flock", just as sheep are). The church as a safe, welcoming home for the vulnerable (or as a cage for the easily-led unthinking masses, depending on your point of view). In this case the Ebon Fold is a cult, so it fits that metaphor.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
Nox wrote:Edit: just to know, what does "fold" stand for? Translator gives me a few different possible traduction and I am a bit confused. (fold: crease, sheep fold, flock, knocker)
It's often used as a metaphor, with the "sheep fold" (pen or enclosure) being likened to a church and its members (sometimes called a "flock", just as sheep are). The church as a safe, welcoming home for the vulnerable (or as a cage for the easily-led unthinking masses, depending on your point of view). In this case the Ebon Fold is a cult, so it fits that metaphor.
Fine, thanks :)

Oh gosh I am reading slowly every suggested "cult" and many of them are very interesting. The only downside is they are almost all evil.

I am thinking about starting this campaign with the PC being evil (and maybe undead, but in an subtle and unnoticeable way; They'll take some time to notice it) and slowly becoming good during the adventures (if they want they could even restore their life). This way I can justify almost everything.

Would you consider this option enjoyable as a player?

Actually the most interesting "cult" are Ebon fold and the unholy order of the grave. black Opal seems interesting but I need to read the qtr first.

The Ebon fold option is to have this splinter cell that is not satisfied with the results of the requiem. They will be raised with the life spell etc.

The unholy order of the grave could be interested in the requiem since in their original timeline the way the requiem has happened made them weak or helpless, thus they want to turn this in their favor (maybe they do not have the shroud). Death would mentally speak to them and giving them command at the beginning.

In both cases something went wrong during the ritual and they will slowly get freed from their bond and start figuring out what is happening.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

Nox wrote:Oh gosh I am reading slowly every suggested "cult" and many of them are very interesting. The only downside is they are almost all evil.
Well, the problem is that if you're looking for a group that is Good, and also willing to raise people from the dead (even by sacrificing their own lives), you're probably not going to find one in Ravenloft. :)

I mean, sure, you could use something like the Church of Ezra (the LG branch, or maybe even the LN or N branch) and say it's a resurrection and not a reanimation, I guess. But if you want them to be undead, no truly Good organization is likely to be willing to do that, even to stop the end of the world.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

Gonzoron of the FoS wrote:
Nox wrote:Oh gosh I am reading slowly every suggested "cult" and many of them are very interesting. The only downside is they are almost all evil.
Well, the problem is that if you're looking for a group that is Good, and also willing to raise people from the dead (even by sacrificing their own lives), you're probably not going to find one in Ravenloft. :)

I mean, sure, you could use something like the Church of Ezra (the LG branch, or maybe even the LN or N branch) and say it's a resurrection and not a reanimation, I guess. But if you want them to be undead, no truly Good organization is likely to be willing to do that, even to stop the end of the world.

Yeah indeed. That's why they would start as evil being, with malignant intent. They will slowly recover their old behavior due to the fact that the ritual/spell has somehow gone wrong. At that point they will chose to be good or evil with their actions.

Tbh I don't mind much having them undead (In truth I'd prefer if they will be human with all their vulnerabilities etc),but as I said earlier I'd like to find a way to have them not growing old during the campaign. I think that this sinister resurrection could work as a decent justification for this.
Do you know any other means to accomplish this?

Otherwise I could house rule it as a side effect of the ritual.

Edit : I just realized that Death would not exist before the requiem, anyway thanks for every advice, I will follow one of those path and fix them accordingly.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Dark Angel »

So I had a problem with a game issue myself. I had a player who wanted to play a priest and wanted a list of them to select from. The issue was, outside of Ezra, there are fewer gods to follow without an evil outlook. How did I solve this? I made up more. Demihuman gods, some forms of faith for the common folk, etc. If you need a cult or a sect or a religion to justify and embolden the process needed to make the players whatever you need, make it up. Especially if they (as you potentially mentioned) follow this forum and would be able to inquire about a specific thing. I know a lot about 2nd edition sources, but Nox's cult? Not a clue. A small sect could be from another plane/prime world or evolved from another religion. Whatever you need. Can you throw it into the forum for our perspectives, comments, etc? Sure. Make it your own thing, helps mold the game to your ideas and personality.
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by thekristhomas »

My two pennies on a group that might be responsible, the Van Richten Society has a diverse membership with a varied ethical outlook and a wide array of skill sets. While Van Richten and his colleagues tend toward caution regarding the use of "darker" forces there is no prohibition amongst them on using any "weapon" in the fight. Given that you are also using some of the Chilling Tales adventures, it would also fit if Van Richten was the ultimate "benefactor"

A random thought, if a sacrifice is required, then might not the events of Bleak House be tweaked so that they portray Van Richten as making that sacrifice? That is that he sacrifices himself
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Re: Campaign Reboot! What do you think about it?

Post by Nox »

Thanks! Today we will start the campaign, and honestly I didn't figured out what to do yet. I can give explanation later on anyway, so no big deal.
Honestly I like the vrs idea, but vr dies before the requiem and this make little sense to me since he cannot know what is gonna happen...

I am reading my older post and actually I find this plot a bit messy, too many things happening at the climax.
I think I will make it more simple:

player will wake up, no memories, and no clue except the bas-reliefs and the big explosion flash in their head.
They are not evil, nor they are undead.
They don't grow old after the resurrection.
They have been "resurrected" on different bodies(since their bodies have been destroyed in the requiem).
After the first requiem (the one that went wrong were they died) their bodies (those of the old pcs) have been disrupted and, in the arcane explosion, their soul have been sent back in time to those bodies of dead mighty heroes.
So they will wake up in this sort of tomb with all the bas-relief (very old) that draws them fighting many evil and in the end being killed by hordes of enemies.
After the requiem they will wake up with the same memories of the beginning plus all their old memories and the memories of the campaign events.

I will avoid cults and cultists since I find that part messy, I'd need to justify how they resurrected, how did they come back in time, why, what happened etc.

I made this to focus more on the events that are happening to the actual pcs, than event in the back story that maybe they will never figure out. This way we can start the campaign, and to me it seems a lot more clear in general.

Anyhow, now that I find out about all those beautiful cults I could really put them into the campaign as villains for the pcs, eventually having them fight the pcs many time trying to prevent them from stopping the doomsday device. (expecially the unholy order of the grave who is very interested in having the requiem happens in the right way).

For now this is the plot that I will follow. I will post an update after the session to tell you how it went out :).

Thanks to anyone for every advice!
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