Campaign Concepts

From Toosigma

Contents 1 Fantasy Concepts 1.1 Temple of Elemental Evil 1.2 Hell on Oerth 1.3 The Tower 2 Modern Concepts 3 Star Wars Concepts 3.1 Jedi on the Run 3.2 Rebellion Spec-Ops 3.3 Clone Wars 3.4 Dark Times 3.5 Your Own Private Galaxy 3.6 Rebel Scum 3.7 The Empire Strikes Back 3.8 A Parallel Saga 4 Future Concepts 4.1 A Galaxy at War

Fantasy Concepts

• Age of Worms Adventure Path - A dark god is about to reawaken, and only the heroes can stop him.
• Shackled City Adventure Path
• Savage Tide Adventure Path
• Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path
• Curse of the Crimson Throne Adventure Path
• World's Largest Dungeon
• 4E Preview Adventures (First level pregen chars only)
• Sandbox Campaign Preview Adventures
• Heroes are all "destined God-slayers" in a dark fantasy world with evil everywhere - inspiration from God of War
• Vikings - pass the mead and butt-kicking for goodness! Earn your place in Valhalla
• Iron Heroes - low magic campaign, or all magic is "evil" - ala Conan
• Post-Apocalypse - The Mind Flayers succeeded in extinguishing the sun and established a massive empire - the heroes struggle to save themselves and free their friends.
• Eberron Airship Pirates
• Eberron Xen'drik Adventures - ala Indiana Jones/The Mummy - dungeon-crawling
• Eberron Psionics - Everyone is Kalashtar, fighting as underground resistance against the Inspired in Sarlona
• Eberron The Last War - Players are mercenaries fighting during the last years of the Last War
• Dwarven Undergound - Everyone is a dwarf, fighting to protect their mines, the homeland, and most especially, their beer.
• Dragon PCs - Players are all dragons, and have to fight to protect their hordes - Council of Wyrms setting
• Undead Campaign - the realm of the dead has overrun the world of the living - fight to survive, and maybe even fight back the darkness - inspiration: zombie/post apocalypse

Temple of Elemental Evil

The Pitch: Ten years ago, an alliance of good races fought to destroy a festering pit of utter evil. Now the Temple is rebuilt and evil stirs once more.
Primary Inspiration: The 1e adventure, adapted for 4e.
Pros: Experiencing a gaming classic
Cons: The new version might not measure up to the original - and some may miss the surprises of a truly original adventure.

Hell on Oerth

The Pitch: The worst has come to pass - the last generation of heroes failed to stop the rise of a Dark Power of unthinkable magnitude, and that Dark Power now rules the mortal world. Demons run rampant, slaying all those they find. Zombies and other undead feast upon the living. Devils have claimed what remains of the cities, forcing all the inhabitants into a brutal life of slavery. Can a new generation of heroes overthrow the Dark Power and return the world to some semblance of normality?
Primary inspiration: Post-apocalypse movies - Reign of Fire, Fallout, 28 Days Later (or any other Zombie movie)
Pros: Lots of adventure material - save the innocent from certain death or slavery, attack the strongholds of evil, or simply struggle to stay alive in the face of an overwhelming onslaught of evil.
Cons: With the tide so heavily turned against the heroes, it might get depressing or seem futile.

The Tower

The Pitch: The PCs wake up in a strange tower with no memories of who they are or how they got there. They retain all their skills and abilities. The Tower is well stocked with provisions and has equipment appropriate for each character. If they venture too far from the tower, they are overcome with debilitating illness. There is a large trap-door in the basement.
Primary inspiration: Old school dungeon crawl without all the social niceness of a hometown.
Pros: Beer & Pretzels Dungeon Crawling at its best
Cons: Some people actually like social encounters

Modern Concepts

• Cyberpunk / Shadowrun
• 1920's Adventure ala Indiana Jones/The Mummy
• Steampunk Mars - ala Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter
• Vampires / Werewolves - anything from White Wolf
• World of Hidden Magic - ala Dresden Files or Mage
• Superheroes - Mutants and Masterminds / Aberrant
• Government Agents - mild superheroes? - ala X-Files / Mutant-X
• Stargate SG-1 / Atlantis
• Time Travel - visit the coolest events in history, prevent others from destroying the timeline - Time Cop and this post
• Multi-verse - visit an infinite variety of universes, all slightly (or radically?) different
• Hunting monsters - ala Supernatural, Hellboy, or Call of Cthulu
• Zombie World - a virus/plague has turned most of the world into zombies
• Apocalypse - post nuclear war? or maybe a major virus wipes out adults (ala Jeremiah)
• Matrix - free your mind
• Near/Far Future - cool technology and social commentary

Star Wars Concepts

Jedi on the Run

The Pitch: You've survived Order 66, now you just have to keep Vader off your trail while rekindling the spark of Rebellion.
Primary inspiration: Clone Wars cartoons, Prequel trilogy, Original film
Pros: Lotsa Jedi/Force action, potential for some fringer hero types. No screen heroes to steal the PCs thunder.
Cons: You can't actually kill Vader/Emperor without screwing up continuity.

Rebellion Spec-Ops

The Pitch: You're a highly trained and carefully assembled special ops team
Primary Inspiration: SWd6 Rules of Engagement sourcebook
Pros: Built-in party unity
Cons: Limited character options

Clone Wars

The Pitch: Hey, let's all beat up some battledroids!
Primary inspiration: Clone Wars cartoons
Pros: High action with plenty of Jedi, but room for elite clone trooper PCs and the occasional oddball. That wicked awesome Sith chick as a villain.
Cons: Lotsa fights does not necessarily equal "epic".

Dark Times

The Pitch: Everyone is Han Solo and the Empire is the Man.
Primary inspiration: The original film, trashy 70s sci-fi novels
Pros: All the trappings of Traveller tramp freighter play in the the Star Wars universe.
Cons: Fewer lightsabre fights.

Your Own Private Galaxy

The Pitch: Forget those guys. Let's make our own Star Wars universe!
Primary inspiration: This post.
Pros: A whole friggin' galaxy to mess around with.
Cons: More prep work.

Rebel Scum

The Pitch: Kick the Empire in the balls!
Primary inspiration: The first two films.
Pros: Every right-thinking human being instantly gets the concept.
Cons: Working in the shadow of Luke, Leia, and Han.

The Empire Strikes Back

The Pitch: The Rebellion is a threat to order and stability in the Galaxy - they must be stopped!
Primary inspiration: The movie namesake, TIE Fighter videogame
Pros: A different perspective on a classic story.
Cons: May result in some crises of conscience, or suffer internal party breakdown as everyone tries to out-evil everyone else.

A Parallel Saga

The Pitch: Between the movies there was a whole 'nother saga, starring you!
Primary inspiration: All six films.
Pros: An opportunity to participate in the overarching canonical storyline while the Hollywood types are offscreen.
Cons: Easy to get tangled up in canon wankery. The Rise and Fall of the House of Skywalker will be a hard act to follow.

Future Concepts

A Galaxy at War

The Pitch: The fragile network of alliances and agreements between the various races of the Galaxy has been shattered, resulting in a massive conflict that threatens everyone. The heroes start as humble soldiers and pilots, but their actions may prove pivotal in the lives of trillions of sentient beings.
Primary inspiration: Warhammer 40K, Starship Troopers, World War I/II, Napoleonic Wars.
Pros: Lots of fun military action, with a constantly changing battlefield - from the cold depths of space to the underground warrens of the Insectoids. Potential for diplomacy and shifting alliances among the factions vying for control.
Cons: Doesn't lend itself as well to non-military themes (though they may still be feasible)