Help with my new campaign.

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Malpheor
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Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by Malpheor »

As a little bit of background I’m running a game which is currently set in Phase World but was originally a high—powered game set in a Palladium type fantasy world. My group consisted of a couple giants (a Titan and Rahu-Man), two dragons (Chiang-Ku), and a sort of warlock character who was a peasant that became bonded to an elemental essence fragment by a cabal of evil warlock with the assistance of an alchemist. Their goal was to eventually perfect the ritual (A modification of the Transformation ritual) and become greater Elementals so they could conquer the world. When an Elemental fragment was bonded to him by the Warlocks he became an entirely new entity. The character was bonded with a water elemental essence fragment which manifested itself in their new body as an ice elemental. For stats I gave his character +20 to P.S. and P.E. both becoming supernatural, +4 to P.P. -3 to I.Q. and -5 M.A. with minimum values of 4. +3D6x10 to HP +2D6x10+20 to SDC 1D4x100 to PPE + 3D6/level and the character learned 4 water elemental spells per level equal to or lower than their current level. I also gave the character the natural abilities in the stat block for a minor ice elemental on page 66 (i.e. bio regeneration of 1D4x10 SDC per minute, no need to breathe, impervious to ocean depths, cold, poison, chemicals, drugs, and disease, nightvision300 ft, understands all languages, double damage from magical fire and half damage from magic water attacks, sense water in a 5 mile radius. And the skills as well; Swim 95% (at 5 times the characters normal speed), Underwater Prowl 70%, Underwater Navigation 90%, and Meteorology 90% (a skill that allows the prediction of and movement patterns of the weather). Other than that he had an ability highly reminiscent of the APS: Ice ability in HU2.

The characters met when they heard rumors of an evil cabal of warlocks who were performing diabolical experiments and attempted to destroy them. They managed to infiltrate and rescue the ice character but didn’t manage to bring down the cabal. After decades (about 3 years real time) of opposing the plans of the Golahn cabal (named after the dark god Golahn; a warlock that had managed to bond with an Elemental Intelligence and become a god-like entity of earth and darkness) the players faced them down in a climactic battle and managed to kill the alchemist and destroy the heads of the society, unfortunately the cabal had managed to merge a few dozen of their members with greater elemental essences. After having done this they fled the remnants of the organization as it was far too powerful to overcome and attempted to hide from their enemies. It was around this time that real life kicked in for the two players running the giants and they had to leave the game because they were moving away and the player playing the Twined character got a job shortly after this and was unable to continue gaming regularly. This left me with only the two Chiang-Ku players and occasionally the Twined character (who I ran when the player wasn’t available). The Cabal didn’t know who exactly had gone after them but they did know that Chiang-Ku dragons were involved so they began hunting them down in order to exterminate the race.

My players ended up travelling the planet gathering dragons in order to preserve their species. I brought this chapter of the campaign to a conclusion by allowing them to gather a few hundred of their kin and then I let them begin to build a safe haven. The Golahn cabal discovered where they were and attacked them with the intent of eradication. There was a desperate battle and a rift was opened and nearly sixty of the Chiang-Ku escaped through the portal to a new location, the Twined fighting a rear guard action to allow the survivors to escape, planning to sacrifice himself. An avatar of Sohndiges, the god of fire and light, intervened and allowed the twined to escape though by that time the gate had shifted and he was ejected into space around the new planet.

The new planet they found themselves on was really a large moon orbiting a gas giant somewhere in the Three Galaxies (though the players don’t know this yet) and is very high in magical energies. The planet/moon is mega damage and the only inhabitants are M.D.C. creatures. I’ve decided that the planet is in a relatively unvisited region of the three galaxies so there won’t be many visitors. I’m currently having trouble coming up with how I’m going to develop the planet and the campaign. I have some broad ideas of the kind of thing I want to happen but I need some more ideas of potential antagonists and allies. Right now the players want to continue their campaign to save the Chiang-Ku race, so I’m going to try to base the new campaign around the effort of saving individual dragons and opposing those who are trying to eliminate Chiang-Ku like the Mauian order from Lemuria. Right now I’ve got a vague idea of having the characters travel the megaverse competing with dragons from Troud to find new citizens for their world, fighting the Golahn cabal from Helios (their original home), and possibly coming into conflict with the Cult of Dragonwright (I’m not sure how I’ll work this into the campaign yet).

For the next few sessions I think I’m going to run a city-building type of campaign and let my players help me create the new world they will inhabit after that I’ll probably take it into an exploration or tower defense type bent if my players don’t decide to do something completely unforeseen. I was hoping that people here might have some ideas for me on different directions I might be able to go in with my campaign. I'm mostly looking for ideas people might have in regards to potential allies and enemies for my players.
Smlawrence8
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by Smlawrence8 »

Holy Jesus this sounds like a fun campaign
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McFacemelt
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by McFacemelt »

First I would like to reiterate that sounds like a fun campaign.

These are the questions I would ask myself if I were at this point.
1. Who/what/how many already inhabit this moon and the gas giant?
2. Do they like the idea of about 60 Chiang-Ku invading their territory?
3. What if any valuable resources are there to be exploited not only by the PCs, but future NPCs/locals/invaders?
4. What resources are available simply for constructing their new city?
5. Since these characters are from PF, I'm going to assume almost no interaction with any sort of technology has taken place. Since you are moving more to 3 Galaxies, how do you plan to introduce high-tech weaponry, computers, space ships, and so on?

Hope this helps.
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Bill
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by Bill »

McFacemelt's questions are a good starting point. Worldbuilding is all about asking and answering questions. As an example, let's drill down into the details that you have:
Malpheor wrote:The new planet they found themselves on was really a large moon orbiting a gas giant somewhere in the Three Galaxies (though the players don’t know this yet) and is very high in magical energies.
How did they find it? What's the climate like? Will they have any difficulty providing food for 60ish dragons? Be careful answering that last question. If you choose to make it difficult, the players will need to come up with a permanent solution or the game will degenerate into an endless hunt for food. That could get very boring very quickly.
Malpheor wrote:The planet/moon is mega damage and the only inhabitants are M.D.C. creatures.
Are any of the native lifeforms intelligent? How do they feel about these newcomers? Are they able to receive magical tattoos or are they susceptible to the Elixir of Power and Deceit? How quickly will the 60 busybodies you've brought with you start infiltrating and manipulating the cultures and societies that exist? To what end? Will the players have to get involved when an aberrant Chiang Ku starts pushing one city-state toward militant fascism? Will the other Chiang Ku sit idly by as their pet city-states/tribes/countries are taken over?
Malpheor wrote:I’ve decided that the planet is in a relatively unvisited region of the three galaxies so there won’t be many visitors.
Relatively doesn't mean completely isolated. Perhaps it's a private hunting resort or mating-ground for one race or another, that will leave it uninhabited most of the time; maybe even for years. Perhaps a Dominator uses the gas giant as a fueling station. How subtle have the players been about bringing Chiang Ku to the moon? How easily will their pursuers be able to locate it?

A couple more things to account for:
Dragons & Gods indicates that there may be as many as 1000 Chiang Ku left in the Megaverse as a whole. 24 of them are on Earth according to WB3, so a trip to Rifts Earth might be in order. With that small number scattered across an infinite megaverse, how can you reflect the increasing difficulty of searching for the few remaining Chiang Ku? And what of the villainous Chiang Ku? How will your group deal with one that feigns interest in their mission only to attack their colony?

Both Dragons & Gods and RUE state that dragons dislike each other on an instinctual level and that mature dragons frequently attack younger ones. This could make your players' breeding program challenging to implement. While their specific description indicates that the Chiang Ku have a high regard for life, it doesn't contradict their innate territoriality. You could ignore these notes, and that there are selfish and evil Chiang Ku, or you could present these as challenges for the players to solve. What will they do when fights start breaking out between the dragons? When one of them kills another? How will they convince these incredibly powerful creatures to stay when they can so easily leave?
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say652
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by say652 »

First. Word!!

Dragons in large numbers always, ALWAYS draw the attention of greater beings.
Splugorth slave round-up.
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Alrik Vas
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by Alrik Vas »

Muscle brain is right, the sploogies would hold a reunion concert all over these guys. So many possible tattoo masters in the same place just means the t-shirts will be cheap.
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say652
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by say652 »

I think a I think this would be a great bonk and bag adventure for an evil party of significant power.
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Jerell
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Re: Help with my new campaign.

Unread post by Jerell »

Sounds like you need a backwater Galaxy where the Splugorth power is waning. May I suggest my personal all time Favorite, the Thundercloud Galaxy. Lot's of out of the way places/systems, very low numbers of high tech population. The Splugorth in the TC Galaxy are on the Defensive and losing (Thus can have their hands, read tentacles, full) verse the rapidly expanding Trans-galactic Empire (TGE). Plus there's Thunder Ducks about. :bandit:

I have my current 3G-Lemuria campaign set in the Creche Clouds (extremely high magic region) of the Thundercloud Galaxy and it's been working fantastically for me. It sounds like it would suit your campaign perfectly. Most of that Galaxy is unexplored, your moon could go easily go unnoticed there is that's what you're looking for.

If you do go to the Thundercloud, let me know, I've got a few power blocs listed out there that could possibly come into play. :twisted: For example, one group my players have tangled with is the Brotherhood of the Crimson Forge. A terrorist group out to purge the 3Gs of what they think is 'corrupt' cultures/behaviors, because they think only when the Galaxies are 'purified' (by their thinking) will the Cosmic Forge reveal itself. I've got a lot of protagonist my palyers love to hate, one they don't even realize, that's manipulated them a few times (Probably one of my most favorite protagonist I've ever created for a game), and a few that sometimes they grudgingly get along with (because they're just not as bad as the guys they hate).

Branden wrote:Thundercloud Galaxy has a flock of ducks in it that can slag a Glitterboy in one melee.

If that doesn't prompt you to buy it, I don't know what else I can say.
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