Current Events > D&D peeps: Can I bounce some campaign ideas off your head?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Using this as a resource for running the game:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

So Pathfinder rule set.

Anyway, basic setup for the campaign is that an evil wizard is looking for pieces of a powerful artifact for <insert purpose here>. He's fairly high level and owns a travelling circus that he's using as cover to move around and research/search for pieces of this artifact. He uses nefarious methods (anything from blackmail to mind control, or possibly something as simple as bribery) to get adventurers working for his circus and doing his legwork when a dungeon needs to be explored or whatever. Every member of this circus is an adventurer class like wizard or fighter, and they all work as performers/stage hands/wagon drivers when not on missions. The wizard DOES pay them for their work, as well as letting them keep any loot they find not related to his goals.

The PCs are all workers for this circus now, roped into it by whatever means they work into their back story. The bard is there freely because it suits his personality. The barbarian is there because the wizard is holding a family member hostage. Other motivations to be determined. In addition, everyone the wizard has enthralled suffers from extremely debilitating nightmares if he's upset with them OR they stray too far away from the circus (enchantment effect centered on a ring he carries, moving more than a certain distance from the ring triggers nightmares). The nightmares cause 1d4 Wisdom damage and will eventually drive the PCs insane unless they appease the circus master. An obvious motivation for them is to break this control.

Overall, the circus functions as a small town, with most of the facilities such a town needs. The wizard has been careful to grab NPCs skilled in things like blacksmithing and cooking in addition to adventuring skills so that the circus is relatively self sufficient.

Aside from that, the campaign world is an old world, with civilization having existed for roughly 4,000 years. Many of the typical terrors, such as bestial humans and large monsters, have been dealt with either by forcing them to the wild edges of civilization, destroying them and forcing them into hiding, or integrating them into society. In civilized kingdoms it is not uncommon to see unusual races, including bestial ones such as ogres or trolls, fitting in and adapting to social life. This is a world where magic has been explored deeply, understood, and tamed. The race wars have been fought and put to rest. Conflict is now mostly between countries rather than races, and each country mostly has a mixed amount of races. Extremely large metropolises are uncommon but each kingdom typically has at least one as its major hub.

Wild areas usually are areas of rough terrain, where certain creatures/races fit in better than standard races. Civilized countries have over time pushed undesirable creatures out of their kingdoms and into these wild areas and keeps them bottled there with military strength and the occasional campaign to eliminate any growing threats. These wild creatures/races do not appreciate this and seek to spread further out. Wild areas often act as a pressure cooker, with internal conflicts between groups common. More uncommon is cooperation between groups, but that threat sometimes rears its ugly head and then the wilds pour out of their barriers in a flood. Typical wild areas include mountains, deep forests, deserts, wastelands, and anywhere else where routine travel is made more difficult due to terrain.

I'm interested in hearing thoughts and suggestions on what I can do to improve this
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The party so far:

Dwarven bard who is addicted to sniffing gems. As in he grinds them into dust and snorts them like people did cocaine in the 80's. Because of this personality quirk I have decided that dwarves in this world need to consume small amounts of gems consistently to maintain their health. Typically this is done by grinding them up and using them as spice in food, but in a pinch whole gems can simply be eaten. Snorting them provides nutrition but also produces drug-like effects, different effects for different types of gemstones. Rarer, more valuable gems produce more extreme feelings.

Stereotypical half orc barbarian. Guy is a first time player so I'm trying to help him round out a character, but I'm not gonna push him too hard on the whole backstory thing.

Human fighter who specializes in throwing doors at people. He's taken the Throw Anything and Distance Throwing feats to accomplish this. He can effectively throw literally anything he can lift as a weapon, but door chucking is his signature specialty.

Other two people haven't gotten back to me yet, but one is probably gonna be some type of mage and the other says he'll pick a class to round out the party.
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I wish I wasn't so shy so I could go play a game. I love the idea of playing D&D, but I'm simply too shy to go and join a stranger's game and I don't have a single friend that would be interested in this
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yes

bump
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yes

fire_bolt posted...

bump

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Darklit_Minuet posted...

yes

I've always wanted to try playing DnD but I wouldn't even know where to start. Maybe someday.

(For now, I know of numerous character creators that can be used to make a DnD character visually.)
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Bad_Mojo posted...

I wish I wasn't so shy so I could go play a game. I love the idea of playing D&D, but I'm simply too shy to go and join a stranger's game and I don't have a single friend that would be interested in this

Same but instead of shy, not lazy
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Welp, I just weaponized a didgeridoo for the bard. He wanted to wield his instrument as his main melee weapon too. He's gonna snort gems off it, play battle music, and then beat people to death with it. Seems legit
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Darklit_Minuet posted...

Darklit_Minuet posted...

yes

Is this an online game?

@SuddenlyNinjas
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Mikablu posted...

Is this an online game?

Yeah, running it on my discord server
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fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

Is this an online game?

Yeah, running it on my discord server

Um, any room for another player? >->;;

Mikablu posted...

fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

Is this an online game?

Yeah, running it on my discord server

Um, any room for another player? >->;;

Actually, I have one more opening
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https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/215-pencilpaper-rpgs/66480379
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Man I have some crazy dejavu with this topic.

Like, timelines from multiple universes are colliding in my head or something.

I'm supposed to quote the people about being too shy, and then talk about how I would go into my local DnD place, but it's filled with smelly people, and then someone else quotes me and says his place has very nice smelling people and I must be unlucky. That's how it happened before.
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ChromaticAngel posted...

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/215-pencilpaper-rpgs/66480379

Thank you very much for this
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fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

Is this an online game?

Yeah, running it on my discord server

Um, any room for another player? >->;;

Actually, I have one more opening

Really? :O

Mikablu posted...

fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

fire_bolt posted...

Mikablu posted...

Is this an online game?

Yeah, running it on my discord server

Um, any room for another player? >->;;

Actually, I have one more opening

Really? :O

Hop on Steam and talk to me when you have time
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Nignog you never mentioned you had Discord

Darklit_Minuet posted...

Nignog you never mentioned you had Discord

Whore, I spend more time on Discord than I do sleeping
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We run via discord and roll20. It's fantastic, actually. Only adds maybe 1-2 hours time per session to my prep, but makes everything run REALLY smoothly. There's a lot of resources for macros, too, and makes initiative take like 5 seconds rather than 5 minutes of organizing and writing and forgetting who the hell is still alive...

We are 8 sessions in, and the big bad has somewhat shown its face... or at least its influence on the events the players have been a part of.

Bonus: We have a circus, too! Ours is actually rolling into town in our next session, it's been building up in the background for 2 sessions, with whispers and rumors, as well as two townfolk who are definitely associated with them... one obviously not super trustworthy...
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I've used roll20 before but it adds more prep time than I care to deal with. I can slap together a dungeon adventure in about 20 minutes on graph paper. I've got a bot for my discord server who can handle dice rolls, although the lack of macros will be missed
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fire_bolt posted...

I've used roll20 before but it adds more prep time than I care to deal with. I can slap together a dungeon adventure in about 20 minutes on graph paper. I've got a bot for my discord server who can handle dice rolls, although the lack of macros will be missed

the last time I ran an online game I used discord and https://rolz.org/ to do the rolls.
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