Letting My Players Choose the Next Campaign

I recently resumed work on my Deep Vaults adventure, but a complication arose this week. Our Tuesday night campaign is currently run by my friend Jeff, who I've known since college and with whom I swap off DM duties so we both have opportunities to play. He's been running a simple megadungeon concept, sort of an urban Caves of Chaos, to experiment with using some of the OSR principles I've shared with him.

We've been using the Into the Unknown (O5R) rule-set with some house mods for his campaign, and I think everyone is enjoying the simpler, more-grounded approach. Our players have grown a little jaded and lazy from computer games, though—and the isolation of Roll20 doesn't help in terms of player engagement—so Jeff and I both like 5e's core game engine to provide a framework for player actions (even though we loathe the setting and current direction of the game). 

Jeff's done a great job adapting to the OSR methodology but now wants to experience it as a player, so the plan was for me to run one area of his megadungeon. He still wants to do that, but has also indicated that he wants to wrap this experiment up soon and take a break from running while he applies what he's learned to a "real" campaign. As a result, my concept for the Deep Vaults is too ambitious for the near-future. I adapted the adventure from another concept that exists in my own campaign, so I don't want to waste it on something that will soon end and make it all irrelevant.

Thus, I'm forced to switch creative gears again. I'm still developing the Deep Vaults (which I will continue to post here along with the other adventures I'm working on), but for Jeff's campaign I've decided to run an older, unused dungeon I've had in my folder for awhile. It's an as-yet unnamed cavern crawl, sort of along the lines of Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, for levels 4-6. It's mostly done, I just need to finish up a few places in the key and create the Roll20 assets.

As for the future...

Like many DMs, I'm certain, I have a folder full of campaign concepts—half-baked ideas and scraps of worlds I'll likely never visit. As I discussed in an earlier post, I'm already working on multiple long-form dungeons, but I haven't committed to any single one. Those adventures represent old projects I'd like to finish, as opposed to starting new ones. 

I feel like if I can at least get those finalized and shared online, then I'm okay if I never actually use them in my own campaign. I've released that creative energy into the world and they can live or wither on their own. I have no illusions of fame or glory by sharing them, nor am I interested in how I can make a living writing game material...I think the barriers are high, and the effort-to-reward ratio is too low. It's fun to feed the creative beast, though, and if I can inspire even one other person with an idea, then it's worth it.

In any case, I have all these campaign concepts but I can't decide which one to pour new creative energy into. I have a few months...maybe a year to prepare. To combat the decision paralysis, I've decided to let the players choose. I've compiled a list of ten campaign ideas, some of which would be based on an old-school 5e rule-set and others on different rule systems altogether.

I've asked the players to rank the campaigns in order of interest level, from 1 (lowest) to highest (10). Unless one concept just blows everything else out of the water, we'll then take the top 3 scores and re-vote. The winner will be the campaign I develop over the next 4-6 months.

The survey list I sent them follows the break...

The Heroes of Brackleborn -- Game-Play Report (Sessions 9 and 10)

I took on a big writing project last week, so my work on the Deep Vaults has slowed to a crawl (although I completed my hazards table and am pretty happy with it...I will likely post that next). I’m getting jazzed about resuming my Wednesday night campaign, which is moving to Thursday nights every other week. Scheduling five adults for an entire evening on a regular basis is near-impossible, so I feel like we’ve really accomplished something. We’re also going to try to have at least one longer weekend game session each month. It warms my heart that the girls can’t wait to get back to slinging some dice.

After the last session’s light-hearted adventure (which I ended up naming “The Right Stuff”), I was ready to hit the players with a major shake-up to their reality. At this point in the campaign, we’d been playing a little over over three months and they got “the game.” Now it was time to show them what playing in a “campaign” was like.

To now, the setting’s background consisted mostly of rough bullet points, some of which I gave to the players at the start of the campaign—just some hooks to create points of recognition later. As I started prepping for this session, I added some details for the players to begin making choices. I knew they wanted to be closer to Emelia and her family, so I expanded on that portion of the setting for the players to explore.

I love to world-build, but whenever I start a new campaign, I immediately start looking for ways to subvert what I’ve presented and shake up the status quo. I’m not sure why I do that, but D&D needs dynamism, and the historical eras it emulates were certainly dynamic ones. Dungeons & Dragons could easily have been named Cash & Conflict, and both of those things come to the fore during these next  sessions.

This game-play report covers sessions 9 and 10, which occurred on 7/15 and 7/22, 2020.

Previously...

The girls lent a hand to the bakery moms, who needed help gathering ingredients for a feast to be held that night—an order commissioned by Lord Ferril, himself. Not only did doddering old Mr. Mulberry forget to place the order in a timely manner, as requested by the lord,but he also forgot to give the girls invitations to the feast, which is being held in their honor!

Despite the screw-ups, the heroes gathered the ingredients, the moms made the food, and everyone, along with Mr. Mulberry in tow, arrives at Brackleborn Keep on time.

The Heroes of Brackleborn -- Game-Play Report (Session 8)

My in-person Wednesday-night campaign is still on hiatus due to scheduling conflicts, but it looks like we'll be resuming the campaign in the next few weeks. One day, I'll be caught up with these gameplay reports. 

This particular session was super-fun and mostly spontaneous. The girls really latched on to Emelia, and they had some impressive role-playing moments with her and her father, Lord Ferril. I had decided to expand the party's involvement with the lord's affairs, since the girls seemed content to remain in the village and serve as its protectors.

I planned a "heavy" session with an important event to shake up the status quo and give the heroes a chance to step up and become major players in the town, but I wanted to give them a bit of a breather first, while also lulling them into a false sense of security. I came up with the idea for this adventure a few hours before the session as a series of amusing skill challenges and a test of their general organizational and time management abilities. It was also a good way to introduce more of the village and its townsfolk to the players. 

This session occurred on 07/08/20 (and now feels like a lifetime ago).

Previously…

Inside the goblin cave, the heroes slew several goblins and their boss, a hobgoblin called Gurd. They rescued Emelia from his clutches and recovered some stolen supplies, including four of the six stolen barrels of dwarf ale. They hurried back to Brackleborn Keep to reunite Emelia with the grateful Lord and Lady Ferril.

Development Diary: The Deep Vaults - Outer Gallery

Based on my sketch of the whole dungeon, I have completed maps for the Outer Gallery (both main and upper levels) and the Outer Vaults (East and West, main and upper levels)—six maps in all. I've started on the East and West Gallery maps, and have the Central Chamber and North Gallery sketched out. I've keyed the (mostly empty) Outer Gallery, as well as the Outer Vaults (West), and am working on the Outer Vaults (East).

The idea for the Outer Gallery is that it serves as the entrance/nexus point for the rest of the dungeon. The central part of the cavernous hall (which is 300 ft. long, 100-160 ft. wide, and 60 ft. high) has completely collapsed, meaning direct progress into the deeper dungeon is blocked off. 

The PCs will have to choose whether they want to start off on the ground floor or climb to the upper level balcony, and then whether they want to explore the passages into the Outer Vaults on the east side of the gallery or the west. Their chosen route through the Outer Vaults can lead them into either the East or West Gallery, or back into the northern half of the Outer (South) Gallery, on the other side of the collapse. This last area will be covered in the Central Chamber key.

This is the map of the main level of the Outer Gallery. It is the first area the PCs will enter upon descending an exterior shaft.

 

OVERVIEW

This entire complex was once a city inhabited by a race of subterranean humanoids called the Leng. The dungeon is actually made up of (10) different sections.

The main dungeon feature is a series of four gallery wings that form a cross radiating out from a central chamber. Each gallery wing is an open space 160 ft. wide by 300 ft. long at the floor level, shrinking to 100 ft. wide at the balcony level, which is 20 ft. above the main floor. Massive pillars hold up the gallery ceiling, which is 40 ft. high and flat.

Each wing is "separated" from the central chamber by a 20 ft. high, 30 ft. wide wall, atop which is a catwalk with no railing. Thus, the central chamber is 160 ft. square. 

In the quadrant area between each pair of gallery wings is a series of interconnected chambers—the remnants of the ancient Leng city. Each of these quadrants features a main and upper level with multiple access points into the two gallery wings it touches. Finding the routes between levels is one of the challenges of navigating each quadrant. The balconies/catwalks of the upper level provide another route to navigate the dungeon.

The tenth and final dungeon section is a sprawling series of flooded, cave-like passages and chambers beneath the city. This sub-level touches all other parts of the dungeon, and can be used to quickly reach more remote areas if the PCs can discover the paths. 

In addition to numerous hazards and threats found throughout the complex, the PCs will encounter various creature factions. The party’s interaction with these factions forms the basis for conflict in the dungeon.

There is very little in the way of traditional “loot” to be found in the vaults (coins, jewelry, etc.) Instead, the PCs will find remnants of the Leng’s advanced society, including bizarre crystal formations—some loose; others "blooming" in large clusters from the stone—as well as unknown materials and weird technologies powered by these crystals. Much of the value of these items is derived from their utility, rather than their inherent worth, so each item has an XP value associated with its discovery to compensate for the lack of conventional treasure.

INTERIOR FEATURES

The original architecture was of uniform construction, hewn from ancient bedrock to a high degree of precision and angularity. Throughout the dungeon, except where noted....

• Ceilings in passages and chambers are 10 ft. high and flat. There is 10 ft. of solid* stone between floors. (*There are actually lots of ducts and mechanisms within the stone, but this is not apparent.)

• The stonework is carved without ornamentation; a person familiar with stoneworking will notice that the tooling marks are strange (smooth ripples instead of angular chisel marks).

• Perfect angles once joined every seam between floors, walls, and ceilings, but the seismic event that created the rift has fractured the stone, forming large cracks and fissures in every surface, shifting whole sections of the dungeon, and even collapsing portions of it.

• As a result of the Leng’s curious biology, there are no stairs between levels—only ramps and elevator platforms.

• There are no doors, although most thresholds between passage and room (where a door might be) feature a 3-in. wide band of translucent crystal embedded in the stone. It takes great effort to destroy or remove the crystal.

• Any stone objects or furnishings are carved directly from the surrounding rock. They are not separate pieces that can be moved.

• Streams of water trickle from the many cracks in the ceiling and walls, then pool on the floor and drain away through more cracks. The whole atmosphere in the dungeon is cool and moist, and the wet makes it difficult to track creatures as there is little dust and any tracks quickly wash away.

The key to this area is under the break...