Favorite Campaign time

So, lets hear about your favorite campaign. The system matters not, but let's hear about some details about it, and tell us why it's your favorite. Green text, or not, your choice. Fuck it, make it a story if you want.

>tfw all your campaigns die in 1-3 sessions

Man, I feel for you user. Seriously.

I'd tell about my favorite campaign but i get sad because it ended, and it would now be impossible to get our little group together again and finish it.

I'll tell it anyway. I'd rather read about others though, because I always worry that my games were 'dull' compared to what others get into.

Lemme green text up a bit so i can copypasta.

>be second game of d&d
>first game ended in a tpk that was just nasty as hell, melted in acid and stuff.
>dm makes us roll, i get a 13 str, 15 dex, 14 int, 17 con, 18 wis, 10 cha....for 2ed, that was friggen screaming.
>I didn't want a cleric, so the dm suggested I try a psionic
>I read up on them, and made my character, a human psionic, named Keldin.
>the other two guys had a human mage, and a dickass halfling thief.
>The DM told us to pick a God, and create a background story
>I had no idea what a psionic background would be, so I asked the dm, how psionics were viewed in this game
>He said "it's not magic, some people consider it demonic, some accept it as another form of magic, but in the land you'll be starting in, it's not common, or accepted really. You won't be killed for it, but people will worry about what they don't understand"
>That sounded fair to me, so I asked then, if I could be from a different country/area, where psions were more common.
>We rolled and he came up with Kara-Tur, an oriental land.......
>But I didn't want to be an oreintal....
>We finally agreed that my father had been a trader, and had taken me and my mother to distant Kara-Tur on a trading run, the ship sank, I floated to shore and was raised there for a decade or so
>When I was old enough to leave, I booked passage on a ship back to this land, and left Kara-Tur
>I was happy with the background, it seemed fun
>So, the party was introduced on the boat ride to the land we'd be starting in, and after a month together, we became sorta friends
>The mage and I became friends, my buddy's halfling, we weren't too fond of (he was a really good guy, but played an annoying halfling thief a little too well)

cont.

>Upon arriving at the docks (in the mighty town of Westville), we quickly went to my fathers company so i could lay claim to any funds they might have for me as the sole inheritor.
>The new owner told me that my father had left debt, and that I'd get NOTHING
>This pissed us off, so we decided to rob the guy
>That didn't go well, and the thief was caught
>We paid his fine and began looking for work, since we were broke
>We accept a job for the city, to find out why wagons from Eastville, (yes, really) weren't making it to our city
>There is a mountain range between the two cities, and a place marked on the map called "The Pass", that you could take to avoid going around the mountain range, saving months of travel
>The Pass, was 3 weeks away from the city we were in, and we assumed that narrow stretch would be the likely spot that wagons were being ambushed at
>we head off, and are attacked by a group of skeletons
>We dispatch them, and walk back to town to heal up (at this time, we had no healing)
>In town, and with only a couple gold between us all, the thief gets caught AGAIN trying to pick a pocket, and is arrested
>We can't afford to buy his way out yet, so he's stuck
>the mage and I begin investigating around, to find hints about where the wagons were last seen, when they left, what they carried, etc
>basic gathering clues (these tiny details would become very important later, much much later)
>we head back out of town, and kill a group of bandits
>we bring one in alive, and find out these bandits were not responsible for the wagons disappearing
>we collect a bounty, and get our thief out of jail
>the thief decides he'll break into the owner of the shipping business that my father had owned, and steal some gold for us all
>we offer to help, but he says he'd be better alone
>we wait in the Inn, and the DM runs his attempted robbery

cont..

>Our rogue is captured of course, for his third offence in as many days.
>the judge says "10 years hard labor, lose a hand, or leave town and never return"
>The halfling chooses exile, and we agree that he'll head to the pass, and try to infiltrate the bandits or scout around
>we continue looking into what we can find out here in town
>by this point, the only supplies coming into this city, are by boat, and from the capital, far to the south. NO wagons are making it between east and west ville.
>We figure out a pattern to the shipments
>wood/stone/ore goes EAST
>food/ale/clothing goes WEST
>That detail will play a HUGE role in the outcome of campaign
>Another wagon train is about to leave town, this time with extra guards that came up from the capital
>We were going to hire on it, but decide to not since anything that could kill the guards, would kill us as well
>As the wagon train left, we saw a smoke signal go off in the distance
>We saw another tiny puff of smoke in the city, and we began to look for whoever was signaling
>We trace it to a blacksmith's shop, and the guy seems fishy as hell
>we can't PROVE that he's guilty of anything, but we know he is
>That night, we're attacked in the Inn, and I'm badly wounded, the mage comes out unscathed
>We find a unique dagger on one of the killers, and the guards tell us that it belongs to a gang of thugs they're trying to get rid of
>no word from the thief, and the DM and he were careful to not let us hear what they were doing
>we track down thugs, and kill a few of them, but their leader gets away
>a couple nights later, a note is slid under my door, warning us to back off
>I climb out the window quickly and get a look at the guy running off, it's an elf, that's about all i could tell
>the mage and I continue to kill thugs from the gang related to the dagger we'd found, as that was our only real "lead" to this mess

>I traded a large gem that neither of us could appraise for shit, to a merchant who had an odd egg for sale
>assuming it was some type of exotic parrot, and thinking a parrot would be neat, i was happy to buy it
>the mage detected a tiny hint of magic from the egg, but could tell no more
>I began using psionics on the egg, to make mental contact with the creature inside
>i could tell it was alive, and not hostile, so each day, I'd spend a little time (and burn off my extra pp's), "talking" to the egg
>We start a hunt for this mysterious elf......
>We are outclassed, and outnumbered at every turn
>we win some battles, and kill a lot of little thugs, but we're not really gaining ground
>the elf shows up again to warn us, and this time, I was ready for him
>he tried to mind blast me, not expecting to meet another psion..i resisted of course, and said "wait, let's speak"
>The elf revealed nothing really, but agreed to leave us alone
>he said he was done with the thugs, and about to "move on", and I was free to kill them all if I wanted
>He said they thugs weren't his friends, or allies, they were just tools
>He then smiled at me, and said "You really should get out of town soon, you aren't a part of this, and for your own good, just leave"
>Of course, we didn't leave.....
>We go back and lean on the blacksmith more, and end up killing him
>We start hearing reports of gnolls and trolls being sighted near the city
>the city goes on lockdown
> A note is slid under my door, saying "Leave now, I'd not see a fellow psion killed needlessly"
>I wake the mage and we head to the stables and saddle our horses
>We start heading out of town, wondering how we'll get out of a locked down city
>Then....the fires start all over the city
>The gates are blown open
>Gnolls are in the streets, Trolls are at the docks, and explosions are happening all over the city
>It's a bloodbath
>We save a couple people from gnolls, and lead them out of the city

>The people head South towards the capital.
>We head down the coast a ways, and watch the city burn
>There's nothing we can do
>We kill a couple small groups of gnolls and got a good hunk of treasure, as the gnolls had looted the entire city
>We swim into the city, and free a group of people about to become gnoll food, and send them south
>not knowing what to do at this point, we decide to head towards Eastville, and meet up with our thief (who we have no idea if he's dead or alive)
>We make it to The Pass, and find it's been blown up
>There is no pass, rockslides have closed it off
>it would take an army, months to clear it away
>we ponder going back to the city and trying to loot treasure, but decide we should focus on getting to our thief
>head north, and hope to ride around the edge of the mountains and reach Eastville
>we nearly starve to death when we run out of food, and we get lost A LOT
>neither of us were really trained for exploring mountains
>Eventually we make it to the city, and I quickly go to report to the authorities what had happened in Westville
>The gov thanks me, and puts us both up in his guest house
>he calls us into his office in the morning, and said that he'd hire us to make sure that the same thing doesn't happen to his city
>he's sent word to the King far to the south, but that could take months to get troops up here
>We agree of course, and the Gov makes us "Special Investigators ", and gives us basically unlimited authority (within reason) to do what must be done to protect the city
>We quickly find traces of the smoke signals here too, and are attacked by another group of thugs
>We're worried that this town is going to get smashed like the last one
>We stock up on supplies, and keep an emergency supply cache hidden outside of town
>we havent found our thief yet but learn that The Pass is also sealed from this direction as well
>The mage's familiar eventually finds the thief living it up working for a local brothel

>After we all get back together, things became a little easier on the DM
>The thief had made it here unmolested through the Pass, and the Kings guards had returned South, but then he got stuck here when the Pass blew up
>None of us were smart enough to ask HOW the bad guys blew the pass up, if we would have been, it would have changed a lot
>I meet a human lady who's real attractive
>After some minor flirting, I realize she's trying to get info out of me
>The mage tries to charm her, and fails
>She draws a dagger and attacks me
>We kill her, but I'm badly poisoned, and sick for a couple days
>Oddly enough, the poison drained my powerpoints, which nixed my psionics
>My egg hatched finally, and A fairy dragon appeared
>The DM said he was going to give it to the mage as a familiar, but since I used psionics on it, it had bonded with me
>The mage was a little upset, because this was a cool fucking critter, and this one didn't cast spells.....it used psionics
>I take the dead lady out, and bury her because I'm a decent sort of person
>The Elf from Westville shows up, and we have a hell of a fight..it seems I'd just killed his wife
>The mage and thief make it in time to save me from death, and the Elf gets away
>We know he's here, we know he's somehow responsible for destroying the city, and we know he'll do it again
>I try to use psionics to contact the elf and make peace somehow....but I blew my psionics check, with a critical fail, and that voided me from every contacting that specific person again
>that was extremely bad luck
>We continue to do what we can to warn people, and try to stop the doom we know is coming
>This went on for a while...we convinced several families to leave town, and tried to get some of the outlying farms to leave too
>when gnolls and trolls were spotted outside of town in small numbers, we knew shit was about to get bad
>We warned the gov again, and he said he was sworn to protect this city and couldn't leave

>The gov refused to evacuate the city and told us to hurry up and do SOMETHING
>We find another blacksmith, and figure out that he's involved. We get rough with him, and find a tunnel leading down under his shop
>The tunnel down, led to a huge tunnel with a bunch of small tunnels leading all over under the city
>Then we smell the gas.....
>Then we figured out HOW the elf was blowing up things
>he was pumping pockets of gas into various tunnels
>We booked ass out of there, and told the gov we couldn't stop this, there were too many tunnels and not enough time
>The gov ordered guards into the tunnels to fix the problem
>We 3, said "Fuck this", and left town at a high rate of speed
>We fight through a group of gnolls and a troll, and head South as fast as we can
>We could see the city burning in the distance
>3 weeks later, we make it to the Capital city
>The rogue (even though we're loaded with gold), goes back to his old habits and tries to rob someone
>we'd just been warned by the guards, that due to an increase of thefts, that thieves were being hanged and punished harshly
>our rogue is captured on a failed pick pocket.......and sent to jail
>we buy his way out (after a BIG bribe to a guard captain, and a sob story about the halfling being a stupid drunk)
>Two days later, the halfling tries to rob the SAME merchant
>He's captured again, and this time....they don't even accept the bribe....they execute him
>Our rogue's player, is pissed, but he'd been warned, and the DM tells him to reroll
>The mage and I agree to go talk to the officials, and talk about what happened up North in the two cities
>We're taken to see one of the King's advisors, and tell him our tale
>He tells us what other survivors had told him about it, and our story matches up
>The mage is offered a job being his personal mage, the mage accepts after the guy tells him that he's got a stack of unidentified scrolls
>since spells were hard to find the mage was delighted

>I was sent to the captain of the city watch
>When I told them I was a psionic, they made me an officer
>And thus, I became an investigator for the city
>I handled minor shit, and met up with the mage now and then (he was enthralled with deciphering spells and scrolls, and busy casting minor spells for the adviser)
>I get stabbed in the back, and dropped to 1 hp, in an ambush
>It's the same style of dagger that had been used on me in Westville
>I spend a couple days resting up, and thinking things over a bit
>my fairy dragon is just learning to speak words, but has a good grasp of mental communication
>I find out what a valuable asset that can be, when he warns me of another attack coming my way
>You see, I couldn't make mental contact with that dickhead elf...my familiar though, could
>I arrange a meeting with the elf, and walk into an ambush
>I manage to crawl away with only a couple HP left, and having expended ALL my powerpoints
>Trying to make my way to the guards station, the elf confronts me
>He says he's not going to kill me yet.....not until he kills my friends, and makes me watch him destroy another city
>I ask him why he's doing this
>He says this land shouldn't have ever been settled by humans, it belongs to the wild, and the wild will always reclaim its own
>I do my best to reason with the elf, but it's clear that he's gone over the edge into insanity
>He kicks me in the face, and leaves me bleeding in the gutter
>I'm found by the guards who take me to the temple and get me healed up
>I warn the mage that he's a target, and I tell every official I can speak to what's up
>The king grants me an audience, and HIS personal mage assures the king that he'll scour under the city magically, and make certain that there are no tunnels about to blow up
>It's all I can do for now
>I get the mage assigned to work with me, and we head out to explore and see what the Kings mage might have missed
>We find nothing of course

>We do find out that the King's Mage, is banging this high class whore
>We talk to her, and manage to scare her into talking to us about the mage
>She lets us know that the King's mage, has offered to take her with him to his private Island far away.............
>We know at soon as she says that, that the Kings mage is in on this whole thing.........
>We rush to tell the King, and the High Mage stops at at the castle gates
>We have a nice battle, and I learn that Psions can be deadly against mages (control sound, and high saves)
>The guards are freaking out not knowing who to help, and the King shows up, and we tell him everything.
>He promotes me, and orders us to find those tunnels and prevent this disaster
>We try, we really really do......
>We find one tunnel, and clear it out
>We find another tunnel, and get ambushed, and end up flooding it (which does sorta clear it out)
>We rally every able bodied person in the city to start systematically clearing the tunnels under the city
>Most guards don't come back
>A small group of giants is seen a couple days travel away by scouts
>They're headed this way. Gnolls are attacking farms
>The king summons me to his chambers
>He tells me he feels a doom coming
>(I don't disagree, but I say nothing)
>He tells me to take his wife, and child, and get them far to the South where his wife's family living
>I agree, and we load up and prepare to head out
>People are fleeing the city, some are looting, even guards are robbing stores
>It's chaos and despair everywhere
>The docks are set on fire
>As we leave the city with a small group of elite guards, the first explosion rocks the castle
>As we get a mile away, we hear the massive rocks thrown by the giants start hitting the walls and buildings
>We hear gnolls off in the distance
>The elf is waiting on his horse off in the distance, and my pet tells me that he'd like a word with me
>I ride towards him, as the Queen and Infant prince continue on

>He's siting on his horse, with that smug fucking expression on his face
>He laughs at me and laughs at the city, and mocks the screams off in the distance
>Then, he bows to me, and says, "I wish you luck in the future Keldin, may the rest of your life be not filled with the failures of your past"
>I judge the distance, and dimension door directly behind him
>When I regain my composure, I attack
>He put up mental defense as any good psion would do in this case
>I didn't use my mind, I'd already done that riding up
>I'd buffed up
>My first sword swing was a Nat20. Knocking him off his horse, a failed save and he was all the ground on his back
>He never got up (he had very low HP really)
>I stabbed him over and over, and then cut off his fucking head
>I took all his gear, and burned his body except for his head
>His head, I took to the Queen, letting her know he was dead
>We take the queen south to her family, and stop to count our gains and losses
>We had no idea what we should do now
>We wait for a thunderstorm, since I was a follower of the God of Thunder, and made a huge sacrifice to my god.
>The DM had long said that he didn't like gods appearing or taking a hand in his games
>But with a big gift, and a 1-3% on the d100, my god MIGHT, just MIGHT take notice of my prayers
>I offer up a bag of gems, a couple magic items, and roll..........02%
>The god takes notice of my struggles,and my failures and tells me to return to Kara-tur
>Walk to the Western coast (a years journey), and do not draw my weapon until I arrive
>Tell people of the glory of the Thunder god as I go, and recruit who I can to his banner.
>I accept his demand and do as instructed

Continue? or is there no interest?

Nono this is great, please continue

>We head west, traveling slowly as I had to walk the entire way
>We stopped at every village, and I'm sure we looked like raving madmen, dirty and talking about insane things
>But, some people did join us
>by the time we reached the coast, We'd spent all of our money buying food, and wagons and clothing to feed the villagers that had followed us on our insane journey
At this point, the mage's player had a schedule change and had to leave the game, so the rogue's player rerolled and joined back in
>When we reach the coast, we sale the wagons and I notice that the women are gone from our group
>They've all went their own way, many going back to their villages, or moving on
>The men however, seemed just as dedicated to our "cause" (whatever the fuck that cause was) as they had been when they joined us
>Oddly enough, none of the men seemed to CARE that their wives had moved on without them
>We book passage on a ship, and 120 of us land in Kara-tur a few months later
>I pick up 30 of the ships crew giving us 150 men counting myself, when we land.
>We walk to a cave in the distant mountains, and there, we are met by a high priest of our god, and a couple guys in armor
>The cave seals off magically behind us, and there we stay for a LONG time.
>I'm trained in the way of the sword, and become a holy warrior for my god
>My friends rogue, is taken to another area, and I don't see him (he's trained to become basically a ninja)
>The others with us, are also trained in the way of the sword
>We have no clue how long we're in this cave area training, but we do not age
>Years pass...then more......and we continue to train
>We leave the cave finally when the high priest tells us the god has said we're ready
>We're told to go back to where we came from, and claim that region, and civilize it, and spread the glory of our god
>We're handed a lightenbolt banner as our crest/holy symbol, given a bag of gems (the same bag I'd used to get the gods attention), and sent off

>Of course, my god outfitted me well
>a new sword (magic) new armor (also magic, that didn't hinder my psionics)
>my rogue friend also served my god, but his mission was to simply use his new skills to aid the King. I was the King. It hadn't really dawned on me yet.
>But, I was king of literally fucking nothing. No kingdom yet.
>We sail back to the mainland, and land near the Ruins of Westville
>Nothing is rebuilt, and everything is overgrown
>I have 149 elite soldiers with me, and 20 of them are also now psionics
>objects are read, and we learn that it's been about 500 years since we were here last
>We question where to set up our city
>We discuss it, and decide that we'd build on the site of the old capital city, there should be the stone quarries there still (even if overgrown), and lumber. Plus, the rivers merged near there, which made it a great spot.
>We headed South, picking up a few villagers here and there to aid us in building the city
>We had no priest with us..which was odd for a "holy army" like we were
>But we trusted in our mission, and carried on
>We made it to the ruins of the capital and began dispatching monsters and undead that lingered nearby
>we sent men south to the coast to recruit builders and lumberjacks
>we pillaged the ruins and found treasure all over
>we explored the bottom of the river where the old castle had sunk
>a box is found (heavily warded )
>we manage to dispel the wards and open the box
>we find a ball of pure magic
>not sure what to do with it, we store it away
>A wagon train arrives, bringing supplies, tools, tents, and craftsmen......it's led by a priestess of our god
>Clearly, our god had a vested interest in this area
>the priestess said she was told to come here, and Aid the gods chosen in his tasks
>As work began on our foundling empire, we asked the priestess about the ball of magic
>she said it wasn't exactly 'magic', but was the essence of an elder god, long forgotten

>We build and build and build and build and build
>we farm...we hunt....
>building a fucking city ain't easy
>the lure of what we could do with that ball of 'essence' keeps bothering us...
>maybe we could use it to build things up quicker?
>i ordered a psionic to read it, and tell me what it's about, (i couldn't read objects)
>he evaporated when he touched it
>The priestess said that my sword was forged by our god Himself, and it should be able to withstand touching the glowing globe of energy
>I decide to try it
>I draw my sword stick it into the glowing orb
>my pet tries to mentally warn me an instant before i touch it
>there's a massive explosion and a bright flash
>when I wake up, a few soldiers around me are dead, my pet is dead, and the priestess is in a coma
>wtf?
>I'm mainly upset by my pet, that had been with me for so long
>We pray, but get no response
>a younger cleric says he's cut off from the god for some reason and is unable to heal
>my sword pulses with power
>i try to mentally contact my sword, and am knocked out again
>we go back to work, and wonder over all of this for a few days
>the priestess is still in a coma, but doesn't seem to be physically harmed
>she's just brain dead it seems
>I decide to dispatch her instead of letting her wilt away
>as I touch the sword to her there is another flash, and I'm thrown backwards and knocked out again
>A lightening storm to end all lightening storms appears
>it strikes all over, but doesn't harm any of us
>We know our god is awake
>the priestess body is gone
>It seems when I'd touched the essence, It had jumped to the maker of the blade like a divine magnet
>this had trapped my god inside the sword
>touching the sword to the priestess, had freed him, and ............my god had absorbed the essence of the elder god, raising his status from Minor Deity, to Major Deity
>we offered up a prayer of thanksgiving
>our god replied with a massive lightening bolt, striking the river....and

striking the river and...splitting the earth.
>a 3 mile long crevice, deep into the ground
>the force of the blast pushed a nearby mountain range back a couple feet, causing a shitload of damage
>the other gods were LESS than pleased by all this
>a few days later, a new priestess arrived
>she told us that our god was fine, and able to hold his own against the other powers
>he'd warned the other gods that they would take no action against me for any of this
>we continued to build
>i wanted my pet back
>It bothered me...it bothered the rogue that our fairy dragon was dead
>the priestess said that the little dragon was blasted beyond her ability to raise, and only the food of the gods could bring it back
>I had no clue what that meant, and she'd say no more
>We continued to build, more people came
>my elite soldiers made up the bulk of my army, and did the patrols and policing
>I married the priestess and made her Queen
>I promoted the rogue to Lord Marshall
>I slipped out one night, and went off to find the food of the gods and restore my pet
>It was a total dick move really, to put that much on them, but it's what I did
Our mage player came back at this point, and met up with me as a new mage, who was guiding me on this quest to find magic food
>I used all my powerpoints almost daily, avoiding all combat, and teleporting to exotic locations after reading peoples minds for a view
>I make it to a hall of Titans, and bargain with them to gain passage inside
>I win a battle of wisdom with a titan who tells me where this "food" is.
>I grab the food and head home
That's a VERY condensed version of all that
>I restore my pet to life
>My wife is pissed about my being gone for 3 years, but it was totally worth it
>I soon have twin sons
>My rogue buddy playing the Marshall is killed in an encounter with Giants
>I go find his body and try to get him raised
>my wife/priestess can't do it, she says some force is blocking it

this is fucking intense

>I track down that source and destroy it.
>it was some weird cult of necromancers, that I find out was hired
>Hired by some temple to a nature god
>yea, the nature gods were pissed at me about the geographical disaster from years ago
>That little adventure took me and the mage about 2 years IG
>I return home, secure that my friend would be up again...
>I find a city in ruins....dead bodies all over
>dead giants and trolls and gnolls
>in my absence, we'd been attacked
>I send my pet to scour the land and find my family
>my mental contact ability was limited greatly by distance, and i couldn't pick up any sign of them
>we head north, looking for tracks or signs
>a couple weeks later, my dragon contacts me and tells me to go more north
>I get to a place i'd seen before
>The Pass
>climbing over and around, I make it to the center of the valley beyond the blocked pass
>there is my friend and my family and several of my people
>they'd managed to escape the slaughter
>looking around I see tons of ore and tons of stone
remember this:
>>wood/stone/ore goes EAST
>>food/ale/clothing goes WEST

This had been the storage area where the bulk of the looted cities, and the stolen material was placed a few centuries ago.

>We had supplies, we had manpower
>we started to rebuild
>less worried about expanding and claiming
>more focused on defense and survival
>I aged
>we all aged
>We ended the campaign with my psionic dying in his sleep and his god personally coming to claim him
>Then we all sit there and asked a million questions that we'd never learned IG
>All in all, it was an epic game, with good friends, and the most enjoyable I've ever had
>Great battles, good RP, and a wonderfully entertaining plot
>the DM said, so, do you want to start over, or would you like to play one of the twin sons and carry on?

I hope you all gained a little pleasure from this, because it was a game that brought me much pleasure.

Thanks for reading those who read. :)

>>I track down that source and destroy it.
>>it was some weird cult of necromancers, that I find out was hired
>>Hired by some temple to a nature god
>>yea, the nature gods were pissed at me about the geographical disaster from years ago
>>That little adventure took me and the mage about 2 years IG
>>I return home, secure that my friend would be up again...

BTW, that was one of the things revealed after the game.

The necros were hired to distract me, by intercepting my friend's soul as he was raised. Knowing I'd leave the city and go find him.
Druids didn't like me...
Our DM was pretty clever and devious.

>>He says this land shouldn't have ever been settled by humans, it belongs to the wild, and the wild will always reclaim its own


>it's been about 500 years since we were here last
>>I return home, secure that my friend would be up again...
>>I find a city in ruins.

I mean that's just good dm'ing.

Wow, thank user

I got one but it'll take awhile to write. I'll post it in the morning.

>Pathfinder's Rise of The Runelords Campaign
>Party consists of the following:
>A Soulbound Construct Fighter that like tarot cards, and can only speak in monotone
>A Wereshark Barbarian that lives alone as a bitter /r9k/ virgin in a shack by the sea shore
>A teenage Witch boy with crippling social anxiety and PTSD that is used as a walking library by the party
>An Irish Catfolk Rogue whose only true skills are witty quips and criticizing others
>A self-hating Dhampir Monster hunter that wants to purge the world of evil
>A senile Dwarven Cleric who only says the word "Grundi"
>A Loli Summoner that was killed on day one
>A loot hungry Sorcerer that just wanted to kill shit and ERP with the Loli

It was a standard campaign setting, but the cast just made the whole affair so memorable. It was confusing, it was annoying, and it was frustrating. But the antics were fucking hysterical and frantic at times. As wacky as it sounds, most everyone tried their best to RP well

The following is from my very first campaign I ran ever. The group and I had been waffling back and forth between 3.5 and 4th edition D&D at the time, weighing the pros and cons of each. I voiced my desire to run a campaign, citing that I'd do it in 3.5 as I knew the system better compared to 4th edition. The players agreed and rolled up the following:

> Half-Elf LG Paladin
Typical Paladin stuff, rather par for the course for the player, who always played the 'straight as an arrow' fellow. Adventuring to provide money and care for his twin sister, who is a smart girl studying to become a wizard but rather frail.

> Human LE Warlock
Played by someone relatively new to D&D at the time, and friend of the Paladin. Only I knew the Warlock's alignment, and he roleplayed his character quite well, to the point where the LG Paladin never once had to Detect Evil on him.

> Human CG Bard/Barbarian
The first real odd one of the group; he loved telling stories and wanted to wade into battle singing a battle hymn to bolster his allies and frighten his foes. And there is a PrC that allows for a Bard to continue singing/casting during a Barbarian Rage, so I said sure, why not.

> Human CG Bard/Sublime Chord
The last player to round out the group, and probably the biggest person who loves to bend rules and follow RAW vs. RAI. And considering I knew what he was going to go into ahead of time (Sublime Chord's a pretty strong PrC), I started preparing ahead of time for some bullshit to be slide my way.

Campaign starts with rather simple job: clear out some bandits waylaying travelers between a port city and a farming town. The PCs handle it just fine, but in the process of searching the bandit's hideout (a ruined church to Lathander) find that the basement is infested with undead. A thing that is VERY unusual in this world, especially in the church of a god that hates undead. The undead dealt with, they return to town to report what they found and collect their reward.

(Cont.)

The PCs are asked by both the mayor and the town cleric to go further north, towards a research town where a Mage's Guild is located, and look into why there were undead in the church of a god. At the guild the PCs trade favors and do some little erands (gathering reagents from some local dangerous wildlife) and run into some cult members worshiping someone calling themselves 'Arcernom.'

The Bard-bearian succeeds on a high DC History check to know what that name is from: this world's form of Atlantis, only it supposedly blew itself up in a magical cataclysm with enough force to shatter a continent in two and plummet the world into a centuries long ice age. And way back then, undead were much more common.

So the PCs are asked by the head of the Mage's Guild of that continent to investigate more into this 'Arcernom' fellow and see if his followers are doing more undead-raising in other towns.

The PCs travel throughout the continent, dealing with cult members and eventually a threat upon the king's life. But the cult members origins lead them across the sea, and the king joins in with the Mage's Guild to pay for their passage and make them official investigators of the crown to look into this cult.

A month later (and fighting + harvesting the shell of a Sea Dragon) they dock and begin chasing down leads. During this, the PCs get cohorts (two of them taking the Leadership feat) and get:

> NG Elf Wizard (cohort of the Sublime Chord)
A book smarts, no-sass woman. Eventually was turned into the party enchantress who crafted most of the party's gear.

> NG Dwarf Fighter (cohort of the Bard-bearian)
Your typical dwarf without the racism; liked to drink, great at smash things skulls in, loved to do both at the same time.

The six travel across the desert to an oasis city, where they deal with a Rakshasha funneling dead bodies and other magical items to the cult HQ on the continent to the far east (one of the two blown up ones from way back when).

(cont.)

Before they leave the oasis city, the Wizard cohort is sent back to the port town to begin preparations for their travel to the far east, as the Sublime Chord had begun preparations ahead of time by building a boat out of the shell of the defeated Sea Dragon, and sent her back to retrieve it and crew it along the coast to the other port town on the opposite side of this desert continent.

While crossing the desert, the PCs are ambushed by assassins, but are chased off after defeating a few and some quick, slick talking by the Warlock player. Throughout all this, the Warlock's been doing power plays with the underbelly of the towns and cities, looking to establish himself as a new enforcer, and trying to track down the name of a powerful demonic entity: the fiend who gave him and his family their dark powers to begin with.

The group rejoin with the Wizard cohort and take their turtle boat across the seas to the next continent. They succeed in tracking down and eliminating the cult headquarters, but don't find their leader there. Thinking that the threat is dealt with, the group decides to take a vacation to a nearby town well known for their hot springs.

While at the town, the local volcano begins to erupt, and the PCs begin helping with evacuations. During the evacuation, the Paladin gets a sudden sense of powerful divine magic nearby, and tracks it down to an older human woman who was living in the town. The woman senses the good in the Paladin, and says she will go to deal with the erupting volcano, but that his quest for Arcernom isn't over. She departs for the volcano, and within seconds the eruption suddenly stops. Taking it as a blessing from the gods the townspeople begin to rejoice, but the Paladin can sense the divine presence from this woman be snuffed out shortly after her feat, and a knot form in the center of his stomach; that something very bad just happened.

(cont.)

Their search beginning anew, they head to the Mage's Guild HQ on this continent, as they have the largest collection of history and magic books in the world, as they start to look into more about the world as it was before the Arcernom cataclysm. While there the Warlock has a 1v1 encounter with his patron fiend, who steals most of his Warlock powers, save for the power of Eldritch Blast (the one spell the Warlock was able to hold onto), saying that his family's desire and greed have served him well, but he needs his power returned if he's to survive the coming tide. The Warlock lies to the party, saying that this fiend has information on Arcernom, and the group chase it down. They succeed in killing it, the Warlock himself delivering the final blow, and assumes the full power of the fiend (getting his Warlock powers back and the ability to make new Warlocks as he so chooses). Their research takes them to the last continent in the world, a land ravaged by the destruction caused by the cataclysm, filled with dangerous beasts and wild sparks of magic skittering across the land, as if reality itself were fractured there.

During the crossing, the group is beset by a thick fog, and forced to dock their boat along the coast of a thin island, waiting for the fowl weather to pass.

The crew and PCs are made to roll a Will save shortly after landing, save for the Paladin and the Wizard; their Elven heritage protecting them from this powerful slumber spell. On high alert and looking to cast off away from the island, the duo are confronted by two folks, hovering in the air and landing on the deck of their boat.

Arcernom and his lieutenant are tired of the PCs meddling around, and have come to put an end to it.

The duo try to fend off their foes, but are quickly subdued and knocked unconscious. Everyone soon wakes up in a dingy, wet, cold cell, as people and races from all walks of life are around them.

(cont.)

The casters quickly try their magic to escape, but find it fizzles. The Paladin also tries his holy magic, but it too fizzles. They are soon led out by a sentient, ghostly apparition to the "exercise grounds" of their dungeon, and see for the first time where they are.

At the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by a bubble of force, with almost every inmate being some form of ghost or undead. It seems that others have gotten too close to finding out Arcernom's secrets, and he keeps them trapped in this underground prison, and even in death has their souls bound here to remain locked up forever.

The casters soon deduce that most of the prison has to be under an anti-magic field, but not all of it, otherwise the whole place would flood. Through some expert use of skill checks and waiting for a bit of time, the group is able to hide away the Wizard cohort, who scurries to the edge of the bubble and start using her magics to try and find an escape.

During their incarceration, the group tracks down the armory where their gear is being stored, and learns more about the history of the world. The biggest reveal doesn't occur until the jail break, however. The warden of the prison is the lieutenant, a vampire. But during the break, his helmet is knocked off and the Paladin sees for the first time who this foe is.

His bastard father, who abandoned his elven mother while the two were still in the womb.

The father pleads with the Paladin to just go back to prison, that a life down here is better than undeath, or worse. The Paladin however denies this, saying that his duty is to the world and to vanquish this evil man.

The PCs escape is successful (the cohort Wizard fashioned a makeshift submarine out of the wrecked remains of ships sunk near the bubble), and they emerge near their turtle boat, still docked on the island.

(cont.)

They quickly leave and start preparing for a rebuttal of some kind, but none occurs. Thinking that time is of the essence, they quickly travel to the one city on this last continent, home of the Adventurer's Guild and a Coliseum. The PCs can't pass up an opportunity for a bit of local fame and glory, and participate in the Coliseum, each winning some modicum of reward.

They meet with a researcher in the city, an old man who aided the Mage's Guild from time to time with his extensive knowledge of history. The old man at first turns them away, but only after seeing the Paladin does he let them into his abode. The Paladin senses powerful divine magic again, this time from the old man, and asks him about it, saying that the only other time he felt such a force was from a kind woman who stopped an erupting volcano, but was never seen again.

The old man sighs, muttering something about, "he got another one of us," and begins to throw up a series of anti-scrying and obfuscation magic, much more powerful than any of the casters knew about.

The old man then turns to the PCs and drops his facade, feeling that his magic wards are strong enough: now standing before them is Ioun, the God of Knowledge. He imparts upon the PCs the truth of the cataclysm, who Arcernom is, and what happened that day.

Arcernom used to be a lowly wizard, who rose from the slums of his city to become the Court Wizard for the High King. His knowledge of the arcane arts was extensive, and he was a relatively new form of magic too: up to this point in time, most arcane casters were Sorcerers; they were born with it, and never had to study for their power.

But as Arcernom grew old, his studies turned towards the undead, who were used at the time as indentured laborers. He sought to extend his life by becoming immortal, but knew he would need the power of the gods to do so. So he conducted a powerful ritual to do just that: become God.

(cont.)

The ritual was both a massive success and colossal failure: it succeeded in turning Arcernom immortal, but when he reached for the Divine Mantle of godliness, found none waiting. The ritual would not stop until it absorbed all the powers of the gods, so it started to kill them. Instantly the gods retaliated, dropping all their divine power and might upon Arcernom, both the man and the city. The sheer force of so many deities' raw, unbridled might succeeded in disrupting the ritual, but had an unintended consequence: not only was the city itself levelled, and the continent shattered in two, the sudden backlash of divine and magical began to sever the Material Plane from the rest of the cosmos. In a panic the remaining deities fled to the Material Plane, as their power and livelihood was dependent upon having people worship them.

They remained hidden amongst the populous, taking on guiding figures, never seeking to lead, only to aid and start to heal the world from the damage their divine might caused. But then Arcernom returned, his body reformed from the destruction of the city.

He was now a lich; the first of this world, no less. And with the powers he stole from a few of the gods, began to hunt the rest down, seeking to gather all their powers together to become the only God there is, and have his name be known throughout the lands for all eternity.

So the remaining deities fled to the far corners of the world, masking their divine presence as much as they could, and over the centuries the truth of the cataclysm faded into myth and legend.

But now Arcernom has begun to move, having had millenia to plot his goals and maneuver the pieces into place. And the gods, for all their divine might, are powerless to stop him, for they do not know how his lichdom magic works. And with but a touch of his staff he can kill them, so in fear they hide, waiting for a moment to arrive where they can stop him.

(cont.)

Ioun returns to his old man facade, as the anti-scrying magics begin to fade, and asks the PCs that they, with their mortal forms, confront Arcernom and defeat him, and in the time between his defeat and revival, find out what is keeping him alive, and to destroy it. Only then can the gods emerge from hiding and repair the damage caused by their hubris, and reconnect the Material Plane to the rest of the cosmos.

The PCs begin making their way back to the turtle boat, thinking that the island might have clues as to Arcernom's whereabouts, but as they arrive a mighty earthquake shakes the land. And upon the horizon out on the seas, a tiny spec of land begins to shake and rumble, as the PCs realize that Arcernom is beginning to magically levitate the island proper out of the seas and into the air.

Arcernom soon appears in the sky, using a powerful divination spell to show his visage upon the world all at once. He says that the time for reckoning is nigh, and that he will cleanse the world of those who continue to worship these false gods, but gives them the option to convert to worship of him before he delivers his 'divine judgment' upon all.

The Sublime Chord is soon contacted by the archmage of the Mage's Guild, who tells him that Arcernom is assaulting the headquarters with an army of the undead falling from the sky, high atop this floating island. She tells him that she is sending what few mages she can back to the Mage's Guild on the first continent, being the farthest distance away from the floating island, and tells him to retreat there with whatever forces he can, for she will not live to see him once again, and says that he is now the Archmage. The spell soon ends and a flash is seen upon the horizon. She detonated the whole Guild HQ to stop Arcernom from re-raising the fallen mages and using their powers against the world.

(cont.)

The island soon begins traveling their way, looking to subjugate the Adventurer's Guild and the Coliseum fighters next, and the PCs quickly use what teleportation magic they have to evacuate who they can, as Ioun converses with the Wizard cohort about something. The two seem to come to an agreement about something, and the Wizard says she will be traveling with Ioun to her Elven enclave to get them to send forces to the first continent.

The PCs now spend a handful of days getting allies and securing borders and towns for the coming island, as the Adventurer's Guild falls to the floating fortress about a week after their departure. The Warlock uses his fiendish powers to get the Assassin's Guild to protect the cities, in return for a large chunk of gold and access to a portion of his Warlock powers.

The Bard-bearian begins securing allies from the sailors and wildmen of the continent, looking to provide aid from the sea and bolster the front lines against the undead horde.

The Paladin travels with the Fighter cohort to a Dwarven city in the mountains of the desert continent, seeking their dwarven smithing and heavy-armored fighters to reinforce the front lines. The duo succeed and use the surviving members of the Mage's Guild to begin teleporting supplies and troops to the first continent.

The Sublime Chord uses his newfound Archmage status to pilfer the vaults of the remaining Guildhalls, pooling all their resources into the construction of several things:

- Wands of Fireball (to help thin the undead horde out)
- Bags of Holding + Portable Hole (to siege the island and try and destroy it before it gets over land)
- A hastily-constructed airship (which he believed to be the first of it's kind, the plans given to them by Ioun before he departed with the Wizard cohort)

The night before the island is expected to make landfall, the Wizard cohort returns, with an army of Elven archers, druids, and wizards in tow.

(cont.)

The Elven forces got there via a combination of teleportation magic and aboard an Elven airship of fantastic design. Turns out that Ioun got the airship plans from the Elves centuries ago, as they silently constructed one of their own, in case something like this were to occur.

The day of the battle, the Bard-bearian uses his magic to address the forces, now 40,000 strong. The speech is grand and honest, and extols the honor and glory they will soon achieve, and even though everyone knows some might die, this death is a noble one, for they fight for freedom and life. The fight soon commences: the floating island makes landfall, a squadron of undead wyvern and dragons circling it to protect any aerial assault, as the army itself falls from the sky like a waterfall of black death, and the ground forces fight on. The two airships are sent in to get the PCs upon the island, as they now see it is the city of Arcernom sitting atop it, reconstructed in a show of hubris by the lich now sitting upon it's throne. The PCs succeed in being dropped off near the main tower of the city, where the throne room would be, sending the airships back into the sky to deal with the undead sky warriors. They battle their way through the tower, reaching the final staircase before the throne room. Standing outside it is the vampire lieutenant, the Paladin's father.

The father does not wish to fight his son, but the power of the lich forces him to do so, and the two engage in 1v1 combat. During the fight, that knot in the Paladin's stomach from before returns, as he can hear the lich's thoughts attempting to influence him, drive him away from his deity (Tymora, the Goddess of Luck) and switch to his side.

The Paladin refuses, and beseeches the name of his deity to aid him now in this gambit:

(cont.)

> Paladin: So from what my father's described to me, it sounds like he's cursed and/or compelled to fight me.

> Me, as DM: That's right.

> Paladin: I want to use my Lay on Hands as I grip the holy symbol of Tymora upon my father.

> Me, as DM: Ok... why?

> Paladin: to break this curse/compulsion upon him.

> Me, as DM: ... Ok, make a Religion check, and I'll tell you what happens.

The Paladin rolls, and gives me the number.

"You grip the holy symbol in one hand, thrusting your longsword into the ground, shattering the stonework tile as it embeds itself into the floor. Your silent prayer to Tymora sent, you thrust your hand upon the chest of your father, as he is in mid-swing to deliver a lethal blow. Suddenly, a blinding light bursts forth and envelops the room, and for a moment nothing happens. The flash fades and your father's sword is left half an inch from your neck, as he looks at you in shock, eyes blinking. He quickly retracts the sword, and for the first time you see him smile... And you can see why your mother loved him; it's a smile of innocence and love, pure and holy. 'I don't know how, son... But someday I'll repay you.' At that, he turns and looks back to you all, unlocking the door to the throne room. 'Come, we've got a wizard to kill.' "

The DC was a 27, the Paladin got a 30.

The group gets to the throne room (the Paladin healing himself along the way with the rest of his Lay on Hands), surrounded in darkness save for a row of burning torches leading up to the throne. As they walk towards it, the ground beneath them rumbles, as the ceiling above opens up. The room elevates into the open air (the father protected from the sunlight thanks to his enchanted armor) as the party sees the room's walls encrusted with thousands upon thousands of glittering gems, each swirling with the soul and power of some poor person inside it.

(cont.)

The lich launches into a monologue about how seeing the PCs fall to his hand will send the world into despair, as he repeats the earlier divination spell to broadcast their fight out to the world.

The PCs interrupt it by attacking him, and he begins to fly about the battlefield, calling forth meteors from the sky, sending crackling bolts of electricity at them, and rays of disintegration, as the PCs, their cohorts, and the freed father struggle to fight against him.

During the fight the dwarf fighter gets hit with a disintegration ray and turns to ash, as the casters see how the lich is able to continue using such powerful magic: the power of the souls trapped in the gems of the wall are absorbed and snuffed out, converted into raw arcane power whenever he casts these spells. The Sublime Chord uses his magic to separate the lich from his staff, and the Warlock blasts the lich to the ground. The Bard-bearian, Paladin, and father take this moment to wail into him, and succeed in killing his physical form before he can return to the skies.

The party mourns for the fallen ally, and soon finds the item keeping the lich returning: his staff. They shatter it, disintegrate it, then annihilate it with a Bag of Holding + Portable Hole arrow.

The party looks to leave, only to hear the lich's laughter echo out from upon the throne once more, as they turn and see him sitting upon it.

"I am a god, you puny portals; I cannot be killed by your insignificant powers."

They strive to fight him once again, and kill him three more times, yet returns anew within seconds.

It's only when the Bard-bearian is about to fall that he makes an off-handed comment: "This can't be happening."

Immediately I tell him to make a Will save, which he succeeds upon.

"You look upon your companion as he says this, and instantly just disappears."

(cont.)

The lich had cast an epic-level illusion spell upon the party the moment the ceiling opened up, and the only one who succeeded on the save to resist it was the Dwarf Fighter. Upon being awoken from his illusion, the Bard-bearian sees said dwarf barely standing, struggling to fight against the lich one-on-one.

"About damn time one a ya woke up," he shouts back. "Can ya do anything about the others!?"

The Bard-bearian delivers a quick counterspell, as the other PCs are starting to realize what is going on. I inform them that none of their spell slots are expended, nor have they lost any HP; the fight begins for real.

The lich was aware of what occurred in the illusion however, and was able to change his tactics to adjust. Instead of large, flashy displays of magic, he switched to spells to disable and paralyze, eventually pulling forth things like Power Word Kill to try and defeat the PCs.

But action economy caught up to the lich, powerful as he was, and the combined focus fire of the martials and the vast amounts of Counterspell being used by the casters to stop the biggest spells from ever landing, they succeeded in defeating his physical form.

This time they searched for his phylactery, and instead of it being the staff, they find it inside a hidden compartment in the throne room: a preserved human femur; the one he had when he was still alive. They repeat their, "destroy, disintegrate, annihilate" protocol, and within seconds know they have succeeded:

Because the magics keeping the island afloat are now gone, so it is now crashing to the ground.

They quickly flee to the skies, returning to their airship (damaged, yet still afloat), and the gods soon appear upon the deck of the ship, thanking the PCs for their efforts. They see to it that the remaining undead are quickly dealt with, and restore the connection to the other planes of existence.

(concluded below).

As a reward, the PCs are given immortality (game rules are that they become native outsiders; they won't die of old age, normal diseases or poison, don't have to eat, drink, or sleep, but can still die from lethal damage).

The gods soon depart for their divine planes, and the world begins to heal from the damage caused by the lich.

> The End

The campaign began at level 2, and ended at level 19. I offered the players the option of a one-shot with their characters at epic levels, as they dealt with the return of all the fiends and demons from both the Nine Hells and the Abyss, but they declined, feeling this was a good end point for their characters, having traveled the world, defeating the very first lich, and being given immortality by the gods.

I had planned that if none of the PCs did wake up from the illusion they would do so, but have their HP reduced by half (as system shock of having 'died'), meaning things like Power Word Stun and Power Word Kill were much more likely to land and actually kill them.

Amazing. That was a stellar read. Best thing to do before bed. Thanks for sharing.

Bump

Good read. Thanks user.

>Mfw my dm runs mainly one shots

Incredible. Thank you user.

These threads don't provide enough tales of adventures.

It's like only 1 or 2 people join in.

There's gotta be more good stories out there tg

Part of the issue is the time needed to write down and condense all of the events in a campaign into a readable form without it being like you just copy + pasting scenes from a fantasy novel.

The two anons who did it had to basically write it out over the course of several hours, and not everyone has the time to do so.

Fair point I guess.

However, I still want to read more like these two posted. So people are just going to have to quit jobs, and find the time to write things up for my enjoyment.

Notice how the first poster started out detailed, then started condensing more and more?

I think you're on to something.

The GM of my favourite campaign gone dark, then went online, told us that he was ran over by a car and got out of hospital, and then disappeared again. I'm worried.

It also might be a method of soft ditching, but that looks like overkill.

Tell us of the campaign user.

Dazzle us with stories.

bump

op pic related

>All psionics campaign in Pathfinder with Dreamscarred Press material
>No one actually talks to each other in game due to permanent telepathy network
>NPCs see us as a bunch of weirdos silently looking at each other before our one high charisma spokesman delivers our hivemind consensus dialog
>Scrolls, wands, and other magic specific crap is useless and sold off
>End up surrounded by orcs and hobgoblins
>Immediately surrender while quietly giggling and chuckling like madmen as we're led away to imprisonment
>All weapons and magical knickknacks taken away
>Easily escape and slaughter captors because FUCK YOU WE'RE ALL PSYCHIC

My favorite as a Mutants and Masterminds campaign that we created a sequel to in DnD 5e. It was my favorite for one reason.

My character in MnM became the 5e BBEG and is now ruling in the Abyss

The last campaign I ran was a Western-themed story of rebellion, ancient ruins, noble monsters, deadly artifacts, dracoliches, dragon-fighting golems, invasions, betrayal, incest, plague, hidden identities, murder, patricide, fire, more golems, and a half-orc barbarian's romance with a racist human priestess.

Think if the Princess Bride, All the King's Men and Starcraft had a baby, and that baby was wearing a cowboy hat that was on fire.

It's too long to post here. I might write it up and post it, but to go over all of it you'd need a couple threads. It lasted for 37 sessions, or around a year of out of game time, and to date I think it was my players' favorite campaign.

I have 2 campaigns I enjoyed very highly.

The first was pathfinder setting in the River Kingdoms. A red dragon had taken control of a small fiefdom, and sought to expand her grip throughout the region. The PCs of the party was a mess of conflicting interests, which included a blue dragon cultist seeking to depose the red for her "father", a local noble seeking to reclaim his ancestral land from the dragons, and an infiltrator into our party from the red dragon to keep an eye on us. It was one of the few times where I got to play a secret antagonist to the party as a PC and have it work out well OOC and IC; no one raged, and everyone had a great time.

The second campaign is still going and takes place in the Mwangi Expanse on Golarion. We're working for a minor Chelish noble seeking an artifact of IMMEASURABLE power. This party is also breaking down into scheming, and things coming to a head tomorrow. The party seeks to summon an erinyes which is manipulating our party, and bind her to ask some pointed questions. Meanwhile, her servant, our warlock, is desperately attempting to balance her mistress's orders (Kill them all and stop the summon) with her own positive feelings for the party.)

In both games, people RP deeply, don't metagame (too hard), and don't take schemes personally OOC. It's really nice as a player, since i have had bad experiences with backstabbing in the party.