Setting ideas for my next acks campaing

General ACKS Forums General Discussion
1

So, my ACKS campaing has reach the middle levels, and the party is conquering orc territory with amazing succes (at least for now, they have yet to fight one last army). But my mind is already imagining my next campaing.

I have this idea of an island that once was the center of a great empire till a magical accident caused catacliçysm that destroyed the capital and leave a monster filled wasteland in the center of the kingdom. the vassals of the king are now fighting to see who can reunite the kingdom under its rule. 

the bullet points that i will like to have in this setting will be:

*No law vs chaos: only people fightin for themself and their ideals. 

*No unclaimed land: the wasteland is filled with the treasures of the imperial capital, but the land itself is cursed. If you want land you will have to fight someone for it or bairgain something. 

*Amoral gods: the gods are interested in their perview (war, family, the sea, etc.) and in sacrifices and offerings. The god of war favors the one that gives proper sacrifice, be it for good or bad intent. 

*maybe, No clerics: any one with theology can offer sacrifice to the goods, and roll as in making a magic research roll modified by wisdom to ask for a miracle, miracles will be divine spells that can be used in the next adventure. The price will be similar to a scroll, but without the divine power or special components to compensate the fact that it disipate if not used on the next adventure. If the players ask for the miracle in a temple of the deity they will pay only the price as it apears in goods and services, the size of the marked being related to the size of the temple and limiting what miracles they can  ask. 

*Diferent beastmen: the beastmen will be wasteland mutants, corrupted by its magic, they wont be evil, but mad outcastes. they will form comunities in the wasteland, and used as slave soldiers by some of the noble houses. 

*Political agenda: the players will have to decide what is the partys agenda, its to help one of the noble families or promote the independence of one of the peoples like the mountainfolk, they have the idea that they can make the kingdom better, do they just want to be on top of the food chain. they can change that later, but at least at the begining they should share the same dream. 

*Complex and inestable political ground: the noble houses and other minor powers are al competing, forming aliances and breaking them, and willing to negotiate to promote their agendas. 

 

 

 

2

I like it.  Kind of an Atlantis vibe.  Dropping clerics and unifying magic is something that crosses my mind every time I read any original sword and sorcery stories, but I'm still in the stage of playing the game as written.

3

I think that the healing proficency makes healing magic no so necesary (still really usefull, but not in the way that was before). Maybe i will ncorporate some clases with lay on hands like a healer or a sage. 

And for the undead i am tempeted to make them more rare but take away turn undead, and leave only mages with black lore to conrol them. Then the only defense vs undead is the necromancer.

4

As far as magical healers, there are two options; one, you can use the rules in the Player's Guide to make arcane-based healing spells, though those are expensive. Which makes sense in your campaign, actually. Or two, you could make a "White Mage" class. They cast divine spells, but as a mage: mage spell slot progression, mage spell list limit, and need a spellbook, like a mage. They can't turn undead, but they don't have any restrictions as a cleric would, either.

5

i could use wiches also.

6

The idea will be that the game starts just after the cataclysm. The noble houses will be in shock, and thinking on wath to do with the ne situation, the wasteland will be unexplored, and the plyers will have room to manuver.

The wasteland will have a consentric range of danger and reward, the capital city will be the final dungeon, filled with really nasty demons, lovercraftian horrors and reality warps but also home of all the treasures of the emperor. The fields around will be strange, filled with monsters and wandering beastmen, the castles of the nobles in the area will be the dungeons, each noble lord warped into some sort of horror, finaly the contention zone will be an area abandoned by fearfull peasants, and raided by some of the lesser beastmen. In there the dungeons will be the abandoned manors of some minor nobles, and the lairs of some beastmen.