Doomsby 2025/11/24(Mon)12:18 No. 1117560 ID: ec9127
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That’s it!
No more putting it off!
No more excuses!
You’re doing this right now!

You’re finally going to start that tabletop campaign that you’ve always been wanting to do but never did because of brain worms.

Doomsby 2025/11/24(Mon)12:19 No. 1117561 ID: ec9127
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Coming up with a new campaign though... Now you’re not starting completely from scratch. You’ve got folders of NPCs, custom monsters, and even towns you’ve scribbled down over the years. Still, you kind of want to start fresh with something. Something new and shiny to match the energy you’re feeling right now. So let’s think......

First, we’ll need a Setting: Just the broad strokes for now. Even just a genre suggestion will do.
Then, an Antagonistic Force: Is a dark lord invading? Zombies? Maybe supernatural robber barons? Anything that’ll make the players go “we want to fight that.”
Finally, a Gimmick: Just something to make this campaign stand out from all the others. Can range from everyone starting as level 0 peasants to even just using a niche game system.

Setting: Magical Dieselpunk
Antagonist: Atlantis returning from below the sea
Gimmick: Only Psionic classes allowed.

>>1117561
Setting: Fantasy Post-apocalypse, the magical nukes flew and the tainted world remains.

Antagonistic Force(s): Multiple factions trying to claim dominance over what resources and people remain.

Gimmick: The PCs get to choose which faction they support at the start of the campaign.

setting: the ruins of an apartment building
antagonist: what lurks beyond the abjuration wards. or perhaps what is trying to keep you inside.
gimmick: everyone has amnesia. skills and abilities are remembered at random. or whenever is narratively interesting.

Setting: VR MMO.
Antagonist: invaders from an alternate metaphysical realm trying to use the MMO to gain entrance to the real world (wait, is that just digimon?)
Gimmick: Two character sheets! One is for the player, the other the character. The player's sheet keeps track of their skills relating to playing the game, the character's contains RPG stats.

* Setting: Realm of Dreams
* Antagonists: Randomly dreamed up wacky heroes
* Gimmick: You start out as lv. 20 evil overlords who (A)level down as they gain xp, and (B) transfer that xp to their children. Goal is to teach the next generation how to be overlords.

Setting: Magical Fantasy
Antagonistic Force: THE EMPIRE
Gimmick: You have a steam-shovel.

Setting: Endless mansion
Antagonist: ghosts
Gimmick: Every time a door is opened it leads to a random room. Shut the door and open it again; new room. Thus the players create the map and can try for a different room to make it more advantageous, at the risk of getting a worse room

Setting: space opera but with magitek

Antagonistic force: Eldritch abominations

Gimmick: PCs are overpowered elites faced up against an outside context problem that doesn't play by the same rules -- literally.

Doomsby 2025/11/26(Wed)09:22 No. 1117744 ID: ec9127
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>>1117563
>>1117573
Hmm, yeah, there’s some ideas. A normal, modern world just like ours when suddenly... Atlantis attacks! The ancient city launches out hundreds of arcane nukes before anyone realises what’s going on. Skip forward a bit, and now the world is a magical wasteland, with arcane radiation zones, wandering atlantean marauders, and the few remain survivors fighting each other over dwindling resources. Yeah yeah! This’ll be a unique enough of a setting that’ll still be easy to just slot a group of adventurers into. Does need a something a little bit more...

>>1117590
A... Steam-shovel? You mean like one of those old-timey pieces of construction equipment you’d sometimes see in those old black-and-white cartoons?

...

Oh! Yeah, like a wasteland vehicle! Definitely not the adventure party’s first choice, but it’s their main means moving across the wastes. Through out the campaign they’ll have to repair and upgrade it. Maybe even trade it in at say... level 3? Will also need to change the time of the apocalypse to the 1930’s-ish. You’ll have to feel things out once things are going, but for now you’ve got something to start with.

Doomsby 2025/11/26(Wed)09:22 No. 1117745 ID: ec9127
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Alright now that you have an elevator pitch, time to find some players. You take out your phone and scroll through your messy ‘contacts’ list. There’s............ some choices in there. Who do you reach out to?

Suggest some players;
Name:
Gender:
Relation to you:
*Note, you are only suggesting a player and not their character. They’ll decided what they’re playing on their own.

Name: Nick "Niko" Belli
Gender: Male
Relation to you: Forever DM

>>1117745
Name: Jade Michalia
Gender: Female
Relation: Friendly barista who overheard you talking to some friends about games and made you promise to invite her to your next game.

Name: Gerald Breckenridge
Gender: male
Relation: Old man you met at the hobby shop. Has the best old man stories, even if you're sure he's making most of them up.

Name: Melancholy
Gender: female
Relation: Works as the cashier at the convenience store you use. you're friends, but shes somehwat relcusive but a nerd.

Name: Dr. Amelia Wineheart
Gender: Female
Relation to you: The crazy homeless 'unicorn huntress' who roped you on a 'quest' one day. She used to be rich, but the expenses and lawsuits from 'kidnapping orphans and leaving piles of money in their place' bled her dry.

Gerald
Male
That guy who's always selling totally legit trading card packs from under the bridge in the park.

>>1117745
Name: Carl Piwowarczyk
Gender: Nonbinary
Relation: Nerdy friend you've known since highschool

Doomsby 2025/11/28(Fri)14:22 No. 1117990 ID: ec9127
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After a quick browse, you reach out to some folks

>>1117748
First you text Niko, the forever DM. Dude is so thirsty for games that you might not even need to pitch it too him for him to accept.

>Hey, man, you interested in some ttrpg?
<Is the sky blue? What module you thinking?
>I’m currently brewing up my own campaign, believe it or not
<Oh shit rlly? Fuck yeah I’m definitely in!
<I’ll keep the character bio under a page lololol

Easy catch. Next on the list...

>>1117759
Gerald would be an interesting addition. He can get rules mixed up from earlier editions of the game, but he’s a solid player regardless of the game.

BRRNG BRRNG
“Hello, Breckenridge speaking.”
“Hey Gerry, how’s hobbies?”
“Oh they’re going good. The battlesword group is having drama again so my stonehosts are just collecting dust.”
“Ah, shame, though would mean you have time to join my new ttrpg game.”
“Sounds like a hoot as long as I’m able to bring my knitting.”
“Of course, whatever makes you comfy, buddy.”

You wonder if he’s going to knit you a toque again...

>>1117760
Melancholy might be down to play. She’s never really shown interest but that goes for pretty much everything in life.

>Hey Mistress of Shadows, would you be down for playing a ttrpg game?
<Sure
>Need me to go over any rules or anything like that?
<Nah

Well, that’s that, you guess...

>>1117745
And finally there’s Carl. Your surefire pick in any situation.

>Hey dude-gal. You left your phone here so I sold it for an icecream cone
<Damn what flavour?
>Bubblegum
<Bitch couldn’t even get anything good
<Whatsup?
>Finally doing that game I keep threatening. You in?
<Hell yea sign me up
>Sweeeet
>Shame about your phone tho
<Shame indeed

Four people should be more than enough. Now then, what to-

Doomsby 2025/11/28(Fri)14:23 No. 1117991 ID: ec9127
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PING
Niko:<Should be done this chara by 6. See ya then
PING
Gerald:<Tonight, right? I’ve let the neighbor know I’ll be gone
PING
Melancholy:<Got a ride set up for tonight. Don’t need a pick up
PING
Carl:<So see you in what? 5 hours?


T-tonight!?!?!?!

Doomsby 2025/11/28(Fri)14:23 No. 1117992 ID: ec9127
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Oh shit oh fuck

PANIC CLEANING GOOO!!!!!!

Ya gotta sweep ya gotta dust you gotta set up the table!

Time for some multitasking. You’re brain can do work while your body does other work. Now brainstorm while you clean. [b]How should the adventure start?[/] The classic meet-up in a tavern, maybe some fancy in medias res, or something else?

>>1117992
I've always been a fan of the GM sets a scene and then has the players explain how their character would have ended up there.

>>1117992
the group is in a caravan crossing the wastes when the ground gives way. everyone but them dies, and all the stuff is scrapped. fortunately, they find an intact steamshovel, get it working, an attached a mostly-intact wagon to it.

Start them in the junkyard where they find and fix up the steam shovel. They've got a map to a far off treasure to find.

The party is in with the mob, working off their various debts. They get sent around to bust up rival operations. Tonight they have to take out a fortified speakeasy, and the boss got them a new toy for the job, an armored steam shovel.

We start with the party planning, not just this job, but how they are gonna get away from the mob entirely

Ooh, I've got it.

They are all captured victims to be killed for sport by the competitors of a vile ultra-violent rally.

Multiple cars and boogies trying to run them over to score points while shooting at each other.
They must work together to steal a car and win the rally and escape.
The boss of the session is the big monster truck champion!

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:08 No. 1119016 ID: ec9127
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>>1118009
Definitely will go with the mob angle. It’s an easy and clean way to have everyone know each other at least on a professional level. It also will give them connections to the world that can be rolled later and can act as an antagonistic force from behind.

>>1117994
This is probably the best way to get the party to actually use the steam shovel, at least at the start. Beginning in a city or someplace they’d most likely just walk away from it without even noticing if it’s not a requirement. It also makes for an excuse to start more in the thick of things. Tweak things a bit to make it so that they were out on a mob job when things collapse on them

>>1117995
A treasure map could be a good positive pull forward for the crew. In lore it’d be an opportunity to escape the mob and game-wise can pretty versatile with riddles, scavenger hunts, and even rival hunters.

So putting things together, the group is working for the mob for one reason or another. They all get sent out to do a hit on a rival for unexplained reasons and are ordered to bring back “a document”. The hit takes place at, say, a construction site, ground collapses during the fight, mark escapes and the gang is temporarily stranded. They manage to get a steam shovel working to dig themselves out but not before finding the document. Turns out it’s a treasure map to atlantean treasure. The party is now at a crossroads and the start of the adventure.

Not a bad way to start things. Certainly needs workshopping but decent given the time constraints.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:08 No. 1119017 ID: ec9127
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DING DONG BING DONG. DING BING DONG BING.

Oh, the doorbell! People are already here. The place is hopefully clean and prepped enough as you usher everyone inside. Greetings and small talk fill the air as the players dutifully hand you their character sheets to look over as they try to find their preferred seat at the table.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:09 No. 1119018 ID: ec9127
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Player: Melancholy
Character: Vera Gloomhexer
Race: Vulture/Daemon
Class: Necromancer
Niko: Have played something other than necromancer?
Melancholy: No.
Represented by a grim reaper monster model

Bio: As a child, Vera saw her parents die in a terrible fire started by a neighbor’s exploding moonshine swill. She turned to necromancy in a vain hope in bringing them back. Her tutor was her daemon dad, who was her true father, but he was only giving her a false hope and had no intention of teaching her true necromancy beyond what made her useful to him. Over the years, Vera began to understood that she was being manipulated and plotted against her demonic father. In desperation, she turned to the mob in hopes of banishing her father from this realm. In time the conspiracy succeeded, her father exorcised, and she was free from one devil but was now chained to another.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:10 No. 1119019 ID: ec9127
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Player: Gerald
Character: Stephan Railbeaver
Carl: Snrk! You may want to change that name...
Gerald: Why? I don’t get it.
Race: Beaver
Class: Warden, shield breaker subclass
Represented by one of Gerald’s stonehost damguard model

Bio: Stephan works on the railroads, primarily driving rail spikes. After the apocalypse country spanning organizations were no longer a thing, so building and maintaining railways was done out of tradition rather than government or corporate expansion. That doesn’t mean that neither don’t try to claw the rails back under their control though, so Stephan also acts as an union enforcer to keep them out. This didn’t stop the mob from moving in, as they don’t care about the rails, and an uncomfortable partnership soon formed between them and the union. Eventually, Stephan was being “loaned out” for issues that were less about the sovereignty of the rails and more of petty territorial disputes among bootleggers.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:10 No. 1119020 ID: ec9127
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Player: Niko
Character: Vexen Saphbo
Race: Fox
Class: Sorceress
Represented by a hero model of a fox wizard with bits of plasticine conspicuously placed on the chest.

Bio: From a young age Vexen has always wanted to act on the silver screen. So growing up she’d work around theatres and clean up after vaudville acts to earn enough money for her own film reel. In her spare time she’d also study and develop her own magic so that she would be able to do special effects when the time came too. Once she became an adult though, her very generous bosoms started to attract unwanted attention, particularly from the mob. Soon her dreams were sidelined as she was strong-armed into being a courtesan for the middle-ranked members of the mob. In bids to impress underlings and overlings, she was often coerced into preforming petty and salacious acts with her magic. To get around this, she started practising more manipulative spells to alter the intentions and memories of her captors. Soon, she was able to “convince” her superiors to let her go out on more excursions, ever hoping that this will be her ticket for leaving for good.

Melancholy: Couldn’t keep it in your pants for once, huh Niko?
Niko: This is a game about fulfilling fantasies!
Melancholy: sure.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:11 No. 1119021 ID: ec9127
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Player: Carl
Character: Olaf of the Dustslab Clan
Race: Bear
Class: Barbarian
Represented by a small toy bear in lederhosen from a chocolate egg.

Bio: The dustbowl was putting the farmlands on the verge of collapse even before the apocalypse. After the attack, all vestiges of civilization were stripped away and barbaric tribes quickly formed. While the other clans tried to keep some of their former farm equipment working, Olaf’s tribe put extra emphasis on working with one’s own strength. Even within his own tribe, Olaf’s strength quickly surpassed the others and legend of his might soon travelled beyond the Dust Lands. The mob, needing muscle in the most literal sense, sent a team out to either recruit or kidnap him. Olaf initially refused, but it soon became clear that the tribes physical prowess was no match for a goon with a tommy. With shame, Olaf returned with the gangsters and was immediately sent on a mission to kneecap a rival.

Niko: Oh so Carl gets a pass?
Melancholy: Yes.
Carl: I at least kept the bulge to the physical description and not in the bio.

Doomsby 2025/12/12(Fri)13:11 No. 1119022 ID: ec9127
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While they’re bickering over nothing, you organize yourself behind the screen. You’re about ready to begin this mess, but before you start.

Is there anything about their characters you wish to go over?
Or
Is there anything that you’re forgetting?

>>1119022
A fun session zero activity is to give all the players some interation their character has had with every other character prior to the game start (e.g. One of you drukenly shared a secret with the other what was it and how did you react?), helps flesh out characters as well as establish some interparty dynamics.

>>1119036
agreed

>>1119036
this

This is the perfect time to consider whether the story you're trying to tell would be better served by a different system. (You should freak out about this)