OK, so I am sick of (and dissapointed in) my current campaign setting for D&D, which I have been running since October.
I love Dragonmech, and have decided to "port" the campaign over to Dragonmech.
I only have one idea about how to introduce DragonMech.
I will relate that idea below, and would love to see suggestions on other ways I could do it.
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The Idea
The characters are sent through a dimensional portal to the world of DragonMech. (details of that easily arranged). Upon arrving, they see that night is falling.
A massive lunar shower is begining, and they are going to get squished. A scrubby mech tribe finds them, and offers them shelter inside thier crowded (but resilient) mech.
The end of the storm is punctuated by a resounding crash that makes the ground shake.
A Lunar Dragon has made planet-fall. It is pissed off from the ordeal, and about to take it's frustrations out on the mech tribe and thier only shelter (the mech).
My players are generally do-gooders, and it's not hard to see what should happen from here on...
So, how else can I introduce DragonMech? It could be an alrernate take on thier arrival, or just scenes that are "required" to evoke the flavor of the setting. For example, I know my players are excited for Mech boarding actions.
Thanks in advance.
Porting my 11th level D&D game into DragonMech
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Porting my 11th level D&D game into DragonMech
"Gazelle carcass!"
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goodmangames
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That sounds like a pretty good idea. If you want to go more heavy on the mechs, you could have the PCs show up right as a mech battle is beginning. They're like ants among giants, and the only way they can avoid getting trampled is to board a mech. If you make the mechs "good guys" and "bad guys" (like orcs vs. Stenians), your do-gooder PCs shouldn't have too much trouble choosing who to attack.
Or, at the opposite extreme, you could confuse them to no end. Port them into a worm farmer's den. A few minutes later, a mech walking overhead steps on a thin patch of earth, and its foot comes crashing into the worm tunnels. The giant worms freak out, the farmer shows up and assumes the PCs are part of the mech crew, the mech crew itself is disboarding and angry at the farmer, and everything's a chaotic mess...
Or, at the opposite extreme, you could confuse them to no end. Port them into a worm farmer's den. A few minutes later, a mech walking overhead steps on a thin patch of earth, and its foot comes crashing into the worm tunnels. The giant worms freak out, the farmer shows up and assumes the PCs are part of the mech crew, the mech crew itself is disboarding and angry at the farmer, and everything's a chaotic mess...
you could always take the non-port route, too...
and ahve the lunar rain begin to fall on your current campaign world, dirving the PCs underground
...many years pass...
the players found shelter with wherever (you oculd put an adventure into this bit) and have just recently heard of the mechs now being constructed, and they go to find more about these mechs and their operation
advantages:
1: the years passing allows for players to ahve a realistic reason to swap out some skills for others to fit the new setting better (even mech related skills, if they manage to shelter with one of the original sources of mechs in the new world) or even take a level in a campaign specific class
2: the players will have more reason to stay in the new world, as opposed to trying to escape to the old setting by various means
disadvantages:
1: the long wait, if any of your players are already old, some might die of old age, or move up an age catagory, in the interum (fighters and barbarians that start losing physical stats will not be happy, though the wizards and clerics in the party may not mind so much)
2: there's no old world to go back to, should you decide that dragonmech isn't right for your campaign
(side note... you'r level 11+ in less than a year? my group has been using our current campaign since 3.5 came out, and we're only up to level 6)
and ahve the lunar rain begin to fall on your current campaign world, dirving the PCs underground
...many years pass...
the players found shelter with wherever (you oculd put an adventure into this bit) and have just recently heard of the mechs now being constructed, and they go to find more about these mechs and their operation
advantages:
1: the years passing allows for players to ahve a realistic reason to swap out some skills for others to fit the new setting better (even mech related skills, if they manage to shelter with one of the original sources of mechs in the new world) or even take a level in a campaign specific class
2: the players will have more reason to stay in the new world, as opposed to trying to escape to the old setting by various means
disadvantages:
1: the long wait, if any of your players are already old, some might die of old age, or move up an age catagory, in the interum (fighters and barbarians that start losing physical stats will not be happy, though the wizards and clerics in the party may not mind so much)
2: there's no old world to go back to, should you decide that dragonmech isn't right for your campaign
(side note... you'r level 11+ in less than a year? my group has been using our current campaign since 3.5 came out, and we're only up to level 6)
Now THAT is an evil idea. And it promotes roleplaying, which is an added bonus.you could confuse them to no end.
And I am inspired by your other suggestion as well.
Hows about this:
The players are engaged by the "Good Guys" to retreive an item (or person, or something) from a "Bad Guy" mech.
The Good Guys have a mech, but it could never defeat the massive Bad Guy mech...but it could distract the Bad Guy mech while the heroes make a dashing boarding action!
Now, this is going places...
Thanks!
"Gazelle carcass!"
Reese,(side note... you'r level 11+ in less than a year? my group has been using our current campaign since 3.5 came out, and we're only up to level 6)
I use a "non-standard" XP system, similar to the one used for Omega World D20.
I give the PCs as much XP as I feel they deserve. That usually ranges from 1-3,000 at lower levers, to slightly higher amounts at higher levels. Players also get extra XP for writing character journals, painting minis to represent thier characters, etc...
Also, both my players and I agree: The most fun part (for us) of D20 is "Levelling up". So we level up fast and often. And we have fun doing it.
The bottom line in all of my games is "If we don't like the rule, we don't use it."
Thanks for the ideas, by the way. This is good stuff, keep it coming!
"Gazelle carcass!"
that was more a comentary on how little we play than anything else (once a week, but we skip weeks when people are out of town or unavailable, so it's more like 1-3 times a month)
you could also introduce mechs to your campaign world wihtout the lunar rain...
say, an invasion of mechs from another universe/plane
the party could be contracted to capture an invading mech and bring it home for study so that your campaign's government(s) can study it and design thier own mechs to counter the enemy invasion, or even bring dwarves who already have mech technology from the underground area to help stop the invaders or even make a raid to the home plain of the invaders to kidnap one or more cog layers for thier mech knowledge
possibly even capture multiple mechs so the party can arm and fight against the new invaders
and, once you have the invaders dealt with, one way or the other, you still ahve the option to decide whether or not to keep mechs in your campaign afterwards (if your side wins, they can keep or destroy the new technology, though the other side would be unlikely to abandon thier own mechs)
you could also introduce mechs to your campaign world wihtout the lunar rain...
say, an invasion of mechs from another universe/plane
the party could be contracted to capture an invading mech and bring it home for study so that your campaign's government(s) can study it and design thier own mechs to counter the enemy invasion, or even bring dwarves who already have mech technology from the underground area to help stop the invaders or even make a raid to the home plain of the invaders to kidnap one or more cog layers for thier mech knowledge
possibly even capture multiple mechs so the party can arm and fight against the new invaders
and, once you have the invaders dealt with, one way or the other, you still ahve the option to decide whether or not to keep mechs in your campaign afterwards (if your side wins, they can keep or destroy the new technology, though the other side would be unlikely to abandon thier own mechs)