SEEKING COLLABORATION DEVELOPING A MODULE
Warforged characters wake up as lone survivors on a scorched battlefield with no recollection of who they are, determined to find their pasts.
hello everyone! I have started writing the basis for an entire campaign that I think would work as a module, but I struggle with the logistics of it, namely the nuts and bolts. I have a plot, a setting, key characters, a through line, themes for players to interact and develop, and much more. I just want a partner because I’m becoming a bit overwhelmed. I want to be clear that I don’t do this with the intention of making a profit, I merely want to get this out of my head and onto players’ tables.
This is an amalgamation of multiple genres: exploration, mystery, heroic adventure, survival, spell-punk, and philosophical character study.
Players seek to find out who they are while surviving a world in bodies that are not their own. In the process, they discover if who they were dictates who they are now. Limiting it to two genres does a disservice to the story told.
There is an “infestation” of automatons, Warforged similar to the players but lacking sentience, that are linked to a mysterious figure known as the “Tinker”. It is not immediately obvious to the players right away, but these automatons have varying effects on the lands and Kingdoms of the setting, ranging from authoritarian control of some to bringing equity marginalized groups in others, but maintaining the same strong handed “for the Tinker” mentality.
The most powerful people appear to be afraid of being overpowered by the sheer numbers of automatons. There’s also fears of having their souls “taken” and “repurposed” alluding to what happened to the players. The reality is many powerful people (strong individuals physically, magically, or simply in personality) have had their souls siphoned and used to power these automatons, losing their humanity and sentience in the process. All of this is unknown to the players right away.
I want the players to start at level 1, let them feel how awkward it is to exist inside an artificial construct and have them get used to it. As they level up and become more powerful, they also unlock memories from their past, some good and some bad.
some more development of these themes specifically:
I’m torn on a few ideas for the Tinker. I like the concept that he started as a mustache twirling “take over the world” type, but ended up having his own soul siphoned by his assistant, a Warforged artificer he built after making a pact with a well meaning archfey, seeking to utilize their power to “make the world a better place”. The assistant, whose consciousness is tied to the archfey but also genuinely loves his creator, becomes disillusioned when he sees that his “father” (the Tinker) is just using their soul siphoning abilities to create an army to take over the world, an thus siphons him in the process. But the problem is this assistant only knows how to do this one thing, make more automatons. That’s the only solution he knows, so he does that to every powerful person, using the power from those people to power these automatons and have them force peace through strict rule. It’s not perfect, but he wasn’t made with forethought. He isn’t an innovator, not naturally. He might learn from the players, but he only knows how to execute.
People’s reactions to this are a mixed bag. The automatons don’t differ in how they are ruled over, but rather how people react to it. Some see it as authoritarian and boot to throat because their rulers were very hands off, or even it was less of a strict aristocracy and more of a collective communal government now under centralized control. Others see this as a reckoning from their Gods, lending this religious significance. Still others see this as an improvement over the ethnocentric tyranny they were subjected to.
The rules are that powerful souls are treated like batteries: they lend power to these automatons. Less powerful people or creatures do not have the power to run more than one automaton and the assistant knows this and have no interest in destroying the world or it’s environment, so it limits siphoning souls, but over time sees the value in producing more automatons, even more powerful ones.
The players are accidentally awoken. I like the idea of an NPC prior to them also gaining sentience, but becoming so horrified at their body or maybe their past that they sequester themselves as a hermit to find inner peace.
Key Themes of the campaign are explored through actual play. This is just as much a study in self determination and authorship as it is a fantasy adventure. Are they who they were or who they become? Do we owe anything to our past sins, or are those sins committed by another? Must we atone? Can redemption be found or is it even necessary when your past self is so different from your current self. Can we remake ourselves? All of which are far more interesting than having a set answer.
Besides the governmental shift and political instability leading to banditry in the frontiers and countryside, there have been some scorched lands from all out war. The automatons themselves have also caused problems such as accidentally damming some rivers with their bodies and affecting local wildlife by scaring off prey or killing apex predators. This has led to some forests inadvertently dying, leading to other archfey and Eladrin lords, different from the one who made a pact with the Tinker, creating massive beasts and wild magic forests that are even more savage and untamed than they previously were.
Memory recovery comes about from becoming stronger, which is simply the soul collecting more of itself. Leveling up in lore is more than consciousness becoming more adept at siphoning itself into this new body and interfacing with the framework better.
**I have developed this plotline And setting in great detail, but to avoid putting a novel into this post, I would rather ask for help collaborating and, perhaps, putting this idea into a more concrete medium.
anyone interested in working this out with me, please reach out!