The Campaign Builder's Guild

I need help with going further with this campaign of mine(won't be starting it up until this Saturday), since the gears of thought have pretty much stopped for me at this point.

It's going to be a pretty long campaign, with a lot of small and medium size fillers inbetween that might or might not have something to do with the gem mentioned in the subject.
What I have come up with thus far(though far from original) is that the party finds this gem in the catacombs of a long abandoned tower(which will also serve to bring them together). Now, for the gem. Both devils(lawful evil) and demons(chaotic evil) are coveting this gem, since it is somehow attuned to the magics of the world.
I am still not sure exactly what I want the gem to do, or what spells it can cast, not even what colour it is.
I'm also thinking about throwing in a holy order(false one), just to mix things up.

Any suggestions?

Quote from: WeeroI need help with going further with this campaign of mine(won't be starting it up until this Saturday), since the gears of thought have pretty much stopped for me at this point.

It's going to be a pretty long campaign, with a lot of small and medium size fillers inbetween that might or might not have something to do with the gem mentioned in the subject.
What I have come up with thus far(though far from original) is that the party finds this gem in the catacombs of a long abandoned tower(which will also serve to bring them together). Now, for the gem. Both devils(lawful evil) and demons(chaotic evil) are coveting this gem, since it is somehow attuned to the magics of the world.
I am still not sure exactly what I want the gem to do, or what spells it can cast, not even what colour it is.
I'm also thinking about throwing in a holy order(false one), just to mix things up.

Any suggestions?

Help us help you.
I'm assuming that your talking D&D based on the devils and demons...am I correct?
You say this gem will get the group together...beginning group I infer?  
What religions exist?  
Why would Demons and devils covet this gem and not lawful good and chaotic good outsiders?
What is the source of magic in the setting?

If the gem's particularly keyed towards evil people, I'd go with the stereotype - red. If you want, say that a particularly powerful being, or outsiders, or whatever, can get more out of the gem than your average John Dick or Harry adventurer (think Lord of the Rings and the Ring of Power), so they can only use it to cast 1/day negative spells, with the specific spells keyed to their level.

[blockquote=Weero]It's going to be a pretty long campaign, with a lot of small and medium size fillers inbetween that might or might not have something to do with the gem mentioned in the subject.[/blockquote]
Or could this gem be the first of a set, the base gem that does not do a whole heck of a lot by itsel;f, but that you have to have to start collecting the set?  That gives you a whole adventure path to work with.

Quote from: Lord Vreeg

Quote from: WeeroI need help with going further with this campaign of mine(won't be starting it up until this Saturday), since the gears of thought have pretty much stopped for me at this point.

It's going to be a pretty long campaign, with a lot of small and medium size fillers inbetween that might or might not have something to do with the gem mentioned in the subject.
What I have come up with thus far(though far from original) is that the party finds this gem in the catacombs of a long abandoned tower(which will also serve to bring them together). Now, for the gem. Both devils(lawful evil) and demons(chaotic evil) are coveting this gem, since it is somehow attuned to the magics of the world.
I am still not sure exactly what I want the gem to do, or what spells it can cast, not even what colour it is.
I'm also thinking about throwing in a holy order(false one), just to mix things up.

Any suggestions?

Help us help you.
I'm assuming that your talking D&D based on the devils and demons...am I correct?
You say this gem will get the group together...beginning group I infer?  
What religions exist?  
Why would Demons and devils covet this gem and not lawful good and chaotic good outsiders?
What is the source of magic in the setting?

First of all:
1. Yes, this is a 3.5 edition D&D campaign.
2. Beginning group.
3. I'm going to use the forgotten realms deities as far as names, spheres and domains go.
4. Hmmm...hadn't really thought about that other outsiders than devils and demons might want it...
5. The source of magic is everything around in the world, everything has a certain amount of magic about it, just most things don't have enough magic in them to actually do anything effective i.e. pebbles are worthless, but an entire mountain, then we're talking.

And I like the idea of having them in a set of sorts...maybe different gems have different elemental powers, and there could also be even more gems for lawful, chaotic, good, evil, shadow, and light.

And the gems could individually get more powerful the more you possessed.

Or it could just allow you to basically boost your magic with metamagic of some sort, changing your spells for the better. Might be draining if you want to keep your players from using it. Black might be a neat color as well if its keyed to evil. Maybe it changes color when you touch it? What do you mean when you say false holy order?

maybe there are two gems, one good and one evil. The good one might be lost, or just isn't known to the general populace of the multiverse. The evil one can only be used, or safely touched by evil beings. That way you can give it ridiculous amounts of power without fear of PCs using it.

The others are right; if devils and demons want it, then angels are going to be trying to find it and protect it. Perhaps the wizard whose tower the party found it in used to be its protector. Now that the PCs have it, perhaps they get sponsored by an Angel who can send them on quests and such.

Quote from: Cataclysmic CrowOr it could just allow you to basically boost your magic with metamagic of some sort, changing your spells for the better. Might be draining if you want to keep your players from using it. Black might be a neat color as well if its keyed to evil. Maybe it changes color when you touch it? What do you mean when you say false holy order?

By false holy order, I mean an organization or cult falsely proclaiming to belong to a certain god's clerics, though in reality they're just magnificent bastards trying to get their hands on the gems.

The metamagics sound nice, though I'd rather want it to be class agnostic. I could just give each gem a corresponding metamagic feat and non-magical feat each, though.

Edit: Getting a bit late here, so good night.

Quote from: Kapn XeviatThe others are right; if devils and demons want it, then angels are going to be trying to find it and protect it.

Maybe the gem's power would be that it corrupts angels and turns them evil. That would make it extremely valuable for both the devils and the demons, and also prevent angels from intervening directly... though they would surely try and act through intermediaries.

Well, if it were me....
(And understand I am given to very long plots and longer campaigns)
I'd first have to come up with a reason that a bunch of beginning PCs might have a chance of finding something that was eluding more powerful creatures.

1) I'd write up the legend of the Seven Gems of Power first.  (or whatever).  And I'd have the legend say they were all lost, if they ever really existed.  PLace some false info , as well.

2) I'd have a recently discovered diary of a devoted chamberlain mention that his master, Sal Supervillain had declared that his most prized, hidden possession, a gem of some reported magical qualities, was supposed to be sent to this personages' tomb.  The diary itself is totally filled, and in the first pages it is obvious that this was one of many that was filled. This entry is crammed into the end of the diary, indicating that the chamberlain would continue in another book.  This last entry states that the armed caravan was waylaid on the way to the tomb they were building, and the chamberlain had to organize a rescue party, or Sal Supervillain would have his head.  I'd also have a few competitors show up in this hamlet who have heard the same story.

so this does NOT give the exact location of the Gem.  It might have been rescued and entombed with this chamberlain's master, it might not have.  And now NO one is sure where the tomb of Supervillain is, exactly.  

3) I'd have the players meet at the town of Urfenburf, a hamlet that sprung up on a trade route that was close  to the ruined demnesne of Sal Supervillan.  I'd have them meet up there, and explore the ruined former headquarters of Supervillain.  Is there a chance to find the gem there?  I'd pretend there was.  What they might find is the actual location of the tomb of Supervillain, and I'd have the wight of the chamberlain be the main bad guy, animated by Supervillain's daughter.
3a) I'd throw in a sneaky competitor trying to follow them and have them find the body of an arrogant guy they met in Urfenbuf, torn apart by some powerful creature.  I'd also plant a few runmors of townsfolk seeing devilkin around the outskirts.  I'd also have the brothers of the sacred homily there trying to 'help' the PC's, but be also really trying to get the gem.

4) So the tomb of Supervillain is difficult to get to, but not too far away,.  Small adventure, more of a build em' up. I'd leave the lots of hints that it likely is there...but what they will find would be the next journal of the chamberlain, which describes that Supervillain died before they found the gem, but that the chamberlain's research said the League of XXX had captured it,. and probably had no idea of what they found.  

and your tower would be the old headquarters for the League of XXX, a group of assassin bandits.

ANyways, that was just an exercise, but since you said you wanted somewhat long campaign, I went a little overboard.  Take what you want, trash the rest.

Wow, I wasn't expecting that much but, thank you very much for the help, Lord Vreeg. Truth be told, I'm fairly new to being a DM, and this is very helpful.

Oh, and Urfenburf? That name gave me quite a snicker.

Quote from: WeeroWow, I wasn't expecting that much but, thank you very much for the help, Lord Vreeg. Truth be told, I'm fairly new to being a DM, and this is very helpful.

Oh, and Urfenburf? That name gave me quite a snicker.

Yeah, that and supervillain have some significance.

And like I said, use what you like.  I made it more of a story arc with three small adventures for a couple of reasons.  But this will give them a chance to move around your wetting a little bit, bumping into the authorities, caravans, the simple peasants and their superstitions...