The Side Dishes

An age ago, I posted to the effect that a good campaign really should have something more than just "orc and pie" searches for things to kill and stuff to take. I referred to this "something more" as the side dish.

Given that I'm now prepping the next campaign for the work game (actually, three such campaigns), I find myself in need of those side dishes. So, here they are:

Blades in the Desert: This campaign focuses on interaction and the five factions. Therefore I will prepare five factions (two merchant houses, the local lord and his men, a hostile foreign power, and the criminal underworld) that PCs can join or oppose. In addition, each player will be challenged to come up with an "anchor NPC" tied to their character; said character will also be tied somehow to one or more of the five factions, thus immediately involving the PCs in the events of the campaign.

The Mists of Lamordia: This campaign focuses on the finding and keeping of secrets. As such, each major element, be that a key NPC, a faction, and indeed each PC, will have a secret to be found and/or kept. At character creation, each player will be challenged to come up with a secret about their character - at a key time they may then choose to reveal that secret to the group, with the corresponding award of XP.

The Quest for Memory: This campaign is the most classic D&D experience, and as such will focus on the completion of quests. The environment will therefore be studded with quests, major and minor, that the players can choose to follow up on or not. In addition, I will prepare a dozen quests prior to character creation, and at the outset of the campaign each player will roll a die to determine their character's individual quest - these can be followed or ignored as the party wishes, and will grant XP as for any other quest.