Druid Campaigns (CDH)

__TOC__
So far this chapter has dealt with ways to role-play druid characters in normal AD&D campaigns. But it's quite possible to use this information to run an adventure focusing on druids alone. A DM could handle such a campaign one of several ways.
==All or Mostly Druids?==
The DM of a druid-centered campaign can choose to restrict players to druid characters only. This setup works best with fewer than four players. On the other hand, druid-centered campaigns involving many players can benefit from the presence of one or two appropriate nondruid characters. The DM may allow bards, rangers, and those clerics, mages, or fighters with Peasant or Outlaw kits. (See The Complete Priest's Handbook, The Complete Wizard's Handbook, and The Complete Fighter's Handbook.)
After DMs choose to run an all-druid campaign, they must next decide whether to have a party of druids from a variety of branches or from only one.
Single-Branch Campaigns. Some campaigns center around druids in a single circle and the doings of those native to the area. Most PCs will represent the same branch: that of the area's dominant terrain. For example, campaigns set in mountainous terrain feature mostly mountain druids; if the campaign were set in the Underdark, most of the characters would be gray druids.
This campaign gives the PCs a strong sense of identity and creates a united party, since all its members have similar goals. It also allows the DM to focus on interdruid politics (such as the rise of the Shadow Circle or the rivalry between various druidic branches). A single-branch campaign involving an unusual branch (like the arctic druids) gives the DM an opportunity to run a change-of-pace adventure set in a different environment. PCs can venture to remote locations, meet members of little-known cultures, and encounter monsters they otherwise would rarely happen upon.
On the down side, although players can distinguish the characters from each other by giving them each different kits, players still may wish for more variety within the party. Try making some of the characters druids from associated branches; for instance, if the adventure takes place near a forest on a mountainside, some of the characters resemble a mix of both the forest and mountain druid branches.
Multibranch Campaigns. In a campaign involving only druids, the DM may encourage players to choose characters from different branches. The advantage of this arrangement? It provides a strong variety of characters—especially since they also may have different druid kits. However, a disadvantage is the difficulty of explaining why a jungle druid and an arctic druid want to adventure together in the first place.
One way to get around this problem requires bringing the PCs together for a reason. Perhaps the characters each represent their particular region in a quest the Grand Druid has launched to help fight a world-shaking problem. This scenario gives them the single-branch campaign's sense of shared mission, but more variety.
And, there could be any number of reasons why this special group of beginning characters was selected. Pick one of the following justifications:
* The Grand Druid chose them because they fit an ancient prophecy.
* The upper ranks of the druids are too conservative (or filled with untrustworthy agents of the Shadow Circle), and only these members of the younger generation see the true threat facing the world.
* There are few druids left—a growing evil wiped out most of the Order's upper ranks. (A very nasty situation indeed!)
A more serious problem in game balance for multibranch campaigns lies in the fact that each branch works best in a single terrain type: the desert druid operates best in the desert; the gray druid has optimal powers only in the underworld, and so on. As a result, a multibranch druid campaign needs to involve a fair bit of traveling; if the characters stay in the forest or the dungeon all the time, the player of an arctic or swamp druid will feel useless! Forcing the characters to travel widely, fighting an evil that recurs in several guises, can make for an exciting adventure involving all the characters.
For example, in a campaign with the goal of defeating the followers of a chaotic evil god corrupting Nature, the first adventure might take the party to a swamp that had been defiled into a place of horror. The druids would deal with toxic water, mutant giant insects, will o' wisps, black dragons, and other swamp monsters. A clue then can lead them to an adventure in the frozen arctic, where the PCs hear of a blizzard without end and the creatures that lurk within it. With this kind of approach, every branch of druid has a chance to shine.
==Guardians of the Wild==
In this campaign, the druids must defend a tract of wilderness from those who wish to exploit it. To make this story stronger, develop druid characters with a personal stake in the area. For example, the region could hold an ancient grove in which a PC was initiated into the druidic order. Or maybe it serves as home to a tribe of sylvan beings who have befriended a character.
An interesting problem develops if the druids discover that the individuals cutting down their wood or draining their swamp have a very good reason to do so. As a result, the druids—and players—find themselves faced with a more complex moral dilemma than simply, "Run those exploiters off the land." They must look behind the problem to get at its heart.
This campaign suits players who enjoy diplomacy and politics, and generally works best with relatively high-level druids. This scenario lets the characters explore a key element of the druid's ethos: the need to see everyone's point of view, then judge which path best serves druidic interests.
For instance, suppose the druids learn of a problem in the area when hundreds of migrant laborers—mostly poor folk with no farms of their own—descend like locusts on the characters' ancient forest, chopping down trees and bearing them away. Worse, several species of rare animals live near here, and the logging threatens to destroy their home.
Where did these laborers come from? The party learns they work for a nation of dwarves living nearby. These mountain dwarves, having exhausted their supply of coal, had to turn to wood to keep the forges burning. They pay the poor human laborers in gold for every log they bring in. Already the dwarves' own mountain stands denuded of trees. The druids' verdant preserve seems the only nearby source of firewood.
The migrant laborers have more immediate concerns than the dangers of exfoliation. A lean harvest this year has meant little work, and without the dwarves' bounty, the humans risk starvation. As long as the dwarves pay, they will be able to buy food for the winter...
But what made the dwarves decide to expand their activities so much that they exhausted their coal resources?
War. The mountain dwarves are forging weapons for a small elven kingdom two day's journey away, struggling against an alliance of migrating bugbear and ogre tribes. Except for the royal guard, these elves—caught by surprise—lacked proper armor and weapons to withstand the onslaught. The dwarves didn't want to get involved, but agreed to forge the elves fine long swords, armor, and arrowheads in exchange for a share of the valuable emerald deposits located within the elven kingdom.
The DM could stop here and decide to call the bugbears and ogres the villains. But perhaps things are not quite that simple. What started the bugbear-ogre migration? Perhaps a powerful dragon drove them from their land; now they have become refugees themselves, wishing to settle in empty areas within the elven wood. However, the elves refused (not desiring such rude neighbors).
A campaign of this sort gives druids many options. The characters could merely drive the woodcutters from the forest—but terrorizing them may spur the dwarves to hire adventurers to deal with the druids! The party could play it sneaky—help the elves win a quick victory by destroying the ogre-bugbear alliance. (The druids slay the bugbear chieftain, but make it look like a rival ogre chief did it.) Or, the solution could prove complex, if the druids decide to try negotiating a peace treaty between the elves and the bugbear-ogre alliance. If the DM works out the personalities and goals of the major figures, each of the druids' actions could carry its own set of consequences.
==The Evil Woods==
In the center of a once beautiful sylvan forest lies a place of power—a grove at one time sacred to the druids. Unfortunately, its defenders were not as strong as they thought and, in a weak moment, allowed a dreadful evil to creep into the land. These forces captured and defiled the sacred grove; now darkness has fallen over the ancient woods.
Nature itself has felt the corrupting power of this evil. Flocks of vampire bats, clusters of stirges, and clouds of stinging insects darken the skies. Bugbears and goblins roam the outskirts of the wood, but even they do not venture into the interior, which rumor calls home to horrors beyond imagining: flesh-eating treants, cannibal elves, undead animals, and dark unicorns with poisoned horns. All these creatures manifest the terrible cancer emanating from the once sacred grove, which now bears a terrible curse—a curse that is spreading ...
This campaign will prove a challenge for any druidic party. The evil forces include a mix of standard woodland monsters like bugbears and green dragons, and twisted, evil versions of normally good or neutral sylvan beings like dryads and elves. The druids—possibly allied with good-aligned adventurers—do not know exactly what evil corrupted the sacred grove, so they have to move carefully at first, scouting the forest. The cursed woods resembles a dungeon: The farther the characters penetrate, the more deadly it becomes, with the power that destroyed the original Guardians waiting, spiderlike, in the center of the sacred grove.
==Druid Mini-Adventures==
Try these druid-centered adventures.
* The druid is approached by a female bard who loves a Shapeshifter druid. While she worked in town, he spent too long in the form of a bear and became trapped in that shape. Worse, hunters captured him and sold him to an arena, where handlers will force him to fight other animals (or humans) to the death. The games begin in a week. The bard beseeches the PC—the nearest druid—to help her free her love.
* A dryad heard that a group of pixies is tormenting a green dragon—playing tricks on it while invisible, stealing trinkets, and the like. The dragon can't find the ones responsible, and the dryad fears its rage will devastate the wood. Someone must tell the pixies to stop—and calm the dragon down.
* While hunting a stag in the forest, the king's youngest son was killed by a great wolf. The grief-maddened monarch has decreed that every wolf in the wood must die, enticing hunters with a bounty of 50 gp for each pelt. What should the druid do?
* A young elf and a human ranger love each other, but their parents do not approve. They run away to the woods, begging the druid to marry them. But the angry parents are not far behind ...
* A strange blight is afflicting the forest, turning leaves a luminous white. The druid must discover this disease's secrets before all greenery disappears from the forest.
* Someone has stolen a sylph's egg! She left it only an hour to visit her nymph friend. Now, heartbroken, she asks the local druid for help. Suspects or witnesses in this forest whodunit include a flighty pseudo-dragon, a pool of nixies, a jealous aerial servant, and a drunken satyr.
==Against the Shadows==
The Shadow Circle can spark adventures rife with intrigue, betrayal, and druid vs. druid conflict. Composing such an adventure requires a good understanding of the local druidic hierarchy. The DM should sketch out the personalities of the domain's NPC druids, then secretly decide which (if any) belong to the Shadow Circle. PCs can glean some information about the NPCs but will not know their secret allegiances.
Here are some adventure ideas:
The Horde. A rumor now circulating says druids from the Shadow Circle have set up a secret meeting with chieftains of nearby orc or barbarian tribes. Obviously they plan to mount an assault on one or more human towns or cities—but when, how, and where will they strike? As druids opposed to Shadow Circle policies, the PCs may try to find out what is going on so they can sound the alarm or nip the plan in the bud—but getting anyone to believe word of an impending invasion may prove difficult without concrete evidence, for few know the truth about the Shadow Circle.
If infiltrating the secret society seems like too great a challenge, the characters could kidnap an orc leader for questioning. And this step might be only the beginning; the PCs might learn that Shadow Circle druids have found a secret weapon—a dragon or a magical war machine ...
The Invitation. The DM can send a Shadowed One to recruit a PC druid who has been especially ruthless. This isn't good news for most PCs: Few want to become the obedient pawns of the faceless, secretive organization's inner circle. However, those who refuse must foil the dreaded Shadowed Ones intending to kill uncooperative druids.
The Traitor. One of the PCs—a druid loyal to the Order—learns that one of the three archdruids in the domain belongs to the Shadow Circle. This inner circle member has hired assassins to kill the circle's great druid next month, rather than have to face the leader in a duel. Unfortunately, the PC's informant mysteriously dies before revealing the traitorous archdruid's identity. Can the PC uncover the traitor in time to prevent the Shadow Circle's victory?
The characters may want to talk to those who know the three suspects and examine each archdruid's behavior for any hint of allegiance to the Shadow Circle. Of course, the real traitor may speed up the Shadow Circle's agenda if the PCs are discovered—or try to do away with the investigators!
The Defector. A druid defecting from the Shadow Circle has important information about the sinister organization's plans, but she will talk only to the Grand Druid, whom she knows stands outside the group. Her defection has not gone unnoticed—the dread Shadowed Ones plot her death—so the PCs must protect her on her way to an Emissary of the Grand Druid. They will face magical, monstrous, and personal attacks, as well as treachery from those they thought were allies.