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I was just wondering if anyone had ever run a campaign that started out just before Dark Day and gave the players the chance to try and stop it from happening?

I'm currently running a game where the PC's are vampire hunters in modern day Earth, and I have been gradually dropping more and more Nightbane elements in. I plan on having them discover the Priests of Night and their plans for Dark Day a few days before it is going to happen.

Has anyone ever done this before? Any tips?

I've been thinking that due to the low magical level of the world at the time of the game, the PoN will require a set of extremely powerful magical items to syphon the PPE out of to cause DD. And if the players can get a few of them and keep them they might be able to stop it from happening.

Well, I'll appreciate any ideas, tips, etc you have for me.

Wow, I thought someone would have something to say on this.

Oh well.

Actually, I posted a pre Dark Day BTS campaign idea a few months back dealing with the Phitynic dimension/time travel technology from the original BTS. The players were to be part of the Randolph Corporation, who was trying to head off Dark Day.

Yo Grixnair, you mentioned that your characters are "vampire hunters". But you didn't say if they were already nightbane, as there are some nightbane in the world before the onset of Dark Day.
I think you have a whole scope of potential here for plot/story ideas.

Perhaps your PC's could be on the trail of vampires, ie finding what looks to be the remains of vampiric victims only to have them unwittingly stumble upon the PoB killing people to release their PPE as they are going to need an awful lot to bring about Dark Day).

Another interesting twist would be something similar chasing vampires then finding out that there are greater dangers ie minions of the nightlords, which may result in the characters having to work alongside vampires as they realise they both face a greater menace.

Dark Day really is the focal event that sets up the world of nightbane for play, if you actually stopped it what would you put in its place or would you leave the world much as it was?

Rather than stop the entire invasion of earth you could make the characters instrumental in stopping a localised invasion, perhaps in a city thus the characters would still feel a big accomplishment and sense of achievement. You could then have Nightlords sending minions t the city etc etc to find out what happened and then the characters could act as protectors.

Well these are just some suggestions I hope you find them useful.

Hey Sandhog, thanks for the input. A lot of the ideas you brought up should work or were along the same lines of what I was planning.

The current roster of characters includes a Bishamon Fighting Monk (a la Rifts: Japan), a Gypsy Seer(a la Triax & NGR), a Roman Catholic Priest (a la Warlords of Russia) and a Analytical Genuis (HU2nd). None of the characters are Nightbane yet, but I am planning on turning the Priest into one.

So far in the game they have found a nest of vamps but had to flee after failing to neutralize it, met a secondary vamp who is trying to get information from them on that nest (planned reoccuring villain), and as we finished off for the night they saw a hound fighting a pack of vamps in the distance. Just a hint of things to come, though that might be more effective if any of the players knew anything about Nightbane.

I agree that they shouldn't actually be able to stop Dark Day from happening, unless that's used as a campaign grande finale.

no probs mate, all this talk of campaign ideas makes me yearn for the days of being a GM again hehe...

I am a bit puzzled though, it sounds like most of your PC's are already rifts characters. Did you send them through a dimensional rift to nightbane earth?

Will not your other other PC's be a bit jealous if you turn the priest into a nightbane, sounds like a mix up with OCC/RCC there...

Another angle would be to have your group fight alongside nightbane characters.
Hell, have then show up when your PC's are fighting with vamps against the nightlord minions, now that would get very intereting, cool if you could pull it off and have your plot hooks to bring it all together.

Most of them are using classes from Rifts, but I stripped out all MDC equipment and powers. The whole initial idea for the campaign was to play a priest and his friends who hunt vamps and other supernatural menaces. But I didn't want the players to have much magic and no super powers to start. Eventually I want to increase all of their abilities, so the priest becoming a nightbane will be balanced out by additional changes to the other players.

I guess if you are going to turn the priest into a nightbane then you will decide what nightbane traits he has already. Be curious how he deals with that, might see himself as a demon and throw himself of a cliff hehe just kidding.

Nice that you adapted the Rifts material, I think nightbane would fit easily into a rifts campaign, though I never seen the book dark conversions.

I stopped with the rifts books in 1994 hmmm maybe should start again