Building Quests for Mudawin — Hooks, Maps, and Reward Ideas

Beginner’s Adventure: How to Start a Campaign in MudawinMudawin is a gritty, character-driven roleplaying setting where political intrigue, survival, and ancient mysteries converge. Whether you’re a first-time Game Master (GM) or an experienced storyteller trying a new world, this guide will take you step-by-step through creating a memorable beginner campaign in Mudawin: from understanding the setting’s tone to crafting starter adventures, building NPCs and maps, and running your first session.

Understanding Mudawin’s Core Themes

Mudawin emphasizes:

Survival and scarcity — resources are limited; every choice matters.
Moral ambiguity — factions and characters often have mixed motives rather than pure good or evil.
Ancient remnants — strange ruins and artifacts hint at a lost, powerful past.
Tribal and urban tensions — communities range from nomadic clans to corrupt city-states.

Keep these themes front-and-center when designing encounters, NPCs, and plot hooks.

Define the Campaign Scale and Tone

Decide early whether your campaign will focus on:

A single settlement (micro-campaign) — good for beginners and shorter play-series.
A region (sandbox) — players can roam; ideal for exploration and faction play.
The entire setting (epic) — large political machinations and world-changing stakes.

Tone options:

Grim and realistic: emphasize danger and consequences.
Adventurous but gritty: keep hope but make success costly.
Mystery-driven: center on discovery over combat.

For a beginner campaign, a micro-campaign centered on a frontier town or caravan route is usually best — it limits scope while showcasing Mudawin’s flavor.

Choose a Starter Location

Pick a compact, evocative locale that highlights Mudawin’s contrast between past and present. Examples:

A river settlement built atop an ancient ruined watchtower.
A caravan outpost at the edge of the Dead Marshes.
A frontier mining camp near an exposed relic vein.

Provide a short map: the settlement center, a market, a tavern/meeting hall, a watchpost, and one nearby danger site (ruins, bandit camp, hostile tribe). Keep geography simple for the first few sessions.

Create a Simple Overarching Hook

Beginner campaigns benefit from a clear, motivating hook that escalates naturally. Examples:

The settlement’s well runs dry while the old aquifer pulses with strange energies — villagers beg for help.
A merchant caravan is attacked; survivors carry a fragment of broken, rune-etched machinery.
A map found in a dead explorer’s pack points to a nearby ruin with a sealed doorway.

Design the hook so each session reveals more: a rumor, a relic, an NPC with secrets. Avoid forcing players into a single path — let them choose reactions.

Build Player Characters Tied to the Setting

Encourage players to create characters with local ties and clear motivations:

A former caravan guard seeking redemption.
A scholar obsessed with relics from Mudawin’s past.
A refugee from a destroyed clan aiming to reclaim land.
A city smuggler looking for profit.

Provide simple background prompts to link PCs to the town, factions, and the initial hook. For a beginner table, suggest 2–3 compatibility notes (allies, rivals, debts) to seed roleplay.

Factions and Key NPCs

Introduce 3–5 factions that shape the town’s politics. Keep roles clear and motivations ambiguous:

The Council of Keepers — elders who hoard knowledge and relic fragments.
The Iron Syndicate — merchants and enforcers profiting from caravans.
The Watch — local militia struggling to maintain order.
Remnant Cult — a small group worshipping ancient artifacts.

Create 4–6 NPCs with distinct voices and short agendas:

Mayor Harka — pragmatic, short-tempered, wants stability.
Lira the Tinker — curious inventor who studies relics for profit and progress.
Captain Tolen — watch commander, honorable but underfunded.
Old Mara — mystic who remembers the ruins’ old language.

Give each NPC a single secret or personal goal that can tie into the campaign’s escalation.

Starter Adventures (Three-Session Arc)

Session 1 — Arrival and Investigation

Hook: PCs arrive after a caravan attack or drought.
Goals: Gather information, meet NPCs, learn the town’s immediate problem.
Encounters: A tense market negotiation, a minor skirmish with scavengers, discovery of a rune-marked item.
Climax: A nighttime raid or a ritual partially activated at the ruins’ edge.

Session 2 — Exploration and Consequences

Hook: The rune item points to a nearby ruin or relic site.
Goals: Explore, solve a simple environmental puzzle, face corrupted fauna or traps.
Encounters: Environmental hazards (quicksand, poisoned springs), puzzles tied to Mudawin lore, an ambush by a rival faction.
Climax: The party recovers a relic fragment and learns it’s dangerous — someone wants it.

Session 3 — Choice and Fallout

Hook: Factions converge; the town demands resolution.
Goals: Negotiate, defend the settlement, decide the relic’s fate.
Encounters: Social confrontation with the Iron Syndicate or Council, a large combat if negotiations fail, or a ritual that could stabilize or destabilize the town.
Climax: PCs’ decision reshapes alliances and sets up future adventures.

Each session should last 2–4 hours. Allow for improvisation and player-driven choices.

Encounter Design Tips

Use scarcity: limit healing resources, make ammunition and tools matter.
Make choices meaningful: moral dilemmas and trade-offs should have tangible consequences.
Blend combat, exploration, and social scenes in each session.
Keep early combats short and varied; use terrain and objectives beyond “defeat all enemies.”
Use environmental storytelling: ruins, graffiti, and relic fragments tell Mudawin’s history.

Maps, Props, and Visual Aids

Keep maps simple: 1: town, 1: ruin/dungeon, 1: regional travel map.
Use 3–5 props: a torn letter, a rune-etched shard, a crude map, a faction token, and a wanted poster.
Optional: a handout with a crude sketch of the ruin and a fragment rubbing to spark curiosity.

Session Zero

Hold a short Session Zero (30–60 minutes) to:

Align expectations (tone, difficulty, safety tools).
Create character ties and clarify player goals.
Explain what “Mudawin” means mechanically (resource limits, relic risks).
Decide party logistics (rest mechanics, downtime).

Set boundaries and check consent for morally intense content.

Running the First Session

Start in medias res — a crisis hooks players faster than exposition.
Introduce NPCs through action and dialogue, not long descriptions.
Keep turn order and rules simple to avoid bogging down new players.
Reward creative problem-solving and roleplay with small mechanical or story benefits.
End with a clear teaser for the next session (a new clue, a looming threat, or a faction ultimatum).

Advancement and Rewards

Use milestone advancement tied to story beats (clear the ruin, broker peace, expose a secret).
Reward exploration with fragments and lore that grant boons but carry risk.
Offer non-monetary rewards: titles, favors, maps, or access to faction resources.

Hooks for Continuing the Campaign

A hidden vault under the town reveals a map to a larger relic network.
Rival factions escalate into open warfare, dragging PCs into larger politics.
The relic’s activation attracts a powerful, remnant entity.
PCs are offered leadership roles (e.g., head of the Watch, caravan commander).

Common Beginner Pitfalls and Fixes

Overly complex maps or mechanics — simplify.
Too many NPCs/factions — keep it to a few with clear goals.
Railroading — present options and let players choose.
Ignoring player backgrounds — weave them into the plot early.

Example Quick NPC Hook Table

NPC	Role	Quick Hook
Mayor Harka	Town leader	Needs help securing the well after sabotage
Lira the Tinker	Inventor	Wants relic fragments for research — may sell to rivals
Captain Tolen	Watch commander	Seeks recruits to defend a caravan route
Old Mara	Mystic	Knows a ritual song that can calm a relic — at a cost

Final Notes

Start small, emphasize choice and consequence, and lean into Mudawin’s mix of ruinous past and harsh present. A focused three-session arc, tied to player backgrounds and driven by clear stakes, will give new groups a satisfying introduction and plenty of hooks for future adventures.