So I have run into a story teller's block

[Shinizak]

I have a game where a lich is attempting to hijack the economy (or at least a part of it)for his own needs by capturing THE major trading port. But now I need a good reason for him NEEDING so much money. Though I can't really think of a good thing to need that much money... Got any ideas?

[Rixx]

He has to complete a magical ritual involving a very expensive material component, perhaps? Maybe he has to pay for a True Ressurection? In which case, who would he be trying to ressurect?

[Lycan 01]

Um... duh? UNLIMITED POWWWWWAAAAARRRR!! :smallbiggrin:

Seriously, he needs the money to finance his plot to become the most powerful being on the planet, if not the universe. You don't need much more to work with than that...

[Sequinox]

What if he found a really expensive way to build a second phylactery? You could add a hoarcrux spin on it and require it to cost a human life, and it splits his soul... That could also explain a seemingly unrelated series of murders around town. (Multiple hoarcrux's?)

[Asheram]

I have a game where a lich is attempting to hijack the economy (or at least a part of it)for his own needs by capturing THE major trading port. But now I need a good reason for him NEEDING so much money. Though I can't really think of a good thing to need that much money... Got any ideas?

More info needed. How did he capture the port?

[kamikasei]

Maybe he doesn't need the money, but need to deny it to someone else.

[Shinizak]

More info needed. How did he capture the port?

Ideally if he DOES capture the port, he's going to do it by:

A) Dominating a dragon into attacking it
B) He has captured the king's war fleet.
C) He's going to bribe/blackmail/force 3 of the five major noble's into using their resources to manipulating the town incoming and outgoing trade.
D) Killing the king or otherwise removing him from the picture.

[Roukon]

Maybe he needs to money because he wants to transform himself into a demilich. I don't remember the exact price, but it does cost a lot of money to do so.

[kamikasei]

He's trying to root out a rival cabal of necromancers and to do so he needs to completely control trade in black onyx.

[Jade_Tarem]

Ideally if he DOES capture the port, he's going to do it by:

A) Dominating a dragon into attacking it
B) He has captured the king's war fleet.
C) He's going to bribe/blackmail/force 3 of the five major noble's into using their resources to manipulating the town incoming and outgoing trade.
D) Killing the king or otherwise removing him from the picture.

I'm sorry, if he has control over most of the government anyway, why does he need to start murdering? He doesn't get any benefit from destroying the real estate that his trade is moving through, and killing the king is only going to tick everyone off. If he has the fleet and 3/5 nobles, he should just sit back and let the money roll in.

Also, paying off a dragon would be a good reason to need a ton of money. You could make it something really esoteric, like how he needs to forge a magical doodad "in dragon's fire," and renting the services of a dragon for that amount of time is *really* expensive. If the doodad is part of his main plot, then that gives you the layered plot that you need to provide your PCs with adventure hooks leading to the lich.

Edit: Also, dominating the two uncooperateive nobles and the king would be a lot easier and more productive than dominating a dragon big enough to assault a city.

[Omegonthesane]

He plans to planar bind Asmodeus, Lord of the Ninth, and needs all the money he can get to pay for whatever service without losing his soul. Or to pay for acquiring souls for paying for whatever service. :smalltongue:

More likely, he needs the money for an extremely expensive ritual, or to found a school of dread necromancy where he can corrupt younglings into becoming liches. Or he owns a stately home in Pandemonium and needs to soundproof it.

[Everyman]

Maybe its just me, but I'd shy away from the "costly material component" angle. If he really wanted to steal something, why bother with money if he could just steal the object to begin with?

How 'bout a debt? Maybe the lich owes a tidy sum to a powerful dragon, and needs to repay it or suffer some nasty consequences. Heck, maybe said dragon managed to find the lich's phylactory and is holding it ransom. If someone's got your "soul hidey-place", you listen.

[CheshireCatAW]

What about if instead of doing it to take over the trade, he's doing it to take over the land because it's special in some way? Sure, taking over the trade routes gets him income, and that's nice for all the throw pillows and components, but that's secondary to the Forgotten Pentagram of Magicky Goodness that lies as the foundation of the entire town, allowing him one step closer to, as was mentioned earlier, Ultimate Power.

Would that work for ya?

[Asheram]

Ideally if he DOES capture the port, he's going to do it by:

A) Dominating a dragon into attacking it
B) He has captured the king's war fleet.
C) He's going to bribe/blackmail/force 3 of the five major noble's into using their resources to manipulating the town incoming and outgoing trade.
D) Killing the king or otherwise removing him from the picture.

Great. How long till the different goverments get to hear about this change in ownership? Thinking if we go by A or B. Basicly, how fast does news travel in this campaign?
I'm just thinking that A and B will basicly make it a "no-go" zone for most ships. No one'll in their right mind will risk an enterprise to such a degree that they'll willingly ship something into a warzone.

[Omegonthesane]

Great. How long till the different goverments get to hear about this change in ownership? Thinking if we go by A or B.
I'm just thinking that A and B will basicly make it a "no-go" zone for most ships. No one'll in their right mind will risk an enterprise to such a degree that they'll willingly ship something into a warzone.

Which is where war profiteers come in. Because if you're the only one crazy enough to ship to the battlefield, you can ramp up the prices by an amazing amount and still get lots of business.

[Totally Guy]

Maybe he's trying to attract the attention of a particularly famous dragon.

Maybe he just likes having money. He's going to put it in a high interest account and because time is on his side he will eventually conquer the world through compound interest.

[Omegonthesane]

Maybe he just likes money, and is waaay more ambitious than just taking this place - he's located the Elemental Plane of Gold, and needs enough money to research Epic Plane Shift to get a mining society there.

[Random832]

Maybe he's trying to attract the attention of a particularly famous dragon.

Maybe he just likes having money. He's going to put it in a high interest account and because time is on his side he will eventually conquer the world through compound interest.

I'm not sure that would work. After all, the GDIC (Greyhawk Deposit Insurance Corporation) only guarantees 10,000 gp per depositor per bank, and the banks themselves certainly are more likely to simply fold than to attempt to honor the Lich's deposits with assets (particularly assets not owned by the bank) other than currency.

[Asheram]

Which is where war profiteers come in. Because if you're the only one crazy enough to ship to the battlefield, you can ramp up the prices by an amazing amount and still get lots of business.

True.. but trading in a battlezone is a bit too hardcore for most crews, I might imagine. ((Beside, there might be a dragon there if we go by option A. Imagine the tithe it'd demand!))

[Darcand]

I would need to know a little more about your game to know if this would work for you but I think that in a similiar situation I would look at the Lich's motivations and build his character around that. Obviously he has a love of money so rather then be the wizard type lich, let's make him a cleric, a dwarven cleric of some evil dwarven god of greed who demands a tithe of gold before allowing a soul into the afterlife.

Not having the proper ammount when his time came the cleric chose undeath over destruction and entered lichdom. Now he needs a vast treasure to buy his way back into the afterlife.

[deuxhero]

How about

It's a Trap and he intends that when the cities allys attempt to help it, he does something while their attention is turned.

[Ozymandias9]

I have a game where a lich is attempting to hijack the economy (or at least a part of it)for his own needs by capturing THE major trading port. But now I need a good reason for him NEEDING so much money. Though I can't really think of a good thing to need that much money... Got any ideas?

He's working on creating an artifact. If he can control the port covertly (replacing the king or mayor or what have you) he can skim off the top to cover the expenses for the less rare materials needed. He controls customs, so he can more easily get a hold of the rarer materials as they pass through the port. And he can use his contacts/minions to secure any extremely rare materials from overseas (that for whatever fluff reason can't be teleported) at lower risk of them entering the regional economy and alerting other powerful spell-casters that someone is securing extremely potent and particularly rare magical materials.

[LibraryOgre]

He doesn't need the money. He just wants to try out some theories of economics, to see if a determined force or individual can subvert free markets over the long term. He intends to publish it as a theoretical/fiction piece in The Economist.

[Badgercloak]

He's seeking to become a demilich and needs the money for the transformation.

[Leewei]

Gold has never really been a concern for Our Lich. The chap is happy to while away the centuries researching the spell that will end the world and elevate him to godhood.

Well, he was before some crass individual had the gall to steal and ransom his phylactery.

Now Our Lich isn't a dumb sort. Being a Wizard with a template that grants +2 to all mental stats makes one a bit sharper than your average adventurer. The thing is, unless he makes an obvious ploy to get the money demanded by his blackmailer, he knows his ultimate insurance policy will get cashed in. Therefore, he's sacking the port city to pay off his irksome foe, all the while desperately trying to find out who they are and how they managed to find and steal his phylactery.

Naturally, he still hasn't gotten a clue. When the PCs finally track him down, he may even be inclined to use them as patsies if he takes them down.

[Voldecanter]

What if Magic Users were presecuted in this land before the lich became what he is .... by infiltrating the very society that would see his kind destroyed he will subvert their ways until their is nothing left but magic .....This money would be used to destroy and bribe any who oppose him until he can establish a most powerful mageocracy , Grooming the Young Gifted children and teenagers to bow to his will , and to do his bidding . With opposition out of the way the world will now feel his wrath but who will stop him ?

[chiasaur11]

He doesn't need the money. He just wants to try out some theories of economics, to see if a determined force or individual can subvert free markets over the long term. He intends to publish it as a theoretical/fiction piece in The Economist.

I like this one.

I like it a lot.

[LibraryOgre]

I like this one.

I like it a lot.

That is what happens when you listen to Marketplace on too little sleep while perusing the boards.