Lycan 01
2009-09-08, 04:00 PM
So I've managed to cobble together a nice little group for DnD 4e. Yaaaaay... At the moment, its 3 people, with a 4th joining us on occassion. Here's a quick run-down of the party...
Roommate -
Lvl 3 Human Paladin: (Good) Mix of tank and healer. Great in combat, and lots of healing items and abilities. Roleplay wise, he's comedy gold. His Paladin worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who's followers number about about 12 - most of whom were converted by said Paladin. He gets XP for conversions, and some of his powers have a spaghetti theme to them...
Buddy -
Lvl 2 Halfling Warlock: (Chaotic Evil) Psychotic Striker of the party. He's pretty good in combat, and he's usually coming up with crazy plans that somehow work. Roleplay wise, he's also quite entertaining. Picture Belkar, but with the ability to light people on fire. His backstory is an interesting one - he got his powers from his dad, who was a human Lich, and mom was a halfling Necrophiliac. :smalleek: (I know, not possible, but we thought it was hilarious...)
Girlfriend -
Lvl 2 Shifter Druid: (Chaotic Good) Nature loving controller for the team. He's actually more wolfen in appearance than human, essentially being a humanoid wolf in armor. This makes for great roleplaying material, as he's shunned by the human world yet he doesn't completely fit into the animal world due to his human aspects. He hasn't made an in-game appearance yet, so I can't give you much on him...
Buddy's big bro -
Lvl 2 Tiefling Avenger: (?) I don't know anything about this character, really. He hasn't joined us yet, but he's got his character mostly put together. No real clue as to when he'll actually be playing with us...
Anyway, here's my problem. I don't know where to go with this group. I don't know if I want to just offer them random one-shot adventures and somehow string them together, or actually present them with a serious storyline to work with. I have ideas for both options...
Currently, the Paladin and the Rogue are in a small town they've been using as a base of operations for the past few sessions. (They were part of the group last year, which basically TPK'ed when I through more at them than I should have... oops. :smalleek:) They just cleared out a goblin camp, and have heard rumors of an Ork war party attacking town further up North. I'll have them meet up with the Druid during our next session...
Now, I have a few ideas for where to go from here.
Idea 1: Ork War Party
The Ork tribes to the North have recently been attacking and raiding settlements in the far North. Supposedly, there's little chance of them attacking towns this far South. Well, once the players leave their town, they'll stumble upon an Ork scouting group, which will provide them with much needed XP and information on the Ork's battle plans, which reveal that the town they frequent so much will be attacked in a few days. They'll then have a few options...
-They can return to the town, help to muster its defences, and defend it from the attackers when they arrive. This will mostly be skill rolls to help convince people to fight in the battle and build up the defences, and the battle itself will have them fighting several Ork elites and leaders while the townspeople keep (most of) the minions at bay.
-They can head off towards other local towns and try to convince people to help. Skill rolls will help them recruit mercenaries and warriors, as well as procure supplies. They'll arive mid-siege, though, and the battle will be a bit tougher since the Orks have the upper hand. But they'll have several decent NPCs to aid in the combat.
-They can try to intercept the raiders, and take out their leader. If they can find and sneak into the Ork camp under cover of darkness, killing their leader(s) will throw the group into confussion and chaos. But getting caught or screwing up would mean almost certain death... :smalleek:
Idea 2: Return of the Young Black Dragon!
This is more of an option, really. When the party next returns to their beloved town (perhaps after encountering the Ork scouts), they'll return to find the town under attack. Apparently, the Young Black Dragon from the Paladin and Warlock's old adventure has returned to wreak havok on them for killing off its tribe of Kobold followers. Naturally, I'll have lowered the difficulty of this guy to make him fair for a party of lvl 3-ish adventurers... Plus, they only have to get him down to half-health before he chickens out and flies off. There are a few variables for this, too...
-If the battle takes place in the town, I may provide a few environmental aids. For example, a guard tower with a ballista or giant crossbow in it. One player could run and use that while the others distracted the dragon.
-Town guards and other such NPCs could rush in to aid the heroes... or at least serve as cannon fodder to keep the dragon busy while the heroes come up with a plan or something.
-If the heroes were to go to the Ork base camp as previously described, and screw up somehow so that they're facing certain death, the Black Dragon could swoop in at that exact moment for revenge, rampaging through the Ork camp before finally getting to the stunned heroes. The dragon takes some hits before the encounter, AND the heroes no longer face certain doom... :smalltongue:
Idea 3: Just a bunch of random quests.
I have a bunch of random quests though up to run them through. A few examples include...
-A small town to the South has a paranoid Mayor. To get a good plot and make most of my players laugh, the Mayor is Adam West, and the town is actually called "Adam West Land" or something of the sort. Well, the Mayor believes his friends are out to get him, so he hires the party to go kill them. Well, it turns out they're planning a suprise party for the Mayor's birthday, so the players can either kill the friend's to get the rewards Adam West promised, or they can lure him back to where the party is in exchange for XP. Kind of a light-hearted quest...
-An old wizard is having a yard sale. He'll offer the party some gold and items if they help him get some stuff out of his attack and into the yard. Well, they bite off more than they can chew, with various monsters popping out of cursed luggage and random furniture trying to eat them, as well as the occassional cursed or poisoned knick-knack. They'll get good loot and XP for their trouble, though... Also kind of a light-hearted quest...
-An old abandoned castle is located to the East of their hometown. Its full of skeletons, zombies, traps, and other various risks. Decent loot and XP rewards expected. Basically, its an old fashioned dungeon crawl...
-A town on the Eastern coast is having a bit of a pirate problem. The adventurers are hired to help pose as passengers on a "merchant" ship that will serve to lure out the pirates. Once the ship is boarded, the players are to take out the main pirate leaders on board, and if possible discover the location of the pirates' base. Pretty good loot and XP expected, and it could possibly lead to more pirate hunting quests...
That's all off the top of my head...
So yeah. I'm just not too sure where I want to go with this group. Anti-Ork campaign, optional Dragon revenge attack, or just a bunch of "adventure of the week" games? :smallconfused:
And yes, I DO realize I spelled Orc with a k. Warhammer 40K is to blame for that, and I'm too lazy to go back and fix all the times I said Ork. :smalltongue:
Roommate -
Lvl 3 Human Paladin: (Good) Mix of tank and healer. Great in combat, and lots of healing items and abilities. Roleplay wise, he's comedy gold. His Paladin worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who's followers number about about 12 - most of whom were converted by said Paladin. He gets XP for conversions, and some of his powers have a spaghetti theme to them...
Buddy -
Lvl 2 Halfling Warlock: (Chaotic Evil) Psychotic Striker of the party. He's pretty good in combat, and he's usually coming up with crazy plans that somehow work. Roleplay wise, he's also quite entertaining. Picture Belkar, but with the ability to light people on fire. His backstory is an interesting one - he got his powers from his dad, who was a human Lich, and mom was a halfling Necrophiliac. :smalleek: (I know, not possible, but we thought it was hilarious...)
Girlfriend -
Lvl 2 Shifter Druid: (Chaotic Good) Nature loving controller for the team. He's actually more wolfen in appearance than human, essentially being a humanoid wolf in armor. This makes for great roleplaying material, as he's shunned by the human world yet he doesn't completely fit into the animal world due to his human aspects. He hasn't made an in-game appearance yet, so I can't give you much on him...
Buddy's big bro -
Lvl 2 Tiefling Avenger: (?) I don't know anything about this character, really. He hasn't joined us yet, but he's got his character mostly put together. No real clue as to when he'll actually be playing with us...
Anyway, here's my problem. I don't know where to go with this group. I don't know if I want to just offer them random one-shot adventures and somehow string them together, or actually present them with a serious storyline to work with. I have ideas for both options...
Currently, the Paladin and the Rogue are in a small town they've been using as a base of operations for the past few sessions. (They were part of the group last year, which basically TPK'ed when I through more at them than I should have... oops. :smalleek:) They just cleared out a goblin camp, and have heard rumors of an Ork war party attacking town further up North. I'll have them meet up with the Druid during our next session...
Now, I have a few ideas for where to go from here.
Idea 1: Ork War Party
The Ork tribes to the North have recently been attacking and raiding settlements in the far North. Supposedly, there's little chance of them attacking towns this far South. Well, once the players leave their town, they'll stumble upon an Ork scouting group, which will provide them with much needed XP and information on the Ork's battle plans, which reveal that the town they frequent so much will be attacked in a few days. They'll then have a few options...
-They can return to the town, help to muster its defences, and defend it from the attackers when they arrive. This will mostly be skill rolls to help convince people to fight in the battle and build up the defences, and the battle itself will have them fighting several Ork elites and leaders while the townspeople keep (most of) the minions at bay.
-They can head off towards other local towns and try to convince people to help. Skill rolls will help them recruit mercenaries and warriors, as well as procure supplies. They'll arive mid-siege, though, and the battle will be a bit tougher since the Orks have the upper hand. But they'll have several decent NPCs to aid in the combat.
-They can try to intercept the raiders, and take out their leader. If they can find and sneak into the Ork camp under cover of darkness, killing their leader(s) will throw the group into confussion and chaos. But getting caught or screwing up would mean almost certain death... :smalleek:
Idea 2: Return of the Young Black Dragon!
This is more of an option, really. When the party next returns to their beloved town (perhaps after encountering the Ork scouts), they'll return to find the town under attack. Apparently, the Young Black Dragon from the Paladin and Warlock's old adventure has returned to wreak havok on them for killing off its tribe of Kobold followers. Naturally, I'll have lowered the difficulty of this guy to make him fair for a party of lvl 3-ish adventurers... Plus, they only have to get him down to half-health before he chickens out and flies off. There are a few variables for this, too...
-If the battle takes place in the town, I may provide a few environmental aids. For example, a guard tower with a ballista or giant crossbow in it. One player could run and use that while the others distracted the dragon.
-Town guards and other such NPCs could rush in to aid the heroes... or at least serve as cannon fodder to keep the dragon busy while the heroes come up with a plan or something.
-If the heroes were to go to the Ork base camp as previously described, and screw up somehow so that they're facing certain death, the Black Dragon could swoop in at that exact moment for revenge, rampaging through the Ork camp before finally getting to the stunned heroes. The dragon takes some hits before the encounter, AND the heroes no longer face certain doom... :smalltongue:
Idea 3: Just a bunch of random quests.
I have a bunch of random quests though up to run them through. A few examples include...
-A small town to the South has a paranoid Mayor. To get a good plot and make most of my players laugh, the Mayor is Adam West, and the town is actually called "Adam West Land" or something of the sort. Well, the Mayor believes his friends are out to get him, so he hires the party to go kill them. Well, it turns out they're planning a suprise party for the Mayor's birthday, so the players can either kill the friend's to get the rewards Adam West promised, or they can lure him back to where the party is in exchange for XP. Kind of a light-hearted quest...
-An old wizard is having a yard sale. He'll offer the party some gold and items if they help him get some stuff out of his attack and into the yard. Well, they bite off more than they can chew, with various monsters popping out of cursed luggage and random furniture trying to eat them, as well as the occassional cursed or poisoned knick-knack. They'll get good loot and XP for their trouble, though... Also kind of a light-hearted quest...
-An old abandoned castle is located to the East of their hometown. Its full of skeletons, zombies, traps, and other various risks. Decent loot and XP rewards expected. Basically, its an old fashioned dungeon crawl...
-A town on the Eastern coast is having a bit of a pirate problem. The adventurers are hired to help pose as passengers on a "merchant" ship that will serve to lure out the pirates. Once the ship is boarded, the players are to take out the main pirate leaders on board, and if possible discover the location of the pirates' base. Pretty good loot and XP expected, and it could possibly lead to more pirate hunting quests...
That's all off the top of my head...
So yeah. I'm just not too sure where I want to go with this group. Anti-Ork campaign, optional Dragon revenge attack, or just a bunch of "adventure of the week" games? :smallconfused:
And yes, I DO realize I spelled Orc with a k. Warhammer 40K is to blame for that, and I'm too lazy to go back and fix all the times I said Ork. :smalltongue: