PDA

View Full Version : [4e] Planning Far Realm Plot



drawingfreak
2011-01-11, 02:11 PM
I am trying to use the 5x5 Method (http://critical-hits.com/2009/06/02/the-5x5-method/) to write a plot wherein the PCs eventually find themselves in a fight to survive a Far Realm invasion. I have many blank spaces and need help filling them in.

The game is mission based, each session encompassing one mission. The plot points mentioned below will be hidden amongst other missions in the world, and character based ones (depending on who is at the table). Character based missions can tie in with the main plot and other missions quite easily.
Non-plot based missions will slowly disappear the further into the campaign we go.

{table]Defeat Far Realm | Something Coming | Seeds of Despair | Survive Assault | Gather Forces | Defeat Flayers
Something Coming | Sewer Rats | ? | ? | ? | ?
Seeds of Despair | Sanhuagin Attack | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?
Survive Assault | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?
Gather Forces | Astronomer | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?
Defeat Flayers | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ?[/table]

Defeat Far Realm

Something Coming: in which our heroes slowly catch on that something is wrong
Seeds of Despair: in which our heroes try to handle the world that is starting to go mad
Survive Assault: in which our heroes must survive the onslaught of Far Realm beasts and creatures invading from the sky
Gather Forces: in which our heroes must find the strength to combat the Far Realm invaders
Defeat Flayers: in which our heroes must destroy the Far Realm menace once and for all


Something Coming

Sewer Rats: In which our heroes are introduced to the main plot via a wererat with melted out eyes from staring into the stars "The Stars are Screaming!"
Sanhuagin Attack: in which our heroes stop a Sanhuagin attack on a coastal city. The fish people are looking for protective items to save their civilization from an unknown coming doom.
Astronomer: in which our heroes save a young girl from an astronomer gone mad from staring into the stars, his eyes also melted away.


That is all I have for now. Ideas? I wanted simple Lovecraftian references in the first two arches (hence the Sanhuagin, a subtle reference to the Deep Ones).
You can find world information HERE (http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/world-of-latell/wikis/ueepor) and the coming adventure log HERE (http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaign/world-of-latell/adventure-log).

Sipex
2011-01-11, 02:16 PM
I'm unsure how this works, left to right?

edit: More complex than that it seems, could you explain?

edit2: Ah, there's a link.

drawingfreak
2011-01-11, 02:20 PM
{table]Main Quest | Main Quest A | Main Quest B | Main Quest C
A | AA | BA | CA
B | AB | BB | CB
C | AC | BC | CC[/table]

Sipex
2011-01-11, 02:39 PM
Okay, I still don't quite understand since you have intersections of each quest combination and I'm unsure what that signifies (not really explained in the article). Does that signify that those parts of the quests all take place in the same area or same theme?

Well, anyways. Somewhere along the Seeds of Despair track.

The heroes investigate a village after receiving notice that townsfolk have been getting attacked upon leaving the village. Nobody has seen what has attacked them but it isn't assumed to be thieves as the corpses are left with all their valuables and only their eyes dug out (to match your theme).

When the PCs arrive they investigate and find that townsfolk start going missing one by one. Some PCs see flashes of odd humanoids in the forest and homes don't look like there have been any trouble.

In reality some sort of influence has begun to convert the townsfolk into...blargh, what are they, the warped creatures...Fell something?

Oracle_Hunter
2011-01-11, 02:49 PM
God, but this is a confusing way to structure a campaign :smallsigh:
So the idea, as I get it, is to have a series of Quests which, if completed, will complete The Main Plot - and then to tie in side-quests for Other Plots within each Quest?

As I read the Critical Hits article, I think you're doing it wrong. Each of the Quests needs to be tied to a location - a location that an Other Quest Plot will bring the PCs to at some point.

So, from the article, the location of Dunharrow is where the "get Narsil" Quest from the Main Plot can be resolved and where anyone from the "Defeat the Witch King" Other Plot would need to be to "Discover the Witch King's Weakness."

So, your Y Axis should be the Main Plot Quests while your X Axis should be the Other Plot Quests. The intersecting XY points need to be physical locations in your World.

I think? :smallconfused:

Anyhow, this needs some clarification.
For example, the "Something's Coming" plot stops being relevant when, well, Mind Flayers start falling from the sky. This is probably why the "Survive Assault" and "Defeat Flayers" intersections are left blank. Similarly, the "Seeds of Despair" describes a theme of the world, but not a quest in and of itself: yes, the world is going crazy but you can't really deal with it without killing the Mindflayers. "Survive Assault" isn't a Quest either - it's an Encounter description.

Let's see if we can't rephrase the Defeat Far Realm Quest a la the Critical Hits Article.

Defeat Far Realm
(1) Discover a prophecy telling of the End Times
(2) Travel to Astronomer's Tower, Drive off Sanhuagin Attack
(3) Meet Astronomer to decipher prophecy. Save Daughter from resulting Mad Astronomer Attack.
(4) Learn about Relic under Kingstown from Astronomer Notes. Defeat Far Realm Advance Force attacking Kingstown.
(5) Retrieve Relic beneath Kingstown and use it to defeat Mind Flayers

Now each of these Plot Points has a Location (Starttown, Seatown, Astronomer's Tower, Kingstown, Beneath Kingstown) which can be used to seed a Sub-Plot. Perhaps The Rats in Starttown were being combated by Heroes of Another Story - you can recruit/train them for a "Gathering Forces" subplot. Or maybe the Prophecy as deciphered in Astronmer's Tower speaks of ancillary Mad Plagues that the party can try to fix ("Seeds of Depair" style)
Perhaps I'm making a hash of this, but that's what I got out of it.