[4e] MacGuffin help :)

[Flail_master]

Hey guys,
you may recall that recently i asked for plot ideas, i finally settled on one :smallbiggrin:
i spoilered all the fluff in case you dont care :smallsmile:
So it's a couple, 17-18 year old girl, most likely a combat class, if not, an invoker, and a guy around 26-28, probably wizard, some form of arcane caster...
the girl is 4th in line for the throne in a royal line in (city name here :smalltongue:... I'll get round to it), the other 3 are her brothers, and not to mention, her father, who is currently in power. She just recently met this guy, i say recently, i mean like a year ago or something, they are hopelessly in love and she has started wanting the throne NOW, and she believes that her honeybun is the rightful ruler as well! I mean, she's going to marry him someday! and he's smarter than ALL her brothers! her hubby and her have big plans! and they need power to accomplish them, plenty of underlings and plenty of money, so they start trying to get her brothers, and father killed in secret, then they'll begin their mission.

now here's where my title comes in,
whether or not the PC's manage to stop the assassinations, they're after around anywhere from 2-6 MacGuffins which will help them become immortal, (what they consider true immortality, no harm can ever come to them, immense power, and none of that flesh rotting business with the lichdom, and no dying required, they want to make their own heaven, in a sense, where THEY are the 'Gods') and they wanna find these MacGuffins while/so that they can take over more cities, continents, and eventually, the world (OF COURSE!!!) and perhaps even cause some planar destruction or start bleeding one of the planes for more power for the heck of it. :smalltongue:
Now the problem is, I dont know what to make these MacGuffins, i want them to have useful qualities to them by themselves, perhaps enhanced when several are assembled, maybe they all need to constantly be together to grant the user immortality and power? and thats their weakness.

So here are a few questions:
- how many, 2? have a yin yang thing going? 6? all across the globe business?
- maybe theres a whole competing thing with them, winning them from their guardians or owners? ('Shoa Lin Showdown' anyone?)
- Do they fit together like a puzzle? 6 pieces of some weird pot or something?
- are they completely separate items? unable to tell that they are matched items?
- most importantly what do they DO? what are they?
- do they have some requirement of the user? some mass sacrifice? pure heart? maybe they bind to your flesh? making you pay in blood? or maybe your soul?

also, what kind of restrictions (or lack of restrictions) are there on making such artifacts?

sorry for the big read :smalltongue:
thanks again playground :smallbiggrin:
Flail_master

P.S.: originality isnt a concern for me in terms of story, so no one start pointing out how used some points of my plot may be, i know! i just want it to be fun :smallsmile:

[evirus]

Why does this remind me of the infinity gauntlet for some reason.

Also there is that 7 piece rod that was in older DnD versions. It was an artifact in seven parts that scaled in power the more you assembled.

[Traab]

Why does this remind me of the infinity gauntlet for some reason.

Also there is that 7 piece rod that was in older DnD versions. It was an artifact in seven parts that scaled in power the more you assembled.

I was thinking more millennium items :p. As for items, if you make them a set to have the immortality, then you will have an eventual paranoia game where the rest of the party turns on each other so THEY can be immortal. On the other hand, a half dozen items, that each grant immortality, in a single campaign seems a little bit much.

I say, make each item grant immortality, along with some sort of other neat bonus, like super strength, speed, charisma, whatever. Then give each items immortality effect an achilles heel. Give them a weakness that can be exploited so its at least possible to kill the person with it on, or that it restricts them in some way, so that the game isnt basically over after the first item is grabbed. "Ok, frank is immortal and has super strength, we send him into the dungeon to go get the next item."

I dunno, maybe a better idea is the set plan, make it so they have to stay nearby each other for the immortality effect and they have to have all of them. I still like the idea of a separate bonus on each item though. Something that appeals to a specific class type. For example, one could amplify magical damage dealt by its holder, one could surround your weapon with a special effect that adds on some extra damage in addition to whatever is already on it. Things like that.

[Scarey Nerd]

When you say "they are after", I'm going to assume you're talking about the villains here.

I would suggest a large number of MacGuffins, because if the party decide not to do much about it then you don't want the villains reaching their goal too quickly. I think 7 would be a good number, each one hard to get to but not incredibly hard.

As to what they are, I suggest that they aren't objects, but living, sentient beings, probably a made-up species. If you ever played Zelda: Link to the Past, you'll see where I'm coming from. Especially when the party find their first MacGuffin, turning a dungeon upside down looking for it until they find a person huddled behind a crate in fear of them.

As to where they are, if you do 7 then you could base the dungeons on the 7 deadly sins, or alternatively base them on tests of the 7 heavenly virtues.

As to how they fit together, perhaps when they touch they meld into one being, like the Will in the Keys to the Kingdom series. This could lead to an NPC member of the party that they all hate, or it could work well and be useful without overshadowing the party. When all 7 are combined to form one being, perhaps it is a being with its own agenda, like Dormin in Shadow of the Colossus, as a cool twist. Or if the party/villains don't want to feel slapped in the face by life, it's "neutral" and will do as it's told by whomsoever assembled it.

[/$0.02]

[Flail_master]

hmm i gotta say likin the ideas people :smallsmile: very good
also the problems u pointed out, they wont be stuff like super strength, each one will have a small ability, they will accumulate into larger abilities as you get them (the final one being immortality) one item does not grant immortality

but otherwise i definitely like the ideas here, shall think a few of these things over


i just thought now actually, maybe i could combine two of these ideas and make the items able to transform into living beings? or perhaps they just have sentience?

[Jukebox Hero]

Whether you do one, or parts of one, if you're partial to plot twists, you could have the cost of activation be having to sacrifice the one thing (or person) you hold most dear (which would be the other lover).

You could have the source of the item's power be the soul/mind of a fully sentient wizard, who was bound inside by adventurers centuries ago, who constantly makes attempts to tempt the PCs into using the relic.
(The wizard would have had to ban enchantment, or else he could dominate players, and that'd be no fun for them, and he'd need a host in order to cast)

EDIT: And you could always include the possibility of the wizard taking over the PC's mind from overuse (in order to prevent abuse of the item on the players' part).

[Flail_master]

Whether you do one, or parts of one, if you're partial to plot twists, you could have the cost of activation be having to sacrifice the one thing (or person) you hold most dear (which would be the other lover).

You could have the source of the item's power be the soul/mind of a fully sentient wizard, who was bound inside by adventurers centuries ago, who constantly makes attempts to tempt the PCs into using the relic.
(The wizard would have had to ban enchantment, or else he could dominate players, and that'd be no fun for them, and he'd need a host in order to cast)

EDIT: And you could always include the possibility of the wizard taking over the PC's mind from overuse (in order to prevent abuse of the item on the players' part).

Where have you been!? those are brilliant ideas! :smallbiggrin: love the whole wizard possession business, would be some interesting conflict to introduce! :smallamused:

[Analytica]

From a 4e perspective, the MacGuffins could function as unique components for a ritual that is said to grant immortality. Perhaps they are remnants of primordials that were slain by the gods to create the world? In that case, the ritual merges the user(s) with these vestiges to make them immortal and divine... but also removes the forces that hold the plane together, so that completing the ritual will make the world begin to dissolve back into the elemental chaos, slowly but irrevocably. The ones gaining primordial powers will, of course, also become insane avatars of primal destruction, which might be a fact conveniently overlooked by the plotters. Perhaps the lovers would become avatars of opposing forces, say fire and ice, and be doomed to fight each other eternally as mindless entities, while the world they sacrificed dissolves around them?

Of course, reading your plot, a campaign where the players are these plotters rather than their enemies would be even more fun... :smallsmile:

[Flail_master]

From a 4e perspective, the MacGuffins could function as unique components for a ritual that is said to grant immortality. Perhaps they are remnants of primordials that were slain by the gods to create the world? In that case, the ritual merges the user(s) with these vestiges to make them immortal and divine... but also removes the forces that hold the plane together, so that completing the ritual will make the world begin to dissolve back into the elemental chaos, slowly but irrevocably. The ones gaining primordial powers will, of course, also become insane avatars of primal destruction, which might be a fact conveniently overlooked by the plotters. Perhaps the lovers would become avatars of opposing forces, say fire and ice, and be doomed to fight each other eternally as mindless entities, while the world they sacrificed dissolves around them?

Of course, reading your plot, a campaign where the players are these plotters rather than their enemies would be even more fun... :smallsmile:

another great idea! thanks!
and lol yeah looking at it, playing as either side could be really fun :smalltongue: