RebelRogue
2011-06-27, 10:20 AM
Hi all. In our game we have a rotating DM scheme, and it's my turn now, so I'd like you to critique my ideas for the upcoming story arc and perhaps help with a few ideas. We're playing D&D 4e, paragon level, but this is not intended to be particularly edition specific (even though some of the cosmology details may be, but it's non-standard anyway); it's more about the overall ideas.
It all takes place in a 'floating island cosmology', which I've previously posted about in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192796). As I've also stated in that thread, few things have set in stone during the campaign so far, but I have some pretty solidified ideas by now.
Cosmology
In case you didn't want to read that whole thread, here's the 'short' version of the cosmology as I intend it (ok, it's rather long, but it's also pretty much the basis of my ideas, so... here it is). The campaign so far, has been taking place on a falt, floating island. We've never actually been to the edge, but everything suggests, that you may 'fall off' the world. Otherwise it's a relatively normal D&D world. My idea is, that there are multiple such 'islands' all connected to a yet unformed Prime Material Plane - this is essentially a prequel to the 'normal' cosmology. Some (such as the one the campaign has taken place on so far) float in the Astral Sea, while others (yet to be seen) hang down into the Elemental Chaos:
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss144/rebelrogue_bucket/cosmology.png
There are other 'islands' (such as the canon realms) that are farther away from the unformed Prime and unconnected to it. It is my thought, that the connected realms are the ones that will eventually determine the nature of the new Prime (all of this is somewhat inspired by the MSPA Homestuck webcomic for those who know it, with the crazyness turned a bit down).
Things I need here: A good name for the unformed Prime, something suggestive, yet not too revealing.
So how did this all come about: At the moment, I'm thinking som ancient creatures predating the Gods and Primordials made the multiverse with the intention of the epic battle for what will eventually become reality. These aren't really intended to play a major role, though I've toyed with the idea of giving them some crazy Far Realm origin - 'Let's make a fun multiverse to eventually tear down' or something like that. But again, I'm not sure how much this will factor into actual play.
Things I need here: Again, a good name. I'm thinking 'Old Ones' as a homage to BECMI D&D.
So how does the islands influence the 'Unformed Prime'? Over time, the overall things that develop happen on a given island slowly puts its mark on the new universe. So if an island happens to be dominated by, say, dwarves then the new universe will gradully shape itself so that beards, ale and rock is of importance. Of course there's a lot of islands, so there's a lot of inputs. However, at a certain point in time (now!), a 'hero' is born on each of the connected islands. These 'heroes' has the option of critically modifying the new universe in a major way, but in order to do so they must quest for a special 'holy' place on their home island - a dangerous place (probably created by the Old Ones) well hidden, and guarded by numerous dangerous beasts (a dungeon essentially). Initially, these 'heroes' aren't marked and don't look or feel special in any way, save perhaps for examination from the mightiest of divination magics. But in time, their roles become clearer and more obvious, attracting the attention of those who might be interested in molding the new reality to fit their needs (se factions below). And yes, this is more Homestuck inspiration, BTW :smallsmile:
Things I need here: More naming... 'heroes' is obviously a bad terminology. Heirs? Shapers? Again, I need something suggestive, that won't spoil it all at once.
The story so far
All of this has little to do with what has actually happened in the campagin so far (mostly because they are my ideas and I haven't DMed yet :smallwink:), so here's a recap. Hailing from a small town, members of the city guard has went through a number of adventures, outlawing themselves in the process and getting involved in a major conflict over the 'island'. The major antagonist in this struggle (which has taken up the majority of the last years play) turned out to be a powerful orc witch with a Shadowfell theme (think Baba Yaga as an orc, and you've got the picture; she was even named Baba Rydenkov) who led a large coalition of evil creatures (vampires, goblins, gnolls, dragonborn air pirates! - I kid you not and I've probably forgotten some!) The kicker is, that she was the mother of a half-orc fighter PC, a sergeant of the city guard named Vanya. This PC was actually retired when we found this out, but he eventually returned (along woth other retired PCs) at the climax of the arc as shadow-controlled enemies. Eventually, we liberated them of this shadow influence and Vanya (and the others) turned on his mother, eventually killing her in the form of a giant eldritch monstrosity thingie (or at least banished her to the Shadowfell - it's not 100% clear). A broken man (or half-orc, I guess), Vanya walks into the wilderness, hoping for nothing but a death in meaningless battle with monsters, troll slayer style. This is pretty much where the campaign in now.
What now?
My basic idea is this: Vanya is in fact the 'hero' of the current island! He has yet to realize this, but his mother Baba Rydenkov, being a powerful witch, certainly has (maybe she even nudged him in this direction during pregnancy with powerful ritauls?) Her schemes to take over the 'world' and releasing the evil Shadow god into it was but a preparation for letting his son shape the New Prime into her own twisted, nightmarish vision. The special, 'holy' place where Vanya may achieve this is located deep in the belly of the floating island, i.e. the Underdark. I'm thinking it's pretty much located at the very 'bottom' where the island thins out into cord connecting to the Prime.
The PCs must somehow realize these things, probably not grasping the full picture. They must search for Vanya, eventually finding him dead or half-dead from a heroic battle, and taking him to the Underdark 'temple'. However as the characters reach the place (and wonder exactly what to do with a (half) dead 'hero' there). From there I've got a wild idea of a githyanki raid in which Vanya is kidnapped/stolen somehow, leading to an airship chase/journey before a showdown in Tu'narath (I imagine that the lich queen Vlaakith has deviced a ritual which may somehow extract the 'heroic essence' from Vanya, thus making her able to shape the new universe). But all of that is but ideas and far in the future, so we'll see.
I should note, that the PCs have access to two flying airships (that may also travel the Astral Sea/Elemental Chaos) - one build by the Avenger PC (the previous DMs PC) and one captured from the dragonborn pirates. Also, in case anybody wonders, I've also checked with the guy who played Vanya in the first place, and I'm pretty much free to use him as I wish.
'Factions'... and an artifact?
I'm thinking of associating certain cosmic factions to each PC to 1) nudge them into the right direction as sources of information and 2) create subtle conflicts of interest between players to facilitate RP. Surely, the creation of a new reality will interested a lot of various entities! Here's my initial ideas:
- The Avenger acts on behalf of the gods - maybe he has recieved instructions in a vision?
- The Warden will be urged by the dwarf character she grew up with (also a retired PC - a Seeker) to help assure the primal spiritual world will be a part of the new reality - though he will probably be unsure about what is actually happening himself.
- The Infernalock has her evil, hellish masters... pretty obvious.
- Finally, the bard likes his drama/theater stuff, so there's no obvious cosmic party to tie him to, but I've got an idea: Let him find an artifact previously owned by Baba Rydenkov (the witch) - the artifact's major goal is for 'heroes' to fulfil their goals of influencing the new Prime, reaching their 'holy' place and so on. Proabably made by the Old Ones, to ensure that the Prime gets shaped into something interesting, but caring little about the actual details. This may also be the reason Baba Rydenkov was so hellbent on all of this in the first place. This should fit well with his ideas of drama being important.
Things I need here: What kind of item is appropriate as the artifact? It should ideally be something usable by both a witch and a bard but still retain some alien quality (if it's really made by the Old Ones). What powers should it grant?
First session
Before the first session as a DM, I'll probably shoot the players (except the bard) a PM regarding their association with the factions mentioned above. This should keep it a little more 'secret'. For the actual session, I'm planning to let the PCs investigate the crashed airship of the dragonborn pirate lord, which also held Baba Rydenkovs private quarters; there's an evil presence there, according to the priests, so the PCs must investigate. After gaining access to her cabin, a battle with a guardian ensues (I'm thinking somthing along the lines of a refluffed, beefed up version of the Crystal Guardian from the boss compendium (http://edanet.com/goober/Boss_Compendium.pdf). After the fight, clues to the nature of what is really going on should be found (and the bard should find the artifact, which is bound to be interesting :smallamused:)
Things I need here: Ideas for interesting ways to provide clues. Some elements of it should be obvious to move the players on with the plot, but others could be more subtle.
And beyond...
Thanks for reading this far. It's turned into quite a wall of text :smalleek: In short, if you've got any comments, further ideas or suggestions of any kind, they will be highly appreciated! :smallsmile:
It all takes place in a 'floating island cosmology', which I've previously posted about in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192796). As I've also stated in that thread, few things have set in stone during the campaign so far, but I have some pretty solidified ideas by now.
Cosmology
In case you didn't want to read that whole thread, here's the 'short' version of the cosmology as I intend it (ok, it's rather long, but it's also pretty much the basis of my ideas, so... here it is). The campaign so far, has been taking place on a falt, floating island. We've never actually been to the edge, but everything suggests, that you may 'fall off' the world. Otherwise it's a relatively normal D&D world. My idea is, that there are multiple such 'islands' all connected to a yet unformed Prime Material Plane - this is essentially a prequel to the 'normal' cosmology. Some (such as the one the campaign has taken place on so far) float in the Astral Sea, while others (yet to be seen) hang down into the Elemental Chaos:
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/ss144/rebelrogue_bucket/cosmology.png
There are other 'islands' (such as the canon realms) that are farther away from the unformed Prime and unconnected to it. It is my thought, that the connected realms are the ones that will eventually determine the nature of the new Prime (all of this is somewhat inspired by the MSPA Homestuck webcomic for those who know it, with the crazyness turned a bit down).
Things I need here: A good name for the unformed Prime, something suggestive, yet not too revealing.
So how did this all come about: At the moment, I'm thinking som ancient creatures predating the Gods and Primordials made the multiverse with the intention of the epic battle for what will eventually become reality. These aren't really intended to play a major role, though I've toyed with the idea of giving them some crazy Far Realm origin - 'Let's make a fun multiverse to eventually tear down' or something like that. But again, I'm not sure how much this will factor into actual play.
Things I need here: Again, a good name. I'm thinking 'Old Ones' as a homage to BECMI D&D.
So how does the islands influence the 'Unformed Prime'? Over time, the overall things that develop happen on a given island slowly puts its mark on the new universe. So if an island happens to be dominated by, say, dwarves then the new universe will gradully shape itself so that beards, ale and rock is of importance. Of course there's a lot of islands, so there's a lot of inputs. However, at a certain point in time (now!), a 'hero' is born on each of the connected islands. These 'heroes' has the option of critically modifying the new universe in a major way, but in order to do so they must quest for a special 'holy' place on their home island - a dangerous place (probably created by the Old Ones) well hidden, and guarded by numerous dangerous beasts (a dungeon essentially). Initially, these 'heroes' aren't marked and don't look or feel special in any way, save perhaps for examination from the mightiest of divination magics. But in time, their roles become clearer and more obvious, attracting the attention of those who might be interested in molding the new reality to fit their needs (se factions below). And yes, this is more Homestuck inspiration, BTW :smallsmile:
Things I need here: More naming... 'heroes' is obviously a bad terminology. Heirs? Shapers? Again, I need something suggestive, that won't spoil it all at once.
The story so far
All of this has little to do with what has actually happened in the campagin so far (mostly because they are my ideas and I haven't DMed yet :smallwink:), so here's a recap. Hailing from a small town, members of the city guard has went through a number of adventures, outlawing themselves in the process and getting involved in a major conflict over the 'island'. The major antagonist in this struggle (which has taken up the majority of the last years play) turned out to be a powerful orc witch with a Shadowfell theme (think Baba Yaga as an orc, and you've got the picture; she was even named Baba Rydenkov) who led a large coalition of evil creatures (vampires, goblins, gnolls, dragonborn air pirates! - I kid you not and I've probably forgotten some!) The kicker is, that she was the mother of a half-orc fighter PC, a sergeant of the city guard named Vanya. This PC was actually retired when we found this out, but he eventually returned (along woth other retired PCs) at the climax of the arc as shadow-controlled enemies. Eventually, we liberated them of this shadow influence and Vanya (and the others) turned on his mother, eventually killing her in the form of a giant eldritch monstrosity thingie (or at least banished her to the Shadowfell - it's not 100% clear). A broken man (or half-orc, I guess), Vanya walks into the wilderness, hoping for nothing but a death in meaningless battle with monsters, troll slayer style. This is pretty much where the campaign in now.
What now?
My basic idea is this: Vanya is in fact the 'hero' of the current island! He has yet to realize this, but his mother Baba Rydenkov, being a powerful witch, certainly has (maybe she even nudged him in this direction during pregnancy with powerful ritauls?) Her schemes to take over the 'world' and releasing the evil Shadow god into it was but a preparation for letting his son shape the New Prime into her own twisted, nightmarish vision. The special, 'holy' place where Vanya may achieve this is located deep in the belly of the floating island, i.e. the Underdark. I'm thinking it's pretty much located at the very 'bottom' where the island thins out into cord connecting to the Prime.
The PCs must somehow realize these things, probably not grasping the full picture. They must search for Vanya, eventually finding him dead or half-dead from a heroic battle, and taking him to the Underdark 'temple'. However as the characters reach the place (and wonder exactly what to do with a (half) dead 'hero' there). From there I've got a wild idea of a githyanki raid in which Vanya is kidnapped/stolen somehow, leading to an airship chase/journey before a showdown in Tu'narath (I imagine that the lich queen Vlaakith has deviced a ritual which may somehow extract the 'heroic essence' from Vanya, thus making her able to shape the new universe). But all of that is but ideas and far in the future, so we'll see.
I should note, that the PCs have access to two flying airships (that may also travel the Astral Sea/Elemental Chaos) - one build by the Avenger PC (the previous DMs PC) and one captured from the dragonborn pirates. Also, in case anybody wonders, I've also checked with the guy who played Vanya in the first place, and I'm pretty much free to use him as I wish.
'Factions'... and an artifact?
I'm thinking of associating certain cosmic factions to each PC to 1) nudge them into the right direction as sources of information and 2) create subtle conflicts of interest between players to facilitate RP. Surely, the creation of a new reality will interested a lot of various entities! Here's my initial ideas:
- The Avenger acts on behalf of the gods - maybe he has recieved instructions in a vision?
- The Warden will be urged by the dwarf character she grew up with (also a retired PC - a Seeker) to help assure the primal spiritual world will be a part of the new reality - though he will probably be unsure about what is actually happening himself.
- The Infernalock has her evil, hellish masters... pretty obvious.
- Finally, the bard likes his drama/theater stuff, so there's no obvious cosmic party to tie him to, but I've got an idea: Let him find an artifact previously owned by Baba Rydenkov (the witch) - the artifact's major goal is for 'heroes' to fulfil their goals of influencing the new Prime, reaching their 'holy' place and so on. Proabably made by the Old Ones, to ensure that the Prime gets shaped into something interesting, but caring little about the actual details. This may also be the reason Baba Rydenkov was so hellbent on all of this in the first place. This should fit well with his ideas of drama being important.
Things I need here: What kind of item is appropriate as the artifact? It should ideally be something usable by both a witch and a bard but still retain some alien quality (if it's really made by the Old Ones). What powers should it grant?
First session
Before the first session as a DM, I'll probably shoot the players (except the bard) a PM regarding their association with the factions mentioned above. This should keep it a little more 'secret'. For the actual session, I'm planning to let the PCs investigate the crashed airship of the dragonborn pirate lord, which also held Baba Rydenkovs private quarters; there's an evil presence there, according to the priests, so the PCs must investigate. After gaining access to her cabin, a battle with a guardian ensues (I'm thinking somthing along the lines of a refluffed, beefed up version of the Crystal Guardian from the boss compendium (http://edanet.com/goober/Boss_Compendium.pdf). After the fight, clues to the nature of what is really going on should be found (and the bard should find the artifact, which is bound to be interesting :smallamused:)
Things I need here: Ideas for interesting ways to provide clues. Some elements of it should be obvious to move the players on with the plot, but others could be more subtle.
And beyond...
Thanks for reading this far. It's turned into quite a wall of text :smalleek: In short, if you've got any comments, further ideas or suggestions of any kind, they will be highly appreciated! :smallsmile: