Kol Korran
2011-09-18, 09:20 AM
so, in a few sessions my players are going to finish the current campaign, a fairly basic heroic stuff of saving Khorvaire from the rise of a rakshasa Rajah.
i have a few ideas intended for further campaigns, when some of the players told me that they might want to continue (they'll be about level 12 when they finish) with their characters, and would want something of a unique challenge, of epic proportions.
so i thought, and amongst those many thoughts came to words: Dragons & Argonessen.
so i'm thinking of getting the party there, and involving them in the intrigues and complexities of draconic culture. but as this is a basic idea, i'm trying to fashion it out a bit, so i thought to ask the people here for advice.
i still don't have even the skeletal framework for the campaign, except for the following:
I want the dragons to feel powerfull, but also quiet alien, and dmeaning to the people in their realms. pretty much as the "dragons of Eberron" book depicts them. the party needs to tread Really carefuly, as most single dragons are out of their CR, and groups of them... well...
Eberron has 3 "great evil" villainous groups: the lords of dust, the daelkyr and the dreaming dark. i want the PCs to first feel the dragons are keepers against these threats, but come to realize what a horrible threats the dragons themselves are, quite possibly more than any of the others (please lets not discuss who is the biggest threat and why, notthepoint of this thread). as they have wiped outthe giant civilizations, so they might as easily wipe out Khorvaire. i want the feeling of the "uncaring huge towering giant, who can easily squash the bug"
i want there to be some sort of great form of draconic magic. some sort of a different magic system? artifacts? other wonders? i am getting Dragon magic to see if it can help
i want the party to somehow be involved (probably against thier will) in draconic politics. ruthless, severe, sometimes endlessly patient, sometimes swiftly brutal draconic politics. they need to feel as a majestic nation, not as a big group of monsters.
don't know what the "big crisis/ problem is yet", but i want it to be something the party might be conflicted about- maybe they should actualy help the antagonist/s? one slight idea stems from the "living prophecy" dragon example in the book- a dragon that somehow tries to destroy the prophecy- he believes that by that he would free the creatures of Eberron to live free lives, while others believe it would destroy andunravel Eberron itself. but this is a very simplistic ideas, i'm looking for more subtle and complicated ones.
one of the players in my campaign has likened the dragons to the vorlons, and the lords of dust to the shadows from Babylon 5. i'd like to maybe play on that idea.
at some point i want the party trying to survive, running for their lives, dealing with dominion lords over the vast... perhaps quite early on, before they have access to greater teleport.
at one point i want the eyes of chronepsis on their tale, sending assassins and what not. deadly ones.
i loved the idea of the major humanoid city in the center of the continent (forgot it's name) where even the most meager citizens are about 10-12 level characters, and epic magic i usd, and bartering is... frustrating and more. i love the different outlook of the population on life, and it emphasizes so much the difference between argonessen and khorvaire. besides- it might be a bit of a resting point (though i have ideas for that as well)
not sure how, not sure why, but i want the final showdown to take place in the ring of syberis itself! amongst the sea of shards, the impossibly erratic and powerfull magical energy, in orbit over Eberron. other possibility is at the conclave meeting, with a thousand of Argonessen's Great wyrms present. the last idea is to somehow battle INSIDE the essence of the prophecy. not sure how to work either idea yet.
also, there are several challenges that i forsee in this campaign, which i'd love any help with:
i've never played or DMed any game beyond 12th level. i think it becomes way complicated with the options the caster have, and from what i heard battles become quite tiresome, andoften revolves on which caster wins init. i'm worried i won't be ableto bring appropriate challenges to them. with dragons i think it would be easy to overstep my bounds and utterly massacre them.
if people will die (and they probalby will), where to bring newcharacters from? it's possible to bringthem from the humanoid's city, or from a minion position to the dragons, but it then lacks the "Khorvaire outsider" feel to them.
the continent seems to be full of powerful magics and items of all ages. i allready take into acount that they'll possess items beyond their level., but this too can quickly get out of hand. on the other hand, if they just looted some dragon's lair, swift retribution seems appropriate, andthis too might wipe the pary out.
as the party may hvae some great freedom of movemnet due tohigh level spells, i'll need to keep quite a few "fall back" encounters, NPCs and locations ready. this includes, due to the nature of argonessen, many high CR monsters/ dragons and so on, which means lots andlotsof preperation. not sure i have time for that.
so.... long post so far. what would i like your help with?
any recount of your experiences with this sort of campaign- heavily involving dragons, heavily involving a prophecy, and best yet- in Argonessen itself
any thoughts or ideas about the very very basic ideas i have, or any contributions of your own. would be most welcomed!
any ideas how to deal with the problems i forsee. thanks!
i have a few ideas intended for further campaigns, when some of the players told me that they might want to continue (they'll be about level 12 when they finish) with their characters, and would want something of a unique challenge, of epic proportions.
so i thought, and amongst those many thoughts came to words: Dragons & Argonessen.
so i'm thinking of getting the party there, and involving them in the intrigues and complexities of draconic culture. but as this is a basic idea, i'm trying to fashion it out a bit, so i thought to ask the people here for advice.
i still don't have even the skeletal framework for the campaign, except for the following:
I want the dragons to feel powerfull, but also quiet alien, and dmeaning to the people in their realms. pretty much as the "dragons of Eberron" book depicts them. the party needs to tread Really carefuly, as most single dragons are out of their CR, and groups of them... well...
Eberron has 3 "great evil" villainous groups: the lords of dust, the daelkyr and the dreaming dark. i want the PCs to first feel the dragons are keepers against these threats, but come to realize what a horrible threats the dragons themselves are, quite possibly more than any of the others (please lets not discuss who is the biggest threat and why, notthepoint of this thread). as they have wiped outthe giant civilizations, so they might as easily wipe out Khorvaire. i want the feeling of the "uncaring huge towering giant, who can easily squash the bug"
i want there to be some sort of great form of draconic magic. some sort of a different magic system? artifacts? other wonders? i am getting Dragon magic to see if it can help
i want the party to somehow be involved (probably against thier will) in draconic politics. ruthless, severe, sometimes endlessly patient, sometimes swiftly brutal draconic politics. they need to feel as a majestic nation, not as a big group of monsters.
don't know what the "big crisis/ problem is yet", but i want it to be something the party might be conflicted about- maybe they should actualy help the antagonist/s? one slight idea stems from the "living prophecy" dragon example in the book- a dragon that somehow tries to destroy the prophecy- he believes that by that he would free the creatures of Eberron to live free lives, while others believe it would destroy andunravel Eberron itself. but this is a very simplistic ideas, i'm looking for more subtle and complicated ones.
one of the players in my campaign has likened the dragons to the vorlons, and the lords of dust to the shadows from Babylon 5. i'd like to maybe play on that idea.
at some point i want the party trying to survive, running for their lives, dealing with dominion lords over the vast... perhaps quite early on, before they have access to greater teleport.
at one point i want the eyes of chronepsis on their tale, sending assassins and what not. deadly ones.
i loved the idea of the major humanoid city in the center of the continent (forgot it's name) where even the most meager citizens are about 10-12 level characters, and epic magic i usd, and bartering is... frustrating and more. i love the different outlook of the population on life, and it emphasizes so much the difference between argonessen and khorvaire. besides- it might be a bit of a resting point (though i have ideas for that as well)
not sure how, not sure why, but i want the final showdown to take place in the ring of syberis itself! amongst the sea of shards, the impossibly erratic and powerfull magical energy, in orbit over Eberron. other possibility is at the conclave meeting, with a thousand of Argonessen's Great wyrms present. the last idea is to somehow battle INSIDE the essence of the prophecy. not sure how to work either idea yet.
also, there are several challenges that i forsee in this campaign, which i'd love any help with:
i've never played or DMed any game beyond 12th level. i think it becomes way complicated with the options the caster have, and from what i heard battles become quite tiresome, andoften revolves on which caster wins init. i'm worried i won't be ableto bring appropriate challenges to them. with dragons i think it would be easy to overstep my bounds and utterly massacre them.
if people will die (and they probalby will), where to bring newcharacters from? it's possible to bringthem from the humanoid's city, or from a minion position to the dragons, but it then lacks the "Khorvaire outsider" feel to them.
the continent seems to be full of powerful magics and items of all ages. i allready take into acount that they'll possess items beyond their level., but this too can quickly get out of hand. on the other hand, if they just looted some dragon's lair, swift retribution seems appropriate, andthis too might wipe the pary out.
as the party may hvae some great freedom of movemnet due tohigh level spells, i'll need to keep quite a few "fall back" encounters, NPCs and locations ready. this includes, due to the nature of argonessen, many high CR monsters/ dragons and so on, which means lots andlotsof preperation. not sure i have time for that.
so.... long post so far. what would i like your help with?
any recount of your experiences with this sort of campaign- heavily involving dragons, heavily involving a prophecy, and best yet- in Argonessen itself
any thoughts or ideas about the very very basic ideas i have, or any contributions of your own. would be most welcomed!
any ideas how to deal with the problems i forsee. thanks!