PDA

View Full Version : Looking for suggestions for plot hooks



Kinkan
2012-05-13, 11:53 PM
So, in a couple of weeks I will start to DM a Pathfinder game for a couple of players. We will be playing Pathfinder E6, and the setting roughly looks as such:

Some fifty years ago humans, elves and dwarves began colonialization of a new continent under the church of the gods The Sword and The Shield. Eventually orcs were discovered further inland, and war erupted rather quickly, for reasons I will get into later. The church established a militaristic state on the new continent to wage war on the orcs, and were ultimately successful in defeating them. The terrain has topped the settlers to spread too far inland, as there are mountains and great forests hindering the expansion of the nation.

The reason for the initial aggression from the orcs part is the fact that they revere the true gods. There are four true gods, one for each alignment (which we have generally removed totally): the sun/fire (Good), the sky (Chaotic), the moon/ocean (Evil) and the earth (Law). The earth god is the one who collect the souls of the dead, but if you are unfortunate enough to die at sea where he cannot reach you, the godess of the moon and ocean will claim you for her own. Generally ships that sink and people that drown are turned into an undead by the moongodess. The human nations have forgotten these gods after the rise of the false gods, basically powerful mortals who have risen to godlike status like The Sword and The Shield, but since the orcs are aware of this they assumed it was servants of the moongodess who had landed on the shores (also, humans and orcs have never met before this, so that part didn't help).

The orcs also have a sect that revere and draw power from powerful animal spirits which walk the forests of the new continent, and thus have access to the Druid and Barbarian classes unlike the humans. The druids do not let the orc tribes of the continent (of which the humans are unaware) pass through the forests, which is the only thing stopping a new war between orcs and humans at the moment.

I think that is enough of an explanation of the world for my question without being too detailed. I have two players at the moment, and I need plot hooks to start out with until the bigger things can be introduced (a sect of witches have fled to the new continent, an overzealous inquisitor at the head of the church state on the new continent, rising tensions between the archdruids who have different ideas of how to handle the "human problem", an undead nation on an "unaccessible" (mainly because all ships sailing that way never return) part of the continent revering the moongodess, the whole orc-human war etc.).

One character is an old war hero from the orc wars who have fallen out of grace as a new generation of nobility took over (cavalier). He has been sent to one of the crappier outposts in the nation (where the game will start). The other is a half-orc frog/toad druid (homebrew based on the totem druids in PF, all druids have to choose a totem to reflect the worship of spirit animals). The druids have, in hope that his more or less unique heritage can help him act as a link between humans, orcs and druids, and thus have sent him out to learn about the humans. He has come under the protection of the cavalier when he came to the outpost just prior to the start of the game.

Now, I had thought about having the first session being something very basic, like a regular patrol from the outpost in which they come across a gang of bandits, some of whom are ex-soldiers/mercenaries who can no longer support themselves or their families after the end of the war. I also have some vague ideas about having the Cavaliers (to him unknown) sibling from the old world attempt to deceive or force him into renouncing all claims to his inheritance (also unknown to him). He left his family as a squire, and since then they have amassed a respectable amount of wealth because of their connection to the hero of the new world. The druid, on the other hand is more of a blank slate since he has no real connections to the land he travels in. Of course, he will have great weight as soon as the druids are involved, and there is a standing bounty on orc heads which will probably come up (whether this includes half-orcs has never been officially decided, that is more or less up to each individual lord to decide if they'll pay or not). He does have a knife from one of his parents, but he doesn't know which one or if that parent was human or orc.

Any suggestions for some low level adventures which can be used as a stepping stone in the beginning while still being relevant to the characters and the world they live in? Other fun ideas are of course welcome as well, especially for magic items. The world will be rather low magic as it's E6, and what little they do find have to be interesting for them.

W3bDragon
2012-05-14, 09:28 AM
The outpost is having problems with caravans going back and forth to the outpost disappearing recently. The druid was passing by in the area and was captured and interrogated about it, but he claims to know nothing. The cavalier questions the druid. The druid finds the cavalier trustworthy and honorable, so he tells him what he knows.

There is an area of quicksand nearby that the druid saw a few days ago. That area is usually not traveled, but recently, as this old outpost's need for equipment and supplies grew (because of wear and tear of the old stuff or some other reason you want to use) the bigger caravans arriving couldn't take the usual route and the detour they use to avoid the tighter areas of the path is where the quicksand is located.

The druid offers to help the cavalier navigate the area safely to put up signs for travelers to avoid the area.

When they arrive, the problem is compounded as the water deposits under the quicksand make that small area the moon/ocean god's domain, and the people that died from the quicksand have turned into undead.

The cavalier cannot have undead roaming freely so close to the outpost, and the druid doesn't want the evil god to gain more undead, so they team up to take them on.


Maybe you can get something from that.

Kinkan
2012-05-17, 07:56 PM
Thanks for the reply, some really good suggestions there. Hadn't even considered to use the logistical problems of being in a backwater outpost as a hook. The quicksand idea is also great, though will probably change it to swamp/marshlands to give it a stronger connection to the druid (swamps/toads/frogs are his main domains), and the seemingly random appearance of undead can become a puzzling event until the nature of the true gods are revealed (the druid haven't actually been told much more than he needs to know about the continent or the orcs as the other druid fear his heritage might make him side with the humans - he is as alien to them as he is to the human population).

Thanks again for the response, this is giving me some other ideas as well of what I can do.