Campaign Hook Ideas

[Vanzanze]

I'm running a solo campaign for my wife, and I'm running into a bit of a brick wall.

I have the NPCs: a two-weapon fighter with ranger skills, a rogue burglar archetype, and a Luna-Lovegood-like magus. My wife is the healer, an oracle.

Her oracular abilities all revolve around being able to see spirits. She was inspired by Jennifer Love Hewitt on "Ghost Whisperer." However, the oracle character is very reluctant to admit her abilities or do much with them.

Right now, she's been indoctrinated into a powerful monarchy hierarchy, and the king knows her secret (she sees and talks to dead people, zomg). He could expose her and ruin her if he wants, which is all I have to make her character comply.

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Currently in the world, (chromatic) draconic creatures are attempting to summon demons over to their side. An old god is dying out in the cosmos and starting to fall toward the planet, and the dragons need all the help they can get as they attempt to catch all the pieces of it and absorb its power. Unfortunately, the old god who's dying created the dragons' only natural predators, so they're trying to keep all the dragons from getting the pieces.

Eventually, the planet will become a battleground for dominance over the dead god's body parts. But for now, I want her character to help uncover the draconic plot and put a stop to their demon-summoning. But I want her character to give a crap.

That's my hard part. How do I get a character who wants to be left alone and not exposed for what she is into this plot?

[Vamphyr]

If she sees dead people, and wants to be left alone to just hang out with the dead, I'd make them your plot hook.

The king orders the party to go west and find out what's going on with X, Y, and Z. All of those things are being affected in one way or another by the dragons and their demon summoning.

Set up a scene where she's speaking with the dead about wanting to leave and not go resolve X, Y, and Z. The dead begin screaming, faces contorting, mouths and eyes turning black and stretching in weird ways. After a few seconds of this they revert back to normal and beg for her help. All they keep saying between horrified sobs is "He's coming. Please, help us. Before they destroy us all!" The dead then flicker in and out of existence and then disappear.

Considering that a god is dying/dead and is falling towards the planet, and combine that with every chromatic dragon tearing apart the fabric of reality to summon and bind demons, who in turn feed on/bind spirits, I'd say the dead would be pretty terrified of having their energies consumed in the great coming war.

[Vanzanze]

Vamphyr, I hadn't considered the idea of the demons wanting to consume (in some way) the spirits of the earthbound.

Thank you.

[Vamphyr]

Vamphyr, I hadn't considered the idea of the demons wanting to consume (in some way) the spirits of the earthbound.

Thank you.

No problem! I figured since demons are extra dimensional beings they must need to feed off of something. Turning them into beings that consume the spirits of the dead makes them that much more abhorrent and terrifying to deal with.

I'd definitely have them be able to channel the energies of the dead into themselves or into conjuring zombies/skeletons/more advanced undead. In doing so it makes summoning even one demon a potentially huge threat. Even to Dragonkind.

[BowStreetRunner]

Don't let her see the larger plot until she is ready to face it. Begin by just letting her know about details without having the whole picture. The first time you get her to use her abilities it should be personal - like the side-effect of whatever the bad guys are going will hurt someone she cares about. She won't even know why they were doing it.

Throw in some other unrelated encounters so that she doesn't piece it all together all at once. Play on her good nature to give her reasons to use her powers, but at the beginning make sure to give her plenty of opportunities to hide what she is doing.

As she gets more used to using her abilities, throw in some allies from time to time who learn about it, accept it, and helps her hide it. Drop an encounter on her at some point where her own survival depends on it. Put in an encounter where she can prevent some horrible tragedy that will affect lots of people. Another where she is helping someone to whom she feels indebted.

As time goes on, gradually let her start to see the bigger picture. Make sure some of the bad guys become personal enemies. Maybe even one of them could be in a position to unintentionally expose her if she doesn't defeat him first. By the time she has the entire picture, she should be prepared to do whatever it takes even if it means exposing herself.