mbocek
2013-06-13, 04:22 PM
I'm having one of those times when the players had a much better idea for the campaign than I did. Fortunately, I have a little time to catch up with them and write a better story based on their ideas, but I could use some help.
Background: 6 person party, level 3, playing Next (not that the system matters).
I'm running the Caves of Chaos (included in the Next DL packet), but I'm adding a lot of specificity and some hooks for future adventures. The cultists are cultists of Vecna who are summoning aberrations (specifically mimics) into the world in exchange for service. Now, rather than hanging out in dungeons, the mimics have some expert coaching for how to hide among people in taverns, temples, and throne rooms. In return, they share the secrets they learn with the cultists when they report back.
In one part of the adventure, the PCs encounter a merchant who was captured by hobgoblins (the goblins work for the cultists). The merchant thanks the PCs for their help, but will not tell them what he trades in or why he is here. This is because the merchant is selling fine silks-- a trade good very inappropriate to the (Northern European setting). He got them from a Portal that he knows about nearby. The portal leads to another part of the world (somewhere tropical) or another world (maybe Feywild?) where silk can be got cheaply, and he stands to make a fortune by importing them through the portal instead of over sea.
Later the PCs can go have adventures in that part of the world (I want to get my yuan-ti on). One of the PCs belongs to a merchant family, and could take over this arbitrage, or respect the original finder's claim. In the near term, some of the merchant's goods (the wooden spindles the cloth is carried on) have already been replaced by the mimic-spies. If the PCs let the merchant go on his way, the mimics go out into the world and into the homes of nobles. If they keep the silks, *they* have to deal with the mimics.
The opportunity:
The PCs have interpreted the merchant's shiftiness as his "goods" being something magical and dangerous... something that they really don't want the cultists to get a hold of. I'm pretty committed to the silk thing, but I think that reveal will be disappointing now. Maybe we can punch it up by having him know about or carry something else that is dangerous and evil.
1. The portal requires a key that is also an item of power (or evil).
2. The portal could be reset to a different location, maybe the Far Realm, where cultists could get something a lot more dangerous than mimics.
3. Something the merchant saw on the other side of the portal is dangerous. Maybe it opens into an abandoned evil temple or wizard's laboratory.
I know that is a lot of disparate elements to juggle, but they aren't all hard restrictions. A lot of the background could shift around (via Schrondinger's gun) so just throw out whatever you think is cool and we'll see what sticks. Thanks in advance.
Background: 6 person party, level 3, playing Next (not that the system matters).
I'm running the Caves of Chaos (included in the Next DL packet), but I'm adding a lot of specificity and some hooks for future adventures. The cultists are cultists of Vecna who are summoning aberrations (specifically mimics) into the world in exchange for service. Now, rather than hanging out in dungeons, the mimics have some expert coaching for how to hide among people in taverns, temples, and throne rooms. In return, they share the secrets they learn with the cultists when they report back.
In one part of the adventure, the PCs encounter a merchant who was captured by hobgoblins (the goblins work for the cultists). The merchant thanks the PCs for their help, but will not tell them what he trades in or why he is here. This is because the merchant is selling fine silks-- a trade good very inappropriate to the (Northern European setting). He got them from a Portal that he knows about nearby. The portal leads to another part of the world (somewhere tropical) or another world (maybe Feywild?) where silk can be got cheaply, and he stands to make a fortune by importing them through the portal instead of over sea.
Later the PCs can go have adventures in that part of the world (I want to get my yuan-ti on). One of the PCs belongs to a merchant family, and could take over this arbitrage, or respect the original finder's claim. In the near term, some of the merchant's goods (the wooden spindles the cloth is carried on) have already been replaced by the mimic-spies. If the PCs let the merchant go on his way, the mimics go out into the world and into the homes of nobles. If they keep the silks, *they* have to deal with the mimics.
The opportunity:
The PCs have interpreted the merchant's shiftiness as his "goods" being something magical and dangerous... something that they really don't want the cultists to get a hold of. I'm pretty committed to the silk thing, but I think that reveal will be disappointing now. Maybe we can punch it up by having him know about or carry something else that is dangerous and evil.
1. The portal requires a key that is also an item of power (or evil).
2. The portal could be reset to a different location, maybe the Far Realm, where cultists could get something a lot more dangerous than mimics.
3. Something the merchant saw on the other side of the portal is dangerous. Maybe it opens into an abandoned evil temple or wizard's laboratory.
I know that is a lot of disparate elements to juggle, but they aren't all hard restrictions. A lot of the background could shift around (via Schrondinger's gun) so just throw out whatever you think is cool and we'll see what sticks. Thanks in advance.