Spore
2014-06-28, 05:42 AM
Greetings,
I want to start a PF campaign soon (2nd level so basically more experienced commoners) in a city setting. It is part of one player's homebrew setting.
City setting:
The whole area is like imperialistic Spain/Portugal. The nation only survives through a contract between the King and the largest assassin's guild on the continent constantly killing warmongers from the hugely superior neighbour. It's a large city located on one of the country's most important trade routes. And as Spain and Portugal did they make the most of their money by trading and imports. Guns are common (1/10 price, same is ammunition), the whole thing should have a feel of piracy but I want my main plot to revolve around an uprising revolution of the commonfolk.
Thing is the merchants are almost as powerful if not more than the nobles so they want their part of the share as well and cut deep into the land's finances. The assassins are loyal to the king so more often than not a merchant vanishes. In return the merchants threaten to bankrupt them. And as always the commonfolk are used as pawns in that conflict. So are the players. So I want a secret revolution brewing. Ine of the Admirals of the royal fleet actually lets ships "vanish" and reappearing without cargo to finance the revolution. He even has freed some pirates to cover up his tracks a bit.
So my group is composed of a prostitute (dervish dancer), a gnome illusionist, a noble (wind oracle) and her hired muscle (ranger/gunslinger). First I need a way to cut the noble from the finances of her father a quite rich guy. And then I have NO idea where to begin.
They need a job but I want meaningful quests and not stupid fetchquests from the beginning on. But on the other side they are just overqualified henchmen. No sane high level NPC would trust them with an important mission. Because all they see is a girl that has never worked in her life, a guy with questionable morals, a prostitute and a slightly insane spellcaster.
My main plotpoints are far more believable and fun when played with higher levels imho. But I want the players to not loose a connection to their character progression. I will still give the first levels relatively fast but this forces me to throw items at them. So how to start? I have three main ideas for the mainquests.
a) Assassins have killed/kidnapped McGuffin. Learn more about them and rescue him.
Problem: the Guild is made out the be one of the deadliest on the continent. How can I make the guild ignore their exploits while keeping the questline important?
b) The group gets hired on a trade ship. There I can introduce them to treasure, a bit of island adventuring and let them witness the raid of their ship. Still being guttersnipes no one will believe them so they have investigate themselves.
Problem: How do I get a noble girl accept being on a ship for months for little to no money?
c) A merchant bankrupts the oracle's family. They have to investigate.
Problem: I have no idea how to do that.
I want to start a PF campaign soon (2nd level so basically more experienced commoners) in a city setting. It is part of one player's homebrew setting.
City setting:
The whole area is like imperialistic Spain/Portugal. The nation only survives through a contract between the King and the largest assassin's guild on the continent constantly killing warmongers from the hugely superior neighbour. It's a large city located on one of the country's most important trade routes. And as Spain and Portugal did they make the most of their money by trading and imports. Guns are common (1/10 price, same is ammunition), the whole thing should have a feel of piracy but I want my main plot to revolve around an uprising revolution of the commonfolk.
Thing is the merchants are almost as powerful if not more than the nobles so they want their part of the share as well and cut deep into the land's finances. The assassins are loyal to the king so more often than not a merchant vanishes. In return the merchants threaten to bankrupt them. And as always the commonfolk are used as pawns in that conflict. So are the players. So I want a secret revolution brewing. Ine of the Admirals of the royal fleet actually lets ships "vanish" and reappearing without cargo to finance the revolution. He even has freed some pirates to cover up his tracks a bit.
So my group is composed of a prostitute (dervish dancer), a gnome illusionist, a noble (wind oracle) and her hired muscle (ranger/gunslinger). First I need a way to cut the noble from the finances of her father a quite rich guy. And then I have NO idea where to begin.
They need a job but I want meaningful quests and not stupid fetchquests from the beginning on. But on the other side they are just overqualified henchmen. No sane high level NPC would trust them with an important mission. Because all they see is a girl that has never worked in her life, a guy with questionable morals, a prostitute and a slightly insane spellcaster.
My main plotpoints are far more believable and fun when played with higher levels imho. But I want the players to not loose a connection to their character progression. I will still give the first levels relatively fast but this forces me to throw items at them. So how to start? I have three main ideas for the mainquests.
a) Assassins have killed/kidnapped McGuffin. Learn more about them and rescue him.
Problem: the Guild is made out the be one of the deadliest on the continent. How can I make the guild ignore their exploits while keeping the questline important?
b) The group gets hired on a trade ship. There I can introduce them to treasure, a bit of island adventuring and let them witness the raid of their ship. Still being guttersnipes no one will believe them so they have investigate themselves.
Problem: How do I get a noble girl accept being on a ship for months for little to no money?
c) A merchant bankrupts the oracle's family. They have to investigate.
Problem: I have no idea how to do that.