I_Got_This_Name
2007-03-29, 10:19 PM
Alright; on the off-chance that anyone reading this is one of my players, keep out (you know who you are; keep out). More spoiler space to protect vital campaign secrets. And some more. Just a bit more.
Alright. So I'm running a campaign in a setting based roughly on Tang China. I've got a general idea as to the direction for it.
So far, the PCs have run an errand to escort an artist for an agent of the imperial bureaucracy. They're presently 2nd level, with an Artificer, Dragon Shaman/Crusader, and Swordsage; all are human. I'm ignoring multiclass EXP penalties, and instead allowing a Gestalt Favored Class/Any Class level every multiple of four (same as ability increases); with humans, that's any two classes. The Artificer plans to use these to snag Wizard, then Effigy Master; the Dragon Shaman/Crusader has no coherent plan at the moment (possibly going DS2/CruX//DS[(X+2)/4]). A 1st-level wizard or Wu Jen will be joining them (one of our players decided he hated his character after the 1st adventure, so he wants to switch out)
This group has the Artificer pulling the Blaster role (primarily), the Crusader filling the Healer role, and the Swordsage being melee damage and some tanking. The Artificer will get handed a Wand of Cure Light Wounds to improve out-of-combat healing. This isn't a hugely optimized group; we did that last time (the Artificer's player is quite good at optimizing warriors, although the healer is our most optimized build; the Swordsage and the other guy are terrible optimizers innately. The Artificer is equally dangerous to both sides, being perfectly willing to strike his teammates for lethal damage over percieved/imagined slights. In turn, they are perfectly willing to bind and gag him).
I'm also adding an additional requirement on all PrCs that they have to earn them. The only two PrC builds are that the Artificer is going Effigy Master, and the new caster Alienist, though. The Effigy Master will probably have to find a collection of books on effigies to earn access, and wants in by 8th level (I've said I'll work in a chance or two to earn it, but that they won't be guaranteed; thinking puzzles, tactical fights, and so on), while the Alienist will just have a nigh-impossible time meeting his Psuedonatural (and he's only getting that since he begged; I didn't think it fit with the setting at all).
Another thing to know is that I like monsters with class levels. If it's a leader monster, it's got (a) class level(s). If it's a cool concept, but too low in CR, it's got class levels. If it fits perfectly, but needs that one ability, class levels.
Anyway, back to the plot. The first adventure's big danger was that there were an excess of packs of wolves on the loose; some of these wolves were lead by Worgs, which the PCs discovered; a few of these worgs had a Gleaner level, to better facilitate leading wolves. They encountered and fought a Winter Wolf (out of place; foothills in spring), and, surprisingly, made it run (Artificer got a lucky shot off with a Scorching Ray). They then picked up the artist, and had some skirimishes with worgs on the way back, finishing by killing a named worg (with Warlock levels) I had put in as a boss monster (planned equally, which is to say not at all, for both outcomes though, so I'm fine there).
For the next adventure, I'm planning on having them have to go out to an abandoned shrine somewhere in the middle of the wilderness and repair its magical devices (a bunch of divination and shrine-defense stuff), since it's plain that the Worgs are there to stay. They will, of course, have to fight to defend the shrine while the Worgs come and try to take it from them.
I'm planning to possibly cut away to a bunch of NPCs there and hand them control, on a mini-quest to show exactly how powerful 2nd-level PC classes are (making them play their relief squad, giving one person a bunch of 1st-level Experts with light crossbows, another person a pair of 1st level Warriors, another a 1st-level Adept, and the last a 2nd-level Warrior), having to fight their way through the same path that the PCs did to relieve them. Not entirely sure what stuff would be best to do there.
Anyway, before their relief arrives, an NPC Swordsage comes to the shrine, and the healer knows him from his temple (the healer's background is as a temple guard. The Artificer has four pages of background that he hasn't shown me and that summarizes as "Younger child of a wealthy family; hermit," and I haven't seen him go any deeper than that. The Swordsage is an attempted Jedi ripoff, and I haven't a clue about the upcoming character), as a student there, and something of a bully toward the other students. This guy comes in and says that the worgs have completely destroyed the temple.
Three possible plans here, of course. Either the group decides to hold position at the shrine, and the Swordsage joins them in defending the shrine against the Worgs (a few more battles, actually, possibly just one final battle, which goes easily with the full group, plus Swordsage), the group decides to split up, in which case the Healer and Swordsage (and possibly one other) head off to the temple, or the group decides to abandon their post and head for the temple.
Now, the thing is, though, that the Swordsage is lying through his teeth; the temple was destroyed by a rival sect (loyalists to another claimant to the Imperial throne before the current dynasty arose, now hidden and disguised as ascetics), and this guy only made it out because he let them in. They'd be there for a while looting the place of its scrolls of martial arts secrets. I need a way (other than Sense Motive) for the PCs to figure out that the guy is actually a bad guy; something just under the surface, though, neither too easy nor too difficult (very inside-the-box thinking here).
So, the three paths look like: Hold their ground, and give the looters time to finish looting, hide their evidence (of course, if they check the bodies with any intensity, they'll know that they weren't bitten and mauled), and run; split up, and the Swordsage delays them getting in, but letting them look over the place for evidence; or desert their post, and leave their relief to fight the end boss (hard fight), but possibly be able to push through fast enough to see a looter.
To throw an additional twist, hidden beneath the town (a couple thousand people) the PCs are working for is a complex of tunnels built some time ago by some spellcaster of some kind (don't know and don't particularly care, although it would help for texture) to hide some magical artifact that would be Bad (possibly apocalyptically Bad) in the wrong hands. The Wolfkin have come from all over, to try to get their paws on it so that they can keep it out of the hands of someone else who is trying to use it (I haven't figured that part out yet; they might be the faction that is raided the temple, or someone else using them; I also need a motive), lead by a (TN) Worg with Warblade levels.
The Swordsage will ally with the PCs for a while, possibly just the conclusion of the adventure (where they walk back to town) and one more, possibly another in between. The Artificer's player expects DMPCs (and grumbled about the 28 Point Buy I used, instead of his normal 32; he's been trained poorly), although the healer doesn't like the idea, and, quite frankly, neither do I. The rest of the group is lukewarm to it, though. I'll have to keep him relegated to a support NPC role, probably taking him out of most battles (I have enough work running all the monsters; now you want me to run someone on the PCs' side too?!).
Skipping to the climax and conclusion of the arc (because I don't know what to put in between, and everything they're doing is really filler):
- A Worg Society Mind (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=506284) (advisor to the leader) convinces a horse to help them, and guides it through sabotaging the town's defenses.
- With the town's defenses sabotaged, the wolfkin mount a final attack on the city on two fronts: the gates, and some elites, including the leader, going through Beast-of-some-kind (possibly an Ankheg; they were, apparently, invented for D&D, so they fit anywhere equally well)
- The PCs and betrayer are sent away from the battlefront into the tunnels, which were newly-rediscovered (possibly in a previous quest, possibly by something unrelated).
- Somehow, we go from there to a battle in town square (most likely; fighting in the wilderness might work too; I'm leaning toward town square, although I could get them to either spot for the showdown, since witnesses (why else fight in town square?) have their pros and cons). I'm thinking that the "good guys" get their hands on the artifact, or they just kill the Ankheg, and the tunnel collapses from the battle above, forcing the Worg leader to break to the surface. In all of their encounters (prior to combat; possibly just one, or possibly none at all), the Worg leader tries to explain its case, but comes off as if mad.
- The PCs defeat the Worg leader, and, as it lays coughing up blood, it tries to explain itself one last time, getting the most important piece of information out first (they're trying to protect the artifact), but the Swordsage kills it before anything important can get out.
- The PCs are heroes, the battle's over, and there's a huge celebration.
- The betrayer has a brief fight with the PCs (who discover his secret; he might also steal the artifact, which would blow his cover) before running off and getting away if it is at all plausible. He retroactively acquires action points if he needs them to ensure that he gets away. My original conception for this scene happened out in the wilderness.
- The PCs are then either released from service, due to the debt that one of them owes his murdered teachers, or sent after the betrayer to reclaim the artifact, depending on how things turn out.
I'm a firm believer in planning as little as is necessary to cover all of the paths the PCs might take. No detailed plan ever survives contact with the PCs anyway, so, really, I just need ideas to help fill the blanks, possibly motivate, describe, and otherwise flesh out my villains (I can do stats just fine), and, of course, reccommend research to steal ideas from. Thanks.
Alright. So I'm running a campaign in a setting based roughly on Tang China. I've got a general idea as to the direction for it.
So far, the PCs have run an errand to escort an artist for an agent of the imperial bureaucracy. They're presently 2nd level, with an Artificer, Dragon Shaman/Crusader, and Swordsage; all are human. I'm ignoring multiclass EXP penalties, and instead allowing a Gestalt Favored Class/Any Class level every multiple of four (same as ability increases); with humans, that's any two classes. The Artificer plans to use these to snag Wizard, then Effigy Master; the Dragon Shaman/Crusader has no coherent plan at the moment (possibly going DS2/CruX//DS[(X+2)/4]). A 1st-level wizard or Wu Jen will be joining them (one of our players decided he hated his character after the 1st adventure, so he wants to switch out)
This group has the Artificer pulling the Blaster role (primarily), the Crusader filling the Healer role, and the Swordsage being melee damage and some tanking. The Artificer will get handed a Wand of Cure Light Wounds to improve out-of-combat healing. This isn't a hugely optimized group; we did that last time (the Artificer's player is quite good at optimizing warriors, although the healer is our most optimized build; the Swordsage and the other guy are terrible optimizers innately. The Artificer is equally dangerous to both sides, being perfectly willing to strike his teammates for lethal damage over percieved/imagined slights. In turn, they are perfectly willing to bind and gag him).
I'm also adding an additional requirement on all PrCs that they have to earn them. The only two PrC builds are that the Artificer is going Effigy Master, and the new caster Alienist, though. The Effigy Master will probably have to find a collection of books on effigies to earn access, and wants in by 8th level (I've said I'll work in a chance or two to earn it, but that they won't be guaranteed; thinking puzzles, tactical fights, and so on), while the Alienist will just have a nigh-impossible time meeting his Psuedonatural (and he's only getting that since he begged; I didn't think it fit with the setting at all).
Another thing to know is that I like monsters with class levels. If it's a leader monster, it's got (a) class level(s). If it's a cool concept, but too low in CR, it's got class levels. If it fits perfectly, but needs that one ability, class levels.
Anyway, back to the plot. The first adventure's big danger was that there were an excess of packs of wolves on the loose; some of these wolves were lead by Worgs, which the PCs discovered; a few of these worgs had a Gleaner level, to better facilitate leading wolves. They encountered and fought a Winter Wolf (out of place; foothills in spring), and, surprisingly, made it run (Artificer got a lucky shot off with a Scorching Ray). They then picked up the artist, and had some skirimishes with worgs on the way back, finishing by killing a named worg (with Warlock levels) I had put in as a boss monster (planned equally, which is to say not at all, for both outcomes though, so I'm fine there).
For the next adventure, I'm planning on having them have to go out to an abandoned shrine somewhere in the middle of the wilderness and repair its magical devices (a bunch of divination and shrine-defense stuff), since it's plain that the Worgs are there to stay. They will, of course, have to fight to defend the shrine while the Worgs come and try to take it from them.
I'm planning to possibly cut away to a bunch of NPCs there and hand them control, on a mini-quest to show exactly how powerful 2nd-level PC classes are (making them play their relief squad, giving one person a bunch of 1st-level Experts with light crossbows, another person a pair of 1st level Warriors, another a 1st-level Adept, and the last a 2nd-level Warrior), having to fight their way through the same path that the PCs did to relieve them. Not entirely sure what stuff would be best to do there.
Anyway, before their relief arrives, an NPC Swordsage comes to the shrine, and the healer knows him from his temple (the healer's background is as a temple guard. The Artificer has four pages of background that he hasn't shown me and that summarizes as "Younger child of a wealthy family; hermit," and I haven't seen him go any deeper than that. The Swordsage is an attempted Jedi ripoff, and I haven't a clue about the upcoming character), as a student there, and something of a bully toward the other students. This guy comes in and says that the worgs have completely destroyed the temple.
Three possible plans here, of course. Either the group decides to hold position at the shrine, and the Swordsage joins them in defending the shrine against the Worgs (a few more battles, actually, possibly just one final battle, which goes easily with the full group, plus Swordsage), the group decides to split up, in which case the Healer and Swordsage (and possibly one other) head off to the temple, or the group decides to abandon their post and head for the temple.
Now, the thing is, though, that the Swordsage is lying through his teeth; the temple was destroyed by a rival sect (loyalists to another claimant to the Imperial throne before the current dynasty arose, now hidden and disguised as ascetics), and this guy only made it out because he let them in. They'd be there for a while looting the place of its scrolls of martial arts secrets. I need a way (other than Sense Motive) for the PCs to figure out that the guy is actually a bad guy; something just under the surface, though, neither too easy nor too difficult (very inside-the-box thinking here).
So, the three paths look like: Hold their ground, and give the looters time to finish looting, hide their evidence (of course, if they check the bodies with any intensity, they'll know that they weren't bitten and mauled), and run; split up, and the Swordsage delays them getting in, but letting them look over the place for evidence; or desert their post, and leave their relief to fight the end boss (hard fight), but possibly be able to push through fast enough to see a looter.
To throw an additional twist, hidden beneath the town (a couple thousand people) the PCs are working for is a complex of tunnels built some time ago by some spellcaster of some kind (don't know and don't particularly care, although it would help for texture) to hide some magical artifact that would be Bad (possibly apocalyptically Bad) in the wrong hands. The Wolfkin have come from all over, to try to get their paws on it so that they can keep it out of the hands of someone else who is trying to use it (I haven't figured that part out yet; they might be the faction that is raided the temple, or someone else using them; I also need a motive), lead by a (TN) Worg with Warblade levels.
The Swordsage will ally with the PCs for a while, possibly just the conclusion of the adventure (where they walk back to town) and one more, possibly another in between. The Artificer's player expects DMPCs (and grumbled about the 28 Point Buy I used, instead of his normal 32; he's been trained poorly), although the healer doesn't like the idea, and, quite frankly, neither do I. The rest of the group is lukewarm to it, though. I'll have to keep him relegated to a support NPC role, probably taking him out of most battles (I have enough work running all the monsters; now you want me to run someone on the PCs' side too?!).
Skipping to the climax and conclusion of the arc (because I don't know what to put in between, and everything they're doing is really filler):
- A Worg Society Mind (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=506284) (advisor to the leader) convinces a horse to help them, and guides it through sabotaging the town's defenses.
- With the town's defenses sabotaged, the wolfkin mount a final attack on the city on two fronts: the gates, and some elites, including the leader, going through Beast-of-some-kind (possibly an Ankheg; they were, apparently, invented for D&D, so they fit anywhere equally well)
- The PCs and betrayer are sent away from the battlefront into the tunnels, which were newly-rediscovered (possibly in a previous quest, possibly by something unrelated).
- Somehow, we go from there to a battle in town square (most likely; fighting in the wilderness might work too; I'm leaning toward town square, although I could get them to either spot for the showdown, since witnesses (why else fight in town square?) have their pros and cons). I'm thinking that the "good guys" get their hands on the artifact, or they just kill the Ankheg, and the tunnel collapses from the battle above, forcing the Worg leader to break to the surface. In all of their encounters (prior to combat; possibly just one, or possibly none at all), the Worg leader tries to explain its case, but comes off as if mad.
- The PCs defeat the Worg leader, and, as it lays coughing up blood, it tries to explain itself one last time, getting the most important piece of information out first (they're trying to protect the artifact), but the Swordsage kills it before anything important can get out.
- The PCs are heroes, the battle's over, and there's a huge celebration.
- The betrayer has a brief fight with the PCs (who discover his secret; he might also steal the artifact, which would blow his cover) before running off and getting away if it is at all plausible. He retroactively acquires action points if he needs them to ensure that he gets away. My original conception for this scene happened out in the wilderness.
- The PCs are then either released from service, due to the debt that one of them owes his murdered teachers, or sent after the betrayer to reclaim the artifact, depending on how things turn out.
I'm a firm believer in planning as little as is necessary to cover all of the paths the PCs might take. No detailed plan ever survives contact with the PCs anyway, so, really, I just need ideas to help fill the blanks, possibly motivate, describe, and otherwise flesh out my villains (I can do stats just fine), and, of course, reccommend research to steal ideas from. Thanks.