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View Full Version : Hey! Pistolero! (Ebberon Campaign)



Halcyon_Dax
2007-06-02, 05:58 PM
Theres an Ebberon campaign I have been thinking about putting together that focuses on the PC's as members of a elite-crime, fighting team (note the punctuation).

As far as flavor goes, I think I will be going for sort of wild westerns meets Zoro meets oceans eleven meets ebberon.

It starts out with the PC's all sharing a jail-cell in Sharn (probably starting at level 5). They are sharing a cell with Captain Theodore Montane, the captain and owner of the Pistolero, an obviously bizarre airship (Prototype? Ancient? The PC's just know its unlike any they have seen).

When Montane is busted out by an old acquaintance, he takes the PC's with them as honorary members of his crew. From there on the campaign starts -- only its not quite the normal campaign.

The PC's play the role of a group of dashing thieves, and their adventures (for the most part) will centralize around daring heists.

The main difference being that they will be discouraged from mere smash+grab, and will be able to do a lot of recon on their target prior to attack.

For example, they want to take out the bank of sharn after gaining a few levels. They will bribe an ex-high ranker of the bank for ideas about the security features. Take down (non-lethally or lethally, depending on how their goodness levels are that day) a current high-ranker and get access information / magic access crystals / whatever. And bribe the architect for detailed blueprints for the bank. Que surgical gold-stealing strike.

Earlier missions could involve train-heists, etc.



NOW sorry about that chunk o' text, here are my questions/requests:

Any other missions similar to those I just listed that they might also enjoy?

AND

I would like to have there be some secret behind Montane and the Pistolero. I was thinking perhaps he could have made some bargain with a 'dark organization' or whatnot for ownership of the airship. Some theft that group might disprove of might drive them to action against Montane.

Of course, that parts all up in the air. Can you guys think of anything better? Or maybe a dark organization that would be good to use for that scenario.

Jack Mann
2007-06-02, 06:22 PM
My advice is simply to watch a fair number of heist movies and take notes. Look for fun things that can easily be adapted to Eberron and your players' abilities.

goat
2007-06-02, 07:09 PM
Nothing is going to be simple, especially as it's Ebberon.

Magical defences should probably be commonplace, "break and take" shouldn't be possible once things of value are involved.

A decent bank/storehouse would probably have some fairly hefty magical defences, and your players should be trying to work their way around these. A pure counter-trap, counter-lock, counter-device specialist should be required to get anywhere, magical alternatives should be the dangerous option.

Halcyon_Dax
2007-06-02, 09:04 PM
Basically yes goat, the amount of protections going into these things are going to be enormous. Yet the players will have many advantages, most of which are very big.

They are going to be playing a party designed specifically to circumvent wards and protections and guards of any variety.

They will usually have PLENTY of time to prepare, research their target, get copy-keys made, pay of select people, purchase specialized magical items, set charges to create exits, plan diversions, etc.

Aquillion
2007-06-02, 10:21 PM
Also, remember that Eberron is a low-level setting. Most of the defenses won't be calibrated for character with access to high-level resources, higher-level spells, and high rogue skills.

Halcyon_Dax
2007-06-02, 10:33 PM
Sure sure, yes yes. Good advice and all that, but none answers either of my actual questions.

SumGuy
2007-06-02, 10:59 PM
I'd go with a stolen prototype for the airship, therefore you're going to have the PC's and the NPC owner on the run from the owning organization. This keeps them on their toes and adds another group of people to use for encounters. If you want to add some tension to a heist, you can have the one or more of the players notice the minions of the organization looking for them in the area that they're casing.

Toric
2007-06-02, 11:28 PM
The ol' James Bond "Steal/swap a suitcase on a lightning rail" scenario might be good, though I'm not sure how to prepare for it. Steal some important documents from the gnome House or letters of credit (it's paper gold!) from House Kundarak banks. The Silver Key prestige class is perfect for this campaign (Dragonmarked) except for the fact that Kundarak is in charge of most major banks.

Crashing a party/banquet, retrieving/delivering extortion money (when retrieving it you always have to look out for extra personell being brought in), the ever-popular wizard's tower, and taking a holy object from a temple (full of undead/deathless and more Indiana Jones traps than you can shake a stick at!)

Halcyon_Dax
2007-06-03, 01:23 PM
Wow Toric, I really like all of those. Very good ideas.

Another one I was considering was them trying to capture a dalkyr biological weapon of some kind aboard an airship.

Keep em coming!

Seffbasilisk
2007-06-03, 01:36 PM
Have it powered by a Juno Reactor. :smallbiggrin:


Have orcs or somesuch attack during the robbery (firefly)
Have the bank already been robbed/emptied (big fish)
Mayhaps the Pistolero needs human body parts to power it? (adaptation of Dr. Who)

Bryn
2007-06-03, 02:04 PM
Have a desired item aboard a private, high-security lightning rail car en route to some safer place (some sort of House Kundurak vault or something). They fly the airship alongside the lightning rail car then leap aboard via ropes/Fly/something else. To make it more dangerous, as well as to avoid the airship being recognised or something (since it apparently looks quite distinctive), have them on a standard lightning rail carriage going the other way and leap across as the two pass each other. This allows a very interesting fight on top of a moving train if they get caught during the heist.

Have the airship get seized by authorities for some reason, and they have to steal their own airship back. :smallwink:

Accolon
2007-06-05, 10:50 PM
Just getting out of the prison is an adventure. Maybe Montane has been working on an escape plan for year, and the party fits all the "parts." Check out the "Great Escape" with Steve McQueen: great movie and cool prison setting. Or The Count of Monte Cristo. If you really want to have fun with the party put them in Dreadhold instead of Sharn.

Once they're out you can have them perform smaller heists as Montane tests them for the big heist: stealing the secret of the Pistolero. While it's cliche, the whole PotC idea with a slight twist isn't bad: the ship has been loaned to him for so many years by a lich, and in order to keep it he needs to find and then steal or destroy the lich's phylactery. Each robbery, break-in, kidnapping, theft, etc, is a clue to help, and just for kicks and giggles, throw some outright robberies into the mix so the party has enough loot to keep going.

Or maybe the Pistolero is an Eldritch Machine (Eberron Camp Setting Corebook) that can travel through time, but the machine/ship is missing parts and the party and Montane have to steal them and then put it all back together so that Montane can steal something enormously valuable/terribly dangerous from another point of history.

SpiderBrigade
2007-06-05, 11:22 PM
The Pistolero is a prototype, but not of any conventional airship...it is in fact a spelljammer! Clues and spare-part Macguffins can be meted out gradually until the party is high enough level to step out into the larger world of space pirates, crystal spheres, and the dreaded Illithid navy.

For adventures, make sure there are lots of double/triple-crosses, with the mission objectives changing in the middle of everything. Think about what made Raiders of the Lost Ark so great - it's not a smooth progression with planning->execution->reward. Fortunes are reversed...well, essentially nonstop :smallwink:

Some random ideas for "complications:"

-A guardian monster accidentally eats the Macguffin
-The client is secretly paying you to rob his own home, for reasons unknown
-People Under the Stairs-style fortress-house
-Competition with other groups/the Thieves' guild etc - this could be a whole sublot
-The Macguffin is a fake - does the client know?
-Keyser Söze

Mix and match things like these with some of the actual mission objectives others are suggesting, and it should be good.

Oh, and of course don't overdo it. Not every mission can be a betrayal. I mean, seriously, this isn't Shadowrun...:smalltongue:

Wolf_Shade
2007-06-06, 08:45 AM
-The client is secretly paying you to rob his own home, for reasons unknown
Actaully, something akin to the beginning of sneakers would be pretty cool.
Your party gets a reputation. Security company A requests that you break into Building B that they are responsible for and tell them what's wrong with it.

Go for bulk item theft. "Steal the globe from the top of the Daily Planet" (yeah yeah, differnt universe, it was the first bulky item I could think of.)

Classic Zelda: There are five gems in five different locations around the city. They all need to be stolen in one night, ready, go! (Okay, the time restriction isn't classic to Zelda.)

Not quite an answer to your question, but you could set up "after the fact" security. Basically an item with a magic homing beacon, something akin to an ink bomb only more dangerous etc. Heck, that could be how they run afoul of the "dark organization". The org. wants to steal item X so they put an enchantment on it. Org B wants the item too and has you snag it. The enchantment tells dark org. that someone else pilfered the item and it was your party.

Dizlag
2007-06-06, 09:32 AM
Double-cross the party and have all the lewtz from a huge heist stolen from them. Their leader, Captain Montane, is killed during the double-cross. Have the person who double-crossed them be someone close to Captain Montane and the party, maybe the first mate of the Pistolero. He escapes not to be seen for again for about a year or so. And then, the first mate is spotted by a party member or acquaintance living it up in the lap of luxury. He has a top notch "fortress" of sorts the party has to recon, plan, and try to steal it all back from.

Can anyone name the movie? :smallbiggrin:

Dizlag

Wolf_Shade
2007-06-06, 09:36 AM
Can anyone name the movie? :smallbiggrin:

Dizlag
It sounds distinctly like "The Italian Job"

Dizlag
2007-06-06, 10:08 AM
You are distinctly correct ... here's your cookie! :smallbiggrin:

It was a good movie and I believe the sequel is coming out this year sometime.

Dizlag

Swamp0808
2007-06-06, 02:07 PM
Recently saw "The Hot Rock" on cable. excellent heist movie with stealing the MacGuffin being thwarted each time. the rock goes from a museum to jail, to prison, to a safe deposit box and the main character has a stirring speech about how the rock has a curse on him and he's got to steal it or be haunted by it forever

Check out the Tomb of Horrors for a great Indiana Jones trapped temple, i'm about to Dm a session using that module. :smallcool:

stainboy
2007-06-06, 04:49 PM
I can see three possible lightning rail missions: one, the aforementioned, and two, something inspired by "The Train Job" episode of Firefly involving actually landing the Pistolero atop a freight car.

Other possible missions:

-The museum robbery. Break into Morgrave U's museum in Sharn, get outside with some artifact or other. If you want this game to involve any combat at all, replace "artifact" with "monster" - giant mummy from Xen'drik, animated suit of Dhakaani armor, massive Khyber shard holding a bound demon, or whatever.

-Sabotage a Lyrandar weather control tower as a distraction from the most awesome heist ever.

-Airship robbery. Get onboard a passenger ship, steal X, featherfall to safety, and wait to be retrieved by the Pistolero. (Possible complications: the Pistolero's not there waiting. The bound elemental on the targeted airship for whatever reason takes issue with the theft. The PCs' feathers/rings of featherfall have been replaced with duds. The entire heist is a setup: House Deneith or whoever's after the PCs just wanted to get them into a confined space where they could easily be arrested.)

-The PCs steal something that turns out to be cursed in one way or another. Now the curse is transfered to them, and they have to either break the curse (which will of course require them to break into someplace else) or pass the curse off to some other sucker. This could tie in with the "PCs commit a robbery secretly on behalf of the person being robbed" idea above.



Overplot Ideas

-Montane has some grudge against House Lyrandar (again, I'm assuming he himself is a Lyrandar heir) or the Dragonmarked Houses in general. He could even have an aberrant mark that somehow lets him control the airship, and be working for House Tarkanen. The missions the party is likely to get involved in are going to piss off at least a few of the Houses - Orien (lightning rail job), Lyrandar (anything airship-related), Kundarak (bank job), Deneith (since they'll probably be trying to collect the bounty on Montane). Might be able to play up the inevitable conflict between Montane and the Houses into something bigger, and intended by Montane all along.

-Or, if you want a clear BBEG at the end of things, Montane's working for a rakshasa, who's got Montane's soul imprisoned somewhere. Montane needs to buy it back, essentially, and at least some of the party's missions all have some secret purpose related to the rakshasa's century-spanning plans. This would work best if the party were typically stealing artifacts and such. For added complications, Montane occasionally tries to betray the rakshasa, and some of the missions the PCs have gone on have been to that end.

Counterpower
2007-06-06, 05:57 PM
I highly suggest:

Watching "The Train Job" from Firefly. Land that airship on the lightning rail!!

Heck, just watch Firefly and Serenity, period. I read once that Joss Whedon, the director, intended Firefly to be similar to the escapades that Han Solo would have had before joining the Rebellion. They're just the adventures of a group of scoundrels! (And that series/movie are just awesome anyway. You should watch them even if you didn't want any inspiration.)

Read up on: House Lyrandar, whom that airship was stolen from. (Come on. That house is in charge of just about every freaking airship in existence. Who else would have the cool prototype airship?) And House Kundarak, since they'll be the party's main antagonists. (The Mark of Warding. Hmmm, I wonder what they do?)

Finally: Yay for "The Italian Job"!

Okay, so I didn't really have any new ideas. Sue me.