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View Full Version : Prince Zahn's Campaign Notes I - Help A DM Where He's Stuck!



Prince Zahn
2016-02-02, 07:10 AM
NOTE: IF YOU ARE MY PLAYER IN "GOLD SHACKLES" MOVE ALONG, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU TO READ.

Not that they browse these forums, nor would that stop them :smalltongue:..

Anyway, I'd like to use this thread to vent out my thoughts with the playground towards my Skype game session "Gold Shackles".the game is 5e D&D but aid need not be setting specific. I would like some opinions and suggestions wherever I might need them, if you guys would like to help me help my players it would be awesome :3

A little about my premise:
up to about 50 years ago, The continent of Brevour has been in war for many years with the development of new Renaissance-era technology. The dwarves unleashed a conquest with intent on conquering the continent, and hopefully the world from there.

Fortunately, the tides were turned, and the Dwarven invasion failed. Their empire collapsed within itself, and the dwarves (in Brevour, at least) were persecuted to extinction.

Most lands achieved independence shortly after, executing their royal lineage or stripping then of power. The nobles remain however, primarily in the form of dukedoms and baronies.

One land in particular took the worst of the war, and hasn't recovered. A place now named Somberglade, which no country wanted to take responsibility for. Years Gunpowder, dark magics and monstrosities never before seen have long corrupted it, and has been abandoned with ease by the survivors. Here, as a pit stop, the players (level 3) had their prologue, where they were hired by a panicking fortune teller and her assistant to protect a wealthy hunchback named Konrad, and searched for Yellow mold to burn cause plot reasons and they didn't know at the time it was poisonous :smallamused:. Here, my players met the Oni, a malevolent and deadly creature who roams the forest, he kicked their butts, tied them up and is blackmailing them to kill the very man they were hired to protect.

Although the war is long over, a massive crime wave is taking Brevour by storm. Criminals and outlaws like "hellwing" Malfisto, The Faceless Five, or the Sprangledew (or however I may have called them. They are a gnome mafia) and the players have to hunt down these outlaws and either send them to prison or kill them, or at least get some answers. The heroes each have their own villain, whom they have a personal reason to hunt down.

The crew:
Tristan, a human paladin of vengeance, he has a demonic arm that tries to tempt him into giving into evil ways, he has a mitral full plate
Caecilian, an immature elf rogue, very greedy and kind of craven. He got his hands on Gauntlets of Ogre's strength so he can use all sorts of combat options like the very best of them (expertise Athletics proficiency - who knew? :P)
Felari - an elf cleric with the trickery domain, he was an orphan most of his life before joining the clergy of Vrattaryn. He likes lemons and he has a bag of tricks. He also had a pearl of power, but the Oni took it.
Vaisu (missing) a half elf ninja-ish monk who kills relentlessly, very lone wolfish, she has an important mission, and she needs information for it that Murrella (the fortune teller) can offer him.
Laera (missing?) human tribal barbarian from the frozen north land of Chatyra, she was in Somberglade trying to learn the ways of people but it's been a while and she hasn't found anyone, so now she tags along with the adventurers. Her magic item is a talking wolf cap.


Okay, with that out of the way, I have a few considerations to discuss at first:
I am considering their next destination, in a country commonly referred to as the Restlands. It is mostly a democracy, people there are very touchy about what they can and can't do, but otherwise they're mostly good people. They will probably be in a town for a couple of days, where Malfisto and his band of demons are plotting a robbery and assassination job against a human researcher who I don't know what she'll be called, or why he wants her dead.
In Somberglade, Caecilian found a box of somebody's memories, I'm not quite sure what to fill it with. They received a letter beforehand about a man escaping a prison in some kind of bizarre fairy land, and was trying to return home after he was released, especially after hearing the Oni is roaming around, eating people. I'm thinking it might be his. It might detail his life with a fairy for a best friend.
Alternatively, the box might belong to the Oni, containing all sorts of juicy memories that he tries to keep hidden. Unless somebody has a cooler idea.

I have and will have a lot more considerations to make, and it will help if I have people to discuss them with. So tell me your thoughts, suggestions, advice. I'll hear it all :)

Storm_Of_Snow
2016-02-02, 08:51 AM
Sorry, but I'm really just going to ask a load of questions about the memory box, which hopefully will give you ideas that will work with your party :smallwink: :

Firstly, what sort of memories would someone put in a box and why? Are they those of the original/previous owner of the box, or something taken from someone else? Are they being stored against someone else taking them, or reading them from their owner's mind, or were they stolen? Are they valuable, do they lead to things of value, are they secrets their owner would rather not get out into the open, or are they merely the magical equivalent of old photos, to be taken out occasionally and reminisced about?

Could it simply be a way of preserving the memories of someone with dementia, or the experiences of those long since dead? Or is it the secrets of some hidden society, transferring their knowledge down through the generations until everything's right for them to act.

Does the box itself take the memories of those that possess it, and does it extract them or merely copy them?

What happens if you open the box, are the memories sat there, in some form that can be taken out and experienced? If so, can they be returned to the box? Can you choose what memory you'll experience, or is it either random, or at the whim of some being/fate? And if you use a memory, what are the effects? Just that memory, for as long as you experience it, is the memory implanted into your mind for the rest of your life, or is it more insidious, slowly corrupting your mind until you're more like the original owner than the person you were?

Will opening the box incorrectly release the memories?

Prince Zahn
2016-02-02, 09:37 AM
Sorry, but I'm really just going to ask a load of questions about the memory box, which hopefully will give you ideas that will work with your party :smallwink: :

Firstly, what sort of memories would someone put in a box and why? Are they those of the original/previous owner of the box, or something taken from someone else? Are they being stored against someone else taking them, or reading them from their owner's mind, or were they stolen? Are they valuable, do they lead to things of value, are they secrets their owner would rather not get out into the open, or are they merely the magical equivalent of old photos, to be taken out occasionally and reminisced about?

Could it simply be a way of preserving the memories of someone with dementia, or the experiences of those long since dead? Or is it the secrets of some hidden society, transferring their knowledge down through the generations until everything's right for them to act.

Does the box itself take the memories of those that possess it, and does it extract them or merely copy them?

What happens if you open the box, are the memories sat there, in some form that can be taken out and experienced? If so, can they be returned to the box? Can you choose what memory you'll experience, or is it either random, or at the whim of some being/fate? And if you use a memory, what are the effects? Just that memory, for as long as you experience it, is the memory implanted into your mind for the rest of your life, or is it more insidious, slowly corrupting your mind until you're more like the original owner than the person you were?

Will opening the box incorrectly release the memories?
I wish I could say it was magical, it contains memories yes, but more in the traditional sense that somebody held on to stuff that were dear to him.
Either it would be a Trinket like that, or a bagbox of holding, but I don't want to give my guys one of those yet. I was thinking it might contain a journal, some other things.with that said, I did include a stone in the middle of the ruins where they found it, that when you use a little magic in it, it projects important memories that occurred in that location. They didn't give it a second glance though. Hmm, although, what I could do is include a sort of keystone or two bearing the memories that are compatible with that projector stone. They'll get more chances to find it :3 that should be cool, right?

Onward to the memories in question :
These are memories of somebody's youth roughly 60 years ago, shortly before the Interfered War (with the dwarves and all that) started. I'd imagine it would be like pleasant childhood. souvenirs stored in the attic. (he did find the box on the broken roof)
My first thought is that it could be the prisoner's house, (the one who's letter they found on the way there) , who was imprisoned in a penitentiary in the fairy land (unimaginatively called Seelie) I'd imagine if that happened, it would tell the story of his friendship with a sprite or pixie, if any of them are interested in pursuing that.
Alternatively, it might tell the story of the Oni, being once human in a town where nobody liked him. He might have been a bully because of it. He might also have had a regular companion or rival (or a victim), who could have been Konrad, which is why he has a personal reason to want him dead...
I think the latter would add quite a lot of oomph to the storyline, and to his origins, though the former explores another part of the history of the whole thing, which adds material for me to work with because I could have am entire side arc for finding the man who escaped from Seelie. Right now, I could only have one figure for the box,and that's why I'm torn between two cool options.

goto124
2016-02-02, 09:57 AM
If it's a high-magic world, your memory box could work like a Pensieve from the Harry Potter books. Dip your head in and experience the memory as seen through the eyes of the memory-holder...

Just throwing out suggestions :smalltongue:

Storm_Of_Snow
2016-02-02, 11:08 AM
I wish I could say it was magical, it contains memories yes, but more in the traditional sense that somebody held on to stuff that were dear to him.

Ah, you mean keepsakes. :smallsmile:

Prince Zahn
2016-02-02, 11:13 AM
Ah, you mean keepsakes. :smallsmile:

Though it could be magical, mind you. I want to use a campaign object that functions like "sensitivity to psychic Impressions" did in D&D 3e, (I.e. you see visions before you that happened many years ago). I could make the objects in the box like records in a jukebox... Thoughts?

Prince Zahn
2016-02-04, 05:46 AM
What kind of souvenirs could I decorate an box in the attic, anyway? :smallconfused:

I was thinking it that the box would contain a kind of orb with runes on it, much like the Trinket of the Paladin (Tristan) . Here's why:
It occurred to me that his orb, given to him by his late wife shortly before she was killed, could be a great way to engage him into the story. I imagine that Tristan's orb would contain either his first kiss with his wife, or their wedding day. Which would raise the question: what sort of wedding ritual of tradition would his deity of glory require for the wedding?