Sheogoroth
2016-02-03, 06:58 PM
I've got 2 months to prep Rise of the Runelords. A ton of time and I thought I'd put it to good use. So while I was pouring over the book, I read the "What if the Players fail" scenario and the hamster wheels of my brain began a-turnin.
So without further ado, I(as a DM who has run modules, but never a whole campaign,) would like to bounce some ideas off of The Playground and get some feedback from our benevolent veteran DMs as to whether this would be... interesting, runnable, fun, absurd, particularly the Epic portion of the story I tacked on etc. and how you would change the campaign to subtly incorporate some of these changes.
So my first idea was to remake Thassilon theme-wise, move them from vaguely eastern to more Sumerian. Now, I dig history(lol), and Sumer had these precepts and they had them written all over the place as basically given to them from the gods which basically, in their eyes, lifted them up from tribalism and gave them civilization. So civilization was this divine and tangible thing could be broken down into these basic tenants that defined their society.
My idea was to shuffle history and fill in the blanks a little bit to paint this picture of early humans suffering under their Aboleth overlords having been blessed by the Peacock Spirit in both having been given access to the power of Magic and the understanding to create their own civilization(sort of a Garden of Eden knowledge of Good and Evil sort of thing) with these 7 Virtues of Rule that the Runelords being turned into essentially their respective Domain.
Here's where things get crazy. I'm a HUGE fan of Cthulhu-esque "incomprehensible, alien post-morality" which fits Leng decently well. The Aboleths were old servants of Leng who were sent to Golarion to prepare a portal that Leng could use when the time was right to seize control of a predicted Cosmic Super-Event(The appearance of the immensely powerful "Starstone".) But the Aboleths in their hubris their raised up humans to be their slaves. The Peacock Spirit, essentially the Over-deity of traditional morality and core opponent of Leng sought to disrupt these plans and empowered the humans to overthrow their masters and destroy their portal. The Peacock Spirit then anointed 7 humans to safeguard civilization both in a practical sense of administering law and in a literal sense by giving them immense power that would be siphoned off to serve essentially as a Gate to block free travel between Leng and Golarion.
The Runelords were inherently given absolute understanding of their aspect and it's inverse (Gluttony Vs. Temperance) so they were under constant temptation(Tree of Good and Evil style.) The Peacock knew this power, even if they were not able to exercise it to its fullest extent would corrupt them, so she crowned Xin, the most virtuous of her servants to serve as emperor of Thassilon as a counterbalance to the power of the 7 to keep the barrier in place until the Starstone falls.
So the Starstone falls and each Runelord is sealed away somewhere for ten-thousand years. But since none of them are killed, the Gateway remains in place. But now they are waking up.
It will be very clear to the players that Karzoug wants to conquer Golarion, but the true threat of Leng and the role of the Runelords will be relayed to the players subtley through historical accounts, as well as the urging of my own little DMPC: an Oracle Fluumph! Who they may or may not just straight up kill on sight.
I like this dilemma of a character who is just this evil who may or may not have crossed the moral event horizon. I want my players to be able to figure this all out if they care to look, but I suspect that they will not. Either way, though- If they miss the device of Leng AND Karzoug survive, then Leng is summoned and it will turn into an Epic Campaign mad-dash to wake up the Runelords to use their combined might to re-banish the antithesis of all life before he consumes the Starstone.
OR- they kill Karzoug, wittingly or unwittingly of the implications, and THEN I get to dust off my Elder Evils book and start going through an Apocalypse scenario(I'm talking rain of blood, Hulks of Zoretha status), eventually giving one of my players the end game of becoming a Runelord and re-establishing the Gate to seal the world against Leng.
Is it too complex a plot to convey over 6 modules? Thoughts? comments? Clarifications?
So without further ado, I(as a DM who has run modules, but never a whole campaign,) would like to bounce some ideas off of The Playground and get some feedback from our benevolent veteran DMs as to whether this would be... interesting, runnable, fun, absurd, particularly the Epic portion of the story I tacked on etc. and how you would change the campaign to subtly incorporate some of these changes.
So my first idea was to remake Thassilon theme-wise, move them from vaguely eastern to more Sumerian. Now, I dig history(lol), and Sumer had these precepts and they had them written all over the place as basically given to them from the gods which basically, in their eyes, lifted them up from tribalism and gave them civilization. So civilization was this divine and tangible thing could be broken down into these basic tenants that defined their society.
My idea was to shuffle history and fill in the blanks a little bit to paint this picture of early humans suffering under their Aboleth overlords having been blessed by the Peacock Spirit in both having been given access to the power of Magic and the understanding to create their own civilization(sort of a Garden of Eden knowledge of Good and Evil sort of thing) with these 7 Virtues of Rule that the Runelords being turned into essentially their respective Domain.
Here's where things get crazy. I'm a HUGE fan of Cthulhu-esque "incomprehensible, alien post-morality" which fits Leng decently well. The Aboleths were old servants of Leng who were sent to Golarion to prepare a portal that Leng could use when the time was right to seize control of a predicted Cosmic Super-Event(The appearance of the immensely powerful "Starstone".) But the Aboleths in their hubris their raised up humans to be their slaves. The Peacock Spirit, essentially the Over-deity of traditional morality and core opponent of Leng sought to disrupt these plans and empowered the humans to overthrow their masters and destroy their portal. The Peacock Spirit then anointed 7 humans to safeguard civilization both in a practical sense of administering law and in a literal sense by giving them immense power that would be siphoned off to serve essentially as a Gate to block free travel between Leng and Golarion.
The Runelords were inherently given absolute understanding of their aspect and it's inverse (Gluttony Vs. Temperance) so they were under constant temptation(Tree of Good and Evil style.) The Peacock knew this power, even if they were not able to exercise it to its fullest extent would corrupt them, so she crowned Xin, the most virtuous of her servants to serve as emperor of Thassilon as a counterbalance to the power of the 7 to keep the barrier in place until the Starstone falls.
So the Starstone falls and each Runelord is sealed away somewhere for ten-thousand years. But since none of them are killed, the Gateway remains in place. But now they are waking up.
It will be very clear to the players that Karzoug wants to conquer Golarion, but the true threat of Leng and the role of the Runelords will be relayed to the players subtley through historical accounts, as well as the urging of my own little DMPC: an Oracle Fluumph! Who they may or may not just straight up kill on sight.
I like this dilemma of a character who is just this evil who may or may not have crossed the moral event horizon. I want my players to be able to figure this all out if they care to look, but I suspect that they will not. Either way, though- If they miss the device of Leng AND Karzoug survive, then Leng is summoned and it will turn into an Epic Campaign mad-dash to wake up the Runelords to use their combined might to re-banish the antithesis of all life before he consumes the Starstone.
OR- they kill Karzoug, wittingly or unwittingly of the implications, and THEN I get to dust off my Elder Evils book and start going through an Apocalypse scenario(I'm talking rain of blood, Hulks of Zoretha status), eventually giving one of my players the end game of becoming a Runelord and re-establishing the Gate to seal the world against Leng.
Is it too complex a plot to convey over 6 modules? Thoughts? comments? Clarifications?