An Adventure Of An Undetermined Sort

[JNAProductions]

To be edited later, with content suggested by others.

[Unoriginal]

Well, I've always found that a good way to start thinking about an adventure was by its antagonist(s).

So, the question is: who is the bad guy?

Maybe a creature from the Mordenkainen's?

[JNAProductions]

I could use Argos, the Eternal Frost. A demon bound to a man, alive for centuries, he lives in the north and wants to rule the entire world in his frosty grip.

But, I've already got stats for him, he's CR 20+, and my party is level 7.

So, perhaps a commander in his army?

Let's call them...

Theriza-an Ice Genasi who grew up under Argos's rule, and gladly joined his armies.

She's currently the commander of the forces attacking Indos, the northernmost city out of Argos's control.

Edit: I can easily brew stuff. I just have trouble putting it together coherently.

[Unoriginal]

Well, next we can go for the motivations.

Why is she targeting this city in particular? Was she ordered to? Did she petition to get it attacked as a way to gain a reputation? Is the city an easy prey because she can cut its supply lines without effort?

And why has the city not been conquered before? Is it ruled by Efreet who can keep the frost demon at bay? Was Argos forced to abandon attacking it due to a lack of troops, but the Genasi assured she could do it with only the troops she leads as a commander?

[JNAProductions]

Well, next we can go for the motivations.

Why is she targeting this city in particular? Was she ordered to? Did she petition to get it attacked as a way to gain a reputation? Is the city an easy prey because she can cut its supply lines without effort?

And why has the city not been conquered before? Is it ruled by Efreet who can keep the frost demon at bay? Was Argos forced to abandon attacking it due to a lack of troops, but the Genasi assured she could do it with only the troops she leads as a commander?

It's the next city in line. Argos is an old, stubborn sort, so he simply wants to roll down the world and conquer it all. So she was probably ordered to.

The city has not yet been conquered... For... Um... Hm. It's been several years since Octly (which isn't too far north of it) has been conquered, so...

I'm going to say Suhnter is why. He's a Ki-Rin the players encountered on their first adventure, who lives not far from the city, and I'd imagine he wouldn't be happy with what Argos is doing. However, as more and more of Argos's forces come to bear on Indos, he can only do so much, and I'd imagine he hasn't had a good night's rest in months.

So I'm thinking that someone who has more interactions with Suhnter will tell them that Indos has a doomsday clock before getting conquered, or possibly the one surviving character from that first day (a Tabaxi named Dog) will be visited by him to be told of that.

Also! Thanks for your assistance, Unoriginal! I really appreciate it!

[SiCK_Boy]

Interesting approach to start pitching the big bad and his goals... For my part, I usually try to focus on a lot of the basic mechanical stuff before adding fluff.

Things that should be considered at the earliest stage include:

- Potential length and level progression of the adventure (is this a 1-shot or a full campaign from Lvl 1 to 20?)
- Starting point (level-wise) for the adventurers
- Some key features of the setting (including factions, region/city where the adventure will be set, climate/terrain, possibly calendar/time of year)
- Usual length of your sessions

Other useful info for people who want to contribute would be:
- Material you have access to (ex: the suggestion above regarding using MToF for the villain)
- Number of players
- Age of the players (or at least, whether any topics are off-topic)
- What were the last few adventures / modules your group played through (so we don't repeat the same themes / adventure structure)

[JNAProductions]

Interesting approach to start pitching the big bad and his goals... For my part, I usually try to focus on a lot of the basic mechanical stuff before adding fluff.

Things that should be considered at the earliest stage include:

- Potential length and level progression of the adventure (is this a 1-shot or a full campaign from Lvl 1 to 20?)
- Starting point (level-wise) for the adventurers
- Some key features of the setting (including factions, region/city where the adventure will be set, climate/terrain, possibly calendar/time of year)
- Usual length of your sessions

They're currently level 7. (I think-I'm pretty sure I leveled them up last session.) I'd like to plan a few sessions out, but it really only NEEDS to cover the next three hours for today.


Other useful info for people who want to contribute would be:
- Material you have access to (ex: the suggestion above regarding using MToF for the villain)
- Number of players
- Age of the players (or at least, whether any topics are off-topic)
- What were the last few adventures / modules your group played through (so we don't repeat the same themes / adventure structure)

I have everything except SCAG and most modules, and can easily brew anything from races to monsters to classes.

3-5, depending on availability.

We're all adults. If you can post it on this forum, we can play it.

This would be their fourth session ever, for most of them, so go nutso.

[SiCK_Boy]

OK.

So we're dealing with a city under assault by some ice-demon's forces, defended by a tired knight.

Where would the group of PCs fit in? One option is to use the group of adventurers as some kind of special ops team. They could be sent to the enemy's camp for reconnaissance, targeted assassinations, breaking up enemy supply lines, etc.

You could also reuse the start of HoTDQ as a template, but apply it to this town, with the players arriving just as the brunt of the enemy forces attack. Players get to fill a number of small quests over a single night (or a very short period of time); maybe Argos' army is then pushed back once an ally from the south joins the fray (giving some room to breathe and plan for your PCs and the city's authorities). You could even try to have at least one task linked to each of your PCs.

Is the climate a factor in all this? Could the opposing army come with a winter storm covering its advance (so if the PCs want to go out against the enemies, they need to deal with the weather as well as opposing monsters)?

You could also start listing possible monsters that make up part of Argos's army. You probably want to focus on CR 03 to 10 creatures.

(I'll try to add more in a few minutes)

[Unoriginal]

Alright, so, this makes me think three things:

1: A Ki-Rin has a Regional Effect around their Lair, notably controlling the weather.

Maybe that's how Argos's progress has been stopped: usually, he sends terrible snowstormsvahead of his armies, paralyzing and starving the communities, but here this trick doesn't work.

2: as both a place protected by a Ki-Rin, the foremost point not under Argos's control, and the place the most likely to be attacked next, the city should be crawling with warriors of Good, troops of anyone with an interest to stop Argos's conquest and feel like contributing, and mercenaries wishing to profit from the situation.

3: as a benevolent and long-existing entity, the Ki-Rin probably has many favors and allies to call on. The PCs should be one of the many groups that shows up.

[JNAProductions]

Alright, so, this makes me think three things:

1: A Ki-Rin has a Regional Effect around their Lair, notably controlling the weather.

Maybe that's how Argos's progress has been stopped: usually, he sends terrible snowstormsvahead of his armies, paralyzing and starving the communities, but here this trick doesn't work.

2: as both a place protected by a Ki-Rin, the foremost point not under Argos's control, and the place the most likely to be attacked next, the city should be crawling with warriors of Good, troops of anyone with an interest to stop Argos's conquest and feel like contributing, and mercenaries wishing to profit from the situation.

3: as a benevolent and long-existing entity, the Ki-Rin probably has many favors and allies to call on. The PCs should be one of the many groups that shows up.

1) Yes! I like very much.

2) True, but at the same time, I want the focus on the players. I'm fine including NPCs, but a gripe I have in my IRL game where I am a player is that the DM has a lot of high-level NPCs, making the party feel... Less than useful.

3) See #2.

[Unoriginal]

Well you have a Ki-Rin doing the heavy lifting right now, and IIRC you literally had him show up out of nowhere to save the PCs.

I know making the PCs matter is important, and feeling like extras in someone's else story is not pleasant, but an handful of lvl 7 characters are not going to stop an army pushed by a very determined demon on their own.

My suggestion is to focus on the PCs still and have them matter by sending them on missions to increase the city's defense or its offensive capacities.

For example: "the sky pirate Dunkwhich has escaped justice for years for his pillaging and murdering, and his sky ship would help us against Argos's forces. We have intel saying he's hiding on an island a few days from here, go handle him and get his ship."

You could even have "Defense Point" counters for the city. Each part of the city has a certain score, and it increases with who defends it and the missions the PCs did. During the massive, last assault, compare the defense points to the "attack points" of the part of Argos's army who's handling this part of the city, and if the defense is lower it loses points every X time, and when it reaches 0 the part is lost.

Not the most narrative approach, but it's structured, at least.

[Requilac]

I see that you already have the main antagonist pretty well established, but I think you are forgetting something crucial; antagonists include the army’s soldiers. It seems like this Argo guy has a pretty strong army, but what does this army consist of and why is it so numerous? He is a frost demon, so there is a lot you could work with here.

What you decide as the army is also going to say a lot about the theme of this campaign. If he is using a warfleet of Vikings to attack the city then this will send the message that it is a low-magic sort of campaign. If Argos has an army of frost giants attacking then you can expect some strong epicness to be going on. If a horde a demons attack the city and start driving the populace insane and sucking out their souls, it will be revealed horror is a re-occurring theme.

And keep in mind that his army doesn’t need to be all one type of creature. It can be very diverse. Nothing is stopping you from having frost giants storm the city walls as Gelugons (frost devils) swoop down and reign death from above.

Here are some possible enemies you can use
• Dire beasts under the control of a Druid or similar tamer
• A white dragon/group of white dragons
• Water and air elementals
• Demons, obviously. Mordenkainen’s might have some useful tools in there for you.
• Frost Giants or trolls
• Orcs, gnolls, barbarians, tribal natives or similar humanoid enemies
• Monstosities of any stripe always work

What you also might want to consider is if Argos has any allies. Is he working to take the city alone or he is getting some help from another ally?

Is the evil archdruid of the north so pissed with Igos and hellbent on its destruction that she is willing to ally with a demon?

Is Bonebreaker the young white dragon eager for plunder and helping with the attack?

Does Argos have an genie in a bottle which he has trapped?

Has the queen of the unseelie fey court gained a “romantic” inclination to Argos and is willing to help?

Is Argos under the “commands” of a demonlord from the abyss?

Is the king of the frost giants taking a liking to the idea of crushing the city too?

Who Argos has as allies would greatly influence his strategic decisions.

[Unoriginal]

Indeed. And just as his allies, who his enemies are is important.

Maybe an Ice Devil would see this situation and agree to help, as hindering that upstart of a demon would be good for them.

Maybe the Ki-Rin has a rivalry with a dragon, but they each deeply respect the other as their favorite opponent.

Maybe the Winter Wolf King hates Argos for taking over his people's territory.

Maybe the Ice Genasi's second-in-command would betray their side immediately if the town they're from wasn't held in hostage.

Maybe the Celestial Warlock Azdem is furious Argos's agents burned down his home, destroying his research on extraplanar creatures' innate magic.

Maybe the exiles from the place the demon has taken over are banding under the banner of the Golden Tiefling and her promises of shelter and revenge.

[JNAProductions]

I like the Sky Pirate idea. That's something I might run with.

I do agree that the players are limited in what they can do against an army.

So, since I do like giving them options, I'll probably try sketching out the following ideas:

Dunkwhich's whereabouts have been determined, and his ship would be invaluable in repelling Argos's forces. Either barter with him or take it by force.
I'd imagine Argos has two main allies, outside his armies from home.

The Unseelie Fey, and the Frost Giants.

The Frost Giants are unlikely to be ameable to persuasion or betrayal-they have strong honor and don't respect those without power, and the players haven't really proven themselves. But the Unseelie Fey are a backstabbing lot, and if the players venture into their realms, they might find a loophole they can use against Argos.
An Ice Devil offers the players a temporary power up and an army in exchange for driving a strike directly against Theriza. While they will likely succeed, they'll have the issue of having now an army of devils in the world.
I like the idea of the Ki Rin having a rival that doesn't take kindly to Argos being the one to kill him.

Perhaps a dragon from further south, who is currently unaware of Suhnter's situation. A blue dragon, in the middle of an inhospitable desert, to add some challenge.

[Unoriginal]

Maybe the Giants could propose a way for the PCs to prove their valor.

[JNAProductions]

Maybe the Giants could propose a way for the PCs to prove their valor.

But they're currently enemies-no, I think I'll save giants for a later time.