Mikeavelli
2007-10-29, 05:05 AM
Hello!
I'm planning out a one-shot adventure whose entire description that will be handed out to the players is:
"The King has been kidnapped by Ninjas, are you a bad enough dude to save the King?"
Looking to craft a campaign that will end up with the players, a clan of Ninjas, and a boatfull of Pirates duking it out in an epic finale. To that end, I'm brainstorming ideas to make this:
A. Cool as Hell.
B. Campy.
Planning for a party of 8th level characters, my initial ideas include something along the lines of starting the players off in the Throne room (unexplained) immediately after the kidnapping, with Ninjas still in the city, last seen racing towards the docks, get the action started immediately. allow the characters to reach the docks just as the boat is sailing away, leave some defeated Ninja behind to either interrogate, or Speak with dead.
Sources point to a Ninja base with two possible points of ingress, an isolated cove filled with reefs, suicide to pilot a ship into - and a series of mountainous trails they'd need a guide to get through reliably. Design the camp as a dungeon and run through it.
Reach the Ninja master, defeat him and he reveals they don't have the King, he was kidnapped by the kidnappers by the Dread Pirate Clarisse (Male, but incredibly effiminate, voiced with a gay lisp). They somehow beat the suspected location of the king and Clarisse out of the Ninja clan leader, an island pirate town similar to Tortuga from Pirates of the Carribbean - and quickly give chase.
They get to Tortuga, encounter the dread pirate Clarisse, who offers to ransom the king to the players. In the middle of discussions, Clarisse's ship explodes, prompting a fight (which the Dread Pirate preferably escapes from, but no bones) - a Black Ninja ship sails away in the Night towards Stark Raving Island (named so for the Stark Raving mad castaway found by the first men to chart the island), which was their original goal.
With the PC's hot in pursuit, they arrive on Stark Raving Island, a volcanic Island with improbably high cliffs jutting straight up and a system of caves that serve as the final dungeon. Finale occurs at the edges of the still-active caldera, with the titular king on a cage above the Lava, the Ninjas waiting in Ambush, and the Dread Pirate Clarisse and his crew showing up a few rounds after combat begins.
The Stark Raving Mad castaway might make an appearance as well, probably a druid who wildcards the finale.
(Alternatively, a Mexican standoff would work, I'm debating the idea)
-------------------
What do I want?
Ideas; monsters, encounters of camp that could be thrown in here, things that you would do as a player to throw this off-kilter so I can factor in how to react to unexpected things because no planned campaign is going to survive encounter with the players for long.
And of course, sound like a fun time?
I'm planning out a one-shot adventure whose entire description that will be handed out to the players is:
"The King has been kidnapped by Ninjas, are you a bad enough dude to save the King?"
Looking to craft a campaign that will end up with the players, a clan of Ninjas, and a boatfull of Pirates duking it out in an epic finale. To that end, I'm brainstorming ideas to make this:
A. Cool as Hell.
B. Campy.
Planning for a party of 8th level characters, my initial ideas include something along the lines of starting the players off in the Throne room (unexplained) immediately after the kidnapping, with Ninjas still in the city, last seen racing towards the docks, get the action started immediately. allow the characters to reach the docks just as the boat is sailing away, leave some defeated Ninja behind to either interrogate, or Speak with dead.
Sources point to a Ninja base with two possible points of ingress, an isolated cove filled with reefs, suicide to pilot a ship into - and a series of mountainous trails they'd need a guide to get through reliably. Design the camp as a dungeon and run through it.
Reach the Ninja master, defeat him and he reveals they don't have the King, he was kidnapped by the kidnappers by the Dread Pirate Clarisse (Male, but incredibly effiminate, voiced with a gay lisp). They somehow beat the suspected location of the king and Clarisse out of the Ninja clan leader, an island pirate town similar to Tortuga from Pirates of the Carribbean - and quickly give chase.
They get to Tortuga, encounter the dread pirate Clarisse, who offers to ransom the king to the players. In the middle of discussions, Clarisse's ship explodes, prompting a fight (which the Dread Pirate preferably escapes from, but no bones) - a Black Ninja ship sails away in the Night towards Stark Raving Island (named so for the Stark Raving mad castaway found by the first men to chart the island), which was their original goal.
With the PC's hot in pursuit, they arrive on Stark Raving Island, a volcanic Island with improbably high cliffs jutting straight up and a system of caves that serve as the final dungeon. Finale occurs at the edges of the still-active caldera, with the titular king on a cage above the Lava, the Ninjas waiting in Ambush, and the Dread Pirate Clarisse and his crew showing up a few rounds after combat begins.
The Stark Raving Mad castaway might make an appearance as well, probably a druid who wildcards the finale.
(Alternatively, a Mexican standoff would work, I'm debating the idea)
-------------------
What do I want?
Ideas; monsters, encounters of camp that could be thrown in here, things that you would do as a player to throw this off-kilter so I can factor in how to react to unexpected things because no planned campaign is going to survive encounter with the players for long.
And of course, sound like a fun time?