Vorenus
2020-08-05, 09:03 PM
Esteemed Sages of the GITP Forum:
I would like to run a campaign set in Faerun/Forgotten Realms that follows the plot structure of the Dragon Age - Origins game. I would like some help with figuring out who could serve as the antagonists and the various factions within the game. SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE ORIGINS FOLLOW.
To summarize the plot of Dragon Age - Origins: You play a Grey Warden, a character who is sworn to fight against the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn are a race of humanoids who live underground and come up from the underground and destroy everything in sight every once in a while during what is called a "Blight." Over the course of the game and its sequel, Awakening, you learn that Darkspawn are not really their own race, they are actually corrupted members of the other humanoid races in the world of Thedas. You also learn that Darkspawn are corrupted by what are called "Archdemons"--which are not actually demons at all but rather are undead dragons. Throughout the first Dragon Age game, Dragon Age - Origins, your job as a Grey Warden is to (1) find the ancient treaties by which four different factions have agreed to help the Grey Wardens fight the Darkspawn during a Blight, and (2) convince the factions to honor the ancient treaties. It seems simple, right? However, as you work to convince each of the four factions to honor the ancient treaties, you learn that each faction is basically split into two sub-factions, and you have to choose a side with each sub-faction. Whichever side you choose will win the struggle for control of that faction, and pledge to honor the ancient treaties and provide warriors/mages/etc. to help fight the Darkspawn.
The four factions are:
1. Elves living in a forest kingdom. (The elves in Thedas are oppressed, and these elves are basically refugees, but they still signed that ancient treaty, and "Pacta Sunt Servanda.") When you go to that forested area, you learn that the elves are caught up in a genocidal war with a tribe of werewolves. You learn that the werewolves were created by a curse, and that an elf is responsible for the curse. You have to choose between wiping out the werewolf tribe or wiping out the elves. Whichever tribe you side with survives and joins you in the final battle.
2. Dwarves living in an underground city. When you find the dwarves you learn that they have created stone golems as servants and warriors. It turns out that the creation process for the stone golems requires the souls of dead dwarven heroes to be merged into the golem. The golems don't want to be servants/slaves of the dwarves any more. Do you side with the dwarves, or with the golems? There is also a second factional split here as the dwarven king recently died and there are two contenders for the throne, one who seeks to preserve the ancient customs of the dwarves and the other who seeks to reform dwarvish society. Whom do you support?
3. There is a Circle of Mages who are currently under siege by Templars. Within the Circle, the tower is overrun by demons who have managed to break into the material world. The Templars want to exterminate all the mages because they let the demons in (accidentally). The mages want to be free of oppression. Whichever side you support sends either Templars or mages to help you fight the Blight in the final battle.
4. The human kingdom. The human king was killed in a battle against the Darkspawn, betrayed by a trusted advisor and ally. The betrayer vies for the throne. There are other candidates for the throne. You basically get to pick who you want to support and there's a lot of political infighting, and real fighting, before someone is crowned.
OK, so that really, really oversimplifes the plot of Dragon Age - Origins. It's a game that you can sink over 100 hours into, easy. It's really good. If you haven't played it, you shouldn't have read this, but you should go and play that game.
All right, with that said, I am looking for help with figuring out who can be the appropriate factions within the Forgotten Realms setting. The reason I want to use Forgotten Realms as the setting rather than using the actual Thedas setting is I have already put a ton of money into supplements and custom-printed maps and models and etc. for Forgotten Realms. These are "sunk costs," and I don't want to repeat that with a new setting, even though Thedas is a really interesting setting. So, I'm basically stuck with Forgotten Realms because of the "sunk costs," but when I think about this plot I struggle to come up with factions that actually fit into the Forgotten Realms world.
So I am casting my net into the waters of the GITP forum, in hopes that all the knowledgeable and sagacious Forgotten Realms fluff bunnies can help me with this project.
Thanks in advance for your help with this project. I appreciate it.
Best,
--Vorenus
I would like to run a campaign set in Faerun/Forgotten Realms that follows the plot structure of the Dragon Age - Origins game. I would like some help with figuring out who could serve as the antagonists and the various factions within the game. SPOILERS FOR DRAGON AGE ORIGINS FOLLOW.
To summarize the plot of Dragon Age - Origins: You play a Grey Warden, a character who is sworn to fight against the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn are a race of humanoids who live underground and come up from the underground and destroy everything in sight every once in a while during what is called a "Blight." Over the course of the game and its sequel, Awakening, you learn that Darkspawn are not really their own race, they are actually corrupted members of the other humanoid races in the world of Thedas. You also learn that Darkspawn are corrupted by what are called "Archdemons"--which are not actually demons at all but rather are undead dragons. Throughout the first Dragon Age game, Dragon Age - Origins, your job as a Grey Warden is to (1) find the ancient treaties by which four different factions have agreed to help the Grey Wardens fight the Darkspawn during a Blight, and (2) convince the factions to honor the ancient treaties. It seems simple, right? However, as you work to convince each of the four factions to honor the ancient treaties, you learn that each faction is basically split into two sub-factions, and you have to choose a side with each sub-faction. Whichever side you choose will win the struggle for control of that faction, and pledge to honor the ancient treaties and provide warriors/mages/etc. to help fight the Darkspawn.
The four factions are:
1. Elves living in a forest kingdom. (The elves in Thedas are oppressed, and these elves are basically refugees, but they still signed that ancient treaty, and "Pacta Sunt Servanda.") When you go to that forested area, you learn that the elves are caught up in a genocidal war with a tribe of werewolves. You learn that the werewolves were created by a curse, and that an elf is responsible for the curse. You have to choose between wiping out the werewolf tribe or wiping out the elves. Whichever tribe you side with survives and joins you in the final battle.
2. Dwarves living in an underground city. When you find the dwarves you learn that they have created stone golems as servants and warriors. It turns out that the creation process for the stone golems requires the souls of dead dwarven heroes to be merged into the golem. The golems don't want to be servants/slaves of the dwarves any more. Do you side with the dwarves, or with the golems? There is also a second factional split here as the dwarven king recently died and there are two contenders for the throne, one who seeks to preserve the ancient customs of the dwarves and the other who seeks to reform dwarvish society. Whom do you support?
3. There is a Circle of Mages who are currently under siege by Templars. Within the Circle, the tower is overrun by demons who have managed to break into the material world. The Templars want to exterminate all the mages because they let the demons in (accidentally). The mages want to be free of oppression. Whichever side you support sends either Templars or mages to help you fight the Blight in the final battle.
4. The human kingdom. The human king was killed in a battle against the Darkspawn, betrayed by a trusted advisor and ally. The betrayer vies for the throne. There are other candidates for the throne. You basically get to pick who you want to support and there's a lot of political infighting, and real fighting, before someone is crowned.
OK, so that really, really oversimplifes the plot of Dragon Age - Origins. It's a game that you can sink over 100 hours into, easy. It's really good. If you haven't played it, you shouldn't have read this, but you should go and play that game.
All right, with that said, I am looking for help with figuring out who can be the appropriate factions within the Forgotten Realms setting. The reason I want to use Forgotten Realms as the setting rather than using the actual Thedas setting is I have already put a ton of money into supplements and custom-printed maps and models and etc. for Forgotten Realms. These are "sunk costs," and I don't want to repeat that with a new setting, even though Thedas is a really interesting setting. So, I'm basically stuck with Forgotten Realms because of the "sunk costs," but when I think about this plot I struggle to come up with factions that actually fit into the Forgotten Realms world.
So I am casting my net into the waters of the GITP forum, in hopes that all the knowledgeable and sagacious Forgotten Realms fluff bunnies can help me with this project.
Thanks in advance for your help with this project. I appreciate it.
Best,
--Vorenus