Jay R
2023-07-06, 12:40 PM
Looking for some good encounters, and a structure for my game.
The PCs are 8th level. They are returning to their home world, and their home village, after a five-year absence. Stamford is a small village of about 100 people, mostly humans but some gnomes and hobbits (sic), and one dwarven family.
They live in the Broken World – a world that was not built right. Five of the gods creating it died before it was finished, and their parts of the Creation were never completed. So magic is not controlled. Often there is no magic at all, and it’s basically a medieval world. Occasionally, the magic creeps back in, and there is an Age of Chaos. Magical beasts, aberrations, outsiders, oozes and the like start creeping back in, the power of magic grows, but becomes less controllable, and civilizations collapse under the strain. In previous Ages, heroes succeeded in banishing the magic again, and there is a mundane era of peaceful Muggle existence.
This time, the PCs (at first level) were there where the magic burst back in, so they might be able to fix the world forever (at level 18 or so, after finding the right artifacts).
Magical beasts and other threats keep appearing. There is a forest to the west, known to have orcs and goblins, and farmlands to the east – the outskirts of a large empire now deep in a civil war.
The same effect that brought back the magic about ten miles from the village also carried nature energy, so there have been bumper crops and improved herds, making that whole area a very lucrative target for the empire’s provinces to the east, whose fields are often destroyed by war. There is a fissure on the west side of the village created by the same force that released the magic. The river has diverted itself into the fissure, but it’s now 40 of more feet down, and the fissure released possible entries to the underworld. [Five years ago, right after the fissure was made, grimlocks came out of it to attack the town.]
The PCs, and their main connections within the village:
Niclas (human rogue): Bevan Grandblade, the smith, is his father. The doppelganger in his place has two assistants making weapons and armor to defend the village.
[B]Fiona (human druid): Old Granny Greenstock was a 3rd level druid five years ago, and Fiona’s mentor. Fiona was primarily a shepherdess growing up.]
Ellyjoy (gnome bard): Hedda Brightfiddle is a gnome bard of indeterminate level who was Ellyjoy’s mentor.
Filé (hobbit ranger): Filé lived in the village at the start of the game, but he grew up in a bayou, and has no defined connection in the village.
Merey (half-Fair-Folk wizard): She has no connection to this village except that she fled there to escape an arranged marriage at the start of the game.
We are five years into an Age of Chaos, and the PCs didn’t get to see it happen, and have no idea what conditions are like.
My initial vague idea is that their home village has been taken over by doppelgangers. The noblewoman who rules, and several others who were deemed too dangerous (including the PCs’ families and primary contacts), have been replaced. All the replaced people are being held in the cellar of the manor house. They are needed for the doppelgangers’ [I]detect thoughts ability, so they can continue the impersonation.
That’s the background for the party returning home. They will quickly they will quickly recognize that the first people they go to see are not their parents, mentors, etc.
What I need are ideas for specific encounters. They could be encounters for figuring out what’s wrong in the village, defeating the doppelgangers, or attacks from outside. [Or anything else you think would work in this setting.]
Any ideas?
The PCs are 8th level. They are returning to their home world, and their home village, after a five-year absence. Stamford is a small village of about 100 people, mostly humans but some gnomes and hobbits (sic), and one dwarven family.
They live in the Broken World – a world that was not built right. Five of the gods creating it died before it was finished, and their parts of the Creation were never completed. So magic is not controlled. Often there is no magic at all, and it’s basically a medieval world. Occasionally, the magic creeps back in, and there is an Age of Chaos. Magical beasts, aberrations, outsiders, oozes and the like start creeping back in, the power of magic grows, but becomes less controllable, and civilizations collapse under the strain. In previous Ages, heroes succeeded in banishing the magic again, and there is a mundane era of peaceful Muggle existence.
This time, the PCs (at first level) were there where the magic burst back in, so they might be able to fix the world forever (at level 18 or so, after finding the right artifacts).
Magical beasts and other threats keep appearing. There is a forest to the west, known to have orcs and goblins, and farmlands to the east – the outskirts of a large empire now deep in a civil war.
The same effect that brought back the magic about ten miles from the village also carried nature energy, so there have been bumper crops and improved herds, making that whole area a very lucrative target for the empire’s provinces to the east, whose fields are often destroyed by war. There is a fissure on the west side of the village created by the same force that released the magic. The river has diverted itself into the fissure, but it’s now 40 of more feet down, and the fissure released possible entries to the underworld. [Five years ago, right after the fissure was made, grimlocks came out of it to attack the town.]
The PCs, and their main connections within the village:
Niclas (human rogue): Bevan Grandblade, the smith, is his father. The doppelganger in his place has two assistants making weapons and armor to defend the village.
[B]Fiona (human druid): Old Granny Greenstock was a 3rd level druid five years ago, and Fiona’s mentor. Fiona was primarily a shepherdess growing up.]
Ellyjoy (gnome bard): Hedda Brightfiddle is a gnome bard of indeterminate level who was Ellyjoy’s mentor.
Filé (hobbit ranger): Filé lived in the village at the start of the game, but he grew up in a bayou, and has no defined connection in the village.
Merey (half-Fair-Folk wizard): She has no connection to this village except that she fled there to escape an arranged marriage at the start of the game.
We are five years into an Age of Chaos, and the PCs didn’t get to see it happen, and have no idea what conditions are like.
My initial vague idea is that their home village has been taken over by doppelgangers. The noblewoman who rules, and several others who were deemed too dangerous (including the PCs’ families and primary contacts), have been replaced. All the replaced people are being held in the cellar of the manor house. They are needed for the doppelgangers’ [I]detect thoughts ability, so they can continue the impersonation.
That’s the background for the party returning home. They will quickly they will quickly recognize that the first people they go to see are not their parents, mentors, etc.
What I need are ideas for specific encounters. They could be encounters for figuring out what’s wrong in the village, defeating the doppelgangers, or attacks from outside. [Or anything else you think would work in this setting.]
Any ideas?