Burley
2008-10-03, 08:54 AM
I'll start by saying this is pretty text heavy. So, I spoilered things...but now it's very spoiler heavy. Please don't disregard this because it's long. I promise: It's interesting... to me.
Here's the story I've got so far. I know it's kinda generic, but:
One Thousand-Thousand years ago, during a time of great beauty in the world, an evil entity rose up and threatened all of existance.
To thwart it, a group of warriors took up the mantle of Hero to destroy the entity. Armed with their skill and mettle, what knowledge they could gain, and the weapons the chaos had learned to fear, they travelled to the lands the entity had taken as his realm. Through the chaos of the entity's warped mind, the Heroes battled. Hoardes of nightmarish beasts, the warped souls that once inhabited the ordered lands, were striken down by the mournful Heroes.
Finally, they cornered the entity at the top of great mountain. The epic battle raged on, and the Heroes chanted all the while. They chanted their hopes for a better world and their sorrow for those who had fallen at their hand. Then, their souls purged of all chaos and darkness, they chanted an incantation to defeat the entity once and for all. An incantation which would sacrifice the physical existance of the heroes to erase any trace of the entity that ever was, is, or would be.
As the entity faded before them, the heroes themselves faded.
Now, as though shaken from a beautiful sleep, the heroes jolt upright. Looking around, they see complete strangers, wearing clothes of rags and holding the epic weapons they had used. They realize that the heroes are once again on the mount they had done battle on, but they are not the great heroes they once were. Drained of their power, they speak, acknowledging each other's presense in new form.
The newborn heroes make their way down the side of the mountain, uneasy like newborn lambs. As they descend through the clouds, they spell the scent of chaos. When they can finally see the land around them, they see a broken land and a great spire rising up, bearing the insignia of the entity.
So, that's the set up. The actual adventure will be trying to regain their former glory and finally setting the world right. Eventually, the players will learn that:
The great battle weakened the entity, and robbed it of it's ability to corrupt order, but the incantation was not strong enough to destroy it. Since they entity wasn't destroyed, the heroes could not be wholly sacrificed, though the magics and the battle had drained their bodies of the strength to hold itself together. Their essenses took residence in the only vessels that could contain such spiritual magic: Their Weapons.
So! The PCs are actually the great Heroes, trapped inside their own weapons. The PCs possessed the bodies of the first things that picked up the weapons, which happened to be a group of slaves escaping from the entity's forces.
While the PCs level, the weapons will automatically get enhancement bonuses. I'm thinking of 2nd level, and every 4 levels after, to make their weapons enhance by +1. 3rd level and every odd level after, they gain the morphing ability for one other weapon. The warping of the world causes small fissures in existance, which can enchant weapons further, but attract chaos beasts.
I completely expect my players to eventually take up a body-snatcher role, so, I'll have to incorporate certain saves and checks and such. It'll probably be a gestalt campaign. The point is to get the players to, instead of discarding weapons when a new one with a higher bonus appears, to discard bodies when a better one comes along. This could mean that players will be swapping races every once in a while, for recon and the like.
So, what does the Playground think? Would you play in it? (I'm thinking 3.5e, but 4e could work.) Any suggestions?
Here's the story I've got so far. I know it's kinda generic, but:
One Thousand-Thousand years ago, during a time of great beauty in the world, an evil entity rose up and threatened all of existance.
To thwart it, a group of warriors took up the mantle of Hero to destroy the entity. Armed with their skill and mettle, what knowledge they could gain, and the weapons the chaos had learned to fear, they travelled to the lands the entity had taken as his realm. Through the chaos of the entity's warped mind, the Heroes battled. Hoardes of nightmarish beasts, the warped souls that once inhabited the ordered lands, were striken down by the mournful Heroes.
Finally, they cornered the entity at the top of great mountain. The epic battle raged on, and the Heroes chanted all the while. They chanted their hopes for a better world and their sorrow for those who had fallen at their hand. Then, their souls purged of all chaos and darkness, they chanted an incantation to defeat the entity once and for all. An incantation which would sacrifice the physical existance of the heroes to erase any trace of the entity that ever was, is, or would be.
As the entity faded before them, the heroes themselves faded.
Now, as though shaken from a beautiful sleep, the heroes jolt upright. Looking around, they see complete strangers, wearing clothes of rags and holding the epic weapons they had used. They realize that the heroes are once again on the mount they had done battle on, but they are not the great heroes they once were. Drained of their power, they speak, acknowledging each other's presense in new form.
The newborn heroes make their way down the side of the mountain, uneasy like newborn lambs. As they descend through the clouds, they spell the scent of chaos. When they can finally see the land around them, they see a broken land and a great spire rising up, bearing the insignia of the entity.
So, that's the set up. The actual adventure will be trying to regain their former glory and finally setting the world right. Eventually, the players will learn that:
The great battle weakened the entity, and robbed it of it's ability to corrupt order, but the incantation was not strong enough to destroy it. Since they entity wasn't destroyed, the heroes could not be wholly sacrificed, though the magics and the battle had drained their bodies of the strength to hold itself together. Their essenses took residence in the only vessels that could contain such spiritual magic: Their Weapons.
So! The PCs are actually the great Heroes, trapped inside their own weapons. The PCs possessed the bodies of the first things that picked up the weapons, which happened to be a group of slaves escaping from the entity's forces.
While the PCs level, the weapons will automatically get enhancement bonuses. I'm thinking of 2nd level, and every 4 levels after, to make their weapons enhance by +1. 3rd level and every odd level after, they gain the morphing ability for one other weapon. The warping of the world causes small fissures in existance, which can enchant weapons further, but attract chaos beasts.
I completely expect my players to eventually take up a body-snatcher role, so, I'll have to incorporate certain saves and checks and such. It'll probably be a gestalt campaign. The point is to get the players to, instead of discarding weapons when a new one with a higher bonus appears, to discard bodies when a better one comes along. This could mean that players will be swapping races every once in a while, for recon and the like.
So, what does the Playground think? Would you play in it? (I'm thinking 3.5e, but 4e could work.) Any suggestions?