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largertyler
2008-11-03, 01:11 PM
I haven't been DMing since University started and with Christmas break coming up I'll have time to get back to my champagne.

We have completed the first 2 books and now and Corvus is effectively now under the inquisition's rule. Before I go into the third I'd really like to get My player immersed into the Iron kingdoms landscape, culture and awesomeness. I want them to feel attached the the world I'm going to blow up (rolf not really:smallbiggrin:). In short I need some filler depth.

The character

I have A paladin of Morrow. He was never good at the books or scriptures, but was a strong devote to Morrow. Strong enough to gain paladin status.

I have a Gunmage of the military. He is a cool, calculating, lone wolf, officer, looking for a way to soar to the top of the ranks. (He'll be taking leadership next level.) From Pinlock to Clockwork, his skill with the pistol is as mastery as a veteran who been shooting a while. (he's only level 5)

An elven cleric of Morrow. He has returned from a pilgrimage and is an old friend of father Dumas. The elf's goal in live is to become an ascended like the twins before him. He is very naive to the ways of man and tends to forget he;s an elf, as he attacks the image of elfs on sight, ie a mirror.

Finaly I have a machinist. A former worker in the church of Crisis, escaped with the players, tech in hand. He loves nothing more than a good clockwork puzzle or pistol, to assemble and disassemble. He is also being pursued for desertion by the clerics.

The story

The city is invaded and suddenly the powers the player had been helping, church and city, are now their enemy. Luckily for them they have made connections to the underground groups, and black markets of the Capital city.

I am thinking of a few good ideas for character building.

Firstly, the Military of Cynagar will not be happy that the Capital of their nation is being held hostage. Before the main army come in, a few representative are going to sneak into the city and try to make contact with their agents on the inside. This is where the gunmage comes in. with his connections to the smugglers, He could be ordered to exert his influence to smuggle in weapons for and army they wanna smuggle in.

This would tie in with the clergy. To keep the masses quiet the inquisition is allowing the clergy to move in and out blessing the people. Though they are inspected

Anyone else see what the party could do here? anyone?

I need other ideas, encounters, or just DM tricks to creating character depth. also I would like to talk with someone else about The Iron kingdoms

puppyavenger
2008-11-03, 01:34 PM
what books are you talking about?

largertyler
2008-11-03, 01:36 PM
Sorry. I'm talking about the witchfire trilogy modals. Before I end the books I want some character development. this is my first full blown champagne I've DM so I'm trying all the angles. Also I need to set up a reason for playing after the books cause my players wanna be warcasters. CASTERS IN POWER ARMOUR WITH STEAM JACKS AHHHHHH.

largertyler
2008-11-03, 11:16 PM
Common people novice DM here asking for help or input for iron kindoms

caden_varn
2008-11-04, 07:43 AM
Well, first of all Corvis is not the Capital of Cygnar. Caspia is the capital city.
Corvis is a historically important area due to the Corvis accords, which set the boundaries of the IK, and it is an important river trade centre, built ont he confluence of two rivers. But it is difficult to approach by land due to the swampy terrain.

Having the army move in is going to cause issues with the third chapter of the series, as that assumes it does not happen. Basically, it takes a while for word to reach the authorities, it to be confirmed, then moving steamjacks through the swamp is not easy. So the characters have time to come up with their own solution. If you are not going to do the third adventure as published, that may not be such an issue.

Personally, I'd stick to internal forces. If you have the collected Witchfire books, you should have 2 bridging adventures. If you have not played these, you could play them (the first would need a bit of modification for a higher level I would expect), or just use them as inspiration.

You can also look at a resistance movement, or movements, and possibly clashes between them. Helstrom's faction in the guard would be a good start as one such movement, and its reasonable to say that the criminal organisations will also be resisting in their own way (if only to keep 'their' turf free of interference). These two factions are unlikely to get along - having the PCs mediate between them to try to forge a unified resistance could be something to explore.

Another option maybe the dead. With the inquisition locking down the city, is anyone watching the cemetaries? Maybe a Thamarite cleric is taking advantage of the distraction to plunder the graveyards for fresh material (you could also use Cryxian forces, but Corvis is probably too far from the sea to make that very believable).

Or the dwarves could wonder at the lack of trade from Corvis (one of the major trade routes iirc), and send a deputation down to investigate. This gets captured, and the PCs try to rescue them to recruit dwarven aid against Raelthorne.

largertyler
2008-11-04, 07:15 PM
I like the dwarf ambassador Idea. Could you give me Ideas for the encounters? Like the Enemies or it it a hideout, or on a bout? mabye they gonna be exiquted my the inquisition! and how would I throw in dwarfish support? wouldn't it be like moving an army?

About your comet about the third book...amazon doesn't even have it, they just ended up sending me my money back! My friend say they may be able to get me a PDF but its still not the same.

caden_varn
2008-11-05, 05:23 AM
If you are US based, looks like you can get book three directly from the publisher -

http://store.privateerpress.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=76
If you are UK based like me, I can't see book three on its own in any of the stores I use, but it looks like the collected edition of all three adventures is here:

http://www.arcaneminiatures.co.uk
you get a couple of nice bridging adventures in the collected book, not sure if you get them in the individuals.

wrt Dwarven idea - a couple of ideas off the top of my head:

Raelthorne ambushed his party, and is keeping him as a 'guest' in the main keep (same area as the end of adventure 2, but probably in better accomodation higher up)
Raelthorne attacked the group, but the ambassador and a small group got free. They are wandering around the swamps, hunted by Raelthorne and avoiding the natural dangers of the swamp. They need to be rescued.
They have made it into Corvis, and have decided to lie low to avoid the inquisitors. They want to head back to Rhul, but their steamship needs repair. In the meantime, the inquisition has found out they are here and is searching for them

largertyler
2008-11-05, 11:38 AM
I love the first Idea cause the dungeon would already be made, but thats also in my point of view its weak point. the players will have already done it. still that one sounds good.

On the flip side I like the swamp idea cause it lets me as a DM finally use new tools like, track, or overland trecking, just stuff I haven't need to use before cause Almost the entire series is city based. The problem with this is I know nothing about how to run a Hide and seek type of mission. Could I have some help with that? would I use a timer biased system? If they take to long and the other guys find them? then they are taken as the guest of the Inquisition. Or would it be like random event kinda thing? I run an opposing party and just randomly move then around or something? How would I run a search and rescue mission?

caden_varn
2008-11-06, 04:19 AM
For the dungeon, I would not use the same interior map. The guy is a diplomat for a foreign power, so chances are the even Raelthorne would not want to annoy him too much - just keep him from reporting back until he has consolidated his position. So he would probably be kept in guest chambers towards to top. There would still be some similarities, but you'd also expect tighter security after the jail break your group staged before.

wrt a hide and seek style game, I would not put the whole thing on a time limit, but you can run some parts that way. This is especially true for the end of the adventure. If you do this, you should be sure that the players are aware that there is a time limit.

Also, be aware that once the players have met up with the dwarf, they have a lot more control, and could conceivably come up with a plan that neatly sidesteps the rest of the adventure. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it could lead to a very short adventure. I'd suggest that a decent part of the adventure involves finding the guy. Maybe a low rnaking member of his entourage finds his way to the PCs (via Father Dumas or Helstrom maybe). Also encourage your group to come up with a rough plan of what to do when they find him. This will give you some idea of whether what you have planned will work. If they plan to throw off pursuit by heading inland, you know that the river encounters you have planned need to be reworked, for example.

If you'd like some more advice on running this sort of game, I'd suggest that you post a new thread. Running a hide-n-seek style game is fairly setting independent, so you'll get more advice from a wider audience if you do that. :smallbiggrin: