Post/Author/DateTime	Post
MasterHappo 12-20-07, 06:28 AM	Greetings, I'm currently working on a campaign brings in pieces of campaigns and one shots from various dragon magizines, the origional story, and one of the adventure books. I am trying to piece together the parts of my story into and between the adventures so that it will be smooth running. This is what I have so far: Campaign: The tear of Gyane Introduction Tear of Gyane- Believed to be actually made from the blood of the creator of existence. This fist shaped globe has shown some amazing healing properties. Legends of the mysterious ball have been spread through all races. To the Elf-kind it’s a controversial item that their hero’s have possessed through time, to the dwarves, it’s a trinket that will allow them to build using life itself. To the human’s. It is the physical existence of god.. The true creator. There are those of this time frame who wishes to possess such an item, all of them have diffrent reasons for doing so but the one thing that is for certian... it will take all of them to be able to reach it, but only one may use it.... One chases the orb stolen from his people before they cease to exist without its energy... One searches the world to exact revenge from the one who has taken everything from them... One seeks the orb to prove to the world that it exists, finishing the task that has consumed the lives of the last 9 generations of their family.... One travels back in time to obtain the orb and use it to destroy the planet that gives birth to the destruction of the material plane... One seeks to end their exsistance by using what gives all things life... One seeks the tear to save the one that they live to exist for... Background: The story of this begins both in the future and in the past. A chain reaction of events caused the elemination of the divine arts, the fall of the deities, and eventualy the destruction of the material plane. One soul, saved by the last remaining dieity, was sent back in time to change the couse of events that would lead to this only to find out that they were the one who caused the turn of events in the first place, as a last desperate act, the soul created a chance, by delaying what was to become the inevetable just long enough to set up a plan that could truly avoid the final catastrophy. Adventure Overview (i know it's alot taken from the adventures but slowly and surely i'm ale to take elements in each story and meld them more into my campaign until they dissapear and something origional stands in it's place.) What you need to play: Tensions Rising Dragon mag issue: 136 chimes at midnight [5] Dungeon mag issue: 133 Chalenge of Champions VI [Any] Dungeon Mag issue: 138 Quoth The Raven [8] Dungeon mag issue: 150 Chains of Blackmaw [10] Dungeon mag issue: 135 Expedition to the Demonweb Pits [9-12] Expeidition to the Demonweb Pits Deep Horizion Official Module in D&D section Kings of the Rift [18-19] Duneeon mag issue: 133 Into The Worm Crawl Fissure [19] Dungeon mag issue: 134 Dawn of a new age Dungeon mag issue: 135 So far i have this for my story setup, ~The joining (basicly the intro's of the characters and an adventure that will get them together) ~Fame recieves word of their father's mysterious death. His last letter to fame indicates that there are others who are trying to find the orb on their own and his life may be in danger ~Fame recieves word that his fathers journal and his belongings will arrive in sharn in 3 days, House Lyrandar's Cargo ship "The Cloud Ant" will be the servicing vehicle ~The next day a large dark dwarf comes to the House Lyrandar's shipping headquarters and uses a special favor owed to him by the house to ascertain the location of Father Fame's journal and belongings. ~The house recieves word of the cloud ant's downing and seeks the party to tell them of the news and hopefully hire them to recover a locked box that may be the target of the raid. ~[Tensions Rising adventure] ~They arrive at the location and through the fighting notice that a figure had left the ship, in hand is a large section of the fame journal. ~After recovering the box and the ship they find that amonst the ship a couple of pieces of of the journal had slipped out of the mysterious dwarf's hands. ~This information leads them to understand how this journal came to be by fame's grandparent. {flashback} [I]Father fame recieves encripted guide from his mother, takes it to a close friend named Baron d'Medani. Baron d'Medani hires Victor Saint-Demain, famed investigator to translate the guide. Victor Succesfully translates the guide and returns both the translated version and the untranslated version to Father of Fame. Father of Fame gives untranslated guide to Baron as thanks, uses translated version as his base for his guide Baron d'Medani gives the guide to Karl Marderholm as doury as well as Zelina d'Medani's hand for marriage.[I] [Chimes at midnight module] [chalenge of champaions vi module] [quote the raven module] ~Karl Marderholm is framed and gets inprisioned, all the while he attempts to translate the guide awaiting his father to clear his name [chains of blackmaw module] ~Karl Marderholm finds diffrences in translation than the origional one done by Victor Saint-Demain ~Refrences lead to the location of the orb being the "Web of demons" leading Karl to believe that it may have to actualy be pointing towards the outer realms and the queen of spiders and drow herself, lolth [expedition to the demonweb pits] ~After they return Karl finds them and delivers the newly translated version of the journal that has corrected translation mistakes that were missed in the origional version [deep horizion] [showdown with guardian (reoccuring bad guy)] Party now heads towards the "Den of wyerns" after the phylactery of Dragotha, an undead dragon. [kings of the rift] [into the worm crawl fissure] [dawn of a new age] those last three i'm interested into how it developes with my campaign but i feel that i can do something that provides more closure
Orchomenos 12-20-07, 09:54 AM	Do you plan to have your PCs be part of this prophecy? I warn you against this, since should the PC die/player leave, your whole campaign falls. One travels back in time to obtain the orb and use it to destroy the planet that gives birth to the destruction of the material plane... This sounds creepy... In order to save a plane of existance, they have to destroy another one?
MasterHappo 12-20-07, 12:40 PM	The Characters: Because i wanted to make this new group friendly, i tried to flesh out the backstories of the characters and provide them with their hooks for starting, i start them off at level three but they must make their player's fit into the person they choose... Spirit One chases the orb stolen from his people before they cease to exist without its energy Your life: remembering when you were alive seems like such a distant memory. You trained with your father and mother along with your siblings in the great monastery. Learning the ways of battle as well as the ways of life. Your ability to regenerate was not even a question or concern. You knew that if you broke a bone, it would heal by the next morning. If something pierced your heart, once the object was removed it would be alright again. Death was never even a thought to your people. Everyone trained and meditated, knowing that eventually the day would come when the sacred staff would be sought. Little did everyone know that fate itself would be your people’s greatest adversary. During the middle of the night it appeared, a second sun that did not move like the sun or the moon. It got bigger and bigger until the fall. Like a flash it struck the monastery and everything was wiped from the current existence. When everyone awoke they could see great crater that surrounded them and that they were now some sort of spirit. Many had tried to travel outside the crater only to disappear and never return. With the staff still there everyone believed that it was destiny’s desire to guard it. Decades and centuries had passed, the crater had filled with the endless winters and became a great lake. The changes in the physical world never affected the great monastery, though inside the area life had changed. No one aged and none of the women could bear children. There were many different phases that affected the people but eventually through meditation and self exploration, they returned to training for the day that they would have to defend the great staff. Never questioning why they had to guard it. But always believing that for whatever reason, it was worth saving an entire community from death. That day did come. From the bottom of the ocean depths, came an explosion that rocked the consistory. The guards who were out training did not make it in time to fight the battle they had always waited for. As you recovered from your trance, you rushed quickly towards the elder’s room where the he and the staff were resting. By the time you got there you could see him. Huge and bulky, at least 8’ tall the massively stout man held the elder by the throat as he broke off the orb that topped the staff. You rush to attack the man but as soon as the staff separated, his body changed, reverting to the material plane and out of your reach. Another explosion caved in the man’s escape route and blocked pursuit after him. The Elder rose slowly to address everyone, but before he could finish drawing his breath his spirit fall apart like sand. At first everyone was drawn into a panic, some trying to leave the compound to chase after the thief only to disappear, others tried to dig into the ground. You, being the most devote of all of all your people, save for the fallen elder pulled everyone together for meditation, knowing that the answer would present itself. After everyone had agreed and the entire village had gathered to meditate, a figure in a hooded cloak appeared. They were from the material plane yet walking across the bottom of the lake as if it were air. The figure stops in front of you and tosses back her hood. She looks at you, sizing you up and nodding. The amount of power contained in this being from the material plane is overwhelming. You instantly begin to understand that the one before you is a god. “You and your people have been robbed of their one true purpose in existence and beyond… My father wishes to offer you the choice. To disappear with your people, or to separate from them to save them.” Without thinking you respond to save the ones that you have lived and died with. Sacrifice is not a concept that you understand but the need to protect those who cannot protect themselves compels you. The woman nods and takes you by the hand. You take one last look to the people you have grown up with, another one of the older one’s turn to dust as you rise. You promise to do anything to save them. The goddess moves her foot and instantly launches you and her skywards. As you near the limits that the temple had always contained after the meteor strike, you feel your spirit crashes through an invisible wall. Flesh returning to where the perception of your skin was. And you regain your original body as you exit the water and stand on the surface. She walks with you towards the shore as she explains that the orb is what kept the energy of your people stable and what healed your wounds when you were alive. She tells you that the energy that sustains your people’s existence is starting to become unstable and as time passes your people will fade from existence one by one, oldest to youngest until there is no one remaining. When you both make it to the shore she tells you that returning the orb back to the temple will restore the energies and save those that remain. But all that leave that area and those who have already passed cannot be brought back. Before she leaves she touches against the side of your neck. You feel a burning unlike no other as the symbol of an owl is burnt into your skin. “Look for the other’s who bear marks like this. They all seek what you do but be warned… their intentions and yours may not be the same. Good luck…” With that she is gone. And you are alone in a world that is centuries past the time of your mortal life. Character Bonus Stats: +2 DEX, can class in and out of any monk related class (monistic training, Bonus feat: Protected Destiny Vengeance One searches the world to exact revenge from the one who has taken everything from them. Their goal is to exact as much suffering from their target while they are still alive as long as possible before killing them. “Do not blame me for your failure to defend what was important to you, blame yourself or your god.” - unknown “I will destroy you in the most painfully possible way I swear, even if it requires me to use the gods themselves” Your life: life as a commoner is not as bad as it seems, wake up, tend to your farming, raise your family, and read news about the ever expanding world, that is how your life was from day to day, a repetitive monotony that was a blessing if you ever saw one. You had your moments, saving enough to buy a crossbow from the armory so you could go and hunt in the deeper part of the woods, much to your spouse’s dismay. The hunts would be uneventful and many a times the only thing you had to return home with was cuts and bruises from chasing the bolts that missed their targets. It wasn’t until a strange visitor came to the village to rest and do some research at the library there, he was an old mature man whose appearance was obviously that of an adventurer. As a like hearted person you naturally was drawn to him, your nights were now filled listening to his stories about his chase for the orb that could humble the gods themselves. When you heard that it could be in the very village that you lived in you couldn’t keep your heart from racing, your expeditions into the forest became more dangerous as you delved into the darkest areas, usually ending as soon as you met one of the dark grove’s wildlife and ran in fear for your life back to the haven of your home. But even all good things come to an end, it was shortly after your return home from one of your “hunts” that your significant other had broke it nonchalantly over dinner their relief that the strange visitor that you had spent all your time with was finally gone from the village. No goodbye, no farewell, just gone without a trace. What could have made him leave so quickly you wonder as you quietly finish your meal. You did not know that you would find the answer so quickly. It was in the middle of your “hunt” the next day that you noticed it, the smoke rising from the direction of your town. Much more than any small fire you rushed to the end of the tree line to see the entire village in flames, your ears can hear the screams of the people you have lived with most of your lives. You run there to see what caused this and before you even get to the main street you see your significant other, she runs towards your direction as a massive black shadow appears behind her. She freezes, something holding her from behind, and before you can run to her she falls, not moving as the massive black object’s hand lets go. When you get to see who has done this you cannot believe your eyes, it’s a dwarf as tall as an ettin, his skin and eyes dark black, it disregards you and continues walking through buildings, setting them ablaze after he leaves. He looks to you and demands to know where the man named fame is. You tell him that he has left the night before and he simply turns and walks away, saying those words that fuel your burning hatred towards him.Character Bonus: +2 STR, Rage 1/day as 1st level Barbarian, can use feats that effect rage but not ones that grant extra uses, 1 Free Rage related Feat FAME: One seeks the orb to prove to the world that it exists, finishing the task that has consumed the lives of the last 9 generations of their family. A childhood in your family was not existent… from the time your able to walk you begin your training, constant physical training during the day, followed by research and study at night, it was the existence of your life, to find the object known as the “Tear of Gyane”. It was a crew twist of fate that had caused the 8 previous generations of your family to search for this acclaimed item. Some of your earlier ancestors claimed that it was a curse, some of them claimed that it was manifest destiny. You didn’t care, by now the reason why no longer mattered. It was up to your family to seek this legendary item. An accident paralyzed your father when you were young and allowed you to hear the stories about his travels, the people he met the places he went to look at books centuries old for just even a hint of evidence. Every night though, during your studies, you could hear his cries and unending weeping as he stared out the window, you could feel that his soul was not with him when he was here.. You prayed every night that something would come and end this torture.. And one night it appeared, during your midnight studies, the sound of your fathers cries kept you up for days, you were at your limit… you had a hard time understanding what was real and what was in his head anymore when he heard the voice of the young woman… “I offer you a choice… a fork in the road for your father so sad… one may be good…while one may be bad… I will give you the choice of the direction he shall go, though you will bare the weight, of the future known. I will heal him to travel, to go back to the road… or I shall tell you the location of the place he cannot go… one holds his happiness, the other holds his goal… choose wisely young one… for only you shall know.” You chuckled to yourself, believing that you have been driven to madness and the words in your books were now playing tricks inside your head. You yawn, so desperate in need of sleep. “If it will get him to shut up and me to sleep at night again he can search till he rots!” For one clear moment you feel a hand reach from behind and caress your chest, as something feels burned onto your body. Before your eyes close and you feel the weight of sleep take over you, you hear the woman’s voice once again. “Then sleep surely you shall tonight, when you awake.. The morning rays shall bring with it the weight of sending your father to his death…” You hear your name being called again, bringing you out from the darkness. When you awake you feel like you have slept like a king, your body revitalized after such a deep sleep that you knew you were long due for… you look to one of the servants in your house shaking your body. “Young Master! Young Master! Thank goodness you have awoken! We were sure that you were never going to awaken! You have been asleep for a month… the master disappeared the night you fell asleep and never returned… yesterday we received a message that he has been killed…” The details were drowned out by the flood of memories of that night returning all at once. Your body trembling in the realization of what you had done… After all had settled you realized that you had also now inherited the task that you had sent your own parent to his death to complete.Character Bonus Stats: +2 INT, Feat: Able Learner; Bardic Knowledge, able to ignore a pre-req for a prestige class 3 times Future One travels back in time to obtain the orb and use it to destroy the planet that gives birth to the destruction of the material plane Your Life: As you scan the land at the top of a high mountain peek, you scratch unconsciously at the burnt skin on your shoulder. Cursing a name under your breath you survey the landscape of the time span you have entered. You look at the ring on your hand to see that it only has one orb and two empty sockets, the other orb must have fallen out during the attack. You shout out curses to the sky above as the realization of your situation become reality… There’s no turning back now… The end of existence… it wasn’t a pleasant thing to see. That swirling dark star that slowly creped towards their planet. With the fall of the gods and the loss legendary art of divination, no one knew that this would be the end. It was simple to transport everyone off the planet but who knew that it wouldn’t be enough… The Space Exploration and Defense Team; a dream that you had once thought was impossible was your every day life. Controlling the interaction between the twin planets was a demanding job. Crime everywhere, sickness and disease spreading across the dying planet as the new hope continued to grow with more people arriving every day. You were the sword and the shield, appointed by the creator of the new world. Your job was to not only keep order but to secretly help protect the gods who have been stripped from their immortality as they fled to hide in lives of seclusion and shame, their powers severely reduced due to the strain using them put upon their normal bodies… You received the emergency summons early into the morning. Within minutes you were teleported to the main castle, strip searched, interrogated, and searched yet again before going to the meeting room. The creator of the planet you stand on sits behind a semi see through curtain, only his general shape is seeable. His aid, a young woman stands in front of the curtain. She greets you and gets directly to the point. “We have received an orb of messaging… It is from you… well to put it better, the future you. We were able to verify that it is in-fact, sent to this time from you in the past..” She holds up the orb as it begins to project an image of yourself, you can tell it looks slightly different, indeed if you tried to picture yourself aged about 10 more years, what you saw here is that exact same image. After the image begins to move you can hear your own voice speak to you. “If you are receiving this then there may be a chance for the future to be saved. All the knowledge that I have gained between the three time jumps in time led me to believe that before the creation of the new hope, a star is created, one that is dark and moving, it is sent away from the planet but on a path that will bring it back towards the new planet within 20 years. When this star crashes into the new planet, it destroys the material plane… I had to watch from another plane as everything that I knew was real is just wiped from existence… The emperor’s aid… she will create a ring for you that will allow you to go back in time. But choose carefully, the ring only allows for two jumps, and one wish..” ::the image holds up the ring:: “This is my last jump, I was able to find the planet that becomes the base material for the new hope… I plan to destroy it so that it cannot be created.” ::with that she chants as the ring with two missing sockets and a small orb glows then shatters, in the background a loud explosion is heard and a bright light is emitted. “With this done, I leave the last thing to you.. Do not let the tear of Gyane fall to the hands of-“ ::The orb is consumed as a small bead of orange touches it and expands out into a fireball, your able to evade but the flames severely burn your shoulder. A guard runs through the space provided by the fireball and tries to stab a trident through the fabric. A blade on a string plunges through the fabric and attacks the assassin, striking him down before his blade even gets through the thin material. As the criminal falls you can see just slightly through the material at a large scar across the side of the creator’s face, the odd shape of the scar looks like it was cut and burned into his skin at the same time. The blade whips back into the hole as the man behind gets up and walks away, disappearing in the back. As the guards carry the body out of sight, the aid quickly tosses you a ring. One orb glowing and one cracked as she touches your neck. The last thing you see before the scenery changes is the aid’s eyes glowing and an immense feeling of power emanating from her…as if you were in the presence of a deity. When you regain your senses, you can see that you have been transported. At your feet was an orb that has “End of Existence” etched in it. Obviously your handwriting…CHARACTER BONUS STATS: +2 WIS, danger sense, knows information about generic future events, access to any time related prestige classes without required prerequisits Death One seeks to end their exsistance by using what gives all things life. King Terror, that’s what the ones who served you knew you by. Your enlistment of vicious criminals and gladiators, and blackguards as your army. You crushed the weak and ruled with gold and terror. You constantly had your army fight local countries and take their lands. You wanted more and more power. A rumor spread about a small village that had a treasure called the devil’s deal. It was rumored to grant a power beyond life at a great cost… It was something you could not resist. The town crumbled easily with the attack and the tomb that was said to contain the “cursed power” was brought to you… as you opened it you heard the voice. “Will you pay for the gift of eturnity?” You aggreed without hesitation, knowing that there was nothing that you could lose that could not be bought again… A dark energy poured into your body, making every nerve in your body scream with pain. When it was all said and done you felt the same but knew you were different, you knew you were immortal. Your questions about your new found power were interupted by a scream.. armies from every country that surrounded yours appeared from their hiding places, this town was a trap that you had sprung perfectly. Your army had no chance against the combined might of 9 countries, they were slaughtered left and right until they got up to you. The kings gave your life to the will of their armies, all of them containing family that you had taken from them in your expance for power. For months you were stabbed, beaten, hung, burned alive as your new gift became the curse that would not separate you from the pain of living. Every morning you awoke, in tact, but weaker, the energy drained from you to heal all the damage caused. For years you were hung on display in the main city of your own fallen kingdom, law mandated that anyone who laid eyes upon you must cause harm to your being. As the times changed people were turned away from such sites… choosing to move away instead of deal with you.. your mind has long snapped from stability. All you begged for now was a death that would not be denied the next day. Years pass as the capitol became a ghost town, you gained enough strength to rip yourself from your nailed post, dragging yourself by your bare hands towards the deathhold mountains. As you made your way up, dragging yourself by just your arms and fingers, you felt your body freeze, your blood stinging your insides in a new pain that helped make you forget all the pain that you have endured. You make it to the peak, only to see someone appear from nowhere, the snow and ice that had fallen and frozen on your body made the perfect disquise as you watched this person cry and curse their own memories… you could see that this person was at the point where they knew they were about to die… that mental buildup to take the final step… did they plan to jump off the peak.. you continued to watch until they had finaly came with a resolution… but to your surprise they began to chant, a ring on their finger began to glow before just as quickly as they appeared, they vanished, only an orb that they had dropped earlier and forgotten to get remained. He made his way towards the orb and picked it up… on it were etched “The end of existance” He activated it and saw a vision of the future… one where everything ceased to exist… a vision that was not a vision but an actual recording of the future… The person who was there had explained in the orb everything about how existance will end, and the power of the “Tear of Gyane”. Was this person leaving a message to…themselves… you knew that whoever would come to retrieve this orb would have a part in this future where he could truly find a release to his pain. He crawls his way slightly out of sight, regaining his energy as he waits for his certain death.Character Bonus stats: +2 Con, Feat: Die hard, Life leech, Contigency raise dead upon death after 24 hours.
MasterHappo 12-20-07, 01:01 PM	Do you plan to have your PCs be part of this prophecy? I warn you against this, since should the PC die/player leave, your whole campaign falls. This sounds creepy... In order to save a plane of existance, they have to destroy another one? I am trying to make this campaign hard, the main reason being is that i get alot of the sucide characters, each adventure they do something to get themselves killed and reroll up a new character. I wanted to add to the challenge the need to keep their own character as well as the others alive. and if that fails they now have the task of trying to revive their friend. also, since we are all in iraq on deployment, we have nothing but time on our hands and it provides us with a good distraction during our off hours