Campaign thoughts? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign thoughts? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Wick
09-26-05, 05:03 PM I know there is a campaign thread but I can't find it. Feel free to move this post over to the right thread if need be.

I am working on building a campaign for my group. My basic idea is that the PC’s are sent to find a scroll/artifact. Right now I am torn about the significance of the scroll or artifact. It will have something to do with the fall of House d'Vol and the creation of the lich Erandis d'Vol. What I can't decide is weather or not it will be a scroll with unknown knowledge of a historical nature or if it will be a scroll/artifact that was used by matriarch of the Vol family when she turned her daughter into the lich.

There will be at least one party of NPC’s on the same quest that may or may not be friendly… I am also looking for info on the power groups that might want this important scroll/artifact. I am thinking that the Korrenberg Library would be interested in the item as an important historical item and that the Order of the Emerald Claw would also be searching for this item. And we can’t leave out the Blood of Vol. But who else might be interested in such a thing?

Any ideas or help?
Lup1n3
09-26-05, 05:14 PM Some form of blackmail which helped contribute to the original fall of her house is an idea as well. It also provides Vol with a good reason to want it found, ie the potentially hostile group of NPCs While the house of death is "gone," knowledge of the artifact(s)/scroll(s) could still have potential to stir up quite a bit of trouble and ill will, possibly even enough to lead to a large scale conflict between the houses.

Doing a quick read over The Blood of Vol (ECS page 228), and seeing Erandis d'Vol's "genesis" could lead one to think that the scroll(s) might detail evidence of another house or houses mixing the blood of their primary race with that of dragons following the purging of her house. If evidence of this came to light, it could have similar consequences for that house as the "...revelation of Erandis' existence..." had for hers.
Vharuck
09-27-05, 01:15 PM Maybe the scroll contains the instructions for a powerful spell-ritual that Vol's mother never quite got the chance to perform. Maybe the dragons caught and killed her immediately after she changed Vol into a lich.

The scroll's ritual was the second part of the mother's plan. It allows a dragonmark to function on dead flesh, as the mother wanted the family line (not just Vol) to continue.

How Vol would reproduce, I have no ideas and really don't want to think about a 3,600 year-old walking corpse would do that. :yuck:
Vharuck
09-27-05, 01:25 PM Other organizations that would want such a thing would be Morgrave University (especially if it's in Xen'drick), the Church of the Silver Flame (mostly to oppose the Blood of Vol), the Undying Court (mostly to oppose House Vol), the Chamber (dragons helped destroy House Vol and Vol's attempts to revive her dragonmark may interfere and screw up the Prophecy), the Twelve (if knowledge were to reach them that the 13th dragonmarked house might return, they would probably oppose the Mark of Death since there could be no good business monopoly stemming from it), and the various druidic sects (which all fundamentally oppose undeath).

Using all of these is a sure-fire way to send your campaign plummeting out of control in a glorious blaze. However, pick and choose as you like.

Conversely, I'd see Lord Boroman ir'Dayne (the leader of the Wayfinder Foundation) as allying with Vol, promising to fund expeditions to uncover the artifact/scroll and receiving the promise of eternal undeath in return (as he is sick and seems to be clawing for any chance of life or- I'd guess- unlife).
Dragonmann
09-27-05, 03:12 PM Another possibility is that the scroll/artifact could consist of a genealogical record of the House of Vol, including the dragons who were involved. A possible step on the road to resurrececting the Mark of Death.

Basic three tier campaign model would be

I: Party gets involved and locates the records lvls 1-5

II: Blood of Vol/Emerald claw steals the records lvls 5-8

III: PCs step in just in time to save the world lvls 8+

Other antagonists would be tied in as well, including the elves of aerenal (where presumably the descendants of the house of Vol would be hiding, or perhaps unaware of their bloodline), the dragons (especially those involved in breeding with the house of vol), various universities, Kaius (looking for a clue of how to be not a vampire anymore)...

Just my 2 coppers
nfras
09-27-05, 07:49 PM Here's another suggestion:
A group of elves was given the task of eradicating the line of Vol. When their task was deemed complete, the Undying Court had the entire group killed to prevent a lot of secret information being revealed. Unfortunately, detailed records were kept by a member of the group and part of this volume of records has come to life.
Vol thinks that there may be traces of her bloodline still living and seeks the records to track them down.
The Undying Court seeks the records as it was not only the line of Vol that was destroyed, they also used the purge to rid themselves of a number of other enemies. They want the records found and destroyed.
The Valenar seek the records because they detail deeds of their ancestors.
Morgrave University seeks the records to know more about Elven history.
The Twelve seek the records because they contain details of epic magic used during the purge.
The dragons seek the volume as it is part of the Prophecy.

What the volume of records actually contains is up to you, but there should be enough intrigue and conflict to make a pretty good campaign. As each part of the records is found it begins to paint a larger picture, but doesn't provide enough information for the whole story to be told. Maybe Vol simply needs one part, but doesn't know which part. The UC need everything destroyed, the dragons need everything intact.

You could split the volume up into as many parts as you like to drag the whole thing out. The denoument could be that Vol finally gets her hands on it and it reveals that all of her line were in fact killed. You could have the PCs discover that the Mark of Death was mutating into something much darker, or that the dragons set the whole purge up to prevent the elves from reaching their potential as a race and threatening the dragons' power (maybe as revenge for the dragon/elf war, or maybe to fulfil the Prophecy). Maybe the PCs need to destroy the whole volume of records to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Maybe one of the Undying Court is part of the line of Vol and seeks to keep this a secret. Anyway, it's up to you.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Wick 09-26-05, 05:03 PM	I know there is a campaign thread but I can't find it. Feel free to move this post over to the right thread if need be. I am working on building a campaign for my group. My basic idea is that the PC’s are sent to find a scroll/artifact. Right now I am torn about the significance of the scroll or artifact. It will have something to do with the fall of House d'Vol and the creation of the lich Erandis d'Vol. What I can't decide is weather or not it will be a scroll with unknown knowledge of a historical nature or if it will be a scroll/artifact that was used by matriarch of the Vol family when she turned her daughter into the lich. There will be at least one party of NPC’s on the same quest that may or may not be friendly… I am also looking for info on the power groups that might want this important scroll/artifact. I am thinking that the Korrenberg Library would be interested in the item as an important historical item and that the Order of the Emerald Claw would also be searching for this item. And we can’t leave out the Blood of Vol. But who else might be interested in such a thing? Any ideas or help?
Lup1n3 09-26-05, 05:14 PM	Some form of blackmail which helped contribute to the original fall of her house is an idea as well. It also provides Vol with a good reason to want it found, ie the potentially hostile group of NPCs While the house of death is "gone," knowledge of the artifact(s)/scroll(s) could still have potential to stir up quite a bit of trouble and ill will, possibly even enough to lead to a large scale conflict between the houses. Doing a quick read over The Blood of Vol (ECS page 228), and seeing Erandis d'Vol's "genesis" could lead one to think that the scroll(s) might detail evidence of another house or houses mixing the blood of their primary race with that of dragons following the purging of her house. If evidence of this came to light, it could have similar consequences for that house as the "...revelation of Erandis' existence..." had for hers.
Vharuck 09-27-05, 01:15 PM	Maybe the scroll contains the instructions for a powerful spell-ritual that Vol's mother never quite got the chance to perform. Maybe the dragons caught and killed her immediately after she changed Vol into a lich. The scroll's ritual was the second part of the mother's plan. It allows a dragonmark to function on dead flesh, as the mother wanted the family line (not just Vol) to continue. How Vol would reproduce, I have no ideas and really don't want to think about a 3,600 year-old walking corpse would do that. :yuck:
Vharuck 09-27-05, 01:25 PM	Other organizations that would want such a thing would be Morgrave University (especially if it's in Xen'drick), the Church of the Silver Flame (mostly to oppose the Blood of Vol), the Undying Court (mostly to oppose House Vol), the Chamber (dragons helped destroy House Vol and Vol's attempts to revive her dragonmark may interfere and screw up the Prophecy), the Twelve (if knowledge were to reach them that the 13th dragonmarked house might return, they would probably oppose the Mark of Death since there could be no good business monopoly stemming from it), and the various druidic sects (which all fundamentally oppose undeath). Using all of these is a sure-fire way to send your campaign plummeting out of control in a glorious blaze. However, pick and choose as you like. Conversely, I'd see Lord Boroman ir'Dayne (the leader of the Wayfinder Foundation) as allying with Vol, promising to fund expeditions to uncover the artifact/scroll and receiving the promise of eternal undeath in return (as he is sick and seems to be clawing for any chance of life or- I'd guess- unlife).
Dragonmann 09-27-05, 03:12 PM	Another possibility is that the scroll/artifact could consist of a genealogical record of the House of Vol, including the dragons who were involved. A possible step on the road to resurrececting the Mark of Death. Basic three tier campaign model would be I: Party gets involved and locates the records lvls 1-5 II: Blood of Vol/Emerald claw steals the records lvls 5-8 III: PCs step in just in time to save the world lvls 8+ Other antagonists would be tied in as well, including the elves of aerenal (where presumably the descendants of the house of Vol would be hiding, or perhaps unaware of their bloodline), the dragons (especially those involved in breeding with the house of vol), various universities, Kaius (looking for a clue of how to be not a vampire anymore)... Just my 2 coppers
nfras 09-27-05, 07:49 PM	Here's another suggestion: A group of elves was given the task of eradicating the line of Vol. When their task was deemed complete, the Undying Court had the entire group killed to prevent a lot of secret information being revealed. Unfortunately, detailed records were kept by a member of the group and part of this volume of records has come to life. Vol thinks that there may be traces of her bloodline still living and seeks the records to track them down. The Undying Court seeks the records as it was not only the line of Vol that was destroyed, they also used the purge to rid themselves of a number of other enemies. They want the records found and destroyed. The Valenar seek the records because they detail deeds of their ancestors. Morgrave University seeks the records to know more about Elven history. The Twelve seek the records because they contain details of epic magic used during the purge. The dragons seek the volume as it is part of the Prophecy. What the volume of records actually contains is up to you, but there should be enough intrigue and conflict to make a pretty good campaign. As each part of the records is found it begins to paint a larger picture, but doesn't provide enough information for the whole story to be told. Maybe Vol simply needs one part, but doesn't know which part. The UC need everything destroyed, the dragons need everything intact. You could split the volume up into as many parts as you like to drag the whole thing out. The denoument could be that Vol finally gets her hands on it and it reveals that all of her line were in fact killed. You could have the PCs discover that the Mark of Death was mutating into something much darker, or that the dragons set the whole purge up to prevent the elves from reaching their potential as a race and threatening the dragons' power (maybe as revenge for the dragon/elf war, or maybe to fulfil the Prophecy). Maybe the PCs need to destroy the whole volume of records to prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Maybe one of the Undying Court is part of the line of Vol and seeks to keep this a secret. Anyway, it's up to you.