Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nightlore 04-28-06, 03:13 PM	This may be a little lengthy, so I apologize in advance for my verbosity. As the title of the post suggests, I'm a DM running a campaign in Eberron which is mostly set in Sharn. All the adventures thus far have really oozed an urban intrigue feel and my players all really seem to enjoy it. We are approximately two months into the campaign and we meet once a week. I have material devised that has the potential to keep the campaign going for a very long time. So what could the problem be? It all sounds very nice you say? Yes, well, I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself into when I okayed all the players' characters. I have two members of the Sharn underworld faction known as House Tarkanan: one female halfling rogue who wants to someday unite the Sharn Underworld and rule over it and a half-orc rogue/druid who has ties to a technology hating Druidic circle outside of Sharn (a homebrew addition to our Eberron Campaign). One other character is a gnome artificer from Zilargo who has joined House Cannith. The Trust has taken an interest in him and is currently hunting him down trying to ascertain just how much he knows about elemental binding, why he has joined House Cannith, and what he has revealed to his new "family." House Cannith has, of course, readily accepted him into their midst - their end goal being to get these Zil secrets from his little gnomish head. The final character is a human monk from a monastery somewhere in Darguun. He is a member of House Orien. He worked security for trade caravans and other things of that nature. He is the only one in the group who has a lawful aspect to his character's alignment. He is very interested in rising in prominence and power within his house and achieving glory for Kwanti d'Orien. As you can see I have characters all from different walks of life whose players are all very interested in their characters and have written excellent character backgrounds, etc. The initial worry I had for this party was having a member from each House Cannith and House Orien. These two houses don't typically like each other very much and I could see each of the respective players playing up on that aspect of the dragon marked houses' relationship. This would only get more interesting to see how to "members" of dragonmarked houses worked with two members of the Sharn underworld. I solved initial worries by making them band together to investigate a new threat to all three of their organizations, and new underworld group was rising and posed threats to House Tarkanan, House Orien, and House Cannith among others. The party came together nicely to investigate the goings on and things seemed to go smoothly. Then the schism happened. It was only a matter of time. The chaotic members of House Tarkanan were instructed by their leader to investigate a new potential lead on this new menacing group. However, House Orien had previously already supplied a lead to investigate. The two rogues from House Tarkanan went on their way to investigate their lead first, and naturally, the gnomish artificer from Cannith went with, if only to aggravate the monk from House Orien. The character (the monk) from House Orien pretended to go along and when the rest of the party wasn't paying close attention, slipped off to go conduct his own investigation of the lead his house had supplied earlier. At this point, I ended the session and told the players that I needed to regroup in light of this separation. I then ran the next two sessions with the players in separate rooms, running their plot threads separately. I finally, just this past session, got them back together. Finally, my question and simultaneous plea for help. How can I keep this sort of thing from happening in the future? What similarities exist between Orien, Cannith, and Tarkanan that I can use to make this group work together in the future? Are there other groups that could tie them together? I'm particularly worried about the time when the characters finish out the current plot arch about the incursion of the new underworld group and no longer have to investigate for their respective organiziations. How can I salvage it? What events/plot threads/happenings can I throw at them to make them feel like they need to continue working together after this immediate threat has been dealt with? Everything I've come up with so far has seemed contrived or obvious that I'm "just trying to keep them together as a party because that's what they should do." It should be pointed out that I came here because I'm looking for Eberron-specific answers to these problems. I greatly appreciate any advice or input any of you other DMs may have!
Melvin the Mediocre 04-28-06, 03:43 PM	First of all, why do you have Orien and Cannith disliking eachother? Give them close ties as Cannith makes and repairs many of the vehicles that Orien pilots, and Orien delivers the huge quantities of raw materials that Cannith requires. If one or both houses feel that the new union of dragon marks is young enough to be sheparded into a more lawful guild, then they may assign the PCs to be the other PCs moral compass. And if that fails, have all the group framed for a horrible crime, forcing them to flee their houses and hide in the underworld where they strive against <insert enemy here>'s horrific schemes.
jonthegm 04-28-06, 03:51 PM	Quick answer: you need to give them common cause. If they're fracturing, it's because they don't "buy" into staying together as a group yet. Anyway, here's some more specific "ideas". 1) Playing towards Tarkanan *)The house Orien brass are more worried about this new threat than Tarkanan is. So they capitalize on this small "in" that the monk has by telling him "go! earn their trust! see what Tarkanan knows about this new threat!" *) The antitech druid can be roped in by reports of hideous technological abominations (bonus: constructs and the undead are a rogue's bane!) *) The gnome can be roped in by reports of hideous technological abominations (Cannith wants a piece of that action!) 2) Playing towards Orien *) Orien tells Tarkanan they're willing to fund an investigatory force. On one condition, though, that one of their own leads. *) The gnome is told by Cannith to keep his eyes and ears open to figure out what Orien's play is. *) The antitech druid just has to believe (see above reasoning). 3) Playing towards **** all *) All of their organizations sell them out to the new guys.
(Psi)SeveredHead 04-28-06, 03:57 PM	This may be a little lengthy, so I apologize in advance for my verbosity. So what could the problem be? It all sounds very nice you say? Yes, well, I didn't quite realize what I was getting myself into when I okayed all the players' characters. One other character is a gnome artificer from Zilargo who has joined House Cannith. In what capacity? The Trust has taken an interest in him and is currently hunting him down trying to ascertain just how much he knows about elemental binding, why he has joined House Cannith, and what he has revealed to his new "family." House Cannith has, of course, readily accepted him into their midst - their end goal being to get these Zil secrets from his little gnomish head. The final character is a human monk from a monastery somewhere in Darguun. He is a member of House Orien. He worked security for trade caravans and other things of that nature. He is the only one in the group who has a lawful aspect to his character's alignment. He is very interested in rising in prominence and power within his house and achieving glory for Kwanti d'Orien. As you can see I have characters all from different walks of life whose players are all very interested in their characters and have written excellent character backgrounds, etc. The initial worry I had for this party was having a member from each House Cannith and House Orien. These two houses don't typically like each other very much and I could see each of the respective players playing up on that aspect of the dragon marked houses' relationship. They don't have to do that, however. Individual members of a House can have different views, even though they may be minority views. Members of a party should have a reason to adventure and stick together, otherwise somebody needs to make a new character. This would only get more interesting to see how to "members" of dragonmarked houses worked with two members of the Sharn underworld. As above. Then the schism happened. It was only a matter of time. The chaotic members of House Tarkanan were instructed by their leader to investigate a new potential lead on this new menacing group. Which group? The players? However, House Orien had previously already supplied a lead to investigate. The two rogues from House Tarkanan went on their way to investigate their lead first, and naturally, the gnomish artificer from Cannith went with, if only to aggravate the monk from House Orien. The character (the monk) from House Orien pretended to go along and when the rest of the party wasn't paying close attention, slipped off to go conduct his own investigation of the lead his house had supplied earlier. "Punish" the Orien guy. Spend most of your time with the other group, and work with them first. If the Orien guy is pushy, just tell him to wait his turn. Did you deliberately anticipate so many House-affiliated characters being together? In any event, you don't have to make every adventure have any link to the Houses. Something that threatens Sharn should get their attention, regardless of any House connection. Furthermore, if one PC is somehow threatened, his friends should band together to protect him, even if the thing that threatens him has nothing to do with dragonmarks. Something could start out looking like a threat to, say, House Orien, but when investigated turns out to be a new plot by the [insert whichever bad guys you like best] instead.* How can I salvage it? What events/plot threads/happenings can I throw at them to make them feel like they need to continue working together after this immediate threat has been dealt with? Everything I've come up with so far has seemed contrived or obvious that I'm "just trying to keep them together as a party because that's what they should do." Off-hand, like I said about the monk... when you get to him, give him a piece of important information about a threat (not necessarily only to House Orien), then have something kick his behind, but not kill him. (This is a bit hard to pull off, but if he dies, you shouldn't feel too bad. A PC who charges a battlefield or a castle by himself deserves to die, too.) He'll run to his friends and ask for help. Maybe he'll be interested in the plot hook, too. Hopefully this will keep him from running off on his own too much again :) * This happened in City of Towers (the novel). Some villains preyed on House Tarkanan members, but they weren't so much interested in wiping out House Tarkanan than interested in acquiring dragonmarks of any kind for part of a world-shattering plot of DOOM! (Ok, slight exaggeration there.) They also started kidnapping non-associated dragonmarked members of the regular houses, too, but not right at the beginning. (It's to make the threat bigger over time.)
Nightlore 04-28-06, 05:19 PM	@ Melvin the Mediocre: I remember reading somewhere that House Orien is ****** at Cannith for basically giving the power of airships to House Lyrandar instead of them. I'll see if I can locate this information. @Jonthegm: I feel I have given them common cause. They have the threat that is looming over both Orien and Cannith and House Tarkanan. They have had to come together to investigate this threat. Perhaps you are right in that they don't "feel" it yet as a party, but the common cause is there. The "Schsim" occurred because of one character's devotion to his house and his desire to finish up the lead they gave him before he starts down other avenues. @(Psi)SeveredHead: 1) He has joined them as part of the fabricator's guild. He helps in construction of magical items, etc. 2) I completely agree, the tension between the two houses does not have to be shared by all its members. However, apparently, these players have chosen to pick up on that animosity that exists. 3) Right, the players in my party that are in House Tarkanan were instructed to investigate this lead. 4) No, I didn't anticipate so many house-affiliated characters when we were creating characters together. At first I didn't anticipate any problems here, but like I've described, some have developed. Thanks all for the helpful responses. I hope my answers here can shed some more light on the situation.
jonthegm 04-28-06, 05:36 PM	@Jonthegm: I feel I have given them common cause. They have the threat that is looming over both Orien and Cannith and House Tarkanan. They have had to come together to investigate this threat. Perhaps you are right in that they don't "feel" it yet as a party, but the common cause is there. The "Schsim" occurred because of one character's devotion to his house and his desire to finish up the lead they gave him before he starts down other avenues. You can "feel" all you want, and it doesn't make it true. Use the devotion of the character to the house to their disadvantage. Make the House tell them to Shape Up and co-operate. Orien isn't going to let Cannith take all the credit for disrupting the new menace! He should keep an eye on that unruly bunch! Make sure they don't wander into anything that Orien has its fingers in!
Lurkalot 04-28-06, 05:43 PM	One connection between these three factions is that they are all "bit" players on the lower rungs of the conspiracy ladder. Maybe you should look a little higher up the pyramid to find something that is a threat to all of them - Lords of Dust, Daelkyr, Vol, Dreaming Dark depending on preference. Have the PCs stumble into a larger conspiracy. Remember, it's not just whether the PCs think of themselves as a group, but whether other people think of them this way too. If they accidentally foul up the Rakshashas' plans then they're going to have to work together to survive. You can weave this higher-level plot in and out of your lower-level story-arc to keep them together. You could even pull some sort of stunt in which they have a common link, e.g. some Planetar-given talisman that will prevent the Rakshasha locating them. They each need to wear it for an hour a day or their location will be revealed to the Rakshasha and something might come after them. Adds a really nice time element to some otherwise unrelated scenarios. But essentially, you need some sort of higher-purpose to unite them with. When they do start to go their seperate ways, make sure obstacles crop up that require the other team members skills. Once they're in the habit of helping each other out and have saved each other's lives a few times, they'll naturally think of themselves as a party first. Likewise, make sure that they are involved in each others goals and ambitions. If the Orien monk has a contact higher up in the house, maybe she could fall in love with one of his companions, or simply rescue him. Basically, they're not involved in each other's stories and you need to get everything tangled up as much as possible. I've wandered off the Eberron specific stuff, but I hope this is some use.
aelryinth 04-29-06, 04:06 AM	Nightlore, the Orien/Lyrandar rivalry is something thought up by Fireballed Mage in his long treatise on the Houses. It is NOT canon. Personally, I don't see them as rivals at all. Orien probably has more real wealth and influence then Lyrandar, but one controls the land and the other the sea. Lyrandar gets its hoighty-toity airships, but Orien can teleport you across a continent for the same price and no time wasted. No problems. ==Aelryinth
Nightlore 04-30-06, 11:04 AM	@jonthegm - Ok, I see what you're saying and with the players I have, competition between the houses might really make them band together to make sure the other does not claim all the credit. @lurkalot - All good advice. I especially like the piece about the love interest in the other's dragonmarked house. @aelryinth - That's where I read it! Ok, so he didn't get this stuff from any official sources. Since I've already given each player in the party their house's write up from Fireballed Mage, perhaps now I can have the two houses come to the table for talks to reconcile. The only thing then is I run the risk of the characters being suspicious. And who in House Orien wouldn't be? That Merrix fellow is pretty devious.... Thanks all for the great responses. I'm looking forward to hearing more!
Sieylianna 04-30-06, 08:55 PM	"Punish" the Orien guy. Spend most of your time with the other group, and work with them first. If the Orien guy is pushy, just tell him to wait his turn. The group violated the first rule of survival, they split up. Feel free to smack them hard. Zilargo must be concerned about about what the PC is going to tell house cannith. Have a changeling spy replace the orien guy in the party. He's had a change of heart and thinks they need to work together. Use his change of heart to explain discrepancies. If you're feeling generous, send a couple a couple of changelings impersonating his teammates (hired by house lyrander) to the orien guy and convince him to do something which will reflect poorly on his house when it's revealed. If you're not feeling generous, let him stumble into a situation which will get him killed when he tackles it by himself. Introducing doppelganger or changeling spies into the group will convince the survivors to stick very close together in the future. Ed