Post/Author/DateTime	Post
wendigovegan 12-02-06, 10:17 PM	Reading the new Dragonmarked book (fantastic btw) gave the the following idea for a campaign. The Dragons War- An interhouse war develops involving houses Thuranni, Denieth, Orien and Cannith East on one side versus Phiralan, Tharask, Lyrandar and Cannith West/South (both under control of Merrix) Background- Merrix succeeds in uniting Cannith West and South under his leadership through negotiation and outright intimidation. Merrix moves to bring Cannith East under his control and decides to have Barron Zorlan assasinated using House Phiralan assasins. The initial attempt fails and Zorlan retaliates by sending Thuranni assasins after Merrix. This attempt also fails. A "shadow war" between the two Cannith heirs quickly escalates into open conflict when Merrix stages a raid on Cannith East holdings using Tharask mercenaries carried by Lyrandar skyships. Cannith East responds by hiring Denieth mercenaries for their own attacks using Orien teleporters to deliver the troops. The violence quickly escalates until all 8 houses have all but openly declared war on one another. The neutral houses all do their best to stay out of the mess with house Sivis leading attempts to negotiate a settlement, but the houses so far refuse. Cannith and Phiralan are determined to finally unite their houses while Denieth/Thurask and Lyrandar/Orien seek to finally settle who will control the hiring of mercenaries and transportation in Khorvaire. This would be a high intrigue game where the PCs spend as much time infiltrating and negotiating as fighting. The PCs could be affiliated with any of the 3 factions looking to end the war through negotiation or victory. Of course this being Eberron its not as simple as the houses just deciding to go to war with one another. *Someone* is pulling the strings, but who? It's up to the PCs to discover and stop whoever would benefit most from an inter-house war. Thoughts?
Shady314 12-03-06, 05:17 AM	Reading the new Dragonmarked book (fantastic btw) gave the the following idea for a campaign. The Dragons War- An interhouse war develops involving houses Thuranni, Denieth, Orien and Cannith East on one side versus Phiralan, Tharask, Lyrandar and Cannith West/South (both under control of Merrix) Background- Merrix succeeds in uniting Cannith West and South under his leadership through negotiation and outright intimidation. Merrix moves to bring Cannith East under his control and decides to have Barron Zorlan assasinated using House Phiralan assasins. The initial attempt fails and Zorlan retaliates by sending Thuranni assasins after Merrix. This attempt also fails. A "shadow war" between the two Cannith heirs quickly escalates into open conflict when Merrix stages a raid on Cannith East holdings using Tharask mercenaries carried by Lyrandar skyships. Cannith East responds by hiring Denieth mercenaries for their own attacks using Orien teleporters to deliver the troops. The violence quickly escalates until all 8 houses have all but openly declared war on one another. The neutral houses all do their best to stay out of the mess with house Sivis leading attempts to negotiate a settlement, but the houses so far refuse. Cannith and Phiralan are determined to finally unite their houses while Denieth/Thurask and Lyrandar/Orien seek to finally settle who will control the hiring of mercenaries and transportation in Khorvaire. This would be a high intrigue game where the PCs spend as much time infiltrating and negotiating as fighting. The PCs could be affiliated with any of the 3 factions looking to end the war through negotiation or victory. Of course this being Eberron its not as simple as the houses just deciding to go to war with one another. *Someone* is pulling the strings, but who? It's up to the PCs to discover and stop whoever would benefit most from an inter-house war. Thoughts? 1. Phiarlan tries to keep the balance. The likelihood of them accepting a contract like that is slim to none. Easily fixed by changing it so Zorlan, fearing Merrix's success, hires Thuranni to kill Merrix. Thuranni much more ambitious and likely to accept such an audacious contract. While they fail, Zorlan in desperation also strikes a bargain with Shirin d'Deneith. Thuranni assassins kill the current Deneith Baron and Shirin rises to power with dreams of a Karnath fueled by the ability and strength of Deneith and Cannith East. Phiarlan is probably framed by Shirin for the murder. 2. Hard to believe anyone could pull such strings that every DM house decides to throw down. It's a pretty silly Domino concept/free for all. Hey Phiarlan/Thuranni and Cannith are trying to kill each other let's jump in! Sure Lyrandar and Orien compete but are they ready to fight each other to the death? Where's the profit? Because who actually benefits from DM chaos? I suppose perhaps the LoD in some grander plot to screw with the Dragons. Or the Dragons themselves if they were convinced prophecy demanded it. 3. Why an open war? Secret wars are SO much more fun. Especially when this war starts between the two greatest spy agencies of Khorvaire. Open wars bring too much trouble. Are the Five Nations going to sit back while the DM houses war? Not even a possibility. But if a nation gets involved the whole Last War will probably start again. Who needs to DM THAT headache? Secret wars are rife with intrigue, conspiracies, manipulations, infiltration, paranoia etc. much more than an open war. 4. Just a thought to consider for the campaign. What's this doing to the Twelve? Could be like the Casablance of the war. And Ghallanda would be neutral ground. 5. I'd see Medani, Kundarak and Sivis working to end the fighting but also figure out what really happened. They will fear Shirin's ambition and Zorlan's greed and so be suspicious of them. If they figure out the truth of who struck first they will probably back Merrix/Phiarlan. Ghallanda and Jorasco truly neutral, recognized as non-combatants by each side and helping whoever pays. Though a good twist would be them choosing a side at a critical juncture. Could be one of the primary objectives for the PCs. Getting the halflings on their side. Their side being whichever side they choose to support. Or proving to Medani who is truly at fault. There's some real important negotiation for the PCs. Vadalis might throw in with Orien though. Or perhaps claim neutrality but be rooting for/assisting Orien as much as possible. 7. I see Tharashk, ambitious as they are, joining in to help Phiarlan and Merrix in order to weaken Deneith and because they fear what might happen if Zorlan and Shirin succeed. Lyrandar and Orien I don't think should be fighting each other but rather be assisting a side. But I would switch the sides you have them on. Lyrandar might see a chance at a Khoravar state/be promised one by Zorlan and Shirin and so help them. The Lyrandar are much more ambitious than Orien and more likely to side with the upstarts Shirin and Zorlan. Orien is more conservative and would back Phiarlan and the stronger of the Cannith (which Merrix must be with the holdings of West and South). In addition I'd see Merrix promising them to help them restore the Lightning Rail. Which he would be in a better position to do than Zorlan. 8. I don't see why Zorlan and Deneith would decide to assault the holdings of Merrix. The worst thing for anyone is a long protracted war in the light of day. This should be a short, brutal, intense secret war with the sole goal of each side being the elimination of the leadership of their opponents. I'd set this arc over the course of a month or two. After that it all becomes impossible to hide any longer and the face of Khorvaire is changed forever. Probably for the worse. I think this campaign would be brilliant with the addition of a real sense of urgency.
wendigovegan 12-03-06, 01:17 PM	1. Phiarlan tries to keep the balance. The likelihood of them accepting a contract like that is slim to none. Easily fixed by changing it so Zorlan, fearing Merrix's success, hires Thuranni to kill Merrix. Thuranni much more ambitious and likely to accept such an audacious contract. While they fail, Zorlan in desperation also strikes a bargain with Shirin d'Deneith. Thuranni assassins kill the current Deneith Baron and Shirin rises to power with dreams of a Karnath fueled by the ability and strength of Deneith and Cannith East. Phiarlan is probably framed by Shirin for the murder. Good points. It does work better if Zorlan makes the first move as a reaction to Merrix's growing power and adding Shirin to the mix makes it even more believable. I Paired those two together since their power bases are in the same location (Karnaath). Framing Phiarlan could work as the motive for them entering on the side of Merrix. I agree that Phiarlan probably wouldn't start things but once involved I'm sure they'd jump at a percieved chance to re-unite their house. 2. Hard to believe anyone could pull such strings that every DM house decides to throw down. It's a pretty silly Domino concept/free for all. Hey Phiarlan/Thuranni and Cannith are trying to kill each other let's jump in! Sure Lyrandar and Orien compete but are they ready to fight each other to the death? Where's the profit? Because who actually benefits from DM chaos? I suppose perhaps the LoD in some grander plot to screw with the Dragons. Or the Dragons themselves if they were convinced prophecy demanded it. As for who would orchestrate it. The easy solution would be to just blame the LoD or the Dragons of course. But other possibilities include Vol or Tarkanans (revenge), Jorlanna d'Cannith (she stepped aside then encouraged Zorlan to attack Merrix not realizing the chaos it would produce) or any thing else that fits a DMs long term goals. 3. Why an open war? Secret wars are SO much more fun. Especially when this war starts between the two greatest spy agencies of Khorvaire. Open wars bring too much trouble. Are the Five Nations going to sit back while the DM houses war? Not even a possibility. But if a nation gets involved the whole Last War will probably start again. Who needs to DM THAT headache? Secret wars are rife with intrigue, conspiracies, manipulations, infiltration, paranoia etc. much more than an open war. I admit its a bit of a stretch to imagine all the houses fighting each other, I only listed the 8 who I felt were instable enough or had motivation enough that if they *thought* they could cleanly take out their rival they would do it. The point is that the war is an escalation of what was *supposed* to be a simple takeover bid by house Cannith. The notion of the 'short victorious war' has led more than just Dragonmark houses into folly. The campaign certainly works as a "shadow war" my suggestion was that perhaps things start to go beyond that with surgical strikes on enclaves and house members fighting duels. I'm not talking about armies marching here, but a point of conflict that goes beyond mere spying and assassinating. 4. Just a thought to consider for the campaign. What's this doing to the Twelve? Could be like the Casablance of the war. And Ghallanda would be neutral ground. I would say that the neutral houses would declare the Twelve to be absolutely neutral, threatening to side against any house that breaks this rule. Casablanca is a perfect analogy for this kind of war and fits with the whole 'Pulp' theme. I think one of the best ways to play this would be with the PCs being from the neutral houses trying find out what REALLY happened and possibly finding a peaceful solution. 5. I'd see Medani, Kundarak and Sivis working to end the fighting but also figure out what really happened. They will fear Shirin's ambition and Zorlan's greed and so be suspicious of them. If they figure out the truth of who struck first they will probably back Merrix/Phiarlan. Ghallanda and Jorasco truly neutral, recognized as non-combatants by each side and helping whoever pays. Though a good twist would be them choosing a side at a critical juncture. Could be one of the primary objectives for the PCs. Getting the halflings on their side. Their side being whichever side they choose to support. Or proving to Medani who is truly at fault. There's some real important negotiation for the PCs. Vadalis might throw in with Orien though. Or perhaps claim neutrality but be rooting for/assisting Orien as much as possible. It could of course go down that way, but if the PCs are working for the neutral houses a better solution might be that even after they find out "who started it" they hold on to the information since it would only expand the war and instead find a way to unite the houses under different leaders or even point the finger to who has been pulling their strings as a means to settle things peacefully. 7. I see Tharashk, ambitious as they are, joining in to help Phiarlan and Merrix in order to weaken Deneith and because they fear what might happen if Zorlan and Shirin succeed. Lyrandar and Orien I don't think should be fighting each other but rather be assisting a side. But I would switch the sides you have them on. Lyrandar might see a chance at a Khoravar state/be promised one by Zorlan and Shirin and so help them. The Lyrandar are much more ambitious than Orien and more likely to side with the upstarts Shirin and Zorlan. Orien is more conservative and would back Phiarlan and the stronger of the Cannith (which Merrix must be with the holdings of West and South). In addition I'd see Merrix promising them to help them restore the Lightning Rail. Which he would be in a better position to do than Zorlan. Good call on the Lyrandar/Orien split. They do work better that way. I never really saw them as full out agressors the way Cannith/Tharask and Cannith/Denieth would be. I figured they would try to limit their involvement to logistical support by allowing the houses to attack each other without having to move forces through 5N territories. The houses would be trying to balance their desire to win against their fear of things escalating so far that it draws in the other Kingdoms. Actually the PCs could easily be from one of the 5N intelligence branches (or better yet one from every branch) whose rulers have had enough and plan to use their own agents to find out what is going on and then impose a peace settlement. 8. I don't see why Zorlan and Deneith would decide to assault the holdings of Merrix. The worst thing for anyone is a long protracted war in the light of day. This should be a short, brutal, intense secret war with the sole goal of each side being the elimination of the leadership of their opponents. I'd set this arc over the course of a month or two. After that it all becomes impossible to hide any longer and the face of Khorvaire is changed forever. Probably for the worse. I think this campaign would be brilliant with the addition of a real sense of urgency. The sense of urgency should definitely be a factor in a campaign like this. Everyone realizes that the longer it goes on the more chance there is for the Last War to start back up again. On the other hand attacking holdings is exactly what might happen if Zorlan or Merrix feel that they can't end this any other way. Leaders always feel the desire to WIN a war not just find a way out of one. (*note I am NOT trying to make any allusions to real life events, lets please keep any analogies as apolitical as possible) Once the assassins have missed their first opportunities and their targets have gone to ground the only real targets left are the business holdings of the involved houses. Assume Zorlan or Merrix decides that if they can just launch one quick brutal strike that it will cause the house to crumble and then they can assume control and bring peace. Of course it never quite works the way either of them want it to and the PCs have to stop them before things get even further out of hand...
lordalm 12-03-06, 04:34 PM	While I could see the other houses earning some coin from Canniths internal sqaubling, out right war would hurt the group as a whole. So a more shadowrun black opps game would probally be more likely between the two scions of the house. Of course, since Merrix isn't intrested in taking over the house from the published material it does begger the questoin of why the sudden shift in priorities.
wendigovegan 12-04-06, 10:41 PM	While I could see the other houses earning some coin from Canniths internal sqaubling, out right war would hurt the group as a whole. So a more shadowrun black opps game would probally be more likely between the two scions of the house. Of course, since Merrix isn't intrested in taking over the house from the published material it does begger the questoin of why the sudden shift in priorities. I believe it says something to the effect that Merrix would like to take over just so that it is no longer an issue. If he could simply appoint an heir of his choosing that would be just as good. Nobody in Cannith likes the current situation. It stands to reason that something would come of the current schism. The campaign was a proposal to DMs looking to do a major shakeup of Khorvaire without resorting to the usual suspects (Dalkyr, Chamber, Vol, etc.) And yes a war would hurt the houses financially, but people don't always make decisions based purely on financial considerations.
icedrake 12-06-06, 01:07 PM	I think its an awesome idea for a game, though I agree the war should be a bit more on the down/low than public fighting, though it would be great to see it spill out into the public spheres and see how the national governments have to deal with it. A few questions to ask would be how do the players exactly fit in? If you get an Orien and Lyrandar heir, how do they successfully work together without trying to kill each other secretly while the party sleeps? I think interpersonal connections are going to play a very important role in this game. How did the players meet and what things have they done together before? Why did they work together in the past and how do they reconcile House policy against their personal lives? How will the rest of their families and house treat them for consorting with the enemy but who among the houses might help them for trying to stop the war? The national governments are going to be equally important because they soend a lot of money buying services from the DM Houses and don't take kindly to recieving their goods or having them lost after playing 100k+ gp for things. It would be interesting to see how the governments deal with the war both under the table and publicly. Spy agencies have to know about this, once enclaves start getting attacked in public there will be investigations and you can only keep the lid on this for so long. You might want to permit players to play agents from government agencies who have a vested interest in the war going a certian way or simply have ordered to end it quickly b/c its bad for biz. If it does enter the public sphere of knowledge, what would happen, how would a government react and how could the politicians use it to further their own agendas by taking power back from the DM Houses, possibly creating a new Korth Edicts that's even more stringent than the previous one. I think you should have a member of the Chamber involved with the House Canneith part of the war, DM said they wanted to try and keep the house together, and it makes sense. I'm not sure what else though at the moment. Edit: House Svis and the Trust, the gnomes have a very unique position here as the house of scribing. Does anyone trust them any longer with senstive information or even as the main meethod of information networking? Elements within the house have to be selling information to both sides and the Trust itself who have a vested interest in making sure the war doesn't hurt Zilargo. It would be interesting to have a scene take place on the building docks of the lighting rail or elemental vessels where the players have to fight some group and then have a second group of gnomes show up as the Trust and they have to resolve the conflict somehow between multiple groups.
wendigovegan 12-08-06, 12:17 PM	A few questions to ask would be how do the players exactly fit in? If you get an Orien and Lyrandar heir, how do they successfully work together without trying to kill each other secretly while the party sleeps? I think interpersonal connections are going to play a very important role in this game. How did the players meet and what things have they done together before? Why did they work together in the past and how do they reconcile House policy against their personal lives? How will the rest of their families and house treat them for consorting with the enemy but who among the houses might help them for trying to stop the war? Well this sort of campaign would definitely not be a "you all meet in a bar" type game. The DM would have to insist that the players design their characters around a particular faction whose goal is preventing or winning this war between the houses. Characters should be made with the understanding that there will be a lot of social interaction, subterfuge, and other situations where a warforged barbarian or a fireball might not be the best option. The national governments are going to be equally important because they soend a lot of money buying services from the DM Houses and don't take kindly to recieving their goods or having them lost after playing 100k+ gp for things. It would be interesting to see how the governments deal with the war both under the table and publicly. Spy agencies have to know about this, once enclaves start getting attacked in public there will be investigations and you can only keep the lid on this for so long. You might want to permit players to play agents from government agencies who have a vested interest in the war going a certian way or simply have ordered to end it quickly b/c its bad for biz. Definitely, see my earlier comments about playing a group from one of (or all 5 of) the Nations intelligence services. It would be a lot of fun trying to come up with a group of spies from each of the 5 Nations intelligence branches. I think you should have a member of the Chamber involved with the House Canneith part of the war, DM said they wanted to try and keep the house together, and it makes sense. I'm not sure what else though at the moment. I believe DM said the Chamber wanted there to be 13 houses so the Phiralan/Thurani split was ok. Of course with Cannith splitting and the other houses fighting it could change the number again. The Chamber could be an obvious sponsor of the war if they felt they could control the outcome and the number of houses that would be left. Edit: House Svis and the Trust, the gnomes have a very unique position here as the house of scribing. Does anyone trust them any longer with senstive information or even as the main meethod of information networking? Elements within the house have to be selling information to both sides and the Trust itself who have a vested interest in making sure the war doesn't hurt Zilargo. It would be interesting to have a scene take place on the building docks of the lighting rail or elemental vessels where the players have to fight some group and then have a second group of gnomes show up as the Trust and they have to resolve the conflict somehow between multiple groups. My instinct would be to keep the Trust out of it. Sivis would want to stay neutral in this war since so much of their revenue depends on their reputation. They would probably see a negotiated settlement (brokered by them of course) as the best answer. The Trust wouldn't have much motive to get involved as long as Sivis was staying out of things. Of course they could always team up with a 5N group of PCs which would be interesting.