Dune in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dune in Eberron [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Setherial
02-01-06, 03:33 AM Hey guys

I'm a big Dune fan and I saw the movie again (the mini serie remake from 2000) and want to integrate some elements into my campaign but I need help setting things up.

I would like to use the Asherati from Sandstorm as a people much like the Fremen from dune. They are nuetral aligned poeple living in tribes spread across the waste. They live a though life and have hard customs, they don't trust outsiders and usually spy on them but stay hidden.
How would the party encounter these people and become one of them as Paul Atreides did in Dune. What can break the ice between the party and these people.

I rather not use the cliche of rescuing one of them from the claws of some desert beast, I've overused this tactic.
I rather set them up as hostile, an invisible force that uses hit and run tactics against their enemies (which could be the players at first). Then something should happen so the players end up travelling with them and slowly trust should form and the bridge between them should be crossed.

any ideas ?
BrelHarrock
02-01-06, 08:59 AM Maybe something like what was written in Honoured Enemy by R. Feist.

The party and a party of the 'Freemen' are battling each other and are attacked by a much larger third party (it was an alien army from another world in Honoured Enemy) and they have to flee together and help each other, while still not very trustfull of each other.
Setherial
02-01-06, 09:39 AM I haven't read Honoured Enemy but I've read the four books of the Riftwar Saga so I can easily picture this :) (Feist is my favorite writer)

It's not bulletproof though, such a thing works easily in books but in our games people tent to die more easily and they are stubborn trying to make a stand for too long. Anyhow if I give the party some backup (lets say 20 men) to accompany them and the I can have them be the ones that hold back the opposing force so that the players can flee. Also if I see to it that the players are weakened enough by the time the 3th army arrives in overwhelming numbers they are more likely to flee.

cheers thanks, this might work out well

PS: what about a SandDragon (SandSorm) attack, or a gargantuan worm attack instead of an army ? Come to think of it using a Dragon might be fun, he should not even be a bad fella he just plays the monster scaring the players into fleeing then playing them a bit. In the end his plan is to bring the two opponents together because together they can fullfill their part of the prophecy (the dragon being a member of the chamber).
CzarGarrett
02-01-06, 09:41 AM The shards must flow!

Well, going with some of the Dune mythos and all, perhaps if there is an NPC of sorts the party is protecting who is a psion with a lot of precognative abilities, that NPC could be the Prophet to the Asherati. That gives the PCs a way into their lives.
Setherial
02-01-06, 09:50 AM Well, going with some of the Dune mythos and all, perhaps if there is an NPC of sorts the party is protecting who is a psion with a lot of precognative abilities, that NPC could be the Prophet to the Asherati. That gives the PCs a way into their lives.

Thought about setting up a Madhi as well. Aside from precognative abilities I would probably give him blur and haste at will or a couple of times a day to mimic the weirding way, maybe suggestion as well when he speaks with the strange voice :).

But I'm not going to do this, sure as an enemy he would be cool and I don't mind, as a leader of the PC's he would **** up the Eberron rule of placing the PC's in the spotlight (unless he is one of the partymembers, then it could work :).
Fabian
02-01-06, 12:02 PM Hey all,

Have the PCs on a 'find and plunder' mission (some sort of 'artifact' of legend).

The PCs get to the desert and find out that the 'site' is being protected by the Fremen. The PCs must outmaneuver them and eventually get to the 'site' (temple/tomb, whatever). It turns out that the Fremen weren't protecting the artifact but really wanted to keep the 'monster' that was protecting the artifact from being released.

Now the PCs screwed up; they have the 'artifact' but also released the 'monster'. The 'monster' goes out hunting for the PC but also attacks the Fremen . So the PC and the Fremen become allies in trying to destroy the 'monster'.

How's that? All you need to do is fill in the 'artifact' and the 'monster' and your'e good to go.

BTW, I love these types of posts and detailing this further would be great.

L8r,

Fabian
Troubled Past - An Eberron PBEM
http://www.geocities.com/cfbenave/Eberron/Eberron-Page2.htm
Wanna play? Email me.
dang
02-01-06, 12:27 PM remember to include an ugly, fat villain with a lot of levitation spells.
Setherial
02-02-06, 02:48 AM Fabian: thanks, good stuff, I defenatly see it work
dang: lol, I do love the political play between the houses though, I wish I could somehow make my Eberron campaign more like that.

Ok to continue with what BrelHarrock suggested I was thinking about setting up the Valenar Elves as commen enemy (Harkonen). The party has some buisness with the Valenar elves that goes sour (ideas are welcome) and they are forced to flee into the Blade desert. When they reach a point of utter fatigue and exhaustion they collapse and the Asherati (Fremen) show up and carry them to shelter. They had been stalking the party for days.
The Party should by now have encountered the Asherati on a few occasions, in the bordertowns near the blade desert and during a few clashes with the Valenar Elves (raids from either side).

Anyway, they wake up days later and notice their burns have been bandaged and they apparently have been nurtured back to health, their hands are bonded with ropes and they find themselves to be prisoners of the Asherati.
Asherati Naib (boss) informs the party they will travel deeper into the desert, they are too close to the border and they risk discovery by valenar warparties.
On their travels into the desert the valenar attack and at a critical point the Asherati Naib cuts the pc's bonds and frees them. He offers them knifes to defend themselves.

how about that ? any ideas what the party is doing in valenar and where things go wrong ?
Fabian
02-02-06, 08:24 AM Hey Setherial,

What level of PCs are we talking about?

The best way to get to the Valenar is to inadvertently insult their ancestors or mess with their horses?

Let's take horses: Maybe your party has been hired by House Vadalis to study the Valenar horses in the hopes of breeding the magnificient beasts. Maybe they were tasked to bring back a blood sample (or steal a horse if the party is high level enough to pull it off). In any case, they pose as a group of University Biologist or 'Bugs and Bunnies' scientists and start dealing wit the elves. At one point, a Valenar (druid?) realizes that the party doesn't know anything about biology. The elves, being who they are, get very suspicious thinking their 'horse secrets' are in danger and turn on the PCs.

How's that?

L8r,

Fabian
Troubled Past - An Eberron PBEM
http://www.geocities.com/cfbenave/Eberron/Eberron-Page2.htm
Wanna play? Email me.
Setherial
02-02-06, 09:52 AM Well I have an upcomming campaign and I have several adventures in line yet, could be I add this one near the end (anywhere between level 8 and 16) or try to fit it between the first four adventures which means I'll have to mess with encounter settings of those adventures (they are the ones that are worked out in detail already).

Messing with their horses sounds like a good option. I myself was playing with the idea of a duel, it says in the ECS that armed adventurers have a high chance of conflict over there as young elves always look for ways to prove themselves in combat.
The reason I like an unprovoced conflict is that my players are relatively new to Eberron and have never encountered a Valenar elf before. One player likes to play the elf ranger, before joining our group he has always played Forgotten Realms and he has this mental picture of a cliche elf I like mess with. For the other it will be a nice change as well, having elves on their heels instead of the more commen (read greenskinned) bad guys.

Ofcourse I do want them to hang about a bit so they should have dealings with the elves first. I can see the insulting their ansestors option work in my group as my group are the kind that take stuff lightly and like to intimmidate.

thanks

Seth

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Setherial 02-01-06, 03:33 AM	Hey guys I'm a big Dune fan and I saw the movie again (the mini serie remake from 2000) and want to integrate some elements into my campaign but I need help setting things up. I would like to use the Asherati from Sandstorm as a people much like the Fremen from dune. They are nuetral aligned poeple living in tribes spread across the waste. They live a though life and have hard customs, they don't trust outsiders and usually spy on them but stay hidden. How would the party encounter these people and become one of them as Paul Atreides did in Dune. What can break the ice between the party and these people. I rather not use the cliche of rescuing one of them from the claws of some desert beast, I've overused this tactic. I rather set them up as hostile, an invisible force that uses hit and run tactics against their enemies (which could be the players at first). Then something should happen so the players end up travelling with them and slowly trust should form and the bridge between them should be crossed. any ideas ?
BrelHarrock 02-01-06, 08:59 AM	Maybe something like what was written in Honoured Enemy by R. Feist. The party and a party of the 'Freemen' are battling each other and are attacked by a much larger third party (it was an alien army from another world in Honoured Enemy) and they have to flee together and help each other, while still not very trustfull of each other.
Setherial 02-01-06, 09:39 AM	I haven't read Honoured Enemy but I've read the four books of the Riftwar Saga so I can easily picture this :) (Feist is my favorite writer) It's not bulletproof though, such a thing works easily in books but in our games people tent to die more easily and they are stubborn trying to make a stand for too long. Anyhow if I give the party some backup (lets say 20 men) to accompany them and the I can have them be the ones that hold back the opposing force so that the players can flee. Also if I see to it that the players are weakened enough by the time the 3th army arrives in overwhelming numbers they are more likely to flee. cheers thanks, this might work out well PS: what about a SandDragon (SandSorm) attack, or a gargantuan worm attack instead of an army ? Come to think of it using a Dragon might be fun, he should not even be a bad fella he just plays the monster scaring the players into fleeing then playing them a bit. In the end his plan is to bring the two opponents together because together they can fullfill their part of the prophecy (the dragon being a member of the chamber).
CzarGarrett 02-01-06, 09:41 AM	The shards must flow! Well, going with some of the Dune mythos and all, perhaps if there is an NPC of sorts the party is protecting who is a psion with a lot of precognative abilities, that NPC could be the Prophet to the Asherati. That gives the PCs a way into their lives.
Setherial 02-01-06, 09:50 AM	Well, going with some of the Dune mythos and all, perhaps if there is an NPC of sorts the party is protecting who is a psion with a lot of precognative abilities, that NPC could be the Prophet to the Asherati. That gives the PCs a way into their lives. Thought about setting up a Madhi as well. Aside from precognative abilities I would probably give him blur and haste at will or a couple of times a day to mimic the weirding way, maybe suggestion as well when he speaks with the strange voice :). But I'm not going to do this, sure as an enemy he would be cool and I don't mind, as a leader of the PC's he would **** up the Eberron rule of placing the PC's in the spotlight (unless he is one of the partymembers, then it could work :).
Fabian 02-01-06, 12:02 PM	Hey all, Have the PCs on a 'find and plunder' mission (some sort of 'artifact' of legend). The PCs get to the desert and find out that the 'site' is being protected by the Fremen. The PCs must outmaneuver them and eventually get to the 'site' (temple/tomb, whatever). It turns out that the Fremen weren't protecting the artifact but really wanted to keep the 'monster' that was protecting the artifact from being released. Now the PCs screwed up; they have the 'artifact' but also released the 'monster'. The 'monster' goes out hunting for the PC but also attacks the Fremen . So the PC and the Fremen become allies in trying to destroy the 'monster'. How's that? All you need to do is fill in the 'artifact' and the 'monster' and your'e good to go. BTW, I love these types of posts and detailing this further would be great. L8r, Fabian Troubled Past - An Eberron PBEM http://www.geocities.com/cfbenave/Eberron/Eberron-Page2.htm Wanna play? Email me.
dang 02-01-06, 12:27 PM	remember to include an ugly, fat villain with a lot of levitation spells.
Setherial 02-02-06, 02:48 AM	Fabian: thanks, good stuff, I defenatly see it work dang: lol, I do love the political play between the houses though, I wish I could somehow make my Eberron campaign more like that. Ok to continue with what BrelHarrock suggested I was thinking about setting up the Valenar Elves as commen enemy (Harkonen). The party has some buisness with the Valenar elves that goes sour (ideas are welcome) and they are forced to flee into the Blade desert. When they reach a point of utter fatigue and exhaustion they collapse and the Asherati (Fremen) show up and carry them to shelter. They had been stalking the party for days. The Party should by now have encountered the Asherati on a few occasions, in the bordertowns near the blade desert and during a few clashes with the Valenar Elves (raids from either side). Anyway, they wake up days later and notice their burns have been bandaged and they apparently have been nurtured back to health, their hands are bonded with ropes and they find themselves to be prisoners of the Asherati. Asherati Naib (boss) informs the party they will travel deeper into the desert, they are too close to the border and they risk discovery by valenar warparties. On their travels into the desert the valenar attack and at a critical point the Asherati Naib cuts the pc's bonds and frees them. He offers them knifes to defend themselves. how about that ? any ideas what the party is doing in valenar and where things go wrong ?
Fabian 02-02-06, 08:24 AM	Hey Setherial, What level of PCs are we talking about? The best way to get to the Valenar is to inadvertently insult their ancestors or mess with their horses? Let's take horses: Maybe your party has been hired by House Vadalis to study the Valenar horses in the hopes of breeding the magnificient beasts. Maybe they were tasked to bring back a blood sample (or steal a horse if the party is high level enough to pull it off). In any case, they pose as a group of University Biologist or 'Bugs and Bunnies' scientists and start dealing wit the elves. At one point, a Valenar (druid?) realizes that the party doesn't know anything about biology. The elves, being who they are, get very suspicious thinking their 'horse secrets' are in danger and turn on the PCs. How's that? L8r, Fabian Troubled Past - An Eberron PBEM http://www.geocities.com/cfbenave/Eberron/Eberron-Page2.htm Wanna play? Email me.
Setherial 02-02-06, 09:52 AM	Well I have an upcomming campaign and I have several adventures in line yet, could be I add this one near the end (anywhere between level 8 and 16) or try to fit it between the first four adventures which means I'll have to mess with encounter settings of those adventures (they are the ones that are worked out in detail already). Messing with their horses sounds like a good option. I myself was playing with the idea of a duel, it says in the ECS that armed adventurers have a high chance of conflict over there as young elves always look for ways to prove themselves in combat. The reason I like an unprovoced conflict is that my players are relatively new to Eberron and have never encountered a Valenar elf before. One player likes to play the elf ranger, before joining our group he has always played Forgotten Realms and he has this mental picture of a cliche elf I like mess with. For the other it will be a nice change as well, having elves on their heels instead of the more commen (read greenskinned) bad guys. Ofcourse I do want them to hang about a bit so they should have dealings with the elves first. I can see the insulting their ansestors option work in my group as my group are the kind that take stuff lightly and like to intimmidate. thanks Seth