Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Six Million 10-28-04, 09:07 PM	After watching Operation Thunderbolt, I was all keyed up for my players to be a crack unit, first into hostile situations and suchlike. So here’s my ideas: Preface: 1. The PCs are part of the government. - I’m thinking the Brelish “Secret Service” (the king’s swords, or whatever they’re called) employs the PC’s. They start out at second level to investigate kidnapping of infants in a town. 2. The PCs have lots of freedom. They are given a goal, but how to achieve it is up to them. The Adventure: Part 1 1. The PC’s are briefed about mysterious disappearances in a small, rural town on the edge of the king’s forest. a. Evidently, children are vanishing at night. b. The PC’s are to go to the town as fast as possible, meet with an agent, “Thessa”, who lost contact with the Agency a few days ago. They are uncertain as to what disguise she might be in. Secrecy is advised but not ordered. 2. The PC’s take the lightning rail a. On the train, a terrified scream summons the PC’s to action. b. A woman is being attacked by two masked goblin assailants. The PC’s should fight them off (the goblins run eventually), and talk to the lady. c. The woman identifies herself as Lady Esmerelda. She claims to be on a buisiness trip. She shows the PC’s a torn package containing a gem-encrusted wand, which she says is a birthday present for her nephew. d. What the PC’s don’t know is that she is a “researcher”, who, in an identical pack, has a Dhakanni heirloom. She might be tied into the plot later. 3. The PC’s arrive in the town of Rento(<- I need a better name.). a. The town of Rento is merely a glorified bend in the road. It has one street, one “watering hole”, roughly 20 families, all who are tradesmen. Over 100 farmers live not far off. b. When the PC’s arrive, they see two men arguing in the street. A farmer on his cart is coming into town, with a young scamp who hitchhiked. i. If the PC’s investigate the two arguing men, they see that they are arguing over whether or not to ask for help from the Brelish authorities. I. The men want help with the disappearing children, but also with another problem. It seems that when some people wake up in the morning, they are covered in frost. ii. The farmer is selling apples and hay, and is a humorous old fellow in a cart. Think Aldur from the Belgariad. iii. The kid in the cart is rather obviously a thief, but not necessarily a good one. He is curious about a lot of things, and keeps asking the PC’s questions. That’s about as far as I got in terms of outline, but I have the plot ideas. Diedre, a human druid with the woodling template (check monster manual 3. Basically, she has bark for skin, sprouts leaves, vines for hair, etc.) can help. She is convinced that she is surrounded by spies, and won’t leave her grove. She will, however, cast spells and give information to the PC’s, if they win her trust, either by proving that they’re from the government, or conventional means. The frost is caused by a “frost monster” living underground. I don’t know what it is, but it’s CR is too high for the PC’s. It has a pet/servant, basically an Azer with the cold (instead of fire) subtype. The “frost demon” found a patch of brown mold, and feeds it fire to make it grow. The mold got so huge that it extended up caverns into the town. The PC’s may fight the (modified) Azer, but they must reason with the “frost demon”. Diedre can cast “endure elements on them”, so they can ignore the brown mold. The children are being kidnapped by (<insert evil organization here>. I’m leaning towards the Order of the Emerald claw). The kidnappers know that the town was situated ontop of numerous manifestation zones, a few years back, and they want to brainwash and control anyone born during that time, as they have great potential. The agent, Thessa, is disguised as one of the arguing men, by means of a hat of disguise. Things I’ve considered adding: 1. Diedre really is surrounded by spies. a. Maybe the OotEC is watching her, maybe another organization. 2. Diedre actually has an agenda of her own. a. She might have nabbed a few children herself, in order to turn into woodlings. b. The spies watching Diedre are actually “the good guys”, and she is under investigation. c. Diedre simply has plans outside of healing the PC’s whenever they ask. 3. Tie in the Dhakanni goblin attack on the train somewhere. 4. Undead! I’m going to get Libris Mortis, and Undead are just fun. a. Maybe the babies killed by the brown mold turn into undead? Think of blue-bodied (from the cold) undead attacking the town. Wait till you hear the screams of the parents! 5. Thessa needs to be fleshed out more. Yeah, so please. Comment away.
xanthus 10-29-04, 01:08 PM	Well it seems like you've got a very strong start on what could build a really complex and on going campaign if you set things up right, various NPCs that reoccur and such. The only suggestions I can give you to this is to figure out what will flesh your NPCs out more (something that you admitted to yourself). I could give you ideas, but I think it'd be more satisfying to you to do it yourself. Just find a way to give your group a nemesis in this, and you should be fine. Ask yourself questions like "Who stands to profit from this?" if you have an organization doing this. Who does your frost demon/cold azer work for? Lords of Dust? If they're making undead, maybe the Blood of Vol/Order of the Emerald Claw? What to they gain from this? Have things reoccur and bite them in the ass if they screw something up. There is a beautiful thing that many PC's forget about: accountability. They are accountable for every action they make, good or bad. Especially in Eberron does this hold true. You've got very formal governments set up in this world. My 2 cp deposit, -X