Eberron Campaign in need of help!!! LONG INTRO [Archive] - Wizards Community

Eberron Campaign in need of help!!! LONG INTRO [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Warforged_Pierce
01-14-07, 04:25 PM Okay so this last friday i started an eberron campaign after getting fed up with the other campaigns my group was running. most of these campaigns had an insane amount of railroading and super powered NPC's to control the DM's wishes .

My campaign started off with only two of the players since the rest were busy at the time the campaign started, but it goes like this. The player's are fighting in the last war. unknown to them however they are fighting on the very day of the mourning. i allowed the players to pick their own nation to fight for and depending on the nation chose where they fought in the last war. basically it was a fight between cyre and breland across a gorge both nations seeking to take control of a bridge. one player chose breland and the other cyre. however this gorge they were fighting in also held a ruin at one end of the gorge it looked like a ancient stone gate something that perhaps only giants would build. so cyre has aundair mages & cannith warforged helping them out and breland has some karnethi skeletons and lyrander airships helping them out. well the battle was a little long so ill cut it down. it basically ended in both sides not gaining ground and a airship slamming into the ruin gate. well thats when the players hear a great moan come from the gate but everyone kinda passes it off as the airship making that noise. so they fight for a little bit and the rogue laid out explosive bottles of oil along the bridge to blow it. well by the time the bridge is blown cyre is basically cut off to help the rogue player character and breland is retreating because there is still one airship left in the sky. suddenly the gates open and inside is a old rusted giant warforge with magic lines etched all over it . basically both armies are now retreating and the said player characters take down the behemoth as its falling apart they basically pass out when the mourning cataclysm hits their location. when they come to they realize they're in on the border of cyre dead grey mist actually touching their feet they venture in a ways to see a wasteland before them and head back out and come across a band of traveling merchants that say that cyre is gone and they dont know what caused it. as a note players condition makes it seem like they've been fighting for weeks they have cuts and wounds they didnt have when they defeated the monster and none of them can remember how they got out of cyre. after that the campaign takes place 2 years later in sharn.

So my question is how do i catch up the other players and where do i go to from here?
Alex_
01-14-07, 06:18 PM Okay so this last friday i started an eberron campaign after getting fed up with the other campaigns my group was running. most of these campaigns had an insane amount of railroading and super powered NPC's to control the DM's wishes .

My campaign started off with only two of the players since the rest were busy at the time the campaign started, but it goes like this. The player's are fighting in the last war. unknown to them however they are fighting on the very day of the mourning. i allowed the players to pick their own nation to fight for and depending on the nation chose where they fought in the last war. basically it was a fight between cyre and breland across a gorge both nations seeking to take control of a bridge. one player chose breland and the other cyre. however this gorge they were fighting in also held a ruin at one end of the gorge it looked like a ancient stone gate something that perhaps only giants would build. so cyre has aundair mages & cannith warforged helping them out and breland has some karnethi skeletons and lyrander airships helping them out. well the battle was a little long so ill cut it down. it basically ended in both sides not gaining ground and a airship slamming into the ruin gate. well thats when the players hear a great moan come from the gate but everyone kinda passes it off as the airship making that noise. so they fight for a little bit and the rogue laid out explosive bottles of oil along the bridge to blow it. well by the time the bridge is blown cyre is basically cut off to help the rogue player character and breland is retreating because there is still one airship left in the sky. suddenly the gates open and inside is a old rusted giant warforge with magic lines etched all over it . basically both armies are now retreating and the said player characters take down the behemoth as its falling apart they basically pass out when the mourning cataclysm hits their location. when they come to they realize they're in on the border of cyre dead grey mist actually touching their feet they venture in a ways to see a wasteland before them and head back out and come across a band of traveling merchants that say that cyre is gone and they dont know what caused it. as a note players condition makes it seem like they've been fighting for weeks they have cuts and wounds they didnt have when they defeated the monster and none of them can remember how they got out of cyre. after that the campaign takes place 2 years later in sharn.

So my question is how do i catch up the other players and where do i go to from here?

What you have is 2 players who have their own subplot. Allow your other players to have subplots about what they did during the war, even if it has nothing to do with the first 2 players.

Rather than try to select a single player's background and make it the center of a campaign, come up with a more neutral adventure, and over the course, explore the backgorund of each character in some way. For example, on a trip to Xendrik, your 2 players may meet an Extreme Explorer who remembers them (he saved them) and asks for help with a brief expedition into the jungle as "compensation".
Warforged_Pierce
01-14-07, 10:22 PM Great Idea. so you're saying i should possibly have the other characters take their own mini plot in the last war ... they all then somehow end up in sharn but how do i get them all to party up then? i know i can use the hooks for each character later on but i need to get the party toghether in some form of circumstance.
Alex_
01-14-07, 10:51 PM To begin with, I wopuld suggest that when starting ANY campaign, you gather your PCs together and describe what kind of campaign you want, and let them brainstorm together when creating characters. This helps you avoid things like lack of a Cleric for undead heavy campaigns, or someone deciding to play a dinosaur riding Halfling in a more political and indoorsy story.

Then there are professions related to adventuring. There are businesses for assassins, bounty hunters, treasure hunters, bodygaurds, and other related occupations. It doesn't matter what your background is. You can act as if the PCs are already a member of one of these organizations and their "agent" has just hooked them up with a job in which they'll need to work together. Or they could be running or just forming their own business and be out looking for a job.

Also, use patrons. Eccentric nobles, college professors obsessed with history, members of Dragon marked houses, etc. There are lots of people in high places of Eberron that need work done but don't want to go through "official" channels to get it. Who better to do the job for them than a bunch of capable, yet totally in the dark, individuals? If they get caught or fail, the Patron can deny any involvement. If they succeed, the Patron may keep this in mind and request them for further actions. of course the Patron never reveals the full story or motivations, but they will give enough useful info to the PCs for them to get the job done.

Patrons will be your best bet. They can act as psuedo-authority figures. They can refuse to pay in full if the PCs end up killing an informant instead of just capturing them. They can refuse to work with a group of PCs altogether if the PCs start squabbling so much amongst themselves that it looks like the group might fall apart. Or after a few jobs, the Patron can reveal to the PCs that they're in too deep, and to back out now means that they'll have to be "dealt with".

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Warforged_Pierce 01-14-07, 04:25 PM	Okay so this last friday i started an eberron campaign after getting fed up with the other campaigns my group was running. most of these campaigns had an insane amount of railroading and super powered NPC's to control the DM's wishes . My campaign started off with only two of the players since the rest were busy at the time the campaign started, but it goes like this. The player's are fighting in the last war. unknown to them however they are fighting on the very day of the mourning. i allowed the players to pick their own nation to fight for and depending on the nation chose where they fought in the last war. basically it was a fight between cyre and breland across a gorge both nations seeking to take control of a bridge. one player chose breland and the other cyre. however this gorge they were fighting in also held a ruin at one end of the gorge it looked like a ancient stone gate something that perhaps only giants would build. so cyre has aundair mages & cannith warforged helping them out and breland has some karnethi skeletons and lyrander airships helping them out. well the battle was a little long so ill cut it down. it basically ended in both sides not gaining ground and a airship slamming into the ruin gate. well thats when the players hear a great moan come from the gate but everyone kinda passes it off as the airship making that noise. so they fight for a little bit and the rogue laid out explosive bottles of oil along the bridge to blow it. well by the time the bridge is blown cyre is basically cut off to help the rogue player character and breland is retreating because there is still one airship left in the sky. suddenly the gates open and inside is a old rusted giant warforge with magic lines etched all over it . basically both armies are now retreating and the said player characters take down the behemoth as its falling apart they basically pass out when the mourning cataclysm hits their location. when they come to they realize they're in on the border of cyre dead grey mist actually touching their feet they venture in a ways to see a wasteland before them and head back out and come across a band of traveling merchants that say that cyre is gone and they dont know what caused it. as a note players condition makes it seem like they've been fighting for weeks they have cuts and wounds they didnt have when they defeated the monster and none of them can remember how they got out of cyre. after that the campaign takes place 2 years later in sharn. So my question is how do i catch up the other players and where do i go to from here?
Alex_ 01-14-07, 06:18 PM	Okay so this last friday i started an eberron campaign after getting fed up with the other campaigns my group was running. most of these campaigns had an insane amount of railroading and super powered NPC's to control the DM's wishes . My campaign started off with only two of the players since the rest were busy at the time the campaign started, but it goes like this. The player's are fighting in the last war. unknown to them however they are fighting on the very day of the mourning. i allowed the players to pick their own nation to fight for and depending on the nation chose where they fought in the last war. basically it was a fight between cyre and breland across a gorge both nations seeking to take control of a bridge. one player chose breland and the other cyre. however this gorge they were fighting in also held a ruin at one end of the gorge it looked like a ancient stone gate something that perhaps only giants would build. so cyre has aundair mages & cannith warforged helping them out and breland has some karnethi skeletons and lyrander airships helping them out. well the battle was a little long so ill cut it down. it basically ended in both sides not gaining ground and a airship slamming into the ruin gate. well thats when the players hear a great moan come from the gate but everyone kinda passes it off as the airship making that noise. so they fight for a little bit and the rogue laid out explosive bottles of oil along the bridge to blow it. well by the time the bridge is blown cyre is basically cut off to help the rogue player character and breland is retreating because there is still one airship left in the sky. suddenly the gates open and inside is a old rusted giant warforge with magic lines etched all over it . basically both armies are now retreating and the said player characters take down the behemoth as its falling apart they basically pass out when the mourning cataclysm hits their location. when they come to they realize they're in on the border of cyre dead grey mist actually touching their feet they venture in a ways to see a wasteland before them and head back out and come across a band of traveling merchants that say that cyre is gone and they dont know what caused it. as a note players condition makes it seem like they've been fighting for weeks they have cuts and wounds they didnt have when they defeated the monster and none of them can remember how they got out of cyre. after that the campaign takes place 2 years later in sharn. So my question is how do i catch up the other players and where do i go to from here? What you have is 2 players who have their own subplot. Allow your other players to have subplots about what they did during the war, even if it has nothing to do with the first 2 players. Rather than try to select a single player's background and make it the center of a campaign, come up with a more neutral adventure, and over the course, explore the backgorund of each character in some way. For example, on a trip to Xendrik, your 2 players may meet an Extreme Explorer who remembers them (he saved them) and asks for help with a brief expedition into the jungle as "compensation".
Warforged_Pierce 01-14-07, 10:22 PM	Great Idea. so you're saying i should possibly have the other characters take their own mini plot in the last war ... they all then somehow end up in sharn but how do i get them all to party up then? i know i can use the hooks for each character later on but i need to get the party toghether in some form of circumstance.
Alex_ 01-14-07, 10:51 PM	To begin with, I wopuld suggest that when starting ANY campaign, you gather your PCs together and describe what kind of campaign you want, and let them brainstorm together when creating characters. This helps you avoid things like lack of a Cleric for undead heavy campaigns, or someone deciding to play a dinosaur riding Halfling in a more political and indoorsy story. Then there are professions related to adventuring. There are businesses for assassins, bounty hunters, treasure hunters, bodygaurds, and other related occupations. It doesn't matter what your background is. You can act as if the PCs are already a member of one of these organizations and their "agent" has just hooked them up with a job in which they'll need to work together. Or they could be running or just forming their own business and be out looking for a job. Also, use patrons. Eccentric nobles, college professors obsessed with history, members of Dragon marked houses, etc. There are lots of people in high places of Eberron that need work done but don't want to go through "official" channels to get it. Who better to do the job for them than a bunch of capable, yet totally in the dark, individuals? If they get caught or fail, the Patron can deny any involvement. If they succeed, the Patron may keep this in mind and request them for further actions. of course the Patron never reveals the full story or motivations, but they will give enough useful info to the PCs for them to get the job done. Patrons will be your best bet. They can act as psuedo-authority figures. They can refuse to pay in full if the PCs end up killing an informant instead of just capturing them. They can refuse to work with a group of PCs altogether if the PCs start squabbling so much amongst themselves that it looks like the group might fall apart. Or after a few jobs, the Patron can reveal to the PCs that they're in too deep, and to back out now means that they'll have to be "dealt with".