[Emergency] I need an idea for a low level group adventure [Archive] - Wizards Community

[Emergency] I need an idea for a low level group adventure [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
iyaille
08-02-07, 02:22 PM I'm going to begin an Eberron campaign on next monday (or tuesday) and i have a lack of idea for the first scenario...

I want the PC to meet the Lord of Blades later (core of the campaign) but i think it's better that they get a first experience in Eberron.

It will be a full Warforged campaign (maybe a human linked to Merrix d'Cannith). One or more has been created by the Merrix' secret Forge.

The starting level is 1d4-1.

I cannot run the 'Forgotten forge' at the end of the campaign setting because one player knows it.

I think the campaign will start in the Sharn's Cogs because of the proximity of Merrix and the Warforged community.

What else? thanks for your help and sorry for my language, i'm not from an English-speaking country :)
Amaril
08-02-07, 03:01 PM Hmmm... Why not take the entire schema adventure path, starting with Forgotten Forge, and run it with the party being hired by an unknown patron to run against an NPC adventuring party that was hired by Elaydren running through the Forgotten Forge and the rest of the adventures. Decide for yourself who you'd like the patron to be (perhaps Merrix or a member of the Dreaming Dark or the Chamber).

Actually, you could just start with Shadows of the Last War. The entire adventure path has plenty of elements associated with Cannith, Merrix, and The Lord of Blades and could easily lead up to your core campaign.

Alternatively, start them with one of the later adventures picking up where the NPC party left off, or bump them up to 5th-level and run Eyes of the Lich Queen.
Belkar
08-03-07, 10:36 AM I think a good questions to ask is: how did they all meet to begin with? This will lead into things...

If they're all warforged or wf sympathizers... did they serve together in the war? Maybe in the same unit? A group of warforged commandos and their mercenary Cannith artificer? Just thoughts...

Perhaps they find themselves in Sharn after the war, and get drawn to a rally in the cogs by warforged assemblers, rallying for the rights of warforged? Or perhaps they're drawn to an anti-warforged rally by other warforged protesters there to stand against the assembled breathers? (more likely)

In the midst of the potential mob brawl that would likely ensue (great for a low level encounter... lots of unarmed commoners...) perhaps Lord of Blades agents show up to crash the party, either protecting the warforged already there or taking a terrorist action to the assembled "fleshies?"

Either way, the PC's can side with them, or can be aghast at the violence - perhaps realizing it might cause more problems than it would solve - and work against them. All depending on what the PC's want to do, of course.

Throw in the City Watch, some mob leaders with a class level or two... and you got a nice encounter with a dozen directions it could go in.

Maybe the party decides to side with the LoB and his crew, ending up in the Mournland, raiding breather territory for warforged rights. Maybe they quell the violence in Sharn and are honored by the city for acts of patriotic citizenship, then are tapped by the Citadel to work against the LoB (after all, who better than other wf?).
naturax
08-03-07, 10:53 AM Here you go:

Councilor Nolan Toranak’s bill "The Plan for Warforged Re-Education" is slated to be read before the Sharn Council tomorrow. In response to this, warforged led by a charismatic crusader for warforged rights known as Vayne have been marching in protest. Although tensions throughout the city are running high, things go peacefully. Until nightfall. Without warning thousands of goblins and other residents of the Cogs pour into Cogsgate and begin looting and burning. Simultaneously Daask assault forces led by trolls, harpies and medusas strike against Boromar holdings in half a dozen locations, including the residence of Caskar Halavik. Lord Commander Iyan ir'Talan orders the Sharn Watch, already spread thin, to retreat from the lower wards and protect Sharn’s wealthier citizens. Those that have been abandoned by the Watch begin to riot. An emergency council session is called in order to authorize an emergency contract for Deneith mercenaries to restore order. In the midst of this confusion, Merrix d’Cannith goes missing. Sharn burns. When the Ring of Siberys begins shining tomorrow morning, who in Sharn will have twisted the situation to their benefit?

What the players soon realize is that a Prophet of the Lord of Blades, Talis (who is a powerful enchanter) has tricked the Daask into attacking the Boromar Clan and start a riot to provide a distraction so that he can lead an army composed of Sharn's warforged (gathered from the Cogs and similarly enchanted to follow along) so that Talis can seize Merrix's secret creation forge. This starts a chain reaction of events that, well, can go any direction you like.
Koesherbacon
08-03-07, 11:50 AM A kobold steals somebody's shoe.

The adventurers are requested to find the shoe and show the kobold what-for.

**********

But in all seriousness, you'll want to do something with intrigue and action. Maybe the group has been hired but an unnamed private investor to break into a House Kundarak and steal an important family heirloom he not longer has access to for one reason or another.

What the players don't know, is they are walking into a Changeling's trap, who has killed the entire family who are the rightful owners of the heirloom. Naturally, the heirloom is a powerful docent he's going to implant in a Warforged friend of his, which will augment him into a very powerful being.

Then you can easily run into the Lord of the Blades somewhere along the lines, and in doing so, find that the Warforged with the docent has become his second-in-command, and the Changeling is nowhere to be found.

What do you think?
Hopeless
08-03-07, 03:08 PM I'm going to begin an Eberron campaign on next monday (or tuesday) and i have a lack of idea for the first scenario...
I want the PC to meet the Lord of Blades later (core of the campaign) but i think it's better that they get a first experience in Eberron.
It will be a full Warforged campaign (maybe a human linked to Merrix d'Cannith). One or more has been created by the Merrix' secret Forge.
The starting level is 1d4-1.
I cannot run the 'Forgotten forge' at the end of the campaign setting because one player knows it.
I think the campaign will start in the Sharn's Cogs because of the proximity of Merrix and the Warforged community.
What else? thanks for your help and sorry for my language, i'm not from an English-speaking country :)

How about inverting it?

Your party finds the body of a warforged that has apparently been attacked and then seemingly tossed over the edge of another walkway above.
Holding what appears to be a tome it barely manages to mutter,

"Keep it out of their hands or they'll restart the war..."

If there's an artificer in the party then they can restore the warforged but its suffered amnesia as a result of the injuries it sustained however the group finds itself being stalked at first by a small group of goblins led by a half orc with the finding dragonmark and eventually the pcs meet a shadowy figure who becomes their first patron.

This leads to them having to flee their lodgings and accompanied by their new patron he leads them into Sharn's sewers to locate the Cannith ruin depicted in the tome that he as bearer of a dragonmark of making can read.
(This works better if one of the party is of House Cannith though and have them learn the tome works only for a member of their house and it tells of a long forgotten forge in the depths of Sharn).

Now however someone else has learned of their mission and is intent on stealing it for themselves however what they find out will reveal the location of another ruin this one within the Mournlands itself...

Plot device: The warforged is the agent that kills the prof in the forgotten forge adventure, however suffering amnesia it knows the tome is important but not to whom or what and this will lead to it discovering its true past and this works best if the warforged is played as a pc...

The other party doesn't have to consist of mercs hired by a rival artificer, but what if elements of the other nations learned of the discovery of that tome?

What if when it was taken it was being taken to an auction for whoever bid the most and it wasn't the warforged that killed the prof but rather another bidder with the warforged managing to recover the tome before falling off the walkway after being hit trying to keep it out of their hands as their sources suspect it involves an artefact that allows all warforged to be controlled stripping them of their sentience, rather good way to explain why its so important of course its up to you to decide who's the true villain...
Nightshade
08-03-07, 06:13 PM Forgotten Forge is actually quite a good start. One of my players had read it before too. But that need not ruin the game if you warn that player beforehand that he is not to tell anyone else anything about it. He is to play in character. And if he fails, it will cost him by a reduced XP amount at the end of the adventure.
Koesherbacon
08-03-07, 10:41 PM Or to be uninvited to play again
;)
shadowpavement
08-04-07, 08:29 AM I like starting a new game with new players with a little adventure that someone posted on the boards here called "all roads lead to sharn" The basic idea is that the PC's and and NPC of house Canith are in a Orien carage from Wroat (I usualy use 1st tower as a starting point) to sharn. On the way their house Orien driver is killed by a warforged minion of the Lord of blades who hijacks the carage and starts turning it around. The PC's then have a rousing fight on the top of the Carage in the pouring rain at night in a lightening storm.

I like it since it's simple and straighforward. It gets people into the mood of the type of combat they can expect in the world of Eberron and when it's all done the PC's end up in Sharn. It's kind of nice to describe the aproach to sharn and how impressive it is if the players have never played eberon before.

If you're interested in it just shoot me a private mesage with your e-mail and I can send you the file.
iyaille
08-04-07, 09:16 AM Or to be uninvited to play again
;)

I have a lack of player (only 3) so i d'ont think it's the best idea :)

However, lots of your ideas are very good. I think i'll begin with 'all roads lead to Sharn'.

Then, the continuation depends of the PC's but i'm going to lead them to the Cogs.
Koesherbacon
08-04-07, 11:08 AM An easy solution to get them into the Cogs could be to have them poisoned/knocked out by somebody and dragged and left for dead in the Cogs.

Just something to think about.

Where are you from, dude?
iyaille
08-04-07, 11:31 AM I'm from France. Here, only the ECS and StCoT have been translated into french... English is an interesting tool :)

I have not received the file from shadowpavement but i was thinking that the memeber of house Cannith who travels with the PC's could find them a job in the Cogs.
Koesherbacon
08-04-07, 12:35 PM Wow, I wonder why they're not all translated into French. I bet a translator could make some good money translating all the DND books into all different languages!

If nothing else, I bet that would be a wonderful project for language majors at colleges to do as their final projects!

In my experience getting adventurers to make their way into The Cogs is never a problem. The promise of lost and forgotten treasure is always a great lure :)

My acronyms are not very good, what's StCoT stand for?
iyaille
08-04-07, 07:20 PM StCoT ?

Sharn the City of Towers
Koesherbacon
08-04-07, 09:06 PM Doh!

*Embarrassed*

Thanks!
PlaDeDump
08-08-07, 10:46 AM I think using ideas from articles in the Sharn Inquisitive to make short adventures may be a good path to take. I always get good ideas for short adventures from using it's articles.

Here's a link to the archive:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/si

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
iyaille 08-02-07, 02:22 PM	I'm going to begin an Eberron campaign on next monday (or tuesday) and i have a lack of idea for the first scenario... I want the PC to meet the Lord of Blades later (core of the campaign) but i think it's better that they get a first experience in Eberron. It will be a full Warforged campaign (maybe a human linked to Merrix d'Cannith). One or more has been created by the Merrix' secret Forge. The starting level is 1d4-1. I cannot run the 'Forgotten forge' at the end of the campaign setting because one player knows it. I think the campaign will start in the Sharn's Cogs because of the proximity of Merrix and the Warforged community. What else? thanks for your help and sorry for my language, i'm not from an English-speaking country :)
Amaril 08-02-07, 03:01 PM	Hmmm... Why not take the entire schema adventure path, starting with Forgotten Forge, and run it with the party being hired by an unknown patron to run against an NPC adventuring party that was hired by Elaydren running through the Forgotten Forge and the rest of the adventures. Decide for yourself who you'd like the patron to be (perhaps Merrix or a member of the Dreaming Dark or the Chamber). Actually, you could just start with Shadows of the Last War. The entire adventure path has plenty of elements associated with Cannith, Merrix, and The Lord of Blades and could easily lead up to your core campaign. Alternatively, start them with one of the later adventures picking up where the NPC party left off, or bump them up to 5th-level and run Eyes of the Lich Queen.
Belkar 08-03-07, 10:36 AM	I think a good questions to ask is: how did they all meet to begin with? This will lead into things... If they're all warforged or wf sympathizers... did they serve together in the war? Maybe in the same unit? A group of warforged commandos and their mercenary Cannith artificer? Just thoughts... Perhaps they find themselves in Sharn after the war, and get drawn to a rally in the cogs by warforged assemblers, rallying for the rights of warforged? Or perhaps they're drawn to an anti-warforged rally by other warforged protesters there to stand against the assembled breathers? (more likely) In the midst of the potential mob brawl that would likely ensue (great for a low level encounter... lots of unarmed commoners...) perhaps Lord of Blades agents show up to crash the party, either protecting the warforged already there or taking a terrorist action to the assembled "fleshies?" Either way, the PC's can side with them, or can be aghast at the violence - perhaps realizing it might cause more problems than it would solve - and work against them. All depending on what the PC's want to do, of course. Throw in the City Watch, some mob leaders with a class level or two... and you got a nice encounter with a dozen directions it could go in. Maybe the party decides to side with the LoB and his crew, ending up in the Mournland, raiding breather territory for warforged rights. Maybe they quell the violence in Sharn and are honored by the city for acts of patriotic citizenship, then are tapped by the Citadel to work against the LoB (after all, who better than other wf?).
naturax 08-03-07, 10:53 AM	Here you go: Councilor Nolan Toranak’s bill "The Plan for Warforged Re-Education" is slated to be read before the Sharn Council tomorrow. In response to this, warforged led by a charismatic crusader for warforged rights known as Vayne have been marching in protest. Although tensions throughout the city are running high, things go peacefully. Until nightfall. Without warning thousands of goblins and other residents of the Cogs pour into Cogsgate and begin looting and burning. Simultaneously Daask assault forces led by trolls, harpies and medusas strike against Boromar holdings in half a dozen locations, including the residence of Caskar Halavik. Lord Commander Iyan ir'Talan orders the Sharn Watch, already spread thin, to retreat from the lower wards and protect Sharn’s wealthier citizens. Those that have been abandoned by the Watch begin to riot. An emergency council session is called in order to authorize an emergency contract for Deneith mercenaries to restore order. In the midst of this confusion, Merrix d’Cannith goes missing. Sharn burns. When the Ring of Siberys begins shining tomorrow morning, who in Sharn will have twisted the situation to their benefit? What the players soon realize is that a Prophet of the Lord of Blades, Talis (who is a powerful enchanter) has tricked the Daask into attacking the Boromar Clan and start a riot to provide a distraction so that he can lead an army composed of Sharn's warforged (gathered from the Cogs and similarly enchanted to follow along) so that Talis can seize Merrix's secret creation forge. This starts a chain reaction of events that, well, can go any direction you like.
Koesherbacon 08-03-07, 11:50 AM	A kobold steals somebody's shoe. The adventurers are requested to find the shoe and show the kobold what-for. ********** But in all seriousness, you'll want to do something with intrigue and action. Maybe the group has been hired but an unnamed private investor to break into a House Kundarak and steal an important family heirloom he not longer has access to for one reason or another. What the players don't know, is they are walking into a Changeling's trap, who has killed the entire family who are the rightful owners of the heirloom. Naturally, the heirloom is a powerful docent he's going to implant in a Warforged friend of his, which will augment him into a very powerful being. Then you can easily run into the Lord of the Blades somewhere along the lines, and in doing so, find that the Warforged with the docent has become his second-in-command, and the Changeling is nowhere to be found. What do you think?
Hopeless 08-03-07, 03:08 PM	I'm going to begin an Eberron campaign on next monday (or tuesday) and i have a lack of idea for the first scenario... I want the PC to meet the Lord of Blades later (core of the campaign) but i think it's better that they get a first experience in Eberron. It will be a full Warforged campaign (maybe a human linked to Merrix d'Cannith). One or more has been created by the Merrix' secret Forge. The starting level is 1d4-1. I cannot run the 'Forgotten forge' at the end of the campaign setting because one player knows it. I think the campaign will start in the Sharn's Cogs because of the proximity of Merrix and the Warforged community. What else? thanks for your help and sorry for my language, i'm not from an English-speaking country :) How about inverting it? Your party finds the body of a warforged that has apparently been attacked and then seemingly tossed over the edge of another walkway above. Holding what appears to be a tome it barely manages to mutter, "Keep it out of their hands or they'll restart the war..." If there's an artificer in the party then they can restore the warforged but its suffered amnesia as a result of the injuries it sustained however the group finds itself being stalked at first by a small group of goblins led by a half orc with the finding dragonmark and eventually the pcs meet a shadowy figure who becomes their first patron. This leads to them having to flee their lodgings and accompanied by their new patron he leads them into Sharn's sewers to locate the Cannith ruin depicted in the tome that he as bearer of a dragonmark of making can read. (This works better if one of the party is of House Cannith though and have them learn the tome works only for a member of their house and it tells of a long forgotten forge in the depths of Sharn). Now however someone else has learned of their mission and is intent on stealing it for themselves however what they find out will reveal the location of another ruin this one within the Mournlands itself... Plot device: The warforged is the agent that kills the prof in the forgotten forge adventure, however suffering amnesia it knows the tome is important but not to whom or what and this will lead to it discovering its true past and this works best if the warforged is played as a pc... The other party doesn't have to consist of mercs hired by a rival artificer, but what if elements of the other nations learned of the discovery of that tome? What if when it was taken it was being taken to an auction for whoever bid the most and it wasn't the warforged that killed the prof but rather another bidder with the warforged managing to recover the tome before falling off the walkway after being hit trying to keep it out of their hands as their sources suspect it involves an artefact that allows all warforged to be controlled stripping them of their sentience, rather good way to explain why its so important of course its up to you to decide who's the true villain...
Nightshade 08-03-07, 06:13 PM	Forgotten Forge is actually quite a good start. One of my players had read it before too. But that need not ruin the game if you warn that player beforehand that he is not to tell anyone else anything about it. He is to play in character. And if he fails, it will cost him by a reduced XP amount at the end of the adventure.
Koesherbacon 08-03-07, 10:41 PM	Or to be uninvited to play again ;)
shadowpavement 08-04-07, 08:29 AM	I like starting a new game with new players with a little adventure that someone posted on the boards here called "all roads lead to sharn" The basic idea is that the PC's and and NPC of house Canith are in a Orien carage from Wroat (I usualy use 1st tower as a starting point) to sharn. On the way their house Orien driver is killed by a warforged minion of the Lord of blades who hijacks the carage and starts turning it around. The PC's then have a rousing fight on the top of the Carage in the pouring rain at night in a lightening storm. I like it since it's simple and straighforward. It gets people into the mood of the type of combat they can expect in the world of Eberron and when it's all done the PC's end up in Sharn. It's kind of nice to describe the aproach to sharn and how impressive it is if the players have never played eberon before. If you're interested in it just shoot me a private mesage with your e-mail and I can send you the file.
iyaille 08-04-07, 09:16 AM	Or to be uninvited to play again ;) I have a lack of player (only 3) so i d'ont think it's the best idea :) However, lots of your ideas are very good. I think i'll begin with 'all roads lead to Sharn'. Then, the continuation depends of the PC's but i'm going to lead them to the Cogs.
Koesherbacon 08-04-07, 11:08 AM	An easy solution to get them into the Cogs could be to have them poisoned/knocked out by somebody and dragged and left for dead in the Cogs. Just something to think about. Where are you from, dude?
iyaille 08-04-07, 11:31 AM	I'm from France. Here, only the ECS and StCoT have been translated into french... English is an interesting tool :) I have not received the file from shadowpavement but i was thinking that the memeber of house Cannith who travels with the PC's could find them a job in the Cogs.
Koesherbacon 08-04-07, 12:35 PM	Wow, I wonder why they're not all translated into French. I bet a translator could make some good money translating all the DND books into all different languages! If nothing else, I bet that would be a wonderful project for language majors at colleges to do as their final projects! In my experience getting adventurers to make their way into The Cogs is never a problem. The promise of lost and forgotten treasure is always a great lure :) My acronyms are not very good, what's StCoT stand for?
iyaille 08-04-07, 07:20 PM	StCoT ? Sharn the City of Towers
Koesherbacon 08-04-07, 09:06 PM	Doh! Embarrassed Thanks!
PlaDeDump 08-08-07, 10:46 AM	I think using ideas from articles in the Sharn Inquisitive to make short adventures may be a good path to take. I always get good ideas for short adventures from using it's articles. Here's a link to the archive: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/archeb/si