Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SirLoin 10-01-04, 09:31 PM	well..here goes very long but involved. Mind you we have not started the campaign yet. The players after having completed the SotLW set up, will retrieve the device which will activate the living forge (yes I said living forge) below sharn which details out the objective of locating a core piece for reactivating the Sharn forge. (they want to reactive it due to either being paid or the fact that an army of warforged are threatening to attack via the mournlands) Crazy Cannith steals an Airship because he is mind controlled by the living forge to get it reassembled and provides the players with a means to travel to Zilargo to get the info to travel to Xen'drik. The players are persued by house Cannith (for stealing an air ship) and by the Emerald claw (for having a device which activated the forge) They must travel to Zilargo to get maps and info on Xen'drik then travel to Xen'drik at which point they are attacked by a dragon that crashes the airship. they must assist the survivors to a safe place upon which time they will find a tribe of humans whom have been repelling the giant's attacks by means of a force field powered by the very item which they seek. The items power however has been waining and it is only a matter of time before the giants break through. In the mean time the players meet up with Dark elves whom have the ability to fly air ships and the tribe (the Wy'Rnn) whom are capable of building air ships and have a storage of a couple of ships to leave the continent. At this point the players must either make friends with the dark elves and the Wy'rnn or abandon them. They can choose to fight the Giants(a long term battle) or leave by way of airship and bring the NPC's with them. Either scenario if the outcome is positive then they will be facing an army or warforged bearing down on certain key locations in their homelands. I have left out minor details concerning the individual players role and certain aspects of classes and what they will discover. but overall how do you all percieve this as a campaign start? The reason they need the forge to be completed is so that warforged can be built to stop the armies of warforged.
Save-vs-DM 10-01-04, 10:13 PM	Okay, let me try and tackle this point by point. The players after having completed the SotLW set up, will retrieve the device which will activate the living forge (yes I said living forge) below sharn which details out the objective of locating a core piece for reactivating the Sharn forge. (they want to reactive it due to either being paid or the fact that an army of warforged are threatening to attack via the mournlands) This is kind of odd, though interesting. It certainly provides a rather unique spin. However, I'd suggest changing it to Merrix d'Cannith. It's much easier to deal with a person than a living machine. Additional Merrix has a lot more capital and allies to use against the PCs than a machine. Crazy Cannith steals an Airship because he is mind controlled by the living forge to get it reassembled and provides the players with a means to travel to Zilargo to get the info to travel to Xen'drik. The players are persued by house Cannith (for stealing an air ship) and by the Emerald claw (for having a device which activated the forge) Okay. The mind control thing is a bit overdone. Why not simply trick him into stealing it? A well worded bluff will work just as well, with much less chance of failing. Better yet kidnap an NPC important to one or more PCs and force them to steal or hire one. What if the PCs simply want to take lightening rail instead? It's nearly as fast and a lot less hassle with the law. Why do they need to find the information in Zilargo? Is it not located in Morgrave University? This point almost seems like an excuse to use an airship. They must travel to Zilargo to get maps and info on Xen'drik then travel to Xen'drik at which point they are attacked by a dragon that crashes the airship. they must assist the survivors to a safe place upon which time they will find a tribe of humans whom have been repelling the giant's attacks by means of a force field powered by the very item which they seek. Why does the dragon attack the airship? Why a dragon and not a giant spellcaster from the camp of Giants? This will tie in the giants sooner. The dragon just seems added as a way to crash the airship. I like the tribe of humans. This leads to plenty of opportunity. Why are they there? Are they the decendants of a lost expidition to Xen'drik pre Last War? Did they leave Sharn after stealing the part of the creation forge? Were they exiled for their crime? I really like the moral delimena with the item powering the shield protecting them from the giants. This should lead to plenty of good roleplaying. The items power however has been waining and it is only a matter of time before the giants break through. In the mean time the players meet up with Dark elves whom have the ability to fly air ships and the tribe (the Wy'Rnn) whom are capable of building air ships and have a storage of a couple of ships to leave the continent. At this point the players must either make friends with the dark elves and the Wy'rnn or abandon them. They can choose to fight the Giants(a long term battle) or leave by way of airship and bring the NPC's with them. Either scenario if the outcome is positive then they will be facing an army or warforged bearing down on certain key locations in their homelands. The tribe of dark elves is also a good point. However, the airship thing just seems way out there to me. I would suggest changing it to sailing ships. Giving them the ability to power airships brings in a huge conflict with House Lyandar (which might lead to some intersting roleplay later one). Where did these warforged come from? How do they know where to attack the PCs and why are they attacking them? What happened to the Emerald Claw. Wouldn't warforged want another creation forge to be active, as a means of continuing their race? Don't take these questions too badly. I think you have a good idea going. I've stated suggestiosn and questions as a means to help you figure out some parts of this. It sounds like a lot of fun, but there are some holes and inconsistancies that need to be accounted for. Hope this helps! Cheers, Save vs DM
SirLoin 10-02-04, 09:19 AM	I really appreciate the feedback. Very constructive and very helpful. I really have noone else to share this with for constructive criticism except my players and that would kinda ruin it. Last night hada few beers and my notes were at work, so I may have left out some details. I see what you mean about the airship. I was a little excessive. The one thing I did not explain which I was trying to accomplish is that one of the character's goals is to own/pilot airships and I thought it would be a nice way to introduce the group to them as well. My plan for the forge is so that Merrix (thank you, I call him crazy) can produce an army of warforged to fight the army coming out of the mournlands. I titled my campaign, Children of the Forge, in that I percieve the Forges as living psionic beings. Basically the one in the mournlands is at war with the one below sharn and is using the humans as pawns, and their created warforged as battle pieces. The artificer in the group will feel an afinity with it as well, he will be asked by the forge to help it live and produce life. As for Zilargo, one of the players is a gnome cleric from Zilargo and I thought it would be a good way to use his contacts and resources to help the group on the mission. I like the Giant sorcerer attacking the ship as well, that will give the players a reason to hate the giants. The humans have lived there for a hundred years. They left khorvaire at the beginning of the war to find a peaceful existance. Yes they stole the shard in hope of preventing the war / warforged (my timeframe may be off a bit). They created a means of harnessing its power to generate the shield. The paladin in the group is from this tribe, they sent him "through" the shard to get help in desperation. He suffered a mild amnesia and will slowly recall all of this. The crazy part is that they sent him through the shard 80 years ago, yet he is only a young adult. The humans have been unable to leave due to the dogged persuit of the giants and all attempt have thus far failed. The only device they have in which to leave or power something to leave is the shard itself which they are using to power the shield. They have since lost all sailing knowledge. I like the sailing vessle idea as well. One of the players is from the Lhazaar pricipalities, and instead of the Dark Elves having airship knowledge I could substitute it with seafaring. When the party returns they will continue to be persued by the Emerald claw. But now the Emerald claw will have more of a reason, that is to create an army of their own (we can't let this fall into the wrong hands theme) Upon returning they will have a wide variety of options. 1. They will either have a large force in which to fight with them including dark elves and humans (my way of introducing followers to the party). 2. Start creating and training warforged. (more followers) 3. Know the weakness of the other forge (if they think of this). etc... There is some more stuff pertaining to the warforged monk I have in the group finding an ancient tomb of the Serens and their martial art form. Them finding a book from the 'steal this idea' section that will help them track the armies progess on Khorvaire. One of the players is a Psi-blade type and will be persued by the Inspired. I have an additional sub-plot for future use of the elementals beginning to free their brotheren from the human enslavement. The emergance of new dragonmarks, and marks thought lost. And all eventually converging into a major plot with freeing daelkyr and some lords of dust etc, etc, etc....but that is all for higher level and future reference.
Save-vs-DM 10-03-04, 04:20 AM	It sounds like you have a good, unique idea going for a campaign. I really can't find anything wrong with it. A lot of mystery, and it sounds like every thing makes sense. Glad I was of some limited help, but it seems like you have a pretty good bead on things. Your psionic forges bring up some cool ideas, like one: maybe warforged get thier "souls" from Dal Quor or Dolurrh? Another question: why are the forges waring? A good question to ask, maybe the players can get them to stop. Cheers, Save vs DM