Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Wasteland Knight 11-27-04, 11:26 AM	Hello. After five years away from DMing, Eberron has inspired me and I've just started running an Eberron campaign with a new group. I'm finding some of my DM skills are a bit rusty, and right now I could really use some ideas for fitting the backstory for one of my players PC into the game. Campaign info - I suppose you could say I'm running the "iconic" Eberron campaign. Started out with the Forgotten Forge and then led into the The Queen with Burning Eyes from Dungeon 113. My group has just started Shadows of the Last War, and I'll eventually use Whispers of the Vampires Blade and Grasp of the Emerald Claw. Character info - the character in question is an Artificer named Magnus. Here is part of the backstory the player provided: "Magnus lost his parents in a lightning Rail crash as child. Strangely, their bodies were never recovered. He was rasied by his uncle who was a merchant dealing primary in antiquities (both magical and mundane). He went missing about a year ago, presumed lost at sea. Little else is known about his disappearance. His uncles's property and funds were seized by his creditors, leaving only a handful of gold for Magnus. Formerly a student at the University in Sharn, he was forced to leave because he could'nt afford the tuition." Two potential adventure hooks are obvious - what happend to his parents, and what happened to his uncle. I suppose it's even possible these two disappearances could be related. So if you were the DM and this character was in your Eberron campaign, what would you do? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
ieattrollsforbreakfast 11-27-04, 11:47 AM	I sense the handy work of House Tarkanan or Thuranni. Perhaps his uncle was heavily in debt from the aberrant house, and could not repay his loan. House Tarkanan was enlisted to teach him a lesson, and so they killed off the characters parents to show his uncle what might happen if he continues to miss payments. They crashed the lighting rail, taking out some other targets at the same time, and took the bodies to remove evidence. The uncle strived to make repayments, and managed to repay quite a large sum by selling off some of his artifacts. However, he remained in debt and inevitably the financial strain became too great. One day, when he was making a routine journey, Tarkanan took care of him. Then, House Tarkanan were able to seize almost all of his assets and left Magus to fend for himself. But it doesn't end there. Tarkanan are still owed, and now seek to turn Magnus' life into a living nightmare in punishment. Plenty of potential for background development there, and it makes a lot of sense. I'd run a few assassin encounters every now and then, though I wouldn't make it clear Magnus was the target. Let the whole party get paranoid ;)
chimpman 11-27-04, 12:38 PM	Neither his parents, nor his uncle are realy dead. The part that is not clear to Magnus (or at least not readily apparent) is that his family members were experts on Xen'drik. Someone, or something, needs his family members to help further their nefarious plots, and the ancient artifacts from the Giant's continent feature prominently. Who could the culprits be? That's the beauty of Eberron... they could be anyone. Here are just a few possibilities: House Cannith - Perhaps Magnus' parents and uncle were in possession of some schema from Xendrik that has something to do with the Day of Mourning. Perhaps his parents were responsible for the Day of Mourning in the first place! Heirs of Dhakaan - The goblinoids are ready to make their move against the rest of the world, and Magnus' family have information about a superweapon that they want (related to House Cannith plot above). House Lyrander - Magnus' parents were working on some new methods of transportation for House Orien, and the half elves got a little antsy. To prevent Orien from gaining another advantage, Magnus' parents were spirited away to some secure location (perhaps Stormhold). His uncle was getting close to the trail, and so Lyrander had to deal with him as well. King Kiaus - There's nothing like a vampire after you. Magnus' uncle had certin artifacts in his possession that would allow Kiaus some advantage over Vol and her cult. However Magnus' uncle was untouchable, so Kiaus went after his parents instead, and used their capture to blackmail him. Finally the uncle went to work for Kiau of his own free will.
markvi58 11-27-04, 12:44 PM	How bout...... The uncle and the parents were once adventurers. They recovered a dangerous artifact from Xen'drik. The artifact is a psionic amplification device that is greatly desired by the Inspired. The parents escape assassins and flee from Sharn. The rail crash was actually a botched attempt to get the artifact, but the parents escaped and are on run. After hiring investigatives to find the parents, the Inspired found the uncle and have possessed him. The uncle later appears as a villian in the campaign. Start sprinkling plot points during the iconic campaign. These points could be little red herrings, or even major clues. If you want to ensure that the campaign doesn't get derailed, don't make any of the clues concrete enough to give the players a location. Perhaps have the parents try to make contact, just to let him know that they are still alive, and will give him more information later. Have the uncle's henchmen try to intercept the message. By the time the players have completed the last of the iconic Eberron modules, have the uncle center stage as the big bad. He's found the parents, and is torturing them to find the artifact. Big battle. Chr's get artifact. Now they have the Inspired in direct pursuit of them. Have Kalashtar after trying to appeal to them to give them the artifact.
Just another user 11-27-04, 12:45 PM	Who were their parents? Maybe his uncle dissappearence is related to his job, maybe he came in possesion of some powerful artefact that someone else wanted (someone big, Vol, the chamber, lords of dust, etc)something apparently normal that is the only thing that his uncle left to him. Or maybe the antiques merchant was just a facade(sp) and his activities were a lot more dangerous, so dangerous that he was forced to fake his death to disappear for a while. Maybe his parent's death are related to this, maybe they were all part of a mysterious organzzation(tm) that opposed an ancient, evil power(tm) and that will contact Magnus in the future.
Wasteland Knight 11-27-04, 02:14 PM	:w00t: Wow! All of these responses are amazing! A lot of great ideas here...so much to ponder... Thanks all for the replies. Anyone else have a different take?
nyysjan 11-27-04, 03:59 PM	in reality Magnus is possessed by a strong demon that time to time takes controll and creates havock and destruction all around him Magnus has no memory or knowledge of the fact
Gurv 11-27-04, 09:11 PM	He doesn't have an uncle, and never did. The antiques, the property and the funds that were 'seized'? All part of the ruse that streches back to the day he was born. For reasons of their own, the dopplegangers believe that the child Magnus is special in some way, visited by the Traveler in the cradle. They made sure that the lightning rail never made it, and they created a persona of an 'uncle' one who was devistated when his 'visiting sister' never made it to the rail station. They provided a life and assets to their plant, who was more than happy to take in the orphaned child. When the doppleganger decided it was time, the uncle vanished, the assets were called back in, and he was sent to do whatever it is that they Traveler fated him to do. Magnus isn't even aware of the conditioning his guardian provided, only that he continues to be quite interested in artifice and exploration.
jesterjeff 11-27-04, 11:06 PM	I like that. As he was growing up his lessons, a few of his old friends, random situations were set up to condition this boy to be a tool of the dopplegangers. The PCs run through the campaign as you set up, slowly Magnus is aware of memories, people he knew that don't exist, others whom he goes to for aid don't remember them.....stories of innocent people, who never did a criminal act in their lives, taking part in horrid crimes and going mad afterwords. After the final moduled campaign arc is finished have Magnus recieve word froman long lost 'aunt' who has information about what happened to his family. The party will be stuck between helping him and becoming paranoid as they uncover that Magnus' life was fabricated and manipulated to alter a series of prophesies that they can't even find. Fear, paranoia, and repressed memories. Reminds me of a friend's mage in a forgotten realms game a few years ago. We met up with him and started adventuring. We got a full rundown of his life as there's always time for a few stories during long journey's. He was from Waterdeep and grew up the nephew of a powerful mage...Had all these found memories of waterdeep. Hell he even talked us into going there for a relaxing break from the whole adventuring hero-for-hire bit. We arrived and he led us to his uncle's home, only it's been a brothel for over 100 yrs, his best friend since childhood, died as a baby. We spent two weeks traveling the city tracing his false history. We ended up hiring a telepath to dig deep and find out what happened. There's nothing else but these memories. not even evidence that he had his mind altered. The game lasted another year as The party swore to find outt what happened. We traveled Faerun(sp) following bits of information we recieved from the telepath. The wizard was a longturn experiment by an Illithid Lich and a band of insane psions who were experimenting with knowledge, a person's belief in self and alignment. They raised a stolen baby to young adulthood teaching him and training him subconciously using hypnotic programming taught him to be a good decent man, gave him the best of all opportunities and at the same time used a secondary personality as an assassin for hire. between jobs the good personality takes over and lives his life, one of their henchmen contact them when a job is proposed and he swaps minds. You ever seen a player in absolute shock? Ever seen a character have a complete mental breakdown? Ever seen a mage disintigrate himself? LOL
Gurv 11-27-04, 11:51 PM	Yep. The more about his past that doesn't make sense, the better. Every minor organization, group, or gentlemens club that ever tutored him or sponsored his activities should be gone. Now, for a completely different approach, perhaps his dead parents have managed to survive as some kind of strange psychic manifestation. They were both asleep at the time of the rail crash, and in the suddeness of death, the part of their minds projected to Dal Quor became completely detached. Now trapped in the dream world, the spirits have wandered, seeking a means to return, or to die. Anything but this non-being. Finding the dreams of the 'uncle', they beg him to do something. After several convincing dreams, he seeks a wise kalashtar and asks for advice. He learns that these things are very rare, but not unknown: the spirits are in grave danger, for should denziens of Dal Quor capture them they face a doom worse than annihalation. Taking the advice of the old kalashtar, the uncle of Magnus has set forth to Reidra, to find the kalashtar mystics that can aid him in extracting the misplaced souls. Naturally, this is a long and dangerous journey, unlikely to succeed and should the Inspired or their allies learn of it, all is lost. Much better to leave his nephew knowing nothing of his parent's fate, or that of his uncle. Unless of course, his nephew follows him.
rc_brooks 11-28-04, 01:36 PM	What race is he?
Wasteland Knight 11-28-04, 03:41 PM	What race is he? Magnus is a male human artificer. Here is a more complete version of his background in case anyone might find it useful: He lost his parents in a Lightning Rail crash as child, thought strangely enough their bodies were never recovered. He was raiseed by his uncle who was a merchant dealing primary in antiquities (both magical and mundane). He went missing about a year ago, presumed lost at sea. Little else is known about his disappearance. His uncles's property and funds were seized by his creditors, leaving only a handful of gold for Magnus. Formerly a student at the University in Sharn, he recently left university because he no longer could afford the tuition. After teaming up with other adventurers, he explored some sewers and ruins for Provost Bonal Geldem at Morgrave University. Magnus is adventurous in spririt and curious about magic. He seeks to make his fortune by recovering lost treasures. He has great respect for the king of Breland and regrets not being old enough to defend his country in the Last War. Magnus is a loyal companion and would risk his life to save the life of a friend. He often thinks out loud when performing a delicate task, such as opening a lock or scribing a scroll. He has a good sense of humor and a positive outlook on life.