Intrigue and Espionage (campaign help) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Intrigue and Espionage (campaign help) [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Karadur
02-09-06, 09:07 AM Ok I've been DMing for a good while now (2-3yrs) but something new has come up in our group; the players and I decided to do less hack-n-slash and more role playing, specifically an intrigue campaign set in Eberron.

The characters (kind of generic probably but we're both new to Eberron and this style of play)
Corith dMedani- Male Half Elf Urban Ranger, LE, Least Dragon Mark of Detection (House Medani(intends to at least have a greater Dragon Mark), with a long term goal of being a high ranking member within the house, hopefully at least having control over the Warning Guild. May take levels in the 'Watch Detective' from Masters of the Wild). For some reason that he hasn't worked out in his background well(help maybe?) he has a strong dislike (favored enemy) for goblinoids.

Nialo dMedani- Male Half Elf Urban Ranger(not a typo they both went Ranger), CG, Least Dragon Mark of Detection(no intention of improving it), wants to discover the secrets of the 13th Dragon Mark and the lost House of Vol(wanted to choose House of Vol as his Favored Enemy but I figured that at was bit much for lvl 1. He went for undead instead.). Probably will take levels of the Master Inquisitive from Eberron CS.

The characters background in brief: Nialo's father died in battle during the last war, his brother married Nialo's mother and their child is Corith. Both are obviously true-bred and bear the house dragon mark. They both have spent their entire lives in Sharn, and mostly on the upper levels. Their training has been mostly directed towards tracking 'targets' and higher learning- read knowledge nobility and royalty.

My main questions are concerning building an interesting campaign for these two players. I don't have any of the other Eberron source books, though the players guide and Sharn CoT are both in the mail.
Where do I start? I’m running the adventure from the ECS: The Forgotten Forge, as a little intro for all of us into Eberron. After that I’m not sure where to take the campaign. I know at some point I want to introduce Vol (subtly of course) but I don't want to overdo it. Also I need to be able to give Corith some opportunities vs. Goblins, and some role play/contacts with higher ups in House Medani and the Warning Guild. Maybe working the Lord of Blades in too would be good since the players are likely to spoil his intentions in the 'Forgotten Forge.'

My other question is a bout pre-made material: are there any good Eberron modules that would accommodate my players interest?

Onto Eberron Specific Questions:
I've read the House thread, but Im still having trouble brining NPCs from the various houses alive: ex. When one of the PCs were hurt by Cutter at the beginning of the Forgotten Forge he went to a healing emporium of House Jorasco but I had trouble (on the fly) describing the emporium and the treatment he recieved for his 8gold.

In regards to Sharn how busy do you think the streets usually are after dark? Especially in the upper districts? How would a member of the watch respond to two dragon marked from House Medani? Could the PCs described here recieve special benefits (outside of normal diplomacy) from other houses because of their status (discounts, info, etc.)?
Nature-boy
02-09-06, 10:20 AM Your party sounds really fun. They both have much in common and it won't be hard to get them to take a hook because they probably have similar goals. So if you're starting your campaign in Sharn, I'd suggest incorporating the King of Breland, possibly as a patron because he uses House Medani sort of as a Secret Service and mystical watchdog. Incorporating everything together, of course will be up to you. That's the best part of being DM. And it's not always easy. Good luck.
Rechan
02-09-06, 10:33 AM To answer one of your questions, no, there are no published adventures that would assist you. At least, none of the WotC adventures.

I do not know about Dungeon Magazine's Eberron adventures.
dwaro
02-09-06, 11:35 AM There's not a lot of chance for roleplaying in the published Eberron modules, unless you work hard to add it in, like any other game.There's a lot of challenges in there, and unless your two PCs get an NPC or two to tag along, they may just die, especially since they're not as varied as a party should be.

However, there's plenty of Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw in the published modules, though not very many goblins.
Karadur
02-09-06, 12:03 PM I wasn't to concerned about getting any published modules, but I have a comfort zone with them.
Rechan
02-09-06, 05:30 PM So, has your ECS arrived? Did you/your players like what you see?
The Necromancer King
02-09-06, 06:14 PM Intrigue is always about information. Some people have it, and other people want it, and they are willing to hire people to get it (and usually to keep it). This can be as straight-forward as the classic James Bond-type campaign, where you are told what you are after and how to get it, or as laden with nuance as Game of Houses from the Wheel of Time.

Most of the time, your campaign is going to want to walk the middle line between these two. Working for House Medani, your characters have specific goals to which they are going to work, particularly the furtherance of their House, and increasing their own personal power within the House. In order to further their house, they are going to need to locate information that they can use against the rest of the Houses, or other political entitites that might be infringing upon the House's niche. Then they need to put themselves into a position where they can act on that information to their own advantage.

For instance: let's say that a new mercenary outfit is infringing on House Medani monopoly; the House cannot destroy the mercenaries outright, as doing so would be horrible PR, and they can't afford a lengthy trade war, nor can they allow a bunch of half-cocked mercs to take a bite out of their profit (if those mercs are seen as a viable alternative to the House in the first place). But people fund this operation, and most of those people are likely very highly placed individuals with public relations of their own to keep. At the very least, these people are rich. To find the mercenary's client list, and threaten to exploit it for their own purposes, House Medani can begin to use the mercenary outfit for their own purposes. For instance, during a raid on the mercenary base, one of your characters finds the Little Black Book that holds the names and contact information for twelve rich nobles in Sharn. To release those names as being counter to the Twelve would be a political nightmare for them, and the mercenaries know this. So your characters offer the mercs an alternative: they can work for House Medani, and the secret is kept. As long as the Mercs are viewed as keeping thier autonomy of the House, people will still go to them as an "alternative" to the house, but if profit from those ventures, and a list of clientelle always goes to House Medani, no real harm is being done.

The same works in reverse though. House Medani has enemies, and allies, that they would rather that information not be known. Some of their allies are likely... distasteful. Some of their enemies are likely the allies of other Houses, or even allies to different members of the same house. To have that information, and to play it off the characters, is the basis of an intrigue game. So the Mercenaries, unhappy at having to work under the yoke of House Medani, locate a journal by the younger d'Medani's son, detailing various meetings and discussions that the House would rather not have made public. Suddenly, the role is reversed; where the mercenaries were working for you, now you are working for the mercenaries until that information can be properly neutralized.

Whoo... I hope you know what you're getting into. While most campaigns are pretty difficult to plan for, intrigue games are impossible to plan for. You can come up with the basic scenario, but there is a much bigger chance in an intrigue game that your characters are going to throw you a curve ball you're not prepared to deal with. When it comes off, though, there is no feeling greater in the world than watching your players plot and plan, in character, the next big political move in their career. Do they find dirt on Count Asper d'Medani, or do they exploit what they already have on Duke Lorenz d'Lyrandar? Which is more likely to put them in a position for a power play? Which one is going to come back and bite them harder in the end?

Hope this helped a bit.
Karadur
02-09-06, 07:16 PM So, has your ECS arrived? Did you/your players like what you see?
Yes and Yes. We just finished the Forgotten Forge and Im ready to begin work on the 'Real Campaign.'
I have lots of ideas from this board and the DM board. I'll post a synopsis tomorrow hopefully.
Thanks- and keep up the good work :)
Karadur
02-10-06, 08:49 AM Using some help from the book, a reply on the What’s a Dm to Do Forums and other suggestions found here:

After running the Forgotten Forge adventure I've decided that that the contact the PCs had from House Cannith, Elaydren, realizes, to late that the schema isn't for her Patron but for a member of the Order of the Emerald Claw (Demise, NPC from the ECS). She tries to foil Demise's plot but barely escapes with her own life. Now betrayed by a member of her own house Eladryen has few people to turn to and seeks out the NPCs.

Elaydren is unaware of the true use of the schema, only that its just a piece of the puzzle. She believes it is intended to build some sort of machine to try and raise demons from Khyber (close: its an Eldritch Machine intended to remove Vol from Lichdom.)

With the help of Eladryns body guard, a warrior from House Deneith, the PCs can track Demise to the Lightning Rail, enroute to Wroat. Demise seeks another part of the Schema in a ruin near Wroat (the unnamed forest just west of the Dagger river). Insert minor dungeon crawl/chase here with an undead keeper of the vault.

To further complicate things the Lord of Blades(who I would like more information on if anyone can point me to a good write up) wants badly to exact revenge on the PCs for destroying 3 of his best subjects. He also intends to thwart any attempt at bringing back the 13th Mark, believing that the Mark was left vacant so that he can be the next bearer giving him true dominion over the 'flesh and BLOOD' of Eberron.

Eventually the trail of Demise will lead the PCs to Darguun for other parts of the schema (5 are needed in total) giving Corith a chance to take on some anger on goblinoids.

If completed the Eldritch Machine can indeed remove the Lich state from Vol returning her to her true half dragon/elf form, and bring back the 13th mark to Eberron.

That’s all I got right now (in general), any comments/suggestions?
Rechan
02-10-06, 03:32 PM To further complicate things the Lord of Blades(who I would like more information on if anyone can point me to a good write up) wants badly to exact revenge on the PCs for destroying 3 of his best subjects. He also intends to thwart any attempt at bringing back the 13th Mark, believing that the Mark was left vacant so that he can be the next bearer giving him true dominion over the 'flesh and BLOOD' of Eberron.

This thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=572780) has various links to others, and I'm sure there's bound to be some info there.

Neat writeup. However, I have the baaad feeling that if Vol is ever turned back to life, she's going to wind up dead (ala The Mummy). Which would be sad - I like Vol.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Karadur 02-09-06, 09:07 AM	Ok I've been DMing for a good while now (2-3yrs) but something new has come up in our group; the players and I decided to do less hack-n-slash and more role playing, specifically an intrigue campaign set in Eberron. The characters (kind of generic probably but we're both new to Eberron and this style of play) Corith dMedani- Male Half Elf Urban Ranger, LE, Least Dragon Mark of Detection (House Medani(intends to at least have a greater Dragon Mark), with a long term goal of being a high ranking member within the house, hopefully at least having control over the Warning Guild. May take levels in the 'Watch Detective' from Masters of the Wild). For some reason that he hasn't worked out in his background well(help maybe?) he has a strong dislike (favored enemy) for goblinoids. Nialo dMedani- Male Half Elf Urban Ranger(not a typo they both went Ranger), CG, Least Dragon Mark of Detection(no intention of improving it), wants to discover the secrets of the 13th Dragon Mark and the lost House of Vol(wanted to choose House of Vol as his Favored Enemy but I figured that at was bit much for lvl 1. He went for undead instead.). Probably will take levels of the Master Inquisitive from Eberron CS. The characters background in brief: Nialo's father died in battle during the last war, his brother married Nialo's mother and their child is Corith. Both are obviously true-bred and bear the house dragon mark. They both have spent their entire lives in Sharn, and mostly on the upper levels. Their training has been mostly directed towards tracking 'targets' and higher learning- read knowledge nobility and royalty. My main questions are concerning building an interesting campaign for these two players. I don't have any of the other Eberron source books, though the players guide and Sharn CoT are both in the mail. Where do I start? I’m running the adventure from the ECS: The Forgotten Forge, as a little intro for all of us into Eberron. After that I’m not sure where to take the campaign. I know at some point I want to introduce Vol (subtly of course) but I don't want to overdo it. Also I need to be able to give Corith some opportunities vs. Goblins, and some role play/contacts with higher ups in House Medani and the Warning Guild. Maybe working the Lord of Blades in too would be good since the players are likely to spoil his intentions in the 'Forgotten Forge.' My other question is a bout pre-made material: are there any good Eberron modules that would accommodate my players interest? Onto Eberron Specific Questions: I've read the House thread, but Im still having trouble brining NPCs from the various houses alive: ex. When one of the PCs were hurt by Cutter at the beginning of the Forgotten Forge he went to a healing emporium of House Jorasco but I had trouble (on the fly) describing the emporium and the treatment he recieved for his 8gold. In regards to Sharn how busy do you think the streets usually are after dark? Especially in the upper districts? How would a member of the watch respond to two dragon marked from House Medani? Could the PCs described here recieve special benefits (outside of normal diplomacy) from other houses because of their status (discounts, info, etc.)?
Nature-boy 02-09-06, 10:20 AM	Your party sounds really fun. They both have much in common and it won't be hard to get them to take a hook because they probably have similar goals. So if you're starting your campaign in Sharn, I'd suggest incorporating the King of Breland, possibly as a patron because he uses House Medani sort of as a Secret Service and mystical watchdog. Incorporating everything together, of course will be up to you. That's the best part of being DM. And it's not always easy. Good luck.
Rechan 02-09-06, 10:33 AM	To answer one of your questions, no, there are no published adventures that would assist you. At least, none of the WotC adventures. I do not know about Dungeon Magazine's Eberron adventures.
dwaro 02-09-06, 11:35 AM	There's not a lot of chance for roleplaying in the published Eberron modules, unless you work hard to add it in, like any other game.There's a lot of challenges in there, and unless your two PCs get an NPC or two to tag along, they may just die, especially since they're not as varied as a party should be. However, there's plenty of Blood of Vol/Emerald Claw in the published modules, though not very many goblins.
Karadur 02-09-06, 12:03 PM	I wasn't to concerned about getting any published modules, but I have a comfort zone with them.
Rechan 02-09-06, 05:30 PM	So, has your ECS arrived? Did you/your players like what you see?
The Necromancer King 02-09-06, 06:14 PM	Intrigue is always about information. Some people have it, and other people want it, and they are willing to hire people to get it (and usually to keep it). This can be as straight-forward as the classic James Bond-type campaign, where you are told what you are after and how to get it, or as laden with nuance as Game of Houses from the Wheel of Time. Most of the time, your campaign is going to want to walk the middle line between these two. Working for House Medani, your characters have specific goals to which they are going to work, particularly the furtherance of their House, and increasing their own personal power within the House. In order to further their house, they are going to need to locate information that they can use against the rest of the Houses, or other political entitites that might be infringing upon the House's niche. Then they need to put themselves into a position where they can act on that information to their own advantage. For instance: let's say that a new mercenary outfit is infringing on House Medani monopoly; the House cannot destroy the mercenaries outright, as doing so would be horrible PR, and they can't afford a lengthy trade war, nor can they allow a bunch of half-cocked mercs to take a bite out of their profit (if those mercs are seen as a viable alternative to the House in the first place). But people fund this operation, and most of those people are likely very highly placed individuals with public relations of their own to keep. At the very least, these people are rich. To find the mercenary's client list, and threaten to exploit it for their own purposes, House Medani can begin to use the mercenary outfit for their own purposes. For instance, during a raid on the mercenary base, one of your characters finds the Little Black Book that holds the names and contact information for twelve rich nobles in Sharn. To release those names as being counter to the Twelve would be a political nightmare for them, and the mercenaries know this. So your characters offer the mercs an alternative: they can work for House Medani, and the secret is kept. As long as the Mercs are viewed as keeping thier autonomy of the House, people will still go to them as an "alternative" to the house, but if profit from those ventures, and a list of clientelle always goes to House Medani, no real harm is being done. The same works in reverse though. House Medani has enemies, and allies, that they would rather that information not be known. Some of their allies are likely... distasteful. Some of their enemies are likely the allies of other Houses, or even allies to different members of the same house. To have that information, and to play it off the characters, is the basis of an intrigue game. So the Mercenaries, unhappy at having to work under the yoke of House Medani, locate a journal by the younger d'Medani's son, detailing various meetings and discussions that the House would rather not have made public. Suddenly, the role is reversed; where the mercenaries were working for you, now you are working for the mercenaries until that information can be properly neutralized. Whoo... I hope you know what you're getting into. While most campaigns are pretty difficult to plan for, intrigue games are impossible to plan for. You can come up with the basic scenario, but there is a much bigger chance in an intrigue game that your characters are going to throw you a curve ball you're not prepared to deal with. When it comes off, though, there is no feeling greater in the world than watching your players plot and plan, in character, the next big political move in their career. Do they find dirt on Count Asper d'Medani, or do they exploit what they already have on Duke Lorenz d'Lyrandar? Which is more likely to put them in a position for a power play? Which one is going to come back and bite them harder in the end? Hope this helped a bit.
Karadur 02-09-06, 07:16 PM	So, has your ECS arrived? Did you/your players like what you see? Yes and Yes. We just finished the Forgotten Forge and Im ready to begin work on the 'Real Campaign.' I have lots of ideas from this board and the DM board. I'll post a synopsis tomorrow hopefully. Thanks- and keep up the good work :)
Karadur 02-10-06, 08:49 AM	Using some help from the book, a reply on the What’s a Dm to Do Forums and other suggestions found here: After running the Forgotten Forge adventure I've decided that that the contact the PCs had from House Cannith, Elaydren, realizes, to late that the schema isn't for her Patron but for a member of the Order of the Emerald Claw (Demise, NPC from the ECS). She tries to foil Demise's plot but barely escapes with her own life. Now betrayed by a member of her own house Eladryen has few people to turn to and seeks out the NPCs. Elaydren is unaware of the true use of the schema, only that its just a piece of the puzzle. She believes it is intended to build some sort of machine to try and raise demons from Khyber (close: its an Eldritch Machine intended to remove Vol from Lichdom.) With the help of Eladryns body guard, a warrior from House Deneith, the PCs can track Demise to the Lightning Rail, enroute to Wroat. Demise seeks another part of the Schema in a ruin near Wroat (the unnamed forest just west of the Dagger river). Insert minor dungeon crawl/chase here with an undead keeper of the vault. To further complicate things the Lord of Blades(who I would like more information on if anyone can point me to a good write up) wants badly to exact revenge on the PCs for destroying 3 of his best subjects. He also intends to thwart any attempt at bringing back the 13th Mark, believing that the Mark was left vacant so that he can be the next bearer giving him true dominion over the 'flesh and BLOOD' of Eberron. Eventually the trail of Demise will lead the PCs to Darguun for other parts of the schema (5 are needed in total) giving Corith a chance to take on some anger on goblinoids. If completed the Eldritch Machine can indeed remove the Lich state from Vol returning her to her true half dragon/elf form, and bring back the 13th mark to Eberron. That’s all I got right now (in general), any comments/suggestions?
Rechan 02-10-06, 03:32 PM	To further complicate things the Lord of Blades(who I would like more information on if anyone can point me to a good write up) wants badly to exact revenge on the PCs for destroying 3 of his best subjects. He also intends to thwart any attempt at bringing back the 13th Mark, believing that the Mark was left vacant so that he can be the next bearer giving him true dominion over the 'flesh and BLOOD' of Eberron. This thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=572780) has various links to others, and I'm sure there's bound to be some info there. Neat writeup. However, I have the baaad feeling that if Vol is ever turned back to life, she's going to wind up dead (ala The Mummy). Which would be sad - I like Vol.