Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Pistilpeach 06-19-06, 08:34 PM	So I started DMing a "Karrnathi" campaign that has already run greatly askew, and I need some advice on getting it back on track. I only have one player, my bro, but we manage to have a good time (he DMed the Forgotten Forge-->Grasp of the Emerald Claw path for me previously.) His character is a khoravar duskblade and graduate of Rekkenmark Academy who fought in the war for six years, ending with the rank of major. The other important character, the one I like to think of as "my" character even though I'm the DM, is his good friend and fellow graduate, a kalashtar psionic rogue who served as his lieutenant during the war. The first adventure I ran was "Shut-In" from Dungeon magazine, which I had occuring in 992YK just before they graduated from Rekkenmark. Next I did "Tensions Rising", also from Dungeon, set in 999YK (where we left off from the previous campaign.) Currently I'm running "Chimes at Midnight" (from, you guessed it, Dungeon) which is going really well, and then I plan on a short home-spun adventure follwed by Voyage of the Golden Dragon. The problem is that because I'm using published adventures (which I like), there's nothing really Karrnathi about the Karrnathi campaign. The only thing I've managed to do so far is work in a nice amount of political intrigue by having a former PC of mine, a Cyran noble with a hatred for the rest of the Five Nations, be a significant patron for the party. Here's where things get a little tricky. The kalashtar lieutenant character has recently confessed that he's not really Karrnathi but rather Adaran, and he attended the Rekkenmark Academy so he could be a military leader for his people. His subsequent service to Karrnath was a kind of payment for his deception. As it happens now, I'm in a nice position to render that plot a lie as well--by having it turn out that he's in all reality a Brelander working for the Citadel, and that he spied on the Karrnathi military throughout his "service" to it, revealing troop positions, supply lines, plans, and so on. If the main PC gets over this shock, it could create a really cool/screwy/difficult party dynamic in which the hero, a Karrnathi military officer, is best friends and adventures with a member of the King's Dark Lanterns. This sounds awesome to me. The problem again becomes, what's it got to do with Karrnath? (that was the concept for the campaign, one I've yet to deliver on.) The PC couldn't just pack up and move his mercenary company from Sharn to Korth and bring his Dark Lantern buddy along, could he? And if so, who wants to adventure in Karrnath anyway? With the military's supposed skill and the martial law, adventurers are a threat rather than a boon. So any comments would be helpful. Maybe the best bet is to continue to base the campaign out of Sharn for now, with periodic visits to Karrnath. And the campaign can eventually involve the conflicting political spygames between the Five Nations. Or something.
DragonWatcher 06-20-06, 10:48 AM	Well, I guess I'm a little confused about the whole Kalashtar thing. The main reason is that from everything that I've read, Kalashtar are very difficult to confuse for normal humans. While they are superficially similar, they are far too perfect, and have an "aura" about them that makes them quite distinctive. It should be impossible to mistake a Kalashtar for a Karrnathi. That aside, if you wanted to focus on making this more of a Karrnathi campaign, I would try to focus more on the types of things that make Karrnath unique. First off, there is a shadow war going on between Kaius and the Blood of Vol. As a member of the Rekkenmark Academy, I could definitely see pulling your brother's character into this conflict. Perhaps he is sent to infiltrate the BoV to report back what they are planning, or perhaps he is to stop some major plot from taking place that would instigate a new war from starting (remember that while Kaius is EVIL, he doesn't want a war right now, and he would do ANYTHING to help his kingdom and his people). Additionally, the Valenar are consistently making raids against Karrnath in the south across the Blade Desert. Your brother might be sent to lead a group of reinforcements down to Fort Zombie or Fort Bones. Generally this is a task that is seen as a punishment, so why would they send HIM down? Getting to the bottom of that might uncover a plot within Rekkenmark, or just a personal grudge that one of his superiors has against him. At one point, the Mror Holds were a part of Karrnath. The :censored: dwarves had taken that land for themselves during the last war, but something valuable still lies within those mountains. Now is the time that someone must recover it (artifact, schema, spellbook, one of Kaius' personal journals, whatever). A large military force would be seen by the dwarves and a battle would likely ensue... but perhaps just a couple of men could infiltrate the holds and recover the item. Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head. :)
Zuj 06-20-06, 02:25 PM	I too am a bit confused by the Kalashtar aspect; was he using some manner of disguise to appear human? In any case, I think that it would be a good idea to skip the part about him being a Brelander Dark Lantern; it seems a little far-fetched that an Dark Lantern is pretending to be an Adaran Kalashtar serving for the Karrnathi military. It just doesn't seem practical that a Dark Lantern would weave such an unnecessarily elaborate lie. Many of my suggestions mirror what DragonWatcher said above, but unfortunately, that would involve deviating from published adventures. It sounds like you have a pretty good background with Eberron, and your ideas are creative, so I would push for custom adventures from here on out (but hey, that's my opinion ;) ). Maybe you could work with your Cyran noble character a bit. Perhaps he starts working with the Emerald Claw to assassinate some prominent Karrnathi nobles or officers. Alternatively, he could be an unknowing agent of the Dreaming Dark, betraying the giving both the PC and kalasthar good reason to deal with him. They could then chase him (or his allies) to anywhere else in the Five Nations you care to go. Anyway, just some suggestions.
Pistilpeach 06-20-06, 09:28 PM	Thanks for your suggestions so far, all of them are good. Karrnath does have a lot of angles, and the Emerald Claw/Blood of Vol conflict with Kaius seems to be the perfect draw for the mid-to-end levels of the campaign. To clarify, the kalashtar isn't passing as a human, merely as a Karrnathi. As I had originally conceived it, he was an Adaran and had used the help of psions--in fact, he was under orders from his elders--to pass as a Karrnathi (but not a human) to gain enterance to Rekkenmark. Maybe this was manifested in psionic aid during the admissions process, along with impeccable ID forgeries, and so on. His revelation to the PC of this deception didn't end up ruffling any feathers, since they were true friends and he technically paid for the training by serving the military faithfully. As the story goes he resigned and disappeared after four years of service, showing up in Sharn to meet the PC just a few months ago. (All this was the intervening backstory between "Shut-In" in 992YK and "Tensions Rising" in 999YK.) Anyways, despite that long explanation, I suppose you're right in saying that making him a Dark Lantern would only complicate things, not make them cooler. What I've been struggling with is how to deal with Sharn as the constant backdrop for everything. I'm not saying it's a bad setting, but it's almost a cliche. It seems that Breland gets the best of everything--strongest footing during and after the war, most "American" values (not implying that this is the best but, hey), largest population and most pivitol metropolis, most definition in sourcebooks in general, coolest government organization (how can you argue with the Citadel?), and so forth. Where's the love for the rest of Khorvaire? Now I understand that it's my right to invent whatever I want, but I'm one of those people who doesn't want to "invent" but rather read it in sourcebooks and know that it's the standard. As far as a general setting goes, Karrnath is a little lackluster in terms of traditional adventuring opportunities. It's a rigid society that's been defined in sourcebooks based on two things: it's military culture and it's use of undead soldiers. Karrlakton, the City of Kings, is on a downward spiral due to its sudden proximity to the Mournland. The martial law ensures that there is little place for adventurers. Unlike Breland (with it's ace-in-the-hole, Sharn), there's not much reason for outsiders to travel to Karrnath, unless they are affiliated with a dragonmarked house. On top of that, it's clear that Karrns on the whole are a grim (read: boring) people. Now, there are things I like about it. I'm a New Englander, and I like the climate. I like that Crownhome is more like a gigantic fortified wall stretching between two huge natural rock spires than a castle. I like Kaius and his situation. I like the Emerald Claw (not the Blood so much). I like Atur; I like the ongoing war with the Valenar and I like the friendship (I still consider it a friendship) with the Mror Holds. I like the use of undead to bolster the military, too, as long as it doesn't become the focus of everything (Breland has a floating fricking fortress for Lhazaar's sake, but you don't see every sourcebook dwell on that!) Now, I asked my bro what he wanted to do--was his character getting homesick or not?--and it turns out he loves Sharn. Of course he does, who doesn't? And even more intriguing is that when I mentioned Secrets of Xen'drik is coming out next month, he was very excited about the possibilities of adventuring out of Stormreach. He's a big fan of Stormreach (read: he's a big fan of drow.) So if he could care less about Karrnath, why should I care about it? Partly because he'll eventually be drawn in to the conflict between Kaius and Vol (he cryptically stated that he expected to return to Karrnath "with a little more experience under his belt," aka, to take part in that exact storyline.) And partly because although I like Breland and Sharn, I'm sick of them getting all the lime-light. There's a whole world out there. The cities may not have sourcebooks dedicated to them, skycoaches and elevators, endless districts holding all the variety of the world in microcosmic form, and so on, but I'd like to explore them nonetheless.
Pistilpeach 06-20-06, 09:58 PM	Maybe while I'm here I could get specific help for a difficulty I'm having with the current adventure, which may catapult the PC into the next phase of his career. THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE DUNGEON MAGAZINE ADVENTURE "CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT." In the adventure, the party has just uncovered a plot to assassinate the patriarch of House Medani. The problem lies in the fact that they uncovered this info about 20 hours before the assassination is set to occur--plenty of time to warn Trelib d'Medani that his scheduled lightning rail car is to be the target of a train-wreck. The PC discovered this at the end of the last session, and I decided that when he exited the office he had broken into to discover this he would be arrested for breaking and entering by a troop of guardsmen from the Sharn Watch. Since this happened in Clifftop, the patrol was immediately complimented by a large number of drunken adventurers ready for action. The party was forced to submit and was hauled off in a cart to Daggerwatch--except for the kalashtar psionic rogue, who escaped detection. It was all done on the fly, and I immediately regretted leaving the kalashtar free. He could easily warn d'Medani on his own. That's how the session ended, so nothing else is set in stone yet. My sudden idea to make him a Dark Lantern sprang from a possible plotline in which he attempts to warn the baron, is chased by a sudden group of Dreaming Dark agents (tipped off by a Riedran ambassador he recently traded words with at a party), and is captured by the mob anyway. Thrown in with his party-members, he eventually identifies himself as an agent of the Citadel, provoking (I would assume) outrage from the PC--but they still have an hour to get to Terminus and save the Baron. Then it would be a matter of could he still adventure with them, etc., leading (in my idealized imagination) to a situation in which the party contains patriots from rival countries who are friends and yet don't trust each other, are willing to place their lives in each other's hands but not their national secrets. Another possibility is that the party somehow escapes by force, is redeemed by the words of the rescued baron (former dungeon-delving companion of Boranel) but is still banned from Sharn (the PC for being a Karrnathi officer who stirred up trouble and maybe killed a guardsman, no matter his intentions.) That would force a return to Karrnath, anyways. But anything could happen. Any suggestions for a cool resolution of this would be appreciated, especially if it leads the party back to Karrnath for at least a while. My default solution without the Dark Lantern angle will be to have the kalashtar either knocked out or captured by the Dreaming Dark, to return later in the adventure perhaps, and have the party released by the string-pulling of their Cyran patron (who in my game is the real mastermind behind both sides of many of the conflicts they're involved in.) Thanks.
Zuj 06-21-06, 02:34 AM	You should take into account what would happen to your Karrnathi PC if the throne found out what he did in Sharn. Keep in mind that Kaius was the first to sign the Treaty of Thronehold, and a military captain committing the same acts one would see out of a street thug might be frowned upon by his homeland. All in all, it sounds like you really want to send this campaign back to Karrnath, but you don't really like Karrnath to begin with. I might be mistaken in this respect, as it is hard to completely understand someone over the medium of the internet. As far as the Karrnathi and Dark Lantern in the same group, this might become a stretch. You will have to plan extremely well to make this work. They are going to need strong direction and goals that work for the benefit of both Breland and Karrnath. Personally, I could see them doing a quest or two, but then having no real reason to spend much time together. Perhaps instead of the character being a Dark Lantern currently, maybe he served in the group during the war but quit recently after. His (the kalashtar's) old friends come asking for favors or "one more mission" and your Karranthi PC has to come to terms that his good friend used to work for a rival nation. He might not be entirely sure that the kalashtar is still working for the Lanterns or not. This kind of situation would give you the same kind of tension, but it distances the kalashtar character from having completely binding ties to the Lanterns at the current time in the campaign. Also, do as much as you can to reinforce the necessity for keeping the kalashtar around; there will have to be a very good reason...
Pistilpeach 06-21-06, 08:25 PM	Thanks for your responses, Zuj. The quitting the Dark Lanterns angle might work except that I don't think you can quit the Dark Lanterns, unless it's with a sword in you. Dark Lanterns swear to serve Breland to death and beyond, should it be necessary. The more I think about it, while I love the flavor of the Dark Lanterns I don't see the kalashtar being that devoted to Breland--in fact, what's great about Breland is general freedom and by serving as a Lantern you are forgoing that freedom in order to ensure that other people are allowed to keep it. But on the other hand, although I understand the difficulties I think that a friendship that overcomes national rivalries is cool. And while it may be difficult at 5th level, at 13th I don't see it being an issue. After all, if you want to ditch the guy it's not like you can just go out and find a 13th level rogue on any given streetcorner. You can't find a 13th level anything just hanging around on a corner, even in Sharn. As for Karrnath, I actually like it quite a bit. I'd say it's my favorite of the five nations after good old Cyre. I just think adventuring there is likely to be a little stiffled.
DragonWatcher 06-22-06, 10:14 AM	To clarify, the kalashtar isn't passing as a human, merely as a Karrnathi. As I had originally conceived it, he was an Adaran and had used the help of psions--in fact, he was under orders from his elders--to pass as a Karrnathi (but not a human) to gain enterance to Rekkenmark. Maybe this was manifested in psionic aid during the admissions process, along with impeccable ID forgeries, and so on. Okay, this helps some, but I guess that the main reason that I'm confused is that IIRC all Kalashtar are Adaran, which is to say that there are no Kalashtar who are Karrnathi, Brelish, or otherwise. At least no adult Kalashtar at this point. I remember reading that those on Khorvaire view all Kalashtar and Inspired as "exotic people from across the sea". That said, if you've got it working differently in your game, there's nothing wrong with that. It's a good backstory too. I'm just pointing out why I was confused. :) The problem lies in the fact that they uncovered this info about 20 hours before the assassination is set to occur--plenty of time to warn Trelib d'Medani that his scheduled lightning rail car is to be the target of a train-wreck. Well, yes and no... I generally don't get the impression that one can simply walk into the compound of a Dragonmarked House and have a chat with the patriarch on a whim. I would imagine that it would be at least as difficult to see a House Patriarch as it is to get an appointment to see your local congressman (or insert other local-yet-high-level diplomat here). Sure they're not politicians, but they're running a huge business that is completely independant of all local government regulations and spans several cities (if not countries) under their direct control. In a case like this, I would say that getting the message to the Patriarch in a way that he would believe you and not have you arrested would take a MINIMUM of 20 hours... and that would be if they came up with something miraculous. Any suggestions for a cool resolution of this would be appreciated, especially if it leads the party back to Karrnath for at least a while. Well... I also think that having the Kalashtar connected to the Dark Lanterns would be a tragedy for your story. It seems to me like it would just overcomplicate things for reasonably little payoff. Why not play up the fact that he's really a Kalashtar working to further the cause of Adar. I mean, he's part of a secret war with the Dreaming Dark, and one of a number of Kalashtar all tied to the same Quori spirit. Couldn't it be possible that he was sent to infiltrate Rekkenmark Academy so that he could get close to your brother's character... a mission that he has, thus far, succeeded at. Now that the character has been arrested, his first responsibility is to get him freed. Depending on his psionic talents he could possibly do this on his own, or he could contact another Kalashtar that he's aware of who can "convince" the local magistrate to free your brother. Think of the look on his face when someone important in the city watch comes into the cell and says, "You're free to go. I apologize for the inconvenience." And all this without him knowing that it had anything to do with the Kalashtar, and no explaination. That can seed further adventures trying to discover what happened. As for why the Kalashtar was ordered to get close to your brother's character, you'll have to come up with something. Perhaps when he sleeps, he actually doesn't project himself into Dal Quor, and the Kalashtar want to find out why not. Maybe he knows the location of a Kalashtar Relic and doesn't even realize it... who knows. As for Karrnath, I actually like it quite a bit. I'd say it's my favorite of the five nations after good old Cyre. I just think adventuring there is likely to be a little stiffled. I think that Karrnath has all of the potential of Ravenloft for adventuring and then some. You have undead around every corner (some working for the government, and some working to their own ends). You have a vampire running the kingdom. The people are dour and oppressed, but most of them are happy this way. It sits on one of the borders to the Mournland. Elves are constantly raiding against it, the Lhazaar Pirates are raiding it's ports. It's true king is imprisoned in Dreadhold. It borders the Mror Holds, with raiding orcs in the mountains, and who-knows-what under them. There's a TON to do in Karrnath... it's just a different mindset than the "traditional" fantasy of Breland. :)
Naudachu 06-22-06, 05:58 PM	I've been running a Karrnath campaign for a little while now. There are a few others on here I've seen in threads in the past. You might search the boards using Google and see if there are some useful things. For my campaign, I waited for Five Nations to come out before placing my city (so it wouldn't get squashed out of existence). I ended up putting it north of Ice, on the coast where the Iceflow River splits and empties into Karrn Bay. It seemed like a natural defensive place (used by Karrnath and the Dhakaani before them with one city built atop the other). This distanced the campaign from the harsher, militant capital and the southern front of Fort Bones and Fort Zombie. I made it a little more cosmopolitan, but still a bit harsh, although the lackluster, corrupt guard help to lessen tension. I figure a lot of people are moving away from the capital center which is at groud zero for the Mournland. And a port trade city was attractive to many. It also placed the campaign close to Icewood and the Madstone. So, soon I'll be weaving Madborn into the plot. The suggestion for Ravenloft is great. I've used a couple cities from the free modules online and placed them in Karnnath. Of course there's some tweaking to do, but the feel is good. There are several under the Online Reprint Series here: http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads. I've used Harmonia and Skald, with a bit of tweaking, from Feast of Goblyns. You could also borrow elements from the other Karnnathi cities described Five Nations. Its funny how Eberron cliches developed so quickly. I don't know if its a matter of being on these boards so often. I think my player's who aren't on here are less effected. But I like to throw in surprises anyway, for those who read all the books.
Pistilpeach 06-22-06, 06:32 PM	Okay, this helps some, but I guess that the main reason that I'm confused is that IIRC all Kalashtar are Adaran, which is to say that there are no Kalashtar who are Karrnathi, Brelish, or otherwise. At least no adult Kalashtar at this point. I'm not so sure about that. The Kalashtar have existed for several thousand years, I think (or more, I can't remember but I know that the Inspired seized control of Sarlona about 1500 years ago, and it took them a while to catch up to the Kalashtar--I think about 300 years in Dal Quor time. Maybe I'm wrong.) Also, certain cities in Khorvaire, especially Sharn, have decently sized kalashtar populations when you consider how few kalashtar there are in the world. If you have Races of Eberron, the "Day in the Life" segment on kalashtar describes a character as having visions of ancient Adaran fortresses while asleep, but he's never been to Adar. That book also mentions "orphan" kalashtar who were born and raised outside of a kalashtar community. So I would hesitate to say that all kalashtar are from Adar. This particular kalashtar could easily be a Brelish native, and even a member of a family with traceable lineage, considering that kalashtar can breed with humans. Well, yes and no... I generally don't get the impression that one can simply walk into the compound of a Dragonmarked House and have a chat with the patriarch on a whim. This is actually moot since we've already passed this point in the adventure now, but you're exactly right. The difference in this case was that the patriarch was their patron for the current adventure, and had personally contacted the party and met with them at the beginning of it. I think that Karrnath has all of the potential of Ravenloft for adventuring and then some. I hadn't even thought of Ravenloft, so thanks for mentioning it. I don't really know much about the setting, but I read "I, Strahd" when I was a kid and remember enjoying it. I'll definitely look into it for some of that gothic horror flavor. Thanks. I ended up putting it north of Ice, on the coast where the Iceflow River splits and empties into Karrn Bay. You know, all this time I've been thinking Karrnath but all I've been thinking about are the cities, not the land itself. While I doubt my player would be satisfied in a rural type environment constantly, I think an adventure that "samples" all the different flavors of Karrnath, with a nice plot to match, could be a real draw to get him out of Sharn. After that he may have an easier time determining what settings he really likes. I think this calls for a flashback adventure. Now, I did end up unveiling the kalashtar as a Dark Lantern, despite the advice I recieved. I couldn't help myself, I love the intrigue. As it turns out, my brother thought that was awesome. Although he's been dupped, he justified it by saying that it was a war, and has put off his anger until they finish their current mission. In the next adventure, I think I'll flash back and have him take part in a Karrnathi adventure where he finds out that the kalashtar is a Dark Lantern like four years ago. So in fact, what seemed like the kalashtar fooling him was really him fooling the kalashtar, with the blessing of whatever Karrnathi intelligence arm I cook up. It has serious potential, especially if it's layered with the present where he'll be taking the Leadership feat and planning his expansive mercenary company. Thanks for all the advice so far, more is definitely still welcome!