Lord of Blades Army [Archive] - Wizards Community

Lord of Blades Army [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
lostone
10-24-04, 09:07 AM I was looking for input from others more knowledgable than I on medieval army organization, in this case how the Lord of Blades would operate. My group consists entirely of Warforged who are currently working for the Kings Citadel of Breland. So they are perfectly suited for intelligence gathering on the Lord of Blades by becoming members of his army. I was curious how people thought newcomers would be treated, tested, etc. What missions would new recruits would be sent on? I don't know much about how medieval armies were organized, but I figured the Lord of Blades army would be pretty similar, minus the need for food and water (which is a huge benefit for him). Any thoughts?
Xyplex
10-24-04, 10:56 PM First, and I guess somewhat obvious observation ... they may be perfectly suited for working for / with the Lord of Blades, but do they want to? Perhaps they like the 'bags of mostly water' enough not to want to join up ... just making sure you're not forcing something on your players.

As for organization ... well ... the Lord of Blades has some difficulties to face, because what does he have that he can offer members of his army? Money - where are all the good shopping spots in that wasteland? Land - if you don't mind that it's crawling with living spells and mutated creatures ... those are the two main ways that people were paid when joining an army ... or one was expected to be a member of the army regardless of one's own personal misgivings, because one was born into a position of power and thus had to serve ... unless you got drafted.

I would suggest, thus, that the Lord of Blades would operate his 'army' much more like a religious cult than a traditional army. Joining would be followed by tests of loyalty (kill the meatbag that you called friend because I say so) ... indroctrination (sp) (repeat after me ... meat is weak ... the Lord of Blades is my master ... the Lord of Blades will protect me from the decay of meat ... etc. for days) ... and since he has access to a Forge, he might be able to do some 'reprogramming' on his own, who knows?

I think that until the Lord of Blades can get an actual army together, rather than the 1000 listed in the Eberron setting manual, things are going to be pretty small and as inoffensive as possible, to prevent the great powers of the world from crushing things before they even get started.
cbolt_toak
10-24-04, 11:17 PM Xyplex is right about one thing: Lord of Blades doesn't have an army, he has a cult, Reavers, to be more accurate (You can also include other names of Protoss units from Startcraft to define them, such as Zealot or Templar). It's the combination of Protoss ethics and the Reavers from Fallout Tactics (lol, including the bombed wasteland, though it reflects more of a Shadowlands feel, with a hint of WW II's Hiroshima scene.).

Now, many questions come up for this adventure:

1. Where is the Lord of Blades base? (Not yet mentioned)
2. What lies between LoB and current party location? (Doom, pain, suffering, generally unpleasant events concerning poor equipment choices)
3. How will they get to LoB? (See last question)
4. Will they get to LoB? (See question before last)
5. Will the DM fudge the rules so that the players can get to a place that hasn't been discovered yet A-OK? (You betcha)
6. Will future Eberron assessories tell you exactly where and what the LoB base is, most definitely being something completely different? (...um...so in other words, wait a bit for making that adventure?)

Ah, patience is a virtue and the Eberron Campaign Setting book has plenty of other adventure ideas. But don't let the fact you have to change things later stop you, make the adventure and fudge all the rules. It's the DM's dirty little secret, so cherish it like a nasty toy.
lostone
10-25-04, 07:13 AM First, and I guess somewhat obvious observation ... they may be perfectly suited for working for / with the Lord of Blades, but do they want to? Perhaps they like the 'bags of mostly water' enough not to want to join up ... just making sure you're not forcing something on your players.This is the kind of stuff they go for, I'd be surprised if they turned down the mission, but if they do, I'll just wing something else.

But I like the cult idea, I hadn't really thought of it that way, since his end goal is genocide I was thinking of him more like an aggressive Hitler in a fantasy setting.
nyysjan
10-25-04, 07:57 AM maybe they get recruited but not shown where the base is they just receive orders and report to some forged who is higher in hierarchy and while they rise in ranks you get given better equipment and more important missions and when they have gotten high enough they get taken to the LOB.
plus depending how effectively LOB can use the forge he might just be making more followers in no time plus he probably can offer pretty good upgrades to the forged that follow him.
no money no land just idealism and equipment

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lostone 10-24-04, 09:07 AM	I was looking for input from others more knowledgable than I on medieval army organization, in this case how the Lord of Blades would operate. My group consists entirely of Warforged who are currently working for the Kings Citadel of Breland. So they are perfectly suited for intelligence gathering on the Lord of Blades by becoming members of his army. I was curious how people thought newcomers would be treated, tested, etc. What missions would new recruits would be sent on? I don't know much about how medieval armies were organized, but I figured the Lord of Blades army would be pretty similar, minus the need for food and water (which is a huge benefit for him). Any thoughts?
Xyplex 10-24-04, 10:56 PM	First, and I guess somewhat obvious observation ... they may be perfectly suited for working for / with the Lord of Blades, but do they want to? Perhaps they like the 'bags of mostly water' enough not to want to join up ... just making sure you're not forcing something on your players. As for organization ... well ... the Lord of Blades has some difficulties to face, because what does he have that he can offer members of his army? Money - where are all the good shopping spots in that wasteland? Land - if you don't mind that it's crawling with living spells and mutated creatures ... those are the two main ways that people were paid when joining an army ... or one was expected to be a member of the army regardless of one's own personal misgivings, because one was born into a position of power and thus had to serve ... unless you got drafted. I would suggest, thus, that the Lord of Blades would operate his 'army' much more like a religious cult than a traditional army. Joining would be followed by tests of loyalty (kill the meatbag that you called friend because I say so) ... indroctrination (sp) (repeat after me ... meat is weak ... the Lord of Blades is my master ... the Lord of Blades will protect me from the decay of meat ... etc. for days) ... and since he has access to a Forge, he might be able to do some 'reprogramming' on his own, who knows? I think that until the Lord of Blades can get an actual army together, rather than the 1000 listed in the Eberron setting manual, things are going to be pretty small and as inoffensive as possible, to prevent the great powers of the world from crushing things before they even get started.
cbolt_toak 10-24-04, 11:17 PM	Xyplex is right about one thing: Lord of Blades doesn't have an army, he has a cult, Reavers, to be more accurate (You can also include other names of Protoss units from Startcraft to define them, such as Zealot or Templar). It's the combination of Protoss ethics and the Reavers from Fallout Tactics (lol, including the bombed wasteland, though it reflects more of a Shadowlands feel, with a hint of WW II's Hiroshima scene.). Now, many questions come up for this adventure: 1. Where is the Lord of Blades base? (Not yet mentioned) 2. What lies between LoB and current party location? (Doom, pain, suffering, generally unpleasant events concerning poor equipment choices) 3. How will they get to LoB? (See last question) 4. Will they get to LoB? (See question before last) 5. Will the DM fudge the rules so that the players can get to a place that hasn't been discovered yet A-OK? (You betcha) 6. Will future Eberron assessories tell you exactly where and what the LoB base is, most definitely being something completely different? (...um...so in other words, wait a bit for making that adventure?) Ah, patience is a virtue and the Eberron Campaign Setting book has plenty of other adventure ideas. But don't let the fact you have to change things later stop you, make the adventure and fudge all the rules. It's the DM's dirty little secret, so cherish it like a nasty toy.
lostone 10-25-04, 07:13 AM	First, and I guess somewhat obvious observation ... they may be perfectly suited for working for / with the Lord of Blades, but do they want to? Perhaps they like the 'bags of mostly water' enough not to want to join up ... just making sure you're not forcing something on your players.This is the kind of stuff they go for, I'd be surprised if they turned down the mission, but if they do, I'll just wing something else. But I like the cult idea, I hadn't really thought of it that way, since his end goal is genocide I was thinking of him more like an aggressive Hitler in a fantasy setting.
nyysjan 10-25-04, 07:57 AM	maybe they get recruited but not shown where the base is they just receive orders and report to some forged who is higher in hierarchy and while they rise in ranks you get given better equipment and more important missions and when they have gotten high enough they get taken to the LOB. plus depending how effectively LOB can use the forge he might just be making more followers in no time plus he probably can offer pretty good upgrades to the forged that follow him. no money no land just idealism and equipment