Need help with plot hooks [Archive] - Wizards Community

Need help with plot hooks [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
FrznFury
06-17-05, 09:51 AM This was posted in the Adventures forum but the responses were slightly disappointing...

I'm a fairly experienced DM, particularly in solo campaigns.

However, I'm in need of a few ideas to get the ball rolling on this one.

The campaign I am about to start has four players at first level, three PC and one DMPC, and is set in Eberron, particularly at the Rekkenmark Military Academy in Karrnath. We've got a ranger, a druid, a wizard, and a warlock (me).

Trouble is, at least one of the two is suddenly very busy and can't make the session, I'm not even going to ask. So, this drops the druid, and I may just wind up with the wizard.

I just need a few ideas to set up an adventure for the ones who can make it.

My original idea involved all of them (The characters are fairly young.) in detention. Something happens and the classes are evacuated to the great hall at the front of the building, however, the doors to the detention hall are arcane locked , beyond any of the party member's ability to break open. When the corridor is silent, the door opens of its own volition and by the warlock's (my) suggestion they split up and search a few of the classes. As fate would have it, they are all being set up for a test, though they don't know it yet. Each of them has a particular monster to fight... The Druid is in the Menagerie with a Dire Rat, the Wizard gets a Stirge in the Summoning Chamber, and the Ranger (who has undead as a favored enemy) goes to the military strategy room and has to fight a zombie. The Warlock goes to the dungeon (provides atmosphere for training rogues) and starts calling for help when the others complete their challenges. They (hopefully) all rush down the steps to see me frantically trying to escape from a hell hound. When all the encounters are finished, there is a note on the floor in the hall letting them know that they were being tested, but they don't know by whom (Kaius III, actually. Or the first, if you prefer.).

Yes, it is somewhat Harry Potter-esque, but that's kind of what I was going for. Now, I've got to arrange seperate tests for all of them. The whole detention thing is likely out, and now I'm out of ideas. I have a partial map of an abandoned House Deneith office that was going to function as a low-level dungeon and hint at a few things in the government which will hopefully lead them around a series of tests designed to test their abilities so that Kaius can eventually become their patron. I may change his alignment and I may not. As it stands, we have Dru:NG, Rgr:N(undecided), Wiz:CN, Warlock:LE.

So, any suggestions? I need a little help here.
Grymar
06-17-05, 10:10 AM First off, DMPC sends off warning bells. Make sure you don't take ANY of the spotlight. No suggestions, no tips, and no plot lines. If your char is asked any questions, he can answer, but otherwise play him as the silent type. This is just my suggestion, but doing anything else can lead you to having massive problems.

OK, now on to the actual plot. I like it and I see no reason why you need to change it just because the druid isn't there. The druid isn't in detention and is out studying, then run a solo adventure one night covering that characters particular "test".

And I'm also not sure that you need to change the alignment of Kaius. He doesn't have to give out evil quests, he could send them out to do things to help his nation and aren't necessarily evil.
FrznFury
06-17-05, 10:23 AM That's what I was originally planning on with Kaius.
Three first-level characters taking down a hell hound? I was speculating with four, but then again, I haven't pushed the CRs much. Maybe I'll run it the same without her after all. Thanks.

Are there any ideas as to where tis might go though? The abandoned Deneith offices were going to be a "Here's this abandoned building, let's go check it out!" adventure. Primarily intended to give them a bit of treasure.

The DMPC functions as slightly less than important. He is going to act more like the party's face. With a high Cha, high ranks in social skills, and an invocation that boosts them even higher, he's great for social scenes. Especially since the only other character who's reasonably charismatic is the druid, and she's just too honest.
HappyDragon
06-17-05, 02:30 PM Firstly, I would agree with Grymar, the scenario is fine and works as a good route for introductions to the campaign. You could even have there be a couple other NPC's in detention that are also candidates for the trials. Have some of the NPC's fail their trials and maybe have one or two of them pass as well....they could be used as either rivals, enemies or firends in the future depending on how the PC's react to them and on how you want to use them.

As for ideas past that.....maybe while seaching in the abandonned Deneith offices they come across some papers. Mention of Vol activities, perhaps don't say VOL, but some refernce to a groups activities that seem rather odd and Deneith was worried but there is a noticable lack of follow up on the wierd happenings.
-Along their travels, perhaps they come across a Karnathi undead that got seperated from it's unit and the group could help it get back to where it needs to go. Perhaps this undead is actually really a scout for either Vol or yet another way for Kaius to keep tabs on the group without them knowing.
-Depending on where the allegiances of the characters lie.....are they more loyal to Karrnath, House Deneith, any of the Dragonmarked houses, a religion, what have you.....play up those allegiances and loyalties. Or are they just out for the adventure?

Finally, I would be careful with how you use your DMPC Warlock character. If the rest of the group has no problems with him being the mouthpiece, that;s great. However you should ask the players if they want it that way or not because that's potentially alot of power and control of the game to take away from the players. Just because the PC's may not have astronomical Charisma scores doesn't mean you should take away their opprotunity to play out such things.
The only reason I warn you of this is because it could smack a bit too much of abusing the whole Deux es Machina trap that referees sometimes fall into and the players may end up resenting in the future.
It is just a warning though, and as long as the other players have no problem with it, then go for it.

Hope the campaign goes well. :)
makeshiftwings
06-17-05, 07:39 PM I like the general idea and think it would work pretty well, even with fewer characters. Maybe the hell hound is too powerful if some players don't show, but I'm sure you could replace it with something else. But I also have to agree that you should make your DMPC a very silent type. DEFINITELY not the mouthpiece of the party. That means you're going to spend half the game talking to yourself rather than the players.
Radkres
06-17-05, 10:35 PM Maybe the hell hound is still in plane phase keeps flickering in and out of this plane.
Fudge the hit rolls
When it hits give it a 20% to flicker out instead of hit.
The players get 80% to hit it and if things get too hard it flickers out of this plane.
The players still over come the hell hound and they don’t die.
Cloud Divider
06-18-05, 11:18 AM Ok - so a few thoughts...

Your objective is to try and give each of the PC's a reason to shine (perhaps explicitly demonstrate their niches). Your Ranger gets to fight a favored foe (good), the Druid is fighting an animal (meh), and the Wizard gets the stirge (also meh)... I think you could probably expand/adjust things a bit more to suit - there's quite possibly better challenges for the Druid and Wizard that aren't strictly martial in nature. Perhaps the Wizard gets a task that involves his arcane knowledge and/or clever use of spells.

So the purpose for the scenario in-game, is that Kaius is testing them to see if they are worth his time as a patron. What sort of long-term plans does he have? General-purpose problem-solvers (e.g. "Adventurers on retainer")? Soemthing more specific? Does he plan on being a fairly direct and hands-on mentor, or is he planning on being in the background, more like a manipulator? How much does he value loyalty? Loyalty to what? Karrnath? Himself? Each other? The Academy?

Are all of the PC's Karrnathi? It's a little odd then, that the Ranger has Favored Enemy: Undead. That's something that you could perhaps build upon - Favored Enemy: Undead is probably a rarity among Karrnathi Rangers, and that's probably an important consideration. Of course, it's also somewhat risky, as this Ranger would then have that advantage when it came to discovering that Kaius is an undead.

How set are you on splitting up the party? If you pick the right challenges, it may not be necessary (ie Challenge 1 is the Big Fight so the Ranger can mop up; Challenge 2 is the Mystical Wizard Gig; Challenge 3 involves something to do with the Druid's nature lore or something).

A good, and rather less contrived means of splitting up the party would be to give them some kind of a time limit - searching the 3 wings of the school for survivors and/or a way out while the place is on fire (illusory fire) is a pretty good (and reasonably obvious) reason to split up. A common challenge also works well to test party loyalty - if the Ranger finds the exit, will he bail, or risk injury to find the rest of the party and lead them out?

Also, I'd agree with the other posters - having your high-Cha Warlock be the party "Face Man" is probably a very bad idea. Think about it... What happens when your party shows up for a meeting with Kaius or Kaius' representative? You have ten minutes of the GM talking to himself: You (GMPC) having a drawn out conversation with You (Kaius). Even if you're great at improv and voice mannerisms, that's kinda lame from the player perspective. While it may be attractive when it comes to ensuring that social encounters go the way you want, that's precisely a reason NOT to - The players will want to make their own decisions, and if they tank a negotiation, they'd prefer it be their own fault. It really does take a degree of freedom away from the players.

They want to be the masters of their own destiny, after all. Or at least feel like they are...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
FrznFury 06-17-05, 09:51 AM	This was posted in the Adventures forum but the responses were slightly disappointing... I'm a fairly experienced DM, particularly in solo campaigns. However, I'm in need of a few ideas to get the ball rolling on this one. The campaign I am about to start has four players at first level, three PC and one DMPC, and is set in Eberron, particularly at the Rekkenmark Military Academy in Karrnath. We've got a ranger, a druid, a wizard, and a warlock (me). Trouble is, at least one of the two is suddenly very busy and can't make the session, I'm not even going to ask. So, this drops the druid, and I may just wind up with the wizard. I just need a few ideas to set up an adventure for the ones who can make it. My original idea involved all of them (The characters are fairly young.) in detention. Something happens and the classes are evacuated to the great hall at the front of the building, however, the doors to the detention hall are arcane locked , beyond any of the party member's ability to break open. When the corridor is silent, the door opens of its own volition and by the warlock's (my) suggestion they split up and search a few of the classes. As fate would have it, they are all being set up for a test, though they don't know it yet. Each of them has a particular monster to fight... The Druid is in the Menagerie with a Dire Rat, the Wizard gets a Stirge in the Summoning Chamber, and the Ranger (who has undead as a favored enemy) goes to the military strategy room and has to fight a zombie. The Warlock goes to the dungeon (provides atmosphere for training rogues) and starts calling for help when the others complete their challenges. They (hopefully) all rush down the steps to see me frantically trying to escape from a hell hound. When all the encounters are finished, there is a note on the floor in the hall letting them know that they were being tested, but they don't know by whom (Kaius III, actually. Or the first, if you prefer.). Yes, it is somewhat Harry Potter-esque, but that's kind of what I was going for. Now, I've got to arrange seperate tests for all of them. The whole detention thing is likely out, and now I'm out of ideas. I have a partial map of an abandoned House Deneith office that was going to function as a low-level dungeon and hint at a few things in the government which will hopefully lead them around a series of tests designed to test their abilities so that Kaius can eventually become their patron. I may change his alignment and I may not. As it stands, we have Dru:NG, Rgr:N(undecided), Wiz:CN, Warlock:LE. So, any suggestions? I need a little help here.
Grymar 06-17-05, 10:10 AM	First off, DMPC sends off warning bells. Make sure you don't take ANY of the spotlight. No suggestions, no tips, and no plot lines. If your char is asked any questions, he can answer, but otherwise play him as the silent type. This is just my suggestion, but doing anything else can lead you to having massive problems. OK, now on to the actual plot. I like it and I see no reason why you need to change it just because the druid isn't there. The druid isn't in detention and is out studying, then run a solo adventure one night covering that characters particular "test". And I'm also not sure that you need to change the alignment of Kaius. He doesn't have to give out evil quests, he could send them out to do things to help his nation and aren't necessarily evil.
FrznFury 06-17-05, 10:23 AM	That's what I was originally planning on with Kaius. Three first-level characters taking down a hell hound? I was speculating with four, but then again, I haven't pushed the CRs much. Maybe I'll run it the same without her after all. Thanks. Are there any ideas as to where tis might go though? The abandoned Deneith offices were going to be a "Here's this abandoned building, let's go check it out!" adventure. Primarily intended to give them a bit of treasure. The DMPC functions as slightly less than important. He is going to act more like the party's face. With a high Cha, high ranks in social skills, and an invocation that boosts them even higher, he's great for social scenes. Especially since the only other character who's reasonably charismatic is the druid, and she's just too honest.
HappyDragon 06-17-05, 02:30 PM	Firstly, I would agree with Grymar, the scenario is fine and works as a good route for introductions to the campaign. You could even have there be a couple other NPC's in detention that are also candidates for the trials. Have some of the NPC's fail their trials and maybe have one or two of them pass as well....they could be used as either rivals, enemies or firends in the future depending on how the PC's react to them and on how you want to use them. As for ideas past that.....maybe while seaching in the abandonned Deneith offices they come across some papers. Mention of Vol activities, perhaps don't say VOL, but some refernce to a groups activities that seem rather odd and Deneith was worried but there is a noticable lack of follow up on the wierd happenings. -Along their travels, perhaps they come across a Karnathi undead that got seperated from it's unit and the group could help it get back to where it needs to go. Perhaps this undead is actually really a scout for either Vol or yet another way for Kaius to keep tabs on the group without them knowing. -Depending on where the allegiances of the characters lie.....are they more loyal to Karrnath, House Deneith, any of the Dragonmarked houses, a religion, what have you.....play up those allegiances and loyalties. Or are they just out for the adventure? Finally, I would be careful with how you use your DMPC Warlock character. If the rest of the group has no problems with him being the mouthpiece, that;s great. However you should ask the players if they want it that way or not because that's potentially alot of power and control of the game to take away from the players. Just because the PC's may not have astronomical Charisma scores doesn't mean you should take away their opprotunity to play out such things. The only reason I warn you of this is because it could smack a bit too much of abusing the whole Deux es Machina trap that referees sometimes fall into and the players may end up resenting in the future. It is just a warning though, and as long as the other players have no problem with it, then go for it. Hope the campaign goes well. :)
makeshiftwings 06-17-05, 07:39 PM	I like the general idea and think it would work pretty well, even with fewer characters. Maybe the hell hound is too powerful if some players don't show, but I'm sure you could replace it with something else. But I also have to agree that you should make your DMPC a very silent type. DEFINITELY not the mouthpiece of the party. That means you're going to spend half the game talking to yourself rather than the players.
Radkres 06-17-05, 10:35 PM	Maybe the hell hound is still in plane phase keeps flickering in and out of this plane. Fudge the hit rolls When it hits give it a 20% to flicker out instead of hit. The players get 80% to hit it and if things get too hard it flickers out of this plane. The players still over come the hell hound and they don’t die.
Cloud Divider 06-18-05, 11:18 AM	Ok - so a few thoughts... Your objective is to try and give each of the PC's a reason to shine (perhaps explicitly demonstrate their niches). Your Ranger gets to fight a favored foe (good), the Druid is fighting an animal (meh), and the Wizard gets the stirge (also meh)... I think you could probably expand/adjust things a bit more to suit - there's quite possibly better challenges for the Druid and Wizard that aren't strictly martial in nature. Perhaps the Wizard gets a task that involves his arcane knowledge and/or clever use of spells. So the purpose for the scenario in-game, is that Kaius is testing them to see if they are worth his time as a patron. What sort of long-term plans does he have? General-purpose problem-solvers (e.g. "Adventurers on retainer")? Soemthing more specific? Does he plan on being a fairly direct and hands-on mentor, or is he planning on being in the background, more like a manipulator? How much does he value loyalty? Loyalty to what? Karrnath? Himself? Each other? The Academy? Are all of the PC's Karrnathi? It's a little odd then, that the Ranger has Favored Enemy: Undead. That's something that you could perhaps build upon - Favored Enemy: Undead is probably a rarity among Karrnathi Rangers, and that's probably an important consideration. Of course, it's also somewhat risky, as this Ranger would then have that advantage when it came to discovering that Kaius is an undead. How set are you on splitting up the party? If you pick the right challenges, it may not be necessary (ie Challenge 1 is the Big Fight so the Ranger can mop up; Challenge 2 is the Mystical Wizard Gig; Challenge 3 involves something to do with the Druid's nature lore or something). A good, and rather less contrived means of splitting up the party would be to give them some kind of a time limit - searching the 3 wings of the school for survivors and/or a way out while the place is on fire (illusory fire) is a pretty good (and reasonably obvious) reason to split up. A common challenge also works well to test party loyalty - if the Ranger finds the exit, will he bail, or risk injury to find the rest of the party and lead them out? Also, I'd agree with the other posters - having your high-Cha Warlock be the party "Face Man" is probably a very bad idea. Think about it... What happens when your party shows up for a meeting with Kaius or Kaius' representative? You have ten minutes of the GM talking to himself: You (GMPC) having a drawn out conversation with You (Kaius). Even if you're great at improv and voice mannerisms, that's kinda lame from the player perspective. While it may be attractive when it comes to ensuring that social encounters go the way you want, that's precisely a reason NOT to - The players will want to make their own decisions, and if they tank a negotiation, they'd prefer it be their own fault. It really does take a degree of freedom away from the players. They want to be the masters of their own destiny, after all. Or at least feel like they are...