Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kayman 05-02-06, 07:33 AM	Hi everyone! In my current campaign my players have come to a point where its quite difficult for me to go on. They just reaches level 12/13, and it is hard to find some interesting ideas, especially because its Eberron and low level... In 1 or 2 weeks they will finish the main quest of the plot, and that quest has been their main quest since the very beginning when they had level 1. The Quest involved disputes with House Thuranni, The Emerald Claw, The Blood of Vol, The Lords of Dust and The Dreaming Dark. They have been all around Khorvaire except the Talenta Plaine, Valenar, The Mror Holds and Lhazaar, furthermore they have explored Xen'Drik. The campaign takes place in Sharn and is very political and story based, but there are also hard fights as well. I just dont know how to go on. What makes the whole thing more difficult is that there has been a slight change of the characters during the campaign because some diwed or had to leave the group for other reasons. There is no original character from the beginning. Here are the characters: - Varellan d' Phiarlan (bard 10/heir of syberis 2): He is the son of Tyasha and posseses the Syberis. As the old character of the player died recently (he has been killed by the first char of that player by the way-quite funny thing), this is a very new character. He entered the group because there is a very strong co-operation between the players and House Phiarlan. -Tabanek Cannith (cleric of the sovererígn host 11/fighter 1): He is the cousin of Lilacor d' Cannith, the last great leader of House Cannith in my campaign. Everybody thinks he died on the Day of the Moaning, but that is quite wrong. Actually he has been captured in his sword through the effects of the moaning. Tabanek brought Lilacor to the group, and to free Lilacor is the big aim of the players. -EFOK (Fighter 8/Warforged juggernaut 5): He has been the bodyguard of both Lilacor and Tabanek, now he is the mightiest fighter of the group. -Merotash (Telepath 13): He is a watcher of the shadows and was found by the other players in the Demon Wastes. He entered the group because he wants to fight the Dreaming Dark, wo is one of the main fiends of the group. (In my campaign, the southern Division of House Cannith in Sharn has been infiltrated by the Dark, its not House Deneith...) -Pash Tak (Fighter 12): He is the newest character as his player just entered our playing group.He is a He has been brought to the group by Tyasha d' Phiarlan. He tried to buy information on a strange thing that happened both to him and to an old friend of the group. The aim of the Players is to free Lilacor and then bring him back to the top of House Cannith. Furthermore, they try to fight the Dreaming Dark out of Sharn. They do know about the Dark and Cannith, and they want to quit Merrix d' Canniths reign. Furthermore, they try to push a frind of them into the council of Sharn to increase their political possibilities. There are two old members of the group in Sharn who help them from time to time. One of them works for House Phiarlan, the other is a local hero. He smartly used the Sharn Inquisitive to get a high grade of popularity, and he is the current winner of the race of the 8 winds. Recently he lost a finger, but does not know why. He is the one the players try to get in the council. One old member has fallen in love with a demon queen and followed her to the wastes. The players do not know that. They think he has been kidnapped. Another old member was addictive to Absentia and has been possessed by a Quori. The players do not know where he is. The strange thing that happened to Pash Tak is the only thing that I could go on with. One night, he suddenly lost his consciosness and as he awoke on the street, one finger was missing. He tried to get information by House Phiarlan, thats how he came to the group. The Players do not know anything about the whole thing. I thought that Mordain the Fleshweaver is the villain behind it. He tries to gain as many fingers of mighty persons as possible to clone them with the help of an old, forgotten ritual from the Dragon Below. My players and I have been playing together for 3 years now, this campaign has started about a year and a half ago. We are 2 Dungeon Masters, the other one leads a classic FR-campaign. This is my first cvampaign, and before we started the other DM had leaded another campaign. As the players reached level 13, he broke up the campaign because he found it to hard to lead the game. The other players asked me not to do so because most of them love their current characters, and I have to say I do so too. Some of them are true originals and have such a personality. I promised them that this campaign wont end until they are epic, because they love to play mighty characters, not only for fight-reasons or power gaming, but also because they have a certain popularity, connections and political power. So thats it. Which experiences do you have with high level characters in Eberron? How do you handle it? Any ideas for adventures or hooks with politic and intrigue? By the way, please post your group as well. I would love to get to know them... Sorry if this topic has been around, and sorry for my English-no native here...
Crystalforged 05-02-06, 09:14 AM	I can't think of any suggestions myself at the moment but if you haven't checked this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=628177) yet it might help.
cancerousmango 05-02-06, 09:22 AM	Forget the Dragonmarked houses, they're bush league. Have them get tangled with the Dreaming Dark, The Chamber, the Lords of Dust, Vol. THOSE are bad guys. Remember, advance the Lord of Blades to level 20-something, and they'll be terrified. Use the warforged juggernaut as a bait. Eberron is not low level, it's just screwed because the bad guys are much higher level than the good guys.
Thramzorean 05-02-06, 09:54 AM	I'm running such a campaign in the play by post section here in the WotC boards sending the party into Khyber. If you're interested in doing that I'll PM you a couple of my ideas for what they can do down there. And/or if you'd like to state what kind of campaign you want to run I'll be happy to chip in a few suggestions... you're more than welcome to grab what you want in terms of NPCs or otherwise from the game first chapter linked here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=469015), second chapter just starting. PM me if you have any specific questions.
Sereno 05-02-06, 10:40 AM	Don't forget ... Eberron ISN'T low-level ... it's low-level GOOD GUYS. There's plenty of bad guys out there ready to challenge any party level. Take your current campaign and make it be the "shell" for an even greater danger that they players only detect after finishing off the story arc. Have even greater malignant forces have been the driving element *behind* the current plots. Weave more powerful members of the LoD and DD into the "last" bit of the current arc to give the players something new to start following. There's already been some good suggestions for moving the campaign forward, to which I'd like to add two more; Khyber and plane hopping. Go deep into Khyber ... the Daelkyr in the ECS is as weak as they come ... they can be advanced to epic levels without much effort. Each Daelkyr is trapped down there, doing whatever embodiments of insanity might do for thousands of years ... probably experimenting with bigger and better aberrations. There's also plane hopping ... there's a whole host of Fiends out there (that could easily be working with the Lords of Dust) orbiting Eberron. Send your players into the planes! Or, in a completely different direction ... allow the PCs to retire and start a new 1st level party who is coming along in the wake of the first party and dealing with some of the fallout of that previous campaign....
Naudachu 05-02-06, 01:18 PM	Sounds like you've already got some good seeds for further adventures. - Lilacor/sword - You probably already have an idea how she is freed. But maybe it involves returning to the spot in the Mournland where she was first trapped in the sword. All sorts of nasty things could have sprung up from this spot. Maybe it opened a portal. OR she is freed another way, but still tied to this spot in the Mournlands. The act of her being freed opens a portal here. Something steps through, something headed for Lilacor. Maybe an inevitable (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/inevitable.htm) out to set the balance of the universe straight. - Merrix d'Cannith - If they succeed in ousting him, he'll become an even worse thorn in their side. I'm sure he won't give up trying to reclaim his position. He'll likely stop at nothing, even making deals with extradimensional evil forces. Or using them to power his new creations, aimed at taking out the PCs. - Quori - Even if the PCs get Merrix out of the picture and replace the House Cannith leader, the quori are relentless...and adaptable. They simply have a new leadership to infiltrate. Unless steps are taken against it, they will probably worm their way back in. And then the PCs become their first target. - Lilacor in power - When Lilacor does take over House Cannith, there will be some "growing pains." Leaders of the other Cannith factions will voice thier opinions and possible opposition. Perhaps the PCs are sent to the other factions as "peace keepers." Or one of the other Cannith leaders declares outright war on Lilacor and the PCs must retrieve him and bring him to justice. - Missing finger - Maybe this is a sign of the Quori's growing connection to this plane. They are starting to be able to affect it physically, but still only through dreams. Here the PCs own minds become the battlefield. They must find someone that can help them dream together, instead of being picked off individually by a powerful Quori. Or they must find a (Kalashtar?) holy site that blocks out Quori from their dreams. Then the DD will be forced to attack with their minions. Or maybe they find a way to send a couple nightmares through.
Korhal_IV 05-02-06, 01:58 PM	Perhaps it's time to throw them into Argonessen? You have a considerable number of dragonmarked PCs and connections, and the dragons take strong interest in those things. Perhaps a great red wyrm who leads a cabal of lesser wyrms in interpretation of the Prophecy has decided that the return of Lilacor is problematic to bringing about the Prophecy he wishes to see. Using their massive wealth, the cabal hires mid-to-high level rogues/assassins/etc belonging to House Tarkanan, to retrieve the sword with Lilacor's soul in it and bring it to Argonessen via a quick Teleport spell. Since no one in your party besides the bard is very capable of detecting rogues, it should be fairly easy for you to arrange for one to break into the house and rob the sword, perhaps aided by a scroll of Dispel Magic to suppress Lilacor for d4 rounds, allowing him to make a quick escape. The PCs can use their connections and influence to determine that it was House Tarkanan, break into one of their hidden strongholds, and either bribe or fight their way into knowledge of their true foe. The dragon, preoccupied with the magical mysteries of his new find, briefly loses interest in the PCs, allowing them the window of opportunity to teleport or sail into the Seren Islands, and then track down which dragon, precisely, is their problem. As a bonus reward, there could be dragons who like the idea of Lilacor's return, for whatever obscure reason, and who can assist the party in freeing him. For double bonus points, Lilacor's return is a certain omen of apocalypse in the Prophecy, but the PCs don't know this. :D
Kayman 05-03-06, 04:57 AM	Wow...some great sugestions here! At first I would like to actualize my campaign. Yesterday, they finally came to free Lilacor. And they chose something I did not know how to find it at first. As Tabanek is a old and important member of House Cannith, they suggested to try to get Lilacors soul into a warforged body. I decided that this idea was so crazy that I liked it :rolleyes: Of course they had to stand a whole lot of hazards to get the materials, so it was a really uneasy way. They had to get a scheme and a real big piece of each sort of dragonshards (so they had to travel to the Mournland, Xen'Drik, the Demon Wastes and the Shadow Marches). That was the only way Tabanek was able to do the procedure. Funny enough, he rolled a natural 20 as he tried to get Lilacor out...So looks like he is a warforged now. I know, it is kind of :rolleyes: but... Crystalforged: Thank you, I think this might help. I havent come to read it completely, but I am really looking forward to do so! cancerousmango: That is easier said than done Im afraid. But your completely right. The Dreaming Dark for example will be in such a fury if the group is succeeding in fighting House Cannith! And I am planning that they will succeed...I planned that the old member of the group who is possessed by a Quori now will lead the revenge strike of the Dark as he exactly knows the strenghts and weaknesses of the players... Thramzorean: Ah thats great! Thank you! I am excited to get to know your ideas, just look below, I will state a little bit more about my campaign! Sereno: The group has already some trouble with Cults of the Dragon below, I think they are going to get some more. I had an idea, okay its a little bit cliche, but anyway...I thought each Daelkyr personalizes one of the seven death sins and they found a way to slip into the mind of the people of Eberron. One Daelkyr, named "greed" had already found a way to charm a mighty member of House Deneith, and the players started to battle him until they finally freed him of the control of the Daelkyr...I think this is a thing I would like to deep...Appealing your suggestion to start a new group: theres no way to end the campaign just now...By the way, I like your nick! I think I am going to name my new character in our other gaming group like that if you dont mind ;) Naudachu: The other leaders of House Cannith already know the truth about Merrix and are backing the players as much as they can. But they wish that the dark secret of Cannith South stays a secret, because they are afraid of an image loss for the whole House. So they cand fight Merrix public and are trying not to be connected with the party in any way. Your other suggestions are great, thank you, thats the way I imagined the further tactics of the Dark. Korhal IV: Thats a real good advice...I totally like it! The Dragons of Argonessen already interfered with the party, but the players did not found out why. One dragon helped them to solve a quest, and talked about saving a life. In truth it was a metaphor. The dragon meant the one player character who is now in love with a Demon queen and in that way "saved" her life. The players do not know that his intentions were no good...Your idea with Merrix and the apocalypse is very good! So thank all of you, I would be excited to get further suggestions and advices. As this is my very first campaign, I am actually not very experienced as a DM. The way I would like to run the campaign in future is a little bit darker than until now. But that will be no problem I guess. I am a little bit worried about the "dying rate" of the players. Two of them have already the third character. The others have the second, but some old characters did not die but had to leave the group because of roleplay reasons (but always because the players wanted it that way...). Please share your thoughts...is this the way it goes or are the fights to hard? In general I am no friend of Assassins or other "roll or die" effects. I dont know, I just dont like it, though one character died through a Thuranni Assassin... Furthermore, I would like to get more intrigue into the campaign and to let the characters get more power in a political way. The other Dungeon Master is leading a FR campaign in a very classic style. All players are members of both groups, and I think they have not learnt to think "dirty" enough for Eberron yet...
Kayman 05-03-06, 05:09 AM	Oh by the way, does somebody speak German? I use to write down the story of my campaign, I have got about 120 pages, and its only the point of the second session on Eberron, but it is in German...
Kid SixXx 05-03-06, 09:10 AM	Current mid-level plotline I'm working on for a friend's campaign: I watched Lethal Weapon one night and then just started writing. I think that recently re-reading A Scanner Darkly had something to do with this plotline, also. The adventure hook involves the PC's to investigate the apparent suicide of the daughter of a nobleman in Sharn. Naturally, her death is no accident. If the PC's are smart, they will discover that the daughter had small traces of a narcotic substance in her system. My tenative name for the drug is "Blissbreeze." If the PC's pay attention to the papers, have underworld connections, or simply talk to friend on the Sharn watch, they'll eventually discover that there is somewhat of a turf war going on. Apparently Blissbreeze has started to supplant Dreamlily as the escapist drug of choice in the not-so-nice parts of the city. The turf war will turn out to be an event that's been going on for quite some time, but it will take the suicide of the nobleman's daughter to get the powers that bein Sharn to take notice of the situation. Little will the PC's realize that the nobleman's daughter is actually a message to the nobleman to keep his mouth shut: his import / export ventures are the pipeline bringing in Blissbreeze from Riedra. Yep. The primary ingredient in Blissbreeze will be pollen from flowers grown in Riedra. If the PC's suspect the Inspired, they'll run into a lot of resistance, but will eventually find out that the Inspired are just as surprised as the PC's that the flowers are being smuggled into Khorvaire. If the nobleman begins to talk too much, he'll be killed & the death will look like an accident, but a Kalashtar or another Psion will figure out that the nobleman died of an artificially induced brain hemmorage. I haven't worked out the other series of unfortunate events, but the trail will eventually lead to a small criminal organization run by an Adaran ex-patriots who have become Quori Mindhunters & they'll be led by a psi-forged named Cognizant. Blissbreeze is actually a substance that lowers resistance to psychic suggestion and also serves a psychic dampener. Cognizant plans to use it as a weapon against the Inspired (ie. Blissbreeze coated weapons might be able to hamper psionic ability) and the Riedrans that serve the Inspired (ie. Riedrans hooked on Blissbreeze might be more succeptable to being Mind Seeded or otherwise psionically controlled). I'll probably add a Changeling Shaper, a Shifter Wilder, or an Elan for flavor. Cognizant and his gang are using the streets of Sharn as a testing ground. It's perfect because the Watch doesn't really care about what happens in the seedier parts of town, so Cognizant's field tests have primarily gone unnoticed, and the sale of Blissbreeze finances his organization. Cognizant doesn't fear reprisals from the other criminal organziations because he & his associates have managed to Mind Seed or otherwise blackmail key members of other organizations. Cognizant's moles in ther other ganges then internally hamper any efforts to shut down Cognizant's organziation. As the PC's move into higher levels, the other DM and I have decided that Cognizant himsef might be Mind Seeded & the Dreaming Dark are actually behind the plot. The PC's will be led to believe that Blissbreeze is being tested by Cognizant as a possible weapon against the Inspired, while all along the Blissbreeze trade will be the first subtle steps in the Dreaming Dark's effort to test Blissbreeze's effects on other humanoids, in an effort to slowly co-opt sectors of Khorvairan society to be more sympathetic to the aims of the Riedra government. It won't be an outright invasion angle, but it is an effort to eventually gain carte blanc to begin the systematic targeting of the Kalashtar in Khorvaire. The Dreaming Dark won't have to attack the Kalashtar directly: the foreign governmental systems the Kalashtar depend upon for social support will persecute the Kalashtar in the Dreaming Dark's stead. Or somesuch. It's still a work in progress & I haven't worked out all of the plot holes.
Sereno 05-03-06, 09:14 AM	Sereno: The group has already some trouble with Cults of the Dragon below, I think they are going to get some more. I had an idea, okay its a little bit cliche, but anyway...I thought each Daelkyr personalizes one of the seven death sins and they found a way to slip into the mind of the people of Eberron. One Daelkyr, named "greed" had already found a way to charm a mighty member of House Deneith, and the players started to battle him until they finally freed him of the control of the Daelkyr...I think this is a thing I would like to deep...Appealing your suggestion to start a new group: theres no way to end the campaign just now...By the way, I like your nick! I think I am going to name my new character in our other gaming group like that if you dont mind ;) I think that's a pretty good idea for the Daelkyr ... and, of course, "greed" is easy to turn into conflict and intrigue; greedy people of often willing to do anything to satisfy their need for gold/gems/power/whatever. The players can learn about the control over the Deneith NPC and follow it through a series of contacts (this is where you can add some politics and other mystery and intrigue) to a Cult of the DB. Just give some of the NPCs along the "path" roles in Sharn politics (City Council, Sharn Watch, other d'marked Houses ... the list is nearly limitless!). The great thing about the CotDB is that they're very scalable. Their agents on the surface can be any level, but once you get down into Khyber you can have illithids, beholders, dolgaunts with class levels, a whole host of never-before-seen aberrations, and the Daelkyr itself! Feel free to use the name "Sereno" if you like it! :) The way I would like to run the campaign in future is a little bit darker than until now. But that will be no problem I guess. I am a little bit worried about the "dying rate" of the players. Two of them have already the third character. The others have the second, but some old characters did not die but had to leave the group because of roleplay reasons (but always because the players wanted it that way...). Please share your thoughts...is this the way it goes or are the fights to hard? In general I am no friend of Assassins or other "roll or die" effects. I dont know, I just dont like it, though one character died through a Thuranni Assassin... That death rate does seem a little high ... but, if the players are happy it's acceptible. I, as a DM, HATE save-or-die effects and have house-ruled that any save-or-die effect, instead, reduces a character to -1 hit points and unstable. That way they are still instantly "killed," but they still have a few rounds to be rescued or stabilize themselves with an Action Point. Still dramatic, but not as frustrating as, "Oops, your rolled a 2 ... you're dead. Here's a new character sheet." Are the PCs dying because they aren't attacking tactically or making mistakes, or because they're failing too many saves and being "unlucky." If your players are being unlucky, you might want to tone down a few of the encounters or throw a few less of them. Remember "search slow, fight fast." Furthermore, I would like to get more intrigue into the campaign and to let the characters get more power in a political way. The other Dungeon Master is leading a FR campaign in a very classic style. All players are members of both groups, and I think they have not learnt to think "dirty" enough for Eberron yet... The key to a decent intrigue campaign is to have a number of well-developed NPCs. Each NPC needs to be believable, have their own personality, and most importantly their own agenda. The PCs would work with the NPCs that they like or identify with, or with those whom they know they can manipulate. Since your PCs are in the mid-to-high range, they should be well-known enough to associate with the upper crust of Sharn society. Have them invited to a Tain Gala, where they'd meet many of the most influential families in Sharn. Get them involved in some of the minor intrigues (family X wants to buy buildings owned by family Y, family B is trying to get family C's oldest son to marry their daughter, etc...) It's also important to have way more intrigue threads than the PCs will ever be able to follow, that helps it feel more real. Of course, being betrayed by their co-conspiritors, occasionally, is good for getting that "noir" feeling into the game. Good luck!