Post/Author/DateTime	Post
treacle 03-22-04, 02:14 PM	I need some help linking together some disparate storylines on a Forgotten Realms campaign that I'm starting to run. I ran the first (very small) adventure and now I need to prep some more material (adventures, side quests, etc.) for the campaign. Just looking for some "over the shoulder" comments from some of you Faerun scholars out there. Here's what I have so far... --- BACKGROUND - The adventuring party (that the campaign is for) consists of 3 player characters, e.g., a dwarf fighter, a human paladin and a human cleric (both the paladin and cleric are from the church of Lathander). They currently hire mercenaries to fill out the group when needed. - The campaign starts out in Marsember, Cormyr (1372 DR). - One of the main plots of the campaign, is that the paladin is trying to find out about his past. What he knows, is that he was left at the doorstep of Morningmist Hall when he was three years old (1358 DR) and was raised by one of the clerics there. He has a tattoo of "2 rings" on the inside of one of his biceps (helps us to verify his identity). Also, he suspects that one of his parents might be from Kozakura (this player is REALLY into feudal Japan). - What the paladin doesn't know, is that his mother and father were killed. His father was the son of a legendary weaponsmith who was exiled from Kozakura (not sure why yet). His mother (a sorcerer) was the rebellious daughter of an evil female Red Wizard who resides in the Thayan enclave in Telflamm (Thesk). I'm thinking about having his grandmother somehow involved in his parent's death, and that, (for some reason) she is trying to find and kill him. His grandfather is either searching for him (which I like) OR was sold (or tricked) into slavery by his Red Wizard grandmother (forced to make weapons for the Thayan legions). Note, he has only one grandparent on each side of his family. - On the group's first adventure, they came upon the tomb of a cleric of Cyric and found (amongst other treasure) a masterwork katana and wakizashi set (with the "2 rings" symbol on them directly above the symbol of a lion) and several of the cleric's personal journals. The following was described to the party when they read the journals... Two things stand out in particular... There are several entries that detail the names, duties and whereabouts of three clerics of Cyric that are living in disguise within Marsember. An entry dated the month of Mirtul, 1358 DR: "...the Tanarukk mercenaries raided the caravan traveling from Thesk. As we expected, based on information from our associate in Thesk, the carts were full of weapons and armor of exceptional quality. In fact, I even kept a particularly nice katana and wakizashi set. I must admit, that I am pleasantly surprised at the quality of this cache of weapons and armor. The craftsman who forged them is truly a master. Per their standing orders, the Tanarukk dispatched the entire party, except for a child who was whisked away by a severely wounded half-orc ranger. The two got away as the Tanarukk were having a particularly tough time with a sorcerer and her Kozakuran companion (both of whom brought the Tanarukk numbers to less than a quarter of their full strength of 67 barbarians) before they were slain. Obviously, the two were trying to give the ranger enough time to escape with the child. Searches were conducted to locate the child, but the trail became difficult to follow once it crossed the Starwater River...". The journal goes on to discuss the location of the ambush (just north of the Hermit's Woods and three miles east of The Wyvernflow, along the Way of the Manticore) and a brief list of the weapons and armor that were taken. - Currently, the party is deciding whether to search for the three clerics of Cyric in Marsember, find out information about the marks on the weapons that they found, or investigating the area where the ambush took place. They are leaning towards hunting down the three clerics. --- QUESTIONS These are some of the issues that I am trying to resolve... 1. How the paladin can serve the church AND resolve his past (or will he have to choose one over the other)? 2. Why his grandmother wants to kill him? My initial thoughts are that because his mother is a sorcerer (not a good thing for the daughter of a Red Wizard), this created a rift between the two that grew into hatred. The grandmother is trying to erase the mistake by murdering her daughter and grandchild (not the most plausible reason, however, she does worship the God of murder and lies, e.g., Cyric). Initially, I was thinking that the tattoo was the mark identifying his fathers family, however, it could be a Scribe Tattoo that his mother put on him to protect him OR it magically holds some evidence about a large scale Thayan plot (a better reason for his grandmother, or any Red Wizard, to want to kill him). 3. Why his grandfather was exiled? Not sure what to do here yet because the info that I have about Kozakura is sketchy at best. The PC doesn't know anything about the exile, therefore, I could even change this area totally. 4. I'm wondering if his mother's inborn arcane talent could have been passed down to him and show up somewhere down the line? How would that effect a paladin? 5. The paladin was was left at the doorstep of Morningmist Hall in 1358 DR, e.g., the Time of Troubles, would there be any way to work some of that storyline into this campaign (minor or major)? I'm currently reading The Avatar Series (Shadowdale), so I thought it might be fun. --- Thanks for bearing with me on this long-winded post. I'm not asking for someone to do the work for me, just for a few comments and/or suggestions that will help me to tie the storyline into what's going on in the Realms. Any help that you can give me would be much appreciated. :)
ShaggySpellsword 03-22-04, 10:12 PM	Maybe the Paladin is the result of some strange Arcane Breeding Experiment from Thay...his mother may have had some magical alteration done to her in order for her child to exhibit some super-soldier like qualities. The first round in a plot to create an army of them. The Grandmother needs to find the Paladin and bring him in, dead or alive, so that they can cut him open and determine weather or not all the insides and special abilities he was imbued with worked out nicely. THEN they can have him raised and start working on his head to enslave him to their new plans. Start giving him traits and lost levels per a bloodline (Unearthed Arcana) or something to let him know there is a little demon inside him...that would really mess with a Paladin's head. The ring could be a magical activator: with the right spell cast upon it, his true form is revealed. It takes another spell of opposite type to reverse the effects. (Deeper Darkness/Daylight?) Another thought I had...they gave the mother potions to alter her child so that he could be the host to grow a very rare material component that has to be prepared inside a living child...even his preternatural goodness might have been ordaned: "Balor essence infused in the womb of a powerful mage. The man--child produced must be guided on the path of righteousness, for only a pure heart will complete the spell." Have there be others wo also apply to be "growing" this material component inside of them. Make the spell that the grandmother is trying to perform do something VERY Anit-lathander like cast a nation into eternal night and require only one pure (aka allowed to leave Thaw and hoped to be pure) Balor-infused heart to douse the sun. So, Lathander needs this spell to fail: The Paladin can (easiest) find and kill all other pure balor-infused men alive, thus staining himself with murder and becoming impure and unable to qualify. He looses his Paladin-hood, but serves Lathander's cause. Lathander, seeing that he made the ultimate sacrifice of his purity for the Church will grant him a "New Beginning." Or the Paladin can try and protect all of the pure balor-hearted from constant Thayan attacks. I suppose he could march into Thay and destroy those responsible, but have you SEEN Thayan stats? The ring tatoo could act as a subconscious Phylactery of Faithfulness that does something adverse to him whenever he strays from the path of LG. To ensure he stays pure for the harvest. As for the grandfather, he could have been the Royal Weaponsmith. The "perfect blade" he crafted for the Emperor could have shattered on it's first draw in the most recent great war and allowed the defenseless Emperor to be killed in battle. The Grandfather, discraced, but sure that it wasn't his craftmanship at fault ran away imposing self-exile, and hoping to discover the truth about what happened. A rival of the emperors (his brother/son aka the new emperor) could have poured an acid upon the blade, causing it to become brittle-in fact killing the Emperor and implicating the weaponsmith. The New Emperor, expecting the smith to be killed, might send assassins after the Grandfather. The GF could have been decribed as having a tatoo identicle to the Paladins. Upon hearing that there is a man with a tatoo matching their description, the Assassins might target the Paladin instead if he ever shows his tatoo to anyone. The Paladin might find letters on the Assassins, or even question one to start down the path of learning of his Grandfather's dishonour. -just a few ideas I had. Sorry for the length
treacle 03-24-04, 10:42 AM	ShaggySpellsword, Thanks for the input! :) I really like the idea about the grandfather, it gives me several really good ways to insert the father's background story into side quests and adventures involving the grandmother, i.e., assassin ambushes, someone asking questions (and telling lies) about a man with a tattoo of "2 rings", etc. It might confuse the players for a while (hehehe), until they discover that they are being hunted by more than one foe, e.g., the grandmother AND the assasins/Emperor. I'm even thinking about having the grandfather send a trusted friend to search for the paladin. I've had this idea for a while, that he could send a hengeyokai (intelligent, shapechanging animals from the Oriental Adventures supplement) and that every now an then the paladin would see a sparrow (this would be the hengeyokai's animal form) in some of the weirdest places. I like the ideas about the "...Arcane Breeding Experiment..." and the "...very rare material component that has to be prepared inside a living child...", however, I'm just not sure how I'd blend them into the story (yet) without negatively affecting the PC's paladin class, e.g., losing paladinship. If the player lost his paladin title due to HIS actions, that would be OK, however, he might get a little miffed if I "took" it away from him. I don't think it would be too bad, however, if I gave him a little bonus that had a slight negative to it, i.e., the mother tried to create a protective ward on her son (through the tattoo), but, something went wrong and now the paladin gets a +2 saving throw against spells, but, his DEX or CON is reduced by 2 for 10 rounds while his body recovers from fighting off the magic (other "protective ward gone bad" ideas would be most welcome). Regards, treacle
ShaggySpellsword 03-24-04, 08:26 PM	I CERTAINLY think it would be NO FUN if you TOOK the Paladin's ability to be a Paladin away from him. What I was suggesting was that, like any Paladin, he needs some temptation to go evil. Let him know that there is monster inside the man, and make him control his quite literal "inner demons." Make him realize that giving in to the monster will make him very powerful, very quickly. It will also make Lathander forsake him and lose his Paladinhood, but it is, after all, his CHOICE. It may also present some interesting role-playing opportunities. The bonus you mentioned from the tatoo sounds cool. Another idea I had was that the tatoo, when activated by a particular spell not normal cast on a person (I still like darkness or deeper darkness) starts turning just his arm evil. The skin reddens and cracks, his fingernails elongate into claws and his arm become supernaturally stong. Make his "Evil Arm" like an intelligent magic item that he can control through sheer force of will. It may occasionally try and do evil things without his consent, that he would not be responsible for, but if he harnesses it he might find a way to destroy the evil or purify it. He could cut it off and seek his grandfather to forge him a new one. Sounds like a new cool adventure hook to me with the final prize being a cool new metal arm. Are you giving your other PCs as much cool plot as the Paladin? Paladin's tend to have the secret class ability "plot target." What are your plans to tie in the Dwarf and Cleric? Just curious. Your campaign sounds very cool. Let me know how it goes!
treacle 03-29-04, 10:20 AM	ShaggySpellsword, Sorry about the delayed response, I've been out of town and away from a computer for the past few days. I CERTAINLY think it would be NO FUN if you TOOK the Paladin's ability to be a Paladin away from him. You're right, I just worded that badly. I was just trying to convey my concerns, albeit in a very convoluted way, about giving this particular PC such a heavy roleplaying challenge (this is his first D&D game). He (and the rest of the party) just gained 2nd level and it's been pretty much Hack 'n Slash up to this point. They're just starting to get comfortable enough with the basic rules that I'm only now starting to see some roleplaying (with a bit of nudging on my part). But, you're right, paladins need scenarios involving temptation vs. evil (kind of goes with the territory, huh), therefore, I should plan a couple of encounters involving small temptations (to get him thinking about this issue), and then, truly test him with the "inner demon" or a similar conflict later on in the campaign. BTW, I really like the "evil arm" scenario! Are you giving your other PCs as much cool plot as the Paladin? Paladin's tend to have the secret class ability "plot target." What are your plans to tie in the Dwarf and Cleric? The paladin has been somewhat of a special case. When creating his character, he gave me some basics about his background, and then, gave me carte blanche to randomly generate the parts of his past that he wouldn't know. We both agreed that you don't have much control over some aspects of your life (family, etc.), and that, randomly generating a few of the specifics could lead to some interesting things (which I think it has). As for the other members of the party, I'm trying to give them a hook or two to better tie them into the paladin's quest (or just to give their characters some much needed depth). The dwarf fighter was introduced to the paladin and cleric while he was searching for his missing brother. At the moment, this is still a loose end. I was thinking about having his brother's disappearance tied into the Cyric church somehow, i.e., he was kidnapped, killed, or something else. I'm having a bit more trouble with the cleric. I have this idea of using the "Deliverance" (see Faiths and Pantheons, page 38) as a plot hook for her. Feeding her false information (using passed notes, so that the other party members aren't privy) that leads her to believe that the strange events that are unfolding have to do with Lathander's mysterious event. The false leads could be the work of the church of Cyric and/or the paladin's grandmother, in efforts to create conflict within the party. Your campaign sounds very cool. Let me know how it goes! Thanks and I will! :) BTW, thanks for all the input you've given me so far. It has really helped me to solidify some of the main storyline. This is my first time as a DM and I find that if I don't prepare a lot of material ahead of time (even if the party takes a path that makes some of it obsolete) the game suffers while I'm trying to wing it.