I'm a DM in need [Archive] - Wizards Community

I'm a DM in need [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Rapida
10-31-04, 12:30 AM Hello forum goers,
I need advice on a couple of things for my campaign. First off I've always had trouble putting together a campaign with a common thread throughout it, this time is proving no different. I just don't know where to go after my first adventure, here is what happened. These are first level characters btw.Oh yeah and sorry in advance for how bad this post looks/typed. I just kind of wrote my thoughts, which as you can see are kind of hectic.

The party are hired by a group of paladins and clerics of Tyr to escort a caravan full of goods from blackfeather bridge to ashbenford. During this journey they pick up a drunken dwarf (a late player, only way to bring in character) and set up camp. First night is ok, but during the second night they are attacked by some an orc and some goblins. The orc kills the dwarf and the goblins kill most of the paladins (2/3 i think) and one cleric of Tyr. All is fine, the orc (barbarian/ranger) falls and goblins are killed or chased off. After the battle one of the players start questioning the cleric on what exactly they are transporting. The cleric admits they are transporting an amulet imbued with some of cyric's power. He did this during the time of his insanity. The cleric mentions there is another group of higher level clerics transporting a fake, and that they are going to ashbenford to get it destroyed. The party ends up in ashbenford gets paid and meets an wood elf that they accept into the party just cause he is a player(the drunken dwarf's player). Then the church of tyr charges them with taking the amulet to be destroyed by burying it in the body of Moander in the forest of Cormanthyr. They decide sure, and off they go...

The next session: On the road through the forest, on the first night of travel. The elf from ashbenford attacks the party mage, turns out he was an assasin from a merchant(thinking this is a rakasha) the party theif had angered. The mage survives and with some quick thinking from the theif the assasin is vanquished. After saving the cleric and interagatting the assasin elf. They start off on their journey to destroy the amulet thinking its more important. They get to Hillsfar meeting a strange human being turned away from the gate. He quickly explains who he is, (a shifter played by the elf assasin's player) and where he came from. He is from a nearby druid grove trying to make up for the evil his granpa caused. His grandpa was a werewolf, and a member of the blackblood. Anyway they allow him to join the party but they do not let him watch the first few nights. Once they trust him, because he saved the party mage and almost died himself doing so, they allow him to watch. Then they get moander's corpse after walking through strange exploding mushrooms (boomshrooms), and fighting a some vultures (don't ask). They vote on who is gonna bury the amulet the theif looses and he approaches the mound and buries it. This causes the spirit of moander to awaken. It rises over he mound in the form of a ball of negative energy. They wisely decide to flee and it floats toward the heart of myth drannor. After fleeing out of the forest they are attacked by a ghoul, and they recognize it as the assasin from before. Now they are back in ashbenford and I don't know what to do. The elf wizard's family is missing and the Church said they would scry for the amulet his father wears.

That is where we left off last session and i have no ideal what to do. Please give me ideals of where i can go with all these plothooks.

And onto the second part of my post.

The party wizard from above, and the party theif both read some forgotten realms books. Which is really really surprising... and I want to reward them somehow. I dont want to give them an item because it would soon become useless due to them being level one, and experience isn't very special or anything. So I was thinking a weakened LA +1 template or some kind of special ability. Any ideals on this would also be appreciated. Alright thanks for any advice that is offered.
---Rap
xann
10-31-04, 01:07 AM drow, more drow, and just for fun the Zents always want "the breadbasket of the dales" find Dungeon 100 Woe to Mistledale
BrianCritchley
10-31-04, 03:22 AM seems logical to me that the chruch of cyric would want revenge something feirce..
Sammael_the_Chosen
10-31-04, 03:58 AM Turns out that the elf wizard's father was secretly in touch with Evermeet and helping with the return efforts by sending scouts into Myth Drannor and preparing secret caches of equipment for the elven scouting parties. The Cormanthor drow found out about him and decided to kidnap him in order to gain insight into the elven plans. They are holding him captive somewhere in Myth Drannor.

Meanwhile, the rakshasa "merchant" learns about the amulet the PCs were supposed to destroy, and sells the information to some Cyricists. The Cyricists happen to be western Zhent spies, sent to gather info on the Banite Zhents. They decide to seek the amulet for themselves. A party of Banite Zhents (who knew about the spies all along but didn't want to break their ruse... yet) is sent into Myth Drannor after the Cyricists, and should bump into the PCs. They could become potential (short-term) allies, or foes, depending on how the PCs interact with them.

The Cyricists find the emptied shell of the amulet, but Cyric himself guides them to follow the dissipated energy deeper into Myth Drannor. [Potential plot: Cyric wants to add corruption and decay to his portfolio, and he needs a fragment of Moander's essence to accomplish this]. Cyricists fight a group of "Moanderites" [Lolth is masquerading as Moander in order to keep a check on the Cormanthor drow, note that this requires you to ignore the War of the Spider Queen metaplot, which I'd recommend anyhow] and find an enormous fungus that was prepared by the cultists to act as a receptacle for Moander's essence.

This gives the PCs (A) a reason to go back to Myth Drannor and (B) a reason to remain there even after they rescue the elf wizard's father. As for rewarding the two players, I would avoid doing that in any obvious way. The best way to reward them, IMO, is to incorporate their knowledge of FR and their characters into one of your plots.
Xavier_of_Cormyr
11-03-04, 11:36 AM hold on a sec, your party of 1st level adventurers accidently caused the dead god Moander to awaken? Well, there's a campaign spanning plotline right there.
greaterbaatezu
11-04-04, 07:18 AM You certainly have a great plotline that will last you for a very long time. As a diversion, you may want to somehow get ahold of the myth drannor boxed set. It's completely 2nd edition, but just reading the material will give you an idea of the powerful inhabitants of that accursed place. Given the party's low level, perhaps the cyricists run afoul of something hideous there (alhoon and other plentiful undead, phearimm, 2 or 3 great wyrms, a lich or two, SEVERAL demons of various power levels, and so on)? Their corpses obviously wouldn't have the medallion on them... this could be a way for the pcs to gain levels with other diversions before Moander comes back, they're gonna need all the power they can get before they face his avatar.

As for a way to reward your players... I wouldn't reward them anymore than allow them to use their knowlege "in game" without their characters having points in the appropriate skills. However, you might think about making exalted feats (book of exalted deeds) available to good aligned characters. Moander is EVIL to the Nth degree. THAT will give them a much needed boost aswell.
KingDes
11-04-04, 09:03 AM You certainly have a great plotline that will last you for a very long time.

I agree with these guys. Just open up your mind and things will happen. Have an ememy who keeps comming back. (an annoying wizard who keeps leading attacks against the party and leaving after they loose, or a cleric of cyric)

Then in the final fight have them square off against each other (in all the other fights he stayed in the background.)

But i'd tie this into many of the interesting ideas you already have. Sounds like your on a great path so far.
chme
11-04-04, 09:35 AM The party wizard from above, and the party theif both read some forgotten realms books. Which is really really surprising... and I want to reward them somehow. I dont want to give them an item because it would soon become useless due to them being level one, and experience isn't very special or anything. So I was thinking a weakened LA +1 template or some kind of special ability. Any ideals on this would also be appreciated. Alright thanks for any advice that is offered.
---Rap

I think you should give them something that they can't get any other way, but that is still something small enough that you can reward them again if they read more. In my campaign, I break the rules for maximum ranks ever so slightly: a player who's gone out of his way to learn more about the setting may find that his character suddenly - out of nowhere :) - has earned an extra rank in some skill. So far, one character has earned a rank in Knowledge (The Planes) and another character one rank in Ride (Griffon). Those characters had had experiences that made those awards plausible. It may not seem as much, but they now have characters that are slightly better than what is normally possible, and that always feels good to a player :).

If those characters should die, I have promised those two players a slightly wider choice of races than in the phb.

BTW, I think your campaign sounds like a fun one. Personally, I would let the PCs rest from the main plotline (Moander) for a session or two, and sidetrack a bit. This also gives you more time to think and prepare. Maybe you could use the dead, drunken dwarf somehow? Did he have something on him that the others now have, and that wasn't his to begin with?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Rapida 10-31-04, 12:30 AM	Hello forum goers, I need advice on a couple of things for my campaign. First off I've always had trouble putting together a campaign with a common thread throughout it, this time is proving no different. I just don't know where to go after my first adventure, here is what happened. These are first level characters btw.Oh yeah and sorry in advance for how bad this post looks/typed. I just kind of wrote my thoughts, which as you can see are kind of hectic. The party are hired by a group of paladins and clerics of Tyr to escort a caravan full of goods from blackfeather bridge to ashbenford. During this journey they pick up a drunken dwarf (a late player, only way to bring in character) and set up camp. First night is ok, but during the second night they are attacked by some an orc and some goblins. The orc kills the dwarf and the goblins kill most of the paladins (2/3 i think) and one cleric of Tyr. All is fine, the orc (barbarian/ranger) falls and goblins are killed or chased off. After the battle one of the players start questioning the cleric on what exactly they are transporting. The cleric admits they are transporting an amulet imbued with some of cyric's power. He did this during the time of his insanity. The cleric mentions there is another group of higher level clerics transporting a fake, and that they are going to ashbenford to get it destroyed. The party ends up in ashbenford gets paid and meets an wood elf that they accept into the party just cause he is a player(the drunken dwarf's player). Then the church of tyr charges them with taking the amulet to be destroyed by burying it in the body of Moander in the forest of Cormanthyr. They decide sure, and off they go... The next session: On the road through the forest, on the first night of travel. The elf from ashbenford attacks the party mage, turns out he was an assasin from a merchant(thinking this is a rakasha) the party theif had angered. The mage survives and with some quick thinking from the theif the assasin is vanquished. After saving the cleric and interagatting the assasin elf. They start off on their journey to destroy the amulet thinking its more important. They get to Hillsfar meeting a strange human being turned away from the gate. He quickly explains who he is, (a shifter played by the elf assasin's player) and where he came from. He is from a nearby druid grove trying to make up for the evil his granpa caused. His grandpa was a werewolf, and a member of the blackblood. Anyway they allow him to join the party but they do not let him watch the first few nights. Once they trust him, because he saved the party mage and almost died himself doing so, they allow him to watch. Then they get moander's corpse after walking through strange exploding mushrooms (boomshrooms), and fighting a some vultures (don't ask). They vote on who is gonna bury the amulet the theif looses and he approaches the mound and buries it. This causes the spirit of moander to awaken. It rises over he mound in the form of a ball of negative energy. They wisely decide to flee and it floats toward the heart of myth drannor. After fleeing out of the forest they are attacked by a ghoul, and they recognize it as the assasin from before. Now they are back in ashbenford and I don't know what to do. The elf wizard's family is missing and the Church said they would scry for the amulet his father wears. That is where we left off last session and i have no ideal what to do. Please give me ideals of where i can go with all these plothooks. And onto the second part of my post. The party wizard from above, and the party theif both read some forgotten realms books. Which is really really surprising... and I want to reward them somehow. I dont want to give them an item because it would soon become useless due to them being level one, and experience isn't very special or anything. So I was thinking a weakened LA +1 template or some kind of special ability. Any ideals on this would also be appreciated. Alright thanks for any advice that is offered. ---Rap
xann 10-31-04, 01:07 AM	drow, more drow, and just for fun the Zents always want "the breadbasket of the dales" find Dungeon 100 Woe to Mistledale
BrianCritchley 10-31-04, 03:22 AM	seems logical to me that the chruch of cyric would want revenge something feirce..
Sammael_the_Chosen 10-31-04, 03:58 AM	Turns out that the elf wizard's father was secretly in touch with Evermeet and helping with the return efforts by sending scouts into Myth Drannor and preparing secret caches of equipment for the elven scouting parties. The Cormanthor drow found out about him and decided to kidnap him in order to gain insight into the elven plans. They are holding him captive somewhere in Myth Drannor. Meanwhile, the rakshasa "merchant" learns about the amulet the PCs were supposed to destroy, and sells the information to some Cyricists. The Cyricists happen to be western Zhent spies, sent to gather info on the Banite Zhents. They decide to seek the amulet for themselves. A party of Banite Zhents (who knew about the spies all along but didn't want to break their ruse... yet) is sent into Myth Drannor after the Cyricists, and should bump into the PCs. They could become potential (short-term) allies, or foes, depending on how the PCs interact with them. The Cyricists find the emptied shell of the amulet, but Cyric himself guides them to follow the dissipated energy deeper into Myth Drannor. [Potential plot: Cyric wants to add corruption and decay to his portfolio, and he needs a fragment of Moander's essence to accomplish this]. Cyricists fight a group of "Moanderites" [Lolth is masquerading as Moander in order to keep a check on the Cormanthor drow, note that this requires you to ignore the War of the Spider Queen metaplot, which I'd recommend anyhow] and find an enormous fungus that was prepared by the cultists to act as a receptacle for Moander's essence. This gives the PCs (A) a reason to go back to Myth Drannor and (B) a reason to remain there even after they rescue the elf wizard's father. As for rewarding the two players, I would avoid doing that in any obvious way. The best way to reward them, IMO, is to incorporate their knowledge of FR and their characters into one of your plots.
Xavier_of_Cormyr 11-03-04, 11:36 AM	hold on a sec, your party of 1st level adventurers accidently caused the dead god Moander to awaken? Well, there's a campaign spanning plotline right there.
greaterbaatezu 11-04-04, 07:18 AM	You certainly have a great plotline that will last you for a very long time. As a diversion, you may want to somehow get ahold of the myth drannor boxed set. It's completely 2nd edition, but just reading the material will give you an idea of the powerful inhabitants of that accursed place. Given the party's low level, perhaps the cyricists run afoul of something hideous there (alhoon and other plentiful undead, phearimm, 2 or 3 great wyrms, a lich or two, SEVERAL demons of various power levels, and so on)? Their corpses obviously wouldn't have the medallion on them... this could be a way for the pcs to gain levels with other diversions before Moander comes back, they're gonna need all the power they can get before they face his avatar. As for a way to reward your players... I wouldn't reward them anymore than allow them to use their knowlege "in game" without their characters having points in the appropriate skills. However, you might think about making exalted feats (book of exalted deeds) available to good aligned characters. Moander is EVIL to the Nth degree. THAT will give them a much needed boost aswell.
KingDes 11-04-04, 09:03 AM	You certainly have a great plotline that will last you for a very long time. I agree with these guys. Just open up your mind and things will happen. Have an ememy who keeps comming back. (an annoying wizard who keeps leading attacks against the party and leaving after they loose, or a cleric of cyric) Then in the final fight have them square off against each other (in all the other fights he stayed in the background.) But i'd tie this into many of the interesting ideas you already have. Sounds like your on a great path so far.
chme 11-04-04, 09:35 AM	The party wizard from above, and the party theif both read some forgotten realms books. Which is really really surprising... and I want to reward them somehow. I dont want to give them an item because it would soon become useless due to them being level one, and experience isn't very special or anything. So I was thinking a weakened LA +1 template or some kind of special ability. Any ideals on this would also be appreciated. Alright thanks for any advice that is offered. ---Rap I think you should give them something that they can't get any other way, but that is still something small enough that you can reward them again if they read more. In my campaign, I break the rules for maximum ranks ever so slightly: a player who's gone out of his way to learn more about the setting may find that his character suddenly - out of nowhere :) - has earned an extra rank in some skill. So far, one character has earned a rank in Knowledge (The Planes) and another character one rank in Ride (Griffon). Those characters had had experiences that made those awards plausible. It may not seem as much, but they now have characters that are slightly better than what is normally possible, and that always feels good to a player :). If those characters should die, I have promised those two players a slightly wider choice of races than in the phb. BTW, I think your campaign sounds like a fun one. Personally, I would let the PCs rest from the main plotline (Moander) for a session or two, and sidetrack a bit. This also gives you more time to think and prepare. Maybe you could use the dead, drunken dwarf somehow? Did he have something on him that the others now have, and that wasn't his to begin with?