Scardaletown Plot Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Scardaletown Plot Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Misfit815
07-15-03, 12:20 PM I've not received any suggestions from the What's A DM To Do? board, so I thought I'd post it here. I must have writer's block (DM's block?), because I just can't see how to develop the city encounters. Any help?

I could use some help with this one. Bear in mind it's FR-specific, containing 3E info about the Dalelands.

In-Game: Clr1 (Chauntea) and Rng1 drafted by Harpers to go to Scardaletown (specifically Storm, who TP's the PC's to just outside of town) to keep tabs on a Rog1, who is (thanks to the PC's) recently discovered to be Lashan's bastard son, therefore the unwitting heir to Scardale, barring claims by the Zhents that their woman is the true heir. Storm will subsequently contact other Harpers to 'take over' ASAP, but the party is a stop-gap until the cavalry arrives, so to speak.

Meta-game: The Clr1 is played by my wife, who is a complete newbie. She finally tried the game last night and somewhat enjoyed it. We're going to play it out a little longer to see if it really grows on her. The Rng1 (or is it Rgr?) is actually an NPC used to help guide her, since she is a newbie. That's right, this is a one-on-one, my first within memory (which doesn't say much), but the first session went very well. I avoided most of the rules and concentrated on RP'ing. It's time to get a little more technical, but not much.

So... any suggestions on just how this should play out? Once I get her into town, I just seem to be drawing a blank. I've decided to make the Rog1 a minor member of some thieving guild or group somehow affiliated with the Zhents, in order to put an heir to the throne right under their noses. They killed the last Harper who was watching him (and who discovered who he really is), but they did so because she was sneaking around their base of operations. So, any suggestions?

J
Sarelle
07-15-03, 01:31 PM Sorry, I can't really help in terms of DMing, but I just thought I'd wish your wife (and you) good luck!

Well that was kinda soppy I know, but it sounds as though you are doing really well in the way you are introducing her to this.

(And it is Rgr, if that helps at all).
Lashan
07-15-03, 01:40 PM You will have to excuse me if I don't have my notes in front of me. Also, I am used to thinking of Scardale Town in the pre-Lashan wars, so I may not be perfect with names and whatnot.

If I am not mistaken, there is an "official" map in one of the other products that shows a decent map of Scardale. One of the towers on the north side of town is the base of operations for a group of smugglers in the town. This is the group that I would put the bastard of Lashan.

Why is that? Well, here is what I would do for the guild. The smuggler's guild is pretty well established in town. They don't have direct enemies, except for the lawful orders in town. All the other underground crime units at least grudgingly get along with the gang, as they control a lot of what comes in and out of town (ie, they all need their services at times).

If I am not mistaken (and I would just change it to this if I am) then the leader of the guild is a rather young thief. Also, I think he was young when the product was out, but time has passed. Let the youth (who grew up in Scardale) have gotten a little older and become a bit ambitious about his position in town. If this guy knew that one of his guild members was of Lashan's blood, then he would use that person as a pawn to become a larger player in the political scene in town. So, the Harper agent shouldn't tip off that this young thug is really the blood of Lashan and she shouldn't get caught!

Now, some of the other groups in town you can just make up, but there should be some zhents, too. Overall, you should develop the criminal elements of the town first, so you can decide how the darker politics work. Are the areas broken up into areas of control? Or are there various organizations to handle different aspects of the criminal underworld? Smuggling done by one. Assassinations by another. General mugging by a third, etc. You could have the basic crime be done by two or three different crime gangs. These are the low level thugs who attack in the alleys and beat up shop keepers. The smuggling into and out of is controlled by the above gang. They don't delve too much into the politics of the area and make money off of all. Then, there can be religious groups, including the Monks of the Long Death. They could be massing like another gang, or they could just be a group of assassins. In other words, if one member of a gang angers another, they dont' ambush them, they pay the Monks of the Long Death some cash. The Monks can be nuetral assassins. The local gangs can all fear and respect the monks enough to not directly attack them, so they just fear individual assasination attempts. Any other church groups can get involved in the political struggle. There can also be groups that sell drugs or try to enter into the slavery business. Now, these can be the local street gangs, control the street gangs, or be other groups sometimes at odd with the street gangs.

Overall, this volitile area should be riff with personal conflict. It should have a lot of young people getting drunk and then killing someone else of a different power group. This will start a bit of a war between one faction and another. These things can be as simple or convoluted as much as you want them to be.

If you want to have an agency of good in the area, then I can recommend Ilmater. He's one of the few gods that might be allowed into this nightmare mess and still respected by the poor local populace.

One thing that you can do is have the young Lashan Jr. be hanging with a rough crowd. Well, someone gets drunk and angry with his gang in a bar. There turns into a fight and the player (your wife) needs to protect Jr. Of course, Jr doesn't want protection and wants to prove himself in a fight. Well, no matter how the fight turns out, this will turn into a turf war with the other gang. They will try to pick fights all over the place until the other group gets frustrated enough to hire the Monks of the Long Death to take out Jr.

This should enter enough exciting events before anything else takes place. It deals with just the local population and local politics. You don't have to enter in any larger secret organizations like Zhentarium, Cult of the Dragon, or Thay. Those groups are always best to have as a back and suprise layer of control over the low level thugs you send at the player. It adds some depth when they begin to see that the entire situation is secretly trying to be controlled by a few groups. It's a way to keep the game fresh no matter what level you get to. So, after all this and the player saving the pc's life, it can get interesting. I am assuming at this point that the player has told Jr who she thinks he is. This adds a new level of danger other then just crime fights.

At this point, you can enter in the Zhents who want to control or kill Jr. Also, the smuggler lord will want to control Jr. as well. The player will have to help Jr make judgement calls on who to trust and to try to stay out of anyone's clutches. Most likely, the smuggler will try to offer protection from the Zhentarium, and therefore, Jr is controlled by the smuggler. It might turn out that the zhentarium will force the player to work with the smuggler just to keep the player alive.

how does that sound for just kinda making it up on the fly? I hope it helps.
Misfit815
07-15-03, 03:01 PM Beautiful. You just gave me a bunch of ideas. I think it'll go something like this...

Armed only with a name, she will need to find him first. Unless she comes up with a better idea, the Rgr will suggest that they just go from tavern to tavern, asking around. Depending on their discretion and some rolls, they'll either find a barmaid who recognizes him, or a couple of members of his gang, who will take the next opportunity to deal with her in someplace dark and deserted.

Assuming she survives that encounter, she'll know his gang, but she'll potentially have made an enemy of them. If she found the barmaid first, then I'll go easier on her. In any case, I'll have her in the right tavern at the right time to see him and a few friends show up, half-drunk and working on the other half. A fight ensues, and she'll need to find a way to get him out of there.

At this point, I should have enough momentum from his gang, the opposing gang, his alcoholism and immaturity, and other random factors to keep things lively. When she's up to her eyeballs, I'll have the Harper cavalry arrive.

Thanks for the help.

J
Lashan
07-16-03, 09:43 AM Cool. Sounds good. Always glad to help.
kidjay76
09-06-03, 01:48 PM Funny, I wound up incorporating some of your ideas on my own. I've got the Monks as assassins for hire, the Zhents and Silver Ravens squabbling for territory control, and a third faction of mercs sponsored by gold out of Ravens Bluff working to get the city ready for invasion.

Scardale Town is a fantastic adventure setting. I'm really into it as a DM. So many possibilities.
Lashan
09-06-03, 01:56 PM Still, I am sad to see it the way it is now. I ran a campaign that had it when Lashan was still in power, but before the war. The game led up to the war and the eventual destruction of the town. Now THAT was a great game.

Glad your game worked out well! I'm glad that Ravens Bluff are the bad guys. I don't care for those guys. :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Misfit815 07-15-03, 12:20 PM	I've not received any suggestions from the What's A DM To Do? board, so I thought I'd post it here. I must have writer's block (DM's block?), because I just can't see how to develop the city encounters. Any help? I could use some help with this one. Bear in mind it's FR-specific, containing 3E info about the Dalelands. In-Game: Clr1 (Chauntea) and Rng1 drafted by Harpers to go to Scardaletown (specifically Storm, who TP's the PC's to just outside of town) to keep tabs on a Rog1, who is (thanks to the PC's) recently discovered to be Lashan's bastard son, therefore the unwitting heir to Scardale, barring claims by the Zhents that their woman is the true heir. Storm will subsequently contact other Harpers to 'take over' ASAP, but the party is a stop-gap until the cavalry arrives, so to speak. Meta-game: The Clr1 is played by my wife, who is a complete newbie. She finally tried the game last night and somewhat enjoyed it. We're going to play it out a little longer to see if it really grows on her. The Rng1 (or is it Rgr?) is actually an NPC used to help guide her, since she is a newbie. That's right, this is a one-on-one, my first within memory (which doesn't say much), but the first session went very well. I avoided most of the rules and concentrated on RP'ing. It's time to get a little more technical, but not much. So... any suggestions on just how this should play out? Once I get her into town, I just seem to be drawing a blank. I've decided to make the Rog1 a minor member of some thieving guild or group somehow affiliated with the Zhents, in order to put an heir to the throne right under their noses. They killed the last Harper who was watching him (and who discovered who he really is), but they did so because she was sneaking around their base of operations. So, any suggestions? J
Sarelle 07-15-03, 01:31 PM	Sorry, I can't really help in terms of DMing, but I just thought I'd wish your wife (and you) good luck! Well that was kinda soppy I know, but it sounds as though you are doing really well in the way you are introducing her to this. (And it is Rgr, if that helps at all).
Lashan 07-15-03, 01:40 PM	You will have to excuse me if I don't have my notes in front of me. Also, I am used to thinking of Scardale Town in the pre-Lashan wars, so I may not be perfect with names and whatnot. If I am not mistaken, there is an "official" map in one of the other products that shows a decent map of Scardale. One of the towers on the north side of town is the base of operations for a group of smugglers in the town. This is the group that I would put the bastard of Lashan. Why is that? Well, here is what I would do for the guild. The smuggler's guild is pretty well established in town. They don't have direct enemies, except for the lawful orders in town. All the other underground crime units at least grudgingly get along with the gang, as they control a lot of what comes in and out of town (ie, they all need their services at times). If I am not mistaken (and I would just change it to this if I am) then the leader of the guild is a rather young thief. Also, I think he was young when the product was out, but time has passed. Let the youth (who grew up in Scardale) have gotten a little older and become a bit ambitious about his position in town. If this guy knew that one of his guild members was of Lashan's blood, then he would use that person as a pawn to become a larger player in the political scene in town. So, the Harper agent shouldn't tip off that this young thug is really the blood of Lashan and she shouldn't get caught! Now, some of the other groups in town you can just make up, but there should be some zhents, too. Overall, you should develop the criminal elements of the town first, so you can decide how the darker politics work. Are the areas broken up into areas of control? Or are there various organizations to handle different aspects of the criminal underworld? Smuggling done by one. Assassinations by another. General mugging by a third, etc. You could have the basic crime be done by two or three different crime gangs. These are the low level thugs who attack in the alleys and beat up shop keepers. The smuggling into and out of is controlled by the above gang. They don't delve too much into the politics of the area and make money off of all. Then, there can be religious groups, including the Monks of the Long Death. They could be massing like another gang, or they could just be a group of assassins. In other words, if one member of a gang angers another, they dont' ambush them, they pay the Monks of the Long Death some cash. The Monks can be nuetral assassins. The local gangs can all fear and respect the monks enough to not directly attack them, so they just fear individual assasination attempts. Any other church groups can get involved in the political struggle. There can also be groups that sell drugs or try to enter into the slavery business. Now, these can be the local street gangs, control the street gangs, or be other groups sometimes at odd with the street gangs. Overall, this volitile area should be riff with personal conflict. It should have a lot of young people getting drunk and then killing someone else of a different power group. This will start a bit of a war between one faction and another. These things can be as simple or convoluted as much as you want them to be. If you want to have an agency of good in the area, then I can recommend Ilmater. He's one of the few gods that might be allowed into this nightmare mess and still respected by the poor local populace. One thing that you can do is have the young Lashan Jr. be hanging with a rough crowd. Well, someone gets drunk and angry with his gang in a bar. There turns into a fight and the player (your wife) needs to protect Jr. Of course, Jr doesn't want protection and wants to prove himself in a fight. Well, no matter how the fight turns out, this will turn into a turf war with the other gang. They will try to pick fights all over the place until the other group gets frustrated enough to hire the Monks of the Long Death to take out Jr. This should enter enough exciting events before anything else takes place. It deals with just the local population and local politics. You don't have to enter in any larger secret organizations like Zhentarium, Cult of the Dragon, or Thay. Those groups are always best to have as a back and suprise layer of control over the low level thugs you send at the player. It adds some depth when they begin to see that the entire situation is secretly trying to be controlled by a few groups. It's a way to keep the game fresh no matter what level you get to. So, after all this and the player saving the pc's life, it can get interesting. I am assuming at this point that the player has told Jr who she thinks he is. This adds a new level of danger other then just crime fights. At this point, you can enter in the Zhents who want to control or kill Jr. Also, the smuggler lord will want to control Jr. as well. The player will have to help Jr make judgement calls on who to trust and to try to stay out of anyone's clutches. Most likely, the smuggler will try to offer protection from the Zhentarium, and therefore, Jr is controlled by the smuggler. It might turn out that the zhentarium will force the player to work with the smuggler just to keep the player alive. how does that sound for just kinda making it up on the fly? I hope it helps.
Misfit815 07-15-03, 03:01 PM	Beautiful. You just gave me a bunch of ideas. I think it'll go something like this... Armed only with a name, she will need to find him first. Unless she comes up with a better idea, the Rgr will suggest that they just go from tavern to tavern, asking around. Depending on their discretion and some rolls, they'll either find a barmaid who recognizes him, or a couple of members of his gang, who will take the next opportunity to deal with her in someplace dark and deserted. Assuming she survives that encounter, she'll know his gang, but she'll potentially have made an enemy of them. If she found the barmaid first, then I'll go easier on her. In any case, I'll have her in the right tavern at the right time to see him and a few friends show up, half-drunk and working on the other half. A fight ensues, and she'll need to find a way to get him out of there. At this point, I should have enough momentum from his gang, the opposing gang, his alcoholism and immaturity, and other random factors to keep things lively. When she's up to her eyeballs, I'll have the Harper cavalry arrive. Thanks for the help. J
Lashan 07-16-03, 09:43 AM	Cool. Sounds good. Always glad to help.
kidjay76 09-06-03, 01:48 PM	Funny, I wound up incorporating some of your ideas on my own. I've got the Monks as assassins for hire, the Zhents and Silver Ravens squabbling for territory control, and a third faction of mercs sponsored by gold out of Ravens Bluff working to get the city ready for invasion. Scardale Town is a fantastic adventure setting. I'm really into it as a DM. So many possibilities.
Lashan 09-06-03, 01:56 PM	Still, I am sad to see it the way it is now. I ran a campaign that had it when Lashan was still in power, but before the war. The game led up to the war and the eventual destruction of the town. Now THAT was a great game. Glad your game worked out well! I'm glad that Ravens Bluff are the bad guys. I don't care for those guys. :)