Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Evil O 09-05-06, 04:29 PM	Hi gamers! I'm trying to create a campaign taking place in the vicinity of Turmish, both land and sea. My idea is that there is a war building between Turmish and the Pirates of (surprise!) Pirate Isles! The government of Turmish and Chondath is growing really tired of their goods getting stolen or the ships sunken when they use the trade route between Arrabar,Chondath - Alaghon,Turmish - Westgate,Dragon Coast - Suzail,Cormyr and back. The government of Suzail is already in a war with the pirates, so they can’t spare any soldiers to help Turmish. The joint leaders of Chondath will provide several ships, battle ready and fully operational. Some land troops will also be given. The leaders of Turmish, mainly those from Alaghon, have offered their assistance with ships and troops. Some background story: The summer is nearing its end, weather is getting less warm, the calendar says August 10th. 3 month ago the giants from Giants Plain have refused to help with the annual wood chopping week in witch the giants was a major part. The wood, when it is taken down, is transported by the giants to Alaghon and Arrabar to be used to create new ships or repair damages on existing ships. Now it looks like they have to do it by human hand and that will take much longer time, not days or weeks but most likely a month to 6 weeks extra. That will mean the docks can’t get the wood in time and the ships won’t be ready for spring. The reason the giants is refusing to help is they have made a deal with Samager Silverblade; if they help destroy the fleet of Turmish and Chondath they will be given Turmish as theirs and they agreed to help. The person behind most of the Pirates increasing activity is no other than Samager Silverblade aka the Silver Raven - a would- be-king of Sembia, who believes the time is right for an assault on the trade routes towards Suzail to get the trade diverted to Sembia's ports. He is pirate king of 20-30 ships. He might also get help from some kuo-toa, I don’t know for sure jet. The PC’s will start in Alaghon and, hopefully, will participate in this war on land and sea. (That has been taken care of!) I think the starting level 3 maybe 4, going towards 6-7’ish. There will be encounters on sea and on land, both combat and covert/secret operations. Mainly I want to know; does this sound cool or dull? Evil O
Evil O 09-06-06, 03:23 PM	The Ps will fithg "x" monster most of them with normal weapons for that type but since the Pirate king have frinds in many parts of the worl dhe also know a wizrad this wizard happend to open a gate to our world, but a gate that closses after a short time(2-3 days). The wizard brought back some guns and ammo to Faerun and now they are being used by the pirate king. (good idea or bad?) I also considered the idea of the Pc's, by magic, came upon our world as in d20 Modern for a short time. Most of that part has been made but I still like if it sounds fun, stupid or anything else. Evil O
PiedmonSama 09-06-06, 03:39 PM	It could go either way, naturally. The thing I've always liked about Pirates is that anyone can become a pirate. They're sailors, so they literally go everywhere, and in every port they come to, Pirates will recruit the scum and dredges of every society on earth. You can have jungle warriors, desert archers, even swordsmen of the fabulous orient all become pirates for their own reasons. A pirate crew should be completely heterogenous and made up of people who would have a very hard time fitting in regular society---which means Half-Ogres, Gravetouched, and other "unwanteds" would be right at home onboard. This gives you a lot of leeway in varying up encounters, so yes, you could make this a very interesting adventure.
Arganis 09-06-06, 03:44 PM	Sounds like a decent overarching plotline. It's hard to say if it will turn out dull or not. That will depend on the individual adventures within the larger plot. Make sure you keep it exciting at that level. Using firearms is probably fine, but you'd better be prepared to let the PCs use the guns they recover, at least until it comes time to reload. If they watch an enemy reload the gun, they should be able to figure it out on their own. Going to the future is fun as long as you don't overcomplicate it. Many GMs go overboard trying to prevent the PCs from realizing or understanding where they are.
Evil O 09-06-06, 04:52 PM	Going to the future is fun as long as you don't overcomplicate it. Many GMs go overboard trying to prevent the PCs from realizing or understanding where they areArganis What do you mean by overboard? That they, the pc's, bring back stuf themselves and thus become too powerfull? if so, yes I thouhgt of that and still have not come up with the right sulution yet. The only way is to describe everything; the extreme high sounds of our daily life; cars trains trucks powerdrills anything with a motor, sounds we have grown accostumed to but for a person from a world of no engines it is overwhelming. And who put the hard stones as roads, "how did they made them so flat" and consider our buildings!. A tall building in the world of Faerun is maybe 3 stories(not counting castles and like) but in every large town or even smaler towns there is buildings 10 -15 stories tall "they seem to sway in the wind!" When/if they go to our world they can't bring much back since they have to carry it and it will be from a night raid on a military base = time is short, very short! And yes everybody can become a pirate, that is so cool! Evil O
Arganis 09-06-06, 05:10 PM	The only way is to describe everything; the extreme high sounds of our daily life; cars trains trucks powerdrills anything with a motor, sounds we have grown accostumed to but for a person from a world of no engines it is overwhelming. Overwhelming how? In 500 years has the human race suddenly become less susceptible to noise? Absolutely not. I'm not saying you shouldn't describe the noise as abnormal, but going overboard would involve applying penalties to your PCs because of this, and that's something you shouldn't do. Going overboard would be making your PCs roll skill checks to figure out things like revolving doors. Going overboard would be refusing to allow your PCs to drive an automatic-transmission car after they've seen one operated by another driver. Sure they wouldn't have the Drive skill, but if a 12 year old can do it with rudimentary proficiency, so can they. And who put the hard stones as roads, "how did they made them so flat" and consider our buildings!. A tall building in the world of Faerun is maybe 3 stories(not counting castles and like) but in every large town or even smaler towns there is buildings 10 -15 stories tall "they seem to sway in the wind!" A tall building in modern times is exactly equivalent to a really big tower made of glass and smooth stone. The only remarkable thing about them is their size. The mistake many GMs make is that they try and make things sound too foreign. In all reality, life for the common man has not changed much in 200 years. We wear shoes, we eat with forks, we push buttons and levers. It is not difficult to make the following mental associations: Car -> Horseless carriage Plane -> Skyboat with metal sails on the sides. Gun -> Magic wand Some things are more complicated. Cellphones might be tricky, but as soon as someone explains it to them ("The voices get turned into something and go through the sky") they will not be boggled beyond belief, they will be like "Oh, like magic. Okay, so I just enter the number for the person I want to talk to and press the green button? Forsooth!" When/if they go to our world they can't bring much back since they have to carry it and it will be from a night raid on a military base = time is short, very short! On the "acquiring technology" angle, my point is that less experienced GMs might include this advanced technology but somehow say that the PCs can't use it. This is a cheap trick. I will remind you that the penalty for using a weapon with which you are not proficient is -4 to attack. You have the advantage of using modern technology (instead of futuristic). 20th century cuns run out of ammo. Unless the PCs save a bullet and use magic to duplicate it later down the road, they're going to run out eventually. Until then, let them be as frivolous or conservative as they want. That's not to say that enemies who see these weapons in action aren't going to want them and shouldn't try and take them... I'm just saying that you should not deny them the use of the tech outright.
Evil O 09-07-06, 09:06 AM	I do not intent they can stay for very long in our world so driving cars and using our tech is not a problem(I think/hope). The first time the pc's wil encounter guns is the the hands of the enemy, probably orcs or gnolls, and they later find out how to get them from our world. When they gat to the point of using the gate thay know it opens for a short period of time and that means they are there for maybe 4-5 days. They are in our world to stop the Wizard's friends from raiding a militarybase for more weapons and if they can't stop them then prevent the items getting in the hands of the enemy. That is the only reason I believe that going from a robin hood like time to now can be quite a shock considering the amount of noise we live in. That's what I ment. I would never ask for a skill roll just because there's a lot of noise, only if a character tries to hear a special sound or listen for something special - as I always would. Evil O