So far I have a simple outline of an adventure mapped out, I'm new at GMing, so this will be pretty linear. (Ideally there will be at least one arcane PC, and a mix of whatever other power sources the other characters so choose.)
Scene1
The characters start out in prison in Balic where they've been imprisoned on trumped up charges. They were arrested because there is a festival and the templar's need fresh slaves to throw into the gladiator arena.
The PC's probably survive.
upon their return to their cell they are met by a go-between who offers them their freedom in exchange for going into the desert to clear out an area for a noble's new well. They'll be outfitted with gear and sent on their way.
The characters start out in prison in Balic where they've been imprisoned on trumped up charges. They were arrested because there is a festival and the templar's need fresh slaves to throw into the gladiator arena.
The PC's probably survive.
upon their return to their cell they are met by a go-between who offers them their freedom in exchange for going into the desert to clear out an area for a noble's new well. They'll be outfitted with gear and sent on their way.
Other than that, be careful not to bog your players down in a lot of desert encounters that don't have much relevance to the adventure. The first desert encounter, where they find a metal weapon (make it small, like a halfling size dagger or something--this is Athas after all, a metal weapon is a pretty nice treasure for low level group) is great because it drives the adventure. Keep their focus on the quest.
Anyway, nice job! I think your players are going to have a lot of fun.
What level are we talking about here? As that ultimate showdown would need to run into epic levels to have any chance of success....
In general though, I'd offer the following tweaks:
Scene 5 - Veiled Alliance:
- Don't mention that the merchant noble is a member (keep the secrecy).
- Have the VA contact the Arcane user with word that 'you have been noticed' and then send the
group on the obligatory initiation quests
- Keep the Noble VA membership a secret until it's an excellent plot point to discover
Re-use familiar areas or NPC's
- Have the PC's meet up with the same antagonist a few times Nods@moxcamel
- Maybe that templar is sponsoring the Warlord Zurik?)
- Re-visit the well after it's working
maybe while on the VA quests?
- Give the group a base of operations
Ruined fort?
Abandoned Merchant compound?
Maybe the Quarry?
Location can be legally claimed by the noble, but he lets the PC's have run of the place as they found and cleared it)
It's not really mentioned much in the 4e material, but I've always been a fan of the concept of the Veiled Alliance as a terrorist organization with noble goals but brutal methods.
I'm not sure if your players will jump all over that sort of moral quandry, though. I know mine wouldn't, but a man can dream right?
Fantastic outline! Very appropriate for the setting!
It's not really mentioned much in the 4e material, but I've always been a fan of the concept of the Veiled Alliance as a terrorist organization with noble goals but brutal methods.
I'm not sure if your players will jump all over that sort of moral quandry, though. I know mine wouldn't, but a man can dream right?
As an old Dark Sun DM, the VA in my campaigns was very much an eco-terrorist group....
Some noble and honestly good individuals...but a lot of brutal tactics...
One good PC in my group actually turned down membership (which led to all sorts of interesting plot points, considering another PC accepted!)
As a player I hate it when GMs limit my actions for no good reason other than it deviates from what they have prepared/box text, but as a GM, I understand the frustration of having people totally avoid what you have planned. (and some players get a big kick out of "breaking the game")
So I would advise you to have a contingency for the "hey we are free now, lets make a break for tyr/risk the desert" plan from the party when they are asked to check the well or the mine... this seems if anything even more likely after given something with the pure profit potential of a metal weapon which would go a long way towards funding their travels / integration into a new community.
This could be as simple as the templars also having enslaved one of their mothers/friends/wives/whatever, but that NPC isn't along for the adventure with the noble, so they HAVE to stick around work for the noble and hope that things work out (or they can be bastards and let their mother languish in bondage).
As an old Dark Sun DM, the VA in my campaigns was very much an eco-terrorist group....
Indeed. The VA is fundamentally a group that seeks to preserve not only the environment, but the existence of a radically dangerous science. They're like people advocating responsible atomic energy use in the wake of a nuclear war.
As an old Dark Sun DM, the VA in my campaigns was very much an eco-terrorist group....
Indeed. The VA is fundamentally a group that seeks to preserve not only the environment, but the existence of a radically dangerous science. They're like people advocating responsible atomic energy use in the wake of a nuclear war.
Very nice analogy
To extend it further:
What I've never been clear on though (and personally, I've enjoyed the continuous Athasian mystery
) is whether it was preserving magic (ie Nuclear Fusion) that destroyed Athas, or Defiling magic (Nuclear fission)- One is more or less an abundant tool, but much harder to perform (room temperature fusion anyone? Anyone?)
- The other is relatively easy, but has terrible side effects (Fallout, nuclear winter, cancer etc)
For the common folk, Magic is Magic. It's all bad, bad I tell you! (Enforced via SK propaganda
)Kind of like telling the hippie community that there's a 'safe' way to use nuclear energy....
What I've never been clear on though (and personally, I've enjoyed the continuous Athasian mystery
That's a very interesting question. It may very well be that preserving is also negative in the long run. Arcane magic is fueled with life energy, and even the most conservative use of that energy decreases its total availability in the world. Defiling takes it faster - preserving takes it too slowly for most to notice, but the end results are the same.
What I've never been clear on though (and personally, I've enjoyed the continuous Athasian mystery
That's a very interesting question. It may very well be that preserving is also negative in the long run. Arcane magic is fueled with life energy, and even the most conservative use of that energy decreases its total availability in the world. Defiling takes it faster - preserving takes it too slowly for most to notice, but the end results are the same.
They both suck energy, arguably the same amount, "preserving" just sucks it out over a larger area with more effort on the part of the caster. They are still ruining the world, just in a way that makes them feel better about themselves.
Might I suggest an antagonist responsible for their enslavement gets his comeuppance at the conclusion of the adventure? (maybe he's been tracking them and dogging their every move?)
Re-use familiar areas or NPC's
- Have the PC's meet up with the same antagonist a few times Nods@moxcamel
- Maybe that templar is sponsoring the Warlord Zurik?)
Thanks for all the advice, I'm already incorporating some of it into my plans.
Flipping through the Balic section the character profile on Darian Haraxes jumps out at me as the potential antagonist. He's a newly appointed templar in charge of ferreting out the VA, and as such has been making a point of harrasing newcomers and businesses.
He could have been the one to drop several of them into jail, he could be the one that wants the metal weapon for himself (or one of his underlings), and he could dog their footsteps in several other situations (One of the skill challenges I'm working on is the PC's trying to talk down a mob of people who've cornered an accused arcane user).
He seems a logical choice to begin and end this section of the adventure. Particularly if the PC's take up the mantle of the VA at the end. On their way out of the city they could have a final conflict of fighting their way through him and his cohorts to escape the city, or on the outskirts of it.
In answer to your level question, I'd like end this section of the story with the PC's reaching paragon, so I could see starting them at about level 5, which would be about a level per scene.
Also, the Tembo looks downright nasty, and very characterful for a Dark Sun boss. I think it'd fit very well into Scene 2, particularly at the end of a delve.
I'm enjoying all the advice and look forward to reading more.
~Jesse
"You all arrived in Balic on the second day of the "Reclamation Carnival," the holiday celebrating Sorcerer-King Andropinis' victorious arrival into the city over 2,000 years ago, rescuing it from the savagery and taint of the outside world. Merchant houses have swung wide the doors of their homes, the Arena is at the height of it's season with days of bloody sport, and the whole area seems rife with festivities uncharacterisic of the harsh desert planet."
"You are not among the revelers however. You are in jail alongside numerous other newly imprisoned slaves of Balic."
Possible reasons for jailing:
Show
A noble is told to pay a "slave tax" upon entering the city and chooses the PC
Accused of theft by a corrupt Templar
Took too much water from a public well
Jostled someone of a higher stationCaptured from the desert in a raid
Accused of theft by a corrupt Templar
Took too much water from a public well
Jostled someone of a higher stationCaptured from the desert in a raid