I'm starting a 4E Eberron game for my friends. It will be my second time DMing in 4th edition (1st time was the Scales of War campaing with a group of teens). I used to DM in Eberron with for some other friends back in 3.5, but it's been a while I've been away from the setting.
What I want to do here is present to you the characters my 5 players came up with, and then brainstorm on what could be their first adventure. I need help filling some holes in story and motivation.
The players are all new to D&D. Here are the characters they came up with: a Halfling Rogue, a Half-Elf Storm Sorcerer (Mark of Storm), a Warforged Warlord, a Tiefling Swordmage and a Kalashtar Psion.
Halfling Rogue
Saiffer the Halfling Rogue was a Cyran scout back in the Last War. His profession as a cartographer/explorer provided him with great talent during the war. 5 years ago, when Saiffer was back at home spending a well earned vacation from the battlefields, his hometown was the stage of a siege. His house got destroyed and he survived the attack thanks to his skills and knowledge of terrain. He decided to become a traveller and discover regions far from his home and warfare. When meeting enemy battalions, he never hesitated to negociate safe passage for tactical positioning or intelligence about where other armies where positioned. Travelling outside the Five Nations saved him from the Day of Mourning. Now, as many Cyrans, Saiffer wants to know what happened on the day Cyre vanished. This made lead him back to Sharn where he meet up with a Lyrandar sorcerer pirate in need of a cartographer on his airship crew.
For the item to be of interest to the kalashtar, it would almost have to be psionic in nature, so it seems less likely that it was a giant artifact per se and more likely that it belonged to the quori whom they fought. That would certainly bring in the Inspired and/or the Dreaming Dark as other factions who are interested.
As for what it is, it depends on how big of an impact you want your PCs to have. If you want world-shattering, try having it be something that can connect Dal Quor and Eberron again, unseal the sealed gates, and thus pave the way for another quori invasion.
To begin with, wow. I would kill for first-time players who could come up with characters with that kind of depth.
I have to say I helped them flesh out their ideas and root them into the world of Eberron since they know nothing of the setting also.
As for the psionic nature of the Kalashtar, I don't want to fall into the 'trap' of making the campaign arc focus around one character's backstory. That's why I'm looking for a more classic dungeon crawling adventure with a cliffhanger twisted loose ending where nothing is as its seems like we love it in Eberron in order to make them want to play more D&D and continue exploring their characters.
There are many campaign arcs that can take form with these characters (Dragonmarked Prophecy, Next War, Solving the Mournland, Silver Flame, Dreaming Dark, etc) and I prefer to let my players drive me there than planning too much in advance.
I'll wait a few days to see if I get more replies or have more ideas for this expedition to Xen'drik.
Thanks for the quick reply.
Rekko
I like the instinct to make everyone's background matter. Can't tie in everyone's backgrouns at once, but it's nice to at least keep everyone in mind. For your Warforged, Xendrik is the land of proto-creation forges, described a little in The Shattered Land. Cannith merely borrowed the creation forge from older creators, so you might tease something about those early on.
As for ideas about Prophecy, hello dragons. An important NPC needs to be a dragon in disguise. There could be something inscribed on whatever item they are retrieving that cryptically refers to the five adventurers and how they have to stay together in order to fight some great evil down the road. That's pretty derivative, but I'm sure something a little more original can be developed along those lines.
Hiding the Airship
The Lyrandar pirate, Saiffer and the Swordmage kill a lower crime lord from the Boromar clan while attempting to cut a deal to hide the stolen airship. Goblins share their knowledge of the ruins of Sharn and show them a secret passage way that leads to a lower bank of the Dagger river right under the foundation of a docking tower. The trio of heroes could hide the airship below the City of Towers instead of into the sky like every other vessel. (enemies: Lyrandar, Boromar clan, maybe the Watch. Allies: goblins)
First and foremost a midair airship battle with another airship or maybe raiders on some small air skiffs. Have airship will use.
As for an artifact in Xendrik. A proto creation forge has been "discovered." As in that there is a very good idea to where one of the forges is that Cannith copied, but possibly not one one of the ones they studied. In fact Cannith could send their own retrieval team that the party has to race to the forge. As for the articfact that is hidden at the forge, it could possibly be a formaly unheard of power system. Or maybe a crystaline "heart" designed to power a psionic warforged. Maybe even more than a heart possibly they could find a psionic warforged that is fully made of crystal.
Possibly an entire army of them preserved like the terra cotta warriors. Simply waiting to be found.
I really REALLY like the terracotta psionic warforged idea. This could make the Lord of Blades want to move out of the Mournland to Pra'xirek. A race against House Cannith could be a good opposing faction. Then I could later use the
Show
Mind seeded Deneith in Sharn
BTW, like the idea that Bel Shalor, or any Overlord, is the Devourer. Hmmm....maybe not just one, but all? Meh. All I can say is that I love the Lords of Dust, so anything that lets me play with them is good in my book.
If you want a little more fuel, what is the relationship between the Lord of Blades and the disciples of the Becoming God (or whatever the god that the 'forged are building)? If the LoBster is planning on snagging hisself a Giant God-Body, well, its another potential plot point. If you're building a rogue's gallery of villains, you could do far worse than to have the Lord of Blades in it.
Thanks again for all the inputs.
Our first game will be next saturday (on the Jan 15) and I'm looking for things to make them do in Sharn (skill challenges or encounters) For now, I have a fight against Boromar Halflings, maybe some of them will be snipers on higher grounds which you'll need to climb there or skill challenge to escape their reach. I have an encounter in the goblin ruins below the docks but I don't know against what yet. I have a chase/flee encounter against Lyrandar agents, it's a race towards the hidden airship. I might add an encounter with soarsleds (the floating transport disks). I'd like them to do base jumping, maybe from Morgrave or some high place.
So, what else could PCs that don't want to spend much time in Sharn can do there before parting in a hurry?
Rekko
Remember to ensure the encounters make sense, though. Is Lyrander going to be an antagonistic faction? Who's behind the goblins the party will tangle with?
House Lyrandar serves as the antagonists in the beginning of the campaign. In his background story, the Lyrandar Sorcerer PC turned rogue and stole one the House's airship. Afterwards, he became a bounty hunter, taking jobs on the run that would ensure him money and travel. Trying not to stay in the same place for too long. House Lyrandar has been chasing the PC since then. My intentions as the DM, I want to make my players feel the urge to leave Sharn as soon as possible. While in Sharn, priority number one goes to hiding the airship and not to attract to much attention. Priority number two is to get the hell out of there as soon as they get a job (the quest to find a lost artifact in Pra'xirek). In my flowchart, when the PCs get their job, they are spotted by Lyrandar agents and engaged into a fight and a chase across the streets of Sharn towards the airship and depart in haste.
Here is the flowchart I'll be using until they arrive in Stormreach. I might add one or two encounters after reading your suggestions. I'll keep the Theater encounter for a next trip to Sharn, when they'll be less in a hurry and more involved into some plots.
flowchart
1- Start the campaign with the Lyrandar Sorcerer and the Halfling Rogue PCs, they are trying to cut a deal with a lesser Boromar crime lord to unload with minimal risk the merchandise they got for the Boromar clan. The negociations turn sour and an assassin tries to kill the Lyrandar PC, the Tielfling Swordmage prevents it, a battle erupts that ends up in the death of the lesser Boromar crime lord. Unfortunaltly, other Boromar agents were watching the scene from higher grounds and flee to give news to higher ranked crime lords.
2- Cut scene to the confort of Morgrave where the Warforged Warlord meets the Kalashtar Psion he is assign to protect. The Kalashtar talks with his patron professor about recent discoveries that could lead to the finding of the mythic city Pra'xirek and the (insert artifact of legend). The Kalashtar is sent to find a ship, a crew, and able bodied men to assist him on his journey (these will be the rest of the PCs and the airship crew). He is also tasked to find some last piece of information in the archieves.
3- After the battle against the Boromar clan, a goblin steps out of nowhere to assist the trio of PCs. He tells them that someone asked him a weird task weeks ago. He was told that in a few days, three person were going to kill the Boromar boss the PC just killed. He was told to provide them with help. The PCs need a hiding place for the airship. The goblin knows a secret place down in the ruins below the city where a tunnel opens on the level of the Dagger river. The goblin was tasked by a Dragon of the Chamber in disguise.
4- Cut back to the Morgrave archieves. The Kalashtar and Warforged are being spied on by bounty hunters hired by competing faction interested in the discovry of the famous Pra'xirek (Wayfounder, House Cannith, jalous Professor). They are circled, and the opposing faction ask for their collaboration. They want the information the PCs have, they want to lead the expedition and take for them the reward and fame of discovering themselves the lost metropolis. The PCs engage into a fight. After their victory, they make their way to a nearby tavern known to attract many adventurers.
5- Back to the bowels of Sharn, the trio finds their way back to the higher districts of Sharn where good paying jobs can be found. They meet with the Kalashtar and the Warforged. (I imagine this scene much like when Luke and Obiwan meet Han Solo and Chewbacca). Upon agreeing on terms, House Lyrandar shows up with the Watch. Outnumbered and the risk of loosing the airship very high, fleeing is the best solution (I want to show to my players that fleeing can sometimes be a valid choice in an encounter). Skill Challenge to loose the most of their opponents. They are far from the airship, running around isn't enough to make their way quickly to the vessel. Climbing towers, base jumping and flying on soarsled will take the chasers by surprise and by the time they reach the airship, they will either have lost all of their opponents or only a few will remain to fight at range on soarsleds while the airship makes departure.
6-Roleplaying opportunity while travelling over the Thunder Sea. The Kalashtar owns an orb implement which is a dragonshard holding a fragment of the Prophecy. The shard was given to him by his parents before dying, but he was never able to read its content fully. However, when in contact with the Dragonmarked Lyrandar Sorcerer, the shard illuminates and the fragment of Prophecy inscribed into it shines on the floor, the PCs enter a trance where they see portion of their pasts and futures. They hear a vibrant voice chanting nonsense verse. (after investigation, the verse reveal further clues as to the location of Pra'xirek). Add in a fight against flying creatures. Fight against a clandestine passenger (a monster). Notice being chase by another airship. Skill Challenge during a storm. Success means loosing no healing surges before the next fight.
7- Crash into Shargon's Teeth. Wake up to the crackling sound of the Elemental bound within the ship in the process of freeing itself (hazard), Sahuagins are on board and pillaging the wreckage. Fight. Later on, other Sahuagins arrive to rescue the PCs. (Shades of grey / Nothing is at it seems)
8- While desending to their underwater city, the PCs notice a strange thing. The islands and stone pillars that form Shargon's Teeth are actually the tentacles and bodies of a multitude of petrified krakens. The first of the many Xen'drik mysteries they will encounter. I want them to have an underwater battle against enemies of the Sahuagins, probably another aquatic race with some aquatic beasts.
9- The PCs need to negociate a safe trip to Stormreach and assign their new allies the task of guarding the airship stuck in the Shargon's Teeth. In exchange, the Sahuagins can have the merchandise that the PCs were supposed to give to the Boromar clan.
10- Arriving to Stormreach, the PCs need a place to rest and prepare their adventure. While preparing, Lyrandar agents can cause them trouble, House Cannith can grow interested in what they are doing. The PCs can investigate the meanings of the Prophecy.
1- Start the campaign with the Lyrandar Sorcerer and the Halfling Rogue PCs, they are trying to cut a deal with a lesser Boromar crime lord to unload with minimal risk the merchandise they got for the Boromar clan. The negociations turn sour and an assassin tries to kill the Lyrandar PC, the Tielfling Swordmage prevents it, a battle erupts that ends up in the death of the lesser Boromar crime lord. Unfortunaltly, other Boromar agents were watching the scene from higher grounds and flee to give news to higher ranked crime lords.
2- Cut scene to the confort of Morgrave where the Warforged Warlord meets the Kalashtar Psion he is assign to protect. The Kalashtar talks with his patron professor about recent discoveries that could lead to the finding of the mythic city Pra'xirek and the (insert artifact of legend). The Kalashtar is sent to find a ship, a crew, and able bodied men to assist him on his journey (these will be the rest of the PCs and the airship crew). He is also tasked to find some last piece of information in the archieves.
3- After the battle against the Boromar clan, a goblin steps out of nowhere to assist the trio of PCs. He tells them that someone asked him a weird task weeks ago. He was told that in a few days, three person were going to kill the Boromar boss the PC just killed. He was told to provide them with help. The PCs need a hiding place for the airship. The goblin knows a secret place down in the ruins below the city where a tunnel opens on the level of the Dagger river. The goblin was tasked by a Dragon of the Chamber in disguise.
4- Cut back to the Morgrave archieves. The Kalashtar and Warforged are being spied on by bounty hunters hired by competing faction interested in the discovry of the famous Pra'xirek (Wayfounder, House Cannith, jalous Professor). They are circled, and the opposing faction ask for their collaboration. They want the information the PCs have, they want to lead the expedition and take for them the reward and fame of discovering themselves the lost metropolis. The PCs engage into a fight. After their victory, they make their way to a nearby tavern known to attract many adventurers.
5- Back to the bowels of Sharn, the trio finds their way back to the higher districts of Sharn where good paying jobs can be found. They meet with the Kalashtar and the Warforged. (I imagine this scene much like when Luke and Obiwan meet Han Solo and Chewbacca). Upon agreeing on terms, House Lyrandar shows up with the Watch. Outnumbered and the risk of loosing the airship very high, fleeing is the best solution (I want to show to my players that fleeing can sometimes be a valid choice in an encounter). Skill Challenge to loose the most of their opponents. They are far from the airship, running around isn't enough to make their way quickly to the vessel. Climbing towers, base jumping and flying on soarsled will take the chasers by surprise and by the time they reach the airship, they will either have lost all of their opponents or only a few will remain to fight at range on soarsleds while the airship makes departure.
6-Roleplaying opportunity while travelling over the Thunder Sea. The Kalashtar owns an orb implement which is a dragonshard holding a fragment of the Prophecy. The shard was given to him by his parents before dying, but he was never able to read its content fully. However, when in contact with the Dragonmarked Lyrandar Sorcerer, the shard illuminates and the fragment of Prophecy inscribed into it shines on the floor, the PCs enter a trance where they see portion of their pasts and futures. They hear a vibrant voice chanting nonsense verse. (after investigation, the verse reveal further clues as to the location of Pra'xirek). Add in a fight against flying creatures. Fight against a clandestine passenger (a monster). Notice being chase by another airship. Skill Challenge during a storm. Success means loosing no healing surges before the next fight.
7- Crash into Shargon's Teeth. Wake up to the crackling sound of the Elemental bound within the ship in the process of freeing itself (hazard), Sahuagins are on board and pillaging the wreckage. Fight. Later on, other Sahuagins arrive to rescue the PCs. (Shades of grey / Nothing is at it seems)
8- While desending to their underwater city, the PCs notice a strange thing. The islands and stone pillars that form Shargon's Teeth are actually the tentacles and bodies of a multitude of petrified krakens. The first of the many Xen'drik mysteries they will encounter. I want them to have an underwater battle against enemies of the Sahuagins, probably another aquatic race with some aquatic beasts.
9- The PCs need to negociate a safe trip to Stormreach and assign their new allies the task of guarding the airship stuck in the Shargon's Teeth. In exchange, the Sahuagins can have the merchandise that the PCs were supposed to give to the Boromar clan.
10- Arriving to Stormreach, the PCs need a place to rest and prepare their adventure. While preparing, Lyrandar agents can cause them trouble, House Cannith can grow interested in what they are doing. The PCs can investigate the meanings of the Prophecy.
Warforged Warden
Eds is a 29 years old Warforged war veteran. He was bought by Aundair and sent to many fronts in the Five Nations. He participated in many of the greatest battles of the Last War. However, he also witnessed many of the horrors of the war, death and destruction. Seeing what his life was bringing to this earth, Eds was being emotionally unstable, asking peculiar question to his superiors about life and its meaning. It was during a battle in the Eldeen Reaches that Eds decided to become his own commanding officer and deserted the army. He joined the Wardens of the Wood and seeking a way to repair the damages he had done to the lands.
On the Day of Mourning, Eds was far from Cyre, but he was summoned by Olian like many other druids. Olian had sensed in his roots that a terrible event had occured, Eds had sensed it as well. It didn't take a whole lot of time before the news spread to the Eldeen forests. Filled with a sentiment of responsability, Eds parted on a journey towards the Mournlands. That is when he encountered the Dead-Grey Mist wall that surrounds Cyre. He vowed to heal the land where he fought numerous times. There was only one place where he could find help, it was in Sharn.
In Sharn, Eds likes to remain in the lower districts of the City of Towers. In this way, he remains closer to the land. This attitude led him to meet a Lyrandar Sorcerer and a Halfling Rogue in a difficult position against the Boromar clan. After knowing that the Halfling Rogue is a displaced Cyre, Eds felt compelled to join his forces with his new allies.
Eds is a 29 years old Warforged war veteran. He was bought by Aundair and sent to many fronts in the Five Nations. He participated in many of the greatest battles of the Last War. However, he also witnessed many of the horrors of the war, death and destruction. Seeing what his life was bringing to this earth, Eds was being emotionally unstable, asking peculiar question to his superiors about life and its meaning. It was during a battle in the Eldeen Reaches that Eds decided to become his own commanding officer and deserted the army. He joined the Wardens of the Wood and seeking a way to repair the damages he had done to the lands.
On the Day of Mourning, Eds was far from Cyre, but he was summoned by Olian like many other druids. Olian had sensed in his roots that a terrible event had occured, Eds had sensed it as well. It didn't take a whole lot of time before the news spread to the Eldeen forests. Filled with a sentiment of responsability, Eds parted on a journey towards the Mournlands. That is when he encountered the Dead-Grey Mist wall that surrounds Cyre. He vowed to heal the land where he fought numerous times. There was only one place where he could find help, it was in Sharn.
In Sharn, Eds likes to remain in the lower districts of the City of Towers. In this way, he remains closer to the land. This attitude led him to meet a Lyrandar Sorcerer and a Halfling Rogue in a difficult position against the Boromar clan. After knowing that the Halfling Rogue is a displaced Cyre, Eds felt compelled to join his forces with his new allies.
As many know it, it is a difficult task to map out the continent of mysteries. One obstacle in achieving this task is the Curse of the Traveller that alters time and space on the continent. As such, many explorers have created different map versions of Xen'drik.
As part of the preparing to set out of Stormreach, the PCs must find as many maps as they can in order to counter the effects of the Traveller's Curse, and to find the lost city Praxi'rek.
As such, I have created four maps of Xen'drik, all of which are different. However, when you lay them out one over the other in front of the light, the 'true' map of Xen'drik appears, or at least a more accurate version of it...
I'd like to eventually create a map similar to the one we see in Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End with moving parts to further emphasise the Traveller's Curse and to create more puzzle solving. Maybe this map is the source of the Traveller's Curse, and when its owner moves its parts, the continent reflects it by morphing its geography.
Rekko
While I was thinking about some long term plots I had a few ideas to use for the deaths of the Kalashtar PC's parents. I'm currently balancing between two and would like your thoughs on the matter.
First version: The parents of the Kalashtar Psion PC were archeologists from Adar that developped a specialty for the Quori-Giant War. In fact, they might have been the best of the best. Their searches across Xen'drik eventually lead them to the famous lost city of Pra'xirek. There, they found a large army of inanimated dust-covered warforged. While taking notes and exploring the ranks of the immobile soldiers, they discovered some docents which weren't attached to any warforged. Upon touching them, a long time unfinished ritual completed itself and trapped the quori spirits of the Kalashtar into the docent. The effects of this ritual have been witness all the way back to Adar and Khorvaire where hundreds of Kalashtar that shared the same Quori spirit of the parents simply fell into coma. (I now realise that only the mother should be trapped in this way and that the father should suffer a different fate, because the PC would, by this logic, also fall into a coma since he shares the quori spirit of his father). When the PCs discover the resting Warforged army, the 2 Warforged PCs can attach the docent and later discover that it is the Psion's mother.
Second version: In order to include some side story involving Vol, I would have the parents killed by Emerald Claw agents, and their souls bound to a soul gem since Vol likes to speak with them from time to time to get their expertise on Xen'drik history. The parents could have been caught in the affairs of the lich while exploring Xen'drik. The PCs could also be caught in the affairs of the lich, investigate only to discover that their current enemies were the assassins of their fellow PC's parents.
Personnally, I think I prefer the first one, though I'm still balancing between the two. If I want to include Vol, there are many other ways to do so. Being caught in her affairs (without her being the assassin) is one. Making Vol raise from the dead one of the fallen PC (or all of them if a TPK occurs) and asking them a favor in return is another.
Anyway, what's your opinion? Do you have other ideas?
Thanks
Rekko
I like your approach to dealing with the Traveller's Curse. However, my eyes kinda glaze over when looking at your plot stuff. No slight on you; I just don't do character plot. Unless its for my characters in games I'm running.
Why not? What are your arguments? I'd like to read them.
On my part, I like to involve the characters' story into the campaign. Sometimes, it's an NPC, other times it's a personal quest. I think it's a fun thing to realise that story material created at the same time of character creation isn't forgotten after the first rolls of dice. Moreover, with Epic Destinies and such, I feel it is suitable to find common story elements and focus these into the main campaign arc.
In example, here, we have 2 characters wanting to do something about the Mournland, 2 warforged, 1 Kalashtar-archeologist, and 1 dragonmarked character linked to the Prophecy. Mix that up together and you'll get something along the line of the Dreaming Dark plotted the Mourning, and Warforged were tools of the Quori back in the Age of Giants. Add something Prophetic about the marked character and there you have the Epic destinies of all five PCs linked together in this quick canvas.
Rekko