Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 connortheconman93 Jul 04, 2010 17:03:13	I have been wanting to run an inquisitives campaign since I first picked up the Eberron Campaign Setting, and I have been wondering: what are some good 3.5 edition adventures that could fit into an inquistives campaign in Sharn?
#2 AvonRekaes Jul 04, 2010 20:44:30	I ran an adventure in Sharn involving multiple missing persons cases, only the Watch doesn't care because they were Lower City residents. Cue the last victim's relative or lover coming to the PCs to find them. Over the course of the investigation, they find out about the other missing persons. They all seem to have some fighting or adventuring experience, and the PCs eventually find out that the Dassk criminal organization has been kidnapping people to fight in gladitorial blood sports.  the pcs csn then concot their own plan for breaking out the captives. You can use low level humanoid monsters to represent Dassk, since the arena is in Malleon's Gate (a goblinoid ghetto in Lower Dura).
#3 Ogiwan Jul 04, 2010 21:36:05	Are you asking for modules, or adventure hooks/ideas?
#4 connortheconman93 Jul 04, 2010 22:51:39	AvonRekaes, I actually homebrewed an adventure along those lines, except it was a Cult of the Dragon Below. They were gathering them for sacrifices to Belashyrra, and the leader (unknown to the party) was the one doing the kidnapping. After the PCs bust the cult, I plan on having it reform after the PCs can face him in a fair fight. Ogiwan, I need both, since I am not the kind of DM who runs only published adventures. I plan on using the Viktor Saint-Demain trilogy as well as Murder in Oakbridge and the Forgotten Forge arc in parts. I really need ideas, and any you could point me to would be great.
#5 Ogiwan Jul 05, 2010 8:27:54	Hmm. Well, I recall that out of the Forgotten Forge adventure path, Whispers of the Vampire's Blade (after the coach chase scene) was incredibly pulpy and all sorts of fun, but that doesn't exactly sound like an inquisitives campaign. Voyage of the Golden Dragon and Eyes of the Lich Queen both looked quite adventure-y as well, so not sure its what you're looking for. Frankly, I'd make it all up myself.  A purely Sharn campaign might be the best way to do this, with occasional trips outside of Sharn.  Also, a labyrinthine conspiracy starting with a body, or a disappearance, might be the way to go.  Do you have any idea who or what power groups you want to be the Big Bad?
#6 connortheconman93 Jul 05, 2010 13:36:26	Yeah that was what I was going for. I'm mostly looking for adventures to fall back on if I don't have the time that week to come up with one. I'm planning on the Cults of the Dragon Below as the main antagonists, and the Gatekeepers (of course) as the main protagonists. The campaign will mostly be walk-ins at first, and eventually run to dragonmarked houses and nobles.
#7 Ogiwan Jul 05, 2010 17:57:17	Ah. Well, to my knowledge, most modules don't have much that can be adapted to an Inquisitives campaign. A bit here or there, sure, but not large swaths. So, good luck with that. Is not having material a major concern for you? I've had quite good luck with having a general idea of what I want to happen, and then improving from there.  If you're not that good at the improv, a stock of encounters, situations, NPCs, etc that you can tweak to fit your current situation might be an idea. Huh, I had never heard of this Viktor Saint-Demain trilogy....i'll have to look into procuring it.... Anyways. If you are going to run a Sharn campaign, I highly advise getting a copy of Sharn: City of Towers. Not only is it a great sourcebook, but it also has a pimpin' soundtrack. Listening to it now. Now, assuming you're doing a Sharn campaign and your Cult of the Dragon Below worships a Daelkyr, you might want to go a sort of serial killer route; mutilated bodies are appearing, Watch doesn't care, PCs get hired, find out its part of a ritual to unleash the Daelkyr. When the PCs stop the ritual, they've won....for now.  The next arc could be a plot by the CotDB to assassinate the captain of the Sharn Watch, or otherwise throw the forces of Law and Order into disarray.  Another arc could be the Cult trying to discredit the PCs; frame them for crimes, ruin their finances, turn the city on them, and so on. Now.....there is a Gatekeeper in the city.....meh, he's detailed in S:CoT.  The less-prosperous Church of the Silver Flame (there's two; one is all corrupt, the other is good, but located in some slum or something) may prove to be another ally.  The Citadel also may get involved, which is something you'll seriously have to figure out. Wow, looking at the last of the Saint-Demain mods, it looks like its an awesome trilogy..... Anyways. What are your thoughts as of now? Where will you go, what questions, answers, dramatically awesome encounters, etc, do you have?
#8 connortheconman93 Jul 10, 2010 20:12:11	Yeah I'm absolutely terrible at improv...I didn't even think about having lists of encounters, NPCs, etc lol. The Viktor Saint-Demain trilogy is pretty great, and the trilogy was my introduction to Eberron. I am of course doing a Sharn campaign, how could you not run an inquisitives campaign without the City of Towers? I have SCoT, and I agree the soundtrack is killer. My arc so far is this: the PCs are approached by a cousin of Larrian ir'Morgrave, since a professor has disappeared. He was working on negating the effects of a manifest zone (later in the campaign Zoriat will become coterminous again) in a locked room protected by an antimagic field and a warforged guard. It turns out the illithid boss of the Cult of the Dragon Below personally used psionic teleport to snatch five people from various parts of the city. They track the cult to Khyber's Gate, where they bust the cult. For awhile they will be performing various freelance jobs, when they find evidence their old friends the Cult are back in business. After tracking down the cult, they defeat it and the illithid boss this time. This time the cult stays busted, but Xoriat becomes coterminous, and the PCs face off with Belashyrra. I can't remember the name of the Gatekeeper in Sharn, but I was going to bring in an entire tribe for the face-off with Belashyrra. The corrupt Church of the Silver Flame is somewhere in the upper city, and the good one is in Fallen, the busted-up slum in Dura.
#9 Ogiwan Jul 11, 2010 20:53:33	Well, the thing about having a list of NPCs, encounters, and whatnot is that sure, you'll still be worse off than if the PCs were walking straight into your deathtr-er, planned encounters, but you'll at least be better off than no planning at all. Also, you might develop the knack for improving. Now, out of curiosity, how "high up" is the Cult? I mean, sure, the heroes eventually track them down to their foul hole in the ground, but.....do they have any cult members in the local bureaucracy?  Have they infiltrated the Sharn Watch, or heaven forbid, the Citadel? Hell, the exact location in Khyber's Gate where the headquarters of the Cult is might be a property owned by a wealthy and powerful member of Sharn society, who may or may not be a member of the Cult.
#10 connortheconman93 Jul 14, 2010 19:32:51	That is true, something is better than nothing. The cult is pretty basic, just a single brainwashed noob in the warrant office so they know when the Watch is coming in for a bust. As for noble members, no, not really. The closest they've got to a 'noble' is an illegitimate daelkyr half-blood daughter of Sorik Senso, the Middle (or is it Lower) Central councilman. He knows about her and what she is, but as far as he is concerned, she's a bastasrd child of a one-night stand. The property was owned by a minor member of the ir'Tains before the cult took possession, and nobody has used it in the interim.
#11 Ogiwan Jul 15, 2010 10:45:30	Awww, that cult is no fun. The only way you'd be able to string it out into a decent-length story arc would be to have a lot of "slow" time, spent investigating or role-playing. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm seeing two cult/cult cells here; the first, led by some nameless foe that the PCs stomp first before they freelance, and then the cult led by the Illithid. I also don't see much of a connection between the two, other than they're both Daelkyr-worshipers. I'm thinking that you might want to expand the cult a bit, and have a hierarchy; the first cult they bust is a minor cult, but other cells exist to perform other functions for the Cult as a whole. A good call with the one mole in the Watch's warrant office, by the way. Eventually, though, the PCs work their way through a thick structure of loonies, and as they get closer and closer to the Illithid and the top of his hierarchy, they start running into Dolgaunts and Dolgrims. That's when the PCs could start to realize that this isn't just a bunch of crazy people. By the way, designing encounters and calculating XP will be on you. 3.5 is laughably insane in that area. I'll help with ideas, atmosphere, that sort of thing, but balancing it will be up to you. Anyways. Have you read any books by H.P. Lovecraft? I have not, but his writings are usually regarded as the sine que non (something that is indispensable) when it comes to twisted, alien gods, cults, and the like. Similarly, the Binding Stone trilogy, by Bassingthwaite, is a good trilogy that centers around fighting aberrations. Now, roughly where will the PCs be starting from, levelwise? I think it might be good to work out a rough story arc.
#12 connortheconman93 Jul 16, 2010 22:32:57	Nope, just the one cult. In the beginning it is only just forming, with just a few worshippers and a dolgaunt priest. Later on they form into a cult several hundred strong. Agreed, the only thing keeping me from upgrading is money. I have not read any of H.P. Lovecraft's novels, but the Binding Stone trilogy is good. I would like to go from at least 1st to 20th, but I may not be able to. I'm going to run the Viktor Saint-Demain trilogy and Murder in Oakbridge, sprinkled with various homemade adventures (think the Complete Sherlock Holmes if you've ever read it).
#13 Ogiwan Jul 17, 2010 16:52:14	Ah, ok, so you're saying the late-campaign threat will be the cult. I can get behind that, especially if you have a few hints of the growing cult, and its influence. Now, I started my 3.5 games at level 3, because that's when characters start having enough durability to actually be fun to play. That means that you could have a few minor cases to a.) build their reputation, b.) allow you time to introduce St. Demain a few times, c.) build Sharn as a living, breathing city (I, for one, think its cool as hell that they establish rules for establishing a favored drinking hole), and d.) get them from level 3 to level 5 so you can run Chimes at Midnight (or Oakbridge). Oh! Cool idea! You could occasionally run "flashback" encounters, where the PCs are level 1 or 2, with L1 or L2 equipment, so you could allow them to introduce backstory elements. Anyways. Murder in Oakbridge is level 5 as well (I "acquired" the issue of Dungeon its in, because I figured if the St. Demain trilogy was good, if really dark, then I should look into Oakbridge.) Are you going to run Oakbridge before Chimes? Now, I was thinking that for levels 3 and 4, you have some fairly minor cases; perhaps a shop in Middle Dura (or some other area where the Watch isn't particularly active) gets robbed, and one of the PCs friends recommends them, tracking stolen goods, figure out who is blackmailing someone, etc. Now, I don't remember if 3.5 has mechanics for something similar to 4e's skill challenges, but intellectually, you should be able to come up with something similar to simulate solving the minor cases that your party would get before they would get something of a higher profile. Do you know if there is?
#14 connortheconman93 Jul 18, 2010 8:35:42	True, it will be good to throw some surprise into the mix when the same cult of six people the PCs bust as their first case turns up months later several hundred strong. That is true, 3.5 is rather unbalanced at low levels. I planned on them settling into Oakbridge and starting their office there, so that I can easily drop Murder in Oakbridge in. I was planning on having them attend an inquisitive convention at some point, which is where they will forge some bonds to NPCs like Viktor Saint-Demain, Kar'aashta, and other inquisitives. I thought about that, and of course two of my favorite adventures are 5th level.  I'm not really sure which I'll run first, but probably Murder in Oakbridge. A good idea, that is an area that is not too well patrolled by the Watch, only place worse is the lower levels. I'm not familiar with 4E rules, but if Skill Challenges involve rolling dice, adding your modifier, then comparing the result to the result needed, then we've got 'em. As far as I know, its just about the same thing, but with more skills to draw on. By the way, I just downloaded a couple of H.P. Lovecraft's books, and I'm checkin em out now.
#15 Ogiwan Jul 18, 2010 10:51:57	Good luck with the Lovecraft. Again, I've never read his stuff, but he is recognized as a horror-and-cult writer par excellence.  A 4e skill challenge is a series of set DCs that PCs have to beat.  Usually, they have to make X number of successes before 3 (or Y number of) failures. They designed them so that DMs could have a structure for non-combat encounters that could give out XP. I seem to remember something like that in the DMG2 for 3.5, but i can't recall. Anyways, I bring it up because you could, conceivably, come up with "encounters" that are non-combat, but require enough rolls of the correct DCs to be as difficult a combat. Of course, the bonus is that your players can RP, but have enough of a mechanical framework to warrant getting XP.
#16 connortheconman93 Jul 19, 2010 14:58:12	In 3.5 there is usually just a single roll of say DC 20, and to beat it you roll a d20 and add your skill modifier. If you roll against an NPC they do the same, the higher roll is the winner. The occasional roll gets XP. To be honest, I like the idea of a skill challenge more than a DC. I always thought of one roll as almost too easy or too hard. If you fail, you there is usualy a negative effect, but if you win it just seems too easy. Needing say two successful rolls and being able to fail once is better than 1 roll that decides it all. I might very well decide to use that mechanic.
#17 connortheconman93 Jul 19, 2010 15:31:05	Here is my first adventure, minus stats for creatures and miscellaneous other stuff needed to run, just the story. Before I run the adventure I will RP the purchasing of the office and furnishing. The Case of the Locked Room Part 1: The Missing Professor The PCs have just started an inquisitive company in the quiet neighborhood of Oakbridge. They have just finished furnishing their new office when a man walks in. He introduces himself as Xavgold ir’Morgrave, cousin to Lareth ir’Morgrave, the dean of Morgrave University. He wishes to hire the PCs for a case involving one of the professors, although he refuses to say what for until they sign a contract of secrecy. Once they sign the contract, he hands them a package of information involving the case and tells them to read it before heading to Morgrave. The package contains a large adamantine key, a pouch containing a few gold pieces for expenses, a small leather-bound book, and a few parchment pages. The book is a professor’s journal, detailing his work, although the last entry was dated the night before. Apparently, he was working on negating the effects of manifest zones, and the journal contains the arcane formulas needed to do this, as well as his research into Gatekeeper artifacts that do much the same thing (foreshadowing for future adventure). The pages are written by Lareth ir’Morgrave, and contain some details as to why the PCs services are needed. Apparently a professor was kidnapped. He was working in a custom workspace around which a permanent antimagic field was cast in order to finalize his work. The only way in or out is a two-inch thick adamantine door sealed with an arcane lock spell, and the door was guarded by a warforged guard. He was due to report back at midnight as to how his work was coming, and when he was an hour overdue the guard went in to investigate. They found no trace of the professor, and they called for further security immediately. The only trace of the professor was a half-scrawled note that says “…something's here. It’s inside my head! (written in a different handwriting using undercommon script) You must ride the imperfect mind. Embrace eternity in me.” Because of the military applications of the professor’s work, Lareth ir’Morgrave needed to ensure that he could trust the PCs not to spread the research around, so he had them sign the contract. The letter also states that in exchange for solving the mystery, they will receive two hundred gold pieces each as well as the ability to attend classes with a celebrated Sharn inquisitive, Viktor Saint-Demain. When they arrive at Morgrave, Xavgold greets them again. He tells them to enter the workshop and see what they can find out. The workroom is in a pristine state, with a spilled ink bottle the only thing out of place. The only visible evidence that anyone besides the professor was ever in the workroom is a small footprint. There is evidence in the room, but most of it is hidden. A DC 15 Search check reveals a small patch of dried slime under a table. A further DC 20 Knowledge (dungeoneering) check reveals it to be illithid slime. A DC 20 Search check reveals a small scrap of fabric torn from what might have been a black robe of the type that is commonly worn by illithids. Near it is a small dead spider. A DC 10 Nature check reveals that this particular spider only lives in a small section of the Khyber’s Gate Cogs. Part 2: The Investigation If they bring their evidence to Xavgold, he asks them to investigate the area where the spider can be found and find out if anyone has spotted the illithid. If the PCs failed to determine anything about the spider he poits them in this direction. Once they arrive in the Cogs, they can ask around to find out about several other mysterious disappearances. A DC 10 Gather Information check reveals that three other people have disappeared within the last week: Jaxon d’Cannith, a respected member of House Cannith, was the first to disappear, around six days ago. He was walking through Khyber’s Gate on his way to the Cannith Forgehold in Ashblack with his bodyguard, an orc named Krepis, when he was asked for some coins by a goblin man. Jaxon gave him a few coppers, and the man thanked him and went his way. He heard a loud noise from the tunnel Jaxon had just entered and saw a red light flash in the tunnel. He ran in to investigate, and when he reached the tunnel there was no sign of Jaxon or Krepis. Ilia Merith, a noblewoman from the upper levels of Sharn, disappeared around four days ago. She was meeting with a goblin civil rights group in Malleon’s Gate to discuss changing the treatment of goblins. After the meeting, she was accompanied to a skycoach by the group. They peeled off a block early since they had some business to attend to. In this case as well, the group heard a loud noise and saw a red light, and when they went to investigate she was gone.  Rherluur, a goblin factory worker who lives in the area, disappeared around three days ago. He was several hours late for his shift, so the factory sent someone to find out why he didn’t come in. Rherluur was sick, so the runner left to tell the factory he wasn’t coming. Shortly before rounding the corner, the worker heard a loud noise and after turning around, saw a red light. After receiving these statements, it’s obvious the same person is behind all four disappearances. As to the loud noise and the red light, it is a mystery as to why these things happen. If the PCs wish to investigate, a DC 20 Knowledge (Psionics) check reveals that a Psionic Teleportation power sometimes gives off noises and light, especially if the user isn’t a frequent user of the power. This check also reveals that it takes a somewhat skilled psion dedicated to the Nomad path to use this power. Now that the PCs have discovered how the kidnappings were done, it’s time to find out who did the deed. A DC 15 Gather Information reveals that a number of the inhabitants of a small section of Khyber’s Gate have been behaving strangely. Walking strangely, not responding to their names, and completely ignoring their relatives are all examples. A DC 20 check reveals that they were followed once or twice, and they go to and from a small abandoned warehouse in the exact epicenter of the crimes. The few people to try to enter since the disappearances began have disappeared. The check also reveals the location of the warehouse. Once the PCs have discovered this, they will want to investigate the warehouse. The warehouse is dark and quiet, but if the PCs stake out the place, a few hours of waiting reveal a small group of hunched figures exiting the building. A DC 10 Knowledge (nature) check reveals that they are dolgrims. Dolgrims are known to work with illithids and the Cults of the Dragon Below. The dolgrims are carrying a total of 17 sp, and one is carrying a potion of cure light wounds, besides their weapons. Part 3: The Warehouse The warehouse is home to a Cult of the Dragon Below, controlled by an illithid named Xallisine. The cult is composed of a dozen dolgrims, six human cultists, and a single dolgaunt cleric. The warehouse consists of a single main room, loaded with crates, with four small rooms branching off on the sides. The main room contains a variety of crates and barrels, but contains nothing of significant worth or importance. The other four rooms are a holding room containing the four missing persons, a barracks for the human cultists, a barracks for the dolgrims, and a shrine to the Dragon Below. At any given time, about half of the cultists, human and otherwise, are away from the base gathering supplies, so the PCs only have to about four cultists and the dolgrims, and one of the cultists is a pregnant elf  woman who is unwilling to fight. Once the cultists have been overcome, the priest still remains. He lives in the shrine, and as long as the PCs haven’t entered the area, he is oblivious to their presence. He is defeated easily enough, and once he is defeated the PCs can return the victims to their homes. Concealed in the altar is a masterwork holy symbol made of obsidian worth 50 gp, a +1 human bane dagger, the Coat of Eyes (reference to Belashyrra), an inert tongueworm, a byeshk dagger, rapier, longsword, and 10 crossbow bolts. The victims all thank the PCs profusely, saying that they would have certainly been dead if not for their actions. In addition to Lareth ir’Morgrave’s reward, the party receives a letter of recommendation from House Cannith, a wand of magic missile, 400 additional gp, and free place to stay in the Cogs anytime they need it.
#18 Ogiwan Jul 20, 2010 16:48:32	Definitely a good start. To do Eberron right, you have to have slow parts mixed with fast ones, and you have that; you have two (or one big) slow investigative scene, and then you have a fast battle. I would advise figuring out ways to make the warehouse fight dynamic and exciting. I can almost guarantee anyways that your PCs will try to knock stacks of boxes onto enemies, and if the battle seems to be going against the PCs (or too far in their favor), you could "conveniently" fill a box with oil or something and light something on fire. You could also have some sort of magical conveyor belt that gets switched on accidentally, and starts moving stuff around the warehouse. Now, to notch up the complexity of the investigative scene, you could try drawing a map, and having PCs move their characters to what they're investigating, and have specific "zones" allowable to be investigated.  This may slow down the investigation, 'cause someone might just make a Search check and BOOM, find two clues right off the bat.  Since you have a permanent AM field, and the 'thid used Psionic Teleportation, I'm guessing that you are not using psionic-magic transparency (i.e. magic is not the same as psionics and will react differently to various spells). That said, you could also have the option of letting a PC examine the ward responsible for the AM field, noticing a disruption with it with some successful check, and allowing an Arcana check to figure out that it was some sort of psionic power. Higher the check, the more information, of course. You also might want to figure out details for how they know what the clues mean (or allow them to make up their own), and perhaps even put them on index cards. That way, they make a check, and you hand them a card, so they can react to it as a PC; they might blurt it out immediatly, or nod their head and continue investigating, only to, at the end of the investigative encounter, drop a Holmes-ian discourse on what happened, how it happened, here is the evidence, leading to these inferences, and so on.
#19 connortheconman93 Jul 20, 2010 19:07:54	Thanks, I came up with all this in about 20 minutes. Thanks for the tips, I've been looking for ways to make the fight more dynamic/vertical, so some climbing of crates will definitely be involved. I don't really want to set the place on fire, but maybe the cult has some critters stocked in the crates (low-level stuff). I didn't even think about a conveyor belt, that would be a hell of a way to start a campaign, fighting a bunch of dolgrims and cultists while a dolgaunt fires off spells. True, I was planning on kinda RPing the investigations, with the PCs having to ask the right questions to get good information out of the people. It would only make sense to alow them to search a certain zone at a time. I'm not really a believer in magic-psionic transparency, I enjoy the rules for psionics and put them to good use. That is a good idea, however, since this will connect the other disappearences to the mystery at Morgrave. I had planned on printing the clues on business cards, that way they can keep the clues as souvenirs if they want. Plus, my handwriting is terrible.