Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 arcover Sep 25, 2009 1:49:22	I'm having one of those "now what?" moments.    My players have finished the first part of an adventure, sort of. Goblins have hijacked a rail from Gatherhold in the Talenta Plains, taking the Khyber dragonshards used to bind elementals to the lightning rails with them. The players were hired by an Orien representative in town to stop the rail, kill the goblins, figure out whodunnit, and bring the train back. After this, the rep. hires them yet again to track down the goblin in charge, a xenophobic crime boss by the name of Ignis, who hides out in a cave near Lake Cyre. That's just a dungeon crawl, no problem storywise there. But what happens afterwards? I've talked to the players, and they want to have a sea-based adventure next. This is because I wanted to move the story from Talenta to Sharn, and only two paths at this level make sense. Going over the Mournlands, through Karrnath, Aundair, and Thrane to get there, or heading south to Valenar and taking a boat through the Kraken Sea to Sharn.  I'd like to have a feeling that everything the players do throughout this campaign is interconnected. Maybe I'm not using that word right, but essentially that for every action there will be some kind of consequence, either apparent or subtle. So how do I tie the death of Ignis into the players having some kind of reason to head to Sharn? The question I find asking myself is, "Who would have the most to benefit from Ignis' death?" A rival crime syndicate? And what crime syndicate would most likely be in Sharn? The Aurum, of course. I don't want to introduce them into the story just yet. I guess what I'm really looking for is a plot hook, because I already have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen on the boat. Magic artifact of some kind is transported on the ship, magical barriers fail, turns half the crew into Zombies. But damn it, I need that hook. I can't think for the life of me something interesting that ties into Ignis, or House Orien, to draw the players to Sharn. Any ideas?
#2 jcardiii Sep 25, 2009 15:17:48	> "But damn it, I need that hook. I can't think for the life of me something interesting that ties into Ignis, or House Orien, to draw the players to Sharn. Any ideas?" 1. Dear Iggy, We simply love the quality of dragonshards you've been sending us. Next time you're in Sharn, look us up. I'll leave word for you at the Grey Fox. Taa, Shora Risor 2. Crystalline lens found near Ignis' body contains plans that turn out to be Oriens latest airship design. Airship is being built in the Marrick Yards, Sharn. 3. That batch of dragonshards you recovered for us? Fakes. Very good fakes. But we have a lead - take the first ship next week from Sharn to Stormreach. We're pretty sure the real shards are on board, being smuggled by a dwarf.
#3 durskut Sep 27, 2009 1:05:19	Crime and Sharn go hand in hand.  As much as I can remember currently, there are 4 active semi or directly competing organized crime groups in Sharn.  You might call other smaller groups and cults (BoV, Radiant Idol worshippers, etc) crime groups, but these are the big ones.  Further, these groups may or may not be tied to other powers and organizations.  For example part of the Boromar-Daask conflict may be a proxy for a Mayor-Councilor dispute, with each player using his ties in the organization to make things happen.  1. The Boromar clan of halflings are the top dogs with major connections inside the city power centers. 2. House Tarkanan is the collective of aberrantly marked beings.  I know they deal in death, but I'm not super sure on what else at the moment. 3. IIRC, there is a group of changelings called the Tyrants who are up to stuff. 4. Daask is the upcoming group of monstrous humanoids. As far as getting the group there, this is how things would add up: The goblins in the plains were working for Daask because Daask has lots of goblin recruits from the Sharn undercity.  This brings Droaam into the equation and, by extension, the daughters of Sora Kell (just to be menacing).  This has plenty of racial and mystic ammunition to spur the PCs to not let whatever it is fall into "the wrong hands."  House Orien backs the PCs efforts as much as possible.  The PCs romp to Sharn, do some "aggressive investigation" and bust into the Droaam proper pursuing the Warlord who has the mcguffin.  When they corner him he has some help and on a defeated human who was there fighting them, they find he wears a gold ring on each finger.  Knowledgeable PCs will catch that this guy was Aurum.  The PCs head back to their Orien man and notice he too has a set of gold rings, one on each finger.  That's when it hits! If the group gets it, they'll realize the Aurum is behind the whole thing, playing both ends against the middle.  If the group didn't get the mcguffin then the monsters would, either outcome would satisfy the big bads.  Hopefully, they'll try to protect whatever it is and go on the run from Orien.  They'll realize that no matter how much they try, the real power in the world lies in the Aurum's combined hands.  They won't be able to travel anywhere because guess what, the high ups in Orien (most of whom could be Aurum) post wanted posters in every Orien terminal. This kinda makes the PCs powerless, but it also gives them a very new and very different obstacle to overcome. On the other hand, they could turn it over.  At this point it'd probably be appropriate to introduce a new patron and pursue the "we have to stop them before they use it" plot. After this it comes down to the type of game you want to run.  Will the PCs work to expose or eliminate corruption in the system and be vigilantes?  Will the mcguffin do something which the PCs have to stop/be the ones to control?  Is there more than one and the PCs have to race against an organized, teleporting, and well supplied force for board control? TL;DR: There's lots of crime in Sharn.  The PCs could get manipulated into a Lose-Lose situation which they'll need to deal with.  After that they face an enemy who's main strength is secrecy and pervasiveness.
#4 Demetri_Knighthawk Oct 04, 2009 17:12:57	What about a frame up? 1) A number of the shards are missing and the party is suspected of skimming off the top. 2) While they have been away something has happened in the city, an important person assassinated with evidence of the PC's party at the crime scene {arrow with same fletching as archer, warforged final messenger with pic of party walking past but really changelings in disguise.} and now the players are on the lamb with a supporter who has evidence of thir innosence, but they live in sharn.