Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 grimms Aug 18, 2010 15:38:08	Hey all, I'm curently DMing an Eberron campaign setting and have been thinking about having a campaign setting transition occur within my campaign, but doing it in a unique way and I wanted to get y'alls opinion on it to see if it would even be possible without crazy plot holes. Here's the idea... Eberron Side The campaign opens with the characters experiencing the Mourning first hand...an event which brings the PCs together (using the short adventure located at the end of the Eberron campaign guide). Following that experience the story fast forwards about 10 years. The PCs have gotten together to form an adventuring party through a contract with a Dragonmark House. They go through a series of Indiana Jones style adventures to capture artifacts from ruins, etc...Through these adventures they begin to learn about both the Draconic Prophecy and about the "Great 5" . These 5 were famous adventurers who made a name for themselves among the Dragonhouses as the best artifact and ruin pillaging group in the history of adventuring parties. These character's lives are tied intimately to the Draconic Prophecy with an event occurring early in the campaign that leads to them acquiring aberrant dragonmarks. Throughout the first 5 to 7 levels the characters begin to learn more about the events surrounding the Mourning. They discover a story among Cyran refugees that places the blame for this event upon the "Great 5". After performing a service for a Cyran refugree...they begin to learn more...this man was actually one of the artificers that knew of the Great 5. He survived the Mourning because he was servicing warforged on the front lines. After performing this service he revels that the "Great 5" were working with Cyre going around the world collecting artifacts that would eventually be used with the Great Forge in Making to develop weapons that would be unleashed upon the world. The Mourning followed shortly after this, the "Great 5" were never heard from again...presumably lost in the resulting explosion. Since then Cyran refugees have placed full blame of the event on the "Great 5" giving them a different name. Through a series of events (need help with this...trying to brainstorm) the PCs encounter people who had previous encounters with the "Great 5". They also learn of a few of the artifacts that these heroes discovered and the heroes are able to piece together the events that eventually lead the "Great 5" back to Cyre. As they gain in levels they begin to encounter more and more Warforged and through these encounters and other story events they learn of the Lord of Blades and his plan to create an army of Warforged. While all this is going on I'll include snipits of the Draconic Prophecy that relate to a great earth shattering event...in some cases these will be from Cyran refugrees who have interpreted the Prophecy and its apocolyptic overtones as prior predictions of the fate that befell Cyre. They also learn of Draconic Prophecy speaking of the 5 heroes that caused the world's destruction. This provides the Cyran refugees with even further evidence that the "Great 5" were the root cause of Cyre's destruction. The transition from Heroic -> Paragon will involve the PCs battling against an enormous warforged that emerges from the Mournland and begins systematically destroying nearby settlements and military outposts. The PCs will have to confront the massive warforged, fight up the creature Shadow of the Colossus style and then engage the primary defense mechanisms of the creature to shut it down. An event that I plan on introducing in the Paragon stagewill involves the PCs undertaking a major quest to recover an artifact that could be used to unravel the mystery of the Mourning...an eye piece that should revel a portion of the mystery. Shortly following they procure an airship to fly over the Mournland. They discover the Lord of Blades churning out tons of warforged and...using that eye piece...are able to see through the Glass Plateau. They see the ruins of Making and within it an enormous creation completely sealed within the Plateau. It is an enormous Warforged Terrasque. Perhaps the PCs land and have a first encounter with the Lord of Blades where they are able to detach a short piece of metal from him and then quickly flee. Additionally they see 5 humanoids frozen within the glass that seem to be engaging the Tarrasque in an eternally frozen combat. They return to the old Cyran artificer who recognizes the piece as a unique Warforged general that had been a support construct used within the R&D Cyran labs that must have survived the events of the Mourning and used the pieces of destroyed equipment in the R&D lab to augment his powers. Its also possible that he knows the events behind what caused the Mourning. A series of adventures ensue that lead the PCs on a wild goose chase and Dragonmark house intrigues to discover that the Lord of Blades is using intermediaries to acquire ancient artifacts and ship them to the Mournland. Along the way they begin to learn more about Bel Shalor and learn more about Shalor's prison. They encounter a hero who used to know the "Great 5"...perhaps he was in love with a female in the party. He doesn't believe the rumors that the heroes were the cause of the Mourning. The PCs are eventually lead to the Mournland where they assault a warforged outpost and disable a lieutenant of the Lord of Blades. The outpost is in an old Cyran city that contains a library. The fight with the Lieutenant occurs in this library and after the fight the PCs discover secret documents that speak of the Tarrasque's creation and other secret developments on a weapon that would be even more powerful than the Tarrasque. The heroes learn that the Lord of Blades will soon be ready to unleash his horde upon Breland and begin another War to take over Khorvaire. They also learn a key piece of information: the location of the Lord's base of operations...deep within Making in the old R&D labs on the Glass Plateau The heroes have to race back to Breland and communicate this information. The PC's early teens (levelwise) involve the beginnings of this war...one which will involve warforged versus the 4 remaining kingdoms. Around level 16 or 17 PCs make their way back into the Mournland to confront the Lord of Blades. They make their way over the Plateau and eventually find the entrance. The Lord spent over 10 years using his warforged legions to drill down to the R&D labs. There he discovers the new secret weapon and is secretly trying to figure out how to operate it. During this time they begin having flashbacks that explains how the "Great 5" discovered that the Cyran's artificers were using the artifacts they collected to create a weapon that would destroy an entire city by encasing the city in glass. The "Great 5" face off against the artificers in the lab just as Cyran general turn on the Mechanized Tarrasque as Making is invaded after their army is decimated. The great creature doesn't follow orders but instead begins to do what Tarrasque's do: destroy the city. Its power is so massive and uncontrollable that they are not able to stop it. The "Great 5" realize the severity of the situation and following a victory over the artificers...they confront the Tarrasque, ignite the weapon which was (like the Tarrasque) much more powerful than they realized, and knowingly sacrifice themselves for the good of the world. It immediately encases a majority of the city, themselves, and the Tarrasque...creating the Glass Plateau...and destroys the entire country. The PCs hear this and then are relayed a final piece of information: The schematics for this weapon were housed in a warforge that supported the Artificers...the creation that eventually became the Lord of Blades. The PCs realize to their horror that not only were their own artifact collecting probably supporting the creation of a new and even more powerful weapon... The PCs learn of this and immediately race to the ruins of Making. They confront the Lord of Blades in a before the frozen glass of the Tarrasque and the former heroes. The Lord of the Blades is preparing the new doomsday device to create a 2nd and more powerful Mourning.  The PCs discover that the Lord is, in reality, a powerful exarch of Bel Shalor who was able to create the Lord of Blades due to the original arcane explosion weakening the bonds of his eternal prison. They learn that the eternal prison can only be fully blown open with a greater arcane blast...one that could encompass the entire world. A fight ensues with the PCs defeating the exarch, but not before he has an opportunity to detonate the weapon. The session ends there. Dark Sun The PCs awaken 2,000 years later within a very dusty and old R&D lab. They find it strange that the place is empty and eventually make their way to the surface where they walk into the middle of an enormous desert. Eberron has become Athas. Bel Shalor has won. The destruction of the world as written in the Draconic Prophecy was fulfilled and the city of "Making" was the location that caused the world to be remade. Somehow the PCs survived the Apocaplypse. The End: The PCs spend their time in Dark Sun learning about the new world and discovering vestiges of Eberron along the way. Through a series of adventures they meet the ghosts of the "Great 5" who each send them on an adventure to recover pieces of a machine that the Draconic Prophecy foretold. The end of the Campaign...the last fight...is a time warp back to the moment of the Apocalypse where they can defeat Bel Shalor in a fight within the same Lab. ---- That's about as far as I've gotten. If any of you have any recommendations I'd appreciate it. Lol I'm actually kinda curious if anyone actually reads this. A friend of mine and I kinda came up with this over lunch so its a fairly new idea.
#2 AvonRekaes Aug 19, 2010 11:08:40	Sounds like the makings of a fantastic campaign. One suggestion: I've yet to play a Dark Sun game, but it seems to me the real "fun" of the game is a struggle to survive at low levels. Perhaps when the PCs awaken, their skills and memories have atrophied over the long period of stasis, so that they're brought back several levels. I think this would let the PCs explore the world of Athas as it is presented before they, in their high-paragon and maybe epic glory, go running off to kill Sorcerer-Kings. Also, do you have any plans for using Dark Sun as Dark Sun? Meaning, are you going to try to reconcile things like Athas's history and cosmology with Eberron's? Will the Astral Sea have been cut off/destroyed? Will there have been a genocidal cleansing by powerful defilers later to become Sorcerer-Kings? Will there only be one "Dragon" left in the entire world, who used to be a Sorcerer-King himself? Or do you just plan on using the basic framework of Athas, of powerful tyrannical spellcasters ruling city-states that struggle to survive in a blasted, hostile desert world? If so, that's cool too. Oh, one more thing, are you using Flamekeep at all? I would've figured that there'd be more plots with the Silver Flame if you plan on using Bel Shalor.
#3 zeropoint Aug 21, 2010 8:37:45	Very interesting campaign idea, and I wish you the best of luck. It  sounds like you don't need a lot of help with it, but I did have a few thoughts while reading it that I might as well share. When the PCs wake up in Dark Sun, you'll have a good time showing them the ruins of the world they once knew. Sounds like it will be a blast. Later on, they will be given the option of going back in time and stopping the second day of mourning. But what about the friends they've made in the "future"? Will they cease to exist? Surely even in a setting as bleak and terrible as the one described in Dark Sun there are a few people the PCs wouldn't want to send to oblivion, and that could form the crux of a major moral decision the PCs have to make. Do they save the world they once knew at the cost of the world they now find themselves in? For maximum drama, have the ghosts of the Great 5 mention this right as the PCs are about to head back through the portal, and have a time limit on their decision. Depending on how you deal with the above issue, you should tweak how you portray the Dark Sun world. If you want it to be an easy choice, fill it with absolute monsters without redeeming qualities. If you want to make it tougher, have the escaped slaves, traders, and other wild cards of the setting be more sympathetic. You might even allow a new PC into the group who is originally from that time period, and will cease to exist himself if their final fight is successful! Obviously if the villains in the "future" find out what the PCs are up to, they will want to stop them. Hell even the heroes of the setting might not want to be written out of history. So I guess all my observations were really about that one issue. Hope it sparks a few thoughts! Thanks for the reading material, as it really is a cool concept.