Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Jimmifett May 28, 2010 14:12:55	I'm working on a H1 to early H2 tier portion of a campaign, I've got the overall middle and end of the campaign in my mind, but it's the beginning that is giving me trouble. Essentially, the party needs to find a way to get into trouble by lvl 3 so they can be approached by an agent of a Keyser Soze like member of the Aurum. They will then be given a task of stealing the macguffin from a new gambling den opening in a few weeks in Sharn. The macguffin will be present in the gambling den on the evening of the opening and will be transported via House Kundarak using Leomund's Secret Chest Ritual. The party will have the few weeks leading up to the opening night to aquire everything they need for an Ocean's 11 style heist. Finally, an agent of the Trust will try to convince a player to secretly turn the macguffin over to him instead and offers a replica to swap for the real one. Whether or not the party is aware of this side deal is up to that player, unless it is a gnome, in which case it's his entrance test one of his parents set up to get him into the Trust, and thus definitely a secret mission. My problem is how do i start this out at lvl 1 and lead into the Usual Suspects/Oceans 11 when they get to lvl 3?
#2 meshon Jun 02, 2010 11:14:01	Well it sounds like you're planning on running a criminal sort of campaign so it might be a good idea to start with some reputation-building in the underworld so that it makes sense when the Aurum approaches them: "We've heard of your good work on the Lower Menthis Monkies job..." Assuming they have a sort of "looking for work" start, why not have them hired to go to the docks and pick up a cart-load of rare wood from Xen'drik that's going to be part of the gambling house. Maybe the duty hasn't been paid so the job needs to happen after dark. A rival gambling magnate has gotten word of the shipment and wants to hinder the construction of the new gambling house so he sends some goons to appropriate the lumber. If that goes well, maybe the rival might actually approach the PCs, since they're obviously more competant than his goons, and get them to guard his daughter while she goes slumming in Firelight, where Daask is set to kidnap the daughter because their oracle saw her connected to their aims in Sharn through the Draconic Prophecy. Give the PCs a tough choice, so that maybe they are tempted to go along with the kidnapping. I would try to bring the gambling house into the story right away, at least peripherally, and make sure that the party is doing jobs for a variety of underworld factions. That way they become known as skilled mercenaries, available to anyone with the right coin. Good luck and enjoy! Cheers, Meshon
#3 Jimmifett Jun 07, 2010 17:45:37	Excellent ideas, thanks!