The campaign will be heavily influenced by Cowboy Bebop and maybe a little Firefly (although I don't think the PCs will have an airship, at least not for a while.)
Some of the early ideas I have for bounty targets include:
* A bugbear, former Darguunian mercenary now wanted for war crimes.
* A dangerous aberrant mark bearer with ties to House Tarkanan
* A master thief and Orien excoriate that uses her dragonmark to stage elaborate heists (think Carmen Sandiego, or maybe San d'Orien?
)* A strange man who voluntarily surrenders to the PCs without a fight... but when they bring him back to the person who placed the bounty, the man promptly turns into a dragon and kills him.
And for action and chase scenes, I'm picturing some of the following:
* A tavern being set ablaze with the PCs and the bounty still inside it
* A hijacked elemental skiff chase through the canals of Trolanport
* A crazy shootout in that part of Sharn with the inverted gravity (I can't remember if that was in a sourcebook or one of the novels)
* A chase through a Cannith arms warehouse that's going haywire, with attack golems and wand turrets firing in all directions
Any thoughts on other cool bounty heads or action scenes that would fit into the setting? How about the plot setup? Even character ideas would be welcome - the players haven't created their PCs yet and suggestions would be handy, and I could definitely use some colorful characters as contacts or informants.
I also started a separate thread on this campaign about mechanics/house rules, if you want to comment on that aspect - community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/758...
You could also have a war criminal be someone who is very sympathetic as a villain. Maybe it's a crew of Thranish soldiers that wiped out an entire village in Aundair or Breland. But the village happened to be members of a Khyber cult or tried to bring back a Daelkyr. Something that was wrong to do looking from the outside, but completely justifiable if the truth was known.
Maybe the war criminal is wanted for a crime he didn't commit. Maybe a doppelganger from Lost set him up and when the PC's confront him, tey learn the truth and instead have to help clear his name with the Sentinel Marshals.
Maybe one of these bounties has taken the identity of a well-known member of society in Sharn and it's not that easy to take her down to colelct the bounty.
And ofcourse, there's always the revenge on the Goblins for the brutal uprising of Darguun.
A multi-level fight in the slings under Zarashk could be fun. I thin kone of the Eye on Eberron Articles described the lower parts of Zarashk as hanging wooden walkways and rope bridges instead of walking in the muck.
I also really like the idea of the target being someone (or impersonating someone) in the upper crust of Sharn society. It brings to mind a ball or social scene where the PCs try to mingle and maneuver close to the target without getting kicked out.
I think I'm going to need to take note of all of the different interesting locales for fun action and chase scenes; the slings under Zarashk, the weaving monster-laden streets of Droaam, spiky wrought-iron fences everywhere in Karrnath, rooftop chases across multi-story buildings in Breland, what are some other good ones?
Of course, some of the fun ones could be just going after a real badass. Someone who is a few levels up on them and the party needs to trap them. Hunter becomes the hunted kind of thing.
Another could be that the bounty is now hooked up with the Aurum or another crime syndicate. Or even worse, that the person was so deep cover that the Wartime persona who committed the crimes is now hiding right under your nose. Or perhaps didn't even commit any crimes at all. I was just thinking about a comic I'd read where the kindly old german man in town turned out to be a Nazi Spy. He ended up not actually spying, but it was enough to piss off everyone in town.
Other locations- just about anywhere. I can't remember if the White Harbor Bridge is still up (or back up), but that could be a cool place to have a showdown. The Bridge ran from Karrnath to Thrane in the north. The 4e books barely mention it, but the 3.5 books I've seen (but not played) describe it as a beautiful bridge several miles long that crossed the river in a valley. It was large enough that people could live among its beams and foundation.
Another option is to have the bounty be a prominent citizen in a monstrous town in Droaam, Darguun, Demon Wastes, Lhazaar Principalities, etc. Where the entire town is against you collecting your bounty- like Valenar Mercs. Those Elves are MEAN!
There were a couple of extended articles in the past about 4e Eberron. One on Fairhaven (in Aundair) and another on Taer Lian Doresh in the Principalities.
I'm running a game that's set during the War, right before the Darguun rebellion. PC's are Cyran mercenaries and deep in Thranish territory. They're now being blamed for a village being destroyed and will likely be considered war criminals. I'm going to reboot the campaign after the next story arc or two to something a bit more like Firefly. Still mercs, but now they get an experimental Airship to fly around the land- wreaking havoc helping people for pay. First, they need to deal with getting caught up in the Darguun rebellion.
Good luck with getting plenty of bounties. If you want, I could fill you in my party's dastardly deeds and you could hunt one or more of them down.
Or they can be blamed for a marks death. I would have some encounters in the bag in case the bounty dies in their custody or in the recovery process. That way when things go bad you can play on and it wont end with "oh well you go back and dont get paid." Or you could just have that as the start of the session as a plot device.
A side note about the rival, it would be really tacky to name him Dog... but you could make a name out of this list.
)I think the bridge between Karrnath and Thrane was destroyed sometime during the war...
SPQRAnarchy - Oh, man, I love the idea of having the PCs bust a bounty out of prison in order to collect on him. Maybe one of the Houses has locked the target away in hopes of dealing with them "quietly," but the legal system wants him tried publicly. Having the PCs get the blame (or be framed) for a mark's death is a good snag, too.
edit: And of course, rivals are practically a given.
Or another. The bounty, once they've got it, is not exaactly sanctioned. Which means that they're suddenly in trouble with the guard. So now they have to recover the bounty from who they delivered him/her to, a much harder challenge.
BTW, I love the whole idea and will plagarize whatever i can get away with.
Although i was looking at a Guard/watch campaign. Bounty hunters may work better.
Perhaps they are now the primary defender of a small frontier town that would be lost with them. The have no idea what they did or why and have become a funmentally good unselfish person.