I am planning on molding the campaign loosely around the show Alias, where the PCs will get top secret assignments. I feel the show fits Eberron well - over the top villians, repetitive drama elements, and you never know who is going to turn which way.
I would like to introduce Eberron - and D&D, to some extent - slowly. There is enough flying around the first few sessions with newcomers that I don't want to give a long world geography lesson before we start.
To this extent, I was thinking of setting the campaign in Karrnath. They would be in the midst of a cold war-esq buildup with Thrane. The PCs would work be working for who they think are the good guys - a black ops division of Thrane, designed to get the job done, even if it means looking away from the Silver Flame.
My questions:
1. The most playable fairy I know is the Pixie, which has an LA of +4. Is level 5 too high to start newbies? Is there a way I could tone down the Pixie, at least for starting out?
2. How should I kick off the campaign?
3. What awesome long term campaign ideas do you have?
4. Any tips on introducing Eberron?
You can have your PCs play agents of the the Dark Cabinet (The Karrnath Intelligence Secret Service also known as KISS). PCs can be old Last War spies returning home after years of work abroad or young (fresh out of the Atur/Rekkenmark academy) new recruits, patriots joining in the wake of the raising tensions with Thrane (let them watch the Watchman movie before the game session to build the cold-war atmosphere feel).
There is a silent cloak and dagger power straggle in the Dark Cabinet between agents still loyal to Emerald Claw and those loyal to the crown. Like in Alias the PC maybe unaware at first that they are manipulated by an Emerald Claw boss and that the mission he send them on have less to do with Karrnathi interests and more with his personal obsession over Draconic Prophecy relics.
After realizing they've been fooled they can become double-agents, working for regent Moranna to expose the full extent of the Emerald Claw's plans. for every mission they preform for their Emerald Claw boss there is also a secret counter-mission that they get from the crown.
Using divine powers they can cut a temporary but safe to travel roads (with sky high walls of fire on both sides) through the Mournland area.
This new power can be the source of the Karrnathi-Thrane tension. since the road creation causes the Mournland to shift more and more into Karrnathi land (or maybe they fear it will be used for a land invasion/ crave the power for their own use).
The setup: The PCs [individually] are arrested for murder in Karrnath. They don't remember much from the night of the crime, except strong suspicions that they really did commit the crime.
The action starts as they are brought before a man in a slick black and white outfit, saying that they had talent, and if they would use it for his cause, he would release them and have the charges erased.
His cause being that of the Karrnath Intelligence Secret Service (KISS), which is currently doing everything in its power to gain an edge over Thrane. (Think of Karrnath as Russia, and Thrane as a cross between the Vatican and the Spanish Inquisition) The PCs walk out of the prison untouched in the dead of night, with no guards in sight.
He tells them that their first mission will be to intercept the delivery of a device known as "The Void" to the Emerald Claw (think global underground neo-nazis). The device allows an individual to cross the Mournland untouched by its fowl, tainted lands, unbothered by its twisted inhabitants. The Emerald Claw would then use The Void to smuggle in arms and equipment. The courier will probably disembark just short of the Capital, which means the train must be boarded in motion. The PCs will be loaned mage-bred horses, which will give them just enough speed to catch up and jump aboard.
He then tells them that he has yet to be convinced of their loyalty, so they should stay clear of any Karrnathi guards. To emphasize this point, the PCs overhear a town crier shouting about four murderers escaping from prison.
The train heist will have them running from the back of the train to the front, chasing a crazed man shouting "Help! Help!" clutching the Void in one hand and using his sword to knock over lanterns (starting fires), benches, and throwing passengers in the PCs way. When he makes it to the front cabin, he locks himself in, and the PCs hear the bloodied scream of the train's driver, leaving the lightning elemental unguided. The Emerald Claw agent has barred the door, and the PCs come crashing in, kill the agent and take the void, and with just enough time to jump off before the train goes off a section in dis-repair and careens into the side of a cliff.
They return to give the Void to their KISS handler, and will find later, after several missions, that he plans to use it to smuggle parts into Karrnath to build a machine that will give him command of an army of the undead (ie, steal the Emerald Claw's plan) and take over Karrnath himself. The PCs will also find the train heist has them labeled as infamous train robbers and mass murderers.
I also plan on lifting an idea I read elsewhere here, that instead of critical misses, a 1 that the PCs roll will sometimes make things take a turn for the worse. I think it will definately add to the drama.