The Dreaming Dark
And so after doing some reading in my old Eberron books and the Dreaming Dark trilogy (from which I've borrowed heavily ;) ) I've come up with a basic plot line (see below). However, I know what I have isn't quite perfect and so ask for any and all input anyone could give me in regard to this campaign.
The Plot
Basic structure I want the game to follow is Sharn/Khorvaire (heroic) to Stormreach/Xen’drik (paragon) to Sarlona/Dal Quor (epic).
For some reason (yet to be determined), the PCs would be hired by the Deneith in sharn to provide an escort for a "kalashtar" in the mournland to look for a mcguffin (also, yet to be determined). The heroes brave dangers and (again, this is yet to be determined) and rivals (most likely "agents of the dreaming dark") in the mournland and recover the mcguffin and return to sharn. However, upon their return to sharn the heroes encounter a nasty surprise.
Betrayal! The "kalashtar" was really a Chosen who is "inspired" by the qouri Tirashana (whom I'm planning on making a reoccurring villain) and "the agents of the DD" they'd encountered before were really kalashtar. The mcguffin they acquired was from xen'drik and the true cause of the mourning (Which I'm thinking is actually a giant manifest zone to Dal Quor. However, it's a link to the previous age and that's why it's the current quori don't have sway over it. They want to study it so that they can recreate the effect but over the whole world and under their control.). Because they're Big Damn Heroes and/or because they know to much to just be let go, the PCs fight Sadran d'Deneith and Tirashana. While the heroes defeat Sadran, Tirashana manages to escape with the mcguffin.
However, the heroes are quickly approached by the kalashtar that had been trying to stop them before. Unknown to the dreaming dark the mcguffin they discovered was only one several such devices, but those others were left in Xen'drik. And so if the heroes have any hope of stopping the DD they must go to Xen'drik find the copies of the mcguffin, and figure out how it works so they can throw a wrench into the quori's plan.
So the heroes go to Xen'drik and encounter problems (yet to be determined, although I'd like a fairly large section of this portion to occur in Stormreach) before they finally get their own copy of the mcguffin. After some research the PCs determine the the mcguffin is actually like an interface to a back up of Dal Quor made by the ancient qouri. With the immense power of the hanbalani the mcguffin could be used transform the entirety of eberron into a manifest zone of Dal Quor. And so while it could potentially rewrite the hard drive of Eberron with this back up, it could also be used as a trap for a quori. This quori would no longer be connected to il-Lashtavar and so could be destroyed in the back up and there essence would not reform. This is important latter.
Thus the heroes need to go to Sarlona to stop the inspired from using the mcguffin. The heroes travel through different planes to reach Sarlona in time to stop the back up restore. On their arrival however, they are quickly apprehended by the thousand eyes. Instead of being killed, they are brought before Lady Sharadhuna. She offers aid to the PCs if they are able to use the mcguffin to destroy the Devourer of Dreams. She's afraid that using the back up might have unforeseen consequences, such as bringing about the turning of the age. She does not want this, but she recognizes that destroying the devourer would only see his essence reformed and merely imprisoning him would not stop his subordinates from completing his plans while he was gone. Thus she need's the PCs to do what they do best and only then could she become the new devourer.
Lady Sharadhuna knows how to create problems (as you can probably guess, these are yet to be determined) in the Mcguffin's ritual, which would force the devourer to come to eberron to oversee the ritual personally and give the heroes the chance they need. And so the PCs masquerade as agents of the thousand eyes causing problems until it's time for the ritual. They disrupt the ritual, trap Tirashana and the devourer and their minions in the mcguffin and jump in themselves to have an epic fight to save Eberron.
...
Wow, that was a lot of text. I hadn't written anything down yet so it all sort of spilled out at once. Anyways if you could provide any ideas and/or critiques you might have, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
Well, if no one would like to comment on the plot I gave above, does anyone who has used the Dreaming Dark an a villain have any hints they'd be willing to share? I'd also be interested in hearing anything about a quori focused campaign or adventure that anyone has been a part of, either as a DM or as a player.
Now, after discovering what is behind the drug/dream trafficking, integrate ur artifact mcguffin into it. The Dreaming Dark is gathering "souls" to power an ancient eldritch machine to realign Dal Quor with Eberron. The machine could actually be a moon being manufactured in Sarlona (a la Death Star). The quori are psionic beings, so it makes sense to have them target kalashtar and other psionic races with this drug to capture their astral spirit, chaining them together in dreamscape as prisoners. So a sudden endemic of comatose kalashtar in their community in Sharn could involve Breland's agents.
You're trying to make the quori's plan into a cliched spectacle. Sure the threat is global/planar, but make it insidious and shadowed. Subtlety is their game.
That's all I have so far, at the top of my head. I'll post more if you like what I wrote.
Edit: Oh, I forgot about symbolism! In a 3.5 game I was in last year, our DM thrust us into a dreamscape while we were just walking along a road near a forest. Suddenly, we noticed a change in weather as the skies roiled with strange purplish clouds. We fell asleep and are dreaming, HOWEVER, we did not know that untl half way thru. We heard a scream over yon hill, to which we ran towards. A lone cottage was spotted below us, battered and old, open to the elements. A fierce storm assaulted us as we approached the door. We could see nothing beyond the entrance. We entered, into a nightmare. Inside, we found a warm and comfortable cabin. Nothing like what we saw from outside. House was empty, but it looked like it was prepared for us. The way was shut behind us. There were curious objects around the house. Puzzles to be solved so that we can get the heck outta there! Long story short, a painting hanging over the mantle was actually a portal into Dal Quor that flooded us with nightmarish creatures. It was creepy. I mean, the picture wa sof a pastoral setting with fields and flowers. In it, we saw distant figures that grew larger as we kept staring. Finally it came out screaming and babbling. o_O eek!
Here's a story flavor text for ur game: "The world doesn't die in a great cataclysm. It dies in its sleep."
I don't know about the others here, but I wasn't hooked by how it starts. I don't like PCs being hired for anything as a starting off point.
Yeah, I'm still not settled on the opening. Part of the problem is that as of yet I have no idea what anyone's characters are going to be so I can't really rely on the fact that they would know each other or be very willing work together in the first place. I had been reading some of the ideas over in this thread, which seemed like they could work.
I suggest integrating the dreamscape into your game a bit more than Eberron normally allows. I mean, have a sudden "plague" of comatose victims pop up. The reasons could be due to the widespread use of that dream lily narcotic (I forget where it was from). While your PCs are traveling out in the open road, have them "stumble" into a manifest zone to Dal Quor or maybe give them a waking dream where they don't remember falling asleep. Also see if you can incorporate vision quest-like elements: spirit guides, subconscious egos, Freddy Kreuger.
Hmmm... I like the dream lily bent and focus on dreamworlds. I had been planning on adding aspects of Neil Gaiman's Sandman and H.P. Lovecraft's Celephaïs and The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath as each has some quite interesting dream related material. I'll have to think about that some more.
Now, after discovering what is behind the drug/dream trafficking, integrate ur artifact mcguffin into it. The Dreaming Dark is gathering "souls" to power an ancient eldritch machine to realign Dal Quor with Eberron. The machine could actually be a moon being manufactured in Sarlona (a la Death Star). The quori are psionic beings, so it makes sense to have them target kalashtar and other psionic races with this drug to capture their astral spirit, chaining them together in dreamscape as prisoners. So a sudden endemic of comatose kalashtar in their community in Sharn could involve Breland's agents.
See, I don't know if I like the soul harvesting or the moon building idea. If the dreamlily allowed the quori to harvest people's souls to feed this eldritch machine, why not just require all of their human cattle in Riedra take it? And while the moon idea is cool, just making Dal Quor come back into alignment w/ Eberron wouldn't stop the changing of the age.
After looking at the dreamlily write in S:CoT my eye was caught by the entry on Absentia, which allows the user to feel the experiences of another person, but is possessed by a quori during that time. I think this might be a good hook as it's distributed by the Boromor clans which provides another layer of complexity.
You're trying to make the quori's plan into a cliched spectacle. Sure the threat is global/planar, but make it insidious and shadowed. Subtlety is their game.
I know that some aspects of the plot are cliched, but I guess I don't see how their plans are a "spectacle". The dreaming dark realized a manifest zone to Dal Quor has opened on Eberron, however they can not access this zone and had no hand in creating it. Using cat's-paws they've gathered information about this new manifest zone for two years. After determining the cause of this unexplained phenomena they dupe someone into retrieving it for them. Once it has been retrived, the dupe's needed to be silenced and what better way to do that then through a Mind Seed?
After they get the artifact back to the safety of Riedra they begin to study how it works in an effort to create a controlled version of what the cyrans had already done. Once they understand how it works and gain control over it they put it to use. I guess I fail to see how that is unsubtle.
Edit: Oh, I forgot about symbolism! In a 3.5 game I was in last year, our DM thrust us into a dreamscape while we were just walking along a road near a forest. Suddenly, we noticed a change in weather as the skies roiled with strange purplish clouds. We fell asleep and are dreaming, HOWEVER, we did not know that untl half way thru. We heard a scream over yon hill, to which we ran towards. A lone cottage was spotted below us, battered and old, open to the elements. A fierce storm assaulted us as we approached the door. We could see nothing beyond the entrance. We entered, into a nightmare. Inside, we found a warm and comfortable cabin. Nothing like what we saw from outside. House was empty, but it looked like it was prepared for us. The way was shut behind us. There were curious objects around the house. Puzzles to be solved so that we can get the heck outta there! Long story short, a painting hanging over the mantle was actually a portal into Dal Quor that flooded us with nightmarish creatures. It was creepy. I mean, the picture wa sof a pastoral setting with fields and flowers. In it, we saw distant figures that grew larger as we kept staring. Finally it came out screaming and babbling. o_O eek!
That sounds really cool
. I may have to use that for when the PC's are traveling in the mournland.P.S. Thanks for the feedback!