The basic outline for the beginning of the adventure is something like this:
Basic Outline
The Day of Laughter is being celebrated today in Sharn. Its a holiday to celebrate the last day before Dolurrh becomes conterminous to Eberron. This was once a Breland-wide holiday with high religious significance, but in modern times its simply a festival. Businesses, district leaders and other wealthy members typically hire out performers for the day before throwing a public feast (or a private party) which can sometimes include a play.
The players are in an audience for a feast being paid for by the Zilargo embassy. This is simply a good-will gesture, although most of the foreign embassies don't bother participating in the holiday, so the Zilargo embassy is quite unusual for doing so. Suddenly zombies attack. At first they're thought to simply be performers, but once they start eating people its quickly realised they're actual zombies.
The players hopefully jump forward and dispose of the zombies while everyone else flees in panic. The City Watch comes and interviews the players before thanking them and letting them go their separate ways. However in the morning each player has got a letter from the Zilargo Embassy asking them to come for an audience to see they're properly rewarded.
There the ambassador thanks the players, gives them a minor reward and asks them to investigate into who could have been responsible for this attack. A much larger reward is promised in order to secure the player's assistance
The players are in an audience for a feast being paid for by the Zilargo embassy. This is simply a good-will gesture, although most of the foreign embassies don't bother participating in the holiday, so the Zilargo embassy is quite unusual for doing so. Suddenly zombies attack. At first they're thought to simply be performers, but once they start eating people its quickly realised they're actual zombies.
The players hopefully jump forward and dispose of the zombies while everyone else flees in panic. The City Watch comes and interviews the players before thanking them and letting them go their separate ways. However in the morning each player has got a letter from the Zilargo Embassy asking them to come for an audience to see they're properly rewarded.
There the ambassador thanks the players, gives them a minor reward and asks them to investigate into who could have been responsible for this attack. A much larger reward is promised in order to secure the player's assistance
The Last War that had engulfed Khorvaire for the last century ended a couple of year ago when the nation of Cyre was destroyed by an unknown force; an event thats has come to be known as the Day of Mourning. During the final years of the Last War the majority of you worked as Mercenaries under the employment of Cyre. Fortunately for you, you where outside the borders of Cyre during the Day of Mourning, the same cannot be said for the majority of your comrades. Since the Day of Mourning you have spent the time reuniting with your few surviving brothers-in-arms , rescuing Cyran refuges, and trying to rebuild your life.
just before the zombie attack he selected the PCs. Now, after the encounter the PCs are left in the street with a huge arrow above their heads, they need to find the gnome to remove it which leads them to talk with the event sponsor - the Zilargo Embassy.
alternatives to the arrows are:
- as part of the show some/all of the PCs have been hypnotized to burst into a dance whenever someone say the word "hello".
- as part of a magical act the gnome made some of the PCs personal items disappear (or he may have locked all those items in an arcane locked chest) but since the show was interrupted he didn't get to return the items back to them.
- the PCs where volunteered for the "saw a man in half" trick, the gnome does the trick by making half a body of each participant invisible, like the arrow effects it seem to persist.
- the comedian illusionist have altered their faces with a permanent smile.
A gnome illusionist entertain the crowd with comical illusion act. he selects 'volunteers' to come on stage by creating huge red neon light arrows appear above their heads.
just before the zombie attack he selected the PCs. Now, after the encounter the PCs are left in the street with a huge arrow above their heads, they need to find the gnome to remove it which leads them to talk with the event sponsor - the Zilargo Embassy.
Oh nice. That encourages the players to group together and face the zombies. And that also gives me an idea on how to ensure the players head to the feast in the first place:
Massive spoiler for the adventure
Have worshipers of the Traveler buy a large number of tickets. They then they distribute those tickets randomly to people.
A Traveler Cult is going to end up being behind the zombie attack. So having that tie-in with the beginning of the adventure works even better :D
A Traveler Cult is going to end up being behind the zombie attack. So having that tie-in with the beginning of the adventure works even better :D
Guilt or innocence are irrelevant here as the idea as the Zilargan and/or Brelish governments have had need of some cannon fod, er, adventurers for a little while now. Your party fits the bill perfectly.
If they succeed, maybe they can be kept on 'retainer' with the threat of prosecution being used to coerce them into working off their 'debt' for a little while longer.
I'm thinking of doing something along these lines myself as adventure starter.
And kudos for NOT starting a campaign in a tavern.
Let them ad-lib stories of the past or leave it vauge.
They might surprise you with some great ideas. If they come with weak sauce, help them spice it up a bit.
In a podcast interview, Keith Baker said that he likes to run the group as a military unit in the Last War as the first adventure, and then fast-forward it 2 years, they are out of the Last War, still a group.
I like this campaign starter myself as well. It already makes them a bit more heroic than the average guy (they would have been part of a more special, multi-role, multi-racial unit) and it gives a good reason why they work well together and are willing to risk a lot.
In a current non-Eberron game I am playing in, the group came together through a 'one link between characters' idea as well.
We had a human fighter, human wizard, dragonborn paladin, dragonborn cleric and tiefling warlock.
The two Humans are brothers.
The fighter was a war veteron who owes his life to a Dragonborn Captain and feels he needs to protect them when he can to repay him.
The two dragonborn are old comrades who got assaulted by a foreign group with a racial hatred towards dragonborn, this motivated the humans to help the Dragonborn.
The Tiefling was present while these four were fighting the foreigners and needed an escort to bring a message to his Uncle. He decided to hire the group and during the travels had his life saved by them a few times, deciding these men deserve his loyalty. (He still is capable of backstabbing if the need is high though, but this constant tension does create great in-party RP and it never goes as far as being violent.)
We came up with this as players, and players themselves can be very creative about their internal relationships. So.. let them come up with something, it is always better then forcing it on them on the long run.
Although in the future I definitely intend to use some of these ideas
The way I am starting it is to do everyone through Play-by-mail (Email to be precise) and to do them solo. No one knows the other players choices when it comes to race/class. I did this to encourage the players to choose a race/class that they are interested in, not necessarily one that they feel the group needs. (We tend to have a few strong-willed players who make their choices first and then 'suggest' what the other players should play.
I will be doing the first 2 levels through email, and will (hopefully) have the characters interact without knowing that it was a player (vs. NPC) they were dealing with. The goal is to come to the table at 3rd level with a good backstory for their character and also for how they are all together.