Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 skeeter_dan May 12, 2009 15:45:45	Any players in my group...you know well enough not to read this thread. ;) I'm currently putting together an urban adventure for my group based in the city of Sharn in the Eberron campaign setting. We're currently wrapping up Red Hand of Doom, which is an extremely combat-heavy campaign, so the group is looking for something a little different. Thus, this urban campaign will feature more roleplaying, problem-solving, and intrigue. While I don't have all of my player's characters set yet (they'll hopefully be getting back to me with that over the next couple weeks), I wanted to get some feedback and help with the overarching plot. The campaign will be revolving around the criminal organizations of Sharn: The Boromar Clan, The Tyrants, Daask, and House Tarkanan. The dragonmarked houses will be playing a small role as well, but mostly as contacts and such for the PCs rather than as major players. The basic idea is that a brilliant inquisitive (partly based on Victor Saint-Demain from the Dungeon Magazine Sharn adventures) is attempting to engineer a gang war in an attempt to wipe out these criminal organizations and replace them with a criminal organization of his own design with his own figurehead in charge. In order to do this, he intends to frame each organization as the murderer of an important figure in another organization (ie. planting evidence of a House Tarkanan assassin at the murder scene of a member of Boromar). The PCs get involved as they have ties to Boromar and The Tyrants. They will hopefully stay involved because a massive gang war in Sharn would be disastrous both for the gangs and for the city itself. The inquisitive mastermind behind it all has seemingly taken leave of his senses (depending on how far the campaign goes, this could be a plot by anyone from the Inspired to the Rakshasa) and seeks to do this from some misguided morality, ends justifying the means, etc. My main issue is this: I have the overarching idea and a few ideas for encounters that would lead them closer to discovering who is behind the whole thing. I just need more. What kind of false clues could he leave behind to mislead the party? How could the party see through these false clues? Basically, I need clues behind clues. Or, at the very least, the clues should leave them in a direction that lets them know that they're false clues so they know to investigate elsewhere. What could these clues be? I will have at least one PC with the Investigate feat from ECS, so there's definitely the possibility to find these clues and deduce the truth. Ack, this is getting long and complicated. What I really need is clues to leave at crime scenes, both false and real. I also need a few more encounters that might lead to the master inquisitive. There's no rush to get to the BBEG, by any means: there are lots of other "villains" available in the meantime. Any help?
#2 jinntolser May 13, 2009 0:25:58	First, let me say that although I have zero experience with or knowledge of Eberron, I have always thought a campaign full of gang warfare in which the PCs get entangled would be a blast to play, so kudos to you for doing that. Anyway, since I don't know a thing about the criminal organizations, do any of them have what could be considered a signature weapon (think of the Axe gang from Kung Fu Hustle, for example)? If so, that's an obvious choice. If, say, one gang is known for using kukris, then a bloodied kukri at the scene obviously points in their direction. I know that more than one Sherlock Holmes mystery is solved by Holmes identifying the ashes or cigarette butt from a particular brand of tobacco, and tracing it back to whoever smokes it. You can run with a similar idea, and have certain members within gangs known for a particular thing they eat/drink/smoke/chew. This also becomes an easy thing to have left at the scene to frame them with. False witnesses are another way to go. Perhaps one gang intimidates or pays someone to lie about what they saw to the investigators. This can provide a nice opportunity for roleplay, especially if there are conflicting eyewitness accounts. Say one witness whom the gang didn't know about is actually telling the truth, which directly contradicts what the other witness(es) are saying. The PCs then have to figure out who's lying, and drag the real truth out. Footprints are always a handy clue, and one that can be faked as well. Plus if you have a wilderness type like a Ranger, it gives them something to do in an otherwise mostly urban investigation.
#3 skeeter_dan May 13, 2009 14:00:28	I like the idea of a signature weapon, but I don't know if it fits any of the gangs. Perhaps Daask (a monstrous gang) would be more likely to use axes and clubs as opposed to the more "civilized" swords and daggers of the other gangs. That would be one route to go down. Good call on the Holmes reference. There are some drugs in Sharn (dreamlily, dragon's blood, absentia) and plenty of different varieties of alcohol. A portion of a ripped alcohol label, a dropped dreamlily vial, or similar could work quite well. Footprints are likely a good way to go, especially since the Boromar Clan is almost entirely halflings and Daask is entirely monstrous, with obviously unique footprints. The harder ones to hint at will be House Tarkanan, which is largely human, and The Tyrants, who are all doppelgangers and changelings, able to take on whatever appearance they want. I can think of ways to implicate Tarkanan, as they're assassins; if the murder looks like an assassination, Tarkanan will be the likely suspects. The Tyrants will be harder; of course, it might be worthwhile to have it look like the Tyrants are trying to manufacture a gang war between the other three, using their shapechanging to infiltrate the other gangs and leave a few witnesses behind for different murders... I still need some help: any ideas for random clues?
#4 skeeter_dan May 13, 2009 14:07:02	Any players in my group...you know well enough not to read this thread. ;) I'm currently putting together an urban adventure for my group based in the city of Sharn. We're currently wrapping up Red Hand of Doom, which is an extremely combat-heavy campaign, so the group is looking for something a little different. Thus, this urban campaign will feature more roleplaying, problem-solving, and intrigue. While I don't have all of my player's characters set yet (they'll hopefully be getting back to me with that over the next couple weeks), I wanted to get some feedback and help with the overarching plot. The campaign will be revolving around the criminal organizations of Sharn: The Boromar Clan, The Tyrants, Daask, and House Tarkanan. The dragonmarked houses will be playing a small role as well, but mostly as contacts and such for the PCs rather than as major players. The basic idea is that a brilliant inquisitive (partly based on Victor Saint-Demain from the Dungeon Magazine Sharn adventures) is attempting to engineer a gang war in an attempt to wipe out these criminal organizations and replace them with a criminal organization of his own design with his own figurehead in charge. In order to do this, he intends to frame each organization as the murderer of an important figure in another organization (ie. planting evidence of a House Tarkanan assassin at the murder scene of a member of Boromar). The PCs get involved as they have ties to Boromar and The Tyrants. They will hopefully stay involved because a massive gang war in Sharn would be disastrous both for the gangs and for the city itself. The inquisitive mastermind behind it all has seemingly taken leave of his senses (depending on how far the campaign goes, this could be a plot by anyone from the Inspired to the Rakshasa) and seeks to do this from some misguided morality, ends justifying the means, etc. My main issue is this: I have the overarching idea and a few ideas for encounters that would lead them closer to discovering who is behind the whole thing. I just need more. What kind of false clues could he leave behind to mislead the party? How could the party see through these false clues? Basically, I need clues behind clues. Or, at the very least, the clues should leave them in a direction that lets them know that they're false clues so they know to investigate elsewhere. What could these clues be? I will have at least one PC with the Investigate feat from ECS, so there's definitely the possibility to find these clues and deduce the truth. Ack, this is getting long and complicated. What I really need is clues to leave at crime scenes, both false and real. I also need a few more encounters that might lead to the master inquisitive. There's no rush to get to the BBEG, by any means: there are lots of other "villains" (the other gangs) available in the meantime. Any help?
#5 wanezot May 13, 2009 16:28:52	pieces of clothing on convenient nails sticking out of a doorway. most houses dress in particular clothing or a certain color. so that might help (false) motives. x might have killed y because he was sleeping with z. she q'd pretty good. or something like that :P
#6 jinntolser May 13, 2009 22:03:13	Stolen uniforms is always a favorite trick when you want to implicate somebody in a crime. One house could swipe some extra clothes from another, and commit whatever crime while wearing them. That way, witnesses will see the other house as having been the ones behind it. Forged notes "accidentally" left behind can point the finger at somebody else. It's very easy for doppelgangers to frame other people, but what about somebody framing the doppelgangers? While fleeing the scene of a crime, perhaps somebody who has a Mask of Lies (MIC) can "accidentally" change their appearance before they go around a corner out of view. That would naturally point to the doppelgangers trying to frame somebody else. For added fun, make the person doing it disguise themselves as someone from their own group, so it looks like they're the ones being framed, while actually doing the framing themself. Wheels within wheels, and all that.
#7 skeeter_dan May 14, 2009 18:24:54	It's very easy for doppelgangers to frame other people, but what about somebody framing the doppelgangers? While fleeing the scene of a crime, perhaps somebody who has a Mask of Lies (MIC) can "accidentally" change their appearance before they go around a corner out of view. That would naturally point to the doppelgangers trying to frame somebody else. For added fun, make the person doing it disguise themselves as someone from their own group, so it looks like they're the ones being framed, while actually doing the framing themself. Wheels within wheels, and all that. Beautiful. Framing the doppelgangers/changelings was one I was struggling with. I like the added touch of the disguise beneath the disguise.
#8 shady314 May 15, 2009 1:44:59	I'm currently putting together an urban adventure for my group based in the city of Sharn. We're currently wrapping up Red Hand of Doom, which is an extremely combat-heavy campaign, so the group is looking for something a little different. Thus, this urban campaign will feature more roleplaying, problem-solving, and intrigue. Sure this is the only sort of campaign I run. The campaign will be revolving around the criminal organizations of Sharn: The Boromar Clan, The Tyrants, Daask, and House Tarkanan. The dragonmarked houses will be playing a small role as well, but mostly as contacts and such for the PCs rather than as major players. The basic idea is that a brilliant inquisitive (partly based on Victor Saint-Demain from the Dungeon Magazine Sharn adventures) is attempting to engineer a gang war in an attempt to wipe out these criminal organizations and replace them with a criminal organization of his own design with his own figurehead in charge. To replace them with a criminal organization he'll need a criminal organization which requires a fifth criminal organization to pop up which will undermine his attempts to spark a gang war. Is it critical this be his plan? I suggest he simply intends to wipe out the gangs or is making way for the Aurum. In order to do this, he intends to frame each organization as the murderer of an important figure in another organization (ie. planting evidence of a House Tarkanan assassin at the murder scene of a member of Boromar). 4 murders will get old fast. Are you aware that Daask and Boromar already have a gang war going? That's half his work done right there. Trying to split their attention to the other crime rings is no good. He'll want to increase the intensity of the current war. It is the easiest, safest and least suspicious course of action. Ditch the framejob murder for them since 4 major murders too near to each other is heavy handed and suspicious. A brilliant inquisitive isn't going to try and pull the same trick 4 times. He needs to incite the 4 groups into courses of action he can take advantage of and each house requires a different push. One murder won't spark a huge gang war between two groups that don't already have any enmity like the Boromars and Tyrants and to increase the Boromar-Daask war would have to be somebody REALLY important. Keep this inquisitive villain subtle. The PCs get involved as they have ties to Boromar and The Tyrants. They will hopefully stay involved because a massive gang war in Sharn would be disastrous both for the gangs and for the city itself. The inquisitive mastermind behind it all has seemingly taken leave of his senses (depending on how far the campaign goes, this could be a plot by anyone from the Inspired to the Rakshasa) and seeks to do this from some misguided morality, ends justifying the means, etc. My advice is to keep it simple. Unless there is a PC reason like someone playing a Silver Flame paladin or a Kalashtar (who would then love to kick one of those creature's asses) there's no need to have it all be the work of a rakshasa or Inspired etc. Stick with him either having lost it with the corruption of the Watch and the power of the gangs and taking matters into his own hands to end it despite the innocent bystanders hurt in the crossfire or make him wealthy and a member of the Aurum. My main issue is this: I have the overarching idea and a few ideas for encounters that would lead them closer to discovering who is behind the whole thing. I just need more. What kind of false clues could he leave behind to mislead the party? How could the party see through these false clues? Basically, I need clues behind clues. Or, at the very least, the clues should leave them in a direction that lets them know that they're false clues so they know to investigate elsewhere. What could these clues be? I will have at least one PC with the Investigate feat from ECS, so there's definitely the possibility to find these clues and deduce the truth. You're getting ahead of yourself here. You have to figure out WHAT the crime is. Then figure out the clues that can be left behind or the mistakes made and then how the PCs can discover them and use them. Trust me I've done murders before. Clues come last when you plan them. You also have to be careful that you don't make the villain or rivals uber stupid in the process. Also 4 murders won't work and will get boring. Mix it up with different mysteries. Here are some steps he can take to provoke each group. Feed Daask and Boromar information on each others activities adding fuel to the ongoing fire. Informing Daask of a shipment they can hit and then later giving Boromar a heads up to set a trap. With neither side getting the upper hand and becoming more and more desperate. Players can soon figure out that both sides have a shadowy supplier of information... suspicious. I would probably start the game off with the whole city buzzing about the big fire and brawl down at the docks that left a whole lot of people dead and property damaged. This sets the tone for how crazy things have gotten between Boromar and Daask. House Tarkanan does assassinations. They get hired to kill who they think is a successful minor merchant but turns out to be a member of the tyrants when he reverts to changeling form on death. The client disappears or turns up dead. House Tarkanan tries to meet with the Tyrants and make amends but on the way the Tyrant contingent is attacked by people bearing aberrant marks who use their powers on them. Some Tyrants get away to tell everyone. The aberrant marks are clever artwork/tattoos and the attackers used magic items to mimic things like burning hands etc. Ack, this is getting long and complicated. What I really need is clues to leave at crime scenes, both false and real. I also need a few more encounters that might lead to the master inquisitive. There's no rush to get to the BBEG, by any means: there are lots of other "villains" (the other gangs) available in the meantime. Ok I'll give you an example of how to play out the Tarkanan assassination. You say they have ties to the Tyrants? And one PC is apparently going to be an investigator. So it's not a great stretch that the Tyrants may ask them to come take a look as an impartial third party. So we start off straight forward. The crime: The Tarkanan's DID kill the changeling merchant and they were not paid to be particularly careful or make it look like an accident. The client was a fence (known to the Tarkanans) who claimed to have been cheated by the merchant. The killer entered through a window and shot the Tyrant with a crossbow as he slept in bed. Clues/Ways it went wrong: Lot of possibilities here. The merchant was not as easy a mark as he was thought being a Tyrant after all. A guard, better traps than expected. Did the killer panic when the merchant turned out to be a changeling or did he not notice in the dark and with the changeling under the covers? A guard or trap can lead to blood, scraps of fabric a discarded weapon etc. An acid trap may have left a serious burn on the intruder. Which through magic and/or detective work puts them on a path to Tarkanan. Was the window forced open or unlocked? Unlocked means possibly an inside job as he was let inside. How small is the window? So small it required a halfling, gnome or magic? Etc. There are two kinds of clues also. Clues that point to the killer and clues that set the scene and provide hints down the road. For example, let's say the killer panicked when the merchant turned out to be a changeling because it was unexpected and the killer feared a trap. Perhaps he ran for the front door. Scuff marks may indicate to the investigator that the killer fled suddenly from the bedroom to the front door out into the night which makes the investigator wonder why he did this. He now suspects the killer was startled during the crime. This does not provide a clue to the identity of the killer but helps people to envision how everything went down.
#9 skeeter_dan May 15, 2009 2:45:48	To replace them with a criminal organization he'll need a criminal organization which requires a fifth criminal organization to pop up which will undermine his attempts to spark a gang war. Is it critical this be his plan? I suggest he simply intends to wipe out the gangs or is making way for the Aurum. I'm considering a combination of a plotline from Batman and from the first volume of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: unifying remnants of the previous gangs into a unified whole under a charismatic figurehead. That said, I like the idea of using the Aurum. I've never been all that excited about the Aurum, personally, but this would be a good use. The smuggling, gambling, extortion, and blackmail rings that Boromar controls are very lucrative, of course... 4 murders will get old fast. Are you aware that Daask and Boromar already have a gang war going? That's half his work done right there. Trying to split their attention to the other crime rings is no good. He'll want to increase the intensity of the current war. It is the easiest, safest and least suspicious course of action. Ditch the framejob murder for them since 4 major murders too near to each other is heavy handed and suspicious. A brilliant inquisitive isn't going to try and pull the same trick 4 times. He needs to incite the 4 groups into courses of action he can take advantage of and each house requires a different push. One murder won't spark a huge gang war between two groups that don't already have any enmity like the Boromars and Tyrants and to increase the Boromar-Daask war would have to be somebody REALLY important. Keep this inquisitive villain subtle. Good call. A murder or two will work, but overdoing it would be overly suspicious. Here's how I see it: Tarkanan would react to any threats to their "family." Boromar would be threatened by destruction of their "business." Daask has its own purposes; disrupting the flow of dragon's blood might be more upsetting than the death of one of their members. The Tyrants would be especially upset to have any of their members outed... My advice is to keep it simple. Unless there is a PC reason like someone playing a Silver Flame paladin or a Kalashtar (who would then love to kick one of those creature's asses) there's no need to have it all be the work of a rakshasa or Inspired etc. Stick with him either having lost it with the corruption of the Watch and the power of the gangs and taking matters into his own hands to end it despite the innocent bystanders hurt in the crossfire or make him wealthy and a member of the Aurum. The only reason to have it be an Inspired agent or a Rakshasa would be if this campaign stretches into higher levels; one of the characters does have a connection with the Kalashtar, but you're right, it is stretching it. The Aurum would work as well and would keep things a bit more simple. You're getting ahead of yourself here. You have to figure out WHAT the crime is. Then figure out the clues that can be left behind or the mistakes made and then how the PCs can discover them and use them. Trust me I've done murders before. Clues come last when you plan them. You also have to be careful that you don't make the villain or rivals uber stupid in the process. Also 4 murders won't work and will get boring. Mix it up with different mysteries. Good call. Here are some steps he can take to provoke each group. Feed Daask and Boromar information on each others activities adding fuel to the ongoing fire. Informing Daask of a shipment they can hit and then later giving Boromar a heads up to set a trap. With neither side getting the upper hand and becoming more and more desperate. Players can soon figure out that both sides have a shadowy supplier of information... suspicious. I would probably start the game off with the whole city buzzing about the big fire and brawl down at the docks that left a whole lot of people dead and property damaged. This sets the tone for how crazy things have gotten between Boromar and Daask. House Tarkanan does assassinations. They get hired to kill who they think is a successful minor merchant but turns out to be a member of the tyrants when he reverts to changeling form on death. The client disappears or turns up dead. House Tarkanan tries to meet with the Tyrants and make amends but on the way the Tyrant contingent is attacked by people bearing aberrant marks who use their powers on them. Some Tyrants get away to tell everyone. The aberrant marks are clever artwork/tattoos and the attackers used magic items to mimic things like burning hands etc. Ok I'll give you an example of how to play out the Tarkanan assassination. You say they have ties to the Tyrants? And one PC is apparently going to be an investigator. So it's not a great stretch that the Tyrants may ask them to come take a look as an impartial third party. So we start off straight forward. The crime: The Tarkanan's DID kill the changeling merchant and they were not paid to be particularly careful or make it look like an accident. The client was a fence (known to the Tarkanans) who claimed to have been cheated by the merchant. The killer entered through a window and shot the Tyrant with a crossbow as he slept in bed. Clues/Ways it went wrong: Lot of possibilities here. The merchant was not as easy a mark as he was thought being a Tyrant after all. A guard, better traps than expected. Did the killer panic when the merchant turned out to be a changeling or did he not notice in the dark and with the changeling under the covers? A guard or trap can lead to blood, scraps of fabric a discarded weapon etc. An acid trap may have left a serious burn on the intruder. Which through magic and/or detective work puts them on a path to Tarkanan. Was the window forced open or unlocked? Unlocked means possibly an inside job as he was let inside. How small is the window? So small it required a halfling, gnome or magic? Etc. Great stuff. This not only gives me a couple good ways to go, it gives me a good idea on what direction to take some other encounters. I really appreciate it. There are two kinds of clues also. Clues that point to the killer and clues that set the scene and provide hints down the road. For example, let's say the killer panicked when the merchant turned out to be a changeling because it was unexpected and the killer feared a trap. Perhaps he ran for the front door. Scuff marks may indicate to the investigator that the killer fled suddenly from the bedroom to the front door out into the night which makes the investigator wonder why he did this. He now suspects the killer was startled during the crime. This does not provide a clue to the identity of the killer but helps people to envision how everything went down. Good things to keep in mind. Thanks for the help.
#10 shady314 May 15, 2009 4:10:12	Another important consideration I've found also is to make a list of all the spells the PC's will have access to and then plan for their use. In one game I ran (not DnD and the PCs were all mages.) the players tracked down someone they were chasing using scrying but it was made interesting by what they were scrying. The person jumped through a plate glass window and got away but the PCs scryed using a broken shard from the window and the glass embedded in the person's clothes. Though don't forget good fun mundane stuff. Invisible Ink for example. Bonus points for writing a real letter/message etc. in invisible ink for the players to read. In that same game I got a lot of good laughs as the players were confounded for hours by the blank piece of paper that resisted all their magics. Another reason to use the Aurum is it will provide a good explanation for where the villain gets his goons from. It also makes possible double agents also working for the Aurum within the ranks of the crime groups further inciting everyone. This adds another proxy between the PCs and villain if you want to extend things and show the villain is shrewd enough to keep himself as far removed as possible. Have you considered having the inquisitive meet them? I would have them meet him casually on the case at one of the crimes.
#11 skeeter_dan May 15, 2009 12:12:56	So far, surprisingly, there are no spellcasters in the group. That will change as there are two players who haven't decided on their characters yet. One will likely be a psion. Invisible ink is definitely a fun example; I've used coded letters before, but a coded letter in invisible ink found on one of the inquisitive's cat's-paws would be a nice touch. The inquisitive will definitely meet the PCs casually. There will be a couple inquisitives interested in the crimewave that will result from the gang war and the villain will be one of them. They will hopefully see him as just another rival or possibly a source of information.