Using the dragon prophecy - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Using the dragon prophecy

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
tacosrule
Jul 27, 2009 18:02:07 Alright, so I'll start by saying that I am DMing an Eberron campaign that is set to start within the next few weeks. All my players have very little experience with Eberron, so I am planning on using the adventure in the back of the ECG since it strikes me as an awesome way to start everything off.

I would like to base a good deal of my campaign around the dragon prophecy, but I am having trouble figuring out how. I've read the ECG front and back so I think I have a good grasp of the world, but I don't know how to implement the prophecy. The ECG says that a lot of it is "written" into the world, and I don't expect the players to be able to easily notice that the mountains they are in are shaped like dragonmarks, but other than natural formations, how are dragonmarks found in the world (aside from on people)?
#2
khift
Jul 27, 2009 19:09:40 The prophecy could be anywhere. It could be as blatant as glyphs appearing on a cave wall -- something any passerby would notice -- or it could be as vague as a unique pattern of blood spatter after a combat sequence. From there, once your players have found a prophecy mark, a character can choose to spend an amount of time studying it and make an arcana check afterward to interpret it. The higher the check, the more accurate the interpretation. As a player I would definitely recommend copying the prophecy mark into a notebook as well -- while some are permanent (like glyphs on a cave wall) many others are more ephemeral and tend to disappear before long.

The sky is the limit here. All you need is something to make a pattern or drawing with. It could be a flock of birds in the sky, a random collection of detritus mysteriously floating in the air, it could be a pattern made by two colors of leaves in a tree on a day with no wind... it could be anything.
#3
JohnLynch
Jul 27, 2009 20:40:59 This is how it works in my campaign although I HAVEN'T read the ECG.

In my campaign the Draconic Prophecy is an important key in making my players feel heroic. ANYONE can be hired on to guard a ship as it travels from Sharn to Trolanport. But when my players do it, its because its an important event in the prophecy.

In my game everyone has a place in the Draconic Prophecy. Its unimportant, it will most likely never ever be foreseen. But they have it.

My players are different in that the prophecy oozes from them. Everything they do is related to the Draconic Prophecy. Scholars have theorised people such as the players existing and they may point at certain figures in history and say "the draconic prophecy oozed from them!" Scholars have two theories as to how such people interact with the prophecy:
1) They will have great control over the prophecy and be able to use it to shape the world.
2) Everything they do will be controlled and determined by the prophecy. They won't be able to so much as choose what to wear. They have no free will.

No-one knows which of these interpretations are correct. Or if either of them are correct. No-one knows for sure if such a person has ever existed before now. And even almost no-one knows about the players.

The reason I've set this up like so is to help explain some of the "coincidences" that happen all the time in D&D. It starts to stretch the truth when the same group of people seem to continuously get involved in bizarre plots. Some world threatening artifact need saving? Somehow the players get involved every time. Someone's sister has gone missing that will lead into some world-shaking event that the players manage to stop in time? Come on. How come Bob the Baker didn't get involved?

Well I answer that by saying Bob the Baker doesn't have an important role in the Draconic Prophecy. That's a place unique to the players. The fact that 4 such people have somehow united and work together, only increases their importance in the prophecy.

----
All of the above is just backstory to explain how the prophecy works for me. I presented most of it to the players by having a hag show up in a menagerie.

In my Eberron hags are a race that occasionally see glimpses of the prophecy. Legend says they could do a LOT more and could read the prophecy as if it were a book. But in modern times they need to have physical contact with an object or person they're trying to see a prophecy of. And even then they have no control over what they see.

The hag had an apprentice with her and so she explained to her apprentice all of this. The players were present and so they got to hear a lot of it ;)

My hag went on to explain that its impossible to foresee your own death. And yet she did exactly that last night. She believes the only reason she could see her death is because of the players (reinforcing that the players have a strong role in the prophecy).

She was then gripped by the prophecy when she touched one of the players. Doing so supercharged her abilities and so she was able to tell several prophecies (who knows which refer to the players). Although being supercharged like this killed her.

The apprentice told the players she had never seen anything like this.

---
Another way I'll be using it is when one of my players uses their dragonmark to cast a ritual. There will be a chance (a 1d8 chance) that person will be gripped by the Draconic Prophecy and be able to catch a glimpse of it.

This is something NO-ONE has ever been able to do before. The reason this player can is because they have not only been marked by the prophecy in a Dragonmark, but the prophecy infuses them as referred to above. A combination of both these things results in them sometimes glimpsing the future.

----
All of that is how I'm using it. I dunno what the campaign guide has to say on the issue though ;)
#4
rekko
Jul 27, 2009 22:43:35 Download the sample encounter at the bottom of this page and you'll get an example of a dragonmark appearing on a floor. It is treated as an hazard trap that dazes people that walk over it and can be studied for 5 minutes to reveal a bit of a verse. As a DM, you decide what the verse is, and what it means.

Rekko
#5
tacosrule
Jul 27, 2009 23:05:41
Download the sample encounter at the bottom of this page and you'll get an example of a dragonmark appearing on a floor. It is treated as an hazard trap that dazes people that walk over it and can be studied for 5 minutes to reveal a bit of a verse. As a DM, you decide what the verse is, and what it means.

This is from the campaign starter at the back of the ECG, which I plan to run. It says something along the lines of "Five at the brink of desolation stand as one against the tempests roar." This acted as the original inspiration for this idea, so I definitely intend to do a few of these later in the campaign, however I'm still having some trouble figuring out how to implement it other ways, hence this thread.

I've found the comments so far have been very helpful, too.
#6
rekko
Jul 28, 2009 8:35:12 You're right... I read your post a bit too fast.

Are you looking for other ways to include the Prophecy mechanically (hazard traps, magic items, etc) as well as in term of story?

Have you ever watch Heroes? Season one mainly. Use a Isaac Mendez NPC, but instead of drawing pictures, he draws dragonmarks and tries to interpret them with the PCs since it always seem to include them. Maybe the character in the download encounter that starts in the hazard and was there for a while may have been severely affected by seeing past and future events. Make it a bit like Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBoeuf) in Transformers 2,
Show
he touches the cube's fragment and starts seeing symbols and draws them everywhere.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 tacosrule Jul 27, 2009 18:02:07	Alright, so I'll start by saying that I am DMing an Eberron campaign that is set to start within the next few weeks. All my players have very little experience with Eberron, so I am planning on using the adventure in the back of the ECG since it strikes me as an awesome way to start everything off. I would like to base a good deal of my campaign around the dragon prophecy, but I am having trouble figuring out how. I've read the ECG front and back so I think I have a good grasp of the world, but I don't know how to implement the prophecy. The ECG says that a lot of it is "written" into the world, and I don't expect the players to be able to easily notice that the mountains they are in are shaped like dragonmarks, but other than natural formations, how are dragonmarks found in the world (aside from on people)?
#2 khift Jul 27, 2009 19:09:40	The prophecy could be anywhere. It could be as blatant as glyphs appearing on a cave wall -- something any passerby would notice -- or it could be as vague as a unique pattern of blood spatter after a combat sequence. From there, once your players have found a prophecy mark, a character can choose to spend an amount of time studying it and make an arcana check afterward to interpret it. The higher the check, the more accurate the interpretation. As a player I would definitely recommend copying the prophecy mark into a notebook as well -- while some are permanent (like glyphs on a cave wall) many others are more ephemeral and tend to disappear before long. The sky is the limit here. All you need is something to make a pattern or drawing with. It could be a flock of birds in the sky, a random collection of detritus mysteriously floating in the air, it could be a pattern made by two colors of leaves in a tree on a day with no wind... it could be anything.
#3 JohnLynch Jul 27, 2009 20:40:59	This is how it works in my campaign although I HAVEN'T read the ECG. In my campaign the Draconic Prophecy is an important key in making my players feel heroic. ANYONE can be hired on to guard a ship as it travels from Sharn to Trolanport. But when my players do it, its because its an important event in the prophecy. In my game everyone has a place in the Draconic Prophecy. Its unimportant, it will most likely never ever be foreseen. But they have it. My players are different in that the prophecy oozes from them. Everything they do is related to the Draconic Prophecy. Scholars have theorised people such as the players existing and they may point at certain figures in history and say "the draconic prophecy oozed from them!" Scholars have two theories as to how such people interact with the prophecy: 1) They will have great control over the prophecy and be able to use it to shape the world. 2) Everything they do will be controlled and determined by the prophecy. They won't be able to so much as choose what to wear. They have no free will. No-one knows which of these interpretations are correct. Or if either of them are correct. No-one knows for sure if such a person has ever existed before now. And even almost no-one knows about the players. The reason I've set this up like so is to help explain some of the "coincidences" that happen all the time in D&D. It starts to stretch the truth when the same group of people seem to continuously get involved in bizarre plots. Some world threatening artifact need saving? Somehow the players get involved every time. Someone's sister has gone missing that will lead into some world-shaking event that the players manage to stop in time? Come on. How come Bob the Baker didn't get involved? Well I answer that by saying Bob the Baker doesn't have an important role in the Draconic Prophecy. That's a place unique to the players. The fact that 4 such people have somehow united and work together, only increases their importance in the prophecy. ---- All of the above is just backstory to explain how the prophecy works for me. I presented most of it to the players by having a hag show up in a menagerie. In my Eberron hags are a race that occasionally see glimpses of the prophecy. Legend says they could do a LOT more and could read the prophecy as if it were a book. But in modern times they need to have physical contact with an object or person they're trying to see a prophecy of. And even then they have no control over what they see. The hag had an apprentice with her and so she explained to her apprentice all of this. The players were present and so they got to hear a lot of it ;) My hag went on to explain that its impossible to foresee your own death. And yet she did exactly that last night. She believes the only reason she could see her death is because of the players (reinforcing that the players have a strong role in the prophecy). She was then gripped by the prophecy when she touched one of the players. Doing so supercharged her abilities and so she was able to tell several prophecies (who knows which refer to the players). Although being supercharged like this killed her. The apprentice told the players she had never seen anything like this. --- Another way I'll be using it is when one of my players uses their dragonmark to cast a ritual. There will be a chance (a 1d8 chance) that person will be gripped by the Draconic Prophecy and be able to catch a glimpse of it. This is something NO-ONE has ever been able to do before. The reason this player can is because they have not only been marked by the prophecy in a Dragonmark, but the prophecy infuses them as referred to above. A combination of both these things results in them sometimes glimpsing the future. ---- All of that is how I'm using it. I dunno what the campaign guide has to say on the issue though ;)
#4 rekko Jul 27, 2009 22:43:35	Download the sample encounter at the bottom of this page and you'll get an example of a dragonmark appearing on a floor. It is treated as an hazard trap that dazes people that walk over it and can be studied for 5 minutes to reveal a bit of a verse. As a DM, you decide what the verse is, and what it means. Rekko
#5 tacosrule Jul 27, 2009 23:05:41	Download the sample encounter at the bottom of this page and you'll get an example of a dragonmark appearing on a floor. It is treated as an hazard trap that dazes people that walk over it and can be studied for 5 minutes to reveal a bit of a verse. As a DM, you decide what the verse is, and what it means. This is from the campaign starter at the back of the ECG, which I plan to run. It says something along the lines of "Five at the brink of desolation stand as one against the tempests roar." This acted as the original inspiration for this idea, so I definitely intend to do a few of these later in the campaign, however I'm still having some trouble figuring out how to implement it other ways, hence this thread. I've found the comments so far have been very helpful, too.
#6 rekko Jul 28, 2009 8:35:12	You're right... I read your post a bit too fast. Are you looking for other ways to include the Prophecy mechanically (hazard traps, magic items, etc) as well as in term of story? Have you ever watch Heroes? Season one mainly. Use a Isaac Mendez NPC, but instead of drawing pictures, he draws dragonmarks and tries to interpret them with the PCs since it always seem to include them. Maybe the character in the download encounter that starts in the hazard and was there for a while may have been severely affected by seeing past and future events. Make it a bit like Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBoeuf) in Transformers 2, Show he touches the cube's fragment and starts seeing symbols and draws them everywhere.