Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 greylurker_dup Jul 16, 2008 1:33:24	So little by little I am trying to write up a 4E campaign that will eventually attempt to reintroduce my group to 4E (and hopefully with better results then Keep on the shadowfell did). I'm not worried about rules or anything just yet, I am still trying to cement ideas and work out a story. The central idea to the game is this little bit I wrote up to focus my creative juices. "My name is Magister Corwis Aldorin, high astrologer to King Alderous the Fifth of the Holy Kingdom of Entarin. Or at least I was, before the darkness came. Tonight I gaze from the battlements of an ancient keep in the barren corners of what was once the greatest empire on earth. I gaze up at the stars for what will be my last night on this world. The fires that surround this broken and fragile fortress, the inhuman cries of our foes, assures me that I will not live to see the stars again. I have made my peace with the end now, and can only pray that the light will take my soul. Gazing up at the night sky, looking towards the few stars that still shine through the dark clouds that cover everything , I can’t help but think what we should have done differently, if things would have changed had we acted sooner. I wonder when it was that the beginning of the end was set in motion. It so clear now that I think back to those gentler times. It began with the Rain of Fire."
#2 julescarv Jul 17, 2008 2:24:28	Well, it sounds fine. I feel conflicted about one thing though -- the fact that the power struggle between Entarnin and Theaba and their satellites and the subsequent Rain of Fire seem to be completely unrelated. On one hand, I sort of like the fact that you're eschewing a sort of Dickensian "all pieces of the jigsaw puzzle must fit" approach -- sometimes different things happen that aren't related to each other, and that's just how things are. I do find some appeal in the fact that you're taking the story in a surprising direction by having the initial story be completely overtaken by unrelated events. On the other hand, the fact that your campaign seems like it's about to change directions so drastically, from a struggle between two kingdoms to the end of the world at the hands of dark hordes, with no apparent segue between them, seems like it might be a bit confusing. It might almost seem like you switched from running one campaign to running a completely different one. You might just leave the two unconnected, which adds a certain touch to the setting, but if you wanted to connect them, in one or both of two ways: one is that the war might lead to rain of fire (for example, a Miranus wizard ritually induced an earthquake to attack a group of Valakor soldiers who were holed up in a fortified cave system, in the process inadvertently breaking a hidden mystical seal somewhere deep in that cave system that had held things in check.), or you might have the rain of fire have an impact on the pre-existic war -- maybe the inhuman armies offer promises of protection to kingdoms to divide them and conquer them piecemeal or something ("Great" the King of Valakor says, "Masador is ours, and Miranus is vanquished, all thanks to our new orcish allies!" As the king looked at the map, an idle thought went through his mind as he saw that his orcish allies had defeated all neighboring kingdoms and had surrounded Valakor on all sides, but he swept it aside.).
#3 greylurker_dup Jul 17, 2008 10:31:40	At the moment I am working with the idea that the violence and bloodshed are actually feeding the rituals of the cult. For example under the Fortress of Masador the cultists have set up a lair of sorts. The constant fighting for the keep feeds the ritual they are working on and allows them to collect the souls of those who die in the many battles. Esentially the cult is encourageing conflict between the various kingdoms, not just Miranus and Valakor but everythjing all the way up to Entarin and Teaba. Both sides are so wrapped up in their own sense of superiority neither realizes that the conflicts they are being manipulated towards are leading them to destruction. The PCs are probably going to be the only ones who see the big picture and will be faced with the impossible task of putting an end to Conflicts that have been going on for generations. Should they fail (and there is no garontee of that, I've seen players come up with interesting solutions to problems before) the Rain of Fire will come. Basically I'm starting with; Mindless Conflict in support of differing idiologies leads to the destruction of the world. Followed by; Can people set aside generations of hate when faced with mutual destruction.