Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Mar 10, 2006 14:21:43	So how do you use X2 in a campaign set after the year 1,000 AC? If I understand correctly, the disappearance of the Ambrevilles from the world happened centuries prior. Certainly the family is well established in modern (AC 1000) Glantri. I'm thinking of going with the whole Star Trek theory: centuries ago the Chateau was sent hurtling through space and time via Stephen Amber's curse. But the time and place where the Chateau momentarily intersects with the Mystaran plane could be virtually any time / any place. When the curse is broken, it returns to its original space/time. That lets me suck player characters to X2 from the modern day, and when they break the curse, the Ambers are returned to their place and time, and the players are returned to the present. So here's where it gets funny or paradoxical. Assuming that Stephen Amber is rescued by heroes who are some 150 years in his future, doesn't that mean he can help "guide" the modern day PC's (in the modern day) into encountering the weird hole in space/time that will lead them to the Chateau in the first place? If they died, they couldn't encounter the Chateau and rescue him in the past, creating a paradox. If he remembers that the future heroes are the ones that will rescue him from the space/time prison, he would treat it as a matter of prophecy, perhaps looking for their coming and trying to help them out here and there, while lining them up to perform their great service by breaking the curse. So, since I would like the player characters to encounter X2 in the near future, I may do some foreshadowing by having a mysterious benefactor of sorts in the background of the game; at least until they leave our world and become trapped outside of space and time. I have some questions for other DMs out there, first, is this all crazy talk? Have I been watching too many Star Trek re-runs with all of the "Q Continuum" paradoxes and time travel and whatnot? What do you think would be a cool, interesting way for the characters to encounter the mysterious Chateau while on a seemingly different mission/adventure? And lastly - with what we know about Wrath of the Immortals, does anyone know off-hand if the Ring of Fire has any members with power over time? It seems that if they could determine Rad's weakness - that he requires some modern-day heroes to rescue Rad's distant self, which is what sets him on the path to becoming the founder of the Radiance - I suppose then it would be within the interests of the Ring of Fire to try and stop the heroes from beginning X2. This would mean I could have some random mortal agents of the Ring of Fire try and attack / kill / stop the players (out-of-the-blue) and this could help make them feel like they are at the beginning of something larger than themselves, wheels within wheels, right at the beginning of the War. Random Friday rumblings, thanks for any ideas!
#2 Cthulhudrew Mar 10, 2006 15:52:26	So how do you use X2 in a campaign set after the year 1,000 AC? If I understand correctly, the disappearance of the Ambrevilles from the world happened centuries prior. Certainly the family is well established in modern (AC 1000) Glantri. The d'Ambrevilles history on Mystara is screwy (sources contradict one another). The latest version- and thus, by old TSR standards, most accurate- is that they first arrived in 728 AC, disappeared into the Land of Grey Mists in 896 AC, and returned in 979 AC. As for your theories, I have for a long-time mused in my head about revising X2 as an epic Campaign module (originally as a print version, then as a NWN campaign, and currently ???), wherein I was going to tackle some of the questions you raise. My most long-running concept is similar to your first idea, but rather than Etienne as instigator, it was going to be Moriamis. She encounters the PCs in their present, and recognizes them (through the paradoxes of Time Travel) as the people who rescue the d'Ambrevilles and thus facilitate her emigration to Mystara at some point in her past (ie, 979 AC). Thus, using her devious ways and time powers, she compels them upon a path that will, indeed, take them into the past to rescue the d'Ambrevilles, travel to Laterre (where they will encounter her for the second time from their perspective, but the first from hers), and eventually return to the present, if all things go well. Very convoluted, and I've never been entirely satisfied with the precise methodology behind it, but that is the gist of my idea. Plus, it really fits with the "true" Moriamis personality, IMO- the Moriamis from the CAS short story "The Holiness of Azedarac", as opposed to the balding old Diane de Moriamis that found her way into Gaz3.
#3 havard Mar 13, 2006 6:14:01	As for your theories, I have for a long-time mused in my head about revising X2 as an epic Campaign module (originally as a print version, then as a NWN campaign, and currently ???), wherein I was going to tackle some of the questions you raise. Maybe this could be something for paizo? Håvard