Just read a few posts at the Greyhawk board and one of them was "Greyhawk WRITERS needed". It is basically about a GH DM looking for other DMs to contribute to a module he is trying to put together.
It made me think that I wanted to do that as well - if anyone here is game? ;)
We could call it "DM jam #1" *LOL*
Now, I am thinking that this will be fun if we can come up with some extraordinary ideas that would set this module apart from most others we normally play. (Without making it freaky or weird).
So:
Ideas for unusual adversaries?
Ideas for unusual circumstances?
Ideas for interesting motivations for the PCs?
Ideas for a not-often-used setting?
Ideas for a fascinating, epic plot? (or maybe _not_ epic? ;) )
Ideas how to tie all this in with the game world?
Off the top of my head, here are some suggestions:
- Travelling 9 days back in time to infiltrate a conspiracy of Alphatian wizards in the Floating Kingdom of Ar to prevent the assasination of Empress Edriana?
- A villain working for some powerful faction has taken over a dwarf mountain with a lake of lava at its base. He has sealed off all the mine entrances using goblin slavers and using a small portable vortex to the elemental plane of water has flooded the dwarf city above the lava lake. When he gives the orders, the gates to the city will burst and millions of gallons of water will hit the lava turning instantly into steam. The entire mountain will explode from within and bury the nearby human city in the valey below in rocks, lava and mud. (which is his grand plan). The PCs get wind of his plan but are captured and left to drown as the city is flooding. They escape. They have to stop a mechanical dwarven train from ramming the gates and flooding the lava cavern below. On the train is the villain's brainwashed, suicidal chief henchman, who intends to ram that gate no matter what... As they struggle, the train runs eerily on shaking rails hundreds of feet above the lava lake towards the gate! (Okay, I am getting ahead of myself here :D ) This is just a mix of ideas stolen from Bond's A View to a Kill with a love of dwarven mechanical trains thrown in).
- An Alphatian magical submarine-like construction is lost at sea somewhere on the Savage Coast and the PCs are sent to investigate. What was it doing there? Did sabotage or a deliberate attack cause it to sink? What was onboard at the time? And why is the Admiralty lining up assasins to take care of the PCs once the job is done? A story of potentially international proportions...
Well, these are just ideas and I am sure you will have many more. So let's get cracking and jam some!
:-) Jesper
Although I haven't been playing for quite a while - I hope I'll be able to make a contribution.
I like the third option the best. Let's go! :bounce:
[See Sharon Dornhoff's hollow moon timeline to see what I'm talking about. There's more of it, but this is the portion I'll deal with]
http://dnd.starflung.com/exp2ccon.html
Long ago the Serrainer gnomes stumbled upon some ancient Blackmoorian technology. Using this technology the gnomes eventually created the flying city of Serrain. There were some less widely known applications of the arcane technology as well. Back in 32 AC, Voldreen Gemeye of Serrain succeeded in launching a colony rocket to Matera (the hollow moon of Mystara). The successful launch however, was proceeded by several mishaps. One of the early trial rockets ended up crash landing in the middle of the Sea of Dread. Now a Serrainer expatriot brings word of this failed experiment to the PCs. In the hopes that he can save his city from the rule of Nagpas, the gnome wants to find this ancient artifact and use it to lay siege to Serrain. The PCs will have to extract the rocket from the Sea of Dread (and whatever guards it there), find a way to repair it (and get it to work properly), guard it from prying eyes of greedy nations (Thyatis and Alphatia come to mind), and finally use it to win back the Flying City for the gnomes.That's one idea I've been kicking around for a while. Let's put up a few more and see which one we'd like to work on (first that is ;) ).
The successful launch however, was proceeded by several mishaps. One of the early trial rockets ended up crash landing in the middle of the Sea of Dread. Now a Serrainer expatriot brings word of this failed experiment to the PCs. In the hopes that he can save his city from the rule of Nagpas, the gnome wants to find this ancient artifact and use it to lay siege to Serrain. The PCs will have to extract the rocket from the Sea of Dread (and whatever guards it there), find a way to repair it (and get it to work properly), guard it from prying eyes of greedy nations (Thyatis and Alphatia come to mind), and finally use it to win back the Flying City for the gnomes.
Just a thought:
This might tie in with Spellweaver's third suggestion: If the artifact fell around the Savage Coast - instead of the Sea of Dread, and the Alphatians sent their "submarine" to get there first.
And maybe some Savage Coast nation (Tortles?) have already found the artifact and made it their underwater relic? Or perhaps one of the undersea creatures?
Just a thought:
This might tie in with Spellweaver's third suggestion: If the artifact fell around the Savage Coast - instead of the Sea of Dread, and the Alphatians sent their "submarine" to get there first.
And maybe some Savage Coast nation (Tortles?) have already found the artifact and made it their underwater relic? Or perhaps one of the undersea creatures?
I was thinking along those lines as well, though honestly I never thought of Tortles or the Savage Coast. I kind of like the idea however, because it solves some of the problems of setting the adventure completely underwater. The Tortles are semi-aquatic, so we can still do underwater things while also allowing the PCs to come up for an easy breather. So we move from the middle of the ocean to some salt water swamp type area.
To add some additional moral ambiguity, perhaps the Tortle "clan relic" is the only thing that is saving their village from being overrun by one of the nastier sea races (I'm thinking kopru or devil rays). Sure the PCs can walk right in and take the thing, but then what's going to happen to the tortles? And of course since the tortles built their village centered on the relic, once the PCs get it working the village is going to be demolished.
It seems people are most inclined to go with developing the third idea, which is fine. I just don't know a thing about the Savage Coast, having only read a scarce few episodes of the VotPA. But you guys seem to know it inside out, so we'll be okay. :D
Initially, I was thinking that perhaps the Alphatian sub was returning to Alphatia with stolen samples of cynabril when it sank. But I like the idea of the gnome test-rocket as well.
Moving the setting from the ocean to a swamp, however, sort of rules out the use of the sub. Also, I think the idea of "saving the village whose relic was taken" is a bit worn - no offense.
Another idea with the sub could be that it was delivering weapons to the Hinterlanders or spying on Thyatian troop movements when it sank in the Southern Sea of Dread (maybe because it got too close to the gnome rocket). Suddenly, we have a Cold War-like kind of paranoia as Thyatians and Alphatians are accusing each other of preparations for war. In the meantime, the gnome is desperately trying to prevent anyone from discovering his salvage-operation and seizing the rocket. No matter if the PCs are working for the Alphatians or the Thyatians, if they befriend the gnome and helps him, their leaders are going to be very upset...
Other underwater foes might include a Vyalia, I think it is called, an aquatic vampire?
What do you think?
:-) Jesper
Other underwater foes might include a Vyalia, I think it is called, an aquatic vampire?
Underwater vampires are called Velya. Vyalia is the name of the elves living on the border between Karameikos and Thyatis.
Håvard
Underwater vampires are called Velya. Vyalia is the name of the elves living on the border between Karameikos and Thyatis.
Håvard
Thank you for clarifying that. My bad.
:-) Jesper
OR - perhaps the rocket crashed in an ancient Taymoran ruin beneath the sea. The merrow flock around it as a relic, but unfortunately for them the Taymoran ruin is still populated by Taymorans (of the undead variety). Now we have a merrow city run by undead, and those Velya (along with some other aquatic nasties) have a good excuse for being in the area.
Just brainstorming here - what if the theft of the rocket from its underwater home is what kicks off the war between the Thyatians and the Twaelar (merrow empire). That event wouldn't be tied directly to this adventure, but it's a nice way to intertwine this and the MA. It's always nice to blame the PCs for starting a war anyway.
So how would this gnome and his PC allies get to the bottom of the ocean? Do they ally themselves with the Alpher sub, or is there some other mechanism to transport them to the ocean's floor? I suppose they could ally themselves with the Alphers (at least temporarily) and then use either magic or gnomish equipment to leave the sub and recover the relic. Once the relic is recovered thought they might have trouble keeping their former allies from confiscating their prize...
It seems people are most inclined to go with developing the third idea, which is fine. I just don't know a thing about the Savage Coast, having only read a scarce few episodes of the VotPA. But you guys seem to know it inside out, so we'll be okay.
As an aside, I believe that all of the Savage Coast material (I think there are 3 books total - player's guide, dm's guide, and monster manual) can be downloaded from the Vaults. If you're interested in knowing more about the Savage Coast, that is.
As an aside, I believe that all of the Savage Coast material (I think there are 3 books total - player's guide, dm's guide, and monster manual) can be downloaded from the Vaults. If you're interested in knowing more about the Savage Coast, that is.
You can get all the Savage Coast stuff and lots of more official material on pdf by going here:
http://www.geocities.com/havardfaa/downloads.html
Yep, its all legal.
Håvard
1. Maybe the Alphatians invited the gnomes to help in the consturction of the submarine. The gnomes, knowing that their artifact is somewhere in the Sea of Dread and fearing the Alphatians might find it, have deliberately sabotaged the sub in such a way that it would be destoryed if getting close to the aritfact. This way the gnomes win two goals: (a) The Alphatians don't find the artifact and (b) knowing where the sub has disappeared, the gnomes will finally get a rough idea where their device have fallen exactly!
2. A guide is appointed to help the PCs through the waters of the Sea of Dread. Her name is Kori - she is an Ierendi mercenary who was once on the Iernedi Navy. While in the navy, she used to travel Undersea with her teammate - a merman called Lazaros Deephunter. However, after Lazaros died during a battle against weresharks (the Velya's minions) she decided to leave the navy and become a mercenary.
However, Lazaros did not die. He caught lycanthropy - and fearing he might attack Kori, he staged his own death. Now he his swimming with the Velya's gang - is he a spy? did he really switch sides?
Okay, let's sum up:
We have a crashed gnome rocket that a gnome is trying to retrieve without drawing attention to himself.
We have an Alphatian sub - either looking for the rocket, patrolling the ocean, spying on Thyatis or perhaps sunk somehow.
We have Thyatis and Alphatia in a standoff - both making accusation that could lead to war.
We have an underwater city around or near the rocket, populated with merrow and perhaps some underwater undead.
This is just an idea:
The Alphatian sub sinks somewhere in the Southern Sea of Dread. The Imperial Admiralty hires the PCs to find out how it happened, who was responsible and to make sure the Thyatians do not retrieve the wreck (which perhaps Thyatis could use to develop their own subs). The PCs are given passage onboard an Alphatian naval vessel, some magical scuba gear (e.g. Waterbreathing and Free Action magic on a helmet) and a magical device with which to destroy the wreck completely, once they find it.
The sub went down near the Hinterland coast in Thyatian territorial waters and so the PC vessel has to be discrete on this mission and watch out for spies. The DM is encouraged to play up a little paranoia here.
What actually happened was that the sub came too close to the underwater city of a tribe of merrow and their undead leaders. The magic in the sub malfunctioned and the sub sunk to the ocean floor. An attempt to send for aid failed and the merrow invaded the hull, killed most of the crew and dragged the remainder to the city.
When the PCs find the wreck near the city and discover who lives there, they also meet the gnome. He has his own problem: the merrow are worshipping his rocket as a relic in their city. If the PCs detonate their device in the wreck so close to the city, the rocket will also explode, creating a giant tidal wave that will wipe out all life along the coast up to 200 miles away (or something). The PCs have to sneak into the city, perhaps facing undead sub crew members, steal the rocket (or the dangerous part of it), plant their device, sneak out and detonate it - taking the evil city and its residents with them.
Once that is accomplished, they face a new dillemma: if they hand over the gnome's rocket device to their Alphatian masters, the Empire will surely build a doomsday device from it. So, do they let the gnome go? Or what?
Just a brainstorm guys. Let's spin it around some more :D
:-) Jesper
Okay, let's sum up:
We have a crashed gnome rocket that a gnome is trying to retrieve without drawing attention to himself.
We have an Alphatian sub - either looking for the rocket, patrolling the ocean, spying on Thyatis or perhaps sunk somehow.
We have Thyatis and Alphatia in a standoff - both making accusation that could lead to war.
We have an underwater city around or near the rocket, populated with merrow and perhaps some underwater undead.
Thanks, Spellweaver. I was quite lost in all this Gnomes-vs.-Alphatians-vs.-Thyatians-vs.-Taymorans-vs.-merrow-and-lets-add-a-Velya-just-for-fun-and-thank-god-its-not-Vyalia-because-how-the-heck-would-THEY-fit-in?
(Isn't this sort of complication rather Mystaran indeed?)
Anyways, just one thing:
Chimpan said earlier on the thread that it might be wiser not to locate all of the adventure underwater. I think he's right. Maybe the action should move to the land at some point. The Hinterlands? Minrothad? Thanegioth?
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=279200&page=1&pp=30
Rest asured that the project will continue when I return more regularly (or if any of you guys wanna take charge :D )
:-) Jesper