Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Nov 18, 2004 21:26:54	Hey guys. Im in serious trouble here. I run a game in Dragonlance during the Age of Mortals and have run into a wall as far as ideas are concerned. Heres the deal: The party is small An 8th level white robe and a 7th level ranger as PCs, I have 2 Halflings ( Yes I mean halflings not Kender, its a long story) rouges both levels 7& 6, and a bard level 7 as NPCs. They just finished a campaign in which they defeated a Mad Blackrobe who was using a certain magic item to summon creatures not native to Krynn into the world. And now IM stuck as to what to do next. I would greatly appreciate any ideas that you could swing my way. Thanks in advance.
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2004 0:34:17	What era is your game set in?
#3 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2004 1:05:34	Nightdrifter, Let me just say, that was awesome. I have ADD too. Q, Since we don't know what kind of story you've been telling, where you are in it, or even what you like, it's kind of hard to offer you specific hooks. So I'll offer general advice. Steal them from other things you like, other things your players like, mix them around, change elements. Especially in Dragonlance, the possibilities are endless and seem like at some point they just should include time travel and the direct challenging of Divine will. You could by Tanis the Shadow Years and just run that as an adventure using the book. You'd need to tweek it a little for the party, but it's viable. I've always been a fan of Castle Amber the basic module for four players levels 3 to 6, mainly because it is the shiznat and just be dropped in anywhere for any reason, and features truely epic NPC's and monsters, as well as many classic D&D isms. Inuyasha is also fairly episodic and lends itself to the conscription of many fun adventure ideas.
#4 Sysane Nov 19, 2004 8:10:31	You stated that this "mad blackrobe wizard" was summoning creatures not native to Krynn. Did the PC's kill all of the summoned creatures he summoned? You could have it that one of the more powerful of the summoned creatures was entrusted with a mission of revenge against the PCs. This could have been the wizard's last dying command to this creature to destroy each of the PC's loved ones. Your PCs may have stumbled across this info in a recovered journal that belonged to the blackrobe which details each of the PC's home towns and their families. This same summoned creature may have gathered some of the lesser summoned ones and is now on its way to slay each the PC's families. The goal of your campaign would now be that your PC's need to hunt down this creature before it murders the ones they hold dear. They would either need to slay or banish the creature back to where it was summoned in order to stop it. Just a suggestion.
#5 frostdawn Nov 19, 2004 8:44:54	You stated that this "mad blackrobe wizard" was summoning creatures not native to Krynn. Did the PC's kill all of the summoned creatures he summoned? You could have it that one of the more powerful of the summoned creatures was entrusted with a mission of revenge against the PCs. This could have been the wizard's last dying command to this creature to destroy each of the PC's loved ones. Your PCs may have stumbled across this info in a recovered journal that belonged to the blackrobe which details each of the PC's home towns and their families. This same summoned creature may have gathered some of the lesser summoned ones and is now on its way to slay each the PC's families. The goal of your campaign would now be that your PC's need to hunt down this creature before it murders the ones they hold dear. They would either need to slay or banish the creature back to where it was summoned in order to stop it. Just a suggestion. That's pretty good Sysane. You could also make an argument that perhaps the big bad summoned critter is able to hold people in it's thrall, thereby having unwitting slaves to do it's bidding. This would serve 2 purposes, extend the reach of influence of the monster through it's followers, and leaves a window of opportunity for the group to try and capture one of the mind controlled servants and free them of their mind control in order to learn more of what is transpiring, and that they are still in serious trouble. Perhaps the monster also has another agenda where it is/was an emissary of chaos that managed to get into the world during the mad wizard's summoning rites. This could introduce the order of Chaos that was mentioned in some other threads here, and give you plenty to work with from there.
#6 Sysane Nov 19, 2004 8:58:10	Whatever the creature is I think it would be a neat twist that it had the ability to shape change. That way the PC's would have to constantly question if every NPC they meet is the creature or not. It would help to know what sort of creatures the Black Robe was summoning. Yugoloths would be good choice. I don't think they are a normal part of Krynn cosmotology. The Tanri and Bataazu are however.
#7 zombiegleemax Nov 19, 2004 8:59:33	That's pretty good Sysane. You could also make an argument that perhaps the big bad summoned critter is able to hold people in it's thrall, thereby having unwitting slaves to do it's bidding. This would serve 2 purposes, extend the reach of influence of the monster through it's followers, and leaves a window of opportunity for the group to try and capture one of the mind controlled servants and free them of their mind control in order to learn more of what is transpiring, and that they are still in serious trouble. Perhaps the monster also has another agenda where it is/was an emissary of chaos that managed to get into the world during the mad wizard's summoning rites. This could introduce the order of Chaos that was mentioned in some other threads here, and give you plenty to work with from there. Campaigns are like onions...they have layers. Sorry couldn't resist. When I run into a wall I generally gice the PCs down time in a town or their keep or whatever place they call home. Time to rest, get acquainted with the townsfolk, make connections, network, research, reflect. This could tie into what Sysane was saying about having a fiend or an Illthid (sp?) controlling a third or fourth party to wreak havoc in your personal life before it tries to kill you. Perhaps a doppleganger was found or brought to Krynn and is in the thrall of the parties antagonist. Hopefully the party has established themselves somewhere. A place where they are known, have friends and family, maybe a shop. That way, when they return they find that certain people in the town no longer trust them, due to the doppleganger going to that place and ruining their reputation. I think one of the best ways to draw players in to the game is to make them feel at home somewhere and then pull the rug out from under them and turn their world upside down. It's nothing new, but it's effective.
#8 darthsylver Nov 20, 2004 7:55:07	You could also say that there are "summoned" monsters that are on missions to retrieve certain artifacts for the now dead wizard and the PCs need to insure that said items never see the light of day. Or possibly one was sent to assassinate an important person.
#9 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2004 9:24:39	Or the "mad black Robe," could've been a lacky for a more powerful wizard. Lich to make it juicy. And that the artifact the "mad blackrobe," was using was just a diversion to the real other-planar summonings. Meaning that the Lich who should be a blackrobe or make it juicy Ex-white robe, is making deals with other planar beings to get certain artifacts or amass a army against the whole Orginized wizard association. Which would mean that the 'mad blackrobe,' was actually a rogue wizard working under the radar. Sounds good to me.
#10 zombiegleemax Nov 20, 2004 13:03:15	Thanks guys, Ive gotten a lot of great ideas thanks to your post. Please keep them coming tough.