East meets west: high level OA/standard crossover game

Hey all,

Soon I will be running a game where my normal campaign PCs visit the "Orient" of my world. I already used my OA setting for a short one-off campaign, but now I am going to have my normal campaign PCs visit it as part of a quest they are one.

For details of the setting as it existed before, see:
http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5501

In short, there is a major empire in the throes of a civil war that split it into a three-peice kingdom, a Siam/Korea conglomoration/analog, and a Japan analog off the coast. Also nearby are an inland sea, a wild desert to the north and wild yuan-ti infested jungles to the south.

The players are in search of Ariel, a heroic queen who supposedly came to this land in search for the path to true immortality. She found it, but the players are now trying to find her.

Following Chinese folklore (as retold by Palladium's Mystic China book) there are several false paths to immortality as well as a true immortality. True immortality is that of the Hsien, the ten immortals. Hsien can die, but whenever they do, their consiousness is reborn in a newborn feotus. When they become a teenager, they recover memories of their old life.

My plans for the game thus far are a little sketchy, but so far I am thinking this:

• The PCs have been given a letter of introduction to a family that is allied with an ally of the players. This family is the noshi family of the hawk clan (no relation to the Hawk clan of Rokugan... these are details derived from the deep past of my campaign, though I may steal some material from Rokugan.) The daymiyo will give them some information that will send them along Ariel's footsteps.
• A man will ask to go along with the players for some credible reason... for example, he may claim that his honor may be avenged due to some circumstance of the players path, or he may be a guide who conveniently knows the way where the players are going (but the best guide was injured recently...) In truth, this man is a spy, hired by enemies of Ariel and the PCs to discern the truth about Ariel before they do so they can kill her.
• Along the way, the path the players follow lead the players across some "false" immortals that they may lock horns with. Right now I am thinking of a ginseng immortal and a possessed immortal.
• Ginseng immortal Ginseng that has lived for 3000 years attains sentience and regenerative powers. A wicked wu jen, through a rather cruel process, uses the sentient ginseng for his own purposes. He may be able to give the players information that will kick them along on his quest, but once they discover the depth of his cruelty, the may try to attack him or save his prisoner. This is a morally ambiguous choice, because while imprisoning the ginseng is cruel, the wu jen also uses it to provide powerful healing components to locals.
• Possessed Immortal - The possessed immortal is a being given long life via a possessing demon. Once the players discover this the choice is a little clearer...
• If the players make a name for themselves, they may be faced with Wuxia-esque thugs who have heard of them who are anxious to prove themeselves.
• Eventually, the players get pointed towards a monastary of a clan of ninjas, the weightless foot (as introduced in Dragon 289). As described, the clan was started by a wise man before he became immortal. The players can get information about the Hsien and their method of immortaility if they can speak to the clan's leader. Catch: the clan leader is contemplating on top of the mountain, and has taken a vow of silence while doing so. However, the leader may speak during combat. So, one of the PCs has to challenge him and last long enough to get the info out of him. The combat is fought on top of poles, so a high balance score is a must. This is a chance for the monk and the rogue in the party to shine.
• The players learn of the Hsien, and hopefully learn that the Queen is reborn as a longtime associate of the PCs, a young prophetess. But they learn that the spy has escaped with this knowledge, and they must race back to their homeland to save the Queen.

What I am looking for:

• Any ideas to tie this all together and justification and further ideas for sketchy points.
• Ideas for additional encounters to lend the game more of a exotic Asian/wuxia-esque feel

TIA for any help.

OA Setting/Crossover

Last year I ran an AD&D game that was set in the orient, that you might be able to borrow some ideas from. The Japanese segment was historically based, and the Chinese segment (Kara-Tur) utilized a variety of different sources. While I used some OA concepts, most notably the Hengeyokai race, the story was run as straight AD&D.

The story is posted under Story Hour as the following thread:

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28642&pagenumber=1

I have included several DM Notes with the postings that list my original reference materials, many of them available on the Internet.

Cool, thanks, a lot of interesting ideas in there!

How would you characterize your setting? It looks like you draw a lot from Genji and the period works of Japanese court intrigue. Is this the tone it keeps thoughout (only read the first few chapters.)

Psion said:

Cool, thanks, a lot of interesting ideas in there!

How would you characterize your setting? It looks like you draw a lot from Genji and the period works of Japanese court intrigue. Is this the tone it keeps thoughout (only read the first few chapters.)

Click to expand...

The Heian Empire (Japanese) setting was only for the first several chapters, to get the group to the Orient and the give them a map and guide. However, the tension that develops between the Hiroshi Mitsubishi and Toshiro Mitsubishi characters becomes a running subplot throughout the entire module.

Once the group arrives in the Tu-Lung section of Kara-Tur (the Forgotten Realms version of China) they spend a lot of time in three different heavily populated cities, each city with its own political structure and personality. The group finally ends up in the section of Kara-Tur that is home to the Hengeyokai, where they track down their enemy.

I know that the Story Hour is a bit long, as it took a total of 36 game nights to play out, but I hope that you find it both interesting and fun to read.

Actually, I just finished readig it all. Yeah, I can see a few good ideas in there. In fact, your setup seems very similar to what my players may have to go through (they start in Sial, which is my analog of Siam, Korea, and Japan, and will end up searching for someone in Khita, which is an analog of three kingdoms era China.) Your characters have given me a few ideas. Thanks.