DM's Block Help!!

[vaguy010]

Hello All!

I have been running my 2nd Edition Forgotten Realms campaign for two years with
a sub plot of an ancient treasure hidden away even before the current gods took
power.

Well the story has taken on a life of it's own! Some big players have gotten
involved such as Cyric himself, Tiamat, the Cult of the Dragon, I also created a
cult dedicated to protecting the treasure.

The party has some help the party's priest's deity Torm, Bahamut is helping the
party too.

The next session well be the climatic ending and everything I can think of just
does not seemed to be good at least in my head.

In the next session the party will be fighting agents of Cyric and Tiamat
herself and the Cult of the Dragon plus the protectors of the treasure so its
going to be a big battle royal.

My question is what should the treasure be? I don't want it to be just simply
gold and magic items I want something epic!!!

So far I have come up with the source of all magic, or a library with every book
ever written (knowledge being the treasure).

This treasures has be around since the beginning of civilization so I want it to
be cool!!

The Treasure of the Ages as I have named it is not accessible to anyone except
the party, it took the party two years of "real time" just to find it and a
decade of game time!

The big fight is going to be at the entrance to the dungeon (maybe) to the
Treasure of the Ages. That is my biggest problem I want something EPIC to reward
the players after such a long time of trying to find it.

And I know some people are asking why in two years have I not thought about what
it would be?! The answer is I was just going to put a bunch gold and magic items
but since this "sub plot" has turned into a epic battle I want to make the
reward just as epic.

This is not planned to be a game ending story.



Please any serious ideas will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Rhun]

Is this "treasure" something you are going to want in the PCs hands? i.e. a library with all the books is great, but really not all that usable to the PCs. It could be some form of epic magic or weapon, but then the PCs are going to be able to use it.

So the question is, what do you want the players to get out of all of this effort?

 

[vaguy010]

So the question is, what do you want the players to get out of all of this effort?

First and foremost a great sense of accomplishment and for my more treasure hungry players some cool unique item, and a sense of awe that the party saw this grand treasure even though they had to leave it behind.

 

[Nebten]

First and foremost a great sense of accomplishment and for my more treasure hungry players some cool unique item, and a sense of awe that the party saw this grand treasure even though they had to leave it behind.

Three d20's, in triangle formation with the 20 side up. Then you stand up, drop your notebook and pen, then saunter out the door with the Twisted Nerve Theme playing.

 

[kitcik]

A broken Statue of Liberty...


Actually, it's one of those ironies - you based the whole campaign around a treasure and even you didn't know what it was.

How about a Deck of Many Things with all the negative cards removed? (Sorry, that is my favorite magic item.)

A time machine.

HAL

Fish

Beer and a cold pizza.

Access to the Planar Shepherd PrC.

Amulets of Godhood (sorry, just repeating the last one).

A lifetime supply of viagra.

A starship left long ago by aliens that visited the planet before sentient life had evolved. Can the PCs figure out what it is? How to work it? How to find the aliens' planet? I see an epic Spelljammer campaign. Or not.

A font of XP.

A new car! (cue Price is Right theme)

 

[Rhun]

A starship left long ago by aliens that visited the planet before sentient life had evolved. Can the PCs figure out what it is? How to work it? How to find the aliens' planet? I see an epic Spelljammer campaign. Or not.

White Plume Mountain, anyone?

 

[jonesy]

The Quill of Creation, Minor

- Legends say that with the Quill of Creation the foundations of the world were drawn. This appears to be a copy of the original, right down to the makers signature stating it to be a replica. The signature is that of a god that the PC's will instantly recognize. They will, however, be unable to say who this god is.

By undipping the Minor Quill of Creation from its Minor Ink Bottle of Creation the wielder may draw any figure into the air, and that figure will instantly become the thing drawn. Whatever was drawn, whatever its size, will drain the ink completely. The bottle replenishes once per day. Outside of that the only limitation to what can be drawn is what the PC could be expected to know about and be able to describe. If the quill is used to draw on something solid that already exists it can alter its nature in whatever way the user can draw. High Dex, Wis, and Int values will result in better results.

 

[Jimlock]

Actually, it's one of those ironies - you based the whole campaign around a treasure and even you didn't know what it was.

so???.... the creators of LOST employed the same technique and made LOTS of money...

 

[Jimlock]

And I know some people are asking why in two years have I not thought about what
it would be?! The answer is I was just going to put a bunch gold and magic items
but since this "sub plot" has turned into a epic battle I want to make the
reward just as epic.

This is not planned to be a game ending story.

Please any serious ideas will be greatly appreciated!!!

Well the only one who can truly answer this question is you, for only you know all the background, details and players involved...

Putting aside the fact that ...ok... it is a bit silly to not have thought of this from the beginning... , i 'll tell you what i think.

Since this is not a game ending story... and since it's a sub plot that your players obviously enjoy, i think it 'll be for the best to suspend the suspense... go a little David-Lynchy on your players... don't give it away...

This can be achieved in a number of ways:

1-The container is empty.
Someone/something has already removed the precious artifact. (Who, why and for what is for you to decide)

2-The artifact is incomprehensible.
Imagine the black slab the apes discover in Kubrick's Space Odyssey. Put something there that doesn't make much sense. An item or some writings in a long forgotten language, written by the gods perhaps... (what the item is, what the writings say is for you to decide)

3-The artifact is overly simple.
This is pretty much the same as #2, only with a little twist. The artifact is some almost "mundane" magical artifact, that perhaps hides its ulterior use/meaning so that it does not get abused. (what it really is, what it really hides behind its mundane appearance is for you to decide)


With any of the three suggestions you will manage to suspend the suspense... If played correctly the players will most likely get very involved as the mystery endures...

Another reason for you to employ such a technique, is so that you can get some overtime so as to FINALLY put the pieces together...

Perhaps you were looking more for advice on the script rather than the direction... but i sincerely believe this is the best you can do right now. This way you keep you players on their toes... and you also get the extra time to figure everything out.

 

[Ranger19k]

Go "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on them and give them the answer to life-the universe-and everything... but without the question to make any sense out of it.

It would be sweet to see the Avatars of Torm and Bahamut stand there with confused looks on their faces and say "WTF???" when they look in the box. Of course, you'd probably have a player's revolt on your hands after that.

Alternatively, have it be like the suitcase form pulp fiction - even after achieving the task they still don't get to find out what's inside it. Have Torm and/or Bahamut appear and take the case, saying that its too dangerous for human hands, but thank the party with a Wish each. Then you can have fun with wishes.

(See that other thread where the rogue got jobbed by his DM)