ZEITGEIST Help with future plotlines - ZEITGEIST **SPOLIERS**

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Some of my players have developed pretty interesting back stories for their characters which, now that we are heading deeper into the campaign, I’d like to find some way of weaving into main storyline, rewarding them for their efforts. This is something I do in every campaign, but there is a slight difficulty here in that we (quite understandably) have only a bare bones outline of what will happen in paragon and epic tiers.

My intention was to improvise as episodes are released, but the hallucinations that afflict each character in the Ziggurat of Apet would be a great opportunity to give hints about what is to come, and it got me to thinking. I’d really like some suggestions about how folks think I can weave the following plotlines into the main campaign arc, especially from the writer(s) of future episodes:

Korrigan was transformed into an earth genasi by a schism on Axis Island during Yersaol IV. He has now learned how to manifest watersoul as well. He also has the subplot (purloined from Colmar) of a fey curse hanging over his wife, who made a bargain to sacrifice their first born in return for Korrigan’s survival during the war. I’d like to try to make Korrigan’s growing mastery of the planes a key to the ‘world altering’ climax of the adventure, and maybe make his son key to that too.

Rumdoom seeks the ‘Stone of Not’ as discussed in my ‘Continuing Adventures...’ thread. RangerWickett and Cheezmo Miner already made some fantastic suggestions here, so I kind of have this covered, but I’m wondering just how feasible it is to make the Deep Ones (aboleths who feature heavily in my buffer adventures and possess the stone) fearful of the return of the Gidim, and keen to aid anyone who can prevent that happening. They might be ancient enemies from the plane of Mavisha or something. Trouble is I don’t know how far I can safely go with this.

Krauss has only a minor role so far, but I include his story here because it links to Rumdoom’s: He was abducted and operated on by the Deep Ones, to create a kind of ‘warning beacon’ (programmed to watch out for warning signs of renewed planar travel – such as Distant Madness). Thanks to his DIY lobotomy, he is now aware of this fact (however confusedly). I’m already concerned I’ve gone too far with this bit of improv and am hoping it won’t mess up future plotlines.

Leon was once General Dax Corbeau and now masquerades as his own assassin. For a long time I have wondered what to do with this thread. I had the party stumble upon the hideout of the fey maiden who rescued Leon during adventure #1. He thinks she was captured by the Danorans. The first part of my tentative plan is to have her instead recruited by the Colossus cell and feature in adventure #5 somehow. (Her half-built golem, also recovered by the unit in #1, will be at her side perhaps – and her expertise put to work in the creation of Borne.) But in a slightly more audacious twist I’m toying with the following: Leon (as General Dax) was an original member of the Golden Cell (tasked with ensuring the capture of Axis Island at all costs). For some reason – perhaps he learned too much about their ultimate goal; or sought power for himself – he fell afoul of the Ob who moved to take him out. Fearing pursuit and reprisal, he somehow (alone or with the help of his eladrin rescuer) exorcised the geas that afflicted him, removing or repressing the memories it controlled into the bargain (including his own mastery of arcane power – hence his return to ‘first level’). Leon’s memories may slowly begin to come back to him during the mid to late stages of the campaign.

Waddya think?

Too much?
 

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Ajar

Explorer
I don't think it's necessarily too much, since it sounds like there's enough space between the PCs' backstories that they likely won't all show up in the same adventure.
 

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
I don't think it's necessarily too much, since it sounds like there's enough space between the PCs' backstories that they likely won't all show up in the same adventure.

My concern is less about pacing and more that certain proposed ideas - in particular Leon turning out to be ex Obscurati - might just be unworkable or absurd. Without knowing exactly what will transpire in later adventures it's hard to know what's feasible (and, needless to say, impossible to rework the campaign ahead of time as one might do normally).

My original intention was to have all of the back stories tie in to buffer adventures, so this would be less of a concern, but the temptation to weave them into the main plotline is too strong!

I actually find the sense of uncertainty quite exciting, but don't want to tip my hand too early to elements I can't fulfill, or introduce something that messes up future adventures.
 

A possible twist might be that the Deep Ones could be allies. Instead of being horrible monsters set on driving the surface world insane, they could be rather fond of the world as it is. They need land civilization as it is, the way we need the oceans to moderate temperatures and provide fish and trade, but we don't want to live underwater, and the deep ones don't want to conquer the surface.

So when the Ob starts acting up, the deep ones might be able to help.

I'd already pondered, in epic tier, having the party dive underwater to recover the 'mind' of the colossus. The Mindmaker absconded with it, and had it sent away by ship, hidden in some sort of object (not sure yet), but the ship ends up sinking. The Ob eventually figure out how to control it crudely, but its lack of mind is partially responsible for causing their plans to only go about 90% right in adventure 9.

So to regain control of the big machine, maybe the PCs will have to seek the aid of the deep ones?



Too much?

Eh, I'd say be wary of X-Files Syndrome, where you just throw twist after twist after twist until it becomes implausible. I think Dax hiding his identity is good enough; you just need to reveal it well. Maybe have some of the members of the Ob be old associates of his; maybe he knew the current Sovereign of Danor. Or maybe in adventure 4 Bree recognizes him.
 

As for not knowing what's going to happen in later adventures, I've got a lot of outlines and general ideas, but I necessarily have to keep things vague because I don't want to end up with bored authors who are forced to write exactly what I tell them. If you want, I could work up a more detailed synopsis of what I've got in mind for later, since we're closer to paragon tier now.
 

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
A possible twist might be that the Deep Ones could be allies. Instead of being horrible monsters set on driving the surface world insane, they could be rather fond of the world as it is. They need land civilization as it is, the way we need the oceans to moderate temperatures and provide fish and trade, but we don't want to live underwater, and the deep ones don't want to conquer the surface.

So when the Ob starts acting up, the deep ones might be able to help.

That's exactly what I had in mind. (The Deep Ones don't know who the real enemy is either; they are watching for the Gidim, or other ancient enemies locked out of the world by the Ancients, and discover through the PCs that someone is potentially going to let them all back in...)

This plays out quite nicely because in my last campaign we had a huge extended incursion into an aboleth lair. I don't want to do the same again, so I'm quite happy to make them allies.

I'd already pondered, in epic tier, having the party dive underwater to recover the 'mind' of the colossus. The Mindmaker absconded with it, and had it sent away by ship, hidden in some sort of object (not sure yet), but the ship ends up sinking. The Ob eventually figure out how to control it crudely, but its lack of mind is partially responsible for causing their plans to only go about 90% right in adventure 9.

So to regain control of the big machine, maybe the PCs will have to seek the aid of the deep ones?

Sounds like an ideal point for several subplots to meet.

Eh, I'd say be wary of X-Files Syndrome, where you just throw twist after twist after twist until it becomes implausible. I think Dax hiding his identity is good enough; you just need to reveal it well. Maybe have some of the members of the Ob be old associates of his; maybe he knew the current Sovereign of Danor. Or maybe in adventure 4 Bree recognizes him.

Hopefully, over the course of 30 levels, these three principal threads (Korrigan's condition; the Stone of Not & the Deep Ones; Leon's identity) won't go too far.

I'm still wondering what to do with Black Star Mining's intention to invade the Deep One's lair. Think I might have them go ahead with it off-screen and get their asses handed to them, setting the Deep Ones up as a force to be reckoned with.
 

gideonpepys

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
As for not knowing what's going to happen in later adventures, I've got a lot of outlines and general ideas, but I necessarily have to keep things vague because I don't want to end up with bored authors who are forced to write exactly what I tell them. If you want, I could work up a more detailed synopsis of what I've got in mind for later, since we're closer to paragon tier now.

My 'predicament' is entirely self-inflicted and these posts weren't intended to express any dissatisfaction with the lack of detail at this stage, which I fully understand. There's no requirement for the players' backgrounds to tie into the main plot at all, really, is there? But in a world where prophecy plays such a key role, a bit of serendipity and destiny chimes rather nicely. (And I like the thought that the players will wonder how the hell stories that they came up with ended up feeling like an intrinsic part of a published adventure.)

But a slightly more detailed synopsis (even one bearing the caveat that nothing is fixed in stone) would be very much appreciated at this stage - as are your helpful and gracious responses.
 

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