Ideas for an Adventure

[moxcamel]

Knowing my players (I'm a DM mainly) I would say that they would most likely investigate the issue by following the horse when they see it for the second time.

My group would too. If I were DM, and was using the rider as a later adventure hook, I'd have him disappear into the mists or something. I'd roll dice as if making perception checks or whatever, but because at this point it's story fluff, they simply have a mystery on their hands.

 

[sirteabag]

[MENTION=67954]moxcamel[/MENTION];

[MENTION=69422]erleni[/MENTION]; I would too myself, and I appreciate the intel. I'm trying to really narrow this down and deliver a good game.

[MENTION=67954]moxcamel[/MENTION]; Agreed, completely. If my players let their guard down then I'll most likely act upon it but if they're suspicious I'll just play with them. And if things work out I think I may just let this mysterious stranger act as an ally, and let the fireworks go off when my party trusts him

 

[tobiasosir]

And I hope it develops as such, my party is mostly new positively aligned characters and over confident as well. They will most likely think the horse a silly omen or a random event.
All in all I plan to have four different horses (four horses of Apocalypse-ish) with different riders of all different abilities. This all begins after they removed an evil magical orb from a machine and I informed them they felt a little bit emptier. These assassins will be their "shadows", copies of their character sheets at the time beefed up a bit and created by the magic in the orb. Think the Dark Link from Ocarina of Time but now looking to kill them and take back the body they claim right too
/QUOTE]

I think this is an awesome idea. Having a 'shadow rider' following your partyu wherever they go--but always one step ahead--is one thing, but eventually discovering that they're all basically evil versions of themselves is a wonderful idea. Especially if you're taking their character sheets and buffing them up a bit--it will cause them to really think about their own strategies and attacks when they're trying to defend against them! If played right, I could see it turning your players into even better players...

Are these riders literally twisted versions of the players, or are they just copies of them? If the former, you have a good way to tease them; show them just enough commonalities that they see something familiar, but play up the "twisted" aspect of the characters so they seem clearly evil and there's no gray area. This has the potential to be an emotional encounter for their characters, because they'll have to face things about themselves they don't like.

As for whether they'd just track the rider down, i agree with others in that you could always just make him disappear. The more aggressively they pursue him, the more easily he gets away. I also like moxcamel's idea of having the players lost the trail then get 'sidetracked' with a completely unrelated encounter. Make the players forget about it...then bring it up suddenly again. Make them want it, but don't give it to them...adds to the intrigue!

 

[sirteabag]

[MENTION=98357]tobiasosir[/MENTION]; thank you sir, appreciate the appreciation and the ideas!

I was planning on twisted former selves, like them but embodied in all their bad habits and feelings. Dark eyes, pale skin, angry, vile, etc. And yes, I was hoping with this battle that the players have a chance to see how they really act in combat, as I will mimic almost all their past moves (pre-clones) and tactics. As well I'll add some evil abilities and the such. As for Mox's idea, I agree with you and him; I will no doubt try it. It sounds absolutely fantastic and would lead to many lingering questions keeping the players, playing. Its like a 4e Lost.

 

[Riastlin]

I definitely like this idea. Its fun to sort of tease the players with something that seems to be obviously important while also seemingly random at the same time. I think what you need to be careful of though is that if the players do start to investigate, ask around town, try nature, arcane, religion checks, etc. if all they get is "You learn/know nothing." it will seem heavy handed and railroady when the assassins finally attack.

In other words, allow their checks to reveal bits and pieces (though certainly not the whole shebang) about the horses and their mysterious riders. Its perfectly fine to make these DC's hard for the character's levels, but they should be able to learn something. Then you take it away for awhile (as previously suggested, the horse just goes away), and bring it back later. It will be somewhat like a rash. The players will have some idea what it is, but not the full details. When they notice it, they feel the need to scratch the itch, but eventually it goes away and is forgotten . . . until it reappears and starts itching again.

I think perhaps the best way of handling this too, is that if they first see say the Black Horse and it goes away, they'll next see the White Horse, followed by the Brown and the Grey, etc. In other words, the "horse" keeps reappearing but looks different each time. This is their clue that there are actually one for each of the characters, but also throws them off a little bit since its different each time. If done right, and with the right group, this has the makings for a great plot arc that could stretch out over several adventures, or even the entire campaign.

 

[wedgeski]

I like it, and this is the sort of thing I might dream up on the fly if the players throw me for a loop by going somewhere unexpected. Once they start investigating, you never know where your brain will take you!

 

[Abstruse]

Sounds like a fantastic hook. These kinds of hooks are my favorite, and I've even done such things without having the slightest idea why I was doing them at first, and then as the campaign progressed I was able to come back to that event and make it seem as if I'd planned the whole thing that way all along.

That's been my strategy in the past. I write down everything I do in a campaign somewhere, especially names. When I get stuck, that's when a long-lost brother/sister/daughter/son/whatever of an NPC they killed comes back and starts harasses the players. Or I can drop an NPC's name as a member of a cult/group/conspiracy that they encountered weeks or months before. I do this in advance too. I have a vague idea of what to do with the Yellowskulls from the Storm Tower adventure (popularized in the Penny Arcade podcast), so I'm going to drop hints now about them. I want to have a demon show up later as well, so I'm going to have its name pop up here and there even though at this point I have no idea what I'm going to do with the demon and probably won't for a while. I may not even go with the demon idea. I'm going to throw a few more random things in too.

Now will I get to all of these plot threads? Not even remotely. But I will take the ones the PCs focus on most and develop them. And when some random enemy they faced at 2nd level turns out to have a major connection to an enemy they'll face throughout all of Paragon, you'll seem like a genius. Hey, it worked for Joss Whedon!