Thia Halmades said:
Build in choices, so they didn't feel like they were being rail-roaded. The rail roading really ticked them off. Like, crazy ticked them. Not much I could do about it in that exact structure, but I tried, for their sake (I'm nice like that). The further they got into the plot the more options they had, but the party leader is a plot-hound, so he keeps going where the game is pointing, which is ideal for me in this situation. But that was a problem I encountered, so be aware of it.
I intended to do my best on that point. I recognized there was potential for that, so i was considering ways to avoid that. For example, as the paladins set out to go crusade in the Fire Realms, I'll leave it up to the PCs if they want to tag along. If they smell something fishy, they could stay behind and investigate, or go back to the druid's council and air their concerns, or whatever. I basically want a chain of world events in motion that as 1-6th level characters starting out, they won't necessarily be able to change without immense effort. However, how they want to flow through those events and where they want to go to try and affect it is up to them.
Thia Halmades said:
Water lands: You mentioned Aboleth. Go down to B&N or Borders and grab a copy of Lords of Madness. The level of detail they go into there is phenomenal, and understanding what the Aboleth does, and how it does it, will give you a few extra months of material alone. They are a guaranteed BBEG; a well designed Aboleth will have to be tracked, hunted, cornered and then attacked, all while underwater. It creates minions and can create spawn almost instantly. Just. Dag. Nasty.
Did you give Paladins Water Breathing? I don't recall. I think you did, but just in case, don't forget.
When the PCs become powerful enough to tango with aboleths, I just might pick up that book. At first, the PCs are just going to run into skum minions and thralls of them. As for breathing, most of the Paladins are aquatic elves, lizardmen, or tritons, etc, i.e. amphibious races in the first place, so they'll be suited to hunt them down. For the rest of the PCs, they'll either need a water cleric or air cleric, or get some appropriate magic items.
Thia Halmades said:
You've clearly cast the Arcanists as evil, specifically, the Grey Elves. I'll ask you the same questions I ask myself:
- Why are they doing this? What tangible reward comes from disrupting the world as they know it? How will ripping apart the fabric of space/time get them closer to their objective?
- What, exactly, is their objective? Who is their target, and why?
As you've pointed out later, I intend on casting them as relative evil. They are motivated by a combination of racial elitism and a feeling of rejection for pursuing their arcane arts. As the already haughty grey elves watch the high elf subrace nearly dissolve, they are outraged that the Dwarves, Halflings and Orcs all reap such benefit from the four elements. On top of this, the human cultures start growing suspicious of arcanists, wondering how arcane magic fits into the new world order of the four elements. This drives them into seclusion and lets them brood for centuries. After enough time, they choose to act, and do what they think is right, try and subvert the elemental dominated cultures and try and show them the error of there ways. They hope to play the natural monsters and villains of each of the realms against the cultures. Once the Elemental Lords fail to stop the chaos and insurrection, they could march in and save the day with arcane magic, grace from their old deities and powerful golems, proving that the mortal races need to rebel against the elemental domination. Then and only then they think they can work back towards a sense of natural order. Now the ripping of a gate to the Negative Plane, that's an unforseen consequence on their part. The organization as a whole is oblivious to the machinations of a sect of necromancers and Nerull clerics within their order. Those individuals seek to do harm simply out of machiavellian drive and a sense of nihilistic duty to their religion.
Thia Halmades said:
- How will their plan be carried out? Can it be stopped, or is it an inevitable crux of the plot? i.e., all roads lead to this, specific cataclysm.
- Can the PCs pick their side? Would they want too? What are the benefits of tearing the world asunder? What are the downsides? Is there a way to appease this villain without letting them glass the planet?
The conflict between the elementalists and the standard arcanists could be avoided, but I intend it to be near impossible to avoid the Negative Plane rupture, because that is unforseen even by the arcanists. In order to preempt that, the PCs would not only need to discover that the arcanists are behind the elemental monster revolts, track them back to their fortresses and stem that conflict, but also dig into the overall order of the arcanists and discover the necromantic sect within. I don't anticipate the PCs getting that far before it's too late. If they do, I've made the plot hooks too obvious.
As for picking sides, for the majority of the campaign I'm going to try and play them as attempting to pick a side between the elements: Fire vs. Water, Air vs. Earth, etc. I will continue to drop hints that something is amiss: "Why did the orcs send such a weak war party?" one of the young water squires ask before being overruled; a fire mephling sorcerer keeps haunting the party, tracking their progress. Chasing him down will reveal arcane trappings on him and a set of orders in elven script, etc. However, at first glance, the obvious conflict will not be against arcanists, but against fire monsters. That will be the "monkey-see, monkey-do" route to the campaign. I'll have to see how smart the PCs are and adapt with it.
Thia Halmades said:
- Is their evil absolute, or relative? I prefer relative evil, because it requires much more depth. One of the things that makes the Aboleth interesting is the way its absolute evil is approached - purely as a means to an end. It doesn't consider itself "evil" because it doesn't consider "morality." Which makes writing about them a somewhat creepy exercise in itself. But Elves are part of the world at large, they aren't Abberations. Therefore their collective subconcious will lend itself towards survival and preservation as much as anything else. So what, ultimately, do they hope to gain?
As noted above and as you suspected in your first posts, they don't see themselves as evil. They simply see them resetting the world to its proper balance. It is only a small group of necromancers that will cause the biggest difficulty, and that small group is only motivated by religious loyalty to Nerull and a thirst for immortality and domination over the world.
Thia Halmades said:
- If the NEP releases Undead, or the possiblity of Undead, and the world is out of Turn Undeads and Smite Evils, then everyone is basically boned. Why?
First, this is not going to occur until extremely late in the game, at near-epic levels. They should have other options beyond turning at that point. Otherwise, the PCs will then have to work with the servants of the Old Gods that are left siding with the non-necromantic arcanists. A Water Paladin might not be able to smite those nasty wights, but now that cleric of Pelor is looking less like a crazy hermit and more like a friend in need. Also, I picture portions of the Positive Elemental Plane seeping into the world on their own, particularly in the form of Quasi-Elemental forces. Imagine a fire cleric striding into battle with a group of wraiths with a large Radiance elemental blasting them with beams of light. That is the image I'm aiming for as the climax of the game.
Thia Halmades said:
Remember, Fiction has to be justified.
Very true, and I think I have a vision of justification, but any diligent or picky enough player can deem any vision faulty. I just hope I have players that are willing to "buy in" enough into my storyline to enjoy it with me.
