Ambulance Chasing in D&D

[takasi]

Last night we started a brainstorming session for a new D&D Eberron campaign I plan to run online. We discussed what players wanted to play and what I wanted to run, and decided to start out in Sharn. One player wanted to run a changeling beguiler disguised as a House Sivis noble. Another player wants to build a gnome artificer. Another player wants to be a cleric. When I asked about organizations they might want to belong too, all of them agreed to the Library of Korranberg or House Sivis. They all agreed that they do not want traditional dungeon crawls (we have several campaigns running right now, many of them are crawl heavily).

First, does anyone have any opinions or suggestions for resolving a changeling disguised as a House Sivis gnome? I was thinking he would need a patron to help him maintain his cover. We discussed it (through a lot of whispering in chat last night) and decided it would be easier to let the other players know about this, so the characters may (or may not) be in on the secret.

The "cleric" player said he would be a follower of Aureon, god of law, knowledge and magic. He said an archivist would also be very interesting.

Here is my proposal. The changeling is a barrister for hire under the sponsorship of House Sivis. The artificer works as a Perceptor (Sharn CoT p 132) but is secretly developing new 'magitech' he hopes the courts will one day purchase from him. He is a very close friend with the changeling and works with him outside of court as a freelancer assistant. The archivist character assists the barrister with divinations.

Adventures will consist of finding (and in some cases concocting) lucrative civil cases. Does anyone have any ideas? Here are my high level thoughts:

- Misuse of Magic: Claimants suspect they are the victims of enchantments, scrying, and other unlawful uses of magic.
- Breach of Contract: Claimants (usually of the Dragonmarked Houses) suspect that former guild members are breaking their noncompete agreements.
- Theft: Claimants have been robbed, or their property has been destroyed.
- Fraud: Claimants have been cheated. Usually involves a changeling, shapeshifter or magic user.
- Armed Assault: Claimants believe organizations are trying to murder them.
- Korth Violations: Claimants (usually politians) suspect that Dragonmarked are manipulating land grants and lordships.

Any other ideas or thoughts? Any tips on how to run this?

 

[Henry]

Sharn Legal! Featuring William Shattner as Changeling Barrister Denny Crane...

Equal Rights cases: Goblins have been deprived of certain protections in their dirty jobs in Undersharn that are due them as actual citizens.

Arson Investigations: They must determine if a fire was truly accidental, or set up by a jealous rival or for insurance claims.

Overturn a legal code: There is evidence that a recently implemented statute is HARMING citizens of Sharn instead of serviing the public peace or welfare. They need to collect this info and bring it to the Mayor's attention.

As an aside, one could hunt up episode guides to legal shows like the Law and Orders, or Boston Legal, or the Practice, and adapt their storylines to the "ambulance chasing" theme.

 

[SiderisAnon]

Blackmail

If you're talking about a world with lots of politics, blackmail material is also very important. That would include evidence of crimes, but could also include evidence of everything from infidelity to cheating on your taxes to going outside the guild for sales to just plain doing something people wouldn't approve of. (In a conservative society, for instance, having a mistress might be somewhat acceptable, but what if your mistress is of a different race than you?)

You might also want to look up some TV series synopsis lists. For instance, one of the CSI shows for criminal stuff, one of the legal shows like the old LA Law for cases that are more civil, and even a copy-type show like Numbers could result in a variety of ideas. You don't want to recreate the episode. You want to take the idea, modify it for the setting, and then run with your own ideas.

As an example, a couple of weeks ago Numbers did an episode about someone storing toxic waste under a children's playground at a school. This has a number of possibilities in a fantasy setting. It could be magical leftovers from experiments. It could be something that went horribly wrong. It could be the wastes produced by the local alchemist guild. It could also be actual toxic waste, such as what is left after tanning leather. Then you have to decide what effect it's having, what clues there are, and generally who is the bad guy or fall guy in this adventure.


Hope that helps.

 

[Slife]

Buy wands of featherfall. Save people falling off the towers. Because Sharn pays money to ayone who casts featherfall on a falling person, you make money even if the person you save doesn't show you any gratitude.

You said you have a changling... It's a good thing there are so many nice citizens around, since it's simply AMAZING how many people fall off the towers.

 

[Wolv0rine]

I'd look up plot synopses for shows like Matlock, Quincy, Perry Mason... possibly over other 'legal' shows, if only because there was always some kind of investigatory work involved in those plots. They were very Proactive attorneys. (Okay Quincy was a Medical Examiner, but still...)

 

[WizarDru]

Breach of Contract: The Warding Guild promised they'd protect me...and they didn't! Now the cultists have robbed my house, stolen the foozle!

The Troublesome Will: House Kundarak won't turn over the contents of my safe deposit box in the Golden Vault. My husband died under mysterious circumstances, and now they won't let me have access to it...and if I don't get what's in that box, PEOPLE WILL DIE!

Immigration Dispute: Damn goblins and orcs from the swamps out west been sweeping into the lower levels, stealing perfectly good jobs from the Unions. If the houses don't agree to new contracts to protect our jobs, then they can load their own bags on the Lightning Rail...not that it'll be running!

Malpractice: He CLAIMED he was a healer. He said he was a member of a noble house...he even had a Dragonmark. I didn't know it was ABERRANT! He didn't Raise Dead...he REINCARNATED me! NO, I wasn't always a GNOME!