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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Potocki" data-source="post: 9612091" data-attributes="member: 7051657">Reading your summary, I see that you have outlined some interesting high-level plotlines and themes, while lacking a reason for the party to get engaged. It sounds like the most interesting stuff happens without the party - the CEO plays with powers beyonds his understanding without any input by the party. According to you, you're trying to keep the party's plates spinning while this complicated plot plays out without any necessary engagement by them until "their part" (destroying the phylactery) begins. What happens if they miss all of your plot hooks? What if they think (le horreur) that your hooks are boring and becoming a pirate sounds more interesting?Don't get me wrong - there's nothing particularly wrong with your plotline as described; the only issue is that the party has no reason to get involved. So at this point you have two distinct choices, that come down to your philosophical bent as a DM:1. It's your plotline, so make them play it. Instead of the generic "you arrive in town and the bartender tells you to kill 20 rats in the basement" beginning, have your party start as mercenaries hired to escort the jungle convoy to the arcane prison. They can spend a few sessions familiarizing themselves with the world and the town (if it's important) before starting a long journey to the prison filled with hazards and enemies. Give them plenty of chances to get to know this group of morally-gray individuals they're traveling with - it'll make it more impactful when most of them are turned into the lich's thralls. If they decide to go after the phylactery, then maybe it's not because they're heroes - maybe they're just trying to claw back the payday they lost when the CEO got zapped into the Shadowdark.2. If railroading them into the plot isn't your thing, then start building out the world and preparing for them to take their own path. If they decide to go with the convoy, great, go back to step 1. If they don't, then give them plenty of related hooks to keep them involved with the plot. Maybe they hate the shipping company and the CEO, but seem interested in the convoy - perhaps this rival nation can hire them as spies? Maybe they just want to screw around in town taking sidequests - then make them get caught up into the cold war between these nations, while dropping plenty of hints about the eventual fate of the convoy so they feel prepared when the crap hits the fan. Maybe they want to be pirates, in which case it seems like a great time to get them to really hate the shipping company and give them a reason to save the world after the company starts the apocalypse.</blockquote>

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