Conquest of the Forgotten Realms!

[Requiem]

Hi,

Firstly I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Requiem and Ive been lurking around these boards for some time now (ie right back to the Eric Noahs 3rd Edition news days) and I thinks its time for me to join the community.

You will note the eye catching subject line. I'm working on introducing Dragonstar into my oh-so vanilla D&D Forgotten Realms campaign.

My idea is basically that 1 of the Royal Houses of Asamet (leaning towards the red dragons) have discovered Toril in the Outlands and have decided to claim it as their own. Basically they intend to invade....they certainly have the power and resources to do it..but how?

Therefore the question is this....if you had to invade the Realms how would you do it?

Perhaps an initial insurgence by undercover forces? They would make first contact with the forces of evil and eliminate the more powerful forces of good (ie Elminister and the chosen) and then the Dragon Empire would arrive and the invasion would begin en masse.

Perhaps simply an all out invasion? Given the overconfidence of dragons especially reds, just simply an all out attack..good / evil be damned.

I would be interested in any ideas or suggestions?

Requiem

 

[JoeGKushner]

Depends. Are you doing a Dragonstar Campaign or a Forgotten Realms campaign?

If a Forgotten Realms, you might want to start small as the players learn more and more about Dragonstar through the spies and infiltrators they uncover and battle. Perhaps when they get to slightly higher levels they're sent to find out why an outpost hasn't made any reports and discover that it's been destroyed but the thing that did it isn't around anymore and while looking for the answer, they have to fight more and more creatures/elements native to Dragonstar.

 

[Xarlen]

They likely would offer stuff to evil organizations to start turning the coils. Offer the Zhents backup, offer the Red Wizards of Thay some rather Powerful things, and let them start a rucus. This lets the organizations think 'Hey, They support us, we have allies'. When really, they are serving their masters.

Or, they would First contact the dragons. These are allies in this war, warn them of the coming invasion (And assure them they will have a high place in ruling the lands, afterwards). This would undoubtably make dragons remember the age when they ruled the land. When the time came, the invasion would begin a few days beforehand, with hundreds, thousands of dragons converging to destroy the land. Lay siege to cities at the drop of a hat, destroy outposts, so forth. Then, wheneverone's dazed and looking to hit the dragons back... BOOM! The invasion drops in.

 

[Voneth]

Well, from the Dragonstar mode, I'd find some ways for Old Red's forces to block scying and divination for a couple of weeks or months before the all out assult.

In such a large scale campiagn, it is magic that could do the most harm and a wizard is the most dangerous when he is prepared for what happens. To put it in modern terms, think of a 1950s movie where suddenly radio communication goes dead around the world before an alien assault happens.

I also suggest an all out assualt not because it would be the most effieicient, but because it will be the most messy. It will leave plenty of time for lesser known heroes (read PCs) to go underground as the main stars of FR get the most attention and firepower. It also means that martial law will have to be declared so there will be plenty of redshirts, I mean soliders, stomping about trying to impose order.

So with magic enhanced lasers and the element of surprise and brutality, I think Red's forces would win the day ... for now.

If you really wanted to put on a twist, you even tweak Dragon Star so that those who have read it will be surprised. The most common twist I have heard is that the Gythyanki are the secret police for Red and psionic acitivity is a blind spot for magic (and visa versa). The Gyth's true strength lies in that they have a psionic FTL drive that is only detectable by psionics.

So ... as DS day approches, clerics and wizards complain that they divination and scying no longer works and a few weird old men that no one has heard before claim that are evil minds watching us from the stars. That should get you players salvating.

 

[Requiem]

*bump*