Talgian
First Post
Hey everyone!
Thanks again for help in my last thread. We had our first [marathon] session today, running The Forgotten Forge and the first half of The Ettin's Riddle, and it went very well. However, we plan to run this campaign for a while, so I am trying to develop an overarching plot line. Here is what I have so far.
250 years ago Daavni (the order plane) was coterminous with Eberron. This heralded in an unprecedented boom in half-giant births. These half-giants, thanks to their psionic abilities, and mix of "civilized" blood, are much more like giants from the Age of Giants than their nearly feral contemporaries. However, they feel displaced in the world, and wish to herald in a new age- one that rivals that of the great giant empires from 80,000 years past.
So, for two and a half centuries a vast conspiracy of half-giants has been pouring all their resources- Xen'drik secrets and treasure, a large network of agents, and their own physical and mental capabilities- towards that goal. They are getting very close now, and are simply putting the final touches in place for their coup of Khorvaire.
This consists of two main strategies:
1) Replacing key government officials (defense/war ministers, governors/mayors of key strategic cities, military personnel) with their best and most trusted changeling agents.
2) Raising, maintaining, and hiding troops.
By doing those two things, the half-giants will be able to sweep in and take control of most of Khorvaire when the time is right.
Now, my players know almost none of this. Secretly, they are being manipulated by the half-giants into doing their dirty work, but they don't know that, and neither do the people they get their quests from.
For example, the half-giants are very interested in building warforged for their army, and thus the schema from The Forgotten Forge is something they want. The problem is, if they try to get it directly, there would be too much risk of discovery, and with the conspiracy this far along, that is not something the ringleaders will risk. However, it is easy for them to drop a hint as to the schema's existence to the Lord of Blades and House Cannith, thus creating two avenues for other people to get the schema, which the half-giants can later steal. (Can you tell I love Shadowrun, where a “deniable asset” must do everything? If I ever do Eberron again, I think I'd do it as SR in Khorvaire, with the PCs serving as deniable assets for the different Houses)
So here is where I need help. I mentioned that when reading through the Chronicle to find its account of their foray into the Forge, there were a few accounts in the gossip section about certain government officials getting new allergies or not being as adept in particular skills as they used to be. So that's a hint to something bigger going on.
The PCs are currently searching for the second piece of the schema, which, long story short, they can't get until they beat The Ettin's Riddle. Basically, I am fine for the next two adventures (at a rate of one level per adventure) to get the last half of the schema, and then one more, where the half-giants try to steal the completed schema, thus alerting the PCs to their existence.
After that, I am a bit stumped as to the general outline of the campaign. I mean, the PCs will be aware that someone else knew and wanted the schema, but that's all. They won't know just how far the manipulation goes. I'd like to do one or two more strings of adventures, that are also half-giant manipulated. The problem is I'm not sure what they would be. I feel like another search for powerful artifacts/relics of the past would be too much of a repeat of the first string.
The best I can do is that the PCs are asked by some third party to find out about rumors of corruption in some administration or another, and by investigating and revealing the corruption, clear the way for more loyal half-giant agents. By the end of that, they'd be around level 10, so I feel like the third string should have a more epic feel to it, since they are in the upper echelon of heroes now. I have no ideas for this, but it should be something yet again half-giant manipulated, that, at the end, reveals to the PCs the existence of this conspiracy, so that the last string (levels 15-20) will be their unraveling of it.
So, what I need help with is:
Figuring out more shadowy things for the half-giants to be doing that relate to the PCs.
Finding adventures to use. I don't really have a budget for adventures, so I'm trying to keep to free ones available online (like the ones at the Wizards site).
Filling in plot holes.
Fitting in little hints about seemingly unconnected events, like the article in the Chronicle.
Formatting the campaign so it fits in this structure.
As always, any help the collective brain trust known as EN World can provide is greatly appreciated!
-Talgian
Thanks again for help in my last thread. We had our first [marathon] session today, running The Forgotten Forge and the first half of The Ettin's Riddle, and it went very well. However, we plan to run this campaign for a while, so I am trying to develop an overarching plot line. Here is what I have so far.
250 years ago Daavni (the order plane) was coterminous with Eberron. This heralded in an unprecedented boom in half-giant births. These half-giants, thanks to their psionic abilities, and mix of "civilized" blood, are much more like giants from the Age of Giants than their nearly feral contemporaries. However, they feel displaced in the world, and wish to herald in a new age- one that rivals that of the great giant empires from 80,000 years past.
So, for two and a half centuries a vast conspiracy of half-giants has been pouring all their resources- Xen'drik secrets and treasure, a large network of agents, and their own physical and mental capabilities- towards that goal. They are getting very close now, and are simply putting the final touches in place for their coup of Khorvaire.
This consists of two main strategies:
1) Replacing key government officials (defense/war ministers, governors/mayors of key strategic cities, military personnel) with their best and most trusted changeling agents.
2) Raising, maintaining, and hiding troops.
By doing those two things, the half-giants will be able to sweep in and take control of most of Khorvaire when the time is right.
Now, my players know almost none of this. Secretly, they are being manipulated by the half-giants into doing their dirty work, but they don't know that, and neither do the people they get their quests from.
For example, the half-giants are very interested in building warforged for their army, and thus the schema from The Forgotten Forge is something they want. The problem is, if they try to get it directly, there would be too much risk of discovery, and with the conspiracy this far along, that is not something the ringleaders will risk. However, it is easy for them to drop a hint as to the schema's existence to the Lord of Blades and House Cannith, thus creating two avenues for other people to get the schema, which the half-giants can later steal. (Can you tell I love Shadowrun, where a “deniable asset” must do everything? If I ever do Eberron again, I think I'd do it as SR in Khorvaire, with the PCs serving as deniable assets for the different Houses)
So here is where I need help. I mentioned that when reading through the Chronicle to find its account of their foray into the Forge, there were a few accounts in the gossip section about certain government officials getting new allergies or not being as adept in particular skills as they used to be. So that's a hint to something bigger going on.
The PCs are currently searching for the second piece of the schema, which, long story short, they can't get until they beat The Ettin's Riddle. Basically, I am fine for the next two adventures (at a rate of one level per adventure) to get the last half of the schema, and then one more, where the half-giants try to steal the completed schema, thus alerting the PCs to their existence.
After that, I am a bit stumped as to the general outline of the campaign. I mean, the PCs will be aware that someone else knew and wanted the schema, but that's all. They won't know just how far the manipulation goes. I'd like to do one or two more strings of adventures, that are also half-giant manipulated. The problem is I'm not sure what they would be. I feel like another search for powerful artifacts/relics of the past would be too much of a repeat of the first string.
The best I can do is that the PCs are asked by some third party to find out about rumors of corruption in some administration or another, and by investigating and revealing the corruption, clear the way for more loyal half-giant agents. By the end of that, they'd be around level 10, so I feel like the third string should have a more epic feel to it, since they are in the upper echelon of heroes now. I have no ideas for this, but it should be something yet again half-giant manipulated, that, at the end, reveals to the PCs the existence of this conspiracy, so that the last string (levels 15-20) will be their unraveling of it.
So, what I need help with is:
Figuring out more shadowy things for the half-giants to be doing that relate to the PCs.
Finding adventures to use. I don't really have a budget for adventures, so I'm trying to keep to free ones available online (like the ones at the Wizards site).
Filling in plot holes.
Fitting in little hints about seemingly unconnected events, like the article in the Chronicle.
Formatting the campaign so it fits in this structure.
As always, any help the collective brain trust known as EN World can provide is greatly appreciated!
-Talgian
