Help! A few hours and no adventure prepared! *gulp*

[blargney the second]

So I just found out that I'm DMing a new Eberron game that's starting at 2pm PST. And, um, I got nothing.

Well, next to nothing: the party is an unknown composition of three 3rd level PCs, and they're starting in Port Verge in the Lhazaar Principalities. Other than that, I'm drawing a total blank.

Help would be hugely appreciated!
-blarg

 

[exile]

I know little about the Eberron setting, and can't bring myself to go grab any of my books at present, but I'll take a stab at it.

The beautiful daughter of a not too far away barbarian lord comes to the PCs for help (and to warn them of impending trouble for their own homelands). I'm envisoning these barbarians as a lot like vikings (perhaps they have even preyed upon the locale in which the PCs are in times past, but have been relatively peaceful during the reign of this girl's father). Her father has been ousted by a giant of a man bent on further conquest. Some of the old lord's men are now following the new conqueror, but some have remained faithful to their old lord and his daughter.

The PCs travel whichever direction to investigate the situation. Throw whatever you want at them on the road. As they near their destination some terrain/cold weather encounters would be great (if you stick with the viking vibe). Ultimately, the PCs will be taken into a camp loyal to the girl who set the adventure in motion. Rest, resupply, maybe engage in a challenge of strength or cunning to prove their worth. For some reason I see this groups as a little more civil than your typical barbarians, probably thanks to the calming effect of their female leader, sort of a cross between barbarians and fighters/knights (in my head I have been calling them the Knights of the Lily of the Valley).

From here the PCs make their way to the camp ruled by the new conqueror. Here they attempt to win support of some of the men away from him and quietly dispatch of those they can't win over. When battle comes, they find that the new conqueror is a magically disguised ogre born of a hag. I'm working on a hagborn template that will not be written up in time to do you any good, but you would be well served giving an ogre the improved grapple, rake, rend, damage resistance, spell resistance of an annis. It's up to you if he has his own spell like abilities or if his mother (and her covey) disguised him.

Options to continue the adventure...The ogre wears a large gemstone about his neck which is in reality a hagseye, allowing his mother and her "sisters" to keep watch on him. Perhaps teh PCs must now track down and defeat these hags.

The hags have a map in their lair which leads to the home of a dragon that they once served. Perhaps they offer this in parley, perhaps teh PCs take it as booty.

 

[Ry]

I know little of Eberron, but (1) insist on a party that's already a party and (2) they each have a contact, which they need to make up as a 1st-level NPC

Next try tying them to the city even more, jamming off of that.

There's a harbour full of unconnected merchant ships that are actually part of a fleet that's trying to take the city over. The invaders are counting on being able to quietly unload on some of the lesser-used docks in the city, out of the range of most of the major defenses. The PCs are at the docks when the quiet attack begins, where a gang of thugs is setting fire to the tarriff office (the thugs have jumped the gun), and a corrupt magistrate that's in on the coup is trying to argue with the dockworkers to keep unloading ships.

If the PCs can sink one of the lead ships or make its defeat kind of spectacular, the other ones will think the game is up and they will retreat. Also, some of the people around the area are those the PCs know - they can send a runner to warn the authorities.

 

[Fenes]

Go with simple: The PCs stumble upon a dead victim of a robbery, which turns out to have been a courier with freight papers - on the way to a meeting with pirates to sell out his employer's trade routes.
Guards could suspect the PCs, pirates could suspect them, the merchant could suspect them, in short - everyone is after them, so they need to find the thieves to get them off their back.
The thieves meanwhile are drinking the spoils of their crime away in a tavern full of similar lowlifes.

Clues:
Gather Information can lead to "the usual suspects"
Wounds on the victim may lead to an exotic weapon - which not many use in the city.

Complications:
The tavern is a front for a thieves guild, smuggling illicit goods in and kidnapping victims out of the port - to pirates competing with the pirates after the papers.
The thieves have no idea what the papers mean, they may think those are arcane writings, and therefore don't open them - or threw them away, where someone else found them.

 

[Anthelios]

Think I'm probably a little late on this post, as your game is probably over by now... But I think Eberron is a great setting. You can step away from the usual adventures and delve into more "movie action" than most games allow.

The City of Sharn is a great setting, and pretty much writes its own stories. One of the games I ran centered around the PCs trying to clear a Droam gang out of slums of Fallen, a district in lower Dura. Fallen was hit hard by the collapse of a tower during the war, and its mostly in ruins now. Fragments of glass splitting apart temples and housing. The Watch leaves the place alone, and its an easy staging area for a gang of cutthroats from the monsterous nation.

The PCs could be hired by a priest who wishes to reclaim a lost temple. Her attempts to enter the district have always been met by this gang who is seeking to keep outsiders away. A bounty by the Watch on their ogre leader sweetens the pot..

Or even more movie-ish: The PCs are traveling by Lightning Rail cross country, to meet a family member who's requested a meeting. A few stops from their destination the train is attacked by an assassin sent to kill the related character. Upon arriving at their destination they find that their relative has passed away.. But he left them a mysterious map leading to a far off mountain. What could be going on? Is this what the assassin was after?

 

[Desdichado]

Simple. The players are on a ship heading for one of the Lhazhaar cities (your Port Verge?). They are attacked by pirates. With any luck, you can make that combat last most of the session, then you can figure out what you're doing after that.

If you need more; uh... have them meet a patron as soon as they land. Either that, or another passenger on their ship was impressed with their handling of the pirates and wants their help recovering something that he was coming to the Principalities to search for.

In any case, starting a new campaign off with a few words of introduction and then "roll for initiative" is never a bad thing. You want to set the pace early that this is an action packed, thrilling campaign, plus it absolves you from having to come up with too much plot right off the bat.

 

[billd91]

So I just found out that I'm DMing a new Eberron game that's starting at 2pm PST. And, um, I got nothing.

<snip>
-blarg

How does one find out that they're running a game with short notice?

 

[freyar]

Could you just grab one of the WotC original adventures? I don't know the geography, etc, of the region, or really the flavor, but there might be something there. The Ettin's riddle gets a lot of good press (I like it myself), and Dry Spell looks amusing.

 

[blargney the second]

You guys rock! I'm starting to stitch some of these ideas together... please do keep them coming.

As for the finding out, it just sort of happened really quickly without any significant preamble. It was one of those "let's play sometime" things that let to a "how about tomorrow?" *grin*
-blarg

 

[billd91]

You guys rock! I'm starting to stitch some of these ideas together... please do keep them coming.

As for the finding out, it just sort of happened really quickly without any significant preamble. It was one of those "let's play sometime" things that let to a "how about tomorrow?" *grin*
-blarg

I see. The initial post made it sound like you had been conscripted or press ganged.