Hot Dark Elven Action (NPC and Plot Help)

[Delgar]

Hi Everyone,

Right now, I'm running a Savage Species campaign. I have a minotaur, a hound archon, a Ghalee and a Centaur (and possibly a Djinni or a Human Paladin, he's undecided at this point). Anyway, I'm planning on starting them off in a Gladitorial arena in the underdark. They've all been captured young and are forced to fight. The underdark city is a mix of all different races and cultures (i.e. trading post, etc).

What I would like are some possible interesting NPC's that my players can interact with. Gladiators, slaves, nobles, strange creatures, anything. I'm not looking for stats more like personalities, etc.

I'm also looking for any interesting plot/story lines that I can try to run, both major and minor. I'm not planning on having them in the arena long, they will have the opportunity to escape soon, but once they escape what sort things can they find in the underdark? What kind of dark secrets? Why is the arena there in the first place?


Any ideas would be most helpful!

Delgar

 

[Praeco]

If the battles aren't necessarily to the death I could see some heated rivalries between fighters being built up. What if you built up a rival party? Spend some time getting things good and frothy between the two groups before the escape happens.
At some point, either at the same time or shortly in the future, have the rival group escape too. If they hold enough grudge they may try to come after the PCs, or thwart them in insidious ways. There's also the possibility of developing more of a friendly rivalry, where both groups always seem to be chasing after the same bit of loot and so forth.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Trainers - Fighters would have a lot of interaction with them, think Rocky. Which leads to the training, catch that shock lizard!

Slaves - again fighters would have contact with them, most would be workers for the arena. Some plot items, a secret cult, the great escape, and I am Spartus.

 

[Delgar]

Along these lines what would make a great antithesis to the characters:

Hound Archon vs ?
Ghalee vs ?
Minotaur vs ?
Centaur vs ?

My thoughts are:

Hound Archon vs Werewolf
Ghalee vs (not sure)
Minotuar vs Ogre
Centaur vs (not sure)


Any thoughts on what would make a good rival party?

Delgar

If the battles aren't necessarily to the death I could see some heated rivalries between fighters being built up. What if you built up a rival party? Spend some time getting things good and frothy between the two groups before the escape happens.
At some point, either at the same time or shortly in the future, have the rival group escape too. If they hold enough grudge they may try to come after the PCs, or thwart them in insidious ways. There's also the possibility of developing more of a friendly rivalry, where both groups always seem to be chasing after the same bit of loot and so forth.

 

[Delgar]

Any other ideas?

Anyone?

Delgar

 

[Hand of Evil]

I can see 'animals' as foes for the fighters, spiders and driders would be two big crowd pleasers.

 

[Delgar]

Well so far I've run two sessions in my new campaign. The first was mainly, welcome to the arena, now SURVIVE and the second was more of an introduction to some of the other gladiators as well as other people involved in the arena.

What I need are some plots I can introduce, some characters with hidden agenda's. Plus, I need a good way to get them out of the arena.

Any Ideas?? Anything is welcome.

Delgar

 

[Macbeth]

THeres some good Gladiator info in a Dragon magazine a while back, and a Gladiator adventure in the Dungeon that cam out at the same time. THe adventure is aclled Pandemonium in the Veins, I think. I ran it, it's pretty good, and has some great info about gladiators, and some cool rules for pumping up the crowd.

 

[francisca]

What you need is a good gladiator groupie.

The groupie should be of appropriate gender and race to appeal to the PCs. The groupie should be the child of an important figure in the local government and/or politcal scene (High priestess, mayor, etc..) The groupie should appear to the PCs as naive, spoiled, wealthy, but above all, enamored with them. Give them the impression that they *could* really take advantage of him/her and his/her social status if they wanted too. If they play the noble card and don't, make him/her an even bigger fan who will go to any length to please the PCs.

In reality, she is wealthy, spoiled, and naive. She is also known to the local community as rebellious, undisciplined, and unpredictable.

Eventually, he/she should offer to help them escape by using his/her money, parent's name/influence, and general charisma. He/she should then help them get out. He/she could either freak out during the escape and let the authorities know the PCs are free, which would lead to a fun chase scene; or, he/she could hang with them for a while, then get bored and start treating them really bad, eventually returning home to idolize some other gladiators. In the second case, a price would be put on the gladiator's head for he/she will surely claim to have been kidnapped.

 

[Delgar]

With Session 3 out of the way here is how things stand:

I've introduced many NPC's:

Merklo (Kobold, he fought with them in the arena the first time and stablized the minotaur once, now he works in the kitchen, they just love the little pathetic creature)

Haplo (Old Human priest of Pelor, keeps forgetting the players names, showed them around arena, seems to have been here a while)

Luccia (Arena owner, very pale humanoid, constantly staring at the human paladin)

Zolam (Bugbear Trainer, constantly calling them maggots, and making them train harder than they ever have)

Tordd (Ogre Trainer, Zolams right hand man, has HORRIBLE breath)

Ph'belpol (Mind flayer councilor, sponsered them last game and gave them some magical presents, is hoping to have them beat another councilor's gladiators)

Celene (Teenage Human groupie, big fan of the group, even more so now that the Centaur has a personal signal to give the girl after every K.O. she makes. The group is going to use her naiviety to their advantage)

Other Gladiators:

Brus -Ogre, bully. Picked on Merklo and almost started a brawl in the mess hall. Two of the players HATE Brus. Fights in the Elite Gladiator unit

Rylar - Human arena warrior. (actually werewolf)
Rylar fights in the elite gladiator unit. He often makes fun
of Kandiel for being weak.


Nilipi - Arena warrior: black-skinned female humanoid with wings
This creature has a regal air about her and doesn't say much.
She fight in the elite gladiator unit.

Morn - Dwarven arena warrior
Morn is not a surface dwarf, but not much a talker either. He
hangs out with Tilum.

Raz - Troll arena warrior
Raz is quiet and meditative, but he also once beat up Bruise
in the ring. Raz hangs out with Stig.


Rugaki - Grimlock arena warrior
Not the most social of creatures, but then in this group who
is? Has started to teach Fredrick (Human Paladin) how to fight the unseen


Sil - Githzerai arena warrior
Never will you see a more high-strung humanoid. Sil fights
in the elite gladiator unit. Kandiel has decided to tease him
by showing nothing but affection for him.


Snig - Goblin arena warrior
Snig is really good with an axe.


Stig - Orcish arena warrior
Stig bears many scars on his arms from his tribe's rite of
passage. Stig hangs out with Raz.


Tilum - Gnome arena warrior
You won't ever miss this fellow enter a room as he wears
bright clothing and a foppish hat. Tilum hangs out with Morn.


Zanol - Githyanki arena warrior
This fellow doesn't say much and stays to himself.



Ok, so last time they found out that Luccia likes to perform experiements/torture slaves and other creatures. So in the arena they ended up fighting a gelantinous bear and a couple of gelatinous wolves, as well as a flesh golem stitched together from the parts of some of the gladiators they fought with in their first fight that died. But they also, found out that she had a blink dog held captive, so they figured out a way to sneak in and rescue him and set him free.

Now, what I need is some sort of interesting plot hooks I can introduce. Also, what sort of INTERESTING arena combat situations can I put them through?

Any help is appreciated.

Delgar