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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sword of Spirit" data-source="post: 6607128" data-attributes="member: 6677017">Thanks everyone.I'm sticking pretty closely to the giant (and dragon) lore in the monster manual, so giants and dragons have been enemies for a long time, and the giant's ordning means they can and will work together as needed to fight their ancient foes.The greatest difficulty isn't getting them to fight, but making sure both side commit an army to the field and are so dedicated that they are unlikely to flee when things look bad. In other words, I want these armies destroying each other. If it ends up that the "victorious side" loses 80% of their forces, and the losers are reduced to a handful that scatter at the end, that would be ideal. That's what needs the really powerful motivations. Dragons are more into guerilla warfare, I would expect, and aren't likely to stay and die just over land.What I'm currently thinking is that there is some sort of territorial aspect, but it is vitally important to both sides that the other side not be able to hold the land. I don't want there to be an alternative win condition to destroying the other army, so I can't just have a "capture the McGuffin" thing going on. I might potentially have a "destroy the McGuffin" as long as it really hard to destroy and ends up with the same effect of the two armies having a massive clash.I'm thinking perhaps some sort of obelisk or other immobile monument in some area that has powers somewhat similar to an orb of dragonkind, though it might affect more than just dragons. Whoever maintains control over it has a decisive advantage in any conflicts. I'm not sure what exactly it should do, and I need to have some sort of idea before I start the adventure.I'm thinking that perhaps there was a sort of truce that had been going on for a while. The giants had territory, the dragons had territory. Neither side had violated the other's territory, but small-scale fighting in the neutral zone was perfectly fine and didn't break the truce. If the king ended up in some situation where the dragons killed him in a way that the giants would find deeply offensive and in violation of the truce, then they would feel a desire for revenge. But in order to commit massive forces to an invasion there needs to be a reason to take and maintain the land. If the dragons were seeking to control the immobile artifact that is a good way to cause them to root in place and have the fight.In that situation I'd need to know what the artifact does, where it is, who discovered it first, how the king died, why it was a truce violation, etc. I'm not sure of what those answers should be, and any additional advice is appreciated.The king was a good guy, and would be unlikely to break the truce without good reason. But I want the situation to be such that neither side is blameless (there are good and evil creatures on both sides). The players are going to be playing the lords of the giants, and I'm going for an impression of a savage setting where that ain't no good guys, there ain't no bad guys, they are just fighting for their side because it's us vs. them.I have a scene in mind at the beginning where there is an ancient silver dragon who has been friends with the sister of the slain storm giant king. I imagine him coming for a visit, along the lines of, "So you are committed to this course then? Well, I suppose it must be. Farewell my friend," and he flies off (she probably let's him go).</blockquote>

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