Tar Markvar
First Post
I am about to start completely over with a new campaign, level 1 characters, etc. with my current gaming group. I was trying to come up with some interesting ideas to keep the early levels from being just a Fed-Ex dungeon crawl after another, but I want to keep a certain amount of the "traditional" feel in the game.
One of the ideas I came up with was a dungeon crawl in which the young characters, most likely level 1 or 2, are asked by a local diviner to help him with a problem. The diviner has magical devices set up in various lairs and tombs to keep an eye on the creatures therein, especially on really powerful creatures that the diviner and his companions put to sleep decades ago (think a focus item for a divination spell, so that the area around the item could be seen as if it were a familiar area... Almost like spy cameras). The problem is that one of the devices has ceased to return information, and the diviner needs someone to go in and see what's wrong. I figure the item was either destroyed, lost its charge, or was found by the creatures in the lair. Anyway, the PCs now have to go in, find the lair, explore, and either fix or replace the divination focus.... all without waking the powerful creature within.
I was thinking the creature would be a dragon or troll or something of decent level, where the PCs would fear waking it because if they awakened it, their deaths would be all but assured. The Diviner is convinced that the magics binding the creature are still intact, but there's no way to know for sure. There are of course other creatures in the lair, and the party would need to find a way to get past them without creating too much of a ruckus.
I liked the idea that they are going in to avoid the Big Bad, rather than to kill it. They could go in and get it when they're powerful enough, but not now. I'd like there to be some question as to whether the creature's even there or not, as far as they're concerned.
I guess I'm looking for overall advice on how to pull this off. How well do sneaky adventures work? What should the binding spell be (sleep, captured within a magical barrier, etc)? What's a good creature to use? I'm just feeling about for opinions, I suppose. Anything you guys have to add would be helpful.
Thanks!
One of the ideas I came up with was a dungeon crawl in which the young characters, most likely level 1 or 2, are asked by a local diviner to help him with a problem. The diviner has magical devices set up in various lairs and tombs to keep an eye on the creatures therein, especially on really powerful creatures that the diviner and his companions put to sleep decades ago (think a focus item for a divination spell, so that the area around the item could be seen as if it were a familiar area... Almost like spy cameras). The problem is that one of the devices has ceased to return information, and the diviner needs someone to go in and see what's wrong. I figure the item was either destroyed, lost its charge, or was found by the creatures in the lair. Anyway, the PCs now have to go in, find the lair, explore, and either fix or replace the divination focus.... all without waking the powerful creature within.
I was thinking the creature would be a dragon or troll or something of decent level, where the PCs would fear waking it because if they awakened it, their deaths would be all but assured. The Diviner is convinced that the magics binding the creature are still intact, but there's no way to know for sure. There are of course other creatures in the lair, and the party would need to find a way to get past them without creating too much of a ruckus.
I liked the idea that they are going in to avoid the Big Bad, rather than to kill it. They could go in and get it when they're powerful enough, but not now. I'd like there to be some question as to whether the creature's even there or not, as far as they're concerned.
I guess I'm looking for overall advice on how to pull this off. How well do sneaky adventures work? What should the binding spell be (sleep, captured within a magical barrier, etc)? What's a good creature to use? I'm just feeling about for opinions, I suppose. Anything you guys have to add would be helpful.
Thanks!
