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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6877377" data-attributes="member: 42582">[MENTION=6847232]Fiendish73[/MENTION]I am currently running a Greyhawk game (using Burning Wheel) which features the Wild Coast and Pomarj, but no Rod of 7 Parts.And I'm currently running a Rod of 7 Parts game (using 4e) but it's set in the default 4e cosmology/history, not GH.So I can't give exact advice for your situation, but I am familiar with some of the angles on it.The last time I ran a baronial banquet, it began with a social challenge (details <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?309950-Actual-play-my-first-quot-social-only-quot-session/page3&p=5650152&viewfull=1#post5650152" target="_blank">here</a>). The social challenge included having to confront a "secret" enemy - that is, the PCs (and their players) knew the NPC was their enemy, but the other important NPCs didn't, and the enemy NPC himself was a respected advisor to the baron. It also involved a mysterious connection to the past (via pictures of current family members who closely resembled an NPC the PCs had rescued when they travelled 100 years into the past).The players transitioned the social challenge into a fight with the advisor. And then the baron was visited by a catoblepas, who had appeared as a harbinger the year before (in 4e, at least, catoblepases are harbingers of death sent by the Raven Queen). And a group of Orcus cultists, also attracted by the catoblepas, chose the same moment to strike against the baron.As far as the Rod of 7 Parts is concerned, what has worked well in my game is events that highlight its legacy and foreshadow the consequences of it being reassembled - like an encounter with <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?342615-PCs-defeat-Miska-but-relinquish-the-Crystal-of-the-Ebon-Flame" target="_blank">Miska the Wolfspider</a>.My tentative suggestions for your situation would be to have a couple of goals for the PCs at the meeting, which can potentially come into conflict or at least cause them to make some choices where there is no obvious best option:* They can manoeuvre to acquire another piece of the Rod - maybe this is linked to something they already know about the rod, or about the past cult of the Earth Dragon; * They can outmanoeuvre a rival petty lord of the Wild Coast, or outsmart an enemy - but this has to be done cleverly so that they don't look like the aggressors/bad guys; * Maybe in the course of all this, or as a result of one or the other choice, some outside force disrupts the meeting - it is something connected to the Earth Dragon, either cultists trying to get the Rod, or some element of the past summoned by the Rod, or maybe even both.My main advice would be to preserve a degree of flexibility in your setup, and as you bring the different elements onto the stage, so that the players aren't forced to align with one particular group, or to make one particular choice, because anything else will result in them being wiped out or having no serious chance of holding onto the Rod. The interplay of factions and the possibility of different responses to the past and the future of the Rod are much more interesting when they can express the players own attitudes towards the situation, rather than being forced into the most expedient choice to avoid a TPK or losing the  Rod altogether.</blockquote>

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