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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 6687348" data-attributes="member: 54629">I'd never even heard of it before. Looks interesting.Hmm. That's more or less the opposite of what I had in mind, but that's actually kinda cool. I'll have to think about it.That was part of the idea. There's a portal in the inn's main fireplace that leads to the Elemental Plane of Fire, and one in the bottom of the inn's well that leads to the Elemental Plane of Water. There'll be a portal tapestry like the one in the hunting lodge in HotDQ, and a Narnia-like portal at the back of a wardrobe, and so on.Also, since this going to be an episodic campaign, I'll mostly be glossing over travel anyway (although I do have a few adventures that involve encountering something on the road).That's the thing. I'm not sure if I want their patron to be sending them on adventures or not. I don't want them to feel like her pawns. I suppose as long as I present the hooks as adventure leads rather than specific jobs, that might help. Since she runs an inn, she probably picks up on all sorts of rumors and leads from the people who pass through.This is the sort of portal I'd like to avoid. I don't want to run a Diablo-style game.Yeah, I like the stakes involved with this. I'm not too concerned about the last one, because I'm putting a heavy emphasis on being a team for this campaign.Yeah, I'm not sure I like the sound of this one.I initially considered doing something like the latter but decided against it because I sort of feel like that it's been done enough that it wouldn't be that big of a surprise. I wanted to do something slightly different. Thus the patron is genuine in her motivations but still has a secret - the fact that she is really a dragon. And she can still "use" the PCs to help her collect stuff for her hoard. Metallic dragons like to secret away evil artifacts so evildoers can't get their hands on them. Silver dragons in particular like to collect relics from ancient humanoid civilizations.I had initially planned on having the dragon be like a noble who is building a museum or something, but when I was doing some background research on Red Larch, I read in Volo's Guide to the North that the Swinging Sword Inn is full of nooks and crannies and secret passages, and there's rumors of portals in the inn or nearby. That gave me the idea of making it a whole portal network, and having the dragon be its caretaker.The reasons I went with a silver dragon:a) They're the friendliest of metallic dragons and enjoy spending time with humanoidsb) They have a fairly adventurer-friendly moral code (do good deeds, don't cause unnecessary harm to the undeserving, and oppose those who openly do evil and harm the innocent)c) They like to collect stuff that adventurers often come across in dungeonsAnd having her be a dragon allows me to give her an ulterior motive that isn't particularly sinister but isn't purely altruistic either.EDIT: The trouble is, that by making her an innkeeper instead of a noble, having her be a collector of rare artifacts as well seems incongruous. Perhaps I should have kept her as a noble. But perhaps the incongruity of it could be a clue - this innkeeper is not what she appears to be.</blockquote>

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