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Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5866684" data-attributes="member: 22424">Sounds good.One immediate question: how will this impact on PC elves and/or eladrin? You're almost certainly going to want them to be somehow immune to this brainwashing, but should probably give some thought as to how. (And it may be as simple as saying that their time amongst other races leaves them immune, of course.)It's not railroading if it's the entire premise of the campaign. But I agree with pming - talk to your players, and make sure they buy in to the concept. In particular, make sure they're onboard with the whole "communication is cut off" angle, so they don't waste character building resources on powers they then can't use.Okay, before you start tying yourself in knots, perform a quick thought experiment: imagine there were no monsters in the world at all. Imagine all your antagonists had to be human. So, how do you go about having both peaceful and combat encounters if all you have to work with are humans?The answer, of course, is to have different factions amongst the humans, and to have some humans who are friendly, some who are hostile, and indeed some who appear friend when they are in fact foe, and vice versa.Now, replace "humans" in the above with "fey" and you have the answer on how to do it.In fact, with the fey it's probably even easier - traditionally, they've been split into the Seelie and Unseelie courts, with some overlap between the two. Just play up on that aspect, and you're pretty much there!That's a good thought.Now, this is an area where your "brainwashing" concept loses some of its appeal. What if, instead of the fey being brainwashed, many (most?) of them are choosing to side with the Elvenking? And then, what if there are equally a good many fey who aren't allied to the Elvenking (not to mention a lot of borderline cases who could be swayed either way)? (And, in fact, there's no reason that the Elvenking shouldn't have brainwashed some of the fey...)That way, if the PCs just start killing fey on sight, not only are they wasting their energies fighting potential allies, but they're also hardening the opposition to what they're doing, by driving the neutrals into the arms of the other camp.Indeed, you should perhaps track this across the campaign - keep a note of the alliances they seek with the fey, their acts of kindness, any brainwashed fey they rescue... and also any unprovoked attacks, allies destroyed, atrocities committed. Then, in the climactic last adventure, have the PCs be able to call on those alliances they have established. And so, the difficulty of that last adventure will depend directly on their choices throughout the adventure.Make them the Elvenking's teenaged daughters (in attitude, if not in actual age). So, they may be his lieutenants, but they're not necessarily entirely focused, they may act out or rebel, they might have their heads turned by various 'distractions' (send in the hottie Bard!), and so on.And, yeah, don't make any of the NPCs Eeeeevil. Sure, the Elvenking wants to overturn nature, but not because he just gets off on destroying the world - he is merely an over-powered kid who wants things his way and is simply incapable of understanding the damage he's doing to everyone else. The Elvenking's daughters may be his lieutenants, but perhaps (as Quickleaf suggests) they each have an aspect of nature that they care passionately about. Perhaps by presenting the daughters with evidence of what they're actually doing, and the damage they're causing, some or all of them can be swayed.Oh, and of course it would be a good idea to have the Daughters be rivals of one another, whether for their father's affections, for their own agendas, or for any other reason. Thus, clever PCs might well find it more useful to turn them against each other through intrigue, rather than immediately putting them to the sword - divide and conquer.(Plus, it might well be a good idea to introduce one or more of the Daughters as NPCs before bringing in the Elvenking, and revealing the relationship. Introduce (at least one of) the Daughters as a sympathetic NPC, possibly as an ally, and potentially even as a love interest, and suddenly the PCs are less likely to just put them to the sword, especially if the Daughter doesn't change with the revelations to come - avoid the temptation to have a "sudden but inevitable betrayal".)Basically, it sounds like you're looking for a fairly roleplay-heavy campaign, at least where a lot of the fey and especially the Daughters are concerned. So, go with that - in the introductory part of the campaign, while the PCs are still uncovering the real threat, make sure you have lots of roleplay involving a lot of the fey and especially the Daughters.I hope some of that helps.</blockquote>

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