RangerWickett
Legend
My next campaign is going to involve treasure hunts for ancient religious artifacts. Yes, I've been watching Indiana Jones lately. How do you do?
Using 4th edition rules, I'm hoping to start things off with a class action-packed opening -- minimal exposition, straight-forward objectives, and pure fun. I plan to have the PCs all be part of the same large "treasure hunt," in which two dozen or so professional tomb robbers are on a mission to get into a long-forbidden ruined city. That's the main goal of the first arc of the campaign. Though the PCs themselves are low-level, they'll get to be involved in some dangerous events because they'll have (disposable) allies.
For the first adventure, though, the focus is just going to be on collecting a single magic item.
The city of Yen-Ching, their destination, is haunted with evil winds, and so to protect themselves, the expedition needs to acquire a "wind generator." There was an old nation that developed these magical devices for their sailing ships, letting them travel regardless of the prevailing winds, and rumor is that the components necessary to make one still exist in one great coastal ruin that has yet to be thoroughly plundered.
The location looks like a gigantic cathedral built into a coastal cliff-side. The interior is large enough for a sailing ship to enter through the cathedral's doors, and there are various docks. Massive, partially-shattered stained glass windows let in multicolored light, and dozens of half-flooded chambers built into the cliff hide potential treasures.
We start slow and quiet, with the expedition rowing into the cathedral, between the sunken wrecks of old ships. They land on the docks, and whole place is quiet and eerie, the only sounds the distant lapping of waves and the mournful song of wind blowing through cracks in the ancient building. The leader of the expedition surveys the area, and points out an old ship that is mostly intact, which has a mounting for a wind generator, saying "you're looking for something that fits into that."
Then the leader sends out different groups to check different leads. The PCs all end up in one group, and they get sent on the crappiest lead -- a half-flooded, slime encrusted tunnel that leads to . . . some place. (Still a work in progress.)
I need to figure out what is there, and what challenges will stand in the way, akin to what Indy faces going into the cave in the first movie, with enough stuff to occupy a party of PCs. I want a broken bridge to factor in somehow for thematic reasons. Ultimately the PCs deal with some mild puzzle in order to find a working wind machine. However, when they try to take it, the dull moan of wind through the cathedral comes to a sudden, ominous stop, and things start to shake. The cathedral begins to collapse, and the PCs have to rush out, probably setting off every trap they avoided on the way in (yes, I am completely ripping off Raiders of the Lost Ark here).
Once they get out of the tunnel, though, they see that most of the rest of the expedition has already gotten the hell out of there, with only a few people (NPCs I want the party to care about) waiting in hopes that the PCs come out in time. Then, as the whole cathedral begins to fall in on itself, they all have to escape on the boat, using the wind generator to get them out in time. Preferably some group of local monsters or primitive goblin tribesmen attack them as they're fleeing, jumping onto the boat and trying to take the wind generator away, so we have a moving fight while stuff falls down all around them.
Finally, the PCs finish off the baddies and get out of the cathedral docks just as the whole place comes crashing down into the sea behind them. Then, for a comical ending, their boat begins to slowly sink, sort of dampening their victory.
What do you think? What sorts of foes and challenges should I put in? How long do you think it should be? Certainly short enough to fit everything into one session, preferably less than that so I can have some actual plot development afterward. Anything you think I should look out for?
Using 4th edition rules, I'm hoping to start things off with a class action-packed opening -- minimal exposition, straight-forward objectives, and pure fun. I plan to have the PCs all be part of the same large "treasure hunt," in which two dozen or so professional tomb robbers are on a mission to get into a long-forbidden ruined city. That's the main goal of the first arc of the campaign. Though the PCs themselves are low-level, they'll get to be involved in some dangerous events because they'll have (disposable) allies.
For the first adventure, though, the focus is just going to be on collecting a single magic item.
The city of Yen-Ching, their destination, is haunted with evil winds, and so to protect themselves, the expedition needs to acquire a "wind generator." There was an old nation that developed these magical devices for their sailing ships, letting them travel regardless of the prevailing winds, and rumor is that the components necessary to make one still exist in one great coastal ruin that has yet to be thoroughly plundered.
The location looks like a gigantic cathedral built into a coastal cliff-side. The interior is large enough for a sailing ship to enter through the cathedral's doors, and there are various docks. Massive, partially-shattered stained glass windows let in multicolored light, and dozens of half-flooded chambers built into the cliff hide potential treasures.
We start slow and quiet, with the expedition rowing into the cathedral, between the sunken wrecks of old ships. They land on the docks, and whole place is quiet and eerie, the only sounds the distant lapping of waves and the mournful song of wind blowing through cracks in the ancient building. The leader of the expedition surveys the area, and points out an old ship that is mostly intact, which has a mounting for a wind generator, saying "you're looking for something that fits into that."
Then the leader sends out different groups to check different leads. The PCs all end up in one group, and they get sent on the crappiest lead -- a half-flooded, slime encrusted tunnel that leads to . . . some place. (Still a work in progress.)
I need to figure out what is there, and what challenges will stand in the way, akin to what Indy faces going into the cave in the first movie, with enough stuff to occupy a party of PCs. I want a broken bridge to factor in somehow for thematic reasons. Ultimately the PCs deal with some mild puzzle in order to find a working wind machine. However, when they try to take it, the dull moan of wind through the cathedral comes to a sudden, ominous stop, and things start to shake. The cathedral begins to collapse, and the PCs have to rush out, probably setting off every trap they avoided on the way in (yes, I am completely ripping off Raiders of the Lost Ark here).
Once they get out of the tunnel, though, they see that most of the rest of the expedition has already gotten the hell out of there, with only a few people (NPCs I want the party to care about) waiting in hopes that the PCs come out in time. Then, as the whole cathedral begins to fall in on itself, they all have to escape on the boat, using the wind generator to get them out in time. Preferably some group of local monsters or primitive goblin tribesmen attack them as they're fleeing, jumping onto the boat and trying to take the wind generator away, so we have a moving fight while stuff falls down all around them.
Finally, the PCs finish off the baddies and get out of the cathedral docks just as the whole place comes crashing down into the sea behind them. Then, for a comical ending, their boat begins to slowly sink, sort of dampening their victory.
What do you think? What sorts of foes and challenges should I put in? How long do you think it should be? Certainly short enough to fit everything into one session, preferably less than that so I can have some actual plot development afterward. Anything you think I should look out for?
But thanks for the suggestions, Wik and others.
