First of all, excuses for the vague topic description, but I couldn't manage to convey the situation in that short of a title 
Anyway, my players are running a campaign, and one of the players is playing (thanks to my inexperience at the time) an out-of-system character (I play D&D3.5e character is from WoTd20, but for this post, the system is pretty much irrelevant), which nowadays works fine, but some final tweaks are to be done, which require three of her 'weaves' to be adapted into something a little more system-safe (making them less save-or-die).
I decided to handle this change in the campaign, which sounds like more fun than an out-of-campaign change. I plan to employ two dragons for this, who will 'help' her in exchange for a 'bond' with the party, so the dragons have better awareness of what's happening in the world. These dragons will start a ritual, for which the players will have to gather some ingredients (Where else would a dragon stash his valuables than in a ridiculously dangerous dungeon? And what self respecting dragon would fetch it himself?).
The ritual will change her magic slightly so she will no-longer irritate a major earth-god, who is trying to scratch the itch she is (and of course, his scratching is kind of dangerous). It'll also give her access to additional spells.
Thus far, it's all easy. But a lot further on, I have a massive battle planned, this battle involves an evil army, complete with a black dragon, and flying castle with magical protection, which needs to be taken down by the players. I plan to have the mentioned ritual to include a tattoo on the PC first mentioned, which can summon one of the two dragons BY ITSELF, basically, as soon as the Black Dragon appears, the tattoo will engage in auto-summoning, and summon the good Red Dragon, which will lay waste to the poor Black Dragon, freeing the PC's up for the castle.
However, as I've learned, such plots are risky. I plan on describing the dragon-battle in a few sentences, including the auto-summoning, to make it sound like something that's happening 'over there', but I'm still at risk for taking the focus off the players. However, in my campaign, this battle is supposed to be the turning point where the PC's go from nobody's to people pivotal in the victory of this battle. I don't want them to win that battle ALL by themselves however, there will be a few missions, for them, which will be somewhat important, but the real difference for them will be when they destroy that flying castle. That will be THEIR achievement. They will also receive some unspoken credit for making the dragon show up, even though they didn't do that themselves.
Now I'm asking for some advice. I plan to include the OTHER players in the dragon ritual too, they should have some small advantages because of that too. But I can't figure out what would be good.
Also, I while I still think the battle-scenario will work out, I do want some opinion from some other people on this. It does look a bit like 'railroading', but also as a way to show that the PC's are not the ONLY force to be reckoned with.
I'm very curious what you guys think about this...
Anyway, my players are running a campaign, and one of the players is playing (thanks to my inexperience at the time) an out-of-system character (I play D&D3.5e character is from WoTd20, but for this post, the system is pretty much irrelevant), which nowadays works fine, but some final tweaks are to be done, which require three of her 'weaves' to be adapted into something a little more system-safe (making them less save-or-die).
I decided to handle this change in the campaign, which sounds like more fun than an out-of-campaign change. I plan to employ two dragons for this, who will 'help' her in exchange for a 'bond' with the party, so the dragons have better awareness of what's happening in the world. These dragons will start a ritual, for which the players will have to gather some ingredients (Where else would a dragon stash his valuables than in a ridiculously dangerous dungeon? And what self respecting dragon would fetch it himself?).
The ritual will change her magic slightly so she will no-longer irritate a major earth-god, who is trying to scratch the itch she is (and of course, his scratching is kind of dangerous). It'll also give her access to additional spells.
Thus far, it's all easy. But a lot further on, I have a massive battle planned, this battle involves an evil army, complete with a black dragon, and flying castle with magical protection, which needs to be taken down by the players. I plan to have the mentioned ritual to include a tattoo on the PC first mentioned, which can summon one of the two dragons BY ITSELF, basically, as soon as the Black Dragon appears, the tattoo will engage in auto-summoning, and summon the good Red Dragon, which will lay waste to the poor Black Dragon, freeing the PC's up for the castle.
However, as I've learned, such plots are risky. I plan on describing the dragon-battle in a few sentences, including the auto-summoning, to make it sound like something that's happening 'over there', but I'm still at risk for taking the focus off the players. However, in my campaign, this battle is supposed to be the turning point where the PC's go from nobody's to people pivotal in the victory of this battle. I don't want them to win that battle ALL by themselves however, there will be a few missions, for them, which will be somewhat important, but the real difference for them will be when they destroy that flying castle. That will be THEIR achievement. They will also receive some unspoken credit for making the dragon show up, even though they didn't do that themselves.
Now I'm asking for some advice. I plan to include the OTHER players in the dragon ritual too, they should have some small advantages because of that too. But I can't figure out what would be good.
Also, I while I still think the battle-scenario will work out, I do want some opinion from some other people on this. It does look a bit like 'railroading', but also as a way to show that the PC's are not the ONLY force to be reckoned with.
I'm very curious what you guys think about this...
