Well, our group DM is laid up at this time following major surgery, so I may step in for a few weeks as DM while he recovers. (What an inconsiderate guy – he has to go have surgery just when I am hopefully finding time to get back into gaming regularly!) Optimistically, the guys won’t suffer too much with me as the DM, as I am out of practice as both player and DM.
I wanted to run my ideas up the flagpole to see if anybody has any input / suggestions / warnings that I am a total idiot for even considering running this silly adventure. I am not that proud, so feel free to give me any sort of constructive criticism.
But, here is the background: The adventure takes place in Kalamar. The PCs grow up in a small town in the hills near a mountain range in Dodera. They are human and first level and they know each other. I believe it would be 7 players total, all male and I am sure their PCs will be male as well. I am going to allow up to one divine and one arcane spell caster. Dodera is allied with the Kalamaran Empire, and some outsiders may (rightly) say that the Duke of Dodera is a lackey of the Emperor. For the better part of a human generation, Dodera has tried to conquer neighboring Tharggy. The war started back when Kalamar and Dodera together invaded Tharggy. Tharggy survived that invasion and both armies were cut down to nearly their last men. In order to maintain a reasonable defense, the Tharggian army is now populated mostly with women. The Emperor has since left the conquest of Tharggy to the Duke of Dodera. (The Dukeship is a tenuous position, sort of like being a wife of Henry VIII… if you displease the Emperor or you lose a battle to Tharggy, you are either killed or replaced, or both)
The town the PCs grew up in is pretty quiet and not exactly with teeming wealth and adventurers. A small keep outside of town is staffed by a skeleton crew of soldiers as a reminder of times a generation ago when it was a staging ground for war on neighboring Tharggy. The war front has since moved on to more hospitable territory. It is now normally staffed with about 20 soldiers and 4 or 5 support staff. When the war was active in this area, it was staffed by a good 150 soldiers and about 75-80 support staff, with about 50 horses. In addition, there were four small watch towers that were a day’s journey closer to the mountains and were manned by an additional dozen men each, all of whom had horses. These towers are now abandoned.
I am going to give the PCs a little more background than that. But, essentially, the PCs have been given the "line" from local lords that Tharggy is an evil place: the amazon women there use men to breed, then they kill them; evil raiders from Tharggy steal men from Dodera in the night, breed with them, torture and then kill them, etc, etc. And, that the dwarves that live in the mountains (really refugees from the Emperor’s invasion of a dwarven stronghold in Kalamar...) are a particularly vile group of feral bandits who would sooner bury an axe in your chest than shake your hand. Other than that, the town has no problem handling the annual goblin raiding party that comes out of the mountains with the first thaw of springtime. The only time that got exciting was maybe half a dozen years back when a few orcs were in the raid as well and the men from the keep had to come to help out the militia.
However, the Duke of Dodera plans to start secretly using the keep as a staging ground to launch a surprise flank attack at the Tharggy army. This is unknown to the town’s folks, and the PCs, as the keep is a good day's journey outside the town, and they have been trying to keep this as quiet as possible (supplies are being carted in from several sources to not arouse suspicions, too. The soldiers will come later…)
However, the soldiers have been trying to scout a path through the mountains to enter into Tharggy in secret and have been ambushed by the dwarves, who seem to melt back into the mountain if the Duke's men march out in force.
The PCs will be approached by a rep of the Duke to scout out the dwarf headquarters so they (the soldiers) can launch a focused assault on the dwarves and clear the path through the mountains. This rep’s reasoning will be that since they know the region and his men are not exactly subtle, he wants to hire some locals that know the hills and mountains. And, he will sell the PCs on patriotism for their country, and that it would be good to rid the town of the threat of the dwarves. He will not mention that planned assault into Tharggy at all, or that he does not want to ‘waste’ any more valuable soldiers marching randomly through the mountains. The rep also secretly hopes to stir up the orcs in the mountains and drive them into Tharggy. A large group of rampaging humanoids will cause the Tharggians to have to split their defenses, making it a more even battle between Dodera and the larger Tharggian army. If the Doderans make a successful incursion at least part way into Tharggy and can hold their ground, the Duke’s hope is that Emperor Kabori will be pleased and send reinforcements to help them complete the conquest.
My idea was to have the party march at least a few days into the mountain range (it is a few weeks journey across into Tharggy) to be ambushed by a large group of orcs. The PCs are then saved by the “evil dwarves,” who give the PCs the choice of going with them or leaving. If the PCs go with the dwarves, they will hear their sad tale of woe and see how they are living in squalor, barely getting by. They just want to be left alone.
If the PCs are not swayed by that and go back into town to reveal the location of the hideout, the soldiers will find that the suspicious dwarves have moved on – but, that the soldiers just missed them and captured two of them who had acted as a rear guard. The rep of the Duke will come out, congratulate the PCs and take the dwarves back to where he is staying in town. If they come in to town to collect their rewards, they will hear the screams of the dwarves being tortured.
I am toying with the idea of having the rep of the Duke send along one soldier with the PCs to help them out, and to “keep an eye on them.”
But, I am also hoping to get the PCs to realize that the rep of the Duke is evil, as is the Duke. His plans are to conquer and enslave Tharggy and control both sides of the mountain range. Unbeknownst to all, the orcs in the mountains have been massing under the banner of a powerful black orc warlord, who has managed to keep all the humanoids in line so far. With several hundred orcs and an equal number of goblins, as well as some ogres, trolls and a few hill giants, the full Tharggian army would be hard pressed to stop this massive war band, especially if they know the Doderan army has started to march.
So, the plan for the PCs would be to stop the Duke's plans of stirring up the orcs and driving them into Tharggy, as well as warning the Tharggian army that the Duke is using the orcs to split the Tharggian defense forces. And, if the PCs think of stopping the orcs from heading into Tharggy, (i.e., by intercepting the orcs & goblins they bribed to stir up the orcs...) they face the possibility of the orcs swooping down from the mountains into Dodera and overrunning their home town. After all, that many orcs aren't going to be happy just staying in the mountains.
So, what am I missing? What can I add in to this adventure? What should I take out? If you were the PCs faced with a rag tag band of dwarves after hearing that the dwarves were evil for your whole life, how would you react if those evil dwarves just saved your life?
Thanks for any input
I wanted to run my ideas up the flagpole to see if anybody has any input / suggestions / warnings that I am a total idiot for even considering running this silly adventure. I am not that proud, so feel free to give me any sort of constructive criticism.
But, here is the background: The adventure takes place in Kalamar. The PCs grow up in a small town in the hills near a mountain range in Dodera. They are human and first level and they know each other. I believe it would be 7 players total, all male and I am sure their PCs will be male as well. I am going to allow up to one divine and one arcane spell caster. Dodera is allied with the Kalamaran Empire, and some outsiders may (rightly) say that the Duke of Dodera is a lackey of the Emperor. For the better part of a human generation, Dodera has tried to conquer neighboring Tharggy. The war started back when Kalamar and Dodera together invaded Tharggy. Tharggy survived that invasion and both armies were cut down to nearly their last men. In order to maintain a reasonable defense, the Tharggian army is now populated mostly with women. The Emperor has since left the conquest of Tharggy to the Duke of Dodera. (The Dukeship is a tenuous position, sort of like being a wife of Henry VIII… if you displease the Emperor or you lose a battle to Tharggy, you are either killed or replaced, or both)
The town the PCs grew up in is pretty quiet and not exactly with teeming wealth and adventurers. A small keep outside of town is staffed by a skeleton crew of soldiers as a reminder of times a generation ago when it was a staging ground for war on neighboring Tharggy. The war front has since moved on to more hospitable territory. It is now normally staffed with about 20 soldiers and 4 or 5 support staff. When the war was active in this area, it was staffed by a good 150 soldiers and about 75-80 support staff, with about 50 horses. In addition, there were four small watch towers that were a day’s journey closer to the mountains and were manned by an additional dozen men each, all of whom had horses. These towers are now abandoned.
I am going to give the PCs a little more background than that. But, essentially, the PCs have been given the "line" from local lords that Tharggy is an evil place: the amazon women there use men to breed, then they kill them; evil raiders from Tharggy steal men from Dodera in the night, breed with them, torture and then kill them, etc, etc. And, that the dwarves that live in the mountains (really refugees from the Emperor’s invasion of a dwarven stronghold in Kalamar...) are a particularly vile group of feral bandits who would sooner bury an axe in your chest than shake your hand. Other than that, the town has no problem handling the annual goblin raiding party that comes out of the mountains with the first thaw of springtime. The only time that got exciting was maybe half a dozen years back when a few orcs were in the raid as well and the men from the keep had to come to help out the militia.
However, the Duke of Dodera plans to start secretly using the keep as a staging ground to launch a surprise flank attack at the Tharggy army. This is unknown to the town’s folks, and the PCs, as the keep is a good day's journey outside the town, and they have been trying to keep this as quiet as possible (supplies are being carted in from several sources to not arouse suspicions, too. The soldiers will come later…)
However, the soldiers have been trying to scout a path through the mountains to enter into Tharggy in secret and have been ambushed by the dwarves, who seem to melt back into the mountain if the Duke's men march out in force.
The PCs will be approached by a rep of the Duke to scout out the dwarf headquarters so they (the soldiers) can launch a focused assault on the dwarves and clear the path through the mountains. This rep’s reasoning will be that since they know the region and his men are not exactly subtle, he wants to hire some locals that know the hills and mountains. And, he will sell the PCs on patriotism for their country, and that it would be good to rid the town of the threat of the dwarves. He will not mention that planned assault into Tharggy at all, or that he does not want to ‘waste’ any more valuable soldiers marching randomly through the mountains. The rep also secretly hopes to stir up the orcs in the mountains and drive them into Tharggy. A large group of rampaging humanoids will cause the Tharggians to have to split their defenses, making it a more even battle between Dodera and the larger Tharggian army. If the Doderans make a successful incursion at least part way into Tharggy and can hold their ground, the Duke’s hope is that Emperor Kabori will be pleased and send reinforcements to help them complete the conquest.
My idea was to have the party march at least a few days into the mountain range (it is a few weeks journey across into Tharggy) to be ambushed by a large group of orcs. The PCs are then saved by the “evil dwarves,” who give the PCs the choice of going with them or leaving. If the PCs go with the dwarves, they will hear their sad tale of woe and see how they are living in squalor, barely getting by. They just want to be left alone.
If the PCs are not swayed by that and go back into town to reveal the location of the hideout, the soldiers will find that the suspicious dwarves have moved on – but, that the soldiers just missed them and captured two of them who had acted as a rear guard. The rep of the Duke will come out, congratulate the PCs and take the dwarves back to where he is staying in town. If they come in to town to collect their rewards, they will hear the screams of the dwarves being tortured.
I am toying with the idea of having the rep of the Duke send along one soldier with the PCs to help them out, and to “keep an eye on them.”
But, I am also hoping to get the PCs to realize that the rep of the Duke is evil, as is the Duke. His plans are to conquer and enslave Tharggy and control both sides of the mountain range. Unbeknownst to all, the orcs in the mountains have been massing under the banner of a powerful black orc warlord, who has managed to keep all the humanoids in line so far. With several hundred orcs and an equal number of goblins, as well as some ogres, trolls and a few hill giants, the full Tharggian army would be hard pressed to stop this massive war band, especially if they know the Doderan army has started to march.
So, the plan for the PCs would be to stop the Duke's plans of stirring up the orcs and driving them into Tharggy, as well as warning the Tharggian army that the Duke is using the orcs to split the Tharggian defense forces. And, if the PCs think of stopping the orcs from heading into Tharggy, (i.e., by intercepting the orcs & goblins they bribed to stir up the orcs...) they face the possibility of the orcs swooping down from the mountains into Dodera and overrunning their home town. After all, that many orcs aren't going to be happy just staying in the mountains.
So, what am I missing? What can I add in to this adventure? What should I take out? If you were the PCs faced with a rag tag band of dwarves after hearing that the dwarves were evil for your whole life, how would you react if those evil dwarves just saved your life?
Thanks for any input
