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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imagicka" data-source="post: 1743878" data-attributes="member: 4621">I might be too late...but...Greetings...  Well, what do the players know about these four ancestral adventurers?  What were they looking for?  Why were they looking for it?  I think these are important questions, and should be revealed to the players as the story develops.   Perhaps first let them think that they are looking for a mighty weapon, that the task seemed simple enough that to maximize their search, the 4 heroes  went to four different possible locations.    Later, the players realize that this mighty weapon was wielded by a great and legendary warrior.    Now, as for separate pieces of an item put together.  Well, I tend only to do this when dealing with 'epic' adventures.  Because the outcome of the four separt adventures to get all the parts (or three parts and the adventure to get to the fourth location) rests solely on one final act/task.  One big major climax.  Now I only like to do things like this in 'world threatening situations', evil lich is about to blow up the world kinda stuff.  Here, I would make the adventures more about 3-4 separate and related items.    Thus, here are my ideas:  The mighty weapon wielded by a legendary hero was/is cursed.  Whenever stories talk about the weapon, or the hero it always talks about the weapon he wielded, and the curse on the weapon.  That others couldn't touch the weapon, that they would go insane, or that they would loose their souls, or that the weapon would slay the holder.    Make the bard of the party think that it is paramount that they find the information about the 4 heroes, and what they were looking for, and why they were doing it.  That if they don't learn this information, that their ignorance could kill them, and/or make them fail.  The stories and legends about the heroes and legendary hero could be gained from villages along the way to the various locals where you want the players to go.  "Once, a hero came through our village and slayed an ogre who had killed three children.  He was on a journey to Evermoors, we think.  Then he went north the next day."  -- Next village named 'Segunda Aldea', the players find out that the hero who slayed the ogre in that village to the south said to a child in the town he was on his way to the High Forest NEAR Evermoors, to look for a magical item that would help him and his friends control powerful magicks.  -- Why do the people in Segunda Aldea remember about this hero so well? Well, because that child grew up to become a famous local bard, and wrote it all in a diary, which we have saved in the pub/town hall.   Little things like this can happen all along the way, highlighting the adventure routes of the four heroes.  Along each trail they can learn about what each hero was doing, and why they were doing it.   The items that are looking for, first is the cursed weapon.  The only person who can wield is the legendary hero.  So...the only person who can wield it is dead.  Second item, is a scabbord for the weapon.  Without the scabbord, the weapon will attempt to call/summon any nearby monster.  Anyone who wields the weapon, it will try to possess them.  So, getting a scabbord/weapon sheath becomes important for carrying this weapon around unless you want to fight monsters almost every single day.  Third item is some sort of compass/key to help find the floating city.  The fourth item is your horn which will summon a hero from the dead.  But this horn must be blown where the hero fell or was buried.  This location happens to be in the lost floating city, hence, they need the compass key.  I've never liked pre-made campaigns myself much, unless I totally rewrote them to fit what I needed in my campaign.  Which usually meant throwing out a lot of stuff, putting in new stuff, and ultimately thinking *why did I do this in the first place when I could have just made something from scratch*.  Having the players split-up to do different tasks at the same time can be tricky, not to mention, your attention will have to be divided amongst the players.  Matthew's adventure/story...then Mark's adventure/story.  It can become very tricky to juggle, and bore the other players while they are waiting for their storyline to continue.   On the other hand, having separte storylines/adventures at the height of the story/climax can be an excellent form of tension.   Now, if you want to have an Orc Horde being used by someone else, who are throwing road-blocks and obsticles in the way of the party.  Obviously trying to stop them from getting their items.  Well, you could make it seem like all of the possible bad-guys are to blame.  First time that the orcs are defeated they find a couple of gold coins on them that are clearly drow-made.  Next time, when the orcs attack, they have duergar weapons.  Make them keep guessing who could be behind this.  Ultimately, it could be your evil shaman who has been working with the drow and the duergar and others to put these road-blocks in the player's way.    I love the whole tangible-item idea.  However this is only good for one item. I'd save it for another adventure.</blockquote>

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