Aerenwe as a starting kingdom

[Stephen White]

Hi all.

I'm finally designing my first Birthright campaign and would appreciate
any help/warnings with the following:

I want to start my PCs as guild/temple leaders, 1st heir to the throne
of Aerenwe, and the 1st heir of a group of elves that live in the
Erebannien (who is also an ambassador to Aerenwe's court). The players
are banned from playing regents.

(*Does anyone have any more info on Aerenwe than that in the Ruins of
Empire book?*)

I plan to start the campaign with an historic peace/alliance treaty
between the elves of the Erebannien and Aerenwe's regent being signed.
As 1st heirs & guild & temple heads, I intend for the PCs to roleplay
the exact contents of the treaty before it is signed.

At the signing, both regents will be killed (unless the PCs are *very*
careful), thus plunging the PC first heir of each group into regency at
1st level. Hopefully a total surprise to the players, the reactions
should be realistic.

The campaign will thus progress as they try to find out who assassinated
the regents. I haven't decided a reason for the attack yet, but I'm
toying with the assassins planting clues that it is someone who wants
the treaty signed, and is using the righteous anger from both nations to
strengthen the treaty - the "We'll show them. No sneaky assassin will
detroy the peace." mentality.

The assassination also give a good reason for the PCs to co-operate with
each other.

This is the brief outline. If any of you experienced GMers out there can
give me any advice or refinements, or point out any errors in my plan,
it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Stephen.

[breye@earthlink.net]

Stephen White wrote:

> I want to start my PCs as guild/temple leaders, 1st heir to the throne
> of Aerenwe, and the 1st heir of a group of elves that live in the
> Erebannien (who is also an ambassador to Aerenwe's court). The players
> are banned from playing regents.
>
> I plan to start the campaign with an historic peace/alliance treaty
> between the elves of the Erebannien and Aerenwe's regent being signed.
> As 1st heirs & guild & temple heads, I intend for the PCs to roleplay
> the exact contents of the treaty before it is signed.
>
> At the signing, both regents will be killed (unless the PCs are *very*
> careful), thus plunging the PC first heir of each group into regency at
> 1st level. Hopefully a total surprise to the players, the reactions
> should be realistic.
>
> The assassination also give a good reason for the PCs to co-operate with
> each other.



In order to build the sense of suprise, run an adventure or two for
the players first, some perhaps solo, others with parts of the group.
Some reasons for this:
1. You want a sense of suprise when their parent/beneficiary dies.
To do this they need to become comfortable in their role as a
non-regent.
2. Give them a little meat (a first level character is very vulnerable)
3. Its a great time to introduce them to difficult moral dilemas, and
some of the important NPC in the area without having to deal with
them as a regent.
4. Gives you some time to work on the plot line of the campaign by
listening to the theories of the players (players are always a great
source of ideas for plots....)
5. If the PCs have met each other before hand, it could give them more
of a reason to trust each other when the assassination goes off, rather
than blaming each other (or each others faction/beneficiary/parent)
6. This also gives you a chance to plant some seeds for future plotlines
once the assassination plot line is completed.

Hope this helps.

Bryan

[Lawrence Ruiz]

My $0.02.
I would use the Serpent as the assassins as a long term rival. Perhaps the
Serpent wants to extend his power into Anuire and during the chaos he can
plant 0 lvl guilds in each domain.
- -----Original Message-----
From: Stephen White
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Friday, September 04, 1998 5:15 AM
Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Aerenwe as a starting kingdom


>
>Hi all.
>
>I'm finally designing my first Birthright campaign and would appreciate
>any help/warnings with the following:
>
>I want to start my PCs as guild/temple leaders, 1st heir to the throne
>of Aerenwe, and the 1st heir of a group of elves that live in the
>Erebannien (who is also an ambassador to Aerenwe's court). The players
>are banned from playing regents.
>
>(*Does anyone have any more info on Aerenwe than that in the Ruins of
>Empire book?*)
>
>I plan to start the campaign with an historic peace/alliance treaty
>between the elves of the Erebannien and Aerenwe's regent being signed.
>As 1st heirs & guild & temple heads, I intend for the PCs to roleplay
>the exact contents of the treaty before it is signed.
>
>At the signing, both regents will be killed (unless the PCs are *very*
>careful), thus plunging the PC first heir of each group into regency at
>1st level. Hopefully a total surprise to the players, the reactions
>should be realistic.
>
>The campaign will thus progress as they try to find out who assassinated
>the regents. I haven't decided a reason for the attack yet, but I'm
>toying with the assassins planting clues that it is someone who wants
>the treaty signed, and is using the righteous anger from both nations to
>strengthen the treaty - the "We'll show them. No sneaky assassin will
>detroy the peace." mentality.
>
>The assassination also give a good reason for the PCs to co-operate with
>each other.
>
>This is the brief outline. If any of you experienced GMers out there can
>give me any advice or refinements, or point out any errors in my plan,
>it would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thanks.
>
> Stephen.
>************************************************** *************************
>>'unsubscribe birthright' as the body of the message.