Death_Jester
06-07-2002, 03:23 AM
Hello Everyone,
I am currently running a Campaign based in the Birthright world with the 3ed conversion by Travis Doom. Thanks Travis if you are reading this. I am also using the Evil supplement from AEG for the players. I would like for them to be evil but only in the aspect that they will be able to play the politics game with the best of them. Not just stupid generic evil running around destroying villages for no reason and the like but able to really use their power without any restrictions. It is a fine line I know but that is what I am hoping for and they already know that is the kind of game I want to run.
I know this is redundant here but just in case here is a little bit of history about the Birthright setting. Over 2 thousand years ago the gods came to the mortal plane to fight the Evil god Azari and his legion of Orogs, Goblins, Elves, and a race of humans called the Vos. The gods died on that battlefield and the creatures all around them absorbed the power of the gods themselves. Now two thousand years later and those families that inherited the blood of the gods are now rulers and great mages able to shape the fate of nations. Only people with the blood can rule because they have a special connection to the land.
After the "god war" the champions of the individual gods ascended to the heavens to become the new gods except for a character called the Gorgon he stayed on the mortal plane. He was the greatest champion of the Dark god Azari and half brother to Haelyn and Roele. Haelyn the new god of Honor and valor inspired his brother to build an empire. Roele was Haelyn's full brother and had absorbed much of the same power that Haelyn had but not enough to ascend with the new gods. With the direction of his Powerful brother Roele conquered the whole continent of Cerillia (the setting) but his descendants took the power for granted. While trying to defeat the Gorgon the last of Roele's family was killed and the empire was left without an emperor and it fell apart.
The Portion of the game world that I am running the game in is Brechtur. Specifically the games will be set in the Northern Basin state of Wierech. When the Anuireans started to conquer the lands of Cerillia the Brechts were one of the first nations to be targeted. The Anuireans held the lands until the death of the last of Roele's family line. Once he died the empire separated and the nation states reasserted their independence. Without a strong leader the empire of Roele fell and became a feuding group of lesser nation states.
The Brechts while under the hand of the empire had become a prosperous collective of merchant kingdoms and with time have started to approach a truly capitalistic government. So when the empire fell they were already the monetary power of the continent. Brechts are unfortunately a divisive group of people and did not unite once the empire fell. Today the Brecht lands are a collection of independent kingdoms again without a single ruler to guide them. Hopefully this is where the players come into the scene. They will be the ones ruthless and powerful enough to unify the people under one rule for the betterment of all. (The lawful evil motto if ever I heard one.)
Many years later a minor merchant family raised a son that had the talent for magic and he became a powerful necromancer. This Crypt Lord however grew up with a father that was bitter about what the Anuireans conquest and blamed the family's misfortunes on them. He blithely ignored his own shortcomings and instilled in his son a fierce pride bordering on fanaticism of being Brecht and an even deeper hatred of the Anuireans.
About 12 years ago the Crypt Lord Was the Court Mage to the Countess of Talinie but his plans were mostly about revenge against the Anuireans. He got the idea that what sweeter irony it would be to use the discarded children of the nobility to unify his people and lead them to a new golden age. So after a decade of having others study the "habits' of the young noble men and the places that they frequented. The spies watched the women that they frequented as well and when the inevitable came to pass he was there to collect the childern and spirit them away.
The reason the Crypt Lord doesn't do this himself is because he has come to the attention of the powerful political leaders of Anuirean nations and the big bad guy of the campaign is very interested in the doings of this particular person. The Gorgon is watching his movements. So he has to work though middlemen.
With all that set up here is the basic plot as it stands now. The characters are the bastard children of blooded Anuirean Nobility kidnapped by a powerful Brecht Crypt Lord and now Lich. Their mothers have disappeared and the fathers don't seem to worried about what happened to their bastard children, well perhaps one or two actually do but they don't really count because no one knows where they are. The Crypt Lord is very powerful and very thorough about cleaning up trails. This character isn't really that involved with the campaign but he will much later in the game.
The goal is for the characters to become the new leaders of a small nation and eventually form a new Brecht league. The campaign is so far very local politics orientated. There are some ongoing mysteries to add some spice to the game. There is a cult active in the campaign and it looks like one of the characters mother is involved in killing off a friend of the PC (The mother is actually a Succubus and one of her brothers is half fiend). The truth is very different though. I have the new Call of Cthuthlu book and will be using some of that for the some games.
Right now I am running the characters though their adolescence. They started off the equivalent of being 12 years old and having to deal with the small town and getting to know the NPCs of the area. Each game session advances them a year in age until they are 18 years old. The small village for them is the major campaign setting but I want to get them into the court in order to start the real campaign. Unfortunatly they are from Common families and poor backgrounds. Their alignments are mostly goods and neutrals now but soon the village where they all grew up is going to be attacked by Gnolls and Destroyed. With all their loved ones either killed or taken as slaves to die torturous deaths in the Gnolls dens. I hope that will drive them over the edge to the dark side. They, hopefully, will come to the understanding that there is no safe or secure place that the weak can hide in and try to become the strongest that they can. In that strength they will become calloused to the suffering of others. Then their path to the dark side will be complete or so I hope. The Players already know that I want to run an Evil campaign and have planned for that kind of thing so that is undstood and most are all pumped about being the bad guys.
The reason that the village will be destroyed so easily is the Count that rules the kingdom has centered the main force of his army on quelling a rebellious noble family. The count has sent a group of adventures into the village to keep it safe but has raised the taxes in order to pay them so the people of the village are torn between liking these people and hating the sorce of the raised taxes. The Adventurers will become a major thorn in the side of the Gnolls and bandits in the area and when they are away the Gnolls will attack the village en mass to show that anyone that helps the Adventures will suffer the same fate. Hopefully this will make the player hate this group of mostly good character. I want to set up the rivals early in the campaign.
The old ruler of the lands died after the first game session and one of the three major noble families was blackmailed into supporting the old Baronets Lieutenant to become the new ruler of the area. Now in the two years that he has been on the throne he has stripped the paladin knight and his group of elite warriors of their law-holdings and installed his vassals as the law holders in the providence that the players are living in.
I need something that will bring them to the attention of the court. Then once in court how to involve them in the plots of the nobles. Like I said I want them to encounter the court and gain positions of power in the court and be in place to play the political game and gain more power. "Power enough to take the throne and rule absolutely." (Sorry I went off on a power vacation there I am better now.)
The players know this is going to be an Evil campaign and are working toward this goal with me. They are very excited as a matter of fact to play this new twist on the old system.
My big question is how do I make intrigue based plots for evil characters to thrive in. Have any of you wanted to run an evil campaign and what adventures have you used or thought about using?
The characters are:
A young mage in training that wants to be a specialist in constructs.
A young and charismatic bard she is looking to capture the hearts and minds of the Brecht people.
A monk that has an otherworldly background as yet undetermined by me but I was thinking that he would possible be a Major Devil in disguise. He has even hidden the truth from himself in order to keep the secret safe. He could be a possible new vessel for the essence of Azari. But I would like to hear your suggestions.
A Dwarven thief that has become a deputy to the local law. He was once a look out for a group of thieves but later he crossed them and caused one of their deaths. He is poor as dirt but he has great clan history and the heir to a treasure but first he will have to get it.
Thanks in advance for any help.
(edit note: I had to clean this up a bit. Proof reading helps
:-D)
I am currently running a Campaign based in the Birthright world with the 3ed conversion by Travis Doom. Thanks Travis if you are reading this. I am also using the Evil supplement from AEG for the players. I would like for them to be evil but only in the aspect that they will be able to play the politics game with the best of them. Not just stupid generic evil running around destroying villages for no reason and the like but able to really use their power without any restrictions. It is a fine line I know but that is what I am hoping for and they already know that is the kind of game I want to run.
I know this is redundant here but just in case here is a little bit of history about the Birthright setting. Over 2 thousand years ago the gods came to the mortal plane to fight the Evil god Azari and his legion of Orogs, Goblins, Elves, and a race of humans called the Vos. The gods died on that battlefield and the creatures all around them absorbed the power of the gods themselves. Now two thousand years later and those families that inherited the blood of the gods are now rulers and great mages able to shape the fate of nations. Only people with the blood can rule because they have a special connection to the land.
After the "god war" the champions of the individual gods ascended to the heavens to become the new gods except for a character called the Gorgon he stayed on the mortal plane. He was the greatest champion of the Dark god Azari and half brother to Haelyn and Roele. Haelyn the new god of Honor and valor inspired his brother to build an empire. Roele was Haelyn's full brother and had absorbed much of the same power that Haelyn had but not enough to ascend with the new gods. With the direction of his Powerful brother Roele conquered the whole continent of Cerillia (the setting) but his descendants took the power for granted. While trying to defeat the Gorgon the last of Roele's family was killed and the empire was left without an emperor and it fell apart.
The Portion of the game world that I am running the game in is Brechtur. Specifically the games will be set in the Northern Basin state of Wierech. When the Anuireans started to conquer the lands of Cerillia the Brechts were one of the first nations to be targeted. The Anuireans held the lands until the death of the last of Roele's family line. Once he died the empire separated and the nation states reasserted their independence. Without a strong leader the empire of Roele fell and became a feuding group of lesser nation states.
The Brechts while under the hand of the empire had become a prosperous collective of merchant kingdoms and with time have started to approach a truly capitalistic government. So when the empire fell they were already the monetary power of the continent. Brechts are unfortunately a divisive group of people and did not unite once the empire fell. Today the Brecht lands are a collection of independent kingdoms again without a single ruler to guide them. Hopefully this is where the players come into the scene. They will be the ones ruthless and powerful enough to unify the people under one rule for the betterment of all. (The lawful evil motto if ever I heard one.)
Many years later a minor merchant family raised a son that had the talent for magic and he became a powerful necromancer. This Crypt Lord however grew up with a father that was bitter about what the Anuireans conquest and blamed the family's misfortunes on them. He blithely ignored his own shortcomings and instilled in his son a fierce pride bordering on fanaticism of being Brecht and an even deeper hatred of the Anuireans.
About 12 years ago the Crypt Lord Was the Court Mage to the Countess of Talinie but his plans were mostly about revenge against the Anuireans. He got the idea that what sweeter irony it would be to use the discarded children of the nobility to unify his people and lead them to a new golden age. So after a decade of having others study the "habits' of the young noble men and the places that they frequented. The spies watched the women that they frequented as well and when the inevitable came to pass he was there to collect the childern and spirit them away.
The reason the Crypt Lord doesn't do this himself is because he has come to the attention of the powerful political leaders of Anuirean nations and the big bad guy of the campaign is very interested in the doings of this particular person. The Gorgon is watching his movements. So he has to work though middlemen.
With all that set up here is the basic plot as it stands now. The characters are the bastard children of blooded Anuirean Nobility kidnapped by a powerful Brecht Crypt Lord and now Lich. Their mothers have disappeared and the fathers don't seem to worried about what happened to their bastard children, well perhaps one or two actually do but they don't really count because no one knows where they are. The Crypt Lord is very powerful and very thorough about cleaning up trails. This character isn't really that involved with the campaign but he will much later in the game.
The goal is for the characters to become the new leaders of a small nation and eventually form a new Brecht league. The campaign is so far very local politics orientated. There are some ongoing mysteries to add some spice to the game. There is a cult active in the campaign and it looks like one of the characters mother is involved in killing off a friend of the PC (The mother is actually a Succubus and one of her brothers is half fiend). The truth is very different though. I have the new Call of Cthuthlu book and will be using some of that for the some games.
Right now I am running the characters though their adolescence. They started off the equivalent of being 12 years old and having to deal with the small town and getting to know the NPCs of the area. Each game session advances them a year in age until they are 18 years old. The small village for them is the major campaign setting but I want to get them into the court in order to start the real campaign. Unfortunatly they are from Common families and poor backgrounds. Their alignments are mostly goods and neutrals now but soon the village where they all grew up is going to be attacked by Gnolls and Destroyed. With all their loved ones either killed or taken as slaves to die torturous deaths in the Gnolls dens. I hope that will drive them over the edge to the dark side. They, hopefully, will come to the understanding that there is no safe or secure place that the weak can hide in and try to become the strongest that they can. In that strength they will become calloused to the suffering of others. Then their path to the dark side will be complete or so I hope. The Players already know that I want to run an Evil campaign and have planned for that kind of thing so that is undstood and most are all pumped about being the bad guys.
The reason that the village will be destroyed so easily is the Count that rules the kingdom has centered the main force of his army on quelling a rebellious noble family. The count has sent a group of adventures into the village to keep it safe but has raised the taxes in order to pay them so the people of the village are torn between liking these people and hating the sorce of the raised taxes. The Adventurers will become a major thorn in the side of the Gnolls and bandits in the area and when they are away the Gnolls will attack the village en mass to show that anyone that helps the Adventures will suffer the same fate. Hopefully this will make the player hate this group of mostly good character. I want to set up the rivals early in the campaign.
The old ruler of the lands died after the first game session and one of the three major noble families was blackmailed into supporting the old Baronets Lieutenant to become the new ruler of the area. Now in the two years that he has been on the throne he has stripped the paladin knight and his group of elite warriors of their law-holdings and installed his vassals as the law holders in the providence that the players are living in.
I need something that will bring them to the attention of the court. Then once in court how to involve them in the plots of the nobles. Like I said I want them to encounter the court and gain positions of power in the court and be in place to play the political game and gain more power. "Power enough to take the throne and rule absolutely." (Sorry I went off on a power vacation there I am better now.)
The players know this is going to be an Evil campaign and are working toward this goal with me. They are very excited as a matter of fact to play this new twist on the old system.
My big question is how do I make intrigue based plots for evil characters to thrive in. Have any of you wanted to run an evil campaign and what adventures have you used or thought about using?
The characters are:
A young mage in training that wants to be a specialist in constructs.
A young and charismatic bard she is looking to capture the hearts and minds of the Brecht people.
A monk that has an otherworldly background as yet undetermined by me but I was thinking that he would possible be a Major Devil in disguise. He has even hidden the truth from himself in order to keep the secret safe. He could be a possible new vessel for the essence of Azari. But I would like to hear your suggestions.
A Dwarven thief that has become a deputy to the local law. He was once a look out for a group of thieves but later he crossed them and caused one of their deaths. He is poor as dirt but he has great clan history and the heir to a treasure but first he will have to get it.
Thanks in advance for any help.
(edit note: I had to clean this up a bit. Proof reading helps
:-D)