If any of my "Aul for One" players are reading this... don't?
Hey friends, long story short (but not actually) I'm coming up to a big middle/turning-point in the campaign I've been running for a year. Basically the BBEG will finally reveal themselves, much of their master plan will come to light, and soem character arcs will take the players out of the city they've had as a home base for a bit. I'm just not sure how to achieve what I want for the BBEG in a narratively satisfying way for the players. Here's the gist:
Setting Context: This is a world in the midst of a magical industrial revolution. Arcanotech is competing with things like electricity for creating the modern way of life. Breakthroughs in arcanotech have allowed people to become "learned magic users" (wizards and bards) putting them at odds with "old magic users" (clerics, druids, sorcerers, etc...). The world was on the brink of war once, but has since formed a tense peace.
The BBEG needs three things to get what they want:
For the world to be at war (manipulated from behind the scenes)
For the Treaty of Contrition to be destroyed (all you need to know is that it's an artifact signed with the gods as witnesses, and is protected by POWERFUL abjuration magic)
To have a portal to the Faewild that they can escape through once the gods seek to restart the world (believing this iteration to have failed). They will then be able to mold the next world to their will, in the hopes of creating a utopia that will end the cycle of world-resetting violence and tragedy.
The tricky bit is the destruction of the treaty, how will our BBEG do this? Some ideas:
They need the four MacGuffins to break the enchantment. This gives the party a potential fetch quest. However I (and my players) want a big climactic boss battle and that means that they'll either fail to stop the MacGuffins from being stolen, or they'll just get taken back anyway and that feels unsatisfying for the players, to constantly be failing.
Maybe there are 8 MacGuffins, and the BBEG only needs 4? That way even if they win some they can lose others?
This is a very wealthy, very behind the scenes mastermind BBEG, maybe the device they need is being constructed atop the church tower (where I imagine the final battle might take place at this time), under the guise of some other project. This way once the party has foiled a bunch of other plans they can realize "oh no the tower thing was the doomsday device to destroy the treaty all along!"
This raises the problem of "well what are we supposed to do to impede the BBEG's efforts in the meantime?". The BBEG has 5 powerful henchmen, maybe the party could be tasked with tracking them down and taking them out one by one? Maybe in order to get more information about what the major plan is? Clues to where to go next?
Maybe the treaty can be destroyed at any time (they could have acquired everything they need beforehand), but for the BBEG's plan to work they need to destroy is when the world is at the peak of its war/violence? This way the thrust is then less about stopping the destruction of the treaty and more trying to fix the broken world
This does run into the problem from the first bullet point where, the party will have to fail in some way for the final battle to happen (which I know they want), and also what then becomes the goal for the party?
This is sort of where I'm up to. I know this is a huge stream of consciousness, but this writer's block is starting to keep me up at night, and I would love some guidance from this brilliant group and your collective wisdom. Any advice would be highly appreciated, as this story has been my pet project for some time and I want to do it justice.
Rather than designing you game as a linear path, design it as a flow chart with bullet points.
Certain things are up to character decisions. Do they want to go route a presented to them or route b?
Some things are based on character success or failure. These are like you describe.
Certain things MUST happen. These are to ensure your plot moves on and that you have a complete story.
The writing should be based around the decisions (or consequences) of your players. The rest is connective tissue just to proceed to the next fixed point or decision on the path.
What you have is a decision fork. Write what happens if they succeed down as down one path, and if they fail as if down a second path.
all you need to know is that it's an artifact signed with the gods as witnesses, and is protected by POWERFUL abjuration magic
They need the four MacGuffins to break the enchantment
What if... some of the gods who signed the Treaty of Contrition can be convinced to change their minds? Especially any Chaotic deities... The MacGuffins could be the gods themselves!
That's the thing, I'm fine with there being forks, but I can't figure out what the forks should be yet. Is it to stop a MacGuffin theft? Deflate political tension? Convince the gods that the world isn't truly broken? I fully plan for them to tell me where they want to go next so I can write the next sessions around that, but am not sure what I should give them to incentivize going anywhere (besides character arcs).
The gods aren't super active in this world (they were merely witnesses to the signing and that took the most powerful clerics in the land to do), BUT perhaps desecrating a major church to each god would get their attention again? Turn their eyes to the world, and once they were all paying attention again, destroying the treaty as a final straw?
The gods aren't super active in this world (they were merely witnesses to the signing and that took the most powerful clerics in the land to do), BUT perhaps desecrating a major church to each god would get their attention again? Turn their eyes to the world, and once they were all paying attention again, destroying the treaty as a final straw?
You shouldn't be figuring this out...lol. you should get your players to this point, and just before you end session, give them time to consider it and think about the next move. Tell them you, as a DM, need them to come up with an idea so.you can plan the next session after that.
The gods aren't super active in this world (they were merely witnesses to the signing and that took the most powerful clerics in the land to do), BUT perhaps desecrating a major church to each god would get their attention again? Turn their eyes to the world, and once they were all paying attention again, destroying the treaty as a final straw?
You shouldn't be figuring this out...lol. you should get your players to this point, and just before you end session, give them time to consider it and think about the next move. Tell them you, as a DM, need them to come up with an idea so.you can plan the next session after that.
That's not really what I'm looking for here, but thank you!
The gods aren't super active in this world (they were merely witnesses to the signing and that took the most powerful clerics in the land to do), BUT perhaps desecrating a major church to each god would get their attention again? Turn their eyes to the world, and once they were all paying attention again, destroying the treaty as a final straw?
You shouldn't be figuring this out...lol. you should get your players to this point, and just before you end session, give them time to consider it and think about the next move. Tell them you, as a DM, need them to come up with an idea so.you can plan the next session after that.
That's not really what I'm looking for here, but thank you!
Ok, well, reviewing this again, I say the evil dude isn't stupid. He's going to have his minions attempt to do all these things.
He's going to have someone go fetch all three item...
Wait! Weren't there 4? Well, the PC's only learned about the four after the minion already got away with the first one. But he left clues to the second.
The party meets them at the second location and this time they get the second item! (Hopefully). The third is hidden in the church and the evil dude's plan is to blow up the church and extract it, while making everyone believe it's a terrorist attack from nation b, and thus dissolving the treaty! Oh noes!
The third item gets collected but the church explodes!
The 4th item is a distance away. As they travel they get to learn of the two sides starting to go to war with each other again, and it's time for sad. The 4th item is in a sad place. Lots of ice or sand.
Along the way, without their notice, someone steals items 2 and 3 from them. SUPER IMPORTANT TO GET ITEM 4 NOW!
Once they get to place 4 they find out it was a setup! A distraction to build the evil weapon on at another location!
But they still have a few clues as to where this weapon is and all is going go to go down.
Time.to head off to the final battle!
( Insert final battle here )
And there is much fanfare and a free potato breakfast.
One other option is for the BBEG to just succeed at this stuff off-screen. The treaty breaks and the world goes to war. Now the campaign is about stopping the war before the gods reboot, and then chasing down the BBEG so he doesn't come back to mess things up again.
A lot of media rely on the BBEG's plan succeeding because it creates maximum drama. The worst has happened, and all seems lost. Bringing the world back from that is typically more satisfying than stopping the plan before it happens.
One other option is for the BBEG to just succeed at this stuff off-screen. The treaty breaks and the world goes to war. Now the campaign is about stopping the war before the gods reboot, and then chasing down the BBEG so he doesn't come back to mess things up again.
A lot of media rely on the BBEG's plan succeeding because it creates maximum drama. The worst has happened, and all seems lost. Bringing the world back from that is typically more satisfying than stopping the plan before it happens.
Oooooh now THIS is an angle I hadn't considered. This might be an avenue I need to explore. Thank you!
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If any of my "Aul for One" players are reading this... don't?
Hey friends, long story short (but not actually) I'm coming up to a big middle/turning-point in the campaign I've been running for a year. Basically the BBEG will finally reveal themselves, much of their master plan will come to light, and soem character arcs will take the players out of the city they've had as a home base for a bit. I'm just not sure how to achieve what I want for the BBEG in a narratively satisfying way for the players. Here's the gist:
The tricky bit is the destruction of the treaty, how will our BBEG do this? Some ideas:
This is sort of where I'm up to. I know this is a huge stream of consciousness, but this writer's block is starting to keep me up at night, and I would love some guidance from this brilliant group and your collective wisdom. Any advice would be highly appreciated, as this story has been my pet project for some time and I want to do it justice.
You don't have a problem. You have a fork.
Rather than designing you game as a linear path, design it as a flow chart with bullet points.
Certain things are up to character decisions. Do they want to go route a presented to them or route b?
Some things are based on character success or failure. These are like you describe.
Certain things MUST happen. These are to ensure your plot moves on and that you have a complete story.
The writing should be based around the decisions (or consequences) of your players. The rest is connective tissue just to proceed to the next fixed point or decision on the path.
What you have is a decision fork. Write what happens if they succeed down as down one path, and if they fail as if down a second path.
What if... some of the gods who signed the Treaty of Contrition can be convinced to change their minds? Especially any Chaotic deities... The MacGuffins could be the gods themselves!
That's the thing, I'm fine with there being forks, but I can't figure out what the forks should be yet. Is it to stop a MacGuffin theft? Deflate political tension? Convince the gods that the world isn't truly broken? I fully plan for them to tell me where they want to go next so I can write the next sessions around that, but am not sure what I should give them to incentivize going anywhere (besides character arcs).
The gods aren't super active in this world (they were merely witnesses to the signing and that took the most powerful clerics in the land to do), BUT perhaps desecrating a major church to each god would get their attention again? Turn their eyes to the world, and once they were all paying attention again, destroying the treaty as a final straw?
You shouldn't be figuring this out...lol. you should get your players to this point, and just before you end session, give them time to consider it and think about the next move. Tell them you, as a DM, need them to come up with an idea so.you can plan the next session after that.
That's not really what I'm looking for here, but thank you!
Ok, well, reviewing this again, I say the evil dude isn't stupid. He's going to have his minions attempt to do all these things.
He's going to have someone go fetch all three item...
Wait! Weren't there 4? Well, the PC's only learned about the four after the minion already got away with the first one. But he left clues to the second.
The party meets them at the second location and this time they get the second item! (Hopefully). The third is hidden in the church and the evil dude's plan is to blow up the church and extract it, while making everyone believe it's a terrorist attack from nation b, and thus dissolving the treaty! Oh noes!
The third item gets collected but the church explodes!
The 4th item is a distance away. As they travel they get to learn of the two sides starting to go to war with each other again, and it's time for sad. The 4th item is in a sad place. Lots of ice or sand.
Along the way, without their notice, someone steals items 2 and 3 from them. SUPER IMPORTANT TO GET ITEM 4 NOW!
Once they get to place 4 they find out it was a setup! A distraction to build the evil weapon on at another location!
But they still have a few clues as to where this weapon is and all is going go to go down.
Time.to head off to the final battle!
( Insert final battle here )
And there is much fanfare and a free potato breakfast.
This is definitely a helpful step in the right direction, thank you!
No problem. Now off to construct some eldritch horror for the homebrew contest!
One other option is for the BBEG to just succeed at this stuff off-screen. The treaty breaks and the world goes to war. Now the campaign is about stopping the war before the gods reboot, and then chasing down the BBEG so he doesn't come back to mess things up again.
A lot of media rely on the BBEG's plan succeeding because it creates maximum drama. The worst has happened, and all seems lost. Bringing the world back from that is typically more satisfying than stopping the plan before it happens.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Oooooh now THIS is an angle I hadn't considered. This might be an avenue I need to explore. Thank you!