So a bit of backstory: in my world there was a war about two and a half centuries ago, the entire continent was taken over by humans. In the chaos of the war a great library was destroyed and buried.
Now: 277 years later, the players are hired to clear out the newly rediscovered ruins by a mages guild. But what they don’t know, is that the library is long empty of relics and knowledge, magically warped monsters roam the once scholarly halls of the uncollapsed remainder of the library and when the PCs follow the advice of a disembodied voice they end up in an ancient magical machine that blasts them into the past right before the battle of the library and before the ground swallowed it. Now they must race against time to find a way to stop the libraries inevitably fate and save their new friends. So what do you think? I only have the plot, what monsters inhabit the old library, who are the wizard librarians (on the continent before humans there were only the other races)? Who is leading the siege of the library? I thought that maybe the only survivor would be a Gauth (the disembodied voice) ironically who sends the adventurers back to save the library. What should go in the library, it was a wizards place of learning as well a place of records, magic items?
First question is, can they change the past? If the library survived, what would the effect of its existence be? If all its spells and staff remained available for visitors, the future would be very different - but would it be for the better? You have key decisions to make on that before you even start to worry about who was attacking and why, and who was defending and why they lost. You can even arrange for one of the players to see a vision of the future and find the attackers wanted to capture and use the library and the dire consequences if they did-at which point the players may find themselves to be the ones who caused the destruction. Lots to think about before deciding on the monsters.....
Having a Gauth be the disembodied voice doesn't make sense. Gauths lack both telepathy and invisibility, and are also kind of ********. A better creature to lead them could be a Nothic. It's a lot more thematic, as Nothics are essentially fallen mages, and we know that some nothics can have telepathy, as the nothic in LMoP does. I did some searching, and apparently they all had telepathy at one point, but it was switched out in favor of undercommon. Even though nothics don't quite remember what they were, they have a few memories/impulses remaining, so it could have remembered the library and this machine.
If you've seen War for the Planet of the Apes, I imagine him acting something like Bad Ape. If you haven't seen it, just look him up, you'll probably understand.
What if the PCs don't follow the disembodied voice? I know I wouldn't. I understand you want them to make that choice, but you need to either 1. Be prepared if they don't. 2. Have a back up plan to get them to the time portal. 3. Start the campaign after they followed the voice. 4. tell them out of character they kind of need to follow or there's no campaign.
I want to echo Xalthu’s advice. Writing a good story is a lot different than writing a good game. You need to write only what happens regardless of character involvement, and what will happen if characters set off certain triggers. For example, if a rival explorer group is searching the ruins at the same time, you plan what path they take, and in how many hours they’ll reach the time portal if no one delays them. This happens independent of your “stars.” You also plan that if the party trips the alarm spell in an area, the rival party doubles back to attack.
As to all your questions: draw your map, envision each room, and write down what you fill each with. Monsters will come to you. Just look up what your gut tells you. “This room had a potted plant growing in the corner, and magic warped this room, so a plant monster. Look up plant monsters, and make adjustments where needed. Who is leading the siege? A military guy. Maybe a knight, or Veteran. More will come as you’re ready to use it.
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So a bit of backstory: in my world there was a war about two and a half centuries ago, the entire continent was taken over by humans. In the chaos of the war a great library was destroyed and buried.
Now: 277 years later, the players are hired to clear out the newly rediscovered ruins by a mages guild. But what they don’t know, is that the library is long empty of relics and knowledge, magically warped monsters roam the once scholarly halls of the uncollapsed remainder of the library and when the PCs follow the advice of a disembodied voice they end up in an ancient magical machine that blasts them into the past right before the battle of the library and before the ground swallowed it. Now they must race against time to find a way to stop the libraries inevitably fate and save their new friends. So what do you think? I only have the plot, what monsters inhabit the old library, who are the wizard librarians (on the continent before humans there were only the other races)? Who is leading the siege of the library? I thought that maybe the only survivor would be a Gauth (the disembodied voice) ironically who sends the adventurers back to save the library. What should go in the library, it was a wizards place of learning as well a place of records, magic items?
First question is, can they change the past? If the library survived, what would the effect of its existence be? If all its spells and staff remained available for visitors, the future would be very different - but would it be for the better? You have key decisions to make on that before you even start to worry about who was attacking and why, and who was defending and why they lost. You can even arrange for one of the players to see a vision of the future and find the attackers wanted to capture and use the library and the dire consequences if they did-at which point the players may find themselves to be the ones who caused the destruction. Lots to think about before deciding on the monsters.....
Having a Gauth be the disembodied voice doesn't make sense. Gauths lack both telepathy and invisibility, and are also kind of ********. A better creature to lead them could be a Nothic. It's a lot more thematic, as Nothics are essentially fallen mages, and we know that some nothics can have telepathy, as the nothic in LMoP does. I did some searching, and apparently they all had telepathy at one point, but it was switched out in favor of undercommon. Even though nothics don't quite remember what they were, they have a few memories/impulses remaining, so it could have remembered the library and this machine.
If you've seen War for the Planet of the Apes, I imagine him acting something like Bad Ape. If you haven't seen it, just look him up, you'll probably understand.
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
What if the PCs don't follow the disembodied voice? I know I wouldn't. I understand you want them to make that choice, but you need to either 1. Be prepared if they don't. 2. Have a back up plan to get them to the time portal. 3. Start the campaign after they followed the voice. 4. tell them out of character they kind of need to follow or there's no campaign.
I want to echo Xalthu’s advice. Writing a good story is a lot different than writing a good game. You need to write only what happens regardless of character involvement, and what will happen if characters set off certain triggers. For example, if a rival explorer group is searching the ruins at the same time, you plan what path they take, and in how many hours they’ll reach the time portal if no one delays them. This happens independent of your “stars.” You also plan that if the party trips the alarm spell in an area, the rival party doubles back to attack.
As to all your questions: draw your map, envision each room, and write down what you fill each with. Monsters will come to you. Just look up what your gut tells you. “This room had a potted plant growing in the corner, and magic warped this room, so a plant monster. Look up plant monsters, and make adjustments where needed. Who is leading the siege? A military guy. Maybe a knight, or Veteran. More will come as you’re ready to use it.