I plan on runing The Red Hand of Doom, as a lead in, i wanted to use against the cult of chaos/against the cult of the reptile god, but replace the bad guys (spirit Naga and such) with a coven of Hags. Now i am looking for some inspiration, why a coven would work with a Hobgoblin army to bring back Tiamat.
In addition for materiel wealth, high esteem, etc from the hobgoblins and possibly Tiamat, who says the hags are intending to help the hobgoblins at all? They could simply be manipulating this army of well trained humanoids to do whatever they want in exchange for "service." When the time comes to summon Tiamat, the hags could just teleport away and use the materials for something completely different. Or, they will just sell them to someone else for even more profit. But in terms of personal motivation, maybe Tiamat did a favor for this specific coven of hags, and they wish to return that help and trust. Covens often go back very long (as do hags), so it wouldn't be out of the question. They wouldn't necessarily be freeing Tiamat out of worship. It would be more like bailing a friend out of jail.
I have done this recently, for a group of 4 players -- 3 of which are new to DnD and tabletop RPGs. Here is how I did it and approached it. Hopefully some of this is useful to you and will help with your various villain motivations.
I didn't like the motivation as written for the Red Hand, so while I left some of the notable villains around, I introduced infernal influence as the guiding force.
I placed Orlane along the road between Brindol and Drellin's Ferry (I think I replaced Nimon's Gap). I started the party with a version of Matt Colville's Delian Tomb in the hills just above the town. The party had heard rumours of treasure there. In the Tomb, I put some connections to Vraath's Keep in the Witchwood, so that the group may have reason/direction to go there later. The hobgoblins hadn't figured out the tomb riddle but they had a captive (a disguised hobgoblin iron shadow) -- in my case the hobgoblins got alerted to the partys presence due to bad stealth rolls.
Orlane can be tricky as the players have to come up with some motivations. I had them witness goblins taking a few villagers at night. I also used the hobgoblin Iron Shadow as an emissary of the Red Hand... negotiating with the Naga (in your case it could be with the hags). In the temple, I added some references to a long ago war against the giants in the Witchwood. I also changed one of the captives to be a wizard from Brindol who was going to deliver information to Drellin's Ferry.
If memory serves the party was level 4 once they finally hit the road to Drellin's Ferry. This version of Orlane helped show them a bit about the vale as well as expose them to Brindol and hint at the Red Hand.
Hope that helps some!
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
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I plan on runing The Red Hand of Doom, as a lead in, i wanted to use against the cult of chaos/against the cult of the reptile god, but replace the bad guys (spirit Naga and such) with a coven of Hags. Now i am looking for some inspiration, why a coven would work with a Hobgoblin army to bring back Tiamat.
Any suggestions?
Attack: [roll]3d20dl2+6[/roll] Damage: [roll](if([roll:-1:critical], =0, 1d8, 2{1d8}.expand()))+4[/roll] Sneakattack: [roll](if([roll:-2:critical], =0, 2d6, 2{2d6}.expand()))[/roll]In addition for materiel wealth, high esteem, etc from the hobgoblins and possibly Tiamat, who says the hags are intending to help the hobgoblins at all? They could simply be manipulating this army of well trained humanoids to do whatever they want in exchange for "service." When the time comes to summon Tiamat, the hags could just teleport away and use the materials for something completely different. Or, they will just sell them to someone else for even more profit. But in terms of personal motivation, maybe Tiamat did a favor for this specific coven of hags, and they wish to return that help and trust. Covens often go back very long (as do hags), so it wouldn't be out of the question. They wouldn't necessarily be freeing Tiamat out of worship. It would be more like bailing a friend out of jail.
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I have done this recently, for a group of 4 players -- 3 of which are new to DnD and tabletop RPGs. Here is how I did it and approached it. Hopefully some of this is useful to you and will help with your various villain motivations.
I didn't like the motivation as written for the Red Hand, so while I left some of the notable villains around, I introduced infernal influence as the guiding force.
I placed Orlane along the road between Brindol and Drellin's Ferry (I think I replaced Nimon's Gap). I started the party with a version of Matt Colville's Delian Tomb in the hills just above the town. The party had heard rumours of treasure there. In the Tomb, I put some connections to Vraath's Keep in the Witchwood, so that the group may have reason/direction to go there later. The hobgoblins hadn't figured out the tomb riddle but they had a captive (a disguised hobgoblin iron shadow) -- in my case the hobgoblins got alerted to the partys presence due to bad stealth rolls.
Orlane can be tricky as the players have to come up with some motivations. I had them witness goblins taking a few villagers at night. I also used the hobgoblin Iron Shadow as an emissary of the Red Hand... negotiating with the Naga (in your case it could be with the hags). In the temple, I added some references to a long ago war against the giants in the Witchwood. I also changed one of the captives to be a wizard from Brindol who was going to deliver information to Drellin's Ferry.
If memory serves the party was level 4 once they finally hit the road to Drellin's Ferry. This version of Orlane helped show them a bit about the vale as well as expose them to Brindol and hint at the Red Hand.
Hope that helps some!
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"