So my players want to start up a new Campaign as Semi-Bad guys and I love the world of Eberron, it conveniently has a train. lol
So I think I have a general idea of the campaign but was curious if anyone had some filler content that might go great with this idea.
So the idea goes like this, They players start out the campaign, not quite to the point where they can rob a train but instead need to acquire some horses and a nice settlement after this a few dull quests they will be informed that the lighting rail will be coming thru soon with a huge hull of gold from [Name of NPC]. They are going to attempt to hit this hull, depending on how they roll they either make off with it all or just a small portion.
However the NPC they just robbed isn't going to be happy and is going to place a hit on their head. Form here the story should develop depending on how the player reacts. Doing nothing means they will eventually be found and ran out of their camp, striking again will make it so their chances of being found are increased or they can move to lower their chances.
The problem is, I am not quite sure what to do after they rob their first train? I am not sure where the story should go. Any ideas?
Well, first, perhaps wait for their reaction, because that will obviously have a huge result on the future of the campaign. However, perhaps they can contract underground work. Do a little bit of stuff like in Shadowrun. Hit their hire's rival corporation, damaging goods or upsetting magic. Or sneak in and steal information and loot. I suggest playing some of the new Shadowrun games (Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall, Hong Kong) for inspiration because your players seem to be a magictech equivalent of a shadowrun group. Or you can go for Black Hat Western inspiration.
Give them enough money from the train heist to do something significant with it, then sit back and see what that thing is. Then you can have the world react to that.
DMing an evil campaign is going to be slightly different. In most stories the action is driven by tje antagonist, who the heroes have to react to. Your players are sort of flipping the script, so you'll wanna make sure they have a clear goal in mind.
Yeah this was kinda my problem planning it out. Because I normally have an antagonist that has goals. that the players can or cannot interact with.
This is kinda just going to be me mostly winging it each session after the first. I like the idea of giving them enough money to do something significant and see what they come up with. That could be interesting.
Well, the traditional train robbery story involves the sheriff rounding up a posse afterwards and scouring the hills for the robbers. Probably the all-time champ is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They rob a train and easily escape the clutches of bumbling local law enforcement. Then, overconfident, they rob another train. This time, the railroad has sent along a supernaturally determined group of killers to follow them to the ends of the earth and they make a daring escape and flee to Bolivia. That kind of thing could easily be run on Eberron. The players escape to Xendarik, or whatever it's called, and maybe transition into a more traditional treasure-hunter role.
Brother, I think you should start with the train robbery. Start right there. Start your fighter kicking in the door to the passenger car and your face handling the crowd. Get them rolling from the start, as plan stuff comes up ask the players what they did to prepare for this moment. How did you plan to escape? Oh an NPC has some horses in this upcoming copse of woods. So you need to get off the train there? Ask for a roll to complicate that horse drop off. Maybe some skill challenges, a quick encounter but this shouldn't be combat heavy, unless that's what your group wants.
This could be really damned cool. I would model some of how I would run it off of other systems that are better at this kind of thing, like Blades in the Dark, this could be way cooler than you meet in a tavern. Once they escape the train and are on their horses with the loot ask the rogue, "Who did you just rob?" and then turn to your magic user, "He's not going to be happy about it, how do you plan to get away with it." There's nothing wrong with letting the PC's create their own hooks and whatever they create they're going to be way more into and gung ho towards than anything we as GM's can come up with on our own. Let it be organic and just work towards building that tension.
You could have a the gold being guarded by a low level House member of Kundarak and they botch their protections so when the players burst in they are caught off guard embarrassing them. Then you could have them become the players lead antagonist as they try to reclaim their honor. Maybe they let slip about another gold shipment to entice the players that leads them into a trap. That could be maybe at a ware house instead of on a train, and the rumor could just be picked up by the players in general rumor collecting.
If they get caught in the trap then maybe you could have them end up getting jailed and they have to orchestrate a jail break, or if they fail at the jail break maybe have some higher level evil NPC get them released and then they owe them.
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So my players want to start up a new Campaign as Semi-Bad guys and I love the world of Eberron, it conveniently has a train. lol
So I think I have a general idea of the campaign but was curious if anyone had some filler content that might go great with this idea.
So the idea goes like this, They players start out the campaign, not quite to the point where they can rob a train but instead need to acquire some horses and a nice settlement after this a few dull quests they will be informed that the lighting rail will be coming thru soon with a huge hull of gold from [Name of NPC]. They are going to attempt to hit this hull, depending on how they roll they either make off with it all or just a small portion.
However the NPC they just robbed isn't going to be happy and is going to place a hit on their head. Form here the story should develop depending on how the player reacts. Doing nothing means they will eventually be found and ran out of their camp, striking again will make it so their chances of being found are increased or they can move to lower their chances.
The problem is, I am not quite sure what to do after they rob their first train? I am not sure where the story should go. Any ideas?
Well, first, perhaps wait for their reaction, because that will obviously have a huge result on the future of the campaign. However, perhaps they can contract underground work. Do a little bit of stuff like in Shadowrun. Hit their hire's rival corporation, damaging goods or upsetting magic. Or sneak in and steal information and loot. I suggest playing some of the new Shadowrun games (Shadowrun Returns, Dragonfall, Hong Kong) for inspiration because your players seem to be a magictech equivalent of a shadowrun group. Or you can go for Black Hat Western inspiration.
Give them enough money from the train heist to do something significant with it, then sit back and see what that thing is. Then you can have the world react to that.
DMing an evil campaign is going to be slightly different. In most stories the action is driven by tje antagonist, who the heroes have to react to. Your players are sort of flipping the script, so you'll wanna make sure they have a clear goal in mind.
Yeah this was kinda my problem planning it out. Because I normally have an antagonist that has goals. that the players can or cannot interact with.
This is kinda just going to be me mostly winging it each session after the first. I like the idea of giving them enough money to do something significant and see what they come up with. That could be interesting.
And you might even just tell them that verbatim. Like, "you're bad guys, so I want you to come up with a bad guy goal/plot/ whatever."
But yeah, either way it'll be an exercise in improvisation for you to run. Might be a fun learning experience!
Well, the traditional train robbery story involves the sheriff rounding up a posse afterwards and scouring the hills for the robbers. Probably the all-time champ is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. They rob a train and easily escape the clutches of bumbling local law enforcement. Then, overconfident, they rob another train. This time, the railroad has sent along a supernaturally determined group of killers to follow them to the ends of the earth and they make a daring escape and flee to Bolivia. That kind of thing could easily be run on Eberron. The players escape to Xendarik, or whatever it's called, and maybe transition into a more traditional treasure-hunter role.
Brother, I think you should start with the train robbery. Start right there. Start your fighter kicking in the door to the passenger car and your face handling the crowd. Get them rolling from the start, as plan stuff comes up ask the players what they did to prepare for this moment. How did you plan to escape? Oh an NPC has some horses in this upcoming copse of woods. So you need to get off the train there? Ask for a roll to complicate that horse drop off. Maybe some skill challenges, a quick encounter but this shouldn't be combat heavy, unless that's what your group wants.
This could be really damned cool. I would model some of how I would run it off of other systems that are better at this kind of thing, like Blades in the Dark, this could be way cooler than you meet in a tavern. Once they escape the train and are on their horses with the loot ask the rogue, "Who did you just rob?" and then turn to your magic user, "He's not going to be happy about it, how do you plan to get away with it." There's nothing wrong with letting the PC's create their own hooks and whatever they create they're going to be way more into and gung ho towards than anything we as GM's can come up with on our own. Let it be organic and just work towards building that tension.
You could have a the gold being guarded by a low level House member of Kundarak and they botch their protections so when the players burst in they are caught off guard embarrassing them. Then you could have them become the players lead antagonist as they try to reclaim their honor. Maybe they let slip about another gold shipment to entice the players that leads them into a trap. That could be maybe at a ware house instead of on a train, and the rumor could just be picked up by the players in general rumor collecting.
If they get caught in the trap then maybe you could have them end up getting jailed and they have to orchestrate a jail break, or if they fail at the jail break maybe have some higher level evil NPC get them released and then they owe them.