I'm trying to write dreams customised to my party members that will vaguely foreshadow things to come in AoW. Partly to work on the problems that the party is having with staying together, and partly to develop the theme of impending doom that has gotten a little lost amid all this dungeon bashing. The party will experience the dreams in the form of individualised handouts the next time they sleep after defeating the Ebon Aspect in 3FoE (probably tomorrow night).
The fighter is getting a vision of the Ebon Aspect sacrificing one of his loved ones before the Spire of Long Shadows, the changeling rogue is getting a nightmare about identity loss (foreshadowing HoHR and her impending doppelganger replacement), the cleric is getting unpleasant dreams about the Mistmarsh (ready for the trip to Blackwall Keep), but I'm having trouble with the druid.
I want to work the Order of the Storm into the dream, but I need them to be memorable yet sufficiently anonymous that the dream can just sit in my player's head for 12 levels or so and suddenly go "Oh! So that's what that was about!" when they get to Tilagos. Optionally, we might work some kind of prestige class out based around the Order if he does enough research.
Does anyone have any ideas? (For the dream, not the prestige class)
I've never had players that can hang onto a detail for that length of time, so I'd recommend something that's going to come up in the next few weeks, rather than months or possibly years. In fact, fore-shadowing can be probematic full stop - fine for a novel, but in D&D you can never really predict what players will do, how you'll need to adapt things as you go along, etc, so your plans may all change by the time you get there anyway. And some don't like to be shoe-horned into a course of action or told what's going to be happening in x adventures time.
Sorry to rain on your parade, I just think there's probably a better way to acheive your objective of getting the party to be more cohesive, somethign that's more in the here and now. If they have lost the idea of coming doom, I think that's fine, it will come, and in fact the campaign is designed to unfold slowly - they should not really feel they are on an epic quest until they hit the mid to high levels.
For example, my group is near the end of the hall of harsh reflections, and still don't feel they are on a quest to stop the age of worms - they will probably only start to pick that idea up during (or even after) the champion's games. For now, they are simply having a series of semi-linked adventures, pursuing their own agendas as well as reacting to various schemes they uncover (or that jump out at them). I've never had to rail-road them, just be careful what hooks I put in front of them (including some I make up myself, along with some smalls side-trecks that build on their personal agendas).
Oh this is by no means railroading. All this is designed to is try to cut some of the inter-character bickering down and provide some cool moments down the road when they say "Hang on a minute, this looks familiar..."
The fighter for example, sees bad things occurring at the Spire and is unable to stop them (partly because they're happening to someone who is already dead); this will mean nothing to him now beyond having a nightmare, but when they get to episode 7 of the adventure path and teleport into the jungle... You see what I mean?
Similarly, unless the rogue gets herself killed in the Mistmarsh, she's going to be the one replaced by a doppelganger in HOHR, I've known that since about twenty minutes after the player stated she wanted to play a changeling in Greyhawk. The doppelgangers under the Free City are going to want to investigate this half-breed, and as she's a rogue, she's the perfect target for Ixiaxian to replace. So we give her a nightmare about having her identity stolen from her.
Giving the whole party nightmares after destroying the Ebon Aspect also begins to hint at the 'heroes of legend' thing mentioned at the end of Library of Last Resort where they go back in time and witness Dragotha's defeat.
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The Order of the Storm's function in the story is heavily tied to their battle against Dragothat, so I'd go that route with the druid's haunted dreams. Perhaps he/she sees from one of their perspectives the sealing of the phylactery in the vault. You could even revisit the mechanics of this in "Kings of the Rift" and drop some good spoiler-hints regarding the need for keys. I'd have the vision focus on some dark spark within the phylactery, then the vision shifting to show that same spark within the eye socket of a dragon's skull. The skull is attached to a body, emerging from a lake of writhing green worms.... They'll remember this, I'm sure, and be crapping themselves with fearful anticipation as they cross the bridge to Dragotha's fortress in "Into the Wormcrawl Fissure."
We're on the same wavelength; I plan to have dark visions occasionally cloud the sleep of the heroes immediately after they face the Ebon Aspect. Whoever is later infested with Kyuss worms will have especially haunting nightmares in the nights that follow. It'll be interesting--one of the heroes is a warforged, and they don't dream. But, he IS likely to take on the Goggles of Minute Seeing (which'll be the legacy item suggested in the archived thread Nadroc's Goggles). Since in our campaign the Wind Dukes will have been party to the banishment of the entity that gave Kyuss his godly power (Katashka), I may have him occasionally see horrific things when he looks upon (knowing or unwitting) servants of Kyuss... y'know, worms crawling out of Raknian's orifices, that sort of thing.
Foreshadowing doesn't have to be railroading.
I have always thought dreams as a bad way to foreshadow. Players seem to just shrug and move on because really, it was just a dream. On the other hand I foreshadow IN Game. For example in 3FoE I got some old people in Diamond Lake to say, "oh there gonna get you now, you've pissed off some big guys!", and then some other elder said "theyll prolly send a doppelganger after you" which was followed by "why bother with a doppelganger when they could just assasinate them!". I also had one of the druids in DL be a storm druid (from dragon magazine). I also want to have them meet with a few ship wrecked sailors who say there boat got destroyed in the Nyr Dyv, they wil say that it seems like there is always a ragin storm in that lake.
Just some thoughts, I find players appreciate in game foreshadow more than dreams. I mean if you woke up from a dream with crazy worms in it would you take much thot in it?
Depends on whether or not you see crazy worms eating the love of your life alive, I suppose.
Oh and thanks, Golbez. I was looking to be a little more oblique than that, but there's some good stuff in there. I'll see what I can do with it...
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I've never had players that can hang onto a detail for that length of time, so I'd recommend something that's going to come up in the next few weeks, rather than months or possibly years. In fact, fore-shadowing can be probematic full stop - fine for a novel, but in D&D you can never really predict what players will do, how you'll need to adapt things as you go along, etc, so your plans may all change by the time you get there anyway. And some don't like to be shoe-horned into a course of action or told what's going to be happening in x adventures time.
Dreams are a great device to use, and as is the nature of dreams they don't need to be specific. Don't predict what the players are going to do, but forshadow what is going to happen. IMOC I have used a couple of dreams to put the party on edge, make them pay closer attention...
"Outside your window the city burns, the light of the orange and yellow flames light the black clouds. The Mimir floating next to you looks as if it is intently watching the fires below. It won't be long until the inn is another casualty, somehow it hasn't caught fire yet. You scan the room and find it odd that your party isn't doing anything, as if the raging inferno is somehow to be doused by being ignored. They sit cheerfully around a table drinking ale and playing games of chance, coins jingling as they bet on the next round or as the winner collects his take. Smidgeon continues to fill each of the mugs with ale from a flask, intricately carved silver encasing a green glass, you see the worms spill forth in the ale. Johan repeats, "Taint me!" as he is dealt another card, his skin turning grey. Masog seems paler dressed in all black, skulls and sickles stitched into her cloak, she smiles wickedly as she picks each of the worms out of her drink tossing them in the air and catching them in her mouth. Bruttelheimer sits with his arms crossed obviously angry with the losing streak he is on, "Can't I catch a break?!"
'That's ironic' the skull quips, its voice in your head. 'I thought I had." The voice takes on a haunting tone and you turn to see the face of Okaral, the assassin suspected of killing Bruttleheimer. You shrink away from the floating skull.
"Good to see you could make it old friend!" cries out Mumcougolu putting his arms around the imaginary shoulders of the Mimir. "It seems we have missed the ascension, but I have carefully hidden some powerful items in the Wind Dukes halls. Come look at my map." The two lean over a table with a large bird stretched across it, carved into it's naked featherless flesh is a map of chaotic design. As you approach to get a closer look you recognize the wingless creature as Tade Dee, who sings a funeral dirge with Clementine. "Spread the word all over town, you can't keep the worm god down, no use in trying to get up and dance, the powers of Law haven't got a chance, the whole world's gonna burn with the mighty Kyuss's return!"
You awake to hear a soft lullaby being sung by Clementine in a very dark room, you feel soaked through to the bone and the chill of the night air makes you shiver. Never have you had a dream so real, so vivid. "Did you have a bad dream?" Clementine asks from the darkened room.
"Yeah, but it's over now." Or is it?
You think to yourself, it's actually just begun."
This is a forshadowing of both the Gathering of Winds and of Spire of Long Shadows. And yes my players remembered, one actually made the connection between the map on the bird and the map of Icoisol's Tomb. Hope this helps with any ideas.
Nice dream description there, JW.