I have had the fortune to be able to run the AoW AP with the complete, or nearly complete for the first few adventures, set of adventures printed, when I began. As such I decided to try and add even more foreshadowing and connections for the characters to have within the story to some of the later important plot elements. I figured I would share these as well as see waht other people have likewise done.
To clarify, my two players are running as a Paladin of Hextor (LN) and a Cleric of Wee Jas (LN).
- Starting from when they slept in the Whispering Cairn in the first adventure, the palyers have had regular dreams, odd and inconclusive, but that give portents of their future, and also move along their Weapon of Legacy plots.
- The Paladin of Hextor was offered membership in, and joined, a secretive order of Hextorian Knights known as the Knights of the Crimson Law. As part of his rising in their ranks, just after the Paladin wins in the Free City Games, he is tasked with either turning Prince Zeech to the right path in the Redhand or replacing him, either or, within the next year. They tasked him with this because they think that Zeech has a good chance of losing the Redhand completly for the Church of Hextor to the Church of Iuz or possibly the Shield Lands Heironeans.
- When the Cleric of Wee Jas wanted to buy/start a magic shop in the Free City, I had him run afoul of the powerful and VERY exclusive Thaumatulergical Guild that explained to him in very clear terms that he had no place in the city, and that he should try other places, such as the mage Imoandi in Alhaster who was selling her shop.
- When said Cleric of Wee Jas decided to buy the shop in Alhaster, and take the Landlord feat, he wanted a patron as explanation for where the money was coming from. So along shows up a carved white box, with two dragons eating eachothers tales, in the doorway of his clerical cell, the morning after he wins the champions games. out from it the image of Lashonna springs, telling him of how she seeks to make even greater her once great city of Alhaster, and how she wishes to help such a great man as he, to purchase Imoandi's shop. Thus she foots the bill, or at least that is what he currently thinks. In truth she simply vamped Imoandi, and after turning the old witch into one of her slave guardians in her lair benath Alhaster, Lashonna just left a letter, austensibly from Imoandi, for the Cleric of Wee Jas stating that the shop was his, and that she had already left to enjoy her retirement. What fun he he have when they have to battle the Vampiric Witch Imoandi in the last adventure eh?
- The Apostolic Scrolls. I have a previous post that has a copy of the Apostolic Scrolls that I gave my players ( Writing the Apostolic Scrolls ). Within the writing of the scrolls I tried to place imagery that foreshadowed the Spire of Long Shadows and especially the rise of Kyuss in Alhaster. I tried to mix in other, non-specific images as well to mix up the players, but I hope that they remember these passages when the time comes.
So that is a good bit, though not all, of the foreshadowing I put into my AoW campaign so far. As I stated earlier, I had the opportunity to do this, since I started my campaign just after the publication of the Prince of Redhand, and so knew what was coming from a long way off. What do you think and what have other folks done?
I'd say I'm foreshadowing a bit:
My player's character is going positively crazy over a missing druid and is willing to look for the Library of Last Resort in the Rift Canyon itself in order to find him! Never mind the fact that she's only third level, and tries to call in Manzorian every time a hero is needed (but she can't seem to catch him anywhere and he has yet to return a single one of her messages... jerk! he's probably evil or something)
An npc recruit for Whispering Carin was a homesick political exile from Redhand who suffered great indignity at people speaking ill of his poor old Uncle Theldrick.
Reference to Lashonna's great accomplishments for good, her somewhat dubious dealings, and wild speculation about her motives have slipped into the occasional conversation about a somewhat related topic.
There's already player involvement in the Champion's Games.
The campaign started with a horror-style encounter with a weakened spawn of Kyuss.
The player character has made a lot of jokes about doppelgangers, although I'm thinking of skipping hall of harsh reflections anyway. Still the idea of one of those jokes turning out to be all too ironic...
oh yeah, and I've got a royal succession side plot slowly simmering in the background that deals with the fallout of Zeech's rise to power. Research on the royal family also brings up mention of a great big badass red dragon named Dragotha, who lived in the Rift Canyon until he was slain long ago...
My foreshadowing is a little different. I've been running the AP for about a year now, and the group is just beginning Part 7, Spire of Long Shadows. They're currently in Magepoint, but I've got something in store for them when they first arrive in the jungle.
Rain Barrel Man.
See, I used someone else's suggestion of having him hint at things coming in the Champion's Belt chapter, and he definitely left an impression on the group. (Granted, they all think he's nuts, but they remember him.) So I decided to have him turn up one last time. I also wanted to incorporate the group's chosen name (from the Arena), the "Keys of Twilight". I altered the initial description just a little, then extended it with his speech, thus:
Sitting at the edge of the cliff, unnoticed until he began moving, is an old human. He rises, brushing dirt off his threadbare trousers, then wipes his hands on the rags draped over his chest. “It’s about time you got here,” he wheezes. “I was starting to have doubts.”
You realize that the figure in front of you is the Rain Barrel Man, the insane prophet you encountered twice before in the Free City.
“I’m sorry that my warnings before weren’t clearer. I wasn’t seeing things very well, and couldn’t find the right words. I’m better, now, and need to speak with you. There isn’t much time, so please hear me out.
“I know that you’re here to learn about the past, but the future will also become clear to you as well. Everything I’ve seen shows that this Age is ending, and a new one is coming. The only time I saw anything else was when I saw you. You six are the ones who can change things, and keep things from changing.
“I know this, though I don’t know how, or why. I think the best way I can put it is this: you’re the only ones I couldn’t see, until you were right in front of me. I thought I was wrong, at first, because I knew of the warrior who was with you before. When he left, the rest fell into place.
“There is one last warning I must give you. You will need to do what no one has ever done. You have done this before. You are the keys that locked the prison; now, you must be the executioner’s blade. I have seen what comes, and it crawls. You will have only one opportunity, and you must be prepared to make the leap when you see it.”
Before you can react, the Rain Barrel Man turns around and jumps off the cliff.
Okay, the Rain Barrel Man foreshadowing is awesome. I'm snagging that.
Most of my foreshadowing so far is more mundane, but I am only in Three Faces of Evil so far. I added an entry in Theldrick's journal that mentions Loris (but not his last name) and Bozal Zahol. By the time they have the divinations necessary to pursue this lead further they'll be in the Free City anyway, dodging dopplegangers and so forth. I do want to make Three Faces of Evil feel a little bit better connected to the rest of the path, so I'll probably have a few more things like this in the Faceless One's quarters.
