I've been slowly brewing a campaign idea in the back of my head for some time now and I would like some opinions and maybe some constructive criticism.
4e Forgotten Realms Icewind Dale Campaign:
Plot Synopsis
In a time long ago there was a great and powerful priestess named Iosolde, who venerated the frigid and evil goddess, Auril. Iosolde was a terror to the lands she occupied. She was cold and calculating like the aura of frost that surrounded her; harsh and unforgiving as a winter storm. Legends say she was capable of summoning mighty blizzards that could wipe away entire cities.
It would be a long time before heroes mighty enough to match her would appear, braving her Icy Citadel, and finally laying low the Queen of Frost. In death, Iosolde persisted. For her faith and fervor, Auril blessed Iosolde with lichdom and brought Iosolde to her frozen domain in the outer planes. In Faerun, she would eventually be remembered as a vile legend and then finally forgotten altogether.
In Auril's domain, Iosolde battled the planar entities that aligned themselves against the frozen goddess. She would come to know a mighty elemental storm dragon that would become her mount and most trusted confidant.
In more recent years, Auril's domain has come under attack by a powerful Efreeti Lord and a chaotic host of demons searching for powerful lost artifacts kept in Auril's realm, artifacts that, as far as Iosolde is concerned, belong rightfully to the icy goddess. A planar war erupted on Auril's Domain and eventually, Iosolde's forces were defeated. In the final moments of battle, Iosolde was forced to flee with her closest Lieutenants or face destruction at the fiery hands of the Efreeti Lord.
Her planar magic has brought her and her servants to the cold windswept land of Icewind Dale, in Faerun's Frozen North. Beaten, but not broken, Iosolde decides quickly that she must return to her beloved goddess' domain and expunge the Efreeti and his forces. To do this, however, she requires an army to fight these demons. Here in Icewind Dale, she recreates her Icy Citadel atop an iceburg afloat in the Sea of Moving Ice and begins a call that will eventually be answered by the vast monsters and beasts of Icewind Dale. Goblins, orcs, trolls, and giants native to Icewind Dale and the Spine of the World rally beneath Iosolde's banner with promises of war and conquest and blood.
But even with these monstrous creatures, Iosolde is skeptical she can defeat the demonic host. She needs more soldiers. Clever and smart soldiers. She needs the humans and their allies of Icewind Dale as well.
Iosolde knows she can never convince the people of Icewind Dale to join her cause, and conquering them with her growing army will defeat the point. So she concocts a plan. Iosolde knows a powerful planar ritual which will transport her and all who dwell within a few miles of her Citadel back to Auril's realm. Such ritual requires a great deal of time and sacrifice to complete. In the meantime, she plans to send her monstrous forces to war against the people of Icewind Dale, claiming conquest to the isolated region, or so it seems.
Through various military engagements she hopes to whip the people into an outstanding force arrayed against her. Once so, she will engage them in a series of battles that will culminate at her Icy Citadel, feigning that she is losing ground. Once all armies are deployed near her Citadel Iosolde will complete the ritual and drag all armies, friend and foe alike, into Auril's Domain. Iosolde is banking on the fact that the sight of this "new" army will force a battle with the Efreeti. To seal this situation, Iosolde will offer the stranded armies a way home, only if they help her to defeat the Efreeti and his horde of demons.
Thus in the final act of the campaign will the forces of Icewind Dale and the monster army come together for mitual survival in a desperate battle against an army of demons. It will be up to the players to decide what can be done. Will they fight to defeat the Efreeti for Iosolde? Or will they attempt to strike a deal with him against Iosolde? Or perhaps will they strike directly against her and hope to force a way home from her?
The Game
The players should start at Level 1 and progress through a series of adventures in and around Icewind Dale that will slowly reveal a greater threat brewing on the horizon. At some point midway in, Iosolde's army begins its attack and war breaks out over the Dale. Eventually, the conflict will culminate in a great battle before Iosolde's Icy Citadel and a crawl through the fortress to a confrontation with the Ice Queen herself, all too late to stop the planar transference that will drag the PC's to the final act of the campaign upon Auril's Domain. The campaign should end with the players being Level 20-25 (undecided).
The campaign will see the players battling hordes of goblins and orcs, defending a town or two from invasion, daring a mountain home of giants, and even facing down a massive White Dragon that has sided with Iosolde for gold.
I will be drawing up some maps for Icewind Dale as well as close-up maps of particular regions that might see a lot of player traffic, as well as fleshing out the various Ten Towns of Icewind Dale.
Icewind Dale Lost
I was rather hoping for a little information on Icewind Dale in the new FRCG. Instead, all I got was a sentence mentioning the region in passing, so I will have to create pretty much everything from scratch. I have changed Luskan from its given canon as I cannot see how the region could survive without trade from the distant city, and so in my campaign, Luskan remains a rough but stable pirate town, controlled by Five Pirate Lords, instead of a destroyed city of anarchy.
This is my idea as it stands now. if you have any further input, advice, criticism, etc. please give me your thoughts. All constructive ideas are welcome.
(bump)
Okay, I know the post is long but theres some neat stuff in there, I swear!
-.-;
I have to say I like the epic scale of the adventure and general feel of the action described, but I also concede to Logo on the points of the railroad track it takes as well as the semi confused mode of opperation. If you linchpinned that she hoped all the human armies would maybe DIE in the big fight and then when teleported as part of her big ritrual raised as an army of undead under her control it fixes that logical leap into an appropriate step I believe, not to mention I also agree on the Primordial issue, but thats very moot and all flavor (To me the whole Primordial vs Gods bit seems like theyre cramming greek mythology down our throats when we'd more than likely eat it if they just chilled but again thats me)
Thanks for the opinions, you two.
I never considered it from a Primordial stand point, that actually sounds like a good idea. I might just rewrite Iosolde's background a bit.
As to the issue of railroading, I don't really believe it's too much of a railroad when you consider that the whole "planar shift" thing is really just the climax of the game wrapping up. It's not like they're gonna go plane romping (unless they want to). Basically, in the climax, they get shifted, and have to decide how they want to proceed on getting themselves and everyone else back to Icewind Dale. I thought that would be kinda cool.
And, no, I didn't get Iosolde from an Italian name book or anything. I actually got it from "Trent and Iosolde." I believe it was a play (I actually know nothing about 'Trent and Iosolde', I just thought the name was beautiful).
Thanks!
More input welcome! :)
I second the no lichdom. Iosolde was raised from the dead by her goddess (its easier at epic levels now to explain this). She could be an Exarch depending on the power level of of Auril in 4e FR. Second, make it more titanic than Fire vs Ice. Perhaps the Efreet have allies that can be persuaded away from them.
What if she requires some components that need to assembled and the search for them is why she needs outside aid perhaps under the idea that bringing these artefacts to her citadel would allow her to be defeated only they actually return her citadel to her preferred plane whereupon the now stranded PCs find they have to not only fight Iosolde but also the Efreet forces if they want to return since the only one who knows how those artefacts are supposed to work is Iosolde and she'll only tell them if they help her free her icy realm the whole reason she allowed word of these artefacts to reach the ears of the PCs and their rivals who are all seeking the wealth and power Iosolde represents.
Imagine Iosolde is willing to send them home if they help her and rather than be beaten by those artefacts she actually wants them brought to her by suitable potential allies because they're to fight the Efreet.
Iosolde could be the demigoddess of Ice Hags. I sense a similarity to the Ice Queen. Perhaps reassembling an artifact mirror would give her a lot more power. A lot of side plots would involve criminals who eventually sign up with her. Note that in the Forgotten Realms there is a huge glacer created by a giant wearing an artifact necklace. She is going to want that.
An alternate way home may be how at epic level a female adventurer might take on Mystra's mantle.
This sounds pretty good. Perhaps some intermediary servant of Iosolde will be guiding and helping the characters.