So I'm designing a campaign using the 4e rules and the Pathfinder setting that will hopefully take PCs from 1 to 30. My basic idea is that they are pawns in a battle between two outsiders, right now I'm thinking Milani, the god of hope and uprisings, and Mephistopheles, keeper of Hell's greatest secrets and contracts. I'd like to base most of the campaign in Ustalav, an area based on Gothic fiction.
I just have some preliminary ideas so far. I'm thinking that an old contract exists between the two and the PCs for some reason get embroiled into it.
The help I need is this - what is the content of that contract and how do the PCs get involved? My initial ideas, while interesting, didn't really make a lot of logical sense, at least from the motivational point of view of the outsiders. What were the circumstances of that contract, the motivation behind both sides agreeing, and what does that have to do with the PCs?
Any ideas?
What if unknown to the mortal pawns one is a descendant of a champion of each of the gods involved?
Say some great scheme is being hatched that unknown to those responsible requires their involvement but neither knows of the facts behind it say for example they were childhood friends unaware that their respective families held an enmity for the other as they served opposing deities and the irony is that the real reason is that they are descendants of great champions or children of the respective opposing gods...
So one Mephisto is trying to regain their fealty whilst the other is trying to redeeem their fallen great, great grandchild but the pair are actually friends unaware of the struggle thats being set up for them.
The real situation is that another foe is hatching their scheme and Mephisto and Milani are both working to counter it as they try and counter each others efforts to secure the pairs loyalty...
You could throw in that the families of both have been attacked and the evidence seems to point to the family of their friend but the true foe is trying to set them at each others throats to create a vacuum for them to ascend...
Maybe a little too much I guess?
Well, I'm not especially familiar with the setting. Is the background of Mephistopheles (and Hell) similar to its origin and other settings? If so - where Hell itself was formed as part of an uprising against a greater force - then you have an easy possible connection with Milani.
The campaign setting book doesn't really dwell on Creation stories, and I don't believe Hell or any of its devils have been detailed in any supplements. What we do know is that Hell, unlike other planes, was constructed, actually built for its own diabolical purposes. Asmodeus reigns supreme.
Perhaps the connection left one party indebted to the other - a debt that they never dared call upon, since they didn't want the connection revealed. Now, the one in debt fears it will be cashed in, so perhaps has set things in motion to remove the other from the picture so the debt will be forgotten for all of time. And to make things especially interesting, maybe Milani is the one in debt, and the one orchestrating the plot at hand...
This could definitely work, given specific details. Perhaps Mephistopheles has been blackmailing Milani for several centuries now, asking her to do morally questionable things. There would certainly be an interesting irony if the goddess of rebellion is under the clutches of blackmail. Perhaps, most recently Mephistopheles has asked her to do something so vile, now she must once and for all put a stop to it, but without revealing her plot to destroy him. Thus she has had to work in subtle, roundabout ways to find a way to destroy Mephy while suggesting she is still engaged in what Mephy has asked of her. Perhaps this is where the PCs come in...
Interesting ideas. Thanks for your help.
Keep the ideas flowing!
What if unknown to the mortal pawns one is a descendant of a champion of each of the gods involved?
I thought about a descendant style adventure, but I always get concerned about what happens if the PCs get killed. I think it's important to easily be able to include new characters, who may or may not fit the race of the descendants.
A 3rd party foe, beside the normal warring factions, might be interesting though.
There are some posts about the Book of the Damned over here (or here I think, if someone ends up breaking the link by posting in the old thread).
I don't think that Milani is old enough to have been around for the foundation of Hell. As one of the saints of Aroden, I don't expect her to have a long history stretching back toward the beginning of things.
I don't think that Milani is old enough to have been around for the foundation of Hell. As one of the saints of Aroden, I don't expect her to have a long history stretching back toward the beginning of things.
Looks like I may want a couple books this summer if I'm going to include Mephistopheles. However, if I keep things general enough for now, I'm sure I'll be able to incorporate any material easily.
Most likely Milani has not been around long enough for the introduction of Hell. However, perhaps she unwittingly made a pact with Mephy long ago, one that actually led to the god Aroden's death. No one knows of Milani's involvement except Mephy, so he blackmailed her. If Milani's followers were to find out that she actually helped cause Aroden's death, then not only would they turn away from her, they would lose hope of a better day and much would fall into utter darkness. So she has, on occasion, been doing Mephy's bidding.