I’m hoping people will be kind enough to critique and evaluate my adventure plan. It is frankly lifted from Fritz Leiber and I’m not trying to plagiarize, I’m just adapting a couple of stories for my own campaign for fun.
Basic background: The pcs are high ranking characters leading the army of a princess with a claim to the throne. She has captured a region and a city but has a long way to go before she has the crown. Meanwhile the king’s top general has begun a long range siege of the city in anticipation of it beginning to starve if it cannot gain access to a major harvest. An attempt at cutting off the general’s supply lines has failed.
Two convoys of river craft have tried to get trade resources to the city of Eruk, a tributary city state that controls a large region of farmland, but both have vanished without a trace! No one knows what has happened to them at all. In desperation the Princess’ council begs the pcs to take up their arms and spells and accompany a third convoy before the pinch is felt enough to genuinely anger and frighten the people.
Basic Hook: The pcs are asked to accompany a convoy of timber, furs, granite and other important minerals to the city of Eruk and bring back a supply of grain, vegetables and livestock.
Cast of Characters (apart from the pcs, who are The General, the High Priestess, the Wizard, the Commander of Rangers)
The Commodore (dour, suspicious, superstitious in a pragmatic tough way; knows the river country like the back of his hand, knows that the previous convoy commanders were experienced enough to make him very distrustful of any mere accident.)
The Prefect (a cop with an inferiority complex; this well born but impoverished nobleman intends to demonstrate that it is the mangy mercenaries in the princess’ employ who have been stealing the grain. He stubbornly refuses to believe anything else until it bites him on the…nose.)
The Demoiselle (this young lady is demure and lovely and seems to merely be the daughter of a wealthy grain merchant, but is in fact a were-rat intent upon destroying yet another convoy. Supposedly she is going to an important marriage that will help seal the economic alliance.
The Djinn (her mysterious and beautiful servant, who in thrall to the Demoiselle is the means by which she seems able to escape almost anything)
The Rats (these include special pet trained rats and a hidden army of dire and normal rats that either follow or hide themselves in order to obey the orders of their mistress.)
The Evil Grain Merchant (in disguise as a great black rat, this were-rat sorcerer is in league with the enemy general and is an important agent of the king—with his own agenda. He has recently been elevated to the nobility for his services.)
The Slaver (this man is actually neutral, not a bad sort but will seem more sinister than anyone. The Slaver seems sinister because his speech impediment makes him wary of talking except through a go-between, his scars are an accident and like a hunter who has shot his last buck is thinking this will be his last trip; he intends to join a priesthood. Pure red herring but possible ally.)
The Mangy Prophet (a scruffy smelly guy who predicts awful things. He warns that ‘the dead are unquiet in their graves with the impiety of those foul creatures who have deceived the princess and led her to blaspheme and attack her rightful king’)
The awful prophet (a hot eyed fanatic with followers in the city of Eruk, who talks of similar things—‘death stalks those who defy their sovereign! Our alliance is an alliance with murderers and brigands! The dead are unquiet in their graves!’)
Plotline
1. The pcs undertake the mission, have a chance to meet important (and merely colourful) npcs, equip themselves, do research etc before the mission gets underway. They discover that the journey involves the river winding through wild country inhabited by some neutral and some hostile barbarian tribes before reaching the borders of Eruk.
2. The convoy has a few dangerous encounters—a huge hydra, a ‘toll’ commanded by a mad druid and his barbarian followers. These give the pcs a chance to demonstrate that they are more than just reputation to the crew and captain.
3. The rat army begins attacking the ships and barges of the convoy; the first of them disappears. The pcs have a chance to notice that rats are involved. However the Demoiselle is trying to confuse them as best she can. The pcs have a couple of chances to prevent other ships from vanishing if they investigate. The Prefect attempts to get in their way.
4. There is a showdown of some kind with the wererats and their Djinn.
5. If the pcs reach Eruk with any part of the convoy intact, they discover that prophets stalk the streets there too; there are pyres on the streets and many people gathering in temples. The pcs discover that they are not very popular and it is a major effort (requiring bribes, intimidation, etc) to get the trading done. A riot is encouraged against them. They find out that undead stalk the streets and the city is going mad. A mad fanatic warns them that they will only find death in Numalia too.
6. The pcs return to find that there are similar scenes in Numalia. The evil Grain Merchant has gained the ear of the Princess and offers that only he can help relieve the city of the curse…
What's to evaluate? Sounds like great fun! I would play in that any day. Sure, no plan survives contact with the enemy, but you have a good outline.
Thanks very much! Another thing I'm working on is some detail work--how many sailors and marines there are, that kind of thing, and therefore how many wererats, dire rats and regular rats there are. But just details really.
I'd also like to figure out what kind of undead to use--I was thinking of using ghouls, ghasts and zombies just to preserve that sense of horror genre, but to never CALL them that. They'll be called Living Dead, Shamblers, Eaters, Fiends, etc. The pcs will figure that out eventually but I want them to SEEM like manifestations of a horrible curse.
I think those are great ideas for undead to use, for several reasons. Zombies are good just about anywhere, anytime. Ghouls and ghasts automatically fit well with a starvation theme, like what you've got going on here. Plus, they are low-level enough that they aren't going to kill the entire population and possibly destroy the city (as perhaps a stronger undead with a create spawn ability might threaten). Further, I've noticed your PCs have taken on a leadership role and often assign lessers to take care of lesser tasks. This is a perfect opportunity to let the PCs go about solving the mystery and attending to other affairs in the city, while delegating the search-and-destroy task of managing the undead to lower-level NPCs.
The only possible addition I could recommend would be a wight. The only problem would be their create spawn ability. This can be avoided if the wights aren't bent on hunting people through the streets constantly, but rather (like traditional stories of undead) stay in some kind of a haunt and only attack the people who trespass within. Or if they do hunt people in the night, only take one or two at a time. Just because a wight could theoretically set of a plague of undeath which might escalate to destroy a city, doesn't necessarily mean the creature will choose to behave that way.
I never really did get to run my undead campaign, simply because one of my players didn't find it interesting enough. (small group, you see) Anyway I'm running it now with a twist.
Thanks for the response btw. What I'd like more than an overwhelming destruction of the population at this stage is a problem that can't be ignored. I may have the zombies start to spawn at some stage as the 'curse' escalates.
Wish me luck! Adventure starts tonight!
The Druid Encounter: A Twist
The pcs arrive at a rain drenched fortified trading post where there is a caravanserai, some craftsmens' shops, a barracks and some warehouses. The convoy docks and is greeted wearily by the royal customs officer who lives in a glorified hut by the pier. They discover that the area beyond the trading post is considered dangerous; barbarian tribes live there. The ones closest are 'semi civilized' and bring furs, game and other woodland goods to the post. Beyond that though are the wilder ones that live in the marshes, 'little better than animals' snorts the caravanserai's master. 'Be wary of them when they're hostile--either you kill them or you pray for a quick death. They're not much better than orcs.'
The caravanserai master is glad to have the custom of the soldiers, sailors and others. He makes sure his prettiest slaves are available to serve them. One of these catches the eye of the pc group because of her air of defiance and pride.
Here is the twist: if this girl (whose name is Katia) is spoken to at all privately she will complain of her treatment. She has an odd accent--this is because she is one of the barbarians from nearby and was sold as part of a tribute from her village. If she is purchased and either well looked after or even freed she proves to be invaluable in the next encounter.
The Druids
On the river a couple of days later, there is a strange turbulent area of the river; the air seems to crackle with power. Ahead there are three people, two men and a woman dressed in ornamented skins covered in designs made from dyed beads, their hair in many braids coloured ochre and black, who seem to be standing on the water. Each holds a staff of twisted wood.
These are the druids who are the leaders of the marsh tribe. They insist sternly that the pcs and their convoy turn around.
If Katia is present she explains that this is a ritual challenge--they are clearly upset by something and want to see if the pc group is honourable. If they are they will challenge the druids' right to stop them with formal language. This gradually leads to a form of ritual combat. If all this is observed negotiations can take place, and information gained. Katia is able to act as a cultural interpreter and prevent unecessary loss of life and conflict.
Note: without interpretation it may seem simply as though the druids become more and more threatening.
If not there is a battle between the druids and the pcs. The druids have at their beck and call the following:
- 20 elite warriors of their tribe (4th level barbarians)
- 30 ordinary warriors of their tribe (2nd level barbarians)
- 1 water elemental (the cause of the strange behavior of the river)
- 1 air elemental (the cause of the feeling of power in the air)
- 1 giant water beetle, hidden under the water.
The secret is this: people from the same kingdom have recently pushed them from their home. These people are actually wererats and their followers who have secretly been stealing the grain convoy and pretending they were lost. The barbarians know where they are but don't know why they are there, nor do they really know enough about the kingdom the pcs are involved with to distinguish between one group and another.