I am getting ready to start a long campaign based on the Spelljammer module Under the Dark Fist. Since the module was 2e & designed to start at 10th level, I will begin on Eberron and expand it to a full AP type campaign. Even when put on Flow maps, Eberron is pretty isolated from normal space lanes. The Vodoni discover it and start planning to add it to their empire. I'm not going to discuss rules here, much. This is to get help with campaign ideas as I run along with this.
How the campaign is planned to go, lol. We know how PCs can put a cramp into that. Here are highlights of events.
The players are starting out on Eberron. The basics are that as they adventure, they will be drawn into the fact that their world is being invaded. First the Vodoni hit Sarlona. It has worked to isolate itself from the world, so the reasoning is take them out & few are likely to notice. They accomplish some of this with an artifact created when the gods of Vodonispace where trapped. A large crystal that allows the Fleet Commander to isolate large areas of a world from planar contact. Combined with other magics, the Quori are effectively ejected from Sarlona. Next major target will be the Demon Wastes. They don’t want rakshasa trying to take over after they conquer everything. Also, the use of the artifact isolates a major part of Khorvaire from the planes. Namely Eberron's Fey from the Eldeen Reaches. Their next goal, begin invading Khorvaire proper. Open with the artifact over Sharn. Destroys the manifest zone & most of the towers crumble. A terror attack of massive proportions. Now the kingdoms can’t produce more airships. Vodoni have cannon & firearms. They have air superiority. This stage is a war. Towards the end, the dragons finally react & help drive off the invaders. Captured intel allows Spelljamming & PCs are tapped to go look for help. Pretty sure that if something isn’t done, the invaders will return. This starts the core part of the Under the Dark Fist module.
Now, what the PCs will be doing during this:
Campaign Overview
1. Crypt of the Everflame - Normal adventure - Tomb actually disturbed by Vodoni scouts - Pathfinder tracking sightings of mystery airships Recruits players to help at the end
2. Gnome Droppings from Dungeon # 63 - Gnomish sidewheeler crashes. Vodoni shot it out of the sky & come looking for it. Gain an autognome
3. Go to Zilargo to learn more about Ergo the autognome - Vodoni Conquering Sarlona as the adventure starts. Characters know nothing.
4. Place holder - Worldwide nightmare caused by the Quori being banished from Sarlona
5. Lhazaar Principalities & Lyrandar losing ships (PCs investigate) - Vodoni consolidating Sarlona. Attacking ships at sea that gets too close to their shores.
That is it so far. I'm showing the adventure first, or the idea for one. After the dash is pretty much what is going on behind the scenes. Adventures may not deal directly with the invasion. When Khorvaire gets hammered, they will run missions & stuff. Maybe go & try to reach the dragons in Argonessan. I should mention that I will be using more blackpowder stuff that is normal in Spelljammer. More akin to what is in Freeport.
Anyway, I would really like some ideas. Or, even just discussing this. Going nuts not able to brainstorm with anybody.
I'm working on something along those lines actually. I am using Eberron as a starting point and introducing elements from the event book When the Sky Falls, the Second Darkness AP (the meteor impact threat mostly), and the concept of the beacons from Mass Effect. Basically, I have these scattered beacons that reveal forces nudging the evolution of Eberron via these impacts (ala 2001) and that Eberron is fated to face oblivion from threats beyond. Aditionally, the Dark Plea are actually the masters behind the daelkyr. What the players have recently discovered is that members from House Lyrandar (unmarked shipwrights and navigators mostly) are being abducted in droves. They are actually working secretly (at the dragons behest) to create an ark of sorts that will bear survivors to the stars.
I have tons written up on this and can happily work parallel with you to help flush out both of our respective games.
First the Vodoni hit Sarlona. It has worked to isolate itself from the world, so the reasoning is take them out & few are likely to notice. They accomplish some of this with an artifact created when the gods of Vodonispace where trapped. A large crystal that allows the Fleet Commander to isolate large areas of a world from planar contact.
1. Combined with other magics, the Quori are effectively ejected from Sarlona.
2. Next major target will be the Demon Wastes. They don’t want rakshasa trying to take over after they conquer everything. Also, the use of the artifact isolates a major part of Khorvaire from the planes.
3. Namely Eberron's Fey from the Eldeen Reaches.
4. Their next goal, begin invading Khorvaire proper. Open with the artifact over Sharn. Destroys the manifest zone & most of the towers crumble. A terror attack of massive proportions. Now the kingdoms can’t produce more airships. Vodoni have cannon & firearms. They have air superiority. This stage is a war.
5. Towards the end, the dragons finally react & help drive off the invaders. Captured intel allows Spelljamming & PCs are tapped to go look for help. Pretty sure that if something isn’t done, the invaders will return. This starts the core part of the Under the Dark Fist module.
Now, what the PCs will be doing during this:...
Hey Xoriael. Had a little while to think about your campaign idea and wanted to throw some ideas at you. It sounds like you have a really solid foundation which is the hardest part (in my opinion) of starting an AP.
1. I have to admit I had a little schadenfreude at the idea that the Quori get their asses kicked off of Sarlona. Though this artifact does bring possible side effects. If it only affects Sarlona, keep in mind that there are Inspired ambassadors all across khorvaire that (if they are possessed) return to Dal Quor every night - and time travels differently there. I believe they have three days versus our 8 hours of night.
If there is the possibility of a counterattack or at least figuring out what is going on the Quori would probably be the fastest to *realize* especially if they suddenly cannot go back to Riedra. This of course would likely cause the social collapse of the entire country without the Quori to guide the people there. How fast they do so is up to you.
Edit: If this effect covers the entirety of Sarlona (and not just Riedra) then this could adversely affect the Kalashtar of Adar as well. Possibly even killing them all by ripping half of their soul apart.
2. I can't really find out anything bad about taking out the demon wastes. It makes sense from a power point of view, and would probably throw people off from sensing that something terrible is about to happen. After all a bunch of demons just disappeared, that's a cause of celebration to me. Maybe the barbarians that live there could have an idea that something is coming - but who would believe them? Plus I don't believe they usually ever leave the demon wastes.
3. The population of the Eldeen Reaches would realize something terrible is happening - in particular probably the Gatekeeper faction of (traditionally half-orcs). This would be another way to "get the word out" or at least have rumors start spreading.
4. It sounds like you want an independence day scenario of "Holy crap aliens and they're exploding all of our nice things." Depending on how wide spread you want this destruction to be there are some nice floating arcane schools in Aundair, Flamekeep in Thrane, the ziggurat of the Twelve in Karrnath, and I'm sure the Lord of Blades has some sort of precious location in the Mournlands.
5. Bringing the Dragons in is a difficult thing to do. You don't really give an indication of *how soon* they will be brought in to help, and I'm not really familiar the adventure module you're using so I'm not sure how much of this AP you're working on is supposed to take place on Eberron or not. BUT if the dragons are aware of what was going to happen because of their Draconic Prophecy and that people would need a way to escape to the stars then it all kind of works out. One of the things I would suggest if the players are concerned with "There is a continent of Dragons and they're only NOW coming to help us after everything has exploded!?" is that the concerns of dragons are not the concerns of other mortal races.
The last time the Dragons of Argonesson stepped in to fix a problem? they burned Xendrik to the ground
One last thing to keep in mind is that often when an area is attacked by an outside force, many people are willing to set aside their differences to repel the invader. While the Quori and the Dreaming Dark are considered antagonists their goal is stagnation not evil - they just view the world differently than we do.
An interesting possibility would be for all the different "factions" at work in Eberron to work together to find a way to repel these Vodoni. Such as the Daelkyr providing weird cthulhu-esque technologies so they can travel through different dimensions of space. Dragons providing lost technology and magic usually considered too advanced for the other 'young' races. The Quori acting as intelligence gatherers and providing weapons and psionics.
Just a bunch of ideas I figured I'd throw at ya. =)
1. I have to admit I had a little schadenfreude at the idea that the Quori get their asses kicked off of Sarlona. Though this artifact does bring possible side effects. If it only affects Sarlona, keep in mind that there are Inspired ambassadors all across khorvaire that (if they are possessed) return to Dal Quor every night - and time travels differently there. I believe they have three days versus our 8 hours of night.
If there is the possibility of a counterattack or at least figuring out what is going on the Quori would probably be the fastest to *realize* especially if they suddenly cannot go back to Riedra. This of course would likely cause the social collapse of the entire country without the Quori to guide the people there. How fast they do so is up to you.
Edit: If this effect covers the entirety of Sarlona (and not just Riedra) then this could adversely affect the Kalashtar of Adar as well. Possibly even killing them all by ripping half of their soul apart.
The effect of the artifact is limited. It will be large areas, but not the entirety of the continent at once, unless I decide they are able to use the Monoliths against them, lol.
The Kalashtar won't be directly affected. They are the only quori that have physically moved to Eberron. Kalashtar don't even dream & are cut off from the Dream Realm. You're right that I need to include the quori response for those that are not in Reidra.
2. I can't really find out anything bad about taking out the demon wastes. It makes sense from a power point of view, and would probably throw people off from sensing that something terrible is about to happen. After all a bunch of demons just disappeared, that's a cause of celebration to me. Maybe the barbarians that live there could have an idea that something is coming - but who would believe them? Plus I don't believe they usually ever leave the demon wastes.
That is about the way I will handle it, too.
3. The population of the Eldeen Reaches would realize something terrible is happening - in particular probably the Gatekeeper faction of (traditionally half-orcs). This would be another way to "get the word out" or at least have rumors start spreading.
All of the Reaches will be trying to get to the bottom of the "Disturbance". I forgot to mention, the Crypt of the Everflame will be set in the Eldeen Reaches.
4. It sounds like you want an independence day scenario of "Holy crap aliens and they're exploding all of our nice things." Depending on how wide spread you want this destruction to be there are some nice floating arcane schools in Aundair, Flamekeep in Thrane, the ziggurat of the Twelve in Karrnath, and I'm sure the Lord of Blades has some sort of precious location in the Mournlands.
That is EXACTLY what I am going for. I have plans for those floating bastions, too. Squadrons of spelljammers armed with cannon pounding the crap out of them during the opening attacks.
5. Bringing the Dragons in is a difficult thing to do. You don't really give an indication of *how soon* they will be brought in to help, and I'm not really familiar the adventure module you're using so I'm not sure how much of this AP you're working on is supposed to take place on Eberron or not. BUT if the dragons are aware of what was going to happen because of their Draconic Prophecy and that people would need a way to escape to the stars then it all kind of works out. One of the things I would suggest if the players are concerned with "There is a continent of Dragons and they're only NOW coming to help us after everything has exploded!?" is that the concerns of dragons are not the concerns of other mortal races.
The last time the Dragons of Argonesson stepped in to fix a problem? they burned Xendrik to the ground
The dragons burned Xendricks because the giants got out of hand. They may leave this to the younger dragons of the Concordance (I think that is the organization) to handle. I have a reason for the dragons jumping in, and I took it directly from the original module. Eberron will replace one of the 12 spheres that the Vodoni claim, Golotspace. It is described as similar to Eberron in that it has a large dragon population. Vulkaran got the dragons there on his side by defeating an ancient red in single combat. This alternate story makes it where the dragons get pissed at the effrontery of a mortal thinking that slaying one of their own will kowtow them into submission.
One last thing to keep in mind is that often when an area is attacked by an outside force, many people are willing to set aside their differences to repel the invader. While the Quori and the Dreaming Dark are considered antagonists their goal is stagnation not evil - they just view the world differently than we do.
An interesting possibility would be for all the different "factions" at work in Eberron to work together to find a way to repel these Vodoni. Such as the Daelkyr providing weird cthulhu-esque technologies so they can travel through different dimensions of space. Dragons providing lost technology and magic usually considered too advanced for the other 'young' races. The Quori acting as intelligence gatherers and providing weapons and psionics.
There will be plenty of "Strange Bedfellows" in this before it is over with.
3. Go to Zilargo to learn more about Ergo the autognome - Vodoni Conquering Sarlona as the adventure starts. Characters know nothing.
4. Place holder - Worldwide nightmare caused by the Quori being banished from Sarlona
Will edit these into a 2 level adventure using Dungeon 143 Riding the Rail. Will change the protagonist from the one faction to 2, with the party caught between them as they try to get the autognome to Zilargo. Vodoni operatives & the Lord of Blades' operatives.
Now I think I will convert Eyes of the Lich Queen for the next adventure. Will give the players an 'in' with the dragons for later. Instead of the Blood of Vol, I will use Vodoni agents trying to get the artifact in order to control the dragons from entering the conflict. Then they could dictate terms after the planet is pacified.
The next thought was to do at least the first part of Voyage of the Golden Dragon. The second part will start with basically the same groups on board, but instead of a mystery on the airship, they find themselves in a desperate attempt to get away as the invasion begins in earnest. Maybe even a desperate flight out of a collapsing Sharn as the whole manifest zone is dispelled & the towers are starting to collapse.
It looks like I will be loosely basing the next phase off of The Breaking of Forstor Nagar. The heroes will be heading to to House Lyrander's Stormhome. When they get there they realize that the Vodoni have taken the city. The problem is there will be some VIPs that absolutely HAVE to be saved if Eberron is to have a chance. So will begin the PCs involvement in running missions against the vodoni directly.