Plot foreshadowing - tips and tricks to share

[filipham]

Hi. After reading multiple posts on these forums it has become clear that adding more plot foreshadowing for things to come is probably a good idea.

I have some plans on what to add in my campaign, and I started this thread so we can all share foreshadowing tips.

I am using some other modifications to my campaign already, like dudemeisters Hargulka's monster kingdom and some others. This forum is already a treasure throve of information for this campaign :)

Spoiler:

I plan on adding a recurring villain sent by Nyrissa to help oversee the region and discourage settlements. A fey (fey creature template) elf ranger/rogue: Cecidis. (From the latin word fallen - cecidi)

Naryssa has developed a greater reincarnation spell that only requires a part of the body from before death, as well as a (quite painful) process to bestow the fey creature template to a creature. Having gone through both of these processes (the reincarnation more than once), the former elf is quite different mentally than most elves (and other living creatures..). Death no longer holds any fear, and his current race and body means little to him. His identity revolves more about his fierce loyalty to Naryssa than what he (currently) looks like.

I plan to have him keep levelling alongside the players and be 2 levels higher than them (which combined with his fey creature template puts his CR at party level +2). He will most likely be killed many times, but each time come back in a different body (and race), working on assisting Hargulka and other foes, and sabotaging anything he can.

Stolen lands

Initially he will intercept the players (in his elf body) in the woods.
He will step out from behind a tree, long step past the agressive fighters to right next to one of the casters, whisper "your kind does not belong here, leave..", then use vanish and move stealthed a move away.
Aided by his fey abilites (vanish and long step) this should be an encounter where the players most likely cannot kill him.

Later they will meet him again and most likely defeat him in combat. (Details not decided).

Rivers run red

Early in this adventure or late in the previous one, Cecidis will be back as one of the servants of the players, (reincarnated as a halfling or gnome most likely). After he serves the players poison food at the dinner, he will stand there grinning, observing and finally offer his "advice" again: "Your kind does not belong here, leave..", before vanishing and trying to escape. At this time the players might kill him or he might get away.

After this, Cecidis will be mostly appearing in this adventure as an advisor to Hargulka, sent by Naryssa to convince and assist him. He is the one that brought the gift of a magic item magic Hargulka smarter and 2 will of wisps to help with scouting and other duties. He will be coming and going from Hargulka, as he is not his underling.

He will be part of the delegation to the kobold dinner along with the trolls.

in later adventures I plan more appearances by him, but the details for these are so far up in the air. With his mysterious abilites, and fey looks (have a look at the fey creature template), this should both foresahdow the fey part and the fact that someone does not want them there..

Feedback on my plans here are always welcome, but I hope that the rest of you will share your tips and tricks for foreshadowing here as well :)

[Papa-DRB]

Dotting!!! and consider this stolen for my home game.

-- david
Papa.DRB

[DMFTodd]

I'm not sold on the reincarnation idea, but certainly having more agents of N show up in the adventure is a good idea. Linking them together with the same ominous catchphrase is good as well.

Spoiler:

What if Tartuk is the first incarnation of this? Rather than being a deranged gnome, he's an agent of Narissa sent to kill the kobolds and aid her allies (since mites are fey)?

Tartuk is described as bright purple, which matches nicely to the First World. You could repeat that color for the other incarnations.

What if Old Sharptooth was hiding a statue of Narissa inside it? The kobold sacrifices were really sacrifices to Narissa. What about changing Tartuk from an actual kobold into some sort of disguised fey? Is that giving away too much too early?

[redcelt32]

You know your players better than I, so maybe this idea will work for your group.

In my own group, my players would get frustrated and highly irritated if I put a villian in the story who continously came back to life and continued to stay more powerful than them throughout the story. It would be too reminiscent of bad GM experiences some of them have had in the past, where no matter what you do, the GM won't let you defeat a certain enemy or obtain a certain goal. So in my group, this would just make them want to quit the game unless this "immortal" character and killing him was the main ongoing storyline.

Evem if you stick with this plan, I would suggest having him come back (or maybe a few times), then let the party find out there is a special weapon that can kill him permanently. This way the party can have the satisfaction of side-trekking to get it, and disposing of a highly frustating villian. This also prevents this character from overshadowing the other villians in the story that are of slowly increasing difficulty but don't recur. IMO you run the risk of having this new NPC be harder than really memorable ones later on, like Armag whose nickname suggests HE should be the one with this power.

[filipham]

redcelt32 wrote:

You know your players better than I, so maybe this idea will work for your group.

In my own group, my players would get frustrated and highly irritated if I put a villian in the story who continously came back to life and continued to stay more powerful than them throughout the story. It would be too reminiscent of bad GM experiences some of them have had in the past, where no matter what you do, the GM won't let you defeat a certain enemy or obtain a certain goal. So in my group, this would just make them want to quit the game unless this "immortal" character and killing him was the main ongoing storyline.

Evem if you stick with this plan, I would suggest having him come back (or maybe a few times), then let the party find out there is a special weapon that can kill him permanently. This way the party can have the satisfaction of side-trekking to get it, and disposing of a highly frustating villian. This also prevents this character from overshadowing the other villians in the story that are of slowly increasing difficulty but don't recur. IMO you run the risk of having this new NPC be harder than really memorable ones later on, like Armag whose nickname suggests HE should be the one with this power.

My players are neutral or evil, and quite adept at solving less than straightforward challenges so that won't be a problem. There IS plenty of ways to stop him from reoccurring. Any way of catching his soul for instance, or stopping him without killing him. No need to make an extra one :)

Anyone else have any tips and tricks they use?

[Jabberwonky]

I'd second Recelt32's point RE: characters that cannot be killed/continuously get away. From a player's point of view, nothing is more frustrating or meta-gamey (read:fun killing) than feeling like you are neutered out of your character's capabilities for a plot point.

Now, that being said, the idea of the character being reincatnated as different entities/races/critterz may be the ace in the hole that keeps the table from feeling this way. If orchestrated well, it could be very awesome and creepy to have random persons/beasites/etc. in the realm all using the same catch phrase and then attempting to kill the party. That could lead to all sorts fo mysterious cult theories and paranoia.

As far as foreshadowing, I'm adding in a number of sites to the map (stone circles, monoliths, old ruins and stoneworks) that will play into what happened before and why it's important.

Spoiler:

The quick and dirty looks like this: Long ago the first world and golarion were co-terminous in the northeast. The First world claimed the largely undsettled and barbaric lands annexing the north eastern part of golarion. They ruled it fairly peacefully for a long time. In the first world, there was a coup, and war rolled across both the first world and NE Golarion. The barbarian tribes rose up and with the help of some law-based outsiders were able to shunt the first world back out of golarion. At present, the magics used to force the first world out are decaying. This poses a problem as the Thousandbreaths is closer to Golarion, thus "Lady N" is starting to exert her influence, and the clock is slowly ticking.

I put together a backstory/history that will slowly be uncovered as the characters progress through the AP, and will slowly be revealed to the oracle in the party as they move forward.

Also I added in a little item called the Journal of Percy Sparkspriggle, an elaborate diary from a gnome that traveled extensively throughout the first world. I'm letting this have some information as needed for people who take time to read it. The journal itself is unique in that it describes percy's travels with the fey, as well as is a study in the mental degredation of a gnome as they bleach. As the journal progresses it becomes more and more maddened, as the bleaching process overtakes the poor soul. This journal can be used for just about anythign that you want to give clues on regarding the fey, and may even have tales of the early, less spiteful parts of Lady N's life.

[Quantum Steve]

Jabberwonky wrote:

I'd second Recelt32's point RE: characters that cannot be killed/continuously get away. From a player's point of view, nothing is more frustrating or meta-gamey (read:fun killing) than feeling like you are neutered out of your character's capabilities for a plot point.

I'm not sure I agree.

You don't have to kill a villain to defeat him, case in point, most comic book villains. As long as the PCs can thwart the villain when they encounter him. And I don't mean clean up after his messes, but actually stop his plans and machinations.

If the villain always wins and gets away, that can be frustrating, but as long as the PCs can beat him, that's what most campaign long villains are about.

That said, I think making such a villain would necessarily make the campaign about him, rather than about the PCs kingdom, which is what it's about now. So, such a tactic should be used carefully, conscious of how it will affect the mojo of the campaign.

[redcelt32]

The main plot foreshadowings that I have introduced so far are

- Zuddiger's picnic found among some books in an abandoned cart. I also added several encounters to my wandering monster tables from the 1st world, whose loot is in nickel coins and whose armor is made of woven living vines. There are two portal to the 1st world in case the party wants to explore a little or investigate further prior to the 6th book, one is a pool and one is a barrow mound in the forest.

foreshadows:

The goal is to get the party connecting weird happenings and the 1st world prior to more obvious Nyrissa clues.

- Added a set encounter with an angry group of centaurs chasing down pelt hunters who fled into the Stolen Lands.

foreshadows:

This gives the party that there is conflict between centaurs and humans prior to engaging with Varn and Varnhold.

- Had a traveling bard sing the song of Armag the twice born that someone added to the forums here (thank you!). The song was popular among the townsfolk of the kingdom's first settlement, so the party gets to hear it a lot.

I am actually doing a little bit of muddying the waters as well...

muddying:

regarding Pitax, who my party would suspect immediately if no one else had ever invited them to tourneys, etc. Starting at 5th level, they had received invitations to tourneys, festivals, and balls. Also, envoys will be frequently visiting them and discussing agreements between factions and countries. Mixed in with these, Pitax's ploy can still be discovered, but won't be so obvious

[PJ]

redcelt32 wrote:

The main plot foreshadowings that I have introduced so far are

- Zuddiger's picnic found among some books in an abandoned cart. I also added several encounters to my wandering monster tables from the 1st world, whose loot is in nickel coins and whose armor is made of woven living vines. There are two portal to the 1st world in case the party wants to explore a little or investigate further prior to the 6th book, one is a pool and one is a barrow mound in the forest.
** spoiler omitted **

- Added a set encounter with an angry group of centaurs chasing down pelt hunters who fled into the Stolen Lands.
** spoiler omitted **

- Had a traveling bard sing the song of Armag the twice born that someone added to the forums here (thank you!). The song was popular among the townsfolk of the kingdom's first settlement, so the party gets to hear it a lot.

I am actually doing a little bit of muddying the waters as well...
** spoiler omitted **

I like the muddying part as I know my group will be very distrustful of Pitax.