Hi there,
im currently running Jade Regent with 5 players and they're on their way to brinewall. My players kind of complained that "seeking adventure" and "helping out friends" isn't good enough as motivations for their characters, so I'm thinking about ways to get some more motivation using their background stories which isn't all that hard. But there is something I'd like some advice/ideas/brainstorming for:
I have a player who is currently playing a chavalier, mostly because there was no one else willing to play a melee character. But now he'd rather play a magic user instead. And since I'm the last one to force a group to fill certain roles I'm willing to accept his wish to play a dwarfen oracle (I think it'll be a storm(?) oracle).
No here is my basic idea on how to do this:
I am planning on adding "The Harrowing" into this campaign as I like the idea of that adventure. So I thought I might have the current character (the chavalier) be sucked into the harrow deck without the other characters noticing. They would only hear some strange noises (the gate spell) and find the dwarfen oraclenext to a single harrow card. It will take some thinking and maybe some knowledge checks to find out that the chavalier has actually disappeared and that this card has something todo with it... and that they will have to find the other cards to rescue him.
As for the oracle, I'm thinking of him beeing an old possessor of the deck who now lost his memory or who never fully understood what he was doing or why he was doing it (beeing forced by the deck and all). Or he is just someone looking for the rest of the deck.
I'd really like to get some sort of "Dragonballs" quest, having the party search for the rest of the deck to rescue the chavalier. On the other hand I want them to follow the main quest. So here are some questions where I'd like some ideas of you very creative folkes :)
- where could the other cards be? Why would they be in/on their way to tian xia? Could some cards be in brinewall? That would help the "destiny" theme, wouldn't it?
- What could have happend to the deck? Why would there be only one card left? Why was it enough to suck in the chavalier? Was the rest scattered around after the chavalier got sucked in? Any ideas?
- What could have happened to the oracle? Any ideas on that? Maybe it was his deck? Maybe his patron would like him to secure the deck? Maybe Zassrion, the dragon controlling the decks owner, actually IS his patron? In that case: How could I explain that the oracle doesn't loose his powers after finishing the adventure around level 9?
You see, I have some rough ideas which I think could be fun for the group, but I lack ideas to explain everything. I'm happy for any ideas! Thanks in advance!