Lost Heroes Adventure

[Seriphim84]

Hi, in a few weeks one of my players is leaving for 3 weeks, leaving us without any games to play. In the interim I have decided to try to right a interesting and unique 3 week adventure that requires no prep for the players. I came up with an Idea and was hoping for some help to flush it out.

The Background:

100 years ago, a great evil arose and threatened the world with eternal slavery. In response the mightiest heroes gathered to defeat this being. A huge battle of steel and heart and magic ensued at the top of Droskar's Crag, one of the tallest mountains in Galorian. When the smoke cleared, the evil returned, the heroes no where to be found. Despite their best efforts the forces of mortal kind could not stop the evil and its allies. And now, 100 years later most of the world, with a few pockets of resistance are now enslaved or dead.

The Players:

They are playing classless characters with 10 stats in everything, no skills and no proficiencies. They will begin the game with no character sheet and no background

The Concept:

Waking deep within Droskar's Crag 100 years later, the characters will have only flashes on a evil face and laugh as memories and will try to figure out who they are and what happened to them as they escape a long forgotten cave series and reclaim their lives

Over the course of these three weeks I will introduce artifact level magic items which will cause portions of memories and powers of each character to recover (I will choose who gets what based on how they play). The 3 week adventure will end once they escape the cave.

I hope to have this be a game that we play when ever a player can't make it to the regular game. but I need help flushing out the details... who/what is this evil, what classes are the players, what items should they have, etc.

any help, comments, ideas, criticisms are welcome :D

[Excaliburproxy]

The Evil is the kobold wizard lich Menderloom from the future. He was able to travel back in time using a time rift somewhere in the crazy-ass Abyss where he was banished (some nasty business with some demon lord, one must presume). Though only sort of powerful (~lv 14), Menderloom used his knowledge of future events to latch together an army of orcs and barbarians and stuff.

His plans have actually already failed twice, but each time he slips away to the Abyss and tries again.

Menderloom fought the heroes 100 years ago but actually managed to lead them into a time portal trap thing that flung them violently into the future (where Menderloom's evil is LAW and thus harder to stop). The trip was pretty damn rough, though. Lots of heads were smacked hard against time walls or whatever so they all have amnesia.

The recovered artifacts are their old badass gear that were handed off to various Menderloom generals and passed down father to son for two generations. Getting the artifacts reminds them of their former lives.

The last thing they remember is discovering Menderloom's time portal in the Abyss (which is why Menderloom freaked out and threw them through time rather than just trying to fight them like usual).

So they can go to the abyss, travel back in time, and undo the future that is Menderloom.

OR, they can find Menderloom as a young Kobold (he is a young wizard in the 100 years in the future period) and convince him to turn away from evil. Killing him will make him immediately resurrect as a lich (as per the machinations of the clever future Menderloom).

[Seriphim84]

thanks for the great idea. Anyone else?

Also I am looking for specific artifact level objects to give each of them. Like maybe the wizard would have a staff of the archmage or something like that. Any ideas on objects and classes?

[the David]

And so the people of Falcon's Hollow have to endure yet another hardship.

What level will the heroes reach? I can start to suggest anything with a CR from 4 to 23, but it might really help if you could tell us the party level.
Droskar's Crag is a volcano, so an Elemental would be a nice twist. They are however not too clever.
Other options:
Efreeti LE CR8
Fire Giant LE CR10
Magma Dragon CN CR12-20
Red Dragon CE CR14-22
Salamander CE CR6

There used to live some evil Dwarves in Droskar's Crag, so that would be an option. I don't know much about Duergar in Golarion, but that might be a good possibility too.

[Seriphim84]

during the first weeks they will be level 0 to 5. Everytime they discover another piece of their past they will gain 3-4 levels and the Great Evil should be CR 20+.

Fire creatures, awesome idea.

[Seriphim84]

Ok, so for items I have thought of this:

Each character will get a legendary item (like the old 3.5 weapons of legacy book) that will evolve with them. I will also include 4 other items in the game that will grant them additional memories of their pasts. So 5 items in total each.

What classes should I use? My initial thought were the common 4 but it seems to leave a power gap between classes. What four classes would you suggest?

The Evil from Droskar's Crag is going to be a fire creature from the depths of the earth... it needs to be intelligent, powerful long lived and ruthless. Thoughts? creatures with class levels are fine.

Said Evil will have 4 generals, each having trophies from the four fallen heroes. The heroes will have to track down each of these generals and defeat them to regain their formal glory.

Edit: I feel its worth noting that I am open to any and all material (except for the PCs, I don't want to confuse them with powers they don't know).

[LuxuriantOak]

here's a different take:
what if what happened 100 yrs ago was that that the heroes fought and defeated the evil, but since it was so powerful the backlash cursed them all. making them undying (unaging? soulless? something like that) but removing their identity. meanwhile the backlash and the opponents minions have been changing and even flourishing away from the tyrants guidance. making the region a lost land with no law and many dangers.

so they have been walking around in this region (a maze-like wasteland would be awesome I think) for longer then they can remember, trying to reclaim their memories, but each time they get close. something turns them against each other and the curse resets.

the twist is that one of them is the great evil, but doesn't know it.
and each time they regain enough memories to realize it the battle between them starts anew.
after so many years of fighting each other and the curse maybe this time they can find a way to end it.
and maybe evil can be redeemed.

guess where I drew inspiration from.

spoiler:

I really like the Black Company books and the Planscape: Torment game
edit: and I realized now the kotor-games of course!

[Propsken]

I'm loving the idea. Played with something similar a few times myself.

The most cliché is to have the PCs be either descendants from the great heroes that tried (and likely failed) to contain the evil, or be the amnesiac heroes themselves. Either memories flooding back or the spirits of their ancestors granting them power would explain their rapidly gained powers.
Evil sorceror, crazy necromancer, demon lord are your go-to solutions for the great evil. Maybe he actually WAS sealed, but one of his generals took over and is planning on resurrecting his master.
LuxuriantOak's suggestion of one of the players BEING the great evil is pure gold.
What if the PCs receive a guide? A wizened old hermit showing them the ways of the hero, aiding them with cryptic words, warning them of the dangers ahead? And what if that guide actually IS the great evil, intent on slaying the PCs when they've acumulated enough power (either to prove himself, hubris is such a fun sin to work with; or to take out the lost heroes' spirits along with the next generation in one fell swoop)?
Nobody ever said the great evil was the real threat. Maybe he was Sealed in a Can (C) to prevent him from opening another sealed evil? Portals to unspeakable/evil places, world-ending monstrosities, unstoppable plagues; take your pick.

Don't be affraid to go full-cliché, or even blatantly rip from pre-existing sources. The Legend of Zelda game series, just to name one thing, is an excellent source for adventure ideas - plus they contain an ever-recurring sealed-and-freed evil to boot. Try tvtropes.org for more inspiration too.

As for assigning the players a character based on their choices, keep a score per player. Every important choice they make, every encounter they tackle, consider their actions and add a point to one of the four great categories: arcane, divine, warrior, skilled. Assign one of the core classes based on that.

[Seriphim84]

Thanks guys! Some great ideas! This is why I go to the boards.

Updated/Refined Idea:

Vraxis, Worshiper of Rovagug was intent on unleashing The FireBleeder, Spawn of Rovagug from his prison deep inside Droskar's Crag. This can only be accomplished once every 100 years when the Crag is in its violent phase and the cage is at its weakest. His minions, hundreds of cultists, thousands of aberrations and tens of thousands of goblins, orcs, gnolls and other bestial humanoids, flooded over the land under his directions.
The Nations, united against this threat could not push back the ever growing waves the destruction and sent their strongest heroes from each land to put an end to Vraxis and his plans. This group of ten came to be known as the Alliance and were given the most powerful artifacts and weapons to win this fight.

After many weeks of pushing through the hordes, on the day of the release of the FireBleeder, The heroes faced Vraxis and the Beast upon the edge of the boiling lava lake that was Droskar's Crag. There, of the heroes died while fighting and in a last effort, the remaining heroes sealed themselves, the FireBleeder and Vraxis in side the Firebleeders cage. None were seen again.

Meanwhile, the nations of the inner sea, with no Great heroes left fell largely to the hoards. Eventually only a few strongholds of the humanoid races were left, and most others were enslaved.

99 years later somewhere deep within Droskar's Crag, four people from different nations awake, with no memories except the horrible visage of a massive creature of Fire. Is they find their way out they will encounter powerful items that reveal to them pieces and parts of the past, both theirs, and those of the fallen heroes.

Above, the followers of Rovagug the largest church in the innersea, once again prepare to unleash the FireBleeder upon the world and Harold in the destroyer.

Will Vraxis be found out? Will he remember his ambitions and join in the destruction of the world or will the memories and trials that these four go through unite them against the hoards with the power of the Alliance?

What do you all think?

[the David]

Xotani died nowhere near Droskar's Crag...

[Seriphim84]

Yes I know, I am stealing him and rewriting Galorian's history for my own nefarious purposes! HAHAHAHAHAH!

besides that what do you think?

[Seriphim84]

So I am considering having the Bad Guy amongst them be a NPC but I am worried that it will give it away. I am also considering making this a Gish game where I will grant the players the powers of the other now dead heroes as the game progresses.

Thoughts?

[Propsken]

The NPC could just be one of the heroic characters, and one of the PCs still the bad guy reincarnation. You'd just be using the players' assumptions to deflect attention away from that fact. Just watch out a bit - not everybody likes GMPCs in their group. Nobody minds a support caster or meatshield ally, but everybody hates a Gary Stu showboat.

Have you considered Gestalt rules, or the Mythic options? Alternatively you could simply give certain class abilities to certain characters, but that would require balancing, whereas the two prior options have their balancing somewhat predefined for you.

[Seriphim84]

Great Idea for the GMNPC! My biggest worry about placing a player in that role is making them the "Bad Guy" even if they choose to change it could destroy party relations which leads to problems in my experience. But still I could see using him to ad suspicion early game and allowing the player to find out he was the evil...

And yes I am seriously considering using gestalt rules. It is even better because I am creating the characters for this game. However I have never used gestalt or even seen it used. I am not sure how to adjust the power level for a game like that.

Is anyone willing to help me write out the 10 heroes of the alliance? I am going to put one up this week to get critiqued.

What I am looking for:
Strong background details: for flashbacks and such to fill in the characters to the players as we go.
Personality details: such as what alignment they are, what their beliefs are and general behavioral bits
Combat style: How do they fight, sword in board? Conjuration magic? Stealth and subterfuge?
Class: with any archetypes and important selections. doesn't need to be detailed to the level. Just something like "Seeker Arcane Bloodline Sorcerer" or " Guide Ranger with Archer feats"
Single class please!

Thanks everyone. This is starting to really come together.