I have just begun a new campaign with my local group. The campaign takes place in Lastwall, as the PC's are all part of a mercenary company that has been working with/fighting for the Shining Crusade. They are all third level, but I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with suitable adventures for them to play without gameplay gettin too boring or repetative. Ideas for some good mercenary jobs?
Alright. But once I get to the war between lastwall and Belkzen, where to? Like I said, they are now part of the Crusade against the orcs. I need something for them to do in the war to make them feel...not bored. But as third level mercs, what adventres can they go on to affect the end of the war without getting slaughtered?
They could run commando style missions, disrupting supply lines, hammering troop movements, taking out key buildings or supply depots.
They can capture scouts and sew false information to scouts they have detected.
The thing being, the war between the Orcs and lastwall never really ends. Currently, the tribes are ununited, and battles only happen when independent tribes attack Lastwall or Lastwall attempts a push into Belkzen
you could have your Merc's being paid by a Priest of Gorum to rile the Orcs up some and have them attack so there is reason for war.
|
you could have your Merc's being paid by a Priest of Gorum to rile the Orcs up some and have them attack so there is reason for war.
That's a fairly common Star Trek theme, that when there's a peace on, some folks on both sides are always looking to stir stuff up (and possibly even working together, since they are each convinced that if only their side got into it, they'd wipe out the other side once and for all).
There's also those who profit from the war (such as an unscrupulous Kalistocratish Drumite arms-dealer), or expect to profit from victory and are sort of waiting for the war to turn hot (such as frontiers-folk who are eager to settle the newly conquered orcish lands, seizing as much land for themselves as they can and becoming major landholders and possible lordly types in the newly settled lands, after the orcs are gone). The arms-dealer might be attempting to smuggle in a rust monster to feast in the armory, so that the local military has to buy a bunch of new armor and weapons from him. The wanna-be settlers might have their wagons all ready, but have been waiting around for over a year for the 'big offensive' that they thought was just around the corner, and by this point, they are ready to stir things up and fake an orc attack on some outlying village just to 'move things along.'
Certain creatures might also find the constant ongoing conflict to be tasty. Big predators like will o wisps might haunt the sites of battles, to feast on the fear and despair of anyone left to die of some lingering wounds. Smaller murderous predators like redcap fey or ettercaps or derro or whatever might use the violence-inherent-to-the-system to keep anyone from noticing the higher-than-average amount of people mysteriously vanishing.
Given the nature of the region, and the shifty nature of some of the 'crusaders,' there'll likely be a fair amount of mundane crime, as well, ranging from people selling drugs to mercenaries, to fences happily taking in goods 'commandeered' from the locals by the visiting troops, etc. all stuff that the higher ranking people, all clerical and / or paladin-ly, would loathe, but perhaps be understaffed to deal with personally (or poorly situated to infiltrate or uncover, being that they all bear Shield-marks and possibly Sword-marks of loyalty* and are likely well-known to the scum they are attempting to root out).
*mentioned in Cities of Golarion, under the Vigil write up.
Visitors from nearby Ustalav (possibly tainted with lycanthropy or vampiric taints), Razmiran (with their own special agendas) or Lake Encartha itself (fish peeps, perhaps Skum, perhaps Deep Ones!) could also round things out, so it isn't just a repetitive orcapalooza.
While the army is dealing with orcs, a smaller unaffiliated group could be tasked to deal with other stuff, like the mysterious disappearances, or the drug-trade. Even other mercenary companies working with the Lastwall defenders might have very specific contractual duties, and not be subject to being assigned 'scut work' like this, since they only signed on to fight orcs, not Razmiri proselytizers or Deep One kidnappers.
This creates a sort of fuzzy area in which it makes sense for the PCs to get a job that's both more appropriate for their CR, and also a reason for why the military doesn't just send a dozen soldiers, some Iomedan clerics and paladins, and a few battle-mages to deal with it.
In addition to all of the excellent stuff above by Set, another aspect you could zero in on are the fact that the PCs are mercenaries rather than traditional adventurers. The sort of gray morality stories that come from having PC mercenaries are a bit different than most. RP-wise there are the suspicions that the PCs themselves may be the profiteers from the war, the resentment for having to pay them, agents from the other side either trying to actively recruit them or set them up so that they are not trusted by their own allies, arranging their own supplies / logistics as they will probably not have access to any communal resources due to their mercenary nature, etc.
Stories-wise, having PCs also involved in cover-up missions and misinformation campaigns vs. their own allies might also be interesting. To keep it more light grey than dark (especially if you're PCs are mostly mercs in name only) you could tie this into the cult of Norgerberger under his guise as the Reaper of Reputations, where cultists are working with the orcs and trying to sow discord and destroy morale under the PCs' allies' forces.
|
I mean, I wasn't so much asking about Belkzen/Lastwall lore as I was asking about what sort of plot you had in mind. A quick arc off the top of my head: the dwarves of the Five King Mountains have learned about their long-hidden kin in Belkzen (I forget the name of the outpost, it's in "Belkzen: Hold of the Orc Hordes"). A host of dwarven crusaders marches out to Lastwall to "rescue" their fellows, and join up with the Gorumites to pressure the leaders of Lastwall into launching an offensive against the orcs. The players are hired as part of the buildup to the offensive. You could have them travel to Trunau in order to size the town up/present Lastwall's offer to bulk up the town's defenses as a forward operating base, then run Book 1 of Giantslayer when the orcs start to catch on and attack. Once the players have a few levels under their belt, throw some tougher commando-style missions at them. Assassinating orc chieftains, sabotaging the Foundry, capturing a strategic point and holding it against waves of enemies until their allies arrive...classic stuff.
Thank you all for your suggestions. They shall be out to great use here soon