Help Campaign Building - GC, VR Bleak House and more!

[thekristhomas]

I would definitely establish Van Richten as a patron/benefactor somehow before playing Seas of Madness, the Chilling Tales adventures aren't necessarily the best to do this as several of them involve him being duped in some way. IMC he was a source of information, specialist equipment and adventures for my party's early levels, so his disappearance effected them emotionally despite the fact that they had outgrown the need for his assistance. Again this is just IMC but I disappeared him "early", that is before the events of VRGttV and the lifting of the curse, I did this for several reasons, first the tone of despair at the end of VRGtF was, I thought, more suited to his subsequently seeking psychiatric help, second I felt it made more sense for his curse to be lifted after he had confronted Baron M and Madame R (that being said depending on how BH turns out VRGttV might never get written) but that's just my opinion.

I kinda like the way SoH follows Seas of Madness which ends on the sea so they should mesh well, and I've been thinking about the taskmaster's leash and how that might fit. Following SoM Rudy is in a poor state which might gel with his position in taskmaster's leash, but maybe the "madness poison" might muddy the waters regarding the source of Van Richten's malady, actually that might be a good thing depending on how you plan to fit the Black Dome section of BH in

[Nox]

I would definitely establish Van Richten as a patron/benefactor somehow before playing Seas of Madness, the Chilling Tales adventures aren't necessarily the best to do this as several of them involve him being duped in some way. IMC he was a source of information, specialist equipment and adventures for my party's early levels, so his disappearance effected them emotionally despite the fact that they had outgrown the need for his assistance. Again this is just IMC but I disappeared him "early", that is before the events of VRGttV and the lifting of the curse, I did this for several reasons, first the tone of despair at the end of VRGtF was, I thought, more suited to his subsequently seeking psychiatric help, second I felt it made more sense for his curse to be lifted after he had confronted Baron M and Madame R (that being said depending on how BH turns out VRGttV might never get written) but that's just my opinion.

I kinda like the way SoH follows Seas of Madness which ends on the sea so they should mesh well, and I've been thinking about the taskmaster's leash and how that might fit. Following SoM Rudy is in a poor state which might gel with his position in taskmaster's leash, but maybe the "madness poison" might muddy the waters regarding the source of Van Richten's malady, actually that might be a good thing depending on how you plan to fit the Black Dome section of BH in

Tbh i did not read yet all the BH. Anyhow i like to mess with player, so if the madness poison will confuse them i'm fine enough. I could make an adventure to find out the cause of his madness.

[DustBunny]

MMMMH... i still have this BIG problem about how to justify the fact that pass almost an year from an adventure to the other... how can i explain this to my players?

Thinking a bit maybe this thought (please ignore the squeaking, the wheels aren't as well oiled as they used to be ), it may require some 'forward loading' and is somewhat dependant on their RLoft knowledge

Have PC's actually work for Uncle Az as opposed to being free agents. At least at first.

From the 'academy' or whatever in Darkon they are selected to perform a 'special mission' for the King. Maybe even have a 'mini adventure' as their selection competition. Beat up some bandits or another small problem that's below the Kargats attention. Assuming when they succeed and meet the King he puts on the act of the king concerned about his kingdom blah blah blah and generally comes across as the typical fantasy world king. Az's minions and Kargat have been instructed to leave the PC's _strictly_ alone and to be very nice to them for now. This should allay the players they are working for 'the good guys'. Sure peasants moan and grumble, and the occassion guard is corrupt but aren't they all like that?

The PC's incidentally are a side experiment of Azalin. Can he mold perfect agents from ordinary humans. Much more reliable than werebeasts and headstrong vampires. And easier to get rid of/replace than supernaturals.

His mission is to recover a scroll from a swampland as it is believed to be quite dangerous (aka the Hexad scroll in NoTWD). Off go the PC's and recover it and bring it back. This occurs at the end of the year 736. When they get back he is very pleased, rewards them and so forth.

Next up is ToD, the PC's go about their way for a few days and they are summoned again. This time to collect the missing verse from the scroll from Har'kir. This occurs at the beginning of 737. They return with the missing rhyme, and Azalin is pleased. Seeing his minions are capable is rewards them (maybe even a magic item!) but needing time to consider his next move, he hits them with a temporal stasis spell when they sleep as honoured guests of the king. No need for him to lose valuable assets yet.

This lets you skip almost 2 years. As far as the PC's are concerned they went to bed a woke up. They may never realise they were on ice for 2 years

He releases them near the end of 738 because of rumours of a Ragda Daeglan running around Kartakkas, thus kicking off FoG as he sends his minions to stop 'the evil sorceress',. You can slip SoH and maybe some mini adventures in here on their return trip pushing it out to early 739. By this stage Az is ecstatic about his new minions performance. Not only did they recover the scrolls, they are actively fulfilling them for him.

Between 739 to 740 you could either put them on ice again (boring) or have more mini adventures as 'favoured agents of the King'. Bust up a Kargat cell gone bad, teach Falkanovian patrols who got a bit careless with borders, etc. Lets them have their own little manor and get invited to the good parties. Even act as diplomats to nearby realms for a bit. Easily enough to eat up a year.

Early 740 start with FoS. Skip the whole horseman bit (I hate it), and as calls his favoured servants to help eliminate a evil vampire lord who threatens the realms (hey there Strahd). Bodiless doesn't mean 'headless' it means without a body. So he sends their _spirits_ back in time for the whole thing. Once done he says he need to think about this and has en idea. The PC's also wander around the castle at this time because they are 'favoured agents' as opposed to 'why the hell are guards ignoring escaped prisoners. Anyways he disguises his phylactery into the 'Holy Symbol' and gets the PC's to cast it into the mists. As for the whole Azalin attack thing at the end, Az disguises himself as Strahd and attacks. It puts him back into his phylactery and keeps the illusion of the 'evil vampire' and possibly ally's suspicions. Why would he care at this point? A contingency plan just in case. On with Roots. Az will be much more likely to assist his minions in the whole back in time to banish Inajirra (as will the PCs) as opposed to him being inclined to help his enemies.

The jump to 740 to 749 could be done easily. When Ravenloft reforms they find themselves in 749? Why? Who knows. But breaking and fixing a demi plane would have effects.

If they are still Az's favoured minions. He sends them out to Falkonovia because on of his ordinary minions has stolen a magic dagger and need to be punished (Death Unchained). Continue onwards from there, and they also have a very good reason why they are in Il Aluk for the doomsday device.

If they start getting second thoughts about their 'kindly patron' instead of doing his missions they work to stop them, but end up completeing them anyway.

Enough rambling for now.

[The Lesser Evil]

To Recap my questions:
1)Since I dont know much about Dr. D. yet, Do you have any advice on how to run those adventures without messing things up? Consider that my player are suspicious and i'm sure they will not trust someone who betrayed them even if he proof he is different.

You could always substitute another evil genius (Dr. Harrod Tasker or perhaps a former associate of Dr. D like Dr. Rehner.). Alternatively, Dr. D. might use an alias (he used one before). His appearance might have changed from his resurrection- or change to darklord. Or he could simply wear a disguise.

2)Would you make any change on the timeline of those events? If so, how would you arrange those adventures? Expecially about Dr. D. Since as you said he will not be in Dominia before 740 BC. Keep in mind that I could adjust any adventure to whatever level is needed, even if it would involve a lot of work..

If you intend to separate the BH adventures, you'll need to find another reason for VR to check himself into an insane asylum. (The canonical reason is the nightmares sent to him by the Thinker under coercion from Baron Metus- and the nightmares hit him again soon after he escapes.)

3)Do you know any other adventures who involve VR as PC main helper?

Out of the adventures in Chilling Tales, the "Ancient Dead" one seems to have him working with the PCs as companions rather that rescuers. It's in Har'Akir and could be run adjunct to Touch of Death (however, it's for levels 7-9, so you might need to play around a little bit with the mummy's spellcasting level, the number of crocs, VR's level, and such. Undying Justice (also in CT) might be a good way for them to get VR's attention. As written, VR leaves town for a more important venture, but you could have him doing research or some such thing in town, such that he could be consulted (with some difficulty) by the PCs if need be.

Elsewhere, the Sea Wolf (Dungeon Magazine #55, levels 4-6, mystery investigation aboard a ship traveling between Mordentshire and Martira Bay in the Sea of Sorrows) features VR.

Alternatively, it might be fun to insert VR in the adventure A Truly Twisted Tale, featuring Emil Bollenbach and the Doppelganger Golem from Children of the Night: the Created (considering their past history together, especially if you ran "The Surgeon's Blade" adventure for him in CT) "A Truly Twisted Tale" is for levels 5-8, and you would probably need to have it occur after the grand conjunction (since the Bollenbach doesn't kidnap VR until 738- unless you wish to play with the timeline). VR retires in 742 BC, but his personal connection to Emil might be a good reason for VR to "come out of retirement" to venture one last time (well, as far as he knows.) You will of course need to play with the levels and difficulty of the monsters. Emil might be good with levels in artificer (from Eberron, reskinned as weird science) or alchemist (if you have the pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide)

You could also conceivably base an adventure around a hunt described in one of his Guides, placing the PCs in place of the characters he mentions in the book. For example, you might have them go on the hunt for the Bog Monster of Hroth with VR and Jameld as described in the final chapter of VR's Guide to the Ancient Dead. (It begins in Skald and continues into Sithicus, so it might be run adjunct to Feast of Goblyns.)

4) How would you use flashbacks and make them plausible and not banal to the PC? How would you justify them?

Thank you in advance.

Er, sorry, I meant flashbacks as in the traumatic symptom, such that VR is experiencing flashbacks, and he thinks he's reliving moments of the past, which would let you remind the PCs of previous adventures he's had with them. If you want to do cut-scene type flashbacks, there's some advice in the Ravenloft Dungeon Master Guide, if I recall correctly.

[Nox]

Thinking a bit maybe this thought (please ignore the squeaking, the wheels aren't as well oiled as they used to be ), it may require some 'forward loading' and is somewhat dependant on their RLoft knowledge....

....Enough rambling for now.

I really like your Ideas, and honestly i will probably use them!

Just 2 problems: My PC actually are in Invidia, One of them is born in it, and all the other went there for different reasons. I need an excuses to bring them to Azzy. I could (and I will) move the campaign to other domains, but i think that my PC will always try to come back to Invidia, since all they have is there. I need to find a reason for them to leave that place and do not want to always come back there (with them i would also move some of the main NPC, like friends or thrustworty NPC, but not that much).

VIEW CONTENT:

To be honest, I was thinking of letting the paladin raise a Keep, in which he can train soldiers, open business, found a local church for his Deity, and so on (Other PC will have their part ofc, but the paladin is the most well-to-do actually, so he will payy almost everthing). My plan is to send there major friend NPC and such so they can keep friend close and create some sort of guild. I suppose this could keep them in Darkon, making it their new home...

Since one of mine PC is still building his character (with my help - I also opened a topic about this - ) one of the my main ideas is:

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-This spoiler is not known by the Player - His PC was sell as a slave, and Az himself bought him. Az grew him up and teach him some arcane arts, and when the Doomsday device exploded it turned him Undead, and the explosion port him back in time.

He woke up with just a vague memory of "something silver, a Dispute, and a Big explosion....", you get where i'm going?

The character hate being an undead, and forces himself not to feed on anything alive as long as he can (I will use some Liber mortis optional rule for him). He will meet other party member (Paladin, cleric, and a rogue) . I'm sure they will draw their swords and ready their spells, but then the player will act as a poor soul, asking for help, telling them he wants back his stolen life and if they do not kill him, he will prove to be actually a really good character, forcing himself not to eating humans, helping innocents, and so on.

I still need some development to really make other PCs like him and want to help him (Probably i should find a way in which he doesnt resemble an undead, so he can also interact with NPC without being put on a stake, but he should be clearly an Undead to other PCs the first time they met.. i'm stuck on this. ) despite he's an undead, but with your help (since the really good story you came up with) i'm sure i can find a way out.

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Im reading this post once again, and I came up with an idea: What if he resemble an undead if he doesnt eat "something", but if he eats it he look human? The undead PC will surely be starving when other will find him, and he may thinks the only way to feed himself is to eat raw fresh human meat, then the cleric with a proper check could tell him that for his kind of "curse", "Other kind of meat" could also provide the same benefit, without the need to kill any human being. This is just a proof, not the final solution, maybe you could help me with better and deeper details. Tbh I find it quite banal (the part in which he can also eat something else to resemble human), unless that "something else" Is something hard to find. let me know your thoughts.

I just need to link this ideas to your ideas and it could be a good campaign I guess .

Er, sorry, I meant flashbacks as in the traumatic symptom, such that VR is experiencing flashbacks, and he thinks he's reliving moments of the past, which would let you remind the PCs of previous adventures he's had with them. If you want to do cut-scene type flashbacks, there's some advice in the Ravenloft Dungeon Master Guide, if I recall correctly.

yes there are, but they didnt helped me much

[DustBunny]

Just 2 problems: My PC actually are in Invidia, One of them is born in it, and all the other went there for different reasons. I need an excuses to bring them to Azzy. I could (and I will) move the campaign to other domains, but i think that my PC will always try to come back to Invidia, since all they have is there.

Invidia...hmm.

Okay, instead of Azalin running the show, there is a degree of separation. One of his spies in Invidia decides to use local assets to achieve his lords goals in addition to expanding his network.

Their new 'patron' does the whole venerable sage act and so forth, paying them handsomely to go and retrieve the Hexad scroll in NotWD. They return to Invidia and then the 'sage' sends them off to retrieve the missing verse and once they have done that he sends them off to his fellow sage (aka boss) in Darkon. From here it would be easy to tie it into in 'the concerned king line' learning of the dire prophecy and wanting to discuss their findings. From there continue as before.

You can also use the 'spy patron' as an introduction to other patrons, (ala Van Richten). The spy gives them a letter of introduction from the wise sage Dr NotaVampire to Dr Van Richten.

As for the special character he could be tricky - a party of holy types and a vamp. I wouldn't do it personally but it's his PC so.... hrm..

If he has some minor amnesia, he could remember that Azalin is important for some reason but not why. Also with the line 'dooming all to live with a dreaded curse' line of the Hexad, and 'the devil Strahd' you could apply a strong push for the cause of his condition. The 'patron' can also drop hints how the scroll may reveal the secrets of a cure.

You not lying you're just letting them jump to conclusions from incomplete data.

So when Azalin goes on about 'the evil vampire lord threatening his realm' and mixes it in with a bit of the lycanthropy 'kill the head of the bloodline' lore, the PCs should jump at the chance for a 'cure' by working with the nice king to stop the evil Strahd. Also if the PC does start remembering too much, Az can control all undead in Darkon, so he can easily deflect any concerns by a little memory erasure.

[Nox]

Just 2 problems: My PC actually are in Invidia, One of them is born in it, and all the other went there for different reasons. I need an excuses to bring them to Azzy. I could (and I will) move the campaign to other domains, but i think that my PC will always try to come back to Invidia, since all they have is there.

Invidia...hmm.

Okay, instead of Azalin running the show, there is a degree of separation. One of his spies in Invidia decides to use local assets to achieve his lords goals in addition to expanding his network.

Their new 'patron' does the whole venerable sage act and so forth, paying them handsomely to go and retrieve the Hexad scroll in NotWD. They return to Invidia and then the 'sage' sends them off to retrieve the missing verse and once they have done that he sends them off to his fellow sage (aka boss) in Darkon. From here it would be easy to tie it into in 'the concerned king line' learning of the dire prophecy and wanting to discuss their findings. From there continue as before.

You can also use the 'spy patron' as an introduction to other patrons, (ala Van Richten). The spy gives them a letter of introduction from the wise sage Dr NotaVampire to Dr Van Richten.

As for the special character he could be tricky - a party of holy types and a vamp. I wouldn't do it personally but it's his PC so.... hrm..

If he has some minor amnesia, he could remember that Azalin is important for some reason but not why. Also with the line 'dooming all to live with a dreaded curse' line of the Hexad, and 'the devil Strahd' you could apply a strong push for the cause of his condition. The 'patron' can also drop hints how the scroll may reveal the secrets of a cure.

You not lying you're just letting them jump to conclusions from incomplete data.

So when Azalin goes on about 'the evil vampire lord threatening his realm' and mixes it in with a bit of the lycanthropy 'kill the head of the bloodline' lore, the PCs should jump at the chance for a 'cure' by working with the nice king to stop the evil Strahd. Also if the PC does start remembering too much, Az can control all undead in Darkon, so he can easily deflect any concerns by a little memory erasure.

Thank you! I'm not sure i will let him pick an undead anyway.. The idea was mine, but i see many problems in it, first of all we have 2 holy character, as you said, and they would have all the reasons in the world to just kill him and go on, since he's an undead, a monster, and they dont have any reason to trust him - except he is a player. I can see many cool things also.. For example in "NotWD" he would ask himself "Will I became one of them? Am I cursed to this faith?" And so on.. But i dont think the game will be worth the candle, for the said reasons...
So i'll probably try to find something different for him tonight.

[Nox]

How would you treat the feature of Darkon that makes everyone lose his memory (After a month or two that they stay in darkon)?

Anyhow i'm planning about opening a new Topic about the adventure i'm working on with the modified (and updated) timeline and corrispective event. Does this brake any rule?

Fact is I need some help in figuring out what events will be moved in the timeline since I have to change the order of the hexad to make it fit the Level of the PC (this will gets more complicated since when I move an event I cannot play an event that is subsequential to the one I moved - At least not before that event happens).

[Hamiclar]

In the Library of Castle Invernus, their exists a library of you are able to locate the book with your history and cross it out you are able to keep your memory or you can burn the book but after a month again your history is written in the book.

[Nox]

In the Library of Castle Invernus, their exists a library of you are able to locate the book with your history and cross it out you are able to keep your memory or you can burn the book but after a month again your history is written in the book.

yeah I read about it, but the fact is I'm not sure how should the player discover such information.
I mean, I'm pretty sure Azalin isn't walking around yelling "hey! I steal all your memories and keep them in a book in my personal library because i have an obsessive-compulsive disorder" ..

How should I give them that info?

[Hamiclar]

The vistani or the librarian may relay the info to the players

[Joël of the FoS]

I would include "The Evil Eye" for sure, if I were you. It's the only other "significant" event in the timeline not on your list.

And it's possibly the best RL adventure ever made.

I'll add it for sure. Maybe i'll also add Die Vecna Die, but i'll see if I can find a solution to link it.

And DVD is one of the strangest. I once DMed it, and it was fun, but it is definetively a weekend-in-hell type of adventure, and isn't easy to put in a "normal" RL campaign.

Joël

[Nox]

I would include "The Evil Eye" for sure, if I were you. It's the only other "significant" event in the timeline not on your list.

And it's possibly the best RL adventure ever made.

I'll add it for sure. Maybe i'll also add Die Vecna Die, but i'll see if I can find a solution to link it.

And DVD is one of the strangest. I once DMed it, and it was fun, but it is definetively a weekend-in-hell type of adventure, and isn't easy to put in a "normal" RL campaign.

Joël

I did not read yet DVD, i dont know what awaits me

[DustBunny]

How should I give them that info?

You don't.

They can wander around Castle Avernus in 'Shadows' and find the book. So with a bit of tinkering...

Pc1: Hey look a book of names
Pc2: Huh, our names are in this book
Pc3: But why are out names crossed out?
Pc1: Maybe it's a hit list?
Pc3: No. It seems to list everyone who has a history book on them..
Pc2: But where's our history books then?
Pc1: Um... someone else has it?
Pc2: Crap...
PC1: Hey Librarian guy, why are our names crossed out?
Lib: Shhhhh! Hmm, you have been put in the archives.
Pc3: We've been archived? Wtf?
Pc2: Err, I wonder if those clones of us are the 'archives'?

Let them jump to conclusions. Half the time the wrong answers they come up with are better than what you thought of.

As for the real reason their names are crossed out - maybe Skeever the imp was playing with crayons, Azalin got bored and did it for giggles, the Dark Powers did it to mess with them, Reality suffered a 404 error, etc.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

How would you treat the feature of Darkon that makes everyone lose his memory (After a month or two that they stay in darkon)?

You've got a few options here.
1) forget it entirely if it doesn't work for you.
2) use it, but give an easy "out" to fix it.
3) make a major part of your campaign.

Since you're running the GC, it looks like you're not going to care about Darkon until From the Shadows, (unless you use Azalin as a patron, or place your PCs backgrounds there.) From the Shadows includes a romp through Avernus and the Library, so you can easily use option 2. If you put all your PCs as native Darkonians, you can either forget about it entirely because they are unaffected, or go the "your whole past is a lie" route and have them not actually be natives at all.

Note that the power only extends to the borders of Darkon. Regaining their memory can be as simple as leaving the domain and not coming back.

Personally, I went a little further into option 3 when I ran FTS. I ditched the headless horseman intro and replaced it with a missing persons mystery in Viaki. When the party was about to enter the room that would reveal the answer to the mystery, I did an "interactive cut scene" where they got to play some of the missing people and see what had happened to them. I gave them pre-gen characters and had them run the Avernus part of FTS up to the library... at which point they found that they were not pre-gens at all, but were their actual characters who had been mind-wiped by Darkon. I flashed back to that final room, which was full of enough vampires to nearly guarantee a TPK. We played out their last moments before being beheaded and sent to Azalin. Then back to the library, where they were able to read about this in their books, then cross out their names to get their memories back.

Anyhow i'm planning about opening a new Topic about the adventure i'm working on with the modified (and updated) timeline and corrispective event. Does this brake any rule?

Not at all, go right ahead...