Rejigging the Grand Conjunction

[DarkSoldier]

I plan on running the Grand Conjunction series for my group, but since it's all 2E, I need to change stats, spells, and I don't know what else. I'm also reordering the series so the group progresses naturally.

I'd like to hear what everyone else has done in this respect, so I can snatch your ideas for my own nefarious purposes.

[HuManBing]

What order are you doing the Grand Conjunction adventures in?

[HuManBing]

This thread has a lot of my ramblings about the Hexad rejigged. However, it relies on a different set of adventures:
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... onjunction

This thread is much older and I remember contributing a very large amount of stuff in it. Some of my own posts are redacted because I wanted to use them elsewhere.
http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... n&start=15

This single post has a trigger I used in From the Shadows at the end to explain why the artifacts and events function the way they do. (Apart from TSR's hand waving explanation of "it just DOES, okay?".)

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... 8139#68139

[DarkSoldier]

What order are you doing the Grand Conjunction adventures in?

As suggested in the FAQ, Night of the Walking Dead, Touch of Death, Feast of Goblyns, Ship of Horror, From the Shadows, Roots of Evil.

I copied the ideas from the threads you linked into a text file so I can read it and adapt what I like. I like your idea of a Kargat agent infiltrating the party and using them on behalf of Azalin to accelerate the GC.

[HuManBing]

Nice! Glad to be of help.

You know, I should really assemble a GC suggestions thread of some sort and sticky it. Or... put it into a netbook.

Edit (2012.04.13)



This is a very complicated question, but I'll answer it in terms of themes. I was lucky to have a very stable online gaming group for a long number of years, so it allowed me a degree of complexity that may not be possible for everybody. The GC adventures are mixed with with other adventures (some short, some long) so the PCs aren't sure which ones are significant.

1. Personal plotline:

VIEW CONTENT:

The PCs are memory-drained characters in Darkon. They are employed by a "charitable" mercenary guild called L'Agence D'Affaires, who promise to research their true pasts in return for services. Their true past was they first arrived from the outworld in Falkovnia, where a Vigo Drakov brutalized them for months before they escaped into Darkon and lost their memories. The guild can help research their pasts and tell them the truth behind their horrendous scars.

(In plot terms, the guild lets the GM send players on adventures around Ravenloft without too much explanation - so the question of "how do I get them to start {X adventure}?" is made easier to answer. This also provides the PCs with a reason to be loyal to the guild.)

Adventure seeds: I let the players have some control over the actual truth of their backgrounds. Dream sequences will place them in Falkovnia and their choices in the dreams will determine what actually happened to them in the past, as well as bestow mild bonuses or other small powers.

2A. Guild plotline:

VIEW CONTENT:

The guild's leadership has four lieutenant NPCs. One of them is actually in the employ of the Kargat, and as the campaign progresses, that NPC rises in power and eventually ousts the others. By the end of the campaign (near Ship of Horrors) the guild has become a de facto agency of Azalin's authority, and it eventually turns on the PCs, forcing them into hiding (and starting the events of Ship of Horrors). At one point the PCs have an optional plot to avenge themselves on the traitor leader. I did not actually define which character was the traitor - I let the PCs know there was a traitor, and gave them roughly equal evidence and left the decision up to them. Whichever one they chose, I made it so.

More details about the four guild lieutenants and their possible motives for treachery are here.

(This draws heavily from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carré.)

Adventure seeds: the PCs got plenty of face time with each of the four guild lieutenants, doing short adventures for them each. They learn of petty rivalries and jealousies, and start to suspect one of them may be sabotaging certain missions, or initiating rogue missions for the guild personnel.

2B. Guild leader's plotline (entirely optional):

VIEW CONTENT:

The guild's first leader is sick and dies halfway through the campaign. Before she dies, she leaves the PCs some documents that she does not want the other guild lieutenants to see. The PCs learn that she herself once lost her memory when she came to Darkon, and she rediscovered them through research. It turns out she had a daughter interned in a sanitarium in Lamordia. If the PCs investigate, they would find several layers of deception. If they get to the very bottom layer, they could force a Falkfuhrer to defect, and have a chance to even kill another Falkfuhrer (Vigo Drakov). The layers are far too complex to go into here - check out this link instead and search for "Mitrovic".

(This plotline is very closely related to Smiley's People by John Le Carré.)

3. Hyskosa's family:

VIEW CONTENT:

Hyskosa's family (brother Soldanni, sister Nadezhda, sister Dulcimae, brother Beshaley) has been outcast from the Vistani because of his apocalyptic pronouncements. They ended up in Falkovnia, brutalized by a Talon. One of the PCs' first guild missions is to dash across the border, snatch up the Hyskosa family, and bring them in to Darkon. Throughout the campaign, Hyskosa and his family reside in the mists in the northern border of Darkon, hidden from Azalin's sight. The guild periodically sends supplies into the mists at various meeting-points. Whenever the PCs finish a GC adventure, Hyskosa debriefs them with a Tarokka reading.

At one point, Hyskosa's sister, Dulcimae, accompanies the PCs to Har'Akir for the module Touch of Death. It allows the GM to handwave traveling between the Core and the Islands as "the Vistani sight". Also, one of Hyskosa's vengeful cousins, Diego Santisera, comes to Darkon and attempts to assassinate the entire family. The PCs get caught up in his relentless plot. (This was inspired by No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy.)

4. GC adventures:

VIEW CONTENT:

Each adventure had a "secret objective" that Azalin wanted them to get, and the item was something that was significant in the death of a darklord or domain, or had something to do with plane-walking. I ran them in this order, with these secret items:

• Night of the Walking Dead - Julio's Pendant (Hazlik-invented ethereal magic item, see Tales of Ravenloft, "The Glass Man")
• Touch of Death - with Dulcimae converted to Hyskosa's sister - remnants of a Scroll of Return (see Black Box p.55) hidden with Ankhtepot's vestments;
• Feast of Goblyns - Daegon's Crown of Souls - artifact present at the creation and destruction of Daglan;
• {Kargat domination of guild, with various cloak-and-dagger assassination attempts on the PCs}
• Ship of Horrors - Meredoth's notes on his demiplane research
• {House of Strahd - not really GC, but allows the PCs to be introduced to Bane and his gunpowder weapons (see Forged of Darkness) and introduces Strahd as a counterweight against the increasingly intrusive manipulations by Azalin. Getting the PCs close to the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is also a secret objective for Azalin, as that artifact birthed the entire demiplane.}
• From the Shadows - starts off with a genuine assassination attempt against Azalin in one of his debauched parties - the PCs go back in time and deliver the Holy Symbol to Azalin, and he manipulates them into prompting a Dark Powers check while holding them, which cracks the Demiplane open.
• Roots of Evil - the PCs put right all the mistakes they'd made and reconstitute the Demiplane again, stopping Azalin's plan.