Council of the Harpers

I have all the 3/3.5 ed Forgotten Realms source books and occasionally I wish I could run a larger more epic campaign in the Realms.  I've always been something at a loss as to what to do as a lot of my players have different interests.  Finally think I have a solution (not that I will get to try it anytime soon):  the Council of the Harpers.

The idea is that the Harpers are a continent spanning organization that actively fights evil and injustice.  The players act as both the leaders and agents in the Harpers.  So the DM throws together several different problems throughout Faerun and the players then choose what they want to investigate.  This gives both the players and the DM some choices on what to do and where to go.  Since the DM creates the items to investigate he/she can find some interesting hooks to bait the players in but in the end the players make the call what they want to do.  Do they want to follow up on a previous adventure and push that story along or would they rather explore somewhere else?  This can also allow multiple groups (who can also be at different levels) to be operating simultaneously in Faerun.  The workload here would be pretty high for a DM but it gives a ton of flexibility to people coming and going and allows for greater exploration of the world.

Another side benefit is that it allows the DM to create greater worldspanning events and geopolitical change even if most of the players are more interested in standard dungeon crawls.

ARDA III

Another Eclipse Phase theoretical scenario.

Players are asked to investigate a report of an O'Neil Cylinder in Neptune's atmosphere before it breaks up.  Naturally the colony is in terrible shape being in a planetary atmosphere and high gravity and what would normally be an idyllic open setting is instead a ghost town flooded with contents of a gas giant.  Thematic here would somewhat shamelessly pull from Event Horizon (also location but Uranus would probably be fine or the theoretical Planet X) ala blue clouds and ominous lighting.  Eventually the players will determine this was a research station named Arda III.  They might be able to figure out that Arda is actually an acronym for Advanced Research & Development Association.  Rumors of this group turn up that two things they were working on pre-Fall were faster than light travel and advanced AI research, oh and they had two other two other colonies (you could have more if you wanted to extend things but ARDA I & ARDA II are fairly obvious here).  It's fairly obvious that there was TITAN outbreak on ARDA III but no trace of its origin.  There is some indication that the someone/body/thing intended it end up roughly where it is and despite its condition it looks like the station is actually not in imminent danger on its own for destruction.

What do the players do?

What about the other ARDA stations?

Could this TITAN be behind the Pandora Gates or did it just want to get itself closer to access one?

Is ARDA still around now?

Harlem Shake

It's been awhile but here's an amusing basilisk hack scenario for Eclipse Phase.  Firewall has the PCs investigate a bizarre series of incidents where everyone is found dead.  Security footage initially shows everyone acting normally but one person.  After about 15 seconds the footage flash cuts to everyone acting crazy (similar to the initial person).  The footage slows and then ends.  Cut to the present where all who were dancing are dead.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Idea

So I own all the books for Forgotten Realms for D&D 3.0/3.5. I've always kind of wanted to use them in a campaign but I've never had the chance to run Forgotten Realms nor even play in a FR campaign. (Come to think of it I've only run three D&D campaigns: 2 in Rappun Athuk, 1 in Ptolus) It got me to thinking: how do I create a campaign that might actually get a chance to employ most of the FR books I own? It would have to be continent spanning as the books are mostly setting oriented. How do I get the players to travel everywhere without necessarily railroading them to specific points I want to see (especially when I want to see everywhere)? This is what I came up with, pick two points on the map (in my case Port Nyranzaru in Chult and Winterkeep in the Endless Wastes). Make the end point inaccessible by magic so mid-level characters can't just teleport there (what fun is that?). After that you just need a reason the characters would have to get there but one that allows a reasonable amount of deviations and side-plots. I just haven't quite figured out my hook yet to get the players rolling.

Cthulhutech...

Not sure if I can really say I have campaign ideas for Cthulhutech. I finally finished the corebook (only nearly 2 years after getting it at GenCon '08). The one that seems like an interesting tangent to do although it might not have a huge amount of action in the same vein as a mecha/engel or tager story is that of the team of arcanotechnicians that take care of mecha/engel. In a way I am thinking of the three techs in Neon Genesis Evangelion who are kind of ever present but almost provide the regular human reality that is otherwise absent from the show. Another example might be the countless techs who service the Gundams in Gundam Wing. These guys are along for the ride but somehow they keep the Gundams not only fully armed but fully repaired. Considering how continuously the Gundam pilots beat their machines to a pulp and then need them on a moment's notice that has to be a tense work environment. Also toss in the fact that the things attacking are targeting the mechanics ship.

Not entirely sure how to catch that kind of thing into a game that is fun on a weekly basis as it could get repetitive. Breaking up the tension include spies or saboteurs on base, attacks on the base, techs having to pilot mechs in a pinch, field retrieval of units, and competing with other groups of techs to tweak their machines to out perform each other.

Werewolves in Russia

Apologies if this whole thing has been covered in Rage Across Russia...

Thinking about Chernobyl has made me conclude that this has a fair amount of story potential for a roleplaying game. In this case I think a Werewolf game would be oddly most suited for this. Either old or new would work but as I am somewhat more familiar with old let me lay out why it would be a good idea.

As an ecological disaster Chernobyl had a huge effect on the environment and as such werewolves who are defenders of Gaia would have a huge investment in making sure such a disaster would not occur. A pack becomes aware that something (Black Spiral Dancers, a Mage, random banes, pick your poison) is going to cause the Chernobyl reactor to go critical and thus the pack must attempt to infiltrate the facility and try to stop the disaster from occurring.

Is it possible for them to succeed? You could play it either way but even if they fail the pack still has a lot of story options. Going into the Umbra to try to repair or lessen the breach is certainly an option. They might even be able to enlist local Weaver spirits to aid them. Probably more playable as a one shot or a short campaign then a long term one but might be an interesting backstory.

Exalted Campaign Ideas Redux

It's been awhile since I've posted. And longer since I put in Exalted campaign ideas although they still bounce around in my head. I've been plugging away at Exalted 2nd Edition books recently (just finished reading Yu-Shan and now working through the Blessed Isle) and I thought that while I was reading it I should blog about interesting campaign ideas I had. If all else fails it'll be a nice reference point for me someday.

Anyhow to kick this off I'm pulling from Compass of Celestials Directions 1: The Blessed Isle p. 112 describing wonders of Juche Prefecture. Therein is described the manse The Foremost Vault of the Imperial Treasurey which happens to be the clearing house for nearly all of the Jade that the Scarlet Empire mines and mints. It's also where they store it until minted or otherwise shipped. As such this quite possibly the largest concentration of jade in all of Creation that's not in its natural (eg unmined) state. So here's my thought. A Circle of Solars are out in the Threshold doing their thing. Then suddenly they need a lot of jade. Pick your reason why, I prefer some crazy N/A artifact but anything can really work here. Now the Solars could go about mining it but they need a lot and it's debatable they can find or buy that much in the Threshold at least without drawing a lot of attention and setting themselves up for a huge risk. But with a Lore or Occult check someone points out that the Realm does have this much thus: bank heist!

If was a Solar in this I'd probably go the entirely underground route. It might be the most feasible. Plus you can pick up some Mountain Folk assistance (I'd have to double check Scroll of Fallen Races but I think the Solars get first dibs on the whole Geas thing so they could trump the current Dragon Blood one especially if they took the time to help out the Mountain Folk). In addition there are a contingent of Mountain Folk helping to guard the jade so if they can be turned then you have people on the inside as well as an unexpected entry/escape point. Bonus points go to the fact that Mountain Folk territory extends nominally everywhere in Creation. It might take some effort traveling to and fro but that can't be beyond Solar capabilities.

The basic concept seems small but the scope is gigantic (especially using the Mountain Folk angle which is by no means the only or best idea I'm sure). Cross-Exalt adventures probably benefit too since jade is valuable for artifacts and monetary value everywhere. Alchemicals for one would find this of much interest, possibly more then Solars as the resource shortages in Autochthonia might be of greatly alleviated in one fell swoop plus the incidental of making contact with the Mountain Folk.

That's all for now.