Empty Throne Campaign

Owned by Al Mele
Last updated: Mar 11, 2021

 

Design Notes

Set in and around Notch. Grey and rainy.

Vampire control of the city. (Vampire Lord & Powerful Hag) - being attempted or already accomplished?

Vampire Lord and Hag cooperating, but tenuous truth as opposed to binding loyalties. Each controls different city factions. Attempting to take the legitimate seat for the city. One underworld leader / one overworld leader. Overworld power struggle is still ongoing - not yet resolved. Underworld has been consolidated around the Vampire Lord. Party’s main goal is to break the consolidation of the criminal empire.

Is Bliz confirmed as dead? Yes. [What entities might be trying to fill that void? 3 dragons. ]

Bring in old characters from prior App State game. Level 9-10. These could be the leaders of the “revolution”.

What reason do we have for the characters to work together?

  • Look for characters with a tie to the underworld (this power shift should affect them)

  • Have some tie to the holdings in the backstory.

Shoot for at least level 12. Overall goal should be achievable around level 12-15. Start at level 2.

Plant a Dhampir NPC with positive relationship.

Starting Episode:

  • Start with an education and context. Try to give some foreshadowing of the underlying overarching theme.

  • Possibly starts with a conflict with the racket of a holding. Kidnapping? Someone is hiring brave souls to recover a loved one that has been kidnapped by one of the small gangs in the rickets. Small gangs are outside the faction system.

  • Waseem Sarfor (M kobold) is the elderly father of Sarem, a talented musician. Sarem has been abducted to be forced into service on a ship scheduled to leave in 2 days bound for Lysh.

  • Fighting should be outside the clan territory for faction purposes. Possibly a lesson in faction function by guiding the party to recover Sarem from the ship itself.

Dannil has been working on clan structures which can be used as enemy combatants. Some system of information progression. A few levels of just introduction before getting into the “meat” of the campaign. Mid-section of the campaign is player-driven story content. (Think Rand uniting the countries.)

Implement a faction system, and clan-specific loot? Go through clans and list 3 to 4 ways that a party can gain or lose faction with the clans (with a focus on non-combat ways). Fighting with a clan outside their territory is way less of a faction hit than fighting in their territory. Introduce the faction system around level 4.

Each clan needs some “redeemable” qualities…

Can we foreshadow the faction system prior to the introduction of using it with the PCs?

Scene: Swarm of vampires descending on a dragon and ripping it to shreds.

Later in the game - a dragon or two.

  • Long term, clans need to be united in order to achieve the big ending goal.

TODO:

  1. Notch City Entry - In Progress (Break down named locations by Holding)

  2. PC Backstory Conversation

  3. Initial NPC Build

  4. Morphic Review

Other objectives:

  • Pacantryx Marks

  • History

  • Archipelago of Blood

  • Geography around Notch

  • A few custom creatures

PC expectations (Starting at 2):

  • Gage () - Tiefling Cleric of Litoriath - Canal Rats

  • Perrin () - Catfolk Swashbuckler/Bard (Battledancer)

  • Elena (Jess) - Morphic Fighter/Bastion : Tank - unarmed + shield ; Crafter

  • Al () - Ranger/Druid? - ranged DPS + Arcane or Primal (From Notch; Old; Memories of Bliz; Very familiar with wilderness around Notch)

Keep the Brandywine Inn and Underdark concept. Brandywine may be the center of power for the Vampire contingent.

Island with prison and naval HQ is the last remaining bastion of power for the Magistrate and loyalists.