| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
Monkeyofficeboy
Acolyte
United Kingdom
9 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Jun 2012 : 11:53:22
|
Hey there all,
I am new here and just thought I would try and gather your thoughts,and perhaps advice, on running a game set in Thay. Have many of you done this before and was it rewarding/enjoyable. In a change from most of my games it will only have a small number of players (2 to be precise) and the party will be rounded out by 2 fully fleshed NPCs, so we can actually focus on the roleplaying a bit more than my games in previous years semm to have managed.
The game will feature as its players a Thayan Knight and a Red Wizard, both of who are LN and looking to stay that way. I have in mind to start them in the tharch of Tazalhar as agents of Milsantos Daramos, the Tharchion of Thazalhar.
The main thrust of the story will be exploring wheter or not they can keep Daramos in power when the Zulkirs think he has gone soft, or wheter they will be corrupted to evil by the other Red Wizards.
Let me know your thoughts please, all comments gratfully accepted.
|
|
|
Kyrel
Learned Scribe
151 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2012 : 18:00:12
|
Sounds like fun. On a personal note, however, I think I would suggest that you have both players be Red Wizards, and then let the NPC's be servants/slaves to them. It keeps the players at the same political, and in terms of Thay, legal, power level. Also, I'd argue that in a game where skills and character interaction sound like it will have a bigger focus than fighting, two wizards might have a bit more fun than one wizard, and one fighter type character.
If you should go with my suggestion, have them go after two different specialty schools, and preferably non-overlapping excluded spell schools. That way they shouldn't risk "stealing each other's fire" so much. And it should also prevent some fighting over various new found spells, if it happens to be a spell which one of them can use, but which is prohibited to the other one. |
 |
|
|
Rhewtani
Senior Scribe
USA
508 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jun 2012 : 18:36:30
|
Okay, I'm going to side on the opposite end of Kyrel - I think your setup has an interesting angle to it. Foremost you can partner them up with a second wizard/knight duo. Then as the PCs (as they often inevitably do) drift one way or another on the good/evil spectrum you can slowly push the NPC duo the other direction. If the other duo is of similar level, they're going to advance at a similar rate. You'll essentially be building a nice climactic face off for the future. The other side is that when it is just the two PCs, if something goes wrong in the adventure balance-wise, the split of the PC builds will more likely allow one PC to be able to save the other PC. I have been in several encounters were a miscalculation on one side or another rendered either the casters or the brutes essentially useless, but a healthy mix kept the group from a TPK.
Further, I would draw a little bit of inspiration from ... dare I say it .... Wheel of Time. When I first say Thayan Knights I instantly thought of the Warder/Aes Sedai pairings and the potential there.
Alternatively, in line with Kyrel, building a six man group out of 2 PC wizards, 1 NPC wizard and 3 NPC thayan knights could bolster roleplay. When the DM is expected to interact with the PCs constantly in a non-opposite position (i.e. party members) it helps for the DM to have a primary NPC hat, so to speak. So intense group discussions where the DM needs to be acting out the perspective of the one NPC aren't followed by the DM then having to expess a second view point. In other words, when the group needs to make a decision, this decision would be 33%/33%/33% PC1/PC2/DM, where the PCs have naturally make the final call (the thayan knights presumably do what their told most of the time). If the DM is running a pair, then what you really have is PC1 representing 25% of the dialogue, PC2 representing 25% and the DM representing 50%. And, if the players are heading down a road that you don't want them going down, you have the unhealthy option of stalemating the decision (which could collapse the group dynamic and possibly the campaign overall). |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2012 : 13:39:04
|
quote:
Originally posted by Kyrel
Sounds like fun. On a personal note, however, I think I would suggest that you have both players be Red Wizards, and then let the NPC's be servants/slaves to them. It keeps the players at the same political, and in terms of Thay, legal, power level. Also, I'd argue that in a game where skills and character interaction sound like it will have a bigger focus than fighting, two wizards might have a bit more fun than one wizard, and one fighter type character.
If you should go with my suggestion, have them go after two different specialty schools, and preferably non-overlapping excluded spell schools. That way they shouldn't risk "stealing each other's fire" so much. And it should also prevent some fighting over various new found spells, if it happens to be a spell which one of them can use, but which is prohibited to the other one.
Remember, the players are the ones who should be choosing what their character classes are, not the DM. That being said, it could be interesting if one of the NPC's is another red wizard, but only if you don't want trust within the party. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2012 : 14:47:59
|
quote:
Originally posted by Monkeyofficeboy
Hey there all,
I am new here and just thought I would try and gather your thoughts,and perhaps advice, on running a game set in Thay. Have many of you done this before and was it rewarding/enjoyable. In a change from most of my games it will only have a small number of players (2 to be precise) and the party will be rounded out by 2 fully fleshed NPCs, so we can actually focus on the roleplaying a bit more than my games in previous years semm to have managed.
The game will feature as its players a Thayan Knight and a Red Wizard, both of who are LN and looking to stay that way. I have in mind to start them in the tharch of Tazalhar as agents of Milsantos Daramos, the Tharchion of Thazalhar.
The main thrust of the story will be exploring wheter or not they can keep Daramos in power when the Zulkirs think he has gone soft, or wheter they will be corrupted to evil by the other Red Wizards.
Let me know your thoughts please, all comments gratfully accepted.
I've always enjoyed running adventures surrounding Thayan involvement. There are some questions though that would need some answering. I'll put some notes near the end, but I'll note that I'm assuming your basing this prior to the war of the Zulkirs just based on some things you mention.
1st) To what school does the Thayan wizard owe allegiance?
2nd) What level roughly will the party be? Some goals should be for low level adventurers obviously and some for high levels
3rd) I assume that at least one of the NPC's is a cleric. Which deity is this NPC following? What is his alignment? Without going into too much depth, where's he from and what are his goals?
4th) Who is the other NPC?
Some things that come to mind are this. These are Thayans in their homeland. Slavery is not unheard of, even for lawful individuals. Even if your characters don't want them, perhaps your NPC's will have some slaves with them. Maybe they're not doing anything dangerous (cooking, taking care of the horses, washing clothes,or just servicing the appetites of their owner, etc...), but I'd recommend that they also have some humanoid slaves as well (orcs, gnolls, centaurs, etc...). This can just add some flavor to your campaign, but you can also turn it into something else (a slave escapes, a slave tries to poison their food, a slave's poor handling of equipment causes something to go wrong).
Secondly, you state that you want to focus on Thazalhar. What that says to me is a few things
"borders on Mulhorand" - could there be some issue with Mulhorand that comes to the fore? Maybe some thief steals a religious item from a tomb. Said item does not have magical significance. Said thief runs to Thay thinking he will be safe. Now, some paladins of Osiris are seeking the transgressor within Thayan territory. Does the party kill the paladins and cause bad blood with Mulhorand? Does the party help the paladins capture the thief? Does the party capture the thief and turn him over to their Tharchion and let the Tharchion negotiate with Mulhorand (maybe they want the return of something in return)?
Another idea is that maybe raiders are raiding the Thayan merchants who are buying Mulhorandi goods at the border. They are specifically not raiding the Mulhorandi merchants and only the Thayans. The party is contacted to hunt down the brigands, but they also need to discover their allegiance. What's not immediately apparent is that a rival who wants to take over as Tharchion is providing intelligence to these raiders, and what's not known as well is that this "would be" Tharchion is taking his commands from Zulkir of Evocation & Tharchion of the Priador, Aznar Thrul, who would like to undermine the enclave movement.
Another idea here due to the border with Mulhorand is a secret cult of Set hidden in one of the towns. Maybe this group is arranging a raid on Mulhorand using the Thayans as cat's paws. Maybe they're working with nagas up in the sunrise mountains too, which leads into the next section.
"borders the sunrise mountains" - this can open a lot of generic "go in the mountains and check out the ruins" adventures.
Perhaps they want to hunt down an old Raumathari Battlemage encampment, only to find that its still active with exiled males from Rashemen who have become warmages or fighter/wizard/eldritch knights. Does the party attack this group? Do they try to turn them to their own efforts? Do they begin a trade of information / training with them? Do they tell the Tharchion about this potential threat on their border?
Perhaps they want to explore an old Orc ruin from the days of the Orcgate wars. What have these orcs been doing for the past centuries?
Perhaps they want to help the Tharchion form his own Griffin Legion, and thus they've headed into the mountains to capture griffins and bring them out of the mountains. If you do this, I strongly recommend having slaves along to handle the basic care and handling of the beasts so that the party can focus on the more adventurous aspects. However, lay all the planning on the PC's.
"this is above the dark elf "segmented city" of Undrek'Thoz" -
Jenn'Yxir - directly beneath Thazalhar is a dark elf city that focuses on the slave trade. Perhaps the Tharchion commands the party to go there to buy slaves or sell slaves. In this instance, I'd definitely state that he's looking for some specific slaves, not chattel. Maybe the party is being sent to recover some red wizards or priests who support the Tharchion and were captured while exploring the underdark. Maybe they're sent to assault some slavers who raided the surface and stole slaves from Thay.
Vrasl - not technically under Thay, but under the nearby Sunrise Mountains. This is a drow city that focuses on necromancy. There's just numerous ideas here, so I'll just let you think on that.
Hopefully this gave you some ideas, and if you'd like to discuss anything further, I'm on in spurts here and there, but I like the topic, so ask away.
|
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2012 : 15:52:49
|
A few other ideas that came to mind.
Halruaan wizards seek to sow dissent within Thay so that their enclaves don't become a threat to them. Or perhaps Halruaan wizards seek to invade the demesne of a powerful red wizard (perhaps the party red wizard's master) and steal secrets of magic or magic items from him.
The church of Velsharoon has split many followers of the school of necromancy. Some choose to follow him as he has proven himself by rising to deity status, whereas others recognize that Velsharoon was a renegade red wizard who opposed Zulkir Szass Tam. Some have chosen to follow Orcus. Perhaps the party becomes embroiled with the church of Velsharoon's establishment of a temple upon the fields of Thazalhar where Thay won their freedom from Mulhorand. Could involve some spirits of the dead from said time. If you're interested in this, I've written up some stuff that might help you as to Velsharoon's past (basically, my thoughts are that he was one of the original red wizards of Halruaa).
Zhengyi the Witch King was formerly a red wizard. The party discovers an ancient dungeon / stronghold of his within the Sunrise mountains.
The demi-lich, Ythazz Buvaar, thinks that the party red wizard will prove an excellent vessel for freeing him from the imprisonment he is in beneath Bezantur, because unknown to the red wizard, he is an actual blood descendant of Ythazz's. If you go with this, all of the other blood descendants of Ythazz were killed off when he disappeared, but this red wizard's ancestor was born to a slave of another red wizard that Ythazz had copulated with. He sends "representatives" to interact with the party wizard however you see fit.
|
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jun 2012 : 16:06:08
|
| Oh, one other idea I had, perhaps the party gets a lead on some information on Thayd, the ancient enemy of Mulhorand, founder of the Theurgist Adepts, and namesake of Thay. Perhaps he had a hidden stronghold within the sunrise mountains where some of his theurgist adepts spirit's are still active. If you are interested in introducing pact magic to your campaign, I'd recommend that maybe these were anima mages (wizard / pact magic wielders). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
Monkeyofficeboy
Acolyte
United Kingdom
9 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2012 : 12:00:46
|
Wow thank you very much for the response to this topic I really appreciate the advice. I'll get the details up later for the two NPCs and further information on the two players.
Sleyvas, a big thanks for the plot-line suggestions tey are pure gold and I may well have to use some (read: most!) of those so a massive individual thank you! |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 02 Jul 2012 : 15:31:02
|
| No problem. The information on the party cleric can be especially useful. For instance, if he's a follower of Kossuth it can open up some political doors that may not have been open before. If he's a follower of Velsharoon, that can open up some different paths (especially with the temple mentioned and the Dark Elf city of Vrasl). If he's a Banite, he may try to seize a leadership role within the party. Orcus would be one of the few demon lords that Thayans would possibly worship, but it would be heavily frowned upon since demons are to be controlled not elevated. If instead of all these, he's a follower of a more neutral/benevolent deity (Ilmater, Gond, Oghma, Denier, Hoar, Waukeen, Savras, Azuth, Red Knight etc...), their deities goals may help you drive some adventures. Another option I had one character have in the past as a follower was a priest of the Mulhorandi deities... in Thay that could prove particularly interesting, as their choice of religious freedom frowns upon the Mulhorandi gods, but doesn't preclude their worship in their country (but said priests are likely to be disdained). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
Monkeyofficeboy
Acolyte
United Kingdom
9 Posts |
Posted - 03 Jul 2012 : 19:47:08
|
The cleric has been written up, and she is a half-Mulan Fire Genasi cleric of Kossuth. She is a devout follower of the Lord of Flame, and feels her faith rewarded after her deitie's intervention during the Salamander War (I think I got that right?).
The fourth party member is a Gnoll mercenary (Rogue), recruited by the cleric to fulfill a martial role and as a scout.
Hope those shed some more light? If you want more details then I'll happily furnish them. |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2012 : 18:22:28
|
I like the idea for the cleric. See if any of this works for you. So, the Salamander war was in 1357, so the Fire Genasi can't be a product of rape from said war, unless you've moved the timeline a bit (or assuming genasi mature faster, which I don't believe). Being that she's specifically half-mulan, that means her father or mother was the "elemental" being. Let's just go with father being the elemental being.... and mother being a red wizard conjurer who needed the seed of an elemental being as part of a powerful ritual to create a magic item. Her mother never intended to become pregnant however, and she anonymously turned the newborn child over to the church of Kossuth after giving birth. Her father, an Efreeti soldier, discovered her birth whenever the salamander war occurred and he was sent to Faerun by Sultan Marrake of the Efreet (how can be written up or "discovered" later). Her father allowed himself to be bound to the service of the Church of Kossuth so that he could stay and raise his child. This allows you to bring in an NPC efreeti if you ever feel like the party could use it, without it being some major stretch. It could also prove beneficial to focus on which church of Kossuth she grew up in (was it the one in Bezantur known as the Flaming Brazier). It can also give her ties to the knights of the firedrake, a religious knightly order in Thay that isn't a group of paladins.
Oh, and of course, it would be highly beneficial (to me) to know if she was in the entrance bailey of the Flaming Brazier when a Salamander Lord sought to assassinate the Eternal Flame of Kossuth but was stopped by the famous Thayan bounty hunter, Savyels Aka'Pillihp (2nd edition, Powers and Pantheons, page 151).
Phillip aka Sleyvas
"Bounty hunters, we don't need that scum" - Admiral Piett, Empire Strikes Back |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11806 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2012 : 18:38:29
|
| Oh, and on the gnoll rogue, it would be fitting if said gnoll rogue maybe was from a big city like Bezantur too. Maybe it used the opportunity to flee the city with the priest, because it was caught stealing and the cleric offered to let it be her scout in return for secret passage out of the city. In so doing, you now have an allegiance between the gnoll and priest to counter any allegiance between the Thayan knight and red wizard (not that allegiances are even close to rock solid in Thay). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
|
|
|
Monkeyofficeboy
Acolyte
United Kingdom
9 Posts |
Posted - 05 Jul 2012 : 22:40:59
|
Once again those are great ideas and i really like the stuff for the background of the Cleric and will be taking those on board. This is my first attempt to really weave a story in the Realms, rather than just a hack and slash so all of this really helps.
The Red Wizard in the party is an Evoker, but I am thinking he will not have close links with the Zulkir of Evocation, due to their outlook on things (and the players stated preference for staying Neutral rather than slipping to evil).
The idea for the Gnoll rogue will most definitely get stolen and used, its a great idea.
Your advice has really been helpful! |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Running a game in Thay, any thoughts?
