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rangerstranger
Seeker
USA
54 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2014 : 03:04:45
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Hello Scribes,
I will be running a campaign for a few friends in the near future where they will all be playing Elves. On the surface this does not seem to be much of an issue but thinking about it more, I've never played in or ran a game that was centered on Elven events, in elven cities/villages or on elven ambitions. Usually there just happened to be one elf in the party who left their elven homeland for one reason or another. So my question for you is how to go about starting this campaign and what exactly would motivate a group of elves to become adventurers and leave their homeland, whichever home land that happens to be. Also I seem to have a hard time imagining and describing an Elven city or village.
We'll be using 2nd edition AD&D rules and setting the timeline somewhere around 1370 DR but that's about where I'll split from the canon realms timeline. The Party consists of a Fighter, a Ranger, a Priest of Correllon or Shevarash and the last either being another Ranger or a Wizard.
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Edited by - rangerstranger on 10 Mar 2014 03:22:49
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2014 : 04:30:30
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Well, one idea would be recovering something of import to the elven peoples... Maybe a moonblade belonging to the family of one of the characters, maybe a lost book of elven lore (even High Magic!), maybe some other artifact... In one of my Lords of Waterdeep articles, I needed a reason for a human to be named elf-friend -- so I had this guy (and a couple elves) find a long-lost staff that allowed elven High Magic to be used, without consequence, outside of Evermeet.
Or you could have them looking to found a new elven homeland, like in Ed's Dawntree articles (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).
Another motivation could be that one or all of them have an interest in clearing someone's name -- maybe their patron was accused of treachery, or maybe someone's family member disappeared under rather sinister circumstances... |
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Edited by - Wooly Rupert on 10 Mar 2014 04:31:16 |
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Kyrel
Learned Scribe
151 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2014 : 20:47:33
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If the characters are "regular" adventurers, they ought to be motivated by the normal stuff that motivates adventurers. If they are not quite that ordinary, then they might be motivated by i.e. duty to the kingdom/city/town/family, necessity, or honour. Depending on their alignment, greed, a lust for power/glory, or simply a sense of adventure and a desire to "go against the norm" might motivate them.
As for inspiration, look up information on Evermeet and some of the other (old) elven kingdoms. I believe that "Elminister in Myth Dranor" (spelling...) also might give you a perspective on life in an elven city.
But other than that, just look at it as yet another city, with all that comes with that. Politics, thieves (though you might have less of those), personal disagreements etc. Elves are individuals just the same as humans, and their motivations are just as complicated and individual as for humans. An elf probably have a longer view of things though, and some of their perspectives are naturally coloured by this fact. 100 year is several generations for a human, and kingdoms may rise and fall in that period, but for an elf 100 years isn't all that much, so consequences probably have to be considered more. |
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Eilserus
Master of Realmslore
USA
1446 Posts |
Posted - 10 Mar 2014 : 21:25:58
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| If you don't have it, I'd get your hands on Cormanthyr: Empire of Elves and the Fall of Myth Drannor. Both are excellent 2E books, with tons of info you could use. I haven't been keeping up with the PDF releases, but I imagine they are or will be available for purchase. Or some Ebay for old copies might work too. |
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Cards77
Senior Scribe
USA
746 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2014 : 13:31:06
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| The novel "Elminster in Myth Drannor" does give a fair accounting of life in an elven city AT THAT TIME. I say that because I'm sure that there was a huge difference between life for those elves in Myth Drannor, and the life of elves in say the Moonvines in 1370 DR. Many elves tend to hold grudges that can last centuries. This can lead to any number of adventures. One idea would be they could be assisting the wood elves in the High Forest with the refounding of the ancient kingdom of Earlann. A natural first step would be to clear the areas of monsters, and then search deep into the ruins and find whatever magic may be left that could help them hold a newly found kingdom surrounded by enemies. |
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rangerstranger
Seeker
USA
54 Posts |
Posted - 12 Mar 2014 : 16:22:41
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Thanks everyone for the ideas for plot hooks and source material. I'll see about getting a hold of those books you mentioned Eilserus.
Something I read in the 3rd edition FRCS got me wondering about Evereska. Do you have any idea where I could find more information about it? |
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Kusghuul
Acolyte
Norway
33 Posts |
Posted - 12 Mar 2014 : 20:23:00
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| I would pick up Hellgate Keep from AD&D - it would be pretty cool for adventurers to have to fight the fey'ri. |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2014 : 00:06:27
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| Little bits and pieces about Evereska are scattered throughout first and second edition products. Probably the best resource for Evereska and its environs would be Volo's Guide to the Sword Coast. There's also a decent amount in the 2e Realms campaign setting (the one with Elminster on some rocks casting with a world behind him). Somewhat more can be found in one of the Last Mythal novels (the first one, I think). |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Fendrikor
Learned Scribe
Australia
189 Posts |
Posted - 13 Mar 2014 : 04:39:03
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If you want to do an interesting twist on an elf campaign why not include a plot involving the eldreth veluuthra?
Alternatively you could run city of the spider queen but have the incentive for heading to maerimydra to reclaim the sword (I forget which one) from beneath the temple of lolth while the crow and the army's of kurgoth he'll spawn destroy eachother around them.
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'Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup' |
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Running an Elven PC campaign in FR
