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Story ideas?

   
Story ideas?

I am GMing a game in person, for six of my friends. They are level 8.

They have been building up to fight a lich, a creature of great power and near immortality.

The lich has gone to great lengths to conceal his identity... however, as his goal gets closer he has become increasingly careless. The players have figured out his true identity.

The story so far: The king was murdered years ago, as was a large portion of his family. The only survivors (that are known about) are the king's brother Auberon, and the king's daughter Ada. Ada is a tomboy, who has always dreamed of being a vagrant, often she would sneak out of the palace to stowaway on a merchant ship, or a wagon... attempting to explore distant lands. She was on one such adventure when her father was assassinated.

Auberon, is now the regent. He is (as you've likely guessed) also the lich. Fearing traitors within her own court Ada has not come back since her father was murdered.

The laws of the land dictate that a regent can only rule as long as the current ruler is under age or incapable. Ada is now of age, and as such Auberon will soon be crowned king.

The PCs did some detective work, and found out that Auberon was the lich. This is not something widely known. They also came to the realization that Ada is in trouble and tracked her down.

They found the boat she was hiding on, coming into the city for the coronation. It was being attacked by Auberon's minions.

A level 12 NPC riding a medium sized dragon landed on the ship. She was attempting to wrest the control of the princess from Auberon. She is not with him, but she certainly wants her for her own benefit. The party fought her. One party member disguised himself as Ada. This party member was then kidnapped instead of Ada.

I'm having some trouble moving on from this point.

The party has found Ada, safe on the boat. No more immediate danger to her. The coronation is in a few hours, and one of the players split from the party.

Now the way I saw it going... is that Ada likely got kidnapped, and they earned a few more levels hunting the person that kidnapped her. However, now they have the opportunity to confront a level 12 lich with an entire kingdom at his disposal. They simply aren't powerful enough.

I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I have several ideas, but they are all sloppy.

Any suggestions?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Raveled View Post
System?
Pathfinder.

But ideas don't need to be within pathfinder. I'm mostly looking for story ideas to link things together. I can easily take care of altering game mechanics to fit.

Oh why not... Starts up random idea generator...

1. The party retreats into the wilderness with the princess, and the coronation goes through. The party must now level grind in hiding as the lich king's minions hunt them down, and confront the lich king after dealing with his lieutenants. The lost party member is found out to be an impostor, and rather than face execution, is thrown into a Colosseum-style array of forced duels to prove her worthiness to stay alive, and gets some level grinding and insight on how to sabotage the lich king's defenses once the rest of the party returns to take back the throne. May also recruit allies within the lich's forces to aid in the coup.

2. The party infiltrates the coronation and attempts to expose the lich for what he is. Kingdom is thrown into chaos and civil war. Party gains XP slowly taking control of the castle from the lich's forces, and finally faces him in the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny, the fate of the kingdom hanging in the balance.

3. While the party struggles to decide what to do next, Ada flees. The party attempts to do one of the previous two things without her, and she later returns to aid them with newly acquired Holy powers that give her an edge against her brother.

Why is Auberon going from regent to king from the aging of the legal heir? Presumably the heir would then be ruler?

But yeah, the party now has the choice of going after their lost friend and the various Ada related paths which go along with that (foment revolution, leave her to her own devices, ect.) or take her back. There could be an intense couple of days on the journey back with several encounters which help level up your party. Alternatively, some patron god of the kingdom could give the group a divine level boost (permanent or temporary) to deal with the usurper. Anti-liche equipment or some fatal flaw in the liche could also be used to balance things out.

Would the lich have the kingdom at his disposal if Ada reveals herself, or would there be a civil war? How does Ada feel about her uncle being a lich? How can the party prove Auberon's lichdom (if at all)?

How does the dragonrider react to being duped by the guy who disguised himself as the princess? Is he a potential tool to be used against Auberon, a cheat whose continued existence dishonors the dragonrider, or an object of curiosity? What benefit would this NPC gain from kidnapping the princess and how did she track down what ship Ada was on?

Do any of the party have the Knowledge skills to realize that Auberon by himself is still probably out of their league, not even counting his minions and them being down a party member? Would the party rush off to stop the coronation despite the disadvantages, or are there cooler heads in the party? What are the consequences of Auberon being crowned and how does this affect Ada's claim to the throne?



There are many, many different ways you could nudge this depending on the answers to the above (and many more!) questions. At the end of the day, the party will decide what they decide... and as the heroes, they should drive the story. If they fail and it ends up as a TPK, start the next campaign by fast forwarding a dozen years or so, where a battle-hardened Ada leads a resistance movement against the hordes of undead and demons that her uncle has summoned. The valiant efforts of the martyred party could serve as a unifying force for the resistance.

Presumably, it's up to the PCs.

What would have happened if Ada had been kidnapped? I'm guessing that the coronation would have gone ahead whilst they were busy rescuing her. Well, they could still choose to do much the same thing by going after their buddy, and everything else ought to work just as well.

It's only if they choose to go up against the bad guy you may have a problem. My suggestion is to let them do it. They can't take him on head to head (everyone knows you need to be L11+ to become a lich so at a minimum he alone is maybe an evens challenge, for a team of six) but this isn't a battle, it's an assassination. Let them come up with a plan, give them some help from rebels/loyalists/whatever. Perhaps the ceremony requires him not to have magic active or something (so that he has no defences up - how he remains disguised when making sure he's not is probably the point of such a rule is another question). If they kill the lich, well, he's a lich, so he can come back. If they fail, so long as they have an escape route it's not the end of the world. The trick is in giving them just enough aid to make it plausible but challenging, and without making it look like you're giving them an easy ride.

Depending on the level of the party.
Here is one that I have good luck with.
-
Some one pays your group to 'my there child -daughter or son- a hero'
I normally do this with a rich noble or merchant. The entire set up is simple. You take her kid. (Young adult) On adventures (Goblin caves or camps stuff like that)
There lower level then you up well equipped. (Basically the best non-magical gear money can buy)

And your job is to.
#1: Get them some experiance.
#2: Keep them alive.
#3: Make them look good.

The whole thing being a PR stunt basically.

It can be really fun, and there is a lot of room open for you do to what ever you want with it.
You can make the kid a brat, you can make them just naive. or a Coward.
It's not really a story, more a story ideal.
And it gives you a way to make standard 'random dungeons' more interesting.

1. 'Reward' the player who had their PC captured play Ada for the confrontation (NPC becomes PC); make sure Ada is powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Auberon (~Level 11 and Ring of Protection from Fire 30 is a basic starter).
2. Ada reveals herself during the coronation and objects. She claims the crown. If the country is Lawful, there is a good chance that the military will fall behind her as she is 'of age' and the legal monarch. If Auberon has replaced all the key personnel of the military (unlikely as he is still doing it secretly), then they are in real trouble.
3. He's a lich; even if they kill him now, he will be back after reforming. The perfect recurrent villain until they local his reliquary.
4. The captured PC may need a small 'solo' to escape or convince the dragonrider to let them go. If done before your group meets again, the dragonrider may even be convinced to aid the kingdom for a reward! Depends on the actual motivation.

Whatever way you go, the captured PC is going to need some extra spotlight from you as GM.





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