Trite: (of a remark, opinion, or idea) overused and consequently of little import; lacking originality or freshness.
This is what I'm trying to avoid. I don't want the PCs t have to work their way up the Valley of the Mage, that's an exercise in attrition. Allowing them to start at the lair of the BBEG, might not prepare them for the fight. I don't think anyone really enjoys a tpk...
Do we have the BBEG's army march on some unsuspecting victim, thereby removing the majority of them as an obstacle?
Are they just apathetic?
Maybe there is a resistance among the population of the valley?
or maybe...
How about this?
The Laird of the valley, has indeed made an army from the technology he discovered on the ship. However, when he abandoned the ship thinking he had unlocked all it's secrets, he didn't dispatch the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer phoned home, and now he has to contend with an Illithid conclave. He calls for those stout of heart to vanquish the illithid menace.
Will the players figure out the Laird is neutral evil?
Will they turn on him when they're done with the flayers?
Plans within plans... This could get very convoluted.
OK, so how about... The Laird hires the PCs thru a proxy, and wing it from there? I hate to say it, but this might have to be an improv game. Lay out the Laird's plan and his army, lay out the Mind Flayers conclave, and then turn the players loose.
Rode that one right off the rails, didn't I?
Existential designers crisis...
Hey, happy gaming anyway!
awesome idea -
ReplyDeleteif you want to build a pointer, start smaller
Have the party find an crashed/abandoned shuttle that acts as a delve that gives a microcosm and acts as a pointer to the larger ship. That is the device that the laird finds and just that little bit of a taste would be a surprising stimulus as well as create a race if others also find out about it.
It also can be of significantly lower level and gives you a lead up.
so in short -
act 1 - shuttle crash investigation
act 2 - the search and the chase
act 3 - the ship revealed.
plus this gives the mind flayers a chance to tantalise them with their toys and tricks before they actively get there. since they can plane shift, they can pull the "teleporter trick" and really do a lot behind the scenes.
It also gives them an urge to get ray guns on their own to act as motivation when it's used against them.
just a thought.