I’m in a bit of a pickle about the campaign I’m running. I want to add an easter egg that won’t actually have much bearing on THIS campaign, but it would open up to future ones. It means the most to one of the players as it hints to one of his “dead” characters.
I may have to abandon this idea though because there are some issues like potential railroading, TPK, and possible feelings of confusion or disappointment with the players when it turns out she doesn’t show up again and was not a key figure in the story despite being so powerful.
Buuuut it would be fun if I could leave this little nugget in there so I’m torn.
I’m doing Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk.
Some spoilers ahead!
So, I would replace an NPC with the above mentioned character, but the thing is that if the party decides to fight her, they will not win. She is, at this point in time, i.e. when the party runs into her, a powerful high priestess or cleric of Vecna who’s out on a mission to gather ancient netherise arcana and knowledge (she won’t say this). She is willing to make them a deal. If they hold off a band of rowdy orcs that seem to seek trouble for her, she will give them information and/or a reward. (I would fine tune the reward if I go with this.)
She could probably kill the orcs herself, but it would prolong her stay and she simply doesn’t have the time. (I would work on this too.)
I’m thinking of leaving clues for the party that this is not a fight they want to pick. For example, she controls a dozen undeads (and this is actually the same as the NPC in the book, who is a necromancy wizard of Thay). A wizard of Thay is easy to identify if passing some checks. I guess there can be signs of belonging to a cult of Vecna, too. But they need to know that this is not some mere level 3 cleric. This character will kill them if they instigate a fight instead of cutting a deal or leaving in peace. I don’t want to railroad, but I’m not sure what clues to leave to help the party think before they start blasting.
She would not likely leave the fight either but I guess that is a possible out. It’s just… she’s not done with her mission.
So idk if I should just keep the wizard instead, even though he’s also not important for the campaign, he’s really just a side quest that can lead to two other quests, one which they have already picked up from someone else, and the other being dealing with the orcs. Which I also think is just a side quest that will serve very little for the rest of the campaign. I think these side quests serve partly as a way to gather resources and make allies, to earn levels, and also they force the players to leave Phandalin so that each time they return, they see changes in the place and the inhabitants, and that serves the second part of the campaign as it hints that something else is going on in the area.
So we’ll see what I do. This is my first time DMing and I chose a ready campaign to learn the basics but I do want to homebrew in the future. I guess this is my first taste of like semi-homebrewing something.
I’m working on getting the players’ background stories into the campaign in some manners, and have done so partly when the opportunity arises, like gambling. A dragon or two will also show up and I can work with that for one of them. I work best when I get lightbulb ideas but brainstorming will be required for this.
Anyway. Time for bed. I just couldn’t sleep until I got this out of me. None of them have tumblr so they can’t see my plans and that’s why I’m here.
