The Rise of Tiamat

[Zugh]

Ok, so I've been working on this game idea (I'm a DM), and its in my mind a good campain idea. But I'm not sure weather or not my players will like it. Its too long and complicated, but I've been working on this idea for a year, and I wanna know what others think before I start it. So, here's a summary:


This campain is design for the PC's to be LEVEL 10:


Kobolds have recently been acting more violent and have been appearing in more numbers than ever before. The players have been falsely charged and convicted of murder, a crime that they witnessed the Kobold commit, and they cant prove their innocence. As punishment, King Lynt of Greatbark has sentenced them to discover what is causing the Kobolds to disrupt like among their world.

It seems to be a simple mission at first. Until they run into Zugh Callebarro, a mysterious man who at first seems like a nice guy. He guides them down the road to the PC's destination of Ruckerman Cavern, but there is a fork in the road. The PC's need to travel down the road to Ruckerman Cavern, while Zugh wants to follow the road to Mt. Vonn in the other direction.

But the PC's arent so sure about what this man is doing. So, they secrectly follow him up the mountain, where they find hundreds of Kobolds gathered. In the center of the mountain, there is a stautue of Tiamat, the Goddess of the Chromatic Dragon. Zugh places 3 Jems, one green, one black, and one white., in each head. Two heads remained without a Jem.
In that scene, he also reveals his true face. He isnt a human, he's a Mindflayer.

So the companions quickly flee the area, and try to forget of what they see. They reach Ruckerman Cavern, and find King Sunt, a Beholder who used to be ruler of the Kobolds until Zugh took control over them with promises of resummoning Tiamat. While they are there, Zugh appears, kills Sunt, and steals the blue Jem hidden inside of the Beholder's eye.

That night, it had been four days since they were falsely convicted of murder. When they arrived at Mt. Vonn, Zugh Callebarro had all the Jems in their place. Dark clouds form over the statue, and Zugh successfully summons Tiamat. He upsets her, however, by demanding power from the Goddess. In return, she devours him whole.

The group has a battle with Tiamat and, obviously, loses. But they dont die. When it seems like they are dead, their minda appear in a pure dark world where they hear the voice of Zugh. He appologieses for the harm he caused to the world, and tells the group how they can defeat Tiamat.

"She was summoned when I place the jems in the statue," he tells them, "But you can unsummon her by removing them."

So, they remove the Jems from her statue, Tiamat is dead, the Kobolds are calm, and they are all honored by Greatbark for their heroic actions.


So, in a nutshell, thats it. Please give me feedback, I really wanna know if its a good idea for a game or not.

[wizarddog]

A few things appear to assume the players will react the way you want. That leads to railroading, which you may want to avoid. It also is more exciting if the players find solutions for themselves and feel in control on what they can do.

1. The first issue is being accused of murder. For low level PC's, falling victim to a close minded judicial system is easy to master. For 10th level players, they are not going to take false accusations lying down. They have power and reputation and it only rubs their nose into if you railroad then into this story with a bunch of higher level goons to push the players around. Even if you do, as currently set up, the player really don't suffer from the effect of being accused of a crime. They are sent to investigate, something they would have done if asked or rewarded handsomely for.

If you want to keep the murder, have the PC's brought in to investigate it. Maybe the King's daughter-in-law is accused of the murder and in order to avoid a national embarrassment, the PC's are called. If you want to try to pin the murder on them, they may just choose to remain fugitives. Or they were responsible for preventing the murder in the first place and will feel honor bound to solve it. In any case, the murder has to serve a function. Was someone killed for one of the gems, or was it for the kingdom to send powerful mercenaries out to the mountain. Maybe they are led to believe that the beholder Sunt is responsible.

2. Don't be so sure the players will want to follow Zugh, let alone allow him to run around free if they are suspicious of him. They may decide to attack and subdue him. Don't reveal that Zugh is behind the quest for summoning of Tiamat, he is your mastermind. Perhaps he even was responsible for the murder, trying to get the kingdom to slay the beholder, who he framed. He could be the Kings personal advisor/sage. You want to introduce the NPC as being harmless but a good source of information. Zugh should have a purpose in meeting the PC's, perhaps he needs them to kill Sunt, as the beholder is too powerful for him alone. He wants to know who they are and what they are in the middle of his plans. He observes the PC's strengths and weaknesses before departing from them.

3. The players should be the ones to slay Sunt and his minions. Once he is dead, Zugh can move forward on his plans. Sunt should be the only real obstacle for Zugh in his final plan. Zugh has collected all of the other gems over time and just needs the last one....

4. If you want Tiamat to appear (rather than prevented) then you should have her battle only briefly the players, rather than slay them. They will get the point that they are no match for her. Anyway, she has bigger fish to fry, like that kingdom, and flies off to lay waste. For the stats, I would use an aspect of Tiamat, rather than the god herself.

5. Rather than having the gems removed to stop tiamat, perhaps in the temple of Bahomet located in the city, is a way to even the odds. But the players have to get back into the city as it is being attacked by the aspect of Tiamat and the kolbold army. You can create a series of encounters of them making their way back into the kingdom to find the temple and send Tiamat back or summon an aspect of Bahomet to aid them in battling her. Having the gems simply removed is too obvious, it should be a one time deal for this summoning.

[The Magic King]

Also, on the issue of meeting with the beholder, beholders aren't exactly renowned for their hospitality.

[ignimbrite]

I like wizarddog's suggestions, I think that they move the plot along like you want without looking like you are railroading anyone.

If you want to fight the aspect of Tiamat more than once (love the idea of Tiamat handing out a wooping in two rounds and then leaving) then the PCs might need to be higher than level 10. Unless you de-power the aspect a bit. Actually I am not sure what the aspects CR is but I am assuming 15-20ish.
Fighting the aspect outside the temple to Bahomet whilst the sneaky PC goes in to destroy the gems on the altar to Bahomet seems like a cool thing to do. The heavy hitters get their glory and the rogue gets to so some sneaking. Also you might want to try giving the aspect a couple throw-away one-liners during the combat to make it memorable (see Blade trilogy or something like that for inspiration).

I think you have a really cool campaign idea that could be done in relatively few sessions and will result in a very good feeling for the PCs.

[Zugh]

Thank you everyone, I'm going to make the adjustments you suggested! I really appreciat your help!

[The Magic King]

Sure, good luck and have fun.