Plots · Mystical · Side-Quest
Misty Mountain Hop
a clan of Mountain giants believe a human mage can lead them to victory against the slightly superior Mist Giants of a neigboring mountain...their ancient cave drawings (think Bayern Tapestry on cave wall) tell them so...
while sailing around an unmapped archipelago, an island comes into view, dominated by twin mountains at it's center, it's peaks clouded in mist. docking at a non-descript coastal fishing village, the characters hear strange tales of giants dwelling in the mountains.
The giants according to the villagers tend to not attack or otherwise harass the humans living on the coasts, spending most of their time warring among themselves...there are even some souvenir shops which sell among other things giants teeth, hair, and the occasional 'giants sack' oddity..
there are indeed two tribes of giants on the island, one mountain ruled by Utar the Mighty and his Mountain Giant clan, the other by Heorvaren and his extended family of Mist Giants...
After killing one mountain giant (as the characters explore the isle), with the help of magic (party mage necessary), the characters are approached by another who had witnessed the fireball/lightning(?) display...
he claims that his great chief Utar the Mighty has long searched for a human mage, and requests (demands)that the characters come with him to the hall of the mountain king...
upon meeting Utar, a truly filthy mountain giant reclining on a huge stone throne (pet cave bears curled up in balls at his feet), inside a monstrous cavern, the chief shows the characters fascinating cave drawings depicting what appears to be a saga of Mountain giants battling Mist giants in an eternal struggle...the picture story seems to culminate with a depiction of a small being (human?) leading the mountain giants to victory, as waves of fire/lightning (?) stream from his outstretched hands...
Obviously Utar believes that he has finally 'found' his wizard, and offers the mage of the party a giant sack which the character may fill at his/her discretion in the treasury of the mountain giants, if he/she agrees to lead the remaining mountain giants (only a handful left....they are dying out) in one final desperation attack on the neighboring mountain of Heorvaren's Mist Giants....
the role-playing and plot twists one can fiddle around with from here are too numerous to list.....
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sorry for the poor typing skills and for posting duplicate...I'm new at this
Ilya a couple of things that might help.
When you are doing a post, take as much time as you need to get it right. This is not a contest. We would prefer content over quantity.
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Anticipate your reader's questions. Make sure to answer all of them in your posts.
Look over the four and five star posts of the type you are thinking about. That will give you an idea of what we are looking for and something to shoot for.
We actually love three star posts, despite our occasional disparaging remarks. Three star posts are just a small step away from a better score, so we are pushing to help you reach them.
Not a bad idea (it's certainly unusual) but I don't quite see why the PCs would go up into the mountains in the first place, after all the place is quite dangerous (there be giants up there) and there is no obvious profit in it (the giants don't bother the human villagers so nobody is going to pay them to destroy the giants).
What if the villagers had ancient legends of some ancient magical artefact hidden somewhere in the mountains. Of course none of them really believe it exists, it's just a fairy tale, but it might entice the party to explore the mountains.
Utar the Mighty certainly doesn't believe the artefact exist but that wont stop him from offering to help the PCs find it if they help him in his war with Heorvaren.
The artefact itself may or may not exist at the GMs options.
3/5
I would be tempted to make their treasury full of food (that is treasure!), rusty armours, and other spoils of a past long gone, mostly of little worth. But that is only evil GM thinking.
There is something we did not yet consider, and possibly a more elegant solution: the other tribe could have a similar legend as well!
Maybe it is the same legend - the little guy destroys their enemy. Which one is true; or worse: what if both are true, and both tribes will be destroyed in the conflict?
If the legend no.2 spells their doom, the tribes could be led to peace.
The plot depends on a spellcaster with flashy magics, but is not bad, and offers more options than combat. Giants that are not simply monsters bent on destructions of humans are good colour, too.
3/5
I really appreciate the feedback...I'm new at this, and I actually didn't do a great job translating my thoughts to written format....the scenario in our game was full of detail and sub-plots (Utar had no intention of honoring his side of the bargain, Heorvaren's forces mangled the party, etc etc etc...)
yes...the role-playing possibilities are endless...it's not just a hack-n-slash giants battle
in our campaign, the mage (blinded by his ego) agreed to 'lead' the mountain giants against the mist giants (with somewhat disastrous results)....meanwhile the party fighters (and thief) decided to come up with a plan to 'rob' Utar's treasury...
manfred/dragonlord- love your comments...
Thanks!!...my next posting will be more appropriate to the format you guys are lookinng for...
Glad to be of help
By the way - I do like manfred's take on the legends
Keep at it ilya - you have a great imagination and that's by far the most important thing - a little more polish is all that's really required
Manfred- I'm with you on the 'treasure' aspect of the scenario...when my pc's heard 'giants treasure' (which was the idea) they got all googly-eyed...however what they eventually ended up with (after all was said and done)was some ratty bear furs, slags of iron, rotten walrus tusks, and a cursed statuette, etc...)
also one of the sacks they made away with, held a wolverine curled up in a ball that Utar the Mighty had trained to attack only upon hearing his 'dog whistle' from the mountain...the characters didn't have time to check what they had before they split...chaos ensued...
Dragon Lord- in lieu of an artifact I had the villagers tell the pc's that a living oracle was rumored to be residing somewhere in the Mist Giants Mountain...
look... if you guys are interested I'll re-write this scenario to include all details, plot hooks, etc...if not I'll move on to another posting...let me know...
I just want to re-iterate one more time, that I'm glad I found this web-site...I'm new to the internet (yes you read that right...I've been overseas), but I'm not new to DM'ing...been at it since 1981....
And we are glad to have you here. Glad to help you, too.
As for the submission itself, it might indeed handle some polish, but if you are burning with new ideas, write down those first. But sooner or later, we want it all, details and plot-hooks. :)
Btw, the whole place may be submitted as a setting: with two warring giant tribes, legends of an oracle and possibly a magical artifact of some kind.
And we could go on:
- where comes the drawing+legend from? Was there ever a giant seer?
- what about that oracle? Or could it be the same guy, after hundreds of years?
- ... and so on
Just a thought that has been floating around among the admins:
Every Plot has the following framework:
Hook: the problem, weird occurrence or opening situation which causes the Characters to get involved with events.
Problem: the full nature of what's going on - what caused the hook to happen, and what forces are alligned against the Characters
Complications: Elements which are either part of the problem or external events which will make solving the problem not quite so straightforward as hitting the books and slaying the beast.
Sub-Plots: These are a few lines on the character drama that could be wrung out of the events described. These are optional alternate events that could happen during the scenario.
Resolution: How to solve the scenario and finish the story. Usually some options are included to suit your players or allow for their creativity.
Springboard: Where you can go from here. What possible story lines can spring from this scenario.
Fun Stuff: This is just a list of some of the fun scenes or ideas the scenario will let you play around with, to inspire your imagination.
So if you want to join the band wagon...
I don't need any more details myself. It's a great scenario. I'll make up my own details for my game.
one question ilya: why aren't you posting more stuff?!
Why not join our merry band, Hordling #2? We'd love to have you!
I like this idea - the PCs are dragged into a prophesy and a reason to participate in a great, high-level battle.
It seems Mathom claimed a few hordlings though.