GM seeking advice

[arouetta]

Well, I'm either a really good GM or a really lousy GM, with the way that I evoked great passion in my players last night. However I have one week to figure out how I'm going to keep them from killing their employer, who simply sent them on a quest that was a little rough. It was easy - pick certain flowers growing at fire bogs. They just didn't like the fact that a fire elemental was fighting with two people who fell out of a dimensional portal about 10 feet away, and they weren't happy with the vampire dungeon crawl they had just finished. Which is ironic, since the player playing the squishy mage who ended up skewered by a sword (Nat 20s tend to win over Armor of Ithan) was having the time of his life. The rest of the group got off fairly easy.

So now I am in need of starter ideas for possible campaigns for a group of mercenaries, since in all likelihood they will turn down the alchemist's next request. In their adventures, they have angered a couple of thieves' guilds and a sphinx (I've got plans for a holy relic to be planted on one of them and the sphinx telling the Church of Light and Dark the group took it, but ideas to expand that are welcome). Because two of the players worked the system really well in a way I wasn't expecting, those two characters are independently wealthy and are now looking to find a permanent base as a goal.

So I'm looking for one or two sentence ideas that I could either create into a campaign, or string several together into a campaign. Any other GMs out there willing to help out?

[Lukterran]

Finding a permanent base as a goal is a great motivator!

1. You could have characters do quest or a especially difficult assignment to be granted the land by a Lord or government body to create their new base of operations on.

2. Then you could tell the player characters that the land is now theirs however some "nasties" currently occupy the territory or structure and it is now they problem to deal with. They might have to travel a great distance to find the new land?

3. Once players take possesion of their property you could have a build a new structure or have them rebuild or old ruin. Which they will need resources and labor. Perahps there is a small wilderness village or town not far away that would be to supply both. However, it is not safe to leave the town do to any number of possible "bad guys" (could be bandits, monster races, supernatural evil) that the characters will need to deal with first.

4. Once construction begins on the player characters new structure they find that it needs to be defended against from at some "force" in the area doesn't want them moving in. So they have to contend with a new hostile trying to stop them. (again this could be coyles to, a necromancer to an ancient evil)

5. Perhaps that during the contructions they unearth a old ruin under their new building? Could be anything from simple troglodyte tunnels to dwarven ruins, to ancient burial grounds or sleeping dragons cave.

[Hotrod]

I could help more if you would give more information.

What are the racial, religious, political, and occupational affiliations of the characters?

Where is the party currently? Can they readily travel by land? By sea? By magic?

What's the average level of the party? What is there alignment?

[Lukterran]

I could help more if you would give more information.

What are the racial, religious, political, and occupational affiliations of the characters?

Where is the party currently? Can they readily travel by land? By sea? By magic?

What's the average level of the party? What is there alignment?

My guess would be either they are in the Yin-Sloth jungles, Baalgor Wastelands since they were recently dealing with the Fire Bogs.

[Hotrod]

Since you describe them as mercenaries, here are some quickie ideas.

1. "Godfather" a la Palladium. The characters get caught up in a conflict between two noble houses that has turned nasty. Delivery missions, small raids, sabotage, and bounty hunting.

2. Sir Francis Drake a la Palladium. If you're anywhere near the Floenry Isles, the inland sea, Byzantium, the Shadow Coasts.. pretty much anywhere where there's ocean or seas, the characters can get involved for and against privateers and pirates.

3. "Argo" a la Palladium. A recent coup/change of power has turned some former elites/dignitaries into persona non grata. The group must get them out.

4. "The Bodyguard" a la Palladium. Some rich merchant hacked off the wrong person. Now he/she has got a whole assassin's guild on his/her tail. Why a whole guild? That's an interesting story...

5. Xenophon a la Palladium: The characters are hired for a war that is over when they arrived. Their clients no longer exist, and they are regarded as a foreign enemy by everyone around.

6. Exodus a la Palladium. A group of people flees persecution and heads for the wilderness, hoping to carve out a place for themselves. Good for the Hinterlands and Yin-Sloth Jungles.

7. "The Mummy" a la Palladium. Some archeologist/scholar with too much time/money and not enough sense wants to excavate some ancient ruin. The characters must keep him/her safe from the indigenous threats, and possibly from whatever he/she unwittingly unleashes.

[zyanitevp]

The 2 Terellia adventures in the Yin Sloth book are good ones- have run them at cons before.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Finding a permanent base as a goal is a great motivator!

...snip

Having them have overarching goals for their characters might be a way to get the players thinking about what future they want their chars working for. And it will give you clues about how shape you campaigns to let them work towards their goals.

[Alrik Vas]

Have the theives guild attempt to steal their fortune.

[SmilingJack]

Hi Auroetta,

Here are some ideas to help spawn off further adventures based upon your current campaign history

1. Because you know the party will refuse the alchemist's next offer, have the alchemist turn on the PCs by hiring a group of mercs to pursue and kill them since they "know too much" about his affairs

2. Since you have two party members who are now wealthy you know they'll do anything to hold onto that wealth which yo can exploit,

Have them robbed and have a trail leading to a group of thieves which they can chase trying to retrieve their valuables.

3. If the other guilds are disgruntled with them, you can have the characters furtively attacked or pursued,
And force them to flee or stand their ground

4. And honestly do something you're interested in and something you think will be fun

Because then it truly will be

[Hotrod]

You know, establishing a base of operation does sound like a winning idea for an adventure or a campaign.

[kiralon]

If you want to keep them working with the alchemist id go along the lines of when they turn up to get their reward for picking the flowers id have the Alchemist have the next job ready to go and praise them for their good work and when they turn him down make him all sorry sounding and say something like "I hate to have to do this, good minions are sooooo hard to come by, but the flower you have been picking is an integral part of a poison that killed the prefects/kings/lords favourite cousin 2 days ago, and here you are supplying me with some, and suddenly i have no incentive to keep our dealings secret anymore, and there's a 20000 gp price on the miscreants head, you know alchemy requires a lot of money".
usually they get a little more malleable then but if they don't id get the alchemist to tell them that to pay them he needs to visit his banker because he just made a large purchase, and for them to meet him again in an hour. Then in an hours time have him waiting with the money and when they go in to get it some local police turn up as well and while the pc's are there have the policeman ask the Alchemist if he knows of anyone asking for the poison or its ingredients in the last week or 2.
Then have them fight if thats the way they roll, just mention that likely they will never be able to return and then they also have to get away with their current loot.

and alchemists usually aren't nice people, and don't like people annoying them. Tell them that the alchemist have paid for their services and now expects them to keep working, with pay of course, but if the want to leave he is happy to eviscerate, then draw and quarter all ties to the pc's.

Then say that the alchemist is interested in artifacts from the old kingdom mountains and is happy to finance a trip there (mention possible ruined castles there for them to do up)and spring the island at the edge of the world adventure on them.

[arouetta]

Thanks everyone. I dropped the alchemist by simply having him provide a rumor that the Mercenaries' Guild headquarters (which they're a part of) is leaving town, so they immediately left the shop after dropping off the flowers. They were approached by three different political factions offering a fixer-upper manor house in exchange for lots and lots of money. Then I let them go where they wanted with the plot and they assassinated one of the people making the offer, and are debating between the other two. Now I've got them scouting out a potential new city for the Mercenaries' Guild. I'm thinking of two long-term campaigns, one involving finding and dragging the anvil mentioned in Library of Bletherad back to the alchemist (without them understanding the significance, and having everyone after them, hoping to either claim it or destroy it), the other with them accidently getting trapped on Dyval and the only upfront offer to get home requires them to free Rhada first (there are other ways of course, but they would have to search them out). Difficult, bizarre, and will be the source of many "remember when..." stories.