Campaign Name: The Longshot Premise:
- PCs are supporting an NPC contender for the throne of the Tzardom of Mezovy
- Mommy Tzarina just gave each of her kids control of a ruined capital within Rovenkian Dearth
- Intended to make episodic w/ rotating GMs easier
- The Queen orders the hobgoblins into a full offensive against hard targets in Mezovy: Uhlinberg, the Capital, other staunch opposition.
- The Tzarina declares war and martial law in turn, forcing lords to conscript additional levies, and march in response. She includes the Vogovans in targets.
- After grinding the two against each other, The Queen raises a Tower of Fear to help crush the heaviest opposition.
- Offering to end the demon incursions and hobgoblin attacks, The Queen gains votes in the court of dukes to place The Traitor and the Prince of Crows on Mezovy's throne. To satisfy her new husband Koschechi, she institutes the tithe of souls, taken to the Towers of Fear on Halloween.
- The Queen's agents seek out Ter Khrekaan. He survives for a while, but eventually is assassinated. His assistants flee with the mother-draught, but Ukpik's hope of a rebllion and a hobgoblin state are ruined.
- The Church and the Towers hold out, but eventually fall to insider threats.
- The drow side of the marriages inherit the throne after their half-elven children "die without issue" (herbal abortifacients, murders).
- Each so often, each major antagonist advances plots abstractly by 1d3-1 points (or GM fiat)
- If PCs delivered them a setback this period, no advancement, and -1 points instead
- If the antagonist instead got aid from the PCs, normal advancement +1
- At 10 points, have background bad thing happen and subtract 10 points
- This ratchets up the losses as time progresses, but let PCs decide where to focus
- Plot points: 3
- Advances her plots by 2d3-2 each period
- Currently will spend 1 point per targeted advance
The Lady Fair desires a wedding with Koschei, to advance past hag to full outsider. To this end she has proposed by opening a temporary gate to the Abyss, causing the Dearth while sending a messenger to his court, and promising to open permanent ones as a dowry. She awaits his reply in her kingdom on the plane of air, from where she is stirring up trouble with three mortal lords (King Cold, Ukpik, and The Traitor).
She also desires a wedding for her son which will confirm his rightful place as ruler of Mezovy, given his blue blood. This is the ostensible causus belli for the war she's kicking up: failure to invite him to the ball so he might woo a princess. She loves him obsessively and wants everything like this for him, but will throw him over in an instant to preserve herself.
She is currently engaged in a long, slow negotiation for loyalty from the leaders of various regions within Mezovy, hoping to divide loyalties to the Tsarina and her heir.
Queen's representatives have also been making offers of alliance elsewhere:
- Potential suitors for the Prince need to have a female claim to a Ducal seat, ideally.
- There are herbs that can be used to choose gender of children, in use by those lacking an unwed woman
- Infiltrated: The Traitor (Ossavin) is a female with direct line to current Ducal seat
- Welcoming: Shulga is reticent to arrange marriage to grandchild with GD Zarko K
- Representative: Marduke Marcus (Caine) knows Queen for the Chaotic shitbag she is and is stalling
- Elsewhere
- Infiltrated: Hart thieves (used for failed tower)
- Welcoming: Kores thieves
- Ambassador: Moriloro thieves, Count Spiridon K (Richacren)
- Gifts: Almasna court, thieves from Qermerseqeria, Qersuaqia, Piekki, Ghom, and Mtiskia
How is she handling the Vogovan Komendants?
- Mirror scrying plus the mirror room plus the mirror part of the Welcoming implies deep connections
- TODO: Witchy tradition much more accepted there, also plying them (in addition to thieves?)
- Between the Komendants and Yutch, she's now got Vogovo in hand
Progress: 0-: not started 1: initial flowers 2: returned flowers 3: visiting representative 4: exchange of gifts 5: permanent ambassador 6: "Welcoming Of The Gentry" 7: arranged marriage/lots of drow membership 8: complete infiltration
- Plot points: 5
- Advances their plots by 2d3-2 each month
- Securing the trods
- Advancing into the mundane realm
- Plot points: 10
- Advances her plots by 2d3-2 each month
- Armies advance upon and smash her enemies
- Courtiers find ways to maintain power
- Plot points: 8
- NOTE: King Cold has been told to withdraw and consolidate pending an unbroken tower
- King Cold advancing from the north, gathering souls for Koschei in his belly
- Attack any of the northern realms
- Plot points: 6
- Arrange failure for a sibling
- Can contribute to another's success
- Each step should eliminate another possibility
- Plot points: 8
- Impressed by the PCs fight against the Tower, continues quiet support from background via Cienfuegos
- Manipulating others against The Church
- Playing off The Queen's minions on behalf of Ukpik
- Plot points: 0
- Regain powerful spells
- Take revenge on elves
- Plot points: 2
- Open closed trods
- Finding and destroying portal knowledge
- Necromantic power sources
- Akichi just pulled Athamberingia into the war on the Tsarina's side
- The Queen raises a Tower of Fear, only to have it smashed by the TTPCs
- Grey Eye starts assassinating wizards and burning libraries en-masse
- Oilester attacks in the Shadow Realm, pulling The Queen into a two-front war
- The Queen pushes balance in Ducal Council (killing Duke Bereria and subverting Duchess Zvezdana)
- Yutch counterattack takes Yutesh and eventually Bereria
- PCs return from the Goblin Market with evidence of The Queen's plotting
- Hobgoblins routed in southwestern front: Old Army helped Yarik, Ukpik sacrificed the Queen's loyalists
- The Traitor poisons Seryy's wife so she is barren
- Yutch secession
- Caine surrenders to the hobgoblins and saves his city and wizard guild
- King Cold assaults Uhlinberg badly, causing "a second dearth"
- False Bolechnikov found and destroyed by PCs, True Bolechnikov found and destroyed by Bolech
- Ukpik raids Rokenk's treasury, the Tzarina's forces recapture the city, Seryy named Tsesarevich
- The spring ball is attacked by simulacra and fae familiars, and a threat written in flowers left
- The Tsareviches are given the ruined lands around Rovenk
- King Cold ravages the northerners
- Rovenk destroyed by demons
- https://gnomestew.com/how-to-have-an-epic-campaign-in-three-acts-part-3-of-3/
- Start at about 14th level, aim to run PCs vs. the Queen at 16th level? That's a 50:50 chance if she's -alone-.
- Bring back memorable NPCs
- Why did it come to this? Recap the cassus belli, maybe w/ escaped NPCs
- NPCs start losing hope, to emphasize bleakness of situation
- Climactic battle needs chaotic setting (larger battle, interesting terrain, etc)
- Blow something up at the end (the Iceland Palace?)
- Make Vasilisa's retributive strike abilities clear, so PCs know a sacrifice is being called for, keep details hazy
- Moriloran Occultism is run by undead, head of the cult is aiming to make himself a lich with mushroom magic