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Appolo
2007-04-28, 11:24 AM
hey everyone! i'm running an ebberon campaign in my school's gamer's union and i want to have the first adventure be a real doozy so i thought i'd have a warforged Revolution based on the jacobin and the french revolution. does anyone know how to run a revolution in a campaign, because i'm lost. please help me. i have to run it on thursday, so i have plenty of time to prep stats and whatnot.

Emperor Tippy
2007-04-28, 11:25 AM
What will the PC's role be in this revolution?

Sir Giacomo
2007-04-28, 11:48 AM
Great idea for a scenario!

Now something I found has worked nicely for such settings is to have some "normal" kind of adventure involving a lot of drama, emotional attachment to npcs etc. and slowly, very slowly prepare in the background a revolution coming on.

This could take the form of (in temporal order)
- at first rumours of bad harvests, famines somewhere in the countryside (say, if the pcs are in a major city. The other way round if they are in the countryside).
- some major event making the government look bad. Talk about it in the taverns.
- occasional troublemakers. Speeches on corners etc.
- government starting to react with oppression. Pcs witnessing maybe one of their friends being arrested etc.
- things start to get out of hand. You could trigger something "Bastille"-like with the mob storming a local jail (maybe when the pcs try to free their friend, they are swept with the mob)
AT THIS POINT the original adventure (say, something like "find my abducted daughter/steal the jewels of the archmage/track down an evil assassin) will slowly fade into the background or better: will get greatly affected by the revolution.
- at this point also make sure how you can handle your pcs in a mob. If they have magics, can fly, bring a mob to their senses with shows of force, diplomacy whatever, you have to be ready for that (also rules-wise). Of course, the drama is much better if, to a certain extent, the pcs CANNOT influence the mob. (although even at lower levels, some party faces with maxed CHR skills may shine here...or even become themselves revolutionary leaders)
- army takes one side or the other to quell the mob's revolt (Is this a revolt? No, your majesty, this is a revolution...). Full-blown civil war breaks out.
- anarchy
- tyranny (revolution leaders beheading everyone)
- social change in the aftermath (pcs meet the feudal lord of their childhood as a beggar on the streets or whatever).

Hope that helped as a first start. Watching a movie like the French "Revolution" done by TV5, I guess, is great for getting inspiration and the atmosphere. Or the 60s classic "Cromwell" with Alec Guinness and Richard Harris. Or the all-time classic Dr. Schiwago (with Omar Sharif).

- Giacomo

Annarrkkii
2007-04-28, 12:09 PM
Huh. Were you planning on starting with the French Revolution, to put the Public Safety Committee, or its equivalent, in place, or starting with the equivalent of the Thermodorian Reaction, pulling down the Robespierre?

KIDS
2007-04-28, 02:50 PM
Also you might want to check out Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It is very good as a general read and as an info on "those times" anyway! Otherwise, your idea sounds very good, I wish you all the best with it.

Thunder_Ranger
2007-04-28, 03:08 PM
The French in Eberron...that's the funniest thing I've heard today. I second Sir Giacomo exept that these are Warforged...their motovation for revolution can't be food. Does it have to be Warforged? Something like this in Droaam would be interesting...

Appolo
2007-04-28, 06:24 PM
What will the PC's role be in this revolution?

The role of the PC's will be whatever role they chose for themselves. if they chose to side with the warforged, then i'll run it from that side and if they chose to side with the other side, then i'll run it that way. i'm kind of interested if they'll split up and i have to run 2 groups of PC's...that'd be kickass.


Also you might want to check out Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It is very good as a general read.

yeah. my highschool put on a musical production last year and i went 3 times. i like it alot.


Does it have to be Warforged?

it could possibly be another race, but think about the racial attitude towards warforged. they were built for a war that is now over. warforged were the first race i jumped to because they are the most discriminated against and they are outsiders in comparison to the other races.

Matthew
2007-04-29, 02:07 PM
Sounds like a fun campaign this. Sir Giacomo presents some good ideas. I probably wouldn't make it a 'War Forged' revolution so much as one in which War Forged have a prominant role. That way you make it harder for the Player Characters to guess who is on which side.

Annarrkkii
2007-04-29, 02:19 PM
There really aren't enough warforged in the Eberron 'verse to pull it off. Check out every country (other than the Mournland) as described in the Campaign setting, and not a single one features a listed % of population as warforged. The warforged alone lack the firepower to pull anything off.

Emperor Tippy
2007-04-29, 02:21 PM
One problem with a warforged revolution is that one side has a ton of warforged to use in battle. And warforged are very good at battle.

Middle Snu
2007-04-29, 02:52 PM
I'll be the first to admit that I'm no expert on the French Revolution or Eberron, but...

The French revoltion was all about class struggle, and the people rising up against the monarchy. Warforged aren't "the people," they're an oppressed minority. As such, any parallels to the French revolution will probably be very weak, because this is essentially a racial issue, not a class one (and the warforged are a VERY small minority.)

If you want to model a warforged uprising on history, I would suggest looking at this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots) as a good model.

johhny-turbo
2007-04-29, 03:14 PM
You could get Master Inqusitives and Assasins to act as "secret police" that'll assist or work against the PC's


also aside from Warforged you could also include other factions, like Hobgoblins or fanatical Flamers

Appolo
2007-04-29, 04:30 PM
wow...thanks for the ideas. i probably will use warforged as the bulk of the revolution, but they definitely wont be the sole participants. so far i have the adventurers having to delve into the headquarters and "offing" the leader or if they go with the warforged they'll have to escort some diplomats into the guarded keep of the mayor.

Winterking
2007-04-29, 05:51 PM
What about goblinoids and half-orcs? I don't know Ebberon well enough, but if any races seem to be generally downtrodden in society, it's the half-orcs and their ilk.

Vyker
2007-04-29, 07:53 PM
If you want Warforged to take center-stage, that's not out of the question even with low population figures. Just make them very prominent. Whomever is revolting has secured the assistance of "enough" Warforged to use them as elite shock troops in the revolution. Not too long into the whole thing, Warforged become a symbol of the revolution, with [redshirts of your choice] rallying around Warforged elites.

And, as an added bonus, Warforged will then set off huge warning bells in the PC's minds when they see one ("Oh [expletive deleted]! They've got reinforcements!"). They become mini-bosses in their own right.

illathid
2007-04-29, 09:50 PM
You could have the Lord of Blades send High Charisma revolutionaries to the various oppressed peoples through out the five nations. Have the warforged be somewhat shadowy at first. The PC's hear rumors about, and maybe become involved in, Shifter riots in Thrane, goblin looters in sharn pouring out from the cogs, Karnathi Undead rebelling against their masters. Keep this up until critical mass is reached and the Lord of Blades rides of the mournland to lead the popular revolution.

ocato
2007-04-29, 09:55 PM
Well, I don't know much about Ebberron, I mean, I played DDO. I'd make it less about the Warforged, and go a more FF:Tactics direction. People displaced by the war (former soldiers, etc) who are now dirt poor are revolting against their rulers. Famine/drought, and class warfare, and corrupt/uncaring rulers can all make an appearance.

Sir Giacomo
2007-04-30, 07:29 AM
Hi again,

the theme that the warforged (don't know Eberron, they are likely some kind of golems? constructs? Awakened robots?) are those who revolt/start a revolution got me the following idea based on a German science fiction novel:

Assume there is a society making heavy use of the warforged, exploiting them whatever. Those warforged are by far superior in combat strength (maybe have some magic immunities and/or magicians on their side). So they start a revolution and take over. The first part of the adventure is to assist in trying to end this revolt. After that is over, the pcs will be approached by the new government and told the following:
- the warforged were constructed for the former government/king with the help of --insert your random archmage association whoever--
- there was, however, a secret project of the old government/king to improve even these warforged in a remote desert/secret valley/mountaintop fortress. These improvements included flying types much more powerful than dragons, for use in expanding the power of the former government.
- the problem: the government lost contact during the revolt with the construction site where the new warforged are constructed.
- the pcs are now instructed to act as messengers to convey a magic capsule message (let us assume that the warforged/evil wizard side controls the means for spell contact for this purposes so that is not possible). Content of the magic capsule when given to the lord of the construction site: STOP constructing those damned warforged since they will start to conquer the whole of the world!
- Overall now, a kind of "Courier of the Tsar" kind of story starts, complete with perilous long journey, full of remaining rebel warforged intent on stopping the pcs; the lord of the fortresss maybe not believing the pcs once they arrive (not having heard of the warforged revolt may believe the pcs are foreign power agents). Or maybe the fortress is already virtually in the hands of the revolting warforged trying to get as many flying warforged as possible (their problem: only the humans can construct the new warforged, so they leave them alone for the time being).
Ah...plenty of adventure ideas here!

- Giacomo

Emperor Tippy
2007-04-30, 07:56 AM
Since no one responded, I'll restate this point. Be careful with a Warforged Revolution from a game balance/suspension of disbeleif point of view (it is very much in flavor though).

It would come preety close to shattering disbeleif if the warforged don't fight on the battlefield. And warforged should utterly dominate when fighting any army that could be raised by any of the 5 kingdoms.

They are utterly fearless. Their immunity to fatigue/exhaustion allows them to travel incredibly fast. They have minimial supply lines (no food needed). They have been trained since creation for war (meaning that they should be better fighters than most of their enemies).

Opposing a well played force of say 10,000 revolutionary warforged with the forces that you could reasonably expect the 5 kingdoms to raise would be almost impossible.

Appolo
2007-04-30, 05:55 PM
ok, i've decided that my campaign will not be a strictly warforged revolution. there will be a higher power influencing the revolution and the leaders with high charisma will have convinced the warforged to aid them in hope of better living conditions on both groups. i'm thinking about having a doppleganger playing the main conspirator. having the adventure on thursday and not making this decision until today, i need help from you guys. could anyone please roll up some NPC's? i need combatant and noncombatant NPC's alike for my chars to interact with. below is a list of people i would need help for. if someone does not call dibs i will assume no one wants to roll it up and i'll do it myself.

Thugs, Ruffians, Aggravators
should be around lvl 1-3 each.
can be human, half-orc, dwarven, shifter or Warforged
these need to be combat specced
Politicians
these should be Human, shifter or changeling
should be lvl 2-4 each
these should be RP-specced and not good at all in combat
Civilians
Human, half-orc, dwarven, shifter, warforged
lvl 1-2 each
should be specced for whatever proffession they have
The Second estate and High-Third
Halfling, Gnome, Human, Changeling
Treat like Politicians
City Police
Human or Shifter
treat like thugs EXCEPT give them 2x as much gold for equipment buying


i know this thread started as just an idea thread, but i'm desperate for these NPC's and i have finals next week to study for.

Matthew
2007-05-01, 05:16 PM
Hmmn.

Thug (Human Warrior 1)
Attack Bonus: 1(3), Armour Class: 15, Hit Points: 4
Strength 13, Dexterity 12, Constitution 11, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 9, Charisma 8,
Feats: Weapon Focus (Short Sword), Dodge,
Skills: Climb 4(5), Jump 4(5),
Saves: Fortitude 2, Reflex 0, Will -1,
Equipment: Studded Leather Armour, Short Sword, Dagger,

Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?

Jorkens
2007-05-01, 08:05 PM
Great idea for a scenario!

Now something I found has worked nicely for such settings is to have some "normal" kind of adventure involving a lot of drama, emotional attachment to npcs etc. and slowly, very slowly prepare in the background a revolution coming on.

This sounds very sensible - it lets the players get involved in their world before it gets turned upside down, and also gives them a bit more to go on when it comes down to the 'whose side are you on' decision.

Appolo
2007-05-01, 10:10 PM
As this is a campaign run after school in our schools club, we only have a few weeks left so the slow thing wont work all that well. i was thinking just starting it, but not in the middle of the revolution. i was thinking maybe having one or two PC's imprisoned politically, have some rallies and that would be the first day. we only have them on thursdays and only for 2-3 hours. i have Human Thug down and i also have made the warforged Thugs. since i do not have school tomorow, the day will be filled half with rolling up characters and half leveling my 41 human Paladin on Dentarg. gimme a pst if ur alliance on that server. my name is Bargleflast.


Hmmn.

Thug (Human Warrior 1)
Attack Bonus: 1(3), Armour Class: 15, Hit Points: 4
Strength 13, Dexterity 12, Constitution 11, Intelligence 10, Wisdom 9, Charisma 8,
Feats: Weapon Focus (Short Sword), Dodge,
Skills: Climb 4(5), Jump 4(5),
Saves: Fortitude 2, Reflex 0, Will -1,
Equipment: Studded Leather Armour, Short Sword, Dagger,

Is this the kind of thing you are looking for?

this format is PERFECT for the combat classes, but with the nobles and politicians i'd like more of an RP feel to go with their skill sets. all this requires is one to four words that are all adjectives describing the NPC.