Playtesting Lord Narran's Battles

[herman_the_german]

A unifying storyline for Lord Narran's Battles might be this:

In ancient times a breed of sorcerers had learned to use Talismans of Dark Sorcery to gain power over the Great Worms. They were known as The Dragonmasters.
The Dragonmasters destroyed themselves in foolish wars among themselves.
Their Talismans were destroyed or hidden and their appearance and location (if any) are unknown.

Teraptus, a researcher of ancient Dragon Lore intends to become a new type of Dragonmaster.

Each of the quests is necessary to stop Teraptus in his quest to become Dragonlord:

1. Special Delivery: Griz, a student of ancient Dragon Lore, is needed as an ally by the Empire. He is trapped in a city besieged by a monsters sent there by Teraptus to destroy him. He reveals Teraptus' Dragonmaster ambitions upon rescue. Teraptus has managed to 'obtain' a dragon but it is not yet under Teraptus' control and is thus guarded by the Manscorpion.

2. Against the Giant: Grunt's attempts at an army are rumored to have been made because Teraptus intends to raid the neighboring kingdoms in search of unknown artifacts. One such raid results in the Princess taken hostage. End of quest does not result in Princess rescue but reveals possibility of Rockbones' future alliance with Teraptus.

3. Narran's Seal: Vellum scrolls found during the quest reveal a dragon's egg has been found necessary by Teraptus in order to breed it from birth and to easily have full mastery over it.
Other unfinished scrolls reveal Teraptus used the Royal Seal to fake documentation used to kidnap princess and eventually intended to use her to obtain as ransom some unnamed artifacts, but one positively identified as 'The Silver Scepter.'

4. The Dragon's Egg: The heroes must find and seize the dragon's egg before Teraptus does.

The Thief is captured between played quests, he was attempting to obtain The Silver Scepter (for now only a rare, mysterious artifact, but known to be needed by Teraptus,) foolishly, by himself.

5. The Great Escape: While in captivity Thief finds some hidden writing in his prison cell indicating the Princess might have been held there a short while ago.

6. The King's Escort: Halvor's Journey (really a hopeful, covert mission to find the kidnapped Princess' location.)

7. The Silver Scepter: Second attempt at geting the Silver Scepter, now by the whole group. By end of quest the Scepter is obtained by the heroes and hidden in a safeguarded place.

8. Ambush: Teraptus and Rockbones Alliance - Teraptus is still looking for those rare artifacts and now seeks the help of Rockbones. (Teraptus' "death" will actually be his capture.)

9. The Prisoner: Teraptus is transported for 'questioning.' The 'prisoner' may be revealed to merely be a doppelganger by the end, but kidnapped Princess location is somehow, found out.

10. A Daring Rescue: Heroes find by end of the quest that the Silver Scepter has disappeared from the Royal Treasury during their absence while rescuing the Princess. It is suspected that Teraptus' agents have stolen it.

11. The Crystal Ball: Quest of the Crystal Ball of Divination. Crystal Ball reveals the true nature of the Silver Scepter, it is actually the Talisman of Change! It is also revealed that Teraptus needs two other Talismans of Dark Sorcery before attempting full mastery over Darkfyre.

12. The Cure: Plague of Werewolves. Heroes find by end of quest that Teraptus does indeed have ownership of the Talisman of Change and has been experimenting with it transforming innocent folk into monsters!

13. The Burning Forest: Heroes find by end of quest that a fire elemental has been summoned with the Talisman of Fire, the second needed item, now in possession of Teraptus.

14. The Sunstone: Heroes find by end of quest that Teraptus has obtained the Talisman of Darkness, the final needed item, and has used it to activate the Sunstone. He is now ready to become a Dragonmaster.

15. Darkfyre's Lair: Confrontation with Darkfyre.

16. The Body Thief: Final confrontation with Teraptus.

[lucasdp]

This is a great idea, Herman, and you are obviously more familiar with the Dragon Strike quests than I am. However, for this go-round, I am really interested in playing the quests as they were converted by Mr. Agin.

With that said, you have indeed provided a incredible starting point for someone to design another Dragon Strike Quest Pack here.

[herman_the_german]

Agin's quests remain exactly the same.
Only the initial narration and the order of some change. But the order can be played with either sequence and maybe some really minor adjustments.
I only worked on the theme itself in hope of unifying the quests and in maintaining the idea of a 'dragon strike' campaign.

Agin did not include The Dragon's Egg, which has little to no effect on the story line. A quest for this could be designed and included, or not. It makes no difference.

The only thing to keep in mind is that Teraptus should remain alive till the end two quests. At any early point during the campaign that his BP gets to zero he disappears. In Ambush he is captured when/if that happens.

I have actually typed up the whole campaign, but since it uses Agin's quests (and as much of his original text as I could salvage) I am waiting for his blessing before publishing it.