Eberron - Rising from the Last War

(Jeff_L) #1
the ancient giants before the Emerald Claw can claim it
for Karrnath and Lady Illmarrow.
The characters can stumble into a web of intrigue
without seeing the sticky strands. Perhaps a patron
hires the adventurers to transport what seems to be an
ordinary backpack full of goods, and they don't realize
that it has a secret magical compartment until enemy
spies come looking for whatever is inside it. Or a dying
spy presses an amulet into the hand of one of the ad­
venturers, saying, "The fate of Breland depends on you
getting this to Boranel. Don't trust anyone!" Assuming
the adventurers care about the fate of Breland, they're
pressed into an urgent adventure that has implications
they might not see or understand.

PLAYING DURING THE LAST WAR
In your campaign, you might want to take a look back at
the war as it unfolds. Setting an adventure during the
Last War puts the characters in a tumultuous time of
political intrigue, tenuous alliances, and brutal conflicts.
Consider these ways to make the Last War a present
reality in your campaign:


  • The players create new characters who live during a
    specific phase of the war. These characters could be
    figures of legend whose great deeds are known to the
    present-day characters, or they could be unknowns
    caught up in events much larger than themselves. In
    either case, the adventure they undertake can set the
    stage for events in the "present day" of your campaign.

  • You might run an introductory session or flashback
    set during the waning years of the war, bringing the
    characters' backgrounds to life. Maybe the charac­
    ters are all part of the same unit in the war, or they
    might be enemies forced to cooperate when disaster
    strikes. Are the characters participants in a memora­
    ble battle? Do they take actions they'll later regret? Do
    they make a bitter enemy who comes back to haunt
    them years later, when the campaign continues in the
    present day?

  • A magical phenomenon might send the characters
    back in time, putting them in the middle of the
    conflict. Are they transported there to learn some­
    thing? To alter the course of history? Or are they
    just stranded in a twisted time stream? How will
    they escape the horrors of the war and get back to
    their own time?


VILLAINS OF THE LAST WAR


Just as adventurers are shaped by their experiences in
the Last War, villains often carry the physical and men­
tal scars of the conflict. When developing the details of a
villain's background, consider the following options.


WA R CRIMINAL
What horrific actions did the villain take during the
Last War? Did they massacre civilians? Betray their
comrades or their nation? A brilliant artificer might
have designed arcane weapons that violated the rules
of engagement. A Karrnathi bone knight (see chapter
6) could have overseen a camp where prisoners of war
were used as subjects in necromantic experiments.

Is the villain infamous for their crimes, or yet to be
exposed for what they did? Do they believe that their
crimes were justified? Is the criminal protected by
powerful people in their nation, or reviled by the people
they served?

GRIM INSPIRATION
Something the villain saw or experienced during the
war made a lasting impression that still drives them
today. Perhaps their family was killed in a senseless
attack, and everything they are doing is motivated by a
desire to avenge this loss. Maybe they think that they
were betrayed by their own nation. Perhaps they were
caught in the Mourning, and even though they somehow
survived it, what they lived through drove them insane.

FORMER COMRADE
A former comrade-in-arms can be a useful hook to draw
adventurers into a story-or a compelling villain. Which
one of the characters served alongside the villain? Were
they equals, or was one of higher rank? Did the villain
abandon or betray the adventurer, or was it the adven­
turer who betrayed the villain? This option can be espe­
cially interesting for a warforged villain; while searching
for their own identity following the war, they have em­
braced a dark path. If you use this motif, it's important
to develop the story in conjunction with the players
whose characters are connected to the villain-either
establishing crucial details ahead of time, or developing
them together by way of a flashback.

WA R-TORN SURVIVOR
At first meeting, the villain of an adventure might seem
to be a person of honor, or at the least a hardscrabble
survivor doing what they think is right after surviving
the war. The villain might have experienced some of the
same things in the war that the characters did, making
it easy for the characters to understand the villain's
point of view-or at least to harbor a sliver of doubt that
makes them think twice before rushing to condemn the
villain. The War-Torn Villains table suggests twists you
can add to villains mentioned elsewhere in this chapter
to give them and their schemes a tie to the Last War.

WAR-TORN VILLAINS
d6 Villain
The villain doesn't know (or refuses to believe) that
the war has ended.
2 The villain experienced horrors during the war and
targets the people they believe to be responsible.
3 The villain is using the skills they learned during the
war to target war profiteers or national leaders.

(^4) The villain is a former military commander who com­
mands soldiers who served under them in the war.
S The villain is an ex-soldier with a grudge against citi­
zens of a former enemy nation.
6 The villain wants the power to restart, and "properly"
finish, the war.
CHAPTER 4 I BUILDING EBERRON ADVENTURES

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