Author Topic: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]  (Read 6048 times)

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Offline Druss_the_Legend

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My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« on: December 09, 2014, 02:06:29 AM »
We have rebooted my very first campaign with two old school friends. we r all in our 40's now. The pcs are a buglar and a barbarian. the campaign is based in sanctuary - Thieves World. We are playing via skype right now (which did not exist back when we first played these characters in this setting)

The cities resident crimelord - Jubal has been replaced by a new crimelord in town called The Beggar King.

There are some powerful factions working behind the scenes:
1) a theives guild called The Big Fish Gang (there are 3 sub-bosses - a burglar in charge of security who also overseas special night opps, a hitman/bodyguard and a tax collector in charge of revenue collection/extortion. The Big Fish Gang also deal in drugs and prostitution.
2) an assassins guild called the Order of the Black Lotus - headed by a legendary nightblade who can take on a wraith like form and is rumoured to be invincible in battle.
3) two rival magicians guilds - The Order of the Blue Star and the Order of the Red Star (the blue star order has been helping the pc's)
4) a mysterious Blood Cult of dark priests who are rumoured to be gathering power to resurrect a creature of darkness - perhaps a vampire, demon or undead sorcerer. The cult has been seen unloading a long wooden box from the docks.
5) The Beggar King - a mysterious new crimelord whose identity is a closely guarded secret.

All of these factions have their own agenda's and at the moment are co-existing in the same city - The Beggar King has teamed up with the thieves guild and assassins guild to take down Jubal and his army of 50 sell-swords (Hawkmasks). These factions are starting to section off the city between them.

The pcs have been involved in a plot to lure out the Beggar Kings men with the goal of capturing one of his agents and learning the new crimelords identity. This sort of backfired because even though they captured one of his men alive (they have been interrogating him for intel), Jubal himself was captured in the battle. This initiated an intelligence gathering exercise (the pcs are allied with 10 npc sell-swords loyal to Jubal - battle-hardened fighters, thieves and assassins themselves). Jubal's remaining men were split into recon teams and sent to locations throughout the city to gather info on the Beggar King and where Jubal might be being held captive.

The pcs' are guessing as to the true identity of the Beggar King - he/she has been a step ahead of them from the start and they suspect a mole within their group is helping him. A fifth of Jubal's sell-swords remain, the rest have been murdered by assassins or slain in battle with the Beggar Kings allies. The pc's have the general location of the Beggar King's lair - in the sewers below the city located in a section of the city called The Maze - an area notorious for its crime and lawlessness. The pcs r poised to lead a stealthy infiltration mission into the cities sewers in the hopes of finding their boss Jubal still alive.

They have recruited the aid of Lythande, a magician of the Order Blue Star and are also trying to recruit the legendary thief Hanse Shadowspawn.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2014, 02:08:34 AM »
As the GM, its been a lot of prep and story crafting to get things to this point but its been really rewarding conversing with the players in between sessions working their plans/goals into future game sessions. [The barbarians early goal was to find his old sword which had been 'acquired' by a royal guard in a previous adventure]. The two players have really varied backgrounds - Both pcs were rescued from death by a powerful magician. Each player had a brief pre-adventure run separately to get them up to the same point in the story. As GM I decided not to start them together which allowed each pc to build up skills, contacts and clues about the larger story before they met up together.

The Burglar was the real reason for the magician getting involved (the player is still not 100% sure why he was saved, but its clear the magician who saved him from death, has plans for the burglar - who has been given free training as an assassin and has been learning spells under the tutelage of a good Magician - mostly subterfuge spells that complement his thieves skills - the burglar has a goal to get his hands on a spell book to accelerate his magical training). The barbarian, was actually collateral 'baggage' from the main rescue - He was sold into slavery, imprisoned and transported to another city where he was then sold to a gladiator school and trained as a gladiator. The crimelord Jubal was a benefactor of his exploits in the arena and later recruited him as a Hawkmask (sell-sword) after he had won his freedom and returned to the city of Sanctuary once again.

The biggest challenge as GM was to create two parallel backstories that made sense and set the players up to work together again just like the 'old times' when they were 1st level. There needed to be a rational reason for them to be rescued in the first place (when we last played, the session ended with the characters were sentenced to death by hanging for murder!). After their rescue and additional training they both advanced to level 3, rather needed in a city as dangerous as Sanctuary. Things have become even more dangerous with assassins targeting Jubal's men and virtually wiping them out.

Playing online has given me the opportunity to pre-script a few important scenes with NPC conversations - as i mentioned the pcs have allied themselves with Jubal and his Hawkmasks. These sell-swords are a tough bunch but their loyaly has certainly been tested with 80% of their organisation being killed. There are two captains in the group who do not always see eye-to-eye and there is a pecking order in the group with one of the pcs holding a quite influential position (the barbarian) with the other pc (the burglar/assassin) ranking rather low due to him joining the group later on and under suspicious circumstances (they suspect a spy is giving the enemy intel).

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2014, 02:10:25 AM »
I began the reboot thinking i was going to run an off the shelf module called Murder at the Vulgar Unicorn but i found this rather lacking interesting story hooks and a little vague on overall storyline and even more telling was there were no connections to the pcs themselves. This inspired my to write my own adventure with the city of Sanctuary as the backdrop.

Once id settled on the main npc's and important factions in the story (Jubal the Slaver/Crimelord and his army of sell-swords, The Beggar King, Lythande the good magician and his magicians guild the Order of the Blue Star, The thieves guild aka The Big Fish Gang and the Assassin's Guild aka Order of the Black Lotus) i was then able to weave in story threads which included the pc's - i wanted them to be central to the story. Almost as an afterthought i threw in the Blood Cult faction (i think they are going to be a faction that will come into more prominence in future adventures as they gather followers and power). The alliance between the Assassins Guild and Thieves Guild will be tested, once the players figure out how to get them working against one another.

Its been lots of fun revealing pieces to the larger story through rumours and leaked information from the captive they have been interrogating. Once the players began actively seeking out intel on who had likely captured Jubal, they started to realize there were in fact a number of factions who had been bought together to oust Jubal and his Hawkmasks... they were aware assassins had been picking off Jubal's men for weeks and later they learned that certain parts of the city had fallen under the control of a new mysterious crimelord calling himself The Beggar King - he began by gaining control of trade in and out of the city at the wharf. A bit more snooping around by the players has given them a number of possible leads to explore... the most curious one is the opening of a new florist shop in an area known for dodgy criminal activity at night.

The pc's are Jubals last best hope. Theyr trying to work out who the Beggar King is and have plans to eventually unmask him, possibly infiltrate the thieves guild and perhaps even remove the leader of the assassins guild. Theyr also rather worried about the Blood Cult who they suspect are led by a vampire. They realize now they seem to be on the losing side. Even if they can find and rescue Jubal, his power and influence is not what it was now The Beggar King has taken over much of the crime in the city.

Offline yammahoper

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #3 on: December 10, 2014, 10:03:25 AM »
I'm rooting for the Beggar King.  I hope he gets to move out of the sewers soon. 

This sounds like great fun.  Thank you for sharing.
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain... Time to die.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #4 on: December 10, 2014, 01:24:28 PM »
I'm rooting for the Beggar King.  I hope he gets to move out of the sewers soon. 

This sounds like great fun.  Thank you for sharing.

cheers!
the campaign has really taken on a life of its own. The Thieves World setting is a gr8 foundation to build from as a GM. Iv used some key NPC's which are an established part of the setting (Jubal the crimelord/slaver-ex-gladiator, Lythande the Blue Star Adept, The hawkmasks) but then i have added my own stuff as well. The Beggar King already existed, I just gave him/some powerful allies (Big Fish Gang aka the Thieves Guild, The Order of the Black Lotus aka the Assassins Guild and the Order of the Red Star) and have developed some factions which are mentioned but not is much detail (The Order of the Blue Star, The Blood Cult/Brotherhood of Blood who worship the Blood Goddess Dyareela). I will soon be adding another good faction who worship a Frog God called Heqt who are opposed to Dyareela Blood Cult. I am going to make them a school of martial arts with monks and warrior monks that wear green and white. Its a bit of creative licence as thats not what they are in the setting but i think it would be cool to introduce a fighting temple or two who are on a mission to rid the world of the Brotherhood of Blood.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #5 on: December 10, 2014, 01:46:44 PM »
The pcs are definitely in danger as they move about the city. It already was a dangerous place. Now they are marked men. The Beggar King has spies in every class of society and they need to be selective about who they talk to. If they manage to rescue Jubal from the Beggar Kings secret lair I think Jubal and his men will drop off the radar for a while and gather strength and lick their wounds a bit possibly forming a resistance movement to undermine the Beggar Kings activities. They will need to tread carefully and seek the support and protection of more powerful allies who will also have their own agendas.  :o

Offline vector

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2014, 02:04:15 PM »
Just wanted to stop by and say that this sounds like an awesome campaign! I have fond memories of the Thieves World books.

Offline mjkelly

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2014, 06:22:56 PM »
Ditto that! I have fond memories of reading Thieves World back in the 80s. Yes, I too am in my 40s...

Great setting, and sounds like you've got a good approach to running it.

Best,
Mike K

Offline markc

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #8 on: December 14, 2014, 09:34:43 PM »
vector,
 Welcome to the ICE Forums.
MDC
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Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #9 on: December 14, 2014, 10:01:23 PM »
Ditto that! I have fond memories of reading Thieves World back in the 80s. Yes, I too am in my 40s...

Great setting, and sounds like you've got a good approach to running it.

Best,
Mike K

cheers. the setting is what makes things come to life. i also have read the books but i dont follow them slavishly and use them initially to help me flesh out some key NPC's.
To me the city of Sanctuary should be a dangerous place to adventure in with almost limitless opportunities to get mixed up in crime and sub-plots linked to NPC locals. I try to maintain a high level of uncertainty/mystery around what is going on in the story to keep the pcs guessing.

i have run the ex-gladiator/slaver Jubal before in a past adventure and once you know what motivates him (money, boredom and loneliness) it becomes easier to play him logically. He is quite an intense character who is used to getting his way but a clever player can negotiate terms with him and even win his favour.

As the GM i have been wary of power creep as the pcs advance in levels as i dont want them to have too much freedom and become fearless of reprisals from the powerful factions in the city. I also maintain a healthy level of fear and distrust of magic which can make for interesting interactions with npcs who distrust magic for example a pc who publicly flaunts their powers with magic or a magic item will quickly draw the attention of powerful people who will see them as a threat to their power structure.

Offline Mordenkainen

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2014, 07:13:08 AM »
Sounds like a cool campaign. I feel the stirrings again...happen every couple of years...haul down the RM books from the shelf and cook something up...

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2014, 11:14:54 AM »
Sounds like a cool campaign. I feel the stirrings again...happen every couple of years...haul down the RM books from the shelf and cook something up...

haha. Thanx. This is how it all started. one day about 2 yrs ago i started to wonder... What if i got the old crew back together with their SAME characters... 25yrs after we started playing rolemaster?!!
This campaign is special for a number of reasons:
1) it was my first ever campaign - tbh none of us really knew what the heck we were doing!
2) its with my two BEST friends from high school - one now lives in another country (Denmark)
3) the 3 of us have met of about 3-4 times over the years and we always try to fit in some kind of gaming, roleplaying sometimes but at the very least some console gaming and/or boardgames
4) the two characters in the campaign were presumed dead... what a plot twist it has been to flip the script and create a larger story arc where they actually survived!
5) we have made plans to meet up again and play this campaign face-to-face in 12 months time. Cant wait. That will be epic. We r hoping to get in 3-4 solid days of roleplaying.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2014, 02:05:20 PM »
A new temple has been constructed in the Maze, the players suspect it is the Blood Cult but have not explored too close to it yet.

The players have figured out who the Beggar King is. He is an ex- Hawkmask named Saliman who was in charge of Jubal's intelligence operations. Saliman disappeared in a large battle with assassins earlier on in the adventure and was presumed dead. Turns out he wasnt  ;)

The players have recruited the services of the legendary thief Hanse Shadowspawn and are currently exploring the sewers below the maze, thanks to a map they acquired from the thieves guild HQ.


Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2015, 08:45:39 PM »
The players acquired a map of the sewers at the Thieves Guild HQ thanks to the burglar.
Using the map they take 3 NPC's and explore the sewers under the Maze in search of the Beggar Kings Lair. They are met by 3 assassins and the Beggar King in the sewers close to his lair. They send back two NPC to get reinforcements which eventually arrive - but much slower than expected as a spy in their group murders their unofficial leader.
In an epic showdown with the Beggar King, the players triumph and manage to rescue Jubal and get him to safety.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2015, 12:33:04 AM »
This encounter takes place two days after the player characters rescue Jubal. [Prior to his rescue Jubal was tortured and has had an eye cut out by the Beggar Kings men].

Epilogue: Hanse Shadowspawn enters the room carrying a small chest. He places it on the table in front of Jubal.
Hanse Shadowspawn "This chest was left for you with One-Thumb at the Vulgar Unicorn. I have checked it and there appears to be no trap mechanisms. It came with this (Holds up a iron key). An urchin delivered the chest with a simple message. - Give this to Jubal. Only he is to open it”.
Inside is a blood covered piece of paper wrapped around another object. Dark patches of blood are seeping through the paper. Jubal carefully unwraps the package to reveal a human eyeball. Jubals eye! There is a hand written message inside the bloodied paper.
"My old friend, you might need this if you want to find the real Beggar King. Your men have done me a favour. Now the people of Sanctuary know I am unkillable. Keep an eye out for me".

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #15 on: January 08, 2015, 12:42:00 AM »
This encounter takes place two days after the player characters rescue Jubal. [Prior to his rescue Jubal was tortured and has had an eye cut out by the Beggar Kings men].

Epilogue: Hanse Shadowspawn enters the room carrying a small chest. He places it on the table in front of Jubal.
Hanse Shadowspawn "This chest was left for you with One-Thumb at the Vulgar Unicorn. I have checked it and there appears to be no trap mechanisms. It came with this (Holds up a iron key). An urchin delivered the chest with a simple message. - Give this to Jubal. Only he is to open it”.
Inside is a blood covered piece of paper wrapped around another object. Dark patches of blood are seeping through the paper. Jubal carefully unwraps the package to reveal a human eyeball. Jubals eye! There is a hand written message inside the bloodied paper.
"My old friend, you might need this if you want to find the real Beggar King. Your men have done me a favour. Now the people of Sanctuary know I am unkillable. Keep an eye out for me".

The Beggar King the players killed was merely a decoy! Sets things up nicely for the next adventure. I have created another character specific epilogue for each player as well. Here is an part of one of the epilogues.

Scene: Jubal’s Estate, inside his war room. Three men stand around a large table covered in maps. Jubal the ex-slave gladiator crimelord, Shenton - his most experienced Hawkmask and Kromm Lionslayer the barbarian (player character).

Shenton “According to the intel gathered from Night Shadow and Kromm, the Thieves Guild base of operations is here. [Points to a building on the map located in the Street of Red Lanterns]
Jubal “From the reports I’ve heard we know that Danny O’gunnion is leading the Big Fish Gang and he has men posing as Hell-hounds moving goods from the Governors Warehouse to the Florist Shop. These will likely be black market goods and perhaps trade goods taken from merchant vessels as part of O’Gunnions tax on goods entering the city. I am sure Prince Kittycat would be very interested in this information but for now lets keep him in the dark and wait for the best opportunity to use this knowledge to our advantage. If they get wind of the authorities getting involved, they will go to ground”.
Shenton “What do you make of this Beggar King decoy?”
Jubal “That traitorous bastard Saliman could still be alive, or he might have merely been a pawn in a larger plot involving the Blood Cult and this Dark Brotherhood. The cult is dangerous and we need more intel on who its leader is and what defenses their temple has before any move is made against them.
Kromm “What about The Temple of Heqt and their High Priestess guesting at the palace? There could be a link between the two new temples”.
Jubal “We know the Beggar King has a spy posing as one of Kittycats concubines. I think she could shed some light on what the Prince knows as well as have intel on the High Priestess. Find out who she is and then we can arrange to have a private talk with her”.

Offline Icefield

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #16 on: January 21, 2015, 05:00:26 PM »
Great idea marrying Rolemaster and Thieves' World. Your story is great as well. Thank you for posting the details.

Offline markc

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #17 on: January 21, 2015, 06:34:17 PM »
Icefield,
 Welcome to the ICE Forums.
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Rule #0: A GM has the right to change any rule in a book to fit their game.
Role Play not Roll Play.
Use a System to tell the story do not let the system play you.

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #18 on: January 21, 2015, 06:37:13 PM »
Great idea marrying Rolemaster and Thieves' World. Your story is great as well. Thank you for posting the details.

Thanks! It has certainly been a labour of love rebooting these characters. I cannot speak more highly of Thieves World as a setting. Its a dangerous city full of adventure!

Crafting the story from scratch was rather time intensive but the payoff has been a rich environment for the players to immerse themselves in and it has opened up a large number of possibilities for future adventuring. With a number of powerful factions vying for control of the city there are plenty of angles for players to be used as spies, couriers, bodyguards, assassins and/or mercenaries.

The Crimelord Jubal will remain a central NPC in the story but the rise in power of the Dark Brotherhood, The Big Fish Gang operating with impunity and the the Beggar King working behind the scenes should make things interesting. The Assassins Guild, lead by the powerful nightblade Draven the Slayer is also poised to make a play for control... who knows where they have placed informants in the city?

Prince Kittycat and his royal guards the Hell-hounds are going to make their influence felt in the near future. Its possible the pcs could even be hired by the Prince!

Offline Druss_the_Legend

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Re: My Rolemaster campaign [Thieves World Setting]
« Reply #19 on: July 06, 2015, 08:41:09 PM »
Part Two reboot is starting up soon. Adding a 3rd player to the campaign. Looking like he will be an assassin. Interesting possibilities for spying, double-crossing and infiltration missions...