bluesfella
Explorer
I'm in the middle of a pretty good homebrew adventure I'm running, but I feel like I've written myself into a corner, and I just haven't had any inspiration to get out of it yet. Basically, the PC's have just been introduced to a Fire Giant that they need to get a key from. They are hopelessly outmatched strength-wise, so they need to do some role playing to get this key. The problem is, I just don't know what to do with this character and I need some suggestions.
The PC's are stuck on this mysterious island (inspired by the good parts of LOST - hopefully the ending will be more satisfying), and have just discovered that the shadowy OTHERS that run the island are actually a cult of Vecna. They don't know the cult's plans yet, but they are planning to sneak into the spire in the middle of the island, where they expect the cult has it's base. (It does.)
They have found a secret entrance, but it is locked with a Macguffin, er, I mean "key" that is currently in the possession of the Fire Giant at the other end of the island. They have now traveled all the way to meet the giant and had several encounters getting there. The cliff hanger from the last session was them barely reaching the giant's domain with little resources and even fewer hit points, and the giant comes after them with his hell hounds. They were all cowering on the ground surrounded by the hounds and the fire giant standing over them with his flaming sword at the ready.
But now I have to run some sort of encounter from that point, and I just don't have any good ideas. Here is all I am going on:
The Fire Giant hates the cultists.
He distrusts any other intruders (the PC's).
He raises Hell Hounds as pets and breeds them.
The cultists have stolen one of the giant's hounds, but he doesn't know where it is.
The PC's have encountered this hound in a previous encounter.
The giant has the key to the cultist's lair, but it not willing to give it up easily.
I obviously thought it would be good to let the PC's promise to bring back his hound, but the more I think about it, the less I like the idea. Would a surly giant give up the key to the cultist's lair based on a promise from these strangers? Am I just over-thinking it? The seeds are already planted for this, but I'd like to find a more interesting way of handling it.
Depending on how the PC's play this meeting, there may even be combat. Though, I doubt it. I will try and prepare for it just in case.
One of my earlier ideas was to give the PC's the option of helping this giant, and if they did he could come back later at an opportune time to aid them in whatever ending scenario they chose. I like giving the players choices, where their actions influence future events. He could be a good ally or a thorn in their side.
So, do you guys have any ideas on how I should play this out? We are meeting this Saturday night, and I'm stressing over this one plot bottleneck I've created for myself. Thanks for any suggestions you might have!
The PC's are stuck on this mysterious island (inspired by the good parts of LOST - hopefully the ending will be more satisfying), and have just discovered that the shadowy OTHERS that run the island are actually a cult of Vecna. They don't know the cult's plans yet, but they are planning to sneak into the spire in the middle of the island, where they expect the cult has it's base. (It does.)
They have found a secret entrance, but it is locked with a Macguffin, er, I mean "key" that is currently in the possession of the Fire Giant at the other end of the island. They have now traveled all the way to meet the giant and had several encounters getting there. The cliff hanger from the last session was them barely reaching the giant's domain with little resources and even fewer hit points, and the giant comes after them with his hell hounds. They were all cowering on the ground surrounded by the hounds and the fire giant standing over them with his flaming sword at the ready.
But now I have to run some sort of encounter from that point, and I just don't have any good ideas. Here is all I am going on:
The Fire Giant hates the cultists.
He distrusts any other intruders (the PC's).
He raises Hell Hounds as pets and breeds them.
The cultists have stolen one of the giant's hounds, but he doesn't know where it is.
The PC's have encountered this hound in a previous encounter.
The giant has the key to the cultist's lair, but it not willing to give it up easily.
I obviously thought it would be good to let the PC's promise to bring back his hound, but the more I think about it, the less I like the idea. Would a surly giant give up the key to the cultist's lair based on a promise from these strangers? Am I just over-thinking it? The seeds are already planted for this, but I'd like to find a more interesting way of handling it.
Depending on how the PC's play this meeting, there may even be combat. Though, I doubt it. I will try and prepare for it just in case.
One of my earlier ideas was to give the PC's the option of helping this giant, and if they did he could come back later at an opportune time to aid them in whatever ending scenario they chose. I like giving the players choices, where their actions influence future events. He could be a good ally or a thorn in their side.
So, do you guys have any ideas on how I should play this out? We are meeting this Saturday night, and I'm stressing over this one plot bottleneck I've created for myself. Thanks for any suggestions you might have!
