Category Archives: Eberron

Quest Models

Cyberpunk Red, D&D, DM/GM Tips, Eberron, genesys, Judge Dredd, Paranoia, Rogue Trooper, RPG, Strontium Dog, Uncategorized, W.O.I.N.

This recent video by Sly Flourish is one of many short DM advice videos that he has released recently. They are rather nifty, and brilliant for those with busy lives.

The reason I’ve embed the video and talking about it here is that I think this advice is pretty universal to which ever RPG system you are playing.

The three common quest models Sly briefly covers in the above video are:

  • Kill the boss quest
  • Recover the artifact
  • Rescue somebody

Sly points out that it’s the flavour that makes these quest models interesting. To aid in that flavour I think the adventuring party needs a patron of some kind. Whether that patron is a crime lord, guild leader, a fixer, wealthy, powerful, a corporation (I think you get the idea) they are a handy plot device to use to introduce one of the quest models above, and not just away to give the party useful equipment.

For instance they could have to eliminate a rival crime lord, steal a top secret device/plans from a rival corporation, or rescue hostages.

This isn’t the first time that Sly has talked about quest models. In the video below he talks about “The Three-of-Five Collection Quest”.

“The Three-of-Five Collection Quest” is a variation of “recover the artifact” quest. Sly also lists three other quest models within the above video, the “heist”, “kill the lieutenant” and “destroy the thing”. But in reality to the initial list from the quest models video we are only adding one new quest to our tool box.

  • Kill some-one
  • Recover the thing/heist
  • Rescue somebody
  • Destroy the thing

I would argue a heist is a variation of the recover the thing quest model, if not the same thing. I don’t see any difference between the “kill the boss” and “kill the lieutenant” quests. They are basically go kill some-one for some reason. So I think count as one.

UPDATE: adding a fifth quest model escort/protect someone/thing.

With these handful of quest models it should be easy to come up with quests for your campaign or even at a push on the fly.

Oh while I’m talking RPGs. It struck me as I was binge watching Leverage for the third or fourth time that the Leverage team is the perfect party make up for a cyberpunk (Red or Android) party.

I’m not sure what the mastermind role would map to, but they are basically the brains of the group. But every other role maps I believe. At a push this could be a D&D party too. What do you think?

Inspiration for airships in Eberron notes

D&D, Eberron, RPG

A few posts back I wrote a post with some inspiration notes for playing a campaign in the D&D Eberron.

The focus of that post was the lightning trains and movies and tv shows that could be used to inspire plot lines based around trains.

This post looks at another aspect of the Eberron setting, airships.

So what I have below are movies that feature zeppelins, airships of some kind. Some of them have a similar feel to them as the Eberron setting.

Some of these movies are based on other media such as books and manga. In those cases going back to the original source is recommended. Some are so much richer than their cinematic offerings.

I particularly like that these sources of inspiration show air travel as part of the story, and not the whole story.

The airships act as major scenes within the story. Which is how I think I’d use them as well. Not just as a device to get from a to b, but also the location of some plot development.

What movies or tv shows would you add to the above?

Some inspiration for Eberron Adventures

D&D, Eberron, RPG

I caved and got my grubby mitts on a copy of the D&D source book that came out last November Eberron: Rising from the Last War.

Eberron is “a war-torn world filled with magic-fueled technology, airships and lightning trains, where noir-inspired mystery meets swashbuckling adventure.” (quote from here) A kind of fantasy meets modern world type setting, almost steampunk like in nature, magicpunk!

When I found out about the lightning trains I instantly thought about two movies as inspiration for an adventure or two.

The first was obviously the movie based on the graphic novel of the same name, Snowpiercer (also now a tv series as well). This could almost be a campaign setting! Definitely this is multiple sessions to tell the story. Sadly the other movie that sprang to mind was the Steven Seagal sequel Under Siege 2.

Another couple of movies that came to mind after that were The Commuter and Murder on the Orient Express.

Another movie to watch is Captain America: The First Avenger in particular the train heist where Cap and the Howling Commandos attempt to capture Zola and Bucky dies.

I also thought of Firefly episode 2: The Train Job. Where the crew of Serenity are hired to pull off a heist on a train.

I’ve not even started to think about inspiration for the pulp adventure or noir intrigue. Although one or two of the above sources of inspiration could cross over into those descriptions as well.

The airships is something else to look into for inspiration and I have one or two movies that come to mind for them as inspiration but I’ll save that for another post.