A Preview of my Fantasy Hero (ala. Space Opera)

[Dr. Evil]

If anyone is interested, I'm submitting my rough outline for my Fantasy Hero (ala. Space Opera) campaign. Much thanks to Archer on this one. What I really need are the groups' ideas, suggestions, and comments.

Thanks!

Now, here it is:


Once upon a time, in land, far, far away, a great adventure took place…

It is a time of darkness throughout the land. Rebel spies from the Kingdom of Aldaran, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Empire.
During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Emperor of Evil’s ultimate weapon, the Death Golem, a massive construct, capable of destroying an entire city.
Pursued by the Emperor’s Legion of Terror, Princess Aurora flees to her castle, custodian of the stolen blueprints that can destroy the mechanical terror, save her people and restore freedom to the land...

Lord Obsidian’s evil horde has Princess Aurora under siege in her tower. As the horde is making preparations for a great battle to break in and kidnap her, she passes the secret plans to her two most trusted servants, Oskar and Feelix, to take to the old wizard, Fen Joppa. She tells them to go through the secret passages to the stables, and to take her fastest horse to find Fen Joppa. Oskar, the shorter of the two, seems to know how to find Fen Joppa; Feelix is in the dark. They ride off just as Lord Obsidian’s troops enter the castle and capture the Princess.

The two Servants become completely lost in the dark forest, but eventually break through to daylight and a clearing where they meet up with some thieves and brigands, who sell them into a labor market in town.

Meanwhile, on the farm where the Young Hero, with his Uncle and Aunt lives, the Young Hero dreams of the day he can leave the farm; he’s not bad with a bow or a sword, maybe he’ll join the Empire’s elite troops. The Uncle and the Young Hero are going into town; they need some farm hands. In town, they meet up with the aforementioned rough types and hire on the Princess’ two servants as farm hands, mainly be-cause they go cheap. They take them back to the farm, where, while the Young Hero is teaching them about farm life, Oskar spills the secret message! The Young Hero is instantly captivated, and insists they go see Fen Joppa.

Meanwhile, Lord Obsidian’s troops are tracking the servants. They track them to the slavers’ camp site, thence to the labor market/slave auction in town, thence to the farm, where they kill the Uncle and Aunt.

Fen Joppa tells the Young Hero about his father who fought in the war, and shows him his father’s magic sword, the Sword of Light. Fen Joppa has his own magic sword. When Fen Joppa sees the message, he rec-ognizes the Princess and decides to help. He asks if the Young Hero would care to join him on the quest, but the Young Hero declines, stating he is needed on the farm. However, when Fen Joppa takes the Young Hero and the Servants home, they discover the farm is a burned-out ruin and the Aunt and Uncle dead. The Young Hero then decides to travel with Fen Joppa, rescue the Princess, and learn the ways of the sword and of sorcery.

Off they go to the nearby city (a wretched hive of scum and villainy) looking to hire a couple of guides/mercenaries/bodyguards. They hire a shifty rogue named Jack and his partner, mainly because they are desperate for cash, and therefore cheap.

On the way out of the inn, Jack stumbles into a Thieves’ Guild mook in the alley, who gets all huffy about Guild fund money. Jack knifes the mook first.

While they are off to Princess Aurora’s castle, Fen Joppa begins to train the Young Hero in the ways of swords and sorcery; meanwhile, Jack's brutish partner threatens to kick the Servants’ butts over a game of chess. They stumble into a trap set by Lord Obsidian’s forces, are captured and taken to Lord Obsidian’s Stronghold, whereupon they rescue the Princess and attempt to escape.

In the process of escaping, Fen Joppa faces down his old enemy, Lord Obsidian and is killed, buying the others time to escape. Jack and his partner escort them to a rebel encampment, where they leave the Young Hero, Princess Aurora, and the Servants, saying, “This isn’t our fight.”

Proceed to the epic battle, in which the Young Hero saves the day, Rogue Jack and his partner save the Young Hero’s butt, and Lord Obsidian escapes.

NOTES:

1) The master artificer, Xoana, crafted the massive Orichalchum Golem [This is a tip of the hat to Slayers Next].
2) Possible names for Jack include: Jack Nimble, Jack Fortune, Smilin’ Jack Rogue, Jahdo (meaning “Alone, Solo”), a tribute to Han Solo.
3) Orichalchum is well known to have magical properties and is very sought after by mages desiring to put its magical power to work. It is likely that Items made out of Orichalchum will have high magic attributes. It is a real metal, 80% Copper and 20% Zinc, used in Roman Brass coins
4) Feelix and Oskar are a tribute to Neil Simon's play, 'The Odd Couple'.

[keithcurtis]

Looks like fun, just beware when players get into the mix. They may not follow the "script". :)
As for the Golem, instead of blueprints, what about the mystic formula that is kept in its mouth to give it animation? If anyone says the word close enough for it to hear, the magic crumbles the golem to pieces. Now the golem is so huge, you have to yell into its ear, which is like a hundred feet up in the air. So the rebels use trained flying steeds (pegasi?) to get someone close enough.
Of course the empire is protecting the golem with griffin riders...

Keith "just doing my bit to help" Curtis

[Curufea]

Nice :)

Might not want to give it away by playing any John Williams music through it though...

Other things - Oskar should be short, probably with a limp, and foreign (but multi-skilled). Felix knows Oskar's language - but is otherwise a valet. Possibly Felix has a strange regeneration power - due to frequent dismemberment :)

[Dr. Evil]

Feelix could be a translator, and Oskar speak a foreign language. I like that :) I would like to keep the feel of the Star Wars movies, but not make the characters exactly like their Space Opera counterparts.

Technically, the "Death Golem" (I like the sound of that :) )is not a true golem in the sense of the word. It is a mechanical construct. A fantasy-version of a robot. I made his creator an artificer, not an alchemist.

I'm even thinking of putting a crew of soldiers inside it to operate it (pulling levers, shooting the golem's Death Cannon, etc.) If I go with the robot idea, it'll have a "mystical" brain...like a robot, with simple programming.

"Rise! Ri-i-i-s-s-e! Destroy them! Destroy them! Destroy ALL who would defy me! Bwah-hah-hah!"

THOOM

THOOM

THOOM

[CRASH!]

THOOM

THOOM

Like that. Just like an old Ray Harryhausen movie...like Jason and the Argonauts "TALOS".

[Agent 13]

There's some source material you may want to consider for encounters:

http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/p/pulgasari.html
http://www.stomptokyo.com/badmoviereport/reviews/D/daimajin.html
http://www.stomptokyo.com/movies/return-of-the-giant-majin.html

[Captain Obvious]

Technically, the "Death Golem" (I like the sound of that :) )is not a true golem in the sense of the word. It is a mechanical construct. A fantasy-version of a robot. I made his creator an artificer, not an alchemist.

I'm even thinking of putting a crew of soldiers inside it to operate it (pulling levers, shooting the golem's Death Cannon, etc.) If I go with the robot idea, it'll have a "mystical" brain...like a robot, with simple programming.



The old D&D Companion game had an adventure called Earthshaker about a giant fantasy robot. You could probably find it on RPGnow for $5 or so, and it should be a decent source for ideas.

[Curufea]

It could easily be classed as a vehicle, or mobile base IMHO.