Brainstorming

I'm brainstorming a villain arc with custom enemies, and I wanted to bounce it off you guys really quickly. What do you think?

Mission 1: Search Legacy Chain, get book, summon the Fae. As it is, I have Legacy Chain types showing up as the PCs destroy the Seal. I think I'm going to make the ritual a little mor complicated ... obtain the book (collection), then two new goals pop up: Fetch mystic herbs and add them to a cauldron and speak ritual words over an altar. After this, destroy the seal to let the Fae in.

Mission 2: Retake Magus Alexander's sanctum. The mission will include some rescues that are not essential. Also, they must bring back from Alexander's sanctum a couple grimoires and a wizard that Alexander had held prisoner ... this wizard has some knowledge of the Dreamlands, and his knowledge will be essential to send the fae back.

Mission 3: Magus Alexander is worried that he will be blamed as the fae run amok in an Arachnos base, Magus Alexander wants the PCs to eliminate both the Fae AND Arachnos agents. He also gives them evidence to plant in the base mainframe that will make the incident look like a Longbow attack.

Mission 4: Obtain ingredients needed for a ritual to return the Fae to the Dreamlands. The PCs must obtain essences. To do so, the PCs must venture into the Dreamlands themselves and retrieve the essences. Since it's the Dreamlands, it wil be shaped by the PCs' own experiences (that is, it will be a standard map), but the Fae will haunt the map, as the Dreamlands are their own world. Different groups will guard Essences: LB guarding Essence of Virtue, Arachnos guarding Essence of Evil, and maybe a couple others. After the PCs retrieve the Essences, they'll find themselves trapped in the Dreamlands (i.e., a new mission objective will pop up), and they'll have to defeat the Lord of Dark Imaginings, a powerful Elite Boss fae who does not want the PCs to leave. I may replace this with a destructible object w/ ambushes.

(I think for this, I'll want a map with a jail in it. Is there a good one to recommend).

Mission 5: Magus Alexander has concocted a ritual that will return the Fae to the Dreamlands and seal them there. As he performs his part of the ritual, he sends the PCs to an underground temple. There, they must put into place the Elemental Essences they gained from the Dreamlands and speak a mystic incantation. They must also defeat the Archduke of Valyr, a powerful Seelie Fae whose will is keeping open the portan between the Dreamlands and the Rogue Isles. Once all of this is completed, the Fae will be returned to the Dreamlands.

Technical-wise, it sounds... sound!

I'm assuming that the reason the contact needs these Fae summoned, then sent back, is apparent in the story.

The overview with technical points doesn't explain that very well (obviously, I can understand why you'd want to keep the story development a 'secret' to avoid spoilers at this stage).

I'd be interested in testing this once published (I'm on Union in the EU, in case you are too, otherwise I'd have to wait until something's up on the system before running through and giving feedback).

Here's my 2 cents:

1. Why does the player summon the Fae, only to send them back in the end? Seems to me like you should either want to summon them, or want to get rid of them - not both. Basically, what's the motivation for the player to do all this? Why should I want to free the Fae or send them back to their homeland at the end?

2. As time goes on I'm gradually less excited by complex chains of required objectives such as described in mission 1 and mission 4. It's often too easy to have these break, or have these trigger an objective in an area the player has already explored, thus forcing the player to retrace her steps a lot.

3. Fae and Arachnos don't really "match" thematically, IMHO. You might consider using a more magic-focused group than Arachnos. Granted that Arachnos has those Mu mystics, but I just find the idea of Fae in an Arachnos base to be somewhat dissonant. Unless it's your intent that they seem out of place for humor value or something.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the feedback. I've tweaked my plans a bit. I think I'm going to put the Essences mission on a timer. Is there some way to fork the arc so that the PCs get one mission if the fail, and a different mission if they succeed? Or at least to fork the dialogue?