Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Gamemasters' Lounge => Topic started by: Reiper on <07-10-14/2312:36>
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*note, my players and their characters are already aware of who they are working for and know why, so I'm no longer hesitant to post this with the details they already know
I've hit a bit of GM block on my campaign.
Its been going for a while. The gist of it is Hestaby's egg was stolen, and it is being used as leverage to keep her and her allies at bay. Over the course of the runs, the big ones send the runners after "artifacts" that end up being gifts she received for her future baby dragon.
There are 3 artifacts total, 2 have been recovered and I am completely drawing a blank on what the 3rd one should be.
1) A music box - ancient one and given to her by Lofwyr.
2) A blankie - made by Harliquin made of enchanted threads with pulverized dragon-scales worked into the tread coloring (donated from various dragons for this blanket). (was being auctioned off as a tapestry at an art auction).
3) ??? - I'm blanking here on what the 3rd artifact to recover will be. It would have to be something that is for a baby but maybe not obvious to everyone, especially not from the people they are going to be retrieving it from (basically the party that took the egg got rid of the baby shower gifts and the people who ended up in possession of them have no idea what they have).
Then of course it'll wrap up with the team going after and hopefully securing the egg for a grieving mother.
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Don't be silly - a memory jewel. I mean, it isn't going to be the Jewel of Memory, but something with 'critical information' would be appropriate. Make it a large perfectly-faceted piece of topaz - worth several million nuyen, but nothing that would seem to be anything but exactly what it is, a very expensive gemstone of a comparatively low-worth type.
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Perhaps a puzzle of some sort? Baby dragons have to exercise their minds too! ;D
I can imagine a small spherical puzzle made of wood (perhaps ebony and holly? or a rich natural brown?). It is formed from small intertwined branches that have a very natural look and feel and is slightly warm to the touch. When studied a little more closely, a person would swear that the designs and patterns are different each time they look at it - though they never see anything actually change. To solve it would require dragon based magic of course - think of it as a way for the baby to begin using it's own magic.
Perhaps it already has a connection or bond to the egg and this could help lead the runners to locate Hestaby's little one. Alternatively, it could also contain a spirit that doubles as a mentor/guardian for the newly hatched baby dragon. As the baby solves the ever-changing puzzle the spirit could provide lessons, entertainment or even companionship - a dragon's equivalent of an 'imaginary' friend! :)
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I would recommend - strongly - not to think of it as a 'baby' by any stretch of the imagination. It may not be fully grown, but it has the capacity straight out of the egg to kill damn near any untrained, unarmed metahuman it happens to be next to. Don't ever make the mistake that it's going to be totally ignorant, etc. etc. - remember that the Great Dragon is training it via telepathy from very early on.
I would also suggest - strongly - that the egg be one in Hestaby's care, but not one of Hestaby's. (She hasn't mated in the 6th World - at least not yet.) Shadowrun dragons do not actually care for their own eggs; they turn them over to a 'step-parent', specifically one of the Greats, to be cared for, trained, etc. It might actually be one of the Sea Dragon's, depending on when you're playing; Rhonabwy (I think - one of the Welsh ones) conned the Sea Dragon into breeding, then swiped the resultant egg(s) and turned them over to Hestaby. Which means if there's someone holding the egg hostage, they might be trying to leverage against both Hestaby and the Sea Dragon.
Otherwise, the egg might have possibly come from one of the other Greats (Masaru is known to have had an egg - part of an adventure back in the day), but would more likely be an egg from one of Hestaby's group of associated adult dragons. Great Dragons seem to tend to form a 'coterie' of adults, both to do their bidding, to act as lieutenants, and to be students to boot.
As an aside - recalling Shadowrun-canonical Earthdawn - there were adult dragons who tried to raise their own eggs. As I recall, the resultant children were ... troublesome.
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I would recommend - strongly - not to think of it as a 'baby' by any stretch of the imagination. It may not be fully grown, but it has the capacity straight out of the egg to kill damn near any untrained, unarmed metahuman it happens to be next to. Don't ever make the mistake that it's going to be totally ignorant, etc. etc. - remember that the Great Dragon is training it via telepathy from very early on.
I would also suggest - strongly - that the egg be one in Hestaby's care, but not one of Hestaby's. (She hasn't mated in the 6th World - at least not yet.) Shadowrun dragons do not actually care for their own eggs; they turn them over to a 'step-parent', specifically one of the Greats, to be cared for, trained, etc. It might actually be one of the Sea Dragon's, depending on when you're playing; Rhonabwy (I think - one of the Welsh ones) conned the Sea Dragon into breeding, then swiped the resultant egg(s) and turned them over to Hestaby. Which means if there's someone holding the egg hostage, they might be trying to leverage against both Hestaby and the Sea Dragon.
Otherwise, the egg might have possibly come from one of the other Greats (Masaru is known to have had an egg - part of an adventure back in the day), but would more likely be an egg from one of Hestaby's group of associated adult dragons. Great Dragons seem to tend to form a 'coterie' of adults, both to do their bidding, to act as lieutenants, and to be students to boot.
As an aside - recalling Shadowrun-canonical Earthdawn - there were adult dragons who tried to raise their own eggs. As I recall, the resultant children were ... troublesome.
Thanks for that on them not taking care of their own eggs. I can easily fix this being one of the other dragons that the team has unknowingly run across's actual egg, but under Hestaby's care, probably Perianwyr's egg (Drexel, and Masaru are the only others they have run across, and Masaru is too young (and a Great), and Drexel was just an optional encounter and isn't part of the actual campaign).
Although not sure who his mate would actually be.
As far as the gifts, they are more symbolic for Hestaby since I always view her more of a mother, and are for protecting and comforting the egg more so than once it is out.