The Ready Room

## **It's Go-Time**

After the training and acclimation missions have been accomplished, and players are feeling confident in the system, they should feel confident enough in their own abilities that they'd agree their characters are a little overpowered. Now it's time to transition from learning-curve runs to objectives that advance the campaign.

The **Zero Hour Scenario** is meant to kick off the overall "clock." For as much initiative and as many plans as House Stonehearth has, they are not the only force at work in the Forgotten Realms. The opponents are out there and they're not standing still. Zero Hour is the reminder to stay humble and vigilant.

Beyond Zero Hour, there is a two-part "Mandate of Light" that should become the underlying imperative, the constant "tick-tock" in the background of whatever your table's own scenarios happen to be.

### **The Mandate of Light**

We've already talked about the nature of campaign narratives, from the isolated, modular dungeon crawls of the early days to the set-in-stone storylines where certain things are going to happen regardless of character actions. The Primal Campaign splits the difference.

Certain major events are going to happen whether the characters participate or not. The characters, if they're there, have the chance to contribute to the success or failure of that operation, leaving their mark and building their own story as they go. If a Stonehearth operation is unsuccessful, that is the loss of a battle, not the war. Be certain the Arms will be back a second time, or a third, or whatever it takes for the Light to prevail.

The most critical storylines for advancing the narrative, especially in the beginning, fall into the "Stonehearth Campaign" storyline. This will feature the players in role directly employed by Stonehearth Arms, with characters in the Mobile Infantry or Rangers or whatever.

The peripheral storylines are laying the groundwork for later operations. This is where the Allies route shines, and mostly in "Primal Campaign" style scenarios. This is also where the DM becomes the Marquisate News Network for the characters – and we want to impart two key large-scale "moods" upon the players:

* ***A Sense of Progress***
* ***A Sense of Teamwork***

#### **A Sense of Progress**

Which ever path the players choose: *Subjects* or *Allies*, unless they're all playing multiple concurrent characters in parallel campaigns, they're not going to be able to participate in every action that advances the overall storyline.

Where they do participate, however, we want to give enough set-up that if/when the characters are successful, that the DM conveys how things actually start to change based on actions the characters performed, and results the characters helped to bring about.

This entails good descriptive setup on the part of the DM/GM. For a Stonehearth scenario, it means setting the mood on the no-mans land of the Troll Hills across the river, or the Trollclaw hills to the east. This might mean a few sorties into the ruined town of Trollclaw Ford and a chance to bleed in all the previous attempts to establish civilization there, punctuated by the never-ending waves of trolls.

If they characters are successful, the DM should convey how construction begins immediately, razing the old ruins and starting something fresh. Then periodically come back to it, as the characters are on their way to somewhere else. Note how there's an actual town there now. How people are building houses, and there's a sense of community and thriving life in the area.

*And the characters helped make that happen*.

#### **A Sense of Teamwork**

Whether this is a Stonehearth or Primal Campaign; whether these are Subjects or Allies, we want to impart that the characters a critical part of the formula – but that the equation is bigger than any one person, or any one party. This is bigger than the Marquis himself, and bigger than the Marquisate he leads.

*This is for the heart and soul of the Forgotten Realms*.

In a way, this is to "win" the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, overall, once and forever.

In the sense of scale, we refer to the "clock" of the Stonehearth ambitions. While there is no single, definite timeline, there are approximations. If the characters are allies, having visited North Point and gone back to their home territory, they should be bringing a piece of the Marquisate with them.

From behind, after a month or two, the party hears of North Point's long-standing goals, like clearing the Troll Hills, has finally been accomplished. Allies will hear about the defeat of Larloch and that the Marquisate has declared itself a full kingdom now – and the *Crown* is now reaching toward the next goals.

Can the allies do the same on the outside? Even if nobody knows the covert support of Stonehearth, can they be a part of the "team of adventurers" that brought down the vampiric "Night Barony" of the Kingdom of Erlkazar?

## **MISSION PROFILES**

The primary resource for large-scale goals and objectives is the ***Stonehearth Ambitions***.

The ambitions are broken into short, medium, long and grand-scale goals. There is even more beyond that, but objectives at that scale are discussed elsewhere.

The short-term goals are the most likely candidates for Stonehearth Campaigns, including any of the troll-infested areas. The specific order, based on progressive security needs, follows as such:

1. Troll Hills (North)
2. Larloch
3. Trollbark Forest
4. Trollclaw Hills (East)

The direction will vary depending on other politics the DM discovers is bubbling at the time, and will range through this regional selection in no particular order:

* Boarskyr Bridge
* Dragonspear Castle
* The Kingdom of Najara

There are also immediate, high-priority Stonehearth missions away from the Marquisate.

* The destruction of the Red Dragon Hoondarrh
* The prosecution of the sub-Aetheril phaerimm
* If the players want to mesh campaigns, the Tomb of Annihilation would be *extremely high* priority.