Everybody get aboard, as a result of this subsequent journey, Affair on the Concordant Categorical, is a railroad. Okay, not likely within the sense that you haven’t any company. Solely within the sense that it’s set on a practice that travels throughout a number of planes whereas constructing and disassembling its personal tracks because it goes. This journey from Keys from the Golden Vault is for Ninth-level characters.
Spoiler Warning
As at all times when these adventures, I’m going into sufficient element to explain them, and whereas that will not imply that each twist and switch is examined, it might nonetheless be greater than you need to know for those who going to play this journey. This can be your cease.
The Hook
If the PCs aren’t working for the Golden Vault (however actually, this journey greater than most actually makes me need to use them as a patron for the group), there are a number of supplied hooks to get the PCs to take the job. The job, on this case, is to discover a prison named The Stranger, and safe a few of the True Names they realized.
One hook has the PCs recovering the names for a faction referred to as the Fixers, who need the names of some necessary Blood Struggle commanders to allow them to hold the conflict between the fiends on a fair keel. One other hook entails the Planescape faction the Fated attempting to acquire some True Names that they will use with a purpose to leverage the discharge of a high-ranking member captured by an Ultraloth.
Irrespective of how they get the job, they find yourself speaking to a rogue modron named Glitch who give up their job when conflicting orders from their superiors brought on their programming to interrupt. Glitch has tickets ready for them to board the Concordant Categorical within the Outlands. In addition they know the structure of the caboose, the jail automobile, and the engine automobile of the practice, however not the three (or extra) random vehicles that the DM provides to the journey.
The Setting
The PCs board the Concordant Categorical within the Outlands, the outer airplane of stability. The motion might be happening on the Concordant Categorical itself, which is an enclosed surroundings, however each practice journey finally ends up seeing somebody climb on high of the practice, proper?
The Concordant Categorical travels by way of a couple of different planes, however largely shields passengers from the results of these planes whereas they’re contained in the practice. There are supplied results for every of the planes by way of which the Categorical could journey on the best way to Mechanus.
Whereas they aren’t places that the PCs will go to within the journey, the Stranger’s backstory is tied to Akharin Sangar from Journeys by way of the Radiant Citadel. As famous, one of many hooks could contain a Planescape faction, the Fated. Along with the planes that function the stops for the Categorical (the Outlands and Mechanus), and those who the practice could journey by way of (Acheron, the 9 Hells, Ysgard, the Seven Heavens, and Elysium), there’s additionally a reputation drop for the Gate City of Excelsior, additionally situated within the Outlands.
Heist Tropes
This journey combines the tropes of a practice heist with the tropes of a jailbreak. The PCs must get info from The Stranger, negotiate what meaning (in all probability setting them free), navigate across the authorities, and keep away from drawing consideration to themselves whereas shifting from automobile to automobile on the practice.
However wait, there’s extra! Along with the usual heist tropes, one of many vehicles may additionally drop the PCs in the course of a homicide thriller being investigated by a plane-traveling mind-flayer detective, which incorporates some nice tropes straight out of homicide thriller crime fiction as properly. In case your PCs aren’t into getting derailed, er, sidetracked, they don’t must take part on this homicide thriller to finish their job.
Particulars
There are such a lot of personalities to work together with and particular person story beats that may be revealed. The homicide thriller is an entire factor simply by itself, establishing who was the place, and what motives they’ve. A number of of the Modrons on the practice have their very own quirks that the PCs could must navigate. The deva standing guard on The Stranger has some quirks that may be exploited so the PCs can get nearer to their aim. And that’s not counting the entire ties to different settings that I discussed above.
For an extra little bit of enjoyable, there’s a random True Identify desk, in case you really want to have some examples to make use of.
Creatures
This journey has plenty of selection, though it’s a bit extra slanted towards constructs simply due to the ever-present workers of Modrons that run the practice. That stated, there are celestials, fiends, aberrations, and humanoids to make issues fascinating. Planar journey tends to open up plenty of selection.
After Motion
If the PCs help the thoughts flayer detective of their investigation, they be sure to ship the PCs a token of their esteem after the journey wraps up. If the PCs use any of the True Names that they realized from the Stranger to leverage private rewards, the journey notes that they can persuade a fiend in disguise at hand over a mortal property they personal, or that the True Names might be used to make slaying weapons of various sorts.
The Golden Vault kicks in a uncommon magic merchandise as soon as phrase will get round to them that the PCs acquired the job accomplished.
Ideas
I’m actually curious to see if any of the remainder of the adventures can supplant this one as my favourite within the ebook. Whereas I perceive that WotC has been shifting extra to having adventures happen “within the multiverse,” somewhat than tied to a selected D&D setting, I believe this journey does an exceptional job of tying particular person particulars from the multiverse into the general plot. I additionally like that it not solely latches onto some particulars from Journeys by way of the Radiant Citadel, but in addition casts its gaze ahead to Planescape.
I really like the Modron shenanigans on this journey. I might hope that anybody that questions why Modrons are a stable inclusion within the lore of D&D would take a while to learn this journey. Moreover, that “glitchling” species they launched in Unearthed Arcana must be a rogue modron, proper? I must play a rogue modron.
One in all my favourite developments on this journey is the introduction of STEAL, the Syndicate of Terror, Extortion, Assassination, and Larceny, as a rival group to the Golden Vault. There are some strategies on this journey for what NPCs in different adventures is likely to be good candidates to be members of the rival group, and I simply want STEAL had been detailed within the opening with these notes put into these particularly talked about adventures.
Not solely do I must play a rogue modron, I want extra info on STEAL.