Hey gang.
Iβm running a campaign where the players are looking for eight magical items, once owned by eight powerful mages representing the eight schools of magic.
Right now β through the power of Plotβ’ β theyβre looking for those items for an influential but shadowy collector. Theyβre supposed to deliver the first batch of three items together. When that happens theyβll find out that they were inadvertently helping a criminal collector. A representative of a historical society will tell them that these artifacts belong in a museum.
And hereβs my problem: I want them to have these magical items, which of course have cool powers. And I donβt know how to do that.
My plan right now is, that the museum isnβt interested in the actual powers, they just want to display the items for their historical relevance. So theyβll magically pull these items apart into two identical ones, where one retains the power and the other the history of the item (scratches/wear and tear).
I am not completely satisfied with that idea, because it seems far-fetched and Iβd like to hear your ideas, if you have any, on how to resolve this.
Thank you and a thousand dmβly kisses to you all.
For safety reasons, a magical museum might well want to avoid putting actual items on display, especially since Illusion magic makes it trivial to create simulated substitutes crowds can safely interact with. This also keeps security budgets manageable, since even a magical museum probably doesnβt have the kind of money to protect the arcane equivalent of a small nuclear arsenal.
So the museum researchers might be happy keeping items on indefinite loan, as long as they know the borrower and have guaranteed access when they need it. This way the mage owning the item is responsible for keeping it safe, and arcane historiansβwho definitely didnβt spend all those years in magic academy just to play guardβdonβt have to.
As a bonus, this method gives the party a quirky but knowledgeable NPC contact who can give them clues or set up sidequests whenever you need.
When the party, the evil collector, and the museum rep are all together - thereβs a minor scuffle and then a fire βaccidentallyβ gets started.
It can be as simple as someone tripping while holding a candle, and the candle landing on some drapes or carpets.
As DM, if youβre good at what you do, you can play it up so the players think it actually WAS an accident that they need to deal with.
The collector will, naturally, start freaking out over their collection. And in their rage, the collector might blame and attack the museum rep (even if thereβs no way the rep could be at fault).
The players will then have many options:
-
They put out the fire. If that happens, the collector may be so pleased the bulk of their collection is safe, theyβll tell the players to hang onto the itemsβ¦ For now. And at what price?
-
They run away as quickly as they can, saving the museum rep and escaping with the items. They talk, and the rep learns of their quest. The rep sees it as noble and just, and he allows them to borrow the artifacts until their mission is complete.
-
In the chaos of the fire, they attack the collector, with the goal of taking as many of his other magic items as they can carry. They eventually succeed and escape⦠but they make a powerful enemy that day.
-
Through no direct action of the players, the museum rep dies. The collector sees it as an opportunity to escape all blame, so he βallowsβ the party to escape with the artifactsβ¦ Only to immediately notify the watch of the murder and arson. Now, in addition to their quest, the party has a price on its head. And the watch wants to recover the items to give back to their βrightfulβ owner, the collector.
There are lots of creative ways to deal with the players, whether or not they take any of the obvious courses.
All you need is an easily-explained-in-game βaccidentalβ fire. :)
I like getting the group into some sort of dilemma, but your enthusiasm for fire is a little unsettling :D
Fire is simply an easy thing to unexpectedly happen.
Buildings are filled with flammable things. In a fantasy world, candles and lanterns are often the most common forms of lighting.
A long time ago, I ran a game in which the PCs unintentionally burned down an entire village because they were careless and unlucky.
Iβm skipping the other comments because I donβt want them to affect my thought process.
Your idea makes sense. Lots of IRL museums will put a replica on display, for reasons like value and risk of theft, risk of damage to the item even through regular light and air, or just because itβs being restored or used for research at the moment.
I donβt think theyβd be able to create two items out of it, though. Thatβs basically just cloning an item, though without the magic in the clone. Thatβs not really something that is done.
I donβt think a museum would be happy with an original artifact walking around. Theyβd want the original on hand for preservation and future research. Adventurers tend to lose, break, or sell things.
But you want the party to have the magic item, so I think you need to find a reason for them to change their minds and refuse to give up the item. You said itβs a criminal collector, but I donβt think garden-variety theft, smuggling, etc. makes it worth denying them, especially if they pay well for it. Can you make the collector evil somehow? Or at least make the artifacts useful for doing good, and putting them in a museum would mean people go hungry or something?
I didnβt want the items to end up with the somewhat evil collector anyways. As far as I know my players, theyβll side with the museum, even if it means less money β one of them is a librarian/protector of knowledge kinda cleric.
You bring up similar points to the other commenters regarding the safety of displaying originals. Thatβs definitely something Iβll argue with.
Right now Iβm thinking theyβll transfer the magic to something my group can use, use the original (now inert) items for preservation/research and display illusory copies.
Thank you for taking the time to answer so thoroughly!
one of them is a librarian/protector of knowledge kinda cleric.
Is he/could he be associated with the museum somehow? Maybe if his Cleric (order? temple? organization?) is a major sponsor of the museum or something similar they might trust him with those items for that reason with the caveat that he brings them back for scheduled viewings or some sort of thing like that?
I like the idea, but they actually have a very detailed backstory and connecting them to the museum would be somewhat unbelievable.
They were the very bookish librarian of a very small and remote monastery where they grew up and only left because they ran out of reading material.
Iβll definitely stick a mental pin in your idea though, maybe weβll find a reason for that connection.
Let them attune to them and then donate the items, and it still works at a distance.
Later, they will lose an ability when itβs stolen and attuned to someone else. Side quest!
Maybe the museum has the power to create a duplicate in exchange for the original. The original has value for research and display, and the duplicate has use for adventurers.
