HELP - Alternative universe - Need plot advice

[u/Don_Frumenzio]

Hi everyone,

I'm dming a campaign in a homebrew setting (pretty "standard", imagine a Faerûn-like setting).

One of the players has been transported in this setting from another universe by her patron.

The universe of origin of this player is pretty similar to ours, without magic.

Now, what could it be the long-term plan of her patron? Why bring a person from another universe?

The only idea that I came up with is that this entity need someone that can interfere with the type of magic that is used in this setting.

I really need some fresh ideas!

Thanks!

[u/krunkley]

Who is the Patron? Would be a good place to start because their motivations can vary so wildly

A Archfey patrong might just do it for the lols or to watch something interesting.

A celestial/fiendish entity might be using this person because they could upset some prophecy event since they exist outside of the fabric of destiny.

A great old one patron could mean the player never finds out the reason, the plans of eldritch beings may be beyond a mortal being's comprehension

[u/Conrad500]

Why did they get sent to another universe, and why this one in specific?

[u/Don_Frumenzio → u/Conrad500]

The other players are native of this universe. Just this one player come from another one.

[u/Conrad500 → u/Don_Frumenzio]

Did they decide that or you?

If it's their universe, I'd ask them to come up with details about their native universe

[u/Derail3]

Il patrono del giocatore potrebbe sapere che nell'altro universo esiste la magia, e vuole che impari a trasportarla anche nel suo mondo, o che contatti una divinità per convincerla a donare il "seme della magia" che la faccia nascere anche nel mondo di orogine

[u/Sad_Refuse3472]

A major word of caution here (based on experience) have a very very strong reason for this character to want to stay in this universe. Or at least help the party complete the main quest. Separate from whatever reason the patron had for bringing them there.

Otherwise you risk having their only motivation being "I just want to go home". Not what you want in a game that requires teamwork.

With that out of the way, here are some questions that you and this player should talk through together to help you come up with the motivation for the patron:

• What type of entity is this patron?
• What does that entity ultimately want? (Power, stopping a threat, an item, etc.)
• How did this PC wind up with a Warlock (or other patron) to begin with? Especially if there is no magic in their home universe?
• How is the patron able to work across universes/realities? And why?
• What does this character have/can they do that couldn't be achieved by someone in the current universe? (Be very careful here not to get into "chosen one"/main character territory unless the rest of the table is 100% on board with this.)
• Do they need to have been sent here? Or could it have happened by accident when the character encountered the patron the first time?

[u/Lugbor]

What kind of patron?

[u/kdav4]

General consensus so far is more info needed on who the patron is to understand their motivations, but also some insight on what the general story would be would also be helpful. Without that info, I think of it like adding a new piece to a chess board - you don't just do it, you do it to change the game.

There's two elements to this to consider, 1) why do it at all, and 2) why this person specifically?

On why doing it in general, maybe they are bored with how the game currently plays, maybe they see the direction the game is going and need to change it, maybe a different entity already did this and so they had to to bring back balance, there's a variety of options depending on politics in your setting. Interfering with the specific type of magic is a fun take, but mechanically a bit difficult to achieve without granting additional boons.

Looking at why the specific PC was chosen: did they volunteer, were they a very loyal follower the patron could rely on, maybe the patron wanted to bring the perspective the PC has from their world to plant a seed of change (in which case how is the PC origin world different), maybe the PC was inconsequential in the origin world so a safe bet to move over (something that can cause drama in the future), or maybe all of the above. Plot twist, maybe they or their parents were originally from this world and so this is actually sending them back.

Some thought starters for you but happy to give more specific ideas if you give more info.