So I'm trying to think of a way to make the first adventure interesting, challenging, and rewarding, without being the standard old fair or being too bogged down in either RP or hack'n'slash. I'd like for it to enable the characters to develop a little bit in game and for the party to roleplay it's establishment as a team who will work want to together in the future.
Part of it will come from the character histories, but I'd like for it also to be able to come through the actual playing of the game.
I'm thinking of doing several little scenarios that build the group as a team first and then working up to an actual adventure.
Anyway, I'm setting it at 585 C.Y. and intend to use the LGG history up to 591 as a sortof backdrop so as to create a dynamic feeling to the world. However, at the same time, I'll be changing several things just so as to keep everybody on their toes.
I'm the type of DM who likes the players to be the centre of attention without being the light that shines out of Pelors ass. I want them to become the movers and shakers, I want them to be the heroes, be more than the average Joe, but I want them to work for it.
So... suggestions... anything, from the grand scale to the very minor, I'm not going to shoot down anything. In fact, I won't even post to the thread except to answer questions. So fire away!
I recently ran a game that got a really positive reaction from my players, and the reason was that I blew up a map to table-size, so that we could place miniatures right on the map. It really helped create a visual (which is important in a game that takes place mostly in your head). We used the Stout Stronghold from WotC's Map-A-Week feature, and the PCs' task was to get inside and rescue a prisoner. Once they did that, they discovered a trap door and escaped through underground passages, but afterward, when we talked about it, we decided they might have had a pretty fair shot of defending the place.
Anyway, good luck with your campaign!
One of my favorites (non-Greyhawk) had the PCs as members of a tribe that were trying to negotiate trade with the lands beyond a huge mountain range. The tribe was nearly wiped out when the kingdom across the mountain double crossed them. So, worshipping Horus the Avenger, the PCs set out on a divine crusade to crush the infidels and their treachery. They had to organize support and learn of their enemies.
A good time was had just in the initial journey across the mountains before the main campaign even started.
A nautical adventure on the Nyr Dyv has always been intriguing as well.
Originally posted by Jag Arin
In the past I've had the PCs all start out as members of an organization such as an army, city watch, or guild. That way they have a reason for being together and it provides a good foundation for the first few adventures (or even a whole campaign).
It may be cliched, but I had my party meet in a tavern, where they were all hired by a local businesswoman. After the first adventure, they agreed to stick together for their mutual benefit. (Sure it's thin, but it serves its purpose).
Do whatever works for you and the campaign you intend to run.
I have also started a campaign where the PCs were the eldest children in a village. The village was attacked by orcs and the parents put the PCs with a dozen other smaller children in a secret room beneath the barn. In the morning the PCs left their hiding places to find their parents all dead or captured and the village empty. The first adventure required them taking all of the small children to the next closest village, where they would be safe so the PCs could head out and look for any of their surviving parents.
Originally posted by Brom Blackforge
I recently ran a game that got a really positive reaction from my players, and the reason was that I blew up a map to table-size, so that we could place miniatures right on the map.
How'd you know how large to make it so that it was to scale?
Originally posted by Graz Hober
How'd you know how large to make it so that it was to scale?
Trial and error. The map, like all good dungeon maps, had a grid already. I just kept making it bigger until the grid squares were one inch by one inch. The final map grew from one sheet of paper to probably 20, which I then taped together. (Best way to test is to print a single sheet - rather than the whole map - and then measure one of the grid squares.)
I suppose you could be scientific about it, and determine the necessary enlargement factor by measuring the original grid size and dividing the desired one inch by the original size. I wasn't that patient.
Or, have them all meet on a ship/tavern/shop/whatever, and have the glue between them be a tragedy that requires them to work together to survive.
Just a couple suggestions.
-Steel Rabbit
They might pick up on some inconsistencies and find out that the natural disaster is not as natural as it seems.
This is a dragonlance senario, but it's intriguing enough to warrant telling...
I am playing a fighter from a long lineage of solanmic knight's, on a quest to prove my worthiness so I too can enter the knighthood. My companions are a human wizard, hoping for acceptance into the wizard's of high sorcery; an elven ranger, looking for his father's assassin; and a half-elf, searching for a family heirloom. The twist comes in that, the wizard is a solamnic, and has disgraced his family by not striving to join the knighhood. At the same time, the half-elf is the son of an exiled knight, who's family name has been striken from the official records and blames the knighthood for his death. And finally, the elf's father was betrayed and slain by a member of an organization who the half-elf is also currently a member. Of course, all of this is information that we've learned about each other over time, but it was all created by the DM based upon info in our background summaries. We all came together, for different reasons, but to combat a singular problem. A powerful NPC stole a magic item. Generic enough and "been there done that." However, the wizard is a member of the same organization as the half-elf and may have info regarding the elf's father's assassin. The knight goes on behest of a ranking knight as a test of his bravery, and the mage goes hoping to prove to his father that magic is just as powerful and useful as sword and armor. We've had a great time with this theme. Sometimes there are difficulties between characters as they learn about the "skeletons in the closet." But, we've learned to work together ignoring our differences for a higher purpose.
Originally posted by Twilight_Knight
I have always recommended using the character backgrounds as the basis for the campaign. Try to plan around their goals and desires, but do it in an unexpected fashion.
Yeah, definitely!
I'm very much into doing that. I gave up on modules after trying RttToEE. It constrained me far too much as a DM.
I'm currently putting together a group which I think will go the extra mile to make up decent characters with decent backgrounds that I'll be able to actually capitalize on. I've been trying to do that for a long time but just haven't had the right group to do it.
Thanks for reminding me how cool a campaign can be, given the right mix of players and DM!
Examples include: Conan, D&D (the cartoon), Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, Galtar, Thundarr the Barbarian and yes, even the Smurfs
.I have always been intrigued by the idea of having a permanent villian re-appear to hastle the party. You don't even have to explain why up front if you don't want to. Everyone loves a good mystery.