Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ErikkuShafer 07-04-04, 03:45 PM	Not sure if this should go in the 'Whats a DM to do?' forum but this is really FR based so.. here we go. I am starting my first FR campaign after skimming through the books. I'm trying to read as much as possible but my players finally want to get going. We are starting in the Silver Marches (yay) at Shieldmeet... (Note: before we get any further, I believe I have all the books for 3.0/3.5 Realms except Lords of Darkness, and if not I have a good chunk ;) ) Now, I was planning to have a huge festival in Silverymoon as it is Shieldmeet. But I can't figure out how for my players to meet. In the campaigns I have had and I've played in it seems there is someone to 'hire' them as mercenaries, or they all meet in the pub and 'go!'. Not gonna happen this time, I want this to be more interesting. (We're a bunch of High School seniors and College students, can't blame that we wanna go hack-n-slash sometimes :embarrass But this campaign will fix that). The party consists of four people I accepted after many other applied, I wanted this campaign to be smaller than the ones I've held before (7-8 players): - Chultan Psionic Warrior (Archer, keeps everything to himself and will only do things that will benefit himself) - Silverymoon Noble-boy gone to Knighthood, disowned by his parents. He plans to grow strong and protect the realm and adventure out someday. - Half-Drow who was from Menzoberranzen (god I hope I spelled that right) and was taught the ways of Eilistraee as of late and is journeying to Silverymoon to find adventure. (Dreams of surface elves and drows 'connecting' once more to make a story short) - A young Rogue who is originally from Calimshan who had a tough childhood. 'Adopted' by another rogue who he and him moved to Silvermoon 3 years ago to start a new guild and renew their lives. He left the guild but assists in side-jobs to make money. The Chultan is going to keep everything to himself, the "Noble-Boy" sees adventurers everyday so why talk to these guys, the Half-Drow is... a half drow, and the rogue just wants to adventure and use his skills of retrieving information. How the heck are they going to meet other than at the Festival? Say 'hello' and go on with their life? I already have a good idea what I am doing for the adventure (multiple ideas and so forth...). But I am stuck on how they can meet. Maybe I can get some ideas from people who have DM'd or experienced starting on Shieldmeet and what not. If you have an idea for an adventure and such put that in too :D. Reply or PM me, and thanks in advance - Erik ( email is Kinokenshin@hotmail.com and AIM is ErikkuShafer )
adrian 07-04-04, 03:55 PM	have two of them go for the same girl while half drunk. they get in a fight that gets more and more people involved (a good old fashioned bar fight) including the other guys. after the fight they can make peace over a bottle. or they could get friendly after they get thrown into prison. i don't think that starting a drunken brawl would cost them that much. maybe an armor or two, or a nice piece of weaponry they could buy back at an auction few weeks later (if nobody else outbids them, naturaly)
ErikkuShafer 07-04-04, 04:25 PM	Wow, very creative. Please, more people reply and maybe I could mix some together or something... But a bar fight.. happens all the time in the campaign, why not start off with one :smirk: Thanks in Advance - Erik
roll8dn 07-04-04, 06:09 PM	Hey. Any sort of festival for a holiday (for example, Shieldmeet...) usually has some kind of sports or gaming contests occuring during the celebration. Why not have several differing types of contests, and the PCs can compete against each other, and by way of that come to respect and like (or dislike) each other? Even if they do not compete against each other, they could see each other in each event, and, therefore, admire each other and want to congradulate each other (or not). Just a thought.
Decepticons 07-05-04, 12:39 AM	Some of these depend on the campaign you're planning on running, but here are a few suggestions. 1. The four characters are all on the same side street, taking a break from the fesivities and the crowd when a scream rings out. The four PC's (who are the only persons nearby) run to investigate. They find a noblemans daugther with a knife in her back, not quite dead. The city guards find the PC's right after the PC's find the body. They are blamed for the attempted assassination, unless they can solve the crime themselves (this could also lead to a heavy on role-playing adventure, which you seem to desire...additionaly, I'd like to add that I stole this plot from another adventure, I just can't remember what it was in, or I'd credit it). 2. One of the displays at the festivle is a zoo...a dozen or so (low level) animals in cages. Inadvertantly, one (or more) of the animals escape. The zookeeper grabs the first four able bodied people he sees (the PC's, in this case) and asks them to return the animals unharmed for a reward. A Hippogriff (although that might be hard to catch unless you add a special hobble on the hippogriff that doesn't allow it to fly) or mated pair of Krenshar might be good. Even something like a Brass Dragon wyrmling might be fun, as it leads the PC's on a merry, prank-filled chase. I realize this is a bit like the "hired" thing you want to avoid, but it's more event based than they typical "Mysterious wizard wants you to go (somewhere) and find (something) and return it to him (someplace else). 3. If you don't mind meta-gaming your PC's a bit to get things started, have 3 of them start out captured by the budding theives guild. When the rouge finds out they've taken these PC's who were innocent witnesses to a guild crime, and that the guild plans to kill them, his consious gets the better of him and he rescues the other members of the party. 4. The PC's attend a wedding between two (important people) at the festivle. Each of them knows either the bride or groom in some distant manner. They are all seated at the same table. Suddenly the lights go out, and panic breaks out. When someone gets the lamps lit again, the bride is missing, along with several peices of jewelry. One of the PC's spots a swash of red cloak disappear through a trap-door in the ceiling. This again might be to much of a different turn on the "you all meet at the inn" theme, but again it's the event, not the location, that's important. On a side note, and I don't mean to de-rail your thread, but your party is just scary annoying. Are these people you've played with before? - Chultan Psionic Warrior (Archer, keeps everything to himself and will only do things that will benefit himself) If I were DM'ing this guy and I didn't already know him, I'd be scared. This sounds like the typical "look at me, I'm a loner" type player. Ugh. I'll bet my hot D20 that if this is a new person to your games, he'll be the one who causes problems. - Silverymoon Noble-boy gone to Knighthood, disowned by his parents. He plans to grow strong and protect the realm and adventure out someday. The orphan-complex strikes again. Seriouslly, haven't we about had enough of this in the fantasy genre? - Half-Drow who was from Menzoberranzen (god I hope I spelled that right) and was taught the ways of Eilistraee as of late and is journeying to Silverymoon to find adventure. (Dreams of surface elves and drows 'connecting' once more to make a story short) Drizzt Version 12741634.7.4. Good god, where have the imaginations gone? How real do you plan to make your Realms campaign? A person who appeard drowish would probably be killed on sight in Silverymoon. - A young Rogue who is originally from Calimshan who had a tough childhood. 'Adopted' by another rogue who he and him moved to Silvermoon 3 years ago to start a new guild and renew their lives. He left the guild but assists in side-jobs to make money. No problems with this one. Good luck in your FR Campaign.
KingDes 07-05-04, 01:28 PM	You want to make this semi simple, so its not too drawn out. it might get boring. but, if it fits into your campain, have the "festival" attacked by goblinoids, or even better...Drow. The half drow proves himself by fighting on the side of the heros, and just by chance they all end up fighting side by side. i'd also start this out in a small town where the drow would be more accepted then in a larger city. Drizzt still isnt accepted in large cities. So i'd start small, and grow from there.
ErikkuShafer 07-05-04, 10:56 PM	Well, I am having Silverymoon kind of be the 'base of operations' and the half-Drow isn't suppose to be accepted. We are just kind of stating that it took him a full 2 days of questioning to get in, and that is with couple of friends he met in the surface world stating he is starting a new life and isn't like 'them'. /shrug The Chultan Psionic Warrior does things that are beneficial to him, but I mean it like this: If he is sent to gamble his life in some adventure/quest he wants to make sure he will get something beneficial that will make himself a better being. Kind of explained that wrong, still not sure how to put it. Basically he wants to grow in strength (mental mostly, being all psionic and hu-ha ;) ) Noble Boy is the only one in our group (of 8) that is the newest but is a hard-core Roleplayer, he really hates OOC chit-chat which is nice. Not Nazi level :D I believe he is going to kind of 'lead' the party as the charismatic person but the others might have more original ideas of going about things. And our Rogue is actually a character that was previously made for a homebrewed campaign of level 10s, this 'version' is not made for combat. He has tons of skill points and it really adds up with synergy bonuses. For combat though he was taught by his adoptive father that agility and defense is the best way to go. (16 dex and Combat Expertise $$). I think I am going to go with the something like (basic outline). The party is exhausted from games (having a couple of them play each other RP). They all head to one of the pub. They have a great time getting somewhat tipsy and I can already see that two of them atleast feeling some sort of attraction to a bartender I'll mention. Later she is murdered right in the public and them go on some sort of chase. The bounty is put up by her father, the owner of the pub. In the end, if all goes well they will use this bar as their normal place to hang out. Also this helps the Half-Drow accepted (well, somewhat :p ) somewhere. Any more suggestions on how they meet, first adventure, or perhaps something happening later on for a noob FR DM would be greatly appreitated. Thank you.. and I hope I get better at English :D
Autosponge 07-05-04, 11:31 PM	The easiest way to do this (on your part) is to have the characters come up with a little background info. Figure out where their paths may have crossed (same school, same religion, etc.) and then give each player a list of the NPCs they know in town. Some of the NPCs can be potential employers but all should be honest contacts (don't give them any foils or BBEGs) or PCs. This will bring them together easily once the game starts to unfold and you give some information to a couple of the players. They will eventually filter the information through their contacts who will either help them, direct them, or (PCs only usually) join them. BTW, Silverymoon is a very expensive place to live by Realms standards, so the PCs should be at least 3rd level to start and have some idea of what they do for a living (wash dishes in the festhall, student spending dad's adventuring money, acolyte in the temple, etc.). This helps expand their list of contacts a bit to include their current employer or the people in charge where they work. This also helps broil them into a few possible adventures right off. They usually have a vested interest in the place they work (I had one PC own a store) or already have errands they regularly perform. Having to balance the stress of day-to-day living in the city and their adventuring careers can help bring the campaign to life. If you need any info about Silverymoon, don't be afraid to ask.
ErikkuShafer 07-05-04, 11:50 PM	Wow, first of all: Great Reply, lots of info that isn't included in the campaigns I have been in which is why I am going to try really hard in this one I am DMing and when my friends think of it they will be like "The FR Campaign". Ect The PCs are level 4, basicly they've had enough adventage and experience of the real word and have had some share of money. I actually am planning something in the second session where they get "the riches" because right now they started with 3600gp instead of 5400. Before I get flammed, its because all their characters have all had the same share of bad luck. Not getting their share of the loot, not earning anything in previous jobs, ect. So no flamers :b: I really like the idea of day to day stress, that is missing in the campaigns I've been in. And I will start making/looking for NPCs that they all can somewhat loosly know. And I warn 'ya, you might recieve alot of PM's if I have a huge question, or even alittle one :angel: I got 5 more hours until I sleep, bring on the advice/tips/comments/questions! RAWR :behold: /thanks again
Autosponge 07-06-04, 12:12 AM	Here are some of the Silverymoon NPCs I use: http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=2569699#post2569699
ErikkuShafer 07-06-04, 02:10 AM	Wow-za, this is really going to help me with NPCs. Very very cool. But now the question of the moment is.. How is the Half-Drow going to be accepted by the guard and people of Silverymoon? Yeah I hope doing that whole 'questioning' thing for two days sounds good and not too crazy. I mean from what I've read and tried to search for on the internet there don't seen to be any temples to the Half Drow's diety, (FYI: Half Drow is a 1ftr/3clr), Elistraee. 'Ya would think he would be staying in a church or doing services for them... So I need help on what the Half-Drow is going to be doing in the city and how he viewed. Maybe going into another adventure hook :rolleyes: I mean.. how many Half-Drow are in the city? A dozen if that? :confused: - Erik
tariff 07-06-04, 04:09 AM	At the start of my current FR campaign we started on the shieldmeet festival in Loudwater. I utalized many different fareground type activities such as a Coconut stand etc. I also had a arm wrestling competion, but the champion armwrestler unbeknown to the party would retire to a small tent after each match and have a friend cast Bulls strength on him. the party eventually discovered this (and reported him to the local town guard, who then took thier pitch away and kicked them out of town for fraud :) ), but as a idea, if u had a caster and warrior players you could maybe have them Scam the rest of the players in a similar way..
Autosponge 07-06-04, 02:07 PM	The half-dragon will be respected by most of the city (a lot of arcane spellcasters) as long as he's not chromatic. I imagine the half-drow will be accepted the same as any half-orc--with trepidation and some concern. The main thing that would be a problem is if he took a lot of his appearance from his Drow heritage.
KingDes 07-07-04, 05:59 PM	I really doubt the town will let him in as a half drow for the simple reason of the general public. The general public will have a problem w/ him, and for his own safety he should remain outside the city gates. Until he's saved the town, i'd keep it that way. thats part of the penalty of being half drow. And if he wants into town, he might need a lot of ranks in "disguise". and then after he "saves the town" a lot of people still wont accept him. That should be a large part of your campain. YOu might want to have the drow meet up, help, or even save the other pc's. thats a great way for him to mee them.
Autosponge 07-07-04, 10:26 PM	Half-drow can look like a black human with really dark skin. Remember, he's a half-elf so he won't be built like most elves at all. I seriously doubt he'd be mistaken for a drow. Still, it'd be best to keep the ears covered and wear a cowel if he has something like "lavender" eyes.
Crust 07-07-04, 10:47 PM	Some great advice here. It seems like the campaign is off on a good foot. As for the half-drow... bad idea. Drow in general are a bad idea as PCs, unless the general hatred of drow is something that's missing from this campaign. It took a great deal of fame for Drizzt do'Urden to be accepted by the North. Does this half-drow have that potential? And sure, the half-drow could look like a human. If I were DMing this campaign, I'd make some sinister connection, such as his father being a powerful wizard of Sorcere, or something similar. This could work out to be a great hook for that character, so milk that for all it's worth. He's certainly got a more interesting chance for hooks than the cookie-cutter knight. If it's totally obvious that the half-drow has drow blood, I doubt he'd be welcome in many parts of Silverymoon.
ErikkuShafer 07-08-04, 12:26 AM	First session went pretty well, it kinda got cut off near the end so not sure how to open up the next session which'll be Friday, and then every Friday after that... I am making sure there is alot of racial tension with the Half-Drow, he got in the city by a special message/note from a Harper so basicly if any guard tries anything he whips that out. :rolleyes: The end of the session was them exploring a small time Thieves guild causing no good and they thought this would be a good way to get a name in the city. They had an odd NPC which I thought they would catch be a traitor but they didn't. So when they were exploring an abandoned House, they were ambushed and then the NPC sneak attack'd the tank for near max damage. I think everyone in the party got into the single digits for HP. Rogue Ambushes can be scary :eek: Basicly a PC had to leave right when they struck the last one down.. Still having some ideas/adventures poping in my head but they are kind of complex and would fit them when they level up alittle bit... Anyone have any 'young adventurer scenarios' again? I was thinking that the party's rogue's adopted father could find some sort of mission as he has his own guild. Or perhaps something happens to him :behold: Dun dun dun.. Thank you all for your advice and if you want to continue please Reply or PM me. ~~~ Erikku
Crust 07-08-04, 08:46 AM	No disrespect intended... I think you're making a mistake by asking for scenario suggestions here. We don't know your players, we don't know your campaign, we don't know what would be ideal for the PCs down the road. It's obvious that you're coming up with enough ideas week to week to supply your game with an endless array of plot hooks and conflicts for the PCs. You know what you need to do, so do it, and keep us posted.
brombur 07-15-04, 04:50 PM	first let me say that i couldnt agree more with what decpticon said about the " characters in your game. I have been trying or years to get my players out of these mindsets, maybe you should adress that first and then when everyone has a more original character the answer to the meet up scenario will be easier. beyond that i usually ask the players some things about their characters motivations and then whay they wuld be at a specific place. then i mix the characters together if twos or threes in small Role playing encounters sharing a common theme or npc. usually ten minutes is all a scene should take. once all four characters have meet breifly and are aquainted to the smae npcs then you should have enough info to find a situation that will cause the pc's to decide ( or be forced but this is a weak start) to go together to accomplish some goal. a good example of this is to have a local fence for the criminals in attendance to the shieldmeet festival to contact them in ones or two( if the pc are in the same place maybe the npc assumes their together) then after all characters are aqcauinted the fence is implicated in some misdeed and flees. now the players if of good character could chase after him since they did let him go in the first place( good for paladins/cleric), are asked to find him to prove they are not working with him ( forced but ok) or (if your players are good Role players) the four natural hear of each others meeting and confront one another thinking each is in on it and then decide to work together for some common goal ( find the bad guy, get out of town safely or hunt down a treasure the fence mentioned) these a re just a few ideas i hope they help