Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-25-04, 12:53 PM	Thanks in advance to anyone willing to read this :) It's rather long, but I hope someone out there can plough through it all and save this poor DM in distress :angel: The issue I have at the moment, is this: Bit of background coming, first, skip it if you don't want to read it ;) I'm fairly new at DMing, even though I have done some adventures/short campaigns in the past. The first time I did it, was rather fun, actually. It was during a school holiday, and I had a couple of friends from my normal DnD group staying at my house, and we decided to make a campaign. Even though it was far from perfect, it went rather well, considering it was my first real try at it, and considering we played more than 15 hours a day for a week straight :P What I mostly did, then, because we played so much, and preparing enough stuff the normal way would take too long, was just make a list of some encounters, and a small map of whatever place we would be going, and then just improvise the rest. I think it was a good learning method, to be able to come up with most stuff on the fly, but I think it might have inadvertantly left its mark a bit on my DMing style. When I make a campaign, I usually do think of a storyline, and a way for the players to get involved, but somehow it doesn't get far past stuff like clearing a dungeon or tomb or camp, and then retrieve some item (or something like that). While I don't think my players really mind the playing style, we usually have quite a lot of combat in our sessions, I would just like to do something else for a change, but I don't really know how to do that very well. Last session I already gave them a plot hook for the next part of the adventure, and they'll probably follow it (unless they think of something silly, like PCs are wont to do ;)) and although it's a nice difference from a standard dungeon, being a wizard's burial site with all sorts of riddles and spell wards, I just can't really think of any other stuff to have them do. Well, it's not really that I don't know any other things for them to do, I just don't know how to implement them well. Because I'm not really experienced in DMing other sorts of adventures yet, I don't know how long they'll last, and I'm a bit afraid if I design an intrigue adventure in town, that they'll either not find it interesting, or that I overlook something and the session ends after 1 hour. That's the easy thing about dungeons full of monsters, they can't really fly through them most of the time, so at least we'll have an entire evening filled... The other thing that's irritating me a bit, is that because of the style of adventures I use, even when I don't add much story-experience, they tend to FLY through levels. But the way it is now, I can't really give them less experience, cause they earned every point they get, usually, and it wouldn't feel right to just take away, say, half of it, because I think it goes too quickly. So, my question is, how can I make fun adventures that don't just consist of combat, and that will give a somewhat slower progression, without becoming boring or dull? I would really, really appreciate it if you guys (and gals ;)) could give me some advice, because I'm just at a loss here.. (p.s.: The experience they get is about a level per session, if not more... While I could try and challenge them with low CR encounters, and play them diabolically, that will become tedious fast, I think, if overdone, so it's not really a long-term solution. Oh, and while the party is only at about 2700 exp now (after one session :eek:) I found that even at around level 8 or 9 it still goes this fast if they clear out a dungeon full of appropriate CR monsters... (p.p.s. I just thought of something else: Could anyone give me some good tips about getting your players to roleplay more? They just haven't done any of it, really, and I think it would certainly add to the fun, if I could get them to do it more often :) I don't mean to force them if they don't want to, it's just that in the few years we've been playing, we just don't seem to do it much, so it could very well be that once I can get them started, they'll enjoy it a lot.)
ridiculous 03-25-04, 01:36 PM	Say hello to the dm's best friend: NPCs! I do that quite often, but it might take you a session or 2 to get into it. First, write down like, 10 to 15 NPCs. Don't even bother writing their stats down, just the class, race, level, alignement and a little bit of background. Define their personnalities and motivations. Build all the NPCs motivations around a theme (ex: an artifact was just retrieved, possibly by the PCs, and some NPCs want it, some want to destroy it, and others want to do something like fullfilling a prophecy with it... or whatever). Then put the PCs in, and improvise. In the beginning it's gonna be pretty hard, but with practice, you should be able to do a full campaign with like half an hour of preparation between sessions. To make them roleplay a little, make em speak with those NPCs, and make em lie, sometimes. Don't use bluff vs sense motive check too often, it ruins some of the fun. Roleplay gather information checks, too. If you want to insert occasionnal dungeon crawls to it (side quests), go ahead, but remember to put emphasis on roleplay. If you want ot make em roleplay more, here's one last suggestion: roleplay just about everything... make em try to negociate the price of the longsword they're gonna want ot buy, price for the room at the inn, etc.
Obsidianjaerc 03-25-04, 01:36 PM	Okay it seems that you are stuck in a bit of rut. You might want to get an adventure module that has some suprises for them. As for intrigue theres no way to find out unless you try it. So go ahead and throw something together that you have all had some experience with. A murder mystery would fit well I'm sure. If you want to make them RP more than give big xp bonuses for it and tell them that you are giving them bonuses. If that doesnt motivate them enough you can start decreasing or even stop awarding xp just for killing monsters. Another additional option for provoking RP is to make it very hard for them to get any adventure hooks w/o RPing with the NPCs to get them.
Rian Lightblade 03-25-04, 01:58 PM	When I first starting to DM, a long time ago, most of my early adventures were nothing more then the combat marathon. Open door fight monster, clear room. Open next door fight monster, clear room, that sort of thing. Which was fun for few months, we were 11. Then I picked up a few modules, White Plume Mountain, & Keep on the Borderlands, both with lots of combat but some story as well. Seeing how cool those adventures were and how much fun we had I started to add elements of story telling to my adventures. Most of this was done in the form of better settings & flavor text; meaning more descriptions, more puzzles, traps and less monsters or monsters that were appropriate to the location. When I was 12 I was lucky enough to hook up with a group of High School players whose DM was an older brother going to college, who was a great storyteller. I was amazed at how the first session I played with them went. Three hours with no combat. He awarded XP for great ideas, Role-Playing, witty comebacks or repartee and avoiding unnecessary combat. I was amazed at how much fun it was. I started to work on adding elements of my favorite books to the games I created, and began picking up modules that had more storyline elements (Like the original Dragonlance Modules, when they came out, and the Classic Ravenloft Module). The first story heavy adventure, actually the first adventure, period, that I ran for them, was based off of one of C.S.Lewis’s Narnia novels. It was a great success and soon weaving a story just became a part of how I created adventures. By time I got into High School I could go two hours without any combat, well that depended on the players role-playing and not roll-playing. Story weaving into adventures and it’s preference over hack-n-slash is something most groups grow into as the players mature. Some players mature sooner then others (usually the DM) and some players never mature. From your post, it sounds like you’re maturing sooner them others in your group and are off to a good start. My advice is take is slow, don’t rush yourself or your group. As for tips I suggest the following. Slowly reduce the amount of combat and increase the amount of puzzles and trap, don’t just add traps and puzzles on top of combat. Have at least one situation where the PCs have to interact with NPC in a non-combat situation, but keep these simple. Something like having them talk to the Barkeep to learn some info, or talking with an old mystic to have an item identified. Have the plays come up with a small background for their character, this helps to create a little bit of attachment to the PC and the players might be a little more protective. Award XP for good role-play and for talking their way out of or avoiding combat. Sometimes to teach players that they can’t fight everything is to create an encounter that they could never defeat in combat (make sure you describe it to them as such) but that they can sneak by or tick their way by. If they attack, well sometimes people can only learn things the hard way and if you fight everything you see soon or later you’ll get stomped. I hope these help.
Autosponge 03-25-04, 02:39 PM	It depends on the crowd. Some games are very combat oriented because that's what the players. Other games are very intriguing and have little or no combat (usually because that's what the DM likes). Here are some ideas: 1. Start out by letting them RP between sessions in email (especially if there is more than a day of downtime). Give them XP for what they do whether it's perform for a street audience or forge a new sword. 2. Create NPCs that help the PCs a great deal (don't join party though). Someone who will heal them for little or no cost, someone who will identify their magic items honestly, someone who will trade them items at fair market value, etc. These are people the group cares about. If something happens to them or if those NPCs ask for favors, expect some RP. 3. Breathe life into the campaign world. Nothing happens in a vaccum. Always make special notes about what the players do that could have long-lasting effects on the people or area. Then, make it happen. For instance, if they are going dungeoneering but have a habit of announcing where they go by overtly obtaining maps or asking peculiar questions of the local sages, have another NPC adventuring group get the tip--and have them meet at the dungeon at roughly the same time. This makes it obvious that what the PCs do DOES matter! 4. Smarten up your villians. Imagine you're alone in your humble abode (so what if it's a dungeon) and your friends are outside playing (so what if they're zombies you created because you can't keep a normal relationship) and 5 guys clad in armor bust in your door! Now's the time to use that handy escape route you planned last month or that secret door that only you know about. Smart villians need to actually act smart (I know, it's a strange concept). This means that they are DAMNED hard to kill no matter what their CR says. 5. Run one of the "fat" adventures. Read something like City of the Spider Queen or Pools of Radiance cover to cover 2-3 times. Then lead your party to the adventure (use the hooks). This will give you a good example of what CAN be done with s good story and some good fights.
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-25-04, 02:49 PM	Thanks for the awesome replies, first of all :) ridiculous: I'm not sure if I totally get what you mean, yet. Do you mean that I should create some npc's that would be involved in the campaign's main storyline? The problem with that is that at the moment, none of the npc's in the area near the pc's, nor the pc's know of the greater scheme of things yet, after all, we've only played once. I usually don't plan too much in advance, because my experience taught me that it's unwise to expect the players to do something a certain way; they'll almost always end up doing something unexpected. That's why I haven't really thought about the further away parts of the campaign, yet. Would it be a good idea to create some npc's that are from the pc's current hometown, and make some of them secretly work for the big villain they're going to meet at the end of it, and constantly, but subtly, try and undermine their efforts? Or did you mean something else with that? Obsidianjaerc: I guess that would be fun for a change of pace, I just don't really know how to implement something like that, but I guess I could figure out a way to do it. After all, you can't learn to walk without falling down a few times ;) Rian Lightblade: I think I see what you mean. Those suggestions, along with the one about letting them roleplay more stuff out, should help raising the amount of IC talking they do :) I'll try some of them out next session, then, and see what will happen from there. I'm not really a big fan of giving experience for roleplaying well, yet, I think I'll try other ways first. It seems a bit of a last-ditch effort to me, when all else has failed. Perhaps it's just my skewed view of things, but I can't help but feeling that you're bribing them off that way.. But then again, I might very well be wrong, so please illuminate my primitive mind :angel: I might not have chosen a very smart storyline, because it's a bit combat heavy, at first glance. My idea for the campaign, at least for the first part of it, was that a hobgoblin chieftan in the wild lands to the west of the kingdom the party is living in, united the normally rather civil-warring clans and formed himself a nice, big force, to conquer some more civilized places. The idea behind that was that the players were to gradually get to know the real threat and try to stop it, and they've already started annoying him by killing off one of his raiding bases. Can anyone think of some combatless things I can let them do in this type of campaign? Or should I just change the story a bit (that's not really a big issue, as they haven't yet learned anything about it yet, so I could change it if I wanted to) More opinions would be greatly appreciated :)
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-25-04, 03:00 PM	I posted my reply at the same time as you did, autosponge, so I'll have to reply in this second post :) Wow, you got some nice points there, thanks! I especially like your first one, I'll mention that next session, because we do, usually, have downtime in between adventures. About the 4th one, I probably shouldn't overdo that too much? I mean, while it would be rather logical for a villain to have an escape route, I can imagine it'd be very, very frustrating for the players if every boss-like monster or npc they encounter runs away. I mean, I shouldn't overdo the escape thing, right? :) But those big adventures sound like a great idea, I'll see if I can get one of those into the story somewhere, might be really cool.
StoryTellerSJEM 03-25-04, 05:55 PM	REGARDING PCS GOING UP TOO MUCH WITH XP There's an optional rule where you can cut the xp down for fights. For myself, I cut it down to 25% of the total . .. and, as players get XP for many other things, I tend to give no more than 10-33% of their xp on fighting opponents (i.e. this is based on class). The reason for this is simply to get PCs to focus on other rewards. If fights are easy and have huge payoffs, they will gravitate to that outcome. I also give special points, known as HERO POINTS, for roleplaying well or following a tough alignment or coming up with clever solutions, etc.
Autosponge 03-25-04, 06:49 PM	Originally posted by Lord_of_Rabbits I posted my reply at the same time as you did, autosponge, so I'll have to reply in this second post :) Wow, you got some nice points there, thanks! I especially like your first one, I'll mention that next session, because we do, usually, have downtime in between adventures. About the 4th one, I probably shouldn't overdo that too much? I mean, while it would be rather logical for a villain to have an escape route, I can imagine it'd be very, very frustrating for the players if every boss-like monster or npc they encounter runs away. I mean, I shouldn't overdo the escape thing, right? :) But those big adventures sound like a great idea, I'll see if I can get one of those into the story somewhere, might be really cool. Well, yeah, the escape thing is just one example. But seriously, intelligent foes should be able to gauge their opponents the same way PCs do. They should also do everything they can to prepare for the immenent battle (which includes a way to leave if needed). That means, that if the party is headed down to the necromancer's lab (which has only one entrance/exit) the necromancer is just as likely to be coming to them. He'll be searching the halls of his underground network of tomb tunnels to find the party and engage them on his terms--when he can retreat if needed (besides, who knows the place better than him). In general, pick one of your favorite NPCs and make sure you keep him alive as much as possible. Sure the PCs will foil this, ultimately that's what you want. But a teleporting sorceress has made many an adventurer fuming mad and eager to meet her again all at the same time. Good DM's are masters of putting that feeling in their players. The big stories are basically just to give you an example of how to plan something like that. You can always scale it back when you make your own, but it's great to have concrete examples. Especially if you play through them and can pick out what you liked and disliked about the organization, layout, information, story, etc. My standard XP award for out of game (beware it can be generous) is the DC-15=CR. So if someone takes 10 (by email) on their performance check at the Duke's grand ballroom (where failure could mean he'd be arrested or worse) and has a total of 17, I'd grant a CR 2 encounter's worth of XP JUST FOR THAT CHARACTER. It's fun to see how many people find new and interesting ways to keep busy between sessions. I typically limit them to 1 such "roll" per RL week and make them mix up what they are doing (just because you took Craft (basketweaving) doesn't mean that I'll allow a special basket project every week).
Kalidor187 03-25-04, 10:32 PM	I don't think anything was wrong with your storyline at all. I'm not familiar with your game world, but you could make the western part of the kingdom a plains region making it the primary source of food. Perhaps you could drop hints like raising the price of bread and beer because there is no longer a steady supply of wheat or barley. You could also drop rumors about raids by monsters on farmlands or merchant caravans, allowing them to roleplay in order to get the information they need. If the supply of food is cut off, the poorer people are generally the first to suffer (that whole supply-demand thing raising the prices) and they could hear disparaging remarks about the king/queen for not helping the people. Eventually, these disparaging remarks will become more revolutionary the longer they are forced to go without. If they decide to go to the king regarding the matter, they could discover that rival nobles are also interested in overthrowing the king and are engaged in a silent war with the king's supporters. This could allow them to get wrapped up in politics. Eventually, they should go to one of the outlying villages to help defend it from a possible attack. Maybe they arrive just in time to save the village and drive off the raiders. When they search the raiders for treasure, maybe you should have them notice that the heraldic symbols on the weapons or armor. On the way to another village, they encounter a merchant caravan with several wounded guards. The guards may produce 'war trophies', weapons they took from their attackers. These would have different heraldic symbols. If the party does not have anyone familiar with rival clans of hobgoblins, this would be an opportunity to introduce a NPC. Let the NPC explain how why it is strange to have these rival clans in the same area because they would normally be fighting with each other. This should clue in the players that 'something bigger' is going on. Always remember to have the players go to pubs/inns to get the latest gossip. Maybe a farmer tells about how he managed to kill one of the scouts for a raiding party. He tells everyone the story and brings in a weapon to prove his claim. The rest of the people at the inn dispute his claim, but the party will recognize that the weapons has tribal markings and feathers from an owlbear- indicative of the Shattered Skull Clan of hobgoblins. If they step forward to verify his claim, you can roleplay the villagers asking the party questions. This serves you two-fold. First, you make sure they have an understanding of the threat they are facing and second, you can have the villagers ask them questions to prod them in a certain direction (Do you think they had something to do with old man Winfield's home being burned down? He had a place along the old road to the Durgenhoff Mines.) Depending on how complex you want the story to be, you could add additional twists. Perhaps a noble family from the port city of the kingdom wants to break the power that land owning nobles have. Eliminate the farming, and the dependency on fishing or imports from across the sea become more important. This noble family may be secretly in league with the hobgoblin chieftain. If you really want to spin it, make him a public supporter of the king and have him suggest that the landowning nobles send a force led by his good friend (and rival). Using this train of thought, maybe you could have the rogue pick pockets or the party will accidentally intercept a cryptic message that indicates something foul is going on. Perhaps they decide to infiltrate or even join the revolutionaries. Don't let them get away with simply rolling a d20 when they try to Gather Information. Tell them that the roll only indicates how much they can get when they do roleplay. You must be the final arbiter, but I would suggest penalties and/or bonuses depending on how well they roleplay. Reward good roleplaying with good information. Another way to prevent them from leveling up so quickly is to give them handouts. No short synopsis of the noble's journal, actually write out a few pages and let them read through it (I realize this takes time, but I've been complimented for making the game seem more real). The less time they are actually fighting, the less XP that can be handed out for combat encounters. Combine my suggestions with the others and use what you think will work. If you need more help, we're here.
Steelwill 03-26-04, 12:46 AM	2 things are already significantly in your favor: 1. You have the ability to improvise, far too many a DM goes down in flames because of adhering too strictly to a highly detailed plot, instead of being able to improvise when players find a loophole or other unplanned for contingency (this is essentially DM'ing's Murphy's Law, if there is even a possible unplanned for contingency that players could find, no matter how remote, they will:D ). Improv is a skill to be treasured in any DM's toolset. 2. Rules Knowledge: After running so many campaigns, even simple hack and slash, you are most likely very adept with the rules, and at making combat progress smoothly. This is helpful in and of itself, but will be markedly so when your adventures become more detailed plot wise, and you don't want the moments of combat to suck up ALL of the time allotted for gaming in a given session. That said, here are my recomendations: Absolutley do not ever let fear or expectation prevent you from trying something new, firstly because that is the only way you will ever get good at it, second because this is a game, fear should have zero presence in a world where consequences aren't detrimental to you, a real person. After all isn't that a huge part of the fun, the ability to try things you would never, ever try in the real world because they are too dangerous or scary? Don't let the scope of an idea for a story intimidate you either, take it one bit at a time, not all at once, and you will find that by focusing only on a session or 2 ahead of time, you will be able to make it happen. Try to plan for the "whole enchilada" in any given session makes it nearly impossible, if for no other reason than you can't possibly account for every action/reaction your player's will take, and any epic story starts as a hook but then the players write the rest, you as DM can only take steps to lead the epic where you envision it going. Leave the details to the players, you handle the connecting points between the details as transitions from one hook, to another story hook, to another. It is here that a combination of planning and improvisation will both become invaluable. To break it down better, planning is what you do between sessions, improvisation is what you will have to do during the sessions. Also, don't get stuck on a particular story arc so hard that if another truly viable one occurs on its own within the session, or on a whim, you refuse to follow it. it has been my experience that some of the best story and roleplaying opportunities occur "on the fly", especially when you find yourself playing off the player characters actions. Getting into that kind of creative sync with your players is now a collaboration between you and them on the plot, and it will draw both you and the players deeper into the game. Ok, I am not trying to make it sound like an article that should be titled,"Zen and the Art of Gaming" but I have had experiences like this in my own campaigns, and its the best I can offer you. Last but not least, trust in your own creativity, it sounds very much like you have some very good ideas, and are mostly just scared they won't fly with the players. Don't be, otherwise who knows what creative opportunities are being lost. If you have developed a good repoir with your players(and it sounds like you have) they will trust in, and look forward to what you offer them. My last bit of advice is possibly the most important, and often it seems the most readily abandoned, whatever else you do in D&D, always, always have FUN. Its the reason why anyone plays D&D in the first place. My 2 cents, I hope I have helped.
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-26-04, 03:10 AM	Yay, more good suggestions :) Thanks a lot! I can give some more info about the world, it might make a bit more sense then. It's a shame I can't use the farming idea, because the western area is pretty much uninhabited by normal races; it's a wild, dangerous place where few humans/demihumans live(well, except the more monstrous ones ;)) Having said that, I think it would be a really, really cool idea to have a few people in the magedom (it's not really a kingdom, just used that word as a general description) oppose the central council they have, and aid the hobgoblins. As the rulers there are evil, the players might even end up with the rebels, which would be rather neat as an alternative. Eek, there's so many good ideas here, it'll take years to implement :D But, seriously, thanks so much for all the advice, I'll try out some of these and see how it goes. Then, after we play again next weekend, I'll update this and let you all know how it went :) Oh, and Autosponge, with that formula, do they get 0 experience if the DC is lower than 15? Or do you make it CR1 as the lowest it can go?
Duel the Rider 03-27-04, 06:10 AM	Getting your PC to write backstories, with some specifics, lets the player identify with the character and thus have a better understanding of how the character reacts. Instead of a mindless killing machine right off of dr. frankenstiens lab table, you get a morals and standards of the character. As a DM, this is where you can have fun. Stick characters/players in moral delimas (put them in situations that they must break a virtue they hold dear, take a personal loss, or thing very creatively to achieve victory and keep all virtues intact.) Takes a little though and an understanding of the PC. You must also develop the Characters so that these standards are part of what define the character. Pretty much make the Players do some real work on their character so they don't treat it like a piece of paper w/ numbers on it. Once the player cares for "THEIR" character and identify with her, it will be easy to see the potiential to force the players to make heart felt decisions of wether to take loss or change the character they know so well. just my 2 cents, take it w/ a grain of salt...
Groovydave1962 03-27-04, 11:03 AM	I haven't read all the replies, just your post, so forgive me if I repeat something someone else has said. Firstly, if your players are clearlng out whole dungeons and gaining a levels of xp per session, I think you need to play your monsters smarter. My players are finghting things that are at a CR of 3+average party level, as oppsoed to 2+, because they have some nifty magic weapons and such. They don't get that much XP. I'd say they gain a level every 2 or 3 sessions, but they don't do combat all the time, they role play ALOT. If they encountered CRs like I mentioned more often they would get wiped out. By playing your monsters smarter I mean not to forget their powers, qualities and abilities, etc. Let them set up ambushes, if applicable. Encounters do not need to be combat. Defeating a creature does mean you have to kill it, but it is reasonible to reduce the XP if it was defeated in something less than the optimum manner. Sneaking past the guard certainly counts as defeating his purpose, but is hardly an exciting and adventurous way to do it (except maybe for the thief). NPCs add all the spice you need. Mystery, comedy, intrigue, familiarity. Keep this in mind when designing non-combat encounters. Getting players to role play can be hard. If they don't have detailed backgrounds, make them come up with them. If they don't have friends and family, give them to them. If they don't have problems that can't be solved with a sword or spell, give them to them. Remember that people are not a bunch of stats, a two dimensional cardboard cutout. To really have depth, you must have concerns outside the the "thing" you do. Fighters can have mentors, lovers, wives, brothers etc. Wizards must have been trained by someone, and while they probably don't have an enormous circle of friends, they should have colleagues whose spells they covet, and whose knowledge they seek. Really, it's not so much up to you to make them role play as to show them how. The depth of their characters is their business, not yours.
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-27-04, 11:17 AM	Thanks for the advice, though :) We're only level 2 (level 3 after today's session, they only needed 350 more) so most monsters don't have many special abilities yet. Later on I'll be sure to use them :smirk: We only had one real hard fight today, and it was looking like a TPK, more or less the entire time. I dropped their strongest fighter in the first round, they got surprised by 3 level 2 npc's, and one near-max damage hit from the druid, and a max hit from the raging orc barb were enough to put the tank at -15 :eek: For some reason I kept rolling 2's and 3's the rest of the combat, or they woulda died big time. Oh well :D But I'll go ask them to make a background and a description of their character, that should help it along
Dr. Jubal Harshaw 03-27-04, 11:45 AM	Originally posted by Lord_of_Rabbits The idea behind that was that the players were to gradually get to know the real threat and try to stop it, and they've already started annoying him by killing off one of his raiding bases. Can anyone think of some combatless things I can let them do in this type of campaign? You have the basis for a great role-playing campaign there. Make it clear from the outset that the PCs have no hope of defeating the army on their own. Then drop a few hints about uniting the land against this threat (This works best if you have the area the hobgoblins threatening an area of many small, weak countries). You now have the basis of a campaign in which the PCs are not fighting, but acting as diplomats. If that is too drastic a change, then their diplomacy can always fail and they then have to raise a peasent army - they get to roleplay recruiting speeches, etc, and fight hobgoblins!
Lord_of_Rabbits 03-27-04, 11:49 AM	Heh, that sounds pretty cool, actually :) Well, at the moment the PC's know that there's something bigger going on, due to some notes and letters they found. They haven't showed this to anyone else yet, even though the rulers of nearby lands are starting to suspect something is wrong, with the suddenly increased raids on border villages and stuff like that. After today's session I'll have a week to prepare more stuff, so it shouldn't be too hard to get the campaign going in the right direction :)
His Majesty 03-27-04, 02:08 PM	Check out this thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?threadid=204451)