Campaign Start Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign Start Advice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gibs
04-01-05, 01:17 PM //Moved to Campaign forum.

I want to start a campaign, and I've never run one before. This is the way I was thinking of starting it. Any advice?

Months ago, rumors began of a massive war which had broken out in Naorin. The orcs had invaded the human towns, and the humans had fled to the woods. Thousands lay dead. The countryside was destroyed, and the towns lay in ruins. These rumors were commonly dismissed as false.

Last week a messenger from Naorin finally arrived. The status of the region was even worse than the rumors had described. The orcs had conquered everything but the woods, and now they had begun to systematically burn through the forest. Several human and elvish strongholds had been overrun.

In immediate response to the messenger’s words, hundreds of brave men and women, including you, enlisted into the inter-regional army. Large ships were loaded with dozens of warriors, and set sail towards Naorin the next day. The soldiers were to be trained during the voyage.

During the second night of travel, the fleet entered a mighty storm. Ships were tossed by the waves, and torn apart by the wind. Your ship begins to sink, and the soldiers rush into lifeboats. You have all entered the same one. You cling to the sides of the boat, and through the night you are constantly thrown through the sea.

Finally the skies clear. You look around and see no other boats, but you do see land, and not too far away. It looks like most of the area has cliffs that run right up to the water, but there is a small beach. The oars of the lifeboat have been lost in the storm, and so you swim towards the beach.

When you arrive at the beach, you see that you are in a small town that none of you recognize.
Dash Branaghan
04-01-05, 02:16 PM Yep, I have a piece of advice.

Sit down with the PCs and make sure that it is in their character to volunteer with the army. Telling them they arbitrarily volunteer is cruel and unusual punishment and should be avoided unless you can't help it.

See, some of the martial characters (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, and to a lesser extent Cleric and maybe Bard, as well as Scout now) would probably do it, but why would a rogue character or a wizard want to join the army? Maybe live off the avails of it for the rogue, but there would need to be a personal motivation for these characters to do it.

Unless your players are willing to work with this idea, you are railroading them into a scenario. Now some will disagree with me and say that it is a good start to a campaign and the players should go along with it, and I'm not saying that the idea is bad in any way. But there are ways to present it so that not all the players are forced to play against any potential concept. The art of DMing is finding ways to make the improbable happen.

So, to help with a suggestion here, you can work with the players to come up with reasons why all their characters would be on the boat. That is the key thing...that they wind up in the same lifeboat is great (and preferably blown way off course and seperated from everyone else and have to work together as a team etc etc etc), but you have to make sure that there is a playable reason for each one of them to be on that big boat in the first place. Give each character a carrot to follow to ensure that they have a legitimate reason to be there, not a reason justified within the martial classes.

Never force a player to come up with a reason for something you are doing...that is your job as a DM.

Other than that, good idea, to start, and happy gaming.

Dash
Gibs
04-01-05, 02:23 PM Thanks for the suggestion. I'm realizing that I really should have started this thread in the campaign forum though, so I'm going to move it there. If any Mod happens to come across this, please delete.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gibs 04-01-05, 01:17 PM	//Moved to Campaign forum. I want to start a campaign, and I've never run one before. This is the way I was thinking of starting it. Any advice? Months ago, rumors began of a massive war which had broken out in Naorin. The orcs had invaded the human towns, and the humans had fled to the woods. Thousands lay dead. The countryside was destroyed, and the towns lay in ruins. These rumors were commonly dismissed as false. Last week a messenger from Naorin finally arrived. The status of the region was even worse than the rumors had described. The orcs had conquered everything but the woods, and now they had begun to systematically burn through the forest. Several human and elvish strongholds had been overrun. In immediate response to the messenger’s words, hundreds of brave men and women, including you, enlisted into the inter-regional army. Large ships were loaded with dozens of warriors, and set sail towards Naorin the next day. The soldiers were to be trained during the voyage. During the second night of travel, the fleet entered a mighty storm. Ships were tossed by the waves, and torn apart by the wind. Your ship begins to sink, and the soldiers rush into lifeboats. You have all entered the same one. You cling to the sides of the boat, and through the night you are constantly thrown through the sea. Finally the skies clear. You look around and see no other boats, but you do see land, and not too far away. It looks like most of the area has cliffs that run right up to the water, but there is a small beach. The oars of the lifeboat have been lost in the storm, and so you swim towards the beach. When you arrive at the beach, you see that you are in a small town that none of you recognize.
Dash Branaghan 04-01-05, 02:16 PM	Yep, I have a piece of advice. Sit down with the PCs and make sure that it is in their character to volunteer with the army. Telling them they arbitrarily volunteer is cruel and unusual punishment and should be avoided unless you can't help it. See, some of the martial characters (Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, and to a lesser extent Cleric and maybe Bard, as well as Scout now) would probably do it, but why would a rogue character or a wizard want to join the army? Maybe live off the avails of it for the rogue, but there would need to be a personal motivation for these characters to do it. Unless your players are willing to work with this idea, you are railroading them into a scenario. Now some will disagree with me and say that it is a good start to a campaign and the players should go along with it, and I'm not saying that the idea is bad in any way. But there are ways to present it so that not all the players are forced to play against any potential concept. The art of DMing is finding ways to make the improbable happen. So, to help with a suggestion here, you can work with the players to come up with reasons why all their characters would be on the boat. That is the key thing...that they wind up in the same lifeboat is great (and preferably blown way off course and seperated from everyone else and have to work together as a team etc etc etc), but you have to make sure that there is a playable reason for each one of them to be on that big boat in the first place. Give each character a carrot to follow to ensure that they have a legitimate reason to be there, not a reason justified within the martial classes. Never force a player to come up with a reason for something you are doing...that is your job as a DM. Other than that, good idea, to start, and happy gaming. Dash
Gibs 04-01-05, 02:23 PM	Thanks for the suggestion. I'm realizing that I really should have started this thread in the campaign forum though, so I'm going to move it there. If any Mod happens to come across this, please delete.