I'm going to start running the Tyranny of Dragons campaign for my home group. We're meeting on Saturday to make characters, but we might actually have a chance to start playing then too, so I'd like to have some intro stuff sorted just in case.
I personally don't mind the way Hoard starts in theory, but I've found some variations that I think could be even more fun. From the 'Begging for XP' podcast, I got the idea of introducing Governor Nighthill's brother, Patchy, who wears an eyepatch and tells the PCs tales of how he fought dragons when he was younger. When the PCs get to Greenest, he sacrifices his life by drawing the dragon away from the town temporarily by attracting it with his magical shining mace so the PCs can get in and help out.
I like that. But it feels more like something somebody would do when you're trying to escape danger, not go into danger.
Then I got to thinking that maybe it could be fun to have the PCs be in town already when the attack happens, and maybe Patchy is in the inn with them, and he's telling a story about a dragon attacking, and just then Lennithon comes roaring overhead.
Patchy could either have traveled into town with the PCs, or he could be the bartender or something. I like having him as a way for the PCs to introduce themselves to each other by way of him asking them questions about their adventures in between telling them about his adventures.
So when the dragon appears, and there are explosions and screams and the cultists start trying to light things on fire, Patchy grabs his magic mace and shield and heads for his horse, telling the PCs he's going to draw the dragon away from the village. He encourages them to help out.
But then a man with two young children comes bursting in the inn door, pleading for help. Behind them, the man's wife turns and stands in the door, spear in hand, as a group of kobolds try to follow the family.
The PCs can either go with Patchy - knowing he'll die if they don't - or they can stay and help this family. If they choose to stay, Patchy throws them a bag and tells them they'll need what's inside. He also tells them to send his regards to his brother before disappearing out the back door to get his horse.
The bag turns out to be a bag of holding with some potions and random bits and pieces in it.
How does that sound? Cool? Lame? Could do with some improvement?
Would love some thoughts.
That is a cool start. Go that way.
In our HotQ campaign I started with the players entering the town in a caravan when the blue dragon flew down and attacked, destroying two wagons, and a PC. (but that is another story). That was followed by an attack by kobolds. Greenest Keep looked like the best place to hide from a flying dragon, better than in the middle of the road. Thus the campaign started. It didn't make sense to have the players on the outskirts witnessing an attack by a dragon, then especting them to save the townspeople. So I put them in the middle of the attack.
But yah your intro, much better and cooler.
sirkaikillah11 wrote:
pukunui wrote:
You reckon? I was thinking it might make more sense to have him be someone they travel with. We can do a little introductory roleplaying on the road to Greenest, and then when they get to town, he can be telling them "yet another" of his dragon-fighting stories when the dragon roars overhead. Maybe they're not even in the inn yet, just in the town square or something. That way they can see the dragon fly overhead.
pukunui wrote:
Any particular reason you guys prefer the bartender over the traveling companion? I'm just curious.
EDIT: Darvin "Patchy" Nighthill, older brother of Greenest's governor, Tarbaw Nighthill. He looks like Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, except more friendly.
The reason I'm having him toss the PCs a bag of holding is partly just for fun but also because my wife really wants one, and her character didn't get one in Lost Mine, so I thought I'd let the group start out with one. I also like the idea of the PCs not knowing what all is inside it. Mostly it'll just have some minor potions in it, but occasionally they might find something more interesting. I'll either come up with a random table of my own, or just use one (or more) of the magic item tables in the DMG.
pukunui wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
Are your PCs meeting for the first time at the beginning of the adventure?
If so, I would begin the session in the caravan heading to Greenest and have Patchy meet and ask questions of each PC individually. He takes a liking to each of them in turn and invites them all to join him at the Tavern he's recently purchased. He's just now heading to Greenest to take over management and properly retire.
This will give you plenty of time to talk to and introduce the players, give them a reason to all be in the same place at the same time (who can turn down free drinks?) AND lets you start the action part of the session from behind the bar.
Varden_Khol wrote:
Orethalion wrote:
pukunui wrote:
All right, I'll go with the bartender/innkeeper. I'm not terribly fussed either way.
Orethalion wrote:
There is a slight risk that the players will opt to split the party - half going with Patchy, half saving the Swifts. Should that be the case, my advice is: let them! Interrupt Patchy and co with other distractions on the way to the dragon. This makes for very challenging encounters for the split party, but also with a tremendous potential pay-off (and some learning experience - sometimes it is better to keep together).
What do you do if they follow Patchy? Will he order them to back down when he realizes the size of the dragon, survive one hit before succumbing to lightning? Will they be able to drive the dragon away together? Or will the party be able to actually save Patchy if they are nearby when he falls?
pukunui wrote:
How about Patchy as simply a braggart who isn't hoarding magic items? Some confusion in the tavern as his tales are puncutated by real-life sound effects, a quizzical look on his face as he doesn't fully comprehend what a dragon cry sounds like. Townsfolk running in, begging for help, screaming about a dragon. Patchy offering bad or panicked advice about dragons then fleeing to the cellar as kobolds burst in. Light a portion of the Inn on fire to provide a deadlier challenge. Possibly in his haste he abandons his bag of goodies, which could be magical, healing potions, coins, or simply his favorite booze.
The only caveat about starting in town is that the army thinks the PCs might be cultists or mercenaries since they arrive after the attack (stragglers). You could put a cultist or two with kobolds, reduce their numbers, and have an insignia the party could use to disguise at least one of them as a cultist.
Regin_Vargtass wrote:
Horde of the Dragon Queen, episode one, scene one, as written:
DM: You are riding along with the merchant caravan, very close to the next town and a night's rest. As you climb the last hill and look down, you see a town with a castle and two or three other big buildings, a lot of houses ... and a dragon overhead, strafing the castle and swooping over the town.
PCs: We stop the caravan in its tracks and run back down the far side of the hill ! We're NOT going in there!
DM: 
Therefore I agree the PCs should already be in town when the Cult gets there.
- Patches can be another, more-experienced adventurer, who just happens to be going the same direction as the PCs for the time being, temp-working as a caravan guard.
- He knows the barkeep from some old campaign years ago. They are both former members of the Flaming Fists / Balders Gate's army?
- If the PCs don't stop him, Patches will go distract the dragon then try to fight it one-on-one. Have him get dragonbreathed off-camera, and the PCs find him later while doing something else. That "mace" might be a historical relic Netherese War Scepter, which has a Ray of X spell in it. Only one charge left, though Patches doesn't know that. Just enough magic to get the dragon's undivided attention.
- He might 'mentor' the group, seeing them as an instant squad who can accomplish more together than he can alone, especially if he is too wounded to fight the Cult all by himself.
- HE could be the first volunteer for Cyanwrath's duel at the end of the raid. A PC has to talk him out of it (because his hair is still standing on end like a dandelion puff and smouldering just a little bit). He offers the PCs all his useful gear - which does not include the mace, it broke due to being overloaded with Lightning power - for the duel, and lets them keep it afterwards if he has been impressed with their tenacity.
I think the default premise can work as written so long as you get the players' buy-in first. It definitely helps if you use the optional bonds and background features in the Hoard appendix.
That being said, I think I like the idea of having the PCs be in town when the attack starts better for aesthetic reasons, if nothing else. I think it'll be much cooler to have the dragon zoom in overhead and for chaos to erupt all around them.
As for Patchy, he's meant to be sort of a throwaway character who serves two purposes. One is to provide an opportunity for the players to introduce their characters to the other players, and the other is to distract the dragon for a little while so the PCs won't feel so intimidated by it. If none of the PCs go with him, I'll say that he rides off on his horse into the fields, and they can occasionally see/hear the dragon's breath as it tries to sizzle him from the sky. Ultimately he'll bite it, though. If they go looking, they'll find his charred corpse in a field somewhere.
The idea is just to convey that a) this is serious business and b) here is a guy who's willing to sacrifice his life so that others might live. Hopefully the PCs will choose to be as heroic as Patchy (although not necessarily as suicidal).