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Beginning a campaign with 4 players. I need adventure ideas for the first session.
It seems fitting to drive them towards the Kingmaker material, given the backstories, but I am not sure how to get them there.

2 PCs are half-brothers who have never met. They are illegitimate sons of the late Lord Lebeda and now that Lander Lebeda (the "legitimate" heir) is of age to become Lord, he has seen to the arrest of any illegitimate older brothers who threaten his rule.

1 PC is a sorcerer, also on the run because of the unfortunate development of her powers.

(4th PC is a gnome cleric with an undefined backstory)

So, that leaves me wanting to do an "Elder Scrolls" styled start, where the PC's meet in jail somewhere, waiting to be transported back to their pursuers for execution.

Play can begin either in jail or in transit in a paddywagon.

From here I am grateful for any ideas and help.

I know that I'd like the session to finish near or in Oleg's Trading Post, in someone's good graces enough to have received a charter to explore the Stolen Lands (loosely dipping into Kingmaker AP as long as players are into it.)
I'd like to explore potential revenge plots or Game of Thrones style noble drama from the backstories later down the road.

Thanks!

Although I will probably go w more of a "tower has been taken over by the perils of magic gone wrong" scenario, and not the illusionist idea; I am fond of that idea...
Anyone else remember the Circus Tent quest early on in Baldur's Gate II? Some of it was real, but the grandeur of everything was the biggest illusion. Very Similar idea.

ohhhh.... I like that!

Family Slaughtered, mindless sentience, Bal-Thor in hiding, or maybe something worse on the top floor...

but for now, seeding the idea of the slaughtered family due to alchemy/magic gone wrong fits very well.

What encounters could they run into, other than maybe inanimate objects toruring them, etc?

Any idea on how to leave a clue and leave them wanting more?

Thank you!

I seeded an adventure idea for my PC's last week and they jumped on it.

I gave the premise and told them what they "knew" but need help actually fleshing it out...

They have uncovered a piece (one tear) of an amulet called the "tears of Bal-Thor", An amulet that opens up the dungeon/tower/whatever to Bal-Thor manor.

Basically, each tear is a magical key that opens up the entrance to one floor of the dungeon/tower, and they (conveniently) have the key to the first floor.

Here is what they know:
Bal-Thor was a wizard who lived way out in the marsh w his family. They came in to town periodically, and were generally decent people, until one day (upon the completion of his tower perhaps?) they stopped coming out.
No one has heard from Bal-Thor or his family in decades... but why?

SO what do we learn on floor one of the tower?
Who is Bal-Thor, and why exactly does he have a dungeon?
What type of ecology/encounters should they find in this dungeon?

Any help, ideas, suggestions, or advice is very welcome! Thanks in advance.

you guys make me realize how bad of a GM I have become...
really great job guys! Thank you!

Moderator? please close this thread. game over. case closed. issue solved.

:D

(jk tho, keep it coming, in case others like these plots)

Anyone?

Just throw out whatever you got.

IF I do end up running a mystery style adventure,

There is rest stop / bunkhouse nearby. The party would be camped there, but arrived at nightfall, and find the gate pulled shut until morning.
(My excuse to force the ranger to go forage.)

This may provide some opportunity for the PC's to ask around for any strange happenings.

Also, this could provide for a decent reason that the gates would be shut at night in the first place.

My issue is that I don't know "what" they would be investigating.

The ranger can't make it to our game, halting the current quest-line.

Here is the "filler" plot seed I am working with instead... the ol' party snatcher.

As the PC's make camp, the ranger leaves to forage for food. Party stays back, as they have been doing (for various reasons) only to find that the ranger doesn't return.
Its soft ground so tracks won't be TOO terribly hard to track.
The idea is that the ranger has been taken, and they will need to investigate...

Where do I go from here?
Why was he taken? For What motivation?

I'd like to do something horror themed, or just creepy. maybe as they are looking for him, they find a haunted mansion, that he is for some reason in the basement of? or something... idrk.

Here is what makes it tough... we re-rolled last week, so everyone is first level atm.

Also, we have some pretty new players so don't be afraid to suggest the cliche. :)

I believe the best answer will be determined by how you as a GM run your economy in your gaming setting. Are the sales of goods depreciated due to the ability to use magical means to increase supply, to meet a given demand?

This is usually an area where real life economics doesn't always translate well into fantasy role-playing.

Think back to 3rd edition DnD when the price to purchase the stone for a stone castle was several times more than the hireling spell cost of hiring a druid to use her daily allotment of "Transmute Mud to Rock" and "wall of stone" spells.

Point being, that the ability to magically create something (or in this case, copy something," should greatly effect and undercut the supply of goods in an otherwise mundane economy.

So, in our present modern-world economy, the value of a copy of a rare book is greatly depreciated because of an endless supply, that more than meets the demand. Take "The Art of War" for example: An early edition copy is priceless, but because of modern (cheap, quick) printing I can go to Barnes and Noble and buy a cheaply-bound copy of this 2400 year-old book for $14.99.

So, just having a way to make cheap, quick copies of a product in your game world, should greatly effect supply to the point that the value of many goods and services should be depressed. The copies shouldn't really be worth much, assuming other NPC's in your world have also thought up magical means to cheaply meet the demand of book-buying.

If it were me, I'd tempt to the players to try and sell the books to a collector as if they were originals, and treat them as forgeries, or have them sell the books for a very cheap price. Could be an interesting sub-quest.

For a good example of how magical economies should more-likely look, take a look at the Ptolus campaign setting by Monty Cook. He takes into account the hyper-present presence of magic into the prices of goods, instead of just trying to come up with real-world equivalent prices.
The only other way I have found to remedy the collapsible economy syndrome in fantasy roleplaying is to run a low-magic campaign setting, where the prices of goods could rarely be undercut by magical means. In this case, the copies that your PC's make would indeed be quite valuable.

TL;DR

Always reward you players for coming up w creative ideas.

In this case however, the copies probably shouldn't be worth much... at all.

That's right!

Thank you so much. That helps me put it into perspective. Trapper Ranger seems the best option, with ranks in other skills to round out the party.

How viable is a level splash of rogue down the road, with the trapper ranger build?

not worth it, or?

Thank you so much for the quick replies!

I guess the only thing I am missing is diplomacy and slight of hand... not necessary, but fun. :)

Somehow posted this twice... can a mod combine or delete one of these?

Losing spells is fitting for the lore. It is a low-magic campaign.

I will check it out, thanks!

Any ideas on multi-classing? would it even be viable?

I've been away from the game for awhile, and I am much more familiar with 3.5, so feel free to point out the obvious.

We are running a game with only 3 players and this player will be filling the role of the skill-based character.

He needs to track/wilderness survival, as well as do the rogue stuff like trap-spotting / disable device.

we are beginning at lvl 1 but I understand that he won't necessarily have all of that at first level.

The PC would like to be wilderness-y for roleplay purposes, but rogue-ish for party balance.

All ideas are welcome and appreciated!
Thank you so much for your input. :)

I've been away from the game for awhile, and I am much more familiar with 3.5, so feel free to point out the obvious.

We are running a game with only 3 players and this player will be filling the role of the skill-based character.

He needs to track/wilderness survival, as well as do the rogue stuff like trap-spotting / disable device.

we are beginning at lvl 1 but I understand that he won't necessarily have all of that at first level.

The PC would like to be wilderness-y for roleplay purposes, but rogue-ish for party balance.

All ideas are welcome and appreciated!
Thank you so much for your input. :)

Wow... I GM not because I like it, but because I would rather run a game than play in one with a worse GM than myself...

That being said, I realize now that I am a complete amateur (creatively) compared to all of you! You are all sickly creative and I like it.

I have a question about Mad Jackson's comment:
What levels are we speaking of to be able to contend with gods? and do we even have rules and lore for me to be able to run that effectively or would it be up to me to just make it up?

Keep em coming everyone! you are fueling a truly nasty (EPIC) campaign!

Very good stuff, thank you!

A kidnapped princess is a must.

My question now is:
What do i do until then? How do I stretch this into 8 or so sessions?

I mean, they surely can't face the dragon now and probably shouldn't even know it exists.

Does the Dragon need to be doing something and interacting with the world in a way that the PC's can thwart plans and save people from the evil, while still trying to connect all of the clues to learn of the dragon?

What would that be?

I guess what I am asking is; now that we have the conclusion... what is the exposition? what should be happening until then?

Great! ^

I will look into this immediately!

I like that idea a lot. Now I just have to figure out how to drop clues of the dragon and lead up to the encounter appropriately.

maybe have a network of minions that they have to get to first in order to learn of the BBEG. idrk.

If you're allowed to use APG, I'd go melee alchemist. Lately, I've been hung up on them and you're perfectly geared to be melee alchemist. For race, I'd go human for the extra feat, extra extracts, and the +2 ability score.

This ^

Google Ogre's Alchemist guide and look at the "Mr. Hyde" build he has put up. Your stats fit it very very well!

Alchemists are fun to play and delightfully effective if done right. :)

Here's the thing: I have 2-3 months left at college and then no more gaming group.
I have promised them one last epic traditionally iconic and a little over the top, borderline cliche awesomeness sort of campaign.

None of the classics are taboo here, though I would like some creativity as well.

Here was our first session:

The PC's are all very young and inexperienced, but have been summoned to a secret meeting of the Winbourne Alliance (think Harpers from Forgotten Realms) where they were told that they were the chosen ones to stop the great evil that is emerging on the world, blah blah blah...

btw, they all have an item that allows them to grow in power quickly... meaning they will be hyper-leveling in order to play this thing in only a few months.

while prophecies have chosen them and says that they will be called when they would be needed most, they have not been informed of what exactly the evil is.

Tomorrow they are off to find the sage that is familiar enough with the ancient prophecies to tell them what they will be up against.

The Problem: I don't know what they should be up against!

I am thinking maybe a vampire force of evil anti-paladins... but what would there motive be? or random gates that spawn and unleash floods of devils and demons???

or perhaps a devil-worshiping vampire army that is setting up magic gates to spawn hoards of devils and demons...

my problem is motivation of the evil group. I need help just getting all of this thought out so that we can come up with a plan for our heroes.

How would you construct this?
Who would the BBEG be?
Locations?

Any help or advice is very much appreciated!

Right. I plan on allowing them to see petrified statues to clue them in. Also the cult uses reptiles frequently as part of their dogma so the statues should be a dead giveaway w any knowledge checks.

I agree... 4 sets of goggles makes it too easy imo. I could stand to give them one though.

Both items are great guys, thanks.
I think the 2k price on the Glarecutters makes them hard to justify compared to the 10gp smoked goggles.

ok, now assume you were the gm...

standard lair of cultists but with a basilisk guard... should I let one of the cultists have a pair of these goggles so that the players aren't completely unprepared, or should I just let them attempt to avert their eyes?

Party consists of:
fighter6
Rogue5/Alchemist1
bard6
ranger5

While this will be an end of session encounter, it will not be the big boss.

What would you do?

Party will be encountering a Basilisk next week.

What are cheap ways to effectively combat one?

Magic items, etc.

I guess I am looking for cost-effective ways to circumvent the gaze attack particularly.

Thanks!

game went great. There was something for everyone and each player had their chance to shine.

Thanks for all of the help!

very good stuff Michael!

I wouldn't mind more explanation on "clever distractions" as you said above.
The bard advice is great as I am having trouble getting his character to shine.

Thanks again!

Great info bfobar, thanks!

I have a few ideas. this is what I have so far:

A ghost town that was once an old mining town before mines collapsed or whatever... so the buildings in the town serve as guard posts but the encampment itself is in the mine. the villain is using a tunnel dug from one of the buildings to the mines... so:
if the players scout the place, they see people going in and out of the old general store... if they enter they find a secret tunnel going into the old mines.

What encounters would you run in this situation?
it is a basic rescue situation, but what would make it unique?

I like the idea of undead sentries. Maybe some hired mercenary lackeys in the ghost town that aren't allowed below?

any ideas or suggestions appreciated!

After reading the former thread, I largely agree w Shadowsoul.

I think however, my answer is this:
If they are veteran gamers, never take it easy on them. Ever. They expect the GM to always provide that sense of adventure fueled by a sense of loss if they mess up. If the game is soft, they won't really enjoy it.

However, if the players are new EXPLAIN yourself every step of the way...
If they are new, you do want to warn them of certain dangers they put themselves in.
If the player is still learning, its ok to say "as a ranger you know that these dire wolves use pack tactics and will therefore be flanking as much as possible so be careful." Or, "because the villian has studied the party, he will of course eliminate the biggest threat first so that is why im mazeing the barb."

I have told my party several times "now after a few sessions you will be expected to figure this out on your own, but since you are newer gamers blah blah blah."

Relevance to thread: kill the mount if it makes sense, and kill that over-powered barbarian. but, make sure the party isn't going in blind w no clue that they should have prepared themselves for that dynamic of gameplay. Our younger generation of players comes from the video game era... if it isn't presented as a possible dynamic from the beginning, they will never know to prepare against it.

I need to flesh out my dungeon for tonight and need ideas...

Synopsis:
A Soothsayer type was kidnapped and has left clues to lead the party to save her.
She was kidnapped by a secret cult of which the party has seen clues of in past sessions but has not encountered.
They are mainly a cult of witches, evil clerics, and rogue assassin types.

So, if you were running this, what would the players find when they got to where the girl is?

Should it be an old abandoned house in the forest?
A traditional dungeon?
A small frontier-style ghost town?

What would you run, how would it play out ideally, and please list any cool encounter ideas.

Oh, and the party is 6th level consisting of:
Rogue (w alchemist level splash)
Fighter (sword and board)
Bard
Ranger

I can also throw in a Gunslinger that is also looking for the soothsayer girl. He will show up at just the right time, if the players get in over their head.

Thanks in advance!

Does anyone else scale their fumble rules by level?
When my PC's were level 1 I let them roll to confirm a miss on a nat 1, and would find something humorous, but seldom tragic, to allow happen...

around level 3 or so I started scaling it back... making them roll a 1 on their confirmation to have them fumble, otherwise it is just a miss...

Around level 6 or so, I count 1's as a miss and move on. Depending on the encounter, I may let them still hit, providing the need for pacing. If they are just working through a low CR mob that is only their to complete the ecology of a dungeon, there is no reason to slow down play w misses that won't really matter... they still get the rest of their attacks.

Reasoning:
a character w 2 attacks who is supposedly a well-trained combatant can make 20 attacks per minute. (2 attacks per 6 seconds) That means that they are (potentially) fumbling once a minute... which is ridiculous.
A trained swordsman should not fumble once a minute. they shouldn't even ALMOST fumble once a minute. It doesn't make sense.

Therefore, my pref is to scale it as you go. Let in a few humorous fumble's early on. Later on, let the PC's be the heroes that they are!