I'm really struggling here in my own head. I've always been a sequential dungeon guy; a sheet of grid paper, rooms numbered 1-12 with a treasure room at the back.
Well now I'm trying to make a really unique and interesting 1st level adventure in an evil fey based game. Here's the outline I'm trying to nail down:
- PC's go through a carnival that features a bestiary tent and then a hall of humiliation were mites are being made fun of
- That evening the party realizes the sleepy little town is weirdly deserted and they fight one of the beasts from the carnival
- It turns out that the carnies are actually evil fey and they have lured many of the townsfolk out into the woods for a dark revel.
- The REALLY big reveal though is that the Abadaran monks of the priory are in on it; if the carnies aren't allowed to finish their revel then the blight on the land gets worse.
Scenes I thought that would be cool would be the mites inflicting some humiliation on the townies, the other monsters from the beastiary and the revel. I don't own/haven't played any AP's and have only run/played a couple of the old 3.5 Dungeon mag AP adventures so I don't really have a lot of experience with this style of gaming.
My questions are: is this too much for 1 adventure, and how do I lure/move the party from 1 encounter to the next.
My pc's are:
human monk (maneuver master)
human fighter
human alchemist
dwarf cleric of Abadar
human rogue
This is our very first adventure ever in this campaign. The team initially built themselves to be "relic hunters" for the church since this homebrew land has a large amount of ruins. My initial thought was that they come to the area to make contact w/a guide to take them south of town to a ruin but this first adventure happens before they get to that place. Please help.
Please help.
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http://paizo.com/products/btpy80op?GameMastery-Module-E1-Carnival-of-Tears
Simpsons did it!
Anyway, you can close the area off from escape by using some semi Ravenloft tactics. When they walk away north of the carnival, they reappear at the south ot the carnival.
The Hook: The carnival is a band of gypsies from Craplakistan, it is roumored they have stumbled accross part of an ancient relic, and may know where the rest of it is. If they win out the scenario they get the relic part, and the name of the place they got it.
A Humiliation: the fey string the live or dead villagers up like marionettes and use them as puppets.
Screams and maniacal laughter can be a way to lead the team from A to B. But you should try to run the scenario in a non linier fashion. Let them go from 1, 3, 2, 5, 4, then 6.
And, the monks cant stop the fey so they let the fey torture the village because it keeps them from continuing the blight. BUT if the PCs stop the fey, the blight stops as well, and the monks are seen as cowardly bystanders.
A Humiliation: the fey string the live or dead villagers up like marionettes and use them as puppets.
Whoah. I was thinking the mites are prestidigitating some cream pies, hurling some rotting fruit and painting folks faces.
Still I like your other suggestions a lot thank you. I also thought I'd have a scene somewhere before the final fight the party confronts the cowardly monks to get to the heart of the matter.
So... the party arrives to meet a person about guiding them to the ruins (I still need this hook to setup adv 2) but after arriving and nosing about they hear the rumors of the gypsies' relic. They head back to the carnival after nightfall and they go among the fair grounds like you said: from 1 to 3 to 6 to 2...
Clues they pick up along the way seem to point to some kind of involvement by the monks. They head to the priory, confront the monks, and find out that not only is there the whole blight-relic thing but also that the order's inquisitor and NPC guide's love interest is a werewolf and so the whole thing that started this was a cure for the boy (again; adv 2 tie in).
If the party stops the revel they'll stop the blight but the boy goes full-fledged werewolf (moral dilemma) but if they don't the blight is complete and widespread damage will follow.
Ok, so the mechanics then are the ravenloftian fog/reappearance thing to keep them in the carnival area until some trigger (destroy some monster/villain, deal w/a mcguffin, etc) at which point they go to chapter 2 of the adventure and then finally chapter 3 at the revel. Got it.
Do you think this is too much for a single adventure?
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The characters need a reason the be in the area of the carnival. If its their home town, great. Maybe they're just passing through. Maybe they have friends or a lead in the area.
I'd play the carnival as a non-combat event. Don't spend too much time there unless you're introducing NPC's for later. Have a few pregenerated NPC's in case the players want to roleplay more than you expect. Note the important features of the carnival; it may be benficial to write out a text box beforehand and read it, just like in a published adventure. That way the players can explore as they please. Be ready in case they want nothing to do with the carnival at all.
After the players leave the carnival, there should be something else to do: go see their contact, meet the dancers they spoke to at the carnival, return after closing time to ask about buying the sword swallower's magic sword, etc. It should not be "return home for the night," or "go back to the inn, eat and go to bed." You want them out and about so that they can notice the lack of people and have the encounter you mentioned.
The encounter should lead them to investigate the carnival and possibly another combat encounter. Without a tracker, they'll need to find hard evidence, like a written note that tells them where to go. Perhaps a few mites or some of the carnies jump the group from a wagon and searching the wagon reveals the note. The players should discover enough to be interested in going after them.
Scenes from the revel are in your hands and can be as vicious or tame as you like. However, the players should feel obligated to intervene. This could lead to several encounters - you probably don't want one huge encounter. Perhaps the revel is spread out over several adjacent glens. Each one caters to particular fey desires with the charmed or otherwise enspelled townsfolk as the helpless victims. If the townsfolk fall unconsious when released from the enchantment, there will likely be too many for the players to transport to the safety of town. This will force the players to continue on, rather than retreat, since the fey will just find the townsfolk again and continue.
After several encounters in the glades the players find the last one. Here you'll have the boss fey. You could also have one of the Abadarian monks back up the fey, telling the characters not to interfere with what they don't understand. Most players would beat the snot out of such a person. If you don't want an Abadarian present, there can be another note on the boss fey from the monks. This one would make it clear that the fey have the consent of the Abadarians to proceed.
This should lead to a confrontation with the monks. Wheather or not this confrontation is combat or not is up to you. Perhaps it starts as combat and, if the PC's win, the leaders surrender, spilling the secret about the blighted land. It then falls to the characters to end the blight. If there is combat with the Abadarians, the players are unlikely to listen to requests for aid from them. Given that there is an Abadarian cleric in the party, it probably won't come to battle. The townsfolk could add some pressure here. Perhaps some of the commoners willingly went or sent their family to the fey to be abused in order to seal their bargain. The townsfolk then ask (or demand) that the PCs make it right, since they disrupted the revel.
The fey will, if any are alive, probably refuse to deal with the characters, they'll have to figure it out on their own. This would lead to an investigation of the source of the blight. Is it an old curse that needs to be removed? Is it the hex of a Witch that the fey have a second bargain with? Perhaps a planar encroachment that a fey lord on the plane of shadow is willing to suspend -- as long as his minions return with enough stolen memories, emotions and blood to satiate him.
You'll have to define the course of the story from there. However, while the storyline can be predetermined, not many players enjoy being railroaded. Their choices should be made willingly, with the enticement of challenge and rewards, rather than because there is no other choice. Removing a blight would depend on its nature and could easily lead into the "relic hunter" area as the PCs hunt down leads and rumors of magic that can do the trick.
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I tend to run my fey as dementedly evil, annoyingly tricky, or like inquisitive children. Sounds like you want tricky, so.
Standard Fey teasing:
Stealing shinies! Nothing too drastic like the partys weapons or magic. But there non magic jewelry, candy, beads, silverware, glasses, pens
Pestering Know-it-alls. Let the player know that their sword is on the wrong hip. Let them know that the "Dressed in Leather" look went out in the 70s. Tell the players the reason they are so fat is due to all the doughnuts they must be eating.
Awkward immobilizer. Steals shoes/shoelaces/ties shoelaces together. Throws spiders in the players hair. Fill their backpacks with molasses or honey. Throws a beehive at the partys feet.