Askren |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So, gearing up to start running CoCT again, and this time around I wanted to really crank up the intro mission a bit. I always felt that while the twist was great and it had some of the best characters and setting an AP has had, it fell short in the department of having any real weight or punch.
Starting with the Player's Guide really selling up Gaedren as this big underworld force only to have him crash and burn as soon as anyone challenges him and then never be mentioned again, really doesn't have the impact I'm going for.
So I wanted to find a way to have Zellara bring the party together based on their destiny and connections through Gaedren, but I didn't like the idea of her just sending them right to his door. So I wanted to have the players basically do what Zellara just sort of handwaves in her speech, the snooping around and bribing people to try and find his hideout. I think this serves two purposes, the first being that it lets the players really dive right in to the city and start using their wits and making contacts to explore the personality and boundaries of the town, and two being that it gives the players a bit of grounding in the setting, letting them experience it at it's most normal before everything turns to riot and terror.
The problem I'm encountering here is one of Zellara;
DundjinnMasta |
Maybe she doesn't know she is even dead? I've been watching alot of Supernatural lately... lol. Maybe there is a hole in her memory and she is fixated on Gaedren because he killed her, but she doesn't exactly know the connection so she made it all up (maybe even unknowingly)... again so much Supernatural lol
Orthos |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The way I plan to explain it is that Zellara isn't actually Zellara.
So thanks to a case of mistaken identity, she saw Zellara's severed head with her cards and shortly after discovered the corpse of Zellara's son, mistakenly deduced that was her own head she saw (which then affects how she appears to the PCs, showing up as a commoner fortune-teller rather than a tiefling noble), was able to piece together what happened to the two of them and, thinking it was her own death, arranged for the PCs to avenge her.
As the campaign goes on, she'll start to recover more of her original identity - haven't decided exactly what yet but something fairly early on will reveal that she isn't who she thinks she is, thus sparking her and the players to try and figure out who she used to be, before the final reveal in the castle when they find Venestra's corpse.
Askren |
Maybe she doesn't know she is even dead? I've been watching alot of Supernatural lately... lol. Maybe there is a hole in her memory and she is fixated on Gaedren because he killed her, but she doesn't exactly know the connection so she made it all up (maybe even unknowingly)... again so much Supernatural lol
Which sort of subverts the idea that she sought out and brought the players together to save the city, but instead makes it just for personal revenge, doesn't it? So why the transition to her knowing things and pushing the players onwards later in the story? That would be a rather odd personality shift if she just went from a crazy ghost bent on revenge to some noble patron, without explaining why.
...stuff
While it's interesting, I'm personally not crazy about it. I don't like changing things just for the sake of it, especially if it involves writing a new NPC I have no reason to write to begin with.
CuttinCurt |
Something I did to juice the intro to my game was...
I had the players not choose a campaign trait (only gave them 1 at the beginning) and started everyone in Prison (w/gaedren). The reason they were there was of their own choosing (any non-violent charge or minor violence only suck as resisting arrest in conjunction with their non-violent crime). Then, while in prison, the mother/son team (Zelara) were the targets of this Gaedren fellow. The pc's witness not only their death, but become the next play things of Gaedren. They are beaten by gaedrens lackeys, humiliated, and abused. One of the characters was even taken by one of the guards and delivered to Gaedrens cell where Gaedren and his cell mate proceed to do everything but sexually abuse him.
Once I felt that the PC's had the proper hatred for the guy (ie. they began planning an assault on him in the main courtyard of the prison) I had gaedren released.
Shortly after, the spirit of Zelara shows up and helps them escape if they agree to avenge her and kill gaedren after they get out.
Needless to say, it was the best all day game I ever had adding my own introduction and using the fishery as the place of revenge for the PC's. After a full 24hrs of pain inflicting upon poor gaedren (screw the kids right? who needs the orphans... hehe), they strung him up like he had so many others and fed him to the shark slowly. I don't think I have ever seen my players so satisfied by killing a low level baddy. The only thing is it took a full 8 hour game session to fit all this in. If you are happy with that kind of time investment, then go for it. Lets just say that my players told me after the game that it was the best intro they had seen modified in such a way. (because they had read the players guide and some of them had already read the AP).
I had one of other baddies escape from the fight with the pc's in the fishery only to use that guy to lead them to the All Worlds Meats Market instead of using Cressida Kroft. Meeting Cressida came after when they had taken out the entire place...
I had the PC's pick their second trait, saying they could pick anything that fit what had happened to their characters in the prison or at the fishery, or with interacting with Zelara's ghost.
It worked out well.
Yes, it required me to make a prison map, but it was well worth it. :D
And I had Zelara be a part of Blackjack's contacts, which added some extra story line content for two of the characters in the group. It was fun.
Knick |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
There is a god chance I'm woefully late to help, if anything I say would actually help, but just in case I'm not, or for the sake of others reading the forums, I'll throw in my 2cp.
You are absolutely right about the opener, and expanding the beginning is the number one best advice I can give to anybody running this game.
The solution I would offer, however, doesn't require Zellara to forget where her body is at all, she just needs to fib a little. Why? Because killing Lamm isn't good enough. She wants to tear down his life just like hers was and then kill him.
SO, just have her tell the party that she doesn't know exactly where Gaedren is (not a complete lie if we cling to the literal definition of exactly), but that she DOES know where one of his lieutenants is. If they could bring back a personal item of the henchman, she can use that connection to aid in her divinations. Then you send them to as many shiver labs and bad bookies as you like, where the vindictive group will likely take those personal items from cold, dead hands--destroying Lamm's organization in the process. I made them Lamm's actual children, which made it more fun for everybody involved. Then they ultimately take down Gaedren and the city goes to hell. Of course, the old fishery was kinda boring after a battle with alchemists in a small underground room with only a thin pane of glass separating everyone from thousands of dream spiders, but I guess there is a price for everything.
Hope that inspires!
On a side note, it has been a long time since I read and ran this game last, but, as far as I recall, he son died trying to get the cards back and Zellara died trying to get her son back. I'm guessing Gaedren has killed lots of people, why he chose to put her head in a box when he doesn't seem to collect lots of bodies I don't know.
Orthos |
Her ghost is attached to her home.
If you do that, you'll need to either come up with a reason for the PCs to keep coming back to her home (which I guess could work if it sets them up as a headquarters, but it'll cause trouble during Chapters 4 and 5 when they're out of the city) to see her and get their Harrow readings and the associated bonuses, or give her a LOT more traveling leeway than most ghosts are assumed to have.
As written, she's bound to her cards, which is what allows her to be able to travel with the party.
Ron Hay |
Quote:Her ghost is attached to her home.If you do that, you'll need to either come up with a reason for the PCs to keep coming back to her home (which I guess could work if it sets them up as a headquarters, but it'll cause trouble during Chapters 4 and 5 when they're out of the city) to see her and get their Harrow readings and the associated bonuses, or give her a LOT more traveling leeway than most ghosts are assumed to have.
As written, she's bound to her cards, which is what allows her to be able to travel with the party.
True. I meant bound to her home until the cards can be retrieved, then she's bound to the cards. Of course I'm just digging into the AP, so there may be other things I need to fix there.
Askren |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since I can't sleep, I'll write up how this went down for me and you guys can take some ideas from it, if it works for you.
First, I regret not having the foresight to run a bit of Korvosa adventuring before the cards were given out. I know, hindsight and all that, but I really want more time before Anarchy starts in the city to grow connections. I had players whip up some NPCs and community ties in their backgrounds to use as resources, but I don't think it was enough.
Anyway, I started my session by having players show up with a brief write-up of who their character is, and more importantly, a detailed description of how this particular average day in their life goes, with all the basic events that take place up to the point where, during the course of this day, they stumble across the Harrow card that carries a message meant for them. They get to describe how they find it, how they react, etc.
The players went to Zellara, and I think I may have fumbled something because unlike my first game where they were enthralled by her, this group seemed to approach her very skeptically, as "Just another fortune teller", and even the Harrow reading she gave to prove what she knows about them, they just kind of shrugged off. But, they took the quest because they all had ties to Gaedren and wanted him taken care of. Bear in mind, I told them to think of him as more of a past trauma, rather than something front-and-center in their mind when the game starts, the card they get should dredge up the memory, I didn't want them showing up as if they were gung-ho to kill him since they were kids.
Now, I made it so Zellara didn't have direct information about his location, simply by never having her actually visit him in person. No one questioned it really. So I wanted to stretch out the time it took to get to the fishery, but I decided not to make it take a ton of time. The players went out into the underworld for a bit, using their connections to collect the information that since they all last saw him, Gaedren has cut most of his criminal ties and "gone legit", by taking on a fish business that lets him profit without any real effort from him, because getting old has a way of doing that to you. So they got the location of his warehouse, and scouted it out for a day (this is two days passed since the game started), then went in the following day at night.
Taking the place by surprise at night, they fought Giggles right up, as he caught them on his patrol route, but they had just opened the door to the room with the sleeping Hookshanks and Yargin, who they basically held at knifepoint while the fight went on to keep from moving. Giggles and the dog taken care of, Hookshanks convinced them to let him go while Yargin was locked in the bedroom with a desk to the door. Hookshanks gave them some info about Gaedren and that his operations have mostly been taken over by other people, so a lot of traces of his organization still exist. In the desk of the office, I put a letter from Rolth requesting bodies of certain physical characteristics be sold to him if they happen to produce any, hopefully this will become interesting later by hinting that there's a golem-making necromancer somewhere.
They let the kids go, went through to Gaedren, and fought him, no big deal. In his treasure room, I put a lockbox filled with Shiver and Dream Spider venom, the former which the ex-addict PC promptle destroyed, and the box they kept (It's from Devargo). Again, hopefully these ties will keep things from from feeling disconnected, and will let the players feel like it's a constant chain of events.
Zellara's head was interesting also, I had her appear behind them as soon as they identified the Harrow Deck artifact. This time, the Cleric of Pharasma was very keen on knowing what they needed to do to put her to rest, which I couldn't really just explain away very well, I don't think they were very convinced about it being "My soul is here to help you save the world" kinda stuff.
Anyway, that's where we ended. I've got plans for the following:
-The next day or so, I assume they will all find a collective shelter to examine the clues and talk things over. I'm gonna start dropping rumors about things not being right at the palace, but no chaos just yet.
-After they've gotten their heads together and picked up on the rumblings, I want to have people out in the streets shouting about the king's death, spreading the news all over, with people arguing about Ileosa taking over.
-Then the next 4 days or so will be rumors and news spreading through the city as mobs start to form, guards start to hit the streets, and by the end of it, the Acadamae and Bank will shut their doors.
My goal is to pad out the campaign and not make it feel like a flashmob, but more like a real, building frenzy that they're caught up in. Any suggestions on this, I would certainly welcome.
Olondir |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hey you're on a great start!
I'm in the process of crafting my changes to the riots and would love some feedback. This might be useful to you.
I'm trying with having a protest problem happen before the riots that can look bad. Like the riots in the USA in Ferguson, Missouri. I'm scared because the consequences of pc failure or inaction might be really bad. Anyways here's my ideas about returning the brooch and the initial protest. I'm gonna chew on this for a bit. Just how I posted my changes to taking down Gaedren, I'll do a long post about the riots.
Returning the Brooch
Once the PCs have the Brooch and learn it is the Queen’s (any jewelry store will know this brooch is hot and will not buy it) and there’s a reward already out for it.
Meeting the Queen will have them wait in the main castle for a while. Also waiting with them is the Chelish Ambassador who is prone to complain about how he’s tired of wearing down the floor of this castle and demands to speak to the king at once. When Sabina enters the hall and asks that the PCs come with her, he gets uppity. How dare this riff-raff show up and be heard before myself? He threatens them with a nasty word to Cheliax about how rude they are, and Sabina tells him that no matter what he says, the king is indisposed and is not taking any visitors and he can take his threats and shove it up his ass! He storms out.
The PCs have a chance here to meet Sabina and the Queen and have them be rewarded for returning this brooch! Perhaps word of their involvement with the Guard and/or taking down Gaedren Lamm will mean she will ask them to meet with the newly appointed Field Marshall, Kroft. She sees her as promising and hopeful. Someone who can really amend this stressed city.
The Initial Riots
Read this in your favorite news reporter’s voice
Breaking news in Korvosa this evening; a young Korvosan was stabbed by police outside the Wounded Wretch Taphouse which some are calling a “Gross Miscarriage of Justice.” The Guardsmen in question was responding to a disturbance call inside the Taphouse where, according to observers, proceeded to fatally stab the victim. It is unclear at this time if the victim was, indeed, armed or a threat, but the crowd seems to be organizing an ad-hoc protest in response.
This is the first battle of a very long, bloody war for the soul of Korvosa.
The Protests start in Endrin Square and they’re going across the high bridge to Eodred’s Walk. The Guards have the other side of the bridge barricaded and the Guard are fully armed and armored. With archers set up in the towers and across the western gatehouse of the bridge.
- It’s readily obvious that the Guardsmen are under orders to not let any protest reach Eodred’s circle. They are armed and under orders this is an “unruly mob” and “violent”
- The marchers are armed only with their beliefs and cries. They are led by a few Varisian religious (Desnan acolytes) and cultural leaders. Among the ranks of marchers are Shoanti and Chelaxian Korvosans who are outraged.
- As the Marchers cross the bridge a crowd gathers near the guards. The Guard is ordered to stand, knock arrows, and orders the crowd to disperse or be fired upon as armed militants.
- The marchers will do no such thing, but will not proceed across the bridge. They chant they are unarmed and come with a peaceful message. Signs and portraits of the slain Korvosan are seen in the crowd. The first row of protesters are armed with flowers.
The PCs can influence the Korvosan Guard here with a successful diplomacy check to not respond with force. The Guard’s leader here is now Captian Jalento. He’s under orders that this crowd is armed and hide in wait in the middle of that crowd as cowards! He knows in her heart this isn’t the case and a lot of these guardsman are neighbors to folks in this crowd. Appealing to the notion these are your neighbors and not to respond in force will be successful.
Should the PCs do nothing, have Field Marshall Kroft ride out at the peak of tensions and have her arrive and her order blare out that the guard is to stand down at once. She orders the guard to rally at the Citadel and invites the PCs should they be around.
I'm afraid of using her as a dues ex machina here but like.. Idk.
Askren |
I don't know about the mob thing, that may work for you, but I'm not sure enough of what you're trying to accomplish with it to really give it a shake. Is the point to show that the guard in the city are quick to respond with force and that the populace are easy to anger and will rally together at anything? I don't know if I want to send those messages.
Personally I'm gonna try and make the mob thing feel like a building tension that finally bursts at the seams when the guards are brought in to contain it. Not sure what exactly I'll do for that, but I'll have to wing it based on where my players go.
As for the brooch, I'm going to do the normal thing of have them spend a bit of time identifying it, probably through underworld fences and stuff, when someone will notify them that it's the royal seal or something, and direct them to the castle, where I'll go through the normal motions of making them feel imposed upon by being there, and such.
I had a chance to glance over your thread of suggestions, and I'll probably be toying with some of them to see if I can make some ideas work.
Olondir |
Yeah I don't know either. My intent was to have a protest potentially turn bad and sorta snowball into the riots, but I just can't seem to get it right. It's hard to have that building up tension and steam and have it release right. I may well just scrap it and run the riots as written when I'm ready.
I'll like to see what you come up with.
MrVergee |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Initial Riots
Read this in your favorite news reporter’s voice
Breaking news in Korvosa this evening; a young Korvosan was stabbed by police outside the Wounded Wretch Taphouse which some are calling a “Gross Miscarriage of Justice.” The Guardsmen in question was responding to a disturbance call inside the Taphouse where, according to observers, proceeded to fatally stab the victim. It is unclear at this time if the victim was, indeed, armed or a threat, but the crowd seems to be organizing an ad-hoc protest in response.
This is the first battle of a very long, bloody war for the soul of Korvosa.
While I do like your idea that the riots are caused by a 'police' incident getting out of hand, I miss the link with the king's passing. The real reason why the people are rioting is their lack of trust in the new queen's ability to rule. So instead of some drunk nobody who gets killed by accident, I'd link it to the king.
Here's an idea: after the king died, people are sad and start drinking to the king's health. Some of them get really drunk and start discussing the future. In their drunken stupor, they are sure that the queen won't be able to rule Korvosa well, so they (just a dozen men or so, not a lot) march to the castle, demanding to speak to the queen. When the guards refuse them entry, a skirmish ensues at the foot of the great mastaba, which leads to death of one of the drunkards. This death could feed more protest ...
Olondir |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My initial idea was how a socially and economically charged protest swirled and churned into riots against the Queen. So this protest for the Justice against this slain guy and the guards overreacting their attempts to protest then turns into demonstrations against the guard for overreacting and the government sanctioned authority. But now with the king dead.. Well now it's the perfect time and all sorts of people to protest.
To me, the death of the King was more like the reason why this incident went massive. The lack of confidence and uncertainty of future with the Queen and pent up frustration is really what caused this... Which is what I wanted to have the original protest be about. An outlet for pent up frustration.
That was my plan but perhaps this is too complex for the game.
Askren |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Well, my suggestion for that specific case would be this (and bear in mind, I don't know for sure how you're handling the tone of the city up to and through the Fishery hunt);
I would do what I'm doing now, which is dropping hints about things not being right in the castle (maybe too many guards are on duty at the gates, maybe no news has been in or out in a while and emissaries are being turned away, things that are not out-and-out signs of foul play, but that the normal operation has been interrupted), and in the middle of all that, drop a line to PC (maybe via a friend who is sympathetic to the cause of the victim/people, maybe just via someone shouting news on the corner, however you want) that there are some people gathering in the square to ask for justice for something that you want to be the original catalyst for the riots. [Though do remember, Korvosa is not really modern-day America, and I don't think it would be a town that would be so quick to have public protests over the death of one single person, nor that anyone in the city would even consider that an option for getting things done. It's up to you, but to me, it clashes tonally a bit. I would re-write it to be something a little more in-line with the city's public interest.]
Once you've got those two pieces of scenery tee'd up, I would personally go the route of having the guards hit the pavement as soon as news starts spreading of the king's death, and because this protest mob is already formed up, they'll be caught in the middle of it. Hellknights called to the scene could easily be the unnecessary use of force that pushes everything over the edge, and suddenly this small public display turns into the tipping point for the entire city's lack of faith in Ileosa's ability to control things, their distrust of her fueling the rage, and as more people pour into the streets, more guards and knights push back, creating full on chaos.
This could take a day or two to play out, but I think the most important thing to remember is that this doesn't have to happen on-screen. Like, the players don't actually have to be present while all this happens, more than likely they'll be off somewhere else and only see and hear fragments of it, and if they ask around about what's going on, you can give them bits and pieces of the whole picture so they can put the puzzle together and understand just why things are the way they are. I say this because the idea is anarchy and chaos, and I think it's important to remember that to really sell this idea, the players need to be just as off-balance as the city's populace. They need to be in the dark about things because if they see every event unfold, they don't feel that confusion and panic around them. Every random passer-by will have a different story, all concerned with different details. Some may say it was the small protest that is the center of it all, some will say the guards are to blame, some will say it's all Ileosa's fault, etc. But let the players sift through that to assemble the picture.
Then, once a balance has been established, you can have them move on with the plot, returning the brooch to the Queen and being sent to Kroft, playing out the Anarchy scenes, etc.
That's my two cents.
Knick |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
My initial idea was how a socially and economically charged protest swirled and churned into riots against the Queen. So this protest for the Justice against this slain guy and the guards overreacting their attempts to protest then turns into demonstrations against the guard for overreacting and the government sanctioned authority. But now with the king dead.. Well now it's the perfect time and all sorts of people to protest.
To me, the death of the King was more like the reason why this incident went massive. The lack of confidence and uncertainty of future with the Queen and pent up frustration is really what caused this... Which is what I wanted to have the original protest be about. An outlet for pent up frustration.
That was my plan but perhaps this is too complex for the game.
I think the big problem with this idea is that the party may become less inclined to align themselves with the guard. It isn't necessary for the party to be super guard friendly, but it sure does help a lot. I mean, your players might be all on the side of the analogous Ferguson police department, but if they're not you are just setting up the Korvosan Guard to be one more problem/antagonist. It also takes some of the thunder out of the Grey Maidens approach to riot quelling. Part of the reason that the riots get so bad and the Korvosa guard is stretched so thin is their unwillingness to kill Korvosan citizens. There aren't too many protests once the Grey Maidens institute a brutal martial law.
If you really want to take this approach, you should make the incident involve Hellknights. They are more likely to use deadly force in the name of law and order, it doesn't make the Korvosan guard seem like bad guys, and Ileosa can kick them out of the city as a PR move.
Hope that inspires!