How To Make Sandpoint Come To Life?

[FallonONeill]

Hello all!

I am a fairly novice GM working on running Rise of the Runelords with two groups of PCs. The first is something an experimental group, while the other party gets the "revised" product. I'm still on Burnt Offerings, specifically towards the end of Local Heroes, but I'm having a hard time bringing Sandpoint to life. That is, how do I make these NPCs real people? My RPG is slowly turning into an improv group, which is great, but I need help in catching up, if that makes sense. To clarify, I need to make this little town a living, breathing character in its own right, something the PCs will want to protect!

However, I have a couple ideas as to make this work.

1) Props: My first idea is to give have all the PCs and major NPCs choose a particular prop out of a "prop box," that is, a small chest full of small costume/renfair things (flasks, coconut shells, compasses, rings, books,tarot/harrow cards, etc.). This will help give both the PCs and the NPCs something visual to set them all apart.

2) LEGO!: Hear me out on this, but its is something I've been on the fence on for some time. I have a large collection of LOTR and Hobbit themed LEGO, and I think the Laketown sets could help give something else visual, 3-D, and add some scenery during the Festival and Fire goblin raid. Just a thought, as LEGOs aren't exactly dramatic.

3) Combining Moduels: Another idea was to add the Umbra Carnival from Murder's Mark as the source of the alluded minigames during the Swallowtail Festival. In addition, I would also like to add a micro-session which is simply a day in the Rusty Dragon Inn, helping prepare for the festival, and introducing key NPCs.

4) Actually Use The Player's Guide: This speaks for itself.

Well, that concludes my ideas and how to develop Sandpoint. I want to make this a campaign to remember, so please, if you have additional ideas, or even would like to share what you did, let me know. I look forward to your feedback.

[Haladir]

One of the points of the "Shopkeeper's Daughter" encounter is to make some enmity between the owner of the General Store and the party. I played it such that Shayliss' paramour was blackballed from the store, and Vindler charges a 50% markup on everything for all of the other PCs.

This means that the PCs can't one-stop-shop for anything they might want to buy. The town is statted up very nicely in the "Sandpoint" appendix of the ROTRL Anniversary Edition (which is essentially verbatim from the Sandpoint Gazetteer from Pathfinder #1). If you look at the shop descriptions, just about any item is available from some other specialty shop in town. This gives you an excuse to actually role-play any shopping the PCs need to do, and have the PCs interact with various Sandpoint townsfolk.

If you can, pick up Rise of the Runelords Face Cards, and use those to really drive home who the PCs are interacting with. NPCs really stick when the players have a face to go with a name.

EDIT: I now see that this deck is sold out, and going for over $100 in the aftermarket. Instead, grab the art from the RotRL PDF and print your own face cards onto card stock.

You can also design a few short encounters in town, akin to the ones presented under the "Local Heroes" section. Some of them don't even need to be encounters: just interesting interactions with the NPCs. For example, one thing I've stolen from another GM is that a number of children in town start playing "Sandpoint Heroes," and sometimes follow around the PCs dressed up like them. (Here's an example of my use of that encounter in my Runelords PbP. Pardon the typos-- I posted that from my smartphone.)

Reference to above link:

If the PCs had followed the mini-versions of themselves, they would have had to rescue the kids from a pair of very real goblins that were harvesting useful garbage from Junk Beach.

In short, make Sandpoint out to be a friendly, quirky place filled with friendly, quirky people. Give the town itself a chance to be a character in your story.

[Misroi]

Such a simple idea, can't believe I didn't think kids playing "Goblins and Heroes" in the streets. They're definitely going to run into that once they get back in town.

[Askren]

As a DM, I would really feel like I'm not adequately doing my job if I need Lego props just to bring a small town to life for my players.

Let me clarify: I run my Runelords game on Roll20, via Skype. So there's no actual face-to-face with my players, just voice chat. And I can honestly say that they would rather spend a day just hanging around the town talking to NPCs and shooting the s~&@ with the friends they've made in Sandpoint than doing much of anything else.

Selling a setting is not about gimmicks, it's about being natural and easy to fall into. Sandpoint is nice because as a city, it's small enough that you can actually remember what every building is and not really have to worry about the problems that come with a large city like Magnimar where there are a hundred taverns in a single district so you just roll a random name and random NPCs and call it done.

Sandpoint is a small town, with small streets and few people. A player walking down a main road will see familiar sights and easily identifiable landmarks. There used to be a document buried in the Community Created thread which seems to be gone now (but some of the contents can be found by googling Sandpoint NPC Encounters) that broke the city down street by street and gave you little bits of scenes players could see depending on what street they went down, all of which helped to establish the things players may come to learn about the town. I would absolutely recommend using those regularly.

The point is for the characters to be interesting, engaging, and likeable. If that isn't the primary concern, it won't really matter if you have a prop box full of unique hats for every NPC they talk to.

[FallonONeill]

@Haladir: I have a copy of the ROTRL Face Cards, actually! I just need to find them. However, I was planning on using them with the props. I think it would help. I love the "Sandpoint Heroes" idea, I also love the idea of Aeren Barett playing the wizard, only to come back in the Monster In The Closet encounter. I think that'll help. I'll remember to include the Shopkeeper's Daughter encounter. Thank you for the advice.

@ Askren: Sorry if I gave the wrong impression. I too should clarify. We are a very RP centric group, it's just a matter of adding visuals to help bring it to life beyond dice and miniatures. I didn't mean to use the LEGOs instead of characterization or anything like that. I would want the LEGOs to be an extension of Sandpoint, not the other way around. Same goes for the props, I'm not trying to make the props replace the characters. I consider all these things mentioned above to the aids to enrich the experience, much like Syrinscape. I fully understand that the setting shouldn't be about gimmicks at all. I suppose my question was more, "how should I go about implementing these to paint a fuller picture" than "should these help replace the RPing."

Of course, I don't know exactly what I'm doing ...

Elaborating on scenes and reoccurring locations, do you think a map of Sandpoint for the PCs would help? How did you act out key NPCs like Ameiko, Hemlock, and Foxglove? Foxglove is probably the most important, as I need to make him off-kilter, a little creepy, yet not quite malevolent, given his role later (haven't figured out spoiler tags yet). This is where I'm having the most trouble.

[Askren]

FallonONeill wrote:

"how should I go about implementing these to paint a fuller picture"

Honestly? You shouldn't. Or, at least, in my opinion they shouldn't be necessary.

Let me put it this way; if in my game I had to move legos around a model city and pull out picture cards and a specific prop/hat every time players wanted to talk to an NPC, it would just make every encounter a clumsy fumbling around while I spend more time getting set up for that character than I do actually playing them.

Pictures are nice if you have them to hand, but don't use them if you're going to have to dig through a deck of cards every time you need to find an NPC. Props...I can only see them as a waste of time, really. Is it possible? Sure, I guess. And everyone has their own way of gaming, so I can't tell you not to. My main point is that while these might seem like great ideas to a new DM, a more experienced one will probably tell you there's no need for any of it.

Quote:

Elaborating on scenes and reoccurring locations, do you think a map of Sandpoint for the PCs would help? How did you act out key NPCs like Ameiko, Hemlock, and Foxglove? Foxglove is probably the most important, as I need to make him off-kilter, a little creepy, yet not quite malevolent, given his role later (haven't figured out spoiler tags yet). This is where I'm having the most trouble.

There's no "right" way to play NPCs. It's your game, you're the arbiter of what works and what doesn't. If you want to play Belor Hemlock as a cowardly do-nothing who pawns off all his responsibility on the players, you can do that.

I could explain how I roleplay Ameiko, but that really wouldn't help you much because it's just words. The important part is that you understand the character, who they are and what they want, their goals and motivations and personalities as you interpret them, and then you have them get those traits across when presented with situations to react to.

I could tell you that Aldern Foxglove is a damaged, deranged shell of a man that is quickly spiraling down into ruin yet doing his best to hide all that behind a facade of cheerful friendliness, but that doesn't really help you actually perform him as a character.

The only tip I can give you in that regard is voices. Every character has their own voice, meaning their own way of speaking, mannerisms, regular phrases and actions that make them unique. Pick one that works for you and use that as a gateway into the mind of each NPC quickly. If you think Belor Hemlock has a deep, slow gravely voice, then every time you need to play him, dropping your speech low into the throat and speaking in a very taciturn way will be your quick path into that character. Maybe Brodert Quink is an eccentric crazy who speaks like a senile old man. Or maybe he's a wise sage who doesn't mince words. It's up to what makes sense for you.

But really, don't use the legos or the props. Just print out the Sandpoint map and leave it on the table.

[Latrecis]

Not quite on board with Askren's purist approach though I agree about the dangers of props as distraction or clutter. Humans are visual creatures so props and art can help players make a connection with NPC's, settings, etc. I'm not a very good voice actor so I use some art to help - there's a Sandpoint NPC guide somewhere out there with art for a lot more NPC's than the AP itself provides. I have that art on my iPad and prop the iPad (with appropriate portrait) up in front of me when speaking as that NPC. Helps the players recognize who's who. If it will help your group get into character - you all have a theatrical bent - then certainly use props.

I just gave my players the map of Sandpoint, numbers and all. And as they moved through town and went from place to place, they just noted - #X is such-n-such. That way they were learning about the town as the adventured in it.

But the most important thing is to get the players (via their characters) engaged with Sandpoint. So if you have the ambition to create additional RP encounters with NPC's in town around preparing for the festival or otherwise entangled with pc backstory AND your group will find such things interesting, then by all means go for it. One really simple option - have them role-play acquiring their initial gear and interact with multiple store owners. This would be an interesting way to introduce the Vinder family (for example) before the drama (melodrama?) with their daughters takes the stage.

[the Lorax]

FallonONeill wrote:

I'm having a hard time bringing Sandpoint to life. That is, how do I make these NPCs real people?

1) Props

2) LEGO!

3) Combining Moduels

4) Actually Use The Player's Guide

I really think we need to get another sticky thread for each AP with a really good "great ideas to start running the AP", but that's for another time. As for your questions...

1. Props/Toys like you mention are likely to actually end up being a distraction to actually playing, particularly roleplaying. Using them sparingly for special purposes is fine, but I'd limit the use pretty heavily. Now I have made quite a few props for my group, like a printed memorial plaque for the victims of Chopper and the Fire, printed versions of notes and journals. It's fun to had out extra information that the party doesn't need or useful information disguised as extra flavor text.

2. I could see setting up a Lego "vignette" of something that is going to happen in the current session. Kind of like the pictures during the commercial cuts on the old Wild Wild West TV show. It could be a fun thing. Not something to interact with, just a display piece, that could be cool.

3. Swipe everything from everywhere. Wayfinder #7 has a good assortment of the Festival games, which are largely pulled from a thread here in the forums. Look at what everyone else is doing and grab all their ideas.

4. For some, it could be to big a bit of information - you'll have to judge your players.

My best piece of advice that I can give on bringing Sandpoint to life is to introduce NPCs before you need to use them. When they go to interact with the merchants of the town, make sure that you tell the players the name of the person, and let them develop relationships with them.

[Urath DM]

For artwork, there's the Rise of the Runelords Face Cards. You may or may not find them helpful, or find them a distraction, but they are one option. There are only a few images for the people from Sandpoint specifically, as the cards have to cover all 6 parts of the Adventure Path.

The Pathfinder Pawns line has a Rise of the Runelords pawn set. This covers the illustrated creatures from the AP, so it will not help any of the townsfolk who are not already illustrated in the AP itself.

The Pathfinder Paper Miniatures line has a package for the townsfolk of Sandpoint, in addition to the specific sets for the AP itself. These provide more individual characters than the pawns or the face cards, and may make a good option even if you just show the art rather than use them as miniatures.

Big Finish productions has does an Audio Drama adaptation of the entire AP, in 6 parts (6 CDs or 6 digital downloads). If you are looking for ideas on how to the play some of the characters, you might find them helpful (to hear one way of presenting them, anyway).

Syrinscape has also licensed Rise of the Runelords for their Fantasy Aucio line. They've put together background sounds and sound effects collections for each part of each of the 6 adventures in the AP.

Aside from accessories, when it comes to making characters distinctive, mannerisms and speech patterns help a lot.

You don't need to be a great voice actor to make their speech different. For one PC I played, I made sure to end most of his paragraphs with a question ("We should do THIS, yes?" or "We should do THAT, no?"). You can get the same by adding some small bits like "hmm, yes" to a character (Brodert Quink) or a distinctive phrase based on the deity for a Cleric of any sort (maybe make frequent references to "balancing the scales" for a Cleric or Paladin of Abadar, for example).

For mannerisms, maybe Brodert Quink always adjusts his spectacles while talking, or the Cleric of Abadar gestures with her hands as if weighing something in each.

[Ckorik]

From the 'community created stuff'

Yossarian wrote:

Apologies, it looks like my host went down without me noticing it. Here's the links to the Runelords resources I created.

Sandpoint guide:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10866745/Sandpoint_guide_v1.2.pdf

Detailed may of South West Varisia (many invented locations):
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10866745/SW_varisia.pdf

A short guide to the monastery of Alba Lilia that I added not far from Sandpoint:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10866745/Alba_Lilia_monastery.pdf

Enjoy!

Seriously - get the guide.

Here is more stuff:

NPC Cards

Sandpoint player handout

Sandpoint sign

As to making it come alive - I have the NPCs move around - it's not a bad idea to think about which notables frequent which taverns and what time of day they might be there.

My players taught the local kids 'goblin ball' when trying to prepare them for another goblin attack - that was quite a bit of fun :)

Outside of that make them shop around - don't let the general store have everything and if they have the handout they can start looking at the names of the shops and decide where they want to go.

I also ran 'chopper's isle' as a side adventure - which is available for free in Wayfinder # 7

Here is a link to that - it's free - great story and ties into a prominent NPC with further opportunities for the players after it's over to actually get a stake in the town.

My players (at the start of book 3) just bought the island and are in the process of building their own guildhall... :)

[Belegdel]

If you haven't already, check out the thread where I asked almost exactly the same question: Bringing Sandpoint to life

In the end I realised gimmicks are just gimmicks - in the end you just have to weave encounters with the locals in between the rest of the AP. Every chance you get.
And to make those really sing, write them ahead of time so you can rewrite a few times to work in the flavour. Or, use all the pre-prepared stuff available on these message boards. The stuff on here is gold.
G O L D !

[langen]

Yeah, there's alot here if you can find it. One of the ways of making a town come alive is to have different people walking about different parts of town, chatting with friends, buying stuff, selling stuff, flirting with girls, etc. Sandpoint becomes "dead" when it's still. So the people about doing stuff is quasi-important. Oh, and rumors really help too. So when the AP says there's rumors about, have people in town gossiping about whatever it is. And exaggerate and change them as you go along so they act like real rumors do. Case in point, Banny and Katrine. Have the rumors go the gamut of the innocent to the extremely raunchy, depending on who's telling it.

Also, there's a playhouse in the town, so that can be an easy topic of conversation for the townsfolk. (An easy way to deal with this is to rename popular movie or book titles to be related to Golarion) So maybe Cyrdak has "A Tale of Two City-States" or "To Kill a Butterfly" or "Clash of the Giants", etc.

[Sharoth]

Dotted for later.

[Belegdel]

A quick warning on rumours:
I have to avoid any about monsters, or ghosts, or dungeons, or anything that sounds remotely like an adventure hook, or my group will go straight after it.
That tends to leave the "flavour" stuff like who's doing what with whom, who hates whom etc.

[Askren]

Belegdel wrote:

A quick warning on rumours:

I have to avoid any about monsters, or ghosts, or dungeons, or anything that sounds remotely like an adventure hook, or my group will go straight after it.

This is sort of Checkov's Gun of TTRPGs. Checkov's Plothook, I suppose.

It's sort of a rule every DM learns where anything, no matter how mundane, the DM spends more than a second describing, players will assume is plot-crucial. Worse if it actually sounds important. Meaning yes, if you mention a sighting of the Sandpoint Devil, players WILL start hunting around town for every bit of information on the subject they can find, and when you're forced to tell them the rumors and stories, they WILL decide to slay it, and it WILL derail your plot.

Save yourself the hassle, don't do it.

[the Lorax]

Bah!

Don't let 'em get you down - just keep giving them news of random mundane things, or things that arn't so mundane. If they ignore the invading army of goblins to track down who stole 3 pies from Alma Avertin, they get everything that's coming to them - a pie in the face.

Sure - someone saw what they swear was the Sandpoint Devil up on Chopper's Isle. Let 'em hear about an ogre hunter preying upon a local flock of sheep. An old dwarf leading a wagon full of orphans off to Windsong Abbey passes through town. Someone finds a gold coin on the beach that turns into a worn old boat plank that reads "Elizabeth Dane". A pair of grave robbers dig up a bunch of graves down at the old Paupers Graves. An unconscious woman washes up on the beach near the tannery. Grumbling begins around town a young woman gives birth to a half-elf, and her husband is human, bringing back old rumors. The owners of the old Cougar Creek Mill have filed a law suit against the Scarnetti family, claiming that they have proof that the Scarneti's were behind all the grain and lumber mill fires. Someone stole a horse from the stables and a wagon from Wheen's, and the cart was later found half burned up the Lost Coast road. A boat arrives from Magnimar - the sailors say there was a large plume of green smoke rising off of Grubber's Hermitage. Someone stole a display of lawn gnomes from in front of the Deverin Estate.

Stuff happens in the world, the PCs aren't there for all of it.

[langen]

Oh yeah, there's also the We Be Goblins set of adventures for easy (and doable) plothooks if you want the PCs to have a diversion. The Kaijutsu Star and Pa Munchmeat are great ideas and can be easily included in this AP. I'm considering doing it myself to help pad the XP (I have 5 players).

[Urath DM]

langen wrote:

Yeah, there's alot here if you can find it. One of the ways of making a town come alive is to have different people walking about different parts of town, chatting with friends, buying stuff, selling stuff, flirting with girls, etc. Sandpoint becomes "dead" when it's still. So the people about doing stuff is quasi-important. Oh, and rumors really help too. So when the AP says there's rumors about, have people in town gossiping about whatever it is. And exaggerate and change them as you go along so they act like real rumors do. Case in point, Banny and Katrine. Have the rumors go the gamut of the innocent to the extremely raunchy, depending on who's telling it.

Don't forget Gorvi's Boys.. the local garbage/trash collectors.. they can be out and about at all hours, and are likely "invisible" to the main populace.. so they have probably seen or heard a lot of interesting things.

[langen]

Indeed, and at least half of them are Sczarni...so shenanigans.