Christopher Sontag's page

My players chose what class and race they wanted to play pretty much independantly of the campaign setting (with a few subtle hints from me). When they had determined that I worked with each of them individually to give them ideas of how what they had chosen might fit into Diamond Lake (if that's where they were from - not all were) and how to meld their own background ideas into the setting.

I gave each player further information on Diamond Lake once their basic character concepts had been established, but each one was individual and skewed towards the character concept - so newcomers to Diamond Lake didn't get much more info about the place except perhaps for the name of the coaching inn and a few taverns, whilst locals got a lot more info ... but for example a paladin might get a lot of info about the local religious figures and the garrison but not much about the criminal elements and vice-dens. A wizard might know all about Allustan, his relationship to the governor, and some knowledge about the local cairns, but would have only a vague idea about the local mines and where the weapon shops are located.

Nice! I really like the idea of categorizing the elements of Diamond Lake by class and giving them information that makes sense for them to know. I'm also glad to see you also acknowledged that players who chose to start there got different information. Thanks! I'm going to include both of these ideas in my character creation guide.

I copied and paraphrased sections from the Diamond Lake backdrop and typed it up as a hand-out for my players.

I did a little more research around the forums and archives, and this seems to be what most others did. Create a "Player's Guide" of sorts to give their players.

I'm curious though, both yours and another I found don't get into the details of the personalities and where the different classes in that region may have gotten their training. How did the players come up with backgrounds without that information, or how was that given to them?

I was coming up with an outline for a character creation guide for my players that will include:

An introduction to Diamond Lake
Four questions regarding the character's background
Background information about the races in this mini-setting
Class information about potential training and mentors available in the area
Summaries of important people and places in Diamond Lake

Originally, I was going to let the player's choose whether their characters were from Diamond Lake or not. But upon re-reading the opening article for Diamond Lake, I saw that play begins assuming the characters have already worked it into their background that they are in fact already residents.

I just bought and downloaded issues 124 and 125 along with the Worms Overload, and after my first read-through, I'm quite pleased with my purchase. I am however, feeling a bit overwhelmed as to organizing and preparing this great wealth of information to present to my group.

So I thought I'd come here and ask how other DMs went about distilling or using the information provided. The more specific and literal you are the better.

For example, for the opening scene, Diamond Lake, did you print the provided map and description as it was and just rifle through the pages as the players explored? Did you come up with your own write-up to keep track of all the locations and NPCs or just commit the majority of it to memory?

What about getting your group started and presenting all the backdrop info? Did you just print chunks out and hand it to them, write up your own for hand out, or just read them an intro?

My group is fairly new, and we've already run a couple random low-level adventures to introduce the game to them, and they've just barely hit level 2. They're in a position to return to "town" to collect their reward and do some shopping, and it's a perfect opportunity to introduce Diamond Lake and nudge them towards the Whispering Cairn. So in-game they've been to the "town", but no play time has been spent there and no one knows anything about it, even though they should. If they choose to be natives of Diamond Lake, they should know more about the place than those who are not, how did you handle this? And even those who aren't native are still going to know something about it from their initial visit. I definitely have a big gap of information to fill in to get this going.

I greatly appreciate anyone who shares their experience and methods, because as per the subject, I've never done something like this. I've used published adventures and campaign settings, but an adventure path is like a strange blend of the two.

Thanks :)