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MrVergee, those are very interesting ideas indeed! Let me know how it is going.

Finally, what I tried is generating the PCs backgrounds by storytelling. We were sitting at the table, "recollecting memories". I was giving pieces of information and asking them questions, and they filled in the gaps, and we figured how their characters were when they were children, how they grew up, and what are they doing nowadays. So we have a Priest of Pharasma who found in faith a refuge; a Varisian dancer that cannot find a place between non-Varisians because of his skin color, but neither between Varisians because he did not grow up among them; a successful businessman that buried all his scars becoming a respected member of the Korvosan society; and an urban druid, a messed up halfling that never managed to become a normal member of society.

So, there are the f***-ups I'll have as PC's :) It sounds so exciting!

Next game, the dancer, after 13 obsessive years, has tracked down Lamm thanks to the help of a powerful seer... It is time to get the old gang together, and give Lamm what he deserves.

I am about to start Cruse of the Crimson Throne, and an idea on how to start the campaign has been burning in my head. However it would be good if someone with a better overview of the campaign could give me some advice.

When reading the campaign traits, the Unhappy Childhood made a strong impression and brought the movie "Sleepers" to mind. The premise would be the following. All PCs were Little Lamms when they were children. It was like a family, tough a very rough one, and they grew up very close. At some point, they were arrested by the guard, in a move by Lamm to save himself. The PCs ended up in an orphanage where they were badly treated.

Now 10-12 years have passed, and the PCs have taken different paths, although the scars have marked all of them deeply. I want to push the players into having different character concepts: a family man with responsibilities who wants a better life for his children than what he had, a priest who found in faith a hinge to reintegrate in society, a messed up good-for-nothing who has never fit into the real world... I also want them to think very much about the links between their characters in that distorted family they used to have, and how those roles reflect on how they feel towards each other nowadays.

But of course, this is a problem, as it puts EVEN more pressure on killing Lamm. There are two ways to solve this: one is that Lamm escapes so he can be used as bait, which was discussed in here.

The other is shifting the focus to someone else. Now, this could be quite complicated. I have had a look at the whole campaign, and for the moment I am leaning towards the Red Mantis. The story convolution I have figured so far goes like this:

Before joining Lamm, as babies, the PCs lived at an orphanage (either they were orphans, or maybe had been kidnapped) were the Red Mantis supervised prospective members from their very early steps. The children were submitted to terrible tests to select only the most physically fit. Some children died in the process. The PCs were not good enough, and were sold to Lamm.

Now, how I *hope* this will play: the dying Lamm will tell them about how ungrateful they are, looking at what those monsters in the orphanage in [location] had done to them. When the PCs go to the orphanage, the horrible memories will come back to them. About then, the riots start, they get arrested, and Queen Ileosa has decreed that every able man has to help to keep peace. Martial law should keep them busy until the end of the module. In the meanwhile, they should figure that something weird went on in the orphanage. In Seven Days to the Grave, it should become clear that the Red Mantis was behind. I was thinking about some orphanage buddy, now a proper assassin, showing up nicely, and then trying to cut the PCs throats.

OK, I know, this is complicated. But I want to experiment a bit, and I am also rather obsessed with realistic PC motivations. I guess the biggest problem is that the PCs end up attempting a front war against the Red Mantis, so I might have some higher ranking member being behind the orphanage, and hopefully that will make the PCs happy.

Suggestions, comments?

Thanks for suggestions. I guess I have hijacked enough this thread; I will soon start a new one under Curse of the Crimson Throne.

Back to the main topic, I think that given the kind of people that play Adventure Path, what you are suggesting would be a good idea: that a preferred PC group type is encouraged. I believe that certain stories cannot be told with whatever characters. And if someone actually prefers whatever type of group, then probably that person won't be so much against railroading the PCs.

In this line, one thing that I both love and hate are campaign traits. It is great to provide PCs with an initial motivation, but I detest that they provide bonuses. This may encourage players into picking a trait for the bonus instead of the concept. Plus sometimes the bonus is not very obviously related to the trait itself... Something that I might do is letting people pick a different bonus, as long as they find a plausible explanation.

Hi,

This is my first post ever. I am going to run Crimson Throne, and I came looking for advice, and I found this post very interesting.

In general, the lack of motivation for the PCs is a problem that bothers me a lot. In this particular case, the beginning is great: vengeance is a very powerful reason to bring people together.