Alright, we've just finished "Life's Bazaar" and rather than have the SCAP adventures run one right after another, I've decided that they'll take place spread over several years. So my players are getting introduced to the Flood Festival well before I run "Flood Season.”
After "Life's Bazaar," an impromptu celebration broke out in the "Drunken Morkoth," the inn where they're staying. They were joined by some of the NPCs they adventured with during LB, as well as some ancillary NPCs like Skylar Krewis and Triel Eldurast (one of the PCs' backgrounds is that he was kicked out of the Cauldron city guard; Triel has yet to commit her heinous crime), "Tyro Amberhelm,” and Lord Vhalantru himself, who came to congratulate the party on their brave deeds.
During the celebration, they were approached by some locals who mistook the PCs for the Stormblades (no real similarities, other than they're both bands of adventurers). They also found out that the Stormblades were getting all the press in the Cauldron Herald, with the PCs’ story relegated to a small item that even managed to misspell their group's name.
My original plans were to have the Stormblades be ahead in the court of public opinion until mid-level, when the PCs, through their continued good deeds, came to the forefront. They’re now actively trying to move up this timeline and I’m having to make up rules for Reputation that I didn’t think about before.
When they found out about the Demonskar Ball (which is hosted by the Aslaxin family) at the end of the Flood Festival, they decided to throw their own party; theirs is to be on the first day of the festival.
I asked every character who was going to "spread the word" to make a Gather Information check. I plan on using the total of all the checks as the total number of people who are going to show up to this shindig.
I'm going to charge the group 5 gp per person who made a Gather Information check and 2 gp per person who shows up during for the party as expenses.
At first, I was really happy that they were running with this, getting involved in Cauldron. But from the comments I heard from a couple players at the end of the last session, it sounds more like a direct public relations campaign. They’re planning on having a huge banner there that says something along the lines of, “Sponsored by Destiny’s Hand.” Who knows what else they’ll come up with in the next week.
Now’s the part where I’m looking for help. I’d like to come up with something that’ll reflect their efforts, reward them if they do well and hinder them if they botch something up. But what kind of checks do they make? What kind of circumstance modifiers should they get for things they do? When it’s all said and done, how have they influenced public opinion?
Any and all help would be appreciated.