Sorry if this was covered elsewhere. I'v eread through most of the "starting the AoW" and WC posts but didn't see anything.
Considering that the PCs start off in Diamond lake, and the adventure assumes they all know each other and have been in DL for a while, should they start with full or average gold for a 1st level PC, or should they start off poorer?
The adventure hook suggests that the PCs should check out the WC because there might be treasure that will help them "escape" the poor mining town, but if they start out with 1st level gold/equipment, what is _really_ stopping them from leaving?
I don't like imposing too much on my players, i want them to have some freedom in playing a character that they really _want_ to play, and I can always change the reasons for their being there, but does the adventure assume that they begin with 1st level gold/equipment, or does it assume they begin with _less_ than average?
My understanding is that they start with standard wealth/equipment for 1st level characters. However, it would be completely reasonable to say that any money they keep after buying their gear is divided by 5 or 10 (e.g. my Fighter starts with 140gp and I spend only 122gp of it, leaving me with 18gp change; at character start this gets reduced to 1gp 8sp). It would also be reasonable to say, for flavor reasons, that most of the "gear" they buy was actually family heirlooms or otherwise old and used stuff (but still in good working condition).
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The remaining cash on hand for first level players is usually just enough to pay for a few days room and board. Not really enough wealth to get outta town. If they don't want to return to meanial work or risk starvation in the wilds on their way to the big city, adventure is their only real option.
Before starting TWC, I ran a short intro adventure for 4 of the 5-6 players I'm expecting to be in the campaign. They all started out will normal starting gear (randomly generated per PHB), but were able to glean enough treasure to get a wand of CLW and have some cash to upgrade their gear.
This will give them enough healing magic and a litte edge to help them through a pretty brutal first adventure. This also had the added bonus of whetting their appetite for treasure hunting, thus giving them a good hook for getting into the AP.
