We are fast coming up to the Prince of Red Hand module and I am dreading GMing the "gather information feast" that is the cornerstone of the module. This is most definitely not my players' cup of tea and as carefully as these things are written (a menu, for pete's sake?!?)the path for certain types of players is very hard to find.
On the geek continuum from World of Warcraft on one end to LARPing on the other my players are all purist WoWsers who occasionally come out of cyberspace for the nostalgic tonic of a slow-paced D&D adventure. They clearly enjoy the clever manipulation of their character's skills and abilities to handle (or side-step) a fight very much more than haggling with the shopkeepers or beguiling the noblemen. [We still talk about the costume ball from Whisper of the Vampire's Blade as a mind-numbing debacle of epic proportions.]
For my part, I can get myself into the characters but with acting-resistant players I could easily find myself doing all the work and leaving them behind.
I am very willing to play the feast set piece with a very light hand but I would appreciate any advice from the various DM's who have already run this module.
Thanks.
Given the gaming style at your table, looks like running this module will be a bit of a challenge. One that you should relish.
My advice - search the threads on this forum - there are already threads out there that will give you exactly what your looking for from groups that ran this module (released over a year ago I believe).
That said, this was easily one of my favorite modules, and thats with my players missing the side-trek fights the module offers. In summary (I go into more detail in a seperate archived thread), at each course I handed out small goodied that the players had to eat (diet crackers, generic brand wafers, etc) and had a table diagram that showed how characters were seated. The meal itself didnt take long.
Keep in mind also that the players get to be creative in the gift to appease Prinze Zeach. I sent my players home one night with goal of them to come up with an elaborate gift and secretly tell me (or write it down) and then I would unveil the gifts to everyone.
This module is just another masterpiece by Richard Pett.
I think that I've Got Reach has got the measure of it. If your players are not generally interested in 'acting' then take the acting out of it. Search for the thread with recipes for Zeech feast. Or make up some of your own. Liberal use of pasta, green food coloring, jello, etc. should help you to whip up some disgusting dishes for them to try. There are some fun moments for the roll-players (the cockatrice battle, bowling heads etc.) and when you get to the feast itself bringing the fantasy world to life a little by serving a Turducken or something might help them to enjoy the spectacle. Instead of it becoming a role-playing debacle, it might become a highlight of the campaign. Such are my hopes anyway, though we're a module behind you so I don't speak from personal experience.
I feel your pain, Badger 99. I consider myself a fairly versatile DM but my players are clearly hack n' slashers. We're just wrapping up The Champion's Belt. We enjoyed the whole module except for the Free Dinner part - wagers, adjusting odds, rubbing elbows with so-and-so, fireworks, etc. While I appreciate that this helps develop the story, build character personalities and create a more immersive game, the impression I got from my group was boredom. When one of them asked "okay, okay...when do we start rolling some dice?" I knew it was time to move on. Some players just aren't in to that style of play.
My advice to you is to get through the Grand Banquet as quickly as possible. Give them a rundown of the guests and games and if they show no interest, proceed to the next event. If your players show any interest in any part of the dinner they'll let you know and you can play it out then. Be prepared in case they decide to play through the whole dinner, but otherwise just summarize it for them and emphasize the important parts (like Lashonna's entrance.)
If you really must play something up, let them notice Mahuudril or if you wanna be crafty, the Halfling spy of Iuz. Besides that, there's the chance to duel B'Kruss, the aforemetioned cock-fight, the heads, the corallax shoot-off, and in the off chance you have a bard in your party (My first group did), dozens of perform checks to make. If you must, explain bluntly to your players that they are influencing NPCs who will help them in the final battle against Kyuss. I completely played up Vulras's ranger skills (though we know his fate) as well as Quemp's professional interest in gladiatorial sports (as well as a list of interesting foes he's faced and the possbilitity of setting up unsanctioned fights in his private arena. I feel that this module is one of the easiest for players to role-play through, especially if you can pick some quirk from each NPC that relates somehow to each of your PCs. The addition of unusual food can greatly aid in the experience. Consider it also as a calm before the storm; none of the encounters in the module are hard when you consider what follows in the next three. There are ten ways to TPK til' sunday, like the Titan, the Vecna party, Xyzanth, the Mother Worm, Brazzemal, Dragotha, and all the fun of the last module. Let them know that their characters deserve a break before what's coming...
Thank you all. This has been a helpful round of comments and suggestions from a variety of gaming styles. I appreciate the suggestions both on the module and on the care and feeding of players. I will let you know how it goes (as we are a widely scattered and irregularly meeting group, it may be a while before I hace an update).
Again, gracias.
I figured actual food at the table would be a bit too much (after all, we don't bring axes and swords to the table, nor wear a chain-mail bikini).
But I did make sure I had a picture for every NPC at the event, and arranged them around the table according to where they were - standing in a mini-group, around the table, etc. This helped visualise all the different characters and get the players interested in some of them. It also meant that, with a picture for everyone, it wasn't obvious who the important NPC's were.
You can certainly play out all the pieces and move through those the players don't bite at very quickly - but you should find at least one or two of the challenges bring out some fun stuff - in my game everyone was pretty good aligned but managed to keep themselves in check and annoyed Zeech by winning some games - they were keen to see him go down but obviously able to bide their time. We got through it all in one evening, about 3.5 hours.
Make sure you make notes on which NPC's they interacted with the most, and ensure most if not all of them appear in the later modules. Also use this as a way to have the people of the city learn about the PC's e.g. the mad professor etc might spread news of these heroes and their exploits, which the PC's hear on the streets or taverns later, so the players get a feeling of their actions being important.
I figured actual food at the table would be a bit too much (after all, we don't /.../ wear a chain-mail bikini).
Wait. What?! You don't?? My players told me that it was just part of the culture...
Dammit.
My players were much the same way. After bashing their way through all the previous modules this one was an entirely new game for them. I pretty much lead them through the feast highlighting all the different events and comical moments with Zeech. Other than that they didn't have a whole lot to do at the feast, which was fine. The important parts of the story and important scenes played out as needed and they moved on. If they are not kind of role player then I wouldn't worry about it too much.
We are fast coming up to the Prince of Red Hand module and I am dreading GMing the "gather information feast" that is the cornerstone of the module. This is most definitely not my players' cup of tea and as carefully as these things are written (a menu, for pete's sake?!?)the path for certain types of players is very hard to find.
On the geek continuum from World of Warcraft on one end to LARPing on the other my players are all purist WoWsers who occasionally come out of cyberspace for the nostalgic tonic of a slow-paced D&D adventure. They clearly enjoy the clever manipulation of their character's skills and abilities to handle (or side-step) a fight very much more than haggling with the shopkeepers or beguiling the noblemen. [We still talk about the costume ball from Whisper of the Vampire's Blade as a mind-numbing debacle of epic proportions.]
For my part, I can get myself into the characters but with acting-resistant players I could easily find myself doing all the work and leaving them behind.
I am very willing to play the feast set piece with a very light hand but I would appreciate any advice from the various DM's who have already run this module.
Thanks.
Hastur do you still have the pics, or pic suggestions, that you used for the characters at the feast that don't have a picture in the module (Hoff, Mitchwillow, Toris, V'juss and Vulras)?
Yes! If you do still have them, please share! :)
Hastur do you still have the pics, or pic suggestions, that you used for the characters at the feast that don't have a picture in the module (Hoff, Mitchwillow, Toris, V'juss and Vulras)?
There's a pic of Vulras in "Dawn of a New Age."
There's a pic of Vulras in "Dawn of a New Age."
He's not quite himself in that one, though...