My players want to investigate this part of sandpoint and I remember reading something about it besides the story of how chopper killed all the people and how he killed the last sherif and had some sort of shrine to a demon in his house but I cant find more information in burnt offerings, if is there Im must be going blind because I cant find it but if this information never existed an Im imagining things have any of you come up with a side quest to chopper's isle? :P
Thanks.
One of my players, without any knowledge, picked the same first name as the Chopper ("Jervas"?). He is an archivist with an unhealthy fascination with monsters. When he found out about the back story, he now wants to build a house on Chopper's Isle. I told him there would probably be no better way to see that his house is burned down and he is run out of town. :)
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I have a gnome character who is playing in my campaign who has picked up something of an unnatural obsession for the various mysteries around sandpoint. Ok, maybe not that unnatural for a gnome, but you get the idea.
Between his time trying to hunt for murdermaw and plan an adventure to try and find the sandpoint devil, he decided to scout out chopper's isle.
They have a fair description of what happened to the island(even if not all of its current state) under 'the late unpleasantness' at the beginning of the sand point article in Burnt Offerings.
For a summary though
When the town guard found this, they collapsed stone in blocking the stairway down, burned down the house above it, destroyed the stairway up to the isle, and burned his body on the beach to ward off any sort of return of an evil spirit.
To modernize it a bit, when my players when their I let them see a ruined, useless staircase going up the hill. A black spot in the otherwise white sand(where his body burned), and after they climbed up the hill they found the burned wreckage of a house. Digging through that rubble a bit let the gnome find the collapsed entrance to the basement which fascinates him terribly. He's decided to leave some supplies up there for future exploration and has returned for now.
I imagine that when he finally excavates his way into the basement I'll leave the rest of it more or less intact, though obviously anything flesh will be rather rotted away. I'll be added some sort of haunt as well, though not necessarily a combative one. Perhaps instead something more like the dwarves in Spires of Xin Shalast, who can add a bit of narrative for him about what really happened. Seems a good reward for a character who digs deeper then he might have needed otherwise.
-Tarlane
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Dudemonkey,
Different groups really have different styles of play. I alternate running/playing with another DM between two groups of players and they really couldn't be more different. One of the groups is real serious and tends to be pretty focused and we can explore plots and have sessions that are nothing but RP and the like, the other one sounds much more like your group where its less focused and more fluid, and when they do focus it tends to be on the more tactical side of combat.
Neither one of these things has to be a bad thing, at least as long as everyone in the group is on the same page. Sometimes its nice to have a relaxed game where you don't have to devote too much attention to things.
However, if you are looking for a more serious AP where your players stick to their characters mindsets then it requires work on both of your parts. With that in mind you might just want to talk to them about it, a lot of people who RP have a good deal of interest in trying something more in depth but often are used to how they are doing things. If you talk to them before a session you can see if that interest is there, and if it is let them know what you are expecting if you are going to run the AP. Make it clear that RP will be rewarded.
If you want to shift your groups style though you are going to have to take the first step and as DM you are probably going to have to put in the most work for it and be ready for that. You want the first AP, and especially the first session, where they focus on RP to be memorable. That means making sure you know the town and the AP so you can improvise well and introduce them to people they might not expect. Gather up all the things you can and make them into handouts(these boards are great for this, for some awesome examples that could come up in the first session, look at russel's tsuto journals).
Visual things and especially things that players can get in their grubby mitts are great ways to get their attention. And I know it always sounds tacky before you've done it, but music really is a great way to add a subtle mood to the background as well. Think of the different moods you want to invoke, whether something like 'creepy' or 'battle' and setup a playlist for each so you can switch between them without having to divert your attention(and obviously lyric-less music is much better for this as its less distracting).
Wish you luck with your group Dudemonkey, and even if your group doesn't feel heavy RP is what its really looking for have fun with it. I rambled off all that stuff because you sounded disappointed that your group didn't play differently, so as a secondary point you may consider also looking for another group that suits your preferences better. If your schedule permits you might even bounce between them, which feels like a great balance for me. Get time with your friends that way but still get your real RP fix too.
Anyway, I suppose I've thread jacked enough here. My gnome's player is currently coming up with ridiculous ideas at thistletop rather than in sandpoint, so I suppose it will be a couple weeks before I can add more detail about what I've come up with for the area about chopper's isle.
-Tarlane
I *hope* my players latch on to some of the stuff yours did. An expedition to find the Sandpoint Devil or an exploration of Choppers Isle would be perfect opportunities to show them nothing's there.
Yep. I pray for the opportunity to showcase that just because a PC goes someplace doesn't mean there's a level-appropriate challenge just standing by waiting for them. I suspect I could have a lot of fun seeing how long they'll invest in climbing up the island's cliff face, clearing out Stoot's basement and exlporing the otherwise empty ruins before they give up and go home.
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I took a slightly different approach to this, though I suppose it comes to a similar end result.
I looked through the AP and found all these things that my characters might want to investigate further(and with the gnome in the party will I'm sure) and came up with rough estimations of what I wanted them to be right off the bat, because I do like to have there be some truth to a lot of the rumors. Naturally all of them don't need to come to fruition, but if enough people speak of having seen something in the night sky there may just be something to it that can be uncovered with enough diligence.
Thats where we differ. Now where we seem to connect, is that I don't see any reason that the world needs to revolve around the players to such an extent that they should expect level appropriate encounters wherever they go. I'm very big on the idea of having the world be a dynamic place. So if I decided that murdermaw was one of those CR1 scary fish things out of PF#7 or if I decide he's a CR9 eye of the deep, thats what he's going to be whenever the PCs get there. They are well aware of this fact, and while it doesn't deter them from exploring it does add an awful lot of caution to their world. They know that they can get in over there head, but if they pull something off right they can come away with a greater reward for it too.
-Tarlane
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Dudemonkey,
It sounds like your group is a bit split on its playstyle. As a something for everyone approach, adding a little bit outside of game sessions? Not necessarily more face time, since that is always hard to work in, but a lot of times if I have a character who is trying to build some sort of plot up that he really wants to play out, rather then just having it come down to a couple quick rolls that either determine it happened or it didn't, then we'll make use of email or a forum or the like, so that we can bounce back and forth some RP posts at our leisure and let him develop his side story that way, be it spending more time focusing on some local politics he's getting involved in, playing out more specifically what happened during some downtime, or letting him go trying to break into a place as a rogue when the rest of the party might frown on that. Naturally these outside sessions have consequences that could affect the ongoing story, but mostly they are a good way to add in some flavor for those who like it while still being able to have the group sessions be more to the overall players liking.
-Tarlane
I have a player that desires to Buy choppers Isle. Any idea who currently owns it?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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I have a player that desires to Buy choppers Isle. Any idea who currently owns it?
Hmm, assuming that there are no heirs I'd guess it reverted to the town. No one really wants it, so it doesn't have worth.
Now if someone shows up in town asking "How much for that island in the ocean?" it then becomes how much it's worth, and to whom.
It could also be an adventure hook, party buys the island, gets all settled in, and someone shows up with proof showing he's Chopper's heir. Is he really? Or is something more evil afoot?