So after several sessions of Role playing in town. My PCs have finally had the Swallowtail Festival and fought off the goblin attacks. They discovered the missing cleric's body, and are now itching to go out looking for the goblins and "longshanks" that stole it. I was really hoping to have them stay in town for all the wonderful RP options in town before they go tromping off looking for goblins and possibly Thristletop. Anyone have any advice for slowing my PCs down without in looking like I am railroading them into it?
Well, there's always the classic: "Night Falls". Once it gets dark, the Goblins would have the advantage with Darkvision. Unless your PCs all have Darkvision too, it shouldn't be too hard to convince them to head back to town for the night. Once they're there, you can start tossing plot at them.
This was what worked for my party. After a great tracking roll, they were ready to Ride after the goblins all the way back to Thistletop 5 minutes after they finished the last fight. This was despite the fact that they were all 1st level, short of hit points, and the cleric was out of spells for the day.
I put Shalelu the Ranger in their path and let them be heroic by helping her out against the six goblins surrounding her. Once that little fight was over, I told them it was getting dark and Shelelu strongly suggested they head back to town. So they did.
I ended up introducing Shalelu a bit early, but other than that, it all worked out.
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So after several sessions of Role playing in town. My PCs have finally had the Swallowtail Festival and fought off the goblin attacks. They discovered the missing cleric's body, and are now itching to go out looking for the goblins and "longshanks" that stole it. I was really hoping to have them stay in town for all the wonderful RP options in town before they go tromping off looking for goblins and possibly Thristletop. Anyone have any advice for slowing my PCs down without in looking like I am railroading them into it?
The question is, which goblins?
Before taking down Tsuto even Shalelu won't be able to tell them where to find the Longshanks. It might be fun to have them slaughtering another tribe of goblins whilst Nualia and co. burn Sandpoint to the ground.
It's also worthwhile getting Hemlock out of town, that'll pin them in Sandpoint.
Perhaps I'm a bit dense and this is a joke.. but keep them in town for the role-playing opportunities after several sessions? There's adventure out there! :)
I quite enjoy the opportunities as well, so I do understand. My group just completed Burnt Offerings and we had a great game of role-play last Sunday leading into the next module. But if your group wants to get out there and adventure, don't hold them back *too* much, or you might find yourself without a group.
My players were chomping at the bit to go after the goblins too.
They rolled well enough to track them, and were not afraid to use light spells and lanterns to keep tracking them.
So, I improvised. Instead of the tracks leading to Thistletop, they lead to a cliff, where there were signs of ropes going over the edge. On the beach, they found a few dead goblins (those that fell) and makes indicating that there were boats used.
This allowed me to cleanly break the pursuit, with my players not feeling railroaded. They did get a chuckle and make jokes about lemure like goblins going over the cliff.
Perhaps I'm a bit dense and this is a joke.. but keep them in town for the role-playing opportunities after several sessions? There's adventure out there! :)
I think OP is saying that his PCs haven't gone through the role-playing encounters that are written in the adventure and meant to happen after the first goblin attack on the town. There's also some adventure right there in the town: The Glassworks and the Catacombs. Things go easier if the party hits those in order.
Any sessions spent role-playing prior to the Swallowtail Festival would be before the "opening act" so to speak. I would guess it was character origins, meeting up, exploring the town, and so forth.
In contrast to what you are saying, if the OP doesn't hold them back a bit this early in the adventure, he might wind up with a TPK and no group.
It would be a bad idea to let a party of 1st level PCs make it all the way to Thistletop. I doubt they'd make it past the briar patch and the Druid, let alone the rest of the fort.
So unless the party has already earned some experience and leveled up, it's a good idea to prevent them from finding out about Thistletop right away.
There's a number of ways you could throw them off the trail to Thistletop (in the interest of saving them from themselves). As I mentioned above, at nightfall, the PCs might give up. The ropes down a cliff to boats is another good idea.
You could also let any trail the PCs follow lead to a different goblin tribe. You have leeway to size the encounter any way you like.