The two times I've run Skinsaw Murders the PCs check out the lumbermill, the sanatorium, and head to Foxglove Manor all in the same day no matter what I do to slow them down. This time the PCs left in the middle of the night to reach Foxglove Manor the same day. I even had them hear screaming from off in the farmlands, but they didn't check it out.
This means that the party gets a lot of experience from the Misgivings and are higher level when they get back to town to hear about Farmer Grump and the farmland scarecrows. The Farmlands wouldn't be much of a challenge for a 5th level party. The first time I ran RotRL, I just told the party that the town guard and some locals went and took care of it, with a few locals dying. This time I decided to do a spilt storyline and let the players choose an NPC from town to take on the persona of and combat the farmland ghouls.
Our party of NPCs included:
Sabyl Sorn (LN female human monk 4) - mentor to a PC
Chask Haladan (CG male human bard 3/expert 3)
Shayliss Vinder (CN female human rogue 3) - girlfriend to a PC, future cohort
Ameiko Kaijitsu (CG female human aristocrat 1/bard 3/rogue 1)
Daviren Hosk (N male human ranger 4)
Shalelu Andosana (CG female elf ranger 3/fighter 2)
They still mopped up the ghouls in the farmlands, perhaps more so than the PCs would have, but they really seemed to enjoy it more than I thought they would. Now the players need to cure the Phage their characters contracted from the Misgivings and the ghoul fever the NPCs contracted from the farmlands - should be interesting.
-just an idea for GMs who keep messing up like I do
The two times I've run Skinsaw Murders the PCs check out the lumbermill, the sanatorium, and head to Foxglove Manor all in the same day no matter what I do to slow them down. This time the PCs left in the middle of the night to reach Foxglove Manor the same day. I even had them hear screaming from off in the farmlands, but they didn't check it out.
This means that the party gets a lot of experience from the Misgivings and are higher level when they get back to town to hear about Farmer Grump and the farmland scarecrows. The Farmlands wouldn't be much of a challenge for a 5th level party. The first time I ran RotRL, I just told the party that the town guard and some locals went and took care of it, with a few locals dying. This time I decided to do a spilt storyline and let the players choose an NPC from town to take on the persona of and combat the farmland ghouls.
Our party of NPCs included:
Sabyl Sorn (LN female human monk 4) - mentor to a PC
Chask Haladan (CG male human bard 3/expert 3)
Shayliss Vinder (CN female human rogue 3) - girlfriend to a PC, future cohort
Ameiko Kaijitsu (CG female human aristocrat 1/bard 3/rogue 1)
Daviren Hosk (N male human ranger 4)
Shalelu Andosana (CG female elf ranger 3/fighter 2)They still mopped up the ghouls in the farmlands, perhaps more so than the PCs would have, but they really seemed to enjoy it more than I thought they would. Now the players need to cure the Phage their characters contracted from the Misgivings and the ghoul fever the NPCs contracted from the farmlands - should be interesting.
-just an idea for GMs who keep messing up like I do
I like it. It also makes the townspeople more integra to the players.
I like that concept, although my player, sadly, isn't that enamored of it.
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I did the same thing with my players, except I ran a Hook Mountain/Ft Rannick preview, letting them play rangers, rogues, and fighters (Black Arrows) on the preliminary raid of Graul farm. This gave them an idea of what the Black Arrows were like, and also the ogres and ogrekin in the area long before their main characters have to face them.
I did the same thing with my players, except I ran a Hook Mountain/Ft Rannick preview, letting them play rangers, rogues, and fighters (Black Arrows) on the preliminary raid of Graul farm. This gave them an idea of what the Black Arrows were like, and also the ogres and ogrekin in the area long before their main characters have to face them.
Oooo! That may be interesting.