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I was wondering - has anyone given any thought to the mechanics (in a narrative sense, rather than a rules sense) of having the party gather at the precise place and time of the funeral, from potential starting locations across Avistan? While the story assumes that the PCs all show up at precisely the right moment, I usually begin my campaigns with a short series of individual scenes that bring each PC into the storyline. Looking at the obstacles - getting a message to the PC wherever they might be, getting that PC to Ravengro within the alloted timeframe - I find myself wondering what steps Lorrimor or his agents might have had to take to make the opening scene begin as written.
Anyone else got any insights on the question?
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I began the funeral procession in media res with all characters in-game with the coffin on their shoulders as they walked in the Restlands.
This lead to the combat that followed within moments. For the past 7 years or so, I have come to prefer to start my campaigns off in media res as it gets people into the game quicker and puts a stop to the endless last-minute gear shopping that goes on (and on) until I put a stop to it.
Afterwards, during the wake at the Lorrimor household, I described how various officials, nobles and merchants had contacted the individual PCs across Ustalav wherever they were, explaining to them that a solicitor named Silas Vaillancourt had requested their presence in Ravengro by no later than Desna 23rd for the burial and reading of the will of their late friend and mentor, Professor Petros Lorrimar.
I described in very cursory tones how the PCs had walked, ridden, or taken a coach to Ravengro and hand-waved and otherwise glossed over those details. It took 20-30 seconds, tops.
I think this is a preferred way to handle those details in terms of getting your AP off and running smoothly. If you prefer to add in all the muckety-muck of how the PCs know one another and why, do as you see fit. But, imo, it needlessly adds to complexity and bogs things down without adding to the story in a meaningful way. I prefer to fill those details in as I go.
Being a devout follower of Pharasma, the Professor had left strict instructions that no heroic or magical efforts were to be used to avert or reverse his death.
I included a set of ceremonial robes, indicating Lorrimor's probable membership in the Order of the Palatine Eye, in a false bottom in the same chest the 4 tomes were in. It will be up to the PCs to figure out what to do with those robes -- and to whom they should be returned.
The solicitor entered the scene arriving in a coach at the Lorrimor household at sundown on Desna 23. He presented the will, assured those present the seal was intact, read it, had the beneficiaries sign the back of the will acknowledging receipt, left an additional copy of thw will with Kendra and promised copies would be filed with the council and with the registrar of estates in Caliphas. He then left the Lorrimor household and rode away by coach. Obviously, Silas Vaillancourt is far too important to live in a place like Ravengro. As a walk-on and off NPC, he did the job admirably.
They'll be meeting up with Silas Vaillancourt, Esq., again later in the AP, I expect :)
I'm thinking the in media res thing is something I need to try, that sounds awesome.
To explain everyone appearing at once, the good Professor would have had Gentle Repose cast on him and all PCs would have been given a month to get there. Any PC physically incapable of getting there in time could have a teleporter bring them in for the funeral (which would show how important it was to the Professor that everyone show up).
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Going waaaaaaaaaaay off book, I was thinking (just now) of a vignette, where you give the PCs the character sheet of "mook guards" and put them in the winch room during the prison riot. Have one or two NPCs in your control to throw the barrels of oil in if the players don't panic, but play out the scene with the wardens wife.
Then move to the future with the actual PCs
Hmm...When I get around to running this, I'm thinking Kendra will hold the late Professor a wake after the funeral. This will allow the PCs to meet one another, talk about how they knew the dearly departed, etc.
A good wake doesn't happen nearly as often as it should in a game, I think. :)
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Hmm...When I get around to running this, I'm thinking Kendra will hold the late Professor a wake after the funeral. This will allow the PCs to meet one another, talk about how they knew the dearly departed, etc.
A good wake doesn't happen nearly as often as it should in a game, I think. :)
Indeed, that's how I proceeded with it.
At the wake, the PC's recognized a common trait they each had with one other ("I'm a PC and teacher's pet") at the wake and they all had a chance to hear -- in hushed whispered tones -- about the mysterious circumstances of the Professor's death.
Then it was the reading of the will, the review of the tomes and the journal and the AP was off to a brisk start.
All of this served to move matters along reasonably well and kept the attention of the players on the most relevant aspects of the adventure.
Even simpler, if they are far from Ravengro, I'll have the Prof sending a letter to the PCs, asking them for their help in an investigation, without saying more.
When they arrive in Ravengro, whenever that is, they find the Prof has died 3 days ago.
Adventure starts.
Joël
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To explain everyone appearing at once, the good Professor would have had Gentle Repose cast on him and all PCs would have been given a month to get there. Any PC physically incapable of getting there in time could have a teleporter bring them in for the funeral (which would show how important it was to the Professor that everyone show up).Gentle Repose wouldn't even be necessary. Let's not forget that this takes place in winter in Ustalav, so the body would be easily preserved in any case.
Where does it say that? The will is dated in Calistril, but the year is blank to sync up with your individual campaign's timeline.
--Cuckoo Vrock
I was wondering - has anyone given any thought to the mechanics (in a narrative sense, rather than a rules sense) of having the party gather at the precise place and time of the funeral, from potential starting locations across Avistan? While the story assumes that the PCs all show up at precisely the right moment, I usually begin my campaigns with a short series of individual scenes that bring each PC into the storyline. Looking at the obstacles - getting a message to the PC wherever they might be, getting that PC to Ravengro within the alloted timeframe - I find myself wondering what steps Lorrimor or his agents might have had to take to make the opening scene begin as written.
Anyone else got any insights on the question?
Yes, it seems like a monumental feat of logistics doesn't it :)
I was trying to conceptualize something that works in this situation as well and I came up with starting it like a movie where the camera (read adventure) "fades in" and the PCs are at the restlands with Kendra and we begin. I am going to preface that with a bit of narrative about how each PC arrived.
I just had everybody arrive at a carriage house some 20 miles south of Ravengro, each getting there as their coaches got there from points around Ustalav, and then they'll get on the final coach to Ravengro whenever it arrives, thus arriving at the same time.
Naturally, they're waiting for the party to get there before the funeral commences; it goes without saying that everybody has a few days' journey to get there, so they'll have to wait.
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Going waaaaaaaaaaay off book, I was thinking (just now) of a vignette, where you give the PCs the character sheet of "mook guards" and put them in the winch room during the prison riot. Have one or two NPCs in your control to throw the barrels of oil in if the players don't panic, but play out the scene with the wardens wife.
Then move to the future with the actual PCs
Oh man. So I just did this with my group, and they pulled it off perfectly. I was suspecting that I'd have to modify it so someone would leave the wife, and NPC guards would get the oil, but they poured the oil and then locked the wife in a room and forgot about her. It was perfect. Way to go, group.
Oh man. So I just did this with my group, and they pulled it off perfectly. I was suspecting that I'd have to modify it so someone would leave the wife, and NPC guards would get the oil, but they poured the oil and then locked the wife in a room and forgot about her. It was perfect. Way to go, group.Going waaaaaaaaaaay off book, I was thinking (just now) of a vignette, where you give the PCs the character sheet of "mook guards" and put them in the winch room during the prison riot. Have one or two NPCs in your control to throw the barrels of oil in if the players don't panic, but play out the scene with the wardens wife.
Then move to the future with the actual PCs
Doesn't this ruin a bit of the mystery about what happened at harrowstone?
In Ravenloft, we have that kind of "cut scenes", where a DM gives his players atmospheric info and background info. It's also a way to impart info on the results of their actions. I use them quite often.
For example at one point they had a fight with two well known lycanthropes (Nathan Timothy and Natalia Vorishkova). They managed to kill Timothy, but Natalia fled.
From my campaign journals:
During the night, the heroes have the following vision… (cut scene!):
After the battle, Natalia is alone in a small cavern like hole in the rocks. She is licking her wounds and is shaking with rage …
At another place in the campaign, the players meet and discuss with the famous vistani leader Mme Eva (time traveling gypsy). In my journals, players version, I added:
Looking at them leaving for the forest, Marcella asks Madame Eva of the heroe’s fate. She answers cryptically: “We just met them in this time of great suffering. Then we met again, but for them it hasn't happened yet...”
You can get more info about this in the great Ravenloft DM Guide (and my journal on the FoS web site! :) )
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So for Harrowstone, I will use it during their dungeon crawl, at the end of a session, to give them more info on what happened, to help them solve the puzzle.
But to do it before is fun too, but you have to be careful it doesn't give too much information! You can select one specific cool scene of the backstory, so it doesn't tell too much.
Joël
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I began it on ferry crossing Lake Isia with everyone on board save the captain and his son in route to the funeral. They were all a little shocked by the coincidence.
Eventually it turned out that Professor Lorrimor was a little bit Van Helsing and A LOT Sherlock Holmes. He specifically pointed out that only the pc's were to be invited to his funeral along with a few locals.
Lorrimor knew where the whispering way were headed next and he borrowed the books so that the PCs would have to deliver them after his death. This put them in line to stop or at least interfere with the theft of the Seasage Effigy. The villain even suggested that it wouldn't suprise him that Lorrimor (infirmed and in his late sixties) might have sacrificed himself to set his funeral in motion and ultimately coerce the group into stopping the Whispering Way in the process of a simple delivery.
Huge plot holes I know but I thought it was an interesting twist.
To get my second group started, I gave them a sidequest. One of my PCs played a wizard, so I said that he would know Lorrimor through lectures, and other things of the sort. He had also met the professor at Caliphas, where I introduced Adivion. The sidequest was a prequel type thing, and at our next session I told them that it had happened in the past.
The sidequest was basically Lorrimor asking the PCs to retrieve a book for him from a potentially dangerous summoner. (A long dead summoner. The dungeon was filled with basic skeleton mooks, a starving "guard" bear, and a Quasit.)
It gave the PCs a way to know each other, and also Lorrimor. I introduced Adivion as his star pupil who he was very proud of.
It worked well for my group.