First of all, I apologize 1000 times over. I placed this in the wrong section earlier so I reposted it here.
There's a campaign I want to start on Sunday night, but I want some opinions on weather the premise is okay.
First for some backstory:
The campaign takes place on my continent of Syrix, more specifically the northern mountain town of Gates. For centuries Gates was part of the Drombidus empire, a human run entity which once spanned much of the continent but has been dwindling for generations. Recently the northern mountain settlements have fallen prey to attacks by drow, duergar and deep gnomes- creatures that are now known to have been living in the caves of the northern region.
Every human settlement was obliterated except for Gates, which is barely surviving the near constant siege. Meanwhile, in the capitol city of Drombidus, the king is between a rock and a hard place. He wants desperately to send his army to the north, but things aren't so simple. For about two hundred years the Temple Plethora and it's inquisition have grown more and more powerful to the point that the chief inquisitor is something of a rival king within the same city. The king knows that if he leaves the capitol city of Drombidus to save Gates, Drombidus and the king's castle will likely be taken over by the inquisition.
For a while the king sits idly, until his conscience gets the best of him. Risking it all, he marches his army north to stop the drow/duergar/deep gnome menace once and for all.
Where the adventurers come in:
Every adventurer is either a pardoned prisoner, freed indentured servant or volunteer sent to fight for the survival of Gates. Because each adventurer in the party is a seasoned combatant with some powerful magic or fighting skills, they begin the game with a royal allowance of 10,500 gold (Which the rulebook says is fair for level 5). Essentially, they are paid to fight, and if need be die.
The adventure begins when our heroes arrive at the peasant quarter of the city (The Northeast gate of the town of Gates- confusing, I know). The adventurers are doing some combat drills when suddenly some nimble drow scale the wall in this section of town. All the combat NPC's flee to reach the inner gate, and a cowardly militiaman locks the party out. Essentially, there is an outer gate (scaled by the drow), and an inner gate for added protection. Caught between the two town gates, the party must repel wave after wave of duergar and drow in a climactic battle.
When the battle is over and the inner gate is reopened, the king of the Drombidus Empire and Gates' military captain praise you for your valor. You are freed of your standard town guard obligations and used to carry out scouting missions, dangerous dungeon crawls and diplomatic missions that will determine the fate of the town
Sound playable?
Different place, same problems, my advice still stands.
My advice would to be make sure the party have an emotional bond with the townsfolk, and that the militia who lock them out are seen as very much seperate from the town itself.
If it is only one militiaman who shuts them in the kill zone have a ready answer as to why the others cannot re-open the gate breifly, or why ropes cannot be thrown down or grappling hooks thrown up.
Have a really good reason why quick thinking and acting players cannot overtake the fleeing NPC's.
Why are they forced to fight wave after wave? Is there no place to hide, wall to scale, sewer to jump in? Give the players very good reasons why this is not an option.
Have a default climax for the battle on the very real chance that the characters do not bravely/foolishly stand in front of the gates and hold the line. (Invisibility, disguise, charm, diplomacy, illusion, playing dead, switching sides,hiding, sneaking out the back, or even battering down the inner gate must all be seen as options.)
I know that the group I play with would try all these options and many more ingenious solutions rather than face a ravening hoard, especially if they feel that they have been set up, betrayed or just left out to die by some cowardly militia. More especially if you have not managed to engender a feeling of loyalty to the town and it's peoples first.