I'm going to have an intro session with only a couple players. I plan on having it take place on the road (trail?) from Restov to Oleg's.
Any ideas? I was thinking maybe some pyromaniac goblins. I was thinking one encounter with multiple little opponents (maybe 1 goblin alchemist and some warriors) and one with a single powerful opponent (something CR 1 or 2 at the most).
I think the PCs will be a magus and a cavalier or fighter. Eventually a 3rd PC will be a cleric or druid archer.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Don't do goblins. Do kobolds. There are more of them later in the adventure path, so it will look like good foreshadowing.
Have the wreck of a caravan attacked by bandits, with a couple of scavenging animals (wolves, dogs, rats?) feeding on the corpses of the dead. Foreshadow Kressle with a few chopped-off hands. Of course, you have to figure out what happens if the Pcs decide to track the bandits.
Animals of various local types -- see the random encounter tables -- are always good
Have a crazed traveller who thinks the PCs are more bandits attack them from ambush or something.
Have a wandering orphan kid (parents killed in a bandit attack) show up at the fire looking for food, warmth, whatever. Or maybe the kid is a spy for the bandits?
Childlike halfling rogue spy?
in my campaign I rolled a wandering monster at this stage, and it came up Will-o-wisp !!!
I ignored that, and instead made it a pair of bandits fleeing an ambush by House Surtovia troops (out of their duchy and trespassing in Rostland). This ambush wiped out one of the Stag Lord's bandit bands (the northern highway band)...leaving Kressle's and a plain's band (which ended up getting pulled back to defend the Stag Lord when he got wind of the PC's, in between drunken bouts). The party could not track fast enough in the dark to keep up (the bandits spotted the PC's and left the road), but did figure out it was a horse heavily loaded and dripping blood (one of the bandits was injured). This ultimately lead the PC's to alerting the Mayor of Restov to the incursion, who is protesting in the Brevoy Council currently (this will, however, lead to a power play that he loses, leading to his ouster politically via vote-of-no-confidence at home, which explains why Restov abandons the PC's kingdom).
but I like the Kobald attack idea with the foreshadowing (wish I had thought of that!)
|
In our intro, I told the party they're at Oleg's (gave the premise) and with a diceless half-session we role-played how everyone met and happened to know one another. This allowed me to introduce some politics in the form of a wedding assassination and to get some NPC contacts. Party loved it as they were building the entire intro story - linking party backgrounds - from scratch and it was spontaneous (likely they were expecting the usual "you start the campaign with a fight in a tavern..." motif.)
Well, the session is tomorrow (7pm EDT 4/21/2013), so I don't really have enough time to make anything TOO complex....
|
I recommend mischevious fey like pixes or malevolent fey they can hack like mites, which would also be good foreshadowing.
Alternatively bandits are a very good choice.
I had my party encounter Fernando the pixie (with an outrageous french accent) and a group of weak bandits that were Staglord wannabes trying to prove themselves.
Those with Knowledge (Nature) also saw evidence of fey in one grove they camped in and used another Know(Nature) roll to figure out what offerings (spilt wine, polished coins, fresh fruit, cream, etc) to leave as thanks for letting them sleep there overnight. They got a fey token in exchange, which gave them a bonus in reaction rolls with other fey for quite a while. It was a brownie named Millie who left the token, which gave them a big reaction bonus from Fernando, who had the hots for her. :)
|
I've run Kingmaker twice and started a thread a while back about things I might do differently if I were to start over. Might be useful for you, lots of good ideas from several people.
Reprinting my ideas for the beginning:
0) I'd fudge the map and make Restov farther away. Oleg's is only a couple of days away by the highway. I'd want it to be a week or two. I might even double the size of each hex, making them 24 miles across (about 500 sq miles.). I'd also sprinkle a couple of existing settlements, thorps really, around the Stolen Lands.
1) I think starting off, I wouldn't make the PCs the center of attention. They'd be hirelings for a more notable petty-noble who was setting off to conquer the Stolen Lands. I'd ramp up the expedition-member roles some of us have played around with, like cartographer, naturalist, medic, etc. More focus on just how hard exploring really is, effects of terrain and weather, more random encounters, etc. Then this leader guy would turn out to be a looser and might hide from combat or might just die early in the story, during or soon after the first couple of bandit encounters. Might be cool to make him die by the Stag Lord's hand. Give the PC's a moment of ... uh, what do we do now? Then they have to nut up and finish the job without the boss. Restov might be in a bind and might not want to recognize the PCs claims to the territory but not have any choice. facts on the ground.
2) Before the PCs leave Restov, I'd have a party or something where they'd meet Meager Varn, Drelev and the Iron Wraiths. They just knew too little about their neighbors until it was action time. I'd want them to know what's going on and have relationships (good or bad) with these folks from the beginning. It's would make later events more meaningful, and it seems strange that they barely learn about some of these folks in book 5 and 6. Foreshadowing = good.
OK, I'll check out the link. I have a couple of ideas for stuff on the road from Restov.
I made a 2nd level necromancer who has some kind of connection with Kessler. She's kind of a wannabe, but she has some crawling claw allies. I want the PCs to see a big murder of crows circling overhead, then come across a sick pile of chopped up dudes....and maybe not notice the hands are missing. The necro will have some of her hands ambush the PCs--2 will hit once each then flee, the other 2 will stick around and cover their retreat. The necro will then use the crawling claws later on as a way to track the PCs.
I think I'll forshadow some red kobolds--an alchemist 1 and some goons.
I also want to use pugwampys!!!
I need to read up on all the other groups. I've never run anything in Golarion before.
I might also make a LEGO version of Oleg's camp. :-D
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I went with kobolds attacking the merchant that supplies oleg's. He was laying on the road near death from kobold poison. The party carried him on his wagon the rest of the way to the outpost.
Turns out the cure to the poison was moon radishes (also a fertility enhancer to help the levetons conceive). Made more sense than 250gp soup :/
I did see a kingmaker game done in a youtube video, the intro had a turned over merchant cart with 2 merchants eaten and their bones stripped clean by those gigantic centipede monster. An interesting fight for 4-5 players vs a Cr3 monster right of the bat.
I am planning on having the PCs meet a centaur band, and possibly signs of/actually have a bandit attack.
One of the reasons for the charters will be the increased centaur activity (it's the point in the centaur migration cycle they get closest to Restov).
@Mosaic, somehow I skipped your post earlier, but I have similar ideas, moving Restov farther away, and having the PCs working with a more experienced NPC in the beginning. (My first session will be running The Master of the Fallen Fortress, except instead of a Pathfinder, they are rescuing a noble's son. This noble will then receive a charter, and send his son and the PCs to fulfill it).
I've run Kingmaker twice and started a thread a while back about things I might do differently if I were to start over. Might be useful for you, lots of good ideas from several people.
link
2) Before the PCs leave Restov, I'd have a party or something where they'd meet Meager Varn, Drelev and the Iron Wraiths. They just knew too little about their neighbors until it was action time. I'd want them to know what's going on and have relationships (good or bad) with these folks from the beginning. It's would make later events more meaningful, and it seems strange that they barely learn about some of these folks in book 5 and 6. Foreshadowing = good.
I like this idea. I stuck mostly to Varn and his team, as the party would likely journey through Nivatka's Crossing from Restov. It gives the impression of a Bigger Mission that you can tie in later in Book 3.
1. a simple ruin, a burned out coaching inn perhaps, suggesting either bandit activity or a rather harsh punishment for some would be Rostlandic partisans (i.e. a posted note saying "for the crime of harboring separatists, by the Regent of blah, blah...) and everyone else who happened to be in the inn at the time. It informs/legitimizes the mission and could even make them a little nervous about their role.
2. there is a fort on the Shrike (can't recall the name but it is also in Book 3). Inform them (via their patron/benefactor) not to stop there, that they must sneak by it as there could be spies reporting back to the Crown. Sneaking by should be very easy. PCs are paranoid by design. Making their NPC friends paranoid as well tends to freak them out, in my experience.
3. Don't go overboard! The real key is getting to Oleg's.
The first session will only have 2 PCs, which is why I'm bothering with an intro at all.
I like the idea of meeting with the other 3 groups before hitting the road.
And Benoc, I REALLY like your idea for using the moon radishes as a cure. Maybe for lycanthropy? Are there any poisonous lycanthropes? Like a wereviper or werehedgehog?
The make-up of the party might be changing too. The druid might be a cleric, the magus might be a rogue-witch. Who knows??????
EDIT:
Also, I don't have chapters 2-6. To be honest, I don't want to know too much about them because I hope we can trade GM duties between different chapters.
I also haven't GMed in a year, so I'm rusty.
If you don't make them ford at least one river you're doing it wrong. ;)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Cool! Thanks! I'll definitely add a river ford!
Maybe even add a "build a bridge" encounter later!
It went pretty well. We set it up as a 2 week journey from Restov to Oleg's Trading Post.
The party was a cavalier, rogue (will multi-class into witch), and an archer ranger.
They battled a pair of worgs, vanquishing them with ease, then came to a cross roads where they could use either the New Ford or the New Bridge. They chose the New Bridge. On the way there, they noticed carrion birds and then discovered the chopped-up corpses of two bandits...and they noticed the hands had been severed from the corpses.
The PCs then followed footprints from the scene of the carnage to a small campsite where they discovered a backpack containing a spellbook and some black robes, which they stole.
They then returned to the road and took the new bridge over the river, a narrow affair about 3 feet wide with open sides and a hand rail. At the halfway point, they were attacked by 4 crawling claws! After being choked a bit, the rogue and ranger threw their attackers over the side of the bridge. One that had wounded the rogue ran away. The cavalier destroyed the 4th one. The party then saw the necromancer on the shore.
The PCs set up a fake campsite, using the backpack full of spellbook as bait. The necromancer used a scroll of mount then snuck forward and used her arcane bond to cast summon monster I to summon a fiendish riding dog to fetch the backpack, then bring it to her, then she would mount the mount and ride away. Unfortunately for her, the cavalier charged her down and knocked her out. The PCs interrogated her, found out about her obsession with Kessler (she of the double hatchets), then executed her for being a witch.
The ironic thing is, she never hurt any of the PCs. She shot (and missed) a ray of enfeeblement after the ranger shot her. She was using the crawling hands to just wound the PCs, then use their Mark Quarry to spy on and track them later. All to get noticed by Kessler, who probably doesn't even know she exists. :-P
Anyways, they had to take a day off from travel and use untrained Heal checks to give each other bed rest. :-P
Then the PCs smelled smoke on the wind, investigated a burned out region of the forest, and let it go.
Then the PCs got back on the road and then made camp. Just before dawn, the PCs were ambushed by alchemist fire-wielding kobolds, lead by a kobold alchemist. I gave the kobolds Swap Places feat instead Skill Focus Perception. The plan was to swarm a single PC with 3 or more kobolds, then have them fall back and drink potions as they switched spots. Didn't quite work out that way. 5 kobold goons died, 1 ran away, and the alchemist used expeditious retreat to retreat expeditiously.
The PCs gained a lot healing potions and alchemist fires from the fallen kobolds (the alchemist leader was both productive AND generous!), and even gave a potion to the cavalier's horse.
A couple days later, they encountered a variant of the dire flytrap. It knocked out and grabbed the ranger, and dragged her towards it. The PCs used up many Hero Points and almost all of their alchemist fire, but they eventually prevailed! The cavalier had to use both his Tactician ability to share his Precise Strike feat and Challenge ability.
They continued on their way and made it to Oleg's Trading Post.
Ok, so the PCs began the adventure. They captured a lot of bandits, and plan on forming an alliance with the kobolds. They already took care of the mites.
They also discovered the potential gold mine. I don't have the next chapter of the adventure (levels 4 through 6) yet, but the PCs are planning on using captured bandit labor and possibly allied kobold miners (kobolds get a +2 racial bonus on Profession mining checks). Is this feasible?
Yep.
Cool. I don't want to read ahead too much on this adventure path; I'm kind of hoping for rotating GMs so I can play!
Yeah I likewise would recommend against it. If nothing else, the BBEG has their fingers in every chapter (with the main exception of 3, where the influence is thin) and unless you homebrew it to make them more involved as I did it's information that will only reach the GM's eyes until Chapter 6. So everyone who takes a turn behind the screen will have that bit of the plot revealed, as each chapter's GM notes makes mention of what said BBEG is doing behind the scenes, but very little will be revealed in-game about them until the last second unless you move some stuff around.
There's a lot of good reference material here for amping up some of the chapters - mostly by folks like Redcelt (especially if you want a more politically-oriented, SOIAF-style storyline) and Dudemeister (who's pretty good at ramping up the fey influence). But it's the kind of stuff that you'll want to be able to foreshadow well in advance, as well as fiddle around with the entire metaplot to adjust it to your party and players, and it kind of requires a constant GM to pull off.
Well that's disappointing....
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Don't worry, smilodan, this adventure gives you a LOT of enjoyment as a DM, believe us. I like playing, but DMing this is insane :)
You could always use Realm of the Fellnight Queen and Carnival of Tears as a way to let someone else DM, but best not the overall plot.
Oh, and maybe everything that happens in book 3, coz there is little to no tie-in. You would have to blacken some lines, to be sure, but if you want I could help you with that.
Well, it looks like my players don't have time to GM anyways. :-P
Well, now it looks like the son of a player may want to GM part 2 (levels 4-6).
So I may get to play!!!!
Yay!!!
Anyways, what would be a good 5th wheel for a party made up of a human cavalier, human archer ranger, aasimar archer cleric, and human rogue/witch???
I was thinking of playing a dwarven barbarian 1/magus X or an elf alchemist archer.
Well, I ran the dungeon I added to the Temple of Erastil. It was fun. Evil faun archers, skeletal elk, a forlarren mommy and her daughter drekavac, and some weird slime-scarabs I invented. I should have made them super snails/slugs, though, since there was blessed salt in the dungeon for the drekavac.
Of course, the PCs had to do something stupid like swear an oath to Erastil in his temple, then immediately break it. So I dropped the roof on the PCs and a group of 5 scattered in 3 separate directions. At least there were plenty of secret passages connecting all the regions of the dungeon.
They also completed a lot of the mapping quest.
Next session: The Stag Lord's Keep!!!!
The PCs are 4th level, but I already upped the CR of the main opponents in that dungeon. I might re-map it, though, to make it fit on my battle sheets and so the main encounter with the super archer doesn't take place in a 20 by 40 room or whatever.
I'm thinking arrow slits + balance beam over owlbear pit + some kind of other melee goons. Maybe a climbing wall.
Any suggestions?
The party is a cavalier/fighter, rogue/witch, archer ranger (fey), and cleric archer. Possibly with an alchemist and some other PC, but probably not (son's gf and son of the rogue/witch and archer ranger; this week, the son played his mom's PC...very confusing!).