Hi, I'm a new DM and am running my first custom campaign. So far it's going ok though I'm running low on idea's for challenges... The monster/combat side I'm fine with. It's the Trap, puzzle and direction finding thing I'm having issues with.
The next part of the campaign will see them entering an abandoned town searching for an NPC who has a Goblin Skinned book they need. After a short look through the town they decide to set up camp. Eventually they realise they can't leave the town and it seems to be infested with various evil energies and creatures. Basically, what I'm asking is, how can I keep this interesting and entertaining and challenging without having to rely on monsters all the time? What can I do to let them find their way through the town and get lost and then find their way out again? I have an idea for an end boss, though I need things for between the start and finish...
Thanks,
Fox.
NPCs. They're not just for plothooks any more.
The party meets people. Those people have wants, needs and motivations. They may help or hinder the party, dispense services and advice, and by the GMs way to steer events without becoming too heavy-handed. And - depending on the players - they're a nice way for the PCs to become involved in the setting. Rescueing the farmer's daughter is blasé. Rescueing Suzy, the daughter of farmer Franz who sheltered the party in a thunderstorm and whose larder has the most delicious pork sausages ever, is an entirely different matter.
|
If you wish to liven up the people, you need to have their personalities written on paper or memorized in head. It's hard to make up things on fly, and sometimes people overpush GM in creating the world around you.
I will list several ideas which crossed my mind.
Several NPC ideas and quests:
- Can the PCs really convince ant Zelma to tell them what she saw?
- Sometimes simple Intimidation doesn't work. People have motives like VRMH said and often Intimidation is fruitless against specific people who have nothing to lose. Can they they convince them otherwise?
- Doing trouble in town attracts guards or mob of people. Things need to get done stealthily or PC's might get imprisoned. You have no idea how much fun I had in prisons :)
- Sometimes, NPC won't give information at all, unless you fetch something for him. The object can be anything of importance to the NPC, but of zero value.
Strange house ideas:
- PC's might eventually start to look for the source of their problem as you described it. The source might be located anywhere? So besides following bad/wrong rumors a good Knowledge (local) or search for specific house might yield a result. It's in a ugly old house. A manor or house with a larger basement incorporated into the catacombs or tunnels might expand your plot.
Town as a maze:
- For the reference, your evil energies and magic might still provoke several Will saves for PC's. If they fail, they don't notice anything is out of place. Similar like illusions.
This is all I came up with for now. Notice that these are all noncombat scenario's but instead skill challenges.
Going w/the suggestions on using NPCs and the notes provided in the OP, here's some targeted suggestions:
- have an NPC or two run into the PCs in this supposedly "abandoned" town
- the NPCs want to leave but say they're trapped
- one of these NPCs wanders off; when they return they're corrupted by the evil
To Malag's point: try to use as much non-combat as combat scenes, to keep the PCs interested. Also use the "3 clue rule." Essentially this concept suggests that for every plot point you want to make give the PCs at least 3 obvious clues to get it. Ex:
You want the PCs to know the book was fought over in the town's church. As the party enters the town, signs of whoever/whatever they're following lead them to the church. Once there they spy the following:
- a murder of crows on a lumpy pile of unidentifiable material
- a terrible smell emenating from the area
- several broken/ruined elements of the church: windows, furniture, etc
- blood spatters scattered around; a few broken projectiles as well
At this point it should be obvious that the book and its bearer arrived here and there was a fight. If they search, they'll find the book's former owner in the pile of bodies the crows are feasting on out back; no book is present.
Hopefully this gives you a little bit of direction.
Haunts as described in the GameMaster's Guide sound perfect for what you want to use. If your players aren't opposed to roleplaying encounters like those described above work well. Also some skills may come in useful in these situations: Perception, Sense Motive, Knowledge (local), etc.
~NPEH
Thanks everyone, these are some great ideas and advice. Very, very helpful.