So they've finally defeated Lucrecia and the Kreeg Ogres. Now what?
My players have been playing the game sporadically and the siege on Fort Rannick has taken a few months, actually. (We alternate between campaigns played, and I've been too busy with work and school to GM, but now I have time again!) Rise of the Runelords is the first campaign I've ever run, so I'm still somewhat new to GMing, but I know some of what I want to do next, and I'm hoping you all can help me do it:
1. Reassert the setting - I'm sure most of the players have forgotten much of what led up the siege on Fort Rannick. For example, the never-ending torrential rain. I really want to build up to this, even if it's only in a descriptive monologue, although penalties on perception and other things might be good as well. I'd rather not have it go like "Oh, by the way, it's raining hard and flooding now"
2. Give players options - The story can diverge into 3 different arcs; part 3, 4, and 5, and you can do them in any order. I'm hoping to give my players some latitude in what they want to do, since the adventure spells out that you can do this and our group's GMs have a habit of railroading and players expect to be railroaded in turn. Not the worst thing, but might as well mix it up when you can.
3. Work in subtle plot hooks - Goes with the last point; they have options, but which road do they take? I have NPCs at my disposal; the Black Arrows, Shalelu, a pixie, villagers... What would be a good way to lay out options available to them without forcing them to go one way or another?
4. Really focus on the story - Just explaining what I feel is a weakness in my GMing. Our games tend to devolve into combat-focused with story as an excuse as to why we're murdering something or other. "Point us at what needs to be stabbed or blown up and away we go!" Something to that effect. I love a great combat, but I think the game could be much more memorable if I could only capture the mood and gravity of each situation they are to face.
5. Downtime & using the fort? - Sort of a bonus point that I don't intend to focus on next session, but did you have your PCs take over operations of the fort or do something else interesting with it? It could make for a good session in the future if I had a solid idea on what to do.
Anyway, just looking for tips on how everyone ran the second half of the Hook Mountain Massacre. Please share your experiences!
Oh, one more thing I'm struggling with is that one of my players wants to Awaken their T-Rex animal companion (and I suppose attract a new T-Rex animal companion)
Has anyone had a player do this in their campaign and how did you handle it? For now I'm just putting it off, since the story doesn't exactly allow for the 24 hour casting time, but I do intend to let her do it soon.
Hey, hey, now! We're going to have an interesting conversation with our avatars, aren't we?
My best, briefest advice is this: From what I read, you seem to be GM'ing like I used to, trying to choose the path you want the PCs to take, and gently prodding them that way. (Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it's exactly how I did things for many years.)
Instead, consider yourself the "worldkeeper". "This is what the world is like right now. This is what is happening of significance. These are the motivations of the people moving things behind the scenes."
All of a sudden, it doesn't particularly matter what the PCs do -- the world will keep on moving, and they will (hopefully) learn of events that steer them in particular directions, but if they want to run off to Korvosa for a month while the Skinsaw Murders are happening, no problemo! Their favorite NPCs are doomed, and maybe even Sandpoint...
As for your specific points:
(1) I just made it a point to point out that it was rainy and miserable. Every. Single. Day. My players picked up on that without my having to mention flooding, or unnatural rain, or anything else. The fact that the GM keeps pointing out how crappy the weather is usually leads players to conclude that something unnatural is happening.
I would remind them that they were sent from Magnimar to investigate, and they have succeeded in their mission of finding the Black Arrows and re-taking the fort, but there aren't enough Black Arrows left to hold the fort against even a feeble ogre assault, so perhaps leaving them on their own at this point might not be the best idea. My group immediately thought of levying militia from Turtleback Ferry, and that led to the flooding, and then the dam. The hard part is fitting in the Shimmerglens. I'd done that by mentioning the eerie lights at night, so they went there on their own.
(2) As I said, if you set the world and let them wander in it, then they have their choice. If you want them to go in a particular direction, drop stronger hints that way.
(3) Ditto again. Looks like the Shimmerglens are going to get short shrift. Consider them going to that other town (sorry, forget the name, but west of Turtleback Ferry) for more levys, and having the people in that town mention the lights.
(4) This is harder, and really depends on your gaming group. I LOVE my RotRL group because they're all about the story -- 90% of our game time is story-telling. But you can't go it alone as a GM; your players have to buy into it. Have the NPCs strike up conversations. Spend a bit of time describing a farmer whose livelihood is being destroyed by the torrential rains. Try to slip in descriptive tidbits about how miserable these people are, so hopefully good-aligned or oriented PCs will say, "We need to do something here!"
(5) My PCs just evacuated Turtleback Ferry into the fort. That helped the fort with its defenses, and gave the residents a safe place to stay during the flooding, so it worked well for everyone.
Good luck!
(And sorry -- haven't run a druid yet, so can't help there)
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I'm not to Fort Rannick yet, so I can't help with that bit. However, NobodyHome is answering, so you're in good hands there!
As to the bits that are not HMM-specific, if your group is used to a certain type of playstyle, then by all means, alter the story so it better matches the playstyle of your group. They're used to being given a hook and going after it? Then have an NPC important to them say that something weird is going on wherever you'd like them to go next. If that's Shalelu, then great! If not, then have someone else that they care about give the direction. You know who they like and who they don't, so you can best tailor your pitch to get them to investigate whatever bit you think they should go after next.
As for an awakened animal, there's some good info about how to handle that here.
Thanks for the advice! Today is the big day, so wish me luck! Pathfinder from noon to 9. Should be a good day.
Good luck! And don't forget the good food! Can't do a 9-hour gaming day without eating yourself stupid!
(Shiro's player and I do all the buying, and learned that in August we paid enough to buy a pretty nice used car in food alone. Suddenly our players are learning that I'm a pretty darned good cook...)