I'll just apologise for the topic spam, my first session as a GM on Friday and I guess I'm getting nervous and doubting myself.
So, I can't really think of the word to be honest. >< The opening of the campaign begins with two players travelling through the mountains and they encounter a dead body (third player). Bam! Golden aura, alive again! However he is very weak and they carry him to a predestined rendezvous point with player 4 who one is meeting. As night sets in they encounter ninjas who are starting a quest (which will become very very important in the story). One takes pity on them, and after blindfolding them for obvious reasons takes them back to her village.
Sorry I have waffled on a lot; I'll be quick.
They heal him, show them round, and the healed one wakes up to be given a dragon egg by Sarenrae's herald. Only the cleric of Sarenrae can see a beautiful golden temple, until the ninja shows them a certain gold wildflower which only grows in the village. The others eat one and can see it.
This temple will become the most important part of the story!!! It houses Sarenrae's power itself, and has the strongest divine wards possible, so it will be returned to later. But after getting attacked by a wyrmling (which are supposed to be extinct) and being charged with a little quest to find out why, they leave. Leave for the quest and get into numerous adventures, but the village just seems so underwhelming for how crucial it is.
Do you have any advice for fleshing out lore, activities to do, more characters and stuff in the village? I just want the players to connect with it more, so they feel bound to it later in the story...
And once again, I am so so sorry for the length of the post, I can never keep things concise. Dx
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Sounds like a Naruto episode. The Village Hidden in the Sunlight?
It might not actually be a bad thing that the village appears unimportant at first. As the players proceed with the quest they can discover things that keep hinting at the importance of the village, slowly building it up as they go.
You seem to have fleshed out a detailed storyline. Just don't let your sense of story so overwhelm the players they feel like they are being railroaded.
Hahaha, I've actually never seen an episode of Naruto! One of the players love it though, I bet he'll pick up on that haha.
Very true. Prophecies, half-true rumours amongst leading scholars of Sarenrae... I like it, thank you!
Yes, I understand you. I think I'll set points in the campaign which advance the story, but give the players quite a bit of freedom to get there, if that makes sense. :)
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First off, you've built some lore into the temple being invisible to nonbelievers until they eat the golden wildflower. Evildoers could find out about this and the flowers need to be harvested/collected/guarded.
Second, the powerful wards on the temple likely need to be maintained, some form of yearly ritual done by the priests of the temple, which may require reagents (golden wildflowers maybe? Something more remote?)
Small villages (especially remote ones) tend to be self reliant in order to stay alive. They deal in goods and trade more than money. How do the people eat? Do they have farms/animals? Do they have a source of clean water nearby with fish? Do they use magic/magic items to fill in the gaps? Do they trade with caravans?
Starting quests can be simple things to aid the town.
If you are interested, read this over for ideas:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2php6?Introducing-VillageMaker
Good luck!