I'm starting the AP tomorrow. PCs are a summoner, ranger, rogue, paladin (the latter is planning to multi-class cleric).
I've read a lot and I'm still undecided about running it as written or some variants I've read online.
The variants move some of the maggot/fly/snake encounter's XP to having the PCs fight minor cultists/quasits/etc for a few rounds up above in the cut-scene opening. I like the idea of the PCs being more active and already facing 'evil' rather than bug stomping to 'learn to fight'. Of course there is some 'protect the new NPCs' going on in the bug stomping too. Millorn, then Hueceva (sp), and all the mongrelmen stuff would still happen. But it might speed up the return to the surface in terms of number of gaming sessions. And while they're fighting above ground I'll need to find ways to keep the big bads (and big goods) away from them lower levels so they don't splash kill them.
However some players (and these are new players to me so I don't know how they'll react) tend to dislike "un-winnable" fights; others dislike narrated cut-scenes that they can't change.
Any thoughts as to which tends to play out better in practice?
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Give them some dretches and whatnot to fight. Have a couple of CR 4 or 5 demons there playing with the PCs because they think it's funny. After a round or two, have the Storm King throw a mythic Earthquake, the demons bug out because of it, but level 1s won't be able to make more than a save or two before they fall into cracks in the earth. Terendelave then throws the featherfall as needed before dying.
I agree that the beginning could use some work. I played through a few descriptive rounds with my PCs before sucking them into the earth. I also helped form their background around places and NPCs mentioned in the city guide.
There is that fine line between story and railroad. But my PCs loved the imagery of the Storm King and Telendev and remember it even as we're about to start book 3. I am following James Jacob's suggestion and putting a lot more work into Drezen though, so the PCs care more about that city as Kenebras is 'just' background.
My group didn't have any problems with it personally. I "ran" it like the opening cutscene in a video game. They actually thought it was a pretty good opening. Though my group doesn't mind being "railroaded" occasionally.
-Kcinlive
Ran it as the book was and it was fine and they thought it was actually pretty cool to do it that way. Very suspenseful and a surprise. I think my group personally would have hated it more to be thrown into a combat they were destined to lose and get screwed around with until they are forced to fall.
One alternative is instead of having the party do nothing but fight, give them options - a column is about to fall, and the PC has a chance to push someone to safety. They survive in either case, but if they make the roll, they succeed in saving someone. Let them be heroes without necessarily fighting lots of monsters - the environment itself can be the antagonist.
My guys enjoyed the opening scene as well as far as I can tell, and haven't seemed to mind the constant fighting of bugs in the caverns either (though I'm not sure they've cottoned on yet to the connection between Deskari and the insects).
For my group, I described the business of the city getting final preparations done for Armasse, had the players describe their characters as they gathered in the main plaza in Old Kenabres for Lord Hulrun's speech, and then described the first half of the intro scene, describing the Storm King and Terendelev clashing in the skies above the city and stopping at the point where demons began to appear in the plaza and go to town on the citizens.
At this point I asked them to roll initiative as a dretch appeared in front of them and started attacking the fleeing citizens. A well-meaning but racist crusader also attacked the party's tiefling with his fists (having lost his sword in the initial shock attack), believing him to be allied with the demons. The party got to feel like heroes as they killed the dretch, and as the demon went down, the PC's looked up to see Terendelev and Khorramzadeh crashing into the Cathedral.
The earthquake then split the plaza and I read out the last portion of the opening, placing particular importance on the fact that Terendelev chose to save them and the NPCs rather than herself. The tiefling attempted to save the well-meaning crusader that had attacked him, but a couple of poor rolls caused the poor fellow to slip out of his fingers and into the darkness below.
All in all I believe its a fine start to the campaign, and my players seemed to enjoy it :)
I never thought about the Deskari connection... hmmm....
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I basically ran it "as is" and I only had to change some things to account for the number of players in the party. All I had to do was change the flavor of the creatures they were facing to make them fit. For example;
One of the players wanted to make a knowledge check to identify it so I let them role a "knowledge (the planes)" check and provided them all the info the the maggots with a little abyssal flavor thrown in and told them that these were made from the lost souls of mortals and were probably there as part of one of the abyssal rifts that had opened up during the fighting outside.
I did the same with the giant fly, using similar descriptions as the maggots, which helped to solidify what I said earlier. They loved the feeling that they were already fighting monsters from the Infinite Abyss and they felt really heroic.
My players enjoyed it, but I had intentionally misled them as to what would be happening to keep everything a surprise. I played up the "10 day-long festival that focuses on respite from crusading" thing for Armasse, and said there would be a series of competitions/events to participate in (along the lines of We Be Goblins) in order to win prestige and have difficult but non-lethal encounters boosting party experience. The players signed up for gladiatorial combat, jousting, feats of daring, religious services, and displays of relevant crusading knowledge ahead of time so that I would "know what to prep", which helped build excitement.
Then, after equipment checks, I did the "you awake in darkness" thing which led to a nice amount of party confusion. Flashbacks to the attack were accompanied with a slideshow of demonic destruction and dramatic music. That was enough for our Bard to become paranoid about all the giant vermin they saw being heralds of Deskari's evil presence, and Aravashnial's conspiratorial tendencies egged him on.
All in all, they were big fans of the opening sequence, even if (or partially because) it's not what they were expecting.
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I ran the opening as written as well. Told them when creating characters that they would need a reason for being at the Celebration if their character wasn't from Kenabres since it was going to be the focus of the first bit of the adventure. Had everyone describe their characters, reasons for being there, and any existing relationships within the party. Then simply stated "You awake in darkness". Everyone looked confused and one of my players even said "Wait, weren't we at a festival?" It was pretty great and everyone enjoyed it from what I can tell.
Yeah I ended up running it as written. It worked, they were suitable confused, but ok with it. I don't feel I've done a great job bringing the NPCs to life, but they are at least still engaging with them.
Instead of starting with "You awake in the dark" and telling what happened using flashbacks, I've put my players in the middle of the action. They were in the middle of the chaos created by the demons' attack until the rift opened under their feet and Terendelev casted Feather Fall to save them.
During all the attack's description, they were stunned to see such powerful creatures at the very beginning of the adventure :)
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I noticed that the NPCs have been a big pain for me so far.
The party is also pretty tired of Horgus already, and I don't think I've done a very good job of showing that he's not really a bad guy.
I'm thinking of having one of the players go looking for him as they are getting ready to leave Neathholm only to find him trying to help a homeless man.
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Dallimar, don't 'have' you players do anything.
If/when someone follows they find him sharing a few quiet minutes with a few mongrelmen at a small shrine. After a moment, Horgus leaves something of actual value with the shrine tenders and he is heard thanking them.
Upon closer inspection, the shrine is to Aroden.
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I'm starting the AP tomorrow. PCs are a summoner, ranger, rogue, paladin (the latter is planning to multi-class cleric).
I've read a lot and I'm still undecided about running it as written or some variants I've read online.
** spoiler omitted **
Well, here's what we did:
When the attack began, the four of them were in three separate groups (two are siblings and were together) not very far apart from each other. I ran a handful of small encounters against small home-brewed demons, a couple of cultists and the rescue of some citizens while greater battles took place nearby... they eventually ended up fighting together or assisting one another and, following the PC mentioned above, attempted to make their way to where Terendelev was battling the Storm King. They reached the battle just as the scene in the book takes place, and it was Terendelev's efforts to save his last remaining heir that caught them all up in the Feather Fall spell/collapse of the street into the tunnels below. While down in the tunnels I ran the encounters as listed with a few minor omissions (the cave viper and the abandoned temple).
I talked to the PC's once we were well into book Two and asked him what they thought about the changes I had made, compared to how it had been written and all of the input was positive. One thing though - we use automatic leveling, usually at the recommended points in the story, so balancing the XP from one encounter to the next isn't really a concern for us.
I also changed a number of NPC interactions and motivations.
I noticed that the NPCs have been a big pain for me so far.
** spoiler omitted **
I changed some of the NPC interactions/motivations as well.
Aravashnial was less imperious and more traumatized by his circumstances, the despair that the demons had worked so long to instill finally beginning to take root. The PC's - one in particular - spent a great deal of effort bringing him back from the edge. It made for some nice RP moments.
Lann I wrote in as an Archivist Bard to supplement the party, kind of like an NPC cohort run by me. He served as a representative of his people in Kenabres and then as a liaison between they and the mongrelman forces that aided the armies in later books. He's been a real pleasant surprise for us as a group thus far.
What reason did you give for the sale of Irabeth's sword?
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I started the Campaign a couple of days before the opening of book one. Three of the pc's stumbled into Defender's heart Inn at approximately the same time looking for lodging. There was only one table who had empty seats and at that table sat the fourth pc, a local of Kenabres. The other pc's quickly decided to hire the fourth pc as a guide. They spent the days building up to the opening sightseeing the city, meeting npc's (many whom I was planning on killing in the opening events)and engaging in tournaments and other festival events. I also made sure the pc's got to interact with all the npc's that would be trapped with them beneath the city later on.
One of the pc's, a young sorcerer, had come looking for his parents whom had been involved with the Riftwardens. He arranged a meeting with Aravashnial, but the elf requested 200 GP in payment for his sage advice. The pc's didn't have that kind of money so they went to the prominent moneylender Horgus Gwerm. After a small quest were they had to sneak into Gwerm's house, they managed to get a meeting. Horgus lent the young sorcerer half the money on the condition he helped rid his cellar of some rats. They returned to Aravashnial and payed the money as a downpayment. Aravashnial quickly briefed the pc's about the Riftwardens and said he would look into the sorcerers parents later.
That same night the party's druid wanted to go to the park to get in touch with the natural spirits as he prayed for more spells. The rest of the pc's followed thinking a stroll under the moonlit sky in the park would be a nice ending to their day. There the pc's discovered a couple bathing naked in the pond and having an intimate moment. The couple was no other than Anevia and Irabeth, who was at first embarrassed and irritated at the pc's interruption, but they laughed it off after some good diplomacy rolls from the players.
The party's paladin wanted to join the Everbright crusaders and after some failed attempts at impressing them at some of the tournaments, met one of their senior knights by coincidence and as luck would have it the paladins parents had served with that particular knight during the crusades. He was informed that he would give the young paladin a recommendation to his Commander.
Then, the next morning I started the opening events of the AP. I ignored the read aloud text at the beginning and rather improvised a version of those events on my own. I went into great detail on the horrific slaughter and terror the demons caused and how the brave crusaders and eagle knights valiantly tried to fight them off. I described every event quickly and gave the pc's little time to think and act. They quickly decided to try to avoid most of the demons and focusing on helping innocent citizens escape. I had the pc's cut of by rubble with nowhere to go except closer to Kirramzadeh and the demon horde. They desperately tried to climb the rubble as the demon lord came closer and closer. As Kirramzadeh was almost in attacking range the Everbright crusaders came charging over the rubble giving the pc's a few more rounds to help citizens over the heap of rubble. Kirramzadeh and his demon army quickly decimated the crusaders and a new earthquake left the pc's trapped along with a few other npc's, including Horgus, Aravashnial and Anevia. As the ground began to crack under their feet Aravashnial tried to confront the demon lord only to get a flaming whip in his face, blinding him. Then the ground cracked open just as Terendelev came flying in to confront the demon.
They were stunned and almost thought I was kidding when I described the demons pouring into the city. They were 1st level and they saw Vrocks, Babau's, Hezrous and even a Marilith. When I was finished with my description my players sat there for a few moments, mouths agape as they tried to take in everything that had happened. They then looked at each other and everyone agreed that this was the most epic start to a Campaign they had ever played (Three of those players have been playing for twenty years so they have been in a lot of Campaigns). So far this is shaping up to become an epic Campaign.
^^ Epic.
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I did character building and a bit of roleplaying up to Armasse via email before our first session. I basically got each individual's story up to the same point: Lord Hulrun about to give his speech.
When we started our first session, I started off with the "You awake in the darkness..." moment. They were confused, but as I read the box text (and added a bit to embelish the attack and foreshadow some NPCs), their eyes went big. It seemed to go over really well and felt very different for a normal campaign opening.
My players are friends of a long time, except but for one, a recent friend of mine who have played only GURPS before.
Before we started to play as a group, I did a little roleplaying with each one of them, so everybody could settle better with their characters, as well as myself as a GM. So, when the game really began, it was relatively easy to make them go along. They looked for the NPCs without problem; it was me who got a little overwhelmed with the information to present (describing the fall, the cave where they woke up, the npcs around...), but they kinda helped me asking question about the place and other things.
As for the attack during the festival, they witnessed everything. I made them interact a little with the action, running from some place to another. When we stopped to play for the day, they seemed to like it.
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My players had a ton of fun with the opening. Like some others, I started before the official opening. I had everyone briefly discuss why they were in Kenabres, gave a quick rundown of the history of the region and explained the significance of Armasse.
Afterwards, I plopped them into the festivities of Armasse, took the role of a couple carnival barkers. One of the games two players stepped up to play was my way of introducing the mass combat rules.
Because Armasse grew out of a need to teach religious and military history, I set it up as a board game scenario of Iomedae's 4th Act. One player took control of Iomedae's knights, the other took control of the bigger Wraith army. That was fun, and laid the groundwork for some future concepts.
The other 3 took archery, swordplay, and history challenges against citizens, one of whom was Anevia, another of whom was a young man who took a huge shine to the paladin. They won a huge melon as a prize, but upon cutting it open, a trio of giant maggots were infesting it. They dispatched them without trouble, but the crowd thought it an ominous portent.
At noon, they moved to the plaza to see Mayor Hulrun's speech, but he started coughing heavily as he tried to deliver it, eventually collapsing to his knees. He coughed until a cockroach wormed its way out of his mouth, and he and the crowd watched it scuttle away in revulsion. At that moment the Kite exploded and Khorramzadeh appeared.
All hell broke loose, and a passing Eagle Knight ordered civilians to get to the lower levels of the city. The PCs all fell back as demons started pouring into the city, the ground quaking violently, and vermin bursting out of cracks in the earth.
In the plaza of St. Clydwell, the PCs stopped to pull rubble off of some civilians, as well as slice through a couple giant cockroaches and flies that were terrorizing people. After a few rounds of that, Terendelev crashed through the upper reaches of the cathedral with Khorramzadeh atop her. An Ulkreth loomed up over a row of buildings and slammed its fist down, sending the PCs tumbling. Terendelev cast feather fall, and from that point on, I basically ran it as written.
The players seemed pretty pumped with the opening, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to introduce some later concepts and NPCs as well as making the beginning very epic. It was a ton of fun.
I worked with the characters to create some compelling back-stories that wove in the campaign traits and the reasons they were in Kenabres. On the morning before the ceremony started each one of them got a minor gift for Armasse from an NPC character in their personal story.
I ran with the text from the AP and also borrowed and edited in text from a few campaign journals that I've read (and thanks to any authors I plagiarised) but had a carefully structured pattern to how I revealed things.
1. I played a theme tune for the campaign (Main theme from Diablo III soundtrack) and read out an opening paragraph about the horrors of Sarkoris.
2. Then under some quieter atmospheric music I gave them all the backstories (around 1 page of A4) for them to read. That got them all thinking about their characters and past.
3. I read out a section about Armasse and what it means for the city of Kenabres.
4. The players turned over their sheet and read what they had done that morning, see section below. Then they had all made their way to the plaza and had climbed the steps of a statue for a better view of proceedings. That finally set the stage for the big reveal.
The Cleric of Iomadae who was a Mendevian wastrel until his sister was killed. He was at the Cathedral and being invested as an initiate, he also intervened in a dispute between some of the fanatical witch-hunting 'Burner's and other of the faithful. He was given a silver rosary of the Acts of Iomadae. Our Kyoninian Menhir Savant druid studying leylines and ancient Sarkorian traditions was in Truestone Park with Crocis who tends the garden. Crocis gave him a remnant of Sarkoris, a mammoth ivory tusk scroll tube engraved with symbols of the Green Faith.
The Pathfinder Society catfolk bard is part of a small team infiltrating noble society in the city and she got a sheaf of Angel Quill arrowheads from her superior. We have a Dwarven healing focused Witch who is in the city as part of the war effort supporting the Holy Legion of Torag, she got a home-brew pair of Minor Healer's Gloves (+2 competence bonus). Finally the Hellknight (Order of the Godclaw) completed some trials of combat and was accepted as an Armiger and given a steel and ebony inlaid breastplate by a commander of the order.
5. Then I hit them some more dramatic music and ran sound effects of an earthquake and an ear deafening ringing and read them the shocking piece about where they were in the vast caven.
6. The final piece was the slow piecing together of their memories of the events in the Plaza as written.
All my players sat there in shock and were immediately immersed into the seriousness of their situation.
As a DM setting the stage with some written text that gave the players the time to create their own mental pictures really helped build the sense of the opening section of the AP. The horrors of the Worldwound, the morning of Armasse, and then the shock of the attack of the Wardstone and the destruction of Kenabres really created an impact.
Here's a link to the script I used with the sample text for the cleric in the campaign. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9ZyjcaqPRoEVzRhZzVqS0pnRkE/edit?usp=shari ng
I also kept aftershocks and waves of demonic energy from the attack running for the next three hours and all of the vermin in the AP seemed to be infected with it. That's got the players really worried.
I hope some of this proves useful.