| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You seem to have it planned out - but PCs do not always follow your carefully laid trail of clues. It might be worth planning out a bunch of "what ifs" - nearby towns in case they go wandering, alternate ways of bypassing puzzles etc. You can gently hint that they're off course, but railroading can lead them to resist harder.
For example: with a frozen shut door, what's to stop them just dousing it with oil and setting it in fire?
"Broad idea" is something along the lines of:
There is a Dragon. The Dragon is Evil and can only be hurt by "X". The Heroes must find "X" and use it to slay said Evil Dragon. Preferably in the nick of time. Then cake will be served.
I get that Rub-Eta is being a little facetious (which I found hilarious, but that's just me) but it's legitimate and constructive criticism. Expect that players will actively avoid any breadcrumbs you throw them. Plan for them to take the path you don't want, and make sure the plot is flexible and resilient when they do.
If I understand you correctly, the final reward for all of this is masterwork gear?
Yikes.
What are killer hobos? I run a lot of games and my players always pay for at least 3 month poor life style or or month of average. So they definitely aren't hobos. The poor lifestyle comes into play only when they have established settlement.
What are killer hobos? I run a lot of games and my players always pay for at least 3 month poor life style or or month of average. So they definitely aren't hobos. The poor lifestyle comes into play only when they have established settlement.
PCs generally don't have permanent homes, because they are out adventuring and not kicking back at the house sipping brandy.
They also kill a lot of people.
Murder Hobos is a fairly old good nature mocking of the entire concept of adventuring PCs in general.
---
The best advice I can give is to make a living setting, not a scripted one.
By living, I mean take all of the major players and figure out WHY they are doing what they are doing. Once you understand their motivation, and you know where they are coming from, you will be able to react to the unexpected *MUCH* easier.
Don't just say that X happens after Y occurs, understand why its happening and what the problem it is solving actually is. Once you've defined exactly what the problem is that has to be overcome, then you can react better to it when the PCs come up with an answer that is just as valid but nowhere near what you expected.
Basically, this isn't a video game. Perfectly scripted events are a very bad idea because it will *NEVER* go the way you expect, and efforts to try and force your players down a specific path is generally seen as a very bad idea (called railroading because the PCs aren't allowed to go off the tracks).
---
One thing that strikes me as asking for trouble in your description? You've got a dungeon that you say is full of wraiths and mummies and presumably other undead, and then they turn a corner to find a skeleton who is a friendly NPC? When they've just slogged through an entire dungeon of undead, what makes you think they won't attack this guy on sight and kill him?
Also, you mentioned a boss fight with an "elder dragon" where the dragon flees from the PCs. Okay, but then you mention later that they get rewarded with masterwork gear.
That doesn't add up in my book. If they're low enough level that masterwork weapons and armor mean anything at all to them, they're not going to stand a chance against a dragon of any age category, much less Adult and up. If they are legitimately powerful enough to make a dragon run for it's life, why would they want mundane equipment as a reward?
And before that, why do they have to cross a frozen lake by doing something as risky as jumping across ice flows? My first reaction as a player wouldn't be to do that, it would be to find a boat or some other way of crossing that doesn't involve as great a risk of me falling into freezing water and dying of hypothermia.
And of course, this all assumes that the players even take the bait at the very beginning. If the "your reward for all of this is masterwork gear", then I'm assuming that these guys are level 1. I sure as hell wouldn't go chasing after a dragon at level 1!
---
Overall, it sounds like you are planning this out like a video game quest line where important NPCs are invincible and the players can either go down exactly the path you want them to or they can just not play.
That really isn't a good way to run a campaign, IMO.
Take a look at this site on Gamemastery 101. It's old, but it's got some great articles on preparation.
You've got what seems IMHO to be a fairly straight-line adventure planned. Adventurers rarely follow the straight-line path unless you force them. and most groups I've been exposed to are rarely happen with a forced plat.
So how do you get them engaged?
- Give them multiple ways to find out things. This is the rule of 3 for each set of information you want to share.
- Plot out motivations of key mover/shakers. The issue underlying your scenario is a problem with a BBEG which is a dragon. He's raiding the city - why? Stopping him can be done by acquiring weapons that (might) allow the group to kill him. But also, the players might be able to recruit help, or do something to shift his focus, or even negotiate with the BBEG.
- Set up a timeline for how the situation evolves, and how events will occur without the player's intervention. Then add a few thoughts on how it might change based on different types of player intervention.
- Lastly, consider having a node-based adventure where the nodes are multiply interconnected. This allows you to place the adventure hooks where they snag the players' interest. If done well, you'll wind up with a group that is really heavily invested in your game.