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We just finished this campaign. What I did was write a short primer for the players (5 pages) about Sandpoint: recent history (The Late Unpleasantness, the fire that burned down the old temple [glossing over Nualia, of course, just a brief mention], and the Swallowtail Festival), the major NPCs (Kendra, the Scarnettis, Ameiko, and Brodert), some of the major businesses (Pillbug's, Savah's Armory, The Rusty Dragon, Vinder's General Store; I included the Hagfish as a area of interest for local color), major industries (the founding families' buinesses as they play into the story later; the Glassworks, the Lumber Mill), and lastly areas of interest outside Sandpoint (Foxglove Manor, Habe's Sanitarium, Devil's Platter, Thistletop, and Tickwood).
Think of what an adventurer would certainly want to know about a town: places to buy gear, gather information, and helpful NPCs and throw in a few places they're going to visit as they adventure.
They may not remember it all, but at least they'll be familiar with the town and its inhabitants.
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I also gave a handout to my player whose PC was from Sandpoint. It was about two pages and was tuned to that character.
The character worked as a guard in Sandpoint, so one sheet was about the families of Sandpoint (the four big families) and the other was about crime (including a mention of the Late Unpleasantness and name drops of some locations).
The other characters were out of towners, so they got different sheets about their homelands. It takes some work, but I find people don't read more than about two pages, so I try to make them count.
Cheers!
Landon
I'm starting RotRL next week and all my players took campaign traits for non-Sandpointians, so they won't know anything about the Late Unpleasantness.
Since I prefer this kind of information to be gathered in-game, I'll probably have an NPC who's had a few drinks drop hints about the "horrible things that happened a few years ago", then another NPC intervenes along the lines of "hey now, we don't want to bore our visitors with old yarns, time for you to go to bed". This will probably pique the player's curiosity.
If one of your PCs is from Sandpoint, you should think about how old he/she was when the Late Unpleasantness happened. Maybe he/she just remembers how frightened the parents were and how nobody was allowed outside after dark.
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There's a TON of backstory (the late unpleasantness, Nualia's history, etc) that really help to shape the adventure, but if the players dont really ask around or do anything to discover this, how would they ever know about it? I think a lot of the backstory of the town is great --- one of my players backstory is they are FROM sandpoint, but how much would they know...??
In the game I'm currently running - and we've just handled this part - Sheriff Hemlock tells them the story of the late unpleasantness (light on Nualia details) on the walk back from the crypts as part of his thanks for their aid in protecting the town when the last thing it needed was more troubles.
At the crypt, Zantus discovered a silver braid left behind by Tsuto at Nualia's request, a sort of mocking warning for the priest. He concealed the discovery from the PC's and asked them to leave... later he summoned the group to the cathedral where he apologized, told them of Nualia's story and produced the braid.
We have a wiki for our campaign and a lot of those backstory stories are included under the heading 'exposition' if you're interested. I'm still steadily adding and updating things as I get time and the party encounters new people or places, but here's a link to Sheriff Hemlock's story:
I did it through roleplay.
My players loved walking around Sandpoint and interacting with people and learning new things, and it was sometimes as simple as a dropped hint in conversation or a snarky remark from a drunk, a subtle mention of how many railings and posts in Sandpoint are carved with elaborate bird sculptures, etc.
And you can even go as far as to engage them directly. My players (well, one of them) went to the Red Dog Smithy to get a sword reshaped, and after expressing his disdain for adventurers, Das Korvut refused to serve him unless the PC could bring back the remains of his son, who disappeared to the Chopper. This led the PCs to talk to everyone, especially the Sheriff, who dumped a ton of backstory and exposition about the town, and gave them a cool thing to explore.
The important part is not to force it. Make it interesting, work with what your players want to do and slip bits of information in to pique their interest. Don't dump expository dialogue for no reason, and ESPECIALLY don't hand it to them before the game and say "Here's the history of the town now pretend you all know and care about this." The idea is to give them a reason to WANT to learn more. And if their character has ties to the town already, then have that player be the one to tell the party, so their character has some use as a source of local information.
Sandpoint is a very small town. It's unlikely that anyone who lives there doesn't know pretty much every rumor there is. And everything about the Late Unpleasantness is pretty well known to all the locals, considering it's hard for a town the size of a football field to be unaware of 25 murders.
This is all good advice - I want to expound on one point: there is a LOT of story that needs to be told and even more than doesn't... meaning that when offering exposition to your players, don't make it a blinking sign pointing towards whatever's next. Pepper in other details and little red herrings based on all the other background information you have at hand. After the crypts, my PC's got all the backstory on the Chopper with casual mentions of the Kaijitsu family troubles and the church burning down... when in truth it was Lonjiku's murder of his wife and Nualia starting the fire that were by far the most important bits of information. They actually went and explored Chopper's Isle a bit, finding nothing but the remains of Stoot's shack, but later when Father Zantus told them the full story of Nualia and when Bethana presented them with Tsuto's letter, it didn't just come out of nowhere... those events had become real to the PC's as part of the town's history and all of a sudden they felt like they were part of the story rather than simply being told what to do next by the GM.
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I did THIS for my players, which let them actually experience the whole Late Unpleasantness firsthard. Seemed a waste not to use such a well written backstory, so I just made them kids so they could only influence the events in very minor ways. It also had the added benefit of starting them out with friendships and adversaries among the NPCs when they began at lvl 1.
One, I'd suggest the Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide. It's got some background and suggestions for regionally appropriate build options for the core classes, new traits, etc. The Guide covers the base information a character who is from or familiar to the region would know.
Two, you need to decide what your players are looking for, have the patience for, etc. How much role-playing do they want? Do they want to get right into the action, etc.? The AP provides a lot of options for action that give role-playing opportunities in Sandpoint as well. You'll also need to decide how much you can deliver via dialogue, etc. Are you a confident DM to deliver a lot of background via dialogue or do you need some support with printed background?
Three, there is a lot of background in the AP but the players don't need to know all of it to either succeed or enjoy it. It gives the DM info should those depths be important or if that is the kind of story the group is looking for but it's not necessary to move through the AP. I mean...
Four, tie the pc's background to Sandpoint - if you can coach even a little out of them. Examples:
Dwarven fighter in my campaign said his character wasn't interested in mining or metal-working so I connected him with the leader of the carpenter's guild. This made him familiar with the business rivalries in town, the lumber mill, etc.
The Varision Cleric was inspired by a sign from Saranrae while exploring Old Light. I took it a bit further and gave him an actual message from Saranrae - "A champion provided against Sandpoint's need has fallen to darkness beyond redemption. Others must take on the burden." He was also trained at the temple in town so was well known to Father Zantus and other clerics there.
The elvish wizard had an Int of 20 and a focus on linguistics. He was sent south from the Mierani forest to find out more about Thassilon and learn the language, etc. He was directed to Brodert and the gnomish map-maker.
The half-elven bard was from Magnimar (which meant he would have useful info when the AP carried them there) and knew about the Sandpoint Theater and the rivalry between its owner and Ameiko and other salacious details.