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How should I run something like this? I want it to have a nomadic feel to it, being set in Quadira. For the beginning, I was planning on having the PCs be hired muscle for a caravan that is raided in a dangerous pass and looted. The PCs are captured as slaves and are sent to be sold in some far-flung slave market. The campaign progresses from there, and I don't want to post my whole plot line up right now because I'm running fast out of time.
My questions are: If you've done this before (or something similar), could you provide insight on how to run this and some good example encounters I could use as a springboard? Do you mind providing me with some tips and tricks I could use to handle PC enslavement? How long is being enslaved too long in dragging down the plot?
Thanks in advance,
Theliah
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I remember years ago in a game I played in, our characters were overwhealmed captured and put into slavery. Then the GM put Azure bond like tattoos on our characters to compel them to do certain things like attacking a noble etc.
The campaign quickly ended with angry players and an angry GM. He wanted us to follow his plot line and we players were upset by his "railroading" tactics. they felt they had no choice in what happened and no way to affect the story.
If the idea is to get people into the "east", I think you can do this easily.
Simply start in the slave market, and have the pcs "remember" the attack on their caravan that went sideways.
Having the PCs break out of a slave block cell and recovering their stuff could be an exciting beginning to the campaign.
Or perhaps a patron could intervene on their behalf and "purchase them" for the purpose of giving them their freedom.
The Slave Master's Mirror, a Pathfinder Society scenario might give you some ideas about a slaver's complex. Its a downloadable PDF which is only $4.00.
Yeah, if you are planning on the players falling into slavery, they are going to feel like they are being railroaded. I strongly suggest starting after the players have been captured- that way, it's simply a scenario beginning.
The alternative is to allow the players to fight back the slavers if they can, and then allow them to pursue the slavers back to Quadira. But this has pitfalls (what if the players don't bite?) and it'll be a different type of start than you were imagining.
As far as how long they should remain enslaved, that is entirely up to how much agency they have. If they players going to be strictly watched and punished if they try anything, the slave sequence needs to end ASAP, because that isn't fun at all. A slave market will generally fall into this category.
On the other hand, if the players are thrown into a slave camp, and left to figure out what is going on, then you have a prison escape scenario, which is far, far more interesting. The players now have multiple avenues of investigation- figure out what they're supposed to do to keep the guards from getting mad at them, figure out who's who in the camp, figure out where their gear is, and figure out how to escape. This sort of scenario is much more engaging, and can easily last a couple of sessions (probably no more than two)
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You might check out the Ennie award winning Southlands Campaign Setting. It had loads of fantasy flavored Egyptian, Near & Middle Eastern style gaming goodness.
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If you play out the fight & capture with rolls, you risk the players making the capture fail.
If you force the players to be captured, you are railroading them.
The way out is to describe the event as a scene that occurs and changes the location and equipment the PCs have. As this is an intro to a campaign, here is what I might do:
1) Describe the PCs being hired as caravan guards.
2) Describe the journey into the wilderness.
3) Describe the raid and capture as something that happened, but not much detail.
4) Describe the subsequent transport to the eastern slave market.
5) Either:
5a) Bought by someone who wants PCs & equips them for their 1st adventure, and may become a patron for a few levels.
5b) Describe the PCs as figuring out an escape that gets them gear. [Possible substitutions and additions might occur.] Now they have an angry owner that wants them back. They either need to purchase their freedom via cash or capture their former owner.
The 5A plot gives missions at the start that they must do. The 5B plot has more tension, but may be too intense for beginners.
/cevah