Sounds like an excellent idea, glad your players enjoyed it. I'm a long way away from the Rushlight Tournament (party just killed the Stag Lord) but I will definitely keep this idea in my pocket!
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Sounds like an excellent idea, glad your players enjoyed it. I'm a long way away from the Rushlight Tournament (party just killed the Stag Lord) but I will definitely keep this idea in my pocket!
I found the Rushlight Tournament way too late for my players. Why the heck would they, as established rulers, compete? If I were to do it again, I would have them attend as nododies early, like right after module 1, and let them compete and probably lose a lot. Then, maybe around module 3 or 4, they could go back and compete again. I think it would be more meaningful to them them that way.
The other idea I had was to have players with high-level PC create secondary characters, much lower level, to do some of the un-ruler-like drudge work like going out on those little missions and competing in competitions in the name of the Kingdom.
Unfortunately, like several other parts of the AP, the Rushlight Tournament suffers from a lack of foreshadowing (as written). Nothing a GM can't add in; this is supposed to be a major annual event in the River Kingdoms, after all.
Expanding on the tournament events is definitely an option, as well.
Sounds like an excellent idea, glad your players enjoyed it. I'm a long way away from the Rushlight Tournament (party just killed the Stag Lord) but I will definitely keep this idea in my pocket!I found the Rushlight Tournament way too late for my players. Why the heck would they, as established rulers, compete? If I were to do it again, I would have them attend as nododies early, like right after module 1, and let them compete and probably lose a lot. Then, maybe around module 3 or 4, they could go back and compete again. I think it would be more meaningful to them them that way.
The other idea I had was to have players with high-level PC create secondary characters, much lower level, to do some of the un-ruler-like drudge work like going out on those little missions and competing in competitions in the name of the Kingdom.
Yeah I get that. For my campaign, I intend to foreshadow Irovetti pretty early. The party met Varn, Drelev, and the Iron Wraiths in the first session when they got their charter. Now that they have killed the Stag Lord, I plan to have the party called back to Restov (just outside actually for campaign related reasons) where each group will get their new charters. Of course, the Iron Wraiths aren't going to show being as how they've already been dispatched by Irovetti. Instead, Irovetti will show up and throw down an Iron Wraith shield and threaten/chastise Rostland for sending trespassers to his border before storming out of the meeting.
Then, shortly after the PCs get their revised charter, I will have a bard/messenger/etc. talk about the wonders of the Rushlight Tournament and how all the neighboring kingdoms were invited, etc. The implication being that Irovetti doesn't consider the PCs kingdom important enough to be invited.
As a side note, I'm hoping that this will lead to some more interesting interaction with the players because I modified the Stag Helm such that when one of the PCs put it on at the end of the last session he was contacted by a beautiful woman with flowing green hair walking through a verdant landscape. She called him her champion and stated how her previous champion had lost his way and that she just knows that with the PC's help, she can save "this place" (i.e. the verdant landscape -- The First World). She then healed the PC and gave him a kiss and now he never wants to remove the helm (additional mechanic added). I'm hoping I can pull this off well enough that it leads the PCs to question who the bad guy really is as Irovetti of course will be set up to be in opposition to N and wanting Briar for himself, etc. At the same time, there will be other hints as to what N is up to laced throughout as well.