Has anyone run this an had their PCs not want to help Cressida?
It seems like most of the events from that point on (including parts of the later books) rely on a relationship with Cressida.
Is this something that can be worked around if the players really don't want to go for it?
I suppose a potential solution would be try and find an authority figure they might listen to...
I would be interested to hear other people's experiences...
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I've not had the issue in this campaign and my players have been pretty good at realising what seems to be the story guiding them and going with it.
I did have it in a homebrew once where they were meant to work for the guard but ended up signing up with the mercenary office. I kind of just worked the same stories into a new angle.
You could try getting them to work with Marcus Endrin and the Sable Company in Crimson Throne and deflect to Cressida later, or maybe the church of Abadar.
Find an organisation they're willing to follow and go with it until you can give them a reason why Cressida is an ally worth having.
You could even have them working for Sabina and the Queen and later move to Cressida when they're alienated by the Crown.
Thanks for the points.
I did have Sable Company in my head.
Also I can see how bringing in the Church of Abadar a book early can have its benefits.
I believe I am getting a LE Bard, LG Paladin and a Slayer so am actually not anticipating a problem with getting them to go with the guard.
Sadly it is just looking like there isn't an obvious protege for Vencarlo (but there is plenty of time until that is an issue)
The slayer could work for Vencarlo no?
Remember his protege doesn't have to strictly conform to how he fights, and slayer is still a very rogue like character.
I believe in my game it will be the Slayer (CG, TWF Longsword/Shortsword) who will take that role as the player hates finesse and rapier style combat.
One thing I would say is try and sit down with your players and be honest in saying "you need to play good characters which care about and want to help the city for this campaign to work"
That's all I did with mine and ended up with four characters from Korvoasa and different walks of life, and 1 from Sandpoint who but works well as the "excuse to ask about everything" when technically everyone else should know having grown up there.
There have been a lot of points where I've been glad I did it because otherwise they really have no reason to care at all and could just skip town. Especially in chapter 2 (not there yet myself) when leaving is a way smarter deal especially for an evil character.
Well I think the LE character is an Elf from a rich background and so I assume the idea is that they benefited from the way things were set up.
Challenge will be how they can be convinced not to side with Ileosa. I tend to trust the guy who is playing this one though. Less likely to inadvertently sabotage things than other people I have played with in the past.
I have already explained that the characters need to care about the city and not just want to skip town. Hopefully people will remember that!
The Slayer is going to be CN. Hopefully he can be pushed towards good by the campaign.
The 4th character is currently a mystery.
My biggest fear is how the Paladin fits with the murkiness of this game (and group). There is lots of underworld stuff and not all of the group seem like they are on the level. Could be a challenge
So my game has kicked off. The group was pretty much completely hostile to each other so I don't know how it is going to work out :(
Also not one good aligned PC either (I can't understand why people think is is lame and/or unusual to be good aligned in this kind of game)
I am left struggling with how to bind them to the guard.
One PC (the Slayer) I have written it into their background as he wanted to be a soldier
The others are harder. The Elf is LE from a rich background with disdain for humans. I really cannot see why he would associate with the guard or how I can make him. Unless the request of the queen does actually tip him
There is a Shoanti Wild Child brawler who apparently wants to "take the city back for his people". A pretty much impossible task given 300 years of history and many organisations are against him. I used a prequel scene to try and emphasise to him that he couldn't hope to achieve this without gain influence. Hopefully this is enough...
Final character is a swashbuckler who may be over-focused on the Gaedren Lamm thing for the moment. Will be interesting to see what happens once that has resolved itself
Unfortunately the lack of any good aligned moral compass is something I foresee being a problem during the "save the city".
What I did do was try and introduce NPCs early:
- Trinia is an associate of the Swashbuckler as they are both involved in the arts. I made her make enough sly statements so as doubt may be cast down the line
- The Chellish ambassador was an associate of the LE Elf noble. I was hoping to have him come across as a real piece of work to make him dislikeable to the PC. Problem is the PC is also a piece of work.
- Verik is the sergeant in charge of the Slayer whilst he is in the guard
- Gaekhen is a good friend of the Shoanti (so he should have an added reason to resolve the murder).
Hopefully these points will aid with trying to get my group to buy into parts of the plot...never predict for players is the obvious lesson
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As I have said previously the easiest solution to this is to tell the players they need to play good characters who are invested in the city.
The fact they're all hostile to one another from the start seems to say where this campaign will be heading in the long run.
As players they should be mature enough to understand if you're investing time in running a game for them they need to make characters which work for it.
You shouldn't need to do additional work trying to make their characters do what's required for the story to run smoothly, they should be making characters to fit your story.
The idea you have will work but personally I would ask them to change to a group that works.
If you're the GM you get to make the rules, tell you players it doesn't look like the current group will work for the whole campaign and that they may need to change characters. Ban evil characters (seriously they should never be allowed unless it's an evil game, it only makes the issues you have right now).
Sit with them and flesh their back story out so everyone has a reason to care about the city.
Stand up for yourself and the game when you know they're doing something to be a special snowflake.
My group I ended up with.
Human (Ulfan) Paladin of Cayden - Family owns the Three Rings tavern so he's invested in the city.
Human (Taldan) Slayer - Former criminal who was betrayed by Lamm then saved by the Paladin so they became good friends.
Human (Varisian) Bard - Lives at Trails End with other Varisians, understands the hardships and wants to overcome them by becoming a famous comedian.
Half-Orc Wizard - Works as a PI in the city, has connections to Cressida Kroft from his work.
Human (Chelish) Cleric of Iomadae - From Sandpoint and ended up in Korvosa tracking he man who had her framed for murder.
So in closing I may sound condescending but I've had these issues as a learning GM as it was only as my group matured and I matured as a GM I realised that if I am going to run a game I get to dictate the rules for characters.
They should be helping you and the story, working against it isn't what the hobby is about.
Turelus, I aggree with you. Players should understand that they should work together and make characters who want to work in a team.
I'm not against letting players play evil characters but they should be mature enough to do it. My character foris CotCT was a NE ninja who was working undercover and replaced a citizen from Korvosa. Her only reason she had to hunt Lamm was that e had kidnapped the son of the woman she was replacing and she had to fake he cared. That's ironically the kind of character I would probably ban from a game: outsider, no connections, cold hearted killer. That's a big NO. Of course I knew that I had to work a bit around it. My character had never had human contact or belonged to a society so I made her as a character who secretly wanted to connect to other people and belong somewhere and she became instantly attached to the other members of the party and wanted to fight for Korvosa. She told to herself she was just playing her role as the woman she had replaced but she really cared. Motivations can turn a big NO character into a workable one.
My best advice is to work on the motivations of the characters so they WANT to work together and to save the city. Without that, the campaign won't work.
As I have said previously the easiest solution to this is to tell the players they need to play good characters who are invested in the city.
The fact they're all hostile to one another from the start seems to say where this campaign will be heading in the long run.
As players they should be mature enough to understand if you're investing time in running a game for them they need to make characters which work for it.
You shouldn't need to do additional work trying to make their characters do what's required for the story to run smoothly, they should be making characters to fit your story.
The idea you have will work but personally I would ask them to change to a group that works.
If you're the GM you get to make the rules, tell you players it doesn't look like the current group will work for the whole campaign and that they may need to change characters. Ban evil characters (seriously they should never be allowed unless it's an evil game, it only makes the issues you have right now).
Sit with them and flesh their back story out so everyone has a reason to care about the city.
Stand up for yourself and the game when you know they're doing something to be a special snowflake.My group I ended up with.
Human (Ulfan) Paladin of Cayden - Family owns the Three Rings tavern so he's invested in the city.
Human (Taldan) Slayer - Former criminal who was betrayed by Lamm then saved by the Paladin so they became good friends.
Human (Varisian) Bard - Lives at Trails End with other Varisians, understands the hardships and wants to overcome them by becoming a famous comedian.
Half-Orc Wizard - Works as a PI in the city, has connections to Cressida Kroft from his work.
Human (Chelish) Cleric of Iomadae - From Sandpoint and ended up in Korvosa tracking he man who had her framed for murder.
So in closing I may sound condescending but I've had these issues as a learning GM as it was only as my group matured and I matured as a GM I realised that if I am going to run a game I get to dictate the...
I am going to reach out again
I already told them they needed to make a character that cared about the city. At least one just didn't listen (unless that was the one person I forgot to tell - but I am sure I did)
I thought I could trust the evil PC more but I am now uncertain. When I say the PC is a "piece of work" I mean the character not the player. (Although is rather frail and I would stunned if this one survives the first adventure should we play on)
I did actually put on a character creation and backstory session but one person forgot about it and only one actually came very prepared at all.
Sadly I don't like being too heavy handed as otherwise we will not play a game at all because I know of know one else who wants to play
Another one of my posts got linked to this theme and it seems like I might need to whisk them to Cheliax for Hells Vengeance or onto a Pirate Ship if they seem committed to the characters created.
I assume it would work to build in new characters after the fishery with immediate reasons to help the guard? Best option would obviously be have more people with cards rock up but there might not be time for that
(On a side note) : The half orc wizard sounds loosely based on Harry Dresden. Which is awesome