| punkzilla |
Hello! I am a first time GM currently running Mummy's Mask. The party has just finished book 2 and will be starting book 3 soon.
So far, I think I've done a pretty good job of integrating character backstories with the story. Our changling oracle has been receiving dreams form her mother, who I'm setting up to be a mute hag that lives in the desert that the party will encounter in the end of book 3 or 4, the paladin has been receiving care packages from her family in Katapesh and getting perks from the church in Sarenrae, and the halfling shaman has discovered some clues about his long-lost family members.
The only one I've been neglecting has been the swashbuckler, who is a Taldan nobleman named Constantine. He is adventuring to earn money to help keep his family out of debt, and his backstory also involved the exile of his uncle, which was party his fault, and the arrest (basically house arrest) of Constantine's love interest, Irene. I'd had plans for the uncle to be in Tephu, coincidentally one of the party goers on the "pleasure barge", but then I had inspiration to make it a more orchestrated meeting, with his uncle meeting with him to ask for aid in escorting the recently-escaped Irene further south, and protecting her from her husband's goon squad. I like this plan a lot, especially since so little of Constantine's past have come up in the adventure so far.
The problem is, I had originally planned for the shaman to be reunited with his long-lost brother in Tephu during this event, the idea being that his brother is working at the Old God's temple there. I feel like all of these things, especially with the library research and the cult being after them and the religious order being after them and them having to entertain Mumiofrah is just a lot of different plot lines. I wouldn't mind having the reunion of the brothers take place at a different time or location, but I just have no idea when or where would make sense, especially since the rest of this book and the next book are big desert exploration segments.
Sorry if this is just a big wall of nonsense, but the only friends I've got to discuss this with to hammer out ideas are all players in my game, so I've got to try and bounce ideas off the internet.