Thinking of starting II but I dont think my players will like starting the game with a retreat...even a tactical one.
Has anyone started it a different way?
There has been no contact from Phaendar for awhile. Your PCs could be hired to investigate. Hopefully they are stealthy when they are getting close to newly occupied Phaendar.
So the thing is that retreat really sets the tone for the rest of book 1 and a little bit of two. You're supposed to be put on the defensive. You're supposed to be limited to the rations and resources. You're the hunted in the title. You need to have that group of refugees that you saved from town to drive most of the encounters.
You basically need to rewrite the entire book at that point. Frankly, I'd rather just start them with book 2 in that case, or maybe even the Camp Redjaw final encounter in book 1. That's where the tables begin to turn and the PCs go on the offensive.L
So the thing is that retreat really sets the tone for the rest of book 1 and a little bit of two. You're supposed to be put on the defensive. You're supposed to be limited to the rations and resources. You're the hunted in the title. You need to have that group of refugees that you saved from town to drive most of the encounters.
You basically need to rewrite the entire book at that point. Frankly, I'd rather just start them with book 2 in that case, or maybe even the Camp Redjaw final encounter in book 1. That's where the tables begin to turn and the PCs go on the offensive.L
My idea still works.
The PCs find some survivors foraging in the woods, probably decide to help them find proper shelter, and then are discovered by an Ironfang Scout/Hunting party. Two of the Hobgoblins remain hidden, one runs back to alert Phaendar, the other tracks the PCs and refugees while waiting for reinforcements. The chase is on.
Simple.
So the thing is that retreat really sets the tone for the rest of book 1 and a little bit of two. You're supposed to be put on the defensive. You're supposed to be limited to the rations and resources. You're the hunted in the title. You need to have that group of refugees that you saved from town to drive most of the encounters.
You basically need to rewrite the entire book at that point. Frankly, I'd rather just start them with book 2 in that case, or maybe even the Camp Redjaw final encounter in book 1. That's where the tables begin to turn and the PCs go on the offensive.L
My idea still works.
The PCs find some survivors foraging in the woods, probably decide to help them find proper shelter, and then are discovered by an Ironfang Scout/Hunting party. Two of the Hobgoblins remain hidden, one runs back to alert Phaendar, the other tracks the PCs and refugees while waiting for reinforcements. The chase is on.
Simple.
Sure, but does that really solve the OP's problem? The party is still going to be pursued and will then have to retreat. And while this might not be as immediate, it does put the Legion hot on their trail in a way the book doesn't, which means they might actually wind up needing to run longer/harder.
The gist I got from the OP was that his group wouldn't like getting beaten out of Phaendar in general. I just suggested an alternative.
Just finding refugees in the woods and being tasked to investigate why no one has heard from Phaendar doesn't start a retreat though as the OP is the GM and can eliminate the Hobgoblin parties that follow. If this is the case, the group just can help or ignore the refugees and can be tasked instead with eliminating/clearing a few sites to reduce the Ironfang presence or rescue a certain group of fellows.
The gist I got from the OP was that his group wouldn't like getting beaten out of Phaendar in general. I just suggested an alternative.
Just finding refugees in the woods and being tasked to investigate why no one has heard from Phaendar doesn't start a retreat though as the OP is the GM and can eliminate the Hobgoblin parties that follow. If this is the case, the group just can help or ignore the refugees and can be tasked instead with eliminating/clearing a few sites to reduce the Ironfang presence or rescue a certain group of fellows.
Yeah, and at this point we have basically thrown out most of book 1. Which is what I had suggested in the first place. You can certainly use your idea as a start point but when you talk about ignoring the refugees and jumping straight to what would otherwise be the climatic encounter of book 1 (finally eliminating an Ironfang camp) book 1 is basically gone. And that's fine, I guess. But you might as well use your intro, start the players at level 3 or 4, and just send them into Camp Redjaw afterwards.
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Thanks Sunderstone. I may give that a shot.
And also thanks for answering my question, rather than giving me an unsolicited opinion.
It is a huge pet peeve when people ignore the question to offer opinions/advice.
If my question had been, "is it a good idea to start II a different way," then sure, tell me what you think. But that's not what I asked.
Thanks Sunderstone. I may give that a shot.
And also thanks for answering my question, rather than giving me an unsolicited opinion.
It is a huge pet peeve when people ignore the question to offer opinions/advice.
If my question had been, "is it a good idea to start II a different way," then sure, tell me what you think. But that's not what I asked.
If that's addressed at me, I don't know what to tell you. I didn't say it was a bad idea to start that way. I said you should skip most of book 1 if you really want to avoid the PCs being on the run. Starting at Camp Redjaw or just before it is, in fact, starting a different way, which is what you asked for.