A few years ago my group started playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen (which will now be referred to as HotDQ) however after some arguments within the group we did a bit of a hiatus on D&D. We are now getting back into D&D and after getting rid of the problematic players I wanna finish HotDQ. I don't wanna play what we've already done and they got rid of their characters so I invited them over to do a One-Shot. This One-Shot will not be revealed that its a part of HofDQ until at the end when they see the Cult of the Dragon Insignia. If they don't want to play anymore then it can stay a one-shot however I can leave it open to go somewhere. How I plan on going about this is starting it off as a bit of a cliche, having a Princess held for ransom and its the Heroes job to save her. (I think the Cult of the Dragon would do anything to get gold and jewels for Tiamat so I don't think this is out of character) Plus, this will give them some good motivation to get rid of the Cult if they take something important away from the players, maybe killing the Princess. After that I can just modify the adventure so they don't replay stuff. I can also introduce them to a wizard or something that could potentially be a side villain. What do you think, is this a good idea?
The idea is not bad by any means, and has a distinctive familiar feeling to anyone having played before or being accustomed to fantasy narrative :)
I'd say it simple and effective enough, and I'd suggest you do introduce the "evil wizard" as the actual villain who's holding the princess, which will reveal himself as part of the cult and then make his fast escape when things go wrong for him, promoting the players to follow him and continue on to HotDQ :)
That's what my plan was. These Players are known for leaving in the middle of an adventure to rob a bank and while they had promised to take this one seriously and do what their character would do, not what they would, which is why i'm gonna give them an incentive to go after the cult. I plan on having them bond with the princess after rescuing her (they tend to like a lot of NPC's that they meet) during their talks with the princess it will be revealed that she has some sort of power that was passed down to her, whoever kills the previous holder gets the power (her mother had it last, she died during child birth)On their way back to the main town there will be an ambush (where they will meet the "boss" of the adventure the wizard) during the encounter the wizard will kill the princess, gaining the power and leaving behind his cloak with the dragon cult insignia on it. I want the death of the princess to be a powerful blow to them and I think I can make that happen.
That's what my plan was. These Players are known for leaving in the middle of an adventure to rob a bank and while they had promised to take this one seriously and do what their character would do, not what they would, which is why i'm gonna give them an incentive to go after the cult. I plan on having them bond with the princess after rescuing her (they tend to like a lot of NPC's that they meet) during their talks with the princess it will be revealed that she has some sort of power that was passed down to her, whoever kills the previous holder gets the power (her mother had it last, she died during child birth)On their way back to the main town there will be an ambush (where they will meet the "boss" of the adventure the wizard) during the encounter the wizard will kill the princess, gaining the power and leaving behind his cloak with the dragon cult insignia on it. I want the death of the princess to be a powerful blow to them and I think I can make that happen.
That is definitely a very good way to go about it if your group has the tendency of bonding and like NPCs a lot. Good idea!
Curious to know how it will play out :D
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
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A few years ago my group started playing Hoard of the Dragon Queen (which will now be referred to as HotDQ) however after some arguments within the group we did a bit of a hiatus on D&D. We are now getting back into D&D and after getting rid of the problematic players I wanna finish HotDQ. I don't wanna play what we've already done and they got rid of their characters so I invited them over to do a One-Shot. This One-Shot will not be revealed that its a part of HofDQ until at the end when they see the Cult of the Dragon Insignia. If they don't want to play anymore then it can stay a one-shot however I can leave it open to go somewhere. How I plan on going about this is starting it off as a bit of a cliche, having a Princess held for ransom and its the Heroes job to save her. (I think the Cult of the Dragon would do anything to get gold and jewels for Tiamat so I don't think this is out of character) Plus, this will give them some good motivation to get rid of the Cult if they take something important away from the players, maybe killing the Princess. After that I can just modify the adventure so they don't replay stuff. I can also introduce them to a wizard or something that could potentially be a side villain. What do you think, is this a good idea?
The idea is not bad by any means, and has a distinctive familiar feeling to anyone having played before or being accustomed to fantasy narrative :)
I'd say it simple and effective enough, and I'd suggest you do introduce the "evil wizard" as the actual villain who's holding the princess, which will reveal himself as part of the cult and then make his fast escape when things go wrong for him, promoting the players to follow him and continue on to HotDQ :)
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
That's what my plan was. These Players are known for leaving in the middle of an adventure to rob a bank and while they had promised to take this one seriously and do what their character would do, not what they would, which is why i'm gonna give them an incentive to go after the cult. I plan on having them bond with the princess after rescuing her (they tend to like a lot of NPC's that they meet) during their talks with the princess it will be revealed that she has some sort of power that was passed down to her, whoever kills the previous holder gets the power (her mother had it last, she died during child birth)On their way back to the main town there will be an ambush (where they will meet the "boss" of the adventure the wizard) during the encounter the wizard will kill the princess, gaining the power and leaving behind his cloak with the dragon cult insignia on it. I want the death of the princess to be a powerful blow to them and I think I can make that happen.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games