Yesterday I ran Secret of Saltmarsh. I prepared the Haunted House and Sea Ghost, and they breezed through those. I have a few questions, and need a bit of help.
The character’s didn’t find Oceanus or Ned. They just followed the tracks to the cellar and killed the smugglers. On the ship, they walked into the captains quarters and improved a plan involving lots of seduction. They then through down a torch and jumped off the ship. How could I incorporate them into the adventure?
They breezed through the first adventure in 3 hours. What should I prepare for the next 3 hour session. I’m planning to do Danger at Dunwater then a short home brew I made, and then the final enemy. How far should I prepare?
One character has been a pain. He got really mad went I told him we’re not rolling stats, but other players wanted to so I relented. He then cheesed his rolls to give himself all 14 and up. He had a really cool backstory idea of being the undead king of an ancient kingdom, but I had to completely change the campaign setting for it to work. Then, he claimed as an undead, it is only fair for him to get all the base human stats as well as not needing to breath, eat, drink, or sleep. The breathing part is a big thing is Saltmarsh. He claimed he should also have access to all the ruins of his empire, and finally settled in a tomb. To make it fair, I had to give the rest of the players a hq. That was ok because I got Aquisitions Incorporated and just stole some rules from there. After changing the entire campaign for him, this player got bored and tried to kill his character. What do I do?
I don't have Salt Marsh but it sounds like it went pretty well. In terms of preparation, I'd prepare what you think you might need but have the general situation, the terrain, the town, the general NPCs already in mind so that if the players decide to go in an unexpected direction you can make it up as you go along as if it was all already prepared. The important thing to remember is that from the player perspective everything looks the same to them as long as you put the same level of detail into the prepared material as you do into the material you have to make up as you go along ... the players should never know the difference.
As for the problem player, it really depends what the issue is. If they don't really want to play, don't want to be there, or just want to create a disruptive character then ...
Say "Bye! Adios! Au revoir! Have a great Day!" to the player ... and send them on their merry way. Perhaps by allowing the player to succeed in killing off the character. If they decide they want to keep playing afterward then impose some constraints on their character creation or they could pick something worse ("I'm a mindflayer warlock/sorcerer scouting the world for their hive mind ... ummm no.)
Personally, I would have said no to the undead idea to start with. I wouldn't generally allow a character to play as an undead in the first place no matter how good the backstory. I would have also likely called him (gently) on cheating the dice rolls and insisted that we start over and everyone can watch everyone else's rolls. Some folks who like to use dice rolling for stats have all the players roll up one set using their favorite system then any player can choose any set to fit their character concept. Yes characters end up with better stats on average but it completely removes the one person rolling great while another person doesn't issue. I generally find point buy to be more fair even if it doesn't have the same extremes.
As far as I can tell both of those characters are optional (for good and bad reasons). They can be assumed to have escaped after the players do their thing.
Prepare as much as you think you need to. If they don't get to the end, less you have to prepare next time. If they get to the end quickly, you can pad it out with random encounters and role play, or just end it early.
For the problem character, it was kind of a beast of your own creation. Don't give into homebrew you aren't ready for. And if you want all stats to be within a certain allowance, I suggest using point buy (you can use 3.5/pathfinder point buy if you want to be generous and allow numbers over 15).
Regarding your annoying player yeah I think you just have to tell him it didn't work out and he's only allowed rulebook content for the next character. Dunno, an annoying character is one thing but an annoying player is another. We had a mate at uni who wanted to play because he didn't want to be excluded but he didn't take the game very seriously. If your player is the issue, if he isn't prepared to be a character that matches a game then I would probably say you should ask him to leave, although I realise that is tough.
However, you've completed the first adventure and he seems bored. Marvel and DC retcon annoying ideas out of their universes all the time so don't be afraid to take a stand now and make it clear to your players you had to change a lot for this character. I would therefore either imply a do-over in terms of background to remove them, like a wish spell amended time, so you can undo that, or you can take the character and make them vanish and become and NPC, which actually means they could come back. The Styes sounds like quite a good opportunity for them to appear as an antagonist maybe?
In terms of your query about The Haunted House the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is an adventure I love and I've run it over and over with newbies, hence it's very cool to have this new edition. What I would say is not to worry too much about them having missed these characters. If you're building the arc around the Brotherhood then for them this just means they've failed to get the connection they wanted. So now you can try to get Ned to accidentally bump into the characters maybe?
What happened to the ship? The Sea Elf is still in there presumably so you can have whoever has the ship now find them and then bring them to Saltmarsh if you need the extra pull?
In future adventures you shouldn't be afraid to push players a bit. Maybe you did and your team aren't easily swayed, but in order to get the story out of the scenario it's sometimes necessary to make things more obvious. Did you try having Ned bang about upstairs and attract attention?
Oceanus might conceivably make noise to get found but also in terms of the ship a secret compartment that size might be obvious to anyone who'd considered ships. You could have asked your players to make Investigation checks maybe as they moved away so they suddenly realised.
Obviously these things are too late for that adventure but hopefully help you to push your players in future?
I might be disliked being harsh to my players, but I would have set strong restrictions on the player wanting to play an undead. If not using the same roll method like everyone else with point buy, the rolled dice allowed would be 4d6, dropping the lowest per stat. Use whatever race bonus he choose, but as an undead subtract -2 for CON and reduce speed by 5 feet. Healing would only be possible, if a cleric would reverse the spell (and would allow to heal ‚an undead in the party‘). You might think of undead’s being even more vulnerable to physical attacks due to their decaying state, and could decide to add extra (e.g. +2) damage for blows dealt against him/it.
It all has pro‘s and con‘s to play something different and the player shouldn‘t get the impression he would have a far easier game than the rest of the players (on their shoulders), as the DM would usually adjust the game to make it still a challenging and interesting game. So no need for Super Heroes, unless you want the enemies to be the same.
Seems to have gone well, if directly, and it's really worth rolling stats I think - even if point buy is more measured and calculated. The problem "player" is just a narcissistic ****** however, and while you're job is to facilitate the players it's not to jump to their narcissistic needs on ever single thing - especially if that thing isn't tied to what your doing and isn't even official content. Any use of variant rules, and additional content is up to you - not the neurotic needs of a Freudian psyche...
I know this is a necropost but just a little advice from me, if you ever read this. The problem player isnt so much a problem in this scenario as the DM. Not to be mean but you gave the players way too much and didnt make them work for anything. Of course hes going to get bored of the character. I wouldnt be surprised if the others did as well. As a DM you need to put your foot down and say no. The DM makes the story, and its your world, not theirs. They are merely trying to make their characters survive the story, and hopefully win glory.
As for rolling the characters/point buy in the long run if they want to be an over the top character, at the end of the day for the levels of this campaign its not going to make that much of a deal with the stats. Even a character with 2-3 18s isnt going to be an end of the world scenario for the encounters. And with him being undead its also not a horrible idea(while he doesnt have to eat, sleep, or breath, he will have to roleplay a lot of avoiding the townsfolk), even giving him his "lair" I would have just given him a ransacked tomb nothing left but dust and ashes. In fact you can even build on that and make him try to find the things he desires throughout the campaign. Put sporadic pieces of his lost glory in rather dangerous areas within the campaign. something he would have to fight hard for to get. Dont be afraid to change the narrative! Though you are following a guideline for the story, it is your story to tell
now, if he said no to the ransacked tomb then he gets nothing and likes it or leaves.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Yesterday I ran Secret of Saltmarsh. I prepared the Haunted House and Sea Ghost, and they breezed through those. I have a few questions, and need a bit of help.
Loading...
I don't have Salt Marsh but it sounds like it went pretty well. In terms of preparation, I'd prepare what you think you might need but have the general situation, the terrain, the town, the general NPCs already in mind so that if the players decide to go in an unexpected direction you can make it up as you go along as if it was all already prepared. The important thing to remember is that from the player perspective everything looks the same to them as long as you put the same level of detail into the prepared material as you do into the material you have to make up as you go along ... the players should never know the difference.
As for the problem player, it really depends what the issue is. If they don't really want to play, don't want to be there, or just want to create a disruptive character then ...
Say "Bye! Adios! Au revoir! Have a great Day!" to the player ... and send them on their merry way. Perhaps by allowing the player to succeed in killing off the character. If they decide they want to keep playing afterward then impose some constraints on their character creation or they could pick something worse ("I'm a mindflayer warlock/sorcerer scouting the world for their hive mind ... ummm no.)
Personally, I would have said no to the undead idea to start with. I wouldn't generally allow a character to play as an undead in the first place no matter how good the backstory. I would have also likely called him (gently) on cheating the dice rolls and insisted that we start over and everyone can watch everyone else's rolls. Some folks who like to use dice rolling for stats have all the players roll up one set using their favorite system then any player can choose any set to fit their character concept. Yes characters end up with better stats on average but it completely removes the one person rolling great while another person doesn't issue. I generally find point buy to be more fair even if it doesn't have the same extremes.
As far as I can tell both of those characters are optional (for good and bad reasons). They can be assumed to have escaped after the players do their thing.
Prepare as much as you think you need to. If they don't get to the end, less you have to prepare next time. If they get to the end quickly, you can pad it out with random encounters and role play, or just end it early.
For the problem character, it was kind of a beast of your own creation. Don't give into homebrew you aren't ready for. And if you want all stats to be within a certain allowance, I suggest using point buy (you can use 3.5/pathfinder point buy if you want to be generous and allow numbers over 15).
If a player wanted to play an "almost undead" type character, I would point them to the Shadow Sorcerer or the Undying Warlock.
"You know, <Player>, I changed the entire campaign for your character and you got bored. It won't happen again.
The undead king is dead. Your next character is point-buy, backgrounds in the book and no complaining. "
Hi,
Regarding your annoying player yeah I think you just have to tell him it didn't work out and he's only allowed rulebook content for the next character. Dunno, an annoying character is one thing but an annoying player is another. We had a mate at uni who wanted to play because he didn't want to be excluded but he didn't take the game very seriously. If your player is the issue, if he isn't prepared to be a character that matches a game then I would probably say you should ask him to leave, although I realise that is tough.
However, you've completed the first adventure and he seems bored. Marvel and DC retcon annoying ideas out of their universes all the time so don't be afraid to take a stand now and make it clear to your players you had to change a lot for this character. I would therefore either imply a do-over in terms of background to remove them, like a wish spell amended time, so you can undo that, or you can take the character and make them vanish and become and NPC, which actually means they could come back. The Styes sounds like quite a good opportunity for them to appear as an antagonist maybe?
In terms of your query about The Haunted House the Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh is an adventure I love and I've run it over and over with newbies, hence it's very cool to have this new edition. What I would say is not to worry too much about them having missed these characters. If you're building the arc around the Brotherhood then for them this just means they've failed to get the connection they wanted. So now you can try to get Ned to accidentally bump into the characters maybe?
What happened to the ship? The Sea Elf is still in there presumably so you can have whoever has the ship now find them and then bring them to Saltmarsh if you need the extra pull?
In future adventures you shouldn't be afraid to push players a bit. Maybe you did and your team aren't easily swayed, but in order to get the story out of the scenario it's sometimes necessary to make things more obvious. Did you try having Ned bang about upstairs and attract attention?
Oceanus might conceivably make noise to get found but also in terms of the ship a secret compartment that size might be obvious to anyone who'd considered ships. You could have asked your players to make Investigation checks maybe as they moved away so they suddenly realised.
Obviously these things are too late for that adventure but hopefully help you to push your players in future?
Good luck.
I might be disliked being harsh to my players, but I would have set strong restrictions on the player wanting to play an undead. If not using the same roll method like everyone else with point buy, the rolled dice allowed would be 4d6, dropping the lowest per stat. Use whatever race bonus he choose, but as an undead subtract -2 for CON and reduce speed by 5 feet. Healing would only be possible, if a cleric would reverse the spell (and would allow to heal ‚an undead in the party‘). You might think of undead’s being even more vulnerable to physical attacks due to their decaying state, and could decide to add extra (e.g. +2) damage for blows dealt against him/it.
It all has pro‘s and con‘s to play something different and the player shouldn‘t get the impression he would have a far easier game than the rest of the players (on their shoulders), as the DM would usually adjust the game to make it still a challenging and interesting game. So no need for Super Heroes, unless you want the enemies to be the same.
Seems to have gone well, if directly, and it's really worth rolling stats I think - even if point buy is more measured and calculated. The problem "player" is just a narcissistic ****** however, and while you're job is to facilitate the players it's not to jump to their narcissistic needs on ever single thing - especially if that thing isn't tied to what your doing and isn't even official content. Any use of variant rules, and additional content is up to you - not the neurotic needs of a Freudian psyche...
I know this is a necropost but just a little advice from me, if you ever read this. The problem player isnt so much a problem in this scenario as the DM. Not to be mean but you gave the players way too much and didnt make them work for anything. Of course hes going to get bored of the character. I wouldnt be surprised if the others did as well. As a DM you need to put your foot down and say no. The DM makes the story, and its your world, not theirs. They are merely trying to make their characters survive the story, and hopefully win glory.
As for rolling the characters/point buy in the long run if they want to be an over the top character, at the end of the day for the levels of this campaign its not going to make that much of a deal with the stats. Even a character with 2-3 18s isnt going to be an end of the world scenario for the encounters. And with him being undead its also not a horrible idea(while he doesnt have to eat, sleep, or breath, he will have to roleplay a lot of avoiding the townsfolk), even giving him his "lair" I would have just given him a ransacked tomb nothing left but dust and ashes. In fact you can even build on that and make him try to find the things he desires throughout the campaign. Put sporadic pieces of his lost glory in rather dangerous areas within the campaign. something he would have to fight hard for to get. Dont be afraid to change the narrative! Though you are following a guideline for the story, it is your story to tell
now, if he said no to the ransacked tomb then he gets nothing and likes it or leaves.