I was struck by an idea a couple of weeks ago and I'd like some help and possibly feedback before actually trying it out:
Before starting up a new adventure I'm having a meeting with my players. I'm thinking of playing one of the pre-made adventures I've bought, but I'd like some input from my group, to be sure everyone's aboard. Now, most of my players are just that: Players. They don't look up adventures or play-throughs and such. Therefore they have no idea what a Tomb of annihilation or Curse of Strahd is. That's wonderful for us all as it will be a fun ride, but it also means they have no idea of characters fitting the setting and the group might end up very unfitting for a deadly adventure.
Now, instead of straight out telling them what they should avoid or what would fit, I was thinking of putting together a list of questions they can ask regarding the nature of the adventure. These are pre-made questions they can chose from and I'll answer them as truthfully as I can. Every player can only ask ONE question, and this is without consulting the rest of the group. Thereby there can be several players asking the same question, but the group only gets one hint from me. Thereby wasting a few questions.
What I want to achieve is a group that's a bit prepared for what they will face, without feeling either that I've decided for them what characters they play and how they play them, or that I've dropped so many hints regarding the adventure that I take away too much of the fun in discovering it themselves. At the same time I'd love for this to be a fun way to start up a new adventure, with hints of what awaits them, but nothing too revealing.
As an example, let's say I've suggested we play the Tomb of Annihilation. First I'd tell them the name of the adventure and then describe it with a short blurb, like: "The threat of final death leads to places both exotic and extremely lethal."
Then I'd present a list of questions:
What would be the average enemy we'd likely encounter? (Undead and djungle-dwelling creatures)
Tell us something of the overall antagonist(s) (An extremely powerful mage)
What's the adventures planed max level for the adventurers? (11)
Tell us of a danger besides "the obvious" (NO Resurrection)
Tell us something of the adventure's general environment (Djungles, both above, in and under!)
Tell us something that feels unique for this adventure (A big sandbox with a unique kind of allies)
Name two classes you feel would fit the adventure (Rangers and Rogues)
Name a class that you feel should be less prioritized (any one focused on cities)
On a scale of 1 to 10, just how deadly is the adventure? (16!)
Name a race you'd feel would be useful (Dwarves)
On a scale of 1 to 10, how linear is the adventure? (3, very loose reins and not much railroading at all)
Let's say a group of five players decide that they'd like to have the answers for questions 1, 7 and 5. (three of the players all wanted to know about the average enemy).
Now they can start discussing what they want to play and they know they will face Djungle-creatures and undead. That the GM suggests Rangers and Rogues, but not why. And they know that they will be operating in djungles.
Note that I only play with this one group and therefore I'll be as much of a newbie regarding such adventures as the rest of the group, meaning my answers might prove outright wrong in some cases :)
What do you guys think of this idea and if it's sound, do you know of any questions I might add or remove? I'd love for there to be several questions that sound interesting both so they don't chose the same by accident AND so that they might want to chose the same :) Cheers!
I think it's a good idea, the danger for me are the specific questions, for example about classes, races, etc.
For example, I have a distinctly different view on ToA, which I ran. Rangers are useful for sure, but why rogues ? Also, why dwarves ? And honestly, my group spent a lot of time in Port Nyanzaru, which I beefed up because we all love playing in cities. And the same for the final adversary, who is actually totally unimportant for 99% of the campaign.
What I'm trying to say here is that at least that campaign is fairly varied, different environments, feels, etc. and that summarizing them like this might end up being a bit misleading.
On the other hand, the sandbox / guided is extremely important. In our LARPs, we were always very attentive to the answers of people when we asked whether they wanted a more free or more guided role, for example.
Hey, thanks for the input! As I said, I haven't played it yet, and I intend to make sure my players realise the answers are my ideas of how it looks, not an absolute truth. When recommending rogues and dwarves it was because of the rogues affinity for discovering and disarming traps and locks, while the dwarves are quite hardy and resistant to poisons. I don't mean to tell the players that the group need these classes or races, but that I (having read the adventure) believe they have a strong place in a group. Please understand as well that I intend for every player to enjoy the game. If I get a bunch of city oriented characters, then I would make sure that they get to play their characters the way they like!
Just say "it's a gothic horror setting" or "it's a jungle survival setting with some undead" or "it's a setting that takes place traveling the different planes of existence" or whatever you want. You don't need to spoil the adventure to tell the party what kind of campaign you're running. Personally, I think you might be overdoing the prep in that regard.
But I'm just a commenter, and in the end it's your table and your game so you can untimately decide how to approach it. The biggest thing is to make sure everybody's on the same page in terms of the setting you run.
I would tend to give a short and somewhat generic description of the setting and the "hook" that would bring the characters into the adventure. This should give them some idea of what to expect and why their characters have chosen to become involved. This should be enough for the players to decide which of the adventures they would like to play and perhaps inform character decisions without giving too much away.
I too would avoid detailed questions since they might give away too much about what the characters could expect.
ToA is a very good adventure. You may want to supplement the jungle/wilderness portion since there can be a lot of overland travel with only random encounters for company. When I played it the DM added some DMs guild content designed for Chult like Return of the Lizard King. This had the advantage of also adding a few more magic items. As written ToA is extremely scarce on magic items, particularly weapons. I don't think the module has even a single magical ranged weapon. Opponents at higher levels are commonly resistant to non-magical damage so the lack of such weapons can be an issue for some players depending on their characters. The character I played was a rogue/warlock(bladepact) mostly ranged so they were self-sufficient from a weapon perspective but other characters won't have that option. As DM, you can balance things out as appropriate for your party but if you run it as written there can be some concerns.
CoS is also a decent campaign. However, it is more gothic horror and there are several elements that could be triggering for some folks depending on your players so make sure everyone is ok with that ...
CoS has all sorts of things that some folks could find "objectionable".
- child cannibalism - the hags bake cookies that they sell to townsfolk in exchange for coin and children - children get ground up and incorporated as an ingredient in baked goods.
- insanity - the Abbey of Krezk has an unhinged evil celestial who experiments on in mates and is creating a flesh golem wife for Strahd from the bodies of dead villagers
- the werewolf pack has captured children fight to the death - the winner gets to be bitten and become a werewolf
- Strahd regularly seduces and kills women who remind him of his lost "love" Tatyana. The most recent is Ireena.
- racism - the entire portrayal of the "Vistani" - who are mostly servants of Strahd - has a very strong similarity to racist stereotypes of a real world group
There are lots more - CoS is very much a "horrific" setting so if you plan to play it you should be aware of what your players are ok with.
I ran it for a group of adults and although we didn't have any issue dealing with the content, a few comments were made about some elements going a bit too far or at least farther than necessary which indicated to me that although folks were ok with playing it even experienced gamers might not be comfortable with all of the content.
I will say with tashas cauldron rules now any race can have the dwarven hardiness. But personally as a player I really would not like this approach. When I create a character I create a background first, then pick the race and class that beat fit my characters backstory so the kinda of questions I might ask a DM are.
How are the races viewed in your world? What is the pantheon like, how involved are the gods? How common is magic?
Now as a DM I have run out of the abyss, in my opinion the best published adventure, I didn’t tell my players what we where playing, but I did tell every one of them “this adventure will start with you in a prison with none of your starting equipment, and large parts of this adventure will happen in darkness”
I would think with a clear enough storyline given prior to character selection the players should have a fair idea what they are getting into. Even just the sentence "The heavily jungled lands are home to many undead and other dark creatures, while the ruler is a cruel and callous mage who cares little for the wellbeing of the peasants", with that they have already answered questions 1,2 and 5. The classes are all well balanced, so there should be no requirements or options off the table, so I wouldn't even comment on that unless players are struggling to choose and ask for help.
If anyone asks for details you probably should keep it vague to keep as much surprise as you can. If the players have access to a map from the start then you can provide copies of that and maybe a printout of any known history/backstory that they get in the beginning.
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Hi everyone!
I was struck by an idea a couple of weeks ago and I'd like some help and possibly feedback before actually trying it out:
Before starting up a new adventure I'm having a meeting with my players. I'm thinking of playing one of the pre-made adventures I've bought, but I'd like some input from my group, to be sure everyone's aboard. Now, most of my players are just that: Players. They don't look up adventures or play-throughs and such. Therefore they have no idea what a Tomb of annihilation or Curse of Strahd is. That's wonderful for us all as it will be a fun ride, but it also means they have no idea of characters fitting the setting and the group might end up very unfitting for a deadly adventure.
Now, instead of straight out telling them what they should avoid or what would fit, I was thinking of putting together a list of questions they can ask regarding the nature of the adventure. These are pre-made questions they can chose from and I'll answer them as truthfully as I can. Every player can only ask ONE question, and this is without consulting the rest of the group. Thereby there can be several players asking the same question, but the group only gets one hint from me. Thereby wasting a few questions.
What I want to achieve is a group that's a bit prepared for what they will face, without feeling either that I've decided for them what characters they play and how they play them, or that I've dropped so many hints regarding the adventure that I take away too much of the fun in discovering it themselves. At the same time I'd love for this to be a fun way to start up a new adventure, with hints of what awaits them, but nothing too revealing.
As an example, let's say I've suggested we play the Tomb of Annihilation.
First I'd tell them the name of the adventure and then describe it with a short blurb, like:
"The threat of final death leads to places both exotic and extremely lethal."
Then I'd present a list of questions:
Let's say a group of five players decide that they'd like to have the answers for questions 1, 7 and 5. (three of the players all wanted to know about the average enemy).
Now they can start discussing what they want to play and they know they will face Djungle-creatures and undead. That the GM suggests Rangers and Rogues, but not why. And they know that they will be operating in djungles.
Note that I only play with this one group and therefore I'll be as much of a newbie regarding such adventures as the rest of the group, meaning my answers might prove outright wrong in some cases :)
What do you guys think of this idea and if it's sound, do you know of any questions I might add or remove? I'd love for there to be several questions that sound interesting both so they don't chose the same by accident AND so that they might want to chose the same :)
Cheers!
Hey, thanks for the input!
As I said, I haven't played it yet, and I intend to make sure my players realise the answers are my ideas of how it looks, not an absolute truth. When recommending rogues and dwarves it was because of the rogues affinity for discovering and disarming traps and locks, while the dwarves are quite hardy and resistant to poisons. I don't mean to tell the players that the group need these classes or races, but that I (having read the adventure) believe they have a strong place in a group. Please understand as well that I intend for every player to enjoy the game. If I get a bunch of city oriented characters, then I would make sure that they get to play their characters the way they like!
Just say "it's a gothic horror setting" or "it's a jungle survival setting with some undead" or "it's a setting that takes place traveling the different planes of existence" or whatever you want. You don't need to spoil the adventure to tell the party what kind of campaign you're running. Personally, I think you might be overdoing the prep in that regard.
But I'm just a commenter, and in the end it's your table and your game so you can untimately decide how to approach it. The biggest thing is to make sure everybody's on the same page in terms of the setting you run.
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
I would tend to give a short and somewhat generic description of the setting and the "hook" that would bring the characters into the adventure. This should give them some idea of what to expect and why their characters have chosen to become involved. This should be enough for the players to decide which of the adventures they would like to play and perhaps inform character decisions without giving too much away.
I too would avoid detailed questions since they might give away too much about what the characters could expect.
ToA is a very good adventure. You may want to supplement the jungle/wilderness portion since there can be a lot of overland travel with only random encounters for company. When I played it the DM added some DMs guild content designed for Chult like Return of the Lizard King. This had the advantage of also adding a few more magic items. As written ToA is extremely scarce on magic items, particularly weapons. I don't think the module has even a single magical ranged weapon. Opponents at higher levels are commonly resistant to non-magical damage so the lack of such weapons can be an issue for some players depending on their characters. The character I played was a rogue/warlock(bladepact) mostly ranged so they were self-sufficient from a weapon perspective but other characters won't have that option. As DM, you can balance things out as appropriate for your party but if you run it as written there can be some concerns.
CoS is also a decent campaign. However, it is more gothic horror and there are several elements that could be triggering for some folks depending on your players so make sure everyone is ok with that ...
CoS has all sorts of things that some folks could find "objectionable".
- child cannibalism - the hags bake cookies that they sell to townsfolk in exchange for coin and children - children get ground up and incorporated as an ingredient in baked goods.
- insanity - the Abbey of Krezk has an unhinged evil celestial who experiments on in mates and is creating a flesh golem wife for Strahd from the bodies of dead villagers
- the werewolf pack has captured children fight to the death - the winner gets to be bitten and become a werewolf
- Strahd regularly seduces and kills women who remind him of his lost "love" Tatyana. The most recent is Ireena.
- racism - the entire portrayal of the "Vistani" - who are mostly servants of Strahd - has a very strong similarity to racist stereotypes of a real world group
There are lots more - CoS is very much a "horrific" setting so if you plan to play it you should be aware of what your players are ok with.
I ran it for a group of adults and although we didn't have any issue dealing with the content, a few comments were made about some elements going a bit too far or at least farther than necessary which indicated to me that although folks were ok with playing it even experienced gamers might not be comfortable with all of the content.
I will say with tashas cauldron rules now any race can have the dwarven hardiness. But personally as a player I really would not like this approach. When I create a character I create a background first, then pick the race and class that beat fit my characters backstory so the kinda of questions I might ask a DM are.
How are the races viewed in your world?
What is the pantheon like, how involved are the gods?
How common is magic?
Now as a DM I have run out of the abyss, in my opinion the best published adventure, I didn’t tell my players what we where playing, but I did tell every one of them “this adventure will start with you in a prison with none of your starting equipment, and large parts of this adventure will happen in darkness”
I would think with a clear enough storyline given prior to character selection the players should have a fair idea what they are getting into. Even just the sentence "The heavily jungled lands are home to many undead and other dark creatures, while the ruler is a cruel and callous mage who cares little for the wellbeing of the peasants", with that they have already answered questions 1,2 and 5. The classes are all well balanced, so there should be no requirements or options off the table, so I wouldn't even comment on that unless players are struggling to choose and ask for help.
If anyone asks for details you probably should keep it vague to keep as much surprise as you can. If the players have access to a map from the start then you can provide copies of that and maybe a printout of any known history/backstory that they get in the beginning.