So, within a few months my players will be coming to the end of the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign and afterward they've said they want to do a homebrew, fantasy western setting that I've now been working on. Trying to focus my world-building so that I have something ready to go as soon as we're all ready and of course I'm struggling with how to start. I think I have something, but as somebody who's only been DMing for about a year and a half I wanted some second opinions.
Basically, they'll be making a railway stop on the way to one of the major settlements on the frontier and the place is under the thumb of some trashy gang of ne'er-do-wells. They have a chaotic leaning, so I don't necessarily expect them to buck up to the task of liberating the town of them, though it's a possibility. But what might put a fire under their asses is their weapon policy. They don't allow people to carry weapons, openly or otherwise, unless they're a member of local "law enforcement". Basically they have a compound at the train stop where you drop off your weapons in exchange for a token. You return the token as you leave, you get your weapons back.
But the party, starting at level 5 and having a host of nice, expensive magic weapons, don't get their weapons back and are smugly told that their weapons have been claimed by the gang to be sold off. And so the first leg of their journey would be a romp through the frontier, cutting through an up-and-coming gang to get their shit back.
It definitely gives them immediate and personal motivation to partake in the quest at hand, but is it too mean as a starting quest? I mean, a lot of these weapons are things I'm helping the players homebrew. Do ya'll think it'd be too much to get them that excited to use their new fancy stuff just to take it away?
As with so many things it depends. Have you had a session 0 discussing the themes and situations the PCs will encounter? ( Western and highway robbery, in this case) If they have enthusiastically said “We want to unload John Wick style on some bandits” then your setup is perfect. (That staff really meant a lot to me) If they’re not prepared for that style of play you may want to scrap the idea or at least discuss how you think the campaign will move forward.
Getting their weapons back will provide a good short-term plot hook to get them participating. But you'll also need a more long-term, big-picture plot hook to make them want to stick around and help this town. Well, people don't build settlements on the frontier in some random happenstance manner. Settlements are built in specific locations for specific reasons. Usually because there's money to be made there.
Since this is a western-themed campaign, we could say that the settlement is a mining town, and that "there's gold in them thar hills!" Firstly, this gives you a reason to build a frontier town stocked full of saloons, gamblers, intrigue, and the whole gamut of unscrupulous NPCs to make things interesting. But more importantly, it will hopefully entice your players to get involved in the town - if not to help people, then at least to get their grubby mitts on some of that thar gold!
Players work for character progression. Taking away what they've earned is always dangerous.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Got a lot of world-building to do before I know exactly what's up with this little town, but it's likely a smaller rural area. Something relatively undefended and beyond the reach of the main empire; an easy target for the cowardly gang leader who's trying to make a name for himself. Having a group of people, the party, push back against him with the force that DnD parties tend to will be new for him and will make him crack no doubt. He's not meant to be a big bad per se. Just a way to lead them to a more important blot hook.
So, within a few months my players will be coming to the end of the Lost Mines of Phandelver campaign and afterward they've said they want to do a homebrew, fantasy western setting that I've now been working on. Trying to focus my world-building so that I have something ready to go as soon as we're all ready and of course I'm struggling with how to start. I think I have something, but as somebody who's only been DMing for about a year and a half I wanted some second opinions.
Basically, they'll be making a railway stop on the way to one of the major settlements on the frontier and the place is under the thumb of some trashy gang of ne'er-do-wells. They have a chaotic leaning, so I don't necessarily expect them to buck up to the task of liberating the town of them, though it's a possibility. But what might put a fire under their asses is their weapon policy. They don't allow people to carry weapons, openly or otherwise, unless they're a member of local "law enforcement". Basically they have a compound at the train stop where you drop off your weapons in exchange for a token. You return the token as you leave, you get your weapons back.
But the party, starting at level 5 and having a host of nice, expensive magic weapons, don't get their weapons back and are smugly told that their weapons have been claimed by the gang to be sold off. And so the first leg of their journey would be a romp through the frontier, cutting through an up-and-coming gang to get their shit back.
It definitely gives them immediate and personal motivation to partake in the quest at hand, but is it too mean as a starting quest? I mean, a lot of these weapons are things I'm helping the players homebrew. Do ya'll think it'd be too much to get them that excited to use their new fancy stuff just to take it away?
As with so many things it depends. Have you had a session 0 discussing the themes and situations the PCs will encounter? ( Western and highway robbery, in this case) If they have enthusiastically said “We want to unload John Wick style on some bandits” then your setup is perfect. (That staff really meant a lot to me) If they’re not prepared for that style of play you may want to scrap the idea or at least discuss how you think the campaign will move forward.
Getting their weapons back will provide a good short-term plot hook to get them participating. But you'll also need a more long-term, big-picture plot hook to make them want to stick around and help this town. Well, people don't build settlements on the frontier in some random happenstance manner. Settlements are built in specific locations for specific reasons. Usually because there's money to be made there.
Since this is a western-themed campaign, we could say that the settlement is a mining town, and that "there's gold in them thar hills!" Firstly, this gives you a reason to build a frontier town stocked full of saloons, gamblers, intrigue, and the whole gamut of unscrupulous NPCs to make things interesting. But more importantly, it will hopefully entice your players to get involved in the town - if not to help people, then at least to get their grubby mitts on some of that thar gold!
Just my 2 c.p.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Players work for character progression. Taking away what they've earned is always dangerous.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Got a lot of world-building to do before I know exactly what's up with this little town, but it's likely a smaller rural area. Something relatively undefended and beyond the reach of the main empire; an easy target for the cowardly gang leader who's trying to make a name for himself. Having a group of people, the party, push back against him with the force that DnD parties tend to will be new for him and will make him crack no doubt. He's not meant to be a big bad per se. Just a way to lead them to a more important blot hook.
For sure. That's what I worry about.