First off, don't want to start whole sandbox / railroad discussion, really want to get into using book.
I've had time to skim & consider ToA, and I think it's fantastic. The book is chock full of fantastic stuff, and I can't wait to get rolling with it.
The content is pretty overwhelming, and it can be tough for GM's new and old to put all that data into something that can actually be run at the table. Like many of you, there's no way I can have huge chunks of the adventure ready all the time, and allow the players free reign over where they go and when. I'll be limiting the player choices to a few options so I know what to prep ahead of time, and there are locations / encounters in the book I think are a fantastic fit for my gang. There are others I think are silly and likely won't use.
I've known for months about book coming out, so already had seeds planted and had an NPC ally fall victim to the death curse. The party just completed the Cellar of Death (from dmsguild) and learned about it and the fact they need to travel to the jungles of Chult. Syndra is going to take them as detailed in the adventure, and I know the 'big rocks' are they need to hire a guide and hear some gossip and rumors in Port Nyanzaru.
There's tons of stuff that can happen in PN, and several important NPC's that can be met. I really like the Spa Day encounter (from the Encounters in Port Nyanzaru supplement -dmsguild again) and want to use it.
So, first question - how did you kick things off and get things rolling?
Basically I dropped my group off in Port Nyanzaru and let them roam around for a bit, hear some rumors, and run into a few of the side-quest NPCs that seemed like they would lead to interesting places. I know that my party has to start at Fort Beluarian because they talked it over and decided that picking up an exploration charter was safer than dealing with the Flaming Fist patrols without one. I did introduce the Zhentarim side-quest about causing a distraction there, but I'm unsure yet if they will bite. Either way, I've organized information for the Fort as well as three of the closest travel locations and a random encounter or two.
My main plan is to pretty much stay ahead of my group by making them chart their exploration plan on the player map so that I know where they want to go and can prepare for that as some surrounding areas each week.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
My main plan is to pretty much stay ahead of my group by making them chart their exploration plan on the player map so that I know where they want to go and can prepare for that as some surrounding areas each week.
That's my secret in all my sandbox games. I have the players tell me what they want to do next time and prepare for that. They get free reign, but need to choose so I can work. I can improve with the best of them but prefer to have an idea of where people are going so I can give good effort.
The beauty of the module is that it explicitly talks about being able to move locations around and very little is plotted on the map. If a location contradicts a rumor they hear, "Well I guess rumors you hear from strangers in taverns aren't always 100% accurate". So you can give your group free reign on which direction they want to explore/ultimate destination, but know that at your next session, no matter which direction they go, they're going to arrive at Nangalore. They feel like they've been exploring and discovering at random, but you don't have to have an entire adventure (some of which will never be used) prepped.
I am hoping to keep it on the fly by planning with the several hexes around that session and plan for those possible encounters they could run into there. The only thing I am lost on in this adventure is what the mines on the map are. Do I make random dungeons?
The mines are really just there for flavor. One of the main exports of Chult is gems. Gems come from mines. So there are mines in Chult. You can do whatever you want with them. Maybe there is a cache of supplies from the miners, maybe its been taken over by goblins, maybe there are still some gems lying around but not much else.
One of the mines (Wymheart Mine) is actually a dungeon that is laid out in the book. The rest are just locations that you can have NPCs or random encounters at.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
I had my players meet Flask and River in Port Nyanzuru trying to find someone they can guide because of the lack of adventurers in Malar throat. Soon after they meet them and find out, after a conversation, that Jobal heard of their presence and wants to kill them for offending him and stealing off of his guides' careers. In a few sessions i might have the players encounter an assassin trying to kill flask and river.
What I did: To kick of the adventure I hooked into one of the party's old characters from another time who is now a Dreadlord of the Zhentarim and aiming to be Lord of trade in Neverwinter. When we first started to play 5e the party created an adventuring guild: Heroes of Phandalin (HoPh) whom said Dreadlord was a part of (he joined the Zhentarim directly in LoMPh).
In the following published adventures: all new PC groups have been different branches of HoPh that go under the main group of the original party. For ToA basically the Zhentarim was seeing a loss in profit, reports of increased undead attacks and rumors of a death curse. The Dreadlord used the adventuring guild to enact the will of the Zhentarim (in secret of course from the other old party members). He made a call for action in Waterdeep with a reward to join HoPh and claim the riches if the jungle. So he paid for a boat and loaded that boat up with promising disposable adventures (idiots) to send to Chult, thus the creation of the new ToA party.
The Dreadlord hooked them up with information to the former dying harper agent and the adventure was started.
The Dreadlord is also using the deadliness of the jungle as some kind of culling mechanism so only the best and brightest can join HoPh.
Whoops OP here I totally forgot about this thread!
Finally felt like I needed to put a stop to endless jungle wandering. My group hit what I thought to be the coolest parts of exploring Chult, but even then I felt like it went on too long.
I really didn't like Fane so skipped over it altogether, gang is exploring Tomb right now. Group is having fun, although not as much from my side of the screen. Plenty of locations in tomb are really fiddly and have tricky explanations that need to be read & understood with care otherwise important details are missed. Some areas seem really strange and I've commented elsewhere extra video-gamey. The sheen is wearing off this adventure for me real fast, and I can't wait until it's over. Turned into kind of a slog...
I am hoping to keep it on the fly by planning with the several hexes around that session and plan for those possible encounters they could run into there. The only thing I am lost on in this adventure is what the mines on the map are. Do I make random dungeons?
In addition to Wyrmheart Mine (in ToA) and some DM's Guild supplements, I've treated many gem mines (esp. diamond mines) as being depleted by Acererak's construction of the Tomb using Omuan slave labor. If you look at the permanent magical effects enchanting the Tomb, many are things which - in older editions - would have required tons of diamond dust as a material component. For example, the closest thing to Acererak's "teleport trap" is a spell called Halaster's teleport cage (from d20 City of Splendors: Waterdeep p.155) which required 1,000 gp diamond dust for every 10-foot-cube/level that it warded. That is a LOT of diamond dust to enchant the entire Tomb!
This is a nice bit of world-building you can introduce to help foreshadow some of the Tomb's magical defenses (otherwise PCs would go in without a clue); maybe dwarves employed by Zhanthi yearn for the "good old days" when fist-sized diamonds & emeralds were found more readily, compared to the last century when they've become rare and very difficult to reach due to "over-mining by the old human royalty."
Whoops OP here I totally forgot about this thread!
Finally felt like I needed to put a stop to endless jungle wandering. My group hit what I thought to be the coolest parts of exploring Chult, but even then I felt like it went on too long.
I really didn't like Fane so skipped over it altogether, gang is exploring Tomb right now. Group is having fun, although not as much from my side of the screen. Plenty of locations in tomb are really fiddly and have tricky explanations that need to be read & understood with care otherwise important details are missed. Some areas seem really strange and I've commented elsewhere extra video-gamey. The sheen is wearing off this adventure for me real fast, and I can't wait until it's over. Turned into kind of a slog...
Steve, I've figured out ways to make the random encounters more interesting & tie them into the overarching story, though it has taken a lot of reading, customizing, and prep.
I'm curious why you don't like the Fane? I haven't run it yet, but on my read-through it seemed intriguing if framed by the DM in a way to appeal to party's preferred play style.
Spent last few weeks taking a break and playing a PC in another game, nice! Looking forward to getting back to it though with some fresh eyes.
I'm not a big fan of the Fane as it feels tacked on. The group has already knocked Ras Nsi's skeleton out of his mouth, and spent a looong time trudging through the jungle.
To be fair, I suppose it's me chomping at the bit to get to the championship / main event. I've spent some more time with the book and have really warmed up to the style of the finale. The group might hit area 44 in the Vault of Reflection soon , and I'm hoping it's an epic! All the ingredients are there for a very memorable encounter!
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First off, don't want to start whole sandbox / railroad discussion, really want to get into using book.
I've had time to skim & consider ToA, and I think it's fantastic. The book is chock full of fantastic stuff, and I can't wait to get rolling with it.
The content is pretty overwhelming, and it can be tough for GM's new and old to put all that data into something that can actually be run at the table. Like many of you, there's no way I can have huge chunks of the adventure ready all the time, and allow the players free reign over where they go and when. I'll be limiting the player choices to a few options so I know what to prep ahead of time, and there are locations / encounters in the book I think are a fantastic fit for my gang. There are others I think are silly and likely won't use.
I've known for months about book coming out, so already had seeds planted and had an NPC ally fall victim to the death curse. The party just completed the Cellar of Death (from dmsguild) and learned about it and the fact they need to travel to the jungles of Chult. Syndra is going to take them as detailed in the adventure, and I know the 'big rocks' are they need to hire a guide and hear some gossip and rumors in Port Nyanzaru.
There's tons of stuff that can happen in PN, and several important NPC's that can be met. I really like the Spa Day encounter (from the Encounters in Port Nyanzaru supplement -dmsguild again) and want to use it.
So, first question - how did you kick things off and get things rolling?
Basically I dropped my group off in Port Nyanzaru and let them roam around for a bit, hear some rumors, and run into a few of the side-quest NPCs that seemed like they would lead to interesting places. I know that my party has to start at Fort Beluarian because they talked it over and decided that picking up an exploration charter was safer than dealing with the Flaming Fist patrols without one. I did introduce the Zhentarim side-quest about causing a distraction there, but I'm unsure yet if they will bite. Either way, I've organized information for the Fort as well as three of the closest travel locations and a random encounter or two.
My main plan is to pretty much stay ahead of my group by making them chart their exploration plan on the player map so that I know where they want to go and can prepare for that as some surrounding areas each week.
The beauty of the module is that it explicitly talks about being able to move locations around and very little is plotted on the map. If a location contradicts a rumor they hear, "Well I guess rumors you hear from strangers in taverns aren't always 100% accurate". So you can give your group free reign on which direction they want to explore/ultimate destination, but know that at your next session, no matter which direction they go, they're going to arrive at Nangalore. They feel like they've been exploring and discovering at random, but you don't have to have an entire adventure (some of which will never be used) prepped.
Replying to follow. Just picked it up and looking forward to seeing how folks manage it. Thanks!
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
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I am hoping to keep it on the fly by planning with the several hexes around that session and plan for those possible encounters they could run into there. The only thing I am lost on in this adventure is what the mines on the map are. Do I make random dungeons?
The mines are really just there for flavor. One of the main exports of Chult is gems. Gems come from mines. So there are mines in Chult. You can do whatever you want with them. Maybe there is a cache of supplies from the miners, maybe its been taken over by goblins, maybe there are still some gems lying around but not much else.
One of the mines (Wymheart Mine) is actually a dungeon that is laid out in the book. The rest are just locations that you can have NPCs or random encounters at.
I had my players meet Flask and River in Port Nyanzuru trying to find someone they can guide because of the lack of adventurers in Malar throat. Soon after they meet them and find out, after a conversation, that Jobal heard of their presence and wants to kill them for offending him and stealing off of his guides' careers. In a few sessions i might have the players encounter an assassin trying to kill flask and river.
My game is currently running but first of I got some useful links:
ToA Travel
A website that generates all the traveling days in the jungle: weather and encounter references.
ToA Hexcral Procedure
If you don't like things automatically generated here is a list of the traveling mechanic with a lot of details.
Reddit Thread with ToA resources
A misc list of ToA Resources
What I did:
To kick of the adventure I hooked into one of the party's old characters from another time who is now a Dreadlord of the Zhentarim and aiming to be Lord of trade in Neverwinter.
When we first started to play 5e the party created an adventuring guild: Heroes of Phandalin (HoPh) whom said Dreadlord was a part of (he joined the Zhentarim directly in LoMPh).
In the following published adventures: all new PC groups have been different branches of HoPh that go under the main group of the original party. For ToA basically the Zhentarim was seeing a loss in profit, reports of increased undead attacks and rumors of a death curse. The Dreadlord used the adventuring guild to enact the will of the Zhentarim (in secret of course from the other old party members). He made a call for action in Waterdeep with a reward to join HoPh and claim the riches if the jungle. So he paid for a boat and loaded that boat up with promising disposable adventures (idiots) to send to Chult, thus the creation of the new ToA party.
The Dreadlord hooked them up with information to the former dying harper agent and the adventure was started.
The Dreadlord is also using the deadliness of the jungle as some kind of culling mechanism so only the best and brightest can join HoPh.
Whoops OP here I totally forgot about this thread!
Finally felt like I needed to put a stop to endless jungle wandering. My group hit what I thought to be the coolest parts of exploring Chult, but even then I felt like it went on too long.
I really didn't like Fane so skipped over it altogether, gang is exploring Tomb right now. Group is having fun, although not as much from my side of the screen. Plenty of locations in tomb are really fiddly and have tricky explanations that need to be read & understood with care otherwise important details are missed. Some areas seem really strange and I've commented elsewhere extra video-gamey. The sheen is wearing off this adventure for me real fast, and I can't wait until it's over. Turned into kind of a slog...
Spent last few weeks taking a break and playing a PC in another game, nice! Looking forward to getting back to it though with some fresh eyes.
I'm not a big fan of the Fane as it feels tacked on. The group has already knocked Ras Nsi's skeleton out of his mouth, and spent a looong time trudging through the jungle.
To be fair, I suppose it's me chomping at the bit to get to the championship / main event. I've spent some more time with the book and have really warmed up to the style of the finale. The group might hit area 44 in the Vault of Reflection soon , and I'm hoping it's an epic! All the ingredients are there for a very memorable encounter!