I decided to take up the DM position of my Party and wanted to build a campaign based on the Patrick Rothfuss books. A lot of what I'm doing it copied straight from the books, but with a LOT of liberties. I've ran two sessions so far and hope to put a recap on how my game has been running and how I plan to run further games as I go. I would love to hear what people think and if they have any suggestions on how I should do a certain part.
Anyway, here's what I've played so far.
First session, the party finds their way to the Waystone Inn in Newarre. The tavern is mostly empty except for the three guests sitting at the bar listening to one tell the story of Taborlin the Great. (The book has like five, but I fused them together and made them different races because I don't like all my NPCs being just human.) Kote invites them to sit at the table and gets them drinks while his assistant Bast runs them food from the kitchen. The story stops when in comes a group of the King's soldiers from outside (This is the encounter at the END of NotW, I used Wights for them.) They try to confront Kote in a language no one understands and a fight breaks out when one of the bar guests (Shep, dwarf, blacksmith) accuses them of robbing him on his way into the city the week before (I'm pretty sure Chronicler says this, but I haven't even used his character in the campaign yet.) Our first session happened at the end of this fight.
Second session, Bast helps the guests get back home safe. Kote persuades the party to help him clear the area of creatures that have been appearing close to town (Scrael). They travel about an hour east and Kote explains the reason for the war between the Kingdom's to the north and south. WARNING: This is where I start to take some SERIOUS liberties. Basically, The war is between Vintas and Modeg. Modeg WAS a barony ruled by Ambrose Jakis the First (Father of the character from the series), but after his son was murdered he accused Vintas of the assassination. Ambrose the Second was betrothed to the King of Vintas' daughter and was murdered by the personal assistant of Maershon Alveron, who would be the next in line to the throne should this marriage not take place. So, Ambrose Jakis used his power and money to declare Modeg a Kingdom and declared war against Vintas. Kote lets them know the soldiers who attacked them were donned with armor of the Modegan army, but there was definitely some demonic influence over them, which was beyond the capabilities of King Jakis. (He'll explain why this is important later). The party finds an old abandoned ruin where they burn parts of a scrael body to lure others to their location. After waiting an hour for them to arrive, they come chasing a stranger who is running toward the fire they've made (The stranger might be Chronicler, I haven't decided yet. I might nerf his character, or bring him in later. I don't have a use for him just yet.) About four of them arrive, which the party defeated in one round before they even got a turn. Then about eight more climb over the ruin walls behind them. The session ends after this fight.
Right now, Kote is a Fifth level Monk and Bast is a fourth level Rogue (Arcane Trickster). Bast is also a Satyr in disguise. Every member of my party has some connection to the Chandrian (They don't know this, but I've fit in into everyone's backstory somehow.) Kote currently can't use magic because of some bullshit reason I haven't come up with. The party currently don't know who Kvothe is, but that's going to come up later as a mission leading them back to Kote. My next session, Kote should give them a message to take up to Imre addressed to Devi. The note itself simply says, "I still owe you xxx gold --K". This is supposed to be a way to let her know that he's still alive without letting anyone else who might read it know. Before they leave, Bast gives them another message addressed to Denna from "K". As the party leaves, they're going to meet a Tinker (Abenthy) that will sell them items (I hope my party was listening to the story of Taborlin) and hire them to accompany him to the next town (Tarbean).
I've got a lot more ideas for the future, but they're way too far out to lay down at the moment. And nothing is really serialized yet. Currently, my next step is to figure out if they should go straight to Tarbean, if there should be a sidequest or a combat encounter on the way, and what they're going to do in Tarbean when they get there. I feel like it's such a big city, but I have no idea what kind of quest they can do their. I'm thinking it should involve Trapis and a group of child pickpockets that the party should, I dunno, help? If anything else, I'm going to have them run into Skarpi and tell them the story of Lanre. Also, one of my party members (Rogue) has a mission from their mysterious employer to find "Rhetoric and Logic. The Broken Binding. City of Tarbean. Return intact." This is all the info she has. There is a hidden message (Picture maybe?) somehow related to the chandrian between two pages that have been glued together. That's going to be a material for the overall arc of this story.
So, what do you think? Do you hate me already? Have I missed some vital piece of information out of the book that fills in part of the story that I've made up for myself? I'm currently rereading the series while I'm writing this campaign. My next session hasn't been written entirely yet, but we're playing on Monday. Let me know what you think, I know other people have tried this out before, so I'd love to hear how those campaigns started and where they went.
Sounds great! I'm running a NOTW campaign as well, but mine starts with the party joining Kvothe's edema rue band, and then trying to hunt down the chandrian after they attack the group. I like how different these two models are from each other, it's super cool.
I would love to hear how yours is going! Mine has had it's fair share of mishaps. I'm trying to fit in a lot more action because that's what my players were wanting. Right now Imre is in potential danger and in sights for invasion from the Modegan army. My party has been sent to Severen to request aid from Maer Alveron. Their ship sank on their way in a strange turn of events which left them on an unfamiliar island where the Warlock in the party was given the task to find one of the Chandrian's relics.
Just saw you had responded. That's so cool! I'm about to have a sea encounter too. Here's what happened so far. PC's joined the Edema Rue band, and traveled to Fordell to perform at the Harvest festival. One of my players is a Paladin who is a member of a re-skinned Lord's Alliance group was informed that the Baron of Fordell was rumored to be the target of an assassination attempt. My players visited the docks and taverns where they learned about 3 mysterious elves that had arrived in Fordell the same day as the party had. They coordinated with the Baron's guard captain to run security at the Baron's Harvest festival speech. The night before the speech, the monk in my party encountered one of the assassins, almost died, but was saved by a NPC guard I had added as flavor. Now that guard is a central member of the campaign for the foreseeable future, which is cool. The next day the group foiled the attempted assassination with the help of a lot of guards, and are now on a quest to find out who is behind the attempt. (It's the Chandrian trying to get rid of the Baron who has knowledge about their history in his library.) As soon as the PC's and the edema rue band leave Fordell, they are going to be ambushed by the Chandrian, who are gonna stomp on them pretty hard, and set up the rest of the campaign, hunting the chandrian for revenge. They are gonna get a ship and sail to the University/Imre, kind of bending the map to make it work, but that's all part of the fun. I've 3-d Printed the marketplace encounter with stalls and stage, with houses etc, and that went great, so now i'm working on a 4 deck ship to have some cool encounter I've yet to plan on the ship.
It may go some direction I haven't thought of because my 5 players are very easily sidetracked by flavor details (which can lead to some memorable sidequests), but that's the current plan. What's been happening in yours?
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I decided to take up the DM position of my Party and wanted to build a campaign based on the Patrick Rothfuss books. A lot of what I'm doing it copied straight from the books, but with a LOT of liberties. I've ran two sessions so far and hope to put a recap on how my game has been running and how I plan to run further games as I go. I would love to hear what people think and if they have any suggestions on how I should do a certain part.
Anyway, here's what I've played so far.
First session, the party finds their way to the Waystone Inn in Newarre. The tavern is mostly empty except for the three guests sitting at the bar listening to one tell the story of Taborlin the Great. (The book has like five, but I fused them together and made them different races because I don't like all my NPCs being just human.) Kote invites them to sit at the table and gets them drinks while his assistant Bast runs them food from the kitchen. The story stops when in comes a group of the King's soldiers from outside (This is the encounter at the END of NotW, I used Wights for them.) They try to confront Kote in a language no one understands and a fight breaks out when one of the bar guests (Shep, dwarf, blacksmith) accuses them of robbing him on his way into the city the week before (I'm pretty sure Chronicler says this, but I haven't even used his character in the campaign yet.) Our first session happened at the end of this fight.
Second session, Bast helps the guests get back home safe. Kote persuades the party to help him clear the area of creatures that have been appearing close to town (Scrael). They travel about an hour east and Kote explains the reason for the war between the Kingdom's to the north and south. WARNING: This is where I start to take some SERIOUS liberties. Basically, The war is between Vintas and Modeg. Modeg WAS a barony ruled by Ambrose Jakis the First (Father of the character from the series), but after his son was murdered he accused Vintas of the assassination. Ambrose the Second was betrothed to the King of Vintas' daughter and was murdered by the personal assistant of Maershon Alveron, who would be the next in line to the throne should this marriage not take place. So, Ambrose Jakis used his power and money to declare Modeg a Kingdom and declared war against Vintas. Kote lets them know the soldiers who attacked them were donned with armor of the Modegan army, but there was definitely some demonic influence over them, which was beyond the capabilities of King Jakis. (He'll explain why this is important later). The party finds an old abandoned ruin where they burn parts of a scrael body to lure others to their location. After waiting an hour for them to arrive, they come chasing a stranger who is running toward the fire they've made (The stranger might be Chronicler, I haven't decided yet. I might nerf his character, or bring him in later. I don't have a use for him just yet.) About four of them arrive, which the party defeated in one round before they even got a turn. Then about eight more climb over the ruin walls behind them. The session ends after this fight.
Right now, Kote is a Fifth level Monk and Bast is a fourth level Rogue (Arcane Trickster). Bast is also a Satyr in disguise. Every member of my party has some connection to the Chandrian (They don't know this, but I've fit in into everyone's backstory somehow.) Kote currently can't use magic because of some bullshit reason I haven't come up with. The party currently don't know who Kvothe is, but that's going to come up later as a mission leading them back to Kote. My next session, Kote should give them a message to take up to Imre addressed to Devi. The note itself simply says, "I still owe you xxx gold --K". This is supposed to be a way to let her know that he's still alive without letting anyone else who might read it know. Before they leave, Bast gives them another message addressed to Denna from "K". As the party leaves, they're going to meet a Tinker (Abenthy) that will sell them items (I hope my party was listening to the story of Taborlin) and hire them to accompany him to the next town (Tarbean).
I've got a lot more ideas for the future, but they're way too far out to lay down at the moment. And nothing is really serialized yet. Currently, my next step is to figure out if they should go straight to Tarbean, if there should be a sidequest or a combat encounter on the way, and what they're going to do in Tarbean when they get there. I feel like it's such a big city, but I have no idea what kind of quest they can do their. I'm thinking it should involve Trapis and a group of child pickpockets that the party should, I dunno, help? If anything else, I'm going to have them run into Skarpi and tell them the story of Lanre. Also, one of my party members (Rogue) has a mission from their mysterious employer to find "Rhetoric and Logic. The Broken Binding. City of Tarbean. Return intact." This is all the info she has. There is a hidden message (Picture maybe?) somehow related to the chandrian between two pages that have been glued together. That's going to be a material for the overall arc of this story.
So, what do you think? Do you hate me already? Have I missed some vital piece of information out of the book that fills in part of the story that I've made up for myself? I'm currently rereading the series while I'm writing this campaign. My next session hasn't been written entirely yet, but we're playing on Monday. Let me know what you think, I know other people have tried this out before, so I'd love to hear how those campaigns started and where they went.
Sounds great! I'm running a NOTW campaign as well, but mine starts with the party joining Kvothe's edema rue band, and then trying to hunt down the chandrian after they attack the group. I like how different these two models are from each other, it's super cool.
I would love to hear how yours is going! Mine has had it's fair share of mishaps. I'm trying to fit in a lot more action because that's what my players were wanting. Right now Imre is in potential danger and in sights for invasion from the Modegan army. My party has been sent to Severen to request aid from Maer Alveron. Their ship sank on their way in a strange turn of events which left them on an unfamiliar island where the Warlock in the party was given the task to find one of the Chandrian's relics.
Just saw you had responded. That's so cool! I'm about to have a sea encounter too. Here's what happened so far. PC's joined the Edema Rue band, and traveled to Fordell to perform at the Harvest festival. One of my players is a Paladin who is a member of a re-skinned Lord's Alliance group was informed that the Baron of Fordell was rumored to be the target of an assassination attempt. My players visited the docks and taverns where they learned about 3 mysterious elves that had arrived in Fordell the same day as the party had. They coordinated with the Baron's guard captain to run security at the Baron's Harvest festival speech. The night before the speech, the monk in my party encountered one of the assassins, almost died, but was saved by a NPC guard I had added as flavor. Now that guard is a central member of the campaign for the foreseeable future, which is cool. The next day the group foiled the attempted assassination with the help of a lot of guards, and are now on a quest to find out who is behind the attempt. (It's the Chandrian trying to get rid of the Baron who has knowledge about their history in his library.) As soon as the PC's and the edema rue band leave Fordell, they are going to be ambushed by the Chandrian, who are gonna stomp on them pretty hard, and set up the rest of the campaign, hunting the chandrian for revenge. They are gonna get a ship and sail to the University/Imre, kind of bending the map to make it work, but that's all part of the fun. I've 3-d Printed the marketplace encounter with stalls and stage, with houses etc, and that went great, so now i'm working on a 4 deck ship to have some cool encounter I've yet to plan on the ship.
It may go some direction I haven't thought of because my 5 players are very easily sidetracked by flavor details (which can lead to some memorable sidequests), but that's the current plan. What's been happening in yours?