I decided to start a new story with a group that I have been playing with for a while. I didn't like the old story so I'm writing up a new story to play with their characters. The players had just entered a dungeon to fight a cult. I think I should skip the dungeon as it doesn't need to be played out sense it was apart of the old story. I'll just say they walk out after defeating the cult, but the real problem is how to I get the players into the new story?
The story is about orcs trying to take a human city, they begin by taking the smaller villages around the area. I was thinking of adding Cadaver Collectors to the orcs side, but I also would like some other ideas. So how do I start off this new adventure, and what else can I add to it?
First, talk to your players before you "switch stories." It's their game too, and they might want to play out delving the dungeon and defeating the cult before moving on to the next plotline.
Second, I like Sigrun's idea of having them be in town when the orcs attack, but I don't think you should give them a challenge they're intended to lose. Still, they can't take on the whole horde, so another option might see the heroes come to a town that's just coming under threat, and the mayor pays them to infiltrate the fortress of one of the orcs' bands (a dungeon of sorts) and take out their leader. Or maybe the town's already been destroyed, and the mayor hires them to take revenge!
Third, for ideas of what to add, I'd pick a theme and run with it. Maybe the orcs are creepy necromancers, and their ranks are filled with undead. Or maybe they're savage demon-worshippers, with fiends backing them up. Maybe they're forest orcs, allied with all manner of beasts, intent on bringing down civilization. Each of those ideas points to a category of monsters you could add to break up the monotony of orcs, orcs, orcs. I'd also suggest picking up Volo's Guide if you don't have it; it's got some stat blocks for different variations of orcs, like priests of their different gods.
I was thinking of adding in Cadaver Collectors, and a dragon to bolster the orcs ranks. I like the idea of having them in the town, and I will go ahead and ask whether they want to finish the dungeon. Thanks.
Is there a small town near the Cult Dungeon (hereafter referred to as the CD), that your PCs just left, and are intending to return to after the CD has been dealt with? Perhaps they exit the CD to find smoking ruins and distraught villagers mourning the death and/or capture of loved ones, and despairing over the prospect of trying to rebuild the town after the destruction wrought by this band of orcs?
Especially, if someone or something near and dear to PCs' hearts has been lost. Maybe their favorite NPC was captured as a slave to the orcs?
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I decided to start a new story with a group that I have been playing with for a while. I didn't like the old story so I'm writing up a new story to play with their characters. The players had just entered a dungeon to fight a cult. I think I should skip the dungeon as it doesn't need to be played out sense it was apart of the old story. I'll just say they walk out after defeating the cult, but the real problem is how to I get the players into the new story?
The story is about orcs trying to take a human city, they begin by taking the smaller villages around the area. I was thinking of adding Cadaver Collectors to the orcs side, but I also would like some other ideas. So how do I start off this new adventure, and what else can I add to it?
Why not have them be in town for some reason when the orcs attack? Make the orc horde too large for them to defeat, so they have to flee?
First, talk to your players before you "switch stories." It's their game too, and they might want to play out delving the dungeon and defeating the cult before moving on to the next plotline.
Second, I like Sigrun's idea of having them be in town when the orcs attack, but I don't think you should give them a challenge they're intended to lose. Still, they can't take on the whole horde, so another option might see the heroes come to a town that's just coming under threat, and the mayor pays them to infiltrate the fortress of one of the orcs' bands (a dungeon of sorts) and take out their leader. Or maybe the town's already been destroyed, and the mayor hires them to take revenge!
Third, for ideas of what to add, I'd pick a theme and run with it. Maybe the orcs are creepy necromancers, and their ranks are filled with undead. Or maybe they're savage demon-worshippers, with fiends backing them up. Maybe they're forest orcs, allied with all manner of beasts, intent on bringing down civilization. Each of those ideas points to a category of monsters you could add to break up the monotony of orcs, orcs, orcs. I'd also suggest picking up Volo's Guide if you don't have it; it's got some stat blocks for different variations of orcs, like priests of their different gods.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
I was thinking of adding in Cadaver Collectors, and a dragon to bolster the orcs ranks. I like the idea of having them in the town, and I will go ahead and ask whether they want to finish the dungeon. Thanks.
Is there a small town near the Cult Dungeon (hereafter referred to as the CD), that your PCs just left, and are intending to return to after the CD has been dealt with? Perhaps they exit the CD to find smoking ruins and distraught villagers mourning the death and/or capture of loved ones, and despairing over the prospect of trying to rebuild the town after the destruction wrought by this band of orcs?
Especially, if someone or something near and dear to PCs' hearts has been lost. Maybe their favorite NPC was captured as a slave to the orcs?