I would appreciate the help and advice from you lovely people here, as when I am in a campaign things flow but getting it started I am struggling. For my players we all talked and are doing a split start for 1 session each, 2 of the characters are related and the other 2 are good friends, then for the official first session everyone meets up.
To be very honest I am struggling a bit coming up with interesting ways to do this split start and how to bring them all together, as well as a good first arc overarching story.
I toyed with the idea of them waking up at different sides of an underground dungeons fighting their way through and meeting in the middle then working together towards an exit, but I am not exactly sure how to make it interesting, or even get them there in the first place, I dont want just to force them there right at the start, maybe I am just having a bit of a idea burnout.
Any help to flesh this out would be greatly appreciated.
Why not have them write backgrounds where the PCs in one group all know each other and the PCs in the other group all know each other? And use their backgrounds for inspiration for how to get the two groups to meet each other?
One easy cop out is give both groups the same goal. One group for family reasons and the other group for “group” reasons meaning their home town, school, etc. wants it done. And make the goal hard enough that neither group can do it by themselves. Have each group try alone and fail and then have the two groups run into each other at a tavern while one group is discussing the goal. It’s a cop out, but it will work.
So I’m not fully sure I entirely understand the situation. Here’s my understanding.
• all 4 players will be present for session one. • the players want to start with the party split up. • they then want to reconvene by sessions end.
I think this is doable. Let’s take your proposed start. They start in an Underground dungeon. To keep it interesting I would purpose switch between the two parties frequently. I wouldn’t put a time limit on it. Just make sure the two get equal time and attention.
I would start both of them in separate tunnels. The two tunnels end up rejoining at a point. I would have that point also be a boss fight or something memorable.
maybe what you can do is have there be a tribe of goblins living under the city. They’ve infested down there like cockroaches and are basically building a goblin city under the human city. Their construction goes wrong and theirs a massive cave in trapping players down there. This could explain the players starting in two separate tunnels.
also on top of navigating the underground tunnels the players have to save other people from the cave in. When they finally rejoin I pitched a boss fight. I’m imagining this cool scene were the tunnels rejoin at the top of a massive cliff in the undergound complex. The players on top of the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is a massive worm monster the goblins worship that is responsible for digging most of the cave complex. Have the goblins they encounter rave about the god worm that will save their souls or something.
with the players have the massive high ground it could give you freedom in having the monster beings a bit OP. The players would have a massive leg up with the position of advantage.
Similar to the dungeon idea but with an easier "how did they get to the start". You could have it that they are from close villages/towns. In both locations there has been reports of bandits robbing people [which just so happens to be the middle of the two villages/towns] have both pairs encounter the odd animal or group to interact with on the way. Then both arrive at the same time and through the information you give them make it seem like the other pair are the bandits [depends on meta gaming and how much they enjoy being part of the mix up]. Then whilst they are trying to sort it out get attacked by the real bandits. Forming a bond over a battle well fought?
Probably not overly original. But some people enjoy pretending there is a mix up IC when they know the truth OOC.
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Hello,
I would appreciate the help and advice from you lovely people here, as when I am in a campaign things flow but getting it started I am struggling.
For my players we all talked and are doing a split start for 1 session each, 2 of the characters are related and the other 2 are good friends, then for the official first session everyone meets up.
To be very honest I am struggling a bit coming up with interesting ways to do this split start and how to bring them all together, as well as a good first arc overarching story.
I toyed with the idea of them waking up at different sides of an underground dungeons fighting their way through and meeting in the middle then working together towards an exit, but I am not exactly sure how to make it interesting, or even get them there in the first place, I dont want just to force them there right at the start, maybe I am just having a bit of a idea burnout.
Any help to flesh this out would be greatly appreciated.
Why not have them write backgrounds where the PCs in one group all know each other and the PCs in the other group all know each other? And use their backgrounds for inspiration for how to get the two groups to meet each other?
One easy cop out is give both groups the same goal. One group for family reasons and the other group for “group” reasons meaning their home town, school, etc. wants it done. And make the goal hard enough that neither group can do it by themselves. Have each group try alone and fail and then have the two groups run into each other at a tavern while one group is discussing the goal. It’s a cop out, but it will work.
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So I’m not fully sure I entirely understand the situation. Here’s my understanding.
• all 4 players will be present for session one.
• the players want to start with the party split up.
• they then want to reconvene by sessions end.
I think this is doable. Let’s take your proposed start. They start in an Underground dungeon. To keep it interesting I would purpose switch between the two parties frequently. I wouldn’t put a time limit on it. Just make sure the two get equal time and attention.
I would start both of them in separate tunnels. The two tunnels end up rejoining at a point. I would have that point also be a boss fight or something memorable.
maybe what you can do is have there be a tribe of goblins living under the city. They’ve infested down there like cockroaches and are basically building a goblin city under the human city. Their construction goes wrong and theirs a massive cave in trapping players down there. This could explain the players starting in two separate tunnels.
also on top of navigating the underground tunnels the players have to save other people from the cave in. When they finally rejoin I pitched a boss fight. I’m imagining this cool scene were the tunnels rejoin at the top of a massive cliff in the undergound complex. The players on top of the cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is a massive worm monster the goblins worship that is responsible for digging most of the cave complex. Have the goblins they encounter rave about the god worm that will save their souls or something.
with the players have the massive high ground it could give you freedom in having the monster beings a bit OP. The players would have a massive leg up with the position of advantage.
Similar to the dungeon idea but with an easier "how did they get to the start". You could have it that they are from close villages/towns. In both locations there has been reports of bandits robbing people [which just so happens to be the middle of the two villages/towns] have both pairs encounter the odd animal or group to interact with on the way. Then both arrive at the same time and through the information you give them make it seem like the other pair are the bandits [depends on meta gaming and how much they enjoy being part of the mix up]. Then whilst they are trying to sort it out get attacked by the real bandits. Forming a bond over a battle well fought?
Probably not overly original. But some people enjoy pretending there is a mix up IC when they know the truth OOC.
All posts come with the caveat that I don't know what I'm talking about.