So I'm new to DMing, I've run 2 oneshots from modules, didn't really like running other people's content. I settled on creating my own campaign setting, I've watched a bunch of videos on it and have gotten advice on it from people I know. So far I've been having a lot of fun creating my own setting, but I do need some advice with my campaign opener. What I've got so far is:
The PCs, for various character reasons (Insert Here Later), find themselves working/contracting for the Gonnovan's Guild, a mercenary guild in Hincksey (trading port town). After each character goes through their respective interview (introduction for each character), with a recruiter for the guild, they are partied up together. They are introduced to their organizer Melmf, a sturdy dwarven dude with a jarringly kind personality, who gives them their first mission. The first mission is a basic one, Kobolds are inhabiting an abandoned ruin and stealing from travelers, bad for business and the guild. Especially so since one of them stole a valuable trinket belonging to Gonnovan, the leader of the Guild. Party is told the direction to go and the objective is set at kill or drive out. They are informed that the method of verification for a successful job completion will be the retrieval of a stolen pendant of Gonnovan's. Once they arrive, they find the icy remains of what might once have been kobolds that have been now reduced to statues or frosty reddish puddles. If the party chooses to investigate further they'll find more evidence foreshadowing the BBEG (My current idea for him is a Ice Wizard-Rogue kind of deal who is the leader of basically THE thieves' guild for this part of the continent) and the trinket in the opened chest cavity of the Kobold leader (current idea for this is having the Kobold leader sitting atop a makeshift throne with a gaping hole in his chest and the pendant where his heart should be, unmarred and untarnished because the Kobold's blood is frozen). Upon successful job completion the party is rewarded 125 gold pieces per person and a successful induction to the Gonnovan's Guild has been made.
The specific advice I'm looking for is generally if there's anything I've forgotten or need to add and especially how to interweave potential PC's backstories into the story.
It sounds ok as a set up for a campaign. There are a couple of things that might be worth considering in my opinion (but might not be an issue for your group):
- Does the fact that they are enrolling into a mercenary company limit character classes? Mercenary companies tends to be quite militaristic and run things by ranks etc. So might be good to make sure this works with the characters.
- The job currently seems a bit passive for the group. Given this is presumably their first session, how do they affect the outcome and get a feeling of engagement? E.g. the kobolds are already dead - so there isn't a dramatic scene/encounter for them. Is it just to an fetch the pendant and bring it back? You might of course have some other drama built in, so this might not apply.
- It might be good to change Melmf or someone else in the Guild to be a friendly contact for the characters. I get the drill sergeant approach, but if they are treat badly by everyone, what it going to keep them there in the long run?
I would add some sort of anima eating the kobolds to add some level of combat. This could be wolves or if they are higher level a carrion crawler or two.
I would add some sort of anima eating the kobolds to add some level of combat. This could be wolves or if they are higher level a carrion crawler or two.
Seconded. The one major detail this first adventure is missing is what the challenge will actually be to the players. Your choices are either, as MastiffLover suggested, beasts or similar creatures who are simply attracted to the dead bodies, or some kind of dangerous creature left behind by the BBEG. Some Ice Mephits would make for a nice challenge while still thematically appropriate... they're weak enough for a low-level party to take on a small group of them, but complex enough that players will have to do more than just run up to them and hit them over and over.
So I'm new to DMing, I've run 2 oneshots from modules, didn't really like running other people's content. I settled on creating my own campaign setting, I've watched a bunch of videos on it and have gotten advice on it from people I know. So far I've been having a lot of fun creating my own setting, but I do need some advice with my campaign opener. What I've got so far is:
The PCs, for various character reasons (Insert Here Later), find themselves working/contracting for the Gonnovan's Guild, a mercenary guild in Hincksey (trading port town). After each character goes through their respective interview (introduction for each character), with a recruiter for the guild, they are partied up together. They are introduced to their organizer Melmf, a sturdy dwarven dude with a jarringly kind personality, who gives them their first mission. The first mission is a basic one, Kobolds are inhabiting an abandoned ruin and stealing from travelers, bad for business and the guild. Especially so since one of them stole a valuable trinket belonging to Gonnovan, the leader of the Guild. Party is told the direction to go and the objective is set at kill or drive out. They are informed that the method of verification for a successful job completion will be the retrieval of a stolen pendant of Gonnovan's. Once they arrive, they find the icy remains of what might once have been kobolds that have been now reduced to statues or frosty reddish puddles. If the party chooses to investigate further they'll find more evidence foreshadowing the BBEG (My current idea for him is a Ice Wizard-Rogue kind of deal who is the leader of basically THE thieves' guild for this part of the continent) and the trinket in the opened chest cavity of the Kobold leader (current idea for this is having the Kobold leader sitting atop a makeshift throne with a gaping hole in his chest and the pendant where his heart should be, unmarred and untarnished because the Kobold's blood is frozen). Upon successful job completion the party is rewarded 125 gold pieces per person and a successful induction to the Gonnovan's Guild has been made.
The specific advice I'm looking for is generally if there's anything I've forgotten or need to add and especially how to interweave potential PC's backstories into the story.
It sounds ok as a set up for a campaign. There are a couple of things that might be worth considering in my opinion (but might not be an issue for your group):
- Does the fact that they are enrolling into a mercenary company limit character classes? Mercenary companies tends to be quite militaristic and run things by ranks etc. So might be good to make sure this works with the characters.
- The job currently seems a bit passive for the group. Given this is presumably their first session, how do they affect the outcome and get a feeling of engagement? E.g. the kobolds are already dead - so there isn't a dramatic scene/encounter for them. Is it just to an fetch the pendant and bring it back? You might of course have some other drama built in, so this might not apply.
- It might be good to change Melmf or someone else in the Guild to be a friendly contact for the characters. I get the drill sergeant approach, but if they are treat badly by everyone, what it going to keep them there in the long run?
I would add some sort of anima eating the kobolds to add some level of combat. This could be wolves or if they are higher level a carrion crawler or two.
Seconded. The one major detail this first adventure is missing is what the challenge will actually be to the players. Your choices are either, as MastiffLover suggested, beasts or similar creatures who are simply attracted to the dead bodies, or some kind of dangerous creature left behind by the BBEG. Some Ice Mephits would make for a nice challenge while still thematically appropriate... they're weak enough for a low-level party to take on a small group of them, but complex enough that players will have to do more than just run up to them and hit them over and over.
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