I am preparing a campaign in which the players join an organization that has committed itself to monster hunting. Inspiration for this was the Witcher book series (Witcher/Kaer Morhen) and the show Supernatural. The whole thing will be set in Faerun and the players will undergo a kind of training at the beginning.
Unfortunately, I don't quite know how to go about it yet. Do any of you have experience of running such a training course as a DM? What I can imagine is that the first few sessions are training with "simple" monster hunts and then the group gets a cart and a horse and moves through the Sword Coast.
It really depends on how you imagine the organization training new recruits. Is it a pretty aloof system where they point new hopefuls towards a sewer with a giant rat problem, a forest known to house a small goblin tribe, or some old crypt that tends to have a giant spider or two lurking about and see who manages to come back still interested in continuing the experience? Or are they a more structured institution with classes on monster ecology and a fully built arena will a few various monsters penned up for release during training sessions? Is there an instructor that enjoys letting loose a pack of rust monsters on the occasional clique of uppity new recruits bulked up with parent-purchased weapons and armor? Is it more like your standard adventure anime and the structure of the adventurer's guild tends to involve a staff level collection of maid-outfit wearing tabaxi handing out adventure requests, with a core of hardened adventurers working the management level and occasionally handing out advice or training to promising prospectives?
Basically, how do you want this organization to function and then, how would you imagine they would train their recruits?
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First of all I would pick a low level monster that people think of as weak. Kobolds for example. Have these monsters be hired by the academy and fill a fake dungeon with them. Instructions to not kill anyone, leaving them at 0 hp.
Then run the dungeon with being designed to work with the 'weak' monster type you choose. For kobolds, they are known for tunneling, traps, and pact tactics. Have them use that to an extreme degree. Every room has traps and tunnels designed to let the kobolds use pact tactics.
The ideal situation is the first time you run the players through they get their asses kicked. Cheat to do this if you have to.
Give them the standard Drill sergeant speech about getting beaten by mere kobolds. Point out everything they did wrong, and ask them what they should have done.
Let them run it again, this time without cheating, let them win the battle. Congratulations, they have graduated!
I have no original ideas for this but might I suggest a book as inspiration? "Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting"
This book not only has the hunting for beasts but also harvesting and crafting ideas as well. I bought this around Christmas and love using the rules for the harvesting the body parts the PCs can try to use. It is useful and fits perfectly into the 5e system.
Back to the hunt part there also has a bunch of premade hunts in the book with maps as well (some of which are dungeons). Like mini adventures for hunts and have new or tweaked monsters in them.
Hello everyone
I am preparing a campaign in which the players join an organization that has committed itself to monster hunting. Inspiration for this was the Witcher book series (Witcher/Kaer Morhen) and the show Supernatural.
The whole thing will be set in Faerun and the players will undergo a kind of training at the beginning.
Unfortunately, I don't quite know how to go about it yet. Do any of you have experience of running such a training course as a DM?
What I can imagine is that the first few sessions are training with "simple" monster hunts and then the group gets a cart and a horse and moves through the Sword Coast.
Thanks for your input.
It really depends on how you imagine the organization training new recruits. Is it a pretty aloof system where they point new hopefuls towards a sewer with a giant rat problem, a forest known to house a small goblin tribe, or some old crypt that tends to have a giant spider or two lurking about and see who manages to come back still interested in continuing the experience? Or are they a more structured institution with classes on monster ecology and a fully built arena will a few various monsters penned up for release during training sessions? Is there an instructor that enjoys letting loose a pack of rust monsters on the occasional clique of uppity new recruits bulked up with parent-purchased weapons and armor? Is it more like your standard adventure anime and the structure of the adventurer's guild tends to involve a staff level collection of maid-outfit wearing tabaxi handing out adventure requests, with a core of hardened adventurers working the management level and occasionally handing out advice or training to promising prospectives?
Basically, how do you want this organization to function and then, how would you imagine they would train their recruits?
First of all I would pick a low level monster that people think of as weak. Kobolds for example. Have these monsters be hired by the academy and fill a fake dungeon with them. Instructions to not kill anyone, leaving them at 0 hp.
Then run the dungeon with being designed to work with the 'weak' monster type you choose. For kobolds, they are known for tunneling, traps, and pact tactics. Have them use that to an extreme degree. Every room has traps and tunnels designed to let the kobolds use pact tactics.
The ideal situation is the first time you run the players through they get their asses kicked. Cheat to do this if you have to.
Give them the standard Drill sergeant speech about getting beaten by mere kobolds. Point out everything they did wrong, and ask them what they should have done.
Let them run it again, this time without cheating, let them win the battle. Congratulations, they have graduated!
this sounds amazing, i might use this idea!
I have no original ideas for this but might I suggest a book as inspiration? "Heliana's Guide to Monster Hunting"
This book not only has the hunting for beasts but also harvesting and crafting ideas as well. I bought this around Christmas and love using the rules for the harvesting the body parts the PCs can try to use. It is useful and fits perfectly into the 5e system.
Back to the hunt part there also has a bunch of premade hunts in the book with maps as well (some of which are dungeons). Like mini adventures for hunts and have new or tweaked monsters in them.
Link here: https://hitpointpress.com/helianas-guide-to-monster-hunting-pdf/
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