This is my first campaign. At least to begin with I am having the players isolated on an island and anticipate they'll level up several times in exploring/investigating the island and doing the various encounters I have planned there. But how do you manage things like learning new spells, joining colleges etc if a character has no way of e.g. meeting fellow bards, being taught new spells and so on? Would you just allow them to level up as normal and all the new skills/abilities that brings or would you want some way for them to have theoretically learned all the new stuff? I was wondering something like, they discover a magically protected library in a ruin which contains the class lore they might need etc.
Has anyone run a campaign like this? Any recommendations?
There was another thread about in-game explanations for leveling up just a couple weeks back. Take a look back through the forum, there's some good ideas in there.
As for me, I just... don't explain it. Leveling up is done purely out of game at the meta level. Maintaining verisimilitude in all aspects of the game is laudable, but it puts precisely the sort of strain on the game that you're currently experiencing, and I think your players would happily sacrifice it to keep the game moving - especially if you ruled that they can't level while in isolation.
Consider that a lot of training happens before they entered the spotlight, it stands to reason that as they are adventuring there are opportunities for practicing what they've already learned... and suddenly things click. Maybe you do a flashback dream sequence where they remember words of a former master or a visitor that inspires them or for those of faith an emissary from their deity. Sure, tie in a magical library or something if you want for spellcasters... that's the beauty of creating for the mind's eye. You can be bound by the limitations of the rules, or you can use them as a jumping off point to fly above and beyond and weave a tapestry of imagination.
Hi
This is my first campaign. At least to begin with I am having the players isolated on an island and anticipate they'll level up several times in exploring/investigating the island and doing the various encounters I have planned there. But how do you manage things like learning new spells, joining colleges etc if a character has no way of e.g. meeting fellow bards, being taught new spells and so on? Would you just allow them to level up as normal and all the new skills/abilities that brings or would you want some way for them to have theoretically learned all the new stuff? I was wondering something like, they discover a magically protected library in a ruin which contains the class lore they might need etc.
Has anyone run a campaign like this? Any recommendations?
Thankhs
There was another thread about in-game explanations for leveling up just a couple weeks back. Take a look back through the forum, there's some good ideas in there.
As for me, I just... don't explain it. Leveling up is done purely out of game at the meta level. Maintaining verisimilitude in all aspects of the game is laudable, but it puts precisely the sort of strain on the game that you're currently experiencing, and I think your players would happily sacrifice it to keep the game moving - especially if you ruled that they can't level while in isolation.
Consider that a lot of training happens before they entered the spotlight, it stands to reason that as they are adventuring there are opportunities for practicing what they've already learned... and suddenly things click. Maybe you do a flashback dream sequence where they remember words of a former master or a visitor that inspires them or for those of faith an emissary from their deity. Sure, tie in a magical library or something if you want for spellcasters... that's the beauty of creating for the mind's eye. You can be bound by the limitations of the rules, or you can use them as a jumping off point to fly above and beyond and weave a tapestry of imagination.
thank you. Appreciated.
Thanks I'll take a look. And yes, I think you're right on getting that balance