So, I'm currently in a DOOM-inspired campaign, and after some passing remarks about how much I love sandwiches and how a Dungeons & Delis TTRGP shop where you play DnD and eat sandwiches would be the best I was nominated to be the next DM.
So I have DM'd a one-shot before but I mainly come from a Pathfinder history in dnd, I was just wondering how I can hook my players in my homebrew.
The current setting is in modern-day New York City, so I don't really need to build a region and can focus on the story, and kidnappings have been rampant in the city. I want the PCs to investigate the kidnappings but I can really think of a reason why they would?
The party is going to be 4 level 3 adventures and any advice would be helpful!
The BBEG has to have some way of threatening the world-at-large via some mechanic. Portal that requires sacrifices to open and stabilize to bring about the transformation of Earth, or some such. Again, BBEG needs to be able to threaten everyone, including the PCs and their bonds. I'm not a big fan of directly threatening the PC's family and loved ones too much, as it's only really effective once. If you indirectly threaten them, fine.
I'm a big fan of a hot-start where we don't worry too much about how everybody gets together for the first time, (they could be random customers in a deli eating sandwiches....) just hit them with a running combat scenario to escape a small horde, get them breathing heavy, then throw the "we need you to save the kidnapped people" at them when they are tired, stressed and worried that they are in danger of loosing their PC lives. Show them images of people being dragged out of buildings in front of them. Describe the screams of random people as their loved ones are separated from them to meet some veiled and unseen demise. Show your players why that's important, show them what happens if they fail to do plot_hook_C, or chase down MacGuffin_V2, and let them take the reigns from there. Have a couple of options ready for them to follow, and be ready for them to throw at least two others at you that you weren't ready for.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I would just ask your players when making characters to come up with a reason they'd involve themselves in this case.
It's much easier to get player buy-in when they're allowed to say why they care about the plot, instead of starting session 1 and saying "ok, here's why you care about the plot..."
So, I'm currently in a DOOM-inspired campaign, and after some passing remarks about how much I love sandwiches and how a Dungeons & Delis TTRGP shop where you play DnD and eat sandwiches would be the best I was nominated to be the next DM.
So I have DM'd a one-shot before but I mainly come from a Pathfinder history in dnd, I was just wondering how I can hook my players in my homebrew.
The current setting is in modern-day New York City, so I don't really need to build a region and can focus on the story, and kidnappings have been rampant in the city. I want the PCs to investigate the kidnappings but I can really think of a reason why they would?
The party is going to be 4 level 3 adventures and any advice would be helpful!
Have one of their friends or a relative becomes kidnapped, or a billionaires daughter or heiress?
have fun with it :)
Are the PCs all members of a police squad? Could they be? A shared chain of command would make the campaign easy to keep on track.
And before you say, "no they want to be chaotic evil rogues;" could they be super-shady police?
The BBEG has to have some way of threatening the world-at-large via some mechanic. Portal that requires sacrifices to open and stabilize to bring about the transformation of Earth, or some such. Again, BBEG needs to be able to threaten everyone, including the PCs and their bonds. I'm not a big fan of directly threatening the PC's family and loved ones too much, as it's only really effective once. If you indirectly threaten them, fine.
I'm a big fan of a hot-start where we don't worry too much about how everybody gets together for the first time, (they could be random customers in a deli eating sandwiches....) just hit them with a running combat scenario to escape a small horde, get them breathing heavy, then throw the "we need you to save the kidnapped people" at them when they are tired, stressed and worried that they are in danger of loosing their PC lives. Show them images of people being dragged out of buildings in front of them. Describe the screams of random people as their loved ones are separated from them to meet some veiled and unseen demise. Show your players why that's important, show them what happens if they fail to do plot_hook_C, or chase down MacGuffin_V2, and let them take the reigns from there. Have a couple of options ready for them to follow, and be ready for them to throw at least two others at you that you weren't ready for.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
I would just ask your players when making characters to come up with a reason they'd involve themselves in this case.
It's much easier to get player buy-in when they're allowed to say why they care about the plot, instead of starting session 1 and saying "ok, here's why you care about the plot..."
Silly Tim, everyone knows the police are *lawful* evil.