I am trying to get a group of people together to play D&D, which has been challenging. Some of them have never played, others haven't played for many years. So to make it easier for me to schedule and entice them into a longer campaign, I am putting together a one-shot adventure to act as a potential prologue to Dragon of Icespire Peak. I am going to write here what I am planning and just want to get people's opinion about it.
So I am planning for 2-3 sessions for this one-shot. The first session will be character creation to help these players pick and create their characters as well as their backstories and maybe the opening to the adventure. Hopefully, I will be able to get in at least part of the adventure's opening before having to wrap up. Following that the hope is to able to complete the adventure by the end of the following session. I am planning to ask the players to make characters who have spent some of their childhood growing up in Phandalin. For the rest of their backstories, I will be guiding them through the Sword Coast Heroic Chronicle to make good backstories that can be weaved into the campaign if they wish to continue after the one-shot.
Before I get into the details of the one-shot I do want to mention how this fits into the overall campaign. I do want to set Icespire Peak a few years after Lost Mines of Phandelver, and at the time Wave Echo Cave is being run by the dwarves of Phandalin as well as the Gnomes of Gnomengard. Magic items are going to be a common occurrence, I even have some homebrew items that I wrote up on D&D beyond that fixes some issues I have with the campaign as well as some things I would like to add to some character classes.
Since Icespire Peak has such a poor driving narrative story, I am kind of reworking it. The core conceit is that the Cult of the Dragon has tasked a gang of kobolds for helping a wounded young white dragon who was forced south from the Spine of the World find a new lair and nurture her back to health and help her gather her strength. A few weeks before the time of the one-shot the kobolds assaulted Icespire Peak, killing most of the Orcs there and forcing the survivors to flee. (I am planning to replace Orcs with kobolds where Orcs come up for most of the Dragon of Icespire Peak adventures). Once Cryovain had arrived and nested (only drawing the attention of a few individuals in town) a large number of kobolds set out to take territory, resources, and to capture food for the Dragon.)
Now that we got the altered background out of the way, here is my plan for the one-shot
It begins with the players returning to Phandalin (after having been away for several years for training in their particular class) for a yearly festival that they remember loving from their youth. During the festival, there is a big fair being put on where there are a bunch of different (skill) games and activities to participate in. However, a short time after the festivities began, a huge shadow appears moving over the town. Looking high in the sky, everyone sees Cryovain, the white dragon, who lets out a huge roar as she flies past the town. This roar has the chance to cause anyone to become paralyzed with fear. When this happens I am going to call for a saving throw that is gonna need to be done for not just the players but the fairgoers as well as a few townsfolk. Those that get paralyzed only are so for about 1 minute.
Just following this, the players most likely will hear screaming coming from the farmlands just outside of town. When they go to investigate they’ll discover kobolds stealing crops and trying to capture livestock If the players interfere they will just try to grab anything they can and escape. If any of the kobolds get away they can be tracked to the entrance of the basement under Tresander Manor. Down in the basement, they find a small kobold hideout where the kobolds have been stockpiles stolen food as well as terrified livestock meant as offerings to the dragon. They also encounter the chieftain of the Kobolds having a conversation with a kobold captain who is running the operation. When the players are spotted or the players surprise them, the captain goes to engage the players with his cohorts while the chieftain uses teleportation magic to get away.
Once the kobolds in the basement have been dealt with and the players return some of the stolen crops and maybe even livestock, they are declared heroes, and the leaders of the fair put on some kind of recognition ceremony as the activities of the fair start to wind down toward the end of the day, but now everyone in town has new concerns, which mostly are about the arrival of the kobolds, and most definitely the threat of the dragon.
I wanted to put this out here because I want feedback from other people who DM'd before. What do you think of this plan for the one-shot? Are there any changes that you think I could make to improve it?
I like this. you’re mixing the good parts of the pre-created story with something that gives intrigue and combat but not too much of either to make it seem linear.
Depending on how well the Party moves through the kobolds, you could keep one of the Orcs in there as a “Captain” who’s driving their work and efforts…again especially if the Party is playing their characters well. I’m playing a home brew campaign where I’ve had to up a couple baddies while drop another to keep the balance against the players. If they’re struggling a little bit, the “Captain” could run off only to (maybe) be run into later…you already account for this in your story but showing them a “mini-BBEG” might open a branch plan for them to explore.
Good luck and I hope it turns out fun!!
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I like this.
you’re mixing the good parts of the pre-created story with something that gives intrigue and combat but not too much of either to make it seem linear.
Depending on how well the Party moves through the kobolds, you could keep one of the Orcs in there as a “Captain” who’s driving their work and efforts…again especially if the Party is playing their characters well. I’m playing a home brew campaign where I’ve had to up a couple baddies while drop another to keep the balance against the players. If they’re struggling a little bit, the “Captain” could run off only to (maybe) be run into later…you already account for this in your story but showing them a “mini-BBEG” might open a branch plan for them to explore.
Good luck and I hope it turns out fun!!