Hello! Aside from running LMOP starting adventure, this is going to be my first real attempt at running a published D&D adventure. As such, I am taking the time to read through the adventure first before beginning prep and session zero. That said I encountered an issue:
In Chapter1: Carnival Events section(starting on pg 49 specifically) it goes into detail of how the PCs come to meet Witch and Light. However, (based on my understanding thus far) it assumes that most (if not all) PCs are using the "Lost Things" adventure hook and all communications and events evolve around that. But my players are all planning to use the "Witchlight Hands" hook. Have I just not read enough to find alternate dialogue or events revolving around this scenario, or is it absent completely? If absent, it seems like an incredible oversight given that PCs are just as likely to be employees as patrons given the setup of the adventure as far as character creation.
On the one hand, if it is left to me to homebrew the desired scenario, so be it, but I was hoping for more guidance from a published adventure.
I cannot speak to this particular campaign and will allow someone else to respond to the specifics. If you are "hoping for more guidance from a published adventure" you are going to be sorely disappointed--the premade campaigns are a bit on the simplistic side, and can be rather dull if you try and stick firmly to the script. Generally, I would say there are two things you should be aware of when running a premade campaign:
1. The campaigns cannot predict the myriad complexities of player agency. It is entirely possible for your players to take an action you and the book did not expect, which could partially or completely derail the campaign. Be prepared for those eventualities and adjust accordingly. I have been a player character in campaigns where the DM tried to force us back onto the rails when it really did not work--it was not fun for anyone involved.
2. The NPCs tend to be rather bare-bones and could be fleshed out a bit more. Use the book as a jumping off point, but fill in more complex motivations, goals, backgrounds, etc. as necessary, particularly for important NPCs.
I would recommend reading the entire book to provide you a baseline, but be prepared to go off script and homebrew/improvise as necessary.
Similarly, I cannot give specific insight to this particular adventure, but I have run several published campaigns and the advice I can give is that you shouldn't be afraid to add in or subtract parts of an adventure, just make sure that it starts off working with the character's background or in this case hook and then do your best to incorporate the necessary information into the beginning of it. Or if you still want to keep the adventure entirely intact without making any changes, I would suggest starting the adventure with the events that lead up to them starting the actual adventure. Or in other words, start with the events that make the PCs go on the adventure and then work that into starting as the book would have you do.
(If any of that didn't make sense feel free to let me know so I can clarify)
I bothered to look over the adventure, I have the book but haven't given it full read yet, so hopefully this will be a bit more helpful. It is true, published adventures are sort of sloppily put together, some say it's by design, other disagree. I use published books "inspirationally" but even when I run them "as written" I usually deviate considerably.
Regarding your dilemma. I don't see it as a big problem. The hooks presented are to get outsiders a reason to go visit the Witchlight Carnival (basically the book's "You meet in a tavern") but your group by. background are already embedded in the adventure's first location. You'll have to reverse a lot of "exploring" the carnival to describing the PCs role at the various stations they could have in the carnival, and then give them a break or a task they have to do collectively, after Burly rounds them up with "Management wants to talk to you" and treat the scene with Witch and Light as a sort of "meeting the boss" job interview (you might have to emphasize Witch and Light are of a very different station who don't usually concern themselves with the Hands). Then proceed onto Burly's Plan."
It's an odd bit in the Adventure, providing a character background completely contrary to the initial hooks, but it's very common, almost job 1, for a DM to read a published book and have to think through "why would these characters do that?" to get them on the adventure's path.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
THANK YOU! Yea it makes no logical sense to include an entire background hook but not include an actual jump off point if that is the direction the players want to go. But your information will be helpful thanks!
Hello! Aside from running LMOP starting adventure, this is going to be my first real attempt at running a published D&D adventure. As such, I am taking the time to read through the adventure first before beginning prep and session zero. That said I encountered an issue:
In Chapter1: Carnival Events section(starting on pg 49 specifically) it goes into detail of how the PCs come to meet Witch and Light. However, (based on my understanding thus far) it assumes that most (if not all) PCs are using the "Lost Things" adventure hook and all communications and events evolve around that. But my players are all planning to use the "Witchlight Hands" hook. Have I just not read enough to find alternate dialogue or events revolving around this scenario, or is it absent completely? If absent, it seems like an incredible oversight given that PCs are just as likely to be employees as patrons given the setup of the adventure as far as character creation.
On the one hand, if it is left to me to homebrew the desired scenario, so be it, but I was hoping for more guidance from a published adventure.
Thank you all for your input and help!
I cannot speak to this particular campaign and will allow someone else to respond to the specifics. If you are "hoping for more guidance from a published adventure" you are going to be sorely disappointed--the premade campaigns are a bit on the simplistic side, and can be rather dull if you try and stick firmly to the script. Generally, I would say there are two things you should be aware of when running a premade campaign:
1. The campaigns cannot predict the myriad complexities of player agency. It is entirely possible for your players to take an action you and the book did not expect, which could partially or completely derail the campaign. Be prepared for those eventualities and adjust accordingly. I have been a player character in campaigns where the DM tried to force us back onto the rails when it really did not work--it was not fun for anyone involved.
2. The NPCs tend to be rather bare-bones and could be fleshed out a bit more. Use the book as a jumping off point, but fill in more complex motivations, goals, backgrounds, etc. as necessary, particularly for important NPCs.
I would recommend reading the entire book to provide you a baseline, but be prepared to go off script and homebrew/improvise as necessary.
Similarly, I cannot give specific insight to this particular adventure, but I have run several published campaigns and the advice I can give is that you shouldn't be afraid to add in or subtract parts of an adventure, just make sure that it starts off working with the character's background or in this case hook and then do your best to incorporate the necessary information into the beginning of it. Or if you still want to keep the adventure entirely intact without making any changes, I would suggest starting the adventure with the events that lead up to them starting the actual adventure. Or in other words, start with the events that make the PCs go on the adventure and then work that into starting as the book would have you do.
(If any of that didn't make sense feel free to let me know so I can clarify)
I bothered to look over the adventure, I have the book but haven't given it full read yet, so hopefully this will be a bit more helpful. It is true, published adventures are sort of sloppily put together, some say it's by design, other disagree. I use published books "inspirationally" but even when I run them "as written" I usually deviate considerably.
Regarding your dilemma. I don't see it as a big problem. The hooks presented are to get outsiders a reason to go visit the Witchlight Carnival (basically the book's "You meet in a tavern") but your group by. background are already embedded in the adventure's first location. You'll have to reverse a lot of "exploring" the carnival to describing the PCs role at the various stations they could have in the carnival, and then give them a break or a task they have to do collectively, after Burly rounds them up with "Management wants to talk to you" and treat the scene with Witch and Light as a sort of "meeting the boss" job interview (you might have to emphasize Witch and Light are of a very different station who don't usually concern themselves with the Hands). Then proceed onto Burly's Plan."
It's an odd bit in the Adventure, providing a character background completely contrary to the initial hooks, but it's very common, almost job 1, for a DM to read a published book and have to think through "why would these characters do that?" to get them on the adventure's path.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
THANK YOU! Yea it makes no logical sense to include an entire background hook but not include an actual jump off point if that is the direction the players want to go. But your information will be helpful thanks!
thats an interesting suggestion. just skip the entirety of chapter one and roll into the adventure proper. I like that!
thanks for your input!