I was wondering if yall had any thoughts on simple starting quests that I could use to slowly build up to the big bad. I'm starting a campaign soon, and I have a vague idea of some things, but unsure about others, so any thoughts would be appreciated.
In summary, the Thieves Guild of a homebrewed city are acting up. The queen of the country has given them an official pardon, which is counteractive to her original stance on them. This is due to one of her sons being the new guild master, but this isn't known to anyone except the prince in question and his taskmaster for the guild. The queen is just under the assumption that someone in her staff has been replaced.
One of my players is willing to be someone who was investigating from the start. She's going to have a guide to the various thieves symbols and thieves cant, but luckily one of my other players is a rogue so there's a chance at least one person that won't need to translate phrases. Aside from the first session, where the investigating character is gonna be literally thrown into the meeting tavern and a fight ensues, I'm not sure what quests to give. Any thoughts?
Who is the BBEG? What is the ultimate threat you plan to throw at the party? It it's thieves' guild related, I'd start the campaign with a completely different hook and introduce guild members and the queen's court gradually.
I've run two slow-burn homebrew campaigns - one centered on political intrigue, and one on mystery. In both, I laid subtle clues about the main conflict at the start, but I didn't introduce the antagonists or even the nature of the crisis until well past the halfway mark of the campaign. My players were chasing threads and saving people, and there were recurring motifs, environmental factors, and monster encounters that hinted, then implied, then practically screamed at something bigger going on. Eventually, all the clues and scenarios they'd been through clicked into place, and it was full steam ahead to the BBEG showdown.
If you want the prince to be the ultimate baddie your players need to stop, I'd just let your players get acquainted with the kingdom. Have them clear out rats in basements, hunt down a serial killer, defend the populace from protesting wizards at the wizard college...pick anything that lets them see the world you've created and how it interacts with each other. And in your quests (doesn't have to be all, just enough to leave a pattern) make sure that it ties back to chicanery in the thieves' guild. Maybe the rats can be traced to guild buyers. Maybe the serial killer was hired by the guild to take out competition. Maybe the wizards are protesting because their spell components were stolen and prices keep going up...whatever it is, point subtle fingers at the guild and a shadowy, powerful figure pulling the strings. Nurture conspiracy theories your players come up with. Then drop compelling evidence and lore to focus their efforts.
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I was wondering if yall had any thoughts on simple starting quests that I could use to slowly build up to the big bad. I'm starting a campaign soon, and I have a vague idea of some things, but unsure about others, so any thoughts would be appreciated.
In summary, the Thieves Guild of a homebrewed city are acting up. The queen of the country has given them an official pardon, which is counteractive to her original stance on them. This is due to one of her sons being the new guild master, but this isn't known to anyone except the prince in question and his taskmaster for the guild. The queen is just under the assumption that someone in her staff has been replaced.
One of my players is willing to be someone who was investigating from the start. She's going to have a guide to the various thieves symbols and thieves cant, but luckily one of my other players is a rogue so there's a chance at least one person that won't need to translate phrases. Aside from the first session, where the investigating character is gonna be literally thrown into the meeting tavern and a fight ensues, I'm not sure what quests to give. Any thoughts?
Who is the BBEG? What is the ultimate threat you plan to throw at the party? It it's thieves' guild related, I'd start the campaign with a completely different hook and introduce guild members and the queen's court gradually.
I've run two slow-burn homebrew campaigns - one centered on political intrigue, and one on mystery. In both, I laid subtle clues about the main conflict at the start, but I didn't introduce the antagonists or even the nature of the crisis until well past the halfway mark of the campaign. My players were chasing threads and saving people, and there were recurring motifs, environmental factors, and monster encounters that hinted, then implied, then practically screamed at something bigger going on. Eventually, all the clues and scenarios they'd been through clicked into place, and it was full steam ahead to the BBEG showdown.
If you want the prince to be the ultimate baddie your players need to stop, I'd just let your players get acquainted with the kingdom. Have them clear out rats in basements, hunt down a serial killer, defend the populace from protesting wizards at the wizard college...pick anything that lets them see the world you've created and how it interacts with each other. And in your quests (doesn't have to be all, just enough to leave a pattern) make sure that it ties back to chicanery in the thieves' guild. Maybe the rats can be traced to guild buyers. Maybe the serial killer was hired by the guild to take out competition. Maybe the wizards are protesting because their spell components were stolen and prices keep going up...whatever it is, point subtle fingers at the guild and a shadowy, powerful figure pulling the strings. Nurture conspiracy theories your players come up with. Then drop compelling evidence and lore to focus their efforts.