Looking for opinions on the best way to start my party out in Storm King's Thunder.
After this group's 1st-ever campaign, which was a homebrew of my own creation, they advanced from level 1 to level 6, and that's where we'll start SKT from. It's a 4 person party (Bard, Rogue, Paladin, Wizard +1 animal companion), and I may have a 5th player that will be joining at some point after the party arrives in the Forgotten Realms.
So I have a few different ideas on how they COULD start out, but would love the community's thoughts on which would be best.
Background: In the previous campaign, 3 gods from the Pantheons of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms had imprisoned the entirety of the rest of those Pantheons, throwing both worlds into disarray. The group of adventurers have just traveled from a location in Greyhawk to the realm of the gods via an ancient, hidden portal and set the Pantheons free. They will start out receiving their awards for doing so, having just advanced to level 6.
From this point the heroes will attempt to take the same portal home that they took to get to the god realm, but some last-second shenanigans will corrupt the portal, instead sending the group to the Forgotten Realms - a land foreign to every member of the party. I have decided that the group will start with Bryn Shander as far as the campaign is concerned, but thus far I'm not fully sure on the best way to get them there. Thus far, I have come up with the following possibilities for where they will land:
(1) The group land in a similar portal room inside of Zephyros' flying wizard tower. From here they could meet Zephyros and he would eventually ask them to deliver a message to someone in Bryn Shander.
(2) The portal would spit the party out over the snow-covered plains just east of the Eastway in the Ten Towns area. They would fall from the sky into a pond, crashing through a thin layer of ice. It's snowing and windy and the party is not at all prepared for such climates. They see a light in the distance and find a barbarian encampment. The barbarians will be skeptical at first, but seeing the pitiful condition of the travelers, they will take the group in and let them warm by the fire; perhaps even provide them with some warm clothing. When the group inquires about the area, the barbarians will tell them that the area's biggest city, Bryn Shander, is just up the road and that it seems that there has been some commotion in that direction recently, although they are unsure of the specific details of the situation.
(3) The portal spits out the party in the middle of a battle between two different kinds of giants. Giant corpses litter the battlefield. It seems the battle is nearing its end, as only a few giants will be left slugging it out. The party will likely be able to defeat the one or two weakened giants that will remain. From here, I think I would have Zephyros' tower, drawn by the commotion, land near the battlefield and we can cue the general plot from (1), but without the portal room being in the tower.
I would be open to other paths too, but let me know what you think of these.
I've also considered having three different portals at the beginning of the scenario, with each one sending the party to either Bryan Shander, Triboar or Goldenfields, but then they might split up, and that wouldn't be great. Having said that though, after looking over each scenario I like Bryn Sander the best for this particular group.
Thanks for your thoughts and consideration!
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Moved to new DMs Only board
Honestly, to make it simple have the portal open near one of the 3 towns that will be attacked by the giants. The players are going to be new to the land so they will not really know anything or where to even go.
Just a simple way. This way they will need ask question to find out where everything is. Maybe they can buy a rough Sword Coast Map that doesn't have everything on it but enough to make traveling with a twist and they attempt to navigate across the lands.
I'm using the magic portal idea to do the Yawning Portal adventures and it is working out well.
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JT "You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."
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Looking for opinions on the best way to start my party out in Storm King's Thunder.
After this group's 1st-ever campaign, which was a homebrew of my own creation, they advanced from level 1 to level 6, and that's where we'll start SKT from. It's a 4 person party (Bard, Rogue, Paladin, Wizard +1 animal companion), and I may have a 5th player that will be joining at some point after the party arrives in the Forgotten Realms.
So I have a few different ideas on how they COULD start out, but would love the community's thoughts on which would be best.
Background: In the previous campaign, 3 gods from the Pantheons of Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms had imprisoned the entirety of the rest of those Pantheons, throwing both worlds into disarray. The group of adventurers have just traveled from a location in Greyhawk to the realm of the gods via an ancient, hidden portal and set the Pantheons free. They will start out receiving their awards for doing so, having just advanced to level 6.
From this point the heroes will attempt to take the same portal home that they took to get to the god realm, but some last-second shenanigans will corrupt the portal, instead sending the group to the Forgotten Realms - a land foreign to every member of the party. I have decided that the group will start with Bryn Shander as far as the campaign is concerned, but thus far I'm not fully sure on the best way to get them there. Thus far, I have come up with the following possibilities for where they will land:
(1) The group land in a similar portal room inside of Zephyros' flying wizard tower. From here they could meet Zephyros and he would eventually ask them to deliver a message to someone in Bryn Shander.
(2) The portal would spit the party out over the snow-covered plains just east of the Eastway in the Ten Towns area. They would fall from the sky into a pond, crashing through a thin layer of ice. It's snowing and windy and the party is not at all prepared for such climates. They see a light in the distance and find a barbarian encampment. The barbarians will be skeptical at first, but seeing the pitiful condition of the travelers, they will take the group in and let them warm by the fire; perhaps even provide them with some warm clothing. When the group inquires about the area, the barbarians will tell them that the area's biggest city, Bryn Shander, is just up the road and that it seems that there has been some commotion in that direction recently, although they are unsure of the specific details of the situation.
(3) The portal spits out the party in the middle of a battle between two different kinds of giants. Giant corpses litter the battlefield. It seems the battle is nearing its end, as only a few giants will be left slugging it out. The party will likely be able to defeat the one or two weakened giants that will remain. From here, I think I would have Zephyros' tower, drawn by the commotion, land near the battlefield and we can cue the general plot from (1), but without the portal room being in the tower.
I would be open to other paths too, but let me know what you think of these.
I've also considered having three different portals at the beginning of the scenario, with each one sending the party to either Bryan Shander, Triboar or Goldenfields, but then they might split up, and that wouldn't be great. Having said that though, after looking over each scenario I like Bryn Sander the best for this particular group.
Thanks for your thoughts and consideration!
Honestly, to make it simple have the portal open near one of the 3 towns that will be attacked by the giants. The players are going to be new to the land so they will not really know anything or where to even go.
Just a simple way. This way they will need ask question to find out where everything is. Maybe they can buy a rough Sword Coast Map that doesn't have everything on it but enough to make traveling with a twist and they attempt to navigate across the lands.
I'm using the magic portal idea to do the Yawning Portal adventures and it is working out well.
JT " You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view."