I am working on building a campaign and DMing for the first time but I am already stuck creatively with the very first encounter. The players are going to be delivering a shipment of food to a small town that has had a bit of Goblin problem recently, ravaging their farms, stealing cattle, etc... (not married to this idea). My issue is how do I make this more interesting? I really want to have my campaign be story/narrative based but I can't even come up with something interesting for the very first encounter. I don't want it to be: 1 - Find Goblin lair. 2 - Kill Goblins. 3. Get reward.... So what can I do to have some sort of twist or make it more interesting? Any advice in general for stuff like this would be appreciated as well. thanks!
How about having some prisoners who need to be freed?
Also, what if the goblins are working for someone else, and this leads to the 2nd adventure. Uncovering that would be fun for them.
The thing is, if they are 1st level -- there is very little you can do tactically with level 1 characters because they die so easily. So setting up traps, attacks from multiple sides, fish-in-a-barrel situations where enemies are elevated and shooting down at them. All that will work at higher levels and be awesome but if your characters are level 1, it'll lead to a party wipe.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
What if you use one of the characters backgrounds to set up an encounter where it is revealed that the goblins have stolen or kidnapped someone or something very important of one of the characters, or somehow exploiting one of their flaws to get them attached to the fight?
Use humour. Have the goblins do something really stupid (I know they ain't that stupid in D&D really, but it could be fun). Have a couple of goblins that's made the world's dumbest trap, like a huge goblet in the middle of the road. Something that gives the initiative to the players, allow them surprise etc. 1st level is dangerous, so that's not being to kind. What if some goblins gas stolen something really big they are trying to get back to the lair, they are quarrelling loudly over it when the players find them.
Well, you can have the origin of the problem be something other than goblins. For example, the goblins are actually mercenaries working for someone else, who at the proper time plans to swing in and 'rescue' the town from the the problem they created.
You could have it so that the goblins are actually refugees fleeing something that has driven them out of their homes. That way it starts out as an adventure about “those nasty goblinses,” but then it turns out that the goblins aren’t the bad guys at all and if the PCs kill the troll or whatever that kicked out the goblins that then maybe the goblins could end up as allies of the PCs, or if they do a real good job RPing it, maybe even as allies to the townsfolk. Nothing twists it up better than finding out that the bad guys you’re there to kill are not actually baddies at all. Or maybe have it so that the townsfolk are actually villains.
Maybe it's all a mind flayer simulation thingy, and when they're higher level they break out and have to free the human race from the mind flayers or something. Like sorta The Matrix-y.
1) The party deliver the food to town to find a mystery...someone has stolen all mirrors and now things that are generally very shiny have started to going missing. Investigation eventually finds a delusional goblin in a cave surrounded by mirrors and shiny objects, it is obsessed with its reflection and thinks its reflections are the rest of his tribe, the goblin is also a spell caster with mirror image.
2) The party get followed by a goblin who is determined to be a famous bard and wants to be the party's biographer, could be a good recurring npc.
3) The goblins are not ransacking the local area but liberating the local cattle, pigs etc and they are being instructed by a militant Druid trying to curb civilisation expansionism.
4) The goblins are actually the towns children out playing make believe as a goblin tribe and the adults are paranoid and believe a goblin attack is imminent, this one could get a bit dark if the party are too gung ho.....
5) The party arrive to find the town under attack, the goblins are attacking the gates and the guards are only just holding the gates closed. Turns out the town apocathary has been disposing of out of date potions in a nearby stream and the goblins are all affected by a love potion and are trying to get into town so they can stare at the object fo thier affection.
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I thought you might want to have a wider goblin problem and this would be the first taste of it.
As the party arrives in town from one direction a caravan arrives from another saying they had just been the victims of a goblin bandit raid. The party, with the help of a couple of the villages most stalwart community leaders head off to see if they can recover the lost goods and run the goblins off. Being an encounter of this kind, once the goblins take a little damage they could run off rather than stay and fight. They already have the treasure they wanted so they have nothing invested in fighting you and the town's folk.
After this, you can then give the party a reason to hunt for their camp. The party is convinced to go after the goblins on behalf of the town and promised a reward.
The party encounter a few goblins and win a battle. Later the party encounters an organized goblin patrol and have a more serious fight, maybe with a beast or two involved, like worgs. Eventually the party finds and engages the goblin camp. At this point something in the "loot" suggests the goblins are being supported by greater powers and the party has to decide if they want to chase this thing all the way to ground and knock it out, or do they want their reward and move onto something more fun and interesting.
Good luck.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
yeah, I am definitely going to look into doing that.
Not sure how I'll sustain in the long run though, eventually I'll have to start coming up with my own stuff. Unless there is a way I can keep supplementing things in, but I don't want to buy a bunch of source books just to do that.
yeah, I am definitely going to look into doing that.
Not sure how I'll sustain in the long run though, eventually I'll have to start coming up with my own stuff. Unless there is a way I can keep supplementing things in, but I don't want to buy a bunch of source books just to do that.
Go buy old 2e modules and just substitute in all the 5e statistics for stuff. The people you are probably playing with have most likely never played them before, it will be all brand new to them.
I am working on building a campaign and DMing for the first time but I am already stuck creatively with the very first encounter. The players are going to be delivering a shipment of food to a small town that has had a bit of Goblin problem recently, ravaging their farms, stealing cattle, etc... (not married to this idea). My issue is how do I make this more interesting? I really want to have my campaign be story/narrative based but I can't even come up with something interesting for the very first encounter. I don't want it to be: 1 - Find Goblin lair. 2 - Kill Goblins. 3. Get reward.... So what can I do to have some sort of twist or make it more interesting? Any advice in general for stuff like this would be appreciated as well. thanks!
How about having some prisoners who need to be freed?
Also, what if the goblins are working for someone else, and this leads to the 2nd adventure. Uncovering that would be fun for them.
The thing is, if they are 1st level -- there is very little you can do tactically with level 1 characters because they die so easily. So setting up traps, attacks from multiple sides, fish-in-a-barrel situations where enemies are elevated and shooting down at them. All that will work at higher levels and be awesome but if your characters are level 1, it'll lead to a party wipe.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
What if you use one of the characters backgrounds to set up an encounter where it is revealed that the goblins have stolen or kidnapped someone or something very important of one of the characters, or somehow exploiting one of their flaws to get them attached to the fight?
Elliott Neve
Use humour. Have the goblins do something really stupid (I know they ain't that stupid in D&D really, but it could be fun). Have a couple of goblins that's made the world's dumbest trap, like a huge goblet in the middle of the road. Something that gives the initiative to the players, allow them surprise etc. 1st level is dangerous, so that's not being to kind. What if some goblins gas stolen something really big they are trying to get back to the lair, they are quarrelling loudly over it when the players find them.
Ludo ergo sum!
Well, you can have the origin of the problem be something other than goblins. For example, the goblins are actually mercenaries working for someone else, who at the proper time plans to swing in and 'rescue' the town from the the problem they created.
You could have it so that the goblins are actually refugees fleeing something that has driven them out of their homes. That way it starts out as an adventure about “those nasty goblinses,” but then it turns out that the goblins aren’t the bad guys at all and if the PCs kill the troll or whatever that kicked out the goblins that then maybe the goblins could end up as allies of the PCs, or if they do a real good job RPing it, maybe even as allies to the townsfolk. Nothing twists it up better than finding out that the bad guys you’re there to kill are not actually baddies at all. Or maybe have it so that the townsfolk are actually villains.
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Maybe it's all a mind flayer simulation thingy, and when they're higher level they break out and have to free the human race from the mind flayers or something. Like sorta The Matrix-y.
Elliott Neve
You could literally steal the first chapter of LMoP and have a different "mastermind"...
A few not so serious options:
1) The party deliver the food to town to find a mystery...someone has stolen all mirrors and now things that are generally very shiny have started to going missing. Investigation eventually finds a delusional goblin in a cave surrounded by mirrors and shiny objects, it is obsessed with its reflection and thinks its reflections are the rest of his tribe, the goblin is also a spell caster with mirror image.
2) The party get followed by a goblin who is determined to be a famous bard and wants to be the party's biographer, could be a good recurring npc.
3) The goblins are not ransacking the local area but liberating the local cattle, pigs etc and they are being instructed by a militant Druid trying to curb civilisation expansionism.
4) The goblins are actually the towns children out playing make believe as a goblin tribe and the adults are paranoid and believe a goblin attack is imminent, this one could get a bit dark if the party are too gung ho.....
5) The party arrive to find the town under attack, the goblins are attacking the gates and the guards are only just holding the gates closed. Turns out the town apocathary has been disposing of out of date potions in a nearby stream and the goblins are all affected by a love potion and are trying to get into town so they can stare at the object fo thier affection.
I thought you might want to have a wider goblin problem and this would be the first taste of it.
As the party arrives in town from one direction a caravan arrives from another saying they had just been the victims of a goblin bandit raid. The party, with the help of a couple of the villages most stalwart community leaders head off to see if they can recover the lost goods and run the goblins off. Being an encounter of this kind, once the goblins take a little damage they could run off rather than stay and fight. They already have the treasure they wanted so they have nothing invested in fighting you and the town's folk.
After this, you can then give the party a reason to hunt for their camp. The party is convinced to go after the goblins on behalf of the town and promised a reward.
The party encounter a few goblins and win a battle. Later the party encounters an organized goblin patrol and have a more serious fight, maybe with a beast or two involved, like worgs. Eventually the party finds and engages the goblin camp. At this point something in the "loot" suggests the goblins are being supported by greater powers and the party has to decide if they want to chase this thing all the way to ground and knock it out, or do they want their reward and move onto something more fun and interesting.
Good luck.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Well I DMed lost mines of phindelver, it has a bit of what you're looking for, in terms of the goblins being your first encounter
You are brilliant, just came up with all of that on the fly? sheesh! This is what I'm having trouble coming up with myself, this kind of stuff!
You could probably tweak the first encounter of LMoP to suit your campaign.
yeah, I am definitely going to look into doing that.
Not sure how I'll sustain in the long run though, eventually I'll have to start coming up with my own stuff. Unless there is a way I can keep supplementing things in, but I don't want to buy a bunch of source books just to do that.
Go buy old 2e modules and just substitute in all the 5e statistics for stuff. The people you are probably playing with have most likely never played them before, it will be all brand new to them.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
happy to help!
You might also find this interesting as well:
http://themonstersknow.com/goblin-tactics/