I am currently creating an adventure for some friends and acquaintances. It is going to be a bronze age, high magic adventure in an original setting inspired by ancient Egypt, the near-east and anatolia in 2500 BC. I need advice on how to run a compelling intro session for this world and this adventure.
I want to start the adventure in media res and introduce the following things in the first and perhaps final adventure:
The aesthetic of the world
The short context of how they got to this situation
The local political situation
The concept of heroes (Explained below)
Hint at the greater mysteries in the area
My solutions so far are: We start with a siege battle, the players are skirmishers in the ranks of the attacking army, they are assaulting the city. The city is large, the armies are large. My thoughts here are that this will be grand and cool. It will allow me to introduce the aesthetic of the world as they are encountering it both architecture, garb and arms. Introduce the local politics as they currently know it, through the story of how they ended up in this battle. It will also allow me to introduce the concept of a Hero, as they will see them participate in this battle from afar, an analogy for what Heroes are in my setting would be High level Medium-Huge sized Aasimar, with size and powers depending on their heroics and patrons. Hinting at the greater mysteries that can be explored is a bit more difficult and I have some ideas, but nothing I have any confidence in.
So any feedback on what I have written here and general advice on how to do a good intro session would be greatly appreciated.
You need the players (not necessarily the characters) feel that they are able to meaningfully affect the world.
What you proposed sounds cool but runs the risk of just being a storytelling session where you enthuse about the world you've created.
You can easily make the players feel that their characters matter. It cam even be just by virtue of luck.
Imagine one of the mighty heroes falls in battle, but the players are able to save the hero.
What if the player characters are near the back and spot the enemy sneaking out of a secret passage?
There are a whole host of little things you can do that allow the players agency to affect the story, without them (yet) being the big, powerful heroes.
That is good advice, thank you! I think you are right in that being a slippery slope, getting caught up in showing all the cool stuff I want them to see.
Heres how I'd like to structure it. We start with a wide focus and then we narrow more and more with each encounter and then finally widening it again to hammer home what they have achieved.
Approaching the walls of the city [Exposition dump 10-15 minutes] Rest of approach under fire from wall defenses [Skill challenge encounter with detailed descriptions of the mayhem] Into the breach [Easy combat encounter] Fleeing Civilians [Social Encounter] Lending Crucial assistance to a Hero [Hard Combat Encounter] Bit more exposition to take us out[5-10 minutes]
I think that should roughly hit the time we have for a session and I think(Hope) that the encounters are general enough, for them to be applied regardless of where they run to after the breach. I admit that up to the breach, theyll be railroaded a bit, which is not good but... it's ok just to get us going. Right?
Another idea to introduce the politics and Heroes could be this:
That characters are the assualting army lose when the city brings out its Hero. Rather than killed, many (including the characters) are captured. The Hero that defeated them had watched their deeds in the battle and believes they are worthy of attention and clemency. The PCs are offered a pardon as long as they work for the ruler of the city. Their “parole officer” is the Hero, allowing PCs to learn more about it. They are tasked with protecting the ruler from rivals within the city which would allow the politics to be explained organically.
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Hello DM's,
I am currently creating an adventure for some friends and acquaintances. It is going to be a bronze age, high magic adventure in an original setting inspired by ancient Egypt, the near-east and anatolia in 2500 BC. I need advice on how to run a compelling intro session for this world and this adventure.
I want to start the adventure in media res and introduce the following things in the first and perhaps final adventure:
My solutions so far are:
We start with a siege battle, the players are skirmishers in the ranks of the attacking army, they are assaulting the city. The city is large, the armies are large.
My thoughts here are that this will be grand and cool. It will allow me to introduce the aesthetic of the world as they are encountering it both architecture, garb and arms. Introduce the local politics as they currently know it, through the story of how they ended up in this battle. It will also allow me to introduce the concept of a Hero, as they will see them participate in this battle from afar, an analogy for what Heroes are in my setting would be High level Medium-Huge sized Aasimar, with size and powers depending on their heroics and patrons. Hinting at the greater mysteries that can be explored is a bit more difficult and I have some ideas, but nothing I have any confidence in.
So any feedback on what I have written here and general advice on how to do a good intro session would be greatly appreciated.
Best wishes
PunchieCWG
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You need the players (not necessarily the characters) feel that they are able to meaningfully affect the world.
What you proposed sounds cool but runs the risk of just being a storytelling session where you enthuse about the world you've created.
You can easily make the players feel that their characters matter. It cam even be just by virtue of luck.
Imagine one of the mighty heroes falls in battle, but the players are able to save the hero.
What if the player characters are near the back and spot the enemy sneaking out of a secret passage?
There are a whole host of little things you can do that allow the players agency to affect the story, without them (yet) being the big, powerful heroes.
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That is good advice, thank you! I think you are right in that being a slippery slope, getting caught up in showing all the cool stuff I want them to see.
Heres how I'd like to structure it. We start with a wide focus and then we narrow more and more with each encounter and then finally widening it again to hammer home what they have achieved.
Approaching the walls of the city [Exposition dump 10-15 minutes]
Rest of approach under fire from wall defenses [Skill challenge encounter with detailed descriptions of the mayhem]
Into the breach [Easy combat encounter]
Fleeing Civilians [Social Encounter]
Lending Crucial assistance to a Hero [Hard Combat Encounter]
Bit more exposition to take us out[5-10 minutes]
I think that should roughly hit the time we have for a session and I think(Hope) that the encounters are general enough, for them to be applied regardless of where they run to after the breach. I admit that up to the breach, theyll be railroaded a bit, which is not good but... it's ok just to get us going. Right?
Another idea to introduce the politics and Heroes could be this:
That characters are the assualting army lose when the city brings out its Hero. Rather than killed, many (including the characters) are captured. The Hero that defeated them had watched their deeds in the battle and believes they are worthy of attention and clemency. The PCs are offered a pardon as long as they work for the ruler of the city. Their “parole officer” is the Hero, allowing PCs to learn more about it. They are tasked with protecting the ruler from rivals within the city which would allow the politics to be explained organically.