I'm about to run a campaign for three fairly green players. I have only run LMoP as a DM, but I've played weekly for a few years now.
The Sword Coast is being swept up in tension by a noble landowner spreading fear and hatred among citizens. He portrays himself a saviour who can bring greatness back to the Sword Coast and has aspirations of power to unify the free cities once and for all.
The party (a gnome rogue, an elf monk, and a halfling ranger) will carry out missions on behalf of all the factions. The villain is a public figure with seemingly legitimate business. Any act of aggression against him would be unlawful, PC's will therefore have to work covertly to bring him down.
What would be a good starting point for this setup along the Sword Coast?
Waterdeep and Neverwinter are probably the two most interesting places in faerun. Never-winter is a lot more xenophobic/ conservative/ skyrimesque, whereas waterdeep is a lot more commercial. I don't usually like to start my players off in a big city though, for a number of reasons.
It depends, but a small town is definitely easier to manage in terms of NPCs. Bigger cities can seem too daunting for where to go and whom to talk to. Pick a village a stone's throw from one of the big well known cities and you can scale up as the campaign goes without switching regions. Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate are both good cities for players who have played video games set in FR, otherwise Waterdeep is a classic spot.
If you start them in water-deep, the plan should probably be for the first 24hours of game time, (3-6 real world sessions minimum) to take place there. It's not wrong, but it's also a lot harder to corral your players.
Are there any known small villages or should I just create one? The FR seems very big and open to you filling in the massive voids with your own settlements.
Get your hands on a decent map of the Sword Coast that shows smaller towns and pick a town. Buy, find or make a map of your town. There is lots of online info on the Sword Coast so you shouldn't have a problem finding info about your town. If you want sea travel to be involved then pick a coastal town. So for example I found Lathtarl's Lantern, it is north of Baldur's gate. Consider having your players shipwrecked on the shores below Lathtarl's Lantern. They stagger into town looking to make some gold to outfit themselves.
To Inn or not Inn? That is the typical question. The two inns that come to mind (if you want to Inn) are The Way Inn (near Daggerford) and The Friendly Arm Inn (near Baldur’s Gate).
If you don’t want to Inn, then I like how SotSC or HotDQ modules start out with a fervor. In SotSC the players start out trying to get into Daggerford. In HotDQ I believe they are in Beregost. Both of these are right next to those aforementioned Inns above. LMoP starts outside of Neverwinter and SKT is near Red Larch. All of these could be available via teleportation circles if you want to jump around, but they are also only a few days or weeks apart by horse. ToA starts in Baldur’s Gate with a teleportation trick (with or without Cellar of Death). Even CoS can starts near Daggerford (although I prefer Phlan which is in the Moonsea area — super-far from The Sword Coast but the other primary setting in Faerûn) with a fog-of war trick.
The Way Inn reminds me of The Come Back Inn from the Dave Arneson Blackmoor setting. I like it, but I think I like the SotSC intro the best if you want to let the players decide which adventures or areas they wish to explore without a central location. Either of these are great because you can jump into any published adventure, part thereof, or just use some of the material from them for flavor. I heard that the 5e DMG was going to contain more than just a map of the Daggerford area, and establish it as the universal D&D starting point — but that the idea was abandoned right before publication.
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I'm about to run a campaign for three fairly green players. I have only run LMoP as a DM, but I've played weekly for a few years now.
The Sword Coast is being swept up in tension by a noble landowner spreading fear and hatred among citizens. He portrays himself a saviour who can bring greatness back to the Sword Coast and has aspirations of power to unify the free cities once and for all.
The party (a gnome rogue, an elf monk, and a halfling ranger) will carry out missions on behalf of all the factions. The villain is a public figure with seemingly legitimate business. Any act of aggression against him would be unlawful, PC's will therefore have to work covertly to bring him down.
What would be a good starting point for this setup along the Sword Coast?
Waterdeep and Neverwinter are probably the two most interesting places in faerun. Never-winter is a lot more xenophobic/ conservative/ skyrimesque, whereas waterdeep is a lot more commercial. I don't usually like to start my players off in a big city though, for a number of reasons.
Start them in a small town then?
It depends, but a small town is definitely easier to manage in terms of NPCs. Bigger cities can seem too daunting for where to go and whom to talk to. Pick a village a stone's throw from one of the big well known cities and you can scale up as the campaign goes without switching regions. Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate are both good cities for players who have played video games set in FR, otherwise Waterdeep is a classic spot.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
If you start them in water-deep, the plan should probably be for the first 24hours of game time, (3-6 real world sessions minimum) to take place there. It's not wrong, but it's also a lot harder to corral your players.
Are there any known small villages or should I just create one? The FR seems very big and open to you filling in the massive voids with your own settlements.
I have a feeling there might be an wall your main villain is trying to construct and also has a fear of foreigners and a bad hair piece ;)
Get your hands on a decent map of the Sword Coast that shows smaller towns and pick a town. Buy, find or make a map of your town. There is lots of online info on the Sword Coast so you shouldn't have a problem finding info about your town. If you want sea travel to be involved then pick a coastal town. So for example I found Lathtarl's Lantern, it is north of Baldur's gate. Consider having your players shipwrecked on the shores below Lathtarl's Lantern. They stagger into town looking to make some gold to outfit themselves.
cheers,
Jocanuck
To Inn or not Inn? That is the typical question. The two inns that come to mind (if you want to Inn) are The Way Inn (near Daggerford) and The Friendly Arm Inn (near Baldur’s Gate).
If you don’t want to Inn, then I like how SotSC or HotDQ modules start out with a fervor. In SotSC the players start out trying to get into Daggerford. In HotDQ I believe they are in Beregost. Both of these are right next to those aforementioned Inns above. LMoP starts outside of Neverwinter and SKT is near Red Larch. All of these could be available via teleportation circles if you want to jump around, but they are also only a few days or weeks apart by horse. ToA starts in Baldur’s Gate with a teleportation trick (with or without Cellar of Death). Even CoS can starts near Daggerford (although I prefer Phlan which is in the Moonsea area — super-far from The Sword Coast but the other primary setting in Faerûn) with a fog-of war trick.
The Way Inn reminds me of The Come Back Inn from the Dave Arneson Blackmoor setting. I like it, but I think I like the SotSC intro the best if you want to let the players decide which adventures or areas they wish to explore without a central location. Either of these are great because you can jump into any published adventure, part thereof, or just use some of the material from them for flavor. I heard that the 5e DMG was going to contain more than just a map of the Daggerford area, and establish it as the universal D&D starting point — but that the idea was abandoned right before publication.