So I made a slight mistake in a campaign I'm running. We're doing Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and I just put my players on a side quest partially because I was adding in two new players after one of my old players had to exit for work. Here's the scenario: A lunch of kids were lured away during a circus that Gellen Primewater had commissioned to perform in Saltmarsh following a good catch. Gellen, despite being an antagonist in the module, isn't behind it. Rather, a character that's really only mentioned in the module, a night hag called Granny Nightshade, is behind it.
The players are going into the Dreadwood, but I'm having issues trying to figure out where or how to implement safe zones in the spooky forest. On top of that, I'm worried that my players are going to try to be as quick as possible, so I need possible reasons why, given a full day's head start and the added bonus if knowing where they're going, Granny Nightshade would be keeping the kids alive. Thoughts?
Benevolent creatures carving out safe spots is a pretty easy thing to do - you can make them Fey, or spirits, or elementals, providing sanctuary.
As for the kids, think about what they’re being used for. Fattening them up before the slaughter, for example, is a classic in stories about witches, and gives you a reason to keep them around.
But, you also do not have to keep them around. Personally I would make two basic options traversing the woods. The party could take safer routes, which are longer and take more time, or more direct routes, which are faster but more likely deadly. Get them to constantly reevaluate after every path, so they’re making a tactical choice. For every day (or some other time period based on how long you want them on the side quest) they are lost in the woods, a child perishes. This would give their choices some weight and add an incentive to act recklessly (or even risk exhaustion).
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So I made a slight mistake in a campaign I'm running. We're doing Ghosts of Saltmarsh, and I just put my players on a side quest partially because I was adding in two new players after one of my old players had to exit for work. Here's the scenario: A lunch of kids were lured away during a circus that Gellen Primewater had commissioned to perform in Saltmarsh following a good catch. Gellen, despite being an antagonist in the module, isn't behind it. Rather, a character that's really only mentioned in the module, a night hag called Granny Nightshade, is behind it.
The players are going into the Dreadwood, but I'm having issues trying to figure out where or how to implement safe zones in the spooky forest. On top of that, I'm worried that my players are going to try to be as quick as possible, so I need possible reasons why, given a full day's head start and the added bonus if knowing where they're going, Granny Nightshade would be keeping the kids alive. Thoughts?
Benevolent creatures carving out safe spots is a pretty easy thing to do - you can make them Fey, or spirits, or elementals, providing sanctuary.
As for the kids, think about what they’re being used for. Fattening them up before the slaughter, for example, is a classic in stories about witches, and gives you a reason to keep them around.
But, you also do not have to keep them around. Personally I would make two basic options traversing the woods. The party could take safer routes, which are longer and take more time, or more direct routes, which are faster but more likely deadly. Get them to constantly reevaluate after every path, so they’re making a tactical choice. For every day (or some other time period based on how long you want them on the side quest) they are lost in the woods, a child perishes. This would give their choices some weight and add an incentive to act recklessly (or even risk exhaustion).