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Algerin
2009-10-23, 05:35 PM
So I am a Dm with a 3-6 players, 9th-11th level. The last adventure they killed a giant and claimed his keep, one far up in the mountains and constantly surrounded by hurricane force winds. They're going to clear out the castle and make it livable.

The real main part of the night is after they clear the castle. Im going to reveal that a tribe of humans have been hiding in the caverns for years, running hit and run guerilla attacks on the tribe of goblins/orcs/ogres etc ect.

I want their hidden village to serve as a quest hub for a large amount of "mini-quests" that shouldnt take long but serve an overall purpose. For example, Burning the goblins lichen farms and ambushing their hunters will leave the goblin tribe hungry and fatiuged during the final battle. How would I go about this? I've made several quests that will give them powerful items(whips made of rust monster antenna, fire staffs), some that requires the rogues sneakyness(poisening the goblins water, assassinating a shaman), and some straight up fights(a kraken and a dragon, among others), and some that require diplomacy and tact(convincing gnoll mercenaries to defect)


my problem is this: how would I run this so that everybody is having fun? How would I keep everyone occupied at once?

help me playgrounders! your my only hope!

Paulus
2009-10-23, 05:41 PM
So I am a Dm with a 3-6 players, 9th-11th level. The last adventure they killed a giant and claimed his keep, one far up in the mountains and constantly surrounded by hurricane force winds. They're going to clear out the castle and make it livable.

The real main part of the night is after they clear the castle. Im going to reveal that a tribe of humans have been hiding in the caverns for years, running hit and run guerilla attacks on the tribe of goblins/orcs/ogres etc ect.

I want their hidden village to serve as a quest hub for a large amount of "mini-quests" that shouldnt take long but serve an overall purpose. For example, Burning the goblins lichen farms and ambushing their hunters will leave the goblin tribe hungry and fatiuged during the final battle. How would I go about this? I've made several quests that will give them powerful items(whips made of rust monster antenna, fire staffs), some that requires the rogues sneakyness(poisening the goblins water, assassinating a shaman), and some straight up fights(a kraken and a dragon, among others), and some that require diplomacy and tact(convincing gnoll mercenaries to defect)


my problem is this: how would I run this so that everybody is having fun? How would I keep everyone occupied at once?

help me playgrounders! your my only hope!


well what is your player base? RPers? door kickers? diplomancers? What do you players play? what do they enjoy? how do they act? more info an we can answer more specifically. :3

Algerin
2009-10-23, 05:46 PM
Well, three of them are relatively new at roleplaying(14-16 years of age) and they enjoy straight up fights, etc, etc
The other three are expierenced, and enjoy just about everything, figuring out new things, new monsters, planning and all that.

Paulus
2009-10-23, 05:50 PM
Well, three of them are relatively new at roleplaying(14-16 years of age) and they enjoy straight up fights, etc, etc
The other three are expierenced, and enjoy just about everything, figuring out new things, new monsters, planning and all that.

wow... then I would suggest going for a single, easiest to complete mission, like say, kill a few patrols or so. Then see if your player want more espionage or diplomacy. Say... talking to gnolls for trading... or poisoning the well...

but you have to keep track of the impact their action cause. Too severe and it could bring war to their gates. Too little and they may get bored. So let them and yourself discover -how much- of what they want. Get to know your players and you won't have to ask us. seems everyone is relatively new so kind of hard to nail anything down. Just throw varied missions at them and if someone gets bored, take note! S'okay to make mistakes! :3

at least that's all I got for now, anyone else?

Algerin
2009-10-23, 06:03 PM
sorry, I was a little vague. ideally, the players would ally with the human tribe to eradicate the goblinoid tribe. the more quests they complete or such, the better equipped the human forces will be and the easier it will be to win. If they play their cards right they could even kill one or two of the boss monsters before the final attack on the goblin camp.

The human tribe is well hidden, and have lived in the mountains for years. the only thing that stopped them from going to war with the goblins was the giant. now that hes dead, the humans are bolder and moving into the open.

I also have a detailed map of the main battle line. Its in a valley, that most of the time is covered in mist. Both sides have trenches, Barricades, pallasides, traps and other defenses set up on each side. Certain quests will allow the humans to advance their battle lines or gain the advantage. For example, theirs a secret river that leads into the goblins north outpost, but its guarded by a kraken thats been their for centuries. if they kill it, then some humans and PC's can attack directly to the north outpost without going through layer upon layer of defense.

also, two of the players are very expierenced, playing since the original D and D box set. I expect most of the planning and tactics to come from them.

oxinabox
2009-10-24, 07:49 AM
Can you handle sandbox?
Cah you players handle sandbox?

if both can be done, then sandbox away!

Can your players take a goal, and create there own quest to complete it?
Can you deal with them, doing there own quest to accomplish a goal?

Main goal, something you and your players know.
Can be broken up by your players into subgoal, some of which you are prepared for, some of which you arn't.

Quests are series of actions to complete a goal.

A good situation is players: "WE need to do this, in order to complete our main goal, lets go ask X the NPC, if he knows anythijng about it"

A great situation is: players: "WE need to do this, in order to complete our main goal, lets go do it."

A differnet situation:
Players: "We need something todo. err..."
NPC Y: "You should do this main goal cos it'll help me lots"
Players: "err.... what do we do first"
NPC Y: "maybe you should go ask NPC X"