How to handle a new campaign starting in the dungeon

[danzibr]

Back in the day I started a campaign with all the players in a dungeon, and it was... the first real campaign I started, and it was quite janky.

Now I'm wondering... how should you start a campaign in a dungeon? And by that I mean your players are imprisoned. Of course they shouldn't have most of their gear, but suppose you have a rogue with some decent Sleight of Hand. Should you allow them to make checks to hide some stuff?

I'd probably have their gear be in a nearby storage room, but they have to break out. I have a good few ideas there though.

And how to handle being imprisoned? Supposing they start at level 3, they're not total novices, so something would've happened to have been captured. How would you do this? Convenient memory wipe? That's some pretty powerful magic though. Maybe they remember their attacks and want revenge? I already know why they would have been captured, so the plot's handled, more or less.

And how about the encounters before they get their stuff back? A Wizard would be totally screwed without their spell book. Hmm... decisions decisions.

tl;dr
How would you handle the beginning of a campaign where the party starts our imprisoned and without their gear?

[TheTick]

You could take the Elder Scrolls route - it doesn't matter why they are there, it can be part of their own backstory. They can all be there for different reasons, but in the end, they discuss and decide to work together to get out. Let them make the checks, as you say, whether it's to hide a knife or a lockpick, or to catch a glimpse of where some unsecured gear is before getting tossed in the cell, etc.

[danzibr]

You could take the Elder Scrolls route - it doesn't matter why they are there, it can be part of their own backstory. They can all be there for different reasons, but in the end, they discuss and decide to work together to get out. Let them make the checks, as you say, whether it's to hide a knife or a lockpick, or to catch a glimpse of where some unsecured gear is before getting tossed in the cell, etc.
Hmm, I like it. I've only played Morrowind.

Anyway, I was also thinking like... perhaps they were on a quest together to look into strange happenings and got captured together because a secretive enemy didn't like them snooping around. This bad dude is kind of paranoid and suspected the party was spying on them (and the party sort of was, but didn't know who they were looking for).

*Or*, as you suggest, perhaps some were working together, some not, all there for their own reasons. In fact, we could even have a player (if they're the right race) be one of the captors.

[Slipperychicken]

I haven't had good experiences with PCs starting out as antagonists to one another. I had to metagame so hard to avoid PvP.


One suggestion is to use a classic method and say to your players "You are all starting in this dungeon, chained to a wall. Why are your characters there?" Once they finalize the reasons and their characters' stats, you can give them Spot checks to detect important things like escape routes and the evidence room.

[Darrin]

I see two somewhat viable options:

1) Tell the players, "Your PC starts in a prison cell. Give me a short paragraph on how he got there. Go ahead and buy equipment as normal. You won't have it in the cell, but it will be stored nearby." Something else would then let the PCs out, such as a prison break, magical mishap, key/saw hidden in a bread roll, etc. There might be a brief scuffle with a prison jailer before getting their equipment, but skewed heavily in the PCs' favor.

2) Tell each player, "You're sitting in a prison cell when the door suddenly opens, and a dark elf warrior-priestess in glowing white armor tosses your backpack into the cell. She snarls impatiently, "We don't have much time. Come with me if you want to live." (She'll either be a contact that leads the PCs to their sponsor/patron, or she quickly gets ganked in the next encounter, leaving only a mysterious note behind that says "Hooded Man Public House, Room 202. Knock twice, thrice.")

I would recommend against throwing a naked PC in a cell and expect them to get out on their own. While I do think about that exact scenario whenever I do chargen, I would be thoroughly peeved at the DM that sprung this on me without warning me beforehand, or giving me a "Don't worry, you'll get your equipment back during the first session" or something similar.

[Ranting Fool]

My oldest memories of playing D&D had me and my brothers start out in jail. I think we did the old "oh no one of us is sick! Oh jailer you wouldn't want him to die now would you, you'll be in trouble if that happens" and a short fist fight later we are all running around looking for a box with our names one it.

For some reason i remember I was always the halfling (being around 8-10)

:smallbiggrin:

Baldur's Gate 2 has a "you start in jail" set up which works quite well :smallbiggrin: (On a unrelated note I'm looking forward to themupdating BG1 (http://baldursgate.com/)

[danzibr]

So pumped about the redone BG!!!

Anyways, I kind of wanted them to break out naked, hrm. Well not literally. I'd have several solutions planned out, like grabbing the guard, doing bluff or diplomacy, other roguish skills, maybe a Psion or Sorc or Druid could pull some magic trick. Or have something be really well hidden. I do like the idea of the naked prison break. Then have one or two encounters without any gear.

[danzibr]

I haven't had good experiences with PCs starting out as antagonists to one another. I had to metagame so hard to avoid PvP.


One suggestion is to use a classic method and say to your players "You are all starting in this dungeon, chained to a wall. Why are your characters there?" Once they finalize the reasons and their characters' stats, you can give them Spot checks to detect important things like escape routes and the evidence room.
Oh right, I meant to respond to this, the antagonist thing. It'd be something like... a good Orc/Goblin/whatever amidst an army of evil Orcs/Goblins/whatever. This person wants to break free from the bad dudes but doesn't have the opportunity, then they're stuck on guard duty, so maybe they'd want to break free with the rest of the party. Dunno.

[Darrin]

Anyways, I kind of wanted them to break out naked, hrm. Well not literally. I'd have several solutions planned out, like grabbing the guard, doing bluff or diplomacy, other roguish skills, maybe a Psion or Sorc or Druid could pull some magic trick. Or have something be really well hidden. I do like the idea of the naked prison break. Then have one or two encounters without any gear.

I still think it's a bad idea unless you sell this to the players first.

When players design a PC, there's a strong element of wish-fulfillment in the process. We get to give our PCs Kewl Powerz!(tm) and fantasize about pwning orcs or wizards or whatever. Same thing with equipment... ok, sure, we buy a backpack/bedroll/10' pole/silver mirror because way back when, one of those items kept our goose from being cooked. At 1st level, the only thing that may differentiate a PC from a bloody smear on the floor is they were able to afford splint mail, or they had a 25% in Pick Locks, or they bought 200' of silk rope on a whim.

It's tough enough to be a new PC as it is, but you want to emasculate and humiliate them even further? Most likely, you're going to make the players feel helpless and frustrated, and for no good reason. A wizard without his spellbook is going to break out how, exactly? A fighter without any armor or weapons is going to last how long against an armed/armored jailer? What happens to the rogue if he blows his bluff roll?

Yes, the whole point of DMing is to challenge the players in ways they don't expect, and then watching them come up with creative solutions, but most players expect to have their full complement of class abilities and equipment available at least to begin with. A good DM will occasionally yank those expectations out from under the players, but there should be a level of trust that this condition will be temporary, or that it's a reasonable complication to a well-developed story that the players and DM worked out together.

[danzibr]

Hmm, I see what you mean. I was... going to do things in a different order. That is, rather than gain their trust then take away their stuff temporarily, start out by taking their stuff temporarily.

I do have every intention of letting the party know they'll start out without their gear, though. In fact, I was thinking of saying something like, "Now don't everyone roll VoP Monks now, but..."

[Slipperychicken]

Hmm, I see what you mean. I was... going to do things in a different order. That is, rather than gain their trust then take away their stuff temporarily, start out by taking their stuff temporarily.

I do have every intention of letting the party know they'll start out without their gear, though. In fact, I was thinking of saying something like, "Now don't everyone roll VoP Monks now, but..."

If you do want the PCs to break out naked or near-naked, tell the players so and make sure they're okay with it, long before they design characters. Possibly give them an opportunity to equip with basic weapons they find (evidence room/armory), or to grab their spellbooks on the way out.

[God Imperror]

Back in the day I started a campaign with all the players in a dungeon, and it was... the first real campaign I started, and it was quite janky.

Now I'm wondering... how should you start a campaign in a dungeon? And by that I mean your players are imprisoned. Of course they shouldn't have most of their gear, but suppose you have a rogue with some decent Sleight of Hand. Should you allow them to make checks to hide some stuff?

I'd probably have their gear be in a nearby storage room, but they have to break out. I have a good few ideas there though.

And how to handle being imprisoned? Supposing they start at level 3, they're not total novices, so something would've happened to have been captured. How would you do this? Convenient memory wipe? That's some pretty powerful magic though. Maybe they remember their attacks and want revenge? I already know why they would have been captured, so the plot's handled, more or less.

And how about the encounters before they get their stuff back? A Wizard would be totally screwed without their spell book. Hmm... decisions decisions.

tl;dr
How would you handle the beginning of a campaign where the party starts our imprisoned and without their gear?

Whatever you do... make sure that the party is united and have some reasons to work together. Once a friend of mine tried to start a short campaign in a dungeon. It was under an antimagic field and had regular patrols of guards.

Surprisingly the sorcerer was just there chilling and waiting. While the rogue, the ranger and the barbarian were trying to get some leverage. Finally they manage to bust the guards and fight them unarmed and seize them, while the melees take the weapons and run through the dungeon the sorcerer took his time taking the clothes of the guard and taking some time to disguise himself appropriately. Then he sneaked after the party who ended fighting more guards, he sneaked past the fight and alerted the guards outside that prisoners were giving some trouble and just walked away.

The guards fought the party valiantly but were outmatched, unluckily for the sorcerer they realized that he was missing and started the alarm the city barricaded its doors and was preparing to fish every fugitive. The sorcerer proceeded to jump into the river, cast fog cloud and moved down the stream.

And he was gone.

Because he had NO reason, zero, none at all to worry about the rest of the party to get them out of there.

[danzibr]

Whatever you do... make sure that the party is united and have some reasons to work together. Once a friend of mine tried to start a short campaign in a dungeon. It was under an antimagic field and had regular patrols of guards.

[...]

And he was gone.

Because he had NO reason, zero, none at all to worry about the rest of the party to get them out of there.
lol... that's a great story. And insightful, thanks. I'll have to think about it. Was the Sorc not good?

[God Imperror]

The sorcerer was true neutral, though both the barbarian and the ranger mentioned that he was "useless", "stupid" (unarmed in a fight within an antimagic field at least) and a "moron" for picking clothes instead of running to escape.

I was playing the sorcerer :smallbiggrin:

[danzibr]

The sorcerer was true neutral, though both the barbarian and the ranger mentioned that he was "useless", "stupid" (unarmed in a fight within an antimagic field at least) and a "moron" for picking clothes instead of running to escape.

I was playing the sorcerer :smallbiggrin:
Ha. I would've done the same thing. Nice.