the clumsy bard
2012-11-15, 05:51 PM
So Monday I started a new campaign with my group.
This will be the 3rd campaign I am involved with my group (2 as a player and this one as the GM)
It doesn't sound like much, but understand that the first campaign i joined in when they were at level 13 and we went into epic levels (I think my elven warblade reached level 26 or 27 by end game) and that part of the campaign lasted 4-5 years and apparently the game started them off at level 1.
The other game just wrapped up and we went from level 4-10 and it lasted just short of a year. That game was a little faster in terms of levels mostly because the GM increased our level by 1 every major boss we killed or milestone we passed.
In any case to my point! I have just started a campaign with all the characters at level 1. My issue is that there are 7 bleeping PCs!
All characters are level 1 and use Pathfinder material
The cast of characters is as follows:
Fetchling summoner (synthesist)
Goblin alchemist
Suli magus (kensai)
half-elf witch
half-orc oracle (haunted curse and outer rifts mystery)
catfolk bard (archeologist and I allowed to trade spells for rogue sneak attack progression)
Ophiduan Soulfknife
We have only had the first session this past Monday.
They were getting transport from a port town to another town about 10 days away via the medium sized wagons they hitched a ride on. 2 days out from the town they were going to they ran into an overturned carriage on the road. All characters decided to "know each other" (they were with each other long enough on the back of the wagons to know each others names) except the fetchling synthesist who was underneath the overturned partially destroyed carriage. After the drivers of the wagons and the measly wagon defenses asked our brave adventurers to investigate the overturned carriage they found 2 dead bodies lying near the carriage with obvious marks of shrapnel and cuts and lacerations. The party quickly surmised that the carriage had been ambushed and the alchemist suggested perhaps it was some sort of bomb! In any case before they were able to do much else the fetchling summoner started groaning and moving from underneath the carriage. On a side note the fetchling summoner has decided his eidolon looks like a dwarf... I allowed it because his backstory was cool.... so they find the dwarf and as they make very rudimentary introductions the wagons which they left about 200 feet behind them with the drivers and measly militia type guards are attacked by bombs rolled out underneath the wagons (explosions killing the heavy horses) and then all but one horseman is shot down by arrows from the woods nearby (level 1 warrior elves in case anyone was wondering)
A battle ensues, which ends up being the 7 PCs as previously mentioned
vs.
3 x melee elven warriors
3 x ranged elven warriors
1 x elven druid
1 x wolf companion of previously mentioned druid
If I go by pathfinders encounter design this was CR = 2.5 ((6 x warriors 1/3)+0.5 for druid)
Now there was a random element which was another bandit who was not ever supposed to fight, just steal the last working wagon with the 2 remaining horses. It was a specialist the bandits had hired (rogue 3 (driver archetype))
Now immediately in the fight the warriors rushed the remaining NPC horseman and before being able to kill said horseman they are put to sleep with a well placed sleep spell by the witch character (cool because she only started playing these types of games recently and seems to have grasped the fun stuff already). I kept the druid and animal companion out for the first bit of initiative to see how the fight went and figured I would have them hide and direct the remaining bandits. The part over a 4-5 rounds which seemed like an eternity (7 PCs makes things go real slow) They killed 1 archer, killed the wolf companion, bound and gagged the 3 sleeping sword wielding elves and scared off the remaining 2 archers and the druid who had to use contingent plan C for running away by cutting down some ropes that put logs and tons of foliage between the PCs who were in the forest terrain fighting them to begin with.
One character tried to stop the wagon from being stolen, but this failed horribly.
The game ended with them deciding the 3 previously sleeping warriors would be interrogated, but before this the ophiduan soulknife failed a will save and eviscerated one of the helpless warriors. This was a background choice by the player of the character. In any case the players are now looking at our next week's session with the aforementioned interrogations (which I am not 100% sure they will put much effort into), trying to get to the the town they were supposed to go to via the wagons, or possibly exploring.
My money is on them following the road to the town. This was initially supposed to be a 2 day voyage with the help of the wagons and the horses carrying said wagons. Is it crazy to think that since it would take horses with a speed of 60 2 days to reach a town that PCs with an average speed of 30 would then take 4 days?
My initial question about encounters still stands, but the background I figured would help. In terms of encounters especially for level 1 characters I don't necessarily mean combat encounters. In terms of what I had planned for the campaign I have adapted the idea of the kingmaker adventure path to my campaign world and at the moment they are following a road that has a river to one side and untamed forests to the other side. The PCs are all carrying charters (again much like Kingmaker) to explore an area north of the town they are going to called the Bound Wildwood.
My idea for the campaign is to make Fey prevalent, but I always enjoy any and all suggestions.
In terms of a 4 day voyage by foot on road what would be some interesting encounters for 7 1st level PCs. Again any suggestions for things they might meet on the road or slightly off would be greatly appreciated. I am very good at improvising as a GM, so anything you suggest or offer up as interesting would be great.
This will be the 3rd campaign I am involved with my group (2 as a player and this one as the GM)
It doesn't sound like much, but understand that the first campaign i joined in when they were at level 13 and we went into epic levels (I think my elven warblade reached level 26 or 27 by end game) and that part of the campaign lasted 4-5 years and apparently the game started them off at level 1.
The other game just wrapped up and we went from level 4-10 and it lasted just short of a year. That game was a little faster in terms of levels mostly because the GM increased our level by 1 every major boss we killed or milestone we passed.
In any case to my point! I have just started a campaign with all the characters at level 1. My issue is that there are 7 bleeping PCs!
All characters are level 1 and use Pathfinder material
The cast of characters is as follows:
Fetchling summoner (synthesist)
Goblin alchemist
Suli magus (kensai)
half-elf witch
half-orc oracle (haunted curse and outer rifts mystery)
catfolk bard (archeologist and I allowed to trade spells for rogue sneak attack progression)
Ophiduan Soulfknife
We have only had the first session this past Monday.
They were getting transport from a port town to another town about 10 days away via the medium sized wagons they hitched a ride on. 2 days out from the town they were going to they ran into an overturned carriage on the road. All characters decided to "know each other" (they were with each other long enough on the back of the wagons to know each others names) except the fetchling synthesist who was underneath the overturned partially destroyed carriage. After the drivers of the wagons and the measly wagon defenses asked our brave adventurers to investigate the overturned carriage they found 2 dead bodies lying near the carriage with obvious marks of shrapnel and cuts and lacerations. The party quickly surmised that the carriage had been ambushed and the alchemist suggested perhaps it was some sort of bomb! In any case before they were able to do much else the fetchling summoner started groaning and moving from underneath the carriage. On a side note the fetchling summoner has decided his eidolon looks like a dwarf... I allowed it because his backstory was cool.... so they find the dwarf and as they make very rudimentary introductions the wagons which they left about 200 feet behind them with the drivers and measly militia type guards are attacked by bombs rolled out underneath the wagons (explosions killing the heavy horses) and then all but one horseman is shot down by arrows from the woods nearby (level 1 warrior elves in case anyone was wondering)
A battle ensues, which ends up being the 7 PCs as previously mentioned
vs.
3 x melee elven warriors
3 x ranged elven warriors
1 x elven druid
1 x wolf companion of previously mentioned druid
If I go by pathfinders encounter design this was CR = 2.5 ((6 x warriors 1/3)+0.5 for druid)
Now there was a random element which was another bandit who was not ever supposed to fight, just steal the last working wagon with the 2 remaining horses. It was a specialist the bandits had hired (rogue 3 (driver archetype))
Now immediately in the fight the warriors rushed the remaining NPC horseman and before being able to kill said horseman they are put to sleep with a well placed sleep spell by the witch character (cool because she only started playing these types of games recently and seems to have grasped the fun stuff already). I kept the druid and animal companion out for the first bit of initiative to see how the fight went and figured I would have them hide and direct the remaining bandits. The part over a 4-5 rounds which seemed like an eternity (7 PCs makes things go real slow) They killed 1 archer, killed the wolf companion, bound and gagged the 3 sleeping sword wielding elves and scared off the remaining 2 archers and the druid who had to use contingent plan C for running away by cutting down some ropes that put logs and tons of foliage between the PCs who were in the forest terrain fighting them to begin with.
One character tried to stop the wagon from being stolen, but this failed horribly.
The game ended with them deciding the 3 previously sleeping warriors would be interrogated, but before this the ophiduan soulknife failed a will save and eviscerated one of the helpless warriors. This was a background choice by the player of the character. In any case the players are now looking at our next week's session with the aforementioned interrogations (which I am not 100% sure they will put much effort into), trying to get to the the town they were supposed to go to via the wagons, or possibly exploring.
My money is on them following the road to the town. This was initially supposed to be a 2 day voyage with the help of the wagons and the horses carrying said wagons. Is it crazy to think that since it would take horses with a speed of 60 2 days to reach a town that PCs with an average speed of 30 would then take 4 days?
My initial question about encounters still stands, but the background I figured would help. In terms of encounters especially for level 1 characters I don't necessarily mean combat encounters. In terms of what I had planned for the campaign I have adapted the idea of the kingmaker adventure path to my campaign world and at the moment they are following a road that has a river to one side and untamed forests to the other side. The PCs are all carrying charters (again much like Kingmaker) to explore an area north of the town they are going to called the Bound Wildwood.
My idea for the campaign is to make Fey prevalent, but I always enjoy any and all suggestions.
In terms of a 4 day voyage by foot on road what would be some interesting encounters for 7 1st level PCs. Again any suggestions for things they might meet on the road or slightly off would be greatly appreciated. I am very good at improvising as a GM, so anything you suggest or offer up as interesting would be great.