Silus
2013-02-07, 06:07 AM
So there's a good chance that I will be running a Pathfinder game for some people from where I work and I need some advice on, well, everything.
As far as I know, the players have no experience with tabletop gaming, so I know to start them out nice and slowly. Ease them into the whole combat and RP shenanigans thing, but at the same time I want to try and impress upon them that sometimes fighting isn't always the best course of action to take.
The initial adventure I have in mind is that the party finds themselves in a quarantined city and have to hold out long enough to be rescued. Plague zombies abound, though they'll be nerfed enough to not be a total death sentence to anyone that fails their Fort save (which will be rather low as they'll be lvl 1). Though of course if this isn't the greatest of ideas (probably isn't) then I could just pick up a lvl 1 module for Pathfinder and tweak some stuff.
The overall quest is where I'm running into some hiccups. After the starter "get your feet wet" quest, I wanna try to throw them into a sort of Lovecraftian "stop the monsters" quest. The rough outline is as follows:
1. Come upon an abandoned city plagued by waking dreams and nightmares.
2. Get tasked by [Authority figure] to go into the city to try and reclaim it.
3. Find center of disturbance (Asylum for Wayward Youth. Cue pretty heavy Silent Hill feel here).
4. Locate dream causing McGuffin.
5. Learn what it is (McGuffin that turns dreams and nightmares into reality) and where it has to return (Plateau of Leng).
6. Head for rumored entrance to the Plateau (Island in the underground ocean that lies in the Underdark type part of the planet)
7. Come to Dwarven city that acts as the gatekeepers to the underground (Massive fortress with all the weapons facing inward).
8. Take armored train down massive borehole to 2nd layer of the underground (connecting the Dwarf city with the #9 location.
9. Arrive at Drow city/research center of "Last Light" (Drow act as the "immoral scientist/FOR SCIENCE!" race here)
10. Gain passage to lowest levels of the underground.
11. Enter the lowest reaches (modeled after the Vaults of Golarion with a pinch of Forgotten Realms and maybe some Eberron flavoring, assuming I can find the books)
12. Make their way through the vaults (Planned are Jungle, downed spacecraft, and perhaps either desert or underground mountains) while being staked by a massive albino Gug (maybe a template or two). Impress on the players that this thing is mad stupid powerful and is on their scent and that running would likely be the best option.
13. Reach vault with the underground sea. Locate place to gain passage to the island to Leng (I'm thinking a Sigil style city by the ocean where things from the multiverse show up and mingle).
14. Brave the dark waters to the island.
15. Find a way into Leng (maybe with help).
16. Find a way to get rid of the McGuffin.
17. Escape back to their world.
So, that's all I have at the moment. I've not run a game in about two years or so, and that one was my first game. Any help would be greatly appreciated 'cause I feel like I don't quite know what I'm doing or getting into.
As far as I know, the players have no experience with tabletop gaming, so I know to start them out nice and slowly. Ease them into the whole combat and RP shenanigans thing, but at the same time I want to try and impress upon them that sometimes fighting isn't always the best course of action to take.
The initial adventure I have in mind is that the party finds themselves in a quarantined city and have to hold out long enough to be rescued. Plague zombies abound, though they'll be nerfed enough to not be a total death sentence to anyone that fails their Fort save (which will be rather low as they'll be lvl 1). Though of course if this isn't the greatest of ideas (probably isn't) then I could just pick up a lvl 1 module for Pathfinder and tweak some stuff.
The overall quest is where I'm running into some hiccups. After the starter "get your feet wet" quest, I wanna try to throw them into a sort of Lovecraftian "stop the monsters" quest. The rough outline is as follows:
1. Come upon an abandoned city plagued by waking dreams and nightmares.
2. Get tasked by [Authority figure] to go into the city to try and reclaim it.
3. Find center of disturbance (Asylum for Wayward Youth. Cue pretty heavy Silent Hill feel here).
4. Locate dream causing McGuffin.
5. Learn what it is (McGuffin that turns dreams and nightmares into reality) and where it has to return (Plateau of Leng).
6. Head for rumored entrance to the Plateau (Island in the underground ocean that lies in the Underdark type part of the planet)
7. Come to Dwarven city that acts as the gatekeepers to the underground (Massive fortress with all the weapons facing inward).
8. Take armored train down massive borehole to 2nd layer of the underground (connecting the Dwarf city with the #9 location.
9. Arrive at Drow city/research center of "Last Light" (Drow act as the "immoral scientist/FOR SCIENCE!" race here)
10. Gain passage to lowest levels of the underground.
11. Enter the lowest reaches (modeled after the Vaults of Golarion with a pinch of Forgotten Realms and maybe some Eberron flavoring, assuming I can find the books)
12. Make their way through the vaults (Planned are Jungle, downed spacecraft, and perhaps either desert or underground mountains) while being staked by a massive albino Gug (maybe a template or two). Impress on the players that this thing is mad stupid powerful and is on their scent and that running would likely be the best option.
13. Reach vault with the underground sea. Locate place to gain passage to the island to Leng (I'm thinking a Sigil style city by the ocean where things from the multiverse show up and mingle).
14. Brave the dark waters to the island.
15. Find a way into Leng (maybe with help).
16. Find a way to get rid of the McGuffin.
17. Escape back to their world.
So, that's all I have at the moment. I've not run a game in about two years or so, and that one was my first game. Any help would be greatly appreciated 'cause I feel like I don't quite know what I'm doing or getting into.