[PF] Running a game for new players - help

[Silus]

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.

[Kol Korran]

ok, a few thoughts:
1) since they are new to roleplay, thye might need some help in the actual roleplay department- creating fun characters, that might work together as a group (I'm not talking battle roles, but rather group social roles). try to help them through this. if the people know each other this can go relatively easily. if not then maybe not so much.

2) while not all campaigns need it, a main villain usually help campaigns quite a lot, being a unifying factor for the player's focus, a goal in itself, and it helps give the campaign continuity.

you need a villain, or better off- a group of villains. off the top of my head i think two possible routes: the first is that there is some competitor (who for some reason can't attack the party directly) who sends assassins and minions after the party, trying to retrieve the artifact (perhaps it lives in Leng?) the other kind my might be some sort of creature trapped in the artifact, a sort of captured nightmare master or the like, who can force nightmares/ visions/ command on all kind of people around it, trying to stop the party from reaching it's goal.

3) the campaign sounds a bit linear- meaning at most points they just seek to get access to the next level, which can get a bit tiresome to some, and also- it lessens the amount of important choices the party makes considerably. important choices can often make a campaign, and let players feel like they are in more control of what happens. it also means they don't have to succeed on everything they attempt to progress. for example:
- upon learning a bit on the artifact, the party can seek more info about in in one of 3 locations. each place gives them some info about it, and some advantage while handling it. they each also hold clues to assembling some sort of spell/ weapon/ tool that might enable destroying it. after searching 2 of the 3 sites (learning of the tools but not necesserily the handling of the artefact) time presses on- the third place is turned into a trap and the last clue is lost. the party might go there, or:
- search for the parts of the anti artifact mcguffin. again several locations. they party are not alone though- other people seek these as well. each item however is also cursed, putting some ill effects, but also some powers on their owners. after the party get some locations they learn other groups got hold of other parts of the mcguffin. they now need ot either face them off (very hard), trick them, or deal with them.
- the destruction of the artifact may need a certain ritual or sacrficie to be made, alongside the anti mcguffin tool. again possible options, only this one it's a mostly one-way-ticket, and not going through phases.

note however that for a first campaign, a more linear campaign might be quite ok, as they might feel safer in a DM led plot.

4) be sure ot have some mechanic that enables to bring new characters into the party, or even continue when there is a TPK. these are new players, and they might decide to check new things, or get killed often.

other than that you look fine. be prepare to adapt.
good luck!

[Silus]

1) since they are new to roleplay, thye might need some help in the actual roleplay department- creating fun characters, that might work together as a group (I'm not talking battle roles, but rather group social roles). try to help them through this. if the people know each other this can go relatively easily. if not then maybe not so much.

I suppose I could cobble together a political intrigue thing, or throw in a large bit of "help other survivors" to the zombie thing. Negotiate for supplies, a place to stay, ect.. Give them bonuses for how well they RP that carry over after the plague like contacts, gear, discounts, ect..

"You guys are damn near all alone in this city full of plague zombies. You can't really afford to knife another living person that can help."

Also it would give them a chance to experience a possibly likable NPC.


2) while not all campaigns need it, a main villain usually help campaigns quite a lot, being a unifying factor for the player's focus, a goal in itself, and it helps give the campaign continuity.

Well I'd probably have to fudge the stats. Last BBEG I made got grappled by an Owlbear and maimed like nobody's business, and I built him all good and fair like.

I'm kinda leaning towards a Denizen of Leng as the bad guy with, I think, the Nightmare Creature template from the Advanced Bestiary. Right there it would be CR 9 with Plane Shift 1/day and Locate Object 1/day and Shadow Walk (from template). Maybe throw in some Doppleganger allies or something.


3) the campaign sounds a bit linear- meaning at most points they just seek to get access to the next level, which can get a bit tiresome to some, and also- it lessens the amount of important choices the party makes considerably.

I had been tinkering with another more freeform campaign involving colonizing a new planet via a large stable Interplanetary Teleport portal (See: Stargate). The most linear thing that would happen I think would be going off to kill some Akata that ravage the camp on the first night. After that it would be all "So, where do you feel like exploring?" and go from there.

Though I'm pretty decent at improv so I don't think the "Site A, B and C" thing you mentioned would be much of a problem. First challenge is getting them through the "tutorial" mission and the dream city to even GET the McGuffin.

Edit: 'Course if they don't take the whole Dream City bait, then I'll just pull an improv game and see where things go from there.