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Xerlith
2013-09-22, 05:05 PM
Hello, playgrounders.
I am a rather fresh DM, I've ran some short stories before, never anything serious.
I am currently running a 3.P campaign set in a lore-modified Forgotten Realms setting and although no-one really says it, the game's slowed down and I would like to ask you for help with pushing it forward.

The party:
NN Dwarf Magus War Warder 4, a happy-go-lucky brewer
CN Human Warblade 5, a Yakuza elite soldier
CN Wood Elf Spellshot Marksman (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=6075.0) 5 She's another problem. A fresh player that, even though when she played a different character it was really alive, can't give this one any personality. It's like a doll).
NG Human Crusader1/Wu Jen3/Jade Phoenix Mage 1, a composed mediator between the Warblade and the dwarf.
Aasimar Cleric 5, not yet introduced to the party

All (except the JPM) fairly optimized, but that's beside the point.

Basically the story's premise is built around the JPM fluff. The Big Evil Drake from the class lore is an artificially created being that was an attempt in snatching the control over the Weave (Mystra never existed, instead the Weave is a sort of semi-conscious... thing). Netheril was the origin point of the beast. It siphoned the life from the beings around to come to existence, hence the Anauroch desert.
The Drake is now contained in 7 jade figurines. Every one of them is guarded by a pair of JPMs that crafted the prison by binding their souls to them.
Cult of The Dragon - greatly refluffed - is the one that's trying to free the beast, worshipping it as a god. They're lead by the evil JPM counterparts (that keep living on by twisted Magic Jar-like means.)

The story is, the party JPM's figurine (from Kara-Tur) got broken, the part of the beast's essence escaped. As it was by the act of the JPM and Warblade (A Yakuza kid ordered to protect the JPM), they were saved by being pulled through extra-dimensional shenanigans. To Cormyr. There they met the Dwarf and the elf. Elf, in the meantime, got bound to an ancient trinket from the elven ruins. Think of it as of a symbiote Moonblade.

A series of events made them kill a necromancer enslaving a goblin tribe, get kidnapped (kind of) and taken by the local JPMs (Two of them, who were responsible for their arrival in Cormyr) to the High Horn keep. There they learned about the Jade Phoenix Mages, the plot was exposed, they were made aware as of why the figurines are kept the way they're kept and why the JPMs need the help of random people like the party. They leveled up, then the Warblade argued with one of the JPMs ("Thousands of years? This is bull****, you're crazy. You probably messed with her [party's JPM's) mind and made her believe she's like you too. Prove it!"), fought with him, then - defeated - wandered out into the mountains. That's now.

The problem(s):
Party's split. Dwarf's always been hating the Warblade, felt no attachment to the JPM or elf. Warblade was only bound by honor to protect the JPM, but she's got "new friends", so it's moot. The elf displays as many emotions as an awakened broccoli.


My BIG mistake, of which I am painfully aware, was allowing the party to be created in different parts of the world and not knowing each other.
I'm also afraid I started off too big.

TL;DR Help me give the party of completely different misfits reasons to work together against a cult of an evil being that can wipe out continents if not stopped. The obvious doesn't work.

falloutimperial
2013-09-22, 08:01 PM
Have you tried talking with your players? Don't be afraid to remind them that they are responsible for a good group dynamic. Don't force them to play nice, remind them that to do so is what makes things possible.

This isn't to say that anyone is being untrue to their character. Characters grow and a player can rationalize motivations for actions. "I'm insulted, I need to fight her." is destructive. "I'm insulted, I need to prove my worth by killing more goons in the next fight." is constructive role-playing. Remind your players that their characters must be able to tolerate each other enough for them to enjoy the game.

RochtheCrusher
2013-09-22, 08:55 PM
CN Wood Elf Spellshot Marksman 5 She's another problem. A fresh player that, even though when she played a different character it was really alive, can't give this one any personality. It's like a doll).

Let us talk about the awakened broccoli in the room.

What is it about this girl's last character that really made it come alive? What is this character missing that makes it play like a wet cardboard cutout?

It doesn't sound like it's too late to switch out the character to someone more fun, if you can figure out what that looks like... she can't be having fun as is if you're noticing it.

Secondly, I try to involve every character in my plot. I've got a Star Themed Warlock? I introduce a prophecy, written in the stars, of a coming Golden Age set to start, conveniently, after the adventure will be done... then I mess with the constellations and watch her investigate. My fighter is easier... he wants to stab things, so I give him stabbable monsters and high-quality stabbing tools along the path. Also along every other path the party might choose. For the rogue? It's sexy women, mainly. He will take any quest as long as the person giving it has boobs and a Charisma of at least 16. Even if they're also bald and just tried to kill him.

In short, figure out what they want, and make their goals align with and need each other, whether for the foreseeable future or every now and then. Seek out the least involved player and dangle a carrot in front of his face that only that guy he hates can help him reach.

People adventure together for fun and profit... if this group isn't fun for a character, make it more profitable (including advantages like having someone to watch your back when your bookie shows up) until someone saves somebody's life, and then you're golden.

On that same note, be sure to ask your players what they want. No shame in that. Don't respond to their every whim but, if they ask for a Vorpal Sword, find something along the same line that they can have.

Then say, "Sure would be nice if you knew a thief to steal that for you, wouldn't it?"

Honest Tiefling
2013-09-22, 10:24 PM
Magus from Pathfinder? That's a casting class. If it isn't, it...Still sounds like a casting class. **** with him. Not anything permanent, just enough for a scare that his magic is going to go away. Depending on your lore, even divine casters have to go through the weave. Something is taking over the weave and it doesn't sound like it is very good at sharing, after all. If he wants his magic, he's going to have to get rid of that dragon and the party might be the only option.

Heck, would their magic items even work without the Weave? It'd probably hurt to loose resurrection magic.

As for the Warblade...He's from the other freaking side of the continent! He has no idea about customs, he probably doesn't have any coins anyone has seen before, and he might even be mistaken for a Tuigan. Depending on what you did with the history, the Tuigan Horde swept through the continent and required the aid of the Cormyreans to defeat...And they sorta got screwed over by the Zhentarim in the process. Cormyreans might not be happy to see him.

Xerlith
2013-09-23, 06:36 PM
Hi. Thanks for responses so far.


Have you tried talking with your players? Don't be afraid to remind them that they are responsible for a good group dynamic. Don't force them to play nice, remind them that to do so is what makes things possible.



Yes, I did talk with them and thought we made an agreement. Sadly though, they are a bit too bent on "being true to the character of my character", so the changes, while - a bit- visible, didn't help much. Hoping it'll get better with time though.



Let us talk about the awakened broccoli in the room.

What is it about this girl's last character that really made it come alive? What is this character missing that makes it play like a wet cardboard cutout?

It doesn't sound like it's too late to switch out the character to someone more fun, if you can figure out what that looks like... she can't be having fun as is if you're noticing it.

In fact, she was the person that convinced me to run this game and dragged her boyfriend in it (the dwarf). The other campaign is the current one's spinoff/prequel set several centuries in the past, in Shou Lung, she and my girlfriend are running a master spirit shaman & kid apprentice combo.
Somehow it degenerated into master-slave quasi-sexual relationship between the characters...
Since it's their first time playing male characters (On a sidenote: I created the characters sheets and concepts, then assigned alignments and stats based on what they were doing), they decided to completely goof around.
But they're having a blast there and I'm quite happy with that.

What makes this elf so... one-dimensional? Well, for instance, her only defining part is her bow. She's an archer, she enchants arrows, can freeze people with them, make the arrows carry cutting winds, heal them with the arrows (Perfect Freeze, Blustering Gale, Surging Spirit, for anyone interested). She's got those abilities by learning them from the entities from the trinket that now reside in her soul as a part of the contract she made with them (a long forgotten lore of channeling pure arcane energy, not shaped as spells). And... That's all. More I can say about what happened to the character than about the character itself. She's got the potential to be one of the central elements of the story (since those entities are not quite well-intentioned. And hardly elven).
Character-wise, she just stands in the corner, rarely speaking, following the team without much thought. I fear that this comes from two sources - she's been mostly a MMO player until she started playing with us and, most probably and direly so, her low self-esteem.

With only the two of them, I guess, they (well, mostly she) don't (doesn't) feel overshadowed by the Warblade&Dwarf combo (Kindergarten alphamale rivalry is the best I can describe it as).
Also my dynamic is a bit different with only the two of them - I'm able to focus on the story and those few characters more, so the mechanic is really minimal.



Magus from Pathfinder? That's a casting class. If it isn't, it...Still sounds like a casting class. **** with him. Not anything permanent, just enough for a scare that his magic is going to go away. Depending on your lore, even divine casters have to go through the weave. Something is taking over the weave and it doesn't sound like it is very good at sharing, after all. If he wants his magic, he's going to have to get rid of that dragon and the party might be the only option.

Heck, would their magic items even work without the Weave? It'd probably hurt to loose resurrection magic.

As for the Warblade...He's from the other freaking side of the continent! He has no idea about customs, he probably doesn't have any coins anyone has seen before, and he might even be mistaken for a Tuigan. Depending on what you did with the history, the Tuigan Horde swept through the continent and required the aid of the Cormyreans to defeat...And they sorta got screwed over by the Zhentarim in the process. Cormyreans might not be happy to see him.

I absolutely love those ideas. Thanks :smallbiggrin:

The items would work, but all the other magic... Not. And the mistaking for a Tuigan part is absolutely brilliant. You, sir, just gave me a great idea.

Honest Tiefling
2013-09-23, 06:45 PM
I think Cormyr doesn't do business in foreign currency (Other then places to swap curriencies, which take a cut and aren't going to be anywhere except major trade cities), which might might present a problem.

Also, thank you. Glad to be of service.

Lorsa
2013-09-24, 08:26 AM
I will think about more about this when I have time, but essentially I think your biggest problem is that you've based the campaign around one character. That's never a good thing to do. If there aren't any personal reasons for the other characters to get involved with this plot then it's no wonder the party is fractured.

Xerlith
2013-09-24, 11:24 AM
Well, essentialy, all of them are related to the plot.
The elf's trinket contains souls of beings that were involved in creation of the Drake, the warblade's haunted by an ancestor's spirit that's also relevant... And the dwarf's got nothing yet, since his first character, Elan Psywar, for whom I had a BIG background, died in first combat ever. :smallannoyed: