Kickstart My Commoner Campaign!

[Palanan]

So, I need a solid opening challenge for my commoner campaign.

I have plenty worked out for the first chapters of the campaign, but I need to start with a bang--something to get the players involved from the get-go. And, since the characters are first-level commoners, I'd like a challenge that's mainly roleplaying and/or a test of cleverness.

I need inspiration. Any ideas?

[Graypairofsocks]

There was a thread about someones single player commoner campaign on the WotC forums, but I don't have the link to it.

[Inevitability]

First, very nice idea, I ran such a campaign once too. Make sure to keep things interesting.

And just an idea:

-The players' village is destroyed during an attack by bandits. There may be other survivors, or there may not be any. The players have to survive until they reach the next city.

[weckar]

Well, considering you have a lot planned out, shouldn't the first test lead to all that other stuff?

[Kazudo]

Fire could happen.

Or the town could be beset by a herd of cats.

[Phelix-Mu]

-The players' village is destroyed during an attack by bandits. There may be other survivors, or there may not be any. The players have to survive until they reach the next city.

This is a solid idea. Even in low-op games, it's hard to replicate a real "fight to survive" post-apocalyptic type atmosphere, what with things like goodberry, create food and drink, and other spells that really take the edge off trying to acquire the basics. With commoners, however, those easy fixes aren't available, and even simple threats like a night of being exposed to the cold could prove lethal.

To keep things interesting and not too brutal, though, consider a few plot twists:

- The characters have to survive until they get to [oasis x], and there are some built in ways to facilitate this; various things can be found/acquired in the beginning with a thorough search and a bit of knowledge about who was who in the village (maybe link this to flashbacks about people that are now dead). A map to the oasis. A key to the supply room below the butcher shop, not destroyed in the , which has some dried meats and a few bladed instruments that may prove helpful (or at least look scary!). A magical trinket kept by the dead hedge wizard/witch that does something simple, but awesome in light of the fact that everyone is a commoner (bonus points for tying it to the long-term plot....:smallamused:). And a badge of office kept by the foreman of the village, which may be useful in future social encounters (proof of identity, connection to a tragedy, links to the village's trade partners).

- Survivors? I vote for a yes. People to protect are a big responsibility even for real adventurers that are low in level. So, I wouldn't saddle the party with a bunch of children or crippled elders, but perhaps an adolescent couple (out necking in the woods when x goes down), a newly widowed woman (who may be pregnant?), and a middle-aged man who isn't in the best of shape (maybe a merchant who comes to town once a month...so [I]unfortunate he came on the day of x!). If the party decides to take care of them, note that this is a big increase in responsibility, and don't be stingy with rewarding them xp-wise or otherwise for doing so, even if things go bad at some point.

- Arrival at [oasis x]: So, they get to their promised land/sanctuary...yay! But don't take the pressure off just yet. Turns out there is trouble in paradise. Depending on how hardcore you want this to get, I would suggest 1.) a serial killer is on the loose, and everyone is scared (murder mystery time!), 2.) a disease is starting, and everyone suspects plague brought by outsiders (LIKE THOSE PARTY MEMBERS OVER THERE!), or 3.) a necromantic cult operates in the town, and is using bad mojo to give people horrible nightmares, nightmares that eventually drive people to madness, suicide, murder, etc. Mix and match to create new flavors! However, be careful not to exhaust the players; limited paranoia is good, but one can put relatively powerless characters through the wringer one too many times in a row, and we wouldn't want to desensitize traumatize the players needlessly so early in the campaign.

Anyway, good luck. A friend of mine once ran a real cool "prequel" episode to a normal campaign that started with all the characters knowing each other as children in a village. About a month of sessions were just role playing the years that passed as we grew up, and figuring out how those early events shaped our characters' minds and personalities (and in some cases directly influenced class choices). Was some real quality role play.