Rapier
2014-07-10, 04:23 PM
Hey all,
I've recently been asked to DM a 3.5 Forgotten Realms campaign for a group of players with varied levels of experience. There are five players, one of which has been playing as long as I have (three years), the other who's been playing for about half a year, the rest have never played 3.5 (or D&D, or any other "structured" tabletop system) at all.
I am going to be gray-washing the morality of the realms quite a bit, and taking a few liberties with storyline/timeline, so I suppose you could say this is the "Ultimates" version of Forgotten Realms. I've already talked to the players who are familiar with FR about this, and they're super thrilled; to preserve story-telling integrity, I'll be telling the new players, when I get to sit down with them, that my campaign is only loosely based on FR canon.
The game takes place in the Western Heartlands, in the early days of the Elturgard Empire. The PCs are citizens of Berdusk, a city along the River Chionthar, just south of the Reaching Woods. Berdusk has formed a strong alliance with the cities of Iriaebor and Scornubel, with Lady Ambermantle of Scornubel serving as the head of this "rebel alliance" (everyone in the group is a rabid Star Wars fan, so throw outs will happen...). Her right-hand man is Lord Bron of Iriaebor, with Cylyria Dragonbreast of Berdusk only right beneath.
Because of a sudden shift in Cormyrian rule after illness finally took Azoun IV, Cormyr began to rapidly expand to the west, taking a good majority of the Trader's Road. This expansion culminated in the sacking of Berdusk, when the Purple Dragon Knights, without provocation or cause (as is yet known) came to the city, razed a large portion, and left many for dead. From then, Heartlanders outside Cormyr began to refer to them as the Fell Knights of Cormyr.
No one would have expected the attack, and with Berdusk in a weakened state, Elturgard seized the moment and moved into the eastern Heartlands, taking Scornubel and Berdusk (among others) as its own.
The game will begin in Berdusk, about a year after the Fell Knights attacked. Lady Ambermantle has finally been captured, and has been taken to Scornubel Hall, her former seat of power, where she shall await trial and, likely, execution. Elturgard "peacekeepers" now patrol the streets of Berdusk and the newly acquired eastern territories. Though the leadership of the peacekeepers are Paladins and Clerics of Torm, much of the enforcement are hired commoners, who treat their positions with a thuggish attitude. Brutality and abuse are commonplace when the marshals aren't around to oversee their underlings.
If you didn't read that wall of text (sounds like a 0-level Wizard spell...) know that the players are in an occupied city, and the occupiers are, for the most part, abusive. Recent events have called a majority of the occupiers away from the town, leaving a moderately small-sized token force to keep the town in check.
Here's my question. If my players decide to (and I think it's likely they will) retake the city and expunge the occupiers, what are some cool encounters I can throw in? Bear in mind, I run a RP heavy group consisting mainly of actors and writers, so I'm not worried about a slow pace or lack of combat. Actually, I'd love to keep the game as low-leveled for as long as possible :).
What I'm looking for are ideas for skill challenges, or things they can do to put the advantage in their hands. I already know what kind of combat encounters will happen, should they go that route, I'm looking for some cool RP stuff that will make them feel a little heroic to start their first adventure.
Because I'm dealing with a lot of inexperienced players, I want them to feel like heroes. I want to give them a reason to invest in D&D.
The other thing is, I don't really want this city to take a majority of the campaign. I want to move things on after about a night or two. I'm not setting up a module based solely around retaking the city unless that's really where the players want to go with it. What I'm looking for is enough content to fill maybe five or six hours of gameplay.
I've recently been asked to DM a 3.5 Forgotten Realms campaign for a group of players with varied levels of experience. There are five players, one of which has been playing as long as I have (three years), the other who's been playing for about half a year, the rest have never played 3.5 (or D&D, or any other "structured" tabletop system) at all.
I am going to be gray-washing the morality of the realms quite a bit, and taking a few liberties with storyline/timeline, so I suppose you could say this is the "Ultimates" version of Forgotten Realms. I've already talked to the players who are familiar with FR about this, and they're super thrilled; to preserve story-telling integrity, I'll be telling the new players, when I get to sit down with them, that my campaign is only loosely based on FR canon.
The game takes place in the Western Heartlands, in the early days of the Elturgard Empire. The PCs are citizens of Berdusk, a city along the River Chionthar, just south of the Reaching Woods. Berdusk has formed a strong alliance with the cities of Iriaebor and Scornubel, with Lady Ambermantle of Scornubel serving as the head of this "rebel alliance" (everyone in the group is a rabid Star Wars fan, so throw outs will happen...). Her right-hand man is Lord Bron of Iriaebor, with Cylyria Dragonbreast of Berdusk only right beneath.
Because of a sudden shift in Cormyrian rule after illness finally took Azoun IV, Cormyr began to rapidly expand to the west, taking a good majority of the Trader's Road. This expansion culminated in the sacking of Berdusk, when the Purple Dragon Knights, without provocation or cause (as is yet known) came to the city, razed a large portion, and left many for dead. From then, Heartlanders outside Cormyr began to refer to them as the Fell Knights of Cormyr.
No one would have expected the attack, and with Berdusk in a weakened state, Elturgard seized the moment and moved into the eastern Heartlands, taking Scornubel and Berdusk (among others) as its own.
The game will begin in Berdusk, about a year after the Fell Knights attacked. Lady Ambermantle has finally been captured, and has been taken to Scornubel Hall, her former seat of power, where she shall await trial and, likely, execution. Elturgard "peacekeepers" now patrol the streets of Berdusk and the newly acquired eastern territories. Though the leadership of the peacekeepers are Paladins and Clerics of Torm, much of the enforcement are hired commoners, who treat their positions with a thuggish attitude. Brutality and abuse are commonplace when the marshals aren't around to oversee their underlings.
If you didn't read that wall of text (sounds like a 0-level Wizard spell...) know that the players are in an occupied city, and the occupiers are, for the most part, abusive. Recent events have called a majority of the occupiers away from the town, leaving a moderately small-sized token force to keep the town in check.
Here's my question. If my players decide to (and I think it's likely they will) retake the city and expunge the occupiers, what are some cool encounters I can throw in? Bear in mind, I run a RP heavy group consisting mainly of actors and writers, so I'm not worried about a slow pace or lack of combat. Actually, I'd love to keep the game as low-leveled for as long as possible :).
What I'm looking for are ideas for skill challenges, or things they can do to put the advantage in their hands. I already know what kind of combat encounters will happen, should they go that route, I'm looking for some cool RP stuff that will make them feel a little heroic to start their first adventure.
Because I'm dealing with a lot of inexperienced players, I want them to feel like heroes. I want to give them a reason to invest in D&D.
The other thing is, I don't really want this city to take a majority of the campaign. I want to move things on after about a night or two. I'm not setting up a module based solely around retaking the city unless that's really where the players want to go with it. What I'm looking for is enough content to fill maybe five or six hours of gameplay.