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View Full Version : DM Help First time making my own campaign, need help!



Eonn
2015-03-10, 07:50 PM
So I'm going to be making and running a campaign for some friends. This will be the first time I've ever run something that I made, and I wanted to get some feedback while there is still plenty of time to edit. This is what I have planned for the first adventure:

The PCs, as the are new members of an (down on its luck) adventurer's guild, have been sent to a farming town which is having problems with goblins and kobolds. That is all the PCs are told until they get to the town to find exactly what the problem entails. Put short, goblins are holed up in a boarded up farm house near the edge of town, the kobolds are entrenched in the field across the road, and the two sides are fighting each other WWI style. This is a major problem for the townspeople, who rely on the crops from the fields for their livelihood.

What I want is for the PCs to pick a side to fight off the other, but I'm not sure how to get the PCs to go beyond killing all the things.

So,
1. Any thoughts in particular about what I have so far?
2. How can I get the players to help one side, without railroading?
3. Any tips for making a campaign that may be helpful for me?

Thanks!

ondonaflash
2015-03-11, 02:07 AM
Alright a couple tips:

1. Your campaign needs some kind of twist. Why are they both fighting? Is there some force driving them? etc. Something that will lead the party onwards.

2. Why is it important that they choose a side? What if they rally the town into a militia and drive off both forces? What if they rally the people and this causes the Kobolds and Goblins to gang up on them? What motivation do the players even have for allying with any side? It's really not their fight, and frankly both races have a reputation for malevolence. If you really want them to choose a side have one of the monsters be the one offering to pay them.

3. Don't plan too far ahead, spend 30 minutes to an hour before the adventure just preparing for what you expect them to encounter, have a few things prepared for if things don't go the way you expect. Be ready to improvise. If you get stumped roll a random encounter and then set the adventure to justify the encounter.

Yora
2015-03-11, 04:18 AM
There doesn't need to be a twist, but both groups need a reason why they don't want the other to get their position and why they want to kick the other group out of their position.

That will determine to a great deal what will happen at any point when the PCs change something.

Storm_Of_Snow
2015-03-11, 07:44 AM
Alright a couple tips:

1. Your campaign needs some kind of twist. Why are they both fighting? Is there some force driving them? etc. Something that will lead the party onwards.

I'd say leave the twist for the players to uncover further down the line. But I agree with Yora that both sides need a reason to be holding onto their positions and trying to get to that held by the other side.



2. Why is it important that they choose a side? What if they rally the town into a militia and drive off both forces? What if they rally the people and this causes the Kobolds and Goblins to gang up on them? What motivation do the players even have for allying with any side? It's really not their fight, and frankly both races have a reputation for malevolence. If you really want them to choose a side have one of the monsters be the one offering to pay them.

Or have both the goblins and kobolds willing to pay them... :smallwink:

Or maybe the players find some separate territory for the Goblins and Kobolds to move into, so they leave each other and the village alone.

AxeAlex
2015-03-11, 08:00 AM
Hello there,

Seems good so far. You can't HAVE the PCs join one side, but you can give them reasons to do so. If an option seems like a lot of fun, they will probably take it.

Drops hints of something bigger, more important going on about this little turf war. Give the PCs some reason to think neither the Goblin nor Kobold have evil intents. Maybe use the legendary PC greed (If the Goblins and Kobolds fight for an item or a treasure, helping them could help FIND that treasure).

Most importantly, if you want your PCs to help the littles buggers, they have to know the option is possible, and that is a golden rule. Maybe the Goblins and Kobolds have some messengers in the village that try to recruit villagers to their cause, or anything else that will let your players know they wont just shoot them with arrows on sight.

As a game master in general, the best tip I can give you is this: Create situations, places, characters, but not full stories. This is the story of the PCs, never anticipate their actions, never give them pre-selected choices. Just present them with a character/place/event, and let them play it out, then react to their choices.

Maglubiyet
2015-03-11, 08:41 AM
I'm in agreement that the PC's choosing a side in this conflict is not the best idea, especially if it's a good-aligned group. The best resolution would be the halt of hostilities and withdrawal of forces from the general vicinity. That doesn't mean they can't work with either or both sides to solve the problem.

Maybe one of the groups thinks the other stole an heirloom item from it, but in reality it was one of its own. The PC's can join a representative from both groups to figure out the mystery and track down the item. Like, the kobold tribe's treasured centerpiece, the Eye of the Azure Drake, has gone missing. The kobold shaman thinks it was goblin thieves and has brought his forces to bear to make them return it. His lieutenant and apprentice, however, have hidden it in goblin lands in order to make their boss appear weak so they can take control of the warrens.

Or maybe the pending war is merely a diversion engineered by some other force. Like the Vile Oak Necro-Druid is trying to perform some dark rite in the nearby forest and needs to villagers out of the way, so he's independently hired BOTH forces to fight. Neither the kobolds nor the goblins anticipated a war of this scale and are looking for excuses to back out. They suspect something is up, but the Necro-Druid has an adviser with each group to pressure them to continue the war.


2. How can I get the players to help one side, without railroading?
If you really want to go with this route, let the players decide which one they want to help. Allow them to communicate independently with the commander or envoy of the kobolds and goblins and have each make its appeal for the PC's help. The characters can weigh the merits of one over the other.

Thrudd
2015-03-11, 10:33 AM
That's a nice set up so far. Everyone else is right, don't restrict their choices or expect the players to do anything specific. Expand the location and detail the motives of the goblins, kobolds, townspeople. provide ways for the characters to find out information about the situation, by scouting, talking to people, getting messages from both sides, and then the players can decide on a plan to deal with it.

I can foresee a "Yojimbo" style thing playing out (or "Fist Full of Dollars" if you're a western fan). The players play both sides, to precipitate them escalating the conflict until both sides are whittled down enough that the players can finish them both off or they retreat from the area. But that would have to be up to the players to figure out, of course.

Segev
2015-03-11, 10:58 AM
If siding with one side or the other is possible, you will need to explain why the townsfolk haven't. There's the obvious "it's our town and both are trespassing," but at that point, you've got the townsfolk, who are of "not evil" races, and who have called for help from the Adventurer's Guild the players represent, and presumably are offering some form of reward...and then you have two hostile forces.

One way to approach it is to have there be factions in the town, itself. Perhaps both humanoid tribes have made offers asking for help from the town and promising something in return - they'll leave when their foes are defeated, or they'll pay somehow, or...something - but the townsfolk are unable to agree which group to side with, or if to do so at all. And really, there is at least as sizable faction that thinks both just need to go and that siding with one or the other won't really solve their problem.

Still, the one thing they could agree on was seeking heroes to help. So represent the kobold/goblin arguments to side with one or the other by townsfolk who favor doing so, and illustrate what the benefits of siding with each are through the townsfolks' debate.

Make it clear that, while the guy who wrote the job notice is in the "kill 'em all and let their gods sort them out" camp, the town's collection of funds will be paid out if the problem is resolved, no matter how. So there are townsfolk who push the adventurers to side with their favored side.

The town doesn't want to turn violently on itself, which is why they haven't just split up and sided with those they wish to. Also, violence is dangerous, and most of them are accustomed to violence only as severe as happens when hunting game. Battle is just a no-go. And parents might keep younger, brasher town teenagers in check.

Now, the players will be given at least 3 conflicting descriptions of the job, with the opportunity to unravel that it's 3 ways of solving the same job. They will hear that allying with one side or the other is an option from people they have reason to listen to rather than fight. And now they can make the choice based on promised rewards, sense of righteousness, and pragmatism.

Eonn
2015-03-11, 01:15 PM
Alright, so for future reference I'm planning on using Pathfinder for this. With that said, I was thinking about putting the rare low-tech gun in. So here is what I'm thinking:

PCs stroll into town, where the townsfolk tell them exactly what's happening, as per Segev's suggestion. The townsfolk want both gone so the can begin preparing their fields, and tell the PCs that the kobold possess something the goblins want (gunpowder, because its explosive and pathfinder goblins would love that, which they found when excavating an ancient dwarven ruin, which is the PC's first clue to the overarching plot). The kobolds are dug in, but vastly outnumbered by the goblin raiders. The town militia know that they will be more likely to succeed (and not have any casualties) if they aid the goblins, but they are not sure if they want the goblins to have whatever the kobold were transporting and they know they may not be able fend off the goblins by themselves.

The Kobolds recognize the profit they can make off guns, should they create a demand for them, and are bringing samples to the nearest town.

The Goblins have found out the the kobolds have something that is explosive, and want it. They promise not to blow up the town, should they get the gunpowder.

I really want to highlight the friction between the kobold's lawful nature and the goblin's chaotic nature, to keep a possible LG paladin from being "they're both evil, kill everything!". This should also keep the PCs from having to choose the lesser of two evil, which I don't want to force onto them.

Segev
2015-03-11, 03:12 PM
Hm. One thing to consider is WHY the kobolds holed up HERE, rather than in those ruins or elsewhere. What is it about this town - location, some desirable feature...? - that made them make their stand in that farmhouse rather than somewhere they wouldn't have to also deal with irate locals?

How far away are the dwarven ruins?

Make sure, too, that you don't have a gunslinger with his own firearm in the party, or the solution to the problem could become as simple as bribing the goblins to go away with it.

If you want to emphasize the kobolds' lawful nature, maybe they holed up here because they actually bartered with the town at the start of winter to use that farmstead as their base of operations for exploring the ruins. The Kobolds may even be painfully aware that their contract has expired, but practicality is preventing them from vacating. To prevent them from coming off as innocent victims, the townsfolk could have had a slowly souring relationship with them over the winter.

Sure, the kobolds were law-abiding...but that doesn't mean they weren't surly and even inclined to justify their own martial law near their rented area if an angry townie was goaded into violating the law, himself. Never enough to jeopardize the arrangement, but enough to build tensions.


This also does give opportunity for there to be some friendships between individual kobolds and individual townies. Maybe grudging ones, maybe honest ones, but still, some measure of respect on a personal level.

The issue is showcasing the goblins' chaotic natures without making them "just bad guys." If you're going to make the two-sidedness of it feel genuine, there has to be as much opportunity for sympathy with the goblins as there is with the kobolds.

How did the goblins learn about the firearm to become involved in this? Maybe there's a hint there.

ondonaflash
2015-03-11, 04:57 PM
Also, when the PCs settle this there should be one or two members of the opposing side who survive and can return repeatedly to attempt to avenge themselves on the PC. Recurring villains who have legitimate cause to hate you are always fun.

Eonn
2015-03-11, 05:58 PM
I definitely have a better idea of how this is going to go, so thanks to everyone who posted! If this goes especially well, I may post of journal of the adventure later. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some maps to make.

Scorponok
2015-03-12, 03:30 AM
This is such a good idea I`m thinking of using it as a seed for my own campaign! Please do post your journal!