Protato
2018-07-27, 10:32 PM
LMOP SPOILERS! Jamie, Ess, Ali, Jade, and Alex, I imagine you aren't here but if you are, I'd look away from this thread.
I've decided to run a the Lost Mines of Phandelver in Roll20 (I didn't buy the module on there but I have the book and maps, I put the handouts/tokens/lighting and the like in myself) but I've decided that, after they finish the Wave Echo Cave, I'd like to take some plot hooks from the boxed game and go from there with a new story. The party hasn't gotten far at all yet, but since I'm going to university in a few weeks, I'd like to prepare games before then if at all possible.
Right now my (admittedly tentative) plans center mainly around Halia, the NPC that works at the Mining Exchange in Phandalin. She's actually a well-trained assassin and spy working for the Zhentarim. The book says, as a possible quest hook that if Nezznar survives, Halia breaks them out, and this got me thinking: What if the party arrested Nezznar and/or Glass-Staff and didn't kill them? Then, they'd be broken out by Halia. She kills the mayor and his guards (because that's where the cells are) and breaks them out, leading to these guys becoming major villains that gain class levels, making them grow by 1 CR each class level gained. I've got the issue of, if they do kill them, how to introduce the Zhentarim as major villains, but that's easy enough to work around.
My main issue is really, how to use them/what their biggest motivations are. My thoughts for the Zhentarim are to use them as a powerful mafia with a lot of control in Neverwinter and its surrounding areas. They have a lot of mercenaries and spies at their disposal, raise monsters, and they front as a mercenary company and financial middleman, with other businesses here they control and there. But, more than that, I'd like to give them some sort of grander evil, one that threatens the Sword Coast, and possibly the entire world. Ideally, it'd take the party across the Sword Coast.
Finally, there's the other plot threads like the map you find, the spellbook Agatha tells you about, and the party's backgrounds, and how many should pertain to sidequests and personal quests for my character's backgrounds versus how many should in some way tie into the main plot. Too many and its just a little too convenient, and too few it feels like the party is just goofing off.
I've decided to run a the Lost Mines of Phandelver in Roll20 (I didn't buy the module on there but I have the book and maps, I put the handouts/tokens/lighting and the like in myself) but I've decided that, after they finish the Wave Echo Cave, I'd like to take some plot hooks from the boxed game and go from there with a new story. The party hasn't gotten far at all yet, but since I'm going to university in a few weeks, I'd like to prepare games before then if at all possible.
Right now my (admittedly tentative) plans center mainly around Halia, the NPC that works at the Mining Exchange in Phandalin. She's actually a well-trained assassin and spy working for the Zhentarim. The book says, as a possible quest hook that if Nezznar survives, Halia breaks them out, and this got me thinking: What if the party arrested Nezznar and/or Glass-Staff and didn't kill them? Then, they'd be broken out by Halia. She kills the mayor and his guards (because that's where the cells are) and breaks them out, leading to these guys becoming major villains that gain class levels, making them grow by 1 CR each class level gained. I've got the issue of, if they do kill them, how to introduce the Zhentarim as major villains, but that's easy enough to work around.
My main issue is really, how to use them/what their biggest motivations are. My thoughts for the Zhentarim are to use them as a powerful mafia with a lot of control in Neverwinter and its surrounding areas. They have a lot of mercenaries and spies at their disposal, raise monsters, and they front as a mercenary company and financial middleman, with other businesses here they control and there. But, more than that, I'd like to give them some sort of grander evil, one that threatens the Sword Coast, and possibly the entire world. Ideally, it'd take the party across the Sword Coast.
Finally, there's the other plot threads like the map you find, the spellbook Agatha tells you about, and the party's backgrounds, and how many should pertain to sidequests and personal quests for my character's backgrounds versus how many should in some way tie into the main plot. Too many and its just a little too convenient, and too few it feels like the party is just goofing off.