Bücherdiebin
2019-08-10, 09:53 AM
Hi guys! :)
I am kinda stuck at one point in my campaign, maybe someone has some ideas or advice for me.
A new player will be joining the group mid-campaign, after playing a Oneshot with us (DMed by someone else). We all created new characters just for the oneshot because the other DM wanted to have a "fresh start". Now the new player would like to transfer his character into my campaign, and it turned out one of my players also liked his other characters better, so they will join us together.
The problem is, that they wnat to keep their story, so i can't just move them to my setting - the characters need a coherent reason why they join the adventuring party (I'm not a huge fan of just letting character appear and disappear without a reason, it kinda takes away from the logic in my opinion).
Of course it's fun > coherency, and if I don't find a good reasoning to inrtegrate them into the story, i will go back to the option of just letting them join without a hook, but first i'd like to try my best to keep it stringent first.
About the campaign (Zarraksas, Rose, Shiliath and Skaros- stop reading now, or Bricky Mc Brickbrick will find you!): The group is on a mission to stop a former demon lord, who, when he fell from power, nested into a human. They are on a time limit, since they know the demon will probably use the equinox (which is in two weeks) to try to rid himself of his weak, mortal prison and return to power (and do really really bad things, seeking to sow chaos and hatred.. well you know the drill).
He doesn't have any minions yet as he lost all his power around 100 years ago, and dark minions tend to not give a damn as soon as their master grows weak.
Sooo right now one of the characters (in the main campaign) managed to get himself into prison for using magic in a place where magic is strictly forbidden for unlicensed ppl, which is why I thought it might be a good hook to meet the new characters there (also being punished for unknowingly using magic in the restricted area), so they can break out together and already form a bond.
But before that can happen, I need to come up with a reason why the two newbies would come to the city in the first place.
The Oneshot of the other DM used a different setting than me (same universe, but in a completely different place). Our characters licked on a stone (yepp, you read right ^^) and where teleported some other place where we had to fulfill a quest to get back home. Since the DM of the oneshot didn't offer an explanation on how the stone (standing in the middle of a market place for centuries, btw) suddenly became magical, and where exactly (another place, another time, another plane...) we landed, i am pretty free on how to interpret the stone and maybe utilize it in my attempt to motivate the characters.
I think the biggest motivator for both of the PCs that now want to join the main group would be a threat to their village, as they are 18 and 19 years old and stioll live there with their parents.
I would like to use their bonds to motivate them to go to Phlan - but how? They are not best friends (or no friends at all, coming to think about it) and are happy and content in their village, so they wouldn't just go adventuring together without a reason.
My first thought was to say that the stone is a portal, which only opens at certain times (equinox for example), so in order to seal the portal and protect their village from evil they need to go out and well... do stuff.
But as the demon doesn't have minions, that doesn't make a lot of sense, bc how would they make the connection to some nameless demon who is fought in secret by 4 normal people (they are level 3, so no folk heros yet)? I'm also not a fan of just saying "you have a vision and are inexplainably drawn to some random place, because... butter."
Just teleporting the characters to Phlan without their permission would have the major drawback that their aim realistically speking wouldn't be to slay some demon, but to find out what the hell has happened and then get abck home as sioon as possible, so I think finding a reason for them to leave the village by choice would make keeping the group together a lot easier later on.
So in my opinion (and maybe i'm wrong, if you think differently i would love to hear your opinion), a personal bond and motivation in a similar direction as the party's motivation would be nice, opposed to just saying "i want to play, so my character needs to come along.. okay i will just randomly follow the group and pretend that's normal." I have had some bad experience with that, characters who just don't have any personal reason for being there, except the standard generic "saving the world" motivator, tend to give up mid-campaign because they just can't justify risking their lifes for something they don't even care about..
I hope the concentrated brain power of some of the most passionate DMs and Players (you :D) will help me to knock some sense into this ^^
Anyway, thank you so much for reading my wall of text! And congrats that you made it through :D I'm looking forward to your answers!
Love,
Lia
I am kinda stuck at one point in my campaign, maybe someone has some ideas or advice for me.
A new player will be joining the group mid-campaign, after playing a Oneshot with us (DMed by someone else). We all created new characters just for the oneshot because the other DM wanted to have a "fresh start". Now the new player would like to transfer his character into my campaign, and it turned out one of my players also liked his other characters better, so they will join us together.
The problem is, that they wnat to keep their story, so i can't just move them to my setting - the characters need a coherent reason why they join the adventuring party (I'm not a huge fan of just letting character appear and disappear without a reason, it kinda takes away from the logic in my opinion).
Of course it's fun > coherency, and if I don't find a good reasoning to inrtegrate them into the story, i will go back to the option of just letting them join without a hook, but first i'd like to try my best to keep it stringent first.
About the campaign (Zarraksas, Rose, Shiliath and Skaros- stop reading now, or Bricky Mc Brickbrick will find you!): The group is on a mission to stop a former demon lord, who, when he fell from power, nested into a human. They are on a time limit, since they know the demon will probably use the equinox (which is in two weeks) to try to rid himself of his weak, mortal prison and return to power (and do really really bad things, seeking to sow chaos and hatred.. well you know the drill).
He doesn't have any minions yet as he lost all his power around 100 years ago, and dark minions tend to not give a damn as soon as their master grows weak.
Sooo right now one of the characters (in the main campaign) managed to get himself into prison for using magic in a place where magic is strictly forbidden for unlicensed ppl, which is why I thought it might be a good hook to meet the new characters there (also being punished for unknowingly using magic in the restricted area), so they can break out together and already form a bond.
But before that can happen, I need to come up with a reason why the two newbies would come to the city in the first place.
The Oneshot of the other DM used a different setting than me (same universe, but in a completely different place). Our characters licked on a stone (yepp, you read right ^^) and where teleported some other place where we had to fulfill a quest to get back home. Since the DM of the oneshot didn't offer an explanation on how the stone (standing in the middle of a market place for centuries, btw) suddenly became magical, and where exactly (another place, another time, another plane...) we landed, i am pretty free on how to interpret the stone and maybe utilize it in my attempt to motivate the characters.
I think the biggest motivator for both of the PCs that now want to join the main group would be a threat to their village, as they are 18 and 19 years old and stioll live there with their parents.
I would like to use their bonds to motivate them to go to Phlan - but how? They are not best friends (or no friends at all, coming to think about it) and are happy and content in their village, so they wouldn't just go adventuring together without a reason.
My first thought was to say that the stone is a portal, which only opens at certain times (equinox for example), so in order to seal the portal and protect their village from evil they need to go out and well... do stuff.
But as the demon doesn't have minions, that doesn't make a lot of sense, bc how would they make the connection to some nameless demon who is fought in secret by 4 normal people (they are level 3, so no folk heros yet)? I'm also not a fan of just saying "you have a vision and are inexplainably drawn to some random place, because... butter."
Just teleporting the characters to Phlan without their permission would have the major drawback that their aim realistically speking wouldn't be to slay some demon, but to find out what the hell has happened and then get abck home as sioon as possible, so I think finding a reason for them to leave the village by choice would make keeping the group together a lot easier later on.
So in my opinion (and maybe i'm wrong, if you think differently i would love to hear your opinion), a personal bond and motivation in a similar direction as the party's motivation would be nice, opposed to just saying "i want to play, so my character needs to come along.. okay i will just randomly follow the group and pretend that's normal." I have had some bad experience with that, characters who just don't have any personal reason for being there, except the standard generic "saving the world" motivator, tend to give up mid-campaign because they just can't justify risking their lifes for something they don't even care about..
I hope the concentrated brain power of some of the most passionate DMs and Players (you :D) will help me to knock some sense into this ^^
Anyway, thank you so much for reading my wall of text! And congrats that you made it through :D I'm looking forward to your answers!
Love,
Lia