Island of Frost Flowers 4e campy

[SSGoW]

The campy starts on an island called " The Island of Frost Flowers " that is home to a fortress city that has an area for farming and a navey. This island is very open to many races and different cultures due to the people long ago seeking a land to live in peace (but this doesn't mean they gave up armed forces of anytype). The city has hired "X" number of adventurers to search the catacombs below the city to see if the there is anything below (treasure,monsters, and/or anything else dangerous to the island). There is a bridge being built to the mainland but progress is slow. The island is called Frost Flower because of ice flowers that grow naturally all over the island

this is a campy that i'm running this fall and i would like to know of any advice from people of things i should watch out. so far there will be a dragon born or drow Sorcerer there will be atleast two other players (maybe a bard and a healer of some sort)

[erikun]

....watch out?

The biggest thing I can think of is the game becoming a tedious "goto sewers, kill stuff, goto inn" cycle. Try to keep the residents' tactics interesting; perhaps the bits of notes you get from defeated foes give hints to other residents and their tactics.

Also, make the townsfolk interesting. Not necessarily everyone, but if one or two have a standout personality which the players like, it'll make the campaign more memorable.

[Coidzor]

So is this a module/campaign you're running from a book or one that you're playing by ear or that you've been developing for awhile?

What're you asking for? Advice about pitfalls/things to watch out for in just playing 4th Edition in general?

[SSGoW]

i'm not running this from a book just from my imagination and a few things that may be references to other things (like there may be a girl going to the west and needs protection .... small reference to led zepplin song) but anyways

i just dot want my campy to be dull and repetitive like some get

i like the idea about making some people stand out :3 i have some ideas about that one :p

basically i dont want my campy to be to cliche and i want it to be fun so my players will stay interested and not get into the feeling they are just repeating everything over and over (i played in a campy... horrible cause basically no matter what we would get in trouble and have to run then the DM's NPC would bail us out or save us everytime)

[Choco]

Well, is there anything else of interest on the island other than the city? And will the entire campaign take place on the island?

Also, what exactly are these catacombs beneath the city? Was the city built upon the ruins of an ancient city the settlers found when they first came to the island, or were the catacombs initially part of the city that have since been forgotten? Vengeful undead gathering forces in the catacombs for an all-out invasion on the city above should provide interesting plot for a few levels,

Either way, give the NPC's the players will be interacting with on a regular basis some sort of interesting personality quirks. Find excuses to send the PC's off on their own without any help from NPC's.

Throw em some curveballs time to time as well. That doesn't mean ruin every plan they try to make, but make it harder to implement than they expected.

To avoid the problem erikun pointed out (go out, kill something, come back, get reward, rinse + repeat) you should consider making your quests long adventures on their own. For instance, something interesting is going on on the other side of the island and the players need to investigate it. By the time they get there, find out what is going on, do all the relevant dungeon crawls and fights, and come back it may be a few levels. Then make sure whatever they discovered is SO important that it will change the tone of the campaign.