[D&D-5e] Zar - Reluctant heirs - (WIP / Need feedback pls)

[MoonZar]

Hi JBear -

Good idea, a bit like Carrion Crown i suppose.

[jbear]

Not too familiar with Carrion Crown. I was thinking Dracula where the protagonist receives the invite to Dracula's home.

[MoonZar]

Yeah i intended to play that card later when the party have a few level down the belt. I'm reusing curse of strahd after all.

So i need something different to provide more incentives for the PCs to migrate to the city and get the story going. In carrion crown, pcs are invited to the funeral of dear friend... so will think of something better than your village was abandonned because of X and you had to find shelter.

[Gaijin]

Funerals are clever because it ensures that the players have a meaningful connection and a context that encourages them to share stories about the deceased to jumpstart RP. It can also be an excuse to hand out some trinkets through setting estates.

Weddings are also pretty good for that purpose, and make for solid contrast against the inevitable dark turn.

One question to ask yourself is how long you want the characters to plan to be in town before getting hooked by the adventure. Funerals and weddings are worth a few days, as could making a delivery to the aristocracy on behalf of a village. A visit to a market could be a one day journey, or overnight. Having something made, or looking for uncommon information could take longer, but is harder to use for a group with different origins.

[MoonZar]

could making a delivery to the aristocracy

Could be a good idea, but it will create an attachment to their old village, so i will have to ruin it in the premise so that they dont want to return, or have enough good reason for them to stay in the city or the village is close to the city and could be their safe heaven, yet... the idea is for the party to survive the city, not escape it.

[Gaijin]

That's difficult without creating a hard fence, like the mists of Barovia. Escape, when possible, is almost always the better option.

How about the rise in undead has contaminated the rivers coming off the mountain, causing the inhabitants of the local villages to fall ill (perhaps deliberately), and the players are sent to beg for medicine that the aristocracy somehow managed to produce. However, they are only making it in small quantities, and are using it to extort the villages. The players could return home, but doing so dooms their village. This turns the villages and the players' families into unwitting hostages.

[MoonZar]

Alright so here's idea so far regarding the premise and why the party is visiting Cambria. Which one you find most inspiring??

1. I could simply as the player to write in their app why their character migrate to the city.

2. Mysterious dark dreams lure them in. Classic but effective.

3. They have disease / condition related to the main plot and looking for a cure in the city. I like this one as it already will connect them to the major plot and their destiny.

4. Like Gaijin suggested, they still have tied to their home village and were asked to sell an elvish relic to the Archivist. There's also an alternative they need to buy / find something to save their village, i like less this one since it give too much ties to the village, while my story will happen mostly in the city.

5. Their village simply was destroyed or so much hard to live in, they decided to migrate in the city like hundreds of others every year.

6. Were invited to a marriage or common events, won't choose the wake, since it will be copied on Carrion crown

7. Received an invitation from a common old friend in need of help to visit him. They will find his home empty and will have to investigate.

[Thebardstale]

Another option to hook the PCs to migrate could be to have them receive a letter from an old (literally old) friend/mentor asking them to come and help him as he sees dark happenings in the city and is fearing for his life.

Then PCs coud come and find his home empty, which they'll need to investigate; you could have them rescue him from the castle and then use him as a mentor/advisor for all the kingmaker stuff.

[MoonZar]

Thanks, i added this to the list of possible premises.

[MoonZar]

@JBear

This is pretty cool btw!
https://www.youtube.com/@roleinc7204

[jbear]

@MoonZar Thank you for saying that! I just came by to check out how things were going with your feedback process. I wasn't expecting to find such a nice comment especially from a GM I respect highly. It's very kind of you to draw attention to my podcast here in this thread.

The first episode I royally screwed up the recording and the player's cameras glitched out. I tried to mend it as best I could in post-editing. (I think the audio is still fun... an audio podcast with pictures!). But I am starting to get more comfortable with the whole streaming thing little by little and I think we are all getting better and better as we are going on. The last session was a LOT of fun.

It's actually my birthday today, so thanks for helping me kick the day off with a big smile! <3

On possible premise preference in order:
3) Disease/Curse: makes me think of Tomb of Annihilation. That's a good thing. This is a very strong hook to the campaign and puts a timer/sense of pressure on the players to resolve it from the outset. If this is your favourite option, I think it's a very strong option. If it's your favourite, go with your gut.

6) Invitation to an event: this was my idea so I am biased. I see the advantage of this option being you could start the PCs with a host of connected NPCs and more focused initial setting around the event that would ground them in the world, the politics and give them a flash of story hooks to follow up on through the curious host of NPCs that show up for the event. This would be a strong option for a sandbox style campaign. Eg. I could imagine the invitation/summons being to the reading of a will instead of funeral. The PCs have some distant relationship to the deceased, some eccentric fellow rumoured to have gone completely mad, and they discover at the reading of the will that they have inherited a house/tavern/inn/pie shop/building with the servants who run it to boot (providing a couple of colourful strange NPCs tied to the building/base of operations). The building could be haunted by some dark mystery (initial quest). The reading of the will could be attended by other significant NPCs who received their own inheritance of similarly strange nature (future quest seeds). Or if a will reading is too similar to a wake, something like a wedding or a prestigious ball could work. A very colourful cast could attend the event flashing many varied and tantilising adventure hooks but some dark event interrupts the celebration (initial quest). The question here for me would be 'how to centre that event on the PCs' to hook them into the city for a permanent stay, not just a visit?' A wedding gift from the happy couple? A gift from the benfactor of the ball?

7) Invitation from missing friend: is along the same vein as my suggestion but leaves the 'what to do next' more open. The house could still have some colourful NPCs who work there and the house could certainly be visited by some interesting NPCs while they search and try discover what happened to their friend. The empty house also provides the opportunity to establish a base of operations and the initial adventure. Makes me think of the Mad Manor of Astaban which is a neat level 1 adventure.

1) Player driven connections: always a good option. Some players may be put off having such a wealth of lore to digest in order to make a solid app ... but that will also help with your selection process. And I doubt you will have any troubles getting a large pool of excellent apps in any case. This option means you may get inspired to add to your world by the players backstories in surprising and beautiful ways.

4) Relic sale: An interesting option. Makes me think about the disease/curse hook ie. how did the PCs get the same disease/curse? Did they perhaps handle the same cursed relic and they seek an expert in the city to enlighten them on how to free themselves from its dark curse?

2) Mysterious dark dreams: a classic but not a bad classic. If the module is the Curse of Strahd then this fits thematically, although if you are wanting an original hook, then 'dark dreams' is perhaps not very original.

5) Mass immigration from ruined village: a simple option, but maybe not one that immediately hooks the PCs fate tightly to the city, unless there is perhaps an indication that the source of the rural destruction stems from the city itself.

[MoonZar]

Happy birthday JBear!!!

Thanks, so many good ideas. It would be hard to choose only one, i'm thinking of merging two that will fit together maybe.

[wodine]

5e? Moon.

I'm not mad. Just disappointed.

[MoonZar]

Hahaha still debating.

[Amarga]

I don't have any suggestions but I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one Zar!
(As for 5e I can't deny that I've broken my vows to 3.5 when it comes to PbP)