If there is one positive from the past year, and there may only be one, it is that I've had plenty of time to read, prep, and plan D&D content. As I type this January, year of lord 2021, outside of the two campaigns I'm running I have 4 other full campaigns worth of content prepped into Roll20. I have this bad habit where I just want to run my players through everything, yet can never settle on what is that "perfect" module. I say, why not all, but that is a discussion for another day.
I finally settled on the one I want to run next, but it required a tab bit of work to get it to the point I was happy with. So, lets go through that process. There will be a bit of spoilers below for the module Red Hand of Doom. If you're a player, skip onto the next article please.
Red Hand of Doom is an adventure module released for the 3.5 edition of the game back in 2006. James Jacobs and Richard Baker (a Hokie!) are the authors. The elevator pitch is that there is a massive allied force of humanoid monsters who have formed under one banner beset on conquering...err....destroying the neighboring human towns and cities, because they can I suppose. It is a really good module, drawing obvious inspiration from the Lord of the Rings books where the forces of Mordor assemble and assault the fabled city of Gondor. The players are tossed into the mix at the start of these events and through their actions or inaction are able to narrowly secure victory or be caught up in the destruction as the Red Hand armies crush all in their sight.
Sounds fun right?....An unstoppable army that must be stopped all culminating into an epic siege as the heroes marshal the last line of defense before their doom conquers them. Their are a couple of issues though, the biggest being that the module kicks off at level 5 per 3.5 rules. This limits the players ties to the region unless they come up with some fabulous background tie ins...but we all know your players and especially mine aren't going to do that. I will be lucky to get a visual description of their character haha.
Checking around forum and reddit posts, it seems as if some others start with the Lost Mines of Phandelver, that's a good choice, but all of my players have played through that one at this point. Another option is Sunless Citadel into Forge of Fury...again another fine option, but I've personally run this group through Sunless Citadel before so no dice there as well. Another option was to just start play at 5th level as the module directs, because apparently some 5E players don't like early level play because it is dangerous....what is wrong with these people seriously? Ok, definitely not an option....time to home brew us something that will work then. Side note, this is something I really love about older modules, they force to think, update and adapt to the game you want to run.
So here is what I worked up, feel free to share use or ridicule as you deem worthy. The goal here is to establish the players in the setting of the Elsir Vale and specifically in the small town of Drellin's Ferry. The area should feel fairly safe / free of monsters, as these were only problems of the area's past, which will make the kickoff to the module official all the more intense and shocking. The campaign will start at level 1, no safe space in my campaigns. *insert maniacal laughter*
- Kickoff session 1 with an immediate encounter: The players are running guard duty and/or traveling with the Silverstandard Trading Company. "A crossbow bolt against the side of the caravan startles you out of your daydream, roll for initiative". I love starting campaigns like this, no introductions or tavern talk, just jump into it and let the players describe their characters in the mix of the combat scene. This encounter set the notion that some form of human bandits are working the area.
- Players arrive in Drellin's Ferry: the town is quaint, quiet and safe. Guards are lacks on their patrol. Kids playing, taverns are comfortable and inviting. There is a notice board in town with reward for subduing the local bandit gang, town wizard needs help with a supply run, and the general goods store owner as a vague request for help (spoiler: she is actually a serial killing worshipper of Orcus).
- As part of my session 0 I plan to have some tie-ins for my players within Drellin's Ferry that will assist here. One of the players awaiting a deed claim to the local abandoned and possibly haunted Vraath Keep. If I have a player playing an arcane (wizard or sorcerer) class, there is a wizard locally accepting apprentices they have come seeking. Or perhaps the character is just from Drellin's Ferry.
- The players now have several options to explore and assist the good people of Drellin's Ferry. This in turn helps introduce some of the key NPC's that will play part in much bigger developments.
- The first night in which ever tavern the players choose to stay in. A grieving mother is there, perhaps overly dramatic, she is mourning her child who has been taken from her. If the PC's take the bait this will lead them to another encounter option.
- So to summarize here are the available options once the PC's are in town:
- Find the taken child / witch of the woods encounter
- Deliver supplies to a wizard tower outside of town. (Spoilers: the tower is a mini-dungeon)
- Go after the local bandit gang. Another mini-dungeon and perhaps a recurring villain introduced.
- Take the job from the general good merchant in town. This side quest will take the players outside of town to explore and loot a forgotten tomb...traps and undead.
- With the short cycled XP of 5th edition, the players should be pushing close to if not at 5th level by the time they take on these jobs presented here. This should put us in-line to start the module proper. During the course of these side-quest bits, the hope is to allude to a bigger danger growing on the outskirts of town. Reports of humanoid activity, attacks on travelers; the players may guess it is the same bandits they have already dealt with, but the revelation will be that much sweeter.
So that is my plan. As we get into the campaign, I will likely modify and add in a bit more once I see what catches my players interest. The most important aspect for me is to make them take some ownership in the town prior to the events of Red Hand of Doom. Fleshing out the NPC's in town that the players will continue to work for and deal with as the plot develops will be a great spark for those key roleplay elements that will emerge later as well. Let me know what you think, how would you start a module if given the option to insert anything at the intro levels?
No comments:
Post a Comment