New Campaign Kick-off

From CopyPaperRepost

Mustering the Players

We had our first meeting for the new D&D campaign on Monday to talk about things like character progression, adventure plans and to do some shopping with the party's well-deserved spoils of war.

All of my players are back for the new adventure, and most are playing the same characters. The two whose characters were killed in the final battle of the last campaign decided to change things up a bit. Both elected to have their characters raised from the dead, which is a totally reasonable request what with them having just saved the sub-continent, if not the world.

The cleric's body was spirited out of the country by the members of her order before she was brought back. As her player put it, "she came back wrong." I should clarify that she didn't swing towards evil, though she did become more chaotic. She's also got a pretty big chip on her shoulder and looks to be shifting from upstanding tow-er of the church line to somewhat of a loose cannon. Maybe I should brush up on my "turn in your holy symbol and mace!" speech... "YOU'RE OFF THE CASE!"

...ahem

Like this, but with more fur, claws and teeth.

Speaking of cop analogies, after being resurrected, the paladin pulled a Roger Murtaugh, declaring that she was "getting too old for this sh*t". I believe her decision was to retire to start a shrine to her nature deity in the valley where the PC's keep is located.

Her player decided to roll up an entirely new character, which is a bard/shadowdancer/were-bear. If you are familiar with the show Firefly, River Tam is very similar to a shadowdancer. They are incredibly graceful and deadly, and at higher levels can jump between shadows, so to envision this character, picture a dancing bear, who jumps between shadows while throwing knives at you.

I should just end the post here.

but I wont.

Survey Results

I also handed out the surveys I made for this week's Make-it Monday, and have really enjoyed perusing them. It looks like in general my group values storytelling, world exploration and tactical plotting the most, with a scattering of other motivators among the various players.

The preferences for in-game structure were more varied.
On average, they were right down the middle on all categories, though leaning towards slightly more sandbox style play over a linear railroad, and a more life threatening game vs. a sure win. Given that I've only killed two PCs in four years of play, I may need to step things up!

The players seemed to really enjoy the roleplaying aspects of the previous campaign--exploring the world, interacting with NPCs, and dealing with character-specific quests. This seems consistent with the play-styles reflected in the first part of the survey.

The things they would like to change varied a bit. Some wanted more focused play at the table (either less arguing about what to do and/or less hesitation during combat turns). Others expressed an interest in clarifying the focus of the story, and/or tweaking the types of combat that occur.

The Plan

Anyway, after getting the surveys filled out and the characters rolled/leveled, we discussed first steps for play. My players once again managed to surprise me in the most wonderful of ways. In all prior conversations about their plans for the new adventure, the group had been pretty unanimous and consistent in their first goal. Once we got talking around the table, however, a sort of prelude plan developed.

You're throwing a party? What could possibly go wrong!?
Also, Justin Hillgrove is awesome!

Rather than setting off straight away for adventure, my players will be throwing a party! They hope to use the celebration as a way to gain information and/or resources that will either help them in their next adventure, or stave off anticipated challenges down the line. I LOVE this idea, and I've already jotted down a few ways to make the party EXTRA entertaining!