:: View topic

xero · Posted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 1:00 am Post subject:

This is a call for advice and ideas from other DMs.

Like many who have made the jump to 4E, my group started off with Keep on the Shadowfell. We've recently finished it, and since it's my turn in the DM chair, I wanted to run Wrath of the River King as the next adventure.

I have a few ideas to get the characters from the old adventure to the new one, but all of the ones I'm coming up with seem too hollow and/or railroady to me. So I'm appealing to you guys.

Our party consists of:

- a snooty eladrin mage who looks down on anyone who isn't her and who clashes (hilariously) with her fellow PCs at every juncture

- a focused, disciplined elf ranger who toils endlessly to hone his hunting and fighting skills and who doesn't see much point to conversation except as a means to communicate essential information

- an introspective dwarf fighter with a mysterious past known only to his player, and an unhealthy attachment to his war pick

- an elf cleric who hasn't really had much character development yet that I can recall (though I think she's being played as a genial but fastidious character, I could be wrong)

We've also taken on Splug as the party mascot/manservant and the ward/protege of the elf ranger. I might decide to use him as a PC when I'm done DMing.

The original plan was that I would hop into the DM chair to run Thunderspire Labyrinth after we finished Keep on the Shadowfell under our current DM, and he would hop into the role of player for a refreshing change of pace. He and I worked in a connecting plot thread to justify the inevitable departure of my character from -- and the introduction of his character into -- the party. At the same time, we wanted to give the rest of the players a believable chance to swap out their characters for new ones, since everyone's got a better hang of 4E now.

--

The idea was that the ranger (my character, Kyuzo) suspected Valthrun as Kalarel's inside man and insisted adamantly that Ninaran (the elf huntress/ranger) was above suspicion. As anyone who has played KotS knows, my character is wrong.

When Ninaran is exposed as the double agent, our elf ranger (Kyuzo) is extremely upset by his lapse in judgment, which he sees as an egregious failure on his part. The only way (in his mind) that he can fix his mistake is to hunt down and kill Ninaran. To him it's a matter of personal honor. The other characters are able to convince him to stick around long enough to defeat Kalarel, but only by promising to help him track down Ninaran afterward.

When we resume playing later this month, our party will head to Fallcrest (the city mentioned in the DMG) in pursuit of Ninaran, where they will 'turn in' the KotS main quest (so to speak) and reequip themselves. At this point, I mean to introduce a plot hook compelling enough that some in the party will decide it's more important than keeping their promise to Kyuzo, but not so compelling that Kyuzo will decide it's more important than his personal vendetta. This precipitates a party split, and the remaining members after Kyuzo and his allies leave will hire on more adventurers and pursue the new adventure. (Kyuzo's party will possibly be revisited later in a parallel adventure.)

When the plan was to run Thunderspire, the divisive plot hook was going to be news that slave traders had captured a new batch of slaves that needed rescuing. Now that we're going with River King, I'm at a loss.

--

The plot of River King, at least as it's initially presented to the players, doesn't seem compelling enough to justify some of the PCs choosing it over their promise to Kyuzo. At the onset it's just a simple murder mystery in a small, out of the way town... no more than a side trek at most, a road block to a greater adventure. That's how I want to run it: a quick side trek that ends up being more involving than initially expected. It gives the whole thing a sort of "further down the rabbit hole" feel that I think will work perfectly with my group.

Until his departure from the party, Kyuzo will be controlled by our former DM, who will work with me to complete the transition before he takes control of his own character. The rest of the players will (hopefully) recognize their cue to act and shouldn't give me too much of a hard time with it. I've warned them well in advance about the upcoming party split, though the details of it are still a mystery to them. They understand the need for an in-game justification for my character's departure, and the opportunity to write off old characters while still maintaining continuity and immersion is appealing to them too.

So what do I do? I haven't decided if I want to set River King somewhere in the Nentir Vale or to have the players stumble upon it in their wider travels instead. I have no idea how I'm going to split the party, and I have no idea how I'm then going to hook the party into the plot of River King. Any suggestions are welcome and encouraged, no matter how off-the-wall they might be. Even if you don't think I'll end up using your idea, it might be so odd that someone will come up with something else as a reaction to it.

Kobold Courier