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Stop and See the Sights - Campaign Advice
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<blockquote data-quote="John Out West" data-source="post: 7578598" data-attributes="member: 6893656"><p>I think you're in a good spot. There's a lot to work with here and just a change in perspective from you and your PC's point of view could make all the difference.</p><p></p><p>It sounds like you just need to give them quests that they want to do. In this case, quests that are directly related to finding the boy. Side quests in order to gain the favor of a faction which may help them to find the boy is clearly not what they want.</p><p></p><p>I'm going to assume that you are populating the world well, with likable and well described characters, locations, shops, allies, enemies, etc. This can be one of the reasons they don't stick around in a city if you are not.</p><p></p><p>From my point of view, it looks like your players want to play a detective game, putting clues together, interviewing people, and connecting the dots of the political landscape. In this case, i would suggest adding a new character which does the boring ground work for them, allowing them to go on an adventure.</p><p></p><p>In this vein, i would suggest adding a new character: a Detective who is similarly searching for the boy. When the players are searching for information, they will no doubt be told of someone else who came searching for similar information, and be directed to the Detective. This detective will show the players his clues and his web of intrigue that he has developed, which includes names that the players haven't heard, places that they haven't seen, Items they don't understand the use for, and his many clues and leads which he has yet to explore. The detective is hesitant to trust them, so he tells them only what they need to know. Once the players are familiar with him, he is killed for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, giving the players a list of names & places to investigate, as well as volumes of the Detectives personal notes which each offer further insight, but take downtime to read and understand.</p><p></p><p>The Detective's study will give the players both a Home-Base and a ton of quest leads. This can keep the players grounded in a city, or at least returning to the city to revisit the clues and stacks of books. The quest leads the detective leaves are generally non-specific. "A name of someone and the name of a tavern." "The location of a Tower where a princess was once imprisoned," or "The reliquary which holds a magic item that can find royalty." (I'm assuming the kid is royalty, or is otherwise important.) This allows players to investigate without really knowing what they're going to find, increasing the intrigue and keeping the players on their toes.</p><p></p><p>As for factions, now you can have quests like "We have to enter the Unnameable Library, but only members of the Citrine Crusade are allowed inside, we can sneak in, or gain their favor by doing a quest for them." If the party isn't particularly sneaky or clever, they might opt for gaining favor, or else may sneak inside and get beat up, then thrown in jail for trespassing. </p><p></p><p>If you're trying to slow the players down, I would add in Timer-Quests, or quests that can't start immediate for one reason or another. An informant that arrives in the city in two weeks to tell the players where the child's parents are, a clue buried under a cave-in which must be unburdened, or the Detective's notes must be read and deciphered to learn where the boy was kidnapped. Lots of options here.</p><p></p><p>I hope this helps.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="John Out West, post: 7578598, member: 6893656"] I think you're in a good spot. There's a lot to work with here and just a change in perspective from you and your PC's point of view could make all the difference. It sounds like you just need to give them quests that they want to do. In this case, quests that are directly related to finding the boy. Side quests in order to gain the favor of a faction which may help them to find the boy is clearly not what they want. I'm going to assume that you are populating the world well, with likable and well described characters, locations, shops, allies, enemies, etc. This can be one of the reasons they don't stick around in a city if you are not. From my point of view, it looks like your players want to play a detective game, putting clues together, interviewing people, and connecting the dots of the political landscape. In this case, i would suggest adding a new character which does the boring ground work for them, allowing them to go on an adventure. In this vein, i would suggest adding a new character: a Detective who is similarly searching for the boy. When the players are searching for information, they will no doubt be told of someone else who came searching for similar information, and be directed to the Detective. This detective will show the players his clues and his web of intrigue that he has developed, which includes names that the players haven't heard, places that they haven't seen, Items they don't understand the use for, and his many clues and leads which he has yet to explore. The detective is hesitant to trust them, so he tells them only what they need to know. Once the players are familiar with him, he is killed for sticking his nose where it doesn't belong, giving the players a list of names & places to investigate, as well as volumes of the Detectives personal notes which each offer further insight, but take downtime to read and understand. The Detective's study will give the players both a Home-Base and a ton of quest leads. This can keep the players grounded in a city, or at least returning to the city to revisit the clues and stacks of books. The quest leads the detective leaves are generally non-specific. "A name of someone and the name of a tavern." "The location of a Tower where a princess was once imprisoned," or "The reliquary which holds a magic item that can find royalty." (I'm assuming the kid is royalty, or is otherwise important.) This allows players to investigate without really knowing what they're going to find, increasing the intrigue and keeping the players on their toes. As for factions, now you can have quests like "We have to enter the Unnameable Library, but only members of the Citrine Crusade are allowed inside, we can sneak in, or gain their favor by doing a quest for them." If the party isn't particularly sneaky or clever, they might opt for gaining favor, or else may sneak inside and get beat up, then thrown in jail for trespassing. If you're trying to slow the players down, I would add in Timer-Quests, or quests that can't start immediate for one reason or another. An informant that arrives in the city in two weeks to tell the players where the child's parents are, a clue buried under a cave-in which must be unburdened, or the Detective's notes must be read and deciphered to learn where the boy was kidnapped. Lots of options here. I hope this helps. [/QUOTE]
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