We had our first session today and played for about 7 hours. Before we even started I decided to dispense entirely with Volo's involvement, the Yawning Portal and the whole bar room brawl introduction. instead, we sat down and worked out how the PCs new each other.
Since one of the players decided his former street urchin was making a living tending bar at a place called the Fishwife, I decided to make that place the center of the campaign. The other players would be regulars or other employees of the bar, and we ended up with an angry street preacher cleric that harangues folks as they come in or stagger out, a disgraced noble's son working as a bouncer at the place, a half-drow sorcerer with a taste for human spirits and a half elf alchemist selling powders and tinctures in the neighborhood. (This last character also has my favorite background for his class: he is a barbarian, but in play the rage is actually sort of "hulking out" due to an alchemical accident.)
Since the bar was already in place, I also dispensed with the paltry sum Volo would have paid to have the group hunt down Floon. Instead, both Floon and Renaer are regulars at the Fishwife. In fact, the Fishwife is owned by Neverember and so Renaer drinks free there. Floon is his boyfriend and hanger on, and they spend many a night getting stupidly drunk at the place. The rock gnome Dalakhar works directly for Lord Neverember and was sent to Waterdeep to keep an eye on Renaer, in the position of manager of the Fishwife.
I painted the Zhents as the clean cut but still brutal mafia and the Xanathar Guild as more of the uncouth gangbangers and cruel MS-13 types. One of the first things that happaned was a group of Xanathar Guild thugs were shaking down the flower shop owner across the street for protection money. The PCs got involved (but there was no bloodshed at the time) and made some enemies. Later that night, the gang came back and jumped the street preacher, but then fled before the party could take them out. It turned out that the next morning, after closing the place as they usually did, Floon and Renaer never made it home and were missing.
This led to the Grey Cloaks coming by and asking questions. After they left, Dalakhar ordered the PCs, since they had started the mess with the Xanathar Guild, to find the two young men before the watch did. From there, we played the warehouse and then the sewer hideout pretty straight.
Another change I made on the fly because there were some plot holes was that Floon had been originally sent to make nice with Renaer by the Zhents, but ended up really falling for him. When he realized they were going to get grabbed by the guild, he initiated the coat change that caused the mix up between the two of them, essentially sacrificing himself for Renaer.
The PCs saved them both and with that got the real skinny on what was happening. Poor Floon was sent away by Renaer, who loved him back but could not trust him, and Dalakhar left to excore renaer to Neverwinter to his father. So now the PCs are in charge of the Fishwife and have been tasked with tracking down the stone of golarr. They know what it si for and even know how much money is hidden -- but so does everyone else now.
Moving forward, I am going to alternate between some episodic local flavor adventures and events that advance the main plot as they encounter all of the factions interested in the money. I am going to play up the Grey Cloaks as always on their heels (in the end I think the main investigator character is going to be going for the hoard himself), as well as have each of the factions try and turn the party to be on their side.
I leveled them to 2nd in mid session and then made them 3rd at the end just to get to the levels I like best. they will stay at 3rd for some time. I have not decided how long to make the campaign -- I am thinking maybe a dozen sessions, but I will play it by ear.
