(5KD) Help! First session and I'm unprepared!

[thatdarncat]

Alright, here's the scoop.

The group I am playing in is having some issues with the current campaign, which was supposed to last another month or two.

I was supposed to have that month or two to create a campaign setting for my new D&D campaign. The setting is called the Five Kingdoms. The five kingdoms are a halfling kingdom, an elven kingdom, a dwarven kingdom (more a loose alliance of city states, don't control much land above ground) and two human kingdoms, one a Monarchy (very conscious of honour) and the other a Mageocracy ruled by a councel of the most powerful wizards. The campaign will start off in a small city/large town in the Mageocracy kingdom. For the first session, I will be using this advnture:

http://www.realmsofevil.net/adventures/herekitty.cfm

What I need to come up with are some random encounters. I am looking more for things they can roleplay through, not rollplay through. I want to introduce some plot hooks that they can follow later on.

Any suggestions? I (sorry, my players) will be writing this up as a storyhour here on the boards. I’ll attribute any encounters used properly

Thanks!

 

[thatdarncat]

The PCs are:

Char - Fire Genasi Psion (meta creative). Very few social skills, she grew up in a cult out in the plains on the other side of the escarpment. They had locked her in the top floor of a tower, to tend the sacred flame that used to be her mother. She has had very little human contact until recently, when Linus the Excessive convinced her to run away with him. Char dresses in flashy, if clashing colours, not knowing any better. She tends to be blunt and has a tendancy to play with flame a little too much for the comfort of those around her.

Linus the Excessive - Tiefling Wizard. A widower of some 60 years. He had married young, (wand point wedding - he got the girl pregnant). To support his young family, Linus chose accountancy since he was skilled with numbers. Years passed, his children grew up and left, his wife died. Linus was prepared to die, when he realized that he still felt young. Not terribly young, but young none the less. He did some research into his family, and found a legend passed down through the years, about a demon in his family Lineage. Surmising that he had quite a few years left, Linus sold most of his possessions and attended a prestigious Wizards Accademy. While travelling in the plains he encountered the cult Char was raised by, and freed her.

Allesan bar Tomasso - Human Bard. A student of the social arts, Allesan is the oldest son of a deposed noble family. Growing up, Allesan was told stories of his noble birthright and was told that he should “seek his own path to greatness”. However, what his parents had in mind for him and his own goals did not entirely match. At the age of 15 he was sent to a prestigious school for the gifted (Music, dance, etc. A boarding school for the rich). While there Allesan also picked up some more ... useful ... talents while developing his superb acting ability. Allesan has a generally lighthearted outlook on life, but shows signs of deadly seriousness at times. Occasionally, Allesan does some freelance work, most recently for Linus the Excessive.

Elidren bar Mearo - Human Druid. It has often been said that someone can be "too smart for their own good." What many people do not reaslize is that one can be too WISE for their own good. Elidren is one such person. While a rather intellegent and charismatic young man, he can become quite fanatical over what he "knows" to be true in his heart--Whether it means planting a few trees. . .or burning a forest to the ground. Best friend of Allesan's youngest brother and son of The ruling council's advisor on magical components, his family walks a tightrope of conformity.

 

[Grey]

well... as they're from the Mageocracy, why not have them encounter someone from one of the other kindom who've stolen a particular magical item... their duty to their kindom is to return it

but the person they stole it from isn't exactly good, and that person (mage or whatever) would do
more harm than good with it

The PC's are aware of all this. So they're caught between beind accomplices, and/or traitors, and doing the right thing

I don't think you could solve this with a simple die roll...

 

[Mistwell]

Is there a magic university nearby, for mage training? I just ran a game through the "third year testing caves" on the campus of a university. The PC's (level one) were chasing an escaped pet of the school down into the caves, which are based on riddles and traps, with a few "monster" encounters. Most of the caves were based on Gorgoland's Gauntlet from Dragon Annual #5, with a few unique rooms thrown in (and a few encounters removed), along with one room from the Challenge of the Champions 4 adventure in the most recent Dungeon magazine. If you like, I can email / link you the adventure.

 

[thatdarncat]

Grey - sounds like one I'll keep in mind. I'll try and flesh it out a little more, integrate it more with my setting.

Mistwell: I was planning on running GG, but with the way the PCs worked out, I don't know if it will work.

 

[Darklone]

If I want ideas, I check some random encounter tables in some kalamar books, roll a few times, then use Dawn Ibachs spicying up random encounter suggestions and you could play a random encounter for a whole evening. Some even developed into campaigns.

 

[thatdarncat]

you're assuming I have the kalamar books

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

How about having them run into a plot intiated by a group of Mage-killers(the PrC from magic of faerun, if you don't have the book use assassins with that spacific agenda). It's a mageocracy, there is bound to be groups of political dissidents. Any way have the pc's foil an assissination thus earning the hatred of the guild, this paves the way for all sorts of future problems.

 

[RavenSinger]

So later, when Slovenus kicks the bucket. The party is asked to attend the reading of the will. Slovenus has left them something either:

A). Very powerful and desired by others. Ensuing encounters of various baddies. . .

B). Very powerful, and insidious in it's affect on the group (i.e. everyone wants its precious for its very own--*golem*)

D). Not magical at all, but treasured by Slovenus's b**ch queen of a daughter.

E). Some combination of A, B, C and/or D. (my personal favorite)


How's that?

--RavenSinger

 

[Mistwell]

What is the composition of the party?