DM needs help with unusual party mix(Errat players stay away)

[smetzger]

yes even in freeport, those stories are just that stories. sometimes it helps when you are members (or former members) of the City Watch.

Yup, I second Freeport.

But really, they should be able to handle most anything with that mix. The Bard can get a Cleric on a stick and they'll be fine.

 

[humble minion]

Well, with a sailor, scout, leatherworker and blacksmith, one possible campaign-design course would to have them be settlers starting up a new colony on some recently-discovered land - meeting the natives, defending against local critters, exploring, treasure-hunting, helping run the village, and so on. If they have a regular home base then you can get away with re-using the same NPCs over and over again, which will make things a bit easier for you in terms of preparation time.

 

[Mighty Halfling]

Well, with a sailor, scout, leatherworker and blacksmith, one possible campaign-design course would to have them be settlers starting up a new colony on some recently-discovered land - meeting the natives, defending against local critters, exploring, treasure-hunting, helping run the village, and so on. If they have a regular home base then you can get away with re-using the same NPCs over and over again, which will make things a bit easier for you in terms of preparation time.

Now that's a cool idea!

 

[Altalazar]

Now that's a cool idea!

I second that, that is an AWESOME idea! And as things progress, they can build their own strongholds and eventually they will have founded a whole new nation! Talk about building a campaign world...

I did this on a mini-scale starting way back in 1e - I had two characters that I played that eventually formed an organization, built a huge castle, founded a city, and cleared out a tiny nation for themselves in the rugged mountains on the edge of civilization. They fought off invading barbarians, who actually eventually made peace and became good trading partners. It was fun to work on and ended up serving as a base for other adventurers later on.

 

[Limper]

I'd guess you'll see a bit of Multiclassing at level 2 or 3 as players adapt their characters to better survive.

 

[pqpine]

I second that, that is an AWESOME idea! And as things progress, they can build their own strongholds and eventually they will have founded a whole new nation! Talk about building a campaign world...

I did this on a mini-scale starting way back in 1e - I had two characters that I played that eventually formed an organization, built a huge castle, founded a city, and cleared out a tiny nation for themselves in the rugged mountains on the edge of civilization. They fought off invading barbarians, who actually eventually made peace and became good trading partners. It was fun to work on and ended up serving as a base for other adventurers later on.

Great ideas et al. I especially liked the Chex mix idea, lol.

I am planning on starting them in the city (I have about a foot of shelf space with city source books but only one little Freeport book. *sigh* guess it's time to get out the christmas list and start listing <those>.)

I think I will have them all write up a bit on what they want out of life etc. Should be interesting. 3 of them are complete novices and the ages range from 10 (but very bright, he already is reading at around the 9th-10 grade level) to 42 and never played an RPG just observed.

Thanks again for all of your input I will keep you posted as to how things go. Just look for the word Errat.

"Roadie, Tech, Sr*w it, I just hang with the band"

 

[Clueless]

On your side of the table, I think the best thing to do is try to emphasize the stealth factor. The Ranger and Rogue can scout ahead for dangers, the arcane casters can use various enchantments to disable rather than kill - especially the Bard.

I'm agreeing with this one myself. Actually, what you may want to do is take an entirelly different approach for this group. No fighters will just make it tht much easier to run with. You have a few people that are probably perfect for intrigue of some sort.

Run it much like a Shadowrun game if you're familar with the genre. (Shadowrun being lethal enough that most groups I've been in go heavy on the stealth and planning even if we *do* have fighters.) If you're not familar with SR, think of it as a *lot* of covert ops style attacks. Mission impossibles, assassinations, search and retrieve (prefereably Without anyone noticing the burglery till the next morning). It's a different mindset, but can make for some wild fun.

 

[Numion]

The trouble is how do I approach designing adventures for this group? Most of my adventures are about 60/40 combat to interaction and I don't have a huge amount of time to create lots of detailed NPC's and plot twists to keep down the violence factor. Any body! HELP!!!

If thats your combat / interaction ratio, why on earth did you have them design characters in the dark, so to speak? It might be that that idea will cause you more trouble than it is worth?

My suggestion is that you should've told them up front that the game is weighted towards combat, and let them roll on from there. They may have the perfect characters as individuals now, but D&D happens to be a team sport.

 

[pqpine]

Originally Posted by pqpine

The trouble is how do I approach designing adventures for this group? Most of my adventures are about 60/40 combat to interaction and I don't have a huge amount of time to create lots of detailed NPC's and plot twists to keep down the violence factor. Any body! HELP!!!

If thats your combat / interaction ratio, why on earth did you have them design characters in the dark, so to speak? It might be that that idea will cause you more trouble than it is worth?

My suggestion is that you should've told them up front that the game is weighted towards combat, and let them roll on from there. They may have the perfect characters as individuals now, but D&D happens to be a team sport.

The 60/40 ratio was what i am used to designing. What I need is some advice on designing what are going to be more like 30/70 combat/role. I am going to try and keep them city based for a bit to keep the fighting to a minimum but I haven't done a lot of city stuff so any help would be appriciated.