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Message: <blockquote data-quote="crash_beedo" data-source="post: 4433472" data-attributes="member: 18781">I made some subtle changes to the adventure hooks (with assists from the PC’s).  During character creation, two characters decided to be Tieflings – a Warlord and a Warlock.  Next thing I know, they’ve decided they were brothers, abandoned as infants and raised by a foster.  With the introduction of the hook (I changed Douvan’s name to Duvall Stone) and voila – Duvall is a retired adventurer/treasure seeker that found the abandoned Tiefling children, and he and his wife (Babs) raised them as their own.  Malleus Flint, the party’s hulking fighter, is the son of one of Duvall’s old adventuring buddies, and the Dwarf Fighter and Eladrin Wizard came up with equally suitable backgrounds.Duvall is an old archaeologist that can’t get exploring out of his blood; even though he’s ‘retired’ to the simple life of a farmer just outside of Fallcrest, he couldn’t resist the urge to pack up Old Cleo, the family mule, with his picks and shovels and head up to Winterhaven when he heard rumors at the Nentir Inn about the dragon burial site.  Duvall has a well-worn leather-bound folio where he keeps notes, legends, clues and drawings, and apparently he thought this site near Winterhaven could be important.  “The elves, the real elves from the Fey world used to live here in the Vale you know, and no one has found the burial site of the ancient Fey Wizard Derekandor.”    (DM’s note:  Derekandor was the wizard that helped Nerath erect the original seals over the Shadowfell Rift, and once inhabited the tower of Valthrun the Prescient – the tower itself predates Wintehaven by hundreds of nears, and even Valthrun doesn’t know all the tower’s secrets).  The player’s Arcana check also let them realize that if you had a prized possession of a wizard, the item could be used sympathetically in a disenchant type ritual.At the start of the first game, the characters returned to Fallcrest after some adventures in the east vale, to discover that ‘Dad’, Duvall Stone, is a few weeks overdue from his trip to Winterhaven.   “It’s almost harvest time, and your father promised to be back in time…”  Thus was the first adventure launched.Duvall has provided some useful additional ties to the story as well.  After he was rescued, he was able to explain why he believed the bandits wanted Derekandor’s Mirror; his leather book of secrets was stolen and sent north to someone named ‘Karalel’; Duvall left Winterhaven a few days later accompanying a merchant’s wagon leaving Winterhaven.   Galston Wildarson (son of Bairston the merchant) and Morthos Azaer, from the Fallcrest House Azaer, had bought the mirror from the PC’s, and were taking it back to Fallcrest with their ordinary bi-weekly trip.  Naturally, this is the wagon that gets attacked in the KotS side-trek adventure from Dungeon Mag, and when the PC’s defeat the kobolds and realize the merchants are gone, it launched them into the wilderness tracking the Hobgoblins to rescue Dad again.  Introducing Galston and Morthos also let me foreshadow the Seven Pillared Hall in Thunderspire and tie it into H2 Thunderspire Labyrinth. Eventually when the PC’s finish the Keep (they just started the dungeon) they’ll find Dad’s journal amongst Karalel’s stuff; I figure Duvall’s notebook can provide lots of interesting future plot hooks, including foreshadowing the Pyramid of Shadows.One thing that stood out after reading H2 and H3 is that the god Vecna appears to be a major player in this campaign; for that reason I’m going to have Duvall (and maybe Valthrun, too) reinforce the idea that as scholars and keepers of lore, they always feel like they must ward against ‘Foul Vecna and his agents that seek to consume and hide all knowledge…’  Maybe Duvall has wards on his book, or Valthrun always mumbles prayers to Ioun to keep him far from Vecna’s sight – regardless, I think it’s good to start developing this tension now so it means something in Thunderspire Labyrinth.Anway, these changes so far are typical things I think any DM does to make an adventure work in his game world, with his players, and give the story some verisimilitude.  I think my next set of suggestions are a little more groundbreaking.For years I DM’d various White Wolf games, and they tend to focus more on ‘the high art of roleplaying™’, haha, so while I’ve left the emo angst behind, one thing that’s been useful has been integrating what I call “cut scenes”.  A cut scene is where the DM narrates something the player’s can’t see, action that is happening ‘off-screen’ – it provides metagame knowledge, player knowledge, but not character knowledge.   In adventures like H1 Keep on the Shadowfell, where there are tough villains like Irontooth or Karalel but the only interaction with them is when you roll initiative for the first time, it helps build them up as villains.So for instance, after the players defeated the second kobold ambush, but before they found the burial site, I presented a cut scene where a kobold messenger presents news to ‘Lord Irontooth’ about the failure of the ambushers to secure the road.  The furious Irontooth lops off the messenger’s head, summons his ‘assassins’ (the expert kobolds – the Pikeman, Slyblade, and Hurler - from the H1 Sidetrek) and he orders them to find and kill the Tieflings.  What does the scene accomplish?  The PC’s know they have a personal enemy who is out to get them – this ferocious goblin barbarian, Irontooth.  They know there are some kobold assassins after them.  It increased the tension in the game.  When they finally assaulted  the kobold lair, a) they were afraid of Irontooth, which meant they gave him the proper attention b) the fight was personal and meaningful.Likewise, there was a cut scene where Karalel and some of his minions decide that since the Mirror of Derekandor has been lost, the ritual to open up the Rift will require buckets and buckets of blood.  “Begin raiding the outlying farms, Lord Maw; let no one escape and warn the town.  Before Lord Patrick can summon help from Fallcrest, the portal will be open and Winterhaven will be overrun.”  Lord Maw is a special undead also introduced in the Dungeon Sidetrek – third encounter.   So the characters vaguely knew there was a threat beneath the castle, from Irontooth’s note and Duvall’s description of the burial site bandits; but now the players clearly know who is there enemy, and what the enemy is doing.  (And yes, they’re mature enough to realize they can’t shout out – my character warns the outlying farmers! – but it did help push along their decision to get in the dungeon!)  Plus, when they fight Lord Maw outside the graveyard, they'll know he's a boss bad guy.So far, the legends they’ve heard about Keegan’s Keep have been the ‘false story’ – that the Keep was overrun and abandoned, and that Keegan died a hero.  I think the next cut scene will be when/if they take an extended rest in the dungeon, and one of the PC’s has a dream where they see what really happened the night Sir Keegan went mad – it’s a scene right out of The Shining or some similar horror movie, really dark stuff.Hope these ideas help!  The WOTC modules provide a great framework, it just takes a little creativity and customization for your specific game to push them over the top.</blockquote>

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