Lost City of Barakus - How do I run this thing?

[ozreth]

[FONT=&quot]Have read a lot of praise about it for years. The setting and style attract me. I finally bought in and I hope to run it for my 5e group soon. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]However, going into it I knew it was a sandbox, but for me sandbox doesn't always have to mean there isn't some over arching thing the players can always fall back on and work towards that progresses and changes as you go. From what I'm reading from a quick flip through, that is indeed the case here. It's a city, some surrounding areas, and some unrelated quests. There is also the main dungeon with a BBEG but nothing really keeping you going towards him.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]How would you keep the sandbox feel but integrate a BBEG into most of the story?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]On a side note: The first quest is for level 2 characters. Would I be crazy to throw them in at level 1? Or should I drop a mini adventure in the beginning to get them up to speed? I do like things a little harder, and they do too...[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Any thoughts help. Thanks!

PS - I have the S&W version but running with 5e so posted it here. Feel free to move it.[/FONT]

 

[Blue]

B.A. Baracus? He's got a bad attitude and don't like flyin' on no planes, Murdock! But he's a genius when it comes to macgyvering weapons out of random stuff.

 

[Retreater]

When I ran my group through it around a decade ago in 3.5 ed, we had a great time with it. I set it in Nehwon, and the party had Lankhmar as a base of operations and they were delving into Barakus for some crazy spell components for a wizards guild.
I don't remember a lot of the finer details of Barakus, but my suggestion is to run it like you would any megadungeon. Find reasons for the group to go to it and explore. Send them back and forth. Maybe a village elder's daughter has been kidnapped by one of the denizens and was tracked being dragged into its depths? Maybe there's a magic blade the party needs to free from the grasp of a wight? A fabled treasure inside would pay off the demands of a rampaging warlord?
A megadungeon is the setting of your story, not the story itself. Just like you wouldn't say Faerun is your story; or that the Death Star is the story of Star Wars.
I hope this helps. But if there's any specifics you need to tie it to your campaign, ask away.

 

[CapnZapp]

How would you keep the sandbox feel but integrate a BBEG into most of the story?

The traditional way is to drop hints to/of the BBEG when the party does unrelated quests.

Loot the kobolds? Find an old helmet that tells a story - taken from a background plot point from the BBEGs chapter! Interrogate the corrupt Militia Watch Sergeant? Have him confess of dealing with N.N. who in turn has had a run-in with the BBEG and now avoids him/her/it like the plague.

As long as the players have at least minimal D&D experience (that is, knows better than to drop everything and rush into content they can't handle until several levels later) this provides a sensation of progress and focus.

But really, for a sandbox to work well, the players themselves must actively want / enjoy that playing style.

If you have players who get bored when they don't get "story completion" points, run one of WotC's campaign modules instead, where "you're my only hope" and you must do this-or-other "real soon now" or some undefined calamity threatens.

 

[Inchoroi]

I always do FGG adventures by taking certain things in the plot and making them Character Hooks! Unfortunately, this is usually my only complaint when it comes to FGG's stuff, and I really hope they fix it whenever they get around to doing a 5e version.

The book does provide some stuff for Adventure Hooks; I'd take Finding Fenton (screaming the name is optional) and the Lost Treasure Map, both of which lead to the caves north of the city and into the dungeon.

The game begins on the road to Endhome, with the group of 1st level characters hired to guard a merchant caravan. One of the group, a magic character, is traveling to Endhome to apply at the Wizard's Academy. The group encounters some orcs, or a small party of Green Tree Bandits, fights them off (which should get them to level 2, most likely). In return, the merchant pays the party some small money, along with an antique but pretty and jeweled sword he picked up last time he had passed through Endhome.

Next, the mage character or characters are tasked to look into the disappearance of the sorcerer Fenton (see Finding Fenton for more information), as a lowly applicant of the Endhome Academy of Wizardry, Alchemy, and Arcane Knowledge. The mage (wizard, sorcerer, warlock, whatever it may be) can get more information on Fenton by finding his wife. You could also say that Fenton had something of value, a staff or scroll or other magic item, to further entice the characters. Then, if the mage and the rest of the party succeeds, the mage gets to join the Wizard's Academy.

While the players might be tempted to just hock the sword, allow them a chance to examine it closely...to discover within the hilt a treasure map! "The bastard merchant didn't know what he had...I took the sword from him as payment for services rendered, and discovered this map within its hilt. Methinks a group of likeminded individuals like us should go explore the map and see what treasure can be found."

You can tie them to various other things to do in Endhome, if you wish, like the Green Tree Bandits, for example; while preparing for their adventure, they hear about the bounty on them. Be prepared for the characters to make several forays into the dungeon; its too big to cover in one trip, in my opinion, so returning to town is your opportunity to lay in other hooks for the characters once they return to town to restock or heal. Allow them to overhear rumors; the magic users could overhear about Area S: The Wizard's Library or Area V: Quarrian's Tower, while another character might hear about a rumor of a hill giant in the woods, or the rumors of a black unicorn in Penprie Forest, or about Area N: The Dragonspire!