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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6981857" data-attributes="member: 42582">INTRODUCTORY EDIT: I've read a few more posts and see that a lot of posters are advising you not to run the scenario you've planned, but instead something more low-key (save the farmstead, etc).Obviously you're free to do whatever you think will work, but I think there's nothing wrong with starting an epic, cosmologically-focused campaing from the get-go. My advice below is given on the assumption that you're sticking to the basic scenario you've thought up, but want to make it better as a RPG scenario.With that in mind, you'll see that most of my advice deals with how the players are meant to engage the scenario, and increasing their agency/participation while still allowing things to unfold more-or-less as you hope that they will.For myself, I don't tend to run such tightly pre-authored scenarios; but I've read plenty of published adventures that are at least as railroad-y as what you want to do, so (assuming you're confident that your players will go along with it) I wouldn't worry that others would approach the task of GMing differently.***********************************Personally I think that world-building is overrated as far as RPGing is concerned.My number one question would be - how are the players going to engage with this world background? If the answer is "not much", then I wouldn't both too much about it.And one issue I see straight away is that if the PCs have all had their memories of these foundational events wiped, then the players probably aren't going to be engaging with them.Why do the PCs accept her request?I gather that, at the table, the players will have no practical choice - this is the adventure that you've prepared for them. But you might want to think about it from the PCs' points of view also. How does the sorceress's request relate to them? Are they going to wonder why they were summoned by her spell?If you have a PC with the Hermit background, this is where the background insight might come into play.You might want to think about what happens if the players can't solve the puzzles.Perhaps they have a charged item of some sort - given to them by the sorceress - which they have to use to pass the puzzles if they can't solve them, but which will provide them with buffs at the climax if they don't use its charges. (Maybe it's an amulet of inspiration, which solves one puzzle per use - by inspiring the querant - and once the PCs reach the main chamber the remaining charges convert to inspiration in the mechanical sense, randomly distributed among the PCs.)It's not clear where the sorceress emerges from.More importantly, though, there is a good chance that this will irritate the players (generally players don't like being played for chumps, and they will definitely suspect some sort of treachery at this point - after all, if everything was above-board then the sorceress would have just come here herself, or perhaps accompanied them). Be prepared for them to attack the sorceress.You want to take care with your encounter design here - it would be embarassing if you exactly created a TPK!This seems like poor adventure design to me. Let me explain why: this is the first combat of the adventure - but instead of the players getting to win it, through the play of their PCs, you snatch defeat from the jaws of their victory then bring in a NPC to save the day. And yet the enemy NPC still escapes.If you think about how events will have played out at your table up to this point, (1) the players have gone along with your adventure framing and accepted the sorceress's quest, (2) have solved puzzles but had only one fight, (3) have had the GM fiat a loss for them in that fight, then (4) have had the GM fiat a "saving of the day" via a saviour NPC, only (5) to have the enemy NPC escape via GM fiat.A lot of players will not find this too much fun, as the payoff they were expecting in return for being good sports about (1) and (2) has not been delivered.If you want to preserve the general flavour of your set-up, I would suggest the following changes: instead of a giant dark hand, make it a teleport (leaving behind a pool of darkness, if you like, which will facilitate the escape by blinding the PCs). When the sorceress re-emeres, changed, have her emerge with an undead servitor/companion who is threatening for the PCs but not unbeatable.In the main chamber there should be a sword, helmet, baldric or something similar, which one of the PCs can pick up - this item embodies the spirit or the history of the brother, and the PC who wields it gets a bonus against the undead servitor/companion that lets the PCs save the day themselves.If the sorceress/necromance nevertheless escapes, that can be resolved through the ordinary mechanics - though you need to decide what happens if the PCs try to pursue her through the archway.You need to think about the timing of this - eg if the PCs follow the sorceress/necromancer into the archway, when does this event happen?Also, what reason do the PCs have to go along with the lightning god's request? And why does he need the PCs at all - why can't he go and get help himself? Or send an angel or other messenger?I've suggested that the pit fighter should appear only in the form of a magic item available for the PCs to use to help turn the tide of the battle. If that item is too overpowered for general use, then the lightning god might take the pit fighter's spirit out of it - but you still probably want to leave the PC with a useful magic item (eg a +1 sword, a helmet or bracer of 1 point damage reduction per hit, or something similar), or the player will feel a bit ripped off.Why would the PCs think to ransack the magic shop. And if they do, you need to think carefully about what items they get. If in doubt, go for single-used items (eg potions) ahead of permanent ones.It's not at all clear to me why the award for winning an arena fight would be an orb that opens planar portals. And how are the players expected to know that the first orb they saw was important?If you want the orb to be important, it might be better if the sorceress gives it to the PCs in the first place - perhaps telling them that, because it is attuned to the brother, it will help them track him down. This could also help with the big fight - rather than a special magic item in the main chamber, a PC could use the orb to summon the spirit of the brother to infuse him/her with power - though this may be less obvious than an item in the chamber itself. Another way to go could be that the orb is attracted to the item in the chamber, and this is part of the clues/motivations for the players to have their PCs take up the special item.And another, probably more fundamental question - who is the sorceress (the death god? doesn't seem powerful enough), who is her brother, and why is she seeking for him if he opposes her? You might want (1) to work this out in your own mind, and (2) work out some way for the players to learn it too, eg maybe there are murals in the main chamber. You could also use these murals to deliver some info about the world set-up, so that when the lightning god appears the players already have some idea that the cosmological set-up isn't what they were expecting. (Also, you might want to discourage a cleric in the party, given that you want to do funky stuff with the gods; and you want to think about how PC abilitys and skills (eg knowledge of history, the planes, etc) might help them extract information from the murals, the orb, etc.)</blockquote>

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