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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6701905" data-attributes="member: 6787650">So I wound up running the first part of Chapter One with my players--there are two independently-created Outlander Human Bearbarians (one of them is also an Open Hand Monk) who were both raised by wolves, one of whom has amnesia and a Tribal Marauder, supposedly the "last of [his] kind" who must bring honor to their memory, the other of whom is crazy and bestial due to Underdark madness... so I declared them both to be from the same tribe and brothers. Then there's a tiefling Oathbreaker Paladin/Death Cleric whose goal is basically to become the new Vecna. They're heavily melee-specialized and I strongly expect them to die to the first real opposition, but since I had them all start at level 1d10 for more gonzo fun (though I warned them that any replacement PCs after deaths will not start at level 1d10 but only 1d3) they may do okay for a while. We ended last session after they'd escaped the slave pens (cutting down 4 drow and an elite warrior in the process, and stealing the weapons from their corpses, although almost everyone is still wearing manacles and iron collars) and bolted down the stairs in the exact opposite direction of the drow barracks and priestess stalagmites, who are beginning to mobilize in response to the alarm.So far, my takeaway from the first session: I'm new enough to DMing that I had more trouble than I expected bringing the wacky NPCs to life while they were all busy moping about in the cell. The fact that the only PC who can understand Undercommon is blind in the pitch-black cell (no Darkvision) while the only PC who can see (tiefling) speaks only Common... that did not help the situation. The players did enjoy Jimjar and Buppidoo, and they appreciated the fact that Ront died fighting, and they're intrigued by Topsy and Turvy and cheered when they jumped in the fight, and they liked Stool, especially when he used his spores to actually get them all in communication with each other... but the fact that I set the slave pens up to be pitch-black actually hampered role-playing more than I expected it to. Or at least, it hampered the kind of role-playing I was expecting. But now they've escaped with 9 NPCs in tow so we'll see what happens next.I just can't figure out what to do with Sarith though. He didn't join in the slave revolt, but he's not all that eager to stay and be sacrificed, so for now he's kind of tagging along with the PCs for lack of a better option but not really on their side. Maybe that's all that needs to happen but it's kind of puzzling to me as a DM, and I don't know how or whether to let the players in on his back story and how to make him more than a random sullen drow. Maybe I'll play up his racism a little bit, and otherwise just let his back story come out when it comes out, if the players ever ask, and otherwise ignore it.</blockquote>

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