D&D 5E Retrofitting SKT for a monstrous party (or, how Volo's guide ruined my campaign idea)

[CydKnight]

My outside impression of the OP situation is that you have a DM who is apprehensive to run a campaign with a party comprised of character races that have never before been experienced. I think that apprehension is only natural. How you approach it will determine how goes your campaign.

If you resist the "monsters" and simply refuse to allow them in the game, the players may get a bad taste in their mouths if they don't get to be the characters they wanted to play. This could set the tone for the entire campaign and you could have a hard time shaking player animosity. You may have an easier time preparing for game sessions at the cost of rebellious players going forward.

If you allow them to keep the characters they first chose, you must also embrace those characters. Continuing instead to resist those "monsters" as a DM will likely carry over to gameplay leaving it either sluggish and uninspired and/or cumbersome and restrictive; leaving the players feeling wrongly penalized for their choice.

So I would choose to embrace the situation as a learning experience for both me and the players. Try to find opportunities to make the adventure even more interesting and fun for this unorthodox party composition not only for the players but also for you as the DM. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade....as they say. Afterwards you will be a better DM for the experience and the players just might respect you even more for accepting the challenge.

 

[Caliburn101]

Tell them the problem you are having with their multiple corner case choices and ask them to tone it down. If they don't, as the campaign hasn't started yet, restrict the numbers of Volo's choices to something acceptable and leave them to re-choose, based on the fact they thought their fun was more important than your extra work and effort.

I doubt they will be that selfish if you explain the situation however.

 

[Beleriphon]

He's my suggestion. Are the players having fun, and if so who cares? There is no cheapening of choice by not having every random stranger in the setting chase and try to murder the characters, unless the players are expecting that. If they are, guess what its what they want so who cares? If they aren't expecting that I'd go with a mistrust but not hostility except for NPCs already described as hating a specific monstrous PC race.

 

[Quickleaf]

That was my initial concern.

Most places in the Realms have humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings living in them. They don't have orcs, goblins or kobolds in them. Even the stranger non-evil races (like dragonborn or goliaths) might get stares, but if they were mixed in with common races they'd probably not be considered a threat.

But when a goblin, bugbear, kobold, dragonborn, tabaxi, and kenku all walk into a town, smart people hide the silver and call the guards. Nearly all those races have a reputation for thievery and/or violence. One or two of those races might cause concern, a party of them can cause alarm...

I'd play it like this: The Giants are on the move, and the first to suffer are those who live in the borderlands of the human territories.

The goblin camps with their bugbear overseers have been conquered by Hill Giants and those not eaten sent as slaves to the Frost Giants. The kobold warrens have been mined by Stone Giants. Dragonborn have been hunted and hedged out of their mountains, as Giants reap a terrible vengeance on those begotten from their ancestral foes. Tabaxi tribes in the desert/plains are subjugated and enslaved by Fire Giants. And the kenku not already hiding in the cities flee the woods stripped bare by Giants, seeking refuge among their urban kin.

The PCs are part of the great diaspora fleeing the onslaught of the Giants.

Some will sympathize with their plight. Some may be prejudiced against them. All but the most small-minded, however, realize the Giants are the real threat.

 

[Remathilis]

They sound like good targets for drow slavers.

You could run them through Out of the Abyss I think. (Although you'd probably have to change up the second half)

Sadly, we already played though that one. However, I agree OotA would have been a much better fit.

You know, I just realized that "a hero being misunderstood as a monster due to his species" is actually the storyline of a rather important NPC in the adventure, Harshnag. Perhaps you should introduce him earlier in the adventure than recommended, as he can take the party under his wing and mentor them as they level? Or have him give them letters of recommendation that can be indisputably shown as his (likely through some sort of magical means)?

Once the group meets Harshnag, the adventure runs itself. EEoAF leads to the Giant Lords, to Maelstrom, and then to Imyrth. The problem I have is getting them to that point in a reasonable manner. Really, its chapter 1 (or replacing chapter 1 with LMoP) and chapter 2 that don't work as written.

I think either 2 or 4. I'd suspect that anyone playing a goblin PC wants to play a goblin, not a human with goblin powers. Being a mistrusted monster is part of that.

You probably want to figure out - perhaps with your players - what the group's "story" is. Are they misunderstood heroes overcoming prejudice, antiheroes in a world that fears them, or simply heroes of a radically different culture?

So far, one player (the one who wanted to be the goblin ranger) wanted to be the "Drizzt" character; very noble and heroic despite being, well, a goblin. The others kinda gave me a faint sketch (the bugbear believes he's a polymorphed elf, the tabaxi is Gildroy Lockheart) but the rest are basically "race + class" in concept only. So far, they're leaning on misunderstood heroes.

Perhaps they have a Patron of some renown that announces them and ensures they are hassled minimally. That way people still look at them funny, are hesitant to interact with them, and throw some minor racism (specism?) their way, but overall they are treated fairly and even given opportunity to work some jobs.

I had briefly considered having them be a kind of "suicide squad" for the Lord's Alliance; sent out to investigate and if they are killed, so be it. Not sure I want to go that route, but its a thought.

I'm running (now 1) PbP of SKT as well as one face to face game and one Roll20 game. On the Roll20 game everyone went monstrous, and since I had already used the other three Chapter 2 intros from the books I decided to run the monstrous game as a bit of a "reverse" adventure. Luckily I guess they have a "face" in the serpentperson that goes by "Hugh Man".

By reverse I mean I kinda took bits and pieces of the plot and gave them insider information as if they were working for the Zhentarium alongside dragon cultists that were trying to earn Klauth's favor. Then I strung them along with gold, an old abandoned keep near Klauth's territory, fighting against the barbarians (for the giant artifacts that come up later in the adventure) and so on. So in some ways they're doing the module out of order, and that's working fine. Instead of being good samaritans standing up for justice and stability, they're raiding barbarian tribes, stealing artifacts, and assassinating giants.

That's a really cool idea too.

My outside impression of the OP situation is that you have a DM who is apprehensive to run a campaign with a party comprised of character races that have never before been experienced. I think that apprehension is only natural. How you approach it will determine how goes your campaign.

If you resist the "monsters" and simply refuse to allow them in the game, the players may get a bad taste in their mouths if they don't get to be the characters they wanted to play. This could set the tone for the entire campaign and you could have a hard time shaking player animosity. You may have an easier time preparing for game sessions at the cost of rebellious players going forward.

If you allow them to keep the characters they first chose, you must also embrace those characters. Continuing instead to resist those "monsters" as a DM will likely carry over to gameplay leaving it either sluggish and uninspired and/or cumbersome and restrictive; leaving the players feeling wrongly penalized for their choice.

So I would choose to embrace the situation as a learning experience for both me and the players. Try to find opportunities to make the adventure even more interesting and fun for this unorthodox party composition not only for the players but also for you as the DM. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade....as they say. Afterwards you will be a better DM for the experience and the players just might respect you even more for accepting the challenge.

Tell them the problem you are having with their multiple corner case choices and ask them to tone it down. If they don't, as the campaign hasn't started yet, restrict the numbers of Volo's choices to something acceptable and leave them to re-choose, based on the fact they thought their fun was more important than your extra work and effort.

I doubt they will be that selfish if you explain the situation however.

There's the problem; I wanted a more traditional party with a few oddballs; and I got all oddballs. Describing my concern, I pointed concept for the game was very Alliance, and the party is very Horde. You can't have a DM wanting Alliance and a group wanting Horde and have the two work in sync. The question would be; who bites the bullet? Is having the game I envisioned worth a group of disillusioned players, or is allowing my group to play what they want and be happy worth it enough for me to have to do so much extra work to run something I'm less enthused about?

 

[jayoungr]

Y'see, you want to play through a pre-defined story via an AP. That's what they are, lets face it, a pre-written story outline that the players get to fill in some blanks...but the story is already done.

Only if you let it be that. I'd describe it more as a thoroughly fleshed out scenario with provisions for some of the more likely approaches the average table will take.

 

[Staccat0]

"Okay okay we'll be Tieflings and dark elves instead"

 

[Pickles III]

There's the problem; I wanted a more traditional party with a few oddballs; and I got all oddballs. Describing my concern, I pointed concept for the game was very Alliance, and the party is very Horde. You can't have a DM wanting Alliance and a group wanting Horde and have the two work in sync. The question would be; who bites the bullet? Is having the game I envisioned worth a group of disillusioned players, or is allowing my group to play what they want and be happy worth it enough for me to have to do so much extra work to run something I'm less enthused about?

I'm very pro DM entitlement. I would offer what I am prepared to run & if noone want to play that after a bit of haggling then so be it. See if anyone else wants to offer something.

 

[CydKnight]

There's the problem; I wanted a more traditional party with a few oddballs; and I got all oddballs. Describing my concern, I pointed concept for the game was very Alliance, and the party is very Horde. You can't have a DM wanting Alliance and a group wanting Horde and have the two work in sync. The question would be; who bites the bullet? Is having the game I envisioned worth a group of disillusioned players, or is allowing my group to play what they want and be happy worth it enough for me to have to do so much extra work to run something I'm less enthused about?

If it were me, and I found that my apparent expectations for the adventure I created didn't appear to be in line with the players, I would call a session dedicated to hashing this out. It seems likely that the players didn't understand the direction you planned for the campaign and maybe if it is explained again with everyone's undivided attention it will become clearer to them. With that understanding maybe they will change their mind on what character they want to play. Maybe. Someone though, will inevitably want to stick to their original choice and will only deviate from it kicking and screaming.

If multiple players feel they are 'biting the bullet', it will effect the campaign directly or indirectly and the game won't be what you envisioned regardless. It may be better to save it for another time if the players won't budge enough on their character choices. This will mean either not playing at all or obtaining a new campaign that better fits the parties character choices. It is indeed more work, and may delay when you begin the campaign, but you will still have your first one for another time and maybe creating a new one last minute will spark something that hadn't been realized before.

 

[Charles Rampant]

It sounds like your best bet is to find something to replace chapter one. As I recall, the basic goal of that chapter is threefold:

1) Get them to level 5
2) Demonstrate that there is a Giant Problem
3) Give them some threads that lead out into the sandbox of the Sword Coast

(I'm not trying to dismiss it here - we could also say that the goals of Hoard of the Dragon Queen are similar, namely 'get to level 7, discover that the dragon cult is gathering treasure, get some connections and victories that allow greater adventures')

So the key is to replace this segment with something new. I'd suggest something left-field; how about using Skullport, which has a very serviceable 2e supplement on DMsGuild, as the starting town? It's a horrible dump of a place, but also one where anyone and everyone can be found, up to and including Mind Flayers. Have that be attacked by a Frost Giant longship that makes its way down the waterfall entrance, and the players can start out in a location that makes sense for their races and yet also ties into the adventure. I'd then have 'save the townsfolk', 'raid the rich guy's house while he's fleeing' and 'sink the Longboat while the Giants are wandering around the cavern' as things for the players to do. That sounds like two or three quick levels for sure, as well as letting the players decide how they stand on the moral scale. You then get them out into the world, perhaps with a mission to go speak to the Kingdom of Many Arrows and similarly interesting monster options (i.e. things that they couldn't do as an all-human party).

Like the 'diaspora' idea upthread, I think the most important thing to do is achieve the three points that I listed above, while also keeping your workload manageable, and letting the players have their weird races. After all, if it works, then this will be known as the campaign where everyone got to try out their bizarre monster race itch, meaning that next time around you should get a party mix which is a lot more subdued.