D&D 5E Running Rime of the Frost Maiden

[Reynard]

If you want the knucklehead to bite the hook you need to make the bait look interesting.

Well, ostensibly the knucklehead doesn't want to get in the boat, but that's the whole reason the player showed up.

As a GM, I am adamant that players need to create characters that want to engage in the adventure/campaign at hand. I do not want PCs that refuse to work with the group or have personalities and backgrounds that drive them away from the adventure. It immediately throws up a red flag for me. Players like that view the game as about them, individually, and the story they want to tell about their character being more important than the game and group as a whole. I don't even like it when players create their PCs in isolation. I want a session 0 with everyone talking about their characters, both roleplaying wise and mechanics wise. Again, it is a group activity and everyone is responsible for supporting and contributing to everyone else's fun and the success of the game as a whole.

 

[Reynard]

On topic: Do we need player character secrets?

I am not convinced we do. I need to read the material more in depth but I am being hard pressed to see what benefit it will have that outweighs the likelihood of it creating intraparty conflict.

 

[jayoungr]

How terribly pessimistic.

What do you mean?

 

[MarkB]

On topic: Do we need player character secrets?

I am not convinced we do. I need to read the material more in depth but I am being hard pressed to see what benefit it will have that outweighs the likelihood of it creating intraparty conflict.

Yeah, I'm still figuring that out. It's mentioned that some of the adventures contain suggested triggers for some secrets, but without scouring through all of them in depth it's hard to tell how well they'll work out.

I don't feel like they're something that can last through the majority of the campaign. The players who patch into them will probably do something with them within the first few adventures, and the others will probably forget they have them after awhile.

 

[Reynard]

What do you mean?

I was just joking about the certainty that we will have to "enhance" it. That word carries some negative implications, is all.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Having read a bit further, Easthaven has a couple of events that could serve to bring the PCs together: a séance and a public execution. It looks like the best bet for a starting town to me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

On topic: Do we need player character secrets?

No, it's presented as entirely optional.

I am not convinced we do. I need to read the material more in depth but I am being hard pressed to see what benefit it will have that outweighs the likelihood of it creating intraparty conflict.

It depends on what kind of game you play. At our table character secrets are common, because otherwise they are just too nice to each other...

 

[Reynard]

Having read a bit further, Easthaven has a couple of events that could serve to bring the PCs together: a séance and a public execution. It looks like the best bet for a starting town to me.

I figure the PCs will be from around the area -- again, so different PCs will know different NPCs in different towns to make the transition to adventure easy in those place -- and that they will know each other in their travels etc... I haven't decided on an instigating even yet, but since I am starting off at 3rd level (my players want the survivability and completeness of character concept that comes with that) it doesn't have to be one of the two starting quests.

Relatedly, I do plan on counting XP rather than milestone leveling with this one, since it is a nice open world with lots of things to do. Even though we are starting at 3rd, I am going to make them earn all the "back XP" before advancing to 4th. They will get to feel competent while they clear the rats out of old ladies' cellars.

 

[jasper]

If you want the knucklehead to bite the hook you need to make the bait look interesting.

haaaa. Then the knucklehead can stay in his small pond never leveling never going on an adventurer. Dying of old age to feed the other fishes.

 

[Burnside]

On topic: Do we need player character secrets?

I am not convinced we do. I need to read the material more in depth but I am being hard pressed to see what benefit it will have that outweighs the likelihood of it creating intraparty conflict.

You don't need them, but some of them do provide solid story hooks that tie into NPCs, locations, or quests. Others are just cool. Despite the hype, none of them are actually likely to turn party members against each other in any long-term way.