So, how do I start a Neverwinter Campaign?

[S'mon]

My copy of the Neverwinter Campaign Guide arrived on Tuesday, and I've been looking over it the past 2 days. It seems to be about half players'-side stuff, it has a lot of hooks, it has various NPC faction leaders detailed. It has what looks to be very sketchy area description stuff. It's nicely atmospheric. What it does not seem to have is any sort of "You start here" introduction...

I'm currently running an FRCG Loudwater campaign, the reason it is going well is that it gave me a clear intro point with the Loudwater stuff beginning with Raid on Loudwater, a linear intro scenario, two more single-encounter adventures (great idea, worked brilliant in play), and ideas for further adventures. A kind of V shaped approach, starting narrow and detailed, then getting vaguer as it opens out, inspiring me to start sandboxing. Personally I think this is an excellent design paradigm, certainly for my play style.

But I'm not seeing anything like this in Neverwinter. It doesn't even seem to have the sort of sample encounters that appear in eg the Underdark book. Without a starting point, I feel lost. Are there any adventures in eg Dungeon I could use? I could particularly do with stuff for ca mid-Heroic* play, but I guess low-Heroic can be powered up.

*I like the Heroic tier, but I think the designers of Neverwinter may have gone overboard in powering down everything a bit too much. Making the chief NPCs, the movers and shakers, ca 6th-7th level and not even Elite... would it have hurt to make them 10th level Elites? As written the stat blocks don't seem to fit the fluff text.

 

[Windjammer]

Last weekend's Gameday adventure was designed to serve that exact purpose - introduce the Neverwinter setting to new players. However, the reports I read said that it fell short of doing that. Allegedly, the module came across as rather generic (not even FR-specific) with a couple of nods to the setting tacked on here and there, but nothing much to really draw in the players.

Still, maybe you can retrieve that module or borrow it from a friend and import an idea here or there.

Other than that, I'd use the [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY38l4fORy0]MMO teaser[/ame] as an intro vid to my players, were I to start a campaign based on the Neverwinter book. (Which I'm not, at least not until I've read a glowing review from someone I trust.)

 

[S'mon]

We don't really seem to have Game Days and such in the UK, AFAICT, and the only store in London running Encounters is not even an RPG store, it's mostly Games Workshop stuff.

The video is nice, but it's the same 'atmospheric fluff' which seems to fill the Neverwinter Campaign Setting book. It's like a kind of 'style bible' for authors; all the stuff that was missing from eg the H-P-E module series is there in abundance. All the stuff that was actually *in* those modules - encounters, floorplans & such - is conspicuously absent.

I posted this request on rpgnet and got some useful feedback, which boiled down to 'reskin some existing modules'. I think maybe some stuff from the Dungeon Delve hardback might be best, since it has encounters & floorplans, but almost no fluff, while the NCG is full of fluff, but no encounters & floorplans...

 

[delericho]

What sort of campaign do you want? Mostly combat, mostly roleplay, mostly exploration, a combination of the above, or something else? Would you prefer sandbox-style or quest-driven? Do you want one BBEG, or multiple factions? Any ideas as to whom?

Do your players have any preferences? What characters do you have?

 

[Wednesday Boy]

I'd suggest having a party creation session where the players figure out how their characters know each other. Hopefully ideas for a campaign will arise as the players figure out why their characters (and hence their characters' factions) are working together.

For example if the players decide the PCs from Bregan D’aerthe were hired by the Harper Agent PCs to help keep Thay in check, you have the good foundation for an anti-Thay campaign. Or if all of the PCs come from different factions maybe they are their own guild and have infiltrated the other factions. And the campaign could be all about their guild taking control of the city.

BLUF: Have the players do the work for you!

 

[pedr]

We don't really seem to have Game Days and such in the UK, AFAICT, and the only store in London running Encounters is not even an RPG store, it's mostly Games Workshop stuff.

This is a tangent, but the Game Day ran at various places throughout the UK. I can't get at the list now, I don't think, but there were venues in the South East. I know it ran at Chaos City in St. Albans.

It's true that there's not been a good London venue for organised play of D&D for a while, and I don't know anything about Dark Sphere as a store, but at least it is running Encounters, which is great.

Here's the list of stores planning on running the current season of Encounters, for your info: D&D UK Blog

(I've not had a chance to read the new Neverwinter book so I can't actually help with your actual question, I'm afraid)

 

[S'mon]

What sort of campaign do you want? Mostly combat, mostly roleplay, mostly exploration, a combination of the above, or something else? Would you prefer sandbox-style or quest-driven? Do you want one BBEG, or multiple factions? Any ideas as to whom?

Do your players have any preferences? What characters do you have?

Well, I was thinking of having it follow on from my current Loudwater campaign (PCs 2nd level) somewhere around mid-Heroic Tier. I like a combination of factors, including 'matrix' type approach that mixes sandboxy + quests. I like a fight or 2 every 3-hour session, lots of roleplay, and some exploration & possibly intrigue.

Current game blog: Loudwater

Current PC group:
1. Dolf Dragonheart, Human male Paladin of Torm - Al (Defender)
2. Ashara, Genasi female Fire Mage Catherine (Controller)
3. Lirael Sirocco, Half-Elf female Ranger - Kimberly (Striker)
4. Esmerelda of Waterdeep, Half-Elf female Bard - James (Leader)
5. 'Drew' Girl-With-No-Name, Human Uthgardt female Druid - Damian (Leader)

 

[Rechan]

I'd suggest having a party creation session where the players figure out how their characters know each other. Hopefully ideas for a campaign will arise as the players figure out why their characters (and hence their characters' factions) are working together.

For example if the players decide the PCs from Bregan D’aerthe were hired by the Harper Agent PCs to help keep Thay in check, you have the good foundation for an anti-Thay campaign. Or if all of the PCs come from different factions maybe they are their own guild and have infiltrated the other factions. And the campaign could be all about their guild taking control of the city.

BLUF: Have the players do the work for you!

This is my suggestion. I generally start a campaign by getting the players to tell me what kind of campaign they want to play in. Since you know your setting, that's fine, but I'd still do the 'character creation together' thing. It's far more rewarding.

 

[delericho]

Well, I was thinking of having it follow on from my current Loudwater campaign (PCs 2nd level) somewhere around mid-Heroic Tier.

Okay, cool. I need to give a caveat at this time: I have not read the Neverwinter book, though I have watched the trailer.

I like a combination of factors, including 'matrix' type approach that mixes sandboxy + quests. I like a fight or 2 every 3-hour session, lots of roleplay, and some exploration & possibly intrigue.

Okay. Think post-apocalyptic. The trailer makes it clear that Neverwinter has suffered badly in the Spellplague and since.

Now, one of the major themes of post-apoc seems to be "community building" - the chance to make things better. So:

1) Identify a smallish starting community for the group. This may be Neverwinter as a whole, or it might be some part of it, depending on just how broken up the city is.

2) Identify the things that the community needs. Food? Fresh water? Security from predators? An end to the magical plague effects? Try to come up with half a dozen things.

3) Identify the factions that prevent access to these things, or that just pose a threat to the community. Maybe the bandits have access to the water supply. Maybe there's a local necromancer who keeps stealing dead bodies.

That should of course populate your sandbox, and also give you some easy starter quests. As for intrigue...

Current game blog: Loudwater

Current PC group:
1. Dolf Dragonheart, Human male Paladin of Torm - Al (Defender)
2. Ashara, Genasi female Fire Mage Catherine (Controller)
3. Lirael Sirocco, Half-Elf female Ranger - Kimberly (Striker)
4. Esmerelda of Waterdeep, Half-Elf female Bard - James (Leader)
5. 'Drew' Girl-With-No-Name, Human Uthgardt female Druid - Damian (Leader)

I would suggest starting the group with contacts amongst either (or both) the Church of Torm or the local Druid circle. Have them be the 'go-to' sources for starter quests, or for when the players don't have ideas of their own.

I would also seek to tie the PCs fairly quickly into the local political scene - have them do favours for the local lord/council, or whatever. Preferably have each of these patrons tie in to a different player, perhaps with one or two players 'unaligned'.

And then put the various patrons at odds. Perhaps the Church of Torm has chosen to site their graveyard in a region sacred to the druids. Perhaps the local lord has fallen out with the high priest. And, of course, all of these factions should have some sort of corrupt elements within.

And there it is.

Oh, one more rule of thumb I find useful when creating campaigns of this sort: "The PCs are rock stars." That is, the PCs very quickly become known and loved in the setting (even if they're loved for throwing TVs out of windows, or other outrageous acts). So don't tie them down with mundane nonsense, but do surround them with groupies, venal managers, corrupt would-be agents, and all the like.

Anyway, I hope that helps. Sorry I can't be more specific; as I said, I haven't read the book.

 

[Zaran]

I would ask for background stories and then see if any mesh with the setting. That would probably generate some ideas for you. Or just pick a town and make a dungeon nearby and use the maps as a backdrop. It will eventually tie in with your campaign.