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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Keith Robinson" data-source="post: 6774335" data-attributes="member: 21330">Some initial thoughts on getting Curse of the Crimson Throne started.The campaign starts with the PCs going after a local hoodlam, Gadren Lamm.  While they do so, the city erupts into violence with the death of the King.  This opening scenario creates something of a problem for the DM, as the opening section itself isn't very long and is likely to be dealt with by the PCs in the course of hours, which makes the eruption of violence seem rather forced and unrealistic.I dealt with this by making some initial changes.  Instead of having the PCs go directly to the Old Fishery, I instead had them scout out a local market where Lamm's pick-pockets were known to be operating.  After picking out the young urchins, they then followed them to a hide-out where there were a couple of Lamm's thugs.  I used this opening not only to set up the first encounters with Lamm's gang, but also to start introducing the notion of the impending violence.  Regular Spot checks revealed columns of smoke appearing from distant parts of the city.  At first it was little more than probably a house fire, but as they progressed first with this encounter and then with their journey to the Old Fishery, with more fires breaking out, it was clear to the PCs that something was already amiss.  By the time they had dealt with Lamm and returned to the city streets, the mayhem seemed far more organic and more in-keeping with the PCs expectations.For any DMs, setting the seeds of the forthcoming anarchy before the PCs actually enter the Old Fishery makes for a much better flow to the story.  Of course, you need to make sure that the focus is on Lamm (you don't particularly want them wandering off at this point, though if they do it would be a good opportunity to just keep building up the sense of tension) so there shouldn't be anything too explicit - but a little bit of planning in this opening section goes quite a long way to helping the AP get going.</blockquote>

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