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Message: <blockquote data-quote="exile" data-source="post: 1875936" data-attributes="member: 20068">I ran the first arc of what will hopefully be a recurring campaign for my group during the first four weeks of August. I went out of my way to get the players to work with me to create backgrounds for their characters; I was more successful with some than with others.The game was set in a lower magic version of the Forgotten Realms with a healthy injection of pulp action and Lovecraftian horror.The party consisted of...a dwarven necromancer (who also happened to be a spellfire wielder and serial killer)an elven thief (who happened to be hideously deformed from a magical explosion on a ship)a human druid (who wanted desparately to be a wild elf)a wild elf cleric (who didn't give me much background to work with)a half-elf ranger (who similarly lacked backstory)a human cleric of Tempus (who had fled north following an illegal tryst with a merchant's underage daughter)a human sorcerer (who happened to tap the shadow weave for his magical abilities)a drow fighter (who was light on backstory)a half-orc fighter spawned of a loving marriage (who happened to know some local caravaneers)a dwarven barbarian (who was only present for the final session of the story arc and lacked backstory)The principle plot of the campaign revolved around the PCs investigating the delay of a caravan that was due to arrive in Sundabar a day prior to teh start of the campaign (in time for Midsummer). Each of the PCs was assigned a different reason for investigating the delay. Thus each had different information about the caravan and the nature of its cargo (which happened to be a library stolen from an evil wizard's tower by adventurers who owned the caravan).The necromancer sought to investigate the caravan because he knew the books had previously belonged to his master (the evil wizard they had been stolen from). The cleric of Tempus investigated teh caravan's delay as civic duty. The sorcerer was tipped off by a "shadowy figure" that the caravan carried arcane texts which would serve him well. The half-orc went as a favor to hsi father (who had previously been a member of teh adventuring party that stole the books and was transporting them). Basically each had their own reasons for investigating the caravan's delay or seeking to recover the books it carried.When they came upon the wreck of the caravan, they could tell by Tracking that it had been raided by both a group of goblins and a group of orcs. They went separate directions, the orcs taking the books, the goblins taking human prisoners. Because they each had different reasons for investigating the caravan, much dispute as to which way to go followed. Ultimately, it was decided to pursue the goblins first. Outside the goblin lair, the PCs met a wizard who the sorcerer happened to know (they had had a common mentor in dealings with the shadow weave); the wizard explained that he had come to the lair hunting a witch who had taken up with goblins. The truth being that the witch was really a frightened young girl who had seen her mother lynched by this wizard and his cronies. Of course the party's sorcerer struck a deal to help the wizard capture the girl if he would lend his assistance against the goblins. When the party finally encountered the witch, the party's druid realized that said witch was the daughter of one of her friends. Again, much debate ensued.Here I also introduced another subplot. The underage girl (who was now barely of age) whose father had run the cleric of Tempus out of Amn happened to be a captive of the goblins. After she was freed, she slapped him angrily and chided him for leaving her "after all, I could have been pregnant", which the cleric interpreted as "I am pregnant".Yet another use of character backstory occured when the party found the first of the lost books. After reading a message scrawled in the front cover, the dwarven necromancer discovered that his master was actually the pupil of a lich which had destroyed the dwarf's ancestral home. Ah, the drama.Enough for now. Time for Indian buffet. Mmm, good.Chad</blockquote>

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