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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zinovia" data-source="post: 5474044" data-attributes="member: 57373">While they are inside Castle Korstul the characters in my game will experience a vision of events that happened the night of Coaltongue's assassination.  It will play out as a vignette, with each of the characters taking the part of Coaltongue's guards.  They will have a chance to talk to him and learn more of the background and what happened that night.  This idea was inspired by the great prologue from the 4E Campaign Guide.  I wanted to get this material out of the DM background information and into the hands of the players.Modules all too often fail to provide a means for the players to learn the backstory, even if the information is written up for the GM.  An example of this is Kalarel in Keep on the Shadowfell.  The DM knows who he is and what he's up to.  The characters in the game have no way to learn any of that.  They meet him for the first time in the climactic finale.  WotBS is much better about this, but there is room for improvement.  The story of Coaltongue and Leska would go unheard by the players without some intervention by the DM.The stories are why we are playing this series rather than a dungeon crawl.  Make it easier to get the meat of the story out where the players can experience it.  This can be a Deckard Cain (Diablo game) type figure who tells them a story of the past, ancient documents or a journal they discover.  It could be visions of events from long ago or far away, as you have in adventure 7.  It is important to make sure the players learn the story, otherwise why have it?  That's what we're here for.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Clear plot overview for the GM</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Updates on how the story has progressed with each module</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">1-2 page outline of the events of each module so the DM has a clear understanding of what is happening and any major story objectives the group is expected to achieve.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How NPC's are tied to the story and the consequences of removing or changing them</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Clear timeline of major historical events for DM reference</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dramatis Personae of important NPC's</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Vignettes, visions, books, storytellers, or other means of communicating backstory to players.  The Conveniently Relevant News Channel works for more modern games.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Suggestions for when the players go off the rails detailing which events to keep for story purposes and foreshadowing and which can be discarded if the PC's refuse to do what the module expects them to (which always happens).  An outline covers a lot of this, and WotBS already includes some suggestions along these lines.</li> </ul>WotBS is an epic adventure with a complex story.  We have enjoyed playing it, and would like to see your future adventure paths be even better.</blockquote>

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