So I’m in the middle of crafting the starting encounter for a campaign which takes place in the middle of a festival on a coastal town. During the festival the BBEG (who is WAAAAAAAY above the players capabilities) will be doing battle with another group of heroes (local heroes of legend… NPCs who could just as easily be high level characters from another campaign on their final encounter with the big bad).
What I envision for the encounter is basically a combination of “save the festival goers from being part of the collateral damage from the epic battle going on” while also engaging in combat with minions of the BBEG that are more their lower level speed. Depending on who they save they will receive different boons. “You saved the blacksmith and his family. Choose a weapon from this list.” “You prevented the orphanage from being brined to the ground. The greatful cleric that runs it gives you an amulet that has X healing charges per days” sort of thing.
It’s my intent to have the big bad win, the heroes of legend basically die and the PCs essentially taking up the mantle to fix the fallout as the call to adventure for the campaign.
My concern is that PCs have an annoying tendency to try to bite off more than they can chew and if they do it here they will straight up tpk. Do any of you have any advice on how best to avoid players sending their level 3 characters into certain doom without being too railroady or do I just turn on the FAFO sign and let the chips fall where they may? I’m not squeamish about PKs but I also really don’t like having them in session one while players are still figuring out their characters.
submitted by /u/waxlion78
[link] [comments]
r/DnD So I’m in the middle of crafting the starting encounter for a campaign which takes place in the middle of a festival on a coastal town. During the festival the BBEG (who is WAAAAAAAY above the players capabilities) will be doing battle with another group of heroes (local heroes of legend… NPCs who could just as easily be high level characters from another campaign on their final encounter with the big bad). What I envision for the encounter is basically a combination of “save the festival goers from being part of the collateral damage from the epic battle going on” while also engaging in combat with minions of the BBEG that are more their lower level speed. Depending on who they save they will receive different boons. “You saved the blacksmith and his family. Choose a weapon from this list.” “You prevented the orphanage from being brined to the ground. The greatful cleric that runs it gives you an amulet that has X healing charges per days” sort of thing. It’s my intent to have the big bad win, the heroes of legend basically die and the PCs essentially taking up the mantle to fix the fallout as the call to adventure for the campaign. My concern is that PCs have an annoying tendency to try to bite off more than they can chew and if they do it here they will straight up tpk. Do any of you have any advice on how best to avoid players sending their level 3 characters into certain doom without being too railroady or do I just turn on the FAFO sign and let the chips fall where they may? I’m not squeamish about PKs but I also really don’t like having them in session one while players are still figuring out their characters. submitted by /u/waxlion78 [link] [comments]
So I’m in the middle of crafting the starting encounter for a campaign which takes place in the middle of a festival on a coastal town. During the festival the BBEG (who is WAAAAAAAY above the players capabilities) will be doing battle with another group of heroes (local heroes of legend… NPCs who could just as easily be high level characters from another campaign on their final encounter with the big bad).
What I envision for the encounter is basically a combination of “save the festival goers from being part of the collateral damage from the epic battle going on” while also engaging in combat with minions of the BBEG that are more their lower level speed. Depending on who they save they will receive different boons. “You saved the blacksmith and his family. Choose a weapon from this list.” “You prevented the orphanage from being brined to the ground. The greatful cleric that runs it gives you an amulet that has X healing charges per days” sort of thing.
It’s my intent to have the big bad win, the heroes of legend basically die and the PCs essentially taking up the mantle to fix the fallout as the call to adventure for the campaign.
My concern is that PCs have an annoying tendency to try to bite off more than they can chew and if they do it here they will straight up tpk. Do any of you have any advice on how best to avoid players sending their level 3 characters into certain doom without being too railroady or do I just turn on the FAFO sign and let the chips fall where they may? I’m not squeamish about PKs but I also really don’t like having them in session one while players are still figuring out their characters.
submitted by /u/waxlion78
[link] [comments]