Adventure Start Now - Campaign Diary: Archipelago Adventures - Pt. 37
How does one begin an adventure? This is one of those questions that can make a DM pull their hair out or stay up all night stressing out about.
Sure, we have the generic: You meet in a tavern… and while it is generic, its generic for a reason. It works. Its sturdy. It does what it says on the tin. It’s even comfortable, and gives the characters a chance to describe themselves in a relaxed way… though, what’s the catalyst?
Then again, sometimes you want to mix things up. What are some other beginnings? Well, we have regaining consciousness on a wagon as you and your party are being taken to prison. I blame skyrim for that one, though maybe it’s always been around.
"Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”
Another goodie that I’ve seen used a lot less is that the characters start in the middle of a fight with some sort of army of kobolds or goblins or orcs or what not. Which, personally, is one of my favorites… but I also really like combat a lot so… I might be a bit bias. It has a huge catalyst and is a way to throw the party together without all that awkward “well, I guess I’ll go on this quest with you.” Been there, didn’t really care for it.
Introductions
So what do we do?
I like an idea I just had while making a Cauliflower Bowl… Did I mention I’m a horrible millenial?
What if we created an opening scenario of our characters in the office of the Captain of the Guard who is giving them a job to do. We keep the familiarity of the tavern, but replace it with a bit of forced RPing from all sides. BUT! We throw something else in there. When we open up the 1st session, we should also have some sort of catalyst. What brought our wouldbe heroes to this point?
Imagine the normal start up for a game:
DM: We begin with everyone sitting on hard chairs in the offices of Captain Malosi, in front of you is the man, his stern face expressionless as he studies each and every one of you. His gaze first turns to Krista’s character, Bojangles the Druid.
Krista? Can you describe Bojangles the Druid?
Krista: Bojangles is wearing all black and has a hood pulled low over her head and is refusing to make eye contact.
DM: Alright… are you wearing anything? What do you look like?
Krista: I’m wearing all black. You can’t see what I look like because I have my hood up.
DM: ……
Krista: …..
DM: Ok, thank you Krista. Captain Malosi then turns his gaze to Caleb’s character, Belac the Stronk. Caleb, what does Belac look like?
Caleb: Is there anything to steal?
DM: I uh… what?
Caleb: I want to steal something. Is there something to steal? I’m going to roll Sleight of Hand to steal something. Rolls d20 I got a 20! I steal his wife! and his puppy! and the clothes he is wearing! You have to let me because I got a natural 20!
DM:
Obviously, this is a bit ridiculous for this situation and I’d like to think that most tables aren’t like this. Then again… Bojangles is a good name for a druid…
Now the Idea
So what is my real idea? What if we took the scene from above, but spiced it up while also taking the characters into account. Let’s not put the players on the spot because certain players like Belac will just fuck things up for everyone.
Let’s revisit that situation, but change things up for a better beginning.
DM: We begin with everyone sitting on hard chairs in the offices of Captain Malosi, in front of you is the man, his stern face expressionless as he studies each and every one of you. His gaze first turns to Krista’s character, Bojangles the Druid.
We are taken back to crowded street with several guards crying out commands to stop. A woman in dark clothes with her hood pulled up-
Krista: It’s really up! You can’t see anything!
DM: sigh… Her hood is pulled up a lot so much so you can’t see anything.
As she is running through the streets, she is quickly scrambling through the crowd until she trips on a loose cobblestone and the guards catch up to her, grabbing her arms and slamming iron shackles on to her wrists. One of them leans in close and she can smell lemon on his breath, “It’s the ropes for you poppet.” The scene fades as she is pulled through the crowd towards the gallows located along the wall.
Captain Malosi then shifts his eyes to Caleb’s character, Belac the Stronk.
A new scene appears where Belac is being blasted by yells and jeering. Before him is a massive goliath that most would mistake for a young giant. They are trading blows, and blood is being sprayed across the crowd. As Belac slams his fist into the baby giant, the stomach wrenching sound of crunched cartilage greets his ears and the goliath falls backward, not even attempting to stop its fall as it slams into the ground.
Caleb: I tea-bag him!
DM: Before you get a chance to get over to him, the crowd lets out a massive groan with a few yelling whoops. One figure breaks off from the crowd, and quickly approaches you. He offers you a job, well paying and all you have to do is show up to the offices of Captain Malosi. Seeing as how you are low on coins, the offer interests you.
Now, back in the Captain’s office, we see him turn his gaze to the next one sitting on one of the hard, wooden chairs. Bob the Dragonborn… sigh.
Players disappoint me even when they aren’t real… I wonder what that says about me? Probably nothing good, so let’s move on!
Creating Stories
So that’s the general idea I have for starting this adventure. We meet in the office of the captain of the guard who is going to tell the players about their first quest, but we are going to set it up by introducing the characters in an interesting way that is more than putting players on the spot to describe their characters, plus it can help establish character’s for who, and what, they are without pulling teeth.
Now, how does that translate to an adventure? Especially for something that would hopefully be typed up and presented to eager DM’s interested in running a game but have no idea about this blog or why Stephen might have strange hang ups on players.
The next part of this will be me writing that section up, so… enjoy?
Beginning this Adventure
This adventure begins in the utilitarian offices of Captain Malosi who has gathered the best adventurers he could find to take on a quest for him. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, he has found few adventuering parties in the city of U’amea and has scraped together a band of creatures he hopes can help him with his problem. The opening passage to be read to the players should not be taken as the exact phrasing, and you should adopt it to your players.
Furthermore, you should discuss with your players individually, or in groups if they wish to meet before the adventure begins, as to how they wound up in Captain Malosi’s office. This could include that they were taken from the gallows and they agreed to do a job in exchange for being free, or it could just be that Captain Malosi heard that an adventurer had just stepped off a boat this morning and is desparate enough to hire newcomers to U’amea.
Regardless of the reason, when you describe the opening scene, you should include a description of how the characters were approached by the Captain or their relationship to the guard and the city at large. This provides a way for the players to learn about each other’s characters and provide a way for the party to be together as a group for this first adventure.
Examples
Here are a few examples for an opening description:
DM reads this part:
We begin with everyone sitting on hard chairs in the offices of Captain Malosi, in front of you is the man, his stern face expressionless as he studies each and every one of you. His gaze first turns to a young human female known as Zev.Beneath the city’s iron walls are the gallows, and in one of those cells is Zev… slowly dragging a small tin cup across the bars in front of her. There is a man in front of her who looks a bit apprehensive, as if he is worried that he might be leaving the gallows with bad news. He twitches every time Zev continues rattling the bars.
“So you’ll do it then” He asks nervously, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Zev nods slowly, and he breaks out in a grin. “Great! The captain will be happy to hear! Though… We won’t be able to let you leave early… can’t risk you going back on the deal! I’ll be back in 2 hours to bring you to Malosi!” The young man then quickly walks down the stone walkway, out of sight.
After Malosi studies Zev’s face, he turns his attention to an odd halfling, almost bouncing in his seat with giddiness.
As Olwin had never been on a ship before, this was an exciting time for him! He had just sailed across the sea on a massive ship, and was now sampling all the sights that U’amea has to offer. From the massive walls of iron, to the statues of long forgotten adventurers to the exotic foods that many of the locals called squid. It had been an exciting day, and he was really starting to like the idea of vacations when he was approaced by a young man dressed in a sharp uniform. The fella seemed to want Olwin to meet with the Captain of the Guard who was in need of powerful magic users… well, Olwin was never one to say no to new adventurers and quickly agreed to at least listen to what the man had to say.
Character Introductions
Character introductions should be concise, but express the personality of the characters. If one of your players is playing a powerful barbarian, you can tell their story as if they were in a fighting rink and one of the guards were impressed with their displays of strength. Or maybe one of the characters is a renown detective, and we visit them as they are investigating a crime at the docks.
Regardless of what your players choose to play, for whatever reason U’amea must rely on them to help out the city, and Captain Malosi might be thrilled with the adventurers that his guards found… or maybe depressed that his city could only dretch up crooks from the gallows.
The Adventure
Our adventure begins in Captain Malosi’s office, and he needs the party to investigate a strange cave a few miles North of town. There have been reports of small ships flying strange flaps slipping into a cave, and he is worried that pirates might be planning something sinister… or it could just be smugglers using an old cave to hide cheap booze.
And that’s all we are going to do for this blog. Hopefully you can leave here with new ideas on how you might start an adventure, and maybe my idea is complete crap. But that’s fine, because I’m writing this blog and my only consultant weighs about 18 pounds and is covered in fur… and she likes all my ideas because I feed her.
