Level of the adventure

[JoeyD473]

My Vote is level 1-3. A good starting point and leaves us more room to continue down a path of adventures if we choose to after this one

[Korash]

Yeah.....I have to go with the 1-3 level for the first adventure. I don't think that we need to restrict ourselves to just putting up ideas for THIS module...most of the ideas that I have read could easily spin off into another adventure, and a few cases of foreshadowing couldn't hurt future modules IMO.

[Ascension]

My main thought is - "why would a king hire a bunch of noobs to go get his super-item back"? If I were a king I'd hire the best I could get, even if from a different country. So I was thinking about a plot twist...what if these guys were hired by the evil uncle to go and botch things up and basically ensure that they would die and the cup would remain lost so that he could become the new king. If that's too much then I say let's hold on to the cup-recovery for a higher level. Since we want these guys to go do something at a caravan why not just have them go round up some ne'er-do-well gypsies and question them or bring them back for questioning? This is an intro-level thing and a priceless artifact like that sounds more in line with higher-up characters. My two cents, shrug.

[jtougas]

Very good point (that I'm slightly disturbed that I missed) I think there are a couple ways to go.

1.We leave this for a higher level adventure (like Ascension suggests)
2. We tie this in with a longer series of adventures where the low level characters do low level things such as information gathering and questioning and general orc bashing and such. In the meantime the cup is stolen the evil uncle has a sip at the solstice the god has a laugh and *poof* new king. and of course the kingdom goes to hell as the new king spends all the money and kills all the dissenters. This would lead to a natural "epic" level adventure (at some point) as the PCs recover the cup (hidden away by the king to only be seen during the solstice) and revert the kingdom back to it's natural state. With the (now) child king at a reasonable age to take the throne.

I would be ok with either version

[ravells]

My main thought is - "why would a king hire a bunch of noobs to go get his super-item back"?

Maybe the existing heroes are all 'known' faces and it would take too long to get someone from a new country in?

[Steel General]

I went with 4th level due to what I believe is 'increased flexibility'...meaning, you can throw slightly tougher critters at the group without them getting squashed, but the low-level beasties can still be a challenge.

[rdanhenry]

I'm not sure levels is a good way of asking this. Even sticking to D&D, level powers shifted between editions. Between different games, the gaps is wider. Then again, if it gets stats for Fantasy HERO, GURPS, or BRP, none of those games have levels. A more generic description might be in order.

There's also the possibility of creating a caravan with plots for different levels or interests of characters. Since caravans are recurrent events, the same module could be reusable, using a different set of options to create a new experience and additional challenges.

[Jaxilon]

@rdanhenry - You get what I was thinking when I mentioned using a Caravan in the first place. What you call 'options' I was calling 'chapters' which anyone of us could create and it would become a possible choice for the GM.

Originally, I was thinking more along the lines of (most of these are just made up on the fly):

Chapter 1 - "The King's Cup"

<the main adventure we are currently working on>

Chapter 2 - "A Marriage alliance?"

A princess is being escorted to her new husband to be. Against her will? She along with one of her Guards vanish in the night. Was she abducted? Did she make a run for it with the man of her dreams? Who will track them down or will the savage tribes of the land find them first?

.
.
.
Chapter 7 - "Of Herb's and Herbalism"

In this option there is a group of Herb collectors that travel with the caravan pawning their wares from town to town. Along the way they forage wherever they can to supplement their stock. Unfortunately, one of them was bitten during one of these forest forays by a strange wolf. He has now become a werewolf and as one by one members of the caravan come to a nasty end it falls upon the party to somehow stop the Caravan of carnage. ...

Chapter 8 - "The Theives of Greenwood"

The Caravan is robed by men of the forest..whatever..

And so on and on with each section having it's own encounter maps and such. Thus, when a GM sat down to plan out a gaming session he or she could just add in as many as they want and basically leave it up to the PC's to choose what they wish to do. Of course, it's always nice to have an overall story that fills the main flow of the game but this would be a great supplement in my opinion for almost any GM. And if things were going stale they can always have a new group (aka "chapter") join at the next town. Some chapters could be quite challenging and used at the GM's discretion based upon the PC strengths. How about, "Chapter 12" - "Dragon Roast" :O


Almost anyone's ideas could be incorporated but the problem is, this could become a HUGE supplement.

[jtougas]

Ouch..my head hurts..too many ideas.. I love the supplement idea Jax as it gives the GMs the most freedom.

[rdanhenry]

One thing that a variety of plot hooks, characters, and situations offers is a clear reason to choose the PCs for the Cup of Kings mission: integrate them into the caravan first. Have them do some of the lesser adventures related to the caravan, have at least one of them have a connection to the steward (or whichever NPC you want to have get them involved with the plot), and they become the natural choice of agents because they don't have to be introduced into the caravan at a time the opposition will be watchful for new additions.