Welcome to the Caravan Adventure Forum

[jtougas]

Sounds good. I like the names as well. I think we should go with this and start writing the actual encounters. The first being the initial encounter in the Market (?) during the festival (?)

[geamon]

That sounds much more suitable when summarized that way as a level 1 adventure. As for a encounter at the festival I'm a fan of having an option of getting the PCs caught in prison and being set free by the steward on proviso of them completing the quest. I've been silent for the preliminary writing because I just wanna do the encounter/interior mapping. I do have a street map sorta already in WIP step to experiment I've never posted, if interested I can throw it up.

[industrygothica]

A street brawl followed by a skill challenge to stay out of jail sounds great. Pass the challenge to convince the watch not to take you to jail; fail, and it's off to the stony lonesome for you! Maybe it'll cost them a few coppers to get out, but either way the steward should be impressed at their skill and want to hire them.

[jtougas]

That sounds much more suitable when summarized that way as a level 1 adventure. As for a encounter at the festival I'm a fan of having an option of getting the PCs caught in prison and being set free by the steward on proviso of them completing the quest. I've been silent for the preliminary writing because I just wanna do the encounter/interior mapping. I do have a street map sorta already in WIP step to experiment I've never posted, if interested I can throw it up.

That would work but IMO it's a little like "You sit at a table in the tavern and a man approaches and says "I have a job for you.." although if they are already in jail it would make interrogating the thief a natural next step.

[Jaxilon]

It's a festival, why not allow the PCs to join some events that give to their strengths and thus make a bit of a reputation in the city, maybe some coin, as well as allow them to do some mock combats which if this is for level 1 characters they need the practice anyway?

If you want to have the street brawl break out that evening or something why not?

[tilt]

I'm with Jax - I don't think the adventurers going against the law (willingly or unwillingly) would be prudent since they should be hired by the steward - however luring them to compete in some games for a good reward and a nice trophy would catch the stewards eye if he just "happened" to be there for that/those event(s).
Maybe the "troubleshooters" the steward would normally use are out investigating some rumours of trouble near the borders (which is really a setup for a later scenario).

[jfrazierjr]

That's why I was saying that you have to have a rightful claim to a legitimate title for it to be effective. Otherwise, it's just a cup. If the cup isn't going to be part of this adventure, then why bother statting it out at all? For that matter, why bother mentioning it all? If the caravan owners are the ones who hired the PCs, and the caravan owners don't know about the cup, it'd make sense that the PCs wouldn't know about the cup. Hence, they wouldn't know to look for it with the loot collected by the bandits.
-IG

I agree. If the cup is not mentioned, the PC's won't know it is missing. If the steward hired the PC's then why if he is not going to tell them what to look for? Perhaps, after the loot has been re-acquired(minus the cup and/or it's container), the steward hears about the "rescue" and knowing the cup was on the caravan(tortured thief or something like that) that he just found out about say today... he then asks for the PC's to his chambers. This would make "a" perfect break point for this adventure to end. It both completes one quest while at the same time opening up another. Note that the PC's do not have to find the cup right away(ie, they need clues as to it's whereabouts and thus may try to find word on the street as to where or to whom it was supposed to be delivered.

This could introduce the plant in the caravan, otherwise there how would anyone know to retrieve it from it's hiding place? Perhaps when the bandits attacked, the took everything visible, the caravan people went back to the city(forced by the bandits) and left the wagons. The PC's then go BACK to the wagons to try to find the Cup, find the hiding place, but the cup is no longer there(optionally being attacked by some XXXXX who were leaving and now have the cup. Where XXXXX is your non human bad guy tribe with their own "king") Note that if we stop the adventure after the caravan loot has been retrieved (either before or after the talk with the steward), we don't have to know now what the next adventure will be in detail, just an idea of what it is. There are plenty of things that can happen from here such as attacks my the thieves guild (based upon orders, just because they don't want anyone interfering, or perhaps because of the snooping of the PC's trying to find out information)

[Jaxilon]

I thought we had this sorted out already but,,.

If it was my game I think I would like for the party to catch up with the Caravan, start to integrate with it, getting to know a few of it's members around the campfire. Perhaps some wild stories of raids they faced back in the day in while driving through the hills of the Screaming banshees or something (just stories add a little stress to the party). Perhaps have some petty tasks one or another of the Caravaners needs done like settling some petty issue as they gradually zero in on the correct wagon to search. (Perhaps by a series of thiefly searches during the night). Maybe they can only search a couple wagons per night. Somehow, before they get to the correct wagon an ambush takes place ending with a stolen wagon racing off full speed into the wilderness. The Caravan's situation is dire and the PCs have to decide to stay with the Caravan to save the lives of those under attack or let them fend for themselves. After repelling the rest of the raiders the party is tasked with going after the wagon (if instead they leave the Caravan to die and go after the racing wagon I would have a number of wagons subsequently stolen and have the Cup on the second or third wagon taken). Now they have to track down each one and they have to live with allowing the friendly folks of the Caravan die.

Eventually, they will follow the wagon trail to it's end and find A wagon at the bottom of a ravine smashed to bits along with a couple dead horses. It should be obvious as they check the ruined wagon that there was a hidden compartment in the undercarriage and that it busted open during the crash. Whatever (as if we don't know) was inside has been taken.

This would then lead a hunt for the hostiles and the cup. In my mind it ends at an underground lair.


That's just what I see in my mind if I was doing this for myself and my friends. I'm not trying to change anything but I thought we were pretty close to this scenario.

[industrygothica]

Seems like we're going full circle. We need to pick a finalized outline and stick with it. Tilt?

[jtougas]

Seems like we're going full circle. We need to pick a finalized outline and stick with it. Tilt?

I agree. We should finalize the outline so we can start on the encounters. I have no ego here just so everybody knows. It's been quite a few years since I've written anything that has to make sense in a game environment (mostly everything I've written is short story fiction that I can bend to whatever I need) so whatever makes the most sense for a game and will be interesting to the purchaser is fine with me. I'm just glad to help. Oh and thanks for the rep IG