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New DM, having a few problems

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Wed, 2008-10-22 16:29
#1
Evil
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New DM, having a few problems

Hi! I'm a PS fan for the last 3 years or so, but I only got my chance to DM a serious, what I hope will be a long running campaign for the first time only now.

And being fairly unexperinced with starting a new campaign for mostly first time PS players, I got myself in a bit of a trouble, I think.

Hoping you can give advise to a fellow cutter, heres how things got messed up.

I told my players that, since this was PS, they could choose any race or class they want. I planned the party to be all planar with maybe a clueless. Letting them choose diverse races would get them to warm up with the setting faster, I hoped.

But then I noticed that my PCs didn't know about Sigil, and there was no way they could roleplay experienced planar planewalkers (without me having to bump in at every turn or lead them thorugh the nose).

So I told them - well, they are all primes now. Now I have a prime adventuring party of:

- Air Genasi Rouge 4 CN - Fire Genasi Evoker 4 NG - Aasimar Druid 4 TN (I warned, but inexperienced player wouldn't listen) - Companion: bear. - Elf Bard 5 CG

 I guess you get the picture now. Aside from the question of how such a party got formed on the prime, I am also faced with the difficulty of finding these people a solid reason to stay in Sigil. (Druids companion is already in a catatonic state.)  We'll have a new addition to the party soon, hopefully a fighter. Another newbie. Chances are, he won't be human either. Here's a question, how can I handle this party? Is it common in your games?

Aside from those, how do you handle Druids in the planes? How are their caster levels effected from plane to plane? How about spell keys? I may have missed the source on that, if there is one.

Thanks

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Wed, 2008-10-22 17:44
#2
Zimrazim
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Evil wrote: So I told them

Evil wrote:
So I told them - well, they are all primes now. Now I have a prime adventuring party of:

- Air Genasi Rouge 4 CN - Fire Genasi Evoker 4 NG - Aasimar Druid 4 TN (I warned, but inexperienced player wouldn't listen) - Companion: bear. - Elf Bard 5 CG

I guess you get the picture now. Aside from the question of how such a party got formed on the prime, I am also faced with the difficulty of finding these people a solid reason to stay in Sigil. (Druids companion is already in a catatonic state.) We'll have a new addition to the party soon, hopefully a fighter. Another newbie. Chances are, he won't be human either. Here's a question, how can I handle this party? Is it common in your games?

Aside from those, how do you handle Druids in the planes? How are their caster levels effected from plane to plane? How about spell keys? I may have missed the source on that, if there is one.

Thanks

There actually are a few druid-friendly areas in Sigil. (Consider the number of Upper Planar, elven, and other tree-hugging visitors to Sigil.) Parks, woodland-themed taverns, and the like. Perhaps the druid can visit one of these places (perhaps by having a tout help him out) and find Bear a happy home while he's in town.

As for how the party formed: Adventurers who are members of really weird races are novel enough, on some Primes, that bards sing ballads about them. So the genasi may have heard about the existence of a famous aasimar, and vice versa. Of course, it's also possible that they're all the descendants of a group of planars (evil invaders, adventuring party, traders, wizard's summoning spell...) that visited the Prime.

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Thu, 2008-10-23 01:56
#3
Evil
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thank you Zimrazim. I know

thank you Zimrazim. I know of at least one tavern that elves favor from In The Cage. But it is mentioned in that supplement that the tree in that tavern is "perhaps the only tree in Sigil". Chances of them taking in a fire Genasi is pretty low. Are there really other parks and natural growth in Sigil?

I'm thinking of explaining my characters that their home world was favored by elemental deities, so there was a pretty high concentration of genasi from the 4 main elements. This does not explain the Aasimar, though. In the first session, they were passing under an arcghway in a dungeon, and suddenly found themselves in Sigil. Perhaps they got together to defeat an evil guy who was hurting the forest that the druid, who happened to be an Aasimar, was supposed to protect. I'll come up with something.

Thu, 2008-10-23 22:12
#4
Clueless
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They could just be tne

They could just be tne 'freak crew' of the local town - usually oddballs collect together cause no one else will hang around them.  Though I'll admit I like the idea of their ancestory including a planar adventuring party - that just screams plot hooks... Eye-wink 'Your great-grandfather owed me a debt, now you owe it for him.' '... what? His bar tab?' 'No you imbicile - his soul.'

You don't actually have to explain it to them if you don't want to - you can always let them find out over the course of the game.

It is  worthwhile to note that you don't have to be a prime to be clueless. Perhaps the 'world' theyr'e from is actually a demi-plane near the elemental side of things? Finding that out may be an interesting subplot for you.

I do think though that you may be getting hung up too much on where the party was and not focusing enough on where the party is *going* for plot. Reasons for staying in Sigil can include things as simple as 'that's where your employeer' lives, to giving them a percentage share after a proper adveture in some business or tavern in the town. And really - they don't *have* to stay there if it stretches the story too much!

As for other sources of planty goodness - the reason plants - ok *trees* (razorvine is all over the place, and there is likely a NE druid in the Hive who Loves the stuff) - are so rare is a lack of sunlight and clean air. A proper nobles house in the city likely spends on magical lights and air scrubbers so they can have trees and the like. They'd be a sign of wealth.  So I'd expect them all over the Lady's Ward, and esp in the Palace of the Jester. The Guildhall of the Sensates probably has it all over as well. The city is not *barren* of plant life - it's just very non-standard. 

For the druid casting - if you're going to go with the older 2nd edition magical rules. I would set the druids casting location as the Outlands. A) it's a way to make things easier for your druid friend, at least a little bit. B) It makes sense. Of course - I usually disregard the rule in the first place, since it doesn't add much more than pure frustration to the game for my current group of players. 

Fri, 2008-10-24 20:34
#5
Jem
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I don't think druid caster

I don't think druid caster levels are changed from plane to plane, actually -- they just don't have anyone to give them power keys, either.  The power of faith can still bend planar pathway restrictions, but if a spell flat doesn't function on a plane without a power key, a druid lives with that element of nature.

Here's one possibility for backstory, if your players dig it.  Genasi of air and fire could have djinn and ifrit heritage; those races are involved in an old war, whose causes might be blurry old legend in a world now populated by their long-abandoned descendants.  An elemental disturbance in the balance between those planes, perhaps something happening on the Plane of Smoke, might have pushed your two genasi simultaneouslyout of their homes and into a prevailing conflict for different reasons.  A second possibility might be something that's worrying all the species of geniekind equally (including the marids and dao, and the jann.  The jann are useful contacts in your backstory since they populate the Prime.)

The elf bard, in his travels, heard of the strife and headed there looking for stories; the druid, sensing something in the balance of nature, also came to see what was up.  Perhaps the group was guided by his aasimar heritage, maybe some mysterious old heirloom that pointed him toward the dungeon where they found the portal to Sigil.  There, they find that some old alarm has been tripped, and the contact they meet explains something of the problem that has arisen, and sets them on the quest to fix it -- one that will use Sigil as a base of operations reaching the Inner Planes as well as any Outer you care to use.

Sun, 2008-10-26 06:13
#6
Evil
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Thank you for the great

Thank you for the great ideas and advice, I think I will use them all one way or the other when the right time comes. Especially that "Your great Grand father owed me debt" thing Laughing out loud

I may go on to use the druid spellcasting as a combination of Jem and Clueless. Outlands=base, everywhere else=-1, no spell/power keys for druids.

I thought of making their homeplane a demiplane too, we'll see if it will work out. 

As for the actual plot itself, I have some ideas in mind, but I'm not keen on giving all the hooks just yet. More than once I have wasted a good plot or scenario to players who didn't attend to the sessions regularly. I'm going to be sure that they are serious before laying the rails. As for now, the theme is exploration and the feel is wonder. 

This weeks session started with a shopping interlude (that lasted too long since my caharacters insisted on bargaining about everything)in the market ward. The druid, surprisingly, parted ways with her animal companion Seeing that the animal was not happy about staying in Sigil, she allowed the bear to be taken to Beastlands. After a quite and peaceful night in the city, the caharacters got their first assignment to get a taste of what the planes are like. They were hired to bring some statues from an artist in Arborea, but without much information about her identity. The characters used a portal (without any preperation, mind you) and found themselves in Arborea. There, after some searching, they found out that the artist they were looking for was a medusa Sticking out tongue

I'm surprised that they still couldn't guess how the new character will be introduced!

Sun, 2008-10-26 08:00
#7
Clueless
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*chuckle* This should be

*chuckle* This should be pretty interesting. and actually - I have some respect for that Druid - that was a pretty compassionate thing for her to do. So - bonus points there. Eye-wink If the RP was good I'd give her a slightly good rep out int eh Beastlands - her bear probably chatters about how awesome she is and how worried he is about her.

Sun, 2008-11-16 10:55
#8
Evil
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back again! I just wanted

back again! I just wanted to update whathappened on the new game. This may not be the right place, butsince we had so much fun playing, I wanted to inform you too.

Now, many of you have probably GMed games of your own, and you all know the sheer delight felt when the things go just as planned. Folks, this is what happened in my game.

The characters found a guide to a town near Medusa's mansio. They acted all nice and generous to the temple and people and the people replied in kind, sharing what they knew. They really don't care if the pcs get rid of medusa. She does not disturb them a lot but youngsters striving to prove their bravery sometimes go to her den and don't return. Next morning our pcs set out to Medusa's mansion in the hills nearby.

There are two statues guarding the entrance to her mansion, one is magical, and they manage to use a scroll on it to turn it back to human. This human warrior (new addition to party) tells that the there are traps inside. Party intends to reason with the medusa to part with some of her statues. They use another scroll to give momentary protection against Medusa's gaze, and the one thus protected ventures inside. this is the bard and she has only 40 minutes to convince medusa and get out. 

Now I had thought, when planning this adventure, "It would be awesome if the PCs would convince Medusa to open an art gallery in Sigil!"

I'm proud to announce that, after a lengthy dialogue, and much roleplaying of the medusa as a vain, un-appreciated artist in search of understanding in my part, the bard stumbled on to the idea. She made the offer and I.. I mean the medusa, jumped on it.

I will not go on at length about the cruise in Arborea and how they got their goods in time to Sigil. Instead I will tell you of the situation at hand:

Medusa and 10 of her statues are in Sigil. The party took her to the wizard who hired them, but the wizard just freaked out and told them to get rid of the medusa- he only asked for the statues, not the one who made them!

I will reward the PCs richly if they can get themselves out of this mess Laughing out loud

Sun, 2008-11-16 11:11
#9
Clueless
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LOL See - if I were your

LOL

See - if I were your player at that point I'd turn to her "This man doesn't seem to appreciate your art! I'll be in the other room...." 

;) 

Sun, 2008-11-16 12:13
(Reply to #9) #10
Evil
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Good idea! Let's see if

Good idea! Let's see if they can think of that. Laughing out loud

Fri, 2008-11-28 20:19
#11
Evil
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I'm back with an update and

I'm back with an update and more questions!

First on the good news. The PCs have managed to avoid the tight situation between the Medusa and the Wizard, but, well, they didn't get much out of it. Their initial expanses at bringing Medusa to Sigil were not compensated by the Wizard, who could only get 2 of the statues and had to pay for them to Medusa. Medusa on the other hand seemingly got the best of the deal, she opened a gallery in a small hall in Civic Festhall, and for a few nights was the topic of the day. Whether she will be succesful in town remains to be seen.

Another gain of the PCs however, was the small time fame they got by being the people who brought the new hot celebrity to the Cage. Turns out their daring adventure's story was appreciated, by the sensates at least. At the end of the adventure, we fast-forwarded the game by a month, and I asked them what their PCs were up to during that time.

Which brings me to my questions:

- Bard joined the Sensates and fighter joined the Sons Of Mercy. Do they get any special abilities/feats for joining the factions? If so, where can I find them?

- Fire Genasi Evoker wants to join a guild primarily based on Elements or Inner planes. Probably an Evocation study group kinda thing will be fine too, or, failing that a general group for wizards and such. Is there such a thing in Sigil (in original books or PSCS), or should I come up with something?

On other, related news, the PCs are now on Ysgard, deprived most of their equipment and but a bit more experienced about the planes and Sigil.

Fri, 2008-11-28 21:07
#12
Clueless
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They don't get any feats

They don't get any feats for free by joining - at least under 3rd and 3.5 - but you can give them options to get new feats. Check out the PSCS chapter 3 for some of the ones we came up with ( see here: /pscs-chapter-3 )

There's the Primal sect for the elementals I think - I'll have to check. You may want to look at the Encyclopedia ( /encyclopedia/planewalker-encyclopedia ) to see if theres any information on a relevant sect for you.

Otherwise - sounds like they're handling things well! Smiling I think the Medusa may make a good long term contact for them as well as an additional bonus out of the whole incident if they treat her right.

Sat, 2008-12-06 01:38
#13
Dagon
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It's a bit late, but better

It's a bit late, but better late then never. For joining the Factions, as Clueless mentioned, there is no immediate benefit, although I have given small things like +1 bonus to certain skills in the past (Search, Listen or Spot for the Sensates and Sense Motive for the Sons), but making sure they know that they have the option of new feats and PrCs can be big in itself. There are also intangible benefits that you could add. Personally, when ever a PC joins a Faction in my games,  I always make sure to create 2-3 faction contacts for that player, since it gives them a little bit of a stronger tie to the group, and another friendly contact. You may also have some success with giving them access to new spells and equipment that only that faction has access to. 

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