![]() ![]() This is the kind of detail I seek out when I want to bring a city to life. If you have a player whose character has the Noble background, starting the adventure in the Sea Ward or Castle Ward can draw that player into the game more easily while creating a roleplay opportunity for them to introduce the area to player characters who are out of place. Waterdeep: Dragon Heist offers a guide on the city's wards, with in-depth details on what you can find and do in each of them. Few residents would wander the streets, but the adventurers would easily find city guards and healers helping city folk to clear rubble or tend to the wounded. If your game takes place during a time of war, for example, you can describe a war-torn city whose streets are buried in rubble. Making your start on a bustling city street or in the questionable part of a town offers more locales for your player characters to explore and to get a feel for the setting. It can also set the tone for the adventure. ![]() While taverns are a common place to start an adventure, they can feel disconnected from the town or city they are in, especially after you've spent an hour or more of game time inside of one establishing the adventure and who the player characters are. This steered player conversation from "Why would my character team up with yours?" to "What kinds of memories have our characters made?" and "How would my character spend their free time?" This shakeup allowed us to jump straight into the action in our first session. In one campaign I ran that was inspired by Ghosts of Saltmarsh, I told my players that their characters were all part of a ship's crew, had known each other for months, and would dock in a familiar city in our first session. You can also avoid the awkwardness of having to get total strangers to team up by suggesting at session zero that the player characters already know one another. This could push them to seek aid from a local church or guild, where another player character could be working. If your party's sorcerer accidentally burned down their village when they first discovered their magic, you could narrate that they have been pursued by bounty hunters for over a week. The arena could have been built over the den of an ogre who attacks when they are awakened by the ruckus of the competition.Īsk for your player characters' backstories, as well, and use this information to add conflict that matters to your players. ![]() To bring the party together, introduce a shared enemy. If there's a bard in your party, the announcer for the competition could have lost their voice and be seeking a replacement. ![]() Such an event could draw your rogue with the Urchin background, as it presents an opportunity to pickpocket onlookers or to take bets on the victor. If your party's fighter has the Athlete background, you can host a sporting event or bodybuilding competition where they can (literally) flex their stuff. One of the easiest ways to brainstorm opening scenes for your adventure is to take a gander at your players' character sheets. If you're looking to shake things up, here are other locations for your player characters to meet. But with the arrival of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, your typical tavern might not be the best introduction to your adventure. As a hub of activity in towns and cities, it's easy as a Dungeon Master to drop in NPCs with quests and to introduce conflict. The tavern is an iconic location to kick-start an adventure and get player characters to meet one another. ![]()
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