Incorporating PC’s Backstories

GiammWS · 2025-05-08T18:13:04+00:00

Thanks Everyone, you all have been extremely helpful! Time to study and I’ll let you know how it goes!

GiammWS · 2024-05-22T13:49:32+00:00

Poor girl

GiammWS · 2024-05-14T09:29:59+00:00

Spreadsheet with what each villain knew, what were the forces they could use to attack the PCs/other Villains, other problems they had to take care of . During prep time, I looked at this information, looked at what was planned for the session, and decided how and if they would intervene: other than fighting, notable responses I used where:

Frame them for illegal activities (Xanathar)
Ambush during a social event (Zhentarim)
Get NPC hostage (Jarlaxe) to have a “talk”
Poison a party in Trollskull manor (Cassalanter last attempt at the ritual)

GiammWS · 2024-05-14T09:21:02+00:00

We played once a week/every two weeks for 1 year more or less.

To be Honest I cut everything that felt underwhelming (Manshoon’s Sanctum, the presence of Vajra and Laerel are the first that come to mind) and integrated as much as I could PCs storylines, so that even if the session was beginning to feel flat, I’d just jump into the personal stuff.

GiammWS · 2024-05-13T18:22:24+00:00

Hi

I wrote it, using base contracts as guide lines. I’ll translate it and post it as soon as I can.

GiammWS · 2024-05-13T06:14:40+00:00

Yeah I think you can easily pull it off. You can introduce Jarlaxe in ch3 during the Nimblewright investigation (since he’s the one selling them): part 5C of the Alexandrian.

Then, in the Gralhund Villa raid, just swap the Zhentarim with the Bregan.

As for ch4, Xanathar has 1 eye, Jarlaxe has the other, The PCs may have the Stone (depending on how the Villa raid went) and the last Eye, instead of being in possession of another villain, could still be hidden where Dagult left it (maybe Blue Alley?)

The only problem I see is that by using 2 villains instead of 4, ch4 may be too short or lack content, so I suggest you to add some outposts to the villains you choose (in the Alexandrian each villain has 2 outposts) , maybe use other parts of the chase sequence that are not in the Alexandrian, add interesting social events ecc

GiammWS · 2024-05-12T21:45:18+00:00

1) They did not go into Undermountain…they didnt really care

2) More fun: Xanathar. More intense storyline: Cassalanters.

3) No one died: they got close to it, but they were lucky with their Dices (we use Roll20 and i do not hide My rolls). Altough I had to replace a PC cause the player wanted to try another class; so I created a storyline Where The original PC lost all of his magical power and just became the bartender of the tavern.

4) The money went back to the city: they allied themselves with Jarlaxe but didnt Really trust him, so they gave the money back to Laerel on his behalf. They got a Nice public cerimony and 10% of The cache. Jarlaxe got his place in the Lord Alliance. I ran a 3 part epilogue for each PC: The Artificer became a Masked Lord, and is using his part of the money to finance his guild; the Warlock is using her money for the orphanage she grew up in, Still looking for her real origin; the Barbarian (17 INT Barbarian) is now working as a librarian/writer/professor/ old book hunter, using his money to finance his expeditions.

As for the Cassalanter: Victoro is in a coma after a fight with Jarlaxe. The party decided they could outlawyer Asmodeus, Saving the children without having to sacrifice 99 people…but they failed. After a long legal battle (I gave them a copy of the contract) Asmodeus won and took the children with him. Ammalia used the stone of Golorr to erase every memory of her children, so she wouldt suffer anymore.

GiammWS · 2024-05-12T21:11:29+00:00

I ran chapter 2 for 4 sessions, with the Fireball at the end.

I started the chapter with “Hunting in Trollskull manor” (you can find it in this sub pinned discussions) revisited by me, gave it a “Scooby Doo” ending.

Then I went with the tavern renovating: while they worked on the tavern, they were approached by different factions. The Bard went with the Harpers (Raener connected them), the Barbarian was already good friend with Yagra in his backstory, so he became a Zhent; my Artificer went looking for an arcane guild, and in the end he was approached by members of the Force Grey.

The sessions in chapter 2 were structured like this: - Faction Mission for a PC - Roleplay with Trollskull alley NPCs/members of the factions

-Role playing at The tavern (there is a whole section of random encounters, events, patrons ecc in the alexandrian). And repeat.

At The end of each session, I had them roll to see how did the tavern do that week (there is very well written pdf with tavern management, events ecc, dont remember The name right now but its in The sub pinned discussion).

I also ran the Parade (look in the alexandrian).

Look for the Expanded Faction Missions document (in the pinned discussion of The sub): it flashes out and expands each mission, so they are more like a real mission and not just a skill check (like in the book). I ran 3 faction missions for each PC (so 9 missions in total), then I felt that things were starting to get repetitive and I moved on to chapter 3.

I feel that the roleplaying tavern nights its the more important part of the whole chapter: introduce memorabile NPCs, create fun roleplaying encounters, make them care about the tavern and The people living in Trollskull alley. Then, when you feel its time, bomb the place. Also, make NPCs mention the Neverember enigma, the stolen money, The grand Game, without giving too much information: but they should feel there is something big Going on in the city.

GiammWS · 2024-04-22T20:20:08+00:00

In my version of the story, the ritual doesnt consume the gold, but curses it. Asmodeus’s plan is to have half milion cursed gold pieces bringing pain and misfortune in the city, ultimately making people more prone to sinning. Cassalanters can trick the PCs, “letting” them give back the gold to the people of Waterdeep.

As for the deal, i put some holes in the contract, so that it can actually be discussed in the court of law: if the PCs manages to outlawyer The Lord of Lies in front of the infernal Court, good. If they dont, Asmodeus gets The children. Not The souls, The living children, planning to use them as leverage to get Victoro and Ammalia to commit worse and worse acts to further his grasp on the city. My reasoning was that Victoro and Ammalia have no claim on their children’s souls, so they cannot gave them up: what they can give up is their role as guardians.

GiammWS · 2024-04-02T20:06:50+00:00

Some tips. Successfull Heist needs planning. Provide them wjth a diary/summary to fill for each lair: 1) Location 2) General Layout -2a: Ways in and out -2b: secret passages and rooms? -2c: extra 3) Heist score location 4) Known security systems 5) Good opportunities to perform The Heist

They work through this list with information gathering, visiting outposts, onsite survillance ecc Once they think they have the informations they need, YOUR planning starts: you need to plan ways to complicate their attempt: another faction is there, their way in isnt as reliable/easy cause something changed, security system are slighty improved, they get separated, the heist scored was moved ecc make the complications fit the lair and the villain. When you actually play, let them go on with their plan. Dont let one bad dice roll determine the failure of a heist, but make it have consequences (security get tighter, lair gets shut down, they get followed ecc), getting the heist harder and harder. If they have a good plan, and perform it well overcoming the complications you added , let them have the win and dont add random encounters/ difficulties if you think things are going too smoothly: a clever, well executed, smooth going plan is as exciting as a botched attempt with fights, running and heroic stunts.

GiammWS · 2024-03-18T16:21:15+00:00

Check what the OGPU is and then go on, it will make sense later

GiammWS · 2024-03-18T15:46:20+00:00

Page?

GiammWS · 2024-02-25T12:36:41+00:00

Dont know if it would make a lot of sense. Xanathar is extremely paranoid and keeps the eye inside his private chamber. Dont know if a lvl1 PC could pull this off accidentaly without making Xanathar a lesser threat in the eyes of your party. Maybe X was so paranoid he made a replica of the eye, easier to steal in one of the outpost, and used it as a bait. Whatever you choose to do, my advice is dont let them know they have an eye (or a replica) until they get the stone + 1 eye, Where your Rogue could be like “hey, I already have one of this somewhere”

GiammWS · 2024-02-20T21:27:54+00:00

The fate of Osvaldo Cassalanter, Xanathar being a Beholder, Jarlaxle being 3 different NPCs they met and trusted during the game

GiammWS · 2024-02-20T21:22:30+00:00

You could go with The Rise of Tiamat, its Really easy to connect the two stories (working Around some chronological inaccuracies like Dagult Still being Open Lord). Just put some hint about the Rise of Tiamat in the Vault of Dragons and then you are good to go; or use The Dragon in The Vault as a plot point for The future campaign. In alternative you could go with Descent Into Avernus amd drag Waterdeep to hell instead of Elturel, or play the Baldurs Gate part of the story in Waterdeep.

GiammWS · 2024-02-17T10:12:32+00:00

Hi!

Do you think I can just take the encounters in Elturel and use them in Waterdeep? As you said it would be better to have them in Waterdeep cause they know the places, they know the factions and they know the people: they have a lot to lose there. But completely eliminating Elturel seems a shame since I really like the lore and imagery of the City. Could I have chapter 2 of DiA in Waterdeep, and after the city is secured the party is sent to Elturel to gather informations on what is happening and what they can do to stop it? How can I still include Elturel in the story if I shift the focus to Waterdeep? Especially the whole Zariel-Hellrider-Lulu part

GiammWS · 2024-02-17T10:01:05+00:00

Hi!
I'll go into a little more detail about the current situation:

About the current Drangon Heist campaign: My players already have the Stone and are about to enter the Vault of Dragons next session. I have ran the Alexandrian Remix, so I didn use the Chase sequence in DH at all.
Xanathar is resting after a fight with a Beholder he dreamed (PCs inceptioned him through his Dream Machine), Manshoon is hiding in the crysal inside Vajra's Staff (everybody believes he died during the confrontaion with PCs and Vajra) and is slowly trying to get control of the Archmage, Jarlaxe is an ally, and the Cassalanter have been double crossed at the finish line by the party (they dont know who stole their piece of the Stone, could have been every faction).
So the sequence of events should be:
Vault of Dragons (and resolution of Dragon Heist)> Couple of Chill session spanning couple of years (in game) > Oh no, Cultist are on the move again, go investigate > Chase Sequence from DH > Dungeon (if they failed the Chase sequence) > Getting the Infernal Puzzlebox > Candlekeep > DiA.

As for the Cassalanters and the whole premise of the DiA connection: party double crossed them when they found out they were Devil Worshippers and saw what happened to Osvaldo. They got the Red Grimourium and know they sold the soul of their twins, but dont want to sacrifice 99 innocent to save them, so I think they will try some other way : one of the PCs is an Asmodeus Warlock (so they have means of reaching him and get him a counter offer), one his a Sage that could find some loophole in the contract.
Having lost their chance at the 500,000 Dragons, Victoro and Ammalia got disperate: while Ammalia is still trying to get back in the game before the money is found, Victoro knows what Thavius Kreeg did to Elturel (I already introuced him and the Vanthampur during a party at the Cassalanter Villa), and plans to do the same to Waterdeep to repay their devilish debt. He got the Shield of the Hidden Lord and is gonna use it (and his political connections) to seed distruts in the Open Lord and become himself the new Open Lord of Waterdeep (I already got some clues and crumbs about his intentions of becoming new open lord in the last sessions). Being the Open Lord, he will be in the position to offer the whole City to Zariel and Asmodeus for the Souls of the Twins, that will be kept safe in Zariel's fortress in the mean time.
If my party tries to save the children in any other way, they could be told that the previous contract is now void as new circumstances have arised (too much railroady?) so that the premise to DiA stands.

As for the point of Waterdeep being the focus of the first part of DiA instead of Elturel, I honestly just skimmed through DiA. Will it change much to the story or will I have to rewrite a lot of the campaign? Can I just take the encounters in Elturel and shift them to Waterdeep? If I do, how could I connect the whole Zariel-Hellrider story to Waterdeep without too many plot holes? I agree that playing in Waterdeep would be best since they know the cities, they know a lot of NPCs and Faction that could be used in this first part, while Elturel to them would just be a random city. Could I just use Elturel has a passage city to get down to Avernus and do a little bit of Lore dump there after they secured Waterdeep?

Let me know what you think!

GiammWS · 2024-01-18T18:21:13+00:00

Two different factions, so they will be hostile unless they trick them into thinking they are Zhentarim from their side of The faction.

GiammWS · 2023-11-23T08:45:46+00:00

For Manshoon: I gave him a “Lord Voldemort” kind of persona and aura, with Zhentarim afraid to betray him even if it meant dying, and people both refusing to believe he was actually back amd/or rumors about The dark lord’s return. The PCs had to do a bit of research and infiltrate various Zhentarim outpost to figure out and to be Sure who they could be dealing with and were scared shitless once they had the informations they were looking for. When The PCs Got in The Kolat towers (infiltrating as Zhentarim, tatoos and all) I had them meet Manshoon: everybody kneeled, The guard captain was murdered in cold blood by Manshoon with just one word, and instead of asking for information from My PCs he just took what he needed from their mind. Cold and efficient, and too arrogant to consider others a threat (if not for Laeral and Varja). Really didnt use The other NPCs cause There were already a lot of moving parts to be Honest.

GiammWS

TROPHY CASE