I ran my game again this week and again their plans have changed. I have almost stopped doing any long term planning for the game as they are like a group of 4th graders with ADD. Originally I was asked to make a dungeon crawl, something completely different from the previous campaign that lasted about 5 years.
To be honest, I am not the best at the non character storyline plots. Give me a good villain that I can have the party chase, someone that can taunt the players and I am in a good place. I particularly hate the linear plot line adventure, so I don’t like to write them. I had to come up with a great way to get the directions in their hands (you just can’t begin an adventure outside a dungeon if you are over the age of 21, imho) that would leave them interested in pursuing the treasure. I had them stop in a little village during a caravan run and find Timmy (well okay, Bobby) stuck in a well. The towns well had almost dried up and he climbed down to fill the pitcher for his mom, when the end of the rope gave way and he fell six feet and got stuck. Fortunately our stalwart adventurers could hear his cries of help from their inn, and came out to rescue the poor young soul.
Once out, the plight of the village was discovered and the group decided it would be a good idea to find out what has happened to the water. There is plenty of it in the stream that feeds the well by an underground stream, so they figured something was gumming up the works. A climb down into the well and a little poking around later they unearthed a parchment wrapped up and stuck in the passage. It contained a treasure poem and a letter describing how it was stolen from a zulkir to prevent him from gaining power, and that the treasure seems to be on the Mother of Mist Island off the coast of Lantan and Chult.
Months later they arrived in Chult planning on earning enough money to hire a ship and crew. One dinosaur egg hunt, night of the living dead, and killer plant later they are considering becoming merchants and doing some trading between here and the mainland instead. The druid has found himself a nice native wife and is trying to convince them to settle down. The fighter wants to go find things to hunt and kill in the hopes there will be magical items strewn about the jungle floor waiting to be picked up. See my dilemma?
To get everyone on the same page they decided to vote in a party leader. Great idea, as this will be the single person making plans and I can start doing some intricate plotting. After all, if you have someone steering the ship, so to speak, the GM has a little more influence in where it goes. Eight pieces of paper later they have a new leader. Now I just have to figure out a way to influence a barbarian/swashbuckler to go where I want to. Fortunately I already have ideas….
Tags: Party Leader Treaure Map Planning
