| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 24 Mar 2015 : 20:51:12
Hey all, the olde gaming group I DM'd for like 15-20 years ago has decided to do a meetup at a cabin for a whole week of nostalgic roleplaying. Happy times, of course.
I have a suspicion we'll end up playing AD&D: FORGOTTEN REALMS, though we have a lot of options, as we also used to play West End Games' Star Wars, Call of Cthulhu, Vampire: The Masquerade, and in later years I have acquired other newer games like The One Ring, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, and the game I have been playing most of my RP-time the last decade, the out-of-print The Riddle of Steel, which is the perfect game for the kind of dark, character-driven stories we've been playing.
Anyway, since we last gamed, we have most likely changed a bit (heck, some of them I've barely met since then) - we are in our late thirties (with me and my best friend 40 already dammit), and maybe they will want something more substantial, I don't know. They are seven people, all very different, so it's gonna be difficult anyhow.
So I decided to go for a tourney - a tourney has melee combat, archery, jousting, can be filled with all manner of NPCs of all social classes, intrigue, politics. I did run a tournament in The Riddle of Steel for my current players, and it was great, but much more brutal and dark than what I imagine a FORGOTTEN REALMS game should be (a coup was staged during that tournament, leading to mayhem).
So thinking Realms, I am considering setting up an opening session in Cormyr, most likely Suzail I suppose, and the tournament could be one attended by the royal family (DR 1366 or thereabouts, as usual with me).
I guess that's enough background information for the following questions.
1) Flipping through the Cormyr supplement, I found a chapter on nobility and noble houses, but did not find any heraldic symbols/sigils - something that players would clearly see on the tourney field, displayed on shields and banners etc. I tried searching online without success. Have sigils for these houses (Wyvernspur, Silversword, Bleth, Dauntinghorn etc.) ever been revealed anywhere? [I do have Volo's Guide to Cormyr as well, but can't find it right now - I also have Four from Cormyr and probably other supplements and scenarios featuring the place that I can't remember right now]
2) How would you do an archery competition using the AD&D rules? I mean, if the PCs are all level 1 they have a 1/20 chance of hitting anything. Is there, perchance, a supplement with tourney rules? If not, any suggestions? [Yes, I am aware I could avoid all this by running a tournament in The Riddle of Steel, but no chance I'll be able to teach these guys such a complex combat system in a weekend, lol.]
3) Do you have any ideas or suggestions for how to make such a return to the Realms as fun as possible? I mean, I have ideas, but maybe you have something I didn't think of. We'll need some good roleplaying, some action, using different rules, see/meet interesting and fun NPCs/monsters/locations... so I guess that something should happen during the tourney that forces the characters together, and then they go on a quest that can be finished before the weekend's over. I'm not asking for a complete scenario, of course, I'm just fishing for ideas/thoughts/musings. I was thinking maybe from Suzail up north through Arabel (skipping traveling days for more interesting scenes), and from there either into the Stonelands, into the Dalelands (and possibly the Moonsea beyond), or using a gate to anywhere, really. I do like many of the areas of the Realms, and I own most of the 2nd edition material published.
Right. Yes, I'm also fishing in Jeremy's thread about Cormyr ;)
And oh,
4) If you were invited to a weekend with the guys just to roleplay (and perhaps have a beer or three), what would you like to spend the in-game time doing?
That was perhaps the best question to ask.
I thank you in advance for perusing this scroll, and I appreciate anything you could be bothered to share. And if you think my idea of starting out with a tournament is wrong for some reason, do not hesitate to explain why.
And now back to Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition as I wait for Pillars of Eternity to be released in two days. Having good fun though, playing a half-elf cleric/ranger currently trying to rescue Dynaheir from the clutches of the gnolls in their terrifying stronghold. |
| 10 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 13 Jun 2015 : 07:21:28
Thank you for your input, Thrasymachus. I still own the DRAGON Magazine Archives 5 CD-ROM set (remember when they called it CD-ROMs?) so I will check out those magazines. As it happens I know a fair bit about medieval tournaments due to my fascination for the Middle Ages (something that awoke in me strongly after reading the first three 'A Song of Ice & Fire' novels back in '99/'00) but, yeah, I was wondering about any AD&D rules for such events.
That being said, I have officially made - for the first time - the switch to another edition, the 5th as it were, which I find very much to my liking rules-wise and character-creation wise (I never cared for 3rd, 3.5 or 4th), and I feel that Lost Mine of Phandelver is a good adventure, in the sense that it has many paths the PCs can follow, a nice selection of NPCs, small nuggets of lore (which I can add to from my AD&D collection as it doesn't really matter to the players, whose knowledge of the Realms is practically nox-existent).
So my plan now is to let the players cause havoc on that adventure - they are seven, possibly eight players so I might have to beef up the encounters somewhat, but again, that doesn't really matter.
Two of the players have told me what they wish to play - Friend A wishes to play an Elf fighter, Friend B an alcoholic dwarf ranger (which I personally find quite interesting to devise a backstory for :) Suggestions welcome).
BTW, in case anyone knows, Passive Wisdom (Perception) = 10 + Wis modifier am I right? |
| Thrasymachus |
Posted - 13 Jun 2015 : 02:00:20
In case someone come along and seeking thoughts to your original post…
quote:
Originally posted by Caladan Brood
...I have a suspicion we'll end up playing AD&D: FORGOTTEN REALMS,...
...So I decided to go for a tourney - a tourney has melee combat, archery, jousting, can be filled with all manner of NPCs of all social classes, intrigue, politics. I did run a tournament in The Riddle of Steel for my current players, and it was great, but much more brutal and dark than what I imagine a FORGOTTEN REALMS game should be (a coup was staged during that tournament, leading to mayhem). ...
If you had gone ahead with the tourney idea...
Dragon Magazine #118 - Feb 1987 It was billed as the "Competition Issue" with the following articles.
The Fighting Circle: Gladiatorial combat in the AD&D® game Dan Salas (pg 8)
Surely, You Joust!#148 - The game of chivalry and knighthood for AD&D® games Leonard Carpenter (pg 22)
A Day at the Faire - Life at a typical fantasy tournament Eileen Lucas (pg 30)
On Target - Archery competitions for AD&D® gaming (pg 34)*
Nimbar's Keep - The Game of Magical Arena Dueling (pg 43)
*IMHO several great charts with modifiers for smaller, and smaller archery targets. Very fast moving.
quote:
Originally posted by Caladan Brood
...4) If you were invited to a weekend with the guys just to roleplay (and perhaps have a beer or three), what would you like to spend the in-game time doing?...
Dragon Magazine #111 - July 1986
Death of an Arch-Mage Can the police solve the mystery in time? - Designed by Michael D. Selinker (pg 41)
This is essentially a murder Mystery with a a lot of print out props. Think “How to Host a Murder”. Part of the reason I still put this forth is that with an entire weekend in a cabin, having the players focus on each other to work out the mystery will take a lot of strain off you.
I have something similar going on (though we’re a decade closer to fugue plane than your group) and decided to keep with 1st Edition because it’s what everone was familiar with baring senility. I didn’t want to teach a new game system. You have the whole weekend, but you only have the whole weekend.  Also from a frugal point of view all the AD&D stuff is on pdf for a fraction of the cost.
Heads up: None of these articles are Forgotten Realms Articles, and the Death of the Arch Mage would have to be gone through with a fine tooth comb to convert to the Realms, but it’s doable. The rest of the articles are very malleable.
@Caladan Brood - Good Luck!
Edit: Formatting |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 03 Jun 2015 : 09:07:47
Here are four wandering halflings based on my "Halfling (Male) First Names" table, rolled randomly. I compiled the tables by taking halfling names from a few Realms products, and mixing it up with names from Charles Dickens' works (the style Tolkien tried to emulate/evoke with his Hobbit names):
Dorrdal, Wilimacke, Barthwhite, and Walber.
They sound like proper halflings to me :)
For the heck of it, they encounter two humans ("Human (Male) First Name" + "Human (Surnames)" tables, based on Realms material:
Rumatir Dragonfield and Antro Highpaltant.
Teehee. |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 03 Jun 2015 : 08:37:17
Thank you for the reply, SaMoCon. I forgot to say that some of the players - including the fellow who will play the cousin of Gundren Rockseeker and have a tavern - *wants* to be a given a finished character and take the challenge of playing the character as created :-)
But yes, I am already playing the game in my head, which I really need to stop doing, or I'll be burned out when we finally emeet sometime in...September/October.
As for them going off the beaten path - I totally expect that to happen. In that case, I'll wing it. I am currently parsing *a lot* of Realmslore into Fantasy Grounds which I'll have handy. I'm also creating random name tables totally based on Ed Greenwood's naming conventions which is starting to look pretty good, with subtables for various styles depending on race, ethnicity and more. When I finish them, if I can find the time, I'll post them as tables here for others to borrow if that's of interest.
We have a Facebook closed group - that's how this all got started in the first place, one of the players suggested it - and I have already asked them what they would like to do in-game during that weekend, and I've gotten either "Whatever", "I want to play an Elf fighter", or nothing at all (yet) - we're all adults with responsibilities now (some more than others) - most of us have kids, for example. Time flies.. |
| SaMoCon |
Posted - 03 Jun 2015 : 06:59:11
Well, Caladan Brood, the one thing that pops out at me is you tailoring your game to your players' goals without knowing your players' goals. You are already playing the game in your head, which, believe me, is trouble because you are placing values and acceptable responses into your players' characters that have no basis in the wishes or decisions of the players when it is game time. A player having an inn or a stake in an inn may instead sell it when it causes any kind of an in-game problem like your impetus to adventure rather than go on a mundane quest to save it. The characters cannot be the only ones invested in the quest (in this example, scrounging the money to save the inn). The players have to be invested in the reason and the outcome or they will scatter like cats and start prodding the color of the setting to find what adventure they are looking for (hey, guys! This bard over here was singing to the kids about a terrible dragon named Kluath or something. We should go slay it and become heroes!).
As game time approaches, talk to your players and ask them what they would like to accomplish in the game or what they want to do. If all they want is to do a classic dungeon crawl with the dice falling where they may then you are way over prepared. If the player is stuck for a response you can and should prompt him with questions like if they were fascinated with the ideas of rescuing people, defeating dark menaces, standing at the gates against a titan, overcoming ancient puzzle-traps, or acquiring fame & fortune. Then ask how the player wants to interact with everyone else in the game - are they lifelong friends, a council of rivals working together because of an outside force, a business arrangement that have contracted together as an adventuring limited liability company, or strangers that have a singular common goal as the reason to stay together and act as a group. Once you have that, then you can start planning the rewards for good play (like offering membership into the semi-secret espionage organizations of the Harpers or Zhentarim).
It is good that you recognized the overwhelming nature of the good stuff and how that could flood out your game if you don't control it. In a way, you are like a tour guide in a storied city with many attractions - there is so much to see with fantastic sights and momentous history in all locations but you only have the tour group for a few hours before they get hungry, get tired, or have to go catch their bus/flight home. You seem to have a route of the games' locales so all you need to do is condense the fantastic stuff into snippets (2-3 sentences, maximum) that conveys why their characters take notice but move on while they are taking in the scene or snapping pictures. Don't let them get caught up in the color because not everyone will find it fascinating and you have the unenviable job of entertaining everyone the whole time. The color is there just to remind the players that the game is "not in Kansas anymore" while leaving their starting point and throughout the journey, but the direction of the story is always forward, forward, keep it moving forward. |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 02 Jun 2015 : 10:50:41
Wow, more than two months already since I first set down to scribe this scroll. Once more, thanks for the input - while I have wandered away from the initial idea I presented, your suggestions and comments were still very useful.
In the meantime, I've been on a real REALMS binge the last couple of months. I also caved in and bought the fifth edition Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master Guide, Monstrous Manual, as well as the Starter Set (well that one I bought last summer), and the so-far published Realms adventures (Hoard of the Dragon Queen, The Rise of Tiamat, Princes of the Apocalypse, still waiting for all three to come in the mail).
So while jotting down ideas for this come-together-weekend, I found myself somewhat ensorcelled by Lady Alustriel and her city of Silverymoon, so I began to dig into that material and prepare a weekend that would take place in Silverymoon and its surroundings. I dredged up the Tombs of Deckon Thar from Lords of Darkness, I noted everything I found about Silverymoon, but as I did so (which resulted in the thread about the invisible bridge), I realized that if I were going to run a successful weekend scenario, I had to calm down on the weird need to want to show off everything about the Realms - there are so overwhelmingly many interesting locations and plot hooks! It's just a never-ending well of fantasy.
In the end, I decided to read Lost Mine of Phandelver. I playtested the first bits with my son and his niece (aged 9 and 10), until they were deep inside the first goblin lair, and liked it well enough. The more I delved into it, the more I realized that this adventure is perfect as a return to the Realms. And, of course, the players aren't that interested in realmslore, certainly not like I am, so it doesn't really matter. All it needs to be, is fun for the players and a great chance to come together after so many years rolling dice. And there will probably be a war-story or two for good measure.
Right.
The one problem I have (well, there are more, but this is the pertinent one) with Lost Mine of Phandelver is the setup. It simply doesn't have a strong enough hook (in my opinion). And also, I was still in need of a nice reason for the characters to either already know each other, or assemble a party quickly.
I mean, "You said yes to a dwarf to take a wagon of goods to a small recently rebuilt town. He promised you 10 gp," I don't think it will work in the sense that the players will have to kind of 'force' themselves to accept the hook (railroading). I want them to *want* to help out Gundren Rockseeker, not being told that is what they want, if they want to have an adventure, know what I mean?
So I decided to dial back and start in..Neverwinter. Which is all kinds of overwhelming of course, especially since I by now have barely tipped my toes in any lore past 1367 DR. Yet now that I'm on the crusade..I have read bits and pieces of the Neverwinter Campaign Setting, and I've spent about 40 levels of time in the online cash shop/game of the same name, and to me personally, Neverwinter doesn't really feel like a proper Realms city to me. Floating motes of rock? Those impossible spires on the cliffs? A pirate island high in the sky? Like the players (I suspect), I like a more down-to-earth approach to the Realms, where magic *is* actually rare (the DMG states that in all D&D worlds, magic and wizards are rarities, but I get the feeling that non-magic is more rare in the Realms)...
...yet I kind of wish to adhere to the lore for some weird reason. I call it compulsive disorder.
Anyhow, before I completely lose what thoughts I held, I have a player who wants a character just given to him to play, which is cool, because that makes it possible for me to...
..make him a cousin of Gundren Rockseeker and his two brothers: instantly the hook becomes stronger.
So while mulling, I came up with the idea of having Gundren's cousin (PC #1) own an inn in Neverwinter (hook two: something they own and run creates lots of fun opportunities, as well as giving the PCs a sense of 'ownership' to the game). The problem of course is all that Neverwinter lore floating about that I need to digest. Still have a few months for that, though.
So I'm thinking Gundren and Sildar Hallwinter arrive one evening at the inn, and Gundren tells his cousin he's on to some big secret, and (of course) PC#1's inn isn't bringing in enough coin so he might have some more incentive to help a cousin/gain new riches (I'm thinking this PC#1 dwarf bought the inn, being an entrepreneur among many trying to help rebuild Neverwinter after all the catastrophies it has faced) - however, I must of course be careful not letting the management of the inn take over the whole story - unless the players have a great time with it, of course.
Next, I'm thinking that the rest of the players all work at PC#1's inn, in some capacity. Then they're all together right away, and all PC#1 has to do is say, "We're runnin' outta coin, boys. But me cousin Gundren 'ere, has promised us some gold if we help 'im out." And then another PC could say, for example (man I'm already playing this in my head), "10 gold? That'll keep the inn running for two more days.." (I got the idea when I saw that it costs 5 gold a day to run a tavern, in the DMG), and maybe they can wheedle out of Gundren something more.
And then the following day, Gundren arrives, and is all hasty and says he has to leave rightaway and if they can be so kind as to bring the wagon with the goods..
Right. What do you think? Sounds like a fun start to a weekend in the Realms? I wonder how much the wagonload is worth - I am sure at least one player will ponder if it's easier to just steal the wagon and sell its contents - which probabl will be averted by Gundren being a cousin of PC#1.
Any pitfalls in the scenario - Lost Mine of Phandelver - I should be aware of? It's been so long since I ran a high fantasy campaign. I'm used to "realistic" gaming, and here is an adventure with all kinds of strange monsters - even a dragon ...
Speaking of hooks, in one of the other 5E adventures, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, the story opens with the PCs witnessing a dragon torching a town. I can't help but wonder how the designers expect my players not to flee from that sight, in the opposite direction of Greenest, never to return. 
I'm a little worried if I describe Neverwinter too vividly they don't want to set foot outside the city gates because there's more than enough adventure *inside* the gates, but other than the weak hook I think Lost Mine looks like a fun adventure. The town of Phandalin is very well realized, and I look forward to bring it to life.
Oh, one more thing, during the adventure PCs have a chance of being offered membership in several of the classic Realms factions - the Harpers, the Zhentarim - and a few I'm not entirely sure about (Emerald Enclave) - how would you play out such an offer? I guess I must dig up "The Code of the Harpers" for example.. I suppose they added this to give the players some more lore about the Realms, but it feels a bit intrusive, if you know what I mean. They do something nice for someone, and voila! You'e a Harper. Shouldn't there be some interesting initiation process going on?
Right, I just needed to get this off my chest, if you have insights, commentary, suggestions or whatever, feel free to add to the scroll.
(I initially also considered having all the PCs being members of the Harpers from the get-go, but I didn't feel like reading up on even more lore - but if a PC is offered a role in that organization anyway, I guess I must needs consider it.)
So, this is the material I'm working from - do tell me if I'm missing something obvious:
"Lost Mine of Phandelver" (5th)
"Neverwinter Campaign Setting" (4th)
"The North" (2nd) - quite a different Neverwinter
"The Code of the Harpers"(2nd)
"Campaign Setting" (2nd) - don't know how necessary this one is, but it's my go-to set for Realms-gaming and it's hard to let go
|
| SaMoCon |
Posted - 26 Mar 2015 : 04:50:56
The damsel idea was xaeyruudh's.
Weapons competitions are the events for capable freemen and nobles. Stone-throwing and other para-military events are the underclass' attempts to get around weapon bans by the ruling authority. Occupied Scotland had item throwing and brawling events to continue practicing martial skills under English law that forbade them to carry or use weaponry. Capoeira was invented by the slave population of Brazil to fight their oppressors and escape slavery without access to the advanced weapons and materials of the overclass. If the characters are allowed to walk around with weapons and slavery is not endemic to the region then I do not see those kinds of games being anything more than a spectacle performed by a foreign troupe (which might be a hook for 1+ PCs with more exotic origins).
No canon Realms NPC is more fun than an NPC you created from the ground up. The pre-written NPCs are nice but you will always have that hesitation when trying to act the role in accordance with the writings of another creator and with limited information that your players may know or have different insights that will mislead them from your version. Limit those interactions and play up the other side - the royal has: a steward that deals with "unimportant" people, the local sheriff to be the public gladhander in his place, and a spy-type that can contact certain people not to be associated with the royals unless they prove successful (if even then). Since you have played Riddle of Steel with its Spiritual Attributes I will assume you can make some solid NPCs with motivations that will have some bearing on the game (direct or tangential).
Ideas for interesting hooks or going to be more spotty since I don't know the type of play your players want to have but I'll give it a go.
-An alarming shout is heard at the festival followed by screaming and two different rushes of women and children going one way and armed men going the other. The cause of the panic is a large group of hobgoblins deliberately approaching the fair, armed but without their weapons drawn. The hobs intent is to participate since the fair was "open to all" according to the poster gripped in the leader's hand. The hobs' numbers are not a real threat as they would be overwhelmed in a few minutes at the most by the large number of armed fair participants but the carnage would ruin the festivities. The hobs have been scratching for survival since their clan was wiped out by the royal army and stronger border patrols have prevented them from escaping the nation. Maybe they want to show their prowess and reap some rewards for doing so. Maybe they want to petition the powers that be for reprieve and safe passage. Maybe they want to get close enough to attack the ones responsible for the deaths of their brethren.
-a masked figure (yeah, I know) is in the same tournament as the PCs and is good from what the PCs see. Your players should be immediately keying on this without you having to do much. Don't be stingy when prompted for clues. The muscle bulges are more ropey than bulging, the tall frame is oddly jerked when walking as if forcing an unnatural gait, everything is paid using a mix of currencies (old & new) from across many nearby nations, and the person stays in a private room. Our masked figure is a female half-orc who came to this tournament to confront a knight of renown - her dad. She is close enough to passing for human that the facial features between her and her father are recognizable. Does she want to kill him for what he did to her mother? Is she interested in the truth of why she was born? Could she be a selected (witting or unwitting) agent of another noble seeking to disgrace the knight? Is the knight aware of her and, if so, does he have an agent of his own trying to kill her? Could she be the "damsel in distress" when the time comes?
A girl is causing a stir at the tournament by following around a lesser elven noble and demanding that he takes responsibility for her pregnancy. The elf and his companions were at first amused but are growing more irritated as the PCs observe. She desperately grabs his hand as he walks away but he rounds on her in fury with a vicious back hand. This sparks a brawl between the onlooking humans and the elves. The girl is quickly shoved out of the vicinity falling backwards into the PCs with a knife sticking through her chest. The arrival of guards stops the brawl but begins the proceedings for a murder trial. The elves are suspect of murder but such a trial will strain the relationship between the human and elf realms so obviously a neutral elf arm-twisted into the endeavor would be wise. Was the weapon poisoned and therefore concluded to be a premeditated act? Who gains from rising animosity between two kingdoms? Is it possible that the child was not the elf's? Why was the girl so insistent to the point of being terrified by any outcome other than his lordship's recognition? |
| Caladan Brood |
Posted - 25 Mar 2015 : 20:10:13
Hey guys, thanks for the responses.
Just to make it clear - I wasn't intending on letting the PCs fight each other in the tournament ;-)
I was thinking of giving each of them a few minutes of "pre-game screen time" where they go about their business in their home village before going off to the big city and the tournament - as spectators.
(Then, any PC who wants to, can sign up for the melee and/or archery, which commoners are allowed to join; the joust is of course only for those finest men of the realms, the Sirs. Or Sers, if you're an Ice & Fire nut like myself. By witnessing parts of the tournament and doing all kinds of other things during this festival-like event (visiting marketplace, re-familiarize themselves with the game rules through, say, friendly competitions (stone throwing, for example), speaking to NPCs and seeing the royalty from afar), and then *WHAM* something happens.
- which could very well be SaMoCon's damsel in distress - perhaps an assault on the royal dais, and a princess kidnapped; there would be more than enough hunters in Suzail/at the tourney. Perhaps the PCs see groups forming, people banding together to go after the princess' kidnappers? |
| SaMoCon |
Posted - 25 Mar 2015 : 18:16:16
quote:
Originally posted by Caladan Brood
1) Flipping through the Cormyr supplement, I found a chapter on nobility and noble houses, but did not find any heraldic symbols/sigils - something that players would clearly see on the tourney field, displayed on shields and banners etc. I tried searching online without success. Have sigils for these houses (Wyvernspur, Silversword, Bleth, Dauntinghorn etc.) ever been revealed anywhere? [I do have Volo's Guide to Cormyr as well, but can't find it right now - I also have Four from Cormyr and probably other supplements and scenarios featuring the place that I can't remember right now]
For a moment I considered your google-fu to be dubious when the first name I found the heraldry for in seconds but then I hit a brick wall for the others you rattled off. I have provided what I found at the following links:
Wyvernspur
Cormaeril
Crownsilver, Huntsilver, & Truesilver
Internet Archive Wayback and enter "http://www.realmspeak.com/heraldry/cormyr/" mentioned in this post
quote:
Originally posted by Caladan Brood
2) How would you do an archery competition using the AD&D rules? I mean, if the PCs are all level 1 they have a 1/20 chance of hitting anything. Is there, perchance, a supplement with tourney rules? If not, any suggestions? [Yes, I am aware I could avoid all this by running a tournament in The Riddle of Steel, but no chance I'll be able to teach these guys such a complex combat system in a weekend, lol.]
The targets have no dexterity (completely stationary), are larger than the outline of a humanoid, and have a surface that yields readily to penetration by an arrow. I'm sure you can modify AD&D or 2nd Ed combat rules with that information to arrive at proper THACOs. You might want to look at the following links.
Page 20 here and all of this here. |
| xaeyruudh |
Posted - 24 Mar 2015 : 21:45:11
First: Awesome! Glad you're getting the chance to get back together.
That said, I'd be a little skittish about the tournament idea but that's probably just me. I can easily see a lot of people recommending a tournament if you had just asked an open-ended "What should I do?" My concern is that you haven't seen each other in 15ish years, and you're setting them up to compete with each other. If they were competitive back then (which they probably were, if they were 15ish years old) then maybe that's cool. Maybe a lot of 30 yr old guys are still competitive. I'm not, and I'm painfully aware that I'm an oddball, so my "concern" is probably a thumbs-up, full-steam-ahead sign that you're on the right track. 
1) It seems impossible to me that noble house symbols aren't published somewhere. They have to be! No idea where. The Cormaeril family's symbol is on the FR wiki page for that house, so that's one place to check. There's no symbol on the Bleth house page, though, so not sure how many you'll find. There were some "cards" that came with the old boxed sets, and I know I saw some symbols on them, but I'm guessing they were Realmswide organizations and not Cormyrean noble houses.
2) I have no productive suggestions for archery. I remember my 7th or 8th grade PE teacher made sure we got to shoot a bow one day, and I thought it was the coolest day of the year, but beyond that I got nothin.
3) Flexibility and inclusiveness are my suggestions for fun, in any setting. We are all kinda snowflakes, in the sense that everyone comes to the table with a different view of the world, a different understanding of their character and their place in the party, a different definition of roleplaying maybe, a different relationship with the DM and the other people at the table, and maybe most importantly different priorities. Maybe one person wants to be a "one hack, one kill" kind of fighter. Another wants to be figure the riddles out, and there'd better be riddles! You know your players... or at least you know the 15 yr old versions. So flexibility: you don't know what their snowflakes are like now, and you have to be prepared for whatever. And inclusiveness: each player needs to get a little something of what's important to them. Treasure, fame, ridiculously big glowing swords, make-out time with the barmaid... whatever it is. Hopefully everyone is enlightened enough that the barmaid doesn't have to be objectified, but pft @ real-world politics. As long as the real women at the table are having fun then it's all good.
4) Rescue a damsel in distress. Really. It's cheesy, it's a gigantic lame trope, but it brings everyone together and for me that's what roleplaying is all about. Tournaments, and competition in general, feels divisive to me... everyone is trying to be better than everyone else, and coming together as a party is pointless. Unless the party is performing as a unit against other parties, and that starts to get pretty complicated for the DM... why take on that headache? The point of having a group is to achieve something that one PC or a smaller group couldn't accomplish. And the final picture, when all the DM's demonic genius is factored in, should be tough enough, and complicated enough, that everyone is needed. If there are seven players, then six wouldn't have been able to succeed. But from the outside, at the beginning... rescue a damsel in distress. And of course it doesn't have to be a damsel. Could be a dragon, or a puppy, or Elminster. Whatever will get all of us focused and motivated. The tropeyness of it is far less important than the fun everyone has, and the challenges we all face together as a unit. Plus, it has that old-school feel that might really appeal to a group of guys gaming together again for the first time in 15 years.
And no tournament can compare with the bragging rights afforded by rescuing Elminster. |
|
|
