Thanks for the great article! Can you please expand on your example further (if you can remember that far back)? For the hook "People camping nearby speaking elemental language", what situation grew out of this? What information did the PCs get from these campers, and did you have a conflict or a bit of lore pre-planned for this interaction, or did you improvise it all on the spot?
Hi Victor! I'm glad you enjoyed the read, hopefully you got something out of it.
For the Elemental language hook, I knew that there was a marid in the nearby lake, and that was pretty much all I had prepped. The goals of the marid and the cultists were unknown to me before roleplay but the interactions with the party drove that improv for me. My memory and my notes have a pretty clear overview of the events:
- The party arrived and noticed a large group of people in an established camp, but noticed that none of them were speaking a language that they knew. They wanted nothing to do with this - too ominous.
- The bard cast Comprehend Languages and realized that they were mostly just having ordinary conversations, occasionally talking about the water and the purity of the water.
- After seeing the surrounding area, and after arriving near the end of the travel day, they made the difficult decision to camp with the others.
- The bard cast Comp Lang on a few others, and they went and found one of the members of the camp to ask if they could stay the night. The cultists all spoke Common too, and spoke it to everyone not in the cult. They were generally friendly but there was something unsettling about them.
- Camp watch was set up, and during the 3rd(?) watch, the warlock spotted someone pouring water around their camp in a large circle. After chasing them down, she caught them and interrogated them. It was a younger member of the cult, using the purified water to create a warding circle around the camp, to keep out the demons.
- The group didn't appreciate the hidden rituals involving them, and they didn't trust anyone's intentions, so they requested that no one come near their camp and kept very vigilant watch. In the morning when leaving, the young cultist apologised and offered a waterskin of their purified water.
- The party accepted the apology and went on their way, warning nearby travelers and wanderers to keep their eyes out when passing through that way. Nothing good can come from worshipping the unknown.
The information was general world building around the location. The existence of a marid, the importance of the lake in a wasteland and the reason why villages and towns nearby could prosper, and some 'holy' water for the cleric.
Thanks for the great article! Can you please expand on your example further (if you can remember that far back)? For the hook "People camping nearby speaking elemental language", what situation grew out of this? What information did the PCs get from these campers, and did you have a conflict or a bit of lore pre-planned for this interaction, or did you improvise it all on the spot?
Hi Victor! I'm glad you enjoyed the read, hopefully you got something out of it.
For the Elemental language hook, I knew that there was a marid in the nearby lake, and that was pretty much all I had prepped. The goals of the marid and the cultists were unknown to me before roleplay but the interactions with the party drove that improv for me. My memory and my notes have a pretty clear overview of the events:
- The party arrived and noticed a large group of people in an established camp, but noticed that none of them were speaking a language that they knew. They wanted nothing to do with this - too ominous.
- The bard cast Comprehend Languages and realized that they were mostly just having ordinary conversations, occasionally talking about the water and the purity of the water.
- After seeing the surrounding area, and after arriving near the end of the travel day, they made the difficult decision to camp with the others.
- The bard cast Comp Lang on a few others, and they went and found one of the members of the camp to ask if they could stay the night. The cultists all spoke Common too, and spoke it to everyone not in the cult. They were generally friendly but there was something unsettling about them.
- Camp watch was set up, and during the 3rd(?) watch, the warlock spotted someone pouring water around their camp in a large circle. After chasing them down, she caught them and interrogated them. It was a younger member of the cult, using the purified water to create a warding circle around the camp, to keep out the demons.
- The group didn't appreciate the hidden rituals involving them, and they didn't trust anyone's intentions, so they requested that no one come near their camp and kept very vigilant watch. In the morning when leaving, the young cultist apologised and offered a waterskin of their purified water.
- The party accepted the apology and went on their way, warning nearby travelers and wanderers to keep their eyes out when passing through that way. Nothing good can come from worshipping the unknown.
The information was general world building around the location. The existence of a marid, the importance of the lake in a wasteland and the reason why villages and towns nearby could prosper, and some 'holy' water for the cleric.