Need some help running a *gasp* 4e Campaign set in Faerun

[Pablosdog]

see above. I got a game group together willing to play, all are pretty different and one of them has never played dnd before.

Half the group likes kick in the door

The other is more into storytelling.

I was thinking of setting in the unapproachable east, given that the sword coast is completely overused. I was considering setting it in the east rift, and would task them defending it against the hordes of the underdark+mind flyer folk. Thing is, I hate the spell-plague, but I've agreed to use it. I planned on setting this after the spell plague has already ravished most of the land. I was thinking of having them create not only their character but a rival as well of opposing alignment. That way they get a different perspective while adventuring. Playing as two rival adventuring groups so to speak. I don't really want to hamfist them with my own philosophical meanderings, but I still want to tell a compelling and strong story. Betrayal is always fun.

I need some ideas with integrating the spellplague enough that it creates a more interesting story for the players to follow. Perhaps a group of amoral drifters that purge the spellplague from everyone and anyone? Should I treat it as a gift..a disease or both? I do want to keep the story on the grey end of things that is, every quest has a choice and consequence. I was thinking of adding a somewhat open world element in that certain quests are not integral to the story but can be completed(i.e bonus dungeons and the like)

Any ideas would be helpful

 

[denizsi]

How familiar are they with 4E? Are you? Why 4E? If you're beginners, I'd suggest you stop right now and start reading The Riddle of Steel and set a campaign using material from there.

 

[Pablosdog]

I've ran 3rd edition for quite some time, and I have experience running a few other pen and paper games. I've ran 4th edition, and we've chosen it because the other players are REALLY into dnd. Since 4th edition is the easiest to play we've decided on that.

I'm a bit of a ball-breaker as rules are considered though.

My preference is for pathfinder, but that might be too complex for some of the newer players who've never played a pnp game before.

 

[Lord Rocket]

So might 4e, but as long as you and the other experts at the table are patient while they're still learning, they'll pick it up. Use whatever system you like best and want to play man, as the GM you need to be enjoying yourself and generally not resenting what you're playing or else no-one will have fun. Besides, heaps of people learned to play with 3e and they all managed OK.

Don't know anything about Faerun to be honest, but all you really need to think about is how well the players know the setting. If not at all, you can do whatever the fuck you like. If they do, then do whatever the fuck you like anyway and tell them to suck your cock if they don't care for it. Make sure they know you're serious about this by flopping it out while you tell them. Stand on the table, wave it in their faces and make ever louder demands for them to put it in their mouths. When they start to cry you'll know you have carte blanche to continue as necessary.

That said, I'm a bit worried about the whole two parties thing, especially with a beginner in the group. If half the table likes their evil characters better then there'll probably be infighting among the group and since some RPers are not very mature this can breed IRL resentment. Too much of this and the newbie will not be back.
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but it's not one that will go down well unless you have a mature group that is interested in some heavy RP; since you said a few of your players are into H&S I suspect you'll find yourself wanting in the latter regard.
I dunno man, just give them a foozle story with some good twists and turns (set it in a beleaguered keep or some shit so you can have a few political factions) and you should be able to please everyone; the thing is, most people seem to think Bioware games have good stories so they're unlikely to get upset by the cliched set up. Plus it's less work for you.

 

[Pablosdog]

You know, your right on that. This is the idea I have so far.

-Kick in the door with a heavy emphasis on choices. That is; combat-heavy, but with choices that impact and affect the player(s)
-choosing between multiple factions that will give entirely different quest lines and rewards. Some "Good" or "Evil" factions have differing beliefs and war with each other, allowing encounters to not be restricted by alignment.

-Instead of creating a rival adventure group, i've decided to just create my own rival adventuring group who the party has to deal with from time to time.

-Spellplague as an important element... some people live in constant fear, huge walled cities are used as protection, people are taken advantage of with promises of a cure. The result of this is that some are used as slave labor in Wizard-ruled cities. This adds an element of suspicion to the campaign, as even certain magic users are held to be "marked or infected" I figure by using this cliche, I can help to limit the amount of magic allowed in a magic heavy setting.

-Using a "Savage Frontier" type of setting, that is, huge untamed jungles coupled with diseases and wide expanses of spell-scarred wasteland with abyssal and lovecraftian horrors. Using the parties backgrounds to my advantage, that is, integrating their own character stories into the main campaign itself. Characters that they know, or are a part of their past may appear. Refrences to what they've already done in the world will be reflected in the environment and in npcs that they communicate with.

I figure I'll start the story simple. They could be mercenaries of varying backgrounds/alignments employed for skill rather than moral disposition. The East rift is under constant war with the underdark, and I figure that an uneasy truce would be a good catalyst to begin the story, as this group is tasked with finding out what the main motivating factor is behind such a treaty in respects to the drow and illithid. Varying drow houses border on civil-war, and the party will be able to investigate that further. Elements even within gold dwarf society border on the inhumane, as many drow prisoners have been captured and tortured, and dwarven society borders on xenophobic. Rather than hammer them though with "HUR DUR TORTURING DROW ARE BAD" i want to give them alternate explanations as to why these things occur. Characters can disagree and fight based on ideas and concepts rather than strict and static alignment. Party members will probably disagree with each other, which will allow for interesting role-playing experiences. I would like to have a mindflayer city if possible, and even allow a common understanding with characters of opposing alignments.

 

[mondblut]

If you're running a 4e campaign set in Faerun, you do need help. Serious medical help.

 

[J1M]

I don't understand the point of Faerun. Use a more interesting setting, imo. Also, I recommend that you replace any meaningful skill check situations with the "skill challenge" encounter type. If you don't know what I mean by that, I can go into more detail.

 

[soggie]

How about Darksun?

 

[Lord Rocket]

How about the man already knows what he's gonna play?

 

[Pablosdog]

It's just a setting that almost everyone in the group is familiar with. It's an overused setting, not even my most favorite of settings(for dnd that would be dark sun) but it's something that the players would prefer playing in. If you have a dnd session without people having any fun then it'll quickly loose steam.

 

[mondblut]

I don't understand the point of Faerun.

And I don't understand the point of 4e.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Faerun has something for almost everyone. People bitching about it usually just think Sword Coast=Faerun or Dalelands=Faerun, which isn't true. TSR and now Wizards have added pretty much everything into Faerun, plus you can always use the Planes along with it, so any GM should have a field day. Unless all of your players are well-versed lore anal retentives but who wants to play with such fuckwits in the first place... :D

 

[Pablosdog]

Faerun has something for almost everyone. People bitching about it usually just think Sword Coast=Faerun or Dalelands=Faerun, which isn't true. TSR and now Wizards have added pretty much everything into Faerun, plus you can always use the Planes along with it, so any GM should have a field day. Unless all of your players are well-versed lore anal retentives but who wants to play with such fuckwits in the first place... :D

I agree. While Faerun is overused, and 4e isn't the greatest, it's one of the easiest systems to get into and play. People are familiar with it, and sometimes you just have to go with what the group wants to do in order to produce maximum enjoyment.

 

[Erebus]

Faerun has something for almost everyone. People bitching about it usually just think Sword Coast=Faerun or Dalelands=Faerun, which isn't true.

I used to have a very negative opinion of the FR setting until MotB showed me it could actually be good.

From what I remember reading, however, 4e Faerun is closer to Eberron than it is to 2e-3e Faerun.