DM Thoughts - Session 02

And so it has happened at last - the first Savage Tide has struck the world, consuming in its energy the city of Thanaclan. Yet while the cataclysmic event was directly triggered by the new Dragon Shaman, Bakura, its true origin clearly lay - as the Shaman himself pointed out - in some form of sabotage.

It seemed they had angered someone, and retaliation had been swift and incredibly effective.

As DM, this was the event that the pre-campaign was designed for. Nothing could give the players a better sense of the terror and disaster that would surround another Savage Tide explosion, say in the city of Cauldron, Sasserine or Greyhawk... than to actually experience as characters what the terrible results of the first Tide had been for those around to suffer its power.

Having this event described to the players through the use of an NPC flashback or some such thing, seemed a waste of its potential - especially with the associated events that immediately followed it being particularly heroic and memorable as well.

So I figured that I would place the party into a pre-campaign that would put them front and center for the first Savage Tide explosion, not only as witnesses, but indirect causes of it too (though not through their own mistakes - there would be no reason for them to suspect the attack).

I therefore decided that such a story would fit perfectly into a four-session framework:

1 - The Setup: Players get to know life on the island, before any of the bad stuff happens.
2 - The Disaster: Players are there to witness the destruction of Thanaclan, barely escaping.
3 - The Investigation: Players do what they can to uncover the plot of what happened.
4 - The Retaliation: Players confront those responsible for the attack and try to exact revenge.

Given what they would face in that fourth retaliation stage, they would have the opportunity to either die a tragic death, which would set up how dangerous the enemy was... OR, they would have a very real possibility of doing some critical damage to that enemy, which would go down in local history as them being the saviors of the island, and the reason why it still exists today, 1500 years later. Either way, it would be a beautiful setup for the real campaign, both making clear the danger involved, and filling in a lot of the backstory in such a way as to make it more real and memorable than a simple flashback would have been.

And so, today marked the mid-way point in that 4-session plan, and I would certainly consider it a complete success.

The end sections of the Trials of the Dragon God proved to be appropriate challenges, in the case of the fight with the Mooncalf, and the survival fight against the Flame Snake in the pit. Then, the "battle" against the ghosts of the seven previous failed dragon shamans proved to be exactly what I was hoping it to be: a way for the players to test out and show off their shiny new artifacts, without too much actual danger involved. All of this went perfectly according to plan, and perhaps even a bit better, in terms of some very cool character development within the group, as the two guardians (Immortal in particular) strove to teach Bakura some lessons in what it took to be a man and a true warrior. All great stuff.

Then came the actual Fire Festival, which ended up being quite fun to play for the final hour of the session, with the newly-anointed Bakura taking charge and getting to do things his way. His Bluff skills suddenly had a chance to be shown off, as he built the town up into a frenzy of bloodlust, seeking out sacrifices of every kind to offer to the Dragon God... creatures of earth, air and water alike... even dozens of poor innocent phanatons! Even the previous dragon shaman was effectively murdered by Bakura, who falsely claimed it the will of the Dragon God that he too be sacrificed. With everyone falling for Bakura's lies, the poor man was to be burnt at the stake during the festival's opening.

Then, after the fun of the preparations was done, we got to experience the moment I'd been waiting for - which I was hoping to get just right, in order to present it as something truly terrifying, which would remain in everyone's mind for the rest of the Savage Tide campaign.

And in my mind, it worked quite well. Just as Bakura ignited the pile of pearls, and one of them began to crackle with green energy and emit an acrid smoke... I cued up that classic horror tune, "Hello Zepp", from the movie Saw... And told the players that the all got the feeling that "something REALLY BAD was about to happen..."

And then did my best to describe the chaos that hit Thanaclan as it was hit with the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb. The three heroes were able to escape with their lives, due to a quick reaction of fleeing the scene as fast as possible. And I believe the players all got the picture, that this was not a good thing, and that if it ever were to happen in a major city in the modern Greyhawk world, thousands and thousands of innocents would surely die.

As though with a snap of the fingers, the stage had been set for the campaign, with the dangers involved now much clearer, and a certain intensity built up as to what this might be leading up to and how it might impact all the characters we've come to know through the story so far.

All in all, great session conclusion - I definitely feel like this pre-campaign has been worthwhile so far. Here's to hoping that the second half of it is just as good!