Dungeon Master's Introduction
 

The Daggerford Campaign	DMing Tips	Controlling Storylines	-	-
Tricks of the Trade	-	-	-	-

The following is primarily intended for
the 1st-time DM. Experienced
DMs will be familiar with much of
this material. Bear with us and read along.
You still may pick up a thing or 2.

The Daggerford _ Campaign
Under Illefarn is focused on the town
of Daggerford and, most importantly, on
the institution of the Daggerford militia.
The militia brings together characters
who might never associate otherwise.
Membership in the militia gives novice
characters a common origin and encourages
them to consider themselves part of a
team.

Once the characters are ready for
action, you are provided with three militia
missions in which the adventurer can
hunt down raiding lizard men (Lizard
Raid), protect a caravan (Caravan Duty),
and rescue the duke's sister and make a
powerful friend (Rescue Mission). The
adventures may be undertaken in any
order. Besides providing experience and
the prospect of advancement, these
adventures offer valuable clues and magickal
aid for the main adventure to come.

After the completion of the first three
adventures, natural disaster strikes in the
form of an earthquake. The characters are
given ample opportunity to make important
contacts during the rescue operations
following the earthquake. Then the town
discovers that a curse has arisen as a result
of the quake, and the stalwart militiamen
who have done so well in previous missions
are sent to find the source of this
curse.

DMing Tips
Under Illefarn is an episodic campaign.
That is, the campaign features
adventures set in the same general area
with no unifying theme other than all of
them involve members of the Daggerford
militia. There are numerous plot threads
to provide opportunities for future
adventures once the campaign adventures
have been completed. The PCs may
also wish to pursue one or more of these
plot threads between the presented
adventures.

For example, one item of loot picked
up by the characters in the Lizard
Raid adventure is a ceratosaur tooth which has
been enchanted to summon ceratosaurs.
The character has no immediate use for
this item, since it only works in the vicinity
of the Lizard Marsh. The obvious person
to sell this to is Redeye, the lizard
man chief. But how can the character
make contact with Redeye? This would
seem to call for another expedition into
the swamp to face hostile lizard men and
dinosaurs and perhaps to discover the
ruins of old forgotten villas from the
Fallen Kingdom period. And how receptive
will Redeye be? He might decide to
just take the tooth over the character's
dead body.

Elsewhere, the PCs may encounter
Lady Bronwyn, who is older than her
brother, the duke, and far more interested
in rulership. Are the PCs interested
in helping her prove her worthiness to
rule? Can the map to Illefarn and the <link>
good will of the king of Laughing Hollow
be combined into a successful expedition?
Is Baron Agwain going to attempt
vengeance against the people who
thwarted his courtship of Bronwyn?
 

Controlling Storylines It can be frustrating
when the PCs wander off in a direction
the DM doesn't want them to take.
Here are some methods to help keep the
PCs following the storyline you want
them to explore.

For starters, make the characters an
integral part of the campaign background.
Is someone playing a Knight?
Then have him attending the duke at the
castle. Perhaps Lady Bronwyn is interested
in him. This provides a powerful
motivation to chase after the abductor.

Delfen is an excellent prod for a Wizard. 
If a character wants to learn more
spells, he will have to do Delfen a favor,
which just so happens to coincide with
the needs of the storyline.

The militia of Daggerford provides the
most compelling reasons to keep the PCs
on track. The characters initially have to
go out on adventures because it's their
job, and they're under orders. The militia
also functions as a family unit for the
PCs and encourages ties of allegiance. A
group that stays together is a lot easier to
control; if one member ov the group goes
someplace, the rest are likely to follow if
they share this common bond.

It's a good idea to maintain some control
over the types of characters played.
Evil characters, if played correctly, can
create a lot of problems for a group of
novice characters. Not only do they instill
distrust, they can destroy the more FRAGILE
characters. Later, when everyone has had
more role playing experience, these characters
can be FUN, but beginners should
maintain the same attitudes as the Heroes
of sword and sorcery stories and stand
united against the forces of evil.
<maybe High Fantasy, maybe NOT Swords & Sorcery>

Goals for the Dungeon Master In short,
the Dungeon Master should keep two
goals in mind.

The primary goal is to make the adventure
FUN for everyone. Players should
have a good Time running their characters
and experiencing the adventures you
present to them. You should have a good
Time astonishing them with your intriguing
plots and interesting encounters.

The secondary goal is to keep the players
guessing. In each of the adventures
presented in this package, the PCs begin
with one problem and end up dealing
with a different one. For instance, they
START out defending a neighboring castle
and end up negotiating with Redeye.
They START out scouting a caravan route
and end up protecting a caravan. They
start out to rescue Bronwyn and end up
befriending the King of Laughing Hollow.
They start out investigating a curse
and end up finding the crown of Devin.
These storyline changes are fairly simple,
but they keep the players guessing, and
that keeps up their interest.

Tricks of the Trade
Here are a few techniques that can
keep players coming back for more. Some
may also be used as springboards for further
adventures.

The Hidden Enemy. Who is really
behind all the problems that have beset
Daggerford? Who showed the lizard men
how to enter a keep unnoticed, encouraged
the orcs to attack the Trade Way,
encouraged Agwain to kidnap Bronwyn,
encouraged the orcs to attack the Laughing
Hollow, and promoted the orc invasion
of Illefarn?

Is it Kelthas the Dread, THE NECROMANCER
who has also invaded Illefarn? Is it all
an elaborate plot by Sir Llewellyn to claim
his rights to the duchy? Is it some other
character who hasn't yet made himself
known?

Of course, there's nothing to say that
any single person is behind all of the
disasters, but it doesn't hurt for the players
to think there is 1 mastermind.

The Hidden Agenda. Is there an overall
purpose to these adventures that is not
immediately apparent? Are the characters
being groomed for greater things?
Why is Delfen in Daggerford? Is he
recruiting for some secret project of his
own? Or is the mysterious Sir Elorfindar
trying to bring back the glories of the
Fallen Kingdom by recovering some of
it's lost treasures?

Someone may have his own purposes
in mind for these adventures, but why he
or she is doing it remains a mystery for the
characters to solve.

The Constant Irritation. Using a reoccurring
annoyance can keep the characters
occupied and too busy to notice all
the clues. It can be almost anything, from
an imperious council which makes too
many demands, to an irritating NPC who tags along
with the group and gets them into trouble.
One such NPC might be Lady
Bronwyn. She isn't particularly irritating,
but she definitely would get the party in
trouble if her brother found out they
were encouraging her to adventure.

The None-Too-Subtle Clue. Whenever
any of the above techniques seems to be
wearing thin and the players are getting
restless, it is Time to give them some satisfaction
by allowing them to solve the
problem or mystery at hand. Usually this
can be done by dropping a hint or a clue
to the solution that can't be missed.

One way to make the presentation of
the clue more interesting is to select one
player and take him aside from the others.
Give him the clue in the guise of an
audience with a superior officer or a secret
note from a friend. It is then up to the
player whether or not his character shares
this info with his companions.
Don't overdo this technique, however, as
you risk creating division in the group.
You don't want that.

You also can orchestrate a situation
which allows an important clue to fall
right into a PC's hands. For example, an
orc band attacks and is defeated. Examining
the orc bodies, the PC finds an item
that was known to belong to old Duke
Pryden which was thought to be lost with
him in the siege of Dragonspear Castle.
Even if their lack of experience compels
them to pass this information on to the
duke or another authority, at least they
have found the answer to the mystery.
This can give them incentive to gain further
experience until they are ready to
deal with the dangers of Dragonspear
themselves.

Modifying Ability Checks
Ability checks are sometimes modified
by the difficulty or ease of the task to be
accomplished. The Dungeon Master may
modify the chance of success in one of two
ways.

The simplest way is to add a difficulty
modifier to a roll. For example, a climb
up a steep slope could call for a Strength
check. If the slope is particularly steep,
add 1-5 to the number rolled before comparing
it to the character's Strength. If
the modified roll is too high, the Ability
check fails.

Another way to modify an Ability
check is to use different dice. For example,
rolling 3d6 instead of 1d20 means
that characters with high abilities will
almost always succeed, while those with
low abilities will usually fail. This is
because the usual roll on 3d6 is between 9
and 12. More difficult Ability checks can
be resolved by calling for the use of 4d6 or
even 5d6, making success almost impossible
for all but characters with the highest
abilities.

Training and Experience in Daggerford
Normally, as described in the Dungeon
Masters Guide, training for a higher level
costs 1,500 gp times the current level of
the character per week. The training takes
a number of weeks appropriate to the
previous activities of the character, as
determined by the DM.

In Daggerford and the surrounding
regions, gps are not as common as in richer
areas such as Waterdeep, Cormyr, or
Amn. Instead, payment is made in service
or as a form of reward.

Service
Those who spend many years in their
professions in service to other characters
of higher level are paid in training to
attain higher status in their professions.

Rewards
Those who have performed a singular
service to their community or to a character
of higher level are rewarded with
training. Either the community provides
the training, or, if the community lacks
the resources to provide the training, it
calls in a favor from someone who can
provide it. The community or the character
who received the service makes
arrangements for the training.

As a rule, adventurers gain training
through rewards. The militia of Daggerford
in particular is rewarded with this
training. You will learn more details
about the militia as you proceed with the
campaign.

In Game Terms
A character earns gp credit by SLAYING
monsters, by acquiring magickal treasures,
or by any other methods aside from
acquiring money which are normally
rewarded with XP. This
takes the form of a voucher voted to the
character by the Daggerford Council.
This voucher is above and beyond any
money earned in an adventure, and it can
be spent toward the normal costs of gaining
a level.

Example of Voucher Cork Sheperdson is a
Vet who has killed monsters
and acted heroically to gain 1,700 experience
points. To advance to 2nd level, he
must have 2,000 experience points and
spend at least 1,500 gp for a week's training.
Cork also has accumulated 750 gp
worth another 750 experience points.

Since the Daggerford council votes
him a voucher for 1,700 gp worth of <$17,000>
training for his great efforts on behalf of
the militia, Cork does NOT have to spend
any of his hard earned gold for training.
He can use the money to buy himself a
suit of chain mail instead.

QUICK Character Creation
If your players don't have the Time,
inclination, or enough experience to create
their own characters, there are pregenerated
characters in the center section
of this book. Give the players the statistics
for these characters and all other necessary
info. The physical
descriptions of the characters are up to
the players.