Thu Jul 08, 2021 6:56 am
Re: ToEE start
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Cyrusalthantas wrote: |
I've been slowly reworking my 3.5 ToEE conversion. The last time I ran it I had the players start in Verbobonc instead of having them ride up from the Wild Coast. But I was just wondering why Gygax would have the players take what would be such a long and dangerous route for 1st level characters instead of having them start closer by Hommlett? |
I guess because that's the route Gygax's original players took to get from the Greyhawk area, where the original Greyhawk Campaign was set, to Hommlet.
Whether your players do that is up to you, and them. It depends on what backgrounds they pick. For example, a gnome PC probably came from the west, and an elven PC probably came from Celene.
T1 "starts" near Hommlet. The "your party is now approaching Hommlet, having ridden up from lands near the Wild Coast" part is just flavor text. They could easily have come from any direction. The point is that they don't already know all the NPCs there, so they're unknown quantities.
I think it's fine to assume some journeys, even quite long ones, occur without incident. Hommlet is supposed to get a fair amount of trade. I think it's likely that not every caravan from Narwell to Hommlet meets bandits. They have to be somewhat lowkey to evade the Narwell Headhunters, and even if the PCs met some, they might have simply exacted a nominal tribute rather than bothering to murder a group of 1st level nobodies. The PCs are assumed to start with no cash or equipment worth stealing, though if they wanted they could pretend they were wealthier when they began their journey.
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