So IMO there are several really easy entry points into the main RQ setting and storyline:
- 1. The villager/tribal story. The characters are mostly members of the same community and get exposed to the wider world from that starting point.
- Advantage: the community becomes a base and a reference point and it is very easy for the characters to work together.
- Disadvantage: hard to work characters from outside the community in. Six Seasons in Sartar is the best example of this in RQG.
- 2. The returning from war story. The characters have already a backstory of fighting in the wars that open the Hero Wars and are now returning home to communities that have changed – and that need them.
- Advantage: Easier to have a mixed-party of different types of characters, easy to explain why they are there.
- Disadvantage: less of a community reference point. The RQ Starter Set and the GM Adventures Pack are the best examples of this.
- 3. Adventures in New Pavis. The characters are adventurers who are in New Pavis for one reason or another and have gathered together to rob the ruins of the Big Rubble. This was the default story for RQ2 and we will be coming out with this as well for RQG.
So the advantages all of these have is that they reduce the requirement of up-front knowledge beyond what is in the existing character creation process for RQ. They let us ease into the setting, while also setting things up for getting into the big roller-coaster ride that is the main storyline. To me that’s a good entry point.
Now some people don’t want to engage with the that main storyline or they want to invert that story line – fine enough, but that’s not this post.
I am curious about what are other good entry points into that main setting and storyline, that meets the other requirements. Got any good ones?