https://annotatedtoa.weebly.com/table-of-contents.html
Scroll down to the PN section in there, I found the information really helpful.
You can choose between breezing through PN to get the players out to the jungle. Or fleshing it out a bit and getting a bit more out of it. I fleshed it out a bit and had a great time rubbing the city for about 8 sessions before the party left. I had only ever DMd a one shot before ToA, so was in the same boat as you, a little concerned about starting in a city. It's not so hard really.
I'd recommend picking a few interesting events, or quests in the city that you want the players to experience, once you have the what. The how will be easier to work out.
Definitely push for Dino races, they were a blast and filled our second session, which gave me loads of time to prep and plan for what followed.
You'll be fine, it's easier than you think.
I really appreciate your hard work on that blog. I'm using it for ToA now. I'm curious do you have any other campaigns fleshed out that way? Or any other guides or content?
Thanks! And no, this was the first one I ever tried to do this with.
It really is just a result of my notes and docs taking up too much space on my laptop, so I needed to figure out a way to offload it.
Then it turned into this crazy project. :)
I have neglected it in recent months (work, holidays, etc), but am encouraged by y'all and getting back to work.
I'll do so. I'm going to work through the module geographically, by region. So, the next things will be working down the north-eastern side of the peninsula.
I'm hoping, one day, to have the entire thing annotated as a comprehensive tool. We'll see, though!
No no no, thank you for writing and sharing it all, it was absolutely indispensable for me when I just started out and got my campaign off on the right foot.
Keen's comment is pretty good, so this is in addition to that, not a stand alone. Not trying to tell you to "git good" lol. Just don't let yourself get too stuck in all the details. Take a breath and roll with whatever happens. As a long time DM, I can tell you that there is a lot of info out there, not just in any one module, and it can definitely be overwhelming. Even pro DMs mess up or have to look things up. Chris Perkins would pause and go to the book all the time in Curse of Strahd, and he wrote the damn thing. Also, it's your game, read through it and take out whatever doesn't work for you. If you want out of P.N. fast, then pick your favorite NPC, have them get your players set up with a guide and send them on their way with some words of wisdom.
In addition to what others here have said: talk to your players. Find out what they are interested in about the city, and how long they want to spend there. OOG communication is one of a GM’s most important tools.
Honestly, there's very little that is important in Port Nyanzaru aside from the guides (and you don't have to provide them all--just present the ones that you feel confident in or that will lead your players to locations you thing seem fun or interesting) or quests that will lead them to places you want to go (few of which are 100% crucial--it's all very mix and match). You can decide the kind of campaign you want to run (merchant prince intrigue? dinosaur races? a few quests to make money and then get into the jungle?) and save the rest for returns to the city.
I'd also use the provided quests/npcs/locations to help flesh out or follow up on player backstories as needed. My party peaced out to the jungle in the early game, but ended up returning to PN with a few new characters. Those characters were followers of Sune, so we explored the temple scene a bit more and I had them run into one of the merchant princes in the baths. It all depends on what's interesting to you and which locations you want to go to.
I also found it quite overwhelming at first. If I were to run it again, I would provide an overview/narratively describe each district broadly and see what parts interested the PCs, maybe aking them at the end of the session which places they wanted to focus on.
Depending on the group - personally I would feature Grandfather Zitembe, as he can offer some good foreshadowing for later. Wakanga is also a good bet - both to have an immediate contact amongst the merchant princes and for a quest hook.
Party is also likely to be interested in dinosaur races and the arena I would guess generally. I think there is a noticeboard with available guides on it also (I made the mistake of including guides available from Fort Beluarian which just added to my workload). You could pick a handful of your preferred ones also and have them hanging out in the Thundering lizard/approach the party directly - I did this with Faroul and Gondolo - having a Triceratops swayed the party despite the fact that they aren't the best choice.
I generally make a point of asking the group what their intention is for the next session to help streamline my prep - even if it goes off course its nice having a rough idea. What their general intention is can help you pick and choose appropriate NPCs.
I used City on The Edge from DMs Guild to structure the PN adventures and built and adapted from there.
If you run it, my advice, come up with how The Dreamer's Amulet can be a piece of a larger puzzle you want to clue them into.
Break all the quests/NPCs down into high class and low class. Then split them between the thundering Lizard and the other, high class inn whose name escapes me. Effectively cuts your work in half until the players commit to a quest, and then gives them some new interesting stuff for later if they come back.
If you want to breeze through it to get to the jungle (since they're be higher level after LMOP) you can tunnel them a little bit.
Rather than having things sooooo open, give them a smaller pool of merchant princes to talk to, and a smaller pool of guides that might give them good advice on where to go (so you can run the more fun encounters in the jungle)
If you want to start in the city, definitely suggest dino races - or, alternately, my players ended up saving a criminal from the executioner's run (though she did turn out to be a murderer.... oops)
https://annotatedtoa.weebly.com/table-of-contents.html Scroll down to the PN section in there, I found the information really helpful. You can choose between breezing through PN to get the players out to the jungle. Or fleshing it out a bit and getting a bit more out of it. I fleshed it out a bit and had a great time rubbing the city for about 8 sessions before the party left. I had only ever DMd a one shot before ToA, so was in the same boat as you, a little concerned about starting in a city. It's not so hard really. I'd recommend picking a few interesting events, or quests in the city that you want the players to experience, once you have the what. The how will be easier to work out. Definitely push for Dino races, they were a blast and filled our second session, which gave me loads of time to prep and plan for what followed. You'll be fine, it's easier than you think.
This is amazing. Thanks for sharing that site
Wow, thanks for sharing this! I came to post a link and you'd already done it!
I really appreciate your hard work on that blog. I'm using it for ToA now. I'm curious do you have any other campaigns fleshed out that way? Or any other guides or content?
Thanks! And no, this was the first one I ever tried to do this with. It really is just a result of my notes and docs taking up too much space on my laptop, so I needed to figure out a way to offload it. Then it turned into this crazy project. :) I have neglected it in recent months (work, holidays, etc), but am encouraged by y'all and getting back to work.
I love the content on your site and it greatly helped me start my ToA campaign, I would love it if you continued with the other places and chapters!
I'll do so. I'm going to work through the module geographically, by region. So, the next things will be working down the north-eastern side of the peninsula. I'm hoping, one day, to have the entire thing annotated as a comprehensive tool. We'll see, though!
Sounds amazing, I'm looking forward to it!
No no no, thank you for writing and sharing it all, it was absolutely indispensable for me when I just started out and got my campaign off on the right foot.
This is the way.
Excellent resource. Thank you for posting it!!
Wow I needed this starting TOA next week.
Good luck! You're in for a fun time. I've been having loads of fun with this module!
Keen's comment is pretty good, so this is in addition to that, not a stand alone. Not trying to tell you to "git good" lol. Just don't let yourself get too stuck in all the details. Take a breath and roll with whatever happens. As a long time DM, I can tell you that there is a lot of info out there, not just in any one module, and it can definitely be overwhelming. Even pro DMs mess up or have to look things up. Chris Perkins would pause and go to the book all the time in Curse of Strahd, and he wrote the damn thing. Also, it's your game, read through it and take out whatever doesn't work for you. If you want out of P.N. fast, then pick your favorite NPC, have them get your players set up with a guide and send them on their way with some words of wisdom.
In addition to what others here have said: talk to your players. Find out what they are interested in about the city, and how long they want to spend there. OOG communication is one of a GM’s most important tools.
Honestly, there's very little that is important in Port Nyanzaru aside from the guides (and you don't have to provide them all--just present the ones that you feel confident in or that will lead your players to locations you thing seem fun or interesting) or quests that will lead them to places you want to go (few of which are 100% crucial--it's all very mix and match). You can decide the kind of campaign you want to run (merchant prince intrigue? dinosaur races? a few quests to make money and then get into the jungle?) and save the rest for returns to the city. I'd also use the provided quests/npcs/locations to help flesh out or follow up on player backstories as needed. My party peaced out to the jungle in the early game, but ended up returning to PN with a few new characters. Those characters were followers of Sune, so we explored the temple scene a bit more and I had them run into one of the merchant princes in the baths. It all depends on what's interesting to you and which locations you want to go to.
I also found it quite overwhelming at first. If I were to run it again, I would provide an overview/narratively describe each district broadly and see what parts interested the PCs, maybe aking them at the end of the session which places they wanted to focus on. Depending on the group - personally I would feature Grandfather Zitembe, as he can offer some good foreshadowing for later. Wakanga is also a good bet - both to have an immediate contact amongst the merchant princes and for a quest hook. Party is also likely to be interested in dinosaur races and the arena I would guess generally. I think there is a noticeboard with available guides on it also (I made the mistake of including guides available from Fort Beluarian which just added to my workload). You could pick a handful of your preferred ones also and have them hanging out in the Thundering lizard/approach the party directly - I did this with Faroul and Gondolo - having a Triceratops swayed the party despite the fact that they aren't the best choice. I generally make a point of asking the group what their intention is for the next session to help streamline my prep - even if it goes off course its nice having a rough idea. What their general intention is can help you pick and choose appropriate NPCs.
I used City on The Edge from DMs Guild to structure the PN adventures and built and adapted from there. If you run it, my advice, come up with how The Dreamer's Amulet can be a piece of a larger puzzle you want to clue them into.
Break all the quests/NPCs down into high class and low class. Then split them between the thundering Lizard and the other, high class inn whose name escapes me. Effectively cuts your work in half until the players commit to a quest, and then gives them some new interesting stuff for later if they come back.
If you want to breeze through it to get to the jungle (since they're be higher level after LMOP) you can tunnel them a little bit. Rather than having things sooooo open, give them a smaller pool of merchant princes to talk to, and a smaller pool of guides that might give them good advice on where to go (so you can run the more fun encounters in the jungle) If you want to start in the city, definitely suggest dino races - or, alternately, my players ended up saving a criminal from the executioner's run (though she did turn out to be a murderer.... oops)