In the first session of an upcoming game of 5e, I plan on implementing a Kraken as a means of destroying a ship that a party of level 1 PCs are on. There is no forseeable way to defeat the Kraken, or avoid being knocked out during the destruction of the ship. It is possible to strike the Kracken, and even do damage with magic, but not to serious injure it or stop it from destroying the ship.
I plan on having all the players CHOOSE which two items from their inventory they will discard, and having any character who was actually able to strike the creature gain a small amount of bonus exp. for the encounter.
Would you consider this railroading? This will be the campaign opener, with the characters being the only survivors of the wreck.
>>46395272
Splitting XP awards and making it possible for the party to fall out of sync in leveling is a pretty bad idea. Attempting to separate the party from their possessions will probably also lead to a lot of "but I had everything I own strapped to my person".
In general, however, this setup isn't bad in and of itself. Trying to escape an encounter can make an entertaining encounter in and of itself as barrels fly down and the ship turns sideways. Just remember, the goal of any game is to keep the players engaged and proactive. They have to be allowed to do interesting things like deftly dodging sliding debris or dragging other crew men to safety for them to feel like part of the scene.
>>46395272
We'll see you next week when you make a thread complaining how your players got themselves a TPK by trying to fight the kraken using absolutely no tactics beyond "wait for my turn and attack".
>>46395272
Have them do a dex save and if they fail then have them loose a piece or 2 of gear
>>46395787
They can't TPK. The encounter ends when all characters are incap.
>>46395830
The first stage of the encounter is an athletics check to dodge falling debris. Passing this, they have an opportunity to strike at the tentacles or save a captured crewman.
After this, any characters not already incapped by debris will be incapped by the Kraken.
Maybe only those that are taken out in the first round will lose gear? They are all level one in a fresh campaign so its nothing irreplaceable. Plus they are allowed to choose the items, which will hopefully ease the pain of lost gear.
This is not an initiative based combat encounter against the Kraken, it is more of an environmental hazard at this stage.
>>46395950
Why do you hate their gear so much, just let them keep it. I can't imagine your players grinding the game to a halt because "what the fuck GM, we washed up on this beach and didn't even lose our weapons?????" whereas destroying their items will cause grief.
>>46395950
The more you flesh out this plan, the more it seems it won't work out well for you. The party shouldn't be expected to fight until incapacitation against a clearly unbeatable foe. Moreover, this foe really shouldn't give much of a shit about the crew or party themselves who basically can't harm it, as the reason Krakens were said to attack boats in the first place is that they saw them as rivals in their waters.
Let the party sort out this encounter how they want to. If they attack, make it clear the beast doesn't even seem to notice them at first. If that doesn't set off alarm bells, have one of them bitch slapped out into the ocean, unconscious but safe.
Sailors should be running, as should the PCs. Let them save who they can from the undertow and any gear that's lost should be able to be found out on the beach, if not something better.
There isn't a reason to force your players to be gibbed in this situation if they are smart enough or fast enough to escape. Granted storm wracked seas might finish off the job, but let things play out earnestly and don't have a game plan. The second you think of this as a rounds to lose encounter, you're setting yourself up for trouble.
>>46396061
I appreciate the advice. Thank you.
>>46395272
>bait and switch first session
Fuck you, OP, you're a shitty DM and I hope your players derail your game as soon as they realize you tricked them.
>>46396254
Anon, calm down. OP's asking for advice, not insults.
>>46396061
This is very sound advice
>>46395272
Fighting all kraken at once is silly. In a kraken fight i did in the first session of our FFd6 campaign PCs main objective was to keep kraken's free tentacles occupied long enough for the rest of the passengers to escape. They had plenty of space on deck, so the fight was mainly dodging tentacle lunging while rest of the kraken was crushing the ship (and raining skeleton pirates hitching a ride on him).
Basically, they wouldn't just escape - players are proactive and no plans survive contact with them. Probably the best you could do is make individual tenacles a series of fight while making it clear the main body is too deep or too huge to actually hurt (and god help you if you have mages in your party, they WILL try to take it on). Falling debris is a neat idea, though, wish i did that.
>>46395272
As long as you make it possible for the party to kill the kraken later in the game.
>>46396314
Maybe he should be less of a faggot, then.
>>46396314
No, having been on the receiving end of an ill-contrived opening plot thread like this, OP absolutely needs to be insulted first, because he should know that players will literally still be mad about this shit years after it happens.
Advice? At very minimum, players shouldn't have their gear unavoidably stripped or lost in session one, particularly if they have no warning that the premise of the campaign is actually 'stranded at sea' instead of whatever OP billed it as initially. If the ship must go down for whatever train OP needs to leave the plot station, players should be given some way to feel that they are making an impact. As >>46396412 suggests, giving the players a way to protect other passengers or the sailors and assist in the safe escape of everyone is going to go over better than stubbornly refusing to have the kraken even pay attention to them. The biggest thing OP can do is make it so the kraken attack is not an insurmountable issue - that it doesn't completely change the campaign by leaving the players somewhere totally different - and that they end up with options, however difficult, that get them back on course to their original destination.
But in general I'd say the idea is so trite and OP's original presentation so bad that the best advice may simply be to go with a different plan entirely.
personally, I think that nothing in the first session is railroading. all fair game
but a player leaving after the first session is cool too
>>46396555
This step is obligatory.
>>46396685
The idea is that the characters are picked up by a passing vessel hours later, restored to full health, and are instructed to speak with the captain who is an old salty sea monster hunter.
He brings them and other crew survivors to where they intended to go, and tells them he plans to leave in two days to continue the hunt.
The PCs, already having an engagement with the local governer will have to choose between insulting the governer and missing out on hunting a giant sea monster. Either choice leads to adventure, as the governer of course has tasks for them, and the monster hunter will leave them with a sigil which I plan on revealing later as the symbol of an age old monster hunting society.
