Tonight I'll be running The Dalish Curse...

[Ryngard]

Ugh... I hate it when things go like that. I mean its great they had fun, and were "in character" but as a GM I do appreciate it when the players, while staying in character, ATTEMPT to move along the plot.

Personally I think your players should have taken a more open approach. The racism is mostly PLAYER not CHARACTER. Look at the world that those Elves and Dwarves come from. This is NORMAL behavior (dispicable yes, and the good Humans in Fereldan are against it, but the mobs are not).

I think your players injected some good ole fashioned American Indignation that didn't belong there.

That said, it does sound like that you all had fun! I wish it had moved more smoothly though.

[Aldaris]

Hm. from what Saisei wrote, I think the party played well and in character. Being and Lef and thus being used to daily racism is one thing, but Lynch mobs are a bad incentive to get someone to help you. But they got it sorted out, and everyone seems to have had fun. I for one love playing with parties like that, much better than players who put their characters second to keep the plot going.

[Saisei]

I think your players injected some good ole fashioned American Indignation that didn't belong there.

lol. To the group of all Irish players


See the unfortunate thing is I rpobably didn't help. Everything had been going well. The PC's had encountered Coalan a few times and mostly Kariel dealt with him. Coalan threw a fe 'knife ear' comments and such but they situations were diffused.

I wasn't even going to run the scene with the mob but then stupid me though "No I'll put it in. It could be a big chunk of xp".

I honestly believe that without the mob scene it would have been fine and the PC's would have helped the town more willingly.

So to any GMs with elves in the party: think long and hard before sending a mob after them

[discuit]

I was just about to post something like that Saisei.

It seems to me a little like you followed the adventure encounters a little too rigidly. The signs were there that the party were already having second thoughts about helping the town, so if i were you i would have actually had most of the town supportive (they want the killing to end) and just Coalan and a few of his thugs, still enraged.

This way you could have still run the ambush scene without the party thinking it was the whole village that were bigots.

It is easy for me to sit here though in the spectators seat and say this now, but we have all been where you were last night. So in the end as long as everyone had fun, just adapt and go with it!

[Saisei]

No no you're completely right. It was literally my own "Xp xp!" reflex that kicked in.

I genuinely think that without the mob scene (Or even with less people IN the mob) things would have been ok.

But hey, it's all a learning experience. It's somewhat of a wake up call for me, yet another jolt of "This isn't DnD!" to jar the system. I'm fairly happy. At the time it was fairly stressful (All GMs have been there) but it was also both funny and pleasing to see everyone in character.

Once the PCs return to Vintiver at the end of the adventure I'm going to try to explain that people were scared and frightened and had no face to put on the thing that was hurting them. Hey it happens in real life all the time, and I think it's another aspect that adds the 'dark' to dark fantasy.

[Warden-UK]

Think you have problems? Trust me, my players would burn that village down in a heart beat

[Dont Die]

Your experiences will definitely help out when I run Dalish Curse. But I know my players and they too would be likely to burn down the village or ignore helping them since they are such a pain.
What I was thinking is to divide the village. Half are want to kill the knife ears and the others think that they only way to lift the curse is to make amends.
This will add a new little dynamic to the situation. Not only will the party have to deal with the darkspawn but they also might have to keep the village from tearing itself apart.
Also, they could be faced with a moral dilemma. The villagers come to the party for help. "We haven't got much but here's a few silver. It's all we have." "We raided our winter stores for food and some of us will go hungry but at least we'll be alive." and that sort of thing.

[jc_madden]

Well players like that are getting what they want out of their game, bravo to them! All you can do is design what you think they will possibly get into.

I too yoinked the rain idea in the first encounter (or at least I will, I'm running it pbp and I've only just had the party make characters and set the opening scene).

[psychodrive]

Think you have problems? Trust me, my players would burn that village down in a heart beat

Several of my players would be saying "you want the elf? take her!"

[Aldaris]

Well, we played our first session of Dragon Age, and it was a ton of fun. Three players so far, and the fourth regular at our table, Martina, will propably join in January.
One of the players hasn't played the computer game, so I started by giving an overview of the world and setting in some detail, wich took about an hour. I then started Character creation with the statement that I wanted the group to be together from the start, so we'd work out a common background once the basic concepts were established. After some brainstorming, we agreed that the characters all hailed from the same village and had known each other since childhood. The group turned out as follows:

Ser Jorge Bannister: The young son of a disgraced knight. His father had fought in the war for independence from Orlais, but failed to show up for the final battle with his contingent. Rumors started, and he has gained a reputation for cowardice. Not to his face, but people talked, and word got around. He is respected in the village he lives in and with the Bann he is sworn to, but has been ridiculed and mocked in certain circles ever since. This has gnawed on young Jorge since he was a boy. Now that he's old enough, he is determined to restore honor to the Bannister name. His father is an old man and well past his prime, so it falls to him. He has therefore decided to set out and look for opportunities to do so and make his mark on the world.
Jorge is a warrior with the Fereldan Freeman background. He has specialized in two-handed swords and sword and board. He also has a crossbow and heavy mail armor. His father gave him his old horse Rosy and his armor along with his blessings, but the horse is so old it's hardly fit to ride anymore. He usually walks and has his greatsword, crossbow and other equipment (save for his longsword and shield) tied to its saddle.

Tim (or Timon, which is his full name, but no one execpt for his brother Malfoy calls him that, and he hates it): Tims family have been the gamekeepers of the village in the service of the Bannisters for three generations, and Tim has kept the tradition. He loves the woods and hunting, and also has a thing for ornamenting leather. He inscribes pictures of all the different animals he's hunted onto his hat and leather armor. Jorge has been a playmate, friend and sparring partner for all his life, and Tim is determined to accompany his friend. Besides, his family have always been sworn to the Bannisters, and he has no intention of abandoning that tradition.
Jorge is a rogue with the Fereldan Freeman background. He wanted to go for the scouting talent rather than thievery or contacts, which really wouldn't have fit his backstory. Unfortunately, that one has the dexterity (stealth) focus as a prerequisite. Since that is unavailable for the Fereldan Freeman background, I told him to just swap one of his starting foci for it. Tim is armed with a longbow and a dagger, and wears light leather armor.

Malfoy is Tims twin brother, although they are not identical twins. Since their mother has never told them who came out first, they are constantly bickering who is the elder. When Malfoy was five, his magical talent was discovered. He was taken away to the Circle Tower by the templars, and has lived there ever since. He survived his Harrowing, and has left the circle to return into the service of the Bannisters only a few weeks ago. He is a rather inexperienced young man regarding the ways of the world since he has spent most of his life locked away, and he is just getting reacquianted with his brother and his childhood friend Jorge. When Jorge stated his intentions of heading out into the world to gain honor, he decided - with the blessing of the old Bannister - to go along.
Malfoy is a mage with the Circle Mage background. He is thin as a twig, and pretty knowledgeable. He carries a wand to help him channel his arcane lance, and a club tied to his belt should he ever need a physical weapon (which he hopes will never be). He wears a button-front woolen mages robe with a separate hood and isn't really comfortable wearing travelling boots since he has spent most of his life indoors. He therefore mostly wears sandals (with thick woolen socks) and only puts his boots on when the wheather really fouls. He owns a donkey called Colin (after the Templar who was in charge of his dorm during his childhood years) which he ues as pack animal for his tent and other posessions. His spells are winters grasp, heal and rock armor.

[Aldaris]

Part 1: Fuldor Farm
The party set out from the village they had grown up in and headed towards the Kings Way that would eventually lead them to the capital Denerim. It would be quite a journey from the southern hilllands, but Jorge figured that if he wanted to look for great things to do and great honor to win, he might as well start looking for opportunities in the greatest city of Ferelden.

The party had been en route for almost a week, still traversing muddy country roads, when the weather began to foul. Tim stated he was looking for a suitably large tree to find a bit of shelter as the first raindrops began to fall, and indeed: one that looked just right could be seen a few hundred yards down the road. When they got nearer, they were able to spot a small wooden sign and a trail that led off the mainroad towards the outskirts of the Brecilian Forest that was visible like a shadow on the eastern horizon. The sign was a simple arrow-shaped board that had the word "Vintiver" branded into it in neat letters, pointing along the trail. The rain began in earnest now, and with much muttering and swearing, Malfoy exchanged his sandals for his almost unworn travelling boots. Tim looked at the sky to determine if the rain would be over soon (roll a cunning test, no focus applied, success) and came to the conclusion that it would propably pour down all day. After a short discussion they decided to follow the trail and head towards Vintiver, hoping it would not be too far and that they would find a more suitable shelter there. Wrapped in their cloaks and with their hoods drawn over their heads they set out at a brisk pace.

After about a mile the path crested a small hill and they saw a small valley before them. A farm came into view, several small buildings and a granary surrounded by fields. The path led past the farm and up the other side of the small valley. The party headed towards the farm, when they noticed something odd (perception (seeing) tests): no smoke came from the chimney of the main building. The hearth fire would almost never be allowed to go out, so they approached warily. As they neared the first buildings, several crows took to the air from a spot in one of the fields. Tim said he would investigate that spot, as crows are carrion-eaters. Jorge remained on that spot on the path to wait for him, while Malfoy had had enough of the downpour and decided to head for the nearest building to stand under its protruding roof. Tim readied his longbow and set an arrow to the string, making his way through the wheat. And then he saw what the crows had been interested in: a dead man lay there, several grisly wounds gaping in his torso and throat. His eyes had been pecked out, and a good part of his intestines had spilled onto the muddy field. Tim called out his find to Jorge who took his shield from his back and drew his longsword, looking around nervously. Tim fought to keep his rising nausea in check when he heard a low growl and saw a dark, dog-like shape speeding towards him through the wheat. At the same time, Jorge and Malfoy each spotted two similar shapes racing towards them through the haze of the downpour.

Roll for initiative.

Malfoy and Tim go first simultaneously with a 15, followed closely by Jorges 14, followed by the three groups of 2, 2 and one... things, who all rolled 12 or lower.
Malfoy cursed the fact that he hadn't gone with his instinct to cast Rock Armor earlier, now it was too late (that spell takes a minute to cast), so he took his wand, aimed it ant the left of the two approaching shapes and muttered an incantation (Malfoy casts Winters Grasp). His target is wrapped in a bluish-white glow, but continues its charge. Tim aims and lets his arrow fly (he rolls a hit and generates stunt points, which he uses to give his arrow armor piercing and mighty shot, and the last one to instantly nock the next arrow. Damage is an impressive 16 points). The arrow thumps home, drawing a hoarse gasp of pain, but not felling his attacker. Jorge readies his sword and holds his shield before him, waiting to hold the charge of his attackers, shouting a defiant "Bannister!" as he does so (uses the ready action to wait for them to come into range and then strike).

[Aldaris]

It is the enemies turn now. Tim is charged, and finally gets a good look at what he is up against. It looks vaguely like a wolf, but he has seen wolves before, and he is pretty sure they shouldn't have bony protrusions sticking out of them, and eyes that gleam red are not exactly normal either. The beast barrels into him, knocks him down, savages him with his claws and bites his left arm (successful attack generating stunt points. I decide the Blight Wolf goes for knockdown and lightning attack. Tim is pretty badly mauled). Malfoy hears his twin brothers scream of pain, but has some problems of his own. Both Blight Wolves attack successfully. He is knocked down and bitten twice, losing him about half his health in total. Ouch! Jorge is attacked and interrupts using his action. He stabs at the first wolf to come at him and skewers it pretty good, drawing a spray of blood but evidently not yet putting the beast out of its misery. Both wolves then try to get to him, but one seems to be too dazed after the stab it received to accomplish much, and the other squarely bounces off Jorges shield (neither managed to roll higher than his shield-enhanced defense).

Next round. Winters grasp does some more damage to the wolf Malfoy cast it on. Tim, still lying on the ground lets go of his bow, draws his dagger and stabs up, drawing some blood. Malfoy, also on the ground under a mound of wet fur, stabs his wand into the face of the wolf he winters grasped and channels his arcane lance, throwing the beast back almost four paces and filling the air with the smell of ozone and burnt flesh (stunt. 2*skirmish to knock it away and mighty shot. Nice.). Jorge calmly aims his next blow and strikes, cleaving the wolf he already wounded in two (Mighty blow and pierce armor, tons of damage rolled. Good bye, wolfy). The wolf standing over Tim savages him even more, drawing blood and tearing flesh. Tim is in pretty bad shape. The wolf that was knocked away by Malfoys arcane lance recovers and charges again, preventing him from getting up and savaging Malfoy in tandem with his colleague. Malfoy is almost killed and screams in agony.

Tim is now really, really angry. He scrambles to his feet and punches the wolf between the eyes with his fist, screaming incoherently (I looked at the player and said: "you do have a dagger, you know. You really want to punch him?" he said "Yeah. I'm mad. Bastard bit me! And my brother is in trouble. This is personal!" I love my players. ). The heavy-handed blow actually inflicts a bleeding laceration, and the wolf reels. Malfoy frantically attempts to close his wounds as he lies there, waving is wand and trying to shut out the pain and confusion. And he scuceeds (he generates stunt points and decides to fast-cast, allowing him to immediately cast another spell. Which is... another healing spell. Between those two, he's almost back to full health)! Jorge stabs his remaining opponent and wounds him. Tims wolf seems to be a bit angry now as well and comes at him again, biting his leg. Jorges opponent finally manages to circumvent the shield and bites... to no effect. A cracking noise can be heard as a tooth breaks off on Jorges heavy mail. Malfoys wolves are a bit confused that their victim seems to be hale and healthy again after having almost killed him, but decide to have another go. One slips in the mud and doesn't manage to connect, the other crunches his teeth into Malfoys shoulder, drawing blood and another agonized wail.

Enraged Tim lashes out with his fist again and connects... with such force that he actually cracks the Blight Wolfs skull. The beast slumps to the ground, a clear fluid seeping from its ears. Way to go Tim. Especially considering he is down to three health. He then begins to stagger into he direction of his beleagured brother. Malfoy lances the aleady wounded wolf and kills it. Jorge does a double-eight swing and almost dismembers the wolf facing him, though it still does seem to have some fight left in it. Malfoys sole remaining opponent bites him yet again, putting him well into the single digits of hit points for the second time in this fight. Jorges Wolf again bounces off the shield.

Tim approaches the site of his brothers struggle, water and pain blurring his vision. Malfoy heals himself again, trying to hold on while screaming for help. Jorge dispatches his opponent with a skillful thrust through the skull and heads in Malfoys direction as well. Malfoy manages to hold off his attacker and blasts him with a double arcane lance to the face, killing him.

The party catch their breath in the downpour, catch their frightened mounts and stagger towards the overhanging roof to have a rest and tend to their injuries, babbling about what in the makers name those beasts were. Tim relives the encounter in front of his inner eye, and suddenly hesitates. The wounds of the man he found in the field? They are not consistent with those caused by a wolf. He is seeing those all over himself and his brother. Something else killed this man. And it may still be nearby...

That was it for that evening, I made a cut at that point. I hope to continue the adventure next week. We all liked the system very much, combat stunts are a nice touch, and yet everything is simple enough to flow naturally and with a minimum of rulebook consulting. And we had all played DA for the first time. A brilliantly elegant and easy system, with a nice retro feel. I look forward to next time.
I hope you guys liked it. If so, I may continue the write-up.

[Neras]

How and what did you explain about Ferelden to the players whp didnt play the PC game? 2 of 3 players in my group dont know the game and your tips would be very helpful

[Aldaris]

I basically did a summary of the setting description in the players guide, elaborating on some points with examples. I started with the history of the Alamarri and Ferelden and took detours to explain the concept of the Blights and the Chantry. When I had the history down, I did an overview of Fereldan society and the roles of dwarves and elves in it. I took some pains to make sure that the structure of society and Fereldan culture were understood, as that is pretty much integral for everyday play.

Things I think are central:
* Blights and Darkspawn
* Chantry, Andraste and the consequences for mages
* Bottom-up society rather than top-down. Freemen, no serfs.
* Elves are basically treated like blacks in the 1950s. On paper they have equal rights, in reality they have anything but.

[PaintOnASign]

Sounds like you had an awesome time together. I'm still waiting for my DM to get our group going, it will probably start up after the New Year. I'd love to read more of your sessions.

[Amon]

I'll be running this campaign in the new year with friends that I have gamed with for a while now. It's actually going to be my first time GMing (Dragon age was too good a chance for me to pass up) but with my friends I just know it's going to be a nightmare.

In our last DnD campaign one player decided to kill another on the first day of the campaign just to annoy the other (they're brothers, go figure) so I'm going to have to stress the group ties and hope that they can all get along long enough to not be slaughtered by the darkspawn. Here's hoping!

Reading this thread has really helped me get a grasp on some of the problems that can occur and some of the ways to try and avoid said scenarios (I know that ultimately it is down to the players) so I just had to jump in as my first post and say thanks to those that have posted their first play throughs and to keep 'em coming as they're invaluable, atleast for me!

Amon

[Caldarion]

Keep it coming, Aldaris! This looks like the stream-lined RPG I was looking for. I'm trying to put together a novel based on role-playing sessions, and I'm actually doing it solo (I'm an honest fellow ) Disability makes it a necessity, but I'm going to enjoy it. I like your writing style. Keep us informed!

[Tolly7249]

I, too, will jump on the bandwagon and share my experience GMing the Curse. (I mean, hell, it was pretty much the reason I signed up in the first place.)

We had three players, two of whom had played the game and the third had watched other people play the game, so she had a decent idea of what to expect. After a short discussion, we decided to forge ahead, and if the not-as-familiar-with-Fereldan player needed explanations, we'd take a short break to explain things to her.

I liked the idea of having a party based in and around Vintiver, so I asked the group to make some locals, and we wound up with the following:

Fenrir Armstrong
Fereldan Freeman Warrior.
Fenrir is one of the local deputies to Warden Tarl, and he takes his duties to the town and the people very seriously. When not patrolling the town and dealing with troublemakers, he's a nice, laid-back kind of guy who people like to spend time with. He was one of the people who tried to keep Coalan and Harralan from causing too much trouble, although he's annoyed at how little he actually managed to defuse. He's a sword and board fighter with a bit of archery training, and his affable nature is reflected by a high Communication score - he rolled a 4 for it and decided to leave it where it was, letting other rolls make up his Strength. He's definitely the party mediator and diplomat.

Senilra 'Sen' Barker
Fereldan Freeman Rogue.
Sen is the daughter of one of the local hunter-trappers, and learned her craft at her father's knee. She's just as good at her craft as any man, and goes out of her way to prove it, bringing in more and better quality meat and furs than any other local hunter. She usually lingers around the Chantry with Sister Arda and Izzy when in town, finding the company of other working women preferable to most of the other locals. I allowed her to swap her rolled Self-Discipline focus for the Stealth focus, and she took the Scout specialisation. She's excellent with a longbow, but carries a dagger as well for close combat situations. She has fairly average stats for the most part, and is the 'I can do anything' member of the group, earning a crazy amount of Stunt Points during the sessions.

Isabella 'Izzy' Loren
Human Circle Mage.
Izzy spent her childhood in Vintaver, and when she passed her Harrowing, she pretty much browbeat the Circle into letting her return to the town she still considers home. One of the conditions was that she spent most of her time in the Chantry, so she is well acquainted (too well, if you ask her) with Sister Arda and by extension Sen. She's the local healer for the time being, but she has a short temper and has been known to berate people who injure themselves doing something stupid. She's got a high magic and willpower but a horrendous constitution. Izzy has Heal, Glyph of Paralysis and Walking Bomb as her spells. She tends not to carry her quarterstaff, but is never without her wand for a well-timed Arcane Lance.

Sister Arda asked the group to go visit the Fuldor Farm for her. Hann and Faleen were meant to visiting with their baby, Edred, who'd been having some problems that she wanted Izzy to check. However, they hadn't turned up and it had been three days since Faleen had asked for help. Fenrir and Izzy agree, and Izzy talks a reluctant Sen into coming along as a guide.

I decided to have it be a perfect day, to contrast with the horror they were about to find - it certainly seemed to work. Sen spotted the crows first, and the trio decided to be extremely cautious about investigating. Again, Sen found the first body, and Fenrir stood guard over Izzy as she examined the wounds. Sen went to check out the house, and the Blight Wolves made an appearance. As it was the first combat with the system, I kept the number of wolves to that recommended in the book, so they faced off against four wolves.

Sen acted first, and rolled triple 6s!!!!, thus setting a trend for her getting obscenely good rolls that night. She used Lightning Attack, Rapid Reload and Pierce Armour, doing some pretty heavy damage to the two closest wolves. Instant appreciation for the Stunt system was declared by all.

Fenrir took down one of the injured wolves, while the other injured wolf tried to take a chunk out of Izzy but failed. She retaliated by casting Walking Bomb and backing well off, warning the others about the coming exploson.

The other two wolves ganged up on Sen - one managed to leand a hit but did minimal damage, barely getting past her armour. Sen used her dagger to stab the biter in the face for maximum damage and then backed up, and Fenrir finished it off before following suit.

The injured wolf exploded before it got the chance to have another shot at Izzy, to general applause and severely weakening the last wolf. Although it managed to chew through Fenrir's armour a bit, it dropped after Sen threw her dagger for another high damage attack.

I was expecting that fight to be a bit harder, but Sen's opening attack did rather set the scene for the rest of the battle. Izzy spent a couple of MP healing the party up and decided to be more careful about where she cast Walking Bomb - she'd never actually used it in a real fight before, and she hadn't expected it to be so... messy. (I think she also realised that she could cause serious damage to her allies with it - I believe she's thinking of taking Stonefist or Winter's Grasp at Level 2 to compensate.)

The party searched the grounds fairly efficiently, and Sen quickly realised that the wounds on the dead farmers were in no way, shape or form appropriate for Blight Wolves, leading to any number of worrying questions.

Fenrir found an elf in the barn, who yelled in Dalish for a few moments before collapsing. Izzy healed her wounds a bit, and they commandeered one of the farm's carts to take her back to town to find out what was going on.

We stopped here because it was late, but hopefully I'll have the second installment in the near future.

[Riggswolfe]

You know, I've greatly enjoyed reading these actual plays but I've noticed that no one seems to be using the morale rules and simply having the wolves fight to the death. Are you guys forgetting or does the book mention they fight to the death and I just missed it?

[psychodrive]

You know, I've greatly enjoyed reading these actual plays but I've noticed that no one seems to be using the morale rules and simply having the wolves fight to the death. Are you guys forgetting or does the book mention they fight to the death and I just missed it?

No, page 45 mentions the fight is an intro fight and the wolves should flee after half their number are dead.

That said, if my group got really lucky (as the one above seems to have), I would be having them fight most of them. The group I'll be GMing for is reasonably experienced, so I'm happy to have it a bit more "exciting" from the get-go.

[Saisei]

You know, I've greatly enjoyed reading these actual plays but I've noticed that no one seems to be using the morale rules and simply having the wolves fight to the death. Are you guys forgetting or does the book mention they fight to the death and I just missed it?

My party fought 4 wolves (1 per player + 2 as advised in this thread). They were getting creamed but then killed 1, and then another 3 in the next round. The last 2 ran.


And I also just ran the session in the Dalish Camp and my PC's killed all the Revengers in the same round (That being said my party almost got killed in the first round themselves).

And when they fought the gang of townspeople with Coalan, they knocked out 2 or 3 and then Coalan and the rest high tailed it.

Hopefully gonna write up a full report on the latest session. It ran really well and was just immense fun. got through 3 combats in an hour and a hlaf and all were action packed and fun.

[Tolly7249]

My party really got too lucky to have the wolves run away, even if they had bolted the Walking Bomb and Archery abilities would have got them in the end anyways.

Walking Bomb was definitely interesting. While the player originally took it for sheer coolness factor, they're already realising how careful they're going to have to be with it to avoid hurting the rest of the group.

I'm looking forward to 'mob diplomacy' next session. Mwaha.

And allow me to be the first (?) to wish you all a Happy New Year!

[Aldaris]

Those were not normal wolves, but Blight Wolves. I figured they'd be deranged and frothing predators in a killing frenzy.
Besides, I have played with and GMed for this particular group for 12 years now, and I know they like a tense fight. That's why I chose to bring on one more wolf than the adventure suggests, have them fight to the death and strike at an inopportune time (when all three party members were separated). As a result that fight had a lot of suspense and was not just a "introduce the combat rules" one. I wouldn't recommend this route for everyone though, a group and GM having their first roleplaying experience propably might want to take the route laid out in the module.

[Kaleb7]

Those were not normal wolves, but Blight Wolves. I figured they'd be deranged and frothing predators in a killing frenzy.
Besides, I have played with and GMed for this particular group for 12 years now, and I know they like a tense fight. That's why I chose to bring on one more wolf than the adventure suggests, have them fight to the death and strike at an inopportune time (when all three party members were separated). As a result that fight had a lot of suspense and was not just a "introduce the combat rules" one. I wouldn't recommend this route for everyone though, a group and GM having their first roleplaying experience propably might want to take the route laid out in the module.

It's a pretty good intro to 'dark fantasy' as well. Make characters fear for their lives. (Granted 1st levellers are no where near as fragile as 1e/2e dnd, but for those coming from 3.5 it will be an eye opener...)

[IzualTheMighty]

My first session ended up being... interesting. We had Chade (Apost.), Lanaya (Elf CircleM), Tralin (Avvar), Dryst (Elf Rogue), and Zethrin (Warrior).

After finding out about Coalan picking a fight with the Dalish, then the Rogue takes offense to this but does nothing at the moment. Now I had them start off in he town anyway and they all were there for the festival and then they heard about trouble at the farm and went.

The fight against 7 wolves gave them a lot of trouble at first, and the wolves ended up knocking Tralin's Two-handed sword out of his hand and knocked him prone. Then he was going against 4 of them and the Mage thankfully kept him up.

After they found the Eshara they didn't want to take her to the village at all and said they were racist. After some quick thinking they bring her in and go to the Inn the rest the night. The mob forms and Dryst sees Coalan out in the mob and he flicks him the finger. The Inn got set ablaze shortly after. Anyway after the heated confrontation Tarl breaks them up and the next morning they leave town and see a group of men waiting outside.

This fight ended with all the villagers and Coalan knocked out. So what happens then? Dryst slit his throat and the party save for the Avvar heads off with the Elf. As they head off toward the ruin the Avvar takes Coalans maul and smashes in every one of the villager's heads and then attempts to make it look like the villagers turned on Caolan... *Sigh*