Folks, I hope everyone is having a good time playing the game! I wanted to lift the veil of the DM screen for a moment and invite player input on a few related topics. (1) The first topic is story elements you'd like to see included . I've been scripting out the next several likely adventures for the group. I am drawing from the PC's background as I do so. Right now, if you all are on Adventure Two (or as I refer to it in my online notes, to avoid confusion with the Chapters of the Eberron sourcebook, "Episode 2") of your group's adventures together, I have scripted out likely adventures for Episodes 3 and 4, and have the rough idea for Episode 5. In game terms, Episodes 3 and 4 are a story arc that would most likely take the group by their conclusion up to Level 5--and in my experience in 5th edition, it's at Level 5 that player characters really start coming into their own. The plot for these Episodes will begin to unfold in our coming sessions. They are all related, including to elements of Episode 1. I think they're going to be fun! I'm excited for them to unfold. I really mean it when I say that I view our game as collaborative storytelling. So I want to be sure that we're truly collaborating and that I'm getting your input on aspects of the story you'd like us to tell. As it turns out, true to the Eberron noir style, each of the Episodes I've scripted so far begins with an event that follows Raymond Chandler's noir writing advice (quoted in the Eberron sourcebook!): "When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand." The action tends to start right away and tends to take the party far afield. In fact, as the Episodes continue, the party will continue to get further afield. While I think these adventures will be enjoyable--and as I said, will include elements that draw from the PC's backstories--as a result, the party may not get the chance to freelance and explore other story elements for a while to come. For what it's worth, I anticipate having at least some elements in the story that's scripted so far that tie to Thornduk, Kodiak, Sonn, Gnipity, and Tari, with some more than others, and not all occurring at once. There's still plenty of time to develop story connections to Vellios and Sedriss if there's interest, and still time, too, to follow other threads from any character. So I wanted to be sure to be explicit in asking for player input on story elements that you'd like to explore or see included--whether from your character's backstory, or from the plot as it has begun to unfold so far. Please let me know! I'll do my best. Like in Critical Role, I see the opportunity, over time, for us to have episodes that are character-driven--but only if that's of interest to you. (2) And if there are specific tropes or story arcs that don't interest you, by all means, let me know that, too , so that we can avoid or minimize them. On that point: I just completed initial scripting for Episode 4, which will have some elements of a classic D&D dungeon crawl. The episode is long--the longest one I've scripted so far--and so will likely take a fair amount of time for us to complete. If you feel really strongly that dungeon crawls are not your thing, that would be good to know now! (Actually, I may be talking to myself there. I'm one who doesn't much care for classic dungeon crawls! As scripted, the Episode has more of a "race against the clock" feel and more social interactions than a true dungeon crawl. But my purpose in raising the issue is the same.) (3) On a related front: can we also start thinking about our group's playing time in the fall? I know that all of our lives have been up-ended by COVID. But we have at least three full-time students in our group, and I know their lives in particular will change dramatically when schools resume in some form this fall. So for Ben, Ahna, and Noah in particular, but for everyone: what thoughts do people have on how best to continue our game after summer ends? Will Thursday nights at 7 pm ET still be the best--or are there better windows of time for us to use (for example, Sunday afternoons or early evenings)? I admit to being totally selfish on that front. I'm so excited to be able to continue to tell this story together that I don't want it to falter because we didn't have a plan in place moving forward. So I thought to raise the topic early and get people thinking about it. I want to keep the band together! :-) Thanks in advance for your input, Koop
