Storm King's Thunder: Opening

 

**Spoiler Warning for the Storm King's Thunder hardcover adventure** (you have been warned or some such)

(My plan with the Storm King's Thunder Column is to post my session recaps for others to peruse and enjoy.)

When I started thinking about running Storm King's Thunder (SKT) I spent some time thinking about how I wanted to begin the campaign. I had read through SKT once, skimmed it once, and perused the internet for reviews and tips/tricks for running the campaign. A recurring theme was that the beginning of the adventure doesn't have "really good" hooks or a reason for the group to take on the adventure. I thought about this for awhile and decided to try something new (for me)...

I wrote a little story to start off the campaign. Note: the characters in the story are not my own. I enjoy reading the Forgotten Realms novels (and some of my players do too) so I used characters familiar to the setting to help us begin our campaign.

Here it is:

" Chapter 1: A Great Upheaval

            “What is happening?” asks the feminine figure hunched over a scrying bowl in, what looks like, a personal library atop a tall tower.  The city below is a bustling metropolis bordered by a large mountain peak and a starlit ocean front.  On the table near her is a discarded silver mask, a black cloak as well as multiple large tomes with other trinkets lay strewn across the table’s worn-smooth surface. 

“I don’t have time for this!” and in her frustration she knocks the bowl off the table.  It doesn’t fall to the floor and instead begins floating to a cabinet (which also opens on its own) and settles into a depression on the second shelf.

“But the Giants can’t be left to run roughshod over the countryside...the Lord’s Alliance and Waterdeep must help.” she pleads to the bookshelves lining her chamber.  She flings herself down into a desk chair and looks longingly up to the ceiling for a few minutes.

Her reprieve is broken when a pipe floats into view and pokes her in the head.  She exclaims, “Of course you show up now, Old Sage.”  Appearing out of nowhere (already seated in an overstuffed chair across from the Open Lord of Waterdeep) is a wizened old man with a scraggly white beard and an old-fashioned pointed wizard’s hat on his head.

“Ah, but lass, wouldn’t you be glad to see me, eh?” says the elderly looking wizard.

“Only if you can help me solve this problem Elminster!” she retorts.

“Haven’t I taught you anything?  How do we always solve our problems?” Elminster replies while floating his pipe back to himself and taking a deep draw.

“With grand spells and our Goddess!” she exclaims, clearly upset by his sagely teaching methods.

“No, no, no, that won’t do.  Mystra can’t interfere with the world as much as she used to.  At least, not without provocation and Io won’t stand for that anyone.” the Old Sage muses.

“But Laeral, how did we use to solve problems before Gods and mighty spells?” he asks again.

“If I knew, wouldn’t I already be doing it?” she quietly mumbles to herself.  Laeral Silverhand, once consort of Khelben “Blackstaff” Arunson and the Open Lord of Waterdeep, sighs heavily before asking.  “You already know the answer to this so why don’t you tell me already?”

“Ah, but questions are the best tool for teaching, lass” Elminster takes another deep draw from his pipe and continues “but time runs short, the Giants are moving and unless someone stops them they could destroy all the cities, towns, and wonderful little hamlets of the North.  You solve this like we used to solve everything, with Adventurers.  Put out a call that the Open Lord and the Lord’s Alliance is looking for folk of stout heart and sound mind to quest about the North and solve the many problems of the land.  No doubt they will run across the Giants and stop their terrible plots.”

“How often has that ever worked, Elminster?” she asks smugly.

The Old Sage replies quietly, “Every time lass, every time…”

A few days later:

You have either been summoned or have heeded the call from the Open Lord and now sit in Laeral Silverhand’s private audience chamber.  Many worn chairs and a desk fill this room.  Across the table sits a stunningly beautiful woman with starkly silver hair in an extravagant gown and shoes that match.

She asks, “What say you?  Are you up to the task of reforming the Force Grey adventuring company?  Performing deeds for the betterment of the Realms?  Fulfilling oaths, duties, and quests for both the Lords of the land and the people’s who inhabit it?”

She looks at you expectantly, ready for you to accept your company charter and first quest."

This did the trick. My group developed characters using our campaign framework and we embarked on our adventure a few weeks later.