The first session of the campaign (which I’m calling “Heroes of Nentir Vale”) consisted primarily of group discussions about the format of the campaign and players’ choices for characters. The last hour or so of the night was spent on some spotlight roleplaying to introduce the PCs. I began with Day Greenfield, DeeAnn’s shifter warden.

Her character came from a large farming family that lived near Winterhaven. She and an older sister had been trained by their aunt to be wardens. Douven Stahl, a retired adventurer, had also been a mentor to Day. Douven paid a visit one midsummer day while everyone was out working in the fields. The Lord Warden of Fallcrest, who Douven used to adventure with, had asked for some help, and Douven thought the job would be perfect for Day.

The young warden headed into Winterhaven to prepare for the week-long trek to Fallcrest, and bumped into Ansis, Jason’s human invoker. Ansis also came from a farming family, who Day was familiar with, though she didn’t know Ansis personally. Ansis found life on the farm boring and always knew he was destined for something greater. When Pelor had blessed him with the ability to channel divine power, Ansis knew destiny was calling.

He just didn’t know how to answer.

Then he received a request for aid from Grundelmar, the dwarven priest of Pelor who served at the House of the Sun in Fallcrest. On the day he prepared to leave, Ansis overheard Day Greenfield mention to Salvana Wrafton that she was heading to Fallcrest. Ansis offered to travel with her and the two set off.

We ended the night with the introduction of Galin (pronounced with a long “a”), Eric’s eladrin wizard. I had asked the players to come up with a personal goal their character wanted to achieve by the time they reached the Paragon tier. Eric had stated that Galin wanted to become a member of the mages’ guild in Fallcrest. I suggested that perhaps Galin begin as an apprentice to the High Septarch Nimozaran. Eric agreed.

Galin’s scene began with him beginning his evening meditations in his room. A knock on the door was followed by the raspy voice of his master requesting entrance. Galin granted permission and Nimozaran made some small talk before informing Galin that the Lord Warden had asked for the guild’s help with some kobold bandits that were raiding the King’s Road near the Cloak Woods. Nimozaran had recommended Galin and secured an audience with the Lord Warden on the morrow to discuss the matter. Galin enthusiastically accepted.

This session happened before I had a good understanding of the players’ motivations. That said, I knew Jason wasn’t interested in a lot of roleplaying, so I folded his spotlight into DeeAnn’s and we briefly covered his introduction in third person. Both DeeAnn and Eric responded well to first person dialogs, but I know now that the group as a whole is more interested in power gaming, exploring and storytelling, so I’ll do my best to limit the acting scenes in the future.

Ben and Darla’s characters had backgrounds that didn’t lend themselves to easy fits with the adventure hooks I had identified. We were out of time, so I promised the two that we would start the next session introducing their PCs, which gave me a few days to come up with some ideas.