My Greyhawk campaign has continued over the past few months with a slight difference: the players now have two characters each. One new, low-level character and the older, mid-level character (about 8th level).

Each session, the players choose which character they wish to use. I have no real problem running a session for differing levels; you just need to be aware of it – and cut down on the number of spellcasters using fireball!

Before a session, I provide the players with a number of quest hooks, which they discuss and then choose between, along with which characters they’ll play. It’s not entirely unlikely that the players might self-generate quests at some point.

I use the multiple hooks to also present the ongoing story of the campaign world outside of the players’ actions. And, because the players don’t always go on quests, this brings the possibility of the failure of these quests having consequences.

This came up last week, when the players discovered the spectral riders they’d been hearing about for the past few months had ambushed and captured the High Priestess of Ket.

Thus, the session involved the characters trying to rescue the priestess. Their previous choices led to this story.

Of course, having several rumours requires you to be creative and invent hooks for the players to follow up… and then the adventures that lead from those hooks. I have a solution for that: I cheat! I delve into my library of adventures and select one a few that look interesting. I then create appropriate rumours for the players, and pull out the adventure that the players select.

I’ve found Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Adventures book a really good source of low-level adventures – they present interesting situations and don’t overcomplicate the story. They’re also very easy to expand upon if desired – which I do if the players really enjoy an adventure and want to explore it more.

The adventure against the spectral riders was one of my own, however. I took inspiration from one of Dyson Logos’s maps, invented the stats for a Spectral Rider (trying very hard not to call it a Ghost Rider), and added a few more foes and challenges for the adventurers.

Did the adventurers save the priestess? I’m sorry to say they didn’t. She was sacrificed by a priest of Nerull to open the way to the Underworld.

And, with the High Priestess of Ket dead, there’s now a war brewing between Ket and Veluna (the latter being where the adventurers are based!) All because the players didn’t investigate the spectral riders the first time they heard of them!