integrating fiddlers lament in HoH (spoilers, DM's only)

[Bart Vervaet]

I just bought fiddlers lament and want to add it to my upcoming CC campaign. The problem I have with it is that as written I find it hard to incorporate it in the storyline without it feeling awkward.

Fiddlers lament is a really cool story and the misterious stranger gives me a possible return villain to give the party some extra XP when they need it (I have 5 players, 4 of which are complete newbies, so upping the CC encounters is not really an option). I really like the idea of the entire town being overrun by the dearly departed.

The one issue I have is that this rising of the dead is also included in HoH, and especially the idea of the professor coming to visit his daughter posthumously is really cool. So this is an encounter I really want to keep. Just adding fiddlers lament before or after this encounter does not feel right either. I mean, the dead can only rise from their graves so many times before things get boring.

Are there any other GM's who used this add-on?? How did/would you fix this issue??

[Ben the Red]

I had Kendra ask the group to get supplies from town. They heard the music outside, but didn't think anything of it. I then ran the encounters basically as described. Everything took about 4 hours and my players really enjoyed it.

When they returned Kendra's, they found the professor beaten down at the doorstep. Kendra had dealt with him herself, she was a little traumatized from having to re-kill her own father. So, the PCs didn't get to fight the professor themselves, but the effect was still there.

The stranger I've had pop up again, he delivered a letter from AA to the PCs by killing an NPC they had become friends with. They just found footprints again I plan to swap out the assassin at the beginning of Book 4 with a more dangerous creature (haven't decided what, but something with hooves...)

Hope that helps!

[Thuvasa3]

I haven't used the Professor's return yet for the very reason you mentioned, but I can tell you that my players LOVED The Fiddler's Lament. I incorporated The Murmuring Fountain as well, but Fiddler's Lament was a clear favorite.

I basically did the same thing. "Go get me something from the store. Hey, what's that music?"

Comic relief in our game came from the fact that my wife's character took a bath to get the road grime, etc., off of her (presumed, from the travel to get to Ravengro). Starting with the crawling hands, she somehow managed to get sprayed or somehow covered with fluids/gore in every battle. It's been silly, but also pretty fantastic, in that it lets off some of the "horror" tension and has been a lot of fun!

Thuv