Hi guys! Firstable sorry for my english, I'll try my best but it's not my native linguage so forgive me the few mistakes :p
So, here's the situation: we are going with my band to finish Kingmaker soon, and I'm the next DM! So I have to choose an AP to run!
And I really like Reign of Winter (Bin fan of Witches) but I really dislike the location on the fifth adventure! We like planes, space, guns... But earth is too much, for me and I'm certain at least 50% of my players. So if I want to plays RoW I need to make some modifications!
I want to keep Rasputin and a lots of the encounters, but no troops or tank. I was thinking of rellocate the adventure in the Spellscar where Rasputin would have used chaotic magic and steampunk technology to counter the Old Crone. There will still be the strange encournter like fey, gas... But it will be spellscar/steampunk staff, not earth. But I could keep the russian pawns for Alkenastre mercenary. I was also thinking of a Technic League sidekick adviser from Numeria and a Gunsliger/Alchemist Alkenastre expert who will supervize Rasputin's world engine.
Any thougths? Advices? Should I just take an other AP?
:)
There are suggestions on relocating the fifth adventure in the Rasputin Must Die thread, I believe.
I'll never understand why anyone would want to alter the single best adventure in the history of table top gaming, but if you really must their are threads about it around.
i'm curious why "steam punk" is okay but its not okay having it on actual earth circa 1918, isnt that what Steampunk is based on?
and especially when Brandon Hodges did such a magnificent job interweaving it into actual history.
Well, our group is ok with cloak and dagger style like musketeer, and guns and early fire weapons and 17-18th centuries. We are also ok with things like Numeria or the Old Ones like Cthulu.
But earth is too much. I don't play Call of Cthulu but Pathfinder! We don't want to go anywhere near "the real world". I'm also worried about a few of my players tempting to troll the game with real historical datas, I already see the: "throw the quest and go colonize Europe lol!"
I don't think that this adventure is lame, on the contrary! But it's just not our style! And by steampunk I think like mutated gunsliger, Alkenastre people twisted by magic of Rasputin.
The truth is that a lots of us are history students, like myself, and it's really weird to play our game in a real setting that we have studied. There will be difficulties in immersion if I put russian soldiers with a CR... The players be like "oh s&$* Vladimir nearly kills us..."
It will be fun but no in the good way ^^
So don't say "this is Russia." Don't describe something as a gun or a tank or the like. Describe it in ways like "a rectangular golem with huge wheels for feet and massive magical staffs for arms" while the firearms are "strange wands that vaguely resemble your gunslinger's firearms" (assuming anyone HAS a firearm - if no one has one, then why should they know what a gun is? They've been with you since level 1, if their background doesn't include guns then they don't know what a gun is) or even "hollow wands that stink of sulfur from the invisible fire it emits."
Go wild with the descriptions. These are strange and mysterious monsters. Even better is the fact that soon after fighting the first soldiers, the group faces Rasputin and a huge zombie-mass. So this can't be Earth. There are no zombie-masses on Earth, or undead soldiers and the like.
Even Rasputin himself need not use that name. Why would he give his name to you all? Any soldier would call him "My Lord" or "Sir" or the like. So he's a nameless horror who is one of Baba Yaga's children. That's all they ever need know.
When it's all said and done and they defeated him? You can do the reveal then.
There are suggestions on relocating the fifth adventure in the Rasputin Must Die thread, I believe.
Actually it's in its own thread. Here you go!
Just don't forget to change the chapter name if you change the villain =)
Thank you guys for the opinions/advices/link!
I'm definitely in the "Don't knock it until you try it" camp. I'm planning on not telling my players where they are until they figure it out themselves.
And I find it funny that you compare playing in Russia to CoC. Have you seen Bestiary 4? :)