I recently got the City of Strangers PDF and I'd love to find a way to work it into my RotRL campaign. Anyone ever do this? And if so, at what point in the campaign did you do it?
Love to hear about it.
Peet
From the amount of time I've spent trying to *understand* Magnimar and learn all the districts/locales/people I think you're doing a great disservice to your players roleplaying and opportunity wise if you visit another city.
Magnimar has a rich history built on adventurers, free trade and ancient ruins. Have a read about the Hells, Monument bonuses, Pathfinder Society, Serpent's Run and Matador's lodge for really cool side quest potential.
Trying to flesh out a single city is pretty monumental task but two major cities only dilutes the experience in my opinion. You want players to see locations as not just backdrops but as bustling metropolises with alliances to forge, quests to find and secret areas to explore.
I considered doing it between modules 1 and 2 as a quest to turn Nualia from evil by rescuing her child, which had survived. I decided against it primarily because I just didn't have the time and energy to write up an adventure in addition to the ones I was running, and none of the published things for Kaer Maga seemed to suit what I needed with minimal changes. But if you come up with a way to work it in, I'd love to hear it!
From the amount of time I've spent trying to *understand* Magnimar and learn all the districts/locales/people I think you're doing a great disservice to your players roleplaying and opportunity wise if you visit another city.
I am actually thinking more about during the party`s exploration of the Storval Plateau, either in Part 4: The Fortress of the Stone Giants or in Part 6: The Spires of Xin-Shalast. Magnimar really only features in Part 2: The Skinsaw Murders, and after that the players don`t have any adventures there, though they do remain in connection with the people of Magnimar.
Peet
My players went to Kaer Maga after retaking the fort went poorly. three out of five party members dead, and 3 dead black arrows (I added Orik and an anoter extra character as black arrows, so Jackadaros lived and Kaven joined the bad guys). Kaer Maga was the only place they could reach in time to get everyone revived. This thread is the one where I asked for help when it happened it has some ideas, or what I did is layed out below.
I basically ran The Asylum Stone modified with a lot of the extra stuff cut out to make sure my players didn't get ahead in XP. I had Horus Ilaktyk (who should be in the city of strangers book) revive them for free if they did some favors for him. The big one was get the shard of gluttony(I didn't tell my players that's what it was but some of them figured it out.) Horus sent them to the Ardoc guy, I let them use diplomacy instead of fighting, which got them into the underground. I modified a few encounters to make them easier, and some encounters my players just skipped. Ran the black keep as is, but I made the boss fight easier. I get rid of his hounds, and made the fight in an open magic forest. The trees made it hard for him to charge and ride by attack, making it easier for the party.
Kaer Maga is one of the richest setting elements in Golarion. Definitely use it! It is a perfect place to go to find unusual items or information, things less savory than even the seedier side of Magnimar can supply. I particularly like the troll augurs as a plot driver...