Combining Emerald Spire and Thornkeep for PFS - advice needed!

[Silverhand]

Hi everyone.

I have a group that is just about to start an Emerald Spire adventure.

I noticed that Thornkeep is in the same neck of the woods.

I've run Emerald Spire before, but never Thornkeep.

Question: using a combination of slow and normal advancement tracks for Emerald Spire AND Thornkeep - could I offer my group a chance to do both legally in PFS?

Secondly: I know that some NPCs in Emerald Spire have a connection to Thornkeep (Goldenfire Order of Thornkeep)...would this make integrating Emerald Spire and Thornkeep easier or harder?

Here is the tier level for Emerald Spire followed by the Tiers listed on the Thornkeep chronicles. Can you help me devise a way to work the slow vs. normal track to play these games in a legal order?

Emerald Spire: Adventure Legal Character Levels
Level 1: The Tower Ruins 1–2
Level 2: The Cellars 1–3
Level 3: Splinterden 2–4
Level 4: Godhome 3–5*
Level 5: The Drowned Level 3–5*
Level 6: The Clockwork Maze 4–6
Level 7: Shrine of the Awakener 5–7
Level 8: The Circle of Vissk-Thar 6–8
Level 9: The Spire Axis 7–9
Level 10: The Magma Vault 8–10*
Level 11: The Tomb of Yarrix 8–10*
Level 12: The Automaton Forge 9–11*
Level 13: The Pleasure Gardens 9–11*
Level 14: The Throne of Azlant 10–12*
Level 15: Order and Chaos 10–12*
Level 16: The Emerald Root 11–13
*indicate Paizo suggested slow track levels.

Thornkeep: Adventure Legal Character Levels
The Accursed Halls: 1-2
The Forgotten Laboratory: 2-4
The Enigma Vaults: 3-5
Sanctum of a Lost Age: 6-8
The Dark Menagerie: 5-7

Please weigh-in.

Thank you

[Ryzoken]

Play all of Thornkeep at half speed, matching each level of it with a level of ES you can switch to slow speed to match.
So level 1 PCs would do Thornkeep and ES 1 both at slow speed, leveling to 2.

But I suggest not doing that and instead just going straight through ES. Keep the Thornkeep chronicles for characters who are going to see more of the world than green hallway after green hallway.

[Serisan]

Thornkeep is supposed to chronologically happen earlier, but they can be integrated. The easiest way to integrate, though, is to run TK levels toward the top of the level bracket. TK is generally deadlier than ES, so running ES first in a given bracket, then switching to the TK level, then back, etc. will provide more consistent survivability.

[Silverhand]

Thanks for the tip Ryzoken and Serisan!

[Belafon]

Here's my suggested order. There are two goals in the order:
1. Put related levels in sequence. For example you definitely want to play ES 7 and 8 without an intervening scenario.
2. Keep players in the center of the level range. I ran all of Emerald Spire for a group and I can definitively say that past level 5 it's not particularly challenging if they are at the top of the level range.

01.0 - ES 1: The Tower Ruins 1–2
02.0 - ES 2: The Cellars 1–3*
02.5 - TK A: The Accursed Halls: 1-2* (**see Note 1)
03.0 - ES 3: Splinterden 2–4*
03.5 - TB B: The Forgotten Laboratory: 2-4*
04.0 - TK C: The Enigma Vaults: 3-5*
04.5 - ES 4: Godhome 3–5* (*** see Note 2)
05.0 - ES 5: The Drowned Level 3–5*
05.5 - ES 6: The Clockwork Maze 4–6*
06.0 - TK E: The Dark Menagerie: 5-7*
06.5 - ES 7: Shrine of the Awakener 5–7*
07.0 - ES 8: The Circle of Vissk-Thar 6–8*
07.5 - TK D: Sanctum of a Lost Age: 6-8*
08.0 - ES 9: The Spire Axis 7–9
09.0 - ES 10: The Magma Vault 8–10*
09.5 - ES 11: The Tomb of Yarrix 8–10*
10.0 - ES 12: The Automaton Forge 9–11*
10.5 - ES 13: The Pleasure Gardens 9–11*
11.0 - ES 14: The Throne of Azlant 10–12*
11.5 - ES 15: Order and Chaos 10–12*
12.0 - ES 16: The Emerald Root 11–13
*indicate my suggested slow track levels.

** Note 1:

Putting Spire or Thornkeep level 1 first is a difficult choice. The Accursed Halls is far deadlier; level 2s with more gear are more likely to survive but certainly not guaranteed. For that reason you may want to put it first. Because if they DO die they can rerun it at level 1. If they die at level 2 they cannot play the scenario again with a second level character and ES 2 can only be played once in any event. It's your choice, though.

***Note 2:

The potential odd distribution of experience in this level can wreck your expected progression. If so the only fix is finding one or two 1xp scenarios to straighten it out. Paizo developers have noted this issue for future Chronicle releases.

Integrating NPCs

Spoiler:

It depends on how much roleplaying you want to do with the towns of Thornkeep and Fort Inevitable. I did quite a bit but it added 30 or more minutes to each of the first few sessions. You can definitely bring the Goldenfire Order back and forth but it isn't really necessary. The missing wizards can be introduced by an NPC in Fort Inevitable even if you didn't meet her in Thornkeep.

The only levels that directly tie together across the modules are TK D and Emerald Spire 14. It will be pretty obvious how they do.

[Silverhand]

Thanks Kevin. This was very helpful.