SPOILER WARNING
Our group is finding it increasingly difficult to get together to play. This is leading to months of time between sessions, which in turn leads to a disjointed recollection of events and the overall story. And the sense that it's all just dragging on.
I'm in no position to wish away the real life responsibilities of the players but I may be able to streamline the path to the end by cutting anything extraneous.
We're about half way through Hook Mountain Massacre. I've already ditched Black Magga and am thinking of removing the trek to the dam also. Once the witches are killed the rain will stop and Turtleback ferry will be safe.
What other parts of the RotR aren't really essential to the main story and could potentially be removed?
What other parts could be rolled together?
Any other advice for dealing with the problem? Obviously next time around I'll look at a module rather than a whole AP.
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How are you assigning XP? If you're using the story milestone method you can cut sections but if not, your pc's might start trailing the needed expected character level. I'm probably pointing out the totally obvious but if the pc's are not at the expected levels for Books 5 and 6, they may have a very hard time (pending number of pc's and class allocations.)
What are your player's expectations about finishing the AP? There's a pretty logical and possible end to the AP after Book 4.
Mokmurian could be the real problem - he just found some Thassilonian magic stuff in the library and started using it in his delusions of grandeur/restore the past glory of giants insanity, etc. Give him a small runewell (to explain the sacrifices for greed by Aldern and Xanesha) and call it a day. No Runelord rising. No trip to Runeforge or Xin Shalast. But completion and story resolution.
You could also significantly alter Books 5 and 6
You could drop the Scribbler and put info about Runeforge in the Library under Jorgenfist.
You could drop Freezemaw from the gate to Runeforge.
You could make Xin Shalast a desolate ruin - no Occluding Field, no need for Sihedron rings, no Spared, no dragon, no devil. Simply find Xin Shalast, go to the Pinnacle and take out the residents
You could put the location of Xin Shalast in Runeforge (or the Library) so no need for the Starving Dwarf Wendigo drama.
Note: these changes reduce (in some cases dramatically reduce) the XP available to the pc's.
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How are you assigning XP? If you're using the story milestone method you can cut sections but if not, your pc's might start trailing the needed expected character level. ...
I'm using XP on the fast track. They're massively overpowering things as it stands though (20 point buy, 5 players) so I think they could stand to fall behind a bit. Point taken though.
Thanks for the suggestions, looks like the hardest decision will be how short to cut things.
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Questions of how much energy you have to GM, how much availability the players have, how much tolerance they have for the plot moving slowly, and how interested they are in seeing all the bits, are all questions we can't answer.
Yes, true. But I wanted a sense of what would retain the essence of the AP. Seems like there really isn't that much required except the ending.
Thanks for the suggestions.
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...
Questions of how much energy you have to GM, how much availability the players have, how much tolerance they have for the plot moving slowly, and how interested they are in seeing all the bits, are all questions we can't answer.
Yes, true. But I wanted a sense of what would retain the essence of the AP. Seems like there really isn't that much required except the ending.
Thanks for the suggestions.
The essence:
The book you are in - is about finding the guy who woke up Karzog - it's also the first real time they are noticed by Big K.
Book 5 is about making weapons of power - you can get the essence of the book by taking out all of the wings but enchantment and illusion - scribbler should be used if you ran the invasion just to let the players find what big K was looking for - but the dungeon can be empty - and he can be long dead with the writings on the wall just as useful. Let the players make magic artifacts of their weapons - hit the statue - and bam - book 5 is complete for what it intended to do.
Book 6 is about the trek up the mountain - the field and is meant to give reason why no one has found this thing in 10,000 years - if you take it out replace it with something just as inspiring - personally I'd just move the entire moutain to Leng - it's visible from Golarian but some point you shift realms going up the mountain - this is why it's still lost - no one ever returns - give the key to getting back with Big K and you have a good hook - play up the armies marching through the city but have them assume the players are supposed to be there - works just as easy - move through to the final area and perhaps a showdown with a few fights in the Pinnacle - big showdown with K and done.
Only thing I'd not take out in Book 6 is the connection to leng - it gives credibility to some of the stuff K does that he had help from another plane of existence.
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Removing Karzoug really pares it down.
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OK, here is my current plan. Love to hear feedback especially if I'm wandering into unforeseen problems.
The party are just about to encounter Barl Breakbones.
1. Barl Breakbones encounter proceeds as written, however I'll GM it in such a way that Barl is captured and talks. He'll be quite specific about M's plans and ways that the party can get into Jorgenfist undetected.
2. The raid on Sandpoint proceeds as written because it's a great piece.
3. I'll make the trip to Jorgenfist fairly uneventful. If the party follow Barl's directions and travel via Turtleback Ferry, then Storval Deep, they will be either in civilised-ish areas, or ones they've recently "cleared".
4. At Jorgenfist, Barl's directions will allow the party to avoid all the above-ground parts and also be able to go direct to M and the library. M will not have purged his notes of how he found Xin-Shalast. I'll have to ensure any info they get from the library doesn't conflict with other changes below.
5. I didn't much like the Scribbler and the "riddle". So the second level of the Catacombs will be populated with the undead remains of the inhabitants - trapped when earthfall buried them. Instead of a key to the Runeforge, the complex will contain a portal to the entrance to the Runeforge. The entrance will now be in an obscure mountain in the west of what was Bakrakhan. The area between where this portal opens, and the actual entrance to the Runeforge, is now the lair of Arkhryst. When earthfall created teh cavern the dragon uses as its lair, the entrance to the Runeforge was buried. The party will have to get past the dragon and clear away the Runeforge entrance. I might have to nerf him a lot, or replace him with a good dragon and make it a negotiation style encounter.
6. The Runeforge is now a facility that was run entirely by Alaznist to research and create weapons to fight Karzoug. I think I'll use a slightly expanded version of the Wrath wing - maybe a series of novel combat vignettes - and vastly simplified rules for making Dominant weapons (e.g. stick whatever weapon into this pool and done).
7. The party should now be armed with dominant weapons and in possession of M's notes of how he got to Xin-Shalast. At this point, I think a little fey help in the form of a grateful Svevenka might cut out the need for a long travel piece by transporting them straight to her frozen lake. Maybe after a wild First World travel montage. You need a montage.
8. Next, the skulks of Xin-Shalast, more than happy to get rid of Karzoug and his minions that are currently overrunning "their" city, will help the party travel through Xin-Shalast unseen - direct to the spires.
9. From there on largely unchanged *except* that I'm going the have to account for the party being well below level. My current plan is to get quite Monty Haul on the magic item front in the previous stages and also to wind encounters back a little (removing advanced templates and reducing numbers).
10. Karzoug will have to have a whole bunch of negative levels or the party will get creamed (I estimate they'll be around level 14) so I'll "encourage" them to hunt down his projections. I might also replace the giants in the Eye with animated statues of Karzoug - stats crafted to adjust the encounter difficulty as required.
Workable?
I still reckon that's about a year of play for us. But the plot is simple and linear. I can tweak difficulty as I go.