Dr Davaulus

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How did you handle The Blooding (p 402 in the Hardcover) in your campaigns?

I may have introduced it a bit too fast through one of the characters sister at the end of the first module. Now my players have started asking around, reading up on the history of the church of Asmodeus and also visited the place.

They were quite convincing and got an audience with Archbishop Ornher Reebs who said The Blooding was for the good of the city but didn't reveal anything else.

The players kept asking about the ritual with 13 virgins 30 years ago (Guide to Korvosa) and the names of the involved and if any of them were still alive. Reebs told them that the priest in charge of the ritual returned to Cheliax and to talk to his acolytes maintaining the archive regarding the 9 resurrected virgins. The player characters were supposed to return in a week. Then the bloodveil happened.

Now I could just let the church of Asmoedus not let them in because of the Bloodveil but I really want their research to pay off in some way without derailing the rest of the campaign. Letting them track down one of the virigns and perhaps get some info. Not sure what.

After Seven days to the grave I was planning to do Academy of Secrets tuned down levelwise and later on in Escape from Old Korvosa give hints through the painter (whats his name) of the queen dealing with hell. But what can I give them right now?

Cheers


Seems wrote:

Keep in mind that you don't HAVE to play the vampire spawn optimally and have them all attempt to dominate at once, i.e., most are too blood-crazed or overconfident that they simply leap to attack rather than using dominate. Either save the dominate attempts for when the battle starts to turn against the vampire spawn or only have 1 vampire spawn per round attempt to dominate, that way you can judge how they're doing and how much would be overkill. You're the DM - play them however you think best for your campaign.

*just saw the date on the first post - any updates on how this went?*

The encounter started quite scary with the vampire spawns jumping out of the ground climbing the walls in the small crowded room. The fighter did get dominated but I did let him regain control after a succesful Will save when the vampire got to 0 HP and turned to mist. Funny thing, the rogue who happened to have the according tarot choosing card and also a friendly relation to Giotorri, managed to roll 3 confirmed criticals with her silver dagger which turned the fight around really fast :). After that the shaman knew how to take care of the vampires once they had gone back to their coffins.


AwesomenessDog wrote:

As long as the spawn don't (successfully) use their dominate ability on more than one or two party members, and you let the party be able to tell who is dominating who, they should be fine. They will likely want to rest off those energy drains, but Vampire spawn are fairly weak in everything except the HP department.

Even if the vampire spawn do dominate someone, it can simply order that person to not resist so it can go in for a blood drain, taking both the vampire and the dominated person out of the fight in a way that can't quickly result in the dominated person's death.

Also keep in mind that one of the four is normally hiding in the alley on guard/feasting while the others sleep inside. If they can kill one isolated, that's one CR 4 encounter and a CR 7 encounter instead of one big CR 8 encounter. Even then a party of four should be able to handle a CR=Lvl+3 (the CR if you fight all 4 at once) encounter fairly easily as long as they are expending resources, and the party has an extra player.

Thanks!

Just what I needed to hear. They are getting quite confident and this encounter might scare them a bit ;). But I'll try to follow your suggestions when it comes to Dominate and fighting the scout vampire first.

Regarding energy drain, the level damage is temporary and resting for 8 hours gives a level back, right?


Hello!

My group of 5 characters (fighter, rogue, sorcerer, shaman and bard) are all level 5 and about to head to Racker's alley in Seven days to the grave.

This far they've managed every encounter quite well and I'm wondering if letting them fight the 4 vampire spawns one level early will be too tough for them?

According to the anniversary edition of CotCT they're supposed to be lvl 6 and a group of 4 characters. We're all pretty new to Pathfinder and therefore I'm probably not playing the enemies as tough as I could. The group has no clue that vampires are involved and are heading there as the sun is setting, but they happen to have one or two silver weapons, silver syren, bardic Magic to bypass DR, holy water, and some divine magic to help them out. Also I'm planning to have the vampires go gaseous at 0 HP and head back to their coffins for the player characters to hopefully finish them there.

So should I let them have a go at this challenging encounter even if they still lack about 1000XP to lvl 6 which is the recommended lvl in the adventure module?


Belafon wrote:

They are "worse" than the original. However it's deliberate, and is because the thematic focus is on the shield.

Shield Fighter essentially says "You get Weapon Training, but only with shields." However, here's these other abilities you get in place of WT 2, 3, and 4.

Shield Mastery has narrower options than the base fighter's Armor Mastery, but gets to the same place. A shielded fighter wielding a shield gets DR 5/-. A regular fighter wielding a shield OR wearing armor gets DR 5/-. In combat the outcome is the same (DR 5/-) for both.

There have been much more powerful shield-focused archetypes released since the APG. But it is a thematic archetype that doesn't lose too much.

Ok thanks! This is kinda what I figured but started trying to read something into the wording "wielding" a shield.

Since he's playing a dwarven (not very dexterous) fighter, all thematic, what would be an alternative to TWF to make his shield even more useful?


A player of mine picked this archetype - Shielded fighter - and is wondering about some abilities.

Shield fighter at lvl 5 and Shield mastery at lvl 19 seem like they are both worse than the regular fighter abilities. Could anyone explain how these differ from the original abilities. Especially Shield mastery.


A player of mine picked this archetype - Shielded fighter - and is wondering about some abilities.

Shield fighter at lvl 5 and Shield mastery at lvl 19 seem like they are both worse than the regular fighter abilities. Could anyone explain how these differ from the original abilities. Especially Shield mastery.


Evilthorne wrote:

There is a lot of things they can do to hit level 5 before they meet Brienna.

Plus Ishani is there and he can cast it as well. It is actually a little better if they don’t just roll in and cure her right off the bat, they can cast lesser restoration on her to make her last a little longer so they can figure something out.

True. But isn't the encounter with Brienna really early on and all the action comes afterwards? I would have to mix some of the encounters up a bit.

Why would it be better? So it feels more grave and serious matter and they really have to work for it? I just thought the shaman of the group nedded to feel "needed" and helpful when Grau turns up asking for his help. But I guess his lesser restoration might help until they find a potion. I suspect they will use all the gold they've collected to solve the problem.


The characters are level 4 starting the chapter. Is it even possible for them to have the spell "remove disease" to help the sick girl Brienna? Seems a bit odd that this should be an alternative as no divine caster I know of can have that spell at level 4. Even though it really would have been perfect for a shaman or cleric to step forward here and save the day. Only option seems to be buying a scroll, potion or hire someone. Right?


AwesomenessDog wrote:

Just because there's an accepted street value for something doesn't mean it's not illegal. Weed's got a cost too, yo.

That said, Page 5 of Guide to Korvosa spell out that there is no vice tax or Cerulean Society exclusion to the crime of possessing or consuming a drug (Shiver included). But also on 54, they predict that 1 in 10 Korvosans is currently addicted to one drug or another, so much like in the US, there is a bit of a perfect enforcement problem.

The quote was taken from pathfinderwiki and apparently originally from the Edge of Anarchy module. In Guide to Korvosa it explicitly says that possessing or using shiver is illegal and that's why I was a bit confused.

After reading up on Devargo Barvasi I'm starting to wonder if the "tightly controlled" has to do with just his shiver business. From the hardback of CotCT p 50:

"Since Devargo pays his vice taxes and polices Eel’s End well enough that trouble here never impacts the city at large (including a strict policy of handing over anyone he realizes is trying to use Eel’s End to hide from the law), the Korvosan Guard rarely has any cause to send members out to visit Eel’s End."


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"In Korvosa, for instance, where the use of shiver is tightly controlled, although not technically illegal, the price for a dose generally fluctuates around 25 gp."

When is it actually legal?


Jhaeman wrote:

Yes, that's right--I didn't have a trip to the ethereal plane.

The way I handled it was that due to all the unrest in the city, Hellknights had marched through Green Markets and awakened the spirit of Greenheart (because he hated violence). Doing the ritual with the klars returns Greenheart to his state of rest. I tried to really play up the atmosphere of high winds, debris flying everywhere, the tormented spirit howling, etc. It worked especially well because one of the PCs in the group was a Shoanti shaman!

So basically the shaman could replace the role of that other shoanti shaman in the scenario? I was thinking about that and also considering having Thousand Bones be available for advice as the shaman in my group knows him a little bit.

I think I will introduce the thieve's guild in the first encounter and having either the PC:s or them draw steel in the Green Market. This after the merchant relative have been harassed by them and called upon the PC:s help. This will trigger the Haunt.

I will definitely use your idea of using the ritual as the key to appease the Ghost Greenheart but also have them enter the Etheral realm and meet him there as a nice ending to it all. Perhaps even letting them recieve some kind of award as a blessing of some kind to help them in the upcoming adventures. Not very used to Pathfinder, what could be reasonable as lvl 2?

Thanks for sharing!


I'd really like the players to have to solve it like a puzzle. Perhaps the spear head that is still embedded in Greenheart's corpse could be important. Maybe it needs to be pulled out and brought to the ethereal plane and placed in the circle in front of the Ghost. Something that makes him remember his goal of uniting the tribes and living peacefully.


Jhaeman wrote:
I ran this when the PCs were low-level, and what I did was essentially make the Shoanti spirit as a haunt that manifested as a hazard. Stalls would collapse, produce would get hurled through the air, wagon axles would break, and so forth. The angrier the haunt got the more dangerous it could become, with PCs taking damage every round (something like 2d6 damage with a DC 15 Reflex save for half, if I remember right) while they tried to complete the ritual provided in the scenario. It seemed to work well.

That sounds interesting!

So the ritual was the key to make peace with Greenheart instead of entering into the ethereal world?

Could you elaborate a bit on what changes you did to the Shambling mound encounter, the ritual and Greenheart encounter?

I was planning on keeping the Shambling mound but making it weaker. Also I could see the ritual being key here but that would skip the trip to see Greenheart in the ethereal world, right?


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The Green Market is a Pathfinder society scenario that fits really well as a sidequest for my group. Especially for one of the characters that has a merchant brother in law that has replaced Zeeva Foxglove as the owner.

Problem is that the group is level 2 and the scenario is for level 5 if I remember correctly. Therefore I need to make the fights less deadly. I'll probably wing it a bit, but what I really would like to do is give them the opportunity to solve the final encounter with the shoanti ghost Greenheart peacefully. This encounter is way out of their league and also the Shaman even says that: "You see, he left this world a man of peace, not a man of war. Your best hope might be to make him remember that."

Do you have any ideas what could be an alternative to fight the Ghost with magical weapons and channeling? Something that is all about making the ghost remember its principles in life and stop being violent?

Diplomacy doesn't seem really fitting with an angry ghost. The group includes a shoanti Shaman lvl 2 as well and maybe he could be the solution and step into the spotlight?

Grateful for any help!


This is a great map! Any suggestion how this could be used for my upcoming Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign? Any large and frequently visited inn around Korvosa? :)


AwesomenessDog wrote:
Belloque wrote:

So my questions are:

1. Any reason playing a Shoanti shaman will be a problem?
2. What of the shoanti history in Korvosa should be known to him?
3. How can his backstory idea tie in with the actual evil under Korvosa?

1. The Scarzni, anyone who openly identifies or talks about their Chelaxian descent and virtually every antagonist in the first 3 books will hate the character, but overall, it should be just roleplay incidents as opposed to actual problems with the character existing in general.

2. So the real Shoanti history you can find in the beginning of Book 5 or the end of book 4, depending on if you are playing the original or the remake respectively. In short, the Shoanti had a great hero who helped many paladins in a crusade to defeat an evil dragon called Kazavon, but the dragon wouldn't stay dead so 7 of the surviving paladins took pieces of the dragon's dead body (The Shoanti took the teeth) to hide the artifacts forever. The Shoanti in this time lived all over East Varisia, not just in the Storval Plateau, and the tribe of this hero lived near the Runevault of Sorshen, now known as the hill that Castle Korvosa rests atop. The local shamans decided at the time to simply bury the artifact in the Vault and watch over it, but through time the history was lost and only now does the vague context remain of what was so important about the hill.

Thanks for the history lesson! :)

I won't reveal more of the history until chapter 4 but will use Thousand Bones as a contact the shaman player knows a bit and that will tell him to stay to protect the city from future evil. Great! Also it really does seem like chapter 4 will be a natural continuation of the shaman player's search for the Forgotten spring. Do all players get admitted in the Sun tribe after chapter 4? The Shaman player has mentioned how his search is a way to atone for former mistakes and get respect from his former tribe that has shunned him. Becoming a member of the Sun tribe would be a great turn of events.

Also I'm positive he doesn't know anything about the campaign. He never even played Pathfinder. He wanted to be a druid-like indigenous character and asked about the lore. I mentioned shoanti and shaman seemed natural. Also he read the Player's companion and added the parts about Gozreh and the Vaults. It all just turned out really interesting. I still haven't mentioned anything about a greater evil under Korvosa not to be let out. Not sure I need him to sesrvh for Gaedren at all. Instead the Harrowing has chosen him for reasons unknown to Zallara. :)

Cheers!


tonyz wrote:

Right, Thousand Bones is in book 1. Mea culpa.

Anyway, what about the idea of him finding the spring in book 3... with a pipe going into it taking all the water ... somewhere. (An otyugh sewer worker could tell them it leads to Castle Korvosa eventually....)

Not bad, not bad at all. The forgotten spring is being drained and this reveals the importance of what's under the Mastaba. Also it adds to the picture of how the queen is not what she seems as revealed in the beginning of chapter 3.


Warped Savant wrote:

I don't have advice for most of your questions, but I'm currently running my group through book 2 and one of the players is playing a Shoanti character.

He started off knowing Thousand Bones so introduction of the quest at the end of book 1 was really easy. (I think it's the quest Tonyz meant, but said the wrong book.)
He's playing one from the Skull Clan, which is the main Quah in book 4, but he's been living near Korvosa for a long time so he won't know most of the NPCs. I let him know some of the beliefs and superstitions talked about in book 4 so instead of having someone succeed at a roll to get the information he already has it and will be able to let the others know.
For the history your player would know, it would probably be something as simple as "the Shoanti used to protect the land that Korvosa is on, Chelish invaders took over."

As for the racism Shoanti could face in Korvosa, he really wanted everyone to be aggressive towards him and assumed they would be (to the point where he was looking for it in interactions from every NPC he encountered), but most of the NPCs they're dealing with are decent people and with how the US is right now I really didn't want to play up that aspect of it. (Bad enough with the other things that happen in the first two books of the campaign, I didn't need to make Golarion feel even more like the real world.)

Aah, that makes sense, yeah it's probably Thousand Bones and maybe it does make sense that they know each other a bit.

I also decided not to reveal more about why Korvosa was protected by Shoanti than what's mentioned in the Player's companion. My player based his search for "Gozrehs forgotten spring" on this info. Telling him of the evil under the city that has to be stopped from getting out would both ruin his idea but also reveal too much. Don't you think? This way I can actually make the forgotten spring a reality but also add to it with another perspective of why protecting Korvosa is important in chapter 4.

Thanks for sharing!


tonyz wrote:

A lot of Korvosans don't like the Shoanti, but this can be a way to enhance roleplaying -- right now things are just tense, not "lynch-on-sight". It does give you a really good link for one of the quests in book 2. I don't expect that playing a Shoanti will be more of a problem than you want to make it.

Book 4 would need some work, because your PC would probably know a fair amount of the mysterious Shoanti background in that book. Done well, though, it could really give the player a good time (and let him be the native guide to the rest of the players after the reverse action in books 1-3.) Just be aware how you're going to handle that. Might have some of the characters be more friendly to him (same quah?), others be old enemies of his family or quah or some-such.

If the character has ranks in Knowledge (history) then he probably knows something of the Shoanti past in Korvosa. If he doesn't, oh well, he wasn't paying attention when the tribal bards were telling stories of their past so he doesn't know it. But you could let him knock 5 off the DC of Shoanti-related knowledge checks or something.

As far as the spring goes, it seems to me that you have two options. One is to put it in the Arkona dungeon in book 3 -- that gives him a nice milestone completion, and maybe something to help them survive that killer dungeon. The second is that somehow the Queen seized and repurposed the spring (it's where she gets some of the mystical ingredients for making the Gray Maidens? it's part of her immortality bath recipe?)

Fantastic ideas! It's the most ambitious roleplayer in the group so I believe he will handle the role as shoanti guide great even in part 4. Also he chose one of the tribes that aren't mentioned in the AP so it might be less complicated. Just letting him know about customs, deities and a bit of history.

I will probably let him be aware of the importance of Korvosa but leave out the most important details, as the Crown of Fangs för example ;).

I really like the idea of the Arkona dungeon. This could give him a connection to house Arkona and an interest to get in contact with them even before chapter 3. Is it common knowledge that House Arkona is rumored to be in control of a large part of the criminal activity in the city? The player has mentioned that his character has a lead to some thieves/criminals dominating the area where his investigations has taken him - Old Korvosa, where he has been living as a fortune teller for some time, trying go hide his background.

The second idea is also great. I need to read up on chapter 2 and 3 now :).


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Finally I seem to have a group of 6 (!) players to play CotCT. One player wants to play a Shoanti shaman (Hawk clan, lore) and he has this great idea that he is in Korvosa searching for the forgotten spring of Gozreh. His investigations have led him to believe it is located in the vaults under control of some criminal gang. This is his reason to really care for the wellbeing of the city and maybe also have met Gaedren.

So my questions are:
1. Any reason playing a Shoanti shaman will be a problem?
2. What of the shoanti history in Korvosa should be known to him?
3. How can his backstory idea tie in with the actual evil under Korvosa?

As quite new to the setting any ideas are welcome.

Cheers


Yossarian wrote:

I decided that I didn't want everyone focussed on Gaedren. He (probably) dies so early on it feels unecessary. In the end one PC chose a backstory with a huge reason to want revenge on Gaedren, and one other PC had a small connection. But the other two PCs had other backstories that connected to other parts of the AP, and that's worked out well.

In Murder's Mark I had the PC that wants revenge on Gaedren see him. But she saw him rowing across the river, so could not chase him. It was pure prefiguring :) But she was reminded he was around.

I did use the harrow cards. But just sent one card only to the PC that wants revenge on Gaedren. I had all the PCs start as friends at the start of the AP, so the others were happy to go with her.

I think this part of the AP is quite flexible. The really important element overall is that the PCs find the Queen's brooch and take it to her, so they can be sent to work for Kroft.

Hello again,

Did you change any characters from Murder's mark to any from CotCT? I was thinking about Sheriff Feldane for example or the Nisku tribe. Also, when placing the Warehouse and Manor, anything to think about? Or did you keep everyone and everything as they were?
Cheers


Yossarian wrote:
Belloque wrote:


Didn't the recorded CotCT sessions have a similar connection beteween Merisiel and Gaedren?

A recorded session? I saw a what appeared to be a CD somewhere that could be that. But i have no use for CDs :) If a streamed or other digital version of it exists i'd love to listen to it.

FYI I made the drug trade in shiver a bigger element of my campaign. I used it to link the Monchellos to Gaedren. Then to Devargo Bavarsi. Then added a modified version of The House on Hook Street to extend it further, working it into chapter 2 of the AP.

Pathfinder Legends from Big Finish. Rise of the Runelords is on Spotify and CotCT you can buy through the webpage. Also there's Mummy's mask but I haven't listened to that one.

I like it even if it could be much more. But I remembered incorrectly, no connection with Gaedren and Merisiel :(.


Yossarian wrote:

I decided that I didn't want everyone focussed on Gaedren. He (probably) dies so early on it feels unecessary. In the end one PC chose a backstory with a huge reason to want revenge on Gaedren, and one other PC had a small connection. But the other two PCs had other backstories that connected to other parts of the AP, and that's worked out well.

In Murder's Mark I had the PC that wants revenge on Gaedren see him. But she saw him rowing across the river, so could not chase him. It was pure prefiguring :) But she was reminded he was around.

I did use the harrow cards. But just sent one card only to the PC that wants revenge on Gaedren. I had all the PCs start as friends at the start of the AP, so the others were happy to go with her.

I think this part of the AP is quite flexible. The really important element overall is that the PCs find the Queen's brooch and take it to her, so they can be sent to work for Kroft.

I really appreciate the shared ideas and will have use of them.

Didn't the recorded CotCT sessions have a similar connection beteween Merisiel and Gaedren? If I remember it correctly she was the only one getting a harrow card while Kyra was involved with something else. Need to listen to that again. Thanks!


Yossarian wrote:

We started our campaign with this. It worked great: I just moved the carnival to the field near Thief Camp outside the city gates. And had the Monchello's based there.

One of the party had staked out the Monchello warehouse and witnessed Gaedren talking to Robella before rowing across the river to the West Dock. The connection was that Gaedren supplied shiver to them, but it could be anything. Shiver was a major added subplot to our campaign, so it fitted for us.

Personally I don't generally like starting with the characters not knowing each other, so they were already friends (via a shared backstory creation session) at the start of the AP.

I used a stage show at the carnival to provide some backstory about the city and the king, which was a fun way to seed information. It was inspired by the theatre troop in GoT in Braavos.

That sounds promising. I would rather not change too much of the actual AP.

How did you use the background connections with Gaedren for each character? Did they all have a past with Gaedren and how did meeting him in Murder's mark play out?

And did you still use the harrow cards for the invitations when actually starting the AP?


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I've seen the module Murder's mark mentioned as a good starter before jumping into CotCT. What's your opinion on this? And if yes, what changes did you do?

I can see the connection geographically and also how the illegal activities could be connected to Gaedran. But on the other hand it would alter the start of CotCT where the characters aren't supposed to know each other but all get separate invutations to the harrower.

How to connect the dots?


In the first part and final encounter there is a giant hook fly with the ablility Brood spawn. She uses the entangled bodies to collect blood and drain constiturion. Is it possible for her to do this twice if she survives the slashing damage it causes her?

The way it's described makes me wonder if she can use this skill on one of the poor player characters afterwards.


I've got Mummy's mask. Will I be able to play The Curse of the Crimson Throne expansion with this or do I have to get the new core box as well?


I really like the content in this module but it is rather railroaded. I'd much rather have the players feeling as they have options and may decide what to do when. There are some side quests with missing persons and wolf activity in the area that seem to be glued to the main story. Perhaps these could be used to introduce the players to the main story instead? Any ideas of how to make the module a bit more sandboxy?


Hi! I'm new to Pathfinder and about to run Gallows of Madness with just 3 players. I've understood that most modules are meant to be played with four players so this might be bit of a challenge to them. The module has information for how to scale the adventures for 2nd level characters which is handy. So here's my two questions:

1. Should I make any changes or can adventure 1 be played as is at level 1 and adventure two at level two? Or should I make any changes further on?
2. As the xp-progression will be faster with only three players it seems they will end up at level 3 just in time for the third and last adventure in this mini-campaign. Can a party of three play this at level three, even if it's meant for level 2, party of four?

I'd be grateful for any help!


It's actually taking place in a classroom at a magic school. The teacher has been attacked by the mimic and is lying unconscious on the floor when the heroes arrive. The mimic is hiding in plain sight disguised as a lectern, waiting for the heroes to do what it couldn't, find the spellbook.

I'll let them be able to tell through perception checks that the lectern is stained, healing checks and knowledge dungeoneering can give them clues as well. Also, there's a chance they'll find the real lectern hidden in a closet.

I guess I can always decide the HP on the fly to make the fight difficult enough. Running away really isn't an option here as they're on a mission to find the spellbook.

Thanks for all advice!


deuxhero wrote:
There's a few ways to squeeze the CR system (for example, the PCs are only expected to do a single fight that day), but this definitely seems like a TPK. Mimic isn't even weak for CR4 (as "trick" monster occasionally are) going by averages. Even 4 barbarians with greatswords and max strength (~13 damage, +7 to hit vs. 16 AC) will have difficulty just dealing sufficient damage (they need ~8 attacks since they miss roughly half the time.) and that's ignoring that the mimic is fighting back.

It's called "Beginner box bash - Tomes".

It's surprising to see this kind of encounter in a beginner module. Therefore I supposed there was an explanation. The only help the players have is a special mixture found in the room to remove the mimics adhesive ability. But as you mentioned, it still has AC 16, 52 HP and grapples when it bites.

I'm thinking I'd let it be injured from its earlier fight. Lowering the HP to half or something like that. There's also a burning hands trap the players most likely will set off which could hurt it as well. You think this would be enough?


I'm about to introduce a couple of first time roleplayers to this fantastic hobby. I've GMd alot before but not Pathfinder even if I'm kind of familiar with the system. We're taking on one of the beginner box bash scenarios where the heroes fight a Mimic. It has a CR of 4 which to me seems quite tough. Will a group of three be able to handle that fight?


Reverse wrote:

1. Yep, it's a problem (particularly if the PC group has nothing in common outside of Lamm, as the following anarchy sort of encourages you to split up and go home - several groups have collapsed under this). You can fix it one of two ways: A) make it clear to the players that the AP is about the party facing a series of threats to Korvosa, not just Lamm, and they should make characters interested in the ongoing stability of Korvosa. B) Remove Lamm from the fishery and put him deeper into the module (replacing Vreeg at the end of the Dead Warrens), with a string of clues and actions elsewhere in the module bringing them closer to Lamm and taking down his organisation. By the time they get to the end of the Book, they should be a more tied together party. There's plenty of good threads on the forum about doing exactly this. (For my game, we moved Lamm into Book 2 instead - there's a lengthy actual play podcast on the forums of it).

2. Mmmm... yes, it is foreshadowing, but that foreshadowing is how you meet all the important NPCs of the city, and invest people enough in the city to continue through the horrors of Book 2. And all these quests are about stabilising the city and establishing a rep, which needs to happen.

1. Thanks for the advice with Lamm in the Dead Warrens. I can see this being a possible solution. Still I don't want to make the campaign longer than it already is. Might be the city guard has a lead that happens to coincide with that certain quest.

Also, did you give the players the guide before play and let them all now about the use of Lamm as a way to tie them together? I really would like to use the guide but it feels a bit revealing with everyone knowing that this is the glue.

2. Ok. I appreciate the foreshadowing but it will probably be hard to motivate the players to do fetch quests like All the meat and Eels end for the city guard. Dead Warrens could be tied to Lamm instead of course. Unless they really care for the city, which helping the guard kinda is. I guess you're right, I just prefer the campaign to not drag too much and be a bit more focused. I really like the way they did this in the audio sessions from Big Finish.

3. Any ideas here to make them suspect Davaulus and the physicians for foul play? A clue or two to make them work for it...


New to the forum and not sure if I'm posting this in the right place.

I've found alot of help regarding the campaign here but I still have plenty of questions. I have the new hardcover edition and I've read the first two parts. Let's start withe these questions:

1. It's obvious that it's important to tie the player characters to the city. The crimson throne player's guide seems great but it kinda gives away the Gaedren Lamm hook. Everyone will know this is what ties them together even before we start and then expect him to be the goal. Did you find this a problem?

2. It seems in Edge of Anarchy all the side quests Croft gives the players are just foreshadowing and could easily be skipped. Apart from the Shingles one they don't really add anything. All the meat in the world especially. Eels end is nice and maybe this could be where a runaway Lamm could be found. Perhaps The Dead Warrens is needed for introducing Rolth. Listening to the audio version these weren't even there. Am I missing something here?

3. In Seven days to the grave I'm having a hard time finding what clues are expected to make the players suspect Davaelus and the physicians? The sunken boat gives them the cult name and meeting the sick girl might make them suspect it's the coins that started the disease to spread, but why would they investigate the physicians? In the audio version two characters get sick and are taken to the sick house which is a solution. What's your take on this?

More to come...