**** MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW! ****
I'm planning on running S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. I have an ESD conversion from rpgnow.com, and I'm also referencing the d20 modern article from Wizards and an article from Dragon 280. So the conversion isn't a problem.
HOWEVER, upon rereading the module, it *really* shows its age. There is essentially no plot whatsoever, no climax -- it's just a basic dungeon crawl in a very unique setting. I'd really like to flesh this thing out to have more of a plot flow and some sort of climax, at the very least. Yes, there's a lot here to enjoy **IF** you're one of those people that are into that sort of thing, but even then, the original module falls a bit flat. A little TLC would allow me to keep all the good aspects of the original and yet add some more of the flow and complexity that is expected these days.
The reason I'm specifically asking here is twofold. First, in this interview with Erik Mona (link below), he mentions kicking around the idea of Barrier Peaks as a Dungeon mega-adventure. In short, he at one point threw around the idea with Sean Glenn and James Jacobs, but they came to the conclusion that the adventure would be impractical for the pages of Dungeon. It would have been huge, bigger than an issue, and let's face it -- you either love or hate the "hook" of the module, so it's really not everyone's cup of tea. While some people would love it, others would hate it, and Dungeon needs to be careful about blowing a whole issue or AP on that sort of thing due to limited appeal. I think that sounds practical.
http://www.silven.com/resources/Default.asp?case=show&id=363
That said, if this idea truly is a non-starter within the pages of Dungeon, I'd love to hear about how they considered revising the plot or any other changes that would have brought this module more in line with the higher standards of 3.5 modules. So if Erik, Sean, or James care to share, it would help me immensely here.
Secondly, the module basically represents a "prison break" scenario -- the 'jailors' are dead, and some of the inmates have escaped their cells. However, they still can't leave the 'prison', so they've established a sort of twisted coexistence/ecology. The whole concept is that of several different factions forced to coexist in a fairly restricted space (although perhaps with limited overlap due to restricted access between decks).
Are there any dungeon modules that involve this sort of forced cohabitation by escapees within a small space? I looked at the obvious candidate, the illithid prison in issue 94, but that isn't quite what I need. I need something where several factions have been forced to share a confined space for a long period of time, and thereby developed an awkward equilibrium out of necessity.
As far as factions go, the source material is light. The vegepygmies are in, but they end up being fairly weak as NPCs due to severely low intelligence. The only other "faction" from the original module would be one mindflayer, and that's almost so obvious as to be disappointing. (Although psionics will *definitely* be included.) Another faction I thought of is a group of descendents of a few ship crewmembers who happened to be immune to the plague for some reason.
Any and all ideas would be greatly appreciated. The link to the other thread is below as well, including more detailed information about my general layout of the ship for my update.
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?p=11383742#post11383742
Thanks very much for any suggestions you are kind enough to provide!