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I was wondering if anyone had experience and/or suggestions to run Escape from Old Korvosa more as a sandbox.

As far as I can tell, the events in this module are:
1- Vencarlo's and the Assassins
2- Laori
3- The Emperor
4- The Arkonas

My initial thought was to remove Amin from the opening events. Leave instead some clues at Vencarlo's. He collects a lot of art: some Vudrani stuff (which would lead them to the Arkonas) and some weird dark stuff (leading them to Salvatore) and perhaps some other items that could lead them to the Emperor.

The risk is that I miss the encounter with Laori.

I guess the events with the Emperor and the Arkonas can be handle a variety of ways making the later the part of the adventure more sandbox-y. So maybe I am over thinking it.

In my group I have a Shoanti cleric from the Moon Clan and I had him interact with Thousand Bones on several occasions. The PC cleric now views Thousand Bones as a spiritual guide/mentor. We just started Seven Days and I started reading some of the later modules. I notice Thousand Bones makes an important appearance in History of Ashes. So I am wondering what is Thousand Bones' timeline because I want to make sure I play this correctly with my Shoanti cleric.

My impression is:
1- PCs first meet Thousand Bones about his grandson Gaekhen
2- Thousand Bones meets with Neolandus sometime during Seven Days but when would this happen roughly?
3- Thousand Bones returns to the Cinderlands because Korvosa is no longer safe? Or does he suspect anything about the Queen?
4- The PCs rescue Neolandus, who then tells them they should seek Thousand Bones.

In my game, Thousand Bones would probably send the Shoanti PC a letter or meet with him before he leaves for the Cinderland. I think this would occur during Seven Days. Any thoughts?

Also, would there be any foreshadowing I could transmit through Thousand Bones during Seven Days?

I know this will come up in my next session. Imagine on one side a group of Good-aligned PCs with a Magic Circle vs Evil active. On the other side the Evil-aligned foes with a Magic Circle vs Good active.

Prior to the encounter, one of the Evil-aligned foes has dominated a creature which now stands within the Magic Circle vs Good. Once the 2 circles overlap does the dominated creature get a save to break his enchantment? Could summoned creature freely roam the intersecting areas?

I read somewhere that the GM should respect each magic item crafting feat's niche. For example, you don't want to allow wands with deflection bonus or a ring with with cure light wounds charges. Doing so would diminish the value of the feat Craft Wands and so on.

So what would be the line between Forge Ring and Craft Wondrous. In particular, what makes Forge Ring desirable given that craft wondrous seems to impede its niche? For example, you can Forge a ring of swimming or you could craft gloves of swimming and climbing. Both are +5 competence bonus.

Perhaps deflection bonuses are unique to Rings. There are the classic rings of invisibility or freedom of movement or sustenance. So, on a case by case basis, I could figure out the powers that should be within Forge Ring's niche.

Are there more general guidelines or does anybody have advice to prevent craft wondrous from overlapping to much on Forge Ring?

If a human was in the middle of a large open area with Dim Light cast everywhere, how far would he be able to see?

In normal or bright light, in large open area, I can conceive that he would be able to see for miles. In darkness, the answer is simple: he can't. Is there a rule about how far a human can see in dim light? I'll settle for advice.

There has been a lot of complaints about Racing to Ruin. I've tried to adapt this module to my players and change some things I thought could be improved. The purpose of this thread is to share my changes to the module.

First Eleder:
- I purposefully kept all of the NPCs alive to try to enhance the interaction with each of the factions.
- Pezock also got a ride off the Shiv and stayed with the PCs. They believed it was safest to keep a eye on him.
- None of my players had much Linguistics. I created a few Linguistics experts, one was connected to the Aspis, one to the Pathfinders and one connected to Irori. One of my PCs is an Irori Monk.
- As described in the module, the whole city was quickly full of rumours about the group that survived the Shiv and Saventh-Yhi.
- While away from their Inn (Sargava Club), Gelik, Ishirou and Sasha left them various messages. These are setups for the faction meetings.
- One of my PCs has a connection with the Pathfinders so figured that they would eventually choose them. In any case, I wanted each offer to be memorable.
- The next day, Sasha (looking distraught) invites them into a caravan. Inside they find Chivane, she knows about the PCs upcoming meeting with Dargan Etters and wants to be the first to make them an offer. During the conversation Sasha manages to make the PCs know that she is being coerced. During the discussion Pezock also has a fallen out with the Mantis when he learns that the Mantis knew that the ship that he was on had shipwrecked on the Shiv so long ago.
- The caravan drops them off in front of the Inn where they are suppose to meet Dargan Etters. A luxurious Inn in New Halliad. Dargan is very charming and all about luxury and wealth. I added a couple things during the meeting to antagonize 2 of the PCs.
- As they walk back from their lunch meeting, the PCs think they recognize Aerys and a redhead (could be Sasha) fighting off some pirates outside of a rowdy tavern. They join in the fight. Kassata (the redhead) tells them they are being spied upon by the Mantis and the Aspis. She has her own sources within the "luxurious Inn". Kassata gives them a more lucrative third offer. All of this happens in between punches during the fist fight (a nicely chaotic scene).
- Finally they go to a dinner meeting with the Pathfinders. It was a foregone conclusion that they were going to join the Pathfinders. I emphasized that Gelik immediately went to the Pathfinders with all of the information that he had on Saventh-Yhi when he landed in Eleder. They didn't care for Gelik before so that didn't help.
- The next morning, Sargava guardsmen bang on their door. They have orders to escort them for an interview with the General. I emphasized the military aspect of the General as much as possible. He tells them that after he "debriefed" Jask, he learned of Saventh-Yhi and offers them their fifth offer.

More on Eleder in the next post.