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What’s the point of Dreams of the Yellow King? [Spoi
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I’ve been prepping the end of Thrushmoor Terror and planning ahead to Dreams of the Yellow King and I’m a bit confused.

Massive spoilers follow - you have been warned!

Spoiler:

At the end of DotYK the PCs, after long and arduous adventure in the Dreamlands, learn that:
- Lowls sacrificed their minds in the oasis of the Mad Poet;
- Lowls is seeking a forgotten city called Neruzavin;
- Neruzavin is the prison of Xhamen-Dor;
- Lowls intends to free Xhamen-Dor to become his champion;
- Lowls is looking for the Necronomicon in order to complete the last leg of his journey to
Neruzavin;
- the Necronomicon is kept in the Mysterium in the Qadiran city of Katheer.

So, that’s all lovely...except they find out pretty much all of this at the end of book 2: The Thrushmoor Terrror!

How?

Well, the note from Miacknian Mun in the library at Iris Hill (F3) reveals that Lowls is looking for the Necronomicon, and where it is. The library also contains a number of books that "contain information that could help the PCs figure out more about what has happened to them and about the Count’s destination if they spend time reading through them.” These include Lowls journals that "contains the Dreamlands excursion occult ritual".

Then, in the Master Bedroom (F10) we have a "disorderly stack of handwritten notes, drafted by Lowls in the immediate aftermath of his dream journeys. The last note mentions the Mad Poet, who told the count to look for a book called the Necronomicon.” And ïn the note, Lowls mentions the PCs as his companions in this revelatory dream and says that 'the sacrifice of their minds’ put them into ‘ a fugue state, but they lived unable to remember their lives or react to outside stimuli'

A DM who hasn't forensically studied the subsequent books is likely to think this is a good place to give an exposition of the count's plans as laid out in the adventure background of Book 2, especially as it is likely - is it not - that the Count would have mentioned the forgotten city, his plans to find and release Xhamen-Dor who he has obsssessed about in order to become its champion, and the identity of the lost city finally revealed to him by the Mad Poet.

So other than a very cool adventure to while away their time as they travel along the Selen to Cassomir, what really is the point of Dreams of the Yellow King?

Am I missing something?

Shadowfane's Second Darkness Campaign
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Introduction
When I read about Second Darkness, it appealed to me. Its epic plot, the grand sweep of its scope, awesome backdrops and of course a chance to play with iconic baddies, all whispered to me in that darkly seductive way that no GM can resist!

In this thread, I want to share my take on Second Darkness, which I’ve been running since April 2016 (and planning for a lot longer) using the 5th Edition ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons. I don’t intend to go too much into the conversion from 3.5 to 5th Edition, but rather outline how I handled the plot and invested my characters in this wonderful story.

I hope it will be useful for other DMs running Second Darkness or those planning to do so.

Who this thread is not for
The adventure path, following on from the legendary Rise of the Runelords and Crimson Throne had a lot to live up to in terms of quality and expectations. It has long been maligned as the poor relation of the three, criticised as severely lacking or deficient in several areas.

I don’t agree (or entirely agree) with many of these criticisms, which are to my mind as much to do with the attitude and play styles of individual GMs and their groups as inherent deficiencies in the AP. In any case, I have no wish to rehash all that here - there are plenty of threads covering such topics on these boards and I point you to those. However, running Second Darkness 8 years after its release has afforded me the benefit of many these critiques and the great advice from other GMs who have run it.

Who this thread is for
This thread is for DMs who wish to run Second Darkness and are looking for examples and maybe inspiration on what can be done with this marvelous adventure. It is my and my group’s take on things so take what you want and leave what you don’t.
- If you would like to chip in with comments, questions, or other ideas and examples of your own for the benefit for GMs coming after, please do so!
- If you want to tell me how flawed Second Darkness is, please don’t. Start your own thread.
- If you are interested in my 5e conversion, PM me. I’m not sure what is legal to post on a public forum, and can’t be bothered to find out so I’ll just keep it system neutral for now

Credits
As I alluded above, I have benefited enormously from the collated wisdom of those who post on these boards. I will shout out where I can remember the specific thread or poster who inspired me, but if I fail to do so – please forgive me! It is not my intent to claim credit for another’s ideas.

WARNING: There WILL BE SPOILERS! If you intend to play this adventure path, stop reading now.
Loving Strange Aeons, but really disappointing maps
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As a huge fan of Lovecraft and everything Cthulhu Mythos, I and my group have highly anticipated Strange Aeons. So much so that I decided to stump up for an adventure path subscription. As DM, I have not been disappointed so far with the adventures.

With one exception.

I was somewhat underwhelmed by the cartographic style of the asylum map of In Search of Sanity, but having just received my copy of The Thrushmoor Terror, I have to say that I'm massively disappointed with the cartography.

The maps are functional - at best - and utterly at odds with the rest of the artwork and graphic design, which is sublime and oozes theme and character. The maps are utterly devoid of character and lack ambiance to inspire the DM. The maps on page 11 look as though they've been thrown together in PowerPoint! And this from the industry star of cartography, Robert Lazzaretti himself!

Very disappointing.

I hope the quality of the cartography will improve dramatically in the next issue.

:(
Advice on psychic character build for Iron Gods AP

Hello boards! I would really appreciate some advice on building a Psychic character for the Iron Gods adventure path.

I was thinking along the lines of her being infected by some sort of 'ghost in the machine', perhaps through the medium of nanites that infect her skin or blood. This unlocks or gives her the psychic powers. I'm thinking about human or half-elf.

In terms of role, I want her to be a strong caster, but also handle herself in combat (damage dealing as well as control). Would definitely be interested in any thoughts about multiclassing of Variant Multiclassing that would work well with Psychic to bolster the combat role (tough one I know).

I think we're using 20 point buy system.
Thanks in advance.