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I think it's awesome that your players are having their characters act more like real people than XP sucking vaccuum cleaners. If they're not high enough level when they go to the next adventure, reduce the challenges a bit, or give them role-playing awards, but you sound like you have a good bunch of players.

Farewell2kings- No doubt, these guys are a great bunch to play with. Its just that for the purposes of this adventure, the group has to be at a certain skill level to advance onward and I don't want to get into a downward spiral of continuously reducing all the challenges. Are there any sidequest you might suggest between FF and Zenith T? What do you do for RP'ing rewards in your game?

Or you could start giving the roleplaying xp awards to make up for their lack of combat xp. For example, boost the amount of xp they gain for each captive rescued or wand recovered.

Urthblade- I was thinking of giving each party member 100xp/wand returned. You think this sufficient?

Well, the city watch my still be licking their wounds from Jzadirune and the Malachite Fortress or perhaps they lost enough men to traps and monsters down there that they want to avoid anything like that; it does really come down to resources as far as what they can throw themselves into. If they haven't taken care of Skaven and Tarkilar, then the aforementioned Triad cultists should stage attempts to regain the wands to maintain their ransom gambit. Perhaps the monsoon is looking worse than they had thought and they may need 6 wands rather than 4 to fight back the flood waters. Or Jenya could ask them to wipe out the remainder of the evil cult; St. Cuthbert's dogma demands that evildoers be brought to justice in some form and the PCs, being fine upstanding citizens with a great deal of capability (far outstripping anyone in the Watch) are the perfect people to do it. Take their altruistic nature as an invitation to allow them to really feel heroic; they aren't scouring the dungeon for treasure, they're looking to prevent future threats from assailing Cauldron. If they still insist on the guards handling the rest of the dungeon, let them...and make sure it's a huge disaster that leaves many good men dead (setting up holes in the ranks for Vhalantru and the Blue Duke to bring in Half-Orc mercenaries under their control). The mooks in the Kopru Ruins are more than a match for the average guardsman, so imagine what facing Skaven or Tarkilar would do to the hapless watch members. And then if the disaster takes place, the Stormblades can scold them about leaving a job half done, needing the Watch to babysit for them and various other taunts and jabs.

James- This is all very good advice. I think I will steal a few of your ideas and implement them simultaneously. When they bring the wands back, Jenya will tell them that 4 wands are insufficient. If they still deny their responsibilities at this point, I will have the City Watch head in and take catastrophic casualties...which will be a perfect segway to allowing the half-orc mercenaries to fill in the ranks for the next chapter. I hope this comes back to haunt them later in the game, when they realize it was Lord Vhalantru's direct intervention that pushed Captain Skallerang to put so many men in the field. I will also add insult to injury by having the Stormblades publicly mock them for getting the watch to babysit them...which might hurt their reputation.

For many months, I have been seeking (desperately) to try to advance my numerically smaller party to the appropriate level. But it seems as though at every turn, they have prevented me from giving them the requisite experience necessary to tackle each new chapter of Shackled City.

This problem began in Life's Bazaar, when they did not explore Jzadirune and the Malachite Fortress (instead focusing only on rescuing the kids). Instead they diplomatically had the City Watch take care of cleaning out the remaining areas. I tried to push their buttons by having the Stormblades enter the picture and brag about all the treasure they found underneath, but it didn't work. They felt so good about rescuing the children, they really didn't care who took the credit (real good people...URG!). So, I had to find a few side roleplaying excursions to get them ready for Flood Festival...which worked...at least for a while.

Thankfully they systematically went through the Lucky Monkey and killed everyone to a man. However, once they entered the Kopru ruins, they began with the "realistic portrayal" of their charcters once again. Right now, they have killed 3/4 of the mooks + Triel and have 3 wands in their possession. Thankfully I had Jenya tell them that she needed a minumum of 4 from them to do anything substantial, so they are at least debating on leaving not doing so outright. Most of the party wants to leave and get the City Watch to clean the rest of the place out (now that they have confirmed its location with hard evidence). This would be DISASTEROUS for Zenith's Trajectory as they are only 6th level right now. I'm ready to pull my hair out at this point.

I can empathize with their perspective: they were to confirm the location of the wands and retrive as many as they could. Right now they are depleted of resources and need help to retrieve the remainder. They are not typical adventurers and so are not enthralled by the idea of gold/XP as a motivator. All of them are deeply involved in the conspiracy of Cauldron and the politics surrounding the recent changes in the city. I hope they stick around and expore some more of the Kopru Ruins, but I get this sickly feeling that they are going to "get out of Dodge" as quickly as possible now.

The situation is this (as of now): They took the Northern-most entrance into the complex and swept through (killing everything in their path) to Triel's bedroom. She was slaughtered, but not before the general alert was sounded. Two mooks got away to warn Skaven and Tarkilar about the situation. I figure Tarkilar won't care at all; whereas Skaven would probably go to the "spider room." I'm sending the remaining mooks to ambush anyone who tries to take the cage out of the complex (as it is the only way out of here).

Can anyone suggest a motivator to keep them going temporarily, or otherwise? Or even a way to get them to come back? Or perhaps a sidequest to give them the experience they will need...

Background: So, right now we are in [u]Flood Season[/u] and the party has just finished the Lucky Monkey portion of the adventure. The PCs have brought back Delasharn's body to the Church and have begun to investigate the disappearance of the wands. With a divination from Jenya, they were able to decipher that the path to the wands began with a cook at the "Tipped Tankard." Thinking that they had the jump on things, they traveled to the Tavern almost immediately after solving the riddle (they are pretty smart people) and confronted the cook with the information. Artus, IMC, already knew from Jil that the group was coming and was told by her to steer them towards Triel (a member of the Extortion Division of the Last Laugh) in the hopes of humiliating her in the eyes of the Last Laugh Jesters. Because of the way this interaction went, the party has become extremely suspicious of the entire adventure. There have been proposals that Jenya is at the heart of a conspiracy to trap the PCs! I'm really not sure how to run with this as I think I have colored the entire campaign by playing Artus the way I did. Basically, this is what happened:

PCs go to the TT and ask for Artus to come out. He comes out ahd immediately sits down in the chair across from the PCs and basically asks what they want (bear in mind, he was threatened by Jil to make sure he steered the PCs towards Triel). The party wants information on Triel, so he lays the "Note" (the one that is in the adventure) right on the table and leaves. At this point the party goes apes**t. "How could he have written that note so fast unless we knew we were coming?"...etc. I wanted it to seem suspicious but I didn't know they would jump on the conspiracy so fast. Essentially at this point, it took all my RPing power to convince them that there was city in peril and that they were the only ones who could help. I think eventually they will go after the wands, but I'm not sure that I can even move the story forward after this. I wanted to set up Jil as a longterm villian they could feel good about killing, but how the hell are they going to take the [u]Zenith Trajectory[/u] hook after this?

What do I do at this point? I mean I wanted Jil to send them a taunting "Thank You" note after they killed Triel and her crew, but now I'm not sure what to do anymore. I really like this adventure and don't want to see hours and hours of hard work go to waste...

In my experience in campaigns that have one or two psionic characters, the psionic characters ended up dominating every encounter. On paper, they don't seem that overpowered, but since they can effectively super-charge their higher level powers by "spending" their lower level ones means that there's no "regulator" to their power use.

For example, a 17th-level wizard has a set number of 9th-level spells he can cast in a day; once they're out, they're out. He has to rely on less powerful spells. The psion, though, gets to access his 9th-level powers until he's all the way out of points. He burns out his resources more quickly, but this hardly matters if the party's only doing a couple encounters a day before resting.

So in conclusion, psionics simply don't mix well with standard D&D. If everyone in the party uses them, it shouldn't be a problem, but if only one or two characters have them you can expect to see those characters routinely outshine the others. The main disadvantage of the psion is in long sessions of encounters where there's little to no chance to rest.

James,

I guess this is really an issue of campaign diversity. I know in my own, we have more than just a few encounters a day...I'm not saying this happens all the time, but certainly more often than not. I generally have 1 psion PC per campaign and no one has ever mentioned to me that they felt he/she outshined them during the course of the adventure. In fact, in one such campaign some of my other PCs pulled me aside to tell me that they felt bad for the Kineticist b/c he would become useless after the first encounter and try to restort to melee combat!

I agree with your statement on the power level of psions: they are specifically designed to burn out quickly but brightly. However, they have choices to make with their characters: if they completely burn out early on, then they will be in the background for the other encounters.

When it comes to psion NPCs it is another story; since they will only have 1 encounter vs. the PCs. In that sense, psionic opponents will probably be the most deadly encounters for any group.

One of my characters, a psion, is becoming rather powerful. His brainlock ability has been shutting my huminoid characters down since none can make any of the opposing roll for their will saves. They've just entered the kopru lair and Im afraid his ability will really ruin several encounters, such as zenith or triel, neither of whom have good wil saves. Ive no problem with powerful chacters, I just dont want multiple big encounters to be ruined because of one spell. Also is there anything I am missing here in regards to psionic powers, I am not terribly familiar with them.

I assume that the psion is telepath (or has a speciality in the Discipline):

1) This power is really not that unbalancing as the psion must concentrate to keep his opponent dazed...presuming the humanoid in question even fails the save. So that means he/she can do nothing else but negate another person's actions. This is rather limiting if there are more than one opponent coming after the party.

2) There are a ton of other encounters in the module where telepathy will not be all that useful. Some exapmles in the Kopru ruins would be: the Spawn of Kyuss, the Harpoon Spider, the ettercaps, the Skulvyn, the Kopru, the Mud Slaad, the skeletal T-Rex, the zombies, and even Tarkilar himself.

So, while it may seem powerful it really isn't based on the intrisic (1) the intrinsic strengths of the power and (2) the limitation placed on the psion by his environment. All in all, I think you really have to let PCs get their shots in while you can b/c (as I've found) there are plenty of times where they will feel helpless and useless.

Or have the paladin from the temple go with them. He has a solid motive for going and it would be good for them to get to know (and hopefully like) this NPC as he figures heavily in the future.

The only downside there is you have to make sure he isn't killed.

I've already introduced Alex (or Alexis in my campaign) during the Hero Feast at Vhalatru's house. The problem is that I was deathly afraid of exactly what you have suggested: that Tercival get killed. So, I had him leave with Maavu to Redgorge to take part in a semi-lucrative proposal (in order to try and offset his/her family debt). So that door is most likely closed for me.

In the SCAP book it is said the Slippery Eel is mostly ignored by the City Watch and Solid Snakes suggestions seem a little to much of punishment. I like dryders idea! The Campaign has just started and I don´t want to punish the player too much - on the other hand he must learn to behave more properly, not to draw his axe on every opartunity, even rollplaying a barbarian

Well, here is how I would aleviate the situation:

IMC, Halamar Skellerang (the guy who owns the Slippery Eel) is also the Jester for the Forgery Division. So, have the City Watch arrest the barbarian and then make the party sweat a little as they start to sum up charges against him. Halamar could come down a day later and ask that the Watch drop all charges against the PCs; thereby forcing a favor from the party at a later date. This could have great roleplaying ramifications as they will undoubtably later find out they were used by the Last Laugh!

In the City description I can`t find anything about crime punishment.......

In my campaign the Slippery Eel is the City Watch's hangout after hours; not only this but Captain Skellerang's older brother is the proprietor of the establishment. If this were my campaign and one of my PC tried what your PC did, they wouldn't have been able to make out of the Tavern. There are constantly off duty Watchmen in there and they chose to assault the Captain of the Watch's brother. Even if they managed to get away, it wouldn't take the concerted efforts of the City Watch very long to find unfamiliar faces (check the Inns). I'd say the barbarian has at most 2 hours to get out of town somehow before he is placed under arrest for: assault with a deadly weapon and disturbing the peace. He should probably fined (100 GP), forced to pay damages for destroying the bar with his axe (and shattering the mug), and cool his heels in jail for a few months. Of course that's just my opinion...

My party seems to be falling behind the recommended level advancement. They are a group of 4 and unfortunately had some close calls in both Jzadirune and the Malachite Hold to the point that they did not even complete either complex fully. I tried to give out some more XP for roleplaying during the Feast before the actual Flood Season adventure began, but they are all only around 4th level (I am not running Drakar's Way as I do not have the SCAP Hardcover book and began Flood Season before it came out anyway).

I think the team might be in big trouble at the Lucky Monkey. A well prepared party of five 4th level characters would have a rough go at it...I think I might have set them up for disaster. Any ideas on how to avert disaster at the Lucky Monkey and get this party where they need to be?

Shensen's gift (Boots of Striding and Springing) will definately help them at the Kopru ruins, but does anyone think that I need to give them a little more support before they go fight the Ebon Triad? Perhaps a gift from the Jenya as thanks for bringing Sarcem back?

I'm actually having the opposite problem that everyone else seems to be having. Instead of actually forging ahead of the predicted Level gains, my party has fallen behind. They are a group of 4 and unfortunately had some close calls in both Jzadirune and the Malachite Hold to the point that they did not even complete either complex fully. I tried to give out some more XP for roleplaying during the Feast before the actual Flood Season adventure began, but they are all only around 4th level. I think the team might be in big trouble at the Lucky Monkey. A well prepared party of five 4th level characters would have a rough go at it...I think I might have set them up for disaster. Any ideas on how to avert disaster at the Lucky Monkey and get this party where they need to be? I threw in a small dinosaur while they were making their way to the Inn. It wasn't too much XP, but it certainly helped.

Anyone happen to have a scan of the inset drawing of the outside of the Lucky Monkey? I'd like to show it to my players as they ride up to it in Flood Season.

Thanks.

I have one if you want it. Not the best quality though. Give me your email address and I'll send it to you.

My players just defeated Tongueeater at the Lucky Monkey (a close call!) and are now trying to figure out what to do about the missing wands. I expect they'll end up at the Kopru Ruins at this Saturday's game one way or another. I've read through the encounters there again, and I wanted to ask others who have run it or are preparing to run it how you would handle this area to make it challenging, logical, and yet still give the players a chance to succeed.

This has been a planning problem for me as well. I've just begun Flood Season and so far it has been a blast, but I really see an oncoming disaster at the Kopru Ruins. If ANYONE sounds the alarm to let the complex know intruders are headed their way, I just don't see how any party can survive. The only chance the party has is if they neutralize the guards at the winch silently and make their way around the complex, killing unprepared sleeping mooks. I remember hearing complaints about this before; there are entirely too many guards in this complex and if they are able to prepare, then this will be a TPK for sure. The trapped rooms alone are bad, but with some of the setups (i.e. the guards throwing alchemist's fire on members of the entangled party and then barracading the door) are just deadly. My advice is to try to play the guards VERY lax initially and maybe even remove some of them from the complex entirely. If you play Skaven as cowardly (ie he will retreat to the spider caverns and just chill there), it might not be so bad. I only have 3 PCs and concerned about what to do. This is what I intend:

1. There is a 50% chance one of the guards at the winch is sleeping; 25% chance both are sleeping

2. If the alarm is sounded it takes 40 rounds for Triel and the mooks to equip themselves effectively (during that time, the PCs can find them in the Barracks or in Triel's case, her room)

3. At the first sound of trouble, Skaven will have a small unit of mooks roam the area and find the intruders, while he runs into the spider caverns for safety and casts "Arcane Eye" to see what is going on outside. If the PCs are doing extremely well, he will try to flee the complex with his loot.

4. Tarkilar will not move from his area no matter what. He will meet the party in his caverns unless Triel personally goes over there to bargain for his help

5. I am considering removing 4-5 mooks, but am not sure yet

With this in place, I think a party of 4 5th level characters might have a chance.

While Saburo’s adjustment to the surrounding climate was a shock [his native homeland was generally covered in snow], the culture was what baffled him the most [prior to the start of this game, this character had lived in Rokugan, a quasi-Japanese setting]. His first encounter was actually with Alexis Tercival [I had to change the NPC’s gender!], a religious warrior who seemed to be escorting a very important member of her faith out of Cauldron in the dead of night [this is Sarcem Delasharn on his way to Sasserine to collect the Wands for the Flood Festival]. The encounter was brief and civil. Alexis recommended the Drunken Morkoth Inn as a place to spend the night and when Saburo made it clear that he had no money of any kind, she donated 3 of her own gold pieces to help him get established.

Saburo never made it to the Inn, as he stumbled into Ruphus getting assaulted by three members of the Last Laugh. The thugs told him to “bugger off,” but he would have none of it. In an effort to save the dying priest, Saburo fired an Energy Ray into the air to both intimidate them and warn the City Watch [this was really a brilliant ploy that worked wonderfully…Saburo put so much emphasis on the wonder of his power that the 3 men didn’t stop to consider the distance a “ray of fire” can be seen at night]. Two of the thugs lunged at him, but Saburo met them head on with steel. He was able to injure one of them and hold off the other long enough for the Watch to arrive. The men fled and Jil gave her speech before doing the same. The guard that arrived first on the scene introduced himself as Skylar Krewis and took their deposition before letting them go.

Ruphus thanked Saburo profusely all the way back to the Church and asked if he would join him inside so that the head of his Order could do the same. Having nothing better to do, he accepted and listened to Jenya intently. She explained that there had been numerous kidnappings, the most recent of which had claimed four children at the local orphanage. Because the Church had publicly announced its intentions of finding the lost children, there had been added pressure on High Priestess Urikas to complete this task quickly. She offered Saburo an advance on the 2,500 GP reward and two potions of healing if he would accept the task of returning the children to the orphanage. Needless to say that the money was very enticing, but Saburo accepted because he believed this to be part of his destiny. It was only then that Jenya divulged the riddle she had received from the Star of Justice. Ruphus was to act as a link between the Church and the foreigner [Jenya believed that the less people knew about Saburo’s investigation, the higher his chances of success].

With cash in hand, Saburo set out to solve this puzzle…but not before getting his drink on! He spent the next few days and nights touring the various establishments that offered booze to see if anyone was interested in his own blend of alcohol. He spent a particularly long time speaking with Brottor Dagnal [Meerthan Eliothlorn] about Dwarven Spirits and the proper paperwork necessary to build a business from the ground up. It was not that Saburo was callous or greedy; it was that he wanted to be sure that everyone thought he didn’t give a lick about what was going on. Ruphus was tasked by Saburo, during this time, to do specific research on the kidnappings. With all the facts in play, it didn’t take the strange foreigner to deduce that Ghelve was somehow involved.

The pair of investigators confronted him not long afterwards. Saburo remained outside the house during the questioning, so as to engage anyone whom he thought might be shadowing them. He sent his psicrystal in with Ruphus to make sure he could react quickly if there was trouble. Inevitably, he was signaled from inside that a conflict was brewing and so he entered the fastest way he could: through the window. Bursting onto the scene, he saw Ruphus locked in combat with a wounded Skulk and a wimpering Ghelve in the corner of the room. The Skulk, sensing that its time had drawn near, attempted to flee but was quickly brought down by both men. Saburo used the flat of his blade during the fight to ensure that the creature would survive for questioning.

Once the Skulk was bound and gagged, the men set to questioning Ghelve about all that had transpired over the past 2 months. He gave up everything and even told them about an old map he had of Jzadirune. Both Saburo and Ruphus were disgusted with him and gleefully handed him over to the City Watch along with the Skulk. Of course, their strange story did raise a few eyebrows, but the body of the Skulk was all the soldiers needed for confirmation. Ghelve’s Locks was quickly quarantined with a small regimen of soldiers and the entrance to Jzadirune heavily guarded. Saburo and Ruphus told the Sergeant on duty, a dwarf by the name of Arduun, that they would press onward to avoid any further delay. They also requested any men Sgt. Arduun could spare. The dwarf told them that he couldn’t spare soldiers at this time, but would look the other way if anyone wanted to “head home early” for the day. Skylar Krewis was the only man to volunteer.

That is where we ended.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:
-Roleplaying the HUGE differences in Eastern and Western culture was fun, but took an awfully long time
-My dice SUCKED all night: I couldn't hit squat with anything
-Saburo's PC was ultra-paranoid about the Last Laugh and thought the town guard was part of some huge conspiracy. I was rather miffed that he didn't participate in the collection of information, but it was kind of nice to roleplay out all the drunken situations he got himself into
-None of the challenges were particularily tough for 2 PCs at this stage in the game because of their high levels...this isn't the case later on, which is why I had Krewis volunteer to help despite the fact that I KNEW he needed to be alive later

I'm going to take a slanted approach with this campaign log. People who read "Snow Dog's" campaign journal (a Banewarrens adaptation on Monte Cook's site) will be familiar with the style. Basically, at this point, I know that most people are already familiar with Shackled City. To save myself time writing this thing up, I'm going to keep it brief. I'll focus more on how the PCs dealt with the story and how my version of the story ends up different than everyone else's.

As my game only features two PCs, I had to beef them up a little; thus they are all around third level when the campaign arc begins due to extensive background roleplaying.

I've made a few alterations to the story (from reading these boards and adapting the adventure to my own campaign), but in general Shackled City has been left unmolested.

Dramatis Personae:

Saburo - LN - Male Human "Sake Distiller" (Rogue/Shaper)
Saburo had lived his whole life in Tasonsuzu, a small village in the lands of the Unicorn, recognized for its Bellcrafting abilities. A series of strange events; however, sent this apprentice distiller crash landing in another world with only a vision provided by his ancestors to guide him. It threatened the destruction of Rokugan should he fail in his task. Aliented from all he knew and following vague prophecies, he set out for the nearest source of human civilization: Cauldron.

Hawkeye - NG - Male Half-Elf Ranger
Hawkeye's history is a short one. He literally materialized in the Southern regions of Flanaess with no memory of his past. He is haunted by strange dreams and powerful instincts. Adorned with an arsenal of dwarven-forged weapons and equiped with knowledge beyond his years, he is a force reckoned with.
(Unfortunately this PC had to take an unforseen extended abscence before the game began so we scrambled for another player. He promised to be back before the end of the "Flood Season"...we'll see if he keeps this one).

Ruphus Laro - LN - Male Human Cleric of St. Cuthbert
(Many of you are more than likely familiar with this character, so I won't expound too much. Our replacement PC said he really wanted to play a cleric, so I figured this would be the best solution as he is a short-term player...he said that he could probably only play until our other PC got back...funny how things work out)
Ruphus was once an orphan at the Latern Street Orphanage, but became enamoured with the religious ideals of St. Cuthbert due to Sarcem Delasharn's frequent visits (back in the day). When he was old enough to officially be initiated, Ruphus personally requested to be the Church's representative at the Orphanage and made weekly pilgrimages to help educate the children. This is the reason Jenya Urikas assigned Ruphus to the task of investigation and the reason he takes the kidnappings so personally.

Hey all.

I have finally begun the Shackled City adventure path after many months of delay. As it turns out, one of my players is extremely paranoid and has a conspiracy theory about everything (most of them fairly accurate). One of his goals is to gain membership into the Last Laugh, so he can "get to the bottom of everything." Has anyone ever encountered a scenario like this in their own campaign? If so, how did you deal with it? To me it seems like getting your foot in the door of a well established organization like this might be hard, but then again I don't see why they wouldn't be interested in new membership...

Please let me know if anyone has any ideas on how membership is aquired in Cauldron's Last Laugh. Thanks!

It's that bad huh? :)

Just wanted to post back here that everything went smoothly. The party encountered Nidrama for the first time. They were impressed with Jared and his incredible backstory, and with the weapons he presented them. The encounter with the Pyrohydra (which I subbed for the cryohydra) went pretty well. When the party was resting after that encounter, I had Gottrod make another passover and enter though the Pit of 7 maws. It's pretty likely he's pissed at the party as of now.

Awesome CS! I'm glad that your plan was executed flawlessly. I have really enjoyed this thread as it does wonders to tie in a bunch of dragon NPCs: Hookface, Gottrod, and Dhorlot. I am so stealing the idea that Crazy Jared is a Gold Dragon being hunted by Hookface and her progeny. I also really wanted to alter the rest of the campaign to keep everything on the "red theme," but I am very hesitant for one reason: Dhorlot is cool. I just like the idea of an epic battle against a Black Dragon in a subterranean flooded temple. The other thing I really don't see is how a Red could lower itself to hanging out with Kuo-Toa and passing its "Seed" to the undeserving (kuo-tao, minotaur...etc). This realm of "base experimentation" should be left to chromatic dragons who have no pride and it strikes me that the Reds view themselves as the cream of the crop...a sort of arrogant Gold if you will. I already agree with rewarding the party with Sir Wilfred's arms and armor (Shield of Fire Protection and Sword of Dragonslaying)...I also agree that changing the Cryohydra to a Pyrohydra would be really cool (so that the party can make use of their new toys). I just don't see Gottrod laying down with a minotaur...HOWEVER, I do have an idea that could be somewhat of a compromise between the wonderful suggestions thus far and my own reservations. Please let me know if I am out of line on this one (ie the idea is corny/lame/unbelievable).

It strikes me that Hookface is a pretty old and powerful dragon with a lot of years to rack up some serious treasure. Why not make one of her items a powerful magical tome: the Draconomicon (or something along those lines). This would be an artifact of some power, but not easily controlled. So (ala Disney Fantasia), a curious and young Gottrod (seeking more power to impress his mother) might have snuck a peak at the book and unleashed a powerful spell upon himself. This spell allows him (with time and mastery) to switch his "type" among the 5 chromatic colors (red, blue, black, white, and green). By the time he is hunting down "Crazy Jared" he has already figured out how to "shift" to Black and found a nitch to foster his experimentation...in this case I really do see him hanging out with religious fanatics. I envision him attempting to create a new bread of creature that has all the strengths of the chromatic dragons and none of their weaknesses...unfortunately he still has not mastered his newfound power. Thus, in the air of the open sky, he is Gottrod (a young and powerful red dragon), but in the subterranean realm of the Underdark, he is Dhorlot (a sadistic experimenting Black)...and no one is the wiser (not even the kuo-tao). So, in this case, you could keep both stats and use them as the module was written...but the difference is that he would know all about the party before-hand. It would be interesting to run this encounter as the party most likely would be very confused how the dragon would know all about them. Personally, I picture him pissed off from the loss of the first fight and iching to get some payback (Assuming the party wizard cast Ray of Frost: "Does the acid burn sorcerer? No doubt it feels the same as the burn of frost!!!"). I was also thinking that if he was reduced to half his hp, he could forcibly shift back to this "natural" Red form...creating some serious drama for the campaign. Anyways, let me know your thoughts. I am anxious to run this idea, but don't want to if it is completely implausible.

To answer your question, the only role that you absolutely MUST fill is the Fighter type; fighter, barbarian, ranger, paladin, whatever. The Shackled City campaign is bristling with fight after fight, battle after battle. In many cases, killing or defeating the foe is your only option before you can proceed. Now, having said that, all other classes are purely optional.

Hmmm...that's not good. I am starting "Life's Baazar" this friday with 3 players:

Elven Druid 2
Human Rogue 2
Human Rogue 1/Psion 2

I assumed they would probably get help from Ruphus, Ferio, and Fellian, which would put them in the "safe zone" of party class makeup. I didn't realize not having a fighter/barbarian/paladin would be so detrimental to the survival of the party. I did boost their respective levels and gave them a tad more starting gold than normal, assuming that it would be enough. I hope this isn't going to be a disaster in the making...

Keep it coming man! This is very helpful.

This is absolutely brilliant! I am sooooo stealing this for my game. Chef's Slaad and Klysandral have done a supreme job in expanding the depth of the story here. Man, do I love these boards:) My one addition to all of this is the following:

Someone, a while ago, mentioned that it might be cool if Hadamar Skellerang (the Watch Captain's brother) not only owned and ran the Slippery Eel Tavern but was also a Jester. What better person to lead the Forgery Division than someone who has direct access to all the beaurocratic going ons? It makes perfect sense to me and ties in even more of the Cauldron big-wigs. I mean if Hadamar is listening to soldiers day in and day out and has a brother leading the force, I think he is the perfect position never to be found out. I cringe if any of the PCs stay with him or hang out at his bar:) Also, he may have been the one who dealt with Triel in the past and was probably the guy she went to get the "heck out of dodge." It weaves in nicely I think.

Sorry for all the blatant theft of ideas here, but I have forgotten who said what:)

Jacob Michaels wrote:

I definitely did away with Gottrod, replacing it with just a simple band of ogres and an ogre mage that made for a fun fight.

I too had a problem with the "random encounter dragons." Dragons should never be just random encounters... it cheapens them. They should be rare, and be fully fleshed out...which is what I did.

During the meeting with crazy Jared I decided to have Gottrod attack as planned. The reason was this: Crazy jarred is not crazy...he isn't even human! He is the last known gold dragon in my campaign world and he is a wyrmling (very young). Over the past hundred years his family has been Systematically hunted and killed by Hookface, her offspring, and her minions. She is attempting to locate the gold dragons family treasure trove, which is located under "jarreds hut". Jarreds names is really Azarath goldmoon. He was in the care of his uncle, but his uncle flew away a few years ago to challenge hookface in a final battle and never returned....

This is solid Gold (no pun intended)! Seriously, these boards are a godsend. I don't even want to start DMing this AP, b/c new ideas are being discussed all the time. From these boards I literally have 20 pages of add-on notes that everyone here has supplied me with. I hope you guys don't mind me stealing some of this stuff...it is just too good!

Try this:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/adventurePath/sideQuests

I was just curious if anyone else was planning or did run side treks between the various chapters of Shackled City. I for one am going to run "Mad God's Key" after "Life's Bazaar" and "Three Days to Kill" after "Flood Season."

With "Mad God's Key" I had to alter a few key components as the adventurers would have already had exposure to a master-key situation with Ghelve. Also, the priesthood of Boccob isn't even in the city and the Green Daggers have to have some sort of dynamic with the Last Laugh (this town isn't big enough for TWO guilds!). So here is what I did:

1. Replace the "universal key" magical item with a magical mediallion with the specific prophecy of "opening that which cannot be opened" (translation: something which is magically barred and/or warded). Tygot will be in possession of this rare item but because it has no magical aura surrounding it, he really never discovered its full capabilities.

2. The Green Daggers can stay as is, but really must be nothing more than a gang that has to pay the Last Laugh off to run their petty jobs in the city.

3. Boccob is replaced by Wee Jas. So, in fact, what gets stolen is one of Ike Iverson's personal treasures: a Tome on powerful new theories of Undead Creation.

4. The staging ground for the final chapter will occur in the Haunted Village near Cauldron.

These elements really flush out the rich culture Cauldron has to offer by introducing very important characters early and exposing the party to elements of History: such as what exactly is an abandoned shrine of Wee Jas doing in the middle of this ghost town? I think there is a sidebar somewhere in "Demonskar Legacy" that gives hints on why this village is abandoned and more importantly what the Church of Wee Jas had to do with it (maybe there isn't but I just made that connection). For my campaign, I had the church play a pivotal role in defending the land during the Demon War by raising the dead of enemies/allies to replenish their reserves...it worked up until the creations turned on their masters and seized control of the town. Since then it has been a haven for the walking dead. A cult of Vecna has capitalized on the anonymity this place affords to convert the very shrine that created the undead creatures all those years ago. The showdown should expose the darker side of both religions (Wee Jas and Vecna) as well as provide a great launching point for Ike Iverson as key NPC. Recall also that Skaven (a member of the Ebon Triad) is a worshiper of Vecna...now if only I could figure out a clever way to introduce him as a reoccuring villian or even some sort of link to the next adventure I would be set!:)

After "Flood Season," I wanted to continue with the above by having a tenuous alliance struck between the remaining Alleybashers and the now fragmented cell of Vecna priests (maybe Skaven is part of it if he survived) in order to ensure survival for both groups. Ike Iverson, already angered by the theft of his book could hire the PCs to take care of this problem...sick, I know:) You could even push the envelope by up'ing the reward if they kill the priests of Vecna.

In my campaign, Jzadirune was turned over to the gnomes, which they cleaned up but had no intention to re-inhabit. The players didn't feel safe to live there, what with the magical disease and no easy access to get in and out. (I suppose it could have played out like the scenes in Real Genius... some guy walks out of a closet in Gelve's shop. I surprised my players didn't go for it.)

Yeah, I forsee this being a problem as well when I run the game. Although it would be interesting, RP-wise, if one of the players was a gnomish alchemist who spent a great deal of energy trying to find a cure so that his ilk could re-inhabit Jzadirune...

I had some dwarves come back to live in the Malachite Fortress. They then hired the Stormblades to colapse some tunnels to the underdark (as per Zenith Trajectory), and I used the dwarves as a means to introduce a side quest to run between Zenith Trajectory and the Demonskar Legacy.

Did your dwarves take the Malachite fortress after Zenith came back? And if so, how did the Cagewrights manage to snatch him AND keep things honky-dory with everyone? I assume the doppleganger shows up once in a while to show everyone that "Zenith" is alright, but that has to be a touch charade to keep up!:)

The party rogue started her own guild, specializing in smuggling using the waterways under Cauldron, and she struck a deal with the Kopru (in Flood Season) and used the ruins there to stash away her wares as needed.

OOOO, I really like this one! What was the deal she struck with the Kopru to get them on her side? How is the Last Laugh dealing with the fact that another guild is in their city. I actually plan to run "Mad God's Key" with some serious mods:

1. Replacing Boccob angle with Wee Jas
2. Replacing Theldrat (the merchant in the adventure) with Tygot
3. Replacing the “Key” with an amulet of the same design as the but with the prophesized power of “opening what cannot be opened.” (I really don't want to trample the plotline provided by Life's Bazaar)
4. Placing the Temple of Everflowing Blood in the Haunted Village and will be sure to give the backstory that is found in Demonskar chapter

I can give out more detail if anyone is interested...

The first group I ran through the adventures were able to purchase the Lucky Monkey (but not the land it was on), and...

How much did the Inn cost? Who owned it and who owned the land? Was the land too expensive or did it belong to the "State?"

Sorry for the bombardment of questions but the stuff you posted is really interesting;)

Sean,

This is a very impressive lead-in to your campaign. I am excited to read your logs if you decide to post them here. Well done!

While we're not ready to unveil any of the juicy details on the new Adventure Path quite yet, we're definately interested in hearing what the readers want to see in it!

So what do you all think? Any requests for the Adventure Path 2? What did you like in the Shackled City Adventure Path, and would you like to see that in the second one? What about things you didn't like in the first? More gnomes? Less demodands? More new monsters? Less new prestige classes? More exploration and overland travel? Less dungeons? More ninjas? Less baboons?

We'll definately take any opinions and recomendations posted here into account as we plot out the next adventure path, but the earlier you voice any suggestions and/or concerns, the better!

The one thing I can guarentee is that we'll be building in goodies for all 11 of the core character classes throughout the next adventure path.

So is there an estimation on when we can expect this next Adventure path?:)

SolidSnake wrote:

If anyone has any campaign logs they want to share, please let me know. Once I get going I could also start posting here too or we could make another thread for that...

I just found this campaign log:

Play by Post RPG - Shackled City

Thanks Ash! This is most useful...

Hey guys! I just discovered these boards a week ago and have been avidly trying to soak up all the good info posted by everyone. I haven't yet started the long road of "Shackled City" yet, but am doing much of the prep work necessary to make it successful. One of the things I found particularily useful was reading other DM's campaign logs. Unfortunately there aren't many of these floating around. I currently read Lazybone's story hour on ENWorld, but beyond that I have yet to find many others. I find that many of my questions are answered during the course of reading through what other people did and many things I haven't even considered come to light while I read. If anyone has any campaign logs they want to share, please let me know. Once I get going I could also start posting here too or we could make another thread for that...