This is one of my favorite modules of all time. I was just getting back into running RPGs and I was getting into gaming podcasts for the first time. I heard Brandon interviewed on Chronicles: The Pathfinder Podcast and I decided to make this the first module I ran using Roll20. My players loved it - especially the lighthouse encounter and the finale.
This is cool - I also have a player who created Dwarf with parents who had owned a mine in the Bandu Hills who was abducted by slavers as a child. I am in week three of running SS, and the players are enjoying it. I hit a snag in the jungle though; I had rolled a random of 4 Cannibals. Distance to perceive is horrible, than come all the A.o.O. for movement, since neither side can 5 foot... I did not have this issue with the cannibals, because they only came up on the random encounter rolls when the PCs where on the trail or on the beach. I wish I had done more with foliage and difficult terrain in the jungle, but TBH the PCs traveled almost exclusively by beach or by trail in order to move faster. That being said, we did find the cannibals to be pushovers. They only presented a challenge when the PCs opted to full-out assault the camp.
We just started VoM last week. One 4.5 hour session took us through The First Vault. My players said they really enjoyed it. I think after the exploration and set pieces punctuated by role playing and faction intrigue, the players were ready for a good 'ole mini-dungeon. Some changes I'm making to VoM: 1.) No Endo Kline or Juliver. Juliver is replaced by a new PC that joined a few sessions ago. He's an Azlanti Wizard who was born after the founding of the city and placed in a temporal stasis in Ilmurea as back-up before the city fell. Endo is now another Azlanti (assumed to still be in stasis in Ilmurea) known to the PC as "the Engineer." 2.) I had General Havelar assassinated while the player's were in the First Vault. Looking forward to the "who done it?" element and the power vacuum it will create in the PCs faction (Sargavan Government). 3.) The PCs teleport to Senghor to buy goods so I drop rumors for them every time they go. So far its been rumors of the Maka-Yika and how they are being driven out of the Kaava Lands. Next it will be about how Usaro is closed and thought to be mobilizing for battle/expedition. I think I will keep the Apsis Consortium attack on the PCs base, but replace Ivo Haigan with an NPC named Dyshkun who one of my PCs wrote into his back story as an Apsis merchant who enslaved him and his mother. I never pulled the trigger on the Aboleth or the Green Hag and the PCs didn't venture to close to their abodes. I am looking for a way to integrate them into VoM to break up the grind of the vaults.
I have a player who's character died. The player has already posited to me that Saventh-Yhi was some kind of seal keeping Ydersius from coming back. He asked me if he could create an Azlanti wizard for his new character, awakened from a temporal stasis with missing memories. I am going to replace Juliver with him (the timing is perfect - they just hit level 10). He's got missing memories, but know they need to find the rest of the temporal stasis Azlanti from Ilmurea and check on the garrison there (that'll be a big surprise). I am changing Eando to one of these temporal stasis Azlanti, known as "the Engineer." Helps to explain how he knows about the Spears as a weapon/invasion route.
Double posting, because it's time for me to eat some humble pie with a side of crow... The ancient Azlanti originally created the portal to Ilmurea as a route through which they could send periodic scouting missions down into the ruins below to ensure that the serpentfolk had not returned to rebuild.
I think this is probably your best course of action. Replace Eando and company with folks who didn't DISCOVER Ilmurea, but who HAVE BEEN THERE ALL ALONG (Morlocks? Low-level Azlanti awakened from a temporal stasis?).
I am having trouble with one specific element of Vaults of Madness. Can someone explain to me why Urschlar built a vault containing a portal to Ilmurea and left it active?
If you're going to be running Book 3 soon and want to foreshadow Book 4, you can definitely use people's advice about mentioning sinkholes and cenotes everywhere. ADDITIONALLY, I am dropping the quote from Urschlar Vohkavi which appears in Book 4 (p.6) into location L5: Pharasma's Throne in Book 3 (p. 50-51).
I also use the Fast XP Track for CoSS because I want to bring in Book 4 ASAP. The PCs have conquered the Military, Government, Residential, and Mercantile District (in that order) and are 4,200XP away from level 10. This means they should have 5/7ths of the city explored before "Slothzilla" ;) shows up. Anybody else do any foreshadowing of Book 4 in Book 3?
Hey Maplewood, et al - I've really enjoyed reading this thread and I've stolen a lot of ideas from you and others on how to mod this adventure. I have decided to make a lot of changes to the "the Race Begins" portion of the adventure. My players chose a northern route (see this thread for the exact details). I have changed up the order of the encounters to reflect this alternate route. 1. The cockfight - PCs totally passed this by 2. Village under siege - after wrestling the Ijo following the stormbird encounter, I had the PCs made honorary members of the tribe. Then, I made the village plagued chemosits an Ijo village to set the hook. The PCs decided to hide in and around the village, rather than hide in a hut. They used one of PCs and a Sargavan guardsmen as bait. 3. Ankheg attack - will be run as normal. Just a classic wilderness encounter reminiscent of 1st edition. 4. Vultures - this is actually going to be a combo with the dinosaur/botfly encounter others developed. The PCs will notice the vultures, then hear the sound of a dying dinosaur (two of them have an affinity for dinosaurs). When they approach the dinosaur the Geiers will swoop down to contest for their meal. The fight agitates the botflies which burst from the dinosaur body and chaos ensues. 5. Factional Strife: Horse Thieves - a big part of the PCs advantage in the race is their route and mode of travel. They are riding on horses, riding dogs, and a megaloceros. One of the PCs has a side deal with Pathfinder society wherein he carries a wayfinder with a homing device/tracker in it (in return for possible membership and 750gp signing bonus). The rival faction agents will attempt to sneak into the PCs' camp at night after drinking their potions of invisibility, cut the tethers and hitches for the horses, mount four of them and ride off, and throw thunderstones to spook the remaining horses to bolt in all directions. 6. The PCs are planning to use a swan boat feather token to travel down the Dzimi River. They will encounter a flash flood from Heart of the Jungle. Afterwords, the river will be full of debris and some of it will actually be Fell Flotsam from River into Darkness. 7. Lake of Vanished Armies - now takes place at the confluence of the Dzimi and Little Vanji Rivers offshore from the remains of Darkreach. 8. Bodies on the River - since they will be in plains and not jungle, I am changing the Dire Ape to a Dire Boar (re-skinned as Dire Warthog) and the attack will have to take place on a cloudy day after sunset. 9. Fzumi Saltmines - are now at the headwaters of the Little Vanji and formerly owned by the family of one of the PCs. He was kidnapped by slavers as a child and has been looking for his parents ever since then. He learned of the location of their mine by making a side deal with the Red Mantis who dug up a copy of the mine's charter for them. The Blue Warrior is now the PC's father. 10. Amghawe's Tomb - This has been moved from a jungle clearing to the foothills of the Bandu. It will play out a bit like "Fog on the Barrow Downs." Walking among numerous burial mounds, monoliths, and henges in a dense fog, they comes around the side of a mound to find the fast troll zombie just standing there. Eventually Jigeke attacks while flying through the foggy air. 11. Spirit Dancers - this will occur right as the players cross the Ocota. 12. Eloko Bell - encounter before Tazion, in the southern reaches of the expanse. I rolled an additional random encounter of 2d6 gnolls, but I am thinking of disregarding it. Anyway, I'm really looking for critical feedback or possible trip-ups of pitfalls to watch out for. Your help is greatly appreciated!
Wrapping up "Souls" and getting ready for "Racing." I just re-read "Sargava: The Lost Colony." Was there a reason that the Ivory Cross, Gold Crown Shipping and Mining Company, and the Rivermen's Guild did not make it into "Serpent's Skull"?
Did anyone pre-generate undead and treasure for the Shipwrecks of the Shiv? I'm about to pre-generate for all of them and was wondering if anyone has already done so. Never mind. Should have looked harder. |
