misterakko's page

Congratulations!

Did you run the modules 'as is' or did you add anything to them?
I am also about three sessions away from ending my CoT campaign, and I've found that out of all the APs I've ran, this one's taken the most work.

I changed lots. Plotwise, I am finishing saying that you do not become really significant in Werstcrown at the end. Independence? Aw, come on! OF COURSE everything was a plot by Thrune who moved some pawns in the background so that the pesky mayor (almost likable) fled the city and could be replaced with someone better aligned with the government. Also, they got rid of the irksome envoy of Mammon, all in one fell swoop. As a reward, if the players agree to be quiet about the whole business, Thrune uses its envoy in Absalom, Zarta Dralneen, go get the players enrolled into the Pathfinder Society. Away from Cheliax, they might still do some good to the empire, if well-directed by the paracountess. And if they don't behave, we still know where all of their families live, don't we?

Where do we go from here?

I'm almost finished myself and my players definitely want to go ahead with this campaign. Does anybody have suggestions on what modules could be adapted and used to continue?

I'm imagining that the PCs might enrol into the pathfinder society and grow in power and knowledge that way until they feed ready to tackle the Thrune monarchy itself... But I lack the time to go and develop everything from scratch, so where do I go to buy some good scenarios suitable for characters of level 13+ and this general trend?

let me know what you do with the Nessian Spiral--I might incorporate some of your changes when I get there!

Mostly I think there's some great space for plot development in the first part of the Infernal Syndrome scenario, and that's left woefully underdeveloped in the printed volume.

First of all I don't think the fourth scenario is really the BEST place to let the PC fully understand what's really going on. They are fighting the vampires, they believe the vampires are behind the shadowbeasts, so let them fight the evil vampires and not understand there's something behind them.

Also, consider. the events from the viewpoints of the other powers in Westcrown. What are the council lealists doing? OK, they are the sacrificial lamb, plot-wise, but what are they doing? They must be confused, probably with some bad information submitted to them by the traitors. Why not let some of that bad info filter to the PCs? That's an evil thought, and amusing.
Did the party behave gracefully with old Eirtein Oberigo during the Cornucopia? If so, they might be contacted with some mission by him. There's a promise of money, of course, but if they do that they are distracted form the events they know are more important -- such as investigating the spiral.

Another interesting development. I think I'll have Chammady Drovenge contact the PCs, promise help, offer to be a part of the exploring party when the lower Spiral is entered. On the one hand, it makes sense on her. She's not powerful enough by herself to waste the party at this point, her people on the spot have been obliterated. She might be able to tip the balance agains the PCs, she thinks, or save Liebdaga and make a deal. Also, if she gets to know the PCs better, as good and worthy and proud characters, it makes what's supposed to happen in part six more believable.

Last but not least, PCs should think the things are going from bad to worse. They can't hope to control everything that's happening, too many things need to be done and there's no time, their allies are weak and terrified of the developments (it's a shame that every scenario here introduces new PCs and leaves some very good old ones to waste -- like Janiven and Arael).
I'm aiming at a harrypotteresque flavor here. The PCs go forward and become more powerful and more savy with every new scenario, but still the things become darker and darker...

Does anyone else find it odd that after an entire chapter (Chapter 2: Sixfold Trial) and hunting down dead pathfinders to talk with them to find a way into Delvehaven, when the PCs actually arrive at Delvehaven, the doors are unlocked?

Hear, hear. I like this AP because of its depth and flavor, but I must day that Delvehaven is the low point. It's a dungeon crawl, nothing less, nothing more, with lost of monsters thrown together with no logic. Delvehaven was supposed to be locked and sealed, not once, but twice -- by the Thrune pathfinders and by the original inhabitants. And yet when the PCs arrive, it's filled to the brim with monsters. And it's not even a party of monsters, it's supposed to be various groups and factions, somehow converging on the PCs.

I'm reworking all of this and it's a bit of a bother. I had the PCs meet Vahnwynne Malkistra twice, during the first and then second scenarios. She was described as a powerful vampire hunter who sympathized with the children of Westcrown but was too involved in her mission to lend a hand, and also felt they were too low-level to help her. My players came out with the idea that they were supposed to help her against some vampire in the future and meeting her like this will come up as a nasty surprise.

I'll change Liriam Loremaster's words, as written on the manuscript inside the wave door. It'll say that he and Coriana were the creators of the mystic locks, which were supposed to block "all living beings" from entering Delvehaven, excepting only the five original Pathfinders. Then Illnerik fleed and Liriam feared he'll be back to steal the Totemrix too.

Then I'm getting rid of the extra monsters (the hellcat, the will o' the wisp and the triceratops) which make no sense whatsoever . The dolls are a bit more interesting, but it's still unbelievable such a high concentration of intelligent creatures with opposing interests in such a little space, so maybe they'll go too.

Lastly, I'll be adding some nasty puzzles to make up for the lost encounters. And then I'll start thinking about the Nessian Spiral, which is another place where a bazillion nasties which should be fighting one another are neatly stored, one per room. Bleah.

I have concocted a translation of the play in Italian, if someone is interested, just ask. luca at accomazzi dot net. Ho creato una versione in italiano della rappresentazione per gli interessati luca chiocciola accomazzi punto net.

Hi all. My group and I have been playing D&D since forever (we are all above 45 yo). The next-to-last campaign was D&D 3.5, the Age of Worms AP. A couple of us (myself included) hated that AP because quite a few scenarios involved just combat. When you've been playing for 30 years, rolling dice in order to kill monsters becomes boring very fast.
The last campaign was D&D 4.0, but a couple of us hated the game mechanics. Also, the DM had to enhance all monsters we met, because we've become very effective in managing our characters and most vanilla combats were too easy for our optimized builds.

So now I'm looking into Pathfinder. The question is: which AP would you suggest for a very jaundiced group of players? We would love it if it had little combat and lots of investigation, traps, mysteries, puzzles. A bit of role playing would be nice. An unusual environment would be a plus, because we've been saving fantasy worlds for a while now :)