Ok, bit of a long post. Comments and advice appreciated.
I've been running the Adventure Path for a month or so now, and this current campaign about four.
Basic campaign premise started out with a "stargate" sort of theme...an ancient network of portals, an evil slaver race controlling many of them and using them to expand their empire, etc. I've cast the Ethergaunts in the role of the Goa'uld, and the Spellweavers in the role of the ancient "gatebuilders".
Campaign started off with PC's individual capture by the 'gaunts, followed (quite some time later) by their successful escape through the gate, and a series of later gates as well. Eventually, they landed on the far side of a round valley, which opened out into a halfling village (Buzz on the Bridge). Said village lay roughly 40 miles south of Cauldron.
A quick note on setting. I have placed Cauldron (and surrounds) on one of the larger islands of Quelya, the human/halfling homeworld of the Spelljamming setting from Polyhedron's "Spelljammer: Pirates of the spider moon". Advice about integrating this into the setting is also QUITE welcome.
The party has since gone to Cauldron proper, been roped into the Life's Bazaar plotline, took on Jzadarune and the Malachite Fortress in nearly a single run (one rest) due to belief in huge time pressure to rescue the kids, and ended up with a near-TPK from Kazmojan.
Freakiest thing I ever saw. Three times I had him call out "And now, YOU DIE!"...and proceeded to crit with that %&)#()# Urgosh and drop the PC I said that to into the negatives. Two fatalities, three unconscious, one got away with the three other kids. Exhausted, he collapsed just outside the temple of St. Cuthbert. They'd killed just about everything but K.
So I did a quick plot-fix, had the Stormblades finish the job (pretty easy, with only one thing to fight, and they at full strength), rescued the three stable, imprisoned, unconscious PCs, and come out the heroes of the day.
The rains are starting to rise, with the comming of Quelya's hurricane season. Cauldron is normally a very popular refuge, as it's strong and sturdy enough to resist the storm's fury, far enough inland to not suffer the worst of it, and far enough from shore that the Sahuagin never raid. The PCs have been introduced to their first Spelljammer vessel (which dropped off the replacements for the two dead PCs), and soon after having been introduced, have booked for the Lucky Monkey post-haste.
At this point, the PCs are 6th to 7th level, but generally under-equipped. They're also a party of 6, so there's a ton of power here. I'm abbreviating some of the events in order to let the adventure "catch up" to them, scaling some things up, holding others back, eliminating others entirely. The Lucky Monkey had already been abandoned by the time the PCs got there, for example.
I'm planning on having the PCs invited to one of the Flood Festival's many and varied parties...unbeknownst, being thrown in honor of the Stormblades. It'll give me a chance to play up their arrogance and self-importance over something decidedly less trivial than kobold bashing, and I am thinking of introducing the fence at the party as well to point them to the ruins.
I've already looked at ways to integrate my campaign concept (the Spellweaver ruins lie under the gate that brought them here in the first place) and my chosen setting (the Yuan-Ti ruins aren't just thorugh the jungle, they're on the nearby planet of Verdura(?) and the Cagewrights make their getaway in a hidden vessel, PCs soon in pursuit. However, more thoughts, ideas, and hints would be welcome, as well as possible ways to integrate the Ethergaunts back into the storyline (my first tenative plan is to have them come through the gate and enslave the halfling village they rescued).
It will be interesting to see if they stick with the Adventure Path, or try their luck at the gate to see where else it might take them. I'll keep posting as time goes by.
Andorax
Looks like an interesting campaign. Can we look forward to the same kind of campaign log as you did over at the RttToEE forum at Monte's site? Pretty please?
Sounds like a very complicated campaign. Throwing all those things together like that. Hope it comes out allright.
Good luck!
I like to run open-ended campaigns, so I'm trying not to "shackle" them to the Adventure Path if they decide not to hang around...though events will progress in their absence.
As for the rest, we'll just have to wait and see (both in terms of campaign logging and if it comes out allright).
For those curious, here's the motley crew I have. Yes, I'm exceedingly liberal about allowed races/classes.
Human Cleric 5/Spelljammer Ace 1 of Boccob.
Half-Elf Rogue 3/Sorceror 3 (building for Arcane Trickster)
Elan Psychic Warrior 6
Goliath Barbarian 1/Sorceror 4 (Melee Sorc...self-enhancers)
Winged Wemic (racial progression combining a slightly-altered Centaur with the SS "Winged Creature" template...9 levels in total) Currently L7
Golden Dracotaur (racial progression combining a heavily modified and tweaked Behir with the Half-Dragon (gold) template. He's fire-based, not lightning, and is basically a many-armed golden dragon/lizard...thing. 17 level progression, he'll NEVER have a real class level) Currently L7
Well, Friday went well enough.
Nobody showed any interest in investegating save for the Arcane Trickster (to be). I'm a bit disappointed, to be honest.
The Stormblades mocked them repeatedly, and nobody took the bait. They'll be patting themselves on the back for showing such restraint when they start connecting the names to some of the local nobility. One of them mentioned the trouble at the Lucky Monkey, though, so they'll be heading out of town soon to investegate (after they get over the morning after their party). I'm thinking of tossing some further trouble out in that direction that, embellished, could further improve on their reputation and keep the "competition" up and rolling.
I've already decided that the Stormblades will act as the surrogate "good guys" whenever the PCs drop the ball. If they go elsewhere for a while, I'll skip a few of the AP adventures and regale the returning PCs with the Stormblades' successes upon their return.
Anyways, back to business. The Arcane Trickster did a decent Gather Info, and was able to make contact with the Last Laugh, who put her in touch with the informant. Price paid, directions provided, and in the party goes.
The two guards in the building never stood a chance. The newly joined Goliath rages and CRITS with her %#))%)&%@ Goliath Greathammer! (3d6+11)x4+3d8 (+1 Thundering) = 78 damage. She made a splattery, pulpy mess on the back wall of the chamber and the other guy fainted dead away.
I ruled the Thunder could be heard down below, so one of the rogues investegated, and nearly got her head blasted off by the Elan's crossbow...but he missed, so she ducked back inside.
Several minutes pass, so I rule the complex is warned. I think about this for a bit, and decide that where everyone is makes NO sense for a warned, prepared complex...so I have started relocating personel.
Triel and most everyone north of the main room has withdrawn to...47 I think it is? The first room off of the main area that starts getting into the rough-hewn tunnels. She, Tongueeater (I had him retreat back here), and a slew of fighters and rogues have withdrawn here to prepare for an attack.
Skaven and the remaining troops have gathered in the greatroom (12). The plan was to upend the table, aim bows at the front doors, shoot anyone who comes in, then retreat back to the workroom (15), letting the hall, the few guards behind the arrow slits, the pits, and even the Slaad help do the PCs in.
This went a bit awry. The PCs came in the north, through several traps, have been through and semi-looted Triel's room (she took her stuff with her when she withdrew), and have JUST entered room 12 from the back way (through the poison spike room). So both sides are surprised, the ambush hasn't come out the way it was intended, and the fight is on in two weeks...next week's game is cancelled for local football.
I like Shackled City and I like Spelljammer. Two great tastes, and all. I like how you've Spelljammerized some of the aspects of Shackled City, but I'm curious as to how you'll work in some of the more esoteric plot elements.
Is Carceri still another dimension or will you make it a slave planet somewhere? What about Occipitus? The ruler shaping the plane doesn't fly so well if Occipitus is just another planet. For that matter, the whole shard of Heaven trapped in Hell doesn't work in a space setting as well as I would like it to.
I'd also like to know if you're going to be working any of the other Spelljammer planets into your Shackled City story. Is Zenith Splintershield imprisoned on Moradin's Forge? Do the PCs have to travel to Verdana (I think is the name of the jungle planet) to find the Demonskar? All told, I think this is a very ambitious project and I'm really keen on seeing it played out.
First and foremost, the existance of planets does not in any way preclude the existance of planes...they're both present and accounted for. The campaign actually started out on the ethereal of Ashen, where the 'gaunts have their hidden cities.
Really freaked the PCs out when a skeleton (on the Ashen's prime) walked right through one of them.
Carceri, Occipitus...they're all still as-writ.
Zenith is still planetside, though his captors are Sahuagin rather than Kuo-Toa (in keeping with Quelya's nature), and while the Demonscar is still local (at least at the moment...you're giving me food for thought for changing it), the Ruins of Shatterhorn are definately on Verdura...and the surviving Cagewrights will be booking out in a hidden Tradesman, forcing the PCs to get themselves to Redgorge in a hurry to convince the Chisel to give them a ride in their Hammership in order to pursue.
Ok...an update of the campaign. Last friday went fairly well for them (still in Flood Season).
Clean sweep of the spiders in the south. The Harpoon Spider, realizing it was just him and several heavily armed and dangerous adventurers, tried to make a break for it. The Flying Wemic and the Psiwar were both able to match his 40' movement rate, and so they harassed him until he reached the main cavern and climbed away from them...only to fall to a lucky crossbow crit from the Elan Psiwar.
They then took to the outer tunnel entrance and barricaded it in to get rest. Camped the night, rested and recovered, preped (and leveled), and decended back into the fray.
Triel had gathered up the remaining troops who, knowing they can't escape, barricaded themselves in the northern chamber...I forget the number, but it's the part-formed room off the north hall, just east of the T-rex room.
Major slugfest. Triel and Tongueater (As mentioned earlier, he was already gone from the Monkey when the PCs got there) did some serious damage, including (alas) slaying the Elan and nearly killing off the Goliath as well.
The PCs are really suffering for want of area-of-effect ability...they don't even have a fighter with Cleave! It was a major, painful meatgrinder as the fighters waded in, the rogues fired at anyone who tried to break through the line, then resorted to rapiers, flanking, and sneaks where they could.
Tongueater was cut down when he went charging past the whole group and assaulted the Rogue/Sorceror in hopes of taking her down quickly (the whole party turned their effort on him).
Triel nearly managed to retreat to the Gnoll's chamber, but was cut down by the raging Goliath's reach attack and the Sorceror's magic missile.
One of the rogues looted the Elan when he fell (the Elan burned an Action Point (UA) to temporarially gain "up the walls" and attacked Triel in the back of the pack...big mistake) and then ran off, in err, towards the giant skeleton (I'm using the MM Cloud Giant Skeleton, dinosaurs don't fit my campaign well). The PCs pursued a little ways, only to see the rogue smashed into bits, and have retreated to "talk it over".
So with that battle done, we're pausing. The PCs should be off to the northeast and taking down the Gnoll any time now.
If they get the Quazit, they'll have 7/8 wands (they never even set off the Bloodbloater trap, let alone figured out there was a wand there). Even without it, 6/8 will be enough to survive the season. I figure next session is the wrapup attack, retreat to the surface, victory, prize money (much of which will go to raising the Elan), and a month or two of downtime prior to Zenith.
Oh...opinions welcome on this, but it doesn't sit well with me that the Church of Saint Cuthbert can't raise their own high priest, but for a suitable fee they can raise a PC. I'm going to make the PCs negotiate with the Church of Wee-Jas (as the only ones who can perform such a function in town...at least for now) and thus introduce some more characters and keep things interesting. I'll need to re-read their information and take on the situation, and if they know anything at all about the PCs, to decide how that's going to go....they *might* just take the money, "attempt", fail, and declare "sorry, no refunds", claiming that he did not wish to return to life.
Another week, another chunk of progress.
The PCs retreated. With 6 wands, the floods were turned back and the city saved. Tarkilaar got away, though, and collapsed the tunnel behind him.
I've given the PCs the next two months "off". Time to rest, repair, craft items, get armor made, and do some odd-jobs. The goliath has made inquiries about the Lucky Monkey, and is looking to see if she can buy it.
Lwellyn, the "Golden Dracotaur", is furious...he found the Etherblade that belonged to one of his fellows in Skie's Treasury, sold to her by the Stormblades, and has found out that he has no legal recourse, as nobody's going to drag one of the city's noble sons or daughters before the magistrate.
It's going to be interesting...I'm going to place the PCs and the Stormblades both in the same place at the same time when the Umber Hulk shows up and launches the events of Zenith Trajectory...and likewise invite both, as noted local heroes, to the meeting to recover Zenith. Whether they cooperate, compete, or even come to blows will depend on how the PCs act.
It should prove interesting.
"Oh...opinions welcome on this, but it doesn't sit well with me that the Church of Saint Cuthbert can't raise their own high priest, but for a suitable fee they can raise a PC."
Perhaps they felt that he died a noble death and deserves to enjoy the afterlife basking in the radiance of his god.
Andorax,
My head is spinning from the amount of rework and extra's you're adding to this campaign. I'm having trouble just managing all the info in the AP as written without having to make up all sorts of stuff related to your own story archs. Hats off to you!
on to your question:
Oh...opinions welcome on this, but it doesn't sit well with me that the Church of Saint Cuthbert can't raise their own high priest, but for a suitable fee they can raise a PC. I'm going to make the PCs negotiate with the Church of Wee-Jas (as the only ones who can perform such a function in town...at least for now) and thus introduce some more characters and keep things interesting. I'll need to re-read their information and take on the situation, and if they know anything at all about the PCs, to decide how that's going to go....they *might* just take the money, "attempt", fail, and declare "sorry, no refunds", claiming that he did not wish to return to life.
Actually, there's a thread on this forum om the subject. Check it out right here. Basically, there are plenty of reasons why the church of st Cuthbert doesn't *want* to raise Sacrem. There are an equal number of reasons why they *can't* raise him. A missing head is a big one.
Actually, I went with the Wee-Jas route, and went ahead and played it on the "up and up". As an aside, the Psi-Warrior knows Ike is evil, but hasn't said anything to the other PCs...he's more terrified than anything else.
I also noticed that Skie's Treasury has a scroll of Raise Dead available...that'll be their "other" alternative.
We'll have to wait and see how things go from here, but for now they're all alive, well (more or less) and enjoying some well-earned downtime.
Emails away to see what various PCs want to do with this timespan.
Things went more-or-less as planned with the launch of Zenith Trajectory. I'm getting really sick of the goliath and her dang crits, though.
Strong goliath to begin with.
+Mountain Rage
+Large Goliath Greathammer (20:x4 crit)
+magic (+1 Thundering)
+True Strike (cast just prior to raging)
When she crits with the accursed thing, she's doing 60+ at a minimum...managed about 80 this time and swatted the umber hulk like it was an overgrown fly! That encounter really lost some excitement potential due to her accursed luck!
Still, I did manage to get the "baby left on rail" plot element off...the cleric rushed to the rescue, saved the kid, rushed back, managed to save the commoner that the Dracotaur nearly slaughtered (he was the only PC who was Confused), and is now dealing with a smitten, over-gracious commoner who is alltogether too thankful for his aid.
The invite to the Cusp of Sunrise went a bit differently than writ. Due to the freakish nature of the party, the invite was given to the cleric, and he was asked to only bring one other with him...who wound up being the rogue. AND then thought to shop ahead for clothing and jewelry (and are now entirely properly attired).
The rogue tried her hand at Gemsnatcher a few hands while the cleric was waylayed telling bored nobles about the umber hulk encounter.
They agreed to search for Zenith, even before any mention of pay was made, so they're in it for the minimum...and happy to get that.
I hit them with a Bulette on the way to Crazy Jared's hut, and left off just prior to arriving at the hut itself. The stage is set for my first AP dragon encounter. Sorry guys...it's gonna hurt!
Aaaaaand....an unimpressive encounter. Sat around hovering and roasting the PCs as best I was able (so-so at best...good Evasion-saves from the one I really wanted to kill). Party's cleric kept passing around healing at a rapid pace, and I kept rolling 3s and 4s on my breath recovery rate.
The most damage, strangely enough, was done by the party's Sorc/Rogue with...Ray of Frost.
1d3 + 2 (Bardic Inspire) x 1.5 (Cold vulnerability). 4-7 damage each round (9 on the round she critted!) Even burning my 3 cure-light castings while I hovered, I couldn't keep up with the damage she dealt.
Dragon retreated with about 35 hp or so left, far too quickly for pursuit. He will return, though...oh yes, yes indeed he will.....
The Hydra, though, was another matter. BRUTAL fight, even with a fully-rested party. Rolled hot on breath recovery this time 'round, and with that, many attacks, many AoOs, and so forth...well, it nearly resulted in a TPK.
I had the Goliath down to 0, I had the psiwar into the negs, I had everyone but the sorc/rogue in the 15-or-less range...
...and dangit, I killed the cleric. His own fault, really. Tossed a "Shield Other" onto the Psiwar, who couldn't make a reflex save to save his life (or, in this case, the cleric's). Then he wound up at the central focal point of 5 breath attacks and that was all she wrote.
So the party buried their cleric and pressed onward. I needed to stall a bit, so I hit them with a random encounter. Rolled a Troll, decided to "spice things up" and took a Crystaline Troll from MM3 in a cavern full of similar-looking crystals. The PCs took him down (twice), but it was an interesting fight.
They've met the replacement PC (A Xeph Wilder) and are half a mile outside of Bahl-Hamatuagn. The Xeph is there for vengeance-sake...family killed by Sahuagin. It'll be interesting to see how he falls in with the party, and I might have to make room for more Sahuagin down the road for his sake.
Next week...the shrine.
Ok...how about next week: the lake outside the shrine.
The PCs managed to tip off the Sahuagin of their hostile intent, and show their singular lack of ability to get across the lake in a timely fashion.
We wound up with a huge battle between most of the "grunt" population of the shrine (16 Sahuagin Rogue 1s) and about half the party underwater (the Xeph Wilder, the Elan Psiwar and the Dracotaur). Nearly killed off both psi-types several times (I swear the Xeph bled out 3x his hit points over the course of the fight, and just kept dumping psi-points into body adjustments to stay alive). Half the Sahuagin were slain, the other half retreated.
The party's decided to camp and plan from here...I'm sending the two assassins in in 4 hours' time...wish 'em luck, 'cause they're going to need it.
Yes, indeed I have...since this is set on the Spelljammer world of Quelya, for which one of the three predominant races is Sahuagin, I replaced the Kuo-Toa (they seemed a "poor fit", and it let me bring more of the world's nature into the setting).
I've also read up on them in preparation, re-reading the Monstrous Arcana: The Sea Devils suppliment. Power-wise, they're really no stronger than Kuo-Toa, but they're going to have a much nastier streak to them. That's part of why they're playing hardball right now.
Big fight in the main shrine. Lots of damage dished out, and received. Eventually, they managed to take out everything that moved.
Swam to the surface (I altered the shrine to have the first two floors flooded) just in time for the Eyrines to appear. She was a nasty piece of work, and dished out some severe pain, but the PCs survived her. She teleported out, and ambushed them again after they came through the doors, hitting for all they were worth until the summoning ran out.
She very nearly managed (with Charm Person and illusions) to convince the Dracotaur to tear down the one remaining pillar in the mushroom room.
My final defender before Zenith...dropped dead without an action due to the Wilder critting with his dang energy ray.
Zenith, however...didn't do any better. %&#)))%# Dracotaur grappled him, spoiling his defensive stance, rendering him nearly helpless. The Invisible Stalker was little more than an inconvenience while the party battered him into unconsciousness.
So they're back in town, hearing about tax grumbling, planning on spending their reward money. The Wilder has gone on his own way (we were both bothered by how much damage he can dish out, and he didn't have a good motivation for hanging around). New PCs coming up next week (the Wilder's player, and a new player to the group). It sounds like we may be seeing a Warforged Cleric and a Druid/Master of Many Forms/Warshaper (ok, that's just a goal at this level).
Warforged Cleric concept was scrapped...instead we have a real ba____d rogue or rogue/fighter (need to recheck) who is quite the opportunist. He'd be evil if it wasn't so much work. As it stands, he's more a-moral than immoral.
The Cauldron Tax Riot (Demonscar Legacy) went off just fine, and despite a disturbing run of crits from the Breatstealer, the PCs managed to save both of the major NPCs and fend off most of the crouds as well. Maavu barely survived and managed to issue his invitation to the party.
The fire elementals, though, were another matter. The Goliath was absent (having set out east to recover her equipment from the Lucky Monkey, where she's been spending her downtime working as a bouncer). The more-or-less fireproof PC, Lwellyn the Golden Dracotaur, charged between the elementals into the building to rescue the kid. The Flying Wemic was player-absent, staying back at the inn.
That left a Shifter, a Psychic Warrior, a rogue/sorceror and a Rogue to take on two massive mountains of flaming death. Not a good situation!
Long story short, we had one fataility (the Psychic Warrior), one near-fatality (the Arcane Trickster to be), and an ignomous retreat by the party. NPCs saved the day on this one, and the party's licking their wounds and thinking that Redgorge might not be so bad a place to be right now, what with the public not terribly impressed with them right now.
Tonight, the new PC (it *might* be a Dwarf Ftr 7, or not...player's noncommital so far) will be joining them in Redgorge and the PCs can prepare to set sail (yes, it's on an island a few days west) for Vaprack's Voice as soon as they figure out where they're going.
Well, they're on the isle, slogging their way through demon-infested jungle. They made short work of the Gnolls, so I added a Jovoc encounter (MM2). My players hate me now. Clever people, though...the Dracotaur pinned and drowned one in the river. No HP damage, no HP damage to share.
The forest sloth was made short work of. The encounter with Nidrama went well.
Then, in grand style, the PCs got stupid. They're very good at this at the WORST possible times.
They charge the gate. Dracotaur, with climb ability, goes straight after the giant and grapples him (yes, he's still medium).
Winged Wemic lands on the landing beside and swipes at Murgo as well...Murgo's nearly dead, but has almost throttled the dracotaur to death as well. Turns to flee just as the other giants (who heard the shouting) arrive.
Do the PCs retreat? Nooo...they keep on fighting!
One set of hits...wham, wham. Winged Wemic is dead.
One set of hits...wham, wham. Dracotaur is at -9 (action point to stabilize).
One set of hits...wham, wham. Goliath is at 0 and playing dead.
One set of hits...wham, wham. Shifter (troll form) is in single digits and getting desperate.
The shifter bailed over the edge, landed, and ran off. He, the Dwarven fighter, the half-elf Arcane Trickster and the bad-attitude Fighter/Rogue/Streetfighter sound the retreat.
I ruled (yes, perhaps a bit generously) that the three giants dragged Murgo off and tried to revive him (no luck) before one of them returned to resume watch duty. That gave the goliath time to quaff a potion, feed another to the Dracotaur, and beat a hasty retreat with the Wemic's corpse slung over her back.
I also had Nidrama risk one final appearance, after they'd retreated some distance away. She has raise dead 1/day, so I felt I ought to give the PCs at least one shot at an out (particularly since the Wemic's player was absent...I hate killing absent PCs). One raise dead later, and she's (barely) functional. They'll have to expend their own healing to get her back to 100% though.
And when they return, they'll have to find a way in through tough circumstances...the hags had a little "chat" with the giants, and they are all three guarding the entrance now, with most of the Ettins watching the other gate, and one stationed in the middle to send warnings. I REALLY hope they get their act together this time and don't do anything stupid!
Oh, way back when Fletch asked about how I'm adding spelljamming elements to the adventure?
Here's one. The starry mirror won't open out to a desert "500 miles away". No...I've something a bit nastier in mind. The destination where they'll be meeting Alex (and Nabatharion) is somewhere on Ashen. It's a bit of a stretch that Nabatharion is allowed extra-planetary teleportation, but I don't have a big issue with stretching things here and there.