I am trying to find out if any fellow DM's are using other adventures in their Shackled City game? I just finished Mellorn Hospitality and in the future am thinking of using the Istvin trilogy of adventures. I believe it would be a good quest for our groups paladin to find a Holy Avenger. Now after skimming issue 122 I think Root of Evil may be a good adventure to use as my players failed to kill Malifustal. I know the adventure calls for a green hag but I could simply swap her for malifustal.
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I have the problem that for each module of the AP my players should advance at least 2 levels... That's too much for me, so I had to incorporate some other adventures...
Here they are:
1) Because my players don't like dungeons too big, I decided (after playing through Jzadirune) that I had to skip the Kopru Ruins. For that I played THREE DAYS TO KILL (TDtK) and had Triel meet the cultists Tarkilar and Skaven in an abandoned villa, as described in TDtK, in order to sell them the Wands of Water Controlling.
2) I also inserted TAMMERAUT'S FATE (from Dungeon #106) into my AP-Campaign, in order to get the PCs some more levels, before continuing the original modules. Jenya just asked the party to have a look for someone who lifes on the island, because she didn'T receive a message for a couple of weeks...
3) Presently (between VAPRAKS VOICE and OCCPITUS) I inserted TWILIGHT HOLLOW (from Dungeon #90), because my players are still not high enough in levels to visit Occipitus.
Well, I still have to see what comes next. But when I look at the ELs of the following AP-modules, the PCs have to be of sufficient level (rather the highest recommended for each module, than something lower - that's what I figured out)!
Mad God's Key and the Styes are pretty good choices. Both take place in an urban setting, have pretty solid plots and are easy to fit into the AP. If you like you could substitute Tharizdun for Adimarchus (or just use the old 'unnamed god' backup) and you're set to go.
My group is just about done with "Life's Bazaar" (actually, they are done with it, but they're taking their time sweeping Jzadirune on the way out, which is fine, because I can introduce the Stormblades topside and Fario and Fellian inside Jzadirune, since the players never noticed them at all) and I think that of the seven players, two will be at 2nd level, and the rest at 3rd.
So, given that "Flood Season" would likely wipe a couple of them out, I'm coming up with some in-between for each of them, but in smaller groups of 2 or 3, that flush out their backgrounds for Cauldron.
The rogue/enchanter will learn that her parents (who left her with a guardian who at some point later dumped her at the Lantern St. Orphanage) were a group of adventurers that were hired by someone in the city for their last mission, and never heard from again - Orbius Vhalantru has them as statuary in his manor. This will come up when she tries to recover some family items stolen by the Last Laugh Guild, and learns that there are 'Arcane Marks' on them depicting her parents' adventuring group name ("The Risen") and giving her her first real lead into her past - Skie, who has "The Risen" on her wall.
The Fighter/Cleric of Pelor (I have his parents as the two high priests who met with an "accident") will get some hints that there's something afoul with the accident (I've decided it was Ike), but no specifics, and he'll also be in the same group as the above rogue, whom he's fallen for, and will get that information out of the Last Laugh guildmember they finally track down with the rogue's stuff.
The half-elf bard and the halfling rogue will meet up with Fario and Fellian a little more, and be "hired out" for a sortie with the half-elves on a bit of Strider fact-finding (I'll invent a minor Cagewright-associated fellow with not-so-much information), and drop the hint that the Bard is being considered for membership.
The other three, the human Druid, the elf Ranger, and the human Wizard, are going to be more or less the three that really get antagonistic with the Stormblades, and I'm going to have the guard contact the Wizard about joining the magical threat branch of the guards that shows up later.
Basically, small encounter sessions and a lot of role-playing that get them some experience to at least push the party average to 4th level (even if that means two remain behind at 3rd level).
In planning how the Adventure Path will fit within my own campaign world, and what other modules to add to the AP, I first worked to add background and storylines that my players might experience at their epic levels. That is, rather than have my players end the Adventure Path at approximately level 20 when they defeat the demon Adimarchus, I've decided to add epic level possibilities. Since there are some wonderful high-level modules pertaining to Vecna ("Vecna Lives!", and "Die, Vecna, Die") and Lolth ("The Demonweb Pits" and "City of the Spider Queen"), I'm modifying the background and motivations of certain NPC's in the Adventure Path to link to those deities, and also sprinkling in a few other events throughout the Adventure Path, for example cultist attacks.
This also helps to establish a tone of horror in my campaign, a tone that makes my players very nervous, has them questioning every encounter, and keeps them on their toes. In keeping with this tone, I'm considering adding the "Styes" mod from Dungeon #121.
Hurm.
I made a few modifications to "Racing the Snake" and I am going to drop it in as a side quest between "Zenith Trajectory" and "Demonskar Legacy." Substitute Maavu for the good merchant and Vhalantru or an intermediary for the bad one, and you're all set. If the players fail to kill Maliss, you can reintroduce him in "Strike on Shatterhorn."
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I made a few modifications to "Racing the Snake" and I am going to drop it in as a side quest between "Zenith Trajectory" and "Demonskar Legacy." Substitute Maavu for the good merchant and Vhalantru or an intermediary for the bad one, and you're all set. If the players fail to kill Maliss, you can reintroduce him in "Strike on Shatterhorn."
Great idea!!!
I will use it next time I run a group through Cauldron!
I made a few modifications to "Racing the Snake" and I am going to drop it in as a side quest between "Zenith Trajectory" and "Demonskar Legacy." Substitute Maavu for the good merchant and Vhalantru or an intermediary for the bad one, and you're all set. If the players fail to kill Maliss, you can reintroduce him in "Strike on Shatterhorn."
Like you I feel the need to throw something in at this same place in the path. I know demonskar is rated to start at 6th, but I dont see very many groups of 6th level pc's being to successful, factor in that my guys are just recovering from a TPK and they need both a confidence and an xp boost. I converted an old 3.0 dungeon "Vanity" to 3.5 this weekend and plan on throwing it in as a small side trek to garner some extra xp and build some confidence.
Rangers Lead the Way