Have anyone tried to "keep" their players in Diamond Lake, and not pursue the adventure path? I find this town so immensely intriguing that I can see an infinite number of campaign spin-offs. Nearly every location on the map has fascinating hooks I can't miss to use. My current group consists of 2 paladins and 1 cleric of Tyr, and they have vowed to "clean up" Diamond Lake.. something that would definetely take some time. For me, this sounds a lot more interesting than the rest of the modules.
So, anyone tried go this way?
Our group has only played through Whispering Cairn, but they immediately have a better sense of connection with Diamond Lake than they did Cauldron. It's not a slam on how Shackled City was written at all, rather it's the difference in how I approached starting this one and the necessity of making each player pick a background or connection with some aspect of town. Having all the PCs FROM Diamond Lake, with established jobs, connections, etc., as opposed to a new group coming into town, has REALLY added to their feeling of connection to Diamond Lake. A bit ironic in that their motivation is supposed to be to get OUT, but Oh well.
Anyway, we'll still be playing through the adventures as written, but I'm going to try and modify where possible so that Diamond Lake can be used more than it currently is. It will be interesting to see what they choose to do at the end... with the option of a new realm of their own.
It's not a slam on how Shackled City was written at all
Plus, Diamond Lake has massive support compared to Cauldron, and is probably a lot easier to place geographically. It's also a testament to the awesome writing skills of one mr. Erik Mona.
My group desises Diamond Lake, from the moment I first decribed it they began groaning. At one point they seriously considered putting the townsfolk out of their misey by burning the village to the ground. They cheered when they finally got to leave to go to Blackwall Keep, and moaned endlessly afterwards when I said "so you make your way back to Diamond Lake."
Of course, my group just seems to dislike society in general. Now that they're in the Free City, they are only marginally happier. They were highly upset by having to pay 1% in taxes (personally I'd jump for joy if that was all I had to pay) AND the 5gp freesword tax to bear arms. Not long after I had one of the People's Constables fine the party mage 2cp for crossing the street with the halfling rogue. He was outraged at paying this fine despite the fact that it ammounted to roughly 1/300,000th of his net worth, and declared "FREE city my @$$!"
I have visions of the end of the campaign, where they gripe about having to rule what I'm certain they'll feel is a crappy independant kingdom. They should've all played druids!
Have anyone tried to "keep" their players in Diamond Lake, and not pursue the adventure path?
I'm worried that I'm going to have to force them away! I set the fighter up with Constance Grace as a plot hook to make the transition from WC to 3FoE easier, now it looks like I'm going to have to kill her off in order to make sure he doesn't settle down with her and drop out of the party!
There is a lot in Diamond Lake, and it will be interesting to see what my players want to do in the future. They aren't very "in to" the possible side treks of the city, although they have worked their way into polite society very well.
They are currently in the Free City, and they have become very interested in the dynamics of the Midnight Muddle. I think they're going to be in Greyhawk for a while, looking into things here and there. The party druid already is making little inquiries into the burning of the Temple of Heironeous.
I really liked the optional intro scenario where the players acquire a fixer-upper to use as their base-of-operations, which is a great way to get the players interested in the surrounding area… including Diamond Lake.
I took a more ambitious approach to it and made one of the characters in my group a relative to the Lands. Not only did it improve their commitment to helping Alstor, but also made him the heir to their land (I improved the condition of the house a little).
Just another way to involve the characters into the politics in Diamond Lake.
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I took a more ambitious approach to it and made one of the characters in my group a relative to the Lands. Not only did it improve their commitment to helping Alstor, but also made him the heir to their land (I improved the condition of the house a little).
I had done the same with one PC whose family lived downstream from Diamond Lake in the burg of Ery Crossings. This PC has shown the most interest in the area, having just tracked down the deed to the mining office. He's also looking into the status of his maternal uncle's land (the Land Farm). He also has his eyes set on the observatory. A real estate mogul is born...
If the DM wishes to tie the game to Diamond Lake and allows episodes II-V go on "off-camera", go for it. Let the PCs hear about things that the Free City Trio do and the fame they gain. There are plenty of other scenarios you can insert to get the PCs up to the level needed to handle Ilthane's rage. Perhaps by then the campaign path will interest the players and DM enough to pick it up again. I'd suggest you look up The Doomgrinder adventure TSR put out in '99 as an alternative. It's cataclysmic mood will fit nicely with the Age of Worms theme. You can place the clues to it by having some of Ragnolin Dourstone's night watchmen being duergar disguised as regular dwarves.
Creative Director
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Although the Age of Worms campaign assumes the PCs want out of Diamond Lake, the campaign still works if the PCs decide to stay in Diamond Lake. They'll have to make longer trips between adventures, sure, but that doesn't make much difference since the campaign isn't really on a hard-core timer. Part 6 ("A Gathering of Winds") is actually set in the Diamond Lake region.
The final five adventures in the campaign assume the PCs use the town of Alhaster as a base of operations. In many ways, the three cities featured in this campaign are like three stages of growth. If Diamond Lake is the child bully and the Free City is the all-grown-up world-weary thief, then Alhaster's the rebellious and cruel teenager or young adult. Of the three cities, Alhaster's CERTAINLY the most decadent, and the backdrop and fold-out map are about as extensive as the treatment we gave Diamond Lake.
Given that... and if your Age of Worms campaign takes a few years in game time to progress, Alhaster could actually reflect the results of sudden explosive growth in Diamond Lake.
I'm thinking about cutting the path altogether.. just keeping the PCs in Diamond Lake. Parts 1 & 2 still occurs, but as the characters beat down the three cults, the plans for the Overgod ends.. From there I'm trying to focus on a political campaign where the different mine managers pit the PCs against each other in order to gain control over the mines (Smenk is probably out of the picture by now).
Other modules I can see in Diamond Lake are..
- Box of Flumph*
- Mad God's Key*
- The Devil's Box
- Cry Wolf**
- Forest of Blood**
- The Menagerie (new acquisitions for the Emporium??)
- Pandura's Box (old 2nd ed module with a young wizard's apprentice who is left alone in the tower and accidentally wreaks havoc..)
* - I'm enlarging the harbor to accomodate these adventures. Even though the waters are not fishable, it can still do transport. Oh, and I've turned Diamant Lake into a much bigger lake with connections to the Free City.
** - I will change the wilderness features of these modules (forest) to mountains/hills.