Shackled City AP in Ebberon

[Tambryn]

I am looking forward to returning home from Iraq soon and running the SCAP for my group. I plan to run the campaign in Ebberon, so I was curious to hear how other Ebberon DMs had handled the campaign world transition. Where did you place Cauldron? What did you do with all the temples in the city? What Dragonmarked Houses did you give a presence in Cauldron? Did you change the classes of any of the main NPCs? What Ebberon specific adjustments did you make to the individual adventures? I was thinking placing Cauldron in the Graywall mountains. Thank you ahead of time for your responses and advice. Please feel free to mention anything that you think might be of assistance to me as I run this campaign in Ebberon.

Tam

[Fanoa]

I was wondering the same thing. I was told that maybe some where in the Q'Barra area of the Endworld Mountains. I was thinking about swapping Whitecliff out with Cauldron. Does that seem like a good idea?

[Tambryn]

I do not have my books or maps with me here in Kuwait so I cannot offer an opinion as to the feasblility of Whitecliff. But I am interested to see how this works out for you. When I return, which will hopefully be soon, I will be better able to do the research and customization. Please keep me informed as to how it works out for you.

[Very Metal]

Yeah, I like the Q'Barra idea...it's kinda a frontier region, & many of its residents were against the war & didn't participate, They consider themselves different from the rest of Khorvaire, which may help explain the higher NPC levels & isolation.

[mars1276]

I myself placed Cauldron smack dab in the middle of Q'barra. To try to keep the PC's from wandering around outside the city and campaign environment too much I have attached the fiendish template to any creature they may find as a random encounter. Boosts up the ECL and makes sure the PCs stick close to the town. Also, it kinda emphasizes why people in Cauldron have such a big wall to fortify the city and when they send caravans enroute to trade, it is few and often heavily guarded. Helps explain why you don't see too many new faces within the city whereas if it was a portside city or local you would see all kinds of new people.
I have also introduced a FEW of the houses here but not all of them. I have changed the religions, but again, only one church happens to be of any importance in the early stages. As it happens that church was made to be the Silver Flame.

So far it's been pretty fun!

[Tambryn]

mars1276 wrote:

I myself placed Cauldron smack dab in the middle of Q'barra. To try to keep the PC's from wandering around outside the city and campaign environment too much I have attached the fiendish template to any creature they may find as a random encounter. Boosts up the ECL and makes sure the PCs stick close to the town. Also, it kinda emphasizes why people in Cauldron have such a big wall to fortify the city and when they send caravans enroute to trade, it is few and often heavily guarded. Helps explain why you don't see too many new faces within the city whereas if it was a portside city or local you would see all kinds of new people.

I have also introduced a FEW of the houses here but not all of them. I have changed the religions, but again, only one church happens to be of any importance in the early stages. As it happens that church was made to be the Silver Flame.

So far it's been pretty fun!

Can you tell me how you changed all the churches, and what Houses you introduced and how. Thanks

Tam

[mars1276]

Well, I figured for city guards and traveling merchant guards I would need House Deneith to be present. House Sivis for message stations (especially since exchange is limited). House Kundarak for handling the town as well as anybody's personal finances. I didn't find House Pharlagn to be of much use for me personally, I mean, with a flood season being part of the adventure, I thought that house was redundant. House Jorasco is there obviously for the taverns and inns, but I limited how many are actually affiliated with it. I'm having trouble thinking of all the houses right off the top of my head.
Basically if you feel a house would have a role in town, put them in. I didn't feel the houses that control weather or transportation had that big of a role in my game.

I elected to have the Church of the Silver Flame replace the main church in the game that the players will deal with. I replaced another with a church for the Sovereign Host, basically an open-house for the general public. I replaced We-Jas with an Order of the Undying Court. Y'know, to keep things mysterious and yet low-key at the same time. I figured if any of my players gave it some serious thought, the most they would lead to would probably be the big question, "what the hell is the undying court doing in the middle of Q'barra?" I figured I'd let that one work itself out.

But that's about it. I purposefully have few churches for the players to go to so as to keep NPC contacts to a minimum. So far I've found it to have been working well for the players. Less people to have to remember and easier for them to relate to someone when they need to. Although I DID place in there an herbal shop of a sorts. Just a dwarf selling anything and everything that might be needed for spell components, remedies, the occasional salve or ointment for something else here and there. I also eventually added a shop for an artificer to help my players with magical items. I put emphasis on making an artificer that can make magical items cheaply and quickly, but his items will be limited on effective caster level; hereby possibly encouraging the players to make something of their own that can be better.

Other than that, I have only tried to keep a few key NPCs in constant play and things seem to be running smoothly as far as player-NPC reactions go.

[FenrysStar]

Would the AP work just as well if set in Xen'Drik?

[James Keegan]

Xen'drik, I think, would be just as good as Q'barra, just because of the tropical setting (which Q'barra has as well, I believe) as well as proximity of ancient ruins. Vaprak's Voice as a location, for instance, works especially well because of the giant connection.

As far as replacing religions in town, I would suggest St. Cuthbert for Silver Flame, Wee Jas for Blood of Vol (which is tolerated in civilized areas and fits with the Wee Jas storyline), Kord could either be a direct translation to Dol Dorn, a joint temple to Dol Dorn and Dol Arrah, or juat a Sovereign Host temple. As far as Pelor goes, a shrine to Dol Arrah might work the best, but the idea is that the Pelorians are down on their luck and terrorized a bit by the Wee Jas temple. So maybe Undying Court for them, since it's kind of a 'niche' faith, followed almost exclusively by elves. And if it's set in Xen'drik, there is a plausibility for them being there.

[lordmolay]

There is also a different way you could take the chuches in SC and trun them into some of the Dragon Marked houses. This would take a little work but it makes more sence to me than the churches.

1: because dragon maked houses have fudes and show a public unity yet fight among each other

2: Corruption: (like the corrution in weejas) happens all the time

3: Most of the chuches in Eberron have a tollerence for each other and this might give it an edge

4: this might give it more of an Eberron feel vs just SC changed to fit Eberron

Good luck just some ideas

[Nik]

Here are some of my ideas, posted to Usenet (rec.games.frp.dnd) back in November, plus some edits based on this thread:

"
Q'barra seems almost ideal for Cauldron, now that you mention it: mostly generic fantasy nation, but new/frontier oriented, in a region with ancient ruins, covered by jungle.

For ease of explanation, and to make my suggestions below easier, I'm going to assume one major conversion first: Adimarchus is either a weak Rajah, or a strong, but imprisoned, Lord of Dust.

Various ideas for things to change, or foci to adjust:

=== RUINS

. Kopru (Flood Season): In the original, these ruins are unrelated to the campaign intrigue. To keep this role, kopru could be daelkyr creations, or these ruins could be daelkyr ruins. If the latter, replace the kopru with a daelkyr half-breed or creation (a mad dolgaunt with an aquatic template could be pretty cool and bizarre).

If you wanted to tie this into the campaign intrigue a bit more, make kopru a byproduct of the Age of Demons, minor enough to be mostly overlooked.

. Spell Weaver (Demonskar Legacy, Secrets of the Soul Pillars): In the original, the spell weavers were weird, but not particularly evil, and not related to the campaign intrigue (as far as I recall). Their oddity and independence almost suggests they might be kalashtar-related. A faction of quori who fled Dal Quor even before the schism that created the kalashtar, finding a completely different way to embody themselves than that found by the kalashtar and Inspired? Alternately, replace their mystic ruins with ancient dragon or Dhakaani ruins, or make the spell weavers agents from the Age of Demons.

. Yuan-ti (the last few adventures; I forget their names): The destructive nature of the yuan-ti seems likely to link them to the Age of Demons and the Lords of Dust, as well as their preference for illusion and deception. The emphasis on these ruins as the home base of the Cagewrights suggests this as well.

=== PLANES

. Occipitus could easily be located as a region of Shavarath, and fits that plane's 'battleground' feel quite nicely, IMO.

. If Adimarchus is a Rajah or Lord of Dust, the Asylum could be a demiplanar prison of some kind for him, created by the dragons.

. Carceri. This might be tough, as I don't believe Eberron has any place already decided for demodands. Perhaps some of the material for converting Age of Worms to Eberron includes this information, but failing that, demodands could merely be subjects of the Rajahs who have remained mostly caged with their masters.

=== RELIGION/INTRIGUE

. Vhalantru: Despite beholders probably being daelkyr creations, Vhalantru is a Cagewright and agent of the Lords of Dust. This gives the Lords an efficient agent that has several layers of deception as to his true motives.

. The Ebon Triad: these cultists could easily be converted into Dark Six cultists. Hextor = the Fury (making the female priestess Triel more likely), Vecna = the Mockery or the Shadow, Erythnul = the Devourer.

. St. Cuthbert: The Church of the Silver Flame, or House Jorasco, or House Ghallanda (providing more reason for them to be involved in the orphanage kidnapping). Any of these would work, so go with whichever one your players will be most sympathetic towards, or for more fun, most suspicious of.

. Fharlanghn: the Traveler. This works quite well, and makes the Striders much more ambiguously-aligned, a great enigma for the players to unravel if you want to do it that way. Another alternative: House Orien.

. Wee Jas: this church could be a faction of worshippers of Aureon who seek his reunion with the Shadow. This would explain their presence as a public church in Cauldron, as well as their actual dark intentions. Other alternatives: House Cannith's darker side (Merrix) or House Thuranni, who is likely to be trying to make inroads into Q'barra anyway.

. Cagewrights: The Cagewrights in the original work to free caged fiends. Leaving Adimarchus' stats as-is suggests that he is a Rajah or a Lord of Dust, so this remains an effective goal for the Cagewrights.

=== ALTERNATIVE

You could also go a completely different route, and make him Adimarchus a daelkyr, though that might require altering some imagery and quite a few stats. Since the Cults of the Dragon Below who revere the daelkyr also seek to free them, this remains a useful possible goal for the Cagewrights. Demodands could then be twisted creations of the daelkyr from their prisons, and Occipitus a blasted battleground from that age that was mostly hidden from the world.
"

[Nighthunter]

I've posted this in a few other Eberron related SCAP threads, but you may have missed it:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/messageboards/shackledCity/sCAPAndPsionicsInEberro nTharBeSpoilers

Hope this helps.

[Litejedi]

I'm doing the following (after reading the advice of other people on the board).

Setting:
-Where? Set in Q'barra, in the endworld mountains, in a wee sliver of the mountains that heads into the jungle.
-Why? Because Khorvaire, to me, is much more interesting than Xen'drik. I'm going to have at least one person be from Karrnath, and at least one person be a Talenta halfling. I like the idea of a somewhat uncivilized place on a very civilized continent. It means that the players have access to a lot of the resources that comes from large cities and high populations.

Religion:
-St. Cuthbert -> Church of the Silver Flame. It helps set up the next conversion, and the Church is big enough to be familiar to anyone who starts in Eberron.
-Wee Jas -> Blood of Vol. A number of my players will be intimately familiar with the Blood of Vol, as they are from Karrnath and it's environs. One of them will even be a worshipper, though not evil. This creates an interesting tension between the two churches, since a blood worshipper may find themselves turning against the church in order to help the Silver Flame.
-Kord -> Dol Dorn? The big strong deity in the sovereign host.
-Pelor-> Dol Arrah? The sun deity in the sovereign host.

NPCs:
-Jil is a changeling. Other than the feat, she's not really out an enormous amount, as she no longer has to put many ranks in disguise to get a big disguise modifier. I might even give her a free feat in order to keep her as close as possible to the original flavor of the module, since making her a changeling was done for flavor purposes almost entirely.
-Many of the Half-orcs will be warforged, but with similar feats and ability score setups.
-A number of members of the last laugh and a few bandits in the environs will be changeling and shifter.
-I haven't decided for certain yet, but I'm considering making one of the members of the Cagewrights a shifter. Possibly the tiefling/tatooed monk one, as it would require the fewest number of statistic changes. Maybe even then drop the fiendish template on her. Who knows.
-I may make the minotaur/barbarian Cagewright into a warforged/minotaur/barbarian thing, but it may be difficult to do with regards to balancing, etc. Warforged aren't really a template, but who knows. Maybe I'll keep her exactly the same, but just apply the living construct type.

Story:
-Occipitus will be a demiplane that broke off from the "good" plane and migrated to the "evil" one (sorry, don't have the ECS or the SCAP on me). It didn't fall, it just drifted because it became more evil. Or something.
-Carceri will be part of the plane of battle, but seperate. Sort of above/below it.
-I will be including two Dragonmarked houses, house Kundarak and Cannith (iirc).
-Like other cities in Eberron, magewrights will exist and power the lamps, etc.
-There will be one airship port outside the northwest wall. The house that runs these (can't remember the name, again, no books) will have a minor presence as a result.

That's all I can remember off the top of my head. My party will be as follows:
Female Halfling Paladin
Male Human Necromancer
Male Feytouched Warlock
Male Dwarf Ranger/Rogue
Male Shifter Cleric of the Silver Flame
Female Undecided

[The_Minstrel_Wyrm]

This is probably really 'late' as I see this post started in March, but I've recently decided to run the Shackled City in Eberron as well. It seems we all agree on Q'Barra, just exactly where seems to differ. (Endworld Mountains for certain, but I was thinking northwest of Newthrone, and like near the base of the mountains.) I've made some changes to NPC's to fit a more Eberron-flavored campaign. For example; Keygan Ghelve becomes Keygan d'Khundarak (a dwarf magewright instead of a gnome expert/illusionist.) We all seem to agree about what churches/deities get swapped. (Although I like the Blood of Vol, I hadn't considered using them in place of Wee Jas, I was going with the Aureon/Shadow angle. Food for thought.) I'm keeping Jzadirune more or less as is, unless swapping out a certain monster or encounter would make more sense for the setting. Now, Malachite Hold, I'm changing that pretty extensively. Kazmojen in my version won't be a half-troll dwarf ftr4, he'll be a half-illithid dwarf ftr4 and I think I'll "drop" prickles altogether. Changing all the hobgoblins and goblins to dolgaunts and dolgrims. (And I may have to take away one or two from certain encounters, depending.) I'm dropping the durzagon entirely and putting an adult neogi in his place, with a dominated grimlock barbarian/bodyguard (and an umberhulk nearby, but not to actually fight the players, for an easy getaway for the neogi. -BAM- with the confusion gaze and the neogi hops on the umberhulk's back and away they go. At least that's the current idea.) Vhalantru the beholder can remain as is. Even though he's a creation of the daelkyr, he has allied himself with the Cagewrights (yet another "cult" of catspaws the Lords of Dust have inspired, much like the Ebon Triad.) And I like the idea that Adimarchus(sp?) is an imprisoned/captured Lord of Dust, but perhaps is still a fallen angel, tempted to the dark ways of the fiends, rakshasas, and night hags. (Still the chance for redemption at the end.)

My group will consist of the following:
A male gnome beguiler
A (human) male cleric [Silver Flame]
A male elf duskblade
and A female shifter ranger