Hello All,
Mostly a lurker, but thought I'd post this idea I had after reading "Within the Circle" in Dungeon 130. I thought it might be interesting to make the Lord Mayor more of a tragic figure and replace Baron Wildhurst with him. The yuan-ti would have to be changed to the Cagewrights and some minor things changed at the depot, but it seemed like a natural fit to show how a good person could be brought down.
While I know Jenya is the main NPC contact for the campaign, it seems as though this would be a nice tie-in with the mayor. Just giving the PCs another reason to care about the city and a nice starting point to give them some XP before they start the adventure proper.
I'd love to hear any thoughts on this idea; good, bad or indifferent.
Thanks,
Morgan
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Both my groups came to Cauldron from elsewhere.
With one campaign we had a little intermezzo in Gradsul based on the background sotry of one player I wove it together with the background and travel stories of the other players. Upon arriving in Cauldron they had some XP for the stories given to me as background and two small encounters on the journey through the jungle to Cauldron.
The second campaign also met on the journey to Cauldron. With them I played through "Thieves in the Forest" (a nearly "ancient" 3.0 adventure from Atles Games) so they were on the verge to 2nd level upon arriving in Cauldron.
Both ways were really great for bringing the group together, prior to arriving in Cauldron.
OTOH, we have the really great traits in the SCAP HC, for a group starting in Cauldron.... (if I'd known about them earlier... sigh)
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Now back to the topic:
This is a really great way to introduce the group to the political powers in Cauldron prior to starting the adventure path. The hard part is to find a way that your group joins up, that the characters are motivated to work together to solve the adventure. If that is no problem fopr you, then go ahead, use the story. And try to use foreshadowing and let them meet as many influential people to the overall storyline as you can.
Using "Within the Circle" raises some interesting possibilities. If the Lord-Mayor was put into power by the Yuan-Ti, then why would they abandon him to the tender mercies of Vhalantru?
On the other hand, perhaps that was their goal all along, to bring about his downfall and with him, Cauldron. Then the serpent people of Shatterhorn would be able to move in and take over while the city is in turmoil. They do tend to think in long-term plans after all...
I was actually thinking more along the lines of re-writing the backstory and make it the Cagewrights (and not the yuan-ti) that brought about the Baron/Mayor's ascension. Something along the lines of the Cagewrights wanting to control the Mayor, but he's gotten suspicious and looks to the PCs to start investigating this "shadowy group" that has helped him.
After some time getting to know the Mayor during the course of their investigations with his patronage, the Cagewrights decide its time to replace the Mayor w/ Vhalantru since it appears he's no longer "controllable". This seems to tie nicely into the normal progression of the SCAP and (if they've come to work for, like and trust the Mayor) his disappearance will mean more to the PCs instead of the "huh? really? hey, pass the pretzels" reaction I'm envisioning right now.
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. If I get around to fleshing this out more, I'll post it here.
Thanks,
Morgan