Just interested in getting some thoughts...
I love The Speaker in Dreams module and had been planning on running it as a stand-alone adventure before the Age of Worms came along, and I have just started the Whispering Cairn but I've been thinking of trying to fit it in.
I'm toying with idea of either replacing Encounter at Blackwall Keep with it or just fitting it in between EaBK & Hall of Harsh Reflections.
I think there are elements of the tSiD that would dovetail into AOW beautifully (the alien cultists could be replaced by the Ebon Triad; Zyrog (sp?) could be the Mind flayer they encounter in tSiD; Gellack could have ties to the Grimlocks in tSiD, ect...
any thoughts?
Well the problem with that is that the EaBWK has a lot of plot. I'm not familiar with the speaker in dreams, but you should probably change the plot to include several things.
A) the lizardfolk ilithane aliance
B) The green worm egg
C) The spawn of Kyuss
That's all I can think of that's absolutely necissary. Oh, you may wish to throw in some insurmountable odds. Say... thirty lizardfolk.
The Seekers would definitely want to get their hands on
the cult's records.
I think they could develop an affiliation with the Triad.
Summon Abberation I-XI (1 thru 9) would be popular spells
in AOW.
Must...find...my...copy...of...module.
I also enjoyed the Speaker in Dreams; last time I ran it was about three years back. I DM'd, and a buddy of mine rolled three natural 20s on an attack roll against the big purple worm :O Fighter + Mercurial Greatsword + 3 20's = Death.
I also think it would be easier to move the relevant Kyuss elements (Lizardfolk, cultists, Ilthane, etc.) into the Speaker in Dreams module, and then have Zyrxog make his getaway at the end to be the BBEG at the end of 3FoE. Keep in mind, these are based on memories of when I read the module, so they may not all work.
Some ideas:
-Make Marzena a travelling sorceror who sends a letter to Allustan, and is then kidnapped by one of the mayor/governor/dominated guy's goons.
-Use the lizardfolk in place of the demons in the latter parts of the adventure; maybe a large troop of Ilthane's augmented lizardfolk.
-Replace the alienists with more Ebon Triad cultists; you can never have too many cultists ;)
-Instead of a planar gate opening in the Pelor temple, have the lizardfolk take over its catacombs; you can use the map for their swamp lair without too many changes.
-Keep the kobolds guarding the last chamber with Ilthane's egg; it could be either the catacomb's main chamber with some captured holy relics as more loot, or a swampy cave connected by a tunnel to both the catacombs and the nearby swamps (this could be how Ilthane got in and out, and how the lizardfolk infiltrated the town).
-Replace the mind flayer's sidekick with either a beefed-up lizardfolk, or a doppleganger (this could help alert the party to the fact they may face dopplegangers in the future, so be careful about that option).