My party just finished 3FoE and my players do have real trouble to catch a glimpse of the overall story and how things glue together. With just 3 adventures there are so many plots, rumors and names that one could go completly lost. My fear is that with the forthcoming adventures things will go even worse with a lot more NPCs, evil schemes, rumors and loose ends.
What do the Wind Dukes have to do with the Kyuss background? What role do the Wind Duke artifacts play?
Why does collaborate Smenk with Ragnolin as they were competitors in their businesses?
Who is Kyuss and what are his ties are to Ebon triad? Who are the master chiefs behind Ebon Triad? What does Ebon Triad have to do with green worms? Who is responsible for the players got into trouble in Free City if nobody of the dark cathedral will survive to tell their guilt?
There are so many names and organisations that I wish I had a map or something to draw all connections in one picture.
Read all the adventures several times and make sure you know it all yourself. Ideally, you should know it inside-out - I think I know the start of Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil well enough now to run it from memory. If you don't know your adventure, you won't be able to convey it to your players.
If after that it's still getting too complicated for them, just focus on one aspect, such as the Ebon Triad. That gives them something to go for. It's okay if they are hazy on the rest because all that might be something the Ebon Triad is trying to keep secret.
Well first off, some of the rumors are unrelated and some the information has nothing to do with the overall story. The main thing is for you to be clear what is important and what's not. Once your clear on that then you can make sure that they way you present the information is a little easier to see the contections between the information. If you play up the information that is not really important they may spend a lot of time following it instead of the main story. I'm not saying railroad people, but more about how the information comes across.
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In either the "Adventure Path 3" thread in the general 'Dungeon' forums, or in the "What do you want to see in the AoW Hardcover?" thread in this section of the forums, someone made a fine suggestion to include "cruicial happenings" in the write-up of each individual adventure. Essentially, this would be a simple laundry list of plot elements that MUST be touched on and/or resolved in some specific way in order to advance the plot to the next point. "Assumptions made by future adventures" if you will.
Either Mr. Mona or Mr. Jacobs gave a textual thumbs-up to this idea, so here's hoping it comes to be for the next go-round.
To try to answer some of the questions you raised:
1. If you haven't done so, download and get thoroughly acquainted with the "Age of Worms Overload" PDF downloadable from this site. You don't have to know stat blocks by heart, of course (and I use those done by dizzyk for our Eberron game regardless), but it IS nice to be able to read the plot of the AP from the starting point through to the end in a single sitting.
2. As was suggested above, then get acquainted with the adventures. I'd just read the "Adventure Synopsis" and "Background" sections of each adventure through from 'Whispering Cairn' all the way through the current installment, this time in a longer sitting than the "Overload" write-up.
3. Some direct answers:
***SPOILERS***, of course...
*There's no strong tie between Kyuss and the Wind Dukes. The Dukes duked it out with the Armies of Chaos a long time ago, and more recently, Kyuss ascended to demigodhood. This can get confusing, since the AP also includes elements from a war between heroic druids and the undead legions of Kyuss. Different battles, different armies, different periods of time.
*The Ebon Triad, as you should know by now if you've been following the adventures, is a farce. It's a group organized by one of Kyuss' faithful (Lashonna--once an ally of the druids, defeated and vampire-ized by Kyuss' trigger-wyrm, Dragotha) to use against her foes and misderect any opposition. While heroes like the PCs focus on preventing the ascention of the Overgod, she and her fellows-in-Kyuss-worship go about the work of restoring the true villain. So, yes, there's some misdirection going on here. It's intentional. The cults in "Three Faces of Evil" get their hands on one of the worms from Ilthane's efforts to create a Kyuss-lizard army and are naturally curious about the worm's origins and properties.
*The Wind Duke artifacts--and really, the tombs of Zosiel and Icosiol--are not directly related to Kyuss and his (hopeful, eventual) defeat. They are there as a bit of D&D nostalgia. Again, that the Whispering Cairn (and its portal to Icosiol's resting place) are near Diamond Lake, which is also the site of Ebon Triad activity and near the lizardfolk who've been duped by Ilthane (who, like Lashonna and Dragotha, is a draconic ally of Kyuss' cult).
*Regarding Smenk and Dourstone, you must have missed something in the write-ups. I believe it's made plain that Dourstone is dominated by the cults, who then have him turn to the weathiest mine manager in town (Smenk) for supplies. It's the classic "shake-down". They scare the crap out of Smenk and threaten nasty things if he doesn't supply them with the goods they need to survive while they await the (not-gonna-happen) rise of the Overgod.
*Finally, regarding the fall of the cult and how Raknian learns about it if none of the cultists survive, remember that he's a full-blown Ebon Triad guy, too, and is in regular contact with Theldrik. Once Theldrik stops writing, Raknian will investigate. It's highly likely that your PCs will warn SOMEONE in authority Diamond Lake of the bad stuff that was brewing under the city, and Raknian (or Okoral or other "persuasive" hirelings) can learn about the responsible parties in this way.
4. I'd recommend doing a write-up of each session after it's finished. Highlight--using bold and/or colored text--all proper nouns (i.e. "Feral Dog", "Balabar Smenk", "Ebon Triad", and so on) for easier reference. You might also want to create a form for players to use for Session Notes. The form that's among the Eberron Character Sheets provides spaces for players to record critical things from each session: Objectives, Items Found, Challenges Overcome, NPCs Encountered, and an area for sketching things. I give a 5% XP bonus to those players who complete 'em, though I'm not sure the incentive is even needed.
Wow, that's a lot more thorough than I intended to be; here's hoping those clarifications and suggetions are of use to you, bromley, and others who might be struggling with the complex plot of this Adventure Path.
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Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Here's a good thread I posted early in the adventure path, when only the first few adventures and the overload were out. James and Eric responded a lot and there is a summary at the end that remains (relatively) accurate.
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/dungeon/ageOfWorms/archives/aoWOverloa dTheBigPicture4wnqn
So basically, there's a high level plot thread and a low level plot thread.Low Level Plot Thread
The PC's are introduced to Kyuss, the Ebon Triad, and Dragotha by foiling the minor plots of their agents. Whispering Cairn, Three Faces of Evil, Hall of Harsh Reflections, and The Champions Belt are all about the plots of the Ebon Triad (though Whispering Cairn and Hall of Harsh Reflections are more tangential).The Champions Belt is the encounter with the pinnacle of the Ebon Triad in the region, the point at which the organization rubs against the true plots of Dragotha/Kyuss. If Loris were to delve just a little deeper, he would probably discover that Kyuss, and not the Overgod, is at the root of his beliefs.
Encounter at Blackwall Keep is the only adventure out of the first 5 where an agent of Dragotha, and not the Ebon Triad, is the actor. However, this connection isn't revealed until A Gathering of Winds.
At the conclusion of these adventures, the PC's return to Diamond Lake, reunite briefly w/Allusten, and realize that the encounters with the Ebon Triad are the tip of the Kyuss iceburg. The encounter with Ilthane provides the link to Dragotha, and propels them into the high level thread.
High Level Plot Thread
Beginning with the Spire of Long Shadows, the PC's have moved from passively encountering the minions of Dragotha/Kyuss to actively seeking to destroy them. Most of the adventures after this point are about gathering sufficient information and resources to accomplish this goal. Beginning with the encounter at the end of the the Champion's Belt, Dragotha/Kyuss are also starting to bring the fight to the PC's as they become a threat.My job as DM then, is to make the characters care initially about the threat of the Ebon Triad. This will lead them through most of the early adventures and the low level plot thread. By the time they've destroyed the highest level agent of the Triad (Loris) in the Champion's Belt, they've also uncovered enough about Dragotha/Kyuss that they should realize that force of evil has to be destroyed next. And, if they aren't motivated by their own inherent desire to stomp evil, they will be motivated by the fact that they've gained the attention of Dragotha/Kyuss and will be attacked until they deal with the situation. From there, the PC's will really propel the action and follow the high level plot threat pretty quickly.
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*Spoiler*
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About the Wind Dukes, the latest adventure, "Kings of the Rift", has established a connection with Kyuss. The Wind Dukes, before departing the Material Plane, established mortal agents to watch over things. Some of these agents, the Order of the Storm, were responsible for Kyuss' defeat 1500 years ago. The PC's are supposed to be descendants of other Wind Duke agents.
Skelital timeline.
Primordial Legend Empire of the Wind Dukes forms throughout __________________Inner Planes. Estblish orderly structure where
__________________all of the planes touch in a great wheel.
Ethos Wars________Caotic Elements revolt and take Prime
__________________Material planes as base of operations.
__________________Most of the Wind Dukes die destroying the
__________________forces of Caos including their leader Miska
__________________the Wolf Spider. Rod of Law shatters becoming
__________________Rod Of 7 Parts.
Age of Gods_______Kyuss manages to achive Demi-God-Hood and
__________________the gods imprison him in an Obolisk. This
__________________causes him to gradually increase in power
__________________for mysterous cosmic reasons.
The Blood Wars____As a strange consequence of some nameless
__________________magics the Inner Planes are all separated
__________________including the Plain of Shadow becoming
__________________seperated from the Positive and Negitive
__________________Energy Planes.
Recent History____The followers of 3 Evil Gods form Ebon
__________________Triad in the hopes that their combined God
__________________can take over the world.
__________________The Black Dragon Illithain finds the obolisk
__________________and becomes Kyuss's agent.
Some of this is inferred. I would appreciate it if someone would suggest some actual dates. This sort of out of game conversations has helped the players understand what's going on.
In my Age of Worms Eberron campaign we are going through the Gathering of Winds right now. Using Keith Baker's notes, I decided to make the Wind Dukes one of the first humanoid races. They allied with the dragons and couatls to battle the forces of Khyber, including the Queen of Chaos, the Wolf Spider and the Gatekeeper (Katashka, now Kyuss). Icosiol was the only Wind Duke known to have truly destroyed a Khyber rajah overlord. After honoring Icosiol by building the Whispering Cairn, the dukes sacrificed themselves along with the couatls into the Silver Flame to bind the rajahs into Khyber.
The Ebon Triad is a tool of the Lords of Dust, the modern day demonic creatures attempting to free the rajahs. The myths of the Keeper, the Mockery and the Shadow are distorted into delusions of creating an almighty "Overgod" to attract followers (and distract do-gooders from the REAL actions of the Lords). For example, in Diamond Lake the Church of the Silver Flame is actually run by Theldrik, an evil cleric of the Mockery. This rogue church has no formal ties to Thrane or even the cathedrals in Sharn, but it has a large number of miners as followers thanks to "flesh as flame" heretical sermons being used as anti-warforged propaganda.
Of course, the players shouldn't start putting the pieces together until they are mid-level (10+). They should be confused in the beginning; part of the fun is solving the mystery over time.
Of course, the players shouldn't start putting the pieces together until they are mid-level (10+). They should be confused in the beginning; part of the fun is solving the mystery over time.
Or it could go down like in my campaign where the players now refuse to continue playing because the "confused" part became frustrated. If you have a "puzzle solving" group of experienced players, then AOW is for you. If you group is all about what Gygax used to call "hack and slay" then you might be better off starting about half way through the AOW AP.
Or it could go down like in my campaign where the players now refuse to continue playing because the "confused" part became frustrated. If you have a "puzzle solving" group of experienced players, then AOW is for you. If you group is all about what Gygax used to call "hack and slay" then you might be better off starting about half way through the AOW AP.
Hack and slay players should have no problems at all. Why do they care what the overall story arc is all about? It's pretty simple to figure out where to go next. They may not know how everything comes together, but as hack and slash players should they really care? None of the adventures are very difficult to figures out.
So while the overall story is complex (but not too complicated) the adventures themselves aren't so hard.
Thanks folks, your posts really helped a lot. First of all I must confess that I missed the time to read the background stuff a second and third time. Please note that non-English natives do have more trouble studying these texts and not to miss information.
After I read through the Overload and all the background stuff again, I was able to get the story. After 3FoE I wrote a summary and let Alustan handle it to the PCs as a result of his studys. Now, the players are on track again.
For some reasons - detailed in another threat - I decided to skip Blackwall Keep and only let the PCs encounter the wormtouched undead (as this is the first time they see one). When they come to Sharn (Free City) they will hear some rumors about a lizard tribe and their connection to a dragon but that should it be for the moment.