Has anyone giving any thought to using some other evil-demigod instead of Kyuss? Worms just don't do it for me but I have found the quality of the adventures to be pretty good otherwise.
Thanks.
Wouldn't be much of an Age of Worms without some of the little wigglers now would it? Unfortunately the worms are central to the overall theme of the campaign, but its your game dude. I don't know, you could have your PC's attack a spawn of Kyuss and when they hit it candy and confetti explode from it's chest.
It is difficult to use another entity than Kyuss. His "sign" is the Worm, and if you take another deity, then you would have to change a lot in most of the adventures. IIRC, nearly every adventure has at least one reference to the worms, and adventures like the Spire of Long Shadows are nearly nothing without worms. So you can always change him, but prepare to do some major work to the adventures. Consider using Vecna from Greyhawk: His main portfolio are (destructive and evil) secrets, so how do you imagine challenges built around him ? The Eye and The Hand creatures from Vecna Lives en masse ?
I can see a connection to him with the Library of Last Resort (beyond having a priest of him appearing there), but all the other adventures would be rather difficult and need major reworking to fit them to another evil deity.
I would really recommend sticking to the original storyline with Kyuss.
Stefan
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I'm using my campaign's version of Orcus, a god of undeath that has been imprisoned for thousands of years. I've not had any problems converting the adventures and changing the references. You're right about the worms- they are obviously mentioned pretty often- but they usually don't play a critical role in the adventure. All I've done is changed to a contagious form of undeath (i.e. recent zombie movies), which has done the trick.
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I'm using my campaign's version of Orcus, a god of undeath that has been imprisoned for thousands of years. I've not had any problems converting the adventures and changing the references. You're right about the worms- they are obviously mentioned pretty often- but they usually don't play a critical role in the adventure. All I've done is changed to a contagious form of undeath (i.e. recent zombie movies), which has done the trick.
That's a reeeeeally cool idea. I'm getting this DAWN OF THE DEAD Greyhawk style visualization.
Must write now.|
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Thanks. :) In my campaign, the god of undead is a former god of nature that betrayed his father and the "good" members of the pantheon in a war of the gods. Rather than destroy him outright, his father imprisoned him on the Negative Energy Plane. Not only did the plane warp him (physically, and in his powers), but he eventually found he could gain some power by channeling the energy onto the prime material- into undead. Through increasing the number of undead on the prime material he has increased in power, and is nearing the point that he will be able to break free of his prison. His cultists have set forth to both increase the number of undead (hence the zombies) and fulfill a number of prophecies that will supposedly allow for his release.
I had all of this as part of my campaign backstory before AoW came out, and it just seemed to fit (with obvious modifications).
Wouldn't be much of an Age of Worms without some of the little wigglers now would it? Unfortunately the worms are central to the overall theme of the campaign, but its your game dude. I don't know, you could have your PC's attack a spawn of Kyuss and when they hit it candy and confetti explode from it's chest.
Age of Worms is an allusion to death and ending. So you could remove all the worms and still call it the age of worms. As Sage below illustrated all you need is an evil demi-power meglomaniac and some kind of contagion (12 monkeys anyone?).
Was more interested in ideas for replacement powers than being told "well its a lot of work". Both Vecna and Orcus fit the bill - undead, secrets, destruction. Adding a contagion would be easy.
Thanks all.
Twelve monkeys as the spreader of plagues?
hmm... interesting...
The egg in the lizardfolk den could be filled with monkeys a la a barrel of monkeys.
Well, what about all the worm themed monsters? And what will you call the age?
Twelve monkeys as the spreader of plagues?
hmm... interesting...
The egg in the lizardfolk den could be filled with monkeys a la a barrel of monkeys.
Well, what about all the worm themed monsters? And what will you call the age?
No need to change the age name as I said.
Ahh not monkeys. Just an example of how you can use anything (inlcuding monkeys) to spread a contagion. Since the core ideas of the Age of Worms are - evil god coming back (easy change) and some kind of world ending contagion (most any super powered disease will do but Sage's idea is a good one).
So as Sage has done Kyuss becomes Orcus. And instead of worm infested undead you can use any kind of undead. So long as the threat is contagious (alla most modern zombie movies)
Since AoW is like two campaigns in the future for me I have not even considered what specific monsters to use. By then there will be a hardcover I suspect. Just figured I wouldnt be the only DM who has thought of switching Kyuss with something else. And it seems I was right.
I'm bringing back an ancient power on Maztica, NOT Kyuss, tied to the Realm of Shadow. So I'll stick to the wormlike theme, only make them black and oily/shadowlike, like the creepy crawlers in the X-files. All green worm things and monsters are shadow fiends or something the like.
All temples of the Ebony Triad are converted to temples of Zaltec or the Black Sun...
I love the Age of Worms theme setting... converted it all to Maztica (Forgotten Realms), The Free City is Ulatos (not fleshed out too much in the original campaign setting) although New Waterdeep would've worked as well. Diamond Lake is Qoral, a mining colony.
Just saying: this adventure path is so good you can use it ANYWHERE after adjusting.
I've been thinking about removing Kyuss for my next attempt at running this AP.
Unfortunatly, my first attempt at running the AOW campaign died out due to real life interfering in our gaming. I'd only used the WC adventure when we ended, so I've gots lot of the AP which still can be used.
Since some/most of the players will be the same in the two campaigns, I've been plotting ways to "adapt" the campaign to the Forgotten Realms and one of them involves replacing Kyuss with a dead power that's got a more significant tie into established Realms lore.
Right now, my personal favorite is Moander - patron of rot and decay. Rather than use just the rotting worm-symbology of Kyuss, I'd use a mix of different decay symbols including rust, dust as well as Moadner's signature rotting plant matter to herald the end times.
Since Moander is already a "dead" God in the Realms, the theme of renegade members of other evil religions gathering together to resurect him still fits. And since a certain lady drow diety is currently impersonating Moander in the Realms, I can even add another layer of deception if I wish.
I agree with Sage that replacing Kyuss can be done without effecting the overal value of the AP - it will take some work, but anything worthwhile usually does.