I have at least three members of my group that will need to go on sidequests to either complete item Legacy quests or qualify for prestige classes. My party is currently in "Three Faces of Evil" and at 3rd level. By the time they are done with "Champion Belt" they should be set to wrap most of their side-quests up.
My question is what points have enough downtime (like a week or so) to accomplish these things?
Well, we are not far ahead of you, and the first real break they have found is getting into the Free City. They haven't gone to seek out Eligos yet, as they wanted to do some crafting first.
This seems like a natural break point, and will kick back off when they seek out Eligos.
Is that Hall of Harsh Reflections, or the Champion's Belt? Essentially I need a good campaign stopping point so they can pursue their other agendas without the clock ticking against them. Thanks for the information! ^^
In perusing the average level I would like my party to be before I start up these quests, I found out that they have some time to bask in their glory after completing "Champion's Belt", meaning I can kick off their own personal goals.
Thanks again for the advice!
Is that Hall of Harsh Reflections, or the Champion's Belt? Essentially I need a good campaign stopping point so they can pursue their other agendas without the clock ticking against them. Thanks for the information! ^^
HOHR, though I think any time spent in the free city can be tempo-ed to what you want.
Essentially I need a good campaign stopping point so they can pursue their other agendas without the clock ticking against them. Thanks for the information! ^^
Depending on how you are running your game, HOHR would be a good time for subplots. The PCs go to Eligos with the worm stuff and he tells them he will need X ammount of time to research the info. Modify to fit your needs.
In my game there is the threat of the worms spreading throughout the land to keep the players on track and focused on their task, but not all games are running with this type of timebomb plot. The disadvantage of this is there is little room for downtime between or during modules, so avoid playing up the worm threat if you want to run some sidequests.
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HoHR is probaly gonna be the best stopping point, but you can squeeze a little bit of downtime in between 3FoE and EaBK if you need to. Unless the PCs are planning to go out of town for their side quests, they can spend a few days or so doing legacy rituals, item crafting, talking with NPCs, whatever. HoHR will offer you a lot more time to work with, however, as well as everything the world's biggest metropolis can provide you.
Depending on when you set the Champions Games, you may have some room in between HoHR and "Champion's Belt", but remember that PCs with a goal in sight have a tendency to get antsy. Too long of a lag and one or more of 'em might think up the "great idea" of just busting into Raknian's place and taking him out.
After "Champion's Belt", your next bit of downtime would be in/around "Prince of Redhand". That should be about right for the final legacy rituals and whatever plotlines they're following aside from the main quest. After that, the timeline picks up mighty quick, but a day or two here and there shouldn't mess things up too much.
I think you can have downtime between almost any pair of adventures. (Details given but with an attempt to avoid spoilers, other than the names of the adventures himself.)
After Blackwall Keep, the PCs can take some time before making the trip to the city, or (as Peter Fuesz said) the downtime can be after they first speak to Eligos, but before the Ixiaxian/etc. stuff begins. This also gives them time to explore the city, which helps make the setting seem more real.
After Hall of Harsh Reflections, you can set the start of Champion's Belt at any delay you need. (I just asked my players what they needed to do/make, announced it would take about three weeks for everything they planned, and then announced the competition started in just over three weeks.)
After Champion's Belt, they can hang around in the city, partying with the "in"-crowd (assuming they won), for several weeks before heading back to Allustan. This gives them the feeling of being celebrated heroes; the first real encounter in the next adventure comes as a much bigger shock that way.
After A Gathering of Winds, they need to head to Magepoint, but on the way there or particularly once they get to Magepoint, they can take however long they need to equip themselves and do side-quests before heading off to SoLS.
After Spire of Long Shadows, they can delay in Magepoint again, or en route to their next stop.
That's as far as I've gotten. In truth, my players have taken down-time at each of these stages, without threatening the story a bit. I think it's only in some of the last few adventures that you'd really not want to take time out. For example, you really can't waste time between Library of Last Resort and Kings of the Rift. And you probably don't want to wait between the last two adventures. Other than those, I think you're okay stretching out the timetable anywhere you want to.
I would agree with the last post that there are ample opportunities to place side treks into the Age of Worms. In fact I have had about 1/3 of all my sessions so far taken up by side treks and background based encounters.
I had a few in the middle of the Whispering Cairn, I had a few in between it and the TFoE which included a player directed trip to the Free City, giving me a chance to have them travel with Auric's crew, learn of the Champions Games (they do not know that there is an adventure based on the games and are gunning to play in them already, it is awesome).
There was a lot of background work before Blackwall keep, including a trek to the Bronzewood Lodge to get an NPC reincarnated and a few trips around Diamond Lake including participating in an Auction for a old caved in Mine.
After the main core section of Blackwall keep the player spent a week in the Mistmarsh helping to secure a treaty delegation that would represent all 12 Lizardfolk tribes (I made up the other tribes, but I figured any peace would have to be made with all the lizardmen as it is hard to tell one lizardman apart from another and any attacks would jepordize the peace). Then the players made further side treks around Diamond Lake and in the Free City before getting down to the dirty dead with 'dem dastardly dopplegangers.
I have also placed the Champions Games during the Summer-Fall Brewfest, two months after they started Blackwall Keep and a Month or so after they will have completed HoHR. This gives them time to learn more about the games, parade themselves through the town, and even do some side treks if they so wish.
I am also planning to have them travel by sea and overland to the Spire of Long Shadows, taking probably a year or so in game time, thus making it seem that their growth in power is spread more evenly over a longer period of time (a particular complaint of some more seasoned players, even though I dont find it to much of a problem and I have been playing D&D for 21 years).
Hope these ideas help.