Yeah, so the party of adventurers I'm running this game for are a bunch of CN nut jobs that joined with Rowyn because they thought Lavinnia was a twit and well, they're pirates. Actually, I was kind of happy with it, since part of me thinks it will be easier to motivate them through Rowyn than Lavinnia.
That being said, there is precious little information on how to run the future adventures with Rowyn as the party's patron. Has anyone else had their party join with her? And if so, how are you structuring this change in the plot?
As I have left it, Rowyn has asked the party to essentially spy on Lavinnia. The party has shown her the note left by Penkus, so she is already beginning to doubt Vanthus and I have decided that she may be planning to go underground and set up the Vanderborens for anything that the Lotus Dragons may be blamed for. I might even have her family influence the Dawn Council by having the party bring "evidence" of the Vanderborens being responsible for the murder of the Harbor Captain and make the Kellanis seem like heroes (along with the PCs).
As for future adventures, I like the suggestions in the adventures but does anyone have other ideas on how to restructure things in the game.
Any help would be appreciated because they are pushing me to play again. (That and everyone is having a blast playing this adventure).
Thanks
:( I can't belive they sided with her. I think they hurt Lavinnia's feelings. She already lost her parents, then her brother goes to the dark side, and she felt a small glimmer of hope with these /adventurers/ and now they are going to frame her? The poor noble is going to go nuts.
I know. I really didn't play her bad. I really, really tried to make the party like her. But they just didn't. But, I would rather that they all play like the CN Pirates they are and stay in character than act like a bunch of paladins. I have a feeling poor Lavinnia is going to go insane.
The problem I'm having now is with the Bullywug Gambit. I can get the characters to Krakens cove without any problem. But I really can't see them rushing back to save Lavinnia. They just won't care. I was thinking about keeping the encounters but changing the motivations.
The parade assassins will be hired by Vanthus because he's pissed at the party for messing up his plans with the Lotus Dragons.
Likewise, the bullywugs will be a group Vanthus hires to access some sort of divination device in the Vanderboren mansion (something he remembers from his childhood) to learn more about the Black Pearl.
That still allows me to create an opportunity for Rowyn to have the party loot the mansion (she gets word from a spy that something strange is happening at the mansion and asks the party to investigate.)
My bigger concerns are looking at that adventure outline, Lavinnia is supposed get captured and be the entire motivation for the party to chase all over to get her back. Hmmmm......
Just swap the two gal's roles. their employer gets caught and they have to go after her...
|
Just swap the two gal's roles. their employer gets caught and they have to go after her...
Agreed. If I remember correctly, she is a noble as well and the PCs will just go to her mansion (use the same map) to save her. Just remove those extra NPCs and have their new boss be tied up in the last room. Not much of a huge difference.
Just swap the two gal's roles. their employer gets caught and they have to go after her...
Absolutely. Rowyn was working with Vanthus, after all, so just assume that he let slip the connection while he was at Kraken's Cove, and the Bullywug attack is targeted at her home residence, which happens to look rather like Vanderboren Manor and happens not to be occupied by other family members on the day in question.
Thanks everyone. You've given me some ideas on how to get this back on track. I like the idea of just switching the Lavinnia for Rowyn, but worry that even that won't be enough of a draw to my PC's. I may have to find someone closer (like an npc cohort picked up from their crew or something), or I will have to work very hard to get them to consider Rowyn as part of the crew.
What's your plan for adventure 3 (Sea Wyvern's Wake)?
Let's assume Rowyn has acquired the Vandeboren's journals and has found out about the Isle of Dread project. Once Sasserine is secure under the Lotus Dragons, she could send the party on a mission to the Isle of Dread to gain control there. Rowyn could either put a trusted relative in power in Sasserine and acccompany the party, or stay in Sasserine and send that relative/cohort.
What's your plan for adventure 3 (Sea Wyvern's Wake)?
Well, the suggestion in the adventure says to have Rowyn send the party to the Isle of Dread to steal more from the Vanderborens. It should be easy enough for me to have Rowyn ask about any other possible holdings the Vanderborens have. If I need to, it wouldn't be too much out of character that she stumbles across the information and a connection to the Vanderborens. Especially since Lavinnia is still trying to consolidate finances. After all, she finds that she has inherited a colony from a lost island no one knows about and might start asking questions.
I'm trying to turn the pull of the adventure away from protecting the damsel in distress because it isn't a good motivator for my party of antihero pirates. They all want to kill Vanthus even though they have never seen him and I don't think they will be too keen on Demogorgon taking over the world, when that part of the plot comes through.
I plan on making the assassin attack during the parade Vanthus' doing for messing up his plans with the Lotus Dragons. It will also help to cement the party's hatred of him.
I am debating about having Rowyn come with the party and just fill the roll Lavinnia was to hold. As written, she's evil and selfish. She is using the PCs, whether they know it or not and they aren't doing anything to make her change into another character type. I'm likely to leave her in Sasserine.
I was thinking of having Lavinnia, be the stowaway but actually soften the encounter and have her come to them in desperation. I could see her changing and deciding with nothing left to lose, maybe the party would accept her as a pirate in their crew. It might work, because none of them hate her, they just think she is a twit. If I can pull that off, the rest of the adventure fits in nicely.
Finally, I got an idea (which maybe should be a thread of its own) when I read about the Bullywug leader being a priest of Dagon. After that wonderful Dragon article on the Prince of the Darkened Depths, I thought I might have the bullywug leave behind some crazy prophecy hinting at the coming of Dagon. Not by name but riddled. The only piece of information that would be clear to the party would be the mention of black pearls somewhere in the prophecy. It may require the grisly death of one of the servants or Jade Ravens to pull off, but that's what NPCs are for. :)
Hopefully, it will make the party realize that they may have to hold off a bit on profiteering to save the world for a moment.
So, there's my plan. I think it will work. If Lavinnia falls through, I may actually use Churtle (the Kolbold cook) as the kidnapped party member. Strange as it sounds, they fell in love with the little kobold and instantly made her part of the crew. I decided that she has never been shown so much kindness and acceptance, even from Rowyn so she joined them. I believe that if I took away their kobold cook, they would fight tooth and nail to get her back. (sigh, you work with what ya got sometimes).