I started a campaign after we took a seven month break from gaming. (Gamer politics is the worst) I was planning on just running a series of unrelated adventures from my issues of Dungeon and make our gaming nights very casual fun. But now, after having read a few installments of the Savage Tide adventure path, I'm working at switching things over to it. The purpose of this posting is to get some ideas from the hundreds of experts here on how to do this more smoothly and/or effectively.
I'll start by detailing where things have gotten to then we can see where things go from there.
We have had four,once a month, gaming sessions so far and I used and changed a lot of stuff from There Is No Honor. This is what is complicating things for me.
The campaign was originally going to be Warhammer but we got a fifth player who knew nothing of Warhammer so we shifted everything to D&D. (Hooray!) (some of my players prefer Warhammer, I prefer to run D&D) But we kept our original theme: the players are all Rat Catchers that work for the harbor master i.e., they are all rogues. (Two human, a halfling and an elf.) I know... not a very well balanced party. Could be interesting though.
I began my campaign using the Alhaster map from the AoW campaign and using the city almost exactly as set up in Dungeon. Historically Hextor and Heironeous had an all out war and Hextor won. As far as the PC's know Hextor rules the world. The basic plan was for them to gather supplies then run away from the evil controlled city and explore the many ruins peppering the countryside.
I told my players that they each had a street nickname that they went by. They could make one up themselves or wait till we got together and let the other players name them. Two players named themselves and two waited. The two that waited named each other, Sykes (Alien Nation reference) and Buttercup. We ended up with Buttercup (human), Sykes (human), Talon (elf), and The Wraith (halfling).
Only one character has any kind of history, Sykes. He was born into the noble Milgadris family, his real name is Finbar Milgadris. Unfortunately for the Milgadris family, the prince decided to expand his palace and arbitrarily decided to tear down his family's home to make room. They were quickly forced out and had to take rooms at the local inn. Shortly thereafter assassins came in the night and killed his parents but managed to miss him hiding amongst the luggage. When the guard (hobgoblins) came to investigate they didn't want to deal with a small human child so booted him out on the streets. There he learned to survive on his own and eventually struggled up the food chain to get the job of rat catcher for the harbor master. The pay for this job was actually getting a meal every day!
Buttercup has amnesia. He remembers nothing before having to fend for himself on the streets.
Talon remembers being raised by a human woman when he was much younger but has been on his own for some time. He does not realize that he is an elf. In this Hextorian ruled world elves are hated and very scarce. None of the characters have ever seen one. He knows his ears get him laughed at so he covers them.
Raif The Wraith doesn't remember his family or even if he had one. In this evil controlled Alhaster halflings are considered a nuisance critter little better than a rat. Raif's struggle to survive improved his
Hide and Move Silently skills to staggering proportions.
Jacob the Harbor Master allows his rat catchers to stay in an old tool shed built onto the outside of his office/home. He also has his rat catchers wear identifying collars to keep people from messing with his employees/property.
(Wow, this is taking longer to type up than I expected.)
I started the first adventure by saying, “Roll initiative!”
They find out that their rat catching job is coveted enough by competing rat catchers that they are willing to kill them in hopes that they might get “hired” to replace them.
One of their best buds is Oorga the half-orc meat pie vendor. He has worked a deal with several rat catchers. For every five rats they bring him he will give them a meat pie. “ Mmmm, them meat pies is good.”
They track down a giant rat. Oorga likes the giant rats. Oorga will give them a meat pie for every giant rat they bring him. They find that the giant rat came out of a sewer drain. These drains are usually well protected and very difficult to get into. This one has had a bar cut out of it so that a medium sized creature could fit through.
They spend some time exploring the sewers get some giant rat meat pies out of it. Their next trip in they find a wererat lair. Kill the wererat and note it does not live alone. This time on their way out the elf notices a secret door. Upon gaining entrance they find a room that has apparently been hidden for 80 years. That was back during the Hextor vs. Heironeous war.
There is an unusual light source in this hideout. It sheds a pale blue light and looks like a rough hewn stone wedged into a cup. The stone is about the size of a large man's fist. There are four sconces in the room that look made to hold the stone in a cup light source but only one actually has a light source in it.
They also found a note lying on a table left there by the followers of Heironeous. It detailed a meeting deep within the sewer system and gives directions. This meeting was with some informant and says that with this information the war won't last much longer. It appears they never returned from this meeting. The note was signed by Kylen Milgadris.
(This is taking longer to write than I was wanting. So, I'm going to try to cut this short.)
They go in search of the meeting site the note points them toward. Along the way the figure out that their new light source also reveals magic. Magic items glow blue when in the lights radius.
The meeting spot has dead lying every where. And the ghosts of the dead are still fighting!
They got away with a couple magic items. A Milgadris signet ring (+2 Con) and The Crown of Flames. The Crown of Flames, when worn, casts the illusion that the wearers head is a ball of flames with the crown floating in it. It provides Fire Resistance 20. Also a +2 armor bonus but no one has worn it during combat.
They run into a goblin that claims the Blue Glowy Stones are the exclusive property of the Dark Menace goblin tribe. (There are more out there)
They found a pair of Hextorian monks meditating, killed them and took there stuff.
They got back to their grate entrance to find that it was being repaired. They gotta find another way out.
In time they find a secret door with a ladder going down behind it.
This is where I started using stuff from There Is No Honor.
A few changes of note for my game.
I replaced the Ixitxachitls with a tribe of lizardfolk. 1. I like the lizardfolk and have lots of minis for them. 2. I couldn't pronounce Ixitxachitl to save my life.
I changed the Vanderboren name to Milgadris. The player that plays Sykes, aka Finbar Milgadris, is a great roleplayer but none of his characters ever want to be adventurers. I have to work hard to get him motivated to kill things. Having Vanthus be his uncle that killed his parents goes a long way towards that.
I had the ladder drop them in D1. From there they found Vanthus' room. Sykes found a few items that his father loved. (artwork) There was also a note left addressed to Rowyn. In this note Vanthus remarked upon, “making money by burning people to death on their own boats.” Sykes recalls that his kindly old grandfather died in a ship fire less than a year before his parents were murdered.
(Sykes really hates his uncle Vanthus now)
The party soon ran into a few pirates and killed them. They found the barracks area and killed a couple more in their sleep. One pirate woke up and ran. They felt they had a little time so they dug through the footlockers beside each bed.
“You hear the footsteps of many people coming toward you.” was the cliff hanger I gave them at the end of our third session. The player that played Buttercup decided he was going to take a break from gaming and concentrate on getting his degree.
So, he was suddenly surrounded by a purplish glow. He looks off into the distance and says, “Father?”
He reaches out as if to grab something and disappears.
(Buttercup is now safely tucked away and can come back at any time.)
I had placed a sorcerer with the Lotus Dragons and after a brief chase 'color spray' managed to capture the three remaining characters when their escape was cut off by lizardfolk. Guttugger took an instant dislike to Talon. They were completely stripped and thrown in cells. I put an extra cell across from Wraith. In it was Lavinia.
Lavinia's story: About twenty years ago Vanthus Milgadris went to Sasserine. He seduced her mother and used her innocence to steal a large portion of her family's fortune. Her mother stunned by what happened never tried to find the father of her child. Instead she raised it on her own mostly secluded in shame. Lavinia's mom often told her about how her father was pure evil but Lavinia didn't believe it. She felt that mom was just upset over having been left by her first love and greatly exaggerated things.
Lavinia's mom died recently leaving the entire family fortune to her. This fortune was mainly a pile of debts. So, she came to Alhaster looking for her father in hopes that he would help her out.
Now she believes that her mom didn't warn her enough about how evil Vanthus was. When she found Vanthus he was friendly enough until he found out that she had nothing but debts. He then gave her to the Lotus Dragons to sell to the next slave ship to pass through.
Rowyn let the invaders sit naked in the cells for several days while her people went out to find information on these three rogues. She finally brought Sykes to “the Guestroom” and interrogated him while someone else was being tortured. She convinced him to convince his friends that they need to join the Lotus Dragons. “We seem to have a few openings.” Besides they have nothing else to return too. The harbor master has been very upset by their disappearance. The Hextorian monks are looking for whoever murdered their acolytes in the sewer.
It has been a couple months since we have been able to game and in that time I have been reading more of the STAP and falling in love with it. But from where I am now it looks like I may have to drop a few things. The bullywugs I may have to bypass.
I have the PC's as members of the Lotus Dragons but not very happy about it. They can't just escape. They need to rescue Lavinia. (Though Sykes' first impulse was to not rescue her because they actually know nothing about her) Lavinia has told them she came to Alhaster on her family ship, The Blue Nixie.
One of the Lotus Dragons explained to Talon that he is an elf and that is why Guttugger seems to have taken a dislike to him. So Talon knows he is an elf now but he doesn't know that when he actually meets some elves they will instantly recognize him for the abomination that he is... ½ elf, ½ drow.
The Lotus Dragon sorcerer, Turco, wears the Milgadris signet ring. He identified it and found it to be +2 Con and +2 Char. (He will let this info slip to one of the characters soon.)
Rowyn had them go visit the Dark Menace goblins and steal their Blue Glowy Stones. (They got two from the goblins but stashed one in the Heironeous hideout.) So now Rowyn has a Blue Glowy Stone and Turco keeps one.
I'm thinking next game Lavinia will ask them if it is possible to steal Vanthus' signet ring so they can get into the Milgadris vault under castle Teraknian in Sasserine. She feels that with her Milgadris bloodline she could use the ring to get in. And it is only fair to steal Vanthus' fortune in return for his stealing hers. Sykes has not mentioned to her that they are related. I am planning on the signet ring that Turco is now wearing working in the vault. That way they have to get it from Turco since they won't find Vanthus. But I am unsure of how to get them the clue to the combination lock.
I also plan on Rowyn flying into a rage and sending the ship after Vanthus and his hussy. She will be sending her newest group of troubleshooters to make sure Vanthus comes back. The impression I will be giving them is that Rowyn just found out about the other woman, Brissa, and is very jealously angry.
So at least I've got the shadow pearl part of The Bullywug Gambit and that may be the most important part.
They need to:
1. see what a Shadow Pearl can do.
2. rescue Lavinia
3. get The Blue Nixie.
4. see what they can find in the vault.
Looks like they will miss out on:
1. meeting Penkus.
2. fighting bullywugs.
3. The Jade Ravens.
I know a lot of information. Any thoughts?
Vanthus as father instead of brother is a minor change. His motivations (greed, jealousy, family ties, shame) remain almost the same. As a bonus, he could be trying to force Lavinia to be the heir.
The vault was cool. Skip the bit about the blue nixie and just give Lavinia the ring. She will still need help getting in. Maybe she was interrogated by the Lotus Dragons and let something slip, providing a reason for Vathus' recent theft. Or skip it entirely.
You can skip everything up until SSW and just arrange to put them on the ship. The rest of the adventure seems to leave Sasserine behind. Include enough side quests on the way to get to the appropriate level. Shouldn't be hard.
I don't think they NEED to witness the shadow pearl's affect. It is just provides extra motivation. If you want to keep it, one of the forts in SWW was destroyed by lizard men. Change that location to the pirate caves in BWG and just skip the bullywogs. Vanthus got there first.
The Jade Ravens are for RP purposes, I think. A way to provide allies, cohorts, love interests, or competition. You can make them the crew of the Blue Nixie, or skip them entirely.
Everything should be on track after that.
Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my lengthly question, Dag.
I actually very much want them to see what a shadow pearl can do. I am looking forward to seeing my players reactions when Vanthus shows up in Farshore and pulls out a shadow pearl. All those poor defenseless colonists at risk. It certainly is a great motivation.
Plus I keep hearing that Captain Haliss Javell returns later. Already being on her good side or bad side could make things interesting too.
Skipping the bullywugs entirely.
I think I will throw the Jade Ravens on the Blue Nixie as a group that wants to go to the Isle of Dread. They might lead to something more. Maybe I shouldn't clearly define them in case of character death. They could be a replacement pool.