Without question, Tides of Dread has been the greatest chapter in an awesome campaign. I'm about two weeks out from running the Battle of Farshore, and I'm looking for ways to make this a truly moody, memorable battle. What time of day should the attack take place (leaning toward dusk), what should the weather be like (thunderstorm sounds nice, but maybe a little TOO cliche), how should I involve some key NPCs (Lavinia, Lord Meravanchi, etc.)? If you have already run the battle, what did you do and how did it go? If you haven't yet, have you come up with any ideas? From the pirates storming the beaches to the showdown with Vanthus, this has the makings of an iconic encounter for the ages.
A thunderstorm is cliche, but personally I have no problem with cliches in D&D, if they're used well. I think a driving rain with flashes of lightning and peals of thunder sounds cool.
For Lavinia, I think what is written involves her well enough. Her half-fiend brother trying to kill her involves her pretty well.
For Meravanchi, the typical thing to do would be to make him a coward and have him run and hide. But I think the more interesting approach would be to have him fight bravely in the battle. After all, he wants to be mayor of Farshore and that alone might spur him into bravery. His nephew Avner, on the other hand, could be the typical sniveling coward and try to find a nice place to hide for the duration of the battle. Perhaps he might even use colonists as human shields.
That's about all the ideas I have. Just play up the terrible nature of the pirates, and have the whole thing build to Vanthus' attack.
In my campaign the PC who will be a legendary captain is going to have to deal with a man out of his past who is now a Crimson Fleet captain, sailing under command of Vanthus. This NPC was the PC's captain before the PC reformed and became a Paladin of Freedom, so it should be an interesting fight.
The thunderstorm idea could work, but I also think you could go the other direction. Take pains to describe how gorgeous and peaceful it is, and how that conflicts with the obvious tension in the ranks of the colonists.
Time of day is an important consideration. It seems like dusk/night would make sense - I don't have my copy in front of me, but it seems like I remember there being many of the crimson fleet troops with darkvision and the like. Fighting at night would greatly favor those who could see over those who couldn't (most of the colonists). Of course it would be much harder to make the landing in the black of night even with darkvision since it's generally only out to 60 feet. A dusk landing would give them the best of both options.
I can't remember well, but are bits of Farshore on fire. If so, and if The Simpsons have taught me anything (see the one where Homer sues the church and wins it), it's that soot and smoke creates rain. If it begins to go dark, and lightly rain (thanks to the smoke from the fire), then it gets heavier and begins to thunder, Vanthus can first appear as a shilliouette (I know I've spelt that wrong!) in thunder and lightning just before he attacks.
Just before nightfall seems a good time for the battle, so the PCs at first think it's simply a red sky, and then, as they get closer, they see the fire. It's dramatic, and, well, it works in my mind. In fact, once I reach the Farshore battle (a fair way for now), I think I'll do this.