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So, I've read HOHR and don't think that it really advances my story arc very well, and I'm looking for some other adventure to run in its place before running Champion's Belt.
My AoW story arc has the Mersshaulk, the Yuan-ti, Tiamat and her spawn/dragons as being the prime movers and agents behind the Age of Worms (actually Wyrms -the Kyuss Worms are creepy green snakes IMC). If anyone knows of a Dungeon adventure that might better fit the bill, please post!
Possible SPOILERS from HoHR, Murder at Oakbridge, The Styes, and Mad God's Key.
I'm probably going to be replacing/refitting HoHR for my group. They're all relatively new to gaming so I don't think they'll dig the dopple replacement.
Here's what I'm thinking:
Keep Events 1 and 2 from HoHR. Seem to be a good intro to the Free City and an oppurtunity for foreshadowing.
Keep Part II (Eligos and the Crooked House)
Now I diverge:
I'm thinking Murder @ Oakbridge (Dungeon #129) changed to be set in the High Quarter or Garden Quarter in Greyhawk. As they investigate become more and more public figures, the changeling (dopple in Greyhawk) tries to frame them ala the Crooked House. They solve the murder. Raknian catches wind of them.
Perhaps the murderer has been mind controlled (or replaced with a Doppleganger) by Zryzog. The captured murderer draws insane drawings of Greyhawk being eaten by rising undead(foreshadowing Champions Belt).
Raknian taps Zryzog to take care of them and get him the Apostilic Scrolls. Zryzog sends his minion Mr. Dory from the Styes (a member of the Thieves Guild in Greyhawk) to take care of the problem. Zryzog lends Mr. Dory some Drow thralls (replacing the Skum) who are sent after the PCs to assassinate them.
Unfortunately for Dory, his fellow guildmembers have caught wind of his involvement with evil cults (spies and tails have seen him with the Drow). He has circumvented the assassins guild as well with the recent hit on the PCs. As such the PCs are tipped off by some mysterious patrons. In Dory's ship, they find empty crates from Alhaster which contain receipts for the Apostilic Scrolls and the assassination for ZXryzog. After Dory's defeated, the patrons reveal themselves and the Sewer Rat division are able to identify the mold and guide the PCs towards Zryzog's lair.
As an alternative, I may scale up Mad God's Key. Bozal Zohal will replace the priest of Vecna, but the PCs will still be assisted by the Thieves Guild.
Some ideas there.
I wasn't a huge fan of HoHR when I read it, but now that we are playing through it, it has been a lot of fun. The battle with Telakin went down as one of the most memorable "boss monster" battles we've had in a long time. Brutal.
If I were to play it again, there are a couple of things I would address. First, the way the doppelgangers get up and down to the second area of Sodden Hold is clever, but how do they work the mechanism from upstairs? Is there a certain time each day they do it? What if everyone has to leave the lower level? There has to be someone behind to work the lever.
The mirror maze was a cool visual, but playing out turned out to be not much fun. After about a third of the way through it, the party defeated the doppelgangers, and we just "red lined" to the exit.
Our next game session picks up with the delve into the sewers. I've expanded the adventure at this point with several not-so-random encounters. For the terrain, we are using the sewer set from e-Adventure Tiles (SkeletonKey Games). I've laminated them and backed them on black foam-core. Visually, they look fantastic, so I wanted to extend the time we get to use them by making sure we had some rumbles in the sewers.
For me it will also be HoHR next. Although i put in a short sidetrek, with some fey'ri mercenaries hired by Balabar Smenk. I will also make some characters from my last campaign reappear (we never finished it, but I will make PCs reappear as NPC, telling a very grim story of events never to come).
I will also modify some things in HoHR as I do not like the Zyrxog foreshadowing. So the PCs will have to go to Skullport (in Waterdeep, FR) to investigate who and where this Zyrxog is, maybe run into the Unseen and cut a deal with them. In the end I rather opt to cut large parts of Gathering of Winds, as that is too much dungeon hack, IMHO.
In Sodden Hold I also changed the water basin. So there is just a ladder down area 8. In room 9 the PCs will come out at water level, with the floor leading to area 10 but broken for the water (like a bridge at 30 cm above water level). On each side is a bell which touches the water. Anyone bringing light and crossing the room without ringing a special signal will be attacked by the kraken (always with the prospect of PCs being just washed into the water by the wave produced by the attacking beast (my warforged will love to sink down 40ft like a stone and watch the fight from there). Thus, this strange and illogic mechanism is gone, but the cool setting is kept.
Sorry for the OT ranting, but maybe you find some ideas in this for your campaign.
You could take Vampires of Waterdeep as a start for an alternative, although you will have to modify it.
The mirror maze was a cool visual, but playing out turned out to be not much fun. After about a third of the way through it, the party defeated the doppelgangers, and we just "red lined" to the exit.
In my game we skipped the mirrored maze entirely...
Explanation: We ended a gaming session just as the characters opened the secret door leading into the mirrored maze. When we started to play again at the next session, I read them a page-long text describing their actions within the maze... Their encounters with dopplegangers, traps, and their frustrations on how they were hoplessly lost for a long amount of time. I deducted SOME hit points, I told them to cross off a few spells, and gave them a few experience points... Then continued gaming as they find the secret exit to the great doppleganger's room.
Now my players seem to remember that the maze was actually a long and grueling ordeal when, in fact, they never played through it.
Ultradan
Murder at Oakbridge (#129) centered on the Crooked Inn actually worked really well for me. I set it in the Midnight Muddle described in #128 with one major change- the ruined shrine of Heironeous was actually the former site of the Midnight Muddle Circus which was closed down after an unspeakable tragedy and later mysteriously burned down. This was a great way to introduce the neighborhood to the players and the villian (changeling switched to half-doppleganger bastard of Telakin) inadvertantly led them to her father and Zyrxog's unsavory operations- i dropped sodden hold but kept Telakin's Hall and Z's lab in the sewers.