I'm thinking about running some or possibly the entire Shackled City campaign in Ptolus. I think with a few changes the campaign could fit nicely to the big city, e.g. replace Adimarchus with Galchutt, Cagewrights with chaos worshippers, the big bad beholder Vhalantru and corrupt city officials perhaps with Vladaam. The ultimate plan of the bad guys would be to wake the Galchutt (of course). The adventure locations can be easily placed in various places above and under the city - though the volcano aspect needs to be altered I think.
Has somebody else considered this, or better yet actually tried it? What kind of changes were necessary to the original SC campaign? What about the volcano? I think in one adventure the volcano will erupt or that is at least a part of the big ritual the villains are planning.
Maybe that could be replaced with some other kind of natural disaster. Any ideas?
To be honest, I haven't read through the whole SC book yet.
Any feedback would be appreciated!
I would be hesitant to relocate the adventure outof Cauldron. Cauldron is practically a character in the AP, and so much of what makes it work is the uniqueness of the setting and the flavor of the city itself.
Ok, I see your point... though I would really like to run Shackled City and not let go of our ongoing Ptolus campaign. Running two campaigns would be too much work. The problem is there is so much good gaming content but too little time to actually play. Basically I have two options: a) integrate SC adventures into Ptolus, or b) put SC book back on the shelf and wait a year or two until our Ptolus campaign is finished. Hrhm, hard decisions...
I'm not familiar with Ptolus but perhaps you could just replace one of the quarters/districts with most of the people and politics from Cauldron? You could keep most of the two cities individual flavor that way.
Dedekind
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There are just three major problems to solve for an adaptation of the Shackled City AP to Ptolus:
[SPOILERS - PLEASE DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU ARE A PC]
1/ the physical shape of Cauldron which affects directly the adventure about the rising waters of the lake.
Possible solutions:
A/ The rise of the Ocean waters. Same ritual, replace the deity involved with a polytheistic Ptolus deity or just incorporate her in the Temple District. The ceremony takes place on the Docks, or on ships on the Bay of Ptolus. The effect is a residual magic effect created by the Shadow of the Vallis moon. Without the moon to balance the effect, the waters have to be contained once in a while.
B/ The waters rise from the Dungeon itself. The ceremony takes place on the shore of the Lake of Eternity. Maybe the effect is created by residual or present Aboleth magic. Maybe its an effect of Vallis.
C/ Any combination of the two.
2/ Trips in other planes (Occipitus, Carceri etc).
Possible solution:
Make these planes demi-planes created by Forsaken demons in ages past. Maybe these planes are remnants of the ritual Mrathrach performed in ages past, à la Seven Jewels? They could be gravitating around Mrathrach's Pit to the south of Ptolus?
3/ The threat on the city itself. The dragon is a turn-off indeed. It means the second to last adventure has to be modified.
Possible solutions:
A/ The Dungeon awakens, and the horrors within reach for the surface.
B/ The Spire itself awakens and the shadow of the Dread One reaches from beyond.
C/ A and B combine, creating havoc in the whole city. The phenomenon has to be stopped before reaching a momentum that would awaken the Galchutt en masse.
Now, I think this could make for a FANTASTIC campaign! =)
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
Hey, this is great stuff! Thank you very much!
I was just thinking about Flood Season myself. Water rising from the dungeon would probably work better than rising sea level because Ptolus Bay cliff is quite high. I can already imagine all kinds of nastyness escaping from the dungeon to the city before rushing water hits the streets...
Btw, why do you think the dragon is a turn-off? I haven't read that far into the AP yet. Do you mean that it is too small a threat for a city like Ptolus?
Oh, flipping through the book it seems like there will be some volcanic activity in chapter 9, Foundations of Flame. Hmm...
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WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
Hey, this is great stuff! Thank you very much!
I was just thinking about Flood Season myself. Water rising from the dungeon would probably work better than rising sea level because Ptolus Bay cliff is quite high. I can already imagine all kinds of nastyness escaping from the dungeon to the city before rushing water hits the streets...
Absolutely! Plus, don't forget that the Docks are at sea level! This in itself should be an immediate threat to the city worth of the PCs' involvement. :)
Btw, why do you think the dragon is a turn-off? I haven't read that far into the AP yet. Do you mean that it is too small a threat for a city like Ptolus?
That's not that the dragon is a turn-off by itself, but rather that it compares poorly with Jabel Shammar and other threats looming over the city from above and below. If you've read/ran the Night of Dissolution, you can see that the Barbarian Horde is a threat the city can hold for a while. Against a dragon, you've got some über-powerful spellcasters, good AND evil, who wouldn't like that kind of interference, plus the Commissar's Guns, plus the Church, plus... you see what I mean.
Plus, it's like missing a cool occasion to use the super-baddies of Ptolus. Replacing the Dragon by the awakening of Jabel Shammar itself, at least, would be my choice! You could even run the Chapter of JS as suggested in the Ptolus book - that would make a great replacement.
Oh, flipping through the book it seems like there will be some volcanic activity in chapter 9, Foundations of Flame. Hmm...
Now, replace the lava and all fiery stuff by a SHADOWY eruption of Jabel Shammar! A volcano of Darkness and Evil! Shadow-stuff oozing through the city, awakening ancient forces and spirits around, attacking people in the streets... maybe the Shadow of Ptolus itself could start to BLEND with the Material Plane?! Doom, man! That'd be COOL! =)
Everybody interested,
To avoid cross posting, let's continue the discussion on Ptolus message board at
http://p222.ezboard.com/Shackled-City-in-Ptolus/fokayyourturnfrm38.showMess age?topicID=599.topic
Sorry for double posting in the first place.
Cheers,
K