I recently have started my group in Waterdeep and I started them off with Shut-In, followed by a trip to Meenlock Prision since the did such a good job finding the Swan Street Slicer. When they arrive back in Waterdeep I am going to run Funeral Procession, with Peck as the dead body to be recovered. Has anyone else found some good published adventure that flow together?
I ran a series that was Cry Wolf, (the one where you recover the figher's body from the troglodytes that had a mindflayer leader), Rana Mor, and Obsidian Eye.
The basic story was a mad wizard with a city buried in the desert. He had left obelisks behind detailing some magic ritual. The PCs worked for a researcher looking into the obelisks. In Cry Wolf they are trying to contract the ranger who knows the location of some of them. The researcher's bodyguard goes off on his own to the troglodytes (where an obelisk is) while the PCs investigate some others (minor random monster). The PCs have to rescue him. From what they learn on the obeslisks, they go to Rana Mor to learn more. This gives them the info to Obsidian Eye.
While I love the APs, two long term campaigns is enough. My next campaign will be a collection of three-or-so adventure arcs.
This is actually a pretty cool idea. Go through your Dungeon issues, and put together an "arc" of three, six, or twelve different adventures that work as a complete arc/AP!
I would be interested especially is seeing what sorts of arcs/APs Paizo staff come up with, since they are intimately familiar with them.
M.
This is actually a pretty cool idea. Go through your Dungeon issues, and put together an "arc" of three, six, or twelve different adventures that work as a complete arc/AP!
I tried this almost a yeat ago, but someone stole my core books, my DMG2 and two magazines, crippling it.
The path was going to be "Shut In", "Funeral Procession" and "3 Faces of Evil" in that order. We wrapped up the first adventure before the otyugh spitted at the fan.
"Shut In' was also the most heavily modified. The house was left mostly alone (except the elevator was replaced with a hidden stairway) but it was converted into the Lillybrook Orphanage. The old lady was relaced by Audrey Lillybrook and her daughter by the Necromancer from "Funeral Procession". I had roughly eight orphans, almost all of whom were misfits or handicapped (the reason none are yet adopted). The four brothers from "Funeral" were also revealed to have grown up at the orphanage.
I never got to doing "Funeral Procession" but I planned it out.
I really lament not getting to do "Three Faces of Evil". I had a heavily modified cosmology. The Ebon Triad in here were devoted to Baalzebulb, Belial and Baphomet (all three of whom were actually fallen Archangels).
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Currently Im running a AP style campaign with a mix of stuff put together from the Istivin arc Dungeon #117-119, The Call of Cthulhu campaign, Day of the Beast, and some other Dungeon/Dragon sources:
1 "The Fogotten Legacy" a modified version of the Forgotten vault freom the Eberron core book.
2 " The mystery of Oliphant house" a adventure based on the Call of Chuthlu adventure from the Day of the Beast campaign called "Suffer little children"
3 "Dreams of Madness" another modified DotB adventure combining info from the Istivin backdrop and the adventure "The Dreamer"
4 "Black Hills, Blackest Secrets" again, a modified adventure from the DotB Campaign.
5 "The Scourge of the Io-Rach" a home brew dungeon crawl based on an idea from the the Book of Vile Darkness and the background info on the Sterich Hinterlands in "Shadows of the Abyss" Dungeon # 118
6 "Burnt Offerings" a home brew adventure where the PC's confront their nemisis in his base, one of the leaders of a cult that seeks to unleash the Day of the Beast on the land.
7 "Touch of the Abyss" Dungeon #117
8 "Shadows of the Abyss" Dungeon #118
9 "Wrath of the Abyss" Dungeon #119
10 "The Oath of Nerull" a home brew adventure inspired by the Dragon article by Bruce Cordell issue
11 "Headless" Dungeon #89 continues the Nerull arc with Nerull in place of Orcus
12 "The Harrowing" Dungeon #84 Basically Laveth, Lolths daughter is attempting to finish off the job her mother couldnt.
13 "Assault on the Azure Prince" A home brew adventure inspired by the Sterich entry in the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer. The PC's must stop an invasion army and reclaim the Davish mines. In doing so they learn clues that lead them to stop a horrible event.
14 "Day of the Beast" a two part adventure inspired by the DotB campaign and the Background article on Istivin. The PC's learn of the impending Day of the Beast, Clues to stopping this lie within the Chapel of Time. In part 2 they must confront the cultists before they can complete the vile ritual.
15 " The Heart of Hellfire Mountain" Dungeon #140 The PC's learn of the true master behind the troubles in Istivin, and must journey to his sanctom to crush him once and for all.
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Sorry I forgot to put the oath of Nerull info: Dragon #299: Oath and Order.
I also put together some stuff I found for a future campaign idea built around Greyhawks Irongate:
Dragon #351 Irongate:City of Stairs
Dungeon #120 Lost Temple of Demogorgon
Dragon #290-291 Death Knights of Oerth
Dungeon# 127 The Hive
Im sure theres more stuff but this is what I found as I idly flipped through my collection and what I remembed seeing refrenced before.
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Basically thats a rough and dirty outline of my Sterich campaign. You can read the campaign journl called Shadows over Sterich.
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I ran Unfamiliar Ground (#119) with Within the Circle (#130), tying the two goblin tribes together (Neegla abandoned Krig instead of challenging him like Belig).
I'm in the midst of working up an underdark-themed campaign starting with Final Resting Place (#122) and Home Under the Range (#134).
Other ideas I've wanted to work together include And Maddness Follows (#134) with Caverns of the Ooze Lord (#132) and maybe the Seeds of Sehan series (#145-147). Box of Flumph (#118), Mad God's Key (#114), Salvage Operation (#123), with the Styes (#121, 138).
I'm interested in hearing others!
We're also doing a Cthuloid/horror campaign. I want to have a major spotlight on aberrations, but I want to try and work in demons, devils and the undead. I'm setting the whole thing around The Styes.
So far as patching together the campaign, I want to start with a first level introductory adventure (written by yours truly) to get everyone together and get some experience (only three players), then Escape from Meenlock Prison, Salvage Operation (very old squid may just become a very young kraken to be fought in The Styes), maybe Shut In, The Automatic Hound, And Madness Followed, The Styes and The Weavers. I'm still hammering it out; I want to keep it a little bit modular since we aren't sure how long we'll be running it, but I also want to make sure that there's plenty of setting going on. So I'm spending a little time detailing the Styes a bit further and its opposite half of the city, Indar, which will be compulsively clean and imperious.
I also want to try and fit in/play with The Twilight Tomb by Greg Vaughan, mostly because the villain is a brain in a jar that lives in an undead ape. The Duskwalker would make a good recurring villain.
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I also want to try and fit in/play with The Twilight Tomb by Greg Vaughan, mostly because the villain is a brain in a jar that lives in an undead ape. The Duskwalker would make a good recurring villain.
OK now I have to pick this adventure up, not only does Gregs stuff kick ass, but the brain in the jar monster idea is so cool! That picture in the 3 adventure of the Seeds of Sehan arc of the Yak dude holding the brain in a jar is wicked retarded! What says Lovecraft better than brains in jars.
I find the whole idea of creating ones own AP a tad odd. If the APs have a weakness its that their linear. One of the great advantages of not playing in a AP would be the ability to utilize a less linear style. Personally when I run campaigns I try for something thats more like a 'choose your own adventure' style. In this case I provide clues on any adventure the PCs are in to follow up adventures usually have 3-6 major hooks embedded in each adventure. The clues should give out some of the themes and feel for the follow on adventure and your players can choose whichever one gets them most excited. If you want all of this to eventually lead to a specific ending you can simply reduce the options near the end. The options the players are choosing from are made up of all your favorite adventures (slightly modified to fit in with the plot).
Because all the options are your favorites your almost certain to run something you'll like. Because the players have some choice they don't feel really railroaded plus they get to pick something that catches their fancy. Sort of a win win all around. If you want the whole campaign to have a theme you should not really have trouble making sure that all the options fit in with the theme. One thing I did find with this sort of campaign style is that there has to be a 'can't do that anymore' rule in which the DM can veto options if the players have now gotten to powerful for an adventure and it would be tedious to play.