Welcome to the best campaign you are likely to ever DM! Well that is my opinion on the SCAP in any event :) A great series of adventures to start DMing with also considering all the support the Hard Cover and these boards give you.
1. One girl in my group wants to be a elf bard with the Nobel trait. I'm just not sure what noble family to put her in. I don't want her to interfere with the main plot by corrupting an event because of her lineage, and i want her character to have not an blank background with just (shes an Aslaxins, nuff said) I want something that i can modiy and adapt with the sudden player choices, and something thats not unstructure .
This has actually been brought up before in another thread so there will be plenty of people with advice for this question alone.
My advice is to use either Ophellha or Alek's noble families.
Ophellha owns the Cusp of Sunrise and is a definite member of Cauldron elite yet she tends to distance herself from the city politics. Ophellha lives on her own in her family estate in Hollowsky which would give the party a place to stay if they need to find solace outside the city at any stage. Ophellha is kind hearted and in my game I have made her parents have old friendship connections with the Lord Mayor which would make his disappearance more important later in the Path.
Alek belongs to one of Cauldrons oldest families but he has lost his family wealth and estate. Alek is St Cuthbert's resident paladin and Jenya's (the church leader and party connection) close friend. Alek also plays a pivotal role in the adventure 'The Demonskar Legacy' where his death could be even more dramatic if the character was related to him. If the noble came from Aleks household she could also be attempting to reclaim the family estate.
If neither of these appeals possibly a minor role in one of the other families could make for some interesting roleplaying opportunities particularly with the Stormblades earlier on in the plot. A visiting noble cousin who was looked down on by their aloof cousin could be a great tie in.
2. I have an elf Rogue in the party, he hasn't choosen his trait, though i'm thinking of him being a alleybasher where if he survives maybe become leader of the guild of some point. Though he could be in the last laugh, though it might interfere to much, what would someone suggest?
I have written up an alternative rogue organisation they may fit your character better than either the LAst Laugh or the Alleybashers. Have a look in theRPGenius.com sit in the archives for 'The Acquisition and Exploration Guild' (or something like that) and have a read. If you haven't had a look at this site you may find many useful support documents there also.
3. I also have a Human that i have made a dragon sub type for, and i was going to have him abandoned as a child because of his dragon wings, now, is being part of the orphanage as a child a good idea? It kinda compells the character to want to find the missing children i thought.
The orphanage is a great plot hook. Having your character the descendant of Dhorlot 'the Dragon-Father' would tie in well with the adventure called 'Zenith's Tajectory' and later when the party face off against a few of his spawn.
Alternatively you could have them the descendant of Hookface, the extremely powerful red dragon who the party combat during the Foundations of Fire. Investigating the location of his lair and descovering his lair and 'mother' gaurading it could be very interesting!
Hope this has been helpful. Let us me know if you need any other help, idas, suggestions or advice.
Delvesdeep
Nobel: I'd have her related to any of the Stormblades. Or possibly, she belongs to a noble family from another city but is her as a ward of one of the Stormblade families.
Or, a sister to Alex Tercival would make for a good hook and get the Tercival story introduced in a firm way.
Rogue: Making him part of the Last Laugh causes trouble in my mind. One idea would to give him a couple friends and they have their own little thieves guild. The Last Laugh takes out his friends but didn't know about him.
Dragon: An orphan works well. Let him have some run-ins with Terrem in his backstroy.
I bought the shackled city hardcover and am planning to do an campaign with my group of players (duh) Anyways, i'm away on vacation right now i have tons of free time make background and prepare myself.
Since the person in my group who was thinking of running the SCAP is moving, I picked it up myself recently and have been reviewing it. Now I have all three APs to torment players with. >:->
1. One girl in my group wants to be a elf bard with the Nobel trait. I'm just not sure what noble family to put her in. I don't want her to interfere with the main plot by corrupting an event because of her lineage, and i want her character to have not an blank background with just (shes an Aslaxins, nuff said) I want something that i can modiy and adapt with the sudden player choices, and something thats not unstructured.
Elf noble = Knowlern from Hollowsky. Looking at Chapter 9, Lady Ophellha is a close friend of Jenya Urikas (of the Church of St. Cuthbert), which provides a good reason to work with her. Setting up an existing rivalry with Annah Taskerhill (and the Stormblades) is pretty simple, as well.
2. I have an elf Rogue in the party, he hasn't choosen his trait, though i'm thinking of him being a alleybasher where if he survives maybe become leader of the guild of some point. Though he could be in the last laugh, though it might interfere to much, what would someone suggest?
Either an Alleybasher or Strider of Fharlanghn background would be appropriate. Membership in the Last Laugh would require more work on your part and has the potential of short-circuiting or complicating a lot of the plot elements.
3. I also have a Human that i have made a dragon sub type for, and i was going to have him abandoned as a child because of his dragon wings, now, is being part of the orphanage as a child a good idea? It kinda compells the character to want to find the missing children i thought.
Make him a decendent of Dhorlot (who fathered many half black-dragons in the area). Having him grow up in the orhpanage is a good hook.
4. Any other character intergreation or npc involvement would be great to know, sharing your memoral experiences can help me construct my campaign.
Make sure that your players have the arcane caster, divine caster, locks and traps, melee combat, and ranged combat roles filled. This is a tough campaign, as stated in Appendix V, so parties need to cover all of the bases. If you have only four PCs, instead of the six recommended, you may want to give them even better starting ability scores (32 point buy) or let them start at 2nd level. You should also consider allowing access to many of the classes, feats, and spells from the various supplements.
The pregenerated party that I designed for this AP is as follows (28 point buy, starting 2nd level):
Dwarf Cleric (Moradin) 2 (racial substitution levels from Races of Stone, goal: Battlesmith 2/Fist of Raziel 10, trait: Noble)
Gnome Rogue 1/Bard 1 (racial substitution levels from Races of Stone, goal: Daggerspell Mage 8/High Handcrafter 4, trait: Child of Jzadirune)
Human Ranger 1/Paladin (Pelor? St. Cuthbert?) 1 (goal: Knight of the Chalice 9, trait: Scion of Surabar, take Ancestral Relic from Book of Exalted Deeds at 3rd level)
Human Wizard (Conjurer) 2 (goal: Effigy Master, trait: Long Shadowed)
Considering that three out of the four will have item creation ability and the fourth will have an Ancestral Relic (masterwork cold iron longsword) to improve, all of the PCs have something to do during stretches of "down time."
For any party, fleshing out the relationships between the PCs and the NPCs are vital. The Chisel and the Striders of Fharlanghn have important roles in the AP, so you may want to work in connections and/or play up the PC interactions with the organizations. Also, with at least one PC with a connection to the nobility, playing up the nobles' scheming and plotting is a good idea.
I would recomend makeing the nobel a Vanderboren who are know for their work with the orphans adn for adopting orphans. Todd being one of them. It would be a good link between orphan PCs and the Nobel PC and would give the party a City Councel member that doesnt openly oppose them.