What would you have done differently (or: how to improve linkages)

[Dee]

Hi all,

For those DMs who have run their party through all or most of Shackled City, I would love to tap in to your wisdom. I have only finished the first chapter, with everything going according to plan. However, I felt like I needed to bring the story a bit more to life somehow, to get players really engaged with the story. I have also read numerous logs of other campaigns where DMs have noted that playing straight from the book creates some poor linkages between the chapters, specifically in reference to recurring NPCs and references to plots/subplots.

So...any suggestions or examples of what has worked for you? Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight you might have done something differently (e.g. having NPCs recur more frequently, put in more 'foreshadowing' etc.).

Not sure how many people still read this particular messageboard since SCAP has been out for a while, but I'll keep my fingers crossed ;)

[delvesdeep]

Try theRPGenius.com site.

I wrote up a number of articles on foreshadowing and a document called - Alternative Adimarchus and the Cagewrights - which was my attempt to link the storyline more together.

Have a look if you are interested

Delvesdeep

[MrVergee]

Hi Dee

Check out the numerous posts on these boards. There are lots of interesting ideas lying around here.

Good hunting

[Colin McKinney]

Make the interior maps larger. The original adventures in Dungeon magazine were written for a 4-character party, and the encounters in the hardcover were scaled up for a 6-character group, but the rooms remained the same size, so things get a mite crowded in Jzadirune and a few other places (particularly places with 5' corridors--my players' party includes a dire ape and a large fire elemental, so...).

Pick a couple NPCs for each player character and make up points of contact for each chapter. In ch2, somebody's cousin has been kidnapped and the shopkeeper is worried about him. In ch3, somebody's business is in danger of flooding. In ch4...

[Chef's Slaad]

Add as many interesting recuring NPCs as you can. every shopping trip or gather information check should become a roleplaying encounter. You want to get your players emotioly involved with the town. Interesting PCs are THE way to go.

[Dee]

I had thought about making one of the kidnapped persons from the first chapter a relative/friend of some sort to one of the PCs, but then it is tricky implementing some kind of subplot with that NPC that will not get the party too sidetracked :) E.g. I had originally thought that the party manages to rescue the rest of the kindnap victims in the Malachite Fortress but find out they were too late to stop the sale of some of the slaves (including the relative/friend NPC) to various denizens of the Underdark. On the surface that is the beginning of an ok subplot, but then I didn't want the party stuffing around in the Underdark forever.

I'm using the actual compiled SCAP rather than the magazines and it does mention some possible links such as if PC 1 is class X then they should have some contact with this particular prominent NPC. However it is a bit lacking in the actual ideas of how one may want to do this.

Also, I'm wondering what you would do in the second chapter if the PCs (for whatever reason) refused to assist with the goblin infestation problem? I realise that this particular chapter has been added in, so I guess it's not essential, but surely there would have to be consequences? Similarly for any point in the adventure where it is assumed that the PCs will go along with something. In 99% of cases they probably would, but it would be good to have a plan B :)

[Colin McKinney]

Oh, that's easy: a couple of the PCs get back from a late night of drinking and find that their room has been ransacked by goblin thieves.

[Dee]

Colin McKinney wrote:

Oh, that's easy: a couple of the PCs get back from a late night of drinking and find that their room has been ransacked by goblin thieves.

See, now, why didn't I think of that? Simplicity is usually the best solution :) Thanks...I might use that even if they do decide to help out the town guard, the party always has too much treasure anyway :P

[Oliver von Spreckelsen]

The halfling rogue Maple in the first chapter is very thankful to the PC's and hangs around a bit... (in my game one of my PC's even became romantically involved) only to be assaulted by Triel trying to force her to join her organization (in my campaign she was even killed, as my player had a run of bad luck trying to save her). Make Sergeant Krewis the former finacee of Triel and sole survivor on her attack on the city watch prior to her escape. He can give the group the backstory of Triel in Cauldron... That leads directly into the third chapter...

Explain the absence of the high priest with his mission to the far away city in order to procure the wands (keep that in secret)... just state that he is away on important business for Cauldron. He used the holy Mace prior to his departure, became white as marble and took nearly all of the guards with him...

[Necron99]

Dee wrote:

Hi all,

For those DMs who have run their party through all or most of Shackled City, I would love to tap in to your wisdom. I have only finished the first chapter, with everything going according to plan. However, I felt like I needed to bring the story a bit more to life somehow, to get players really engaged with the story. I have also read numerous logs of other campaigns where DMs have noted that playing straight from the book creates some poor linkages between the chapters, specifically in reference to recurring NPCs and references to plots/subplots.

So...any suggestions or examples of what has worked for you? Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight you might have done something differently (e.g. having NPCs recur more frequently, put in more 'foreshadowing' etc.).

Not sure how many people still read this particular messageboard since SCAP has been out for a while, but I'll keep my fingers crossed ;)

To make the setting more alive (and therefore make the players care more about it), I have tried to link as many NPCs into the party network as possible.

Jzadirune is a bonanza. It is a brilliant introductory adventure because it gives the players access to Bluecrater (through the Mathmatician), Maple is a link to the Alleybashers, and in general it gives the DM some interesting bit-players to work with. For instance, Sondor is now the party's housekeeper, Krylscar Endercott is the security guard and man-in-charge, the Mimic watches the basement, and Jeneer Everdawn is the cook. Maple I had great fun with - She still maintains various underworld contacts while going legit as a "security consultant." Whenever the party is flunking those Gather Info rolls, she straightens them right out.

Foreshadowing is sooo key to this AP. There is so much going on that it is easy for the players to miss the big picture while they are busy getting owned by Goblins. I am trying to introduce the bad guys earlier as well. I particularly like Delvesdeep's (Or chef?) idea of Shebbeleth as a mad street preacher in Cauldron, keeping an eye on things and preparing a small army for Adimarchus. Velior Thazo, Garthun, and even Fetor could be great bad guys that the party could have met before.

Aww heck - Just look at the campaign journal if you want to see what we have been doing.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhfrkz22_2g9chdp

We took a break in early summer, but I'm next in the DM rotation. We should be doing 3 more chapters starting in January.

Feel free to steal anything you want, lord knows I've done the same. I'd give credit to everyone involved, but I have stolen so much that I'm not sure who they all are :)

[Shimrath]

Oliver von Spreckelsen wrote:

The halfling rogue Maple in the first chapter is very thankful to the PC's and hangs around a bit... (in my game one of my PC's even became romantically involved

Wow! One of my players has become romantically involved with her as well. That Maple really gets around!

[Skyknight]

My version of Maple is secretly one of the guildmasters of the Last Laugh. She also happens to be one of the party's cohorts. One of these days she's going to betray them all, and hard.

[nib]

I had one of the players as a twin sister of maple (needed some way of introducing a new player early in chapter 1). Made for some nice tie-ins. The character, however, due to the playing style, was not too well liked by the others. Its player left at some point (RL issues)

Nib.

[Maglub]

Skyknight wrote:

My version of Maple is secretly one of the guildmasters of the Last Laugh. She also happens to be one of the party's cohorts. One of these days she's going to betray them all, and hard.

Yeah dear sweet Maple. My PC's loved her, the cute little halfling.

I see her as a perfectly smart opportunist. And until now she seems to get way with it.
The rogue found out she worked for the Alleybashers and wanted to make a non-aggression pact. Before he knew it he was working the streets as Maple's bodyguard when she was collecting the rent and extracting blackmail money. She introduced him to a couple of Alleybashers and her boss, Filistir, also called the Frog. To gain his trust, he worked on a job to rob Udo the silkmonger. Unfortunately for them, Udo was not unprotected. The Last Laugh were warned by a LL spy also working for the Frog. So our hero got an unpleasant surprise that night when he and Maple were nailed to the ground. All the more when the leader of the LL appeared to be the woman he had met during the Ruphus Laro beat up. Jill let the rogue feel her whip and broke Maples arm emphasizing the power of the LL vs the Alleybashers.
Just a week before the Lucky monkey attack he did his last job.
He had to guard the transfer of weapons (for the LM attack), during which he briefly met Triel (Triel immediately disliked him).
Well, then finally at the Lucky Monkey and Kopru Ruins attack, he had to kill his former Alleybasher "friends".

After the LM and Kopru debacle Maple went underground for a while. Even before the last Alleybashers were killed during the fire elemental attack she became a member of the Last Laugh working with Jill and Finch.
Next step is to introduce those three, perhaps after the assassination attempt when they are searching for clues.

[Sean Mahoney]

I know for me, I have been happy with some of the things I have done and would be even happier had I just done them more.

1. Steal from the boards. There are exceptional ideas here... use them. I certainly have done this but doing so more would have been good too.

2. Foreshadowing. I think I am doing fairly well at this but more never hurts. For example, one PC saw Triel hiring the Alleybashers in Cauldron while still investigating the missing children during Life's Bazaar. They followed up on this enough to get the back story from Sgt. Krewis on his wife (a hook I stole), but determined it was a red herring (it was at this point). But they didn't forget and you should have heard the howls of dispare when they realized they stop investigating her and now she had killed their high priest. Always look at least two adventures ahead and see what you can forshadow, what NPCs you can introduce earler (my PCs just met Celeste arriving in town... we'll see if they remember when she comes back later). I haven't decided if I will run the last two adventures or not, but if you are going to you need to add in a madness theme to the game asap. There is almost NO foreshadowing for what becomes the major villian in the game and you need it in there... check out DelvesDeeps stuff on the foreshadowing for some good guidance.

3. Tie the players to the city and the NPCs in it. One of the things my players have repeatedly said they are really enjoying with this campaign (my first with them) is that they love that they actually care about the NPCs and such in this city as well as the city itself. Foster that in any way you can. NPC interaction outside of the adventures they are described in is a great way to do this. My PCs LOVE Tygot Mispas and his blink dog, Lapook. He is now their major source for history and such about the area (though they quickly determined my version of him has a penchant for always exagerating). Use those NPCs from previous adventures again and again... they don't need to be in trouble or need help, just have them show up and still interact with the PCs. Start the rivalry with the Stormblades early just by mentioning them or having NPCs mention and compare the PCs with them.

4. Give every PC the chance to shine in the city. The player of my paladin is wanting a romance... so she has been trysting with Alek since the beginning of the game. Great RP so far and has tyed her that much more into things. The Sorceress was a founding member of the MTA which comes into play later. The cleric actually wrote a sermon and speech he gave when he performed the ceremony to induct Jenya as high priest. The rogue has been dating Jill and as his entry into the Last Laugh has been told to become involved with his father, Maavu's, operations and will be told if they need something from there (he assumes information but he will end up being the one who actually plants much of the evidence against his father later). And so on... between each session just ask yourself what you can do to focus on each character in turn and make sure you give them those chances.

5. This one should have been earlier but tie your PCs into the setting in their backgrounds. My thief took the place of Patch at the orphanage (worked exceptionally well). My cleric was assaulted instead of Ruphus. Make sure the main temple is of the PCs faith instead of St. Cuthbert (or stear them to St. Cuthbert like I did). My sorceress once trained with Skaven. My Paladin was trained by Alek Tercival and is from a noble family so she has knowledge of the nobles and interacted with the stormblades prior to the disappearance of the children. etc. etc.

Anyway... those are the big things I would have done more of or have been working very well for me.

Sean Mahoney