Hi there,
I am currently running the RotR AP, and while we have a good time, I think I need to shorten it a bit. Currently we are in the middle of Skinsaw Murders, my will be attacking Aldern shortly.
We do not like huge Dungeon Crawls that much, so cutting some of those (or condensing them down to the main theme/encounter) might be a good idea.
I wohl like to get the whole story done in about 15-20 session of 4 hours each. An avarage session sees us fighting 2 big encounters and doing a lot of RP, which is importand to the whole group. (Thats why we prefere short dungeons / encounter areas)
Which parts of the story could I cut without loosing a lot? How would you do it? Which 'dungeons' can be cut or replaced by a single encounter?
I have no problem with scaling encoutners or whole adventures, and I think ending the path at level 12 would be okay. (My group is currently level 6)
How about the whole of part 3?
Mnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnar.
Sorry, couldn't resist:)
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You could consider cutting:
Part of the Skinsaw endgame: either Ironbriar and his cult, or Xanesha. Whichever one you leave can easily take over the plot role of the other.
You can cut Hook Mountain a lot: I'd remove the troll dungeon and Hook Mountain itself. You can keep Myriana and change how she connects in, or lose her as well. If you want Barl (he foreshadows Fortress of the Stone Giants) have him attack Fort Rannick while the PCs are holding it.
A more drastic cut would be to lose the Grauls as well, but this depends on your tastes; they're the colorful part of Hook Mountain, but Fort Rannick is the tactically interesting part.
I'd take out about half of the monsters in Jorgenfist, including the harpies and Black Monk, the night wyverns, scanderig, and the redcaps. You might also look at ways to make Jorgenfist more of a raid and less of a battle, such as giving the PCs specific tactical objectives. (I had them rescuing giant-elder hostages so as to turn the army against its commander.) I would definitely keep the defense of Sandpoint, as I thought it was the best fight of the whole AP.
In Sins of the Saviors I'd cut the map really heavily: there are way too many rooms per encounter in Greed and Gluttony. I wouldn't run the lesser undead in Gluttony, and might cut Wrath down to its first (Iron Archer) and last (Athroxis and the demon) encounters. I'd also drop half or more of the traps; they slow down play without much playoff. An alternative approach to Sins (the one my group took) was to ally with the Wrath faction, removing a lot of fights and adding a lot of roleplay.
It's also possible to lose Xaliasa completely, leaving only his riddle, or to cut creatures so that he's more of a roleplaying encounter than a combat one.
You could also, more drastically, remove Sins of the Saviors completely, leaving only the forging of rune-weapons (with or without Xaliasa). This would shorten the campaign by three levels and probably add to the intensity.
The wendigo cabin in Spires could be removed, though it's a potentially cool scenario.
Try to avoid having any giant-and-lamia fights in lower Xin-Shalast, as they are redundant with upper Xin-Shalast (my player complained of this). You could also reduce the number of set-piece combats in the lower city. If the first one fought has sufficient plot-tokens for the party, they can just bypass the rest.
A more drastic alternative is to make lower Xin-Shalast a truly abandoned city with only a few creatures.
The descriptions of upper Xin-Shalast are correct: it may look like a dungeon but it's one huge fight. It took a long time to run, but I think taking it out would make the endgame too sudden.
Hope this helps,
Mary
Hi,
thanks for the advice. I just had a good look at Sins. I need to cut huge parts of it... to many rooms... I guess I will just pick some really good stuff of it and leave the rest. It seemed like the least interesting of the adventures.
So, I will look into cutting the Skinsaw Cult (I never liked that idea very much), after I have done that, I will try to condense the giant inversion adventure duo a bit. They allways seemed like to much of a good thing to me.
What do you think are the 'essentials' of the story? Thinks I should not cut?
Oh, and what I would really like to now, what are the players favourites in all those groups that have finished the AP or played most of it? I gues I do not want to cut those parts :)
What do you think are the 'essentials' of the story? Thinks I should not cut?
Oh, and what I would really like to now, what are the players favourites in all those groups that have finished the AP or played most of it? I gues I do not want to cut those parts :)
My player's favorites:
The initial stuff in Sandpoint: the first goblin fight and the Glassworks. Madame Mvashti and her card-readings. Misgivings and the PCs' interactions with Aldern, extending on to the interaction between Aldern and Xanesha. (We were far, far off the main plot there.) The giant attack on Sandpoint. The PCs' farewell performance in Sandpoint before they set out for Xin-Shalast.
A generalization: the best parts of the campaign were in and around Sandpoint.
My favorites as GM:
Misgivings. The seige of Sandpoint. The final battle at Jorgenfist. The PCs interacting with the Wrath faction in and after Runeforge. Aldern and the lamia-ghoul in Xin-Shalast. And lots and lots of little details throughout. My player got intensely into the Thassilonian- scholar role, which really enriched the campaign for me.
Mary