RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
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I've not read the adventure in full detail, but i have searched for "Body Count", and the total of citizens that could be saved seems to fall quite short... i came up with 1900 (200 from the Vampire, 700 from the false cures, and 1000 for finding a real cure). The "additional plague events" sidebar suggests some more event, but i doubt these bring them up to 2801
So, short of changing the numbers, have i missed something, or do the numbers really not add up?
Creative Director
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I've not read the adventure in full detail, but i have searched for "Body Count", and the total of citizens that could be saved seems to fall quite short... i came up with 1900 (200 from the Vampire, 700 from the false cures, and 1000 for finding a real cure). The "additional plague events" sidebar suggests some more event, but i doubt these bring them up to 2801
So, short of changing the numbers, have i missed something, or do the numbers really not add up?
There are indeed more in there. The wererats and the Carowyn manor offer awards that bring you up to 2800. Getting ABOVE that requires PCs to go above and beyond what the adventure suspects... the campaign assumes the PCs finish the adventure below this level, but if they finish above, woo hoo!
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Creative Director
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Ah, thanks for the reference. I guess that happens when you rely on "lets use the auto-search feature" :)
Heh... no worries! We probably should have included a chart that listed all the body count awards anyway, and made it more clear that the chart at the end included a SUPERACHIEVER category that, if you play the adventure strictly as written, you can't achieve... but that it was there for GMs who wanted to give their PCs a chance to do some extra encounters, or who wanted to award parties who went above and beyond the call of duty in some way to try to save Korvosa.
Good thing these messageboards are here, eh?
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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I've not read the adventure in full detail, but i have searched for "Body Count", and the total of citizens that could be saved seems to fall quite short... i came up with 1900 (200 from the Vampire, 700 from the false cures, and 1000 for finding a real cure). The "additional plague events" sidebar suggests some more event, but i doubt these bring them up to 2801
So, short of changing the numbers, have i missed something, or do the numbers really not add up?
Well let's see here...
200 from the Huungry Dead,700 from the Color of Death,
400 from Plague Rats,
500 from the Case of the Vanishing Virtuoso,
1,000 for finding the Cure.
That's 2,800. But as mentioned in another post somewhere saving little Brienna Soldado brings your total up to 2,801. Adding the other recommendations or allowing your PC's to come up with ideas themselves to help combat the plague is certainly worth more Body Count (anywhere from 300-500 more per idea if they're good). PC's who go above and beyond the missions of the adenture certainly deserve to be Saviors of the City!
Aren't there several victims to be saved at the Hospice?
What happens if, as seems possible, the PCs deduce almost immediately that the plague is being spread by tainted coins? I could see it happening on the very first day, after interviewing Patient Zero about anything unusual that might have happened to her before she got sick, or on the second, after discovering the outbreak in the temple of Abadar.
If the priests of Abadar had that information that early, how many lives might be saved, and how badly would Korvosa's economy be hit as people stopped touching silver coins? ^.^
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RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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By the time the PC's interview patient Zero and then make their way to the Temple of Abadar (which is a day later at LEAST) the disease would've spread well beyond the coins. Two full days of the coin changing hands in the markets and at least a few days of exchange at the Bank is more than enough exposure time. At most they get to the Ship a bit faster...
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Coins as a vector reminds me of Herbert's white plague. Of course he was wiping out the irish, not the varisians.
I think if the pcs discover coins as a source and then immediately link it to the sick priests of abadar and their vault, they could slow the spread a lot. If they don't discover the second cache of silver (the queens back up plan basically), then not so much.
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Creative Director
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What happens if, as seems possible, the PCs deduce almost immediately that the plague is being spread by tainted coins? I could see it happening on the very first day, after interviewing Patient Zero about anything unusual that might have happened to her before she got sick, or on the second, after discovering the outbreak in the temple of Abadar.
If the priests of Abadar had that information that early, how many lives might be saved, and how badly would Korvosa's economy be hit as people stopped touching silver coins? ^.^
Two things to remember... one of which was just pointed out.
1) By the time the PCs could learn from Patient Zero about the coins... the coins have already scattered throughout the city and have done their work. Too late to stop that.
2) The PCs shouldn't have any reason to panic after talking to Patient Zero. She's cured (hopefully) and then the next encounter has nothing to do with the plague, really. By the time things start looking like there's a plague brewing... it has likely been at least a day or two, giving the coins even more time to become absorbed into the economy.
What makes that "Super Achiever" category doubly misleading is the fact that it has an upper limit... 3,600. The adventure states 5,000 will die with no intervention. This seems pretty low to me, but whatever. Anyhow, given that 3,600 is listed, it seems to imply that 1,400 can not be saved. Or, perhaps that sidebar had actual numbers attached at some point that brought the total to 3,600, but they were left out in the final print? If you add in all the "patients" in Part Five, you can exceed 2,800... but not all of them are actually sick, and they aren't listed under Bodycount tags, but in the AdHoc XP sections.
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Creative Director
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What makes that "Super Achiever" category doubly misleading is the fact that it has an upper limit... 3,600. The adventure states 5,000 will die with no intervention. This seems pretty low to me, but whatever. Anyhow, given that 3,600 is listed, it seems to imply that 1,400 can not be saved. Or, perhaps that sidebar had actual numbers attached at some point that brought the total to 3,600, but they were left out in the final print? If you add in all the "patients" in Part Five, you can exceed 2,800... but not all of them are actually sick, and they aren't listed under Bodycount tags, but in the AdHoc XP sections.
The upper limit is there mostly because there HAS to be some folk dying from the plague, even if the PCs DO become super-achievers. It's one thing to have a party that saves 2/3 or so of the possible dead, but to have them save everyone? Not possible, because that would mean that there were no bodies of dead folk in the encounters, no zombies in Carowyn Manor, no reason for Lavender to do her thing, and worst of all... there'd be no real lasting impact on Korvosa in the plague's wake. There HAS to be some amount of dead, in other words, for the rest of the campaign to make sense.
I have a question about the Body Count rewards.
I know that the text on page 56 says:
"Once the adventure ends, total the amount of citizens
saved by the PCs and consult the table below to see how
the city rewards them for their good work. These awards
are cumulative—if the PCs save 3,600 citizens, they
receive all four of the rewards listed below."
Am I understanding it correctly that if ONLY if the PC's save 3,600 citizens do they recieve all four rewards listed below?
Or if they save say 2801 citizens to they receive all four rewards listed as well?
I need to know how to reward my group. We've been playing Seven Days to the Grave for about a YEAR (only meeting once a month sometimes skipping a month due to scheduling...) and they've finally beaten Lady Andasin and the good Dr. They have one lose end to take care of but otherwise they're at the end. One of the PC's and a Abadarian Cleric ally have successfully crafted a cure (it'll still take a week) so need to make sure that the next session the PC's (who have lost 2 of their number since the beginning of this chapter as well as a Pseudodragon ally and a wolf companion) get their well deserved rewards before they get the crap kicked out of them in the next chapter.
Thanks in advance.