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I've been GMing Curse of the Crimson Throne for a group of 5 players and they just completed Escape from Old Korvosa at 7th level. I haven't been using XP, I just tell them to level up when I see them starting to have a bit too much trouble with the encounters (which I adjust somewhat to account for the switch from 3.5 to Pathfinder).
I was a bit concerned about how they would fare in the Vivified Labyrinth being somewhat behind the expected level, but they easily defeated the darksphynx and wisely avoided fighting Vimanda (who'd had to abandon her Vencarlo disguise as they'd already rescued him) or Bahor, settling instead for just saving Vencarlo and Neolandus and leaving town. Actually the escape was a bit more complicated than I've indicated; Vimanda tricked the party into teleporting themselves into the cells in the torture chamber but they quickly escaped, killed the Beatific One and freed the Seneschal from the rack.
(As an aside: a neat thing happened while they were boarding the barge to leave the Arkonas' dungeon. The giant reefclaw attacked and badly wounded one of the PCs, but Majenko the pseudodragon--whom one of the characters had taken as a cohort--attacked it and got a crit with his stinger, and it rolled a natural 1 on its poison save and sank unconscious back under the surface, ending the fight in round one!)
Anyway, the campaign is on hiatus now while one of the other players runs us through the first two chapters of Kingmaker, but I'll be resuming CotCT in a few months with the start of History of Ashes. I get the impression that even though they'll be 8th level by that point it might not be enough as 10th level seems to be the accepted starting point for that chapter. I'd like to find something to run them through to get them to at least 9th level before starting the chapter, and I'm looking for suggestions. I know the module "Seven Swords of Sin" is set in Kaer Maga, which would be a logical location for my side quest. Would it be a good choice, or is there something better I could use?
7 Swords is a funhouse dungeon, it might feel a bit redundant after the Vivified Labyrinth though...
There's a fair amount of overland travel to get to the Cinderlands which opens up some possibilities. Lift somethings from some of the other Varisia APs (Hook Mtn Massacre, or Asylum Stone for some Kaer Maga fun) That or a simple dragon terrorizing the village en route could justify going up a level too.
B.T.W., there is a forum for CotCT. :)
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B.T.W., there is a forum for CotCT. :)
I know, but what I really need is just any level appropriate module, preferably set in or relocatable to Varisia. I felt that if I put it in the CotCT folder some people who could provide useful suggestions might not see it.
Edited to add: And ironically, after I posted that some mod decided to move it to the CotCT folder anyway. . .
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7 Swords is a funhouse dungeon, it might feel a bit redundant after the Vivified Labyrinth though...
Could you elaborate on what you mean by "funhouse dungeon"? Funhouse as in the sort of thing you see at carnivals?
I'm not particularly worried about it seeming redundant. The campaign will be resuming after a hiatus of several months so the events of the Vivified Labyrinth will not be too fresh in the players' minds.
I'll have my PCs infiltrate the Great Tower to free the captured hippogriphs with Kalepopolis and escape the city through the air as a short sidetrek.
There is also an option to take some extra time in Kaer Maga. There is a source book on the place, two society scenarios take place there (The Shadow Gambit and The Twofold Demise) and - if you're not planning on playing through The Shattered Star AP - you might have a look at its third installment (The Asylum Stone).
Other people already mentioned Seven Swords of Sin (module). The Godsmouth Heresy takes place there as well, but its a level 1 adventure.
7 Swords is a funhouse dungeon, it might feel a bit redundant after the Vivified Labyrinth though...
Could you elaborate on what you mean by "funhouse dungeon"? Funhouse as in the sort of thing you see at carnivals?
I'm not particularly worried about it seeming redundant. The campaign will be resuming after a hiatus of several months so the events of the Vivified Labyrinth will not be too fresh in the players' minds.
7 Swords of Sin came about when paizo had an informal "Design the deadliest dungeon encounter" contest among their designers. The encounters were then playtested at GENCON that year and resulted in countless player deaths.
James Sutter was then given the job of collecting and combining all these encounters into one module. It's said that he toned it down quite a bit but the 7 swords remains incredibly deadly even though it is listed as an adventure for 7th level characters. Tels posted on the CotCT forums that he ran it for his group after History of Ashes in preparation for Scarwall and you can read about it here.
Sutter did quite a good job of making everything fit together, but many of the encounters still come off as being a bit random. I've recently started a CotCT campaign and was looking at potentially integrating 7 swords between EfOK and HoA, but having read through it, the feel of 7 swords is a bit out of place with the rest of the CotCT AP IMO.
I've been GMing Curse of the Crimson Throne for a group of 5 players and they just completed Escape from Old Korvosa at 7th level. I haven't been using XP, I just tell them to level up when I see them starting to have a bit too much trouble with the encounters (which I adjust somewhat to account for the switch from 3.5 to Pathfinder).
I was a bit concerned about how they would fare in the Vivified Labyrinth being somewhat behind the expected level, but they easily defeated the darksphynx and wisely avoided fighting Vimanda (who'd had to abandon her Vencarlo disguise as they'd already rescued him) or Bahor, settling instead for just saving Vencarlo and Neolandus and leaving town. Actually the escape was a bit more complicated than I've indicated; Vimanda tricked the party into teleporting themselves into the cells in the torture chamber but they quickly escaped, killed the Beatific One and freed the Seneschal from the rack.
(As an aside: a neat thing happened while they were boarding the barge to leave the Arkonas' dungeon. The giant reefclaw attacked and badly wounded one of the PCs, but Majenko the pseudodragon--whom one of the characters had taken as a cohort--attacked it and got a crit with his stinger, and it rolled a natural 1 on its poison save and sank unconscious back under the surface, ending the fight in round one!)
Anyway, the campaign is on hiatus now while one of the other players runs us through the first two chapters of Kingmaker, but I'll be resuming CotCT in a few months with the start of History of Ashes. I get the impression that even though they'll be 8th level by that point it might not be enough as 10th level seems to be the accepted starting point for that chapter. I'd like to find something to run them through to get them to at least 9th level before starting the chapter, and I'm looking for suggestions. I know the module "Seven Swords of Sin" is set in Kaer Maga, which would be a logical location for my side quest. Would it be a good choice, or is there something better I...
If you don't mind dealing with mature themes in your game, might I suggest the excellent Dungeon Magazine adventure "Porphyry House Horror" by James Jacobs. This adventure could easily be modified to take place in Kaer Maga instead of Scuttlecove and you could have Laori Vaus sub in for a certain evil half-fiend female character. You could even replace the Yuan-ti with Rakshasa that are operating in Kaer Maga, perhaps a branch that spun off of the Arkona family?
As suggested above, "The Harrowing" is another good choice.
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I would recommand doing at least one of the following three:
1) "The Harrowing", for reasons mentioned before
2) SPOILER FOR SHATTERED STAR: the part from the asylum stone (3rd module of shattered star) where the PCs go against the Golem Crafter guild, it's a sweet short fun dungeon set in Kaer Mega which is really a placd you want to visit anyway since the PCs are passing by
3) From Shore to Sea is level apropriate and what you can easily call a change of pace, and I can attest that it's an incredibly cool adventure if you are into lovecraftian horror themes.
