Floyd Wesel |
SO SOME SPOILERS ARE PROBABLY HERE...
Okay, so we finished the Bastard of Erebus last session and I will be doing a few side missions to get them deeper into 3rd level, but I am reading ahead, of course, and I am just not "feeling" Sixfold Trials.
What I mean to say is it is not *interesting* to me. Don't get me wrong I love the play *idea*, but I kinda...well... *hate* ...the dungeon/knot thing.
So I am considering #26 and just doing my own thing, then later on have the Pathfinder show up with an extra set of keys for the lodge.
Alternatively, I was thinking their next "AP mission" could be going to escort the Pathfinder into the city and helping her just steal the keys from someone else other than the mayor.
I don't know.
SO, please, post up what you think is GREAT about #26 and why I SHOULD use it. Alternatively, tell me why I am right and should ignore it and go on with something else...
Thanks!!!
The_Minstrel_Wyrm |
Hmmm...
Well as I've been reading through CoT parts... "The Sixfold Trials" seemed really interesting to me... enough so that I'm "attempting" to finish what my Monday group is currently doing, so that I can run the Council of Thieves AP for them starting early next year.
One thing I really liked about The Sixfold Trials... some of the players I've got are TOTAL hams when it comes to role-playing, and I think they'd have a blast with the "play within a role-playing game" scenario. (So, I'd run it just for that table-top RPG collective experience... and the memories it would create.) I think I understand your "problem" with the Asmodean-Knot... although I think this "pocket dimension/dungeon crawl" is pretty important, and events that occur within have consequences later on in the AP. (Not that you didn't already know that...) Oh... and they'll need the Chelish Crux to better navigate Delvehaven...
So, what was your specific "hang-up" with Sixfold Trials? (Besides not "feeling" the Asmodean Knot?)
TMW
FarmerBob |
Keep what you like, and change what you don't. I do think having them go in search of the Chelish Crux (or at least its contents) will make your life easier, since that is quite important for the next chapter.
If you don't like the Knot, maybe you can keep the play and the party. Perhaps at the party, they learn some information that leads them to the location of the Crux, and you run a different crawl for that.
My situation is the opposite. I'm afraid my group won't want to do the play or the party, and instead dive straight into the Knot...
Tyler |
So I scanned out a script of the play for each of my players,(which I think was pretty necessary) and we had one of the best sessions ever. It starts pretty dangerous, and I had to help them through the trial of passion(?) with Millech, but they did alright and it was super close: someone would have died but for a slight rules slip.
Trial==awesome in my experience. Dangerous. Ridiculous. And everyone loves Calseinica. I was on the fence, but some people really like to get into it. You sort of have to be a little hammy yourself, but it works out.
We rushed the party a bit, and it turned out sort of mediocre... if your players don't like heavy roleplaying, talking, partying, etc., I'd probably recommend turning it into a bunch of social skill checks or something. As for exploring the mansion... some of the stuff is pretty necessary for them (a certain wand) to survive later, but it's just too big to draw out every empty room (which I did, and they hated me). Just make sure you tell them it's Council of Thieves for a reason, and they should have a good Perception person.
After that, the Knot is actually pretty cool. There's just millions of diseases that keep you from resting (my players have 3 diseases each). And the stat damage balances out the cure wands they'll probably have. As a whole, I think it's pretty well-designed from a balance standpoint, and I actually enjoyed using the "free agent" in the complex to my own design. She was pretty fun.
Since you have 7, I'd drop in an extra monster or advance something in each encounter.
Biggest thing to take away is that the play itself was basically the most fun I've ever had playing D&D as a DM or a player. </2c>
Deidre Tiriel |
This will have spoilers:
The asmodean knot is Very Important to the plot of the AP! Atleast wait until you get the 4th book before you start changing things.
The Knot is connected to the place below where the pit fiend who will escape is. I would read Infernal Syndrome and then decide what to do. As for the Knot, maybe you can change the flavor of it. Instead of a pocket dimension, make it part of the house itself. I'd add some extra hallways or stairs to help make some of the encounters make sense.
Change some of the rooms or encounters, but it being where it is, and the part about the cut chains is important to the next book, and perhaps beyond.
You would really be hurting your players if you just had Ailyn show up with an extra set of keys. There is a lot of information and side quests to get more information for how to deal with Delvehaven.
The Knot is also a place to help the group catch up on some gold. Delvehaven really makes up for the lack of money, but they need the extra XP before going there, and the extra information.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
There's more to the Knot than just finding keys to Delvehaven. The important part of the whole Knot is the Chelish Crux. The next chapter of the AP relies HEAVILY on it and its contents.
Having a Pathfinder just "show up" with the Crux would seriously damage the story IMHO.
The Knot also helps to foreshadow the events and some of the villains and situations in the fourth adventure. And in fact, some events that take place inside the Knot actually CAUSE the fourth adventure to happen.