I've been playing the Shackled City for quite some time now and drawing close to the end but one thing I can say is that it has taken some careful manipulation on my behalf to keep the players interested in saving the city and not leaving it to its fate.
The city seems to always be in trouble, always on the edge of disaster and I feel there was not enough links in the early stages of the campaign to give the players a strong connection to the city.
If I was to redesign the adventure path again (I've already had a fair crack at that with the latter portion of the campaign) I would try and give the party more assistance, more incentives, more ownership and more motivation towards the city and campaign as a whole. Having most adventures threaten the city is an over kill in my mind and having the city never fight back is draining.
Why not have the city more as a base where the party branch out from. Why does the city need to be flooded, attacked by a vampires minions, invaded by half-orcs, corrupted by disguised politians, destroyed by volcanic eruptions before finally being enslaved and used as a planar gateway to Canceri! Just seems like a little too much for mine.
What's other people take?
Delvesdeep
We can't survive a single chapter without a TPK so we're having trouble getting vested in the city for different reasons. :/
That's no good mate. Maybe a few fudged dice rolls may be needed? :)
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That's no good mate. Maybe a few fudged dice rolls may be needed? :)
It's far too past bad that a few fudged dice rolls could help. The DM rolls all of his 20's out in the open and seems to roll all his max damage dice there too. Our current party is going back to deal with all of the dangers of the last like 5 parties, cleaning up the messes that were left unresolved by the two party members that managed to run away.
We're TPKing on encounters where we know what will happen in them. Even when we try meta-gaming it's still just crazy. Any semblance of atmosphere or people in Cauldron that might exist has completely left the game. Role-playing has jumped out the window except between party members. :(
The problem I most find is the players motivation level and perhaps that comes from DMing a more experienced party (read 30+ years). Sometimes just doing it for the greater good or to be the hero yet again doesn't cut it.
They say mixing home and work is always dangerous and perhpas that is the problem for me here. When the players return to the city to find santuary they instead find more problems. If more adventures could have set around the city rather than directly within it then the this sense of relentless need Cauldron seems to emit could have been avoided.
I think the fact that so many of the normal authority figures that a party usually turn to for guidance and assistance are disguised villians in this campaign. I think if the party recieved more support from allies and more resources/benefits from connecting themselves to the city would give them motivation to protect it relentlessly.
Delvesdeep
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@ Morgen
There are more than one organisations (The Chisel and the Fharlaghn guys) that can help the group. Bring those two half-elves in early and Shensen later (perhaps romantically involved) and you have a) a good intro to lots of history about the Powers-Behind-The-Scenes and b) people who can give you help and advice.
My group(s) always hung out in the place where the town guard went to after their shifts. Also a good way to give lots of info to the players and help, too. Jenya shuld also be a prime candidate for infos and help. Vhalantru is always on the helpful side, even when the Lord Mayor is a bloated windbag. Even an association with the Last Laugh can give info and hints about what goes wrong in the city (the Alleybashers are way more evil then those jesters). It should give hints that evil is afoot in the city and why, but not about who and how they are trying to accomplish their goals.
Use dreams to foreshadow the connection with Occipitus. Every time when one succumbs to a disease (the Vanishing in Jzadirune etc.) or was dealt Wisdom damage/drain he dreams of Occipitus (before, during and after the Cataclysm). Those with the according traits are also a big big target.
Half-orc invasion... this is planned as a Coup d'Etat from my side, when the fire comes down... even though the villain responsible should already be out of the game.
If your group has too many TPK's, you need to install a new option, that can be a last minute rescue.
Access to "Revivification" will give you lots of new options to avoid another dead player. You can also use Hero Points to lessen the impact of a critical by an enemy. The DM should also try to bring in additional help at some point where help can be really keep you out of the morgue... Fario's and Fellian's timely arrival, Nidrama, Shensen, even Jill, the Assassin of the Last Laugh. All these have reason to save the party.
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@Delvesdeep: Love your work for the campaign...
The Vampire Spawn was more of a distraction to bring necessary wares and people into the city, it was not a BIG threat.
The flooding was a bigger threat but more from outside (terrorist) forces that where once attached to the main threat and then dropped like a hot potato once their use was not necessary any more.
The half-orc "invasion" was a preparation for a Coup D'Etat by You-Know-Who. I never used it as a direct threat to the city.
If you make it clearer to the group that a really really crazy group has made this town their Base of Operations and do not hesitate to use unnecessary force to further their own agenda, the past threats to the city should be like a hint of even worse things that may happen.
The fiery cataclysm should be the last threat to Cauldron itself... the rest of the campaign should concentrate to bring the hurt to the culprits of the deed.
And then they find out, that the prisoner may be free again, free to wreak havoc on the whole world and the plane Occipitus, that the evildoers may be successful after all. But his should happen in the hideout of the masterminds behind the outbreak of the volcano and lead to the Endgame...
The direct threats to the city should be the flooding, the takeover of the town council through a hidden Coup D'Etat and the eruption of the volcano. The other adventures are set outside of the city, but have a connection to the overall threat to the region. Romantic involvement, acceptance from the denizens and council members of the City, perhaps a seat in the Council later and the deed to the belongings of the caught/dead traitors should bring additional motivation to save the city and the region.
Skee and her shop, even the hated rival adventurers of the Stormblades, the rescued prisoners from the Malachite Fortress and their families. Maavu and Tycho Amberhelm, Jenya, Skylar Krewis, Fario and Fellian, Shensen... the group has lots of possibilities to build a network of trusted and not so trusted connections. Some of those may turn out to be on the other side after all, but that should only fasten the resolve to root out the evil that has taken a hold in the town...
(in my campaign Hadamar Skellerang, the brother of Terseon Skellerang, the Captain of the Watch, is the proprietor of the inn/tavern that the Watch goes to after work... and he is one of the leading figures of the Last Laugh, but you can also have a fight in the Guild itself, some working for the Powers-Behind-The-Scenes and some trying to maintain their independence).
I know that you getting near to the finish line and I applaud you to it. My three attempts where all cut short... if the new Town Council can somehow give roles of responsibility to your party for saving the city again and again, they should gain a new vested interest to protect and rebuild the City (the new Captain of the Watch, a seat on the Town Council, a thank-you-party by the rescued citizens, ballads about their adventures, even a festival day like the Demonskar Ball in order to remember their role in the fiery catastrophe that so nearly ruined the city, naming the "new" sites in the city after the adventurers...). Just let them feel the thankfulness and joy about being alive.