Many of us know about the Scourge of the Slavelords and how much fun that was for being a simple dungeon crawl :)
Right now I am possibly running Scourge. However, the PCs are all about 9th level. Since the original adventures are written for character level 6 or so, I need to ramp the series up a notch.
One of the things I was conisdering was adding in 'bound' sorcerers. That is, the Slavers not only take and sell slaves, but when they find children and adolescents with the Arcane Gift, they seed them with either Infernal or Abyssal (I haven't decided yet) blood so they can be bound and subjected to specific control measures. The end result is that many of the lieutenants have pet Sorcs that are unwilling enforcers for the Slavers.
Does that sound interesting as a twist?
GNOME
Many of us know about the Scourge of the Slavelords and how much fun that was for being a simple dungeon crawl :)
Right now I am possibly running Scourge. However, the PCs are all about 9th level. Since the original adventures are written for character level 6 or so, I need to ramp the series up a notch.
One of the things I was conisdering was adding in 'bound' sorcerers. That is, the Slavers not only take and sell slaves, but when they find children and adolescents with the Arcane Gift, they seed them with either Infernal or Abyssal (I haven't decided yet) blood so they can be bound and subjected to specific control measures. The end result is that many of the lieutenants have pet Sorcs that are unwilling enforcers for the Slavers.
Does that sound interesting as a twist?
GNOME
I like it. Fighting a boss plus an enslaved sorcerer (and hopefully minions on top of that) splits the parties attention during a fight, plus you get to throw in some guilt for killing people who were once innocent and at the mercy of the slavers.
One of the children may not have been brainwashed completely, and be willing to give information to the PCs in return for helping them escape.
Another option is have a local King or Druid circle have agents in the area, helping people escape and keep an eye on the slavers. This is just to tie the plot to the area so it's not just PCs vs the Evil guys.
For background you can also tie in the PCs, so one of their siblings, mentors, fellow guild members etc gets captured by the slavers.
If you want to start the game with a bang, have the PCs start by being captured and inform them they were sent into the area to investigate.
Thanks guys :)
For the mechanical side, the Sorc is not 'brainwashed' so much as Dominated by a demon, possessed if you will. I was thinking along the line of 40K style Daemonhosts. So, each Sorc is bound in body, it's soul either crushed or devoured by it's possessing spirit. In order to control the Daemonhost, the lieutenant they are 'gifted' to have them in a mask, this full face mask does a couple of things. One, it acts as the trap version of Magic Circle against Evil; two, it acts as a Protection from Good; and three it forces the possessing spirit to it's home plane in the event of the follower's death-a failsafe ot keep the Demon from simply killing the host and freeing itself. It also has the drawback (from PC's PoV) that it frees a decent strength Demon if the mask is removed while the host is alive... or maybe, "we are legion" and a series of Demons is released based on the power of the Sorc: each of his "spells" is the channeled effect of an individual Demon.
I like the idea of binding the (haha-punny) PCs to the adventure by making it personal... Maybe one of the PC's younger siblings, has recently been captured. And maybe that sibling had recently been tested as having the Arcane Gift? *evil laugh* :D
As of right now, the PCs are all centered in an establishment we created for Absalom: "Big Molly's Soup and a Show" The PCs have a reputation for being heroes and their skills have been tested in such events in the past. Even though (by implication) Slavery is technically legal in Absalom, it is still morally repugnant.
Now, here's another question: Should I leave the Humanoid enemies in place while sprinkling in more powerful versions of the bad guys? sic, Hobgoblin with Rogue, Fighter or Cleric levels. (I am thinking Red Hand of Doom style, here.) The crux of the matter is how poweful are these slavers? Bad enough to challenge 9th level PCs are pretty powerful slavers!
GNOME
One of my buddies is just in the phase of finishing this series up. He ran it for his teenage daughter and her friends and he converted alot of it to Pathfinder. I will give him a call and encourage him to share notes with you if you like. It might save you some trouble.
Katerek,
Sorry it took so long to get back to you, but being in Durkadurkastan makes the interwebs unreliable!
If you could finagle it, I would like a copy of the work done before! If only to see what someone else thought of for the adventure :D
Let me know via email: chuknretch at yahoo dot com
Thanks!
GNOME
Gnome
I JUST saw your response. Sorry man. I sent word to my buddy, hopefully you guys can exchange info.