First i ask that my Players Stop reading now, as this will make kingmaker no fun knowing whats coming (Jeremy, Josh, Eric, Clark, TRISTAN, Ashlee, and Eric)
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Ok so here is the break down. A Paladin joined the party on the way to Vordakai under the conditions that the Party help him complete his Quest After. He is a paladin of Apsu and he was investigating the missing Silver Dragon in Noman Heights. After Defeating Vordakai the Paladin took the party to the Silver dragons layer where they found out about The Black Dragon. They then went to restov and the Paladin of Apsu payed for a commune. Nut shelling the Commune, he found out the dragon Is in a place that is both on the material plane and not at the same time Thousand Breaths). The Wizard knowledge Planes and the Druid knowledged nature to know of such a place existing in the stolen lands. The Oracle also Diplomacy'ed to find out that a black dragon was known to live near thousand Voices (the forest). They also found out that the Vegetation there grows bigger, better, etc do to the connection to first world, and knew that the same effect happens in another place in the area. The Abby. The Paladin then asked if there was something on importance in the Abby and got an answer of Yes. He then decided the party shall march to the abby as per his quest.
Normally i would be like "oh sh|t this is gonna TPK them " except the boss was a ghost and vordakai did not even get a 2nd turn do to the 2 Paladins smithing (one was mounted with a lance and Critted).
So one paladin died, as did the druid. The Oracle almost died after being possessed... But they killed the ghost. I have changed the story at this point slighly. The Halfling is a Ghost BUT he was not killed by agents of Pitax. The Sword and the Shawl were still there. They released the Neried, and no have Briar. The Question is... what changes now?
Here are my idea's so far.
- The WereRat from the Abbey will seek them out, to collect the sword
- Part of the reason for the Tournament will be to see if they bring the sword
- The Mass Combat from Pitax will be stronger and not spread out like it is in Book 5/6. THEY WANT THAT SWORD. Even the tanzleford combat may be stronger.
- I am debating the Cave in book 4 being there, that has the Followers of Gorum and the Tiger Barbarians. I think its dumbs, and has no relevance.
- I think i might take anything story related, and expand on there and make it less Sandbox.
Opinions? Please?
Thank you for your time.
I think the opposite - now is the time to embrace the sandbox nature of the campaign. Sounds to me you're ready to kick start the War of the River Kings, except now the PCs are going to face both Pitax and Drelev on at the same time!
It's the sandbox that got you into this situation in the first place - you can use the sandbox to get you out of it. They should still not have a clear idea what Briar can do (unless you've already told them), and so they should be able to face the War of the River Kings without too much interference from the First World.
I think you should go right to the Battle of Tatzlford, and start bringing out armies from Pitax as well. You'll have to meld Blood for Blood and War of the River Kings together, thus making part 4 less interesting (not that it was very much interesting at all...) but I would keep the section with Arnag, and have Arnag go on the offensive with his Tiger Lord barbarians, trying to get the sword back for Niressia.
And, if the PCs learned what Briar actually was, Niressia might kick start things herself. Get all of her minions acting on the PCs at once - send Arnag, Drelev, Pitax, and the manifestations from Sound of a Thousand Screams all at once. The whole of the Stolen Lands slipping into dire chaos, with your PCs having to knock out each problem once at a time.
Greetings, fellow travellers.
I agree to what Atrus wrote (although I would suggest to use the spoiler tag next time).
That's exactly what will happen in such a setting - sandbox all the way.
Ruyan.
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I concur with both of the above posters.
Book 4 & Book 5 are, in a nutshell, the process by which they are supposed to learn about their true enemies, where they lay, and how to get there.
So, via the new war that's about to erupt all over the Stolen Lands, they get to learn all that and more.
Move the location based encounters as needed, and roll the "NPC" based encounters into whichever conflict is present at the appropriate time/level/area.
Now, they have to deal with a "worst case" scenario, with 2 mobile, aggressive territories ready to invade and start whipping their butts.
Upshot: you have a LOT of leeway for time-frames here. Creating, mobilizing, and maintaining armies is EXPENSIVE, even for a marauding horde.
Rather than have a probing, mobile battle scenario, the PC's have to choose their defensive locations wisely, delay or destroy multiple foes in the field, and deal with the repercussions inherent there.