Hangman's Noose crossover?

[Erik Freund]

I'm looking at mods to insert into the Carrion Crown path to make the campaign last longer, do some plotweaving, and not be so obvious that it's a monster mash road show. Has anyone that's played Hangman's Noose think this would be a good module to slip into Ravengro before the events of Haunting of Harrowstone? Or as fallout to deal with post-Harrowstone? (apparently many people think it's better balanced with a 3rd level party anyways)

I know that Absalom is a slightly bigger city than Ravengro, but does it require being in a metapolis? Finding a detailed synopsis of Hangman is pretty difficult.

I'm looking for thoughts or input.

Thanks!

[golem101]

Hangman's Noose takes place in a ruined tribunal building set in a destitute district - that should be pretty easy to custom fit anywhere. Given that Ravengro was a town founded to support a state prison, and suffered a bit of depopulation after the fall of the prison itself (thusly having its share of abandoned buildings/city areas), it seems to me pretty easy to change the details needed to place the tribunal there - even if the original area is on a cliff crumbling into the sea.

You may need to work a bit on the NPCs of the cast, as they are somehow more fit for a cosmopolitan metropolis such as Absalom, and some of them would be out of character with the Ustalav gothic horror theme (Malgrim the hobgoblin, mostly).
A couple of things to keep in mind: it was written for the 3.5 rules (changes needed and a couple of creatures to be rewritten from the ground up) and maybe some "visions" can be changed for greater efficiency to haunts instead of being just narrative from the DM.

IIRC, there are only minor references to Absalom itself, so the module could be easily set anywhere without disrupting any major element.
Also, given some of the premises in the adventure's background, it could also work as a stronger tie between the PCs and Ravengro.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I ran it near the beginning of Crimson Throne. Great fun, and it fit without much difficulty.

One possible concern: might be undead overload if you play this and Harrowstone back to back.

Doug M.

[Bofdm]

Why not change the flavor of Hangman's Noose to make it a sort of prologue to the Carrion Crown AP? It would add to the attachment of Professor Lorrimor if that adventure was where the PCs first met him and each other.

Saving the day as young adventurers (or just bystanders, and Hangman's is how they become drawn into that lifestyle or are at least given a taste of it) and then finding out that the man who helped get them through that terrible night died could help bring the party together.

There would be a couple of bits of flavor in Hangman's that would be rearranged but otherwise not too great of a hassle. There would be the possibility of making Lorrimor out as the "hero" of the first adventure - all with the help of these up and coming youngsters of course.

Just a thought.

[Boxhead]

I think with the right changes, you certainly could use Hangman's Noose as the opening to Carrion Crown. It would be easy to tie the courthouse into the prison town.

I think it's very unnecessary though, and you'd likely find that the plot feels too similar to Harrowstone's. Plus you'll have 2 haunted environments back-to-back.

[Erik Freund]

Boxhead wrote:

I think it's very unnecessary though, and you'd likely find that the plot feels too similar to Harrowstone's. Plus you'll have 2 haunted environments back-to-back.

I seem to be getting some pushback to this idea (from you and others) and I want to be sensative to that.

How "haunted" is Hangman? I mean that from a mechanical angle, not a story-angle. I'm fine with having "lots of ghostly activity": I think that would help the theme. But in Harrowstone, many of the "haunts" are a specific type of encounter that only specific character types can readily interact with. (In my reading, Harrowstone has more haunts than it does monsters to fight.) And I would hate to have my more martial PCs getting sidelined for two modules in a row.

And in what ways dose the plot feel too similar? Is it just thematic, or are there specific plot elements that are in alignment? For example, I would not want to run Cage of Delirium anywhere near Harrowstone, because the latter feels inspired by the former.

[Douglas Muir 406]

I see two points of thematic similarity. One, they both involve undead who were imprisoned / killed by the criminal justice system. (And both take place in buildings of that system -- a courthouse, a jail.) Two, laying undead to rest.

I think you could still run them back-to-back. The trick would be to play up the differences.

1) Hangman's Noose takes place in or near a big city. Stick with that! It'll emphasize the contrast when you move to a small town.

2) In Hangman's Noose, you're stuck in the dungeon and can't get out. Harrowstone you can move pretty freely in and out.

3) There's one friendly undead in Harrowstone. Everything in Hangman's Noose is trying to kill you.

4) Lots and lots of NPCs in the Noose! None inside the dungeon in Harrowstone.

-- In fact, as I think about it, the NPCs are probably the biggest difference. The Noose is all about the NPCs; you beat that dungeon by figuring out what's going on, not by beating the BBEG (who is basically unbeatable... knock him down and an hour later he gets back up again.)

Yeah, I think this is doable. Despite the similarities, the two should /feel/ very different in play.

Doug M.

[Douglas Muir 406]

Some further thoughts. Your martial characters will find no shortage of things to do in Hangman's Noose! That dungeon has plenty of monsters. My PCs were only frustrated by two -- the shadow (magic weapons only, 50% miss chance) and the BBEG (for obvious reasons).

Play it as a mystery that evolves into tragedy. IMC, I played the NPCs so that the least sympathetic were killed or maimed first. The PCs really got into this... nobody was unhappy with what happened to Hurkes or the gnome, but by the time they were down to the last few NPCs they were getting seriously concerned.

I only had to make one significant tweak

spoiler:

Hanging Wade. Bastard though he is, I thought this might be a bit much.

So I had the paladin, Sir Richard, convene a quick "trial" and convict him. Wade screams that Richard can't do this, it's against the law... and Richard tears off his paladin insignia! (I had already shown him being first stubborn, but then increasingly confused and distraught as he realized what he'd done.) Under Richard's instruction, the PCS were delighted to hang Wade. (It helped that I had him start with "you can't do this, you dogs!" and progress to "I have money! A thousand -- no, five thousand! You there! You need money, I can see!"

Otherwise, it was great. Five stars, really strongly recommended.

Note that both adventures have hooks that bring a party of unrelated characters together -- either "you were related to former jurors" or "friends of Professor Lorrimar". You'll have to pick one and throw out the other. But that should be very doable.

Also, you would probably want to insert something different in between the two, as a palate cleanser -- a short wilderness adventure or some such.

Doug M.

[Boxhead]

Erik Freund wrote:

Boxhead wrote:

I think it's very unnecessary though, and you'd likely find that the plot feels too similar to Harrowstone's. Plus you'll have 2 haunted environments back-to-back.

I seem to be getting some pushback to this idea (from you and others) and I want to be sensative to that.

How "haunted" is Hangman? I mean that from a mechanical angle, not a story-angle. I'm fine with having "lots of ghostly activity": I think that would help the theme. But in Harrowstone, many of the "haunts" are a specific type of encounter that only specific character types can readily interact with. (In my reading, Harrowstone has more haunts than it does monsters to fight.) And I would hate to have my more martial PCs getting sidelined for two modules in a row.

And in what ways dose the plot feel too similar? Is it just thematic, or are there specific plot elements that are in alignment? For example, I would not want to run Cage of Delirium anywhere near Harrowstone, because the latter feels inspired by the former.

Hangman definitely has a fistful of haunts in it. It also has a few monsters (so fighters should be fine). It is much more of an investigation style adventure (though once the PCs meet the female shadow, they will likely be reluctant to trust the "innocent" ghost).

I loved Hangman's Noose, I highly recommend it to anyone. I'm just concerned it would thematically overlap instead of compliment Harrowstone. It also draws much more heavily on true horror themes than Harrowstone (things like the invincible foe, helpless heroes, secrets upon secrets, all that fun stuff).

Just my opinion, though. The best you can do is pick it up and see if it fits your plans. Otherwise, save it for another night. Like I said- it is a great adventure.