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First of all, my party is all relatively new to role-playing games. The party consists of a cleric/mage, a sorcerer, a fighter and a rogue. I've managed fairly well, to keep them from wandering over much and they've done a good job connecting to Saul and the Gold Goblin.
My party just finished the attack on the Foamrunner encounter. They finished off the Zincher's lackeys rather quickly. Upon returning the casks of liquor to the Gold Goblin, they decide they wanna take up what happened with Zincher himself.
Using some amazing diplomacy, the party is granted an audience with Zincher. Instead of continuing to use diplomacy, they switch tactics and attempt to intimidate Zincher. Zincher doesn't back down and lets the party leave.
At this point, I figure they should learn a lesson, don't piss off crimelords who are more powerful than you. So I pull up the trusty Riddleport Encounters sheet and the party runs across a press ganger. Before initiative is rolled, the press ganger sneers, "Zincher sends his regards."
In the ensuing fight, the whole party is knocked unconscious due to non-lethal damage. Now we enter my conundrum. What should happen to the party? Are the fed to Zincher's Arena and have to fight their way out? Are they sold to slavers?
I already had the Raid encounter scheduled to happen the next night. I'm going to have the raid continue on schedule and the party with have to deal with the consequences of the Raid going off without a hitch. Saul will be slain and the Gold Goblin burnt to the ground. But how do I redirect everything after these events?
Hmmm.... What if you just skip ahead to Children of the Void? I would have the PCs come to in chains in the hold of a ship at sea. The ship could be recognized as an infamous illegal slaver that doesn't pay its share to the Overlord, so another ship attacks to bring them back for a reward. When they arrive back at Riddleport, they find that the meteor struck while they were at sea and the PCs are left with nothing ... except they hear that there could be valuable metal on the island where the meteor hit that would allow them to start over. The ship that overtook and defeated the slavers could even be Josper Creesy's Flying Cloud so they could team up with him for a ride to the island, and you're right back on track!
Alternatively, you could have the tsunami caused by the meteor strike wreck the ship the PCs are on. They manage to salvage some of their gear and piece together a raft from wreckage. After a day or so, they float to the shore of a mysterious island ... Devil's Elbow. Put a few shipwrecks around the shoals for them to scavenge the equipment they need, and they'll be ever so motivated when they discover that Clegg Zincher is on this island trying to beat some other teams to valuable skymetal.
Either way, random encounters at sea or on the island can make up the XP gap.
No problem. My players never follow a storyline, so I'm used to making things up as I go along. :)
You could even still use some of the encounters they skipped over. The wrecked ships in the shallows off Devil's Elbow are inhabited by a gang of wererats (Boneyard Ambush). Then they have to make their way up to the surface of the island from the bottom of the seacliff through an old smugglers' tunnel (the smugglers' tunnel under the Gold Goblin). It's fewer statblocks and maps you have to come up with yourself for random encounters.
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I'd already started working on something similar. What I was going to do was have Kwava save the party by using the Flying Cloud and then getting them back on track with the game. I'm still going to penalize them by having the Gold Goblin burn to the ground.
If it was me, the hottest gossip in town when they get back would be about how some other bunch of guys had a really cool fight on top of the Cyphergate ..... With at least some speculation as to exactly what it was they fought.
Actually, burning down the Gold Goblin seems like such a good idea I'm going to make sure it happens if I ever run the AP. It gives them a good reason to head out to the island, and makes sure they don't decide they prefer being casino owners to adventuring.
EDIT It also reminded me of How James Wallis Ruined My Character's Life which is always a good thing.
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Actually, burning down the Gold Goblin seems like such a good idea I'm going to make sure it happens if I ever run the AP. It gives them a good reason to head out to the island, and makes sure they don't decide they prefer being casino owners to adventuring.
This has been a huge problem for my group. They don't even go out seeking much adventure. They're more interested in running the Goblin than in being adventurers.
Yeah, I replaced the reverse raid after the Boneyard Ambush with Saul torching the place and escaping down the smugglers' tunnel and made the PCs try to fight the fire. Otherwise, there were a few of them who would have wanted to stay and run the casino, too. :)