Skipping most of House of the Beast?

[dwtempest]

I'm wondering how much of the plot would be ruined if I skipped most of the second book in this AP, focusing just on the recovery of the scroll. I ask this not because the second book is bad, simply that my players prefer to have very little dungeon crawling.

A little background:

My players all started at level 4 (they hate the early levels) and I adjusted the first book's challenge accordingly. I also had the group start in Katapesh so even using slow progression they just hit level 7 at the end of the first book.

What I am thinking is that I could do just the important bits of House of the Beast and pop them right into The Jackal's Price.

So my question is, what do folks feel are the most important things to hit in book 2, and do you foresee any issues with skipping most of the second book?

[Dire Mongoose]

My players pretty much did that unintentionally and it worked out okay. I think the House of the Beast is in a sense poorly designed in that it is very, very easy to circumvent most of it (that is to say, you have a pretty good chance to do so without meaning to) and go straight to the Carrion King and from there into the scroll levels.

You may want to review the second half of book 6, which returns to the House of the Beast, to make sure whatever you come up with works with that.

[Erik Freund]

Before you head out for the House, I'd recommend a little overland adventuring. The support article in that AP issue is excellent, and it would be a shame not to use it. Also, this can start to demonstrate that the armies aren't on the march, and maybe the rumors of war were false...

Once you get to the House, the exterior of the building is pretty cool: the crumbling mosque in the mountains. Do that, if for scenery alone.

Skip the Troglodytes.

Skip the whole prisoner-revolt thing.

Obviously, you'll want to confront the Carrion King himself. If only because the PCs heard him howling in the last module. But it's also important to start introducing the faith of Rovagug. So you'll want a bit of build-up: include the Goblin pilgrim of Lamashtu to give you some background, and fight a few gaurds. Then throw down against the King.

Then have the whole interesting interaction with Zayafid.

Then do the spelunk under the throne. Make sure to do the catacombs (at least from a visual point of view) to show the wierd wish-warped soldiers. That will be important prelude.

And as Mongoose said, you'll want to look ahead to book 6 to see what parts you want to reprise.

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One stylistic thing I'll recommend: you say your PCs don't like "dungeon crawling": I'm assuming that means "long grindfests of killing lots of enemies" moreso than it means "don't like being underground." From a thematics and exploration point of view, I would recommend keeping most of the floorplan of the House intact, but simply leaving it abandoned. Your party might really enjoy exploring the old place, and looking at the frescos and figuring out what it portends, so long as you're not subjecting them to hours and hours of combats.

It's a neat place that sets a neat mood. Don't throw it out for the wrong reasons.

Just a thought.

[dwtempest]

Erik Freund wrote:

It's a neat place that sets a neat mood. Don't throw it out for the wrong reasons.

Just a thought.

Great ideas! Yeah it is the grinding combat that is the biggest culprit. The exploration of the setting is fine.

Thanks!

[John Mangrum]

Dire Mongoose wrote:

My players pretty much did that unintentionally and it worked out okay. I think the House of the Beast is in a sense poorly designed in that it is very, very easy to circumvent most of it (that is to say, you have a pretty good chance to do so without meaning to) and go straight to the Carrion King and from there into the scroll levels.

The sandbox nature of the dungeon is definitely a double-edged sword. My players entered the House of the Beast via the Mountain's Maw--choosing not to even lay eyes on the outer temple first--and immediately after tackling all of the opposition in the slave warrens, went downstairs and stumbled directly onto the Carrion King in his harem.

That part is fairly awesome, and my players loved the fact that the adventure design specifically allowed them to, essentially, accidentally catch the Big Bad while he's just chilling out in the break room.

The catch is that my players tend to have a myopic view on the end goal, and sometimes need a little nudging to go exploring. Immediately after killing the Carrion King (and losing one of five PCs to the fight), they hightailed it right back out of there (with half the complex on their heels, admittedly) -- but then, even after stumbling into the discovery that they'd been set up by a conniving power behind the throne, they elected to hike all the way back to Kelmarane, there to drop off the rescued slaves and rest up before returning.

In other words, my players knew that there was a new Big Bad and that they'd just done exactly what he'd asked them to do, but they had no idea how close they'd just put the villain toward achieving his goals. Giving New Big Bad two weeks of unimpeded treasure hunting? Not sure my players would have enjoyed jumping straight to Book Six at 6th level... :)

Moral of the story: GMs need to be conscious of storytelling tightropes not just in Book Three, but Book Two as well!