Underlying Plot Twist (spoiler)

[demontroll]

So, I was looking at running the CotCT adventure path. I haven't read it yet, but it seems just a bit too obvious that Queen Ileosa is the underlying bad guy. Peaking at the adventure description for Crown of Fangs reveals that, "The time has come to put down mad Queen Ileosa before she can utterly destroy the city...."

Would there be a way to modify this AP to have some other evil party be behind the activities in order to frame the rightful Queen and then slip in as ruler of Korvosa? Maybe some evil organization who has a semi-respectable person to act on their behalf as a puppet ruler.

Any ideas? has anyone done this?

[NobodysHome]

I love it! However, the entire discussion below is a spoiler on the AP. Don't read it unless you're planning on GM'ing it, because I'm going to give away a few key plot points.

The Plot Thickens:

My very first thought is, "Have Eodred find the Fangs of Kazavon, fake his own death, and frame the queen for the whole thing!"

The major issue I foresee is that Korvosa descends into chaos and turmoil, loses the Hellknights and griffon riders, guts the Korvosan guard, and replaces them all with Grey Maidens. It's hard to imagine how a queen trying to save her city could make such a series of blunders, but perhaps she has an evil adviser making her make all the wrong decisions? You could have the adviser be Eodred in disguise, or some really nasty priest of a Chaotic Evil cult trying to undermine the city.

There are a few scenes you need to rewrite, but that's pretty easy stuff.

In Module 1, the king dies, the city explodes into anarchy, and the characters help the Korvosan guard quell the uprisings. The queen isn't involved, so there's really not a problem.

In Module 2, plague arrives. That's easy to explain away with a corrupt adviser. Again, very few changes need to be made.

Module 3 is only slightly harder: The characters have to rescue key political figures and get them out of Old Korvosa because they have information about the queen. You don't want to play your hand and reveal the real villain yet, but you don't want the characters to rescue a couple of dupes. So you have to figure out, "Why do the characters need to rescue these political figures, and what do they know that the characters can find out without messing up my ruse?"

Modules 4 and 5 take place outside of Korvosa and could be used essentially as written.

Module 6 would require major work, but by that point, you'd have a very good idea of the NPCs, the city, and the party, and you could work out how to work in the fake Ileosas, all the devils, and everything else that makes Module 6 so nasty.

So the only thing that would take major re-work on your part would be the climax. How card could that be? ;-)

Good luck!

[hogarth]

Be careful, though -- not every player appreciates "your character was a chump all along, isn't that hilarious?" plot twists.

(I'm not saying that's what you're asking for, but that's the kind of thing that should be avoided, IMO.)

[demontroll]

hogarth wrote:

Be careful, though -- not every player appreciates "your character was a chump all along, isn't that hilarious?" plot twists.

The player's guide says: "Ileosa Arabasti: Queen of Korvosa, Ileosa is barely a third the age of her husband. Rumors say that she holds much of Korvosa in contempt, and that she seduced the king into marrying her simply to advance her own wealth and riches."

Also there is a good chance my player's will just know the Queen is behind everything as this AP has been out for a while.

What I am looking for is a way to change the story throughout the AP so that it may look like the Queen is behind this (because she is being framed). Likewise there will be clues that she is being set up. A player who is meta-gaming will dismiss those clues as "Red Herrings" because they "know" the Queen is guilty. Therefore, I could pile on lots of clues that there are other forces at work, yet the meta-gaming player will only see what they think is the truth. They may at the end realize they were a chump, but only because they didn't believe the writing on the wall.

Ideally what I would strive for would be something like a good movie where there are two (or more) plausible explanations and one is kept guessing until near the end. I'm not planning to make this a surprise at the end like: "Oops, you just killed the Queen and now you learn she was innocent."

[demontroll]

NobodysHome wrote:

I love it! However, the entire discussion below is a spoiler on the AP. Don't read it unless you're planning on GM'ing it, because I'm going to give away a few key plot points.

** spoiler omitted **...

This is exactly what I was looking for.

*Rubs hands together*
With a Mr. Burn's voice: "Excellent"

[NobodysHome]

Glad to be of service (until your players come after me with the torches and pitchforks)!

Just be sure to read well ahead and plan the plot twists in advance; even though Ileosa is essentially a very minor character in Modules 1 and 2, you're going to have to change the way she is played/presented a bit, and you want to watch out for that. Figure out the whole plot/conspiracy first, then read the modules with an eye for, "What am I going to have to change?"

Honestly, I think 1-5 could be done very easily; probably in a matter of hours.

6 is some real heavy lifting, but considering an AP takes months to get through, you should have plenty of time to figure out how to modify it.

[Cintra Bristol]

Since you say that you haven't read the adventure path yet, I'm going to play devil's advocate here.

This adventure path is the only one, I believe, where the PCs can see who the big bad guy is almost from the very beginning. They meet the queen early on, and begin to get a "something's not right" vibe during the first adventure. However, there's literally nothing they can do about it. She's the queen, she's got competent people ready to protect her, and (perhaps most important) they have no proof of wrongdoing in the early stages. By the time they have gained a few levels and are beginning to see more worrisome signs, they also get a very clear indication that the queen is still way out of their league.

I strongly recommend that as you read the adventures, you try to keep an open mind about whether to switch BBEGs. If after reading them, you still feel this is needed to maintain the suspense, absolutely go ahead and make the change. But I wanted to say all this because I know my players sometimes feel like the adventure path BBEGs come out of nowhere, way too late in the story, and they treasured the opportunity to carry the grudge in this one from chapter 1 straight on through to the end of the story...

[Sentack]

Re-writing a few elements of the plot might not be a horrible idea considering that many of the storylines of these AP's have been spoiled to even the most casual reader of these forums. So here's a version I came up with that attempts to salvage as much of the modules as possible but makes the end reveal slightly different. Note, I've only briefly read over the modules and haven't run this nor reviewed the whole series extensively. Here's what you could do though.

Revised Plotline:

The key point of the story is that Ileosa is possessed by a fragment of the spirit of Kazavon which gives her a great deal of power. In the original story, she's using this gift to eventually work her way up into gaining almost god like powers. The main twist you can place on this is that her goal is actually try and free herself from Kazavon's control, by any means possible. If that might include killing thousands to save millions should Kazavon get free, then so be it.

With this twist, you make vague suggestions that everything the queen does, seems to have the aura of benevolence to it but with a lack of any real experience that would help forge better choices. She's a very young woman who was just was thrusted into an extremely hostile political world before she was ready for it. For you see, the king died of natural causes, not poisoning but more then a few factions in the city were ready to make sure she took the blame for it. Combined with struggling against the possession, she's having a growing more difficult situation to deal with. Her actions are drastic and draconian but her intentions are noble.

So change the events slightly to make sure that several of the situations are based on the manipulations of 3rd parties trying to wrestle control away from her. In the end, she starts to perform evil, only to try and regain control over what she feels is the city and the last fragments of her mind, slipping from her. This leads to the PC's having to figure out what they can do to save her, which sadly isn't much beyond killing her.

The traditional tragic figure is much better laid out then this but you can make it work.