I am looking at running a version of this AP, tha I hope can avoid some of the pitfalls of the path.
As far as I can tell the true heart of the AP is the battle against the shadow beasts. That is best served by these three chapters:
- The Six Fold Trial (Lvl 3-5)
- What Lies In The Dust (Lvl 5-7)
- Mother of Flies (Lvl 9-10)
As near as I can tell, this is a complete story. It also largely avoids the "plot" with the Drovenge coup d'etat of the Council.
If, I created a new Shadow/Vampire first chapter and lowered the CRs in Mother of Flies, would the AP still be viable?
In a city the size of Westcrown, that shouldn't be too hard, though.
IMO though perhaps the best thing to do would be to simply reflavor the early part (rather than "joining an armed resistance" the PCs are encountering/befriending like-minded Wiscrani who want to build better lives for the city - this is closer to what is actually going on, anyhow).
Anyhow you are right that this could make a self-contained story with a moderate amount of work, something a skilled DM can manage if they have the time. ^_^
In a city the size of Westcrown, that shouldn't be too hard, though.
IMO though perhaps the best thing to do would be to simply reflavor the early part (rather than "joining an armed resistance" the PCs are encountering/befriending like-minded Wiscrani who want to build better lives for the city - this is closer to what is actually going on, anyhow).
I was thinking more in terms of somethng undead/darkness themed - and creating more "undead/darkness" themed traits that would provide a bit more motivation then the existing ones do.
Anyhow you are right that this could make a self-contained story with a moderate amount of work, something a skilled DM can manage if they have the time. ^_^
IMHO, a better story then the supposed "main" plot of the AP.
I don't dislike the main plot, in part because I find the main' plot's main bad-guys interesting NPCs.
But I will agree that starting the AP off with the implication the PCs are joining/creating a revolution (against Cheliax) at 1st level sets the wrong tone. What they're really doing is joining/creating a sort of crime-and-villian-fighting heroes group, like, yes, the Avengers. They're being Batman to Westcrown's Gotham.
Suggesting that "The Revolution Begins!" as Bastards does puts people - both PCs and GMs - in the wrong mindset right from the start. As the designers/devs point out, "overthrow the House of Thrune" is not the theme of this AP. So they shouldn't have set that theme.
But IMO Bastards can easily be reflavored to set the more appropriate tone, and as for the things that seem kludgy with respect to the ending (Twice-Dammned), well the Drovenges and their dissident/rebel faction of the Council *is* as much of a problem as the night shadows, and while it's possible to cut them out and make it all about the Vampire Lord (and it does make for a more compact adventure arc), IMO it's equally possible and would take no more work to drop in more hints as to what's really going on. If that was the way someone wanted to go (I'm not criticizing the way you want to take things, mind; IMO APs aren't "just run it as-is" - DMs are supposed to modify published adventures to suit their own campaigns).
I understand why they did it the way they did it - they didn't want parties "jumping to the end" and going after the Drovenges directly too early (a when the PCs wouldn't be ready and b when it would "spoil the funs." Perhaps that's railroading; all adventures have a certain amount of that and this one is pretty flexable and even pretty open-ended since there's tons of time and space for DMs to drop in extra encounters, side-quests, or for parties to go on them themselves in and around Westcrown, doing good deeds and earning extra scratch).
"There is still much to be done" as NPCs in a MMORPG I play always say - there's tons of things to do and one thing IMO the AP as a whole does (the first part notwithstanding) is set a good atmosphere for adventuring as a group of Wiscrani Heroes/Champions.
The big change that I made to BoE was that I made the eponymous Bastards sympathetic. The overarching problem for the big bad is that tieflings aren't even second-class citizens; they're completely devoid of civil rights. When the PCs decided to talk to the BoE I was able to really play up the plight of tieflings in Cheliax, and I added to that theme with the Tunnel Rats beneath Aberian's Folly. This way I'm hoping that chapter six will seem like a logical outcome of everything I've already set up.
If you're just going to run three chapters though, you've picked the right three. You might want to have some sort of intro so that the players have a chance to get used to their characters before you dump them into the Sixfold Trial, but that could be almost anything. Without the CoE you could have a more relaxed sewer delve, maybe fighting against shadow beasts and goblins do get a McGuffin or rescue someone.
I, too, plan to skip chapter four, for all that it's pretty cool. If I do anything between Delvehaven and chapter five it will probably be a side excursion to play through No Response From Deepmar.
Are you going to be at PaizoCon? Maybe we could have a "Streamlining CoT" brainstorming session in the bar some evening.
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I've been contemplating something similar, Lord Fyre.
My thoughts have wandered along the paths that Paizo have recently been treading, themselves, with modules like The Midnight Mirror and The Penumbral Accords.
I don't know that I necessarily would use or adapt those modules, but the existence of a Shadow Plane that is a twisted mirror of Golarion intrigues me. I've often thought of making the Council of Thieves largely connected to the Shadow Plane, and their goals aren't just thievery and thuggery, but to turn Westcrown into a focal point for their own plane's goals.
My thought was that the Children of Westcrown had somehow caught wind that the upper echelons of power were either part of the shadow conspiracy, or were being manipulated by it. Having caught wind of it, they want to stop it, but fighting a conspiracy is much like fighting a government - it has a bit of a "guerrilla war" feel to it, which would keep Bastards of Erebus largely intact.
Additionally, Chamady can still be worked into the conspiracy rather easily. Finally, the plot in The Infernal Syndrome can be pretty easily switched to involve shadow stuff instead of infernal stuff.
That just leaves me with the final installment, which leans so heavily on the brother and his infernal heritage. That's the hard part, I think.
Anyway, those are my thoughts. I have over a year before I start this path, so they've just been kind of percolating, rather than being something I pursue. I would certainly love to see what you come up with, if you're willing to share.
When the PCs decided to talk to the BoE I was able to really play up the plight of tieflings in Cheliax.
That works rather well because IMO this is what drives the whole AP's plot and gives purpose to the schemes/machinations of the Drovenges, and is one reason why, to me, dropping them out/minimizing them and making it "a Vampiric takeover of the Local Thieves Guild" isn't as interesting *to* *me* - but that's because I played through BGII: Shadows of Amn a couple times, in addition to other adventures with Vampires-as-Underground-Mafia/Mob War.
(Again though I'm not at all criticizing anyone's plan to modify the path - I'm just identifying my tastes).
The treatment Tieflings receive in Cheliax is what motivates the AP's plot; it's what sets everything in motion to begin with. It's what makes the behavior of the Drovenge's understandable/comprehensible (if not acceptable - after all, the things they do as a result are not good at all), and makes the fact that the big bad is just a pawn of Mammon all the more tragic. Heck it even makes their use & abuse of the bastards ironically evil.
IMO that - plus the fact that, in all likelihood, his sister Chammady survives the end of the path, leaves more openings for further adventures than "we got rid of that elven Vampire guy" does. (I guess I'm sticking up for the path, yes).
That said. . .it's probably possible to retcon even Chammady in order to give her a direct relationship to Ilnerik if you want to keep her in the AP but lop Twice Damned out: just make her his part-elven daughter (or grandaughter), perhaps bastard daughter. Just write up a somewhat different backstory for her (and/or Ilerik - after all there's no reason he has to be *just* some Pathfinder's moody flunky; he could also have been the minor scion/second or third son - bastard half-elven son - of an aristocratic house, and thus perhaps Chammady's uncle or Great Uncle or some such).
Are you going to be at PaizoCon? Maybe we could have a "Streamlining CoT" brainstorming session in the bar some evening.
Alas no. I am too poor. :(