Advice on minor story tweaks for Season 2 Shadow Lodge scenarios

[Black Powder Chocobo]

Hello!

I'm looking for good ideas on how to do minor rewords/plot changes to have some of the Season 2 scenarios make a bit more sense as far as Shadow Lodge history goes.

I have the general idea of playing the offshoot Shadow Lodge as terrorists still using the name despite Torch joining the Society to act as its watchdog, but I'd like any other ideas, particularly for rewordings of some specific Shadow Lodge themed scenarios I have. This list includes

-The Mantis' Prey
-Shadow's Last Stand pt1 & pt2
-Wrath of the Accursed
-The Dalsine Affair

Any advice on this topic would be appreciated!

Sincerely,
BPC

[Kelly Youngblood]

My changes:

City of Strangers:

Spoiler:

Dakar knows of the Shadow Lodge and Torch, but suspects the Kaer Maga cell is acting without Torch's orders.

Year of the Shadow Lodge:

Spoiler:

Torch sends a Sending denying all involvement in Charvion's activities. He goes into hiding (see Mantis's Prey for why) leaving standing orders for any Shadow Lodge PCs to work for the Paracountess until further notice.

Shadow's Last Stand and Mantis's Prey:

Spoiler:

With The Spider and the Red Mantis hired by her no longer a threat, Torch regains control over the Shadow Lodge and thanks any Shadow Lodge PCs for staying loyal through the crisis.

[Matt Goodall]

Wrath of the Accursed Spoiler:

Hondo Heru is deluded and believes that GMT has secretly authorized the actions of the 'rogue' Shadow Lodge agents. He is actually implementing his agenda as payback against the Decemvirate (and their cronies) for the burns that GMT suffered while still a Pathfinder.
Reread the Hondo's handout letter at the end to see what I mean. Also note the key words in the letter as a very subtle hint about the Shadow Lodge leader's identity.

[Drogon]

Black Powder Chocobo wrote:

Hello!

I'm looking for good ideas on how to do minor rewords/plot changes to have some of the Season 2 scenarios make a bit more sense as far as Shadow Lodge history goes.

I have the general idea of playing the offshoot Shadow Lodge as terrorists still using the name despite Torch joining the Society to act as its watchdog, but I'd like any other ideas, particularly for rewordings of some specific Shadow Lodge themed scenarios I have. This list includes

-The Mantis' Prey
-Shadow's Last Stand pt1 & pt2
-Wrath of the Accursed
-The Dalsine Affair

Any advice on this topic would be appreciated!

Sincerely,
BPC

Are you wanting the tweaks to be something that makes the scenarios fit more easily into the current world? Or are you trying to tweak them because you're running the Shadow Lodge story line and don't like the way those lay out?

[Black Powder Chocobo]

@Drogon: I want to make the tweaks to make it fit with the current world. That's part of what makes The Dalsine Affair a bit annoying (for obvious reasons for those who have played/read it), and the fact that Shadow's Last Stands 1-2 are lower level tier than Mantis' Prey and Wrath of the Accursed.

I'd like to make it a somewhat cohesive story to make sense given that the players have already experienced Torch ala First Steps, and the idea of a rogue Shadow Lodge in Season 2 doesn't directly fit into the story (unless you say that you're going back in time to experience X event to investigate why Y happened, but that seems corny at the very least).

[Justin Riddler]

The rogue Shadow Lodge still makes sense IMO. The Shadow Lodge's faction goals for season 4 even explicitly states that they are STILL hunting down rogue agents and splinter cells!

For Shadow's Last Stand

Spoiler:

you are just taking down a VERY huge rogue agent, one who has brought Almas to its knees and now threatens to expunge the Pathfinders from Andoran

Kelly had some really great ideas above!

Another thought that someone posted in the Shadow Lodge faction boards, was that the Shadow Lodge's goals include infiltration, so for pre-season 3 scenarios, perhaps GMT has asked you to infiltrate the Chelaxian Faction and take whatever means nessecary to maintain your cover while looking for rogue agents within its ranks (cohorting with devils + inability to get along with Andorans + absolute law & devotion to the state = GMT is very suspicious of Cheliax, though his suspicions are dismissed by season 3)

[Black Powder Chocobo]

Thanks everyone for your replies and ideas! This does validate I was thinking on the right track for presenting the scenarios in a meaningful way, just need to spend time to word it right.