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So I have books 4-6 and wanted to run JR with native Tian Xi heroes. Two things come to mind; do I need to know anything about the previous books in the AP that will affect the second half? And does anyone have any suggestions on how to start the story off? I was thinking of having the PCs serve some kind of noble lord and be tasked to defeating the Five Storms and freeing Minkai.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
Well you could build a party of samurai and 'samurai caste' members of other classes from one particular samurai clan (using the samurai clan stat block generation table for a custom clan design), with a clan leader using the Bugyo samurai prestige class - all these class options and prestige class is from Rite Publishing's Way of the Samurai supplement designed for the Kaidan campaign setting. It seems to fit your premise and should fit a party of Tian Xia native heroes for use in Jade Regent - just a suggestion...
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I don't use 3rd party stuff and besides I'm not really looking for suggestions on character builds or anything like that. What I was asking for is suggestions on what I'd need to tweak to start the party off with book 4, Forest of Spirits, without having played the previous 3 books of the AP and with having the PCs be Tian Xi characters, not foreigners.
After a little perusing, I think what I'm gonna do is have the party have just returned from the "barbarous West" having gone and found Ameiko and the Amatatsu Seal. This should allow me to continue with the story with only minor changes.
Any suggestions about which events in the AP would work well as Greater Trials for the Mythic rules would be greatly appreciated!
That's fine. Regarding 3rd party stuff, though, I did some of the gazetteer writing and map of Kasai for Jade Regent #6 and helped some of the design in JR #4 - some of us 3PP are freelancers for Paizo too. So it's not like completely off the wall. I understand where you're coming fom though - plot, not PCs are the issue.
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I'm sure there are some 3pp stuff that are perfectly fine, but there's also a lot of crap and power gaming drivel. I take a hard stance against all of it so I don't have to worry about the latter sneaking into my game. Hell, I don't even use 3.5 D&D stuff, except for adventures & campaign settings. (All of which get put through conversion and thorough inspection before use.)
I'm sure there are some 3pp stuff that are perfectly fine, but there's also a lot of crap and power gaming drivel. I take a hard stance against all of it so I don't have to worry about the latter sneaking into my game. Hell, I don't even use 3.5 D&D stuff, except for adventures & campaign settings. (All of which get put through conversion and thorough inspection before use.)
I find products from Rite Publishing and Super Genius Games for example to be more balanced in general to lots of Paizo produced material. I'm sure the drivel is out there, but there's a lot more quality in general for 3PP material for Pathfinder. Most 3PP stuff I see is custom PF material, not converted 3.5 material (which would not interest me at all.) So I'm sure there are some 3pp stuff that is not perfectly fine, but, IME, those are rare.
It's nothing like d20 glut.
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Alternately, the initial escort isn't a caravan, but a single person (which would let one of your players play the Tom Cruise in Last Samurai role, if he or she wanted), so you have Ameiko, one NPC, maybe Shalelu and Ulf as a guide. You still get the benefit of the NPCs, but without all the baggage, and you can write up the first couple of chapters as a diary, so that the players can pick up hints about the oni.
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What's the importance of having met the previous oni?
Who is Suishen?
I'd rather keep the NPC count down as one of the 3 PCs is a GMPC already. I've only got 2 players plus myself. And before anyone suggests it, we're not doubling up on characters, I like running a PC as well and it's never caused a problem.
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The early oni are important in the context of their own adventures, but in the grand scheme of the campaign I don't think they actually matter.
Suishen is an artifact sword from Book Two. It's the ancestral blade of the Amatatsu family. While that's cool, you could easily substitute some other weapon.
I have an alternate opening for the campaign, if you like:
The PCs should get an especially detailed look at Hatsue's young recruits. Name a few characters, make them seem interesting. But most importantly, make one of them a woman named Ameiko--a relatively ordinary, hotheaded peasant girl who really wants to beat up some bandits.
Further, while planning the attack on the fortress, have Jiro comment that it's almost strangely well-defended, as if there were something of great significance they were holding there. Hatsue also comments at some point that she recently had a portentous dream--within a forlorn shrine, she beheld a shining imperial dragon, which told her a some great secret--but she can't remember what it was now. Hatsue has a lot of weird dreams, it seems.
Of course, the PCs defeat the bandits, and go to the forlorn shrine. The hidden cache opens when they near it, as if by fate, and inside they find the Amatatsu Seal. From the seal, they have an epic vision of the past and potential future, and discover that the rightful heir is none other than a certain ordinary peasant girl, raised in secret on the borderlands! Further, they learn the significance of the House of Withered Blossoms, and that the first step in their quest to defeat the Jade Regent must be to travel there.
Almost immediately after they open the box they get attacked by the Jade Regent's ninja, using the stats from the Lake Market attack from Book Four. You may or may not want to throw in Miyaro at this point; the party is being told by the seal directly that they need to go to the House of Withered Blossoms, so they don't need her to tell them that, too.
After all that, you can run the rest of the campaign more or less as expected, with the PCs travelling through the Forest of Spirits in reverse.
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The early oni are important in the context of their own adventures, but in the grand scheme of the campaign I don't think they actually matter.
Suishen is an artifact sword from Book Two. It's the ancestral blade of the Amatatsu family. While that's cool, you could easily substitute some other weapon.
Thanks!
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The early oni are important in the context of their own adventures, but in the grand scheme of the campaign I don't think they actually matter.
Suishen is an artifact sword from Book Two. It's the ancestral blade of the Amatatsu family. While that's cool, you could easily substitute some other weapon.
I have an alternate opening for the campaign, if you like:
** spoiler omitted **...
Actually that is a really good idea to start... Good one LeadPal!