So my group has just started Night of Frozen Shadows. Looking forward to Kalsgard, vikings and ninjas and the investigation but not liking the dungeon crawl of Ravenscraeg especially after Brinewall.
My main ideas is I want to make Ravenscraeg a climactic assault, storming the mountain lair of the evil guy preferably with a group of hardened Vikings and Varki. Given the Rimerunner's influence and the fact that they're controlled by Kimandatsu I was thinking the PCs could work to recruit rivals and those that have been wronged by the Rimerunners. Convince a few or have Fynn use some contacts and plan a full scale assault on the stronghold. Also they might have to use some diplomacy to keep Sveinn Blood-eagle from getting involved. Was wondering if anyone had done something similar in running this AP or if folks had ideas how to make it more of an assault than a full on crawl?
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I understand the desire, but it seems like a waste of a pretty decent dungeon.
I dunno about how things went in your game, but in my game, my players weren't certain what awaited them in Ravenscraeg, so it was as much search-and-rescue as it was a desire to kill all the bad guys and take their stuff.
Also, honestly, a genuine medium- to large-scale assault on Ravenscraeg really wouldn't stand much of a chance. Just getting into the place when it was defended by a few guards was fairly tough for my players.
Finally, if Kimandatsu sees a genuine assault coming at her, why in the world wouldn't she kill X, take Y, and bug the hell out? The only thing that keeps her from doing it as the dead in Ravenscraeg mounted up against her in my game is that the PCs did have to go in more than once, so she figured with an overconfident shrug that if you want someone dead you have to do it yourself.
That said, if you really want to avoid a dungeon crawl, you should make a list of all the inhabitants, throw in a fair number of reinforcements, divide them into several interesting groups, and stage most of the fights outside the fortress. (I'd suggest four major fights outside the fortress, at dramatic times and/or locations, and two major fights -- a guard force, for one, and Kimandatsu and some mooks, for another -- inside the fortress.)
Then the PCs can "assault" the place on their own.
You'd want to make the fights significant -- say, CR=APL+2 or even CR=APL+3 -- because the PCs are unlikely to have to face them without time to regain resources.
Anyway, good luck and have fun. It wasn't a perfect adventure, but we enjoyed it quite a bit. (We start Hungry Storm tomorrow.)
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I suggest taking the path of least resistance. The Ravenscraeg dungeon crawl is well designed, but that doesn't mean you can't make tweaks to encounters. For example, what would happen if the players found a group of prisoners within the dungeon? Perhaps one or more have been experimented upon with alchemical agents (treat as poison or disease) and require immediate treatment or death. They could provide knowledge about the Rimerunners Guild, Ravenscraeg, the Frozen Shadows and NPCs like Kimandatsu that wouldn't have been communicated otherwise. It breaks up the monotony and allows for as much roleplaying as you can build into the "encounter."
As an alternative you could remove the dungeon level all together and integrate the most important combats into the above floor(s). In this way it would be more of a large home.
Just some suggestions to consider, if nothing else ;)
Given that at least one of our games have been cancelled before xmas, it seems unlikely I'll get to this point before the new year so I have a bit more time to think on it. As I was sick yesterday had a chance to re-read the Ravenscraeg section and yeah I think as is can be fine and it is an option. I may plant the possibility of recruiting rivals, wronged parties to their cause and perhaps have them used as a distraction for the party to gain entry but I might be overplanning it. What I will try to work on a bit is more foreshadowing of the heads of the Frozen Shadows so when they meet Goti, Jorgen and Onomyai its a bit more of an event.
Dunno if it's too late, but my favorite for running it (or any fortress) has been the 'Stacking Reinforcements' path.
The party goes up the stair, meets the Spider eater. The noise alerts the mooks in the fortress, 3 Tengu Ninja go to guard the stair, the ravens swarm in the main hall, the dozen mooks cower in their rooms until the swarms are defeated, then rush out, with the Human Ninja on the second level firing down into the fight. Jorgen the Axe hauls himself out of his drunken stupor and descends into the fight, with the other 3 Tengu Ninja trailing in his wake. Perhaps even Wodes puts in an appearance with a final wave of Swarms and summoned Air elementals. THEN the party has the dungeon to look forward to. Each wave arriving after about 3/4-90% of the prior wave has been decimated.
Or they could be stealthy, like ninjas, and fight room-by-room if they are silent as death...