Alternate ways to kick this off?

[Aaron Gillespie]

In going through the CotCT I am really unhappy with the way it starts off. The Lamm plot is weak and really does nothing for the rest of the AP. I'm trying to figure out a different way to start this whole thing. I was wondering if anyone else has done this and, if so, how it went/what they did.
I've read the idea of starting the characters off as Ex Lambs and while I love that idea, many of the players have already started coming up with character concepts and some have put a lot of time into them and I'd hate to make them start from scratch.
So, any suggestions?

[Curmudgeonly]

Are you opposed to doing the Lamb content altogether or just the idea of being summoned by the harrow deck and being sent there as a means for revenge?

If you want to still use the content, your group could be used as hired folk by Cressida Kroft to take care of Lamb as they have no time to deal with such trivial problems.

[Aaron Gillespie]

I don't know. I'm not hot on the Lamm stuff at all but I'm more against the harrow deck summoning the PCs than anything else.
Just seems to me a lame railroady way to get the characters into the main plot line. Just my opinion, though.

[r-Kelleg]

Spoiler:

In my game, one of the player was engaged with the daughter of zellara. She was abducted by Lamm and sold to Rolth who used her, among other girls, to build the gray maiden army for the queen. In my campaing gray maiden are clones. The hunt of Rolth is the main motivation of my group.

[DM medlii]

I liked the Lamm stuff but was disappointed by how quickly it was over. I know this doesn't really help you specifically with with the Harrow summoning, but here's some stuff I did:

Spoiler:

So I added some stuff to link Lamm to the next few parts of the adventure depending on their campaign trait.

Drug Addict trait: Add a crate of shiver to Lamm's den with the 'King of Spiders' signature or emblem on it. Now the PCs have some motivation to do the Eel's End quest later.

Missing child trait: The kidnapping of the child was arranged by someone else the PCs will encounter in the future. Examples: Someone trying to recruit more Grey Maidens through kidnappings. Or someone with a grudge against one of the PCs (I got some inspiration from my PCs backgrounds).

Framed or Love Lost trait: Who wanted the PC framed or their love dead? Was it Lamm motivated to murder or frame the PC himself or did someone hire him? Is it a villain the PCs might meet down the road as part of the main plot?

[Orthos]

r-Kelleg wrote:

** spoiler omitted **

Oh I like this. Any tips on tying these two bastards together more strongly? Between this and Mikaze's Rolth=Joker/Jostilina=Harley Quinn concepts, I really want to make the necromancer a memorable antagonist for my group when we get to this campaign, and tying the PC's vengeance to him - perhaps with Lamm as a lieutenant/recruiter/fodder feeder? - would tie the campaign together greatly I think.

[Turin the Mad]

Raz al'Ghul to continue the Batman villain matchup? (Bonus points as a ghast with civilized ghoulishness.)

[Orthos]

My immediate knee-jerk reaction was that Ras seemed a bit too large-scale for a small-time crook like Lamm... but then, if his undead return (at Rolth's hands no doubt) gives him both a revitalized "new youth" and a new drive for (un)life, there's no reason he couldn't become a bigger player, especially as the city collapses into insanity in Seven Days and beyond.

[Cpt_kirstov]

Both groups I have run this for have gotten Lamm into negatives, and then captured him. One had him on the block next to Trina. The other kept him hopped up on shiver so they could question him, the Spider king extracted him during all the world's meats, and he's still slumming around with Dervago while the PCs are parlaying with the Shoanti

[Turin the Mad]

If "Lamm" is the cover identity of a clone of Ras though ... ;)

[ciretose]

I actually just mixed RoTRL and CoTCT together, as they basically happen at the same time and have some overlap around the same time.

[Orthos]

Hah! Not an option for me though, one of the other players in my group has already called dibs on Runelords, and will probably start running it while I'm in the middle of Savage Tide, which Crimson Throne will be after.

[Knick]

I thought that the Lamm stuff was way to quick. As written: the group is assembled by Zellara, assaults the old fishery, and Korvosa is in flames--all well before level 2. Seeing as how I wanted to introduce pre-anarchy Korvosa as a "character" worth saving, and I liked the opportunity to plant a million bits of foreshadowing, I expanded Lamm's criminal empire and had the group taking out cells across the city over the course of two weeks. Admittedly, the fishery seemed a little anti-climactic after battling alchemists in a shiver lab with only thin glass panes seprating the fight from hundreds of dream spiders... but it was a small price to pay!

[Orthos]

Oh, I LIKE that. Considering I will start my group, as always, at level 2 (I hate level-1 gaming) having him be the head of a small criminal consortium should explain why none of the PCs - already better than most folk at doing what they do - have gone and offed him themselves yet.

Maybe he can pull of the Ra's Al-Ghul motif pre-undeath yet >=D