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First up: Kevin, Jo, Christopher, Dana. Out. Shoo. Away with ye.
I'm the DM for a brand-new pathfinder group. We're six sessions in and the story is getting rolling. Unfortunately, my schooling is starting up again and I've a heckuva lot of other things going on at the moment as well so I've found myself with less and less time to prep, much less invent and design an entire plot.
So the advice I'm looking for: Adventure paths? The group is level 4 right now and is escorting the mysteriously exiled princess of the Crimson Throne of Korvosa back to the city to help overthrow the court wizard that kidnaped her and usurped her father. With this I was thinking jumping into the Curse of the Crimson Throne path might work pretty well since we're headed to Korvosa anyway but since I don't know the plot of the AP at all, and considering we'd be starting with the second module... asking if it will fit, or suggestions on how to make it fit with what I've done so far.
What I've done so far:
The party cleared out the Crypt of the Everflame, defeating a Dark Stalker mook of the evil wizard (who escaped, dundunnn) and discovered Melara Skorra, princess of Korvosa, in suspended animation in a hidden chamber. They rescued her, found a way to return her memories and are on their way to korvosa, stopping to smite some Derro and Goblins on the way.
The plan was to have the party join an underground resistance once in the city, putting pieces together to infiltrate the palace and overthrow the Necromancer. There was a twist wherein the reason the necromancer took power was that the King had been influenced by a much eviler Efreeti, which the wizard sealed away within the Princess's body to defeat. (explaining why she was hidden and not killed like her father)
So, I've the basic plot down but have no time anymore to flesh it out and design encounters. I'm willing to abandon it and use an AP since the alternative is straight up quitting but I need to work in the plot elements I've introduced thus far and work around skipping the first module. Adivse me, oh Pathfinder advice board!
The suggestions I would have are starting up with CotCT as you suggested. A couple of alternatives are Kingmaker as you can start that one a little higher then normal and be OK. Alternately you could run Pathfinder Society modules for a while... the adventure would not be as linked, but there is a lodge starting up there I believe.
Finally for a complete departure you could use Rise of the Rune Lords and the early books of Shattered Star or and Jade Regent and have a sandbox style setting in the Varisia area overall.
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The plot you've described is not very compatible with the plot of CotCT. You could probably make it work with serious revisions, but that isn't really compatible with your stated desire for less work as GM.
I think it would be fairly easy to get into Curse of the Crimson Throne... just modify what happens once your group returns the princess to Korvosa to align with whats going on in the AP.
I can't help with CotCT but I bought the Skull & Shackles AP for the exact same reason you are considering an AP- workload. But I've found I'm putting just as much work between sessions in as I would writing my own campaign. It depends on your GM style and the AP itself I guess as I do a lot of write-ups on Obsidian Portal between games and I had to convert bits and pieces to my homebrew world but still.
I'm thoroughly enjoying the campaign but its way more work than I thought it would be buying premade modules. Maybe consider stand alone adventures as Thazar suggested.
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I think it would be fairly easy to get into Curse of the Crimson Throne... just modify what happens once your group returns the princess to Korvosa to align with whats going on in the AP.
Unfortunately the very existence of a princess is incompatible with the plot of CotCT as written, which hinges on the fact that (at the very beginning at least), the king and queen of Korvosa are (a) alive and (b) childless. It would take a substantial rewrite to reconcile the events described in the OP's first post with the plot of the AP--but the OP is looking for less work, not extra work.
hmm... replace the evil queen with an evil court wizard who's using magic to pose as the queen, scamming the populace into believing the princess died, wham bam thank y'ma'am? Or is there some subtext I'm missing?
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hmm... replace the evil queen with an evil court wizard who's using magic to pose as the queen, scamming the populace into believing the princess died, wham bam thank y'ma'am? Or is there some subtext I'm missing?
I'm currently running CotCT for two different groups, one of which has just finished chapter 3 while the other has just gotten started. It is my opinion that adapting the AP to work with the plot descriped in the first post would require A LOT of extra work. So without going into exhaustive detail about the back story and plot of the AP I'll just say yes, IMO there is indeed some subtext you're missing. Others might disagree. I'm not saying it couldn't be done, just that I don't think it would fit with the OP's stated goal of reducing his GMing workload.
3.5 Private Sanctuary recently had a podcast on Quick Prep GMing - totally worth checking out.
link
Yeah there are a couple of things that would seem to make a hard fit but with some moving pieces around it shouldn't be too difficult.
I would think that from your description the PCs are probably 4th level or higher?
So skip the first book assume the events happened as much as they are presented (death of the king, Ileosa takes the throne, Blackjack rescues Trinia)
Go straight to the unleashing of the plague (which could very well be masterminded by your pre-existing necromancer). If the party openly presents the true heir, the Queen could challenge her authenticity (claiming magic shenanigans) and easily portray the group as anarchists or opportunists. Assassination attempts follow pretty quick. Then its up to the party to find the evidence and means to usurp Ileosa and restore the rightful monarch (assuming they can keep her alive).
At this point you may want ot move the thread to the Crimson throne area.
3.5 Private Sanctuary recently had a podcast on Quick Prep GMing - totally worth checking out.
link
which episode is it?
optionally, you could take the cheap way out, and just ensure you have the 3 bestiaries plus gamemastery guide and a lot of the dungeon crawl classics pdfs like I do, just sub in the beasties and away you go.
The princess realizes she will need an army to undo the damage to her kingdom. She uses her influence still in existence to get the party to Brevoy, where there is a land rush in the Greenbelt. . . Arrive at Olegs, get the major plot points (Stag Lord) and a charter to be given in return for the head of a bandit lord.
Party flees to build a kingdom. Once Kingdom in complete, the last mission will be to return, and overthrow and restore the Princess.
You can return to Korvosa whenever you like. In the mean time, you have a giant sandbox to put the players into while the Princess plots and schemes her return to the Crimson Throne. (Read as: buys you as much time as you need to develop your own plot lines for their return to Korsova while they play in Brevoy)
I haven't really read through CotCT, but is there any reason why you couldn't cut the Queen out of the picture, have the PCs deliver the princess to Corvosa, do a time-skip of some sort (4-5 years maybe?), and then have her go mad with power and kick off the plot of CotCT proper (as the Queen that should have been the villain)?
Bonus player punch for now being adversaries to someone they are presumably friendly with.
I think it would be fairly easy to get into Curse of the Crimson Throne... just modify what happens once your group returns the princess to Korvosa to align with whats going on in the AP.Unfortunately the very existence of a princess is incompatible with the plot of CotCT as written, which hinges on the fact that (at the very beginning at least), the king and queen of Korvosa are (a) alive and (b) childless. It would take a substantial rewrite to reconcile the events described in the OP's first post with the plot of the AP--but the OP is looking for less work, not extra work.
umm.. couldnt you just have the returning princess "assassinate" the king/queen and take over .. thus filling the role of the "queen gone mad" in the original?