Council of Thieves help / advice / ideas

[Loren Peterson]

I am about to run Council of Thieves for a group of four and most of what I have heard about the game is that people found it lackluster or disappointing. What if anything have people done to spice it up and add some more interesting points to the game. Specifically the optional sewer encounters in the first module.

[CapeCodRPGer]

I ran the first couple of CoT adventures a few years back before the group fell apart due to life getting in the way.

There is erratta for the sewer section in the first part. Each square is 10 feet, not 5. In combat this makes a HUGE difference. Especially with a new first level party, they don't have alot of room to manuver with it being 5 foot squares.

For the sewer encounters I did this, it may help:

Spoiler:

Since the adventure says they are in the sewers until they hit 2nd level, I had the sewer stuff run on the fast XP track, even thou the AP says to do medium. I had 4 PCs. I would have had to run each encounter twice so they would all hit 2nd level. I knew this would drag out. So I kept track of the XPs on my own under the fast advancement. Then when they had enough to level I told them to level up and ended the sewer encounters. Then I switched to meduim XP for the rest of the AP. This way IIRC I only had to run through each sewer encounter once. It works because its the very first set of encounters in the AP.

[Lord Fyre]

One other thing you are going to want to think about is: Bastards of Erubus sets up a "Resistance" theme for the AP, but this is not what Council of Thieves is about.

If you can avoid that "bait & switch" you avoid one of the most serious problem of the AP.

[Journ-O-LST-3]

Also, raiding the bastards is better for third level pcs.

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

Listen to the podcast, I found it helpful

(But fast forward through the rest unless you have a lot of free time)

http://www.pathfinder-podcast.com/?paged=3

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

If you want to see what we did, you can check here:

http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/24455

If I had to make two changes, rewrite the opening speech by Arael to reflect 'we're ending the shadow menace, and leave out the House of Thrune entirely'

And have Vahnwynne (delvehaven book)present from the very beginning, and speak against the caution of the plan. That way, when she reappears, it's not so forced.

The sewers do NOT need to be run as written. They're only there to get the players to second level, and add dramatic tension from the Hellknights. Have it last as long as you want, and give out Xp for second level as they leave, regardless.

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

And read all six books now. It's a great bunch of adventures, but you've got to smooth over the transitions between books.

[Loren Peterson]

Thanks for all the help. I am fairly experienced (been running games for about 5 years 2.5 for pathfinder)and my players (also experienced) know I like to challenge them so I am running the sewers at 5ft square in most sections.

[Loren Peterson]

How would you recommend abandoning the resistance fighter motif?

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

Rewrite the speech so that it's about freeing Westcrown from the oppression of the shadow creatures, since that's what the future books are really about.

[jabberwoky]

Loren Peterson wrote:

How would you recommend abandoning the resistance fighter motif?

Use a superhero motif instead.

Imagine Westcrown to be like Gotham City; it's large, dark, corrupt and full of fiends who want to plunge the city into darkness. The PCs are superheroes just starting their careers, literally fighting their way out of the gutters into the light.

In the game I'm running with my group, the superhero motif has given me ideas on how the personalities of the NPCs and the group's enemies.

[strayshift]

I plan on running the pcs as freedom fighter types however the Factions book gives good links to other factions that are/could be active in Cheliax - this gives the pcs a more espionage focus which might require a few small side adventures (I aim to play 1-2 smaller vignettes between each book adventure).

Have the pcs build relationships also - a lot of story hooks can be kicked of by the other rebels who may be friends to the pcs.

[jabberwoky]

strayshift wrote:

Have the pcs build relationships also - a lot of story hooks can be kicked of by the other rebels who may be friends to the pcs.

Agreed. One of the best things in the Adventure Path that isn't used enough are the Children of Westcrown NPCs. The first book describes them, and then completely ignores them.

Check out Karui Kage's thread here on the Children of Westcrown. He even made levels so the NPCs can grow with the character during the Adventure Path.

[strayshift]

Thanks for that Jabberwocky
G