Greetings all,
I know only 2 parts of this AP have been published, but do any of you running it think it's possible to run in parallel with Rise of the Runelords? I love the idea of finishing at level 20 with 10 mythic tiers, but my RotRL game is too far along to scrap and start over.
The setting is different, but is it diametrically opposed?
*Incoming wall of text*
After some reading ahead into both Rise and Wrath...it seems *possible* to do it if the opening of Wrath happens in Magnimar, rather than in Korvosa. That is a jump, but my players (and I) don't really get too hung up on the greater lore of the region. I could also have the characters sent there as good will ambassadors after gaining fame for stopping the Skinsaw Murders. I've also had 'the will of the gods' play a major role in the campaign, so that also would justify a certain amount of jumping back and forth between the scale of their heroic exploits.
I'd have to bump up the Worldwound Incursion encounters to account for them being level 7-8ish and go all the way through Sword of Valor before doubling back for part 3 of Rune Lords.
RotRL breaks down as:
Skinsaw Murders through level 7ish
Hook Mountain Massacre: For characters of 7th to 9th level.
Fortress of the Stone Giants: For characters of 10th to 11th level
Sins of the Saviors For characters of 12th to 13th level.
Spires of Xin-Shalast: For characters of 14th to 15th level.
Wrath of the Righteous isn't out yet, but the summary has been published and the modules will break down like:
Worldwound Incurstion finish with level 6 / 1 tier
Sword of Valor - finish with 9th level / 3 tiers
Demon Heresy 9th-level characters with 3 mythic tiers
Midnight Isles 12th-level characters with 5 mythic tiers
Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth 15th-level characters who have gained seven mythic tiers.
City of Locusts: 18th-level characters who have gained nine mythic tiers - through Level 20 / 10 tiers
So I could do it like (Wrath modules bolded
Skinsaw Murders through level 7ish
Up through Sword of Valor - 9th level / 3 tiers
Hook Mountain Massacre: For characters of 7th to 9th level.
Fortress of the Stone Giants: For characters of 10th to 11th level
Midnight Isles 12th-level characters with 5 mythic tiers
Then finish RotRL, giving Karzoug 8-10 mythic tiers himself:
Sins of the Saviors For characters of 12th to 13th level.
Spires of Xin-Shalast: For characters of 14th to 15th level.
Then finish Wrath:
Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth 15th-level characters who have gained seven mythic tiers.
City of Locusts: 18th-level characters who have gained nine mythic tiers - through Level 20 / 10 tiers
This would take some encounter adjustments on my part, but I think it can be done; all while giving the players a taste of significance on the local and dimensional scale. And without running the risk of playing through the Wrath modules faster than Paizo can publish them. And at the end they can hang up their cloaks having reached the highest heights possible, level 20 with 10 mythic tiers.
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The only problems I can see is the main thrust of Sword of Valor is leading an army into enemy territory and retaking a city that fell to the enemy years before and the addition to APL that comes with mythic tiers.
I'm not sure how easy it would be to merge the lore and settings of the two paths, though I suppose you could if you eschew the setting source material and run it more as a homebrew. You will need to account for why the party hasn't heard of the demon horde that has sacked a massive swath of countryside until just now since I imagine that would be pretty big news. Now that I think of it however, you could explain that the attack on Kenebres/Magnimar was the first assault of the demon host.
If you break down the assumed APL of the campaigns (assuming Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition since that is the copy I own and 2 mythic tiers equating 1 level of power) you have the following:
Burnt Offerings - APL 1-4
Skinsaw Murders - APL 5-7
Hook Mountain Massacre - APL 8-10
Fortress of the Stone Giants - APL 11-13
Sins of the Saviors - APL 14-15
Spires of Xin-Shalast - APL 16-17
Worldwound Incursion - APL 1-5
Sword of Valor - APL 6-9 (L6-8/T1-2)
Demon's Heresy - APL 10-13 (L9-11/T3-4)
Midnight Isles - APL 14-17 (L12-14/T5-6)
Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth - APL 18-21 (L15-17/T7-8)
City of Locusts - APL 22-25 (L18-20/T9-10)
So you may need to rework the order you present the chapters or spend some time breaking down the events of each adventure and mix them together a little bit. You also have the potential story issue of...
All told, I think it could make a really fun campaign especially if you weave the machinations of the RotRL big bad in with the plots of the demons but it will require some tweaking and shoehorning. None of this, of course, takes into account the disparity of XP distribution.
True, it will take some juggling, but I'm already having to adjust the encounters to account for the size of my group, so that doesn't scare me too much.
As a part of the campaign I made a homebrew true-neutral deity called the Spirit of the Midnight Sun that two of the characters are Clerics of. I'm thinking I'll have them both get 'Divine' messages warning them that evil is attacking the world on two fronts, and it is up to them to defend the world both on the large and small scale. Sort of like how in LoTR they had to defend both Rohan and Gondor.
I don't mind having to do some mental gymnastics if the pay off is an enjoyable and high-power experience for the players.
I had them enter Kenabre as strangers (where word had spread about them in Magnimar). When the demon attack hit, rather than do it as a flashback as the AP suggested, I had them be in the town and in the middle of the fight. They are level 7, but I hit them with a CR 17 demon with the express purpose of having them all get killed so that Terendeliv would "save" them, and they'd end up unconscious in the hole like the AP starts.
Of course, my Bard--who has astonishingly good luck--tries charm monster on it and I roll a 1 on the save, so I had them get wiped out in an explosion when Terendeliv goes down fighting Khorramzadeh. They woke up in the hole at 0 hit points with only the Barb with Die Hard still conscious, and their NPC healer missing. He woke the cleric with a potion of Cure Moderate, and I had his channel energy awaken the 3 NPCs who are supposed to be down there with them.
Long story short, even though the players are aware we're running two APs dropping in some narrative threads to connect them has helped a lot.
Dropping them out of their element and beat within an inch of their lives helped set the right tone. I'll use that table from the Beastiary 4 to buff the encounters to CR 10 or so, since I want them to stay scared, and this is a big group.
I'm also going to have newly resurrected and now all-demon Nualia and Xanesha make a comeback to grief them a bit later to strengthen the tie, and I'll probably have some demons show up on the way to Xin-Shalast to give them a more cohesive experience. No matter what, at least conceptually it works.
Everything is proceeding as planned, with the group nearly being to the end of the World Wound Incursion. One of the things I did was remove their NPC healer during the underground portion of the adventure to help raise the stakes. Once they reached the surface and found shelter,
The Fall of Kenabres
The laughter of children echoed off the walls of Clydewell Plaza, mixing with the pleasant
sights and smells of the Armasse festival.
Khadijah had learned through bitter experience to keep to herself, to the shadows, and her hood up, but somehow the joy of the day had drawn her out into the open.
A tug at her cloak spun her around and brought her hand to her sword hilt. Before she could draw, a small cool hand found its way onto hers.
“Calm now, Dear; it’s only children.”
Sure enough, Khadijah saw she’d amassed a small group of followers, one of which was idly tugging the end of her white cloak. Apparently the local girls thought it was a wedding train.
Her? Married? Khadijah had to laugh at that.
“Run along children, the ‘bride’ has to finish getting ready…or is she a princess? Either way, the Armasse festival can’t start without her!” The old woman gave the children a knowing wink, and they scattered in a cloud of giggles.
“Thank you for that…I think,” Khadijah said, studying the old woman carefully, “but I’m not sure it was right to lie to them.”
“I didn’t lie. Today is your day…I’ve had plenty,” the old woman said with a knowing smile.
Khadijah was imposing by any standard; besides her jet black skin she stood a head taller than the average man and half again as wide, but the woman seemed unfazed. She’d seen seventy winters if she’d seen a day, but there was a beauty about her, and a peaceful wisdom in her eyes.
“I am Khadijah, Priestess of the Midnight Sun,” she said bowing low.
“A beautiful name,” the old woman said simply, brushing a strand of silver hair back from her face; “walk with me.”
“Where I come from, I’m accustomed to people offering their name,” Khadijah said, bristling despite herself.
“Well you are quite far from home now, aren’t you, Princess?” the woman replied, beginning to wander away. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me,” she said, tossing a sidelong glance over her shoulder; “or is it secrets?”
Khadijah hurried forward and grabbed the woman’s arm, intending to turn her around, but she didn’t budge an inch; she might as well have been made out of the same granite as the Cathedral of Saint Clydewell. The old woman let out a laugh that was equal parts the ringing of bells and the rumbling of the earth; simultaneously warm yet stunning. The laughter was cut short by a crack of thunder in the cloudless sky, somewhere off in the distance.
Khadijah studied her face for a moment before asking, “Is something wrong?”
“I’m afraid so, yes. But I’m sure we’ll find out all too soon.” With a jolt, the woman’s far off stare snapped back to the present, warm and matronly. “We may not have much time, so let’s not worry ourselves with distant thunder just yet, and enjoy this present moment instead, hmmm?”
She thought about trying to intimidate her, but the old woman resonated with such quiet power that Khadijah knew it would be futile. “How do you know about my...” she looked around, unconsciously tugging her hood tighter, “how do you know about me?”
“Oh please, indulge me; I’ve lived a VERY long time, and I get so few surprises. It’s not every day one gets to meet a genuine Drow Noble. And besides, I can already feel that your heart is pure, otherwise I’d have torn you to pieces the moment you set foot through the gates!”
The frankness of her words and the odd warmth of her smile made Khadijah relax a bit, whether she wanted to or not. With a heavy sigh, she motioned towards a quiet corner in the shadows of one of the plaza’s many statues.
“I'm actually a member of the nobility, but I guess you could even call me a princess of sorts. I was born Drow...but it doesn't define who I am.”
“Of course not, dear; our blood is only a small part of our story; what we do is what matters. Please go on.”
Khadijah took a deep breath and looked up at the sky; "ugh, how do people deal with this? It was so much simpler when all I had to do is swing my sword."
“You get used to it,” the old woman said with a consoling pat.
“I'm not sure I want to,” Khadijah replied, cracking a small smile.
What do you know of the Drow and our ways? How our society works?”
“Not nearly enough. My…people aren’t exactly welcomed there.”
“It’s just as well; probably all lies you've heard, anyway. Except the terrible parts...that's the truth.”
The old woman gave a silent, knowing, nod.
You said I am a princess—I hate that word—but it's true. But for the Drow royal blood is found in maybe 1 in 20 children...not in whole families; do you understand this?
Always girls...but some of us are just born...stronger. I was born to a minor house. The first Noble born to my family in generations; but my parents decided to keep my "low" birth a secret, lest someone try to kidnap me. They made arrangements for me to begin the training to use my power, but without revealing who I really was. And so I trained until I was 54...just a child.”
“Oh my, so young,” the woman said, truthfully.
Khadijah continued “in Drow society families move up by eliminating the ones above them. And the law is such that there are no repercussions, if you massacre the entire family in a single night. But if there are any survivors, any at all, you must stand trial for your actions.
One night, one of my father’s rivals moved against our house, and I'm sad to say they succeeded, or so they thought. My mother had kept a picture and my baby blanket hidden in her room, and they were able to force a servant to reveal there had been a daughter taken away, but she didn't know anything else about my story. And the lords knew they had to kill me, too—before the night was over, no less.”
“So they came to the school looking, but they didn't know my name; and my sisters wouldn't tell. Those monsters started slaying the children, even as the Headmaster tried to smuggle me out. Unfortunately they managed to track me into the caves.
The Headmaster gave his life for me, but not before one of them managed to hit me with a poisoned dart. Still I ran and ran with fire in my veins and ice in my lungs. I didn't know where to go or what to do, but I just ran. Somehow, I can’t explain how but I heard a voice call my name, and whisper for me to keep running. Turn this way, and that.”
“Then, in a small clearing, I saw it: The light that shines in the darkness; the eye that does not blink. I saw the Spirit of the Midnight Sun. And I felt power...such power. The men pursuing me caught up and I threw them around like rag dolls. I destroyed them all...slowly and painfully. And I’m not ashamed to admit with more than a little delight.”
“I turned to go back to our village and finish off the rest of them, but the Spirit bid me stop. My family was dead, and as far as anyone knew so was I. I saw on the ground a duplicate of me, lying dead. The whole scene would look like during the chase we'd run afoul of some cave dwelling horror, and no one would know the difference. And it led me out, blinking and half-blinded into the light of the world of men. And now I serve that power, with everything I am. And that’s why I and my companions are here…it whispers to me, giving me signs of what is to come.”
Khadijah looked down at her hands for a moment, idly flexing her fingers; "I must confess healing...divination...trying to save lives rather than take them is all very new to me. In many ways I feel as lost as I did running through those accursed caves oh so long ago."
“That is quite a story; for what it’s worth, I’m glad you found your way here to Kenabres, on today of all days. I wish there was more time to hear about your adventures, or to tell you some of mine, but I’m afraid there isn’t any.”
Khadijah felt the familiar swirl of Foresight come upon her, but this time it crashed down in an avalanche of screams, fire, and death that dissipated as the old woman shook her. “Why’d you say enjoy the moment? Don’t you know what’s coming?”
“Yes, and that’s precisely why I said enjoy our final moment of peace.”
“We have to do something, we can’t just sit here and-“
“Hush now, listen” the old woman interrupted; “we can’t cause a panic because it’s too late evacuate the city, and besides the walls may offer some measure of protection. I will face them, as I always have...protect the people, save as many as you can.”
The gathering crowds began to cheer as Lord Huirun took the stage, preparing to offer the blessing of the festival at noon, the official start of the Festival of Armasse, Kenabres holiest of days. The old Inquisitor looked magnificent in his finery and shining armor, glistening in the sun, and that’s when it happened.
From the west, a light unlike anything Khadijah had ever seen erupted, casting giant monstrous shadows onto the walls of the plaza, and a sound so deafening it was more felt that heard as it shook the ground. After long seconds, the unthinkable became clear: The Kite, the fortress which held Kenabre’s Wardstone was destroyed, in its place a flaming ruin.
And then: Chaos.
The air erupted with all manner of winged horrors as demons from the darkest corners of the World Wound blacked the skies.
“I have to find my friends, we will help you fight them.”
“There’s no time, they will have to fend for themselves. Prepare yourself, Khadijah. You are more than a Cleric, more than a Wizard…you are a hero. Fate brought us together this day. A day that I now fear will be my last.”
Khadijah drew her sword and cut down a pair of demons with a stroke. “Please ma’am, get behind me, I need to get you to safety.”
Overhead, a group of demons saw their brothers fall, swarmed downward. Khadijah slashed again and again, but there were too many of them! She tried to call out to the old woman, but she couldn’t hear herself over the insanity of battle. As she pushed forward, a scaly fist caught Khadijah in the side of the head, as claws ripped down her back. She wheeled to defend herself as blows rained down from all sides, driving her down to one knee. She couldn’t risk using her magic here, with so many innocents in the square, but her swordplay wasn’t what it once was. Still she spun he sword low twice, and high over head, taking feet, wings, and horned heads with it.
Still, every demon she felled was replaced with three more…she was being overwhelmed.
Surely, the Spirit of the Midnight Sun hadn’t brought her here just to die, there had to be a solution; there had to be SOMETHING she could do.
And then it came.
A roar, long and loud, echoed through the plaza, even about the screeching of the demon hordes. The demons attacking Khadijah turned, just in time to be vaporized by fire that passed just inches over her kneeling body. Ahead, she saw the old woman, slowly turning in a circle…breathing fire!
Khadijah looked around at the swath of devastation that the old woman had carved around her, missing the innocent people with surgical precision. Her voice boomed in a way that belied her tiny frame, “I am Terendeliv, Ancient Silver Dragon, Defender of Kenabres. I will watch over you, Khadijah, and your friends. Rise up. Fight. protect the people!”
Terendeliv’s body began to stretch and grow until her true form was revealed, swatting demons from the air and smashing them into the ground with claw, fang, wing, and tail. Khadijah’s heart pounded in her chest at the sight of something so glorious; Terendeliv was doing it: She was winning!
Terendeliv turned to look back towards Khadijah, blind to the attack that was launched against her. From deep in the swirling hordes above the city, a flaming whip lashed out and wrapped around her neck, pulling her back and to the ground. From inside clouds, a nightmarish form appeared. The great Balor, the Storm King Khorromzadeh descended, a nightmare wrapped in fire and lightening gripping a flaming whip in one hand and a wicked sword in the other. He clashed with Terendeliv, slashing her viciously and she struggled against the whip.
“Princess, Princess, help us…HELP US!!!”
Khadijah turned and saw the children from before, huddled in the ruins of cathedral, shivering as the ancient dragon and terrible demon struggled about smashing stone buildings like twigs. Khadijah whispered a series of quick prayers, an in an instant she felt Divine Power rushing through her, filling her body with speed and power. She moved in a blur, slicing demons left and right, cutting a swath into the cathedral and the trapped children. She sheathed her sword and began scooping them up when a familiar voice echoed out:
“Oh, so predictable.”
Khadijah felt a sharp pain bite into her back, lifting her clear off her feet before a stony fist smashed into her face, knocking her to the ground. “Run…children…” she managed to say through bloody teeth.
“Yes, run along kiddies; I’ll be out to eat you soon enough!”
“Khadijah tried to stand, but a kick to the face knocked her flat on her back. A heeled boot smashed down on her arm, shattering her wrist and sending her sword scattering away.
“You know, I knew if I found the largest group of screaming children, you’d show up. Tsk, too bad, though; it looks like it’s just you coming to save the day.” The demonic woman nodded out towards the chaos of the plaza, where Khorromzadeh seemed to have Terendeliv pinned down. “Your friends are out there fighting…probably dead. I really wanted to see them again. Oh well.”
Khadijah struggled to free her trapped arm, ignoring the demon’s ranting. “Hey, pay attention,” she said, grinding her heel in, which drew a long scream from Khadijah. “You don’t recognize me, do you? Here, take a closer look. Oh wait,” she said, with a smile so beautiful it looked alien on such a face,” you should see this first.”
A long tail came down and wrapped around Khadijah’s neck, lifting her from the floor as if she were weightless. “You know…you’re a tricky one. Probably thinking of a way to escape right now…let me help you with that.” The demon woman erupted in a hail of blows, smashing Khadijah’s body and sending the sound of cracking bones echoing through the ruined building. “No passing out, believe me…you REALLY should see this.”
The woman walked dragging Khadijah along with her scaly read tail, bumping harshly down the cathedral steps until she was lifted up into the air. She pointed ahead. “Look.”
Khadijah’s eyes struggled to focus through the haze of agony, but she could see it. Terendeliv was pinned on a building, reaching towards someone or something in the courtyard. And as she did, the Storm King brought his sword crashing down, severing the ancient dragon’s head with a stroke!
As she died, the ground beneath the plaza began to crumble and collapse, but the demon spread wings effortlessly rising with Khadijah in tow. She began to laugh, a perversely melodic, beautiful laugh. “This is perfect, all too perfect. Everything is proceeding as planned…now to finish destroying the Wardstone.”
“You…you can’t. The Wardstone…indestructible.”
“Ah, we shall see, my old friend; we shall see.”
The woman looked down at Khadijah’s dangling body and rolling eyes. “Oy, wake up. Look at me. Look close. I am sure you never thought you’d see me again, having murdered me and all.
“No,” Khadijah whispered; “it can’t be.”
“Oh but it can. It can and it is. Say it…say my name.”
“I don’t know how you survived death, Nualia, but I swear I’ll send you back there if it’s the last thing that I do.”
“I hate to admit it, but you did me a favor; sending me into the Abyss with all that hatred in my heart…hatred for you and your friends…was like a beacon radiating in the darkness. The Storm King found me….restored me…improved me. Now I’m a fully fledged Succubus. A demon and more, really; not that pathetic Aasimar abomination I used to be. Just look how easy I broke you, and if your friends happen to survive that,” she said, nodding towards the gaping rift under neat Clydeswell Plaza,” then I’ll break them, too. But come along, I want you to see something else. I want you to see what happens to this place when the Wardstone is completely destroyed, and we can mount a proper invasion of Kenabres….”
You awake with a start, with your heart pounding in your chest. Nualia has returned, but Khadijah’s alive as well…and a fragment of the Wardstone remains…there may be hope for Kenabres yet!
Another update:
Just finished the Worldwound Incursion and it all went smooth as silk. I replaced all the 'named' mobs with higher CR level stats but left their personalities and ties to the plot in tact. Finished with the group at level 8 and 1 mythic tier, preceding to Sword of Valor before doubling back to RotRL and Hook Mountain Massacre.
Oh, I replaced the evil Succubus Arreelu Vorlesh in Wrath with Nualia reborn, just for the sake of giving them heartburn...and it worked. Well.
My biggest challenge now is the character finished the World Wound Incursion with 8 levels and 1 tier. I'm having to space the levels out much further, since you might recall this is a large group of 8-10 players and I'm already having to bump up the encounters to account for that. I'm also going to have to add mythic elements to RotRL to keep them from steamrolling everything.
In order to keep things interesting, and on-pace, I think I'm mostly going to award tiers during Wrath adventures, and levels during RoTRL adventure. It's true that I won't want them to get bored waiting too long between levels, but the tiers are a pretty nice boost in power, not to mention never feeling challenged will prove far more boring in the long run.
I synced this up with the level it says the characters should be at in RotRL, and the posted Wrath summaries, since the whole thing hasn't been published yet. The only problem I see is if we move so fast all of Wrath doesn't get released in time, but that's probably no big deal.
So knowing now that they are supposed to end Sword of Valor 9th level / 3 tiers, I think I'll do it like this going forward (Bold are RotRL Adventures):
Up through Sword of Valor - 8th level / 3 tiers
Hook Mountain Massacre: to 10th level.
Fortress of the Stone Giants: to 12th level
Demon's Heresy to 12th level / 5 mythic tiers (Where it levels out)
Midnight Isles to 13th-level / 7 mythic tiers
Sins of the Saviors to 15th level.
Spires of Xin-Shalast: to 17th level.
Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth: to 18th-level / 9 mythic tiers.
City of Locusts: through Level 20 / 10 tiers and GODHOOD!
I haven't updated this post in a while, but everything is proceeding as planned. I've just had to use the mythic or unique version of the creatures listed instead of what's written into the module. For instance, for the Hook Mountain Massacre I've described the monsters as ogres, but used the stat blocks for Mythic Hill Giants instead.
I've also taken to reskinning some of the monsters from each to tie the narratives together, such as replacing Areelu with a resurrected Nualia and Troianka's two heads will be Xanesha and Lucretia, etc.
It's taking a bit more effort on my part, but running pretty smoothly overall.
Four months later
We've been playing consistently, 2-4 times a month and we'll be finishing Hook Mountain Wednesday. The biggest challenges I've run into are first and foremost: TIME. This has been a long road. We are 13 months into playing, but just over half way done with the adventure path(s). They are about to hit level 12, and after this the levels will flow a bit faster, and as their relative level of fire power increases I expect things to move along faster. My once football team sized group has whittled down to a much more committed (and manageable) 5 person party. It's been really hard not giving them levels sooner than I'd planned, especially when they've worked hard to overcome certain challenges, but it's been absolutely vital to stick to the plan, because of this next point:
It has been absolutely necessary to adjust the mobs. If I gave out levels too easily, I'd just have to adjust them more and end up with a big power plateau at the end. At first I picked mythic monsters to drop into Rune Lords, but I feel like the mythic monsters that have been published as stand alones don't scale very well and tended to get zerged. Instead, I pick monsters from the unique monster list and replace ALL the garbage mobs with them. So for instance, every stone giant in Jorgenfist had the stats of a CR 17 Fiendish Gnarled Frost Giant Barbarians. Sometimes I just bumped the standard mobs to max HP and raised their AC by 3-5 points and that was enough.
Also I tend to layer encounters, so where a given dungeon might have 3 or 4 mini bosses before the big fight, I'll have all the lieutenants and the big bad in a single room, for a big pitched battle. I've already decided when they fight Karzoug he's going to split himself into duplicates to fight them all 1 on 1, all while having a dragon flying by breathing fire and giants throwing boulders...it *should* be an encounter worthy of mythic heroes!
In short, the plan is working, and I still think running a super campaign is worthwhile, as long as you and your players are patient and realize you're signing on for an epic. If everyone knows what they are committing to, and understands it will take some finessing to make happen, then it is ABSOLUTELY worth the effort.
Took me a bit to read over this, and sorry I had to catch up! But, this sounds like it'd be a lot of fun! Good luck, and I'm interested to hear how the last half goes.
Yes, sorry; it's kind of been a real time record of how it's gone down, hahahaha. Yes, I'll definitely keep updating how it goes. Unless something major happens my next update will probably be after they finally face Karzoug, which is still a ways off...the next step is the Midnight Isles!
/cast thread necro!
Believe it or not, we are *still at it*, making this the longest running group I've been a part of, much less single campaign. I've stuck with the plan as proposed earlier, but tonight when we finish the Demon's Heresy I'm going to move Midnight Isles to after the last two chapters of Rune Lords, so the players can get *some* sort of closure. My once obscenely 12+ person group has shrank to a solid 5, which may soon become a rock hard 3.
The biggest problem I’ve run into has been a question of balancing encounters. As I've said before, they are powergamers (which I can't complain too much about, since they learned it from me) so NONE of the encounters function as written. Right now at level 12 / tier 4 they'd absolutely smash Karzoug as he's written. I actually threw an avatar of Baphomet with his exact published stats at them last week and they beat it, although admittedly I held up a bit after I dropped two of them.
So to add another chapter to what has been a very long story already: I still think combing Aps is worth doing, as long as everyone involved knows they are signing on for an epic, and you don’t mind doing a little leg work. Oh, and combined encounters are *your friend*; take those 5 mini-bosses and put them in the same room as the big bad, and watch the players squirm.
So the thing I'm wondering about here, is how are your players reacting to what I'm guessing is slower leveling?
Are you guys using XP or are you just leveling them at set times? It sounds crazy to have a single character for two campaigns which could be very rewarding, but I'm not sure if my crew could handle the time between leveling.
I am just giving out levels / tiers at the chapter breaks I listed above. AKA 'you finished this chapter, you gain level 12'. There have been one or two times if they did something especially impressive I gave the boost early, but for the most part I've stayed on track.
Honestly, it's been hard for me to keep them waiting, too; but it's hard enough to balance the campaigns as is with a group of 5 min/maxers, so rushing to make them even more OP would only end up hurting myself lol.
As a power gamer myself, I'd probably be bothered by the slower pace, but they don't seem to mind; if it became an issue, I'd just doll out xp points to create the illusion of progress, like taking surface streets to avoid highway traffic. It may not be any faster, but at least it feels like you're gaining.
*Note, I'm not going to rearrange things to finish Rune Lords before Midnight Isles after all, since it will make balancing encounters too big of a headache, so tonight they head in to close the Midnight Fane!
I will say this though, running these two combined story has been lengthy, but well worth it.
Cast Mythic thread necro!
We've long since crossed the two year mark (back in August, I think) and we are still at it, but I had to change the plan quite a bit.
Two of my people moved away, so I ended up skipping Sins of the saviors completely and vastly abbreviating Spires of Xin Shalast so that they
could be there to defeat Karzoug and give the game some closure for them. Then we circled back to Midnight Isles and will play straight through to the end.
Which makes sense really, that they went through the World Wound and won't come back out till the job is done. They are currently level 17 tier 6, having just earned a new tier
for gaining noteriety in the city and making peace with Noticula (only one of them sold their souls, surprisingly enough.)
We are all still enjoying it; my people who moved away actually Skype in now to keep playing, but I am DEFINITELY looking forward to the campaign being done. With my luck
they'll want to keep playing an epic levels campaign afterwards, LOL.
And now, the thread rises as a mythic lich one last time:
We did it! We finished the whole thing tonight, all of Rise of the Rune Lords and Wrath of the Righteous took from August of 2013 to now, April 2017. We by no means played every week, since there were holidays, illnesses, late nights, and lots of other distractions, but we probably put in 150 sessions. But, they were all happy and fulfilled when the curtain fell.
This was the longest single campaign I've ever participated in, much less run, but I'm glad I did.
Some major takeaways from the whole thing:
1. I definitely recommend mixing modules; it was a long road, but a hell of a lot of fun.
2. Wrath of the Righteous absolutely falls apart at the end. The first three modules are fantastic; really interesting characters and situations, but the last three are just one long dungeon crawl. Cool things like the massive battle rules that feature so prominently in early adventures disappear near the end, which is too bad.
3. Rise of the Rune Lords is one of the best adventures ever written, I understand why it launched Paizo.
4. And last, but certainly not least: I renew my objection from years ago that there really should be rules for scaling up the modules. Although we're ready to move on and play some Star Wars, it makes perfect sense that these characters would have had a vested interest in circling back to clean up some of the messes they caused in Magnimar with the cultist and with a certain lost princess.
It's been a hell of an adventure, and it was an honor and a pleasure to go there and back again.