Ideas for Shortening Rise of the Runelords

[DM Dad in FL]

I am looking to start this soon for a group that will include players who will be moving next summer. With this in mind, I need to shorten RotRL to approx 20 to 25 sessions.

I was thinking about only going to book 4 or so and making the giants the ultimate bad guys. Are the encounters in the first few books which can be skipped or rewritten to help achieve this?

Thanks for any and all input.

[Tangent101]

You could start the group off at level 4 or 5, skip the entire first book, and have them start off with the Skinsaw Murders. You could also skip Book 5, and instead focus on Books 2, 3, 4 and 6... and use fiat leveling rather than XPs. But even that might be too much. Ending with the Big M could work... and you could also just have that be The End for that part and when the players return, start off with Book 5 with the same characters and end with Book 6.

Alternatively, the players who are moving could always continue to play via Skype. I use Skype in my games quite effectively. Programs like roll20.net and the like are also helpful for maps and the like for distance players.

[Mark_Twain007]

If time is a problem I might not recommend this AP, because while you can skip some stuff, it won't be quite as good without the whole story, and having to limit the time your players can spend interacting with NPC's, which is a lot of fun in this AP because there are some great ones.

That being said

Spoiler:

I would be with Tangent on leveling and most of his description, skip book 1, have the players be there because they heard of increased goblin sightings and a bounty on all goblins or something like that. shorten the investigation in book 2, make him conflicted instead of obsessed, a killer who whats to be caught. You could also cut out Ironbriar and have the trail lead straight to Xensha.

Skip the Fey part of book 3, I would run book 4 pretty much as normal, maybe skip some of the side stuff. Book 5 skip the scribbler, have Bodent Quink have found the info, make the Runewell easier to get to, and basically make it a 1 session dungeon.

Then you should have time for most of book 6.

[Haladir]

In my opinion, the storyline of the earlier AP volumes are a bit stronger than the later ones. I think the first three volumes are the most fun, honestly. If you're looking to end early, just consider the victory at the end of a particular volume to be the end of the adventure path.

For example:

You could run just Burnt Offerings:

Spoiler:

Let the story end with the defeat of Nualia: the PCs close the reawoken Runewell, alert the city to the presence of the smuggling tunnels, prevent the goblin tribes from uniting under one banner, and defeat the evil priestess of the demon queen. The game ends with the PCs becoming the Heroes of Sandpoint.

Or maybe you would like to continue through Skinsaw Murders and end it there:

Spoiler:

Xanesha was the Big Bad and mastermind of the whole thing, and with her defeat, the PCs have destroyed a murder cult, ended a string of ritual murders plaguing the City of Monuments, and saved the Lord-Mayor's life. The Lord-Mayor decares a city holiday in the PCs' honor, and that's the end.

Another possibility would be to end it after the events of Hook Mountain Massacre:

Spoiler:

In this version, the AP volume is pretty much a standalone episode: Barl Breakbones is an ambitious stone giant that was drummed out of his tribe for being too violent, and he moved in to take over the Kreeg Clan of ogres. To cement his power as a regional warlord, he need to defeat the Black Arrows, take their fort, and flood out the human settlements that are infesting his new domain. At the end, the PCs have destroyed a vicious tribe of degenerate monsters and have saved the town of Turtleback Ferry.

And finally, you could end it after Fortress of the Stone Giants.

Spoiler:

In this version, Mokmorian is the Big Bad, and most of the events of the AP had been set into motion by him. His goal was to raise an army of giants and take over Varisia, using ancient Thassilonian secrets he found in the library under Jorgenfist. I would put another lesser runeforge under Jorgenfist that Mokmorian had been using to power up some Thassilonain war machine he'd found down there. (That would tie up the Sihedron Ritual thread.)

The only downside of ending the Rise of the Runelords AP early is:

Spoiler:

False advertising. Becase...well, no Runelords would ever actually...um...y'know... rise.

Good luck!

[DM Dad in FL]

Thanks for all the input and suggestions.

I will see how far we get with the modules as written and play it by ear when I know for certain the drop-dead date for the end of the campaign.

[Tangent101]

Again, I have to suggest using Skype. I've players in two timezones and we're able to do the game every three weeks. I've found that roll20.net works quite well for the map (though you can also use a tabletop and miniatures on it and zoom into it with the webcam).

[Haladir]

We did the webcam and minis thing for a few months after one of our players moved away. It was actually pretty difficult to see the map, at least with our equipment. A VTT really does work better. We use MapTool.

[Tangent101]

Oh, I know it's difficult. I did the same thing initially until I found roll20.

Of course, it seems Paizo now has their own VTT they're beta-testing so that could open things up further. I look forward to when the beta goes open.