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I've been thinking about setting the adventure in Golarion, like many others who have posted here. I have a good idea of where to set the various modules location-wise, Varisia makes a good setting for Diamond Lake, with Magnimar as the Free City.
What I need help with is merging the lore and backstory of the two settings with respect to AoW.
Anybody have suggestions on incorporating Kyuss and Dragotha into Golarion. The Wind Dukes and their tombs? (the only bit of the early adventures I'm not sure fits in Varisia, most of the ruins here are Thassilonian in nature)
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There is a demon lord Yhidothrus who occupies the same niche in Golarion as Kyuss does in Greyhawk. Also, according to Wrath of the Righteous, the runelords of Wrath have a history of worshiping demon lords.
I couldn't find anything on the wiki regarding dracoliches, but there are unnamed raveners, a powerful type of undead dragon, lurking in the ruins of xin-shalast. You could say Dragotha is one of them.
Neat, I didn't know about Yhidothrus. Still, I really like the idea of keeping Kyuss an ascended mortal. It's just too cool to discard. Maybe Kyuss could be connected to him somehow though.
Also, what do you think of Queen of Chaos = Rovagug and Miska the Wolfspider = A new Spawn of Rovagug, who was taken down by the Wind Dukes and the Rod of Law?
If you just want to integrate Kyuss into Golarion's lore, you could say he was an old rival of the necromancer Geb. After Geb died, Kyuss tried to move in, but Geb returned as a ghost at just the wrong moment and cast Kyuss into the land of the qlippoth (or perhaps the kytons).
Kyuss was too powerful to die that easily, though, and managed to continue his studies in the other world. Back in Golarion, a cult formed, and yadda yadda yadda.
For bonus points, you could convert Manzorian (Tenser in disguise) into Manzorian (Nex in disguise). Heck, that would work even if you don't use the above stuff with Kyuss. Tenser and Nex could potentially have a lot in common--both were archmages with powerful enemies, and if you rule that Nex has been alive all this time, they also have the "faked their death" bit.
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Steel Wind has created a remarkable blending of AoW into Golarion. See here: Steel Wind's Thread
You can PM him for info.
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Steel Wind has created a remarkable blending of AoW into Golarion. See here: Steel Wind's Thread
You can PM him for info.
Thanks. I sent him my AoW Re-Rolled background.
I do have to say that it has worked out remarkably well. The merging of the iconics into the Age of Worms in one of the better campaign ideas I've come up with in decades. It just fits.
Steel Wind has created a remarkable blending of AoW into Golarion. See here: Steel Wind's Thread
You can PM him for info.
Thanks. I sent him my AoW Re-Rolled background.
I do have to say that it has worked out remarkably well. The merging of the iconics into the Age of Worms in one of the better campaign ideas I've come up with in decades. It just fits.
Wow. That's all I can really say. I have no words. Sooo jealous of your players though.
I think whatever I wind up deciding on will be... less ambitious than yours. You broadcast on Twitchtv? Is the campaign still ongoing?
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Steel Wind has created a remarkable blending of AoW into Golarion. See here: Steel Wind's Thread
You can PM him for info.
Thanks. I sent him my AoW Re-Rolled background.
I do have to say that it has worked out remarkably well. The merging of the iconics into the Age of Worms in one of the better campaign ideas I've come up with in decades. It just fits.
Wow. That's all I can really say. I have no words. Sooo jealous of your players though.
I think whatever I wind up deciding on will be... less ambitious than yours. You broadcast on Twitchtv? Is the campaign still ongoing?
Yes we broadcast *mostly* every Monday night, typically 9:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on the East Coast.
Party is now level 17/Mythic 3. They just arrived in the Moonscar, on Somal, Golarion's moon -- the setting I chose for Kings of the Rift, which is now a slight mashup beteen Richard Pett's The Moonscar and Greg A . Vaughan's Kings of the Rift - Vol X of the AoW AP.
Well, now I know what I'll be doing Monday night.
I think I could guess at what spots they gained mythic levels, but where did you grant them and what, if any, adjustment have you made for them?
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I think I could guess at what spots they gained mythic levels, but where did you grant them and what, if any, adjustment have you made for them?
Well, it might not be what you would select as "Mythic Trials".
The Heroes gained Mythic Levels for defeating/completing:
1 - The Harbinger (Mythic 1) (End of The Spire of Long Shadows)
2 - Slaying the Titan Krathanos Mythic 2 (Trial 1, Library of Last Resort)
3 - Completing The Library of Last Resort to gain Mythic 3 (now re-imagined as removing the Great Seal of Pharasma from the Well of Sorrows on the Isle of Terror).
There are seven more opportunities to gain Mythic levels remaining, with three of them mandatory.
As for what I've done in response to adjust, I must be candid and say "probably not enough". All monsters have had their power level continuously turned up (with many having mythic levels added) as I become accustomed to the increased capabilities of the Mythic level party and I am certain that I have not done enough.
A GM ideally needs a lot of experience working with the Mythic system in Pathfinder and as this is my first time, I don't know it as well as I would prefer to. I am learning Mythic as we go along. Frankly, it's not a well balanced system. The power curve can be quite dramatic and in practical terms, how well your players will "metagame" the Mythic level powers available to their own characters will be different at every table and I think it can have dramatically different effects on the party's combat effectiveness.
For example, it is difficult to overstate the power surge that "Mythic Haste" lends to a party of well optimized adventurers, especially when combined with a Mythic Surge for an extra attack. The melee damage the Paladin and the Ranger can let loose in one round of combat with 11 or 12 melee attacks between the two of them is awe inspiring and north of 800 hit points. In one round. And that's just two party members. There are 6 in the party in total.
At their current power, given the presence of a high level Paladin and the effects of his Aura of Justice on the party as a whole, the Heroes could probably blow through a 3.5 statted Kyuss in 2 rounds, right now. The only thing which would stop a 1 and done combat round result is Kyuss' ridiculously high AC and crit immunity. Even then, I'm not really sure. I hope to BE SURE by the time we get there so I can adjust it properly.
All by way of saying, it's a work in progress guys. I'll let you all know how it goes here and, of course, the episodes are available for a week or so after each session to view them online. I have the entire campaign recorded on video (a few sessions glitched here and there, but really, I have it all recorded on video from the first session onwards) so I will probably post it all sometime on Archive.org when the campaign is complete.
Thanks for the input, I have been thinking of introducing it, either around the time you did, a single level towards the end, or even earlier that. The only thing holding me back is that I haven't used it yet and not sure what the scope of those changes would be. But there is only one way to get familiar with it I suppose....
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If I had my druthers, I think I would introduce Mythic Levels earlier and would have spaced them out more widely.
I think the end of The Champion's Belt and the defeat of the Ulgurstasta is the natural story point in the AoW to award the first Mythic Level and go on from there. In strict Pathfinder RPG terms, that's the point in the campaign when under normal rules, the party begins to transition to high level play.
The more time the GM has to integrate the effects of the Mythic system, the better you will appreciate its effects as a GM. Of course, that also means, the more changes you will have to subsequently make to the power level of your encounters to compensate for it. It's a mixed blessing, to be sure.
On further thought, Varisia may not be the best place for Diamond Lake/The Free City after all. Mostly because after reading more, I don't think Magnimar is a good fit for Greyhawk. It's too small, too low leveled, and not seedy enough for bloody deathmatches.
So how about Diamond Lake as a mining town in Andoran. It's easy enough to drop in the Aspodell Mountains somewhere. Blackwall Keep can be an undermanned border fort along the Cheliax border (the marsh wouldn't be too hard just to drop there as a low lying area on a small river too small for the map to show).
So a hop across the pond to Absalom for the Free City. And Absalom does seem to host deathmatch gladiator fights unlike Magnimar, and it's big enough to support the levels Champion's Belt gladiators.
Alhaster becomes a city in Cheliax, with Diabolism standing in for the Church of Hextor.
Vague thoughts on Kyuss as an Azlanti contemporary of Aroden. This guy went and tried to become a god the hard way, and succeeded (sort of)
Any ideas on a good set of deities for the Ebon Triad though? Asmodeus I think should be one, to preserve the connection to Alhaster.
Norgorber the God Who Sounds Like A Muppet, is the best Vecna substitute (though Urgathoa is a decent sub, too, thanks to her undead portfolio). For Chaotic Evil, Zon-Kuthon is the closest match to Erythnul. Rovagug is a bit too powerful to be reasonable as a fraction of an Overgod.
