I'm going to run this module in a couple months and just wanted to see if anyone had some advice on GMing it. My main thing is what did you do with all the areas that "are not covered in this adventure" and the general exploration of the island. There is so much to the island north of the dig sites but what incentive did you throw at your players to get them to go exploring to the north.
Thanks guys and gals,
Piece
Anyone?
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First of all, are you planning on running it in PFS or for a home campaign?
I ran it for PFS, with all the attending 'you can't change mechanics' and time constraints limitations entailed within.
A few observations:
Exploring the map: Given what they learn in act 1, players will almost assuredly want to search the mines first. It's almost implausible that they'd do anything else. Furthermore, of the many mines on the island, they'll assuredly want to search the two active mines first. I'd say that in virtually all runnings of the adventure, the only cross-country encounters they'll have is what they find between the colony itself, and the two mines in question. Of the 'random' encounters given, you should pick carefully as you'll likely only have opportunity for 2 or 3 of them at most. I regret picking the looney 'can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man' fugitive... his encounter (and resulting interrogation) ate soo much time (a problem for a PFS game)
Managing time: If you're in a home campaign and can take as much time as you want, this isn't relevant to you. For a game with a set playing time however, this mod has extreme risk of running long. I'd suggest wrapping up the entire act 1 with an in-media-res combat in the mess hall to expose the PCs to the wierdness of the derro experimentations. Handle the entire act 1 by combining the exposition of "how you got here" along with a one-box-text treatment of searching the otherwise abandoned colony. Arm them with the info they'll eventually get anyway up front and set them on their way immediately. There's very important atmospheric exposition in act 1, but really that's all it's there for. Not worth the hour(s) it takes to search the colony for clues when time is a factor to complete the adventure. IMO it's worth the compromise to provide that atmosphere via box text in such cases.
Getting them to explore more of the island (probably not a PFS context issue): As I mentioned, PCs can be expected to quickly home in on where they need to go for act III. If, after clearing out the BBEG's lair, you want to get them to explore the rest of the island.. there are a few ideas. The Bronze dragon is a suggested random encounter- you can have him be the very one rumored to inhabit skull hill. The dragon can see the PCs as heroes and ask them to clear other dens of villainy in the northern portion of the island. Likewise you can have some juicy hints/correspondence in the BBEG's workshop linking him with allies elsewhere on the island.
Hey thanks thought I would never get a reply. 1st it is a home game so time isn't a concern. I like the idea with the bronze dragon but dragons are super rare in my game and the players will just be coming off a fight with a white dragon so I don't want to throw another at them for many levels. I'll probably use the idea of the derro having connections with others to the north. What did you do with the areas " not covered in this module". I was thinking a illusion spell to look like a tunnel past the bridge to lure people into the trap. The other ones I was thinking of just blocking them off except one so I don't run into the question "well where did they come from". Thanks again for your input.