Hey all, I'm starting a Reign of Winter game with a few friends of mine who are pretty new to Pathfinder. Game will be beginning tomorrow and I'd like some changes, tweaks or alterations that people have made to the first couple books. I find these forums to be excellent for this sort of thing and I love having a bit more to bring to the table to immerse my players.
A few things I'm already planning on implementing:
The opening to Stone Dogs Snows of Summer, wherein the fortune teller from Heldren collapses and begins babbling about the snows at the Highsummer Festival and the village gets a slight dusting of snow that night before having Uul Northman stagger in the next day.
Neil Spicer's suggestion of giving the arctic Tatzylwyrm a burrow speed in place of his poison breath (I so hope I get to pull the sorcerer beneath the snows).
The ideas from The Black Rider's Gear Thread, particularly having a massive battlefield on the other side of the Winter Portal, and a few interesting items for my characters there. Any suggestions of gear are welcome.
My own idea for the gear (moving away from Golarion Canon) is to have The Black Rider's Greatsword, which appears to be made out of ice. It will start as a simple +1 Greatsword and perhaps gain a few more powers as the characters grow more accustomed to the Black Rider's Mantle.
Speaking of the Mantle, I intend to have it be more of a boon than just a +2 to one Attribute, and have it simply make the characters more comfortable in the cold. Something along the lines of halving the penalties to movement, perception and ranged attacks from snow. Described as their bodies simply knowing how to move, shoot and even see properly in a snowstorm after they have taken the Mantle. It will still make snow an annoyance/occasional danger, but less so than normal.
And that's all I've got. Thoughts? Suggestions? Critiques? Have at it!
You could have the Mantle provide the players with Mythic Endure Elements. It provides a 5 Cold/Fire Resistance, ignoring snow terrain modifiers, and see through snow. This could be sufficient enough a bonus not to even bother with the ability score increase.
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Instead of having the Rider just appear before they enter the portal I had the portal be the opening to a fey road between the two villages with a defined path. I had this be the elder primal First World and we switched to 1e rules while there.
I had the atomie they had interacted with earlier be the guardian of the portal and give them riddle challenges lest he wampa them. When they guessed the riddles the wampas (snowbeasts out of a hackmaster hacklopedia) he had hidden in snow drifts on the side of the path shook off their snow and were disappointed they couldn't jump the party.
A treant fight on the path was way above their weight class until the dying Black Rider joined the fight with an ice spear sticking through him. They accepted his invitation and joined him on his dark path to his fey castle to recover and after hearing his story and seeing the ice spear inch closer to his heart they agreed to take his mantle and became Knights of the Blackest Midnight.
Further down the path they met a fleeing gnome who asked for their protection from a witch, which the Ulfen agreed to give. It was young maiden Baba Yaga who wanted the gnome for vengeance but she couldn't touch them while he was under their protection and they were on the path. She asked them to release the gnome in return for an answer, which they refused. They warned her of betrayal by her daughter but realized this was timey-wimey her before she had any riders or any daughters. She sniffed, noted their nationalities, and made an offer of a great kingdom in return for the gnome. They refused again and she promised to conquer and enslave his people if the Ulfen denied her her vengeance and he politely refused a third time, knowing this would be final and binding in the First World and cause the founding of Irrisen and the conquering of a third of his homeland and enslavement for his people for over a thousand years. The elven Calistria follower used diplomacy to divert her anger and the two snuck off into the bushes. After they were through she said she would name the child Jadwigga, gave him a bone comb, and left.
They then made it through to the other portal and back to Pathfinder rules.
Switching to 1e was neat and thematic but not for every group. I would suggest turning the portal into a fey road for more story appropriate atmospherics though.
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Neil Spicer's suggestion of giving the arctic Tatzylwyrm a burrow speed in place of his poison breath (I so hope I get to pull the sorcerer beneath the snows).
Like I suggested in the Snows of Summer thread, I would replace the climb speed with the burrow speed, so that the tatzlwyrm can drag the wizard 10 feet and deal strength damage instead of raking (which will quickly kill him outright). Otherwise, you're likely to force a return to home or a player death on the third encounter of the day.
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http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2qc89?Adding-some-Wierdness-to-Reign-of-Winter# 6
I started this a while back, since you are JUST starting out, these can be easily melded into your game, and they are very easy to work with. Especially if you are trying to get the idea of a frightening winter across.
Mind, I cut this early because I quickly started running out of ideas. Just, make sure that your players know that this is a highly railroaded AP. So, they just need to get on for the ride, although, I do recommend expanding a few places to make the PCs feel like they're making a difference. :D
I am now preparing the second book and I am adding an adventure from "Tales of the Old Margrave", namely "Challenge of the fang". It is basically a darker version of Little Red Riding Hood. I am adding the encounter because I wanted to expand on the rimepelt storyline. My group can take the rimepelt from one of the wolves in this adventure (which I will be changing into winter wolves).