Veteran Advice

[Mortavius]

Hello,

Wondering if some of you veterans can give me some advice on this AP. I'm about 2/3 of the way reading through the first module, and will be running this soon. My players are making their PCs.

One PC wrote in his background that he had a bad experience with a Priest of Norgorber in the past, so I was thinking of tying this to the priest leading the bandits. Any thoughts?

One PC has the lovesick drawback. This one is really vexing me; has anyone used this before? Is there any advice anyone can provide?

[Voadam]

Tying Rokar to the PC from before hand is a good idea.

Read up on cold weather rules so they don't trip you up.

Be aware of how difficult terrain snow will reduce tactical movement (no five foot steps) for a lot of combats.

Read up on visibility issues from snowstorms.

Have snowstorms be intermittent in Book 1 instead of constant so they can follow the tracks a little and you don't have to always deal with the nasty wind and visibility issues.

Think up some "In soviet Irrisen, X Y's you!" jokes.

Emphasize the dark fairy tale feel, lots of opportunity to do so in books 1 and 2 with fey encounters.

Have talking animals like wolves to give Irrisen that Narnia White Witch feel.

I would suggest avoiding geas compulsion from the rider's black mantle, it is heavy handed railroading that can be annoying to PCs and lead to resentment.

In book 2 with the clock tower, have mechanical constructs come out of the tracks to aid in the final tower battle so it is not a fight against a single opponent.

Tie Queen Elvanna into stuff going on in book 3. Have evidence of Irrisen war parties in Iobaria, have winter be spreading there as it was in Heldren, throw in a possible encounter with some of Elvanna's forces.

Read some of the big threads here, there is some good discussion and suggestions around.

[Mortavius]

Thank you for all of that! I will certainly keep it in mind.

Do you have any inspirations about the Rokar connection? So far this is what the PC has in his background regarding it:

"Born on the frontier, my mother raised me and my four siblings (2 brothers, 2 sisters) and my father left when I was possessed by a demon from the deity Norgorber.

While possessed, I committed several crimes including many thefts and after being captured by the guards I tried to kill them with my hands. I learned to control the demon and prevent him from taking over while in prison."

The PC is a Monk, and also says that his studies in meditation and such have helped him control his urges.

Maybe I should have a revelation that he isn't really possessed, and what he ascribes to the "demon" is just himself? But how to tie it to Rokar?

[ryschwith]

My players felt the beginning section was too railroady, so I ended up adding a lot of encounters and giving them some different paths to take. They ended up approaching the Somir Valley from Owl Lake, so they missed little Thora, but overall I think the sessions were better for it. That'd be my key piece of advice, really: the first module isn't great at giving players choices, so take some time to fill those in.

The two major encounters I added were:

1. A squad of goblins, lead by a hobgoblin captain, were sent out to the area around Lake Termain. They came across a yeti; it managed to kill the captain, and then the rest of the goblins took it captive. As the PCs stumbled across them, they had tied the yeti to a post and were taking bets on which goblin dog would last longer against it (like bear baiting, but... yeti baiting).

The hope for the encounter is that the chained yeti will provide something of an obstacle to be avoided during the fight with the gobbos, and the PCs will realize afterward that they can release the yeti rather than trying to fight it (the yeti would tear them apart, but is intelligent enough to recognize when someone does it a favor). I don't know how well that will play out in general, but it worked pretty well with my group.

2. Owl Lake is rumored to be haunted (as conveyed by a surviving Sentinel, but it could certainly be dropped in earlier). If the PCs approach the lake, a group of nixies start singing to try to draw them into the water. If successful, the nixies will cast water breathing on anyone affected and take them down to the lake bottom to meet the Lady of Owls, a nymph who overseas the lake and surrounding environs. She's been able to fend off the invaders thus far, but is anxious to see them leave. If the PCs can convince them that they intend to drive off Teb and the gang, she'll let them leave and may even provide them a boon.

In my party's case, she gave them a couple of magical trinkets and sent a few owls scouting for them; one of whom was captured, allowing me to repurpose the "Ambush!" encounter as Fawfein leading a squad out to deal with the troublesome nymph but stumbling across the incoming PCs instead. I had hoped to spin that into a chase through the woods (assuming the PCs route the fey) leading directly into the big fight with Teb and Hommelstaub, but it didn't really work out that way.

I guess where I'm going with all of that is: it pays to flesh out the rest of the forest a bit and give the PCs a looser leash than the AP provides by default.

If I were running it again, I'd also put more work into consciously making it feel like an invasion. I think that would do a lot to up the sense of urgency.