One player was looking to run it himself, but now I am offering to do so.
I want to switch things around a bit so that it is still a bit of a mystery for him.
Here's some first thoughts, though I am here to ask you for something better.
Ameiko and Tsuto are both evil, and the exchange of letters and kidnapping is all a ruse to ambush the PCs.
The shopkeeper's daughter is later revealed to be Nualia.
Sherrif Hemlock takes on Aldern Foxglove's role, though Aldern still becomes obsessed with one of the PCs. Hemlock flirts mildly with a PC.
Have you got something better for me?
One player was looking to run it himself, but now I am offering to do so.
Have you got something better for me?
Some things I did differently in Burnt Offerings:
Tsuto was obsessed/infatuated with/in love with his half-sister Ameiko - he was terrified and in awe of Nualia. His return to Sandpoint was against Nualia's orders in the hopes of rescuing the one person he thinks has ever cared about him, and to get personal revenge on Lonjiku.
At Nualia's instruction, Tsuto left a long braid of her silver hair in the Crypt in place of Father Tobyn's remains as a mocking warning to Zantus and the rest of the town.
During the raid I added an encounter at Daverin Hosk's stables with a bunch of goblins trying to burn it down. I also added a mini-encounter with two goblins that had Shayliss cornered in an alley to introduce both her and her hero-worship.
I skipped the Goblin in the Closet encounter but added additional skeletons in the Crypt.
I redrew the Catacomb map, ditched the Vargoille and added an encounter with Brown Mold in an old storeroom.
I rebuilt Elyrium as a 3rd level Cleric of Lamashtu (Trickery and Chaos domains) with a spell focus on Murderous Command and Summon Monsters.
I rebuilt Koruvus as a 2nd level Invulnerable Rager Barbarian.
I rebuilt Nualia as a 6th level Warpriest.
Our campaign Wiki is located here - I'm doing something a bit different with the overall campaign but the wiki gets updated regularly. Hope something there helps.
One player was looking to run it himself, but now I am offering to do so.
I want to switch things around a bit so that it is still a bit of a mystery for him.
Here's some first thoughts, though I am here to ask you for something better.
Ameiko and Tsuto are both evil, and the exchange of letters and kidnapping is all a ruse to ambush the PCs.
The shopkeeper's daughter is later revealed to be Nualia.
Sherrif Hemlock takes on Aldern Foxglove's role, though Aldern still becomes obsessed with one of the PCs. Hemlock flirts mildly with a PC.
Have you got something better for me?
Ameiko is an important citizen in Sandpoint, if you ever plan on running Jade Regent you'd probably not want this. Making Nualia the shopkeeper's daughter is also kind of a huge change, part of what made Nualia whom she is was the lonely childhood she lived and that her father was the priest and thus very strict.
If there is one adventure you don't want to change, it's Burnt Offerings. I would say just go with it, a good player will be able to go through it without meta-gaming. Changing core components of the story will only severely alter the players outlook of Sandpoint, but I suppose that could just be in my mind because Sheriff Hemlock, Ven and Shayliss Vinder became core characters for my party. Sheriff Hemlock would also never associate with the Skinsaw Cult and changing Aldern away is a very significant change to the Skinsaw Murders.
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Advice from a player.
We are in the middle of Skinsaw, so I've been through Burnt Offerings. Here are some ideas that would set things on a different tone.
Switch Tsuto and Amekio's genders or switch their roles. Ameiko as the good son that owns the Dragon with a bastard sister (or Tsuto as the good son even though he's a bastard with Amekio as the vindictive child out for revenge over her mother's death). Nobody's likely to expect that. Some people might balk at this idea because Ameiko is important to Jade Regent, but you aren't running Jade Regent at the moment. Besides, Amaya from Westcrown can be subbed in for Ameiko in Jade Regent.
Start the mod before the Swallowtail festival and work the PCs up to level two before the big goblin raid. The party can get some hints that goblins are more active than normal and braver than normal; but still unwilling to attack as well defended a town as Sandpoint. Then you can make the goblin raid bigger and scarier without seriously threatening the survival of the PCs. Really wish my GM had done this. The Goblin raid was threatening to us PCs, but I never got the feel that Sandpoint was really threatened once I learned more about the mid level NPCs living in town.
Find a different dungeon for the catacombs under Sandpoint. Change up the creatures in the catacombs.
Have Jubrayl Viski or some of his cohorts be involved in the Glassworks or even the Swallowtail events either to help the heroes or to help the goblins. Cousin Jubrayl is a bit of an opportunist so the idea of him or his associates being involved isn't difficult.
Give Lord Foxglove a bigger part in the Swallowtail chapter and make him a more prominent part of the Burnt Offerings story. Our GM made Foxglove kind of a patron backer of the Sandpoint Heroes. Makes a stronger segue into Skinsaw too. I'm still torqued about what happens to Foxglove because he was something like our sponsor through parts of Burnt Offerings; the new wound up having to shank him in his own house. Rather annoying; but it made for a great part of the story.
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Oooo, another idea...
Have Ameiko be the victim in the glassworks and Lonjiku the kidnapping victim. The goblins killed Ameiko and now Tsuto is outraged, but he's stuck. He still needs Lonjiku for whatever reason (maybe access to the Kajitsu manor). Now the whole town is morning Ameiko and Lonjiku must morn the loss of his entire family. He might even snap and join Nualia.
Lots of interesting possibilities.
I second leaving it largely as is, knowing what happens in book 1 wont help them much in the rest of the adventures:)
and yes tell him/her to act surprised:)
I would also recommend not altering the story too dramatically. Perhaps you can find a way to justify his character having such knowledge?
What kind of character is he going to play? Maybe he was part of Nualia's crew who didn't know what he was in for until it was too late (sort of like Orik.) Maybe he flees Thisteltop and gets to Sandpoint just as the attack takes place, fighting alongside the other players. His character doesn't confess to what he knows until he has a chance to prove himself trustworthy to the people of Sandpoint. Maybe he was a guard or member of a merchant caravan the goblins raided?
Some of this depends upon what that player is thinking about how it will work. Do the other players know about his knowledge? Will the other players resent his knowledge, etc.
You also don't have to change everything. One or two things could be enough to make him doubt. Once he knows things might be different he has to be more cautious.
Change the order of events. Do some of the encounters in Sandpoint before the goblins attack. Have the goblins and Tsuto raid the cemetery without the larger assault. Make the Caverns of Wrath an actual goblin base of operations. Instead of Tsuto destroying the Glassworks, he uses the tunnels to kidnap both his father and sister. (This makes it more of mystery the players have to solve to figure out the goblins are sneaking into town via the glassworks)
When you get to Thistletop change where the goblins are placed. Don't have Gogmurt estranged from Ripnugget but out in the nettles training the birdcruncher goblins and accompanied by a couple goblin commandos. Change the bridge so it's not trapped or trapped in a completely different way or make it more like a drawbridge from the building on the other side. Make Bruthazmus Ripnugget's enforcer and second in command, so he leads the defense and is in the throne room or on the walls. Have Orik be the one in love with and fanatically loyal to Nualia (he'll never surrender.) You'd have to change or drop Tsuto's journal in this case. Replace the tentamort with another CR 4 creature - Phycomid (Beastiary 2) or Otyugh?
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I would think that helping the goblins attack Sandpoint would be more than enough to bring a paladin Tsuto into falling. But then, there is nothing that says Tsuto couldn't lie about still being a paladin of Desna if that's the rewrite you went for.
I actually like it.
Desna doesn't have paladins.... being CG and all, otherwise its pretty good:-)
Desnan warpriest?
If you want to keep going with the "good Tsuto" angle, have Father Zantus actually be evil and be the one who set up Lonjiku. Perhaps he is secretly a priest of Norgorber and connected to the Skinsaw cult. Nualia and him had a connection before the cathedral burned; Zantus took advantage of the situation to become head of the church while he directed Nualia to seek out the Skinsaw cult in Magnimar.
The "good Tsuto" turns out to be uninvolved (and perhaps was framed by Zantus) and ends up becoming the head of the Sandpoint Cathedral after Zantus is exposed.
Here's another one. Have the players uncover some kind of plot that Jubrayl Vhiski is involved with early on. Jubrayl is publically exposed, Sheriff Hemlock is on the hunt for him, and he runs for Magnimar. There he is recruited by the brothers of seven and Xanesha to investigate the misgivings... and eventually becomes the Skinsaw man. Foxglove IS actually trying to hire people to help work on the manor but other than that is a complete red herring. Vhiski might have even arranged for the "workers" that volunteered for the work to be sczarni that he had recruited for his own purposes - Rogors Craesby could in fact work for him rather than Aldern.
Actually that doesn't really affect knowledge of Burnt Offerings, it's more the Skinsaw Murders.
One More:
Before heading to Thistletop, the party discovers (perhaps through Shalelu) that the goblins have set up an advance base at the Pauper's Graves to stage their attack on Sandpoint. Have the journal (Tsuto's or Zantus' if you are using that) not actually specify that Nualia is at Thistletop. Make your party think that it is just a mini-adventure to level them up before the next session.
But rewrite all of Thistletop so that it takes place there instead. :)
With a bit more work you could even have the whole thing happen under the old light. But you would have to re-work the greed stuff into wrath-themed stuff instead.
One Final Thing:
I do agree that the story is good overall and doesn't need changing. If your player is an experienced player and able and willing to "play along," you don't need to change much. But recommend that he play a character native to Sandpoint. That way some of his out-of-game knowledge becomes in-character knowledge, because he grew up there.
In my campaign I have a character who grew up in Sandpoint. I let him make Knowledge:Local checks pertaining to Sandpoint untrained.