Ok. So I'm a relatively "green" GM. This will be the first AP I'll have ran at all. I do have a question from reading the early parts of the first book / pdf.
In it, it says that PCs may lose -1 trust point if they kill a villager. -6 if it was obvious it was them.
First question is, what constitutes as obvious it was them? Would that just mean if they were seen doing the killing by any and all village onlookers such as the councilman at the Restlands? Would Kestra count as someone who has seen them kill? Would she "blab" on them?
Next question is this. Say I have a violent PC in my game and it looks like I might. He and a few of the other party members use full force to take down the thugs at the Restland, killing 4 of them. Since it would be obvious it was them (if the procession hasn't ran away) does that mean with an accumulated total of -24 that I should straight up drop them into Harrowstone as lv.1 characters? (Note: I do understand that I have the option to "run them out of town" or simply lynch them, or whatever else, but dropping them into Harrowstone seems like the best way to keep the game going, instead of stopping right there.)
Sorry if this has obvious answers. I'm making notes so that our first online / over skype game goes as smoothly as possible.
Well, despite the fact that I'm hardly a grizzled veteran of a GM myself, I think I can give you some suggestions for how to approach this situation.
For what is considered obvious, I'd say direct witnesses and confessions of the deed would be the major things that would make that determination. Basically, if it seems like it could really churn the Ravengro rumor mill in a bad way, then it costs them trust points. As for Kendra, I would personally have her be very suspicious and non-trusting of the PC's, but not necessarily blab on them. You know, unless they're doing something really heinous, like deciding to eat the recently dead sap or the like.
As for the matter of death.... Well, there's a few different ways to go about handling that. First off, barring some twinking/exceptional circumstances, many level 1 PC's (Barring those wielding two-handed weapons or who crit) are going to have to probably get off more than one attack to get the 15 damage in that it's going to take to fully kill these guys. What's more, they'll probably drop in one hit anyways, and will outright run if they're hit anyways. So unless your PC's are really out for blood and/or lucky with their rolls, you shouldn't have a death on your hands. And if they are that stab-happy? Have the others decide it's not worth the trouble, and turn tail to get out of there.
Secondly, there's Father Grimburrow. When the villagers drop into the negatives, you can probably have him and his couple of Acolytes show up as "reinforcements". Just channel energy to stabilize people, have the villagers mellow out in the face of the head priest in town, and have the cleric that's six levels above all of them give a very stern warning that killing anybody would have.... consequences. Not lethal consequences necessarily, but still.
Then there's appealing to their common sense. I mean, yes. They could easily kill the 6 drunk farmers/stablehands/smiths/other peasantfolk who are attacking them with farmtools for nonlethal damage. But on the other hand, they'd be killing 6 completely ordinary people who are just superstitious and lacking in judgement at the moment. It'd be like spanking a toddler with an axe for having a tantrum, and would probably go over in about the same fashion with the people of Ravengro.
And, lastly, there's the simplest solution of all: Say they're heavily wounded, but not dead. The PC's probably don't get to see their hit points (or at least shouldn't), and you're the GM. Basically, if your players do decide to be ultra-violent in retaliation to a bunch of drunks, just let them have their moment before Father Grimburrow/Sheriff Caeller have a little talk with them about their misguided sense of proportional retribution.
Hope my advice helps!
The character I feel will be particularly violent will be a tiefling bloodrger, who was orphaned at an early age and is at his most calm when doing violence. He enjoys violence and that's what he's good at. Essentially what the player told me. As for alignment, he hasn't said yet.
I reminded him that a Tiefling would not be treated kindly and he understood that. He's a very experienced player and it seems that he's aiming for a character that makes waves in this town. I'm fine with that. I'm not afraid of making the townsfolk react angrily toward him or the group if they go over the edge.
It's likely they won't accrue enough distrust to matter at first, but in case he takes the character to the extreme and beheads knocked out people, I'd like to have a contingency for that possibility. No matter how unlikely.
Thanks so far everyone.
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If one of your players turns the funeral into a slaughter, congratulations! Your Haunting of Harrowstone game just got really interesting.
The whole village is now hostile to them, as well they should be. Kendra will be horrified, and feel perhaps she is partly to blame for the situation for not defusing the situation. She will urge the party to hide in the nearby woods until she can find out what her father left them in his will.
If they are seen entering Ravengro, citizens will run and hide and shout for the sheriff, who will be there with all his deputies in a matter of minutes. If there are any surviving witnesses to the slaughter, the town will know some of what the party is capable of in combat, and the sheriff will likely be reinforced by Father Grimburrow packing Hold Person and Summon Monster IV spells. After a delightfully one-sided fight, surviving party members will be accused of stirring up the evil spirits of the prison and tossed in.
However, if the players have the common sense to avoid town, Kendra can bring them the will and the clues from her father’s study. Then conduct the rest of the adventure as something of a stealth mission, with the party presumably setting up base in increasingly haunted woods and avoiding torch-bearing mobs to investigate the Restlands and the Splatterman murders, which you can conveniently relocate to far on the fringes of town. If they need financial motivation to settle things at the prison, instead of the council offering a reward, you can have Kendra bribe them with her own inheritance.
Perhaps Kendra can bring a trusted friend on the council to try to convice the party to turn themselves in. If the party agrees, only the acutal murderer(s) will be confined, while the others can investigate the town. Give the murderer(s) something to investigate in prison, too--perhaps the person in the next cell over is an old drunk with stories to tell of the prison, or one of Gib’s friends who has witnessed his strange nocturnal wanderings. Perhaps a PC prisoner dreams that his cell is on fire, gaining a few clues about the riot. In any case, let the party negotiate their compatriots’ release or stage a rescue so that they can investigate the prison.
Make sure your players’ actions have consequences. You don’t have to ruin their fun or make it much harder to succeed, but a party that wades in blood should have a very different Ravengro experience than one that puts a lot of effort into cultivating the town’s favor.
Be aware that the Trust Points values, as printed in the scenario, need some fixes. There aren't enough points available to let the PCs earn trust even if they do everything right. So if your PCs do good deeds, treat people politely, etc., give them bonus trust points to even things out.
On the other hand, what you're anticipating is behavior that would alienate the entire town. Don't give them a free pass for that. If they do indescriminate killing, they should earn the consequences. If they do indescriminate killing in the very first scene, it may even be worth a TPK, and that's okay too - they can come up with less extreme interpretations of their characters (or brand new characters, if their concepts won't allow that flexibility) and start over. (By TPK, I'm really thinking "knock them all out, lock them in jail, then ask the players whether they want to continue with these characters or if they want a do-over." One scene into the campaign, that can be appropriate.)
Problem is, in order to do well in this adventure path (especially the first couple of adventures), the PCs need to be prepared to work with people, avoid unnecessary offense, etc. where appropriate. So you may want to consider letting the players in on the Trust mechanic. You don't need to tell them how many points they've earned, or what actions will gain or lose points; but let them know you're tracking Trust and it affects how the entire party is treated. That lets the other players help reign in someone who gets out of hand.
And you didn't mention what kinds of characters the other folks in the party are planning. Are they "damn the consequences" types as well? Do they enjoy this kind of roleplay challenge? Some groups would have a really good time coming up with ways to get the mission done under adverse circumstances; other groups would get really irritated at one player for sabotaging their fun, resulting in destroyed friendships. If you and the other players can handle it, cool! Run with the consequences. If not (or if it will make the game too difficult for you as a newer GM), it's reasonable to talk to the one player ahead of time and explain the Trust mechanic to them, and give them the opportunity to adjust their character concept before the campaign starts.
I'll definitely tell them that,"There is a trust point mechanic in the game. Through actions and maybe what you say, you can lose or gain these points and it effects the environment around you."
That may help. I may also remind them, that the way I've GM'd modules, I'm not the type to pull punches if it doesn't make sense. (If a character is nearly dead, but the rest of the party ran, leaving him behind, unless the enemy has a good reason against it, he'll try to kill the dying character.)
I'm not sure what the other players are planning just yet, waiting on sheets. One, the other experienced player of the 4, is pondering a cleric, probably necromancy based knowing him. The other two are inexperienced and relatively new to the game. They're going to have the experienced players help them build their characters. All 4 are friends of mine, no strangers here.
I like the stealth idea, I'd rather toss them into harrowstone instead of TPK though. Give them a chance to fight. This is all speculation of course, but I feel fairly confident at least 1 to 2 villagers will be dead and I don't think I want to stop them if that's what they want to do.
Okay I have an update of my groups team and I'm beginning to think they're doing this on purpose (this = trying to freak townspeople out).
We have a Tiefling Bloodrager named Mayhem. Bent on mayhem of course.
A halfling oni-blooded sorcerer. Not bad all things considered.
A dhampir ranger who hunts vampires (and probably undead).
And..... a necromancer cleric that starts with an undead companion...
That last one. Yeah. He's probably going to arm the undead companion to the teeth with heavy armor. But it's the undead companion that brings about another question. Since the undead companion will have no bonus to Disguise (nor even try according to cleric) what should I do about the townsfolk? They're already beginning to freak out, I doubt having any undead around would be something they're ok with. Do I deal 1 trust point negative to them? Do I have townsfolk refuse to speak to the party while the undead is in town? Have the townsfolk attack the undead themselves?
As a new DM I have to say I sighed when I saw that most would be the typical fearless heroes, probably un-scared of whatever they encounter even though this is a horror themed campaign. But I suppose that's what the NPCs are for.
EDIT: I guess he's going to cast Restore Dead on it every few days to make it look like it's alive. I'll have to see if that works.
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No. From Restore Corpse: “The new flesh is somewhat rotted...” The corpse looks like it did when it died--that doesn’t mean it looks alive, and from the quote above, it will almost certainly smell dead.
Shut that down. Tell the player before the game starts that anyone with a Take 10 in Knowledge: Religion higher than the cleric’s Disguise is going to know immediately that the unbreathing, unblinking thing reeking of decay next to him is undead, and will react accordingly, i.e. either run screaming or wade into combat calling on Pharasma. Ask him if he wants to reconsider his character concept. If not, try to have his first encounter with Father Grimburrow take place before he meets the other players, so that they don’t feel obliged to side with him and share his fate.
You are not going to convey the atmosphere of the superstitious, Tyrant-shadowed nation of Ustalav or the fearful, xenophobic village of Ravengro if one of your players can practice necromancy so openly. If he decides to do it covertly--the zombie hides in the woods when he’s in town, or something--then work with him.
I'm with Mr Carrion on this one. Atmosphere plays a significant role in this AP, and you'd need to change it beyond recognizability in order to accommodate him.
You could have Father Grimburrow drive him away, then allow him to attempt disguise self to reenter town. As long as he and the cleric don't interact directly he might have a chance to keep his head down and keep his character.
Alternately, if your entire group does indeed want to freak the townspeople out you could just run that, but that doesn't seem like something to impose on a new DM. Did your player know about Trust Points when he declared his necromancer character?
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I've warned the player of the possible repercussions of bringing a dead person along, that the spell doesn't quite work as he hoped and gave him the option you suggested. He just replied that he doesn't mind that people notice the zombie and that he's going to have it stick around.
I don't mind it if the players get themselves into big trouble and I suspect the other players may deal with it if it hinders them. They're all friends and for the most part are prepared for each to mess with one another in some way, shape or form.
That being said, I'm thinking of docking 1 trust point for each area he enters / re-enters with his zombie tagging along, save for maybe the mansion.
To answer Tbug, I have told them about trust points. I was vague in how they would gain or lose them, but did tell them that it would effect their environment in ways. I would assume that since I've warned him about adverse reactions from townsfolk, that he'd know that trust would be hit.
I figure that even if I am a new DM, that I won't shy away from this challenge. If they want the townspeople up in arms, I suppose that's what I'll end up giving to them if they're not careful. Might find themselves in the Harrowstone dungeons at lv. 1 if they're not careful.
I'll see about Father Grimburrow.
ugh! theres giving the party free reign and then theres letting them blow up the campaign, just make sure they wont do the latter if you do the former, I would nix the necromancer and his entourage myself
Since it seems that this could make things horrible, I've asked him if he has a back up character that's not a necromancer, due to the fact that it could blow up the game. I doubt he'll want to play something else and I don't think I want to not run it, since I've put a lot of prep time in and they're all friends of mine.
Maybe he'll say yes though.
I can't seem to find any actual stats on Father Grimburrow, is it in another book past the first?
its all good I started a pirate campaign told everyone No Paladins!
4 of 6 showed up with paladins:-(
people can be quite contrary:-)
hope it all works out:)
This sounds like a party that would normally be NPC antagonists rather than a collection of heroes/antiheroes that might occasionally negotiate with people.
Be prepared to use the adventure path as a very loose sketch of how things might go, and be prepared to shore up an entirely different campaign altogether.
I wouldn't be surprised if your group decides to just join the dark side and work with the story antagonists. If that happens, be prepared to have them run across appropriate obstacles that wouldn't have been fleshed out in the AP material.
There's no stat block for Father Grimburrow. It's almost as if Paizo wasn't expecting him to get into combat...
I think he'd channel positive and destroy the zombie as soon as he saw it. He's a level 7 cleric, so that wouldn't even raise a sweat.
If Kestrel is right and they decide to side with Adivion Adrissant you could have the iconics on hand doing the actual AP.
I think he'd channel positive and destroy the zombie as soon as he saw it. He's a level 7 cleric, so that wouldn't even raise a sweat.
It might be good to actually do this. If you player attacks, have him smack him down with a hold person, and then continue into dialogue along the lines, "No matter your intentions, some methods will not be tolerated here, and I will not stand for such an open disregard of life and of the emotions of the people. There will be no animated dead here."
This way, your player knows the ground rules and hopefully keeps his undead more out of sight, but he still gets to play the character. Either way, his trust level should be low.
It’s hard for me to conceive of an Ustlavic character who thinks bringing his zombie to town is a fine idea. I can think of concepts that *might* work, given an experienced roleplayer willing to work within the setting--for example, a fish-out-of-water Geb nobleman who doesn’t really understand the centuries of genocide and horror that the undead represent to Ustalav until he encounters it firsthand. But I suspect your player simply isn’t giving any thought to fitting in.
I’m reconsidering my previous advice. You know your player better than we do--is he emotionally mature enough to enjoy a story where his character is utterly defeated? If not, allowing him to play the character and then bringing the hammer down is a bad idea.
Consider instead sending him the Carrion Crown chapter that details Pharasman religion, and explain that he’d fit in perfectly playing the bad-ass necromancer priest of a death goddess--just leave out the undead. He would worship her as the Reaper and could lean towards neutral evil.
If you like the idea of him playing a undead-raiser, perhaps encourage him to be one of the Anaphexis, a cult of Norgorber hiding within the Ustalavic Pharasman church. Try to get him thinking of more subtle ways to use his servitoirs.
But if he just refuses to work with you, say no to the character concept. Ultimately, though players and GM should be able to work out compromises, someone has to have the final say, and that’s you. Laying down the law here will establish that you have set reasonable boundries for the campaign.
Well I got his answer, and he asked why. So I told him as straight forward as I could. Trust points effects everyone, your party included as well as the environment.
If he wants to play this character he had to realize that he'd be losing trust points (along with his party) at a much higher rate than normal because the place just got done with a tyrant necromancer years ago, hate undead with a passion and are already xenophobic to boot. So I gave him the option. Play the character as is and expect a lot of hell to go through, including townsfolk not talking to the party while undead is around, find another character not bent on raising undead, make the necromancer more subtle keeping the undead out of sight. I even warned him that his zombie might be attacked by townspeople from time to time and he was fine with that too.
He still wanted to go with out in the open undead necromancer. I told him I'd have to tell the rest of the party about consequences of his characters action. I did so... and... well... none of the players cared that they might be having a much harder time because of this. I figure if they all don't care about the possible repercussions, I continue as normal.
This particular player tends to play the same type of character in every rpg I've been in. "Minion Master" that is trying to build an army to take over the world. Thing is, that was ok with the other DM (Dm even allowed him to become an undead immortal of some kind by level 5 ala template in one game) but I'm not having any of that. We're going to be in a different game (hero system) and of course he's going to make a minion master there too, robot based that time. Kind of boring when you play it all the time I would think. But whatever.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I'll see about throwing together Father Grimburrow myself if I can't find a build online somewhere. I don't usually play clerics after all.
If the other players had a problem with the oncoming hell that would befall them due to undead companion and raised dead, I'd have told him outright to change the character. As it stands, they know what to expect and are fine with it.
Best of Luck!
That should help a lot tbug, thanks. I'll just toss in hold person in place of one of those spells.
I’m not fond of that interpretation of Grimburrow. For the Haunting of Harrowstone to work as a narrative, there has to be a reason why Grimburrow didn’t clear out the haunted prison ages ago. He can’t be focused on the undead-smiting aspect of Pharasma.
In my game, Father Grimburrow was a Penitent, one of the Pharasmans who believe that suffering in this life will result in a more favorable judgement from the Gray Lady. He was suffering The Bleaching, and believed that the curse of the prison was a judgment the town had to bear up under. To make him sympathetic despite his refusal to help exorcise the ruin, he was a fantastic healer, devoted to the goddess as midwife--at a critical juncture of the story, he was unavailable because he was helping a farmer with a difficult birth, and saved both mother and child.
Here’s how I would revise that stat block. Note the open spell slots...he can pray for spells the party purchases and cast them in 15 minutes.
Venerable male gnome cleric of Pharasma 7
N small humanoid (gnome)
Init -2; Perception +4
DEFENSE
AC 12, touch 8, flat-footed 9 (+5 armor, -2 Dex)
hp 34 (7d8-7+7)
Fort +6 Ref 0, Will +11
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +1 mithral skane (dagger) +3 (1d3-2/19-20/x2)
Special Attacks channel positive energy 4d6 (6/day DC 18)
Domain Spell-Like Abilities (CL 7)
Rebuke Death: 7/day Heal 1d4+3 on a creature below 0 hit points.
Icicle: 7/day As a standard action, you can fire an icicle from your finger, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. (+2 to hit, 1d6+3 damage)
Cold Resistance (Ex): At 6th level, you gain resist cold 10. This resistance increases to 20 at 12th level. At 20th level, you gain immunity to cold.
Cleric Spells Prepared (CL 7) concentration +11
4th merciful spiritual ally, cure critical wounds, 1 open slot
3rd magic vestment, hold person, cure serious wounds, 2 open slots
2nd lesser restoration, merciful spiritual weapon, cure moderate wounds, 2 open slots
1st shield of faith, sanctuary, remove fear, cure light wounds, 2 open slots
0th stabilize, detect poison, light, virtue
Domains (Healing, Water)
MORALE:
Father Grimburrow casts magic vestment (included in stats) when leaving the temple itself, including in the Restlands. He casts shield of faith if he senses trouble (7 min for +3 deflection). He avoids fighting anything except undead. He calls for support from his adept assistants and the sheriff as quickly as he is able.
Statistics
Str 6, Dex 4, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 18, Cha 16
Base Atk + 5; CMB +3; CMD 10
Feats Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Merciful Spell, Skill Focus (Healing)
Skills
Heal +16, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (planes) +6, Knowledge (religion) +12, Linguistics +6, Profession (mortician) +8, Sense Motive +14, Spellcraft +6
Languages Common, Celestial, Infernal, Abyssal
Combat Gear holy water vials (x2), scroll of Breath of Life, scroll of Hallow
Other Gear silver holy symbol of Pharasma, cleric's vestments, healer's kit, walking cane, incense and offerings worth 25gp (for divination), scroll case (496 gp in desk)
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Rebuke Death (Sp)
Father Grimburrow can touch a living creature as a standard action, healing it for 1d4+3 damage. You can only use this ability on a creature that is below 0 hit points. He can use this ability 7 times per day.
Healer's Blessing(Su)
All cure spells are treated as if they were empowered, increasing the amount of damage healed by half (+50%). This does not apply to damage dealt to undead with a cure spell. This does not stack with the Empower Spell metamagic feat.
Icicle: 7/day As a standard action, Father Grimburrow can fire an icicle from his finger, targeting any foe within 30 feet as a ranged touch attack. (+2 to hit, 1d6+3 damage)
Cold Resistance (Ex): Father Grimburrow has resist cold 10.
Load: 17lbs
Light load: 20 lbs, Medium: 40 lbs, Heavy: 60 lbs, Lift 120 lbs, Drag 360 lbs
Spellcasting costs:
70gp x spell level. He will not leave the temple or Restlands to cast a spell (Trust 36 needed, Diplomacy DC 30). He gives healing for free when the PCs hit Trust score 31, and only charges for expensive materials. Focuses add 1/10 of the cost of the item to the spell (excluding divine focus). A channel energy costs 100 gp. He doesn't charge for the first encounter, and he doesn't charge if he heals without being asked.
Age Effects: -6 to Str, Dex, and Con, +3 to Int, Wis, Cha (he is 70 and can live to be 99)
Human +2 on Dex, 4th level boost to Int
I mean, geez, they made him human? Anyway, he can still blow player-owned zombies away with a single channel.
Thanks Carrion, I might just use this one. You make a good point as to why he's not just obliterating undead on his own. I assume eventually one would get the better of him, but not before the majority are destroyed.
Alright. I ran my first session tonight. Father Grimburrow destroyed the zombie on sight after healing those that were left alive. (only one thug died... Gibs got knocked uncoscious even when running... darn rangers who hate the lose their mark.)
Necromancer attempted to attack the cleric and missed. Then got held by hold person while father grimburrow stated clearly that he would not abide by undead, no matter the intention. As GM I asked him to let the father alone at least until after the funeral so the game could continue. He did so and while the necromancer was quiet at first, he warmed back up and got into the game not long after. He hasn't attempted to bring the companion back just yet.
He has said several times he intends to destroy Grimburrow though. I will say though, the combat challenges seem to be very weak. Most things are getting one shotted by the party. I may have to add templates to some things to provide a fun enough fight.
Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone. It seemed it had worked out.
Edit: Just chatted it out. He said he was still salty because he didn't get some kind of in game warning. I admitted I could have done that much and will do so in the future. Also allowing him to rez the same zombie (for Rp reasons) later on. Still going to try to kill Grimburrow. Hopefully outside of healing he's not needed if that happens.
My interpretation of Grimburrow was quite antagonistic. I created a lower ranking priest who was much younger and sympathetic to the players. I also had Grimburrow become more and more desperate as time went on as he was powerless to stop the town from being tormented (the players ultimately won Grimburrow over and helped give him back his pride).
I have strong concerns for your group and this AP. Carrion Crown is very much a "save the people from the monsters" campaign and your group seems more interested in playing the monsters. You need players to engage in the AP on a fundamental level or else it's going to fall off the rails and fast. Good luck with it!
Some good points John and I would agree with them maybe not wanting to save the people. Only one of the characters seems interested in it, the rest are either in it for the money or to accumulate an undead army...
They made their way into the Restlands for a second time in search of a rumored stache and they didn't go to the temple first, but got the clue from the notes. So. Accordingly. They kicked down every standing grave site door that sounded right, until they found the right one... Not sure how to handle that. Was going to roll a percentile die for someone in town to come looking, but I didn't.
As for the necromancer, I think he understands that he'll at the very least need to be a bit more secretive with the zombie.
The party already seems to be yearning to head to harrowstone and they're still lv. 1. I've done some of the "goings on" that's supposed to happen, but they either don't understand what's going on or blow through the combat encounters.
Anyone have some tips on making the combat challenges... challenging?
If I were you I'd let them go to Harrowstone. My PCs were quite anxious much the same as yours, but I let them do it. They took on a bunch of zombies out on the grounds and I don't remember if they retreated then, but they certainly did when they woke the poltergeist. Trick is to just make sure if they're going into a certain-TPK situation that you have a way of letting them retreat (if they choose to take it).
As for the combats being challenging, which ones have you run already?
Nothing major admittedly, I did throw a zombie (didn't even get a hit out) at them and they've killed the centipedes in the tomb (one shot-ting each of them). None of them even hit the players and were killed almost instantly. I'm doubting the stirges will do much at all.
Should I be adding a couple more zombies? Maybe add a template to them or something?
When I ran CC, I had a priest with an undead as well. He quickly became aware that to keep his companion, he would have to be a bit secretive. Actually, he was so secret about it, the other players became convinced he was hiding something horrible and took it upon themselves to investigate. They thought he was keeping a woman as a slave, they were ready to totally off him for it!
Anyway, I had a similar problem with the PCs eating through the enemies as well. I just added a few more here and there when I thought the combat didn't seem tough enough. Templates are a little more difficult to add (not all that hard, mind you, but harder than just adding another zombie or three) and I found it easier to gauge the fight without them. Remember, however, that when the combat becomes harder, they're going to go through their resources faster. So while they may be one shotting monsters now, they might be screwed a few combats later if they expended all their spells/powers/items. In my game, everything was going swimmingly for them...and then the priest ran out of spells...and the party ran out of healing potions...in the middle of Harrowstone...
Let's just say the tension spiked quite dramatically...:)
Throwing 1 zombie at 4 or 5 PCs won't ever be a threat. I'd wait until they explore Harrowstone before beefing up the fights. Also make sure you fully understand the haunting rules thoroughly.
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I think trying to shoehorn this party of either outright evil (or neutral with evil tendencies) characters is not going to work well with the storyline as written. There are sooooo many points at which they will try to join the antagonists that I just don't see it finishing.
In books 3, 4, 5, and 6, the antagonists run into problems besides what a group of heroes is actually accomplishing.
Book 1 - Play as written. Kendra ends up abandoning them. Have Vrood contact them about a secret society that he is a member of and that he has a task for them if they are interested.
Book 2 - The Whispering Way went to Count Caromarc to get him to help them. They ended up using force and took control of the Beast to steal the Seasage Effigy. Make the book this set of encounters instead.
Book 3 - Vrood introduces the Whispering Way and says he has another task for them if they are interested in joining. Vrood asks the party to visit Ascanor Lodge to foment conflict amongst the werewolves as a distraction. The lodgemaster owes the Whispering Way favors anyway, so they can use that to stay there and cause problems for the less-evil werewolves. The party arrives as Feldgrau.
Book 4 - Vrood asks them to take the Seasage Effigy to Illmarsh to trade it for the Raven's Head mace with the skum. (Vrood is killed by heroes after they leave.) Basically they become the black riders described in the book. This can be run just about as written although the Dagon priests may not be hostile.
Book 5 - With Vrood dead and their continued help, Adrissant invites the party to help him find the last descendant of Tar-Baphon. The vampires are enemies of Adrissant's plans, so this one can also probably be run just about as written with the witches being allies instead of enemies.
Book 6 - I haven't read a lot of this one yet, but I would have the party eventually join Adrissant for the ritual. Their task is to protect him while he completes it just as a party of adventurers arrive, perhaps a Pharasman group or undead hunters.
Honestly though, I don't know why the necromancer would be at the funeral of his "old friend." There's no way that Lorrimer would have been friends with this guy based on what is said about him.
(I kind of want to run this as a campaign now, too.)