So, I'm going to come right out and say that Carrion Crown is one of my favorite AP's by and large, even with its somewhat disjointed nature. Hell, the posts here in this part of the forum have done nothing but help me get ideas to make it even better.
That being said, I do dislike that the enemy flavor from book to book can be somewhat... one-note. And while I can certainly appreciate it in some ways, a part of me wonders how I could actually help to remedy that situation somewhat. And so, I hit the books. Specifically, I read up on Rule of Fear.
Now I'm trying to figure out the best ways to incorporate things like Belkazen Orcs (which seem like something the Way would like to use, due to their former connection to the Whispering Tyrant), or how to tie in Anaphexia into the plot (Like perhaps replacing the evil faction you're supposed to work with in book five with them).
So, what are your thoughts on this particular line of thinking? Have any suggestions on how to pull something like this off?
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First: orcs.
In my version, Adivion Adrissant (in full mastermind mode) was dropping crises left and right to distract the PCs. One of these was fomenting a full-on PRC assault via polymorphed Way members acting as sleeper agents among the orcs. When it came time to finish the plot, he gave the word, and the cultists drove several orc clans to assault Canterwall... with Makoa Dragon-kin, an orcish sorcerer (dragon/orc) lich as their leader. (I'd set him up earlier in a random encounter with some nymphs. Wake of the Watcher has an... interesting... random encounter table.
As for the Anaphexia, I had them pop up once, to assassinate some nobody cleric. They're much more involved in my other campaigns. (There's a larger meta-plot involving Norgorber himself.)
Rewriting Ashes at Dawn doesn't seem as ideal, primarily because it takes the vampire element down a lot. (I'm probably just biased in favor of Radvir though.) Instead, I'd drop hints that they may be manipulating events. Maybe they fed the villain some info or helped him kidnap the heir, because his plan somehow advanced their agenda. Maybe they discover the plot and are setting up to gain heavily from the PCs stopping it (while letting them do all the fighting). For added artistry, give the PCs the opportunity to stop them as well, albeit at greater cost or difficulty than letting them go unopposed. And for the ultimate masterstroke, arrange things so that the Anaphexia were unknowingly part of the villain's plan. He's smart enough.
If you want any more advice, whether on this set of ideas or other factions/locations, let me know. (I'm especially fond of the Saffron House.) Hope this helps! :D
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Yeah, Rule of Fear is a great supplement. It really helped me breathe life into the setting.
I gave old man Gibs a sympathetic spin in HoH by having villagers confide to the PCs that he lost his family to Belkazen raiders. My players also faced orc raiders as an encounter on the road from Ravengro to Lepidstadt--that gave a new PC, a ranger who patrolled the Canterwall borders, a chance to shine. I plan to make the mohrgs in Renchurch ancient Belkazen heroes. It’s good flavor, referencing Tar-Baphon’s original conquering army. But orcs generally impress players as a military threat, not really suiting the tone of this AP. I’d use them sparingly.
The conspiritorial focus of the Anaphexia fits much better. You can introduce them in the margins of HoH by having Lorrimor’s diary allude to a shadowy cult that eliminates scholars who learn their secrets. In TotB, Grines could certainly be an Anaphexia agent. My own PCs have run afoul of Anaphexia assassins who think they learned more from Grines than they did. Your PCs might discover Grine’s allegiance and come to think the Anaphexia and Whispering Way are connected, perhaps conflating the two. Or the Anaphexia could approach one of your sketchier PCs with a shady offer of support in return for loyalty, the way the Order of the Palatine Eye approaches the group as a whole.
I’ve gotten a lot of milage out of the Pharasmin inquisition, which I’ve portrayed as a ruthless bunch kept in check by a fear of their leadership. That payed off in Ashes, when I was able to use the inquisition to give the players a covert mission in the vampire underground, making the diplomacy less of a shift in tone from the undead slaying of the rest of the adventure.
I introduced the dueling societies of Lepidstadt mostly to foreshadow Adivion Adrissant, reigning champion of quarterstaff dueling, but players didn’t really pick up on that one.
I enlivened the lodge in Broken Moon by focusing on the intrigue between the counties and the palantinates, and tried to present the history of Count Neska’s war crimes early in the adventure so that the horror of the Furrows had a familiar context. (Basically, there was tension between two of the aristocrats in the lodge who were on opposite sides of the War Without Peer, and gossiped bitterly about each other--this was a nice red herring when one was killed by the Vilkascis.)
Countess Caliphaso should be a presence in Ashes--ideally, the players should suspect that she is the mastermind behind whatever’s going on at the abbey, and should be more than a little frightened of having her come after them. Gossip at the Order’s party might help there. Giving Count Galdana more presence is a good idea too; perhaps he can offer to shield the party from the Countess’s anger by interceding with the Prince. That should make his abduction matter more to the players.
The hags in the AP can cast a larger shadow too. Stories with Oothi as an Ustalavic boogyman could pay off, particularly if they introduce the rivalry between her and the witchfires.
I could go on and on. My advice in a nutshell is to add elements in ways that connect or foreshadow the disparate events and themes of the adventure, rather than just heaping more bits of the setting on top of the AP.
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Contributor
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Yeah, my campaign was kind of an outlier. I tend to live by a maxim of "the campaign reflects the characters". And since my party included a cleric of Urgathoa, and the players reacted very negatively to the Pharasmins in Book 1, I set up the local Church of Pharasma as (at best) trying to help, and (at worst) corrupt and clinging to power, if not actively infiltrated by Anaphexia or the Whispering Way. (The Church in Thrushmoor was completely Way - I replaced the dullahan with a Way attack in Thrushmoor).
A lot of this came about because I had the wrong group - this group wasn't as invested in the horror, so I had to go more "military", as KCaC put it. My group wasn't exactly hack-and-slash either; they were heavy on talk and diplomacy.
Back on topic - there's another group you could sneak in. If you liked Rule of Fear, you might want to give Occult Mysteries a glance. In addition to giving more information on the Anaphexia and the Esoteric Order, it includes another group that might be involved - Conference Z. The deep-science wing of the Aspis Consortium are the exact sort who might be behind events in Versex.
Anyway, KCaC's advice is better if you intend to cleave as closely as possible to the Path's encounters. My style involved far more tweaking, and most of my examples are going to reflect (a) my group specifically and (b) my tendency to work in otherwise disparate elements (such as orcs). My party wouldn't have stood for a full-on no-pause-to-rest chase campaign, so I let them take a slower pace (they had a fortune teller cleric who could determine when they needed to hasten the pace).
Again, questions are welcome. Same goes for you, Carrion. I've seen a lot of your posts, and you've got a good handle on this Path. (It was the first one I actually ran, and I started when Book 1 was released, rather than wait and develop a more cohesive plan. Not that it would have helped all that much; my players weren't much for remembering, so foreshadowing was a bit lost. Sigh.)
I'm rambling, aren't I? Sorry. :)