Hello everyone!
At the end of December, I'll start my first stint as a GM with the Carrion Crown adventure path. I've done some reading already and one of the pieces of advice I want to take to heart, is the foreshadowing of the Big Bad. Obviously, this discussion will contain spoilers ;-)
So, with that out of the way...
My current plan is to have Adivion Adrissant show up towards the end of each book, disguised as a old man, a soothsayer of sorts, and offering the party some cryptic riddle/forewarning of things to come in the next book.
The idea is that way over at the Gallowspire, he's Scrying on the proceedings and being the clever fella he's being portrayed as, he figures that the party may influence things and decides to toy with them.
Given I think it gives the party interesting opportunities to have him bodily present, he will be bodily present, but not unprepared:
1. He'll wear a Ring of Mind Shielding.
2. He'll wear a Hat of Disguise.
3. He'll have access to Word of Recall for if things get hairy.
Now, two questions for any and all readers:
1: Any thoughts or suggestions on the above set-up?
2: Any ideas on the wording of the riddles for the specific books?
One of the threads on here had a GM dropping a personal letter to the PCs at the end of each significant event. You should check that thread out for ideas. I wish I remember where it was ...
Oh, that's good stuff! But I am still curious what people think of my plans ;-)
Contributor
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As for your ideas...
1) Obviously I like mine better. You don' need an escape route if you're not there. Substitute project image if the obvious "possessed statue" thing isn't what you're going for.
2) I'm not normally much good at riddles. If inspiration strikes, I'll let you know. The basic idea is sound.
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I know something like Project Image existed, but Enter Image is new for me. Sounds like a fun one; I'll take it into consideration. Thanks for providing that nugget of information!
Now, as far as the riddles go, I suspect I've got a good few months to go before I'd have to present the first one :-) Thanks for thinking along :-)
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I had him appear early in the AP with as a sort of respectful adversary of Petros (they had sort of a professor X/Magneto relationship). He was present in Ravengro for the funeral, but kind of in the background. He ends up having some brief face to face time with a couple of the characters, but they just see him as some mysterious aristocrat who's there paying his respects. They end up randomly running into him again in Lepistadt for the next adventure, and by that time, he starts to see them as a threat to his plans and starts watching them more closely. He also poses as a friend and tries to give them a friendly warning, before straight up threatening them to get off the trail. When they realized that Adivion was the mastermind behind the events of the AP, it was a pretty big reveal, and I think had a more effective impact.
It's another fun option, must admit.
When you say, "had a more effective impact", what do you compare it to?
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I had him show up at the funeral and be introduced as an ex-apprentice of the professor. At the end of their stay in Ravengro, he sent one of his personal carriages to convey the characters and Kendra to Lepidstadt.
During book two he gave the characters horses so that they had "no impediments during the trial", but in reality the saddles are the focal point of divination spells.
I am using the letters idea linked above, but I sign the letters with only "A". At first they were sure it was Auren Vrood, but when they found another letter on his body they discovered to their dismay that they were wrong. They will find another letter on the assassin in the following book.
I like the idea that someone presented with having a Feather Token: Bird deliver some of the letters. The 300gp cost is chump-change for him.
In addition, I made Kendra blind to give the characters more of a reason to help her out. I also made her a budding Oracle who can communicate with spirits. When the spirits were released from the prison, her power started to kick in. The BBEG saw this as a threat and whisked her away to Caliphas after book 2 so that Kendra "could learn more about her condition". I am going to make her the sacrifice in the final chapter.
Too often players are given the name and/or face of their nemesis. I am enjoying the mystery of how I am running this. It is driving my players mad that there is someone who is watching them and they have no idea who it could be.
It's another fun option, must admit.
When you say, "had a more effective impact", what do you compare it to?
Really just comparing it to the AP as it's written.
I think the letters are also a cool option. I do like doing player handouts as it gives the players something to refer back to throughout the campaign, but I was trying to go for a more subtle approach and holy $#!*& moment I got out of them when they realized he was actually the Big Bad was priceless. :)
Gah, too many fun options! ;-)
Glad I've got time to think about it.
I've been reading the big sticky'ed GM reference thread for HoH, and I've come up with the following plan:
Adivion is present on the funeral. He doesn’t disguise himself (yet) then, but I won't explicitly point him out. Just something along the lines of 'there are few attendants; town notables, an older aristocrat and others who apparently knew the Professor'.
I'll 'deus ex machina' that he sticks around in town long enough to see or hear of a deed of some skill, such as defeating the Stirges, a other town haunt or one of the five in Harrowstone. This piques his interest and he decides to keep tabs on them. Towards the end of the book, he'll give a forewarning in the guise of a soothsayer.
Also by that time, he'll be interested enough to keep tabs the rest of the campaign, which'll be my cue to send letters, use Feather Tokens, Enter Image, Project Image, etc. as I deem appropriate.
I just made him a colleague of Lorrimar and when the two members of my party that like to think below the belt tried to hit on Kendra before they left for Lepidstadt, she simply told them that Addissant was a family friend that had invited her to his estates. I intend for him to use her against them at some point, maybe.