[Way of the Wicked] Downtime

[Heine Stick]

Hullo,

So I've recently started running the Way of the Wicked campaign Ultimate Campaign is a smash hit among my players and they've asked whether or not downtime will come into play, specifically organizations such as spy networks, cults, and mercenary companies.

Now, I've read the first 2 installments of the adventure path so far, and my question for those of you who've actually read the entire adventure path is, how fitting will the downtime rules from Ultimate Campaign be for the campaign as a whole as written? Will there be time throughout the campaign for downtime activities such as building strongholds, recruiting organizations, etc.?

[Banesfinger]

I've only gotten to book 3:

Book 1 has limited downtime.
Book 2 is FILLED with downtime (over 7 months worth of downtime, ideal for building *a* stronghold (the horn) and definately for recruiting an organization (so much so, the book actually has rules for this type of activity).
Book 3 opens with 1 month of downtime and a few extra weeks can be squeezed out here & there...

[Alzrius]

There's about three months of downtime at the end of book three/beginning of book four, but resources are very limited due to your location.

[Endzeitgeist]

Also, the organization-rules employed by WotW were released prior to UCa, thus requiring you to do some conversion work if you want to use both. Honestly, I'd just settle for the WotW-rules for the purpose of the AP - unless you want to do a lot of expanding/conversion.

[James Priebnow]

My group is almost done with Book 4. As Banesfinger noted above, there are places where the plot gives you room for downtime. Book 4 has a plot element based on the phase of the moon (as the PC's don't think about that you can set it to give them more or less downtime). Book 5 mostly moves too fast for downtime. Book 6 from what I've read there is room, but you may also need to read up on Kingdoms and War.

The biggest single spot is Book 2 during the ritual. There is no reason the party can't do all manner of terrible things to Farholde while building up. The rogue wants a Thieves Guild, go for it. They have 7 months to kill.

You should review the Minion Rules from book 2. These come up in all later books to some extent. Those rules are described as optional but do work in the context of the adventure path. Swapping that out for the difference types of goods and organization building can work, but will require some math. (I'm going to try some of that myself now that I'm thinking about it).

[FredBest]

My group is going through Rappan Athuk during their downtime in Way of the Wicked. This makes for a multi-plot campaign, but it is working for the players.

I am not having trouble with the PCs leveling at the right time. For instance, instead of running the "Ten Sidequests in Ghastenhall" and the pit battles against beasts in Book 3, they were adventuring in Rapan Athuk. Tiadora is good at reminding them to leave Rapan Athuk when it is time to be somewhere that Thorn wants them to be.

The problem is that when earning a certain number of XP, Rapan Athuk is more gold and magic item rich than Way of the Wicked is. I have to sometimes combine encounters (such as, Jurak and Calliaste in Book 2) to make the battles challenging for the party.

[Heine Stick]

Thanks for the input. I really appreciate it. This gives me some ideas to work with.