I'm currently running Serpent's Skull on a bi-weekly basis for a group of four (a ranger, a bloodrager, an oracle of lore and a summoner) and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for making the AP feel a bit more like Indiana Jones.
I've already got the idea that there will be a bit more lore, a bit more traps, and a focus on using the serpentfolk as the religious zealots intent on trying to find their brethren in the lost city. Maybe even adding a few central NPCs (including Yarzoth) so the PCs have a specific set of serpentfolk to focus on stopping and to add a bit of roleplaying in a very fight-heavy AP.
Any suggestions?
I'm prepping to run this AP, and am wondering the same thing. In spoilers, in case players wander in here:
I think book 1 is perfect: crazy cannibals, jungle exploration and an epic lost tomb. Book 2 is almost there, although I plan to play up safari aspect, and add to the savanna/plains part of the journey, since that's mostly ignored (inspired mostly by Frog God Games' Fields of Blood). So it's mostly from part 3 that needs the help...
My initial thought was to add more dungeony areas, but part 4 has that mostly covered.
I think your thoughts on making a more consistent protagonist is right. In fact, I'd add several: beefing up the serpentfolk involvement is a good idea, although I wouldn't go overboard with numbers, since part 5 gives plenty of opportunity to fight them. The other expedition parties are also key here. If you can make a group a bit like the Nazis in Raiders (excavating the site) and have your party (or at least some of them) get captured frequently, that should up the Indy quotient.
And finally, I think playing up the differences in the residents of the city is also going to help a lot. I think the Charau-Ka are perfect: I see their leader as a King Louie from Jungle Book, and the cleric as the priest guy from Temple of Doom. All I'd add here are the stats and details from the Monster Codex for more interesting encounters.
Beyond that... there's not many other memorable groups. The friendly humans seem like they could be more interesting. The veggie pygmies I'm tempted to scrap and replace; I personally think an almost-sentient pack of dinosaurs would be awesome (clever girl, and all that). So yeah... any ideas here would be great.
Sorry, that turned into me waffling about my ideas and probably doesn't address anything. I'd definitely appreciate any other ideas anyone has...
Those are actually awesome ideas, and I might incorporate a few of them. The trouble I've been having, however, is how to incoporate the NPCs from the beginning of the adventure without making it too "gamey".
One of the things I admire about Indiana Jones is that most of the side characters are extremely good at a specific way of interacting with natives or traps or figuring out knowledge about ancient tombs. For some of them, it's pretty easy:
Ishirou is respectful to those that don't disrespect him, and I've added that while he's not good at hunting, his backstory clearly states that his father taught him to be a competent fisherman.
Aerys is technically the leader of the NPCs and ready to delegate tasks as needed to keep the NPCs in line.
But for others, it's been difficult:
Gelik... While not useless, I could already tell that he wouldn't mesh well with the party and I've tried to keep him from being abrasive because I know my party would kill him if he got too annoying. Treading a very thin line with him while trying to find how he could be useful to the party.
So, for all these NPCs that have been around since the beginning, it's been difficult but interesting to see how they mesh with the party.
Idea for Gelik:
I'd say that Gelik, as a Pathfinder, would be helpful mostly due to his knowledge of the various local tribes and their customs. As a bard and with his knowledge skills and some bluffing (although I note he has no ranks in Bluff of Knowledge (Local) as written) he could help the PCs ensure they don't embarrass themselves, avoid unwanted hostility, or even act as a diplomat for them, if needed.
That's actually really brilliant and I'm going to use it. Thank you!
Okay, so I've done some re-working on the major story elements and am ready for my party to make it to Eleder.
Shadram, your idea worked perfectly and, while Gelik isn't their favorite castaway, he's no longer just a nuisance.
Now, as for how I'm changing the game going forward...
Fast forward to today, and a new uprising is coming built on the original ideals of the reign of serpentfolk. The hierarchy of the growing race has become split, however, on what's more important -- praise of their God of the Undying Will, and the might of defeating their foes through any means necessary.
Therefore, though there is a High Priest who is pulling the strings, many of the wizard types listed through the adventure become the clergy who are helping gather elements for the fabled ritual of the rising of the serpentfolk god. Same powers, but different motivation. Many of what used to be dealing with a rival faction on the way to and within Saventh-Yhi becomes the minutemen, scouts and spies of the serpentfolk army asserting their dominance and attempting to cause in-fighting between the various groups of expeditions. There may even be paranoia as nobody knows which people are serpentfolk in disguise and which are actually of the expedition.
Hopefully, this gives the idea of a hierarchy of zealots leading to a solid confrontation with the High Priest.
So, that's what I've been working on. My group has made it to the south side of Smuggler's Shiv and has yet to delve into what lies below. I'm thinking some nice foreshadowing of the previous empire and what they thought of the surface dwellers will give them a good idea what they are up against.
Thoughts? Ideas?
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One idea is have the Savagian Government be the Nazis. Being Chelish with racist tendencies to the natives; they are tailor made for this role. You can play up the big military camp they create and their stripping areas for knowledge of the city. However, behind the scenes it is a disguised Serpentfolk controlling them. Trying to secure the up city for his comrades in the city below. This way once Ydersius is restored, they have a base above group to expand.
Have them be the main antagonist until the Serpentfolk is revealing in AP4.
One idea is have the Savagian Government be the Nazis. Being Chelish with racist tendencies to the natives; they are tailor made for this role. You can play up the big military camp they create and their stripping areas for knowledge of the city. However, behind the scenes it is a disguised Serpentfolk controlling them. Trying to secure the up city for his comrades in the city below. This way once Ydersius is restored, they have a base above group to expand.
Have them be the main antagonist until the Serpentfolk is revealing in AP4.
The reason I'm not a big fan of this is because it seems that the titular "serpents" in Serpent's Skull are an afterthought compared to the "rival faction". There are basically...
Yes, having some Sargavan puppets is an awesome idea and I fully plan to make that a part of the story, but I feel like backloading the Serpentfolk Army is such a missed opportunity. I'd rather the Serpents be the Nazis, which means having the party have an idea who they are up against.
The rival factions will be a nuisance, but the serpentfolk should (for me) always be the key enemy that the party has to worry about.
Thank you, though, for the suggestion.
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I'm adding a lot of elements from Occult Adventures, and moving the timeline ten years forward. The Serpentfolk are a subtle race, with natural disguise and mind controlling magic. They are a perfect Occult badguy. In my game, they have slinked their way into all the factions and are actively working to set the factions against each other. It is up to the PC's to uncover this corruption. This drastically changes Race to Ruin and City of Seven Spears. The former becomes far more political than a string of random encounters. The latter becomes far more sinister, the Serpentfolk have had ten years to infiltrate and control the ruins. I've gone so far as to replace the Muse with a mind controlled mwangi caster and the BBEG from Vaults of Madness with a Serpentfolk Mesmerist (animated Robin Hood, anyone?) who controls the whole city indirectly.
-Ryn
I'm adding a lot of elements from Occult Adventures, and moving the timeline ten years forward. The Serpentfolk are a subtle race, with natural disguise and mind controlling magic. They are a perfect Occult badguy. In my game, they have slinked their way into all the factions and are actively working to set the factions against each other. It is up to the PC's to uncover this corruption. This drastically changes Race to Ruin and City of Seven Spears. The former becomes far more political than a string of random encounters. The latter becomes far more sinister, the Serpentfolk have had ten years to infiltrate and control the ruins. I've gone so far as to replace the Muse with a mind controlled mwangi caster and the BBEG from Vaults of Madness with a Serpentfolk Mesmerist (animated Robin Hood, anyone?) who controls the whole city indirectly.
-Ryn
I might actually look into that. The serpentfolk have definitely been weaving themselves into the society in my game, but adding in the occult side of things might make their abilities even more strange and wondrous. Going with the previous Indiana Jones allegory, it's the Nazis using unusual methods and subterfuge to undermine the populace.
However, if the Serpentfolk have been controlling the ruins for ten years, there's no reason for the shipwreck at the beginning of the adventure. The whole point of that was finding the city.
Put two experimental ideas into my game in the past couple weeks and both of them seem to have gone over well.
First, in keeping with the tomb delving theme, instead of there being a clear opening to the secret tomb beneath the cannibal camp, I made it more of a closed section of wall with an oddly protruding rock in the area. The natural idea of the players when they noticed the rock happened (see an odd rock, press it), they heard the wall start to separate and the entrance to the temple was revealed. Simple stuff like that help build the flavor of the world, I think.
The second thing, that was a bit riskier, was when the party took on the Red Mountain Devil, I wanted to make it a fairly epic encounter since they've been hearing about the Devil throughout their time on the island. So, instead of it just being a regular encounter, I added a few of the rules from D&D 5th Edition with Legendary actions. He's a low level beastie (considering), but he could have another standard once per round after another person's turn and, once per full fight, he could resist the effects of a spell when he normally would have failed the saving throw.
Granted, I had a feeling my group could handle it, and it did get a full attack on one of them and was able to drink blood and get hasted, but the battle felt epic, the party had to work together and knock the creature down, and they felt triumphant at the end.
As the final/penultimate session of my campaign's stay on Smuggler's Shiv grows near, I'm starting to think about the next section of the story and what's being introduced. Now that there are five factions worth of ideas I have to wrap my head around, I'm thinking about simplifying that just a bit with an idea from an entirely different game.
Stars Without Number institutes a Faction Turn every month to generate how different corporations deal with each other while the PCs go on their main quests. It shows up in game as news reports and side missions, but never becomes a PCs vs the entire faction deal.
I'm thinking about adding in the faction turn to Serpent's Skull since all of the five factions seem to want to get to the ruins first and will most likely use some means of subterfuge to keep other factions from outdoing their prowess. This might mean adding a few more rogue agents coming for the PCs to stop their trailblazing progress (for random encounters), but it could also prove to push forward or set back certain factions on the trail and make it less pre-determined.
It's going to take some work (Stars Without Number is, obviously, a science fiction setting and cyberninjas are unlikely to show up in Pathfinder), but being able to from a top-level have an idea what each faction is trying to accomplish within Eleder, on the road to the ruin, and as they approach Saventh-Yhi sounds a lot better than having them be semi-constructed units that vaguely are antagonistic with their own goals.
As far as how this will further the Indiana Jones feel, I'm also going to be adding a faction or two for the serpentfolk. I'm debating about having two separate factions from the religious sect and the military might of the serpentfolk working toward different, but helpful goals. Both will have a sense of secrecy considering none of the other five factions know about them, but that could change depending on how things roll out.
If anyone has any suggestions for how this Faction Turn could be set up, I'd love to hear them. I know that Book Three has it's own version of the Faction Turn already implemented, but that one is specific to the expedition in Saventh-Yhi.