Decided on Crypt of the Everflame, after some deliberating. Planning some changes.

[SMNGRM]

I decided on Everflame because I want something that can get done in one shot.

I think I'm going for the change that most people seem to do, which is that players aren't teens coming of age, but rather they have to go to the crypt to rescue the teenagers who stumbled in to the trap. I didn't want to make the module open ended, I wanted some closure at the end.

I'm thinking of adding a few side quests at the start, basically detailing the teenagers who went, and offering a reward from the families for each one who is brought back safely.

I think I'm going to make the twist that the tomb was once under a minor curse, and the town sent teams up to it yearly to clear it of undead. One year they decided enough was enough and had a cleric lift the curse. To keep the curse at bay, the cleric created two matching Everflames. One was in the crypt, and the other was in town. Once a year the flame in town must be fueled by the flame from the crypt in order for the crypt to remain under the town's control.

Edit: Now that the crypt is benign, the town use it as a coming of age ritual for aspiring adventurers. They pick several every year to go and fetch the flame for them.

This year one of the teenagers was the rebellious son of a wealthy couple who are actively disliked in the town, partly because their son causes trouble for everyone and partly because they're just shady. The father is secretly a necromancer, the son gets chosen to go to the crypt and steals his dad's robe of bones, intending to somehow break the curse and cause some havoc.

The players go to the crypt, figure out that it was the kid who did it (but it got out of control when he raised the skeletal champion), save the kids who haven't died and retrieve the flame in the process. I was going to have Roldare be one of the teenagers who's clearly out of his/her depth. When they get back, the father is arrested and they've saved the day.

Are there any problems with this? I was also going to make the shadow something with a similar CR, by the way. Maybe a coffer corpse or one of those CR 3 flesh oozes.

[JacquesUnderbottom]

The only issue I see with the changes are that you rob yourself of the opportunity to do the Price of Immortality arc with them after. I just finished Crypt of the Everflame with my players, and they were quite stoked to discover what the Razmiran cultists were up to inside the tomb even after defeating Vergas. By changing the story, it makes it difficult to sow the seeds of the story arc early enough to make them care about the Razmiran cultists by the time they reach Tamran. Likewise, without the amulets there is little that connects the modules to the Isle of Kortos.

As far as your changes to the tone, it only makes sense for a one-off adventure. In contrast, by making the players young up-and-comers, you allow them to follow in the footsteps of Ekat Kassen in such a way that makes the whole adventure very personal as they grow into their own power. It also lends a sense of history to when they finally face off against Vergas and Iramine later down the line.

If they are seasoned adventurers being confounded by the pillow traps, it would start to get a little silly, so you'll need to rethink some of the traps to be tonally consistent. As a rescue mission, you would need to modify the early encounters before entering the tomb, as the wolf encounter would lack the sense of tension that develops from young parties out on their first real quest. Likewise, you'd need to delete the orc illusions and dead cultists, as well as modify the treasure in the supply depot (as it wouldn't have been handpicked for the PCs, but rather the original adventurers).

If you don't intend to run Price of Immortality, disregard my post! Your changes are perfectly reasonable and create a complete story arc. Just remember to change the encounters to reflect the story.