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So, I love the Masked Persona rules from Inner Sea Intrigue, as well as the general lore regarding Blackjack, and I'd like to adopt that as kind of a conceit for my campaign. Everyone in the adventuring party is a member of the next generation of vigilantes (after Blackjack's ten-year absence), inspired to take up the mask after being a victim of Lamm.
I feel like this would work well (especially in books 1-3), but I worry a bit about books 4 and 5 being a big genre shift. What are some ways I can reinforce the intended pulp-superhero tone of the campaign without giving players whiplash when it comes time to go to Scarwall and the like?
I am using the updated hardcover, and I plan on using the tips suggested (shortening Scarwall, including bits of Chapter 6 in Chapter 5, using the Longacre Building during Chapter 4). Anything else would be fabulous, though.
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Great idea... interested even in DMing it.
I would take out the parts when they have to leave the city.
Fair, but what would I replace them with?
In theory, I could replace part of Scarwall with Academy of Secrets, but then I lose out on some of the cool stuff with Laori, which is a shame because I love Laori.
I could also relocate Scarwall so that it's closer to the city, I guess.
Does anyone have notes somewhere on a "not leaving Korvosa" version of CotCT?
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You could possibly adapt Delvehaven from What Lies in Dust, the Nessian Spiral from The Infernal Syndrome, Walcourt from Mother of Flies, and the "community service" events (i.e., building resistance to Ileosa) in The Twice Damned Prince.
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I would take out the parts when they have to leave the city.Fair, but what would I replace them with?
In theory, I could replace part of Scarwall with Academy of Secrets, but then I lose out on some of the cool stuff with Laori, which is a shame because I love Laori.
Does anyone have notes somewhere on a "not leaving Korvosa" version of CotCT?
You can check my campaign journal for ideas. I included a trip to the Shoanti in the Cinderlands, but instead of the railroad adventures there I inserted a sidetrek to the orc city of Urgir, to stay true to the 'urban adventure' vibe. I completely took out the fifth book, because my players don't like endless dungeon (or castle) crawls. So my PCs returned to the city and had some adventures there, which included Academy of Secrets.
The bottomline in my version is that the PCs do not travel to Scarwall to find the legendary sword, but they return to the city to try and locate the tomb of the Shoanti shaman who brought the artifact to Korvosa and learn from his corpse how they must fight 'the dragon'.
There is no Laori Vaus in my story, though.
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So... one thing I was considering doing was relocating Scarwall. Rather than have it be a significant distance from the city, I'd have it be in the city. Specifically in the Shadow Plane version of Korvosa.
Originally, it existed in the Hold of Belkzen, as it does in the current version of Korvosa. When Kleestad claimed Serithtial, Zon-Kuthon was much more thorough in his smiting and dragged the entire castle into the Shadow Plane, sealing it there.
Scarwall's location in the Plane of Shadow doesn't necessarily map to any physical location; anyone under Kazavon's influence has a chance to be dragged inside. In Korvosa, there's an urban legend about artists with a dark inspiration being suddenly 'taken' by their muses to who knows where.
However, as Kazavon's soul merges with Ileosa's, Scarwall begins manifesting in Shadow Korvosa. People begin having Scarwall related hallucinations around the time of the Blood Veil plague (it's commonly mistaken as a symptom of the disease). Its manifestation coincides with the city growing more gloomy and oppressive as Kazavon's influence grows.
When the heroes learn about this, they need to utilize the aid of the Brotherhood of Bones (with Salvatore Scream's art as a focus) in order to periodically delve into Shadow Korvosa to try and locate Serithtial, while also breaking its grip on the city itself, with the sword being located in the Shadow Plane version of the Sunken Queen (relocated to underneath Castle Korvosa).
Each segment of Scarwall would be set in a mashed up Shadow Version of a location in Korvosa (and the anchors themselves might be changed), with Mithrodar being located in the actual Castle. It might be cool to make Shadow Versions of the iconic dungeons from earlier in the campaign, like Palace Arkona and The Hospice of the Blessed Maiden. Mashed up with new traps and mechanics to keep them interesting, natch. There'd only be one entrance and egress from the plane to keep it feeling dungeony.
Finally, I'd intersperse it with elements of Chapter 6/Acadamae of Secrets. Maybe I'd even link the rebellion mechanic to how much the heroes have weakened Scarwall's grip on Korvosa's shadow.
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I hope Roscoe don't mind, but I went ahead and started a Recruitment for it:
Corsario's Korvosa's Dark Champions - Curse of the Crimson Throne with Level 7 Vigilantes