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I'm struggling with XP in Edge of Anarchy. Unless the party fights their way through Eel's End (which they'd be stupid to do), there's no way they'll have enough XP to be at 4th level by the Dead Warrens, even with some additional riot encounters.
So to add XP, I've decided to do as some others have, and insert the Portent’s Peril module after All the World’s Meat, but with some modifications to make it fit better into CotCT’s scenario:
• Make the instigator of the assassination plot the Arkonas
• Change the target to the Chelish diplomat, Darvayne Gios Amprei, who’s going to show up again shortly
• Change the ethnicity of the apparent assassin to Shoanti
• Change the name of the owner of the Green Market from Foxglove to something else (she seems too nice to be one of the people trying to party through the plague in Foxglove Manor)
Given those changes, the rest of the module should play out pretty much as written. Here's the new introductory backstory:
Background
Vencarlo Orsini is not the only one who has learned that the Chelish diplomant Amprei is preparing to press his government to cut off trade with Korvosa; the Arkonas are also aware of his position. Such a move would hurt their business dealings, and Amprei’s plan to profit from Korvosa’s pain would create a new powerful player in the city’s politics that they’d prefer not to deal with.
The Arkonas don’t see any need to pussyfoot around (no pun intended) with blackmail when straightforward assassination will suffice. However, there’s no reason that Amprei’s assassination should serve only one end. If they can also use his death to provoke a Chelish war against the Shoanti, they believe they would stand to profit handsomely, as Korvosa would be the natural terminus for Chelish supply lines for a war in the Cinderlands.
And so Vimanda Arkona, in her guise of Meliya, approached a Sczarni swindler, Jaelli Goldtooth, who was living in Old Korvosa, and offered her a handsome sum to murder the Chelish diplomat while making it appear that the crime was a political assassination committed by the Shoanti.
In the meantime, as the riots in Korvosa have subsided, a local philanthropist, Sheena Wulfbüt, has begun dispensing food to the city’s starving masses. Her Green Market escaped the unrest almost unscathed, and she feels it’s her duty to give back to her city. When she was handing out vegetables in Old Korvosa, Goldtooth thanked her with a Harrow reading, with the surprise results described in the module.
Sheena is a staunch believer in the Harrow, and has come to Zellara Esmeranda many times in the past to perform readings for her. Disturbed by the appearance of the Yellow Prophet and confused by the meanings of the subsequent cards, she hurries to Zellara’s house, hoping the psychic can tell her what they mean. When she arrives, she finds the party there instead.
Ignore my comment about changing Zeena Foxglove's name. In my head, I got Carowyn Manor from CotCT mixed up with Foxglove Manor from RotRL. In the immortal words of Emily Litella: "Never mind."
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I'm struggling with XP in Edge of Anarchy.
Things like this is why I ditched XP several campaigns ago. I use the leveling points suggested in the book, such as the heroes being level 4 before attempting the Dead Warrens. It gives me the freedom to add, modify,or remove encounters without concern over how it effects party XP.
When you go to Chapter 2, you can simply stop using XP and not worry about this stuff anymore.
-Skeld
I realized later that CotCT is supposed to use the Fast XP Track, which solves the XP problems in Edge of Anarchy without inserting Portent's Peril (but I'm going to keep it anyway, because I think it helps build the characters' feeling of "belonging" in Korvosa). Now I'm actually worried about them advancing TOO fast for the later books.
An alternative would've been, if they RPed their way through Eels End give them RP experience.
It would've taken a LOT of RP XP to make up the difference. Fast Track puts them roughly back where they need to be.
Interestingly enough I too am running this and my six players are at this junction, I decided to add Portents Peril as well for the XP, the other things is I am going to add House on Hook Street. The connections were so easy to make.