Thoughts on changing Book 1 to make Roderic's Cove a neighborhood in Riddleport?

[Dirtfox]

Background: My consistent gaming group has played a number of Pathfinder AP's in a consistent world, but it just so happens we haven't touched Riddleport.

I noticed Roderic's Cove seems to be limited to Book 1, but events touch Riddleport in the later books.

Since the other locations that are affected by events later in the AP will all be meaningful to my players, I was thinking of making Book 1 actually take place in Riddleport to help set that scene and bring it to life before the PCs have reason to care.

Any advice? Warnings? Pitfalls? Opinions?

My thought would be making Roderic's Cove a 'decent' neighborhood in Riddleport (with the setting description of details like 'no homeless' and 'minor crime') that enjoys less attention from Riddleport's seedy elements because of Sir Roderic's influence (in life and death).

[Phntm888]

Well, it's a bit of a hike from Riddleport to the Churlwood for part 3 of the first book - the PCs won't have the option of easily falling back to town like they do with Roderic's Cove being where it normally is. That means that the Road Keepers don't really have the incentive to come into the town to force the confrontation at the beginning of the AP.

Riddleport is also founded in an area that was part of Karzoug's realm, Shalast, as opposed to Alaznist's realm, Bakrakahn, albeit fairly close to the border.

Book 6:

Roderic's Cove also gets plagued by fire elementals and demons due to the powered up Hellstorm Flume ruins there from Alaznist's time travel shenanigans, whereas Riddleport is untouched by such things until the PCs use the Cyphergate to travel to Stethelos, at which point Riddleport is completely destroyed.

That being said, none of these obstacles are insurmountable. Instead of the Road Keepers being from the Churlwood, they could be from another neighborhood in Riddleport (although you might want to change the name). You could move the events and locations of part 3 into another neighborhood of Riddleport. That or the PCs would have to travel further in order to get there, and they wouldn't have a city to fall back on. It might make things more challenging (if you think they need that).

You could have the Circle Market, instead of being the ruins of a Hellstorm Flume, be the foundations of the beginnings of one that Alaznist planned to use magic to build quickly and catch Karzoug off-guard in a surprise attack behind his lines. Or, maybe the area of the vault was Alaznist's territory, but Karzoug took it and destroyed the Hellstorm Flume and built the Cyphergate there as a means of gloating to her about his conquest.

Basically, moving Roderic's Cove to a neighborhood of Riddleport could make it more an urban adventure. If you think your group would enjoy that more, and you feel like putting in the work needed to make the necessary changes, it won't have a huge effect on the story one way or the other. You just have be careful to keep it consistent.

[Dirtfox]

These are great details, thank you for laying out some of the challenges and your ideas around them! Discussing the border between Shalast and Bakrakahn was something I'd completely forgetten about, so kudos for that in particular :)

My gaming group wraps their heads around urban settings much more comfortably than wilderness and small towns. I think I can wait to see what kind of characters they're thinking of making to help tip the balance on this decision though before I end up with a bunch of druids and such in a Big City.

[Phntm888]

You're welcome! It's a good idea, and as long as you're willing to put in the work to make the changes, your group will probably appreciate it. I figure you also know your gaming group better than I do (I would hope), and would know if they would prefer the urban environment to the wilderness one.

[Dirtfox]

Just to update you, my players decided they were in the mood for some morally gray characters, so Riddleport ended up being a perfect fit! I went with your suggestion of the Hellstorm Flume foundations being an advanced attack point, since I thought that made a lot of sense for the portal straight to Hollow Mountain (a destroyed one would, I decided, have had the portal dealt with).

The small gang rivalries fit in really well with Riddleport, and Jana becoming an early ally meant the PCs wanted to help keep the Gendarmes and big players out of her business to solve things internally. It was also an opportunity to kinda meet Clegg Zincher early, and the Cyphergate hanging over everything seems like it's only going to be good for the eventual payoff of getting to use it.

I'm planning a longer trip to the Churlwood. The other part that's been more work to adapt is the idea of making the Cove 'safe again' for soothing the ghost. So I'm changing that story a little. Roderic still founded the area and took care of it, and still had the same untimtely end. But it was much much closer to Riddleport than officially written, so the natural expansion of the port city just subsumed it as a neighborhood. So rather than trying to make All Of Riddleport 'safe' somehow, it's about making his Cove a successful place that knows their roots. A few of the goals for 'points' to succeed in soothing the ghost have been changed, I can write those out if anyone cares later. Basically new goal is a neighborhood with character and pride out of what was previously a slum. It seems (so far) to be really good with the friendship with Jana. As we know in real life, you can have pride in your heritage and also be in a gang, or morally gray ;)