How did your campaign turn out?


War for the Crown


I never ran War for the Crown, but I was fascinated by it because I started a campaign in Taldor right before the AP was announced, and in my own storyline the Grand Prince was loathed by the whole party, so I guess chronologically our game had to finish just before adventure 1 started.

By the time we were done, we were burned out on Taldor. But I read the whole campaign and I'm curious how different groups liked it, how the climax came together, and what the style of Taldor's new monarch is.


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My group and I are absolutely loving the AP. The story is very imaginative and captivating, and my group has had some of the best roleplay sessions because of it.

My group and I are starting Part 3 of Book 5 (Into Duskfathom) tomorrow. So they're all super nervous and I'm waiting to drop the bomb at the end of the dungeon crawl... All the players are very attached to the NPCs, I've worked pretty hard to make sure they have a connection to Eutropia and everyone else, so I expect there are gonna be some pretty upset players when they reach the end of the dungeon. It'll be great.

So far the party's actions are leading Eutropia to the balanced ending, or at least balanced between compassion and practicality. All that is still far enough away I haven't quite decided how end game will work, but I know I'm adding in the modul Tears at Bitter Manor to lead to a face-off with Thrassitoum to end the AP.


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So we're officially finishing this campaign tomorrow. My group loved it overall and I took some of the constructive suggestions from the forums and made sure to foreshadow the Immaculate Circle and massage in Pythareus' revelations about the Stavian's heritage. With a little extra work a GM can easily make sure there are smooth transitions between Books to make sure any loose ends are accounted for.

Campaign ending:
Going into Book 6, the party was devastated by Eutropia's death, attempted to resurrect her only to feel the spell fail. My players found enough evidence during the investigation that they went and asked for a scrying and saw the Masked Marquis as he was walking into the Shadowed Halls. (The helpful cleric they'd hired pointed out that Antios' crown was visible in the background of the scrying to help them pinpoint the location). The party then went and tracked down this threat to end it; however, they hadn't realized that the Masked Marquis was working so closely with the Immaculate Circle and after killing the famous shadow dancer, returned to their loved ones in Oppara to rest. When they returned to the shadowed halls the next day, they found the defences increased and Panivar had sent a sahkil to deal with the party (the creature ended up attacking their loved ones instead in their absence). At this moment is when Carrius managed to slip hold of Panivar's control and began enacting his own plans to gain control of Taldor.

Flash forward, the party defeats the IC and after some personal revelations, find Eutropia's soul in the necklace they've been carrying with them and resurrect her in the Crucible. They attempt to contact their loved ones only to get no response in return and begin to panic (rightfully so). They return to Oppara to find it under martial law as Carrius hunts them down for the supposed assassination of Princess Eutropia. The party hides out and successfully influences the perception of the magi, the public, the investigators, and the palace servants with various tactics (including risking revealing Eutropia to prove she's alive and gain people back on their side). They then storm the castle with a riot of peasantry to prove to Carrius that Eutropia is the real deal and the party is innocent (they also make subtle remarks that they believe the young prince is not of his own mind and manage to convince a guard captain to help). After a heroic battle through the palace grounds (and some personal loses) they managed to get to the throne room. Carrius had captured several of the party's relatives, fiancees, etc., and held them captive in teh basement. He'd manipulated the paladin's dhampir fiancee into killing the investigator's sister, but luckily the paladin interceded and accepted the killing blow instead, which wasn't nearly enough damage to kill him. Big fight ensued which turned Carrius and friends/lovers against the party, but ultimately they came out victorious with Ulfen Guard being the only fatalities. Eutropia and Martella swooped in to help with damage control and the party immediately entered the young prince's mind to try and break the mental control. Party managed to survive all six encounters and convinced the spirit of Taldaris to stick around and bolster the boy's spirit (I'm allowing Carrius to live until he's about 30 years old, but the one legend isn't enough to sustain him for a full life).

So, woot, the party saves the young prince who is now a social pariah and Eutropia is crowned and they get their spoils of war (money and titles) at the next Exaltation Gala. Everything isn't butterflies and rainbows - there's a lot of discontent from the older generation and traditionalists, but life is sure to get better in Taldor, right?

Wrong. In comes Tears at Bitter Manor. Party goes to Cassomir to celebrate the cavalier's wedding, whereupon they stumble into the husband-to-be's relatives (Verus and Branda). Their good natures lend them towards helping the old couple find their friend and try to solve the problems plagueing Cassomir. They slowly learn that a lot of the bad things happening in Cassomir and across Taldor are due to sahkils and daemons working together in the Ethereal/Material Plane to bring the world to ruin. They bring the erodaemon Anobaith to justice but learn in the process that she was working for Thassritoum in order to "thin the veil". Concerned, the party continue on warily to their next appointment which is to continue their duties to the Isle of Arenway as emissaries. While there, the dhampir feels a pull towards the stone circles at teh centre of the island that whisper of blood, death, and destruction. The party is attacked by druids of the Goroth Lodge for their meddling, their spilled blood breaking the seal on the portal to Thassritoum's demiplane in the process. The party then travels through the portal and faces several horrors while attempting to find Thassritoum. They face off with the sahkil, and after a few almost deaths, manage to emerge victorious as the demiplane crumbles around them without Thass to support the plane anymore.

Party goes back home and move on with their lives, settling down and having families and slowly watching as Taldor turns for the better. Their actions and deeds brought about Eutropia the Kind's ending, although a lot of their personal decisions about how they wanted to spend the rest of their lives and their fortunes actually matched more with some of the things in the Balanced/Builder outcome. So in the end I'm doing a mix between Eutropia the Kind and Eutropia the Balanced. The cavalier retires from adventuring to take on being General of the Taldan Horse, which means she can whip the military into shape (with some backlash from the traditionalists)

Overall though, my party was a bunch of LGs who had Taldor's best interests at heart, and "efficient" actions were definitely not a priority. The group was compassionate and used their words to sway battles when they could, rather than bring more bloodshed to Taldor, and their influences in the senate for years to come will ensure the Princess' rule remains swayed by those principles.

Liberty's Edge

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Ended very well for much of the players in question.

Sir Edwynd Merrosett married Princess Eutropia Stavian, a political marriage that saw his family and there collective military back the Princess.

Cate the Catfolk Oracle of Calistria has been adopted into the castle as the pet of the kingdom... she does not get along with a certain dog... (Yeah we didn't get it either, but this is the ending the player picked for there character)

Mudbert the Half-Orc is quite happy that he finally get's to follow his real passion. Cooking, and has opened a great tavern where a person feeling positively shocking can go eat food created by a Half-Orc that can tell the difference between a scrambled egg and an Omelet.

and Finally
Charolette The resurrected dhampir that had killed the whom we thought was the real prince, has found the Alchemist that dared create duplicates to play with Eutropia's heart has been dealt with, from there she merely watches from the shadows slaying any dissenters she hears about against the Queen....and her king on occasion.

the final battle was very musketeer-ish, it was nice to see the builds we created becoming part of the story via the Game Master.

Which was pretty amusing to play through.

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