Can this be moved to the 2E timeline?

[Lanathar]

To what extend can this AP be moved to the 2E timeline? I am mainly talking about Book 1

How much of a problem does Vidrian replacing Sargava cause? I can only immediately think of Jask being a prisoner. Especially as he has been hiding for years

[Gark the Goblin]

Book 1 can probably still be set in the Book 1 timeline without issue. The later books are more difficult, and the first chapter in Racing to Ruin would have to be severely edited. But that would be advisable in any event.

Some thoughts:
- Vidrian doesn't like collaboration with the pirates any more than Sargava did, so Jask could still be a prisoner (even if his crime was committed before Vidrian's revolution - just say that he fled for Cheliax 10 years ago instead of 5). Doubtful that he'd be in manacles, though - he might have come willingly, hoping for a fairer trial.
- Aerys boarded in the Shackles - are there parts of the Shackles still friendly to Vidrian ships? Bag Island, for example. Is she associated with a friendly faction?
- Are colonialist adventurers still welcome in Vidrian, or should some of the traits in the Player's Guide be rewritten?

[Lanathar]

I haven’t really read Racing to Ruin. Why would editing be advised? Is that the one where the PCs crush a native uprising ? If so I cannot see the reason why that is done and why they would so understand your point

[Phntm888]

Racing to Ruin:

The [Freemen's] Brotherhood’s primary goal is to instill terror in the hearts of foreigners, merchants, and others they believe stand behind the slave trade. What most of the Brotherhood’s members don’t realize is that their revolt was actually instigated by the PCs’ primary rival faction. Hoping to delay or even halt the PCs’ expedition, the rival faction contacted the Brotherhood’s erratic leader Umagro, and painted the PCs as foreigners seeking to expand the slave trade into the Mwangi interior.

Basically, the anti-colonial rebels' leader gets told the PCs are planning on expanding the slave trade, and because he's something of a fanatic, they have to stop the revolt from 1) burning down the warehouse containing their supplies from their expedition, and 2) rescue a kidnapped NPC ally from the leader. The leader himself is described as a zealot and martyr eager to fight to the death, whose first round of actions is literally written as slitting the NPC ally's throat and rolling them down a rooftop - possibly off it onto the street below. As written, there IS no way to talk him down. The NPC ally is also supposed to be whichever castaway from the previous book that was associated with the faction they are working with.

He's also a barbarian, so you need to get him out of rage to talk to him.

Oh, and as written, there's no way for the PCs to figure out that the rival faction did this to try and delay their expedition until AFTER they've put down the uprising, and the only evidence that the PCs are given the chance to gain is the kind of circumstantial evidence that doesn't allow them to prove anything, so they can't even get back at the rival faction legally.

[Gark the Goblin]

Editing is advisable (for the reasons Phntm888 posted) and also would be necessary if running in 2E, because yeah, the Sargavan Government isn't a faction any more. Several other factions also have a hard time starting out in Eleder (Free Captains not welcome, Aspis Consortium renowned for market imperialism so also probably not welcome, even PFS could be unwelcome due to their history of stealing artefacts from the Mwangi Expanse and their friendship with the racist shadow ruler of Eleder, Daugustana).

The section of RtR about Kalabuto thankfully doesn't involve Kalabuto's 1E governor, Chelish supremacist General Alban, but the pure fact that he's no longer ruling the city would merit some nod to the revolution.

Vidrian is still on bad terms with Mzali, but Mzali might at least have relaxed on the whole "zombie trees" thing, so you could just remove that encounter.

Once you get to the Screaming Jungle you're out of Sargava, and no changes are really necessary until you get to Saventh-Yhi (book 3 and 4) and are supposed to be running political/military intrigue with the factions. You can also easily ignore that, though.

Book 5 and 6 are pretty much free of faction stuff except for elements that you can easily replace with monster groups in the city.

[Lanathar]

What would happen in the region (in both timelines - original and 2E) if the players just sold off the findings from book 1 and went off on other adventures

Since my base plan is to do this rather than the whole AP I haven’t checked out the metaplot. Is there a background rise of serpentfolk that will not be put into check by the presence of adventurers

I guess I am just wondering if there would be any consequences (in theory) to just selling what is uncovered on the Shiv to the highest bidder

[Phntm888]

Nope. I believe Smuggler’s Shiv even lists how much the notes would be worth.

[Gark the Goblin]

No problem with just selling the findings. Book 1 works well as a standalone.

[Lord Fyre]

While it is clearly not needed for the OP, I think one idea for "updating" the "Freeman's Revolt Event" (Racing to Ruin, p11) would be to change these to "Sargavan Rebels," objecting to the "loss" of their homeland (and wealth, and privilege, etc).

[Lanathar]

Well it is an interesting thought . I am looking at a potential avenue for filling level 4 to 5 as I am considering moving into the Slithering (hampered by having a human PC at the moment) post Shiv

It is that or Plunder and Peril (or maybe assorted mwangi and bloodcove PFS but that is much less structured)

[Jaegermonster General]

Lanathar wrote:

What would happen in the region (in both timelines - original and 2E) if the players just sold off the findings from book 1 and went off on other adventures

Since my base plan is to do this rather than the whole AP I haven’t checked out the metaplot. Is there a background rise of serpentfolk that will not be put into check by the presence of adventurers

I guess I am just wondering if there would be any consequences (in theory) to just selling what is uncovered on the Shiv to the highest bidder

The Big Evil Plot in Serpent Skull is an attempt to resurrect the slain deity of the Serpentfolk, Ydersius. Led by a living god, the resurgent serpentfolk empire would be a massive threat to the world. There are ancient vaults scattered across Golarion, filled with serpentfolk in suspended animation, waiting for the return of their god to awaken and continue their war against the Warmbloods. At the very least, Mwangi becomes the seat of the new Serpentfolk Empire, which immediately begins expanding into neighboring countries. Worst case, armies of serpentfolk boil up out of the Darklands all across the planet, besieging every major nation.

Of course, as a GM, you can avoid all that by just deciding that the group the party sold their notes to was also a bunch of adventurers, and they went off and stopped the snake apocalypse while your party was doing other things.

[CorvusMask]

I don't think serpentfolk are particularly centralized in Mwangi Expanse(their capital is in darklands vault), but latter "world war with snake invaders from underground" would happen yeah.

[Gark the Goblin]

CorvusMask wrote:

I don't think serpentfolk are particularly centralized in Mwangi Expanse(their capital is in darklands vault), but latter "world war with snake invaders from underground" would happen yeah.

This confused me when we started the AP. I assumed that Ydersius (the empire) had controlled large swathes of Garund up until Ydersius (the deity) was killed in Saventh-Yhi. But Ilmurea was just a "hidden, fortified enclave from which to strike out and subjugate a mere single continent" (p63 of TTFB). As the Azlanti were not as well established on Garund, "Ilmurea grew into a mighty fortress-city and the serpentfolk were able to move into and conquer the jungle lands above" (p7 of TTFB). Ilmurea is referred to in several places as a "sister city" to Sverenagati. Battles between Azlant and Ydersius apparently took place in ancient Thassilon (at Viperwall) as well as on the surface of the Mwangi Expanse (p7 SotSG).

So yeah, it might not be the Mwangi Expanse that is the center of the war - though it might be preferable to Varisia, being probably closer to Age of Serpents temperatures.