So I don't particularly like books 5 or 6. Any guidance on ending with the climax of clearing out the Temple of Asmodeus? I already plan to introduce the Kintargo Contract during book 2 (gonna replace the Lucky Bones with the devil law firm visit + some Nidalese stuff) so I don't particularly need any guidance on that, at least.
I'm with you--I'm changing a lot of books 5 and 6 rather than cutting it short then. I moved the Book 3 Vyre excursion to book five and will be adding a plot line with the King of Keys. I'm keeping the negotiations and adding a second set with Nidal. The Haunting of Kintargo will be kept, with the cleansing of the bells Book 4 encounter being moved there. I too plan on skipping various trips to Hell and, instead, I'm going to have the final encounter with a transforming Barzillai Thrune be at the Soul Anchor. I like the dark Ravounel Forest and I think I'll expand that with a few extra encounters.
But if you don't want to do any of that--and it's a lot of work already--that's understandable. I think you'll find you'll want some after-temple sessions, simply to do an epilogue, if nothing else. If your players are really into the creating a new state, they'll really want a voice in what comes next. And that will mean they'll want the negotiations set piece or the option to support the Glorious Reclamation or something. I will say that the basic setup of the AP is going to encourage players to have ideas about what happens after the revolution, so you'll want to be prepared to meet those needs.
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Why not just do the game as-is until the ending of Book 4? Don't bother with the Kintargo Contract or the like. Just have the PCs having killed Thrune and driven his supporters out of Kintargo. The End.
I love the Haunting of Kintargo and the actual negotiation, and I'm running this in 2E rather than 1E - so maybe delevelling it won't actually suck.
But yeah, I plan on like. Negotiations to cap it off. Book 5 has a lot of nothing in it and I just frankly hate the final dungeon in Hell.
Why not just do the game as-is until the ending of Book 4? Don't bother with the Kintargo Contract or the like. Just have the PCs having killed Thrune and driven his supporters out of Kintargo. The End.Without the Kintargo Contract to protect the region, Cheliax can retaliate and murder the city. The political situation requires some kind of détente for Ravounel to continue on as an independent entity. I suppose if one doesn't care about that, then yeah. Just throw a The End over Book 4 and call it done.
So? That's for future heroes to worry about. And for all the PCs know, the paladins trying to overthrow Thrune to the south may succeed. Thematically, you don't need the Kintargo Contract if you're going to ignore the later books.
For that matter, the PCs could send an envoy to the Queen stating "Kintargo is loyal to Cheliax. We learned your cousin was planning to build his own powerbase here to challenge you at a later date using corrupted elements in the Church of Asmodeus in Kintargo, and have done our duty as loyal servants of the Queen to deal with this threat while you eliminate the insurgents in the South."
Don't forget. The other Thrunes didn't trust Barzillai and sending him to Kintargo was a way of getting him out of their hair. If Kintargo kills him but swears loyalty to Thrune? There's no need to invade, especially with bigger threats out there.
I'm pretty sure the party isn't going to be interested in a revolution that ends with literally nothing changing for Kintargo. The point is to NOT be subjects of Cheliax.
I'm pretty sure the party isn't going to be interested in a revolution that ends with literally nothing changing for Kintargo. The point is to NOT be subjects of Cheliax.
I think 'Not be subject to the whims of an utter git.' is a good second. Get someone stable in there who won't charge a copper a grain if you drop a bag.
If you've already introduced the contract and the law firm the players will be able to protect Ravounel. With an easy adjustment they don't need to get people to sign on, and if you don't like going to Hell it's easy to have the end of book 4 as the end of the campaign with the negotiations being an epilogue.
Zimmerwald1915 -- At the end, Jilia is no longer a puppet of Her Infernal Majestrix so she's able to enact the changes she wants to without fear of an evil queen having her replaced, Kintargo can select the government officials however the group decides they want to set it up (so long as the GM is willing to use the written AP as suggestions rather than solid rules), Cheliax can't directly attack Ravounel, and a threat to the entire country has been destroyed.
Things are better for Kintargo directly due to the PCs actions.
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Zimmerwald1915 -- At the end, Jilia is no longer a puppet of Her Infernal Majestrix so she's able to enact the changes she wants to without fear of an evil queen having her replaced
Kintargo pre-Barzillai was as Bainilus and her supporters wanted it, for the most part. Cheliax's legal regime was only really enforced when the Navy put into port. Bainilus does not represent change, she represents the status quo. Barzillai represented change, if for the worse.
Cheliax can't directly attack Ravounel, and a threat to the entire country has been destroyed. Things are better for Kintargo directly due to the PCs actions.
Only because the Kintargo Contract allows Ravounel to loudly declare "f*ck you, got mine" to the remaining people of Cheliax.
...Lord-Mayor Jilia Bainilus, an outspoken voice against House Thrune who was a master of walking the edge between Chelish loyalty and blatant rebellion.
Sounds to me like she had to be a lot more careful than you make her out to be.
There was also the fact that there were parts of Kintargo Keep that she wasn't allowed to go into but obvious House Thrune was, therefore she must have been frightened by them.And that she had to hide her faith.
In my game I played her up as someone that tied to lessen the oppression that House Thrune wanted to inflict upon the population becuase, as I read it, she wasn't free to do whatever she wanted and had to appease House Thrune.
Heck, just getting rid of Corinstian Grivenner seems like it would make a really nice difference to the city.
And like I said, if the players want someone else in charge after the campaign they need to convince the Board of Governors of that.
Running an election and having the Board of Governors modelled after the US's Electoral College would be easy to do. "Okay, the people say they want [insert elected official here], so that's who we'll ratify."
I'm pretty sure the party isn't going to be interested in a revolution that ends with literally nothing changing for Kintargo.*mounts hobbyhorse*
Then they sure as heck won't be interested in Books 5 and 6 as written anyway.
Don't you ever change, buddy.
*wipes away a tear*
For what it's worth, I'm planning to end in book 4 as well. I'm also converting to 2e.
I might run pieces of the later books, but we'll see.