My group is nearing the end of our current campaign and I'm planning on running Reign of Winter next. I'm reading through the books and stickied threads on here to prepare but I wanted to ask you wonderful people if you have any advice for running this AP.
Are there any short-comings I should watch out for? Anything that I should modify?
Is there anything you suggest that I cut out or add in?
Are there things in the later books that should be foreshadowed earlier?
Any races or classes that can present problems or unforeseen challenges?
I'm already thinking that I'll portray Baba Yaga as possibly being neutral rather than evil to possibly prevent the "she's evil! Why would we save her? We must be able to find a different way to stop the BBEG!" or "what do you mean we don't get to kill her? She's evil! We can't just let her walk away!"
For perspective: My group has completed Kingmaker, Hell's Rebels, Mummy's Mask and are about to finish Crimson Throne. I'm probably going to go with 20 point buy, core races (but with a change to the stat bonuses to open up possibilities of not pigeon-holing a class to only a couple of races), and it's a 4 person group that (mostly) aren't min-maxxers but build very competent characters.
Thank you in advance for any suggestions you have.
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Well... you're already aware of some of my changes from other threads. ^^;;
I never made it out of Book 2. That said? Expand the presence of the White Witches into other books. Maybe have a group of slaughtered White Witches found in Book 3 (killed by a certain Centaur priest and his giant minions). Have White Witch advisors to the Dragon General. Maybe even some thralled White Witches working with Rasputin.
One huge problem is that Irrisen vanishes at the end of Book 2, and the story becomes essentially one of those plot puzzles where you need specific keys to move into the next area where you need specific keys to go to the next area... and so on. By incorporating the White Witches into other parts of the AP (even if dead or unable to do anything), you remind the players of just what is going on here.
Going with only Core Races is going to make things most interesting. If you're interested in racial modifiers, I'd look at how 2nd Edition Pathfinder does stats... in which they get a floating +2 that they can use to undo the Racial Penalty. One thing you could do similarly is to keep one racial bonus and the racial penalty... but then have the second +2 be a "floating" one that can't be applied to the existing bonus. (Thus, for instance, Dwarves get a +2 Constitution bonus and a -2 Charisma penalty... but then a second +2 to any stat but Constitution.)
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Use the Blizzard rules in the Ultimate Wilderness book rather than the winter weather rules in RoW. Heavy snow is already nasty. Having it be effectively fog which some foes can see through? It doesn't work.
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I'm surprised the White Witches aren't used throughout the AP! (I've only read the first two books so far). I'll definitely look for ways to add a couple in to each of the books, even if they're only there in the background / lore of the area.
Thank you for the advice on using Ultimate Wilderness rules! I'll have to take a look through that book and see if there's anything else I want to use.
For racial stats, that's pretty much what I'm doing, Tangent. +2 to either of the normal stats the race gets, +2 to a mental or physical stat (opposite kind of the initial +2), -2 to the normal stat.
To go over the things I've seen you comment about in the stickied post for the first book, just to make sure I've got them all:
-Slippery around the maze with the doll
-Make the Black Rider a bad-ass
-Pale Tower issues
We are between book 2 and 3, but so far:
-Weather rules are brutal. It's a great narrative device, but it can turn an interesting challenge in an impossible trial, especially early lvl. I downplayed it a bit. Except for the teb knotten fight. The blizzard really increases the tension.
- I foreshadowed Rasputin, which is a way more interesting nemesis than Elvanna. Elvanna is Still the BBEG, but rasputin is more the grima wormtongue, and I added some refferences in correspondances i planted between elvanna and Nazhenna. The reference to "her brother" took the attention of my players, since all known children of Baba Yaga are supposed to be female.
- my players wanted to stay a couple days in Waldsby before the tower, so I added a few events in the village, to increase se oppression the irriseni suffer from the white witches.
- I changed the scenario quite a bit before Logrovich tower. I started with the Richard Pitt suggestion here:
So the had to convince different resistance factions to stage the revolt to clear the way to the endless forest. They had to use different means to convince the different factions to join the uprising, but it all boiled down to "we won't do anything as long as Logrovich can kill us all". So the suggestion of killing the dragon came from my players, hiding a bit of the railroads, here.
- Speaking of Logrovich, made him juvenile, and large. It's not the proper way to modify his stats, but no dragon should ever be the size of a dwarf. It is known.
- Gretta is the coolest thing to ever happen, and i think that if you keep her along, you can use her to relativize the notions of good/evil. which I think will be important when we will be getting closer to Baba Yaga.Greta is evil, but she can change, and it's not because that she is evil thatshe is like an incarnation of Zon-Kuthon himself. I play her kinda selfish, unfmerciful, but very loyal and with a lot of humor. My characters like her.
- made may characters interact with Nazhenna a bit before the final confrontation in front of the hut. She was on a zoom call when they entered the top of the tower, and they had a "call" on thora's mirror eye (which they kept). They are now ultra paranoid about mirrors and ravens.
- my players really enjoyed the "skill challenge" to shut down the Heldren Portal. I talked about it in the Snows of summer forum last week.
Thank you for the tips, Marcovic. The weather rules seem rough but I think I'm going to give them a try but will make it not as severe as "you can only see 5' in front of you" at the portal. (Players have been through enough APs and the snow will be a new challenge so they might like it).
I'd love to hear more details on the events you added to Waldsby and the correspondences between Elvanna and Nazhenna. Would you mind sharing?
I'm quite looking forward to RPing Greta. Showing an evil character without being a murderous sociopath is always fun. (It's something I've frequently done, mind you, so it won't be something new to my players).
How did the zoom calls play out? Did they look in the mirror and see her or did she start the conversation? (And how did you RP her attitude towards the group?)
- my players really enjoyed the "skill challenge" to shut down the Heldren Portal. I talked about it in the Snows of summer forum last week.
I assume you mean this post, right?
Do you remember roughly what you had the DCs at and how many rounds they had to succeed in order to complete the challenge?
The blizzard rules change visibility during heavy snow to now be a 20 foot radius. So it's less "heavy fog" and more actual snow.
Also, I just posted in another RoW thread on a way to combine four encounters in Book 2 (The Shackled Hut) to have a contiguous storyline that makes more sense and is less encounter-of-the-day.
The blizzard rules change visibility during heavy snow to now be a 20 foot radius. So it's less "heavy fog" and more actual snow.
Also, I just posted in another RoW thread on a way to combine four encounters in Book 2 (The Shackled Hut) to have a contiguous storyline that makes more sense and is less encounter-of-the-day.
Perfect! Thanks!
For reference: Link
- After the group told Nadya about Thora, she asked them some time alone with the kids to explain them. So we split the party. 1 went to buy some wood for the kitchen. the guy at the lumbermill tried to extort him. he finally found some at the general store. The wizard wanted to scribe some scrolls, sot he went to the inn. (I made him play the inhospitable host encounter, which i made a little easier). The druid wnet to the communal stable, with the old cow that doesn't produce milk. He met the dvomovoi (or something like that) and they decided to go with a summon nature's ally (bull) to put a veal in that cow, kickstarting milk production in a couple months. really funny moment.
when the 3 events came to an end, it started secreaming outside. 3 wild boars that went through the portal from Heldren were scared and making a mess in the central place. Had a fight and the blacksmith helped them. they became friends, gave them his magic shield and next step was next morning.
after the search and seizure encounter, the rest of the village was called for a public execution. 'Highly illegal' Alchemist's fires were "found" at the blacksmith's place. the party showed up, and right before they imolated the blacksmith with his "own" alchemist fires, battle erupted. after they killed the guards, it was now inevitable for them to go straight for the tower.
- Placed the actual ghost of the wife in the burned house. not a monster, just an apparition. The old woman taking care of Nadya's childrens told them the story. made a little ritual to put her soul to rest.
- For the correspondence, it was Elvanna requesting Nazhenna's presence to take care of the situation in the merchant's quarter. It was of most importance that the hut remained in their possession so that Elvanna and her brother's plan come to term. letter is originally in french so i just google translated it
Our Sovereign's plans are underway, and after being able to get hold of her mother's hut, Her Majesty conscript you on the watch of said hut. You must repatriate to White Throne immediately.
The dancing hut seems to react strangely to duress, and your tasks boil down to two parts:
Ensure the containment and integrity of your great-grandmother's dancing hut.
Repel the First-World incursion that takes place in the White-Throne business district.
All information necessary for your tasks will be sent to you upon arrival at the royal palace. There is no need to remind you of the importance of your success in carrying out the plans of our sovereign and her brother.
Do not disappoint His Majesty,
Zivan Malik,
Her Majesty's First Secretary, Elvanna Jadwiga Elvanna, Eternal Queen of Irrisen.
- the zoom call was already going on when they entered radhosek's room, it was pretty much just an angry BBEG calling her apprentice stupid for letting the heroes reach that point and then leaving with an evil laugh
- the zoom call occured the day after they killed the rimepelt winterwolf. She was simply furious that she was victim of a 'home invasion' that resulted in the death of her apprentice. She wanted revenge and promised them a painful death. As for the party, the wizard was calm and investigative, the fighter and the druid were teasing her.
For the skill challenge, it's the correct post:
First, spellcraft DC 15 (aid another possible) to understand how the ritual works
After that:
Player 1: repeat an incantation: Concentration check DC 12 every turn to lower the globe and maintain it at ground level. If he fails, player 2 is ejected and everything must be restated from the start.
Player 2:
round 1: UMD DC 15. project his conciousness in the globe
round 2: "you feel your mind leave your body, your astral self seems to go higher and higher, enough to see all of Golarion. You can easily discern a vast network of telluric lines linking Irrisen to almost every region of Avistan, Garund and Casmaron." Knowledge Geography DC 17 to identify the line linking Heldren and Waldsby.
round 3: UMD DC18: severe the link between the two portals
Every failed check during the "astral projection" results in 1D6 cold damage and must restart from round 1.
Meanwhile, as soon as the globe is lowered, a Waterfiend is summoned and tries to reach player 1. Player 3 and 4 must prevent it from reaching player 1.If ritual is interupted (failed check) the creature is unsummoned et re-summonned when the ritual restarts
I made my DCs to reflect my characters strengths and weaknesses, it's really not build as an objective encounter. Our wizard had good UMD and a single point in geography (+7 modifier).
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Minor fluff tweaks I added to the mirror men in part 2:
Whenever they telepathically spoke to anyone (or even to multiple people) in the group, the person hearing it would in their head hear only a whispering cold raspy version of their own voice speaking to them. I figured since the pcs were already looking at its “face” and just seeing their own expressions reflected back at them, it would help ramp up the creepiness factor.
Also, I made sure to note that typically they moved about their business at a slow restrained pace, but as soon as they need to enter combat, its almost like something unlocked and they suddenly become very swift and smooth flowing, like in a well-tuned and graceful nature.
I wanted to have them feel like a blend of mystical, undead, and mechanical that was just… wrong.
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For what it’s worth, my players hated Artrosa, the mega-dungeon that is 90% of book 3. It is an unrelenting series of nasty combat encounters, the entire misogynistic theme made my female players uncomfortable, and it is just generally brutal with very little opportunity for humor to lighten the mood at all. Finally, about 2/3 of the way through, we were close to abandoning the AP altogether but decided to fast-forward to the end and try the next chapter. I just narrated the rest of Artrosa for them - including the epic final battle, in which my 17yo son’s ranger died (at his request - he wasn’t enjoying playing the character, and said he’d like to play the rest of the campaign with a character he didn’t build when he was 11) - got them leveled up to 10, introduced my son’s new character, and now we’re starting book 4.
I’m sure other people enjoyed it, but if I had it to do over again, I’d have cut Artrosa down significantly and inserted a short adventure from another source in the middle (possibly something from Tales of the Old Margreve, reskinned to set it in the Hoofwood).
I'm running RoW now, in book 3, and I've noted in another thread that at least one of my players is vocally unhappy about working in support of Baba Yaga. I've tried to use NPCs to affirm "yes, Baba Yaga *is* awful, but the devil you know...." Book 2 has the resistance group in Whitethrone, who feel like the Queen's coup throws all the progress they've made into doubt. Book 3 has the centaurs, who fear Baba Yaga's domination, but they'd rather help the party find Baba Yaga and hope to parlay her favor than hinder the search and risk her vengeance. Haven't thought that much about future books yet.
I've also tried to play up the emerging factional struggles in the power vacuum: for example, in Book 2, there are fey trying to pull the Hut into the First World, so I decided to play up the fey as opportunistically vying for power in Baba Yaga's absence. Like, there's a fey bard appears in Book 1 who is presented as supporting Nazhena, but -- nah, she's just there to spy on the PCs and take intel back to her folk, so she flees combat at first opportunity. I'm hoping I can keep accumulating competitors in the race to acquire Baba Yaga's power this way as the AP proceeds.
There are definitely places where the enemies get repetitive, and I've tried to change those a bit as I do my mods to 2e. So, in the market square in Whitethrone, having 3 separate encounters with a single Dawn Piper each seemed dull, so I replaced them with earth-, water-, and plant-themed fey in the three locations.
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My group and I have just finished Book 1 Snows of Summer, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. I've enacted several of the changes suggested here and my players have loved them (e.g., making the Black Rider a badass, skill challenge in the Pale Tower, lockdown/key changes to the Pale Tower, "phone call" between Radosek and Nazhena, changing the winter/blizzard rules, attack on Heldren when they return Lady Argentea, etc.) so thank you all!
I also added a few of my own concoctions that I thought I would share.
To start off, I had my characters either be from or in Heldren during the Arodus festival of Armasse (to help foreshadow devotion to Milani and the Heralds of Summer's Return in Book 2). I tweaked the 2E (we play 1E) Paizo bounty Witch's Winter Holiday to include the NPCs from Heldren and bring the PCs together to help Old Mother Theodora and her trusty golden retriever Darb provide a fabulous Armasse feast for the town. I used the holiday to foreshadow some of the rumours provided in Book 1 (though I toned some of them down as I felt like they were too heavy-handed) and give the PCs time to fall in love with quaint and friendly town.
I think this was a lot more impactful once they returned to Heldren after rescuing Lady Argentea, only to find the town under siege from an army of cold goblins, a few white-furred wolves, and ultimately a showdown with a winter witch and her polar bear companion at the tower where most of the townsfolk had sheltered.
Flashforward to crossing the portal into Heldren, I took inspiration from another Reign of Winter campaign that provided some backstory and names to Nadya's companions. D20 Diaries. In our campaign, Nadya was joined by her business partner Laszlo (who worked with (and was best friends with) Hjalnek previously), his 16-year old son Andrej, another 17-year old boy Nickolaj (Andrej's friend), Mikhail (neighbour and guard for the sleds), and Anton (neighbour and guard for the sleds). Anton died at the hands of the mantis, but Mikhail and Andrej could certainly have been next had the PCs not interceded.
I had Meirul carrying a letter that the PCs found after they tricked and killed her.
My humblest servant,
I hope Svoboda finds you well during these rapturous times. Make your way to the Pale Tower near Waldsby where my great-granddaughter makes her roost… Despite being such a promising witch, I believe the child bit off more responsibility than she can delicately chew. I question the accuracy of her second-hand accounts of their progress hunting the Black Rider. Use your talents to gather what information you can, and alert me as to the true nature of my relation’s failings.
He must be found and eradicated, immediately. A squad of Queen’s Storm is awaiting immediate dispatch.
The punishment for the Rider’s escape will be… excruciating. I will not hesitate to prune this withering familial offshoot, or any others that fail in these pivotal tasks.
[Signed with a large, intricate snowflake made of real ice]
I had Nadya deliver Anton's body to Rolf where it was obvious the man had been beaten and the fence surrounding the graveyard vandalized. It then slowly dawned on the PCs/players that Heldren was VERY similar to Waldsby, and they all grappled with this while trying to sell some goods and figure out their next move. I encouraged the players to move around and visit some of the places to get to know the people/see the differences and give a feel for the far less welcoming citizens.
I gave a description of Nadya's house when they are invited to stay there that made my characters more sympathetic and upset for her plight:
You enter the small but comfortable log cabin where Nadya Petska makes her home. A small entryway supports heavy fur coats, pants, and boots. The home then opens up onto a small sitting room with a rocking chair and table surrounding the hearth. A bunk bed lines the wall near the hearth, a washtub and chamber pot stored nearby. Another doorway appears to lead out the back of the house to the kennels, while the only other door in the home appears to lead to what must be Nadya’s bedroom.
An old woman sits on the rocker, watching two small boys babble to each other as they play on the hard floor with some carved wooden toys near the lit fire. They rocket up from the floor at the sound of the door opening and voices.
“Mommy!”
Nadya kneels down to catch them in her arms and squeezes them tightly, quickly dissolving into quiet sobs.
DC 15 perception check - The home is exceptionally empty. The woodstack near the hearth only has a couple logs remaining. A couple shelves near the hearth must have supported more porcelain dishware for such a large family, but only a few cups and bowls remain. A place of honour over the hearth sits empty where a wall-mounted support must’ve held a blade of some repute. You also note some discoloration on the wall where perhaps a couple of taxidermied animal heads must’ve hung. A couple chairs appear to be missing from the table, and it’s highly likely that the floor once held a rug or two of some well-skinned animal fur to maintain warmth in the abode.
You also note that the doorframe on the inside of the abode sports artistic Ulfen rune wood carving. You easily pick out the runes for happiness, wealth, good harvest, union, fertility, and new life. Among the well-wishing runes, you see the names Hjalnek, Nadya, Thora, Orm, and Mjoli have been carefully carved.
I fleshed out Hestrig and Jairess' backstories as I made them the most sympathetic and doubtful as to their positions in the Pale Tower.
Hestrig Orlov
- Neutral evil - driven by a sense of self-preservation and advancement. Due to the dragon blood running in her veins, is also driven to dragon tendencies. Greedy, hoards food and trinkets under her bed like a dragon. Uses her intimidating abilities to demand more taxes from the peasant and other goods from Brigit. Has bullied Nadya too into providing more than the tower actually needs.
- Has a thin line of white scales running down her back near her spine.
- Family lived on the outskirts of Waldsby - parents were hunters who preferred to work together and not really integrate with the village. Hestrig’s abilities manifested and are visible. Presentation of the children to Lady Arina put the child on her radar for potential induction into the guard.
- When hunting with her parents, they stumbled upon the area where Auberphex used to lair and something spoke to her and awoke the latent power in her blood.
- Hunting became more difficult and when Arina came to check in on Hestrig’s progress, Hestrig’s parents agreed to trade her for a decent bit of coin so they could move to more fertile lands. Arina used to call her “my pet”, in a comforting and motherly sort of way. Brought her books and some other training to gain control of her abilities. [Hestrig believes that her parents are being held captive in Whitethrone - but this is more a lie she’s told herself over the years that she believes as truth.]
- Returned to Auberphex’s lair and scrounged up some of the coin that had been left behind that Arina had not taken. Started feeding her need for more coin so she would either beat it out of her subordinates through game or simple interrogation and would take more than owed when in town.
Proved herself with magic and defended the Pale Tower from strange creatures in and around Waldsby. Her naturally intimidating nature kept the other guards in line, despite her being a woman, and she was elevated in ranks because she ran a tight ship and got what needed to be done.
- Started wanting to understand where her powers really came from (people also whisper about her and don’t want to get too near due to her more beastial nature).
- Her job and station has kept her safe, fed, and warm. Does not really care for other people.
- Enjoys bossing people around. Hasn’t had an actual lover before. Jealous of Jairess because a couple guards and Radosek were fawning over her. She’s never had anyone fawn over her. “What does she have that I don’t?"
Jairess Sonn
- Very easily distracted and interested in new things. Has a hard time sitting still. Has never seen a deciduous tree or grass before.
- Grew up in Chillblight. Born to human/Ulfen parents who work at the fish docks in town. Parents pray to Gozreh as they require the seas to not be stormy but the waves bring new schools of fish.
- When she was old enough to start accompanying her parents to work to help, she had a hard time sitting still for hours and fishing or shucking oysters. She would wander/dance around the boats and docks, listening to the wind, watching the waves and getting mesmerized by them. She would claim she could hear Gozreh speaking in his/her many forms and thus was very distracted/quite the chatterbox.
- Realized she had an affinity for ravens when she was helping shuck oysters and some came to land on the meat. They were rather stubborn and wouldn’t be chased off but Jairess found a way to communicate and barter with them so that they wouldn’t eat all the good meat.
- Has a pearl that her father let her keep to pray upon.
- Has been at the mercy of Helfrid the Howler (evil outsider) a couple of times (bears deep scars from whip across her back. Her mom had to pluck several quills deeply embedded in her back. They make you feel very ill until you get them removed). As a teen she wandered off from work as she did, following the whim of the wind and the foreman accused her of skipping work/running out of town so Helfrid was called in to track her down and whip her. Also blamed for a low harvest year (raven’s supposedly ate too much), but it was just a bad year for oysters.
- Magical affinity and belief in Gozreh earned her some training from a small church in Chillblight.
- Ability to speak with ravens meant she would get dragged in to interpret what one saw for some of the Jadwiga or Guard.
- Was put in charge of a patrol of ravens and was added as a scout for Trezira patrolling the Frozen Road for ice floes that might block trade and to communicate with the barges to break up problematic floes.
- Young adult - 70ish? Has already outlived her parents.
- Queen Elvanna “requisitioned” the raven expert for her great-granddaughter Nazhena for a top secret mission. “Patrol for outsiders,” and keep outsiders away from this portal (doesn’t know where it goes and only authorized Jadwiga and allies are allowed to approach it).[/list]
Once the players defeat Radosek and have time to search the laboratory, they discover several journals and notes that provide some clarification on what is happening and why (and I gave a general timeline in years throughout the last century for the enaction of this plan). I think these help fill some plot holes that others have complained about and demonstrates that the White Witches are not infallible:
- Taldor has large military and vast resources that could prove useful and open the doorway to expansion into Casmoran. Bring Oppara and Zimar to heel, redirect grain and other resources to Whitethrone’s armies. Will have to play this invasion extremely cautiously. Need to delay the response from the Taldan government and hope that their convoluted politics and red tape take care of the rest.
- Grungir Forest in the Land of the linnorm Kings. Finally bring the remaining Ulfen to heel. Provides tactical advantage to surround Ulfen cities and wipe them out from two fronts (most recent). Likely able to treat with the denizens and grow armies. Possibly gain access to further resources in the First World. Potential location to bring the Decimated?
- Hold of Belkzen could prove useful for subjugating the orcs and forcing them to accept a sliver of ice could provide valuable army fodder or set up new farms. Discussion surrounding whether orcs are smart enough to know how to farm or have the patience for it.
- Create temporary portals in Galt, River Kingdoms, Nirmathas, and Molthune. Guerilla style tactics to raid food and other supplies needed for campaigns. Each country is embroiled in rebellion or other mayhem that will make guerrilla tactics more effective.
- Avoid Varisia for time being - do not want to risk drawing the attention of the heroes that overthrew Queen Ileosa. [My players and I had just finished Curse of the Crimson Throne so I threw in a reference as to why the level 20+ heroes from that story would not somehow get involved in solving the eternal winter spreading across Golarion]
I hope these suggestions help some other GMs!
So, after not responding to this thread for a little over a year, let me tell you how my campaign has gone and the noticeable changes I made:
* Used Ultimate Wilderness snow rules
* Slippery around the maze with the doll (see here)
* Make the Black Rider a bad-ass (see here)
* Pale Tower issues (see here)
* Made NPC more sympathetic / able to be swayed with diplomacy, bluffs, etc. (Jairess became a mainstay that I used as a crafter / plane-hopper instead of the mercane that shows up in book 4. Viveka joined up later in the campaign. Hestrig joined the rebellion in Whitethrone... things like that.)
* Changed the leader of the rebellion in Whitethrone to an NPC suitable to leading a rebellion from Hell's Rebels. (Purely because the players knew the character and I wanted a throwback to our Hell's Rebels game.)
* Winter Witches using mirrors to see things more often, and having the players see that the witch is watching them made mirrors more of a threat.
* Made it so most of the NPCs didn't hate Baba Yaga. (I didn't want her to be be some evil entity that the group didn't really want to free. By the end they learned that most of the stories about her are made up so that people leave her alone. She wanted people to rebel against her and wanted them to be strong enough to win against her. She was very much like her folklore in that she was trying to teach people lessons / celebrated people being strong and independent.)
* Most (all?) of the guardians in the hut didn't attack the PCs. They could see the mark of the Black Rider and therefore knew not to attack a representative of Baba Yaga. That doesn't mean they were helpful, mind you, just that they didn't attack on sight.
* Added street-level fights to Whitethrone because the PCs joined the rebellion and wanted to fight some witches and their supporters.
* Jadrenka was being held captive by the hags and Marislova was against the hags rather than involved in some weird lies between Jadrenka and the hags. (Jadrenka could appear for a short period of time but couldn't tell much to the PCs due to... I dunno... because of how the hags were holding her? She had to 'sneak away' in order to project herself to where the PCs were so she was looking over her shoulder and trying to not get caught.)
* The invaders of Artrosa used a different entrance because they were there for a week or two before the PCs got there because it would be weird if the invaders had only gotten there a day or two earlier.
* Dead bodies of Winter Witches / guards from Whitethrone were scattered around the valley leading up to Artrosa because they'd know about Artrosa and some of them going there to try to take control of it made sense. (The followers of Kostchtchie fought them off before they got to Artrosa.)
* The Aeon Pit was a ward Baba Yaga had set up in order to stop Kostchtchie from being able to come to Golarion. Vsevolod was doing a ritual to weaken those wards.
* Main villian of book 5 was referenced earlier but not by name. Usually as "the debauched one" as I had his name be more of a title rather than a given name and that's what it translated as. (This is based off of a real-world belief)
* Added On The Siberian Line to book 4 and... oh man, I can't possibly suggest this enough. DO IT! It's fantastic.
* Had the main villain in book 5 be a worshipper of Koschei, whom Kostchtchie is based off of.
* Main villain of book 5 was siphoning Baba Yaga's mythic power in order to become a god-like being (he was also using the souls from the dead to gain this power) whereas Elvanna was covering Golarion in snow so that she could rule it all. (They ramped up the power on the Winter Collectors to do this, that way the AP isn't solved with a wave of the hand at the end. The Winter Collectors each need to be gone to by Baba Yaga and adjusted / fixed.)
* Elvanna had a 'dead-man switch' set so that if she died Kostchtchie would be reborn on Golarion as a human, which leads us into The Witchwar Legacy. (Because Vsevolod was able to break the seal of the Eaon Pit enough.)
* PCs gained their first Mythic tier for freeing Baba Yaga (they gained something for every other thing so it made sense to me.)
* Added The Witchwar Legacy onto the end as a sort of epilogue.
I think those are the main things?
Random notes about the campaign:
At first I found it weird that the White Witches weren't used throughout the AP but realized that they would be out of place in book 4 as Elvanna didn't know where Baba Yaga would be sending the hut. I thought about using them in book 5, but decided the main villain of that book likely didn't trust them enough and wouldn't want the competition.
Artrosa was a lot of fun for my players, but I made the hags more manipulative and the players didn't know who was on what side nor who were the actual bad guys. It made it a lot more tense.
Early fights were harder than previous APs I've ran.
The final fight of book 6 was the most fun I've had running combat. Elvanna failed a few key rolls to get past spell resistance, the PCs failed a few key attack rolls / saves. With the power level of the PCs I honestly thought they'd win within 3 rounds, but with the failed rolls it ended up going for 15 rounds over the course of roughly 4 hours. The PCs nearly all died, but they managed to just barely pull it out at the end with the help of Baba Yaga's gifts.
Wow, thanks for the input. I'm about to start book 4 (one of our other players runs mummy's mask, and we alternate books) . Really intrigued about "on siberian line".
Can yous expose a bit of the quest and how you inserted it in the RoW timeline?
I made a mistake! I said I put it into book 4 but it's actually in book 5!!
I seriously can't express how much better adding this module into book 5 improves the story! I find book 5 misses out on a huge opportunity of using the planet the group is on and they start fighting things that would fit into Golarion way too quickly, which makes it feel like too normal of an AP book. As an added bonus, it adds a significant amount of chances to RP into Reign of Winter.
On the Siberian Line talks about how to insert it in, and it's really easy:
-The hut appears on the new planet (assuming you've read book 5 you know where they go)
-I had the main villain show up the way that he's supposed to at the beginning, once all of the PCs (and NPCs, preferably) are no longer on / in the hut the hut takes off in the same way that it does in the actual book (I had it dimension door away after running for a bit so that the players couldn't track it because that would negate the entire module... weird planar energies made it so they couldn't scry on the hut / use magic to figure out where it was. It was too close to being on the first world for it to count as being on the same plane as the PCs, or, yeah, magical energies stronger than the PCs prevented the spells from working... something like that)
-The hut running through the forest attracted the attention of some flying enemies who come and aggressively check out the area (Great fight that required some creative thinking due to the speed the enemies have)
-I saved the fight that's written in the actual book 5 when the players first step out of the hut just in case the players slept in the hut or something while attacking the BBEG base and didn't take care to hide the hut
Breakdown of what the PCs do:
-They come across someone from a local army; he belongs to the White Army which support the recently deposed aristocracy, he brings them to their rather large camp where the PCs can relax and talk to many different groups of people. (Hopefully they have magic that allows them to speak the local language)
-The army is trying to find the location of the main bad guy of the actual book since he's an advisor to the deposed aristocracy and he would help rally the army
-They can learn rumours around the camp, and realize that there's a saboteur / spy that they can expose
-The army has a double-agent in the Red Army and eventually the White Army fixes the communication device that the spy broke and they find out which city the mole is in
-Sabotage happens while the White Army is on the way to the city but they get there (the book lists what happens if the sabotage isn't stopped)
-When they get to the city you get to convert the PCs into one-man-armies and they fight their way through to get to the mole. (My players were a little worried about this part as we've done mass combat before but they all really enjoyed this part)
-When they find the mole they find out where the BBEG of the actual book is and they have a final showdown with an NPC that has been keeping their eyes on the PCs (and has a valid reason to be doing so)
To get back into the actual book, the PCs now know where the BBEG is and they head off that way, find the hut in the forest, and then you run the book as written. (And On the Siberian Line allows you to put a timer on the group if you want because the White Army wants to recruit the BBEG)
In the end, I basically removed most of pages 19-22 and inserted On the Siberian Line instead, which is 50-something pages of adventure.
Other thing I changed in book 5: I had the regular people outside the camp (and in the first, small area of the camp) ignore EVERYTHING that was happening inside the main combat area. I didn't explain why / how it was happening, but any not supernatural threat stayed on watch looking outwards and if addressed would react as if the PCs were superior officers. Almost as if the entire inner area was under some type of illusion or something.
Finally got to book 5. The players got out of the hut at the end of last night's session. And they are starting On siberian line. You were right, this module is awesome! I'm gonna Keep the book5 first encounter in the village and move the plane fight between the end of siberian line and the prison camp, where the players will have a little wilderness intermission.
Thanks for the advise, the module looks great and helps a lot to ground "earth" in reality, since book5 goes almost immediately "Full fantasy mode" after the village fight.
Glad to see you like it!
I nearly put in the first fight but decided against it for no particular reason. I ended up being glad I had left it out because partway through the PCs attacking the main camp they had to retreat and rest for the night. So in the morning they came out to the attack from the beginning of the actual book happening. It felt more balanced and I had an extra tank or two fighting the Chicken Hut.
But if they hadn't rested I wouldn't have been able to use the ambush at all, which would've been a shame because it's a fun fight. (But can be rahter deadly, so be careful.)
Great thread. Some changes I plan on making (just finished the first module):
Moving Maiden, Mother, Crone to my equivalent of Oriental Adventures (Kara-Tur). This will allow for a stronger link to the "On the Siberian Line" adventure (which I will also use) with the link to the Japanese and Onibaba.
Would love to hear how everyone used The Witchwar Legacy as a 7th adventure? I haven't read it yet so maybe it's obvious if I do.
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Would love to hear how everyone used The Witchwar Legacy as a 7th adventure? I haven't read it yet so maybe it's obvious if I do.
For Witchwar Legacy I gave them a Mythic rank and had Kostchtchie recreating Rasputin's body in the final place in Witchwar Legacy which he was going to use to manifest himself on Golarion. Don't forget, Kostchtchie is based off of real-world Koschei, so Rasputin knows him as Koschei.
Overall AP Schemes, adding on The Witchwar Legacy:
Kostchtchie wants Baba Yaga out of the way.
He goes to Rasputin and promises to elevate him to if he can lock her up.
Rasputin gets Elvanna to help in return for the promise of her ruling all of Golarian and gaining their mother's power.
She's doing the ritual that's going to cover the planet in snow, which is giving Kostchtchie more power.
Since Rasputin died Kostchtchie has started to recreat his body in The Witchwar Legacy and is planning on possessing Rasputin's body as a way to return to Golarian.
Baba Yaga knows where Kostchtchie will be reborn as she knows where the Torc is, and is therefore where Rasputin's body is being recreated. She'll only tell the group if they release her from the matryoshoka doll. (Which has the added benefit of putting more pressure on the group to release her instead of the group deciding "no, I'm pretty sure we can figure out another way to stop Elvanna afterall")
(But I don't remember how I let the group realize Kostchtchie was going to be reborn on Golarion. Maybe Rasputin said that he'd be reborn on "your world" as he thought he would be and didn't know that Kostchtchie was usurping those plans, so for all of book 6 and then The Witchwar Legacy the group thought they had to stop Rasputin at the end but when they got there the body was an algamation of both of them?)
THIS POST of mine has other changes I made in the campaign I ran.
<evil schemes>
I like this flow, I may steal this. One question: if Elvanna flees at the end of book 6, how is Baba Yaga freed? Doesn't the doll need to be bathed in Elvanna's blood (could be misremembering this particular point).
ince Rasputin died Kostchtchie has started to recreat his body in The Witchwar Legacy and is planning on possessing Rasputin's body as a way to return to Golarian.
I like this in particular as I tend to run my demons more like warhammer ones, where, they need to posses/manifest in a real body to have any longevity in the real world.
I'll also check out your other post today, thank you.
<evil schemes>
I like this flow, I may steal this. One question: if Elvanna flees at the end of book 6, how is Baba Yaga freed? Doesn't the doll need to be bathed in Elvanna's blood (could be misremembering this particular point).
I confirmed this is the case, but, I think a bit of clone action works here as well, or even an rez.
If you, as the GM, have the main villain run away, you should really have a way for the PCs to track her down.
Yeah. For sure. Thinking they defeat a clone and still free baba Yaga. Baba Yaga can then point them in the right direction.
Did you replace the witch in legacy with Elvanna? Or Rasputin?
Yeah. For sure. Thinking they defeat a clone and still free baba Yaga. Baba Yaga can then point them in the right direction.
Did you replace the witch in legacy with Elvanna? Or Rasputin?
There was a witch in Witchwar Legacy?
Oh yeah!
Yeah, no, the witch was replaced with Rasputin / Kostchtchie.
Elvanna died at the end of book 6 like she was supposed to, they freed Baba Yaga, found out where to go for the Witchwar Legacy, they went there and stopped Rasputin / Kostchtchie.
(Why don't you want your group killing Elvanna at the end of book 6?)
(Why don't you want your group killing Elvanna at the end of book 6?)
I misread the way you did it. I thought you had Elvanna flee in book 6 and the group catches her in witchwar. But, it's cleaner to have her die/captured and witchwar is Kostchtchie/Rasputin focused.
Did you have them fight with Kostchtchie directly or it was Rasputin only in that last "boss" room?
Just thinking a demon lord fight may actually be pretty cool.
I misread the way you did it. I thought you had Elvanna flee in book 6 and the group catches her in witchwar. But, it's cleaner to have her die/captured and witchwar is Kostchtchie/Rasputin focused.
Did you have them fight with Kostchtchie directly or it was Rasputin only in that last "boss" room?
Just thinking a demon lord fight may actually be pretty cool.
Ah! Okay, that makes sense... sorry about the confusion.
After defeating Elvanna they went to level 18, and after freeing Baba Yaga they gained their first Mythic rank. It was just Kostchtchie in the final room of Witchwar Legacy. (I flat out removed Ilivorr and had Kostchtchie in Rasputin's body in there instead, maybe I had to change some descriptions throughout the place so that Kostchtchie started forming in the room via the torc instead of the witch making her way there? I'm pretty sure I kept all of the enemies but if there were any that were witch-related I removed them. It's been a few years and a couple of APs since I ran it so I'm likely forgetting some details).
For the fight, I made a toned-down version of Kostchtchie because he wasn't "fully formed" yet.
I applied the "Young" template twice, to get him down to size Medium, made him human, took off the following traits: chaotic, cold, demon, evil, outsider, which got rid of: darkvision 60 ft., detect good, detect law, but I had him keep true seeing, removed his frightful presence (120 ft., DC 33) but kept his unholy aura (DC 26), lowered his AC to a reasonable amount, took away most of his defensive abilities, removed all of his DR, Immunities, SR... wait, I can just copy the stat block I used.... here, it's behind a spoiler tag so it doesn't take up so much space:
(Oh, and he lost his demon lord stuff because of reforming in a human body on Golarion, so.... yeah. Everyone either accepted that or they didn't realize it.)
CR 21
Rasputin Kostchtchie
XP: 409,600
CE Medium humanoid (human)
Init +10; Senses true seeing; Perception +52
Aura unholy aura (DC 26)
DEFENSE
AC 34, touch 24, flat-footed 24 (+4 deflection, +10 Dex, +10 natural)
HP 480 (31d10+310)
Fort +31, Ref +24, Will +31
Defensive Abilities freedom of movement; Resist cold 30; Weaknesses vulnerable to fire
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
Melee +5 adamantine icy burst warhammer +51/+46/+41/+36 (1d10+20/19-20/x3 plus 1d6 cold), slam +46 (1d4+15 plus grab)
or
+5 adamantine icy burst warhammer +43/+38/+33/+28 (1d10+44/19-20/x3 plus 1d6 cold)
Ranged rock +43/+38/+33/+28 (1d6+13)
Space 5 ft., Reach 5 ft.
Special Attacks clutch foe, crushing blow, favored enemy (giants +4, humans +4, see below), powerful slam, rock throwing (60 ft.), vengeful strike
STATISTICS
Str 40, Dex 31, Con 30, Int 25, Wis 30, Cha 27
Base Atk +31; CMB +46 (+54 bull rush, +56 grapple, +56 sunder); CMD 84 (86 vs. bull rush, 86 vs. sunder)
Feats Awesome Blow, Catch Off-Guard, Craft Construct, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft Wondrous Item, Critical Focus, Greater Sunder, Greater Vital Strike, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (warhammer), Improved Sunder, Improved Vital Strike, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Staggering Critical, Vital Strike
Skills Bluff +42, Climb +54, Intimidate +42, Knowledge (arcana) +41, Knowledge (engineering) +38, Knowledge (local) +41, Knowledge (planes) +41, Knowledge (religion) +38, Perception +52, Sense Motive +44, Spellcraft +41, Stealth +44, Use Magic Device +39
Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Common, Draconic, Giant
SPECIAL ABILITIES
See entry for Kostchtchie (I left them as written because I'm lazy and knew my group would be fine.)
AS A NOTE: I did not run the math on any of this so things might not add up the way they're supposed to. I don't care. I threw him together in a way that would hopefully be a threat to my players* and none of us care if his Dex being whatever means that his CMD should be different. Or maybe he has too many feats, or not enough. Or maybe he has things he shouldn't have. I really wasn't worried about that type of thing.
*He was not a threat; he was dead before the end of the second round. but it was VERY satisfying to the players and they felt awesome for taking out a semi-formed demon lord and killing Rasputin again without it being "the same Rasputin but stronger"
This is perfect, thank you.