Strange Aeons, Big Changes After Book 3 and Shortening the Campaign

[Tubstout]

Spoilers for the campaign to follow.

Hello everyone,

I was a subscriber to the AP line when Strange Aeons initially came out and I started running it very quickly. My group got almost through book 3 (we are about to get their memories back) and we have taken a VERY long hiatus - roughly 5 years.

My players highly prioritize RP and have been incredibly cool and trusting with the amnesia factor for their characters. We move through campaigns incredibly slowly, even playing 4hrs per week. (For example, it took us 30 sessions to complete Book 1 of Curse of the Crimson Throne!)

The players are looking forward to returning and finishing the AP, making it the second campaign we will ever finish.

Now, even when I was running Strange Aeons in 2016/2017 and reading people's criticisms of the AP now that people have gotten to finish it for the past several years, I know there is some changes I would like to make going forward.

A lot of the issues I have seen stem with some tonal weirdness in Book 4, some plot points feeling a little odd or disheartening (ex. completing the Mysterium and missing Lowls yet again, only to be told you can research there instead, the Necronomicon being a let down), and the final boss feeling underwhelming or like they came out of left field.

Here are the things I am looking at accomplishing:

1) Trimming the AP. I want to cut some content to keep the campaign focused on the horror/weird fiction elements. We progress very slowly, and I want this to move at a decent clip if possible, thus cutting content. I am guaranteed going to be cutting the gnoll stuff in Book 4.

Any recommendations for streamlining or shortening the game without missing out on any fun set pieces?

2) I really like the idea of the group traveling to the "real world" at some point and running with Call of Cthulhu rules for several sessions. I think that would be a really wacky way to keep the adventure feeling fresh. This could be a fun way to link together any missing elements that I might lose by trimming the campaign.

3) Making the end boss more satisfying. I've read a lot of threads in here so I've seen what other people have suggested of making the last fight be Lowls, etc. But I figured I'd post about it again here.

I don't have any ideas set in stone, so I'm looking to bounce some ideas off people for what they did to mitigate any of these issues, or what they would recommend.

I am comfortable with tweaking APs. One of the big changes that has already happened in our game is that I allowed the ritual at the end of Book 2 to be successful - which the players unknowingly contributed to despite the fight being won. They rushed outside of Iris Hill in time to see Thrushmoor being taken away, and it's one of their highlights of any session we've ever played.

Thanks in advance!

[Davor Firetusk]

I don't have anything super concrete since it's been awhile since I ran it, but based on what you are describing I would take a long look at everything in Books 5 and 6. Almost all of the encounters and the cool factor in both is setting, and not story dependent. So I'd recommend filtering everything through what encounters you think will really interest your group and/or make things more event driven in book 5. My group basically skipped over all the desert encounters, which was totally fine.

[Tubstout]

Davor Firetusk wrote:

I don't have anything super concrete since it's been awhile since I ran it, but based on what you are describing I would take a long look at everything in Books 5 and 6. Almost all of the encounters and the cool factor in both is setting, and not story dependent. So I'd recommend filtering everything through what encounters you think will really interest your group and/or make things more event driven in book 5. My group basically skipped over all the desert encounters, which was totally fine.

Thanks! I am currently re-reading the books and I'm in book 4 right now and admittedly I never read 5 or 6 when I got them years ago, just skimmed.

I'm fine with picking and choosing what to run. I generally cut about 20% of encounters in any AP and don't run random encounters.

[Davor Firetusk]

Having had a little more time, I skipped most of Okeno by having Kaklath's telepathic reach being a little more direct. I highly recommend this change. I had good success with Weiralai in Book 5 as a reoccurring villain as well, particularly since I had played the earlier encounters up. I played book 6 more or less straight, but I had been able to foreshadow the Witch a bit more, and make a fun family tie since I had players who were changelings.
So I would definitely recommend a deeper read through of book 5 and 6 and outline your important story elements/ what you think will be the best climaxes for Book 4,5, and 6. Kaklath can really help fill in as much story as you would like to alter and streamline things in Book 4 to certain extent and then definitely book 5. But the initial meeting kind of sets the tone there.

[Tubstout]

I will most likely implement this change with Kaklatath. There's a lot of Book 4 that just doesn't jive very well with me tonally (and there's another campaign the same players are in that most of book 4 would seem more fitting. It might cause some crossed wires, "wouldn't this fit better in your other game...?" if that makes sense).

I was definitely planning on Weiralai being a fun recurring villain. The group really enjoys Leng (we also played another AP that had a connection/references to Leng so they got really excited for more of that here)!

I'm almost assuredly going to swap out the end boss. The players didn't really put a lot of stock into Briarstone Witch during book 2 and focused more on other things.

I'd really like to have a wild divergence into earth and running a series of sessions in Call of Cthulhu rules as well.