With the problems pointed out by Tarondor with Council of Thieves, is path worth fixing?
* - If so, how would you go about this?
* - If it isn't worth fixing, can any elements of the AP be salvaged for use elsewhere?
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One of the biggest disappointments (wrong expectations) can be salvaged, if you switch the speech of Janiven Key at the beginning to a speech, trying to make Westcrown a place worth living again. This shifts the tone of the complete campaign from "Down with the House Thrune" to "We are Batman".
For my translation I have redone the complete speech. If anyone is interested, I can send it via PM (in German, but i can try to translate to English).
Another thing I have found problematic is the motivation of the twins father in the original books. I have found a solution. A harrow reading promised him no male offspring.
In the dungeon of the first part, let the group find a picture on the wall of "The Founder". This gives a foreshadowing of the end boss of the campaign.
Those small changes circumvent a lot of the issues this campaign has.
One of the biggest disappointments (wrong expectations) can be salvaged, if you switch the speech of Janiven Key at the beginning to a speech, trying to make Westcrown a place worth living again. This shifts the tone of the complete campaign from "Down with the House Thrune" to "We are Batman."
For my translation I have redone the complete speech. If anyone is interested, I can send it via PM (in German, but i can try to translate to English).
I will PM you for the speech, but I also did something similar. I had a different problem: the Bastards of Erebus come out of nowhere.
What I did was rather then the dotari/Hellknight raid, I had a largely uneventful travel through the sewers and meeting the rest of the "Children of Westcrown" (not the name my team used).
Here's what I did instead:
* - Repurpose Pathfinder Society #29 Shipyard Rats (replacing the badguys with Bastard Thugs, and leveled NPCs with Tieflings).
* - Then, after that, I sent a Tiefling rogue as an assassin after each player character. This proved to be highly motivating for the PCs.
* - Now, continue with the Rescue of Arael.
Another thing I have found problematic is the motivation of the twins father in the original books. I have found a solution. A harrow reading promised him no male offspring.
That isn't helpful, unless there is a way for the PCs to find out about it.
In the dungeon of the first part, let the group find a picture on the wall of "The Founder". This gives a foreshadowing of the end boss of the campaign.
You mean under the temple of Erastil? How would the Bastards get the picture?
Those small changes circumvent a lot of the issues this campaign has.
The Murder Play was also a problem . As Tarondor points out, the play can be polarizing.
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Another thing I have found problematic is the motivation of the twins father in the original books. I have found a solution. A harrow reading promised him no male offspring.That isn't helpful, unless there is a way for the PCs to find out about it.
One of my players will be a Varisian that is a relative of the person who did that Harrow reading.
In the dungeon of the first part, let the group find a picture on the wall of "The Founder". This gives a foreshadowing of the end boss of the campaign.You mean under the temple of Erastil? How would the...
Because his first young endeavor was founding the Bastards, as he was very discintent with his being a tiefling. Later he got more responsibilities in the Council from his Granddad and sister. He used his true form for the Bastards but has been using a Hat of Disguise ever since.
(PM sent.)
Consider the idea with the Shipyard Rats swiped for my campaign. (Thank you)
(PM sent.)
Thank You.
Those small changes circumvent a lot of the issues this campaign has.The Murder Play was also a problem . As Tarondor points out, the play can be polarizing.
Have you reached The Sixfold Trial yet?
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Have you reached The Sixfold Trial yet?
No, but I am aware of the complications that might arise. I will test the waters with the amount of acting they like to do during the rehearsals.
No, but I am aware of the complications that might arise. I will test the waters with the amount of acting they like to do during the rehearsals.
Have you reached The Sixfold Trial yet?
You misunderstand me. If you get to rehearsals, you will have bypassed the problem my group had. My players objected to being actors in a murder play in the first place.
If you get pushback, like I did, here is what the murder play is for:
* - Getting the PCs to 4th level.
* - Bringing the Heroes wealth up to par.
* - Getting the heroes up to 3 Fame Points.
One idea for "fixing" this is to play into the "Batman" aspect of the AP .
Here is what I should have done. I could have repurposed the society adventure: The Midnight Mauler.
* - Moved the adventure from Ardis to Westcrown.
* - Remove the Pathfinder connection. This means that Arael or Janiven need some means to know that there is a Werewolf is loose in the city .
* - Rename all the NPCs to Chelaxian.
* - Do not provide the heroes the werewolf's name, make them search for that.
* - While not needed, moving the final encounter from the courthouse to the Judge's home fits better with Westcrown's "shadow curse."
At this point, the heroes could then do a normal "break in" to search Aberian’s Folly, and continue with the rest of the adventure normally.
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You misunderstand me. If you get to rehearsals, you will have bypassed the problem my group had. My players objected to being actors in a murder play in the first place.
With my first group I had everything in place that the idea to participate in the murder PLay would have come from the group (and not from the Pathfinder agent). One member had the Pathfinder connection as background plus he was a descendant of a member of the Expedition 100 years ago. Another member of my group was an illusionist and was working together with Rogall from the theatre troup.
The missing link would have been the information about the Chelaxian Crux. This would have come from a letter from the society or I would have placed the information with the bodyguard of an ancient family in Westcrown who was let go because the family had a big loss on his watch (a third player).
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Switch the adventures around. It will require redoing encounters but having it go 1-2-3-5-4-6 allows the PCs to address the key problem(Doing away with the Shadowcurse) without having to veer off to do the Infernal Syndrome and let's them enjoy their victory for a while before things go boom.
Switch the adventures around. It will require redoing encounters but having it go 1-2-3-5-4-6 allows the PCs to address the key problem(Doing away with the Shadowcurse) without having to veer off to do the Infernal Syndrome and let's them enjoy their victory for a while before things go boom.
The AP's ending needs to be handled better too (The Twice Damned Prince, p54).
I would almost want to get rid of the whole Drovenge drama, and make Ilnerik Sivanshin the main villain - largely dispensing with Book 4 and Book 6 entirely.