Connecting the 3 books better together

[SatiricalBard]

In my humble opinion, Sky King’s Tomb is a nearly great story-focused AP. It also does a better job than most APs at connecting the 3 books together, especially at seeding key information and secrets early in book 1 that will pay off at the end of book 3.

But it still suffers somewhat from book 2 feeling very disconnected to books 1 & 3, and it misses opportunities to fully set up the 4 key story & adventure beats of the AP early on in the adventure, during book 1.

Below are some suggestions for things GMs can do fairly easily to tie together the 3 books more closely together, and seize those missed opportunities to set up the story beats right from the beginning.

Book 1

I think we really want to get the villain, the cave worm, the Quest for Sky myth, and the mystery about King Taargick’s abdication and final resting place in to the story early, in order to set up the story to come.

The Villain (Narseigus) has to ‘appear’ early in book 1 somehow IMHO. It could be via a rumour or secret the PCs can learn about, or given to a relevant PC as part of their backstory. If anyone has the campaign background with the occult bonespeaker as their personal connection, he could have had a vision about it (and the player, ideally tying in whatever their misdeed was) which he shares with the PC either in a prologue, in the first session or two, or at the family festival, perhaps after the PCs successfully influence him (though that risks gating important information behind skill checks that could be failed). Or even bring him in via a ‘third party scene’ or two revealed to the players, rather than the PCs, eg. him poring over tomes about cave worms, or recruiting different ancestries into a private army. How you do it doesn't matter too much, so long as we know of him, and that somehow he is a future looming threat, however vaguely. This will also help tie things in when the PCs start hearing about him in book 2, in the Court of Ether and then along the darklands trek, as they know they’re learning bits and pieces about the mysterious villain, not just some random bad guy.

The Cave Worm can be introduced by sharing the GM-only text about it bringing the king’s clan dagger to Highhelm decades before the adventure, either as a prologue, given to a relevant PC as part of their backstory, or some other way.

Additionally, GMs can introduce Jirelga when the party go to The Depths in chapter 1, painting her as a seemingly obsessed/crazy lady always telling wild stories about cave worms etc (as a side benefit, this makes the quest to find her in book 3 much less clunky).

The Quest for Sky myth is the ‘creation myth’ of dwarf-kind, and should be emphasised as such; it is also the story driving this whole adventure. It can easily be introduced via a tale told as a prologue (I had a scene with a dwarf priest telling the tale to a group of children), and should be clearly done with a strong dwarvish bias. Doing this centres the importance of the QFS for the adventure, and also means the existing references to it in the Tolorr crypt in chapter 1 and the research encounter in chapter 3 function as reminders and disruptions to something already known, rather than having the problem of players not really knowing what this is actually about.

For bonus points: try to find ways to emphasise the role of the QFS myth for dwarven unity and self-understanding, as this is how creation myths function in real life. This could be done by inserting early references to current off-screen attempts to reunify dwarven clans of the five kings mountains, and at the end of book 3 by having the herald of Torag explain why the suppression of the truth was so important - and what the consequences of the PCs revealing that truth will be. This sets up the stakes of the story: undermining the ‘creation myth’ with the long-suppressed truth will come with real costs - which is why they’ve been long-suppressed in the first place! (Sadly, Paizo themselves completely missed this implication, so it’s not even implied in the books, nor any subsequent Golarion lore to date.)

King Taargick’s mystery could be done via a prologue scene, using some of the information from the Campaign Background at the start of Mantle of Gold and/or the the secret letter in Dongun Hold referred to in the Introduction to Lost Omens: Highhelm (perhaps even just its existence - don't reveal the contents of that letter just yet!) or ‘third party scenes’ drip-fed to the players over the first few sessions; given to a relevant PC as backstory info, or brought in some other way, perhaps in the Tolorr Crypt encounter somehow (eg. the ghosts are confused and angry about him not having his rightful tomb).

But I also strong encourage GMs to constrain how much information to give out from the crypt ghosts and especially the research encounter, so that they get clues to a mystery, not the full reveal! We want to save that for the climax of book 3, otherwise those scenes will fall flat.

I also personally added an extra Orc Camp encounter along the way to Guldredge in chapter 2, foreshadowing Taargick’s memory of war crimes against orcish civilians by setting up a tense standoff with some orc warriors, who were protecting civilian orcs hiding in the next room, including a sick mother needing help that the PCs can provide if they choose not to take the simple path of violence (and if they do, they then have to confront the sick civilian/s and decide what to do). This works better if you have an all dwarf or majority dwarf party, obviously, but then again so does the whole AP in my opinion!

Book 2

add or adjust existing scenes along the long darklands travel sequence to include the locations of or references to a couple of the scenes from Taargick’s memories in book 3 (eg. the scene of people being left behind, the scene of the war crime).

If not keen to do that, at least add a second location that dates back to the Quest for Sky - a tomb of a great dwarven hero, a famous battle site, etc - to keep the primary story of the AP in the foreground.

You can also use these to continue to hint at possible alternative history to that told to dwarves about the quest for sky.

Use Hagegraf and the encounters with different peoples normally considered monsters (the ulat kini, the ghouls, etc) to offer PCs the option of continuing past hostilities, or taking a different path. This foreshadows Taargick’s memory-visions in book 3. Hagegraf especially offers huge potential for adding nuance and complexity about the duergar. Don’t shy away from it being a living hell, or even that most of them are pretty horrible and/or evil, but emphasise that not all duergar are maniacally evil, they’re just stuck in this hugely oppressive situation; have NPCs rage to the PCs about their ‘abandonment’ by the dwarves (and Torag!) during the Quest for Sky; etc.

Book 3

seek ways to tie in the PCs actions in books 1 & 2 into the scenes with Taargick’s memories in chapter 3. For example, if they fought and killed just about everyone they encountered up til now, and especially if they killed any noncombatants, insert flashes of those scenes into the ‘war crimes’ vision.

These past choices could also be brought into the final encounter with Stoneriver, the herald of Torag.

These are some of my thoughts, at any rate. I'd love to hear what others have done or planned for your own games to tie the books together more!

[Yakman]

So... I was reading Book 2's back half for the first time, and while I didn't go into detail, I saw that it just... ends?

And then Book 3 starts in a whole other place. There's no guidance for how to get out of the broader situation in the end of Book 2, ramifications, etc.

Any thoughts on how to get the PCs effectively from Book 2 to 3? Particularly on the extrication from the almost certainly LETHAL situation they'll find themselves in at the end of Book 2?

[Yakman]

Also... Jirelga and Krohan just... vanish? Like... where do they go? Would there be good places to bring them back into the AP? Jirelga just, like... jets before the Court, and Krohan kinda... evaporates?

I'm thinking that the PCs get

Spoiler:

locked up in the dungeon of Hagregaf at the end of Book 2, get to confront Narsegius in person...

maybe Jirelga helps bust them out?

[Lia Wynn]

Krohan is probably starting his Rivethun training, though I think he would check up on the party whenever they came back to Highhelm. I don't think he should play an adventuring part in Book 2 or 3.

If I were to run it again, I would make major changes to Book 1, Chapter 3's last segment (the Jirelga bit), and make her a more active part of the story until after the Court of Ether.

I would agree with the OP that there should be more encounter options, even if optional, in the Darklands, to give that danger feel. It's supposed to be dangerous there after all.

[lemuelmassa]

Currently running SKT weekly. We're in the transition now between chapter 2 and 3 of book 2. And yup, I've added a lot of extra content to make up for some of the shortcomings of the AP as-is.

1: Using the Highhelm book I added an extra "front" to the adventure... the Ashen Engineer who is striking at Highhelm as a proxy/setup for when Narseigus does eventually arrive. Right now we've faced down a couple of his lower level bosses, etc. but each time they come to Highhelm I use agents of the Ash Engineer to create a threat to Highhelm and with some pointers in the right direction from Lady Dux/Clan Tolorr so there's some meat for the transitions and more dwarfiness to the AP overall.

2: I developed a whole bunch of Darklands encounters that flesh out the quest for sky background... monuments, sites that were once great battles, wandering NPCs to tell more of the story (grabbing from the timeline in the start of the adventure) a few microdungeons along the way too. If this is the darklands AP we should experience darklands.

3: I'm still considering what needs to be done to make book three more connective... especially foreshadowing for the last chapter of book three.

[Yakman]

lemuelmassa wrote:

Currently running SKT weekly. We're in the transition now between chapter 2 and 3 of book 2. And yup, I've added a lot of extra content to make up for some of the shortcomings of the AP as-is.

1: Using the Highhelm book I added an extra "front" to the adventure... the Ashen Engineer who is striking at Highhelm as a proxy/setup for when Narseigus does eventually arrive. Right now we've faced down a couple of his lower level bosses, etc. but each time they come to Highhelm I use agents of the Ash Engineer to create a threat to Highhelm and with some pointers in the right direction from Lady Dux/Clan Tolorr so there's some meat for the transitions and more dwarfiness to the AP overall.

2: I developed a whole bunch of Darklands encounters that flesh out the quest for sky background... monuments, sites that were once great battles, wandering NPCs to tell more of the story (grabbing from the timeline in the start of the adventure) a few microdungeons along the way too. If this is the darklands AP we should experience darklands.

3: I'm still considering what needs to be done to make book three more connective... especially foreshadowing for the last chapter of book three.

Yeah, I'm doing some of all of that. N is going to be at the big party at the end of Book 1, and he'll show up in person in Book 2 as well.

[SatiricalBard]

lemuelmassa wrote:

2: I developed a whole bunch of Darklands encounters that flesh out the quest for sky background... monuments, sites that were once great battles, wandering NPCs to tell more of the story (grabbing from the timeline in the start of the adventure) a few microdungeons along the way too. If this is the darklands AP we should experience darklands.

I’d love to see what you came up with, if you’re willing to share?

[lemuelmassa]

SatiricalBard wrote:

lemuelmassa wrote:

2: I developed a whole bunch of Darklands encounters that flesh out the quest for sky background... monuments, sites that were once great battles, wandering NPCs to tell more of the story (grabbing from the timeline in the start of the adventure) a few microdungeons along the way too. If this is the darklands AP we should experience darklands.

I’d love to see what you came up with, if you’re willing to share?

Yeah so, first of all there's my travel/camping rules...

TRAVEL: I describe some basic elements of the environment they are traveling through and a "mood" and then allow the players to give the LoTR travel scene directors cut description of the scene to earn a Hero Point.

CAMPING: Watches are done in pairs and two players at a time do some social bonding.

Okay... and then 10 days through the darklands:

Day 1:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: excitement of exploring the unknown)... and then they encounter... An injured and starving draft lizard… the saddlebags bear markings of the pathfinder society and it is missing its teeth… it has a name written on a collar “Smaug”
b) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: exploring the unknown but tedious)...
c) CAMP SCENE ... (during one of the watches a wandering harrow deck reader passes the camp and does a reading for their upcoming journey)

Day 2:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: exploring the unknown but maybe being followed?)... and then they encounter...

Orcish runes on the floor (requiring orc language): a riddle.

Through the darkness I always pierce,
A guiding force, both calm and fierce.
In every place, I end the fright,
What am I?

[The answer is light.] This phrase opens the door to a tomb to an orcish community that was killed by the dwarves during the quest for sky tended by an orcish cleric that tells them the story
b) CAMP SCENE

Day 3:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: probably being followed) ... and then they encounter... a bone gnawed with many tiny bite marks
b) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: almost certainly being followed)... and then they encounter... a dead end... the intended road is blocked (search to discover dead toothfaries in the cave in), options: try to dig through, a path into what is obviously a predator hunting ground, or double-back to an earlier fork but possibly running into what is following them...
c) CAMP SCENE ... after both watches in the night, I describe a cut scene where we see a sorceror plotting with fish folk in sillouette, handing them an explosive device

Day 4:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: wary) ... and then they encounter... a snake pit trap
b) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: wary) ... and then they encounter... dretches?
c) CAMP SCENE

Day 5:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: the air seems a little fresher today) ... and then they encounter... the corpse of a dead pathfinder (smaug's owner)... and a toothfairy ambush ...
b) Chase scene after defeating the first wave as clouds more swarm the tunnels
b) CAMP SCENE

Day 6:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: exhaustion) ... and then they encounter... a major crossroads with a giant statue depicting a dark elf... researching reveals that dark elves never dwelt in the darklands and were a simply rumor started by lizardfolk to scare away uplanders
b) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: feeling of progress... a cavern of something wonderous) ... and then they encounter... a talking spider who speaks in riddles and fills in any lore gaps they failed to get from day 1-5
c) CAMP SCENE

Day 7:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: growing resolve) ... and then they encounter... a venedaemon lair with cacodaemon mooks ... discover a book in the collection about quest for sky from non-dwarf perspective
b) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: gradual increasing temperature) ...
c) CAMP SCENE

Day 8:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: getting hot in here) ... and then they encounter... a magma tube with a flame drake lair ... elements of flame giant settlement now long past including traps made of brass that careful inspection shows have been reset (by the upcoming morlocks) ... flame drake loot pile is obvious but will the party try? ...
b) CAMP SCENE sometime later

Day 9:
a) TRAVEL SCENE (mood: getting hot in here) ... and then they encounter... the morlock chase scene given in the AP...
b) First view of the endless gulf
c) CAMP SCENE

Day 10: traveling around the edge of the gulf and encountering the redcaps as told in the AP