The lumber camp and everything else in chapter 4 is obviously supposed to happen at the end of the summer.
However, the lumber camp can definitely be encountered by chance in hexploration, and additionally, my players are *increadibly* invested in Ugly Cute and want to find him ASAP. Even if I won't have him tell them about the lumber camp, he has to tell them about the Noppera-Bo, which increases the chance they'll actively look for their base.
What would you suggest I do/ what did you do to prevent the PCs from doing chapter 4 before chapter 3 is close to done?
idk if there is anything you can or maybe should do to stop them from going there early. this part of the adventure is very sandbox-y and somehow restricting the party from doing something will be difficult to justify.
so, chapter 4 might just happen early and that's not such a big deal.
you can stretch out the research for the wall of ghosts instead.
two ways come to mind:
- if nobody in the party speaks the two languages that are needed to translate zoudou's notes, that will be a roadblock going forward! perhaps the party needs to ask shinzo to bring them a dictionary, and he'll conveniently only find one by the end of summer.
- or simply stretch out the research. either up the number of points that are needed (and can be gained with each method) or make every method take 2-3 weeks instead of just 1?
other things come to mind: making a side quest more important and take more time. perhaps the old village expansion actually takes a month to complete, or the new governor thing evolves into a political drama that involves the party as the two factions try to win them to their side. (if your party likes political drama)
just some ideas, do whatever you prefer ^^
in my own game, i had a very similar thing happen, funny enough! the party cleared the lumber camp in week 3 of summer and are now already doing research on the wall of ghosts. it's week 6 of summer and they already have 4 research points! xD
personally i don't mind that accelerated pace. if i feel it's going too fast, then i'll hit the breaks later. either by adding a time-skip when they return from the monastery (a month or two pass while the party only experiences a few days) or getting to the governor's place will take way longer or the transmigrate ritual takes longer. (or i'll think of smth else, involving backstory and town drama)
but i'm not too worried about it and if the pace keeps up, some of the people that are aware of the time loop will be impressed by the party's progress and will comment on it, when it's their time to reveal their truths (like zhi hui or shinzo).
It's not a problem.
My group too dealt with the lumber camp early, it went well. They then finished the research and took care of the monastery before summer was over.
They may be slightly under leveled and under equipped, but it's not so bad that skilled players can't handle it.
My players pulled it off and in the end they got a little extra time with which to prepare for winter.
No matter how early they finish the monastery in book 2, they'll still be stumped and busy preparing until start of book 3.
My consideration then, instead of how to stop them, would be how to hint to the players that they need not rush it so bad. But I'll always let them.
I removed a couple of the hints that pointed towards the Lumber Camp (notably Ugly Cute's info) and replaced it with something pointing to a vague evil along the Pilgrim's Path (the Wall of Ghosts). So the party followed the Pilgrim's Path until they hit the Wall of Ghosts, which they investigated; I then created a month of downtime (while the party was working on other chapter 3 side-quests) while Elizeth orchestrated the construction of a shrine to Pharasma near the wall in the hopes that a consecrate ritual would help free of souls within the wall and dissipate it. The ritual, of course, didn't work, instead resulting in a combat encounter for the PCs.
This approach worked well for my group to give them a sense that the problems facing the town are being worked on (during that shrine-construction time) while they were off on some of the smaller side-quests, and didn't point them to the lumber camp until the abductions happened in the third month of summer.
Every group will vary though; and even with the approach I outlined above, it certainly would have been possible for the party to stumble onto the lumber camp just as a matter of exploring the area.
The biggest thing, I think, to consider for the lumber camp is less about the timing and more about "If the PCs stumble upon it before the abductions happen, then how are the captured villagers and the ritual sacrifice handled"
Creative Director
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Part of the sandbox nature of these adventures is that the order in which things play out CAN be adjusted by player decisions to a large extent. The challenges remain the same, so a group who does things out of the expected order will face tougher fights and dangers, though, so if this happens... as with all sandbox type play... you as the GM should make sure to both drop hints that where the PCs are heading might be extra dangerous and also be gracious in allowing parties to retreat, regroup, refocus for a time on other projects, and then try again when they're leveled up.