D&D 5E Enhancing "Candlekeep Mysteries"

[Demetrios1453]

Currently running Lore of Lurue, have made the following changes:
(major spoilers)

Spoiler

Start: The party found the book wrapped in oilskin in one of the shipwrecks off Solstice. It's a completely optional sidequest.

Structure: This adventure is very much a railroad. Rather than change it, I'm lampshading it. The book is the magical equivalent of a holonovel. Moving through the story linearly is a limitation of the magic.

Death and time: This adventure suggests players are kicked out on zero hp. Since i don't want this happening too often I changed this so they are only booted if they actually die (death is impossible, nothing is real in this adventure). The suggestion that a character can take a long rest then jump back in for the next encounter implies time travels more slowly, roughly 8 hours outside for each hour inside. I decided to reverse this, so if a character gets booted and takes a long rest the will miss the rest of the adventure.

Difficulty: for a level 8 adventure the difficulty level is set a bit low. Especially the random encounters, which are barely trivial. I decided that since I am playing online I would skip most of them, and just run the least easy - the wereboars, increasing the number to three. I also added an extra ettercap and gave the hag full coven spells.

Art: for use online I colorized the Hag's Hovel map. I may use a different map entirely for the final encounter if I can find a better one.

Reward: I swapped the Ring of Shooting Stars for an Amulet of the Devout +1 (Tasha's).

Final thoughts: I didn't use this idea, but one thing this book could be used for is as a hiding place for a treasure. It could even be one of the other books, such as ZZT. Since where better to hide a book than inside another book? Alternatively, it could be the party who has something they need to hide.

Query: how do you pronounce Lurue?

To comment on your "Structure" section, yes, that's it exactly. In fact it should probably be made clear to the players that is what is going on if they are confused by the insistent railroading.

And I've always said "Lur-oo". I'll drag out my copy of Powers and Pantheons later to confirm the official pronunciation if no one else does...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

To comment on your "Structure" section, yes, that's it exactly. In fact it should probably be made clear to the players that is what is going on if they are confused by the insistent railroading.

And I've always said "Lur-oo". I'll drag out my copy of Powers and Pantheons later to confirm the official pronunciation if no one else does...

It's kind of obvious, but it doesn't actually say it in the text: players can't catch lycanthropy from this book!

 

[jasper]

I am using Don Meepo Mayor of Sunless Citadel as their patron. He is paying their fee. Some of the adventures will help the Don.

 

[Gradine]

So Book of the Raven is really neat and atmospheric with cool NPCs to meet but... what is actually the point of it? Everything seems to point to the PCs trying to get through the Shadow Crossing but... why? What are the clues that it even exists? I feel like I'm at a loss on how to actually run this

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So Book of the Raven is really neat and atmospheric with cool NPCs to meet but... what is actually the point of it? Everything seems to point to the PCs trying to get through the Shadow Crossing but... why? What are the clues that it even exists? I feel like I'm at a loss on how to actually run this

I think we have already discussed this one. It's obviously most useful to drop into a campaign when a visit to the Shadowfell is required. Otherwise, well, it starts with a treasure map, so it's a treasure hunt. And the treasure is in the Shadowfell. I would be inclined to change the treasure though, if you don't want players turning up to your next game wearing T-shirts that say "I went to the Shadowfell and all I got was this lousy magic saddle".

 

[Selkmanam]

Im using this book as an Acquisitions Incorporated campaign to complement the Orrey of the Wanderer adventure in the Acq Inc book.

 

[Michael LaPointe]

I plan on running it for one of my regular groups. I am taking the easiest route for me (the DM), I am saying that each of them is an Avowed and they are on a special team that investigates "problem books".

Whenever someone has an issue at the library, they contact the Keeper and she (I chose her as a female bronze Dragonborn), and she in turn contacts the team. I have not named the team, I will let the players do that. It is the team's job to get to the bottom of each of the books "problems". We plan to start in about a month.