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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MrMyth" data-source="post: 4537495" data-attributes="member: 61155">First off, I have to agree with your advice on Thunderspire, which I played in, and was rather disappointing - we felt very little connection to the Hall, and to the final bad guy, which meant there was very little investment in the adventure at all.  Anyway, I just ran my first session of Pyramid of Shadows, so here are some of my thoughts on it.  Pyramid Spoilers ahead! [sblock]I didn't make too many initial changes, but I did make one that worked out well - I had the Library door 'sealed off' by plants and vines, which they could figure out (with the help of Vyrellis) was the work of the Arboreans who seemed to be to the South. I mainly did this since the Library has both a lot of knowledge (as I've written up descriptions of various 'novels' that are about the lives of some of the more powerful figures within the Pyramid, including the PCs), as well as has the first shard of Karavakos, which I didn't want to simply be a random early fight they stumbled into.  Thus, I put up this barrier, which steered them to the South where the Arboreans were. They debated a bit, since they also found signs the bandit group went off to the east, and one of them has the quest to hunt down the bandits. In the end, they went south, and spent the first session fighting through the Arborean's domain, eventually defeating their Shaman and Plant God.  I imagine they will next deal with the bandits, then explore the now-opened Library, and then probably finish clearing out the first level. The upper levels are a bit more straightforward in the areas, and I can probably use Vyrellis a bit to steer them a bit in any direction I want them to go. As far as general preparation, here are the main things I did:  1) Added some treasure, since it seemed to be surprisingly sparse - from what I could tell, almost lacking a full level of parcels compared to the xp available in the adventure. This also let me really customize some treasures and add some interesting things from the Adventurer's Vault - specifically, I added a number of potions and special spell components to the Hermitage/Lab of Arat Karavakos (the first shard), and to really bulk out the dragon's hoard with elixirs, ice-themed consumable items, and a few other things to make it feel like a true prize.  2) Figured out what to add or subtract from each encounter as group size changed, since the group I was running for could shift from between 4 to 7 PCs from week to week (depending on who is available.) I also figured out where to add extra treasure in the event of extra PCs.  3) I wanted to really invest the players in Karavakos's story. I already had two areas where I could do so (knowledge found in the Library, as well as that told to them by Vyrellis), but wanted a bit of a more personal touch - so I decided that whenever the group took an extended rest, they would have a chance of being visited by strange dreams. I then wrote up a series of 6 or so dreams which follow the tale of Karavakos as his legion of devils conquers the surrounding lands and threatens the Nerath Empire itself, before turning away to invade the Feywild... and suffer its inevitable defeat.  4) Finally, unrelated to any of the other plot going on, I wrote up a Skill Challenge for an event in one of the undead rooms near the end, about redeeming the souls of several undead figures imprisoned in stone statues. I mainly just wanted an excuse for another skill challenge, since the adventure is somewhat light on them, and felt it would make a good change of pace from all the fighting. [/sblock]</blockquote>

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