Changing gears mid-campaign?

[NewJeffCT]

If you're wiling to adjust the encounters, Jade Regent starts off in Sandpoint and is a much more character oriented AP with the PCs escorting Ameiko over the Crown if the World and to Tian.

It is set a few years after Runelords though, four if I remember right and assumes Tsuto is dead and Ameiko is alive.

I saw that one - it looked intriguing. However, I don't think the first module is out until next month, right?

 

[NewJeffCT]

Caveat: I run a pretty sandboxy campaign and haven't read RotR.

But regardless of the adventure, I'd go for "Let the pcs decide" with a healthy dose of #4 here.

thanks - definitely asking for their input, but wanted some ideas first.

 

[NewJeffCT]

Let your players decide. Sprinkle a few hooks to other possibilities in the game along with the one that continues the AP. Your players will pick the one that sounds most interesting to them.

Develop a few notes about what is happening with these other situations and enough material to run a session for them should one of them be chosen. Once you know what the players are interested in, you can devote more time to fleshing out full adventures for that hook.

already dropped a few hints about possible directions, but wanted to judge their enthusiasm level for a change.

I'd XP you, but I must spread it around more first.

 

[Kobold Boots]

I've had the issue with a different path.

I find the best defense against bad modules to be littering non-module NPC interactions that have nothing to do with the module in the module. Put an occasional random caravan or guard dispute in the mix. Maybe a merchant looking for a book. Anything, but don't make it so important in description that it immediately side rails the player group.

The point of these things is to provide you an eject button when you need them and if they don't get used you'll be amazed how easily any of these things can become the next town usurper or lead to the next artifact or ruin.. etc. The illusion of depth is as good as depth itself.

Probably very similar to exploder's idea in actual execution.

 

[Krensky]

I saw that one - it looked intriguing. However, I don't think the first module is out until next month, right?

It should be out now.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I've had the issue with a different path.

I find the best defense against bad modules to be littering non-module NPC interactions that have nothing to do with the module in the module. Put an occasional random caravan or guard dispute in the mix. Maybe a merchant looking for a book. Anything, but don't make it so important in description that it immediately side rails the player group.

The point of these things is to provide you an eject button when you need them and if they don't get used you'll be amazed how easily any of these things can become the next town usurper or lead to the next artifact or ruin.. etc. The illusion of depth is as good as depth itself.

Probably very similar to exploder's idea in actual execution.

Good idea - drop a few more things into the game like that can be helpful.

 

[NewJeffCT]

any other ideas on a mid-level adventure (8-12)?

 

[fireinthedust]

Pondering this all day...


I'm not sure you have to leave RotRL entirely behind. Just hear me out.


I know what you mean, the first two books were great but #3 really killed it for me. Not a bad module, but it missed the target on the flavour of the AP, imho. #4 I browsed, and there's something about a bunch of stone giants. #5 has a lost city. Dandy, but I imagined the Rune giants being way different than how they turned out in Bestiary 2.

However, you got the party all the way through the first two modules, up to 8th level. considering how many groups quit at about 7th, you've covered a lot of ground with these characters. Not only that, you've built up NPC relationships, you've gotten them involved in Sandpoint, you've visited Magnimar I believe.

These are great building blocks for a campaign.

1) what are the key campaign points you've gotten from 1 & 2? What do the PCs think they're supposed to do?

2) What is the culmination of the campaign you imagine? If you could meander any which way, but you had a last page of the book already written, how would you end it?

2.5) In fact, for this campaign, what are the peices of the puzzle you still need to give them? Like, if they had to get five parts of an amulet for the end, and already found 2, you'd need to give them the remaining 3 in order to use the dungeon beyond the door the Amulet opens.

3) What are things the party has built in terms of a home base for themselves? Sandpoint or Magnimar?

4) What kinds of encounters do you want to run? Dungeon crawls? City investigations? Battlefield melees? Exploring ruins? Chases through the wilderness, or over rooftops? NPC interactions/negotiations?

5) What kinds of encounters do your players want to play? (see above)

I would advise taking what you've got already and cobbling together a plot from those pieces.

what do you need to get done, sure, but how do you want to go about doing it?

 

[NewJeffCT]

1) what are the key campaign points you've gotten from 1 & 2? What do the PCs think they're supposed to do?

I'm not entirely sure - they've generally been focused on the action - Tsuto and then Nualia in Burnt Offerings, with Aldern Foxglove and Xanesha in Skinsaw. They've found out some stuff on the Runelords, but have not acted too much on it yet - however, the modules don't really give them too much to act upon - it seems it's more like "for your information"

2) What is the culmination of the campaign you imagine? If you could meander any which way, but you had a last page of the book already written, how would you end it?

2.5) In fact, for this campaign, what are the peices of the puzzle you still need to give them? Like, if they had to get five parts of an amulet for the end, and already found 2, you'd need to give them the remaining 3 in order to use the dungeon beyond the door the Amulet opens.

No clue right now - the last campaign was a bit more clearly defined and it was one of those epic save the world from Armageddon campaigns. However, the last campaign was also not "revealed" until the PCs were level 5 or so, which is like level 7 in 4E.

3) What are things the party has built in terms of a home base for themselves? Sandpoint or Magnimar?

Several of the PCs are from in or around Sandpoint, including the party wizard's father owning a small shop in town and the shaman and fighter both having farms just outside of town.

4) What kinds of encounters do you want to run? Dungeon crawls? City investigations? Battlefield melees? Exploring ruins? Chases through the wilderness, or over rooftops? NPC interactions/negotiations?

5) What kinds of encounters do your players want to play? (see above)

I generally prefer to have encounters in the wilderness rather than in a dungeon, though I don't mind any of the encounter types on your list. My group is kind of built based on the last campaign where most of the encounters were in open spaces (forest, desert, plains, savannah, hillside, mountainside, etc) that gave both sides lots of room to move. However, last campaign, they did have a group diplomat and got involved in a lot of social encounters... this time out, they do not.

Based on how they "built" their characters this time, I think they prefer the more wide-open spaces types of encounters.

Thanks - a lot of good advice.