D&D 5E Enhancing "Princes of the Apocalypse" (Practical stuff to try at your table!)
Gnome Stew has an interesting article with four "campaign frames" for this adventure:
http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/troys-crock-pot-campaign-frames-for-princes-of-the-apocalypse/
Each frame slants the adventure toward a particular genre. The downloadable PDF (link in the article above) offers the following ideas:
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[Mention=54629]Pukunui,[/mention] I wish I could help you, but I don't have PotA yet.
http://www.gnomestew.com/gming-advice/troys-crock-pot-campaign-frames-for-princes-of-the-apocalypse/
Each frame slants the adventure toward a particular genre. The downloadable PDF (link in the article above) offers the following ideas:
- Airship Defenders of the Realm
- Towering Watertown Inferno
- Quest of the Gauntleted Knights
- Blackened Staff Boarding School for Aspiring Wizards and the Chalice of Fire
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[Mention=54629]Pukunui,[/mention] I wish I could help you, but I don't have PotA yet.
Daern
Explorer
Regarding the weak "delegation" hook, what if the campaign starts with the Chars traveling to Red Larch to meet a seneschal who bears the Seal of Nobility that bequeaths Riverguard Keep to one of the characters. That way they have a claim on the Keep, they need to find the seneschal to prove their claim, they might even have a reason to try to get help from Featherfale Spire and then they find all this other stuff while they are at it... so the end game isn't saving the world, but actually taking over the Valley.
pukunui
Legend
[MENTION=6702445]jayoungr[/MENTION]: That's all right. When the PCs returned from their initial foray to Lance Rock, I had a tremor shake the town while everyone was in the Helm having dinner. The town elders insisted everyone remain calm and then dashed outside and headed for Waelvur's (with the intention of going to the tomb to ask Larrakh what was going on). The PCs were immediately suspicious and followed, so the elders didn't make it any further than the wagonworks. Elak Dornen told the PCs in no uncertain terms that they weren't wanted and that, for the greater good, the PCs let the elders do their jobs undisturbed.
The PCs backed out when Waelvur's wainwrights brandished their tools menacingly and decided to go have a snoop around Dornen's quarry and office. They found nothing out of the ordinary, of course. Then they remembered about the other quarry and went and knocked on Mellikho's door. I had Albaeri growl at them for disturbing her after hours and asked them to come back in the morning ... but instead, she found them and told them about the rumored treasure in Tricklerock Cave. Despite the players smelling a trap, they sent their PCs off to the cave anyway ... and, of course, there was nothing there but some stirges (and a hungry ghoul that was all that remained of the previous adventuring party to have gone into the cave).
I think that's set things up enough. So I'm going to make it so there's another tremor followed by the sinkhole opening up just as the PCs are returning to town.
By the way, speaking of the sinkhole ... I superimposed the Tomb of Moving Stones and Red Larch maps in Photoshop. Putting them at the same scale, I found that by rotating the tomb map nearly 180 degrees, I could get the secret passage from the tomb to lead to the quarry, while the secret passage from the cave led to Waelvur's ... and that put the sinkhole in the middle of the intersection in the upper right corner of the town where the Larch Path starts.
If you try to use the two maps as drawn up, you end up with the passage from the cave leading to the quarry and the secret passage from the tomb leading to Waelvur's (the opposite of what the adventure says), and the sinkhole ends up being in the open land to the west of town.
The PCs backed out when Waelvur's wainwrights brandished their tools menacingly and decided to go have a snoop around Dornen's quarry and office. They found nothing out of the ordinary, of course. Then they remembered about the other quarry and went and knocked on Mellikho's door. I had Albaeri growl at them for disturbing her after hours and asked them to come back in the morning ... but instead, she found them and told them about the rumored treasure in Tricklerock Cave. Despite the players smelling a trap, they sent their PCs off to the cave anyway ... and, of course, there was nothing there but some stirges (and a hungry ghoul that was all that remained of the previous adventuring party to have gone into the cave).
I think that's set things up enough. So I'm going to make it so there's another tremor followed by the sinkhole opening up just as the PCs are returning to town.
By the way, speaking of the sinkhole ... I superimposed the Tomb of Moving Stones and Red Larch maps in Photoshop. Putting them at the same scale, I found that by rotating the tomb map nearly 180 degrees, I could get the secret passage from the tomb to lead to the quarry, while the secret passage from the cave led to Waelvur's ... and that put the sinkhole in the middle of the intersection in the upper right corner of the town where the Larch Path starts.
If you try to use the two maps as drawn up, you end up with the passage from the cave leading to the quarry and the secret passage from the tomb leading to Waelvur's (the opposite of what the adventure says), and the sinkhole ends up being in the open land to the west of town.
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Bump to see if anyone has more thoughts on this!
Meanwhile, some links to other threads discussing the module:
Mike Schley's Princes of the Apocalypse Maps (includes link for purchase)
Problems with Princes of the Apocalypse (an errata of sorts)
Map Discrepancies
Troubleshooting Princes of the Apocalypse
Prepping for Princes
Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps (Nebulous)
Elemental Symbols Connect Together?
Meanwhile, some links to other threads discussing the module:
Mike Schley's Princes of the Apocalypse Maps (includes link for purchase)
Problems with Princes of the Apocalypse (an errata of sorts)
Map Discrepancies
Troubleshooting Princes of the Apocalypse
Prepping for Princes
Princes of the Apocalypse campaign recaps (Nebulous)
Elemental Symbols Connect Together?
Welp, it's official: I'll be running Princes of the Apocalypse when our group finishes Tyranny of Dragons. Please, post your advice here about how to make this adventure maximum exciting!
The main thing I hear about this adventure is that it's one gigantic dungeon crawl, which is either a strength or a weakness depending on the group. Now, my group is pretty good at making up inter-party story to tide them along in the roleplaying department, but anything I can do to add to that will be appreciated (by all of us).
The main thing I hear about this adventure is that it's one gigantic dungeon crawl, which is either a strength or a weakness depending on the group. Now, my group is pretty good at making up inter-party story to tide them along in the roleplaying department, but anything I can do to add to that will be appreciated (by all of us).
leonardoraele
First Post
I recommed this guide: http://thecampaign20xx.blogspot.com.br/2015/04/elemental-evil-guide-to-princes-of.html?m=1
Really really useful.
Also, here are Sly Flourish's tips to run PotA linearly: http://slyflourish.com/tying_the_threads_of_princes.html
Really really useful.
Also, here are Sly Flourish's tips to run PotA linearly: http://slyflourish.com/tying_the_threads_of_princes.html
Just had a thought that this might be a fun one to reset in Ravnica substituting 4 guilds for the 4 groups of cultists, perhaps an unholy alliance of The Gruul Clans (Earth), The Cult of Rakdos (Fire), The Izzet League (Air), and The Simic Combine (Water)?
Given that civilization has taken over the entire planet, perhaps there's some crazy people who want to do a reset in an apocalyptic manner?
Given that civilization has taken over the entire planet, perhaps there's some crazy people who want to do a reset in an apocalyptic manner?
Rhenny
Adventurer
I’m about 1/2 through but we’ve paused for a while. Since a lot of the adventure is dungeon, be sure to get into npc development. Before each session, I would review npcs that the party might meet and I’d list their motivation and personality trait so I could interact more fully with pcs. There are a lot of cultists and associates that can have more personality than wat the adventure offers.
Here are the narratives from our adventures: http://http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?469708-Rhenny-s-Princes-of-the-Apocalypse-Campaign-Logs
Here are the narratives from our adventures: http://http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?469708-Rhenny-s-Princes-of-the-Apocalypse-Campaign-Logs
