Freeport or Shackled City

[SoulsFury]

I have several of the Freeport modules, plus the main book and I also have some of the Dungeon issues with Shackled City and I really like both of them. I want to run one of these two as my next campaign. Which would you use and why? Both of them will be dropped into a homebrew campaign setting.

Nik

 

[JoeGKushner]

Being an island, Freeport might be easier to use initially. It does have it's own wackiness though ranging from the cannons used to defend the city to the gunpowder weapons sold in it's streets. Excellent support and the original trilogy of modules were just released and updated to 3.5 with extra material added and I hear the hardcover will get a revision soon as well.

Shackled City though, is currently what I'm running and it's what I'd recommend if you're looking for something to last a whole campaign.

 

[Blackthorne]

Freeport is pretty cool, but the Shackled City Hardcover is too good for words.

 

[GVDammerung]

IMO, Freeport. Hands down. The flavor in the main book is amazing and the city of Freeport has a high reuse quotient that Cauldron (Shackled City does not). The difference, IMO, is that Cauldron was designed to host a series of adventures rather than be the base for a longer running campaign. Freeport (the main book) was designed as a campaign first with the adventures simply making good use of that base. Freeport is the more flexible and has more potential, IMO.

 

[SoulsFury]

Being an island, Freeport might be easier to use initially. It does have it's own wackiness though ranging from the cannons used to defend the city to the gunpowder weapons sold in it's streets. Excellent support and the original trilogy of modules were just released and updated to 3.5 with extra material added and I hear the hardcover will get a revision soon as well.

Shackled City though, is currently what I'm running and it's what I'd recommend if you're looking for something to last a whole campaign.

The cannons and such will be removed from Freeport and Shackled City will be toned down a little bit. It seems a little magic heavy.

As for the whole campaign thing, Freeport can easily do that. Death, Terror and Madness should take the characters to 5th-6th level. Black Sails over Freeport should take them from there to around 10th or maybe higher. Then they could do Hell in Freeport, which pretty much will put them around 12th lvl. Of course Shackled City would take characters from 1st to 20th level.

Anyone ran both?

Nik

 

[GlassJaw]

Overall, they are fairly different products/campaign styles. Shackled City, while excellent, is pretty much standard fare D&D. The campaign also has a significant amount of dungeon crawling. I ran the first 3 modules (before my group lost some people) and while they are very good, I was starting to get a little burned out on it. Some of the dungeons are just too big for my tastes.

Freeport, on the other hand, is a gritty and dirty place. And while not determined by the rules, it definitely has a lower-power/magic feel than standard D&D (which I like). As you look through some of the Freeport supplements, you'll notice that there aren't a lot of very high-level NPC's and the magic items in the modules are fewer in number than average (and significantly less than in SC). The Freeport products are excellent. I love the dirty and grimy feel of the city.

So I think it really depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for some good old-fashioned "kill the monsters and take their stuff" and some dungeon-crawling, then SC is for you. If you're looking for a campaign in a dirty and nasty place, then go with Freeport.

If I had to choose right now, I'd go with Freeport. There's a lot more material available for it and that style of game appeals to me more right now.

 

[Numion]

IMO, Freeport. Hands down. The flavor in the main book is amazing and the city of Freeport has a high reuse quotient that Cauldron (Shackled City does not). The difference, IMO, is that Cauldron was designed to host a series of adventures rather than be the base for a longer running campaign.

Umm .. you might not know, but Shackled City is a long running campaign. 1-20 levels. Do you have a need for a longer campaign?

 

[GVDammerung]

Umm .. you might not know, but Shackled City is a long running campaign. 1-20 levels. Do you have a need for a longer campaign?

Allow me to explain.

Freeport supports your adventures. The ones where you use your imagination and design the adventures. It is designed to do so. It also has scripted options but the city in the main book stands on its own.

Cauldron is designed primarily to be the backdrop for the scripted/canned adventures. It is not designed primarily to support adventures you create.

Big difference.

Once you finish the "adventure path," Cauldron has much less to offer for a continuing campaign that Freeport. Freeport can keep going much more easily than Cauldron.

::casts dispell confusion::

 

[SoulsFury]

Allow me to explain.

Freeport supports your adventures. The ones where you use your imagination and design the adventures. It is designed to do so. It also has scripted options but the city in the main book stands on its own.

Cauldron is designed primarily to be the backdrop for the scripted/canned adventures. It is not designed primarily to support adventures you create.

Big difference.

Once you finish the "adventure path," Cauldron has much less to offer for a continuing campaign that Freeport. Freeport can keep going much more easily than Cauldron.

::casts dispell confusion::

My campaigns normally end around 20th lvl, no real epic level campaigns. Shackled City would take me where I needed it too. Using Freeport would force me to create, which I'm not great at, or have the players leave Freeport, or have the campaign end around 13th level (unless of course there is material out there for higher level Freeport adventures).

Nik

 

[GVDammerung]

My campaigns normally end around 20th lvl, no real epic level campaigns. Shackled City would take me where I needed it too. Using Freeport would force me to create, which I'm not great at, or have the players leave Freeport, or have the campaign end around 13th level (unless of course there is material out there for higher level Freeport adventures).

Nik

Hi,

I was not referring so much to the march to 20th level as I was a campaign in which leveling is merely the result of the adventures, not a specific "path" that will be followed to reach a particular level.

IMO:

Adventure Path = Rise to a level as among most significant features

Campaign = Story dominant with level increases, whatever they may be, incidental

I do not believe an adventure path is a campaign in the truest sense of the word. A campaign is, IMO, more about a continuing story without a forced leveling component. The adventure path presents a story but it includes leveling as a necessary component. To me this is more of a video game mentality where gaining levels is everything.

For those who do not desire or prefer not to design their own adventures, the adventure path could be the best "campaign" option for them. All things being equal, however, if the DM has time or the inclination to design their own adventures, an adventure path then pales by a significant degree, IMO. Its a matter of what you want.

Freeport (the main book) supports a campaign by providing much more in the way of background in which to ground adventures and characters than Cauldron. Cauldron exists as a backdrop for the adventure path adventures.

Background (Freeport) versus backdrop (Cauldron).

Cauldron's only advantage over Freeport IMO is that is comes with adventures designed to jump the PCs levels. I play for story, not to level. As Cauldron supports leveling more than story, being chiefly limited to the scripted adventures, I prefer Freeport, where you can run scripted adventures by Green Ronin or you can as easily run your own adventures. Running your own adventures in Cauldron is not well supported by Shackled City when compared to Freeport.