Jeff Wilder
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Mispost ... nothing to see here!
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It's been a little while since I read that module, but:
Watch the recent movie "Zodiac", and take note of how the killer taunts people in the newspapers. I think the slow buildup of foreboding, the feeling of paranoia, the claustrophobic, inhospitable nature of the blizzard, and just how things are dragged out should be played up, rather than the rush from place to place. Were I running it, I would actually have an adventure going on in between the parts of "Quoth the Raven"; have it in the background at first. Like the PCs are directed at the Inquirer before the adventure begins, but they don't even take notice until half way through the more pressing adventure, at which point they have to back-track.
The deathtraps. God. They were cruelly unfair, imho. At least the pipe organ one. I felt the clue was so obscure, it'd take a music major player to catch. However, since you have a Bard, who has a perform skill, then your players have a means of catching it. Just make sure that the bard gets a good roll to realize "Hey, that's a music thing". Otherwise I think putting 2 and 2 together is hard. Also, tell the PCs they can attack the machinary in the 3rd trap.
More on deathtraps: What you might do is reduce the overall harshness of the traps, and instead try and force the PCs to split up. So two go this way, two go that way, the rest go to the third. Run each group 1 round at a time, so you can switch between them in a cinematic sort of manner.
Clues. The clues are intentionally spare so that the Pcs have to milk stuff out of Viktor. But if the PCs fail the skill challenge (which is what it is) with Viktor, they're buggered. So drop better hints about the adventure.
Chimes of Midnight Badguys. If Viktor's henchmen died in Chimes, I honestly think they shouldn't be brought back. Use some villain in an earlier adventure that got away, so it feels more personal to the PCs. If more than Vrenn and Mange got away, incorporate them into the story; the Raven having hung a thick, alchemical-soaked sack over the Rasper's head, or pierced the hobgoblin with a hundred piercing needles, etc etc. This is Viktor's "loose ends" being cleaned up.
Forsehadow the cop that busts them at Hell's Heart. He shouldn't just come out of no-where; have him walk up to the PCs as they're on the trail, maybe hassle them.
Handouts: Make handouts of the Raven's letters.
Put something in the Archives downstairs. That was left blank due to word constraints. I think a cat and mouse chase/dash between the stacks (and stacks falling over) with some sort of predator would be very cool. Especially something that can leap up on the stacks. Alternatively, something to talk to; there aren't that many RP opportunities after Viktor. So an intelligent monster might be useful.
Inspirational Movies, just to observe: Se7en, Saw. The former for the general feel of the murders, but the second for the death traps. They feel frantic and gory, and no matter what you do you feel screwed.
In addition, if you plan on using Hell's Heart (Free adventure from WotC's site), be sure to describe the asylum for proper foreshadowing.
Oh! Before you run the PCs through the meat locker with Slimy Doom meat, serve hamburgers or steaks or something.
Watch the recent movie "Zodiac", and take note of how the killer taunts people in the newspapers. I think the slow buildup of foreboding, the feeling of paranoia, the claustrophobic, inhospitable nature of the blizzard, and just how things are dragged out should be played up, rather than the rush from place to place. Were I running it, I would actually have an adventure going on in between the parts of "Quoth the Raven"; have it in the background at first. Like the PCs are directed at the Inquirer before the adventure begins, but they don't even take notice until half way through the more pressing adventure, at which point they have to back-track.
The deathtraps. God. They were cruelly unfair, imho. At least the pipe organ one. I felt the clue was so obscure, it'd take a music major player to catch. However, since you have a Bard, who has a perform skill, then your players have a means of catching it. Just make sure that the bard gets a good roll to realize "Hey, that's a music thing". Otherwise I think putting 2 and 2 together is hard. Also, tell the PCs they can attack the machinary in the 3rd trap.
More on deathtraps: What you might do is reduce the overall harshness of the traps, and instead try and force the PCs to split up. So two go this way, two go that way, the rest go to the third. Run each group 1 round at a time, so you can switch between them in a cinematic sort of manner.
Clues. The clues are intentionally spare so that the Pcs have to milk stuff out of Viktor. But if the PCs fail the skill challenge (which is what it is) with Viktor, they're buggered. So drop better hints about the adventure.
Chimes of Midnight Badguys. If Viktor's henchmen died in Chimes, I honestly think they shouldn't be brought back. Use some villain in an earlier adventure that got away, so it feels more personal to the PCs. If more than Vrenn and Mange got away, incorporate them into the story; the Raven having hung a thick, alchemical-soaked sack over the Rasper's head, or pierced the hobgoblin with a hundred piercing needles, etc etc. This is Viktor's "loose ends" being cleaned up.
Forsehadow the cop that busts them at Hell's Heart. He shouldn't just come out of no-where; have him walk up to the PCs as they're on the trail, maybe hassle them.
Handouts: Make handouts of the Raven's letters.
Put something in the Archives downstairs. That was left blank due to word constraints. I think a cat and mouse chase/dash between the stacks (and stacks falling over) with some sort of predator would be very cool. Especially something that can leap up on the stacks. Alternatively, something to talk to; there aren't that many RP opportunities after Viktor. So an intelligent monster might be useful.
Inspirational Movies, just to observe: Se7en, Saw. The former for the general feel of the murders, but the second for the death traps. They feel frantic and gory, and no matter what you do you feel screwed.
In addition, if you plan on using Hell's Heart (Free adventure from WotC's site), be sure to describe the asylum for proper foreshadowing.
Oh! Before you run the PCs through the meat locker with Slimy Doom meat, serve hamburgers or steaks or something.
Jeff Wilder
First Post
That's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Thanks!
(Note that I misposted to the 4E forum, so I'm moving my post to General.)
(Note that I misposted to the 4E forum, so I'm moving my post to General.)
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