D&D 5E (2014) Prepping for Princes

[Rhenny]

So - has anyone taken either the Necromancer scenario at Lance Rock or the Tomb of Moving Stones and integrated them with 3rd level characters? I have a batch of new characters coming from Phandalin, unrelated to any PCs that played through LMoP, and I guess we could start with all the clues leading to the missing delegation in Red Larch, or I might use the aforementioned scenarios because I actually like both of them.

Are there any advantages or disadvantages to me doing this, or am I just delaying what is already going to be a very long slog against the cultists eventually?

For what it's worth, i don't see myself running this thing all the way through to 15th level. At our rate of play that's going to take over a year to get there.

If they are starting at 3rd level, I'd probably just skip those events. If you want to break up the monotony of the cultist hunt, you could even modify those two parts using higher level threats and use them as side-treks later into the campaign. The sink hole opening in the town is an event that could happen any time, and if children are missing, I'm sure PCs would want to go down and help out. For the Necromancer's cave, add some ghouls, or even wights and make the necromancer more advanced, and then you have another side trek from later in the campaign.

 

[Gilladian]

I'm working on modifying PotA for my campaign world, which means significant geographical reformatting. I'm not quite sure I've put things where they should be, but I've done the best I can as far as I've read into the adventures, which isn't really that far. Anyway, I'm bringing my PCs from Phandelin in, and they'll be around 5th level by the time they arrive in Red Larch (they finished Wave Echo Mines at 4th level, and have gone on a lengthy side-trek since then). For whatever reason, I always seem to give out less XP than is expected over hte course of module-adventures, so I want to try to keep as many of the side-treks in place as I can, suitably modified for level and "time of occurrence".

Anyway, if anyone wants to see what I've written up so far, here's the specific wiki page: http://vishteercampaign.pbworks.com/w/page/94982912/Romant County

 

[Nebulous]

If they are starting at 3rd level, I'd probably just skip those events. If you want to break up the monotony of the cultist hunt, you could even modify those two parts using higher level threats and use them as side-treks later into the campaign. The sink hole opening in the town is an event that could happen any time, and if children are missing, I'm sure PCs would want to go down and help out. For the Necromancer's cave, add some ghouls, or even wights and make the necromancer more advanced, and then you have another side trek from later in the campaign.

Thanks for the advice. I think that i've decided that i WILL use the Moving Stones scenario as a segue into the cult activity, using an Emerald Enclave faction contact for

A) the Tomb and the Believers and the Black Earth

and Order of the Gauntlet contact for

B) the missing delegation

There's just so much going on in the town, and the text is rather dense with details, albeit easy to read, but it's just a ton of stuff.

I'm still not very clear on the purpose of the missing delegation, their members, how large the group was or why and how everyone seems to know about them. I did read a lot of little plot hooks like a knight needed to be buried from Icewind Dale (i like that one) and something about some seeds going to a grove or field?

One thing i'm trying to avoid is the same premise of LMoP...missing "good guys" (Gundren and Sildar)...now go find them.

 

[Gilladian]

Question: I've been converting Red Larch (starting to rename residents, etc...) and I can't find a concrete listing for the population of Red Larch. Anyone have a number? If not, would 2,000 be too big? Too small? I'd prefer it stay a small community, not too much larger than the neighboring villages. I'm also thinking that Beliard would have a population of about 900, and Westbridge about 300. Sound good?

 

[S_Dalsgaard]

Question: I've been converting Red Larch (starting to rename residents, etc...) and I can't find a concrete listing for the population of Red Larch. Anyone have a number? If not, would 2,000 be too big? Too small? I'd prefer it stay a small community, not too much larger than the neighboring villages. I'm also thinking that Beliard would have a population of about 900, and Westbridge about 300. Sound good?

According to Volo's Guide to the North Red Larch has around 600 inhabitants. Westbridge has around 450 (same source). I don't know of any numbers for Beliard.

 

[MerricB]

Red Larch had a population of around 600 in 2E, but it looks to have grown - about 2,000 seems about right to me.

 

[Nebulous]

The recent thread about prep work got me thinking about what i've been doing for Princes. I currently have 5 pages of hand written notes. I have spent a few hours reading over the book. I have printed and arranged multiple regional maps. I have complied a portfolio of NPC pictures to be pulled from as needed and jot a name beneath them as handouts. This has all taken a considerable amount of time, but there's no way all of this is going to come into game the first 2 hours we play (2 hours is our usual time limit). But the prep work pays forward, no doubt. But it also makes it hard for to calculate how much X = Y. I also don't want to plan too far ahead as I really have no idea how the PCs will handle certain situations.

One advantage of having short sessions is that it gives me a whole week to fill in the blanks from where the session leaves off, and it often makes the next game stronger.

I'll give one example from my notes: Haeleeya of the Bathhouse (#15) is an Emerald Enclave contact. I decided on a whim that the sign on the building says in stylized letters "Enter & Enjoy!" (EE). In such a way that the character in that faction immediately knows that this place is tagged as a faction locale. No roll needed, it's just a fact she knows from insider knowledge.

 

[Rhenny]

I definitely over plan when I have time. Sometimes it is hard to determine how much prep time I need as opposed to how much prep time I do just because I like thinking about the campaign. Like you said, forethought always pays later.

 

[Nebulous]

This picture is so amazing. Who drew this one? It makes we wish the EE miniature set had some giant vulture riders, that would have been great

 

[Mercule]

I'm working on modifying PotA for my campaign world, which means significant geographical reformatting.

Yeah. I'm moving it to Eberron, which is interesting. For location I'm using (along the Wyr river), I'm pretty much just flipping east and west on the map and renaming the towns.

Speaking of names, that's the one thing that's driving me nuts about this module. It looks like the author(s) grabbed a bunch of Boggle dice for the NPC names. My players have given me grief for elven and hobgoblin names, but I'm having a hard time with the human names in this one.

Anyway, if anyone wants to see what I've written up so far, here's the specific wiki page: http://vishteercampaign.pbworks.com/w/page/94982912/Romant County

Thanks. Will check it out.