Questions About Shackled City Series - Spoilers

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

Hey all:

I'm getting ready to run my new group (yay!) through the adventure path mods. I've read through "Life's Bazaar" and it strikes me that this could be a very tough 1st level mod unless the PC's employ hit and run tactics. There are an awful lot of 2EL and up encounters and precious few 1EL. I'm planning to leave the automatons as is and not update them to 3.5E (not give them the extra hit points). I've also thought about replacing the dark ones with goblins and a hobgoblin leader.

I'm setting the series in "The North" in the Realms and was considering placing Cauldron in one of the mountain areas near Everlund or Sundabar. I've skimmed the other mods but haven't studied them in detail. Will this placement work? It looks like most of the action takes place right in town, so is there a need for a city of a particular size to be in the vicinity?

Please share your experiences!

 

[Munin]

I'm about halfway through Life's Bazaar with my group, and they haven't been seriously challenged yet. They mopped up the skulks and creepers/stalker without batting an eye. And there is only three of them!
To be fair, they were on a hot streak with the rolls, and I could have played the skulks a little more slyly (by that, I mean cowardly), but given that they still had an easy time of it.
Granted, once they encounter the hobgoblins I think the tables will turn, but so far it's been straight butter for them.

My advice is don't cut them any slack, the encounters don't get any easier as the Path continues and you need to toughen them up early or they will pay the piper later on.



ps. If I could change one thing it would be the way I played the skulks. You can really give 'em hell if you play them right. They are sneaky, cowardly little turds, and that's how they should be played. Hit 'n run tactics will work the best. Have them set up an ambush, get a surprise round (if the players fail their spot checks) and then use their innate 'hide while running' ability to move deeper into the dungeon to set up another ambush. And if the party attempts an organized retreat, well, the skulks will smell the fear then...

 

[scourger]

crank up the power levels

I just finished running Life's Bazaar for my group of 4 players. Each had 2 characters. Some were jedi, judges (Dredd), mutants (Omega World) and even an aasimar paladin (with no ECL--I just wanted some one to play a good guy!). Anyway, the death toll is 9 PCs, and there was nearly a TPK in the confrontation with Kazmojen. All this despite the presence of lightsabers & lawgivers. In fact, I think they would have done much worse if they had not had the guns. The only 2 PCs left from the original 8 are the 2 judges, I think. Even jedi have fallen, lightsabers notwithstanding. Each of my players has been gaming for about 25 years, too, as I have. I didn't change a thing, but the foes were played as well as I could play them. Some ambushed the PCs, some bargained, and some fled (with treasure as any intelligent foe would). Many fought madly. A couple just died off on their own.

Bottom line: it's a tough dungeon; especially if the foes are played with their natural intelligence or cunning. I don't know how a party of 1st level D&D characters could survive it. They need plenty of chances to regroup & heal. It would probably take several forays into Jzadirune to get them to 2nd level so they might have a hope in the Malchite Fortress.

That said, my players loved it. When a PC dies, they immediately roll another (I'm using 5d6 in order to make it more powerful but less cherry-picking of stats). I take that as a very good sign. Plus, they want to go to the next adventure ASAP. So, you can have a lot of fun with it.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Having run Lifes Bazaar, it is not really that much of a challenge except for the chain golem and the fight at the end with kazmojen himself. Mainly because in any other fight, a PC is unlikely to die during the fight, and each fight is (more-or-less) insulated from the others.

However both kazmojen and the chain golem are very resilient and cause a lot of damage when they attack a PC. Sufficiently so that I had kazmojen use his claws instead of his urgrosh to avoid a TPK. Even then the party were playing yoyos with him (ie - they're up one round, he hits them, they're down next round, the cleric heals them, they're up again, they're down again etc).