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Message: <blockquote data-quote="plecostomus" data-source="post: 9599000" data-attributes="member: 7040041">Hey all, I'm back again with more questions. I actually finished reading Infinite Staircase and continued to Vecna: Eve of Ruin.I really want several of the Staircase modules to take place not just in the same world but the same region. Then I could have some NPCs appear multiple times and maybe create a continuity of sorts. If running Infinite Staircase --> Eve of Ruin, I think restricting the infinity of the Staircase might also keep the connected campaign from feeling too jumpy (like nothing the PCs do affects the next adventure).As I sat around brainstorming NPCs and through-lines, I realized this is why so many new DMs jump straight into making their own world, even though prep-wise that seems so much more difficult. So this reading has been very enlightening.Okay here's the actual questions:1. Staircase has a massive amount of monetary/non-functional loot. I went back to the DMG and was hoping there was something like "when the PCs reach this level, the item shop will have XYZ for sale", but there isn't. You have to compare the cost table to the entire loot list. Has anyone made prepackaged item shops by level for 5E?I did see the DMG considers any magic item a bonus, so the magic items and spells given in the modules are sufficient, if the PCs even find them. But I do feel like players would finish a module, come back to Nafas's palace, and want to unload all that loot in some fashion.Other stuff to spend on money on:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">PCs get a bastion at Nafas's palace or nearby, so they could spend money on that.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Wizard needs to spend money on spells maybe...</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Money for bribing monsters (Zargon is an early instance of this)</li> </ul>From the reading I've already done on this, it seems like this is not just an Infinite Staircase problem. In the campaign where I am a player, we only ever get abstract amounts of money, and the functional loot comes from adventures or crafting only. We don't do shopping.Putting #2 under a spoiler tag because it's about connecting Staircase with Vecna: Eve of Ruin.[SPOILER="Vecna: Eve of Ruin spoilers"]2. If I was to run these adventures with my group, I'm sorry to say that we have no knowledge of the characters in Eve of Ruin. I'm the only one who has even watched Stranger Things! I've been researching Vecna, there's <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/everything-we-know-about-vecna-in-fifth-edition.703978/" target="_blank">a really great post here on ENworld about Vecna's 5E incarnation</a>. But I feel like selling Eve of Ruin will require some amount of hinting in Staircase. Or at least if I get some hints in, then I don't have to dump everything the moment the PCs appear in Sigil and expect them to care about Alustriel Silverhand and Mordenkainen and their problems.Here's my ideas so far:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I would use the alternate start for Lost City, which has the characters on a desert caravan before they get separated by a sandstorm. In this module Zargon has a regional effect that water sources within 1 mile of his lair are tainted. I would extend this to 10 miles to match his Eerie Weather regional. And on the caravan (I think I'm imagining this caravan more like a "sand ship"/Jabba's ship), I would mention that before serving drinks, the server brings the tray to someone dressed cleric-ly but holding a funky-looking sigil, and that person casts a spell on the drinks. This would be a cleric of Vecna who is searching the desert's lost civilizations for secrets, and to earn their fare on the caravan they purify drinks. If there's no further engagement, this at least lets the PCs see Vecna's sigil within 5 minutes of starting Staircase. I might have the cleric show up again for Pharaoh. Both these modules can be in the Dragonlance world per the book, though it specifies different regions. I'd probably just put them in the same region. By virtue of Vecna being a multiversal entity, I assume his clerics can appear anywhere, even in Dragonlance where I think there's some issues with clerics depending on the time period—I'm still reading the setting.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Nest of the Eldritch Eye can be inserted as a Nafas wish after Lost City. NEE asks for Level 3 PCs, but maybe it can be adjusted. If not, at least it's short.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I would replace Tasha in EOR with Iggwilv. I confess I'm not really sure what's going on with Tasha because I haven't read all the necessary books, but the players would know Iggwilv from the Tsojcanth module. And they could even banter with her about their adventure in Tsojcanth. I also think it's more interesting to have someone so plainly not a great person helping to stop Vecna.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Have Nafas involved in the broken Wish from EOR somehow.</li> </ul>Where I'm stuck:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">More info about Alustriel, Mordenkainen, and Kas before EOR starts.</li> </ul>[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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