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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6265177" data-attributes="member: 4937">Cool.Ok, so good start.  Now, keep going.  Why did they kidnap the Lord's daughter, and the Lord of what?  If it is the castellan's daughter we have a problem, as the Keep doesn't really have provisions for a family... so we have to explain how the daughter got there and how they accomplished the kidnapping.   Oh, and if one of the PC's is her brother, are you willing to accept that he's a minor member of the nobility and all that comes with that?  I'd recommend it, but some DMs don't like to go there.  Also, if it is a foul beast cult, we need to do some redecorating of the temple area - which doesn't have a lot of mention of beasts, beast decorations, beasts, or ways to sacrifice things to beast.  It might also be good to repurpose the minotaur, which now might actually be the local leader of this cult.Ok, so good.  But if they are mustering we have to meaningfully convey this fact to the PCs by providing them with signs of the muster and indications of it.  Otherwise, what's the point?  If we do provide signs and indications of the muster though, then that puts an edge on things.   The PCs first know that they are on a time limit, but perhaps even more importantly they know that they are doing meaningful work preempting a disaster.  Perhaps we need to provide documentary evidence of the mustering in the dungeons somewhere so that the PCs can take it back to present to the castellan - who then might become more friendly.  In fact, we might work this as a trope.  Have the castellan be a hard but honest man who initially doesn't like the players and acts as a foil, discouraging their efforts and claiming that they are simply going to 'rile up the native tribes and create trouble for travellers', and only after they have proven themselves does he change his mind, assist, and honor them (with perhaps a fete in their honor).  This is largely in the text, but having the "inside man" having the specific motivation to acquire sacrifices gives him some drama that isn't otherwise there and let's us drag out the scope of the false priest plot line.  After a few days we can introduce the fact that NPC's are disappearing from the Keep at intervals - one of the scribes or one of the blacksmith's assistants - and a murder mini-mystery set around this, or we can alter the behavior of the priest if he is with the party toward capturing PC's - which might lead to goal oriented missions.Bzzzzt.  There is little no indication in the text of any group capable of enforcing the dark master's wishes.  The priests seem to keep to themselves, and they don't have any enforcers beyond the undead that guard the temple.  What we need to add to the keep is a new faction - the Bandits and Overseers - who serve the priests and whose job it is to keep the tribes in line.   A branch of the bandits is seen in the raiding party lying near the Keep, but we can give them complexes within the caves.  The Bandits can differ from the other tribes by having their complexes scattered about the caves so as to keep a watch on everything.   One area in particular I'd like to expand on as being the province of the Bandits is an Arena, where the champions of the various tribes compete against one another, honing their skills in fierce and often lethal sort of training (and as an act of worship/sacrifice to your proposed Beast Cult).  Presumably slaves can also be fed to 'tamed' monsters in the Arena.   The 'Torturer' is a good example of what the leaders of this new faction would be like.  We could add to that an overseer, a paymaster, an arena master, an engineer (who is constructing siege weapons, something the goblins/hobgoblins are supposed to be working on), and so forth as (named!) leaders of the bandit bandit faction.  I'd also probably use the overseers as a slight means of directing the party away from potential disaster - like attempting the priests, minotaur, or bugbears too early.  Freedom might sound fun, but those aren't real choices for a 1st level part and to offer them without any clues or warnings as to what you are getting into is a bad idea.  For example, a wall with a gate built halfway across the valley might encourage the PC's to try to bypass it in the caves to either hand.Speaking of payday, one addition I'd probably add to this is that the evil cult is trying to dig something up - perhaps from an earlier temple that is long buried, perhaps a buried outsider that they believe will aid their forces, or perhaps just a sizable treasure or magic item (horn of blasting?) they know is hidden and will give them an edge that they need in the coming battle.Then the bandits and the raiding party could actually be his troops, and his connection to events might be something else that the PC's can establish which will move the larger world around them and lead to further adventures.And remember, in addition to all of this work we've just set for ourselves, we still need to do the work the module says we have to do - drawing floor plans for the keep, detailing the villages near the keep, creating additional wilderness encounters, perhaps fleshing out the Caves of the Unknown in an interesting manner, and so on and so forth.  Before we get ready to run this, I'd guess we are 40-50 hours into prep.</blockquote>

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