Nebulous
Legend
(Major Spoilers)
Has anyone run the original (I'm sure, yes) but then tried to run the Return version of it later? How do they differ the most? I'm sure the presence of the 4 Kerapti and the K-imprints are the biggest change, but does the inside of the mountain cover the same tricks and traps and then add new ones?
I'm asking partly because I'm layering Return to White Plume Mt. over Lost Mine of Phandelver and planting as many seeds as I think I'll need to get the party invested. One player is already "cursed" with an imprint, but their first instinct is to travel to a major city to have the curse removed. And I don't want to railroad them into a path just so they follow the predetermined adventure. The best thing to do would let them think they're making the correct, most logical decision to help themselves while it's the decision I want them to make anyway.
Lastly...it's just an odd adventure. The K-imprint stuff is overly complicated, so regardless I'm going to have to tone it down and tweak it just for my own sake, much less trying to explain it to the players. But I still feel like I'm "forcing" them into a dungeon crawl just to get the curse removed, and something about it doesn't feel right. I'm not sure what.
If everything keeps going as planned though it looks like our party of 4 PCs is going to have a whole platoon of 1st level knights going with them, as well as a handful of NPCs, so they won't be alone, it will literally be an assault on the False Kerapti which could be a very, very interesting series of sessions. I'm reminded of earlier editions where you have henchman moving forward with 10' poles to check for traps while the PCs hang back and be glad it's not them at the forefront....
Regardless, I still might give them an out. If they, the players, don't seem keen on delving into the Underdark to remove the curse, maybe I should relocate everything to the surface(?) but I've already done a good bit of work integrating the plot with RtWPM. Even if the curse on a player was not involved, a big bad beholder wants Frostrazor, Blackrazor, Whelm and Wave for itself, along with the Forge of Spells, and if it had all that stuff it would just be a megalomaniacal menace to the entire region, and there are already NPCs set up that definitely want to stop that from happening.
Has anyone run the original (I'm sure, yes) but then tried to run the Return version of it later? How do they differ the most? I'm sure the presence of the 4 Kerapti and the K-imprints are the biggest change, but does the inside of the mountain cover the same tricks and traps and then add new ones?
I'm asking partly because I'm layering Return to White Plume Mt. over Lost Mine of Phandelver and planting as many seeds as I think I'll need to get the party invested. One player is already "cursed" with an imprint, but their first instinct is to travel to a major city to have the curse removed. And I don't want to railroad them into a path just so they follow the predetermined adventure. The best thing to do would let them think they're making the correct, most logical decision to help themselves while it's the decision I want them to make anyway.
Lastly...it's just an odd adventure. The K-imprint stuff is overly complicated, so regardless I'm going to have to tone it down and tweak it just for my own sake, much less trying to explain it to the players. But I still feel like I'm "forcing" them into a dungeon crawl just to get the curse removed, and something about it doesn't feel right. I'm not sure what.
If everything keeps going as planned though it looks like our party of 4 PCs is going to have a whole platoon of 1st level knights going with them, as well as a handful of NPCs, so they won't be alone, it will literally be an assault on the False Kerapti which could be a very, very interesting series of sessions. I'm reminded of earlier editions where you have henchman moving forward with 10' poles to check for traps while the PCs hang back and be glad it's not them at the forefront....
Regardless, I still might give them an out. If they, the players, don't seem keen on delving into the Underdark to remove the curse, maybe I should relocate everything to the surface(?) but I've already done a good bit of work integrating the plot with RtWPM. Even if the curse on a player was not involved, a big bad beholder wants Frostrazor, Blackrazor, Whelm and Wave for itself, along with the Forge of Spells, and if it had all that stuff it would just be a megalomaniacal menace to the entire region, and there are already NPCs set up that definitely want to stop that from happening.