SCAP - Which Issues?

[Morrus]

OK, since the ENnies win, I've realised I have to check out Shacked City. And, lucky me, someone has offered to sell me a whole crap-load of Dungeon issues for next to nothing. So I get SCAP, plus loads of other Dungeon adventures for less than the price of... well, SCAP.

So, the question is: which issues is SCAP in? It's levels 1-20, right? My group's just hit level 7 in my current campaign, so is it something I can jump into partway through, or is it easily scaleable from the beginning?

 

[Echohawk]

According to this page:

Dungeon Issue #97
Dungeon Issue #98
Dungeon Issue #102
Dungeon Issue #104
Dungeon Issue #107
Dungeon Issue #109
Dungeon Issue #111
Dungeon Issue #113
Dungeon Issue #114
Dungeon Issue #115
Dungeon Issue #116

Don't forget that Shackled City had only 11 parts in the magazine. A twelfth chapter was added in the hardcover compilation.

 

[GwydapLlew]

You'll definitely want to check out the SCAP Hardcover. It takes the information from the AP and collates it, updates a lot of the information and tweaks connections between the adventures.

Shackled City was the first AP put out by Paizo, and it was very much a learning experience. If you can get your hands on the hardcover, I'd go for it. As has been mentioned, there is a new adventure in it and a wealth of information regarding building PCs for the AP.

 

[Morrus]

You'll definitely want to check out the SCAP Hardcover. It takes the information from the AP and collates it, updates a lot of the information and tweaks connections between the adventures.

I definitely don't! For the price I'm getting them, I'll live without the extra adventure.

How scaleable is it? Am I correct in my assumption that it's levels 1-20?

 

[Lazybones]

If you're group's already 7th level, I'd jump in right around The Demonskar Legacy (the fourth adventure in the originally published series). The Shackled City can be very deadly, so if your group is small or a bit understrength for their level, I'd start instead with Zenith Trajectory. There are a lot of great NPCs in the series, so it's easy to augment a group if they need help for any given installment.

 

[Morrus]

If you're group's already 7th level, I'd jump in right around The Demonskar Legacy (the fourth adventure in the originally published series). The Shackled City can be very deadly, so if your group is small or a bit understrength for their level, I'd start instead with Zenith Trajectory. There are a lot of great NPCs in the series, so it's easy to augment a group if they need help for any given installment.

Cool. So that would give them 8 adventures in a row. Would they have missed anything particularly important, or would I be able to fudge that by setting up a quick adventure which gives them whatever info they need from the first three?

 

[Lazybones]

Cool. So that would give them 8 adventures in a row. Would they have missed anything particularly important, or would I be able to fudge that by setting up a quick adventure which gives them whatever info they need from the first three?

The only big thing that I can think of is the encounter with "Lord Vhalantru" at the end of "Life's Bazaar". But you could handle the foreshadowing with him in another fashion, I would think. Maybe the players meet him early on in the city as an important nobleman NPC.

One way to handle the other background info, I think, might be to have the players come to Cauldron, and hear about what's been going on over the last month or so (including the events detailed in the first few mods) from a bard (how's your singing voice? You can even play a song for them that summarizes what's been going on in the city! ). You can also use the Stormblades, a rival adventuring group that is included in the early modules (and who become important recurring characters in the series), to have done the important plot events in the first mods (rescuing the children in "Bazaar", stopping the floods in "Flood Season," rescuing Zenith Splintershield in "Zenith Trajectory").

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Cool. So that would give them 8 adventures in a row. Would they have missed anything particularly important, or would I be able to fudge that by setting up a quick adventure which gives them whatever info they need from the first three?

I personally would start from the beginning with "Life's Bazaar" as I think that it grounds the players into the storyline from the get go. If you do decide to start from Zenith's Trajectory I would find some way of adding in what had gone on in the previous adventures as backstory. The more the players know about the storyline the better in my opinion.

Also, as the owner of both the Dungeon Magazine issues and the hardcover, I would say that the hardcover is not necessarily a "must buy". Sure it ties a lot of the storylines together much more tightly and smooths out some of the kinks in the original adventures but if price is a concern it doesn't get much better than free!

Olaf the Stout

 

[Jakar]

Me, I go the other way. Other than having all the monster stats in the back of the book, I think the hardcover is the way to go over my collection of Dungeon Mags.

The big map of Cauldron is worth the price alone.

I would start them with new characters and go from the first game

 

[Morrus]

OK, next question (thanks guys!) -- what about Age of Worms? Same questions apply!