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<blockquote data-quote="Anguish" data-source="post: 3429102" data-attributes="member: 27032">Sorry I zoned out for a couple days.&nbsp; I completely forgot I was part of this discussion.&nbsp; &lt;Grin&gt;Anyway, no... the crimes have reason, but the reasons aren't the sorts of things that the PCs can actually pursue.&nbsp; Say for instance... Chapter 1.&nbsp; You go underground to locate/rescue some presumed kidnapped people.&nbsp; You find out there's a healthy slave trade going on under Cauldron.&nbsp; It's been going on for months.&nbsp; You rescue some of the missing, including a young boy who is demonstrated to be &quot;special&quot; somehow.&nbsp; Just as you're about to rescue the boy, a beholder shows up and tells everyone to stop fighting.&nbsp; He says he's going to return the boy to where he belongs.&nbsp; The players are insanely overwhelmed.&nbsp; The beholder takes the boy, and teleports out.Get this.&nbsp; The beholder in fact returns the boy to the orphanage where he was stolen from.&nbsp; You can roleplay your heart out, and confirm the kid's the real deal.Two issues here.&nbsp; One: you &quot;can't&quot; rescue the REST of the missing people, because they've been long, long sold off.&nbsp; And if a DM throws some additional adventure here, you delay the actual adventure-path, and gain XP that can unbalance other things, badly.&nbsp; Two: you can't even remotely hope to find out what gives with the benevolent beholder, or the kid.These are important things that matter, though.&nbsp; See, the first six chapters basically introduce STUFF.&nbsp; Events, people, history.&nbsp; Really strange, seemingly unrelated stuff.&nbsp; Then the last six chapters put it all together, and the PCs start to unearth then unravel the BBEGs' plots.&nbsp; All makes sense.Understand a 1st-20th adventure path is probably a real-life year of gameplay.&nbsp; Six months of being baffled might be rough for some players.&nbsp; Don't get me wrong: I really, really liked SCAP, and I'd gladly play/run it again.&nbsp; I'd just adjust a few things to make it less defeatist.&nbsp; For instance, I'd reduce the number of missing people to those that you can rescue, and reduce the timeframe the slaving ring has been operational commensurately.If your players understand &quot;you will meet goals you cannot surpass, but in trying you will learn critical things that underpin the latter half of the AP&quot;, you'll be golden.&nbsp; Me as a player, I'd be fine.I solidly encourage you to review the material in the light of the comments I'm making, and to run the thing.&nbsp; It's a great bundle of material and a great value.&nbsp; It's just got some rough edges that are easily enough shaved off.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Anguish, post: 3429102, member: 27032"] Sorry I zoned out for a couple days. I completely forgot I was part of this discussion. <Grin> Anyway, no... the crimes have reason, but the reasons aren't the sorts of things that the PCs can actually pursue. Say for instance... Chapter 1. You go underground to locate/rescue some presumed kidnapped people. You find out there's a healthy slave trade going on under Cauldron. It's been going on for months. You rescue some of the missing, including a young boy who is demonstrated to be "special" somehow. Just as you're about to rescue the boy, a beholder shows up and tells everyone to stop fighting. He says he's going to return the boy to where he belongs. The players are insanely overwhelmed. The beholder takes the boy, and teleports out. Get this. The beholder in fact returns the boy to the orphanage where he was stolen from. You can roleplay your heart out, and confirm the kid's the real deal. Two issues here. One: you "can't" rescue the REST of the missing people, because they've been long, long sold off. And if a DM throws some additional adventure here, you delay the actual adventure-path, and gain XP that can unbalance other things, badly. Two: you can't even remotely hope to find out what gives with the benevolent beholder, or the kid. These are important things that matter, though. See, the first six chapters basically introduce STUFF. Events, people, history. Really strange, seemingly unrelated stuff. Then the last six chapters put it all together, and the PCs start to unearth then unravel the BBEGs' plots. All makes sense. Understand a 1st-20th adventure path is probably a real-life year of gameplay. Six months of being baffled might be rough for some players. Don't get me wrong: I really, really liked SCAP, and I'd gladly play/run it again. I'd just adjust a few things to make it less defeatist. For instance, I'd reduce the number of missing people to those that you can rescue, and reduce the timeframe the slaving ring has been operational commensurately. If your players understand "you will meet goals you cannot surpass, but in trying you will learn critical things that underpin the latter half of the AP", you'll be golden. Me as a player, I'd be fine. I solidly encourage you to review the material in the light of the comments I'm making, and to run the thing. It's a great bundle of material and a great value. It's just got some rough edges that are easily enough shaved off. [/QUOTE]

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