D&D 5E The Runelords Trilogy in 5E Eberron *Spoilers* Discussion, Conversion Notes and Adventure Log

[TheSword]

I will most certainly be following this. I've long considered during something like this, but have not been able to fit all the pieces together.
I'm not that familiar with Eberron, but assume that the stand ins you've used fits the bill. A few comments/questions:

• Will you actually be using all 18 adventures? Won't there be a high risk of campaign fatigue? Plus, as I understand it and imo as well, not all of the chapters are as strong as others.
• What about the Grey Maidens of Curse of the Lady's Light - won't they spoil Curse of the Crimson Throne if you should ever play that? And if you played it already, aren't the Runelords revealed already?

(that's some of the troubles I've been having myself. I really like the slow unveiling of the Runelords (Karzoug) in RotR, but I'd really like to combine RotR and Shattered Star. I'd especially like to use Curse of the Lady's Light. However, the impact of that adventure is less without having played CotCT, imo. But CotCT spoils the Runelords )

• Maybe change the order of Fortress and Curse, to keep the Runelord reveal off?
• Sounds like you will be gutting a lot of filler combats (I hope)? How many encounters will you keep per chapter? How long do you think a chapter will take you to complete?
• I had tentatively thought of doing RotR 1-4 more or less unchanged to build up the reveal, then do the first part of Sins of the Saviors, letting the party learn of Xin-Shalast. They could then go to there and defeat Karzoug, finding the Shard of Sin in his loot. This would lead them to either a) Runeforge for the remaining Shards, or b) into Shattered Star for the remaining Shards (cutting some chapters - and then going to Runeforge to be able to forge the Sihedron and then placing it at the spot in Magnimar, or just skipping Runeforge altogether. Then finish it all of with Dead Heart of Xin.
• I do like putting Shards of Sin where you did. And the rest of the rework.
• I may need to read Return again. I found it namedropping and uninspired.
• I too would just relevel everything, but we use xp. I'd just let the xp decide what lvl the chapters should be for. That would also allow some of the chapters to be more sandbox instead of AP railroad - do they really need to find the Shards in that order? Could a major part of Shattered Star just be free choice as to the order they get the pieces? I think so.
• I fear campaign fatigue.

Edit: And I am placing this on the Sword Coast. There's a lot of overlap with Netheril, which I haven't found a solution for yet. Netherese ruins are already established in my campaign (currently centered on Neverwinter), so just saying Netheril=Thassilon will take some of the mystery ofthe Thassilonian ruins away. Plua, I love the names Thassilon and Netheril

Awesome feedback and some really thoughtful comments!

Yes the plan is to do all 18 modules, though I think some of them can be seriously gutted as you suggested. One of the advantages of Milestone levelling is that I don’t have to worry about the size of a chapter. They are currently in Descent into Avernus and the speed of levelling has been a bit disconcerting.

My gut feeling for timing is four sessions per chapter, which mean a year and a half for the campaign, maybe two which is doable. They are pretty decisive. In the first session we had about an hour of session 0 and then in two hours did three combat encounters and some rp encounters.

There is a risk that the Shattered Star modules spoils Fortress of the Stone Giant. So I think you’re right I can move it until the party returns to Khorvaire for Sins of the Saviours. After that point they’ve been to the Thorrassic Library so they will know who the Runelords are. The Greg Maidens will probably be replaced with whichever organization the PCs have antagonism with by that point I reckon. I definitely want all three characters to have a shard before too long as it’s a bit unfair not to given how powerful the shards are.

I tend to group combats together when they are nearby with waves of foes so that should speed things up. Also because it’s milestone levelling there’s no issue sneaking past foes or negotiating with them. This may result in a whole area being negated if the PCs approach it diplomatically.

I definitely like an idea of a shard in Karzougs treasury. Either if we’re getting fatigue I could cut out a whole module from the Shattered Star or if we’re still going strong I could simply have only one shard found in Into the Nightmare Rift which otherwise has two. The whole Tier Three section could be more sandbox-like, with nations and organizations after the power of the Sihedron.

Setting the series in the FR definitely is interesting. What about going further back than Netheril and have the Runelords be Sarrukh or even one Runelord from each progenitor race?

 

[TheSword]

Incidentally with each session journal I’ll post the details of mechanical changes I made.

Chapter One: Session One
The Swallow Tail Festival

1. The goblins were standard goblins without the shields but with a 1d3 fire damage torch. They were nastier than I thought at first level! Dex to damage hurts.
2. The commando was a goblin boss but with only one attack and his dog was a mastiff. It would bite as a reaction when someone came within 5 feet which didn’t come up.
3. The warchanter was a goblin boss with one attack, cha 14 and wis 12. And level 2 bard casting + inspire courage. I gave it the spells healing word, tasha’s laughter and heroism.
4. The reward from Foxglove was kept at 50gp. They’ll need all the cash they can get at this point.
5. They found a healing potion on the warchanter and the commando.

Otherwise it was fairly straight forward to run. A good session, though pretty brutal. I rolled a 6 on the first goblins bow shot and took the bard down in one shot. He only had 8 hp. I may need to have them find an Amulet of Health

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Setting the series in the FR definitely is interesting. What about going further back than Netheril and have the Runelords be Sarrukh or even one Runelord from each progenitor race?

Yeah, but I like my Runelords to be human from ancient Azlant - that's the problem. Too many mighty magic empires. And in my campaign the Shades haven't returned yet.... Been thinking about making the Azlanti elves - Earthfall matches the end of the Crown Wars from FR nicely.

All my problems are self-inflicted I like parts of Golarion lore and am not overly concerned with FR lore. In fact, my campaign world takes place on the Sword Coast with Varisia to the south and Lands of the Linnorm Kings and Irrisen to the north and such, also the Nentir Vale from 4E is there as well. The lore is a mash up of FR, Golarion and Nentir Vale, which actually fits pretty well - all three campaign worlds had a world shattering events, gods dying etc. about a century ago. So the present is not that difficult, actually. It's when trying to combine the pasts of the various settings, things get crowded.

Worst part is, my players don't really pay that much attention to such things, so I really should just handwave it

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Oh, and what do you think of Return? And the redemption and all that?

 

[TheSword]

Oh, and what do you think of Return? And the redemption and all that?

I think Sorshan is set up really well in Curse of the Ladies Light, even though she isn’t even in it. I like the idea of her becoming close to the PCs. I think there are definitely possibilities that she is just trying to get rid of the remaining Runelords and getting the PCs to do it for her by making them like her.

For you I’d use them as Netherill then, the party will engage with them more. As you said the name is cool. Ignore the return of Shade.

My big questions are.

Is Lamashtu a good overlord or should I replace her with one of the others?

Is the daelkyr Daern a good replacement for Yamasoth?

I have to change the relationship between Azlanist and Yamasoth as the Daelkyr didn’t enter Eberron until long after the giants had destroyed their civilization. So instead of Azlanist learning from Daern, Daern will instead seek to find and corrupt Azlanists weapons.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

I think Sorshan is set up really well in Curse of the Ladies Light, even though she isn’t even in it. I like the idea of her becoming close to the PCs. I think there are definitely possibilities that she is just trying to get rid of the remaining Runelords and getting the PCs to do it for her by making them like her.

For you I’d use them as Netherill then, the party will engage with them more. As you said the name is cool. Ignore the return of Shade.

My big questions are.

Is Lamashtu a good overlord or should I replace her with one of the others?

Is the daelkyr Daern a good replacement for Yamasoth?

I have to change the relationship between Azlanist and Yamasoth as the Daelkyr didn’t enter Eberron until long after the giants had destroyed their civilization. So instead of Azlanist learning from Daern, Daern will instead seek to find and corrupt Azlanists weapons.

I'd say keep Lamashtu to keep the ties to the original. Plus, I think she's pretty cool.
Not familiar with daelkyr Daern to comment, but judging from the rest of your conversion, I'd say it's a fine fit

 

[amethal]

Is Lamashtu a good overlord or should I replace her with one of the others?

I think Lamashtu works well as an overlord. She even has an appropriate title, Mother of Monsters. To fit in with Overlord naming conventions (as per Keith Baker's recent blog post), I'd probably rename her Lah Mashtu but that's just me.

I'd never thought of running Rise of the Runelords in Eberron, but I like the idea. It does go to show how flexible the setting can be.

I'm also quite taken with the idea of combining three adventure paths. I usually cut most of the pointless filler when I run Paizo adventure paths, and add in other adventures that appeal to me, but I'd never thought of merging them together as all the plots are so different.

 

[TheSword]

I think Lamashtu works well as an overlord. She even has an appropriate title, Mother of Monsters. To fit in with Overlord naming conventions (as per Keith Baker's recent blog post), I'd probably rename her Lah Mashtu but that's just me.

I'd never thought of running Rise of the Runelords in Eberron, but I like the idea. It does go to show how flexible the setting can be.

I'm also quite taken with the idea of combining three adventure paths. I usually cut most of the pointless filler when I run Paizo adventure paths, and add in other adventures that appeal to me, but hI'd never thought of merging them together as all the plots are so different.

That’s a great shout on the naming convention! I’ve adjusted the plan.

I think they really really reinforce each other plot wise. Particularly the return of the Runelords will be much more impactful if the characters actually have prior knowledge.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Came to think of it - there are also some Runelords related Pathfinder society scenarios, leading up to the defeat of Krune, iirc. They are in season 4 and also features the cult of Lissala. Though I was the first to say you have more than enough on your plate, they might still be worth looking into, to add some impact on the showdown with Krune in Return, and the whole Lissala thing.

 

[Zaukrie]

Wow, lots of good stuff I need to re-read to digest!