Voyage of the Golden Dragon advice

[blargney the second]

I just started running this Eberron adventure this weekend - we're in the middle of Part 2 right now. If you've run this module, what advice do you have for someone about to run it?

I sort of goofed the first part: I totally forgot about the Medani sentries. My group fought Brakker, the hobgobs, the minotaurs, and the harpies all by themselves. It was a pretty gruesome battle. I ended up telling them in the session afterwards that the NPCs were engaged in fights on other parts of the ship that they couldn't see.

I also modified Telgin and Kray a bit: I subbed out Telgin's rogue levels for ninja levels and some of his feats for Crossbow Sniper and Rapid Reload. Kray switched his 5th level of fighter for a level in warblade. They made for a pretty hair-raising fight.

Part 2 has been quite challenging to run so far. There are a lot of plots running around the ship, and it's tricky to keep them all straight.
-blarg

 

[an_idol_mind]

Part Two was by far the best part of that module for my group. I'd recommend skipping over Part Four entirely and using that encounter in a future adventure. Two hijacking attempts on the ship within the span of a few weeks feels very redundant.

 

[blargney the second]

Yeah, that was my first thought as well. To fix it I'm melging Part 3 with Temple of the Scorpion God, which features drow and a dragon from the Chamber. They'll be out for vengeance in Part 4.

Now that I think about it, Part 2 is the one that I'm most concerned about. I'm not a hugely experienced DM, and it's a complex adventure. Do you have any advice for running Part 2?
-blarg

 

[an_idol_mind]

I don't know if my advice for Part Two would be useful, since it played to my strengths as an improv-heavy DM. I guess the most important part would be to not worry about hitting on all the character motivations -- only focus on what the PCs are interested in. If the PCs aren't interested in the massage parlor, don't ram it down their throat. My group spent almost all their time in the House of Chance, since one of the characters had a thing for elven women.

Also, it's not the end of the world if the PCs figure things out and stop Gunther. There's a backup plan in the third section in case he bites it.

 

[blargney the second]

We just ran the rest of Part 2 last night, and it went quite well! I bumped up timelines quite a lot between events to keep things exciting once they got started.

They found out from Zan that Azango was a doppleganger just before the paladins and skelies had their first brawl, so they spent most of their time during that fight trying to keep track of Malinko's party.

I ended up spontaneously turning Azango into something like a medium-sized choker with sneak attack because one of them cornered him in the lab when he was trying to sabotage the ship. It was a nice warm-up for the big fight with Malinko and company in the cargo hold as they tried to escape on a skiff.

Before they could chase down the Baron, they ended up helping the Karrnathi skeletons kill the paladins in their second fight, so the entire Thrane delegation was wiped out. I think diplomatic relations are going to end up badly strained between those two nations.

The last big battle was really exciting. Lots of crits and sneak attacks made for as close to a TPK as I've brushed recently: I think there were 9 hp left in the party by the end of the fight. Malinko upset my girlfriend when he killed her character's animal companion on a brutal sneak attack. They eventually cast blindness on him and then things got ugly. He escaped in the skiff only to be recalled from the bridge, he surrendered, confessed to the sabotages after some torture, and then was unceremoniously slaughtered in cold blood.

It was a very intense session.
-blarg

 

[Wik]

We just ran the rest of Part 2 last night, and it went quite well! I bumped up timelines quite a lot between events to keep things exciting once they got started.

They found out from Zan that Azango was a doppleganger just before the paladins and skelies had their first brawl, so they spent most of their time during that fight trying to keep track of Malinko's party.

I ended up spontaneously turning Azango into something like a medium-sized choker with sneak attack because one of them cornered him in the lab when he was trying to sabotage the ship. It was a nice warm-up for the big fight with Malinko and company in the cargo hold as they tried to escape on a skiff.

Before they could chase down the Baron, they ended up helping the Karrnathi skeletons kill the paladins in their second fight, so the entire Thrane delegation was wiped out. I think diplomatic relations are going to end up badly strained between those two nations.

The last big battle was really exciting. Lots of crits and sneak attacks made for as close to a TPK as I've brushed recently: I think there were 9 hp left in the party by the end of the fight. Malinko upset my girlfriend when he killed her character's animal companion on a brutal sneak attack. They eventually cast blindness on him and then things got ugly. He escaped in the skiff only to be recalled from the bridge, he surrendered, confessed to the sabotages after some torture, and then was unceremoniously slaughtered in cold blood.

It was a very intense session.
-blarg

So, to recap, your group:

1) Sided with the undead in a fight against LG Paladins;
2) Potentially caused a diplomatic strain between an aggressor nation and an overzealous nation that already hates undead;
2) Blinded a villain, and then proceeded to beat upon him while he was relatively defenceless;
3) Tortured that very same villain;
4) Killed him after he revealed his role in sabotage?

Congratulations. Your group is by far eviller than my group. *applause*

 

[blargney the second]

Yeah, I was pretty amazed at the level of depravity exhibited last night. For the last three, I made my girlfriend cry by killing her pet, so all bets were off at that point.

But the first two? Archduke Ferdinand.
-blarg