Reddit wasn't any help so figured id try my luck here...
Party decided to take a long rest in Hallow Mine which resulted with me trying to lure them with Teocin explaining that the Tlacatecolo was headed toward the city and Doña Rosa was to be murdered. So in the cave, they are trapped but had decided to basically go in guns blasting to Itzmin and his mercs. Walked in to the cave fell down the shaft fought the Skelly Dinos and climbed back up the rope they used to help the party members who fell down the shaft. Now are low on recourses and decided to long rest.
So i sent in Teocín with his ghouls during their first long rest attempting to express some urgency with exposition but even that didn't stop their long rest attempt. Since he barely got a couple of words out before they just killed him. After the rest they went to the door and it was trapped sending one of them down to the oozes. I plan to give more exposition when they get to his lab but thats beyond the point.
This is far longer than intended. So looking at the module Dona has been murdered but how far can the Tlacatecolo spread this curse in like 12ish hours? The festivities are over, the creature has won the battle with Serapio so its just rampant that night im assuming. Im guessing the guards are guarding the access to the city from the cave since im pretty sure the module says people saw the owl creature coming out of the ground. So my thought is the guards will attempt to arrest them as suspects and following the cave system will assume they had something to do with all of this. Just looking for ideas, planning on re-reading the module again and see if i missed anything else.
Its a lot, the group is 50/50 split with good and bad, with one of the more "bad" PCs is definitely more verbal and sways the group quite a bit. All fine just bringing some context, just coming up with consequences for waiting to act.
First off, always remember that just because a module says something doesn't mean you have to do it. If the players need a long rest and the module says that X, Y, Z will happen and make the adventure less fun, then just change it. Creating some urgency is great and all, but having to play with no HP or spellslots is not fun.
Second, I don't remember Hollow Mine saying any of that stuff you wrote above. The module states that the Sereno outbreak started a few months ago and that the infected people die slowly over several days, not that the Tlacatecolo spreads the infection to everyone in 12 hours. Also it mentions that Itzmin is plotting to murder Dona Rosa but not that it will occur immediately if the characters take too long - in fact it specifically says that Itzmin is still plotting the murder "while the characters speak to Dona Rosa". And I'm not sure why you would say the festival is over - the module specifically says "no matter what happens", the festival is in full swing when characters reach San Citlan, and that it lasts as long as required to complete the module. Finally I don't get what you mean by the Tlacatecolo has won the battle with Serapio - in the module this is determined in the final battle against the PCs, if they use Lesser Restoration or Remove Curse and kill the Tlacatecolo then they save Serapio, if the kill the Tlacatecolo without those spells then they kill Serapio.
All the above changes are totally fine if you purposely made them thinking it would increase the fun (see point #1), but if you're looking to undo "damage" to the plot line because the characters are taking too long, then I'd recommend just follow the module plot points where the festival is still going, Dona Rosa is never murdered, and taking longer just means more random unnamed NPCs get infected but ultimately the plot remains the same.
I appreciated this. I waa running the game when i finally saw it and it really opened my eyes to my faults. I somehow got in my head that it was super urgent but you were very right. Ran it last night and the chase scene (which i was most excited for and decided to skip) waa probably the groups most enjoyable activity of the night! Thanks for the response!
I appreciated this. I waa running the game when i finally saw it and it really opened my eyes to my faults. I somehow got in my head that it was super urgent but you were very right.
Adding urgency usually makes things more fun, so the changes you made wouldn't have necessarily been bad even if you were making those changes on purpose, but just be careful not to put too much urgency into critical plot points that the story hinges on.
When I ran this I changed it so Sereno forces a Con save once per day, and the players knew that each time they longrested I was secretly rolling Con saves for all the NPCs they met with Sereno (starting on 3 exhaustion and dying if it reached 6) - in particular their quest reward hinged on Paloma surviving (she did), and then there were also a couple random NPCs in Milpazul that the players took a liking to and wanted to save (one survived but one died). This way the players had a sense of urgency and wanted to go quickly, but taking "too long" wouldn't blow up the storyline and strand me with no plot to move forward with.
I had the same issie and you are right in various points you say in your post. The text implies Itzmin is going to murder doña rosa rhat night. Its true that the demon could be spreading the disease, its an action in his stat block! If the party waits, maybe he goes rampant and infecrs more citizens This is very feasable. Although the festivities maynot be over, the night is when the connection with the afterlife is stronger amd at daylight the demon rests (this is also in the module text). Also rhe lodule suggests Serapio is losing the battle to the demon that night so its fair to assume if the pcs wait he could be consumed buñy the demon entirely. Of course tou can change this but you were not wrong. Mybparry also decided to wait but to ambush the demon when it returns to the mine. They waited hours and i tried to hint that nothing would happen if they kept waitimg but still decided to wait. So finaly i made the demon return through the cenote to the mine and the party ambushed it and killed it in two rounds. Now Doña Rosa is dead and Itzmin will make sure they will be blamed for this.
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Reddit wasn't any help so figured id try my luck here...
Party decided to take a long rest in Hallow Mine which resulted with me trying to lure them with Teocin explaining that the Tlacatecolo was headed toward the city and Doña Rosa was to be murdered. So in the cave, they are trapped but had decided to basically go in guns blasting to Itzmin and his mercs. Walked in to the cave fell down the shaft fought the Skelly Dinos and climbed back up the rope they used to help the party members who fell down the shaft. Now are low on recourses and decided to long rest.
So i sent in Teocín with his ghouls during their first long rest attempting to express some urgency with exposition but even that didn't stop their long rest attempt. Since he barely got a couple of words out before they just killed him. After the rest they went to the door and it was trapped sending one of them down to the oozes. I plan to give more exposition when they get to his lab but thats beyond the point.
This is far longer than intended. So looking at the module Dona has been murdered but how far can the Tlacatecolo spread this curse in like 12ish hours? The festivities are over, the creature has won the battle with Serapio so its just rampant that night im assuming. Im guessing the guards are guarding the access to the city from the cave since im pretty sure the module says people saw the owl creature coming out of the ground. So my thought is the guards will attempt to arrest them as suspects and following the cave system will assume they had something to do with all of this. Just looking for ideas, planning on re-reading the module again and see if i missed anything else.
Its a lot, the group is 50/50 split with good and bad, with one of the more "bad" PCs is definitely more verbal and sways the group quite a bit. All fine just bringing some context, just coming up with consequences for waiting to act.
First off, always remember that just because a module says something doesn't mean you have to do it. If the players need a long rest and the module says that X, Y, Z will happen and make the adventure less fun, then just change it. Creating some urgency is great and all, but having to play with no HP or spellslots is not fun.
Second, I don't remember Hollow Mine saying any of that stuff you wrote above. The module states that the Sereno outbreak started a few months ago and that the infected people die slowly over several days, not that the Tlacatecolo spreads the infection to everyone in 12 hours. Also it mentions that Itzmin is plotting to murder Dona Rosa but not that it will occur immediately if the characters take too long - in fact it specifically says that Itzmin is still plotting the murder "while the characters speak to Dona Rosa". And I'm not sure why you would say the festival is over - the module specifically says "no matter what happens", the festival is in full swing when characters reach San Citlan, and that it lasts as long as required to complete the module. Finally I don't get what you mean by the Tlacatecolo has won the battle with Serapio - in the module this is determined in the final battle against the PCs, if they use Lesser Restoration or Remove Curse and kill the Tlacatecolo then they save Serapio, if the kill the Tlacatecolo without those spells then they kill Serapio.
All the above changes are totally fine if you purposely made them thinking it would increase the fun (see point #1), but if you're looking to undo "damage" to the plot line because the characters are taking too long, then I'd recommend just follow the module plot points where the festival is still going, Dona Rosa is never murdered, and taking longer just means more random unnamed NPCs get infected but ultimately the plot remains the same.
I appreciated this. I waa running the game when i finally saw it and it really opened my eyes to my faults. I somehow got in my head that it was super urgent but you were very right. Ran it last night and the chase scene (which i was most excited for and decided to skip) waa probably the groups most enjoyable activity of the night! Thanks for the response!
Adding urgency usually makes things more fun, so the changes you made wouldn't have necessarily been bad even if you were making those changes on purpose, but just be careful not to put too much urgency into critical plot points that the story hinges on.
When I ran this I changed it so Sereno forces a Con save once per day, and the players knew that each time they longrested I was secretly rolling Con saves for all the NPCs they met with Sereno (starting on 3 exhaustion and dying if it reached 6) - in particular their quest reward hinged on Paloma surviving (she did), and then there were also a couple random NPCs in Milpazul that the players took a liking to and wanted to save (one survived but one died). This way the players had a sense of urgency and wanted to go quickly, but taking "too long" wouldn't blow up the storyline and strand me with no plot to move forward with.
I had the same issie and you are right in various points you say in your post. The text implies Itzmin is going to murder doña rosa rhat night. Its true that the demon could be spreading the disease, its an action in his stat block! If the party waits, maybe he goes rampant and infecrs more citizens This is very feasable. Although the festivities maynot be over, the night is when the connection with the afterlife is stronger amd at daylight the demon rests (this is also in the module text). Also rhe lodule suggests Serapio is losing the battle to the demon that night so its fair to assume if the pcs wait he could be consumed buñy the demon entirely. Of course tou can change this but you were not wrong. Mybparry also decided to wait but to ambush the demon when it returns to the mine. They waited hours and i tried to hint that nothing would happen if they kept waitimg but still decided to wait. So finaly i made the demon return through the cenote to the mine and the party ambushed it and killed it in two rounds. Now Doña Rosa is dead and Itzmin will make sure they will be blamed for this.