So my characters have wrapped up Chapter 3 and are about to begin Chapter 4. However, there aren't many clues that tie the villains to the plot (Chosen Villain -> The Cassalanters) and Chapters 5-8 are the home base of each villain, and I REALLY want to use it, because I feel like why wouldn't you? However, as I said, there isn't much reason to "have" to go to the home base. There's little clues here and there, but you can essentially complete the story without having to do that, but I think that kind of does a disservice to the adventure. Having a big finale confronting the module villains at the end seems like the best way to close out the campaign arc.
So in what ways can I tie it all together? Ideally, I want something that occurs either before or after needing the keys to get into the vault of dragons, but occurs before they actually enter the vault of dragons. Any ideas?
Honestly, chapter 4 and the chase chains should provide ample enough context for your party to figure out who is after the stone. You can always make the stone just out of the reach of your party, have them go through all 10 scenes and fail, or fail them early on with the only option to move forward is to go to the villain’s lair. Again, honestly, the requirements to pass some of those scenes are absurd, especially for lvl 3-4 characters. The odds of your party failing one of the ten is quite high, so it might be neat just letting the dice roll and decide it for you.
Aside from the hook of where the map leads them to start the chase chain, there really isn't much else. Unless I'm missing something? Other than that location, then if they lose the chase at the 4th encounter, then I feel like it's sort of a deadend.
Wow, just read the encounter chain for summer. Got to say, the winter one had a bit more NPCs thrown in to allow PCs to question what in the world was going on. I have no idea how players are supposed to learn about the villain unless they actually obtain the stone and ask it directly.
Wow, just read the encounter chain for summer. Got to say, the winter one had a bit more NPCs thrown in to allow PCs to question what in the world was going on. I have no idea how players are supposed to learn about the villain unless they actually obtain the stone and ask it directly.
Lol that's my problem! There's almost no reason to go to Summer's villain's lair, so I'm trying to make a reason. I'm thinking I can maybe swap one of the keys for something that would obviously require a conflict between the characters and the summer villain, but I'm not quite sure.
So my thoughts are, they get the keys and unlock the door, only to be jumped by a force by the Summer villain that overcomes them, they will be weakened from the chase chain encounters. As the last one falls unconscious, they will see some kind of identifying symbol of the Summer Villain. When they wake up and explore the area, they find all thegold is gone, maybe Aurinax is slain or remains alive to tell them who took the gold. Then, once they rest up and get ready for a counter attack, I can have an NPC like Esvele Rosznar (who has formed a romantic relationship with the party monk) or Renaer Neverember tell them that the Cassalanter's are having a Founder's Day party, which might be a good day for a heist.
So my characters have wrapped up Chapter 3 and are about to begin Chapter 4. However, there aren't many clues that tie the villains to the plot (Chosen Villain -> The Cassalanters) and Chapters 5-8 are the home base of each villain, and I REALLY want to use it, because I feel like why wouldn't you? However, as I said, there isn't much reason to "have" to go to the home base. There's little clues here and there, but you can essentially complete the story without having to do that, but I think that kind of does a disservice to the adventure. Having a big finale confronting the module villains at the end seems like the best way to close out the campaign arc.
So in what ways can I tie it all together? Ideally, I want something that occurs either before or after needing the keys to get into the vault of dragons, but occurs before they actually enter the vault of dragons. Any ideas?
Published Subclasses
Honestly, chapter 4 and the chase chains should provide ample enough context for your party to figure out who is after the stone. You can always make the stone just out of the reach of your party, have them go through all 10 scenes and fail, or fail them early on with the only option to move forward is to go to the villain’s lair. Again, honestly, the requirements to pass some of those scenes are absurd, especially for lvl 3-4 characters. The odds of your party failing one of the ten is quite high, so it might be neat just letting the dice roll and decide it for you.
Aside from the hook of where the map leads them to start the chase chain, there really isn't much else. Unless I'm missing something? Other than that location, then if they lose the chase at the 4th encounter, then I feel like it's sort of a deadend.
Published Subclasses
Wow, just read the encounter chain for summer. Got to say, the winter one had a bit more NPCs thrown in to allow PCs to question what in the world was going on. I have no idea how players are supposed to learn about the villain unless they actually obtain the stone and ask it directly.
Lol that's my problem! There's almost no reason to go to Summer's villain's lair, so I'm trying to make a reason. I'm thinking I can maybe swap one of the keys for something that would obviously require a conflict between the characters and the summer villain, but I'm not quite sure.
Published Subclasses
So my thoughts are, they get the keys and unlock the door, only to be jumped by a force by the Summer villain that overcomes them, they will be weakened from the chase chain encounters. As the last one falls unconscious, they will see some kind of identifying symbol of the Summer Villain. When they wake up and explore the area, they find all the gold is gone, maybe Aurinax is slain or remains alive to tell them who took the gold. Then, once they rest up and get ready for a counter attack, I can have an NPC like Esvele Rosznar (who has formed a romantic relationship with the party monk) or Renaer Neverember tell them that the Cassalanter's are having a Founder's Day party, which might be a good day for a heist.
Thoughts?
Published Subclasses