Howdy folks!
We'll be doing something a little different today. As you might've guessed, my Red Hand of Doom game kinda fell apart for scheduling reasons - I definitely might go back and finish the conversion at some point, but it's far from the top of my priority list. Instead, I've been running two games - one using Paizo's The Strength of Thousands adventure path, and the other a homebrew Dark-Souls inspired game.
Today, we'll be taking a look at Book 2: Spoken on the Song Wind, particularly Chapter 2: Service to the City (major spoilers from here on out). It's an awesome chapter, with tons of interesting, short adventures that do an incredible job of bringing the city to life - but they're just handed to the PCs in a boring, linear fashion! And, worst of all, the PCS themselves don't have any part in finding Froglegs, they're just told where to find her at a dramatically appropriate moment. We can do better than that.
Overview
The goal here is to restructure Chapter 2 such that the PCs are actually driving the story and deciding which jobs to take. I'll be taking a lot of inspiration from the Alexandrian Remixes, particularly his remix of Dragon Heist which, to date, is my favorite published adventure I've ever run. Obviously, you'll need a copy of the book to make the best use of this.
Today, we will go through the basic gameplay loop that this chapter should follow, along with how that's gone in my game so far and what the context is.
This series covers:
- Part 1: Introduction & Structure (this article)
- Part 2A: Finding Froglegs
- Part 2B: Froglegs' Faction Outpost and Response Teams
- Part 3A: Sussing Out Salathiss
- Part 3B: Serpentfolk Response Teams & Related Quests
- Part 3C: Magistrate's Manor Adversity Roster
- Part 4: Quest Breakdown (fitting in all the book quests)
- Collected Links (useful resources for running Strength of Thousands)
- Actual Play Update: Mid Chapter 2
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| From Lost Omens: The Mwangi Expanse |
Gameplay Loop
Instead of a string of quest-givers directing the PCs towards whatever the GM feels like prepping that week, the PCS will go out into the city, use whatever contacts and relationships they've gained thus far, and investigate! This can take more or less whatever form they want, and both what skill they will roll and what quests they might uncover will depend on their approach, but the DC will usually be 20.
The party will likely uncover a few hooks at a time, most leading to different quests (though it can always be fun to just throw in rumors that don't lead anywhere), and will have to decide which one is the most important or interesting. In my game, they were basically told that their teachers would adjust classes around the party taking on one mission per month, and if they want to pursue more they will either have to cut into their limited downtime (see below) or somehow trick/convince the teachers.
Each quest will bring the party into a different part of the city, introduce NPCs that they can later use as contacts, and in most cases point to future quests! If they don't pick up on those clues, or either aren't interested or aren't in a position to pursue them, they can go back to their contacts and look for rumors of more potential jobs to take.
Downtime
In my game, we track time pretty strictly, and for each month in-game they get 1 week of downtime. This can be used in many ways: in addition to those in the core rules, they can study (1 week), participate in a club of some sort (3 days, grants a hero point that they can only use for a certain skill but doesn't go away), do research on a specific topic (3 days, things like finding leylines beneath the school), and now look for rumors (1 day). Buying/selling items anywhere other than the Powderpile also takes a day or more, as (obviously) do crafting and earning income.
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