Thoughts about Merging B8 and B10
by wsc7741I ran a Mystara campaign many years ago for my kids that included the Castle Caldwell, Journey to the Rock, and Night's Dark Terror modules (in that order and all modded to play in 5e). I edited the story line to focus on the Iron Ring as te common thread through all of the modules The kids loved it and it got them started on playing the game. But it was obvious when we played the modules that B8 Journey to the Rock was short, weird, and seemed like a lazy version of B10. Both B8 and B10 include discovery of an ancient lost city/ culture, but B10 is fully flushed out whereas B8 sees rushed and the wizard who hires you never even shows up. I am going to run a version of this again for some new players and was thinking about editing B8 to include an ancient Traladar city instead of Tuma. I could then tie the Journey to the Rock directly in as a prelude to Night's Dark Terror including clueing the players in to what the tapestry might represent early on in B10. I then could also have the wizard from B8 show in B10 as an Iron Ring agent. I am also going to probably run B8 as it plays in the B1-9 book with only the one western path... since I really just want it as a preface, having only one path for the players that avoids the Tuma city makes it easier to run and easier to place northeast of Threshold. Does anyone have any experience (or thoughts) on playing these together?
by Anarion_Elendili
I am running a a BECMI campaign currently as well
While I was not going to use B8, since I have a dislike of long-lost civilizations as low level adventures, I would be curious to hear more of your ideas and experiences as I am using the Iron Ring as the connecting baddies in the campaign, too.
The adventure as it stands is not too interesting IMHO, apart from Tuma itself and the Ghostly Riders. Mr. Welch suggested making more use of it by removing the choice of the trails and instead put all the encounters to the same trail, thus extending the adventure. Although you might not wish to do that if you are just running it as a short adventure.
Some quick thoughts:
1. I'd make it 'normal ruins' rather than a magically blinking city.
2. I'd have the city destroyed by the Beast-Man Invasion.
3. I'd be inclined to rework the background of Tuma slightly to make it at least the previous home to the Traldar in B10, if not that of the Hutaakans as well.
After a very, very brief glancing through of the B10:
1. Have Tula be a Hutaakan-ruled Traldar city. There are no Tulan Kings (use Ending B in B8).
2. Instead of the Amulet, the treasure is a scroll similar to the one that is found in B10, commanding the Hutaakans to retreat to the Valley of Hutaaka with their slaves.
3. The Tapestry in B10 does not show the whole of Karameikos, but does show Tula, Xitaqa and the Lost Valley. Since the PCs know the other two by now, it is easy enough for them to map where the third one is, even absent of clear geographical clues.
by wsc7741
Super helpful! I very much like the idea of changing Tuma to a Hutaakan-ruled Traladar city that was abandoned and destroyed. That alone ties it to B10 and making it part of the tapestry helps the players make that connection. I agree with changing the ghost city to just abandoned ruins. The ghost city is weird.
My campaign has the Iron Ring as the primary adversary throughout. I have the players begin in Kelvin with a homebrew adventure where through a bit of happenstance they discover a caravan of stolen goods that is departing Kelvin and passing on a hidden smuggler's route through Radlebb Wood on its way west to Luln. They have several choices on how to intercept the caravan. The best of which is to ambush it within Radlebb Wood (at a horseshoe in the route that makes a natural kill zone). There is also a way to get someone inside the caravan guards on their side. Kinda depends on what he players choose on how easy this is. When they stop the caravan, they discover that the cargo is a set of kidnapped children (orphans from the streets of Kelvin). They don't really now the identity of the slaveryborganization (and the Iron Ring is not publicly known or even known to the Baron's yet). They then take the kids to somewhere "safe" and from then they need money to protect the kids which is when the opportunity for clearing Castle Caldwell comes up. This will then eventually get them to Threshold no matter where they choose to go after freeing the kids.
From here on it becomes a battle to defeat elements of the Iron Ring starting in Threshold and then moving from there across Karameikos. They will actually use the dungeon under Castle Caldwell to trap Threshold Iron Ring Elements. It is a nice way to reuse the Castle Caldwell dungeon. Oh and I make Clifton Caldwell exactly like Clyde Caldwell *in appearance and as an artist thst is just a merchant on the side). I even have him repeat phrases that the artist used from interviews. That was mostly in inside joke for me. The kids didn't get any of that.
I basically use the B series modules for their dungeons and as secondary storyline that keep the main story of battling human trafficking going. It actually worked really well with young kids (11-13 year olds) even though it is a pretty mature subject. The kids also didn't seem to mind some of the weird inconsistencies in those early modules though adults are gon a pick up kn that. I will have to do a better job storytelling through those.