Thoughts on a fast-paced BECMI campaign
by Anarion_ElendiliSo I think my original idea of going from 1st to 36th level is indeed overly ambitious. In particular, when I am looking at the higher end modules, I am not sure that I would enjoy that level of play, neither as a player or as a GM. But I can leave it open ended for now.
Here is my quick campaign check-list so far... Obviously, from here on out, There Be Spoilers:
1st level: Castle Caldwell -> Burned down fortified country manor of Mallek the Medium, half a day's travel from Specularum on the seashore.
2nd level: Veiled Society
2nd level: Eye of Traldar OR The Great Escape (i.e. Yolanda Has Been Kidnapped)
+ Ties to Skarda's Mirror (with some minor adjustments in the backstory of that module)
+ Ties to the whole Elwyn & Hobgoblins plot (by making the cleric to be Elwyn herself if possible; I trust that the PCs won't try to murder her straight away, but if that happens, I can always claim that it was just an apprentice, and use the unholy symbol to link them)
+ Ties to the Veiled Society:
++ The employer is not Clifton Caldwell, but Fortunato Vorloi, a well-to-do merchant, hoping to renovate the place since the view is rather gorgeous
++ The PCs also get to meet their employer's lovely young daughter, Lucia, and witness her altercation with that brute, Stephanos Torenescu
+ Ties to the Iron Ring (and thus DDA3 and B10):
++ The cellar is being used as an Iron Ring safehouse; indeed, the 'traders' in the ruins are likely part of the Iron Ring. Also, I might shift the two mages into more Iron Ring thugs, and I am definitely going to reuse some familiar faces later in DDA3 and B10...
++ Introduce Alexei Schelepin (DDA3) and via him, Yolanda of Luln, who is running an anti-Black Hawk Barony operation, funded out of Specularum but primarily based in Luln.
++ Makes the Iron Ring a suspect in the murder in the Veiled Society
+ Might as well work it while it is hot.
+ Less work for me to convert.
+ The collapse of the Veiled Society actually makes The Iron Ring stronger.
+ I keep vacillating between using DDA 3 and The Great Escape as the basis of this mission... I can make arguments for either, and I'd spare the other to use for the PCs to unmask the Iron Ring later on. My feeling is that DDA 3's strong connection to the Black Eagle Barony would make it a nice cap on the Karameikos portion of the campaign, so I am currently thinking of adapting The Great Escape into The Great Rescue.
+ If using DDA 3, rather than a magical MacGuffin, it is the famous singer, Yolanda, who has been kidnapped (possibly using the riots during the Veiled Society as a distraction) and in need for rescue. Alexei grabs the PCs for a rescue party at Specularum, and then it is off to the races. Most of the module should play out more or less as written, although since I wish to preserve the Iron Ring as baddies, they have a bit better operational security than in the module rather than gifting all their network to the PCs to expose. That can wait until after B10.
+ If using The Great Escape, the setup is quite similar as before, but rather than Fort Doom, the PCs track the kidnappers to a small fort in the foothills between Fort Doom and Luln. Maybe even needing to stop at Luln and get familiar with the NPCs who show up in DDA 3 later, to make events in that module strike harder. I am now more into this idea.
+ Possible consequences:
++ Yolanda has been unmasked as anti-Iron Ring, at the very least, so she needs to vanish. Maybe ask the PCs to escort her to Darokin and thus leading to the Caravan Ambush and the next part of the story.
++ The help gained from the operatives in Luln may have unmasked them, too, hence the issues during DDA 3.