Book Review: Princes of the Apocalypse

I'll be getting to Red Larch and its place in my Sword Coast Sandbox in the next post. However, I Princes of the Apocalypse. And I specifically want to review it from the perspective of a DM who's up to the same tricks as me -- running a campaign organized around site-based adventures rather than plots and storylines.
wanted to start with a brief review of

From this perspective, the campaign is a bit of a puzzle. On the one hand, the book is filled with site-based adventure content, so that's certainly a big positive. Red Larch itself is a village with some very interesting things going on; the level 1 and 2 adventure hooks are extremely easy to use, as are the side treks for higher levels; the Dessarin Valley is a mini campaign setting, complete with day/night random encounter tables; and, of course, the Elemental Temples, the Fane, and the Elemental Nodes represent a good-size megadungeon that can occupy our heroes for most of the second and third tiers of play.

On the other hand, there's this story. And while everyone who plays this campaign is almost certain to know what it's about, it's presented as a mystery. See, some VIPs are missing, the PCs investigate, and it turns out...gasp!...that Cults of Elemental Evil are responsible. So our heroes do their investigation, they follow the bread crumbs to one or more of the "Haunted Keeps" that the players all know are controlled by the Cults, and I suppose the heroes need to search these keeps to find any missing VIPs that may be held there. In the course of their explorations/investigations/infiltrations/assaults, they may also discover one or more entrances to a corresponding Temple beneath the earth.

Okay, I don't want to tell a story, I really don't want to tell a mystery story, and I especially don't want to tell a story that is a mystery to the characters but not to their players. As stories go, it feels like the crappy prologue at the beginning of a fantasy epic that didn't need to be there in the first place. It's like one of those old-school adventure games where you know exactly what you need to do, but you first need to discover the right combination of mouse clicks so your avatar in the game can also get a clue. "Okay, what hoops do we need to jump through before we can get to the
Temple of Elemental Evil?"

So what, you say, you don't want to use any of this "story" stuff anyway. Just skip it. I can do that -- now what do you want me to do with the Haunted Keeps? As adventure locations, their only point is to guard the entrances to the Temples. However, they aren't really set up as dungeon crawls. The expectation seems to be that the PCs will infiltrate one or more of the keeps and then search for members of delegations once they're inside. They could do a frontal assault or recon in force instead, but...why? Well, because they learn of the ancient dwarven city of Tyar-Besil, and they discover that the keeps guard the entrances, right?

Well, then they might decide to go through one of the keeps. There's no reason for them to go poking around the other three (unless you happen to be looking for members of a missing delegation, or something). I could contrive some other reason they need to explore each keep (they need the four elemental keys, see...), but that would make my implementation of the material less sandboxy and more computer gamey. Not good. Even worse, a sandbox campaign means the campaign can never become "about" stopping the Cults of Elemental Evil, unless the players choose to make it about that. But these keeps filled with Cultists of Elemental Evil kind of stick out as problems to be solved. They're going to cause trouble, especially if/when the PCs launch an expedition into the Temples.

So it really seems as though, if the keeps exist at all, they can't just be ignored. It will appear to most players as though the cultists must be eradicated if the PCs are going to explore Tyar-Besil. And that starts to look like a railroad. If the PCs need to go after the surface cults in order to explore the dwarven city, the campaign has become about stopping the cults...and then why aren't we just playing Princes of the Apocalypse as written?

I'm sorely tempted to keep the keeps (heh) as the entrances to the Temples, but repopulate them with unrelated adversaries. Maybe the PCs' own research and lore reveals that there were once entrances to Tyar-Besil from each of the keeps, but now many centuries later only one is believed to be open. I'll roll randomly to determine which one and sprinkle some clues around so it's not just blind luck for the players to find it. But then I have to completely refluff and restock up to four adventure locations, and that's not really what the Sword Coast Sandbox is about.

I'm going to have to work on it. But that's really my only substantive complaint about Princes of the Apocalypse. The mystery story that isn't really a mystery is an annoying contrivance, but one that is mercifully brief and can be ignored. However, the Haunted Keeps filled with cultists are elephants in the room, where the room is our sandbox, and this makes them very difficult to implement as take-it-or-leave-it adventure locations.

So I give the campaign 4/5 stars for my sandbox project (still a ton of content!), but I reckon I'd join the bandwagon and give it 5/5 stars for DMs looking to play it straight.


 

Harpshield Castle

We have one more "entry level" adventure location in Daggerford -- Harpshield Castle. Filarion Filvendorson is the heroes' contact for this adventure hook and he can even provide them a map of the area that includes the castle's location. The orc raids also trouble Sherlen Miller, so once again, the PCs will earn the constable's gratitude if they choose to investigate.

As with Julkoun, this adventure location can be run with little modification. There are also some further connections to be discovered here that will aid the heroes in their continuing adventures in the region.

• The orcs at Harpshield Castle helped to excavate Bloodgate Keep and they know its location.
• They trade slaves for weapons with the duergar in Firehammer Hold.
• Wartsnak has the Delimbiyr Bloke, a McGuffin that will be helpful to the PCs in Firehammer Hold.
• There is an orc-keyed map in the treasure room showing the location of both Firehammer Hold and Bloodgate Keep.

We now have three starting adventure hooks (Lizard Marsh, Julkoun, and Harpshield Castle) that all include connections to Firehammer Hold. However, there is no script or plot forcing the adventurers to visit the ancient dwarven outpost. They always have other options.

Having wrapped up these starter adventures in Daggerford, lets head north and take a look at Red Larch. Because this village lies between Phandalin and Daggerford, it makes the most sense as a starting location for my sandbox campaign.

Julkoun

This adventure location is one I can pretty much play straight for my sandbox. The only change I want to make is that there's no reason for the Red Wizard, Thegger Grynn, or the succubus to be involved. The village was simply overrun by humanoids led by Shorg and Gabulla.

The PCs get this adventure hook from Hadeshah, the cleric of Chauntea at Harvest House. She's very concerned about Estor, the caretaker of the shrine at Julkoun, and offers to repay the characters for their assistance with whatever healing aid they may require while in Daggerford. Sherlen Miller is also concerned about the loss of contact with Julkoun, and it may occur to the PCs that getting on the militia captain's good side could prove beneficial. The gratitude of these two NPCs should be of interest to the PCs if they plan to make Daggerford their base of operations for a while.

If our heroes are successful in Julkoun, they'll learn that many of the surviving villagers were taken as slaves to Firehammer Hold.

The Lizard Marsh

Art by David A. Trampier

In Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, the 1st-level characters are witnesses to the hanging of a Red 
Wizard, infiltrated by a rakshasa and tasked with locating the lair of a black dragon. In the Sword Coast Sandbox, none of that happens -- they instead learn of the legend of a lost temple to Amanautor hidden somewhere in the swamp. They can decide to check it out, or not. It's their choice.

In GoDC, Sir Isteval asks the PCs to find the black dragon's lair after it attacks Cromm's Hold. I don't really want the players to have to rationalize why this is a good idea for their 1st-level characters, but I do want to introduce them to Sir Isteval. He's a former Purple Dragon Knight who's been there and done that, but is now on the downside of his career. He'd make a good patron and ally for the right kind of PCs. Fortunately, Sir Isteval is a paladin of Amanautor, and locating the lost temple to his deity (and recovering its sacred relic) is on his bucket list, even if he can't be bothered to do it himself.

The Lizard Marsh is actually a super-awesome, old-school adventure location; it just might not be readily apparent due to all the "story" with which the authors have camouflaged it.

In the Sword Coast Sandbox campaign, if the PCs want to find the lost temple of Amanautor, they have to do it the hard way: They have to slog through the swamp until they stumble upon someone who can point them in the right direction. GoDC offers a nice random encounter table (1d20) -- the PCs will need to find some friendly lizardfolk (9 and 16), who will tell them about the temple; or they need to find and interrogate some evil lizardfolk, minions of the Lizard Queen Vethka (10). So that's a 15% chance for a clue whenever a random encounter is indicated. The other 85% of the time, the PCs will encounter everything from natural hazards (sinkhole), to points of interest (an ancient gazebo from the elf empire, Illefarn; a shipwreck), to monsters ranging from giant frogs and lizards to trolls and even a hydra...

Another random encounter in the Lizard Marsh is Krandon Manor and the Clotskulls tribe of swamp-dwelling half-orcs (half-dwarf!) that have taken up residence therein. I intend to play this straight, except the Clotskulls haven't stolen an egg from the black dragon and they aren't static. If the PCs spend more than a couple days in the swamp, the Clotskulls will be alerted to their presence and start tracking them. They'll try to wait until the PCs are weakest before waylaying them. Mama Booga knows the location of the lost temple, as well as the location and general situation at both Harpshield Castle and Firehammer Hold. So there may be some payoff for all the hell to which her boys can introduce the PCs. This is also a good example of a key technique for running a sandbox campaign: You don't railroad the PCs along a predetermined path, but you create lots of connections between adventure locations so they can choose their own path.

Okay, so the Lizard Marsh could be a really horrific experience for the characters. Eventually, they'll either give up in disgust (a perfectly acceptable outcome) or find their way to the temple.

The temple was dedicated to Amanautor, the sun god, way back whenever. But when Vethka the lizard queen rose to power, she claimed the temple as her palace. Vethka and her minions are afflicted with a terrible wasting disease and worship Talona, the goddess of plague and disease. Better yet, deep below the temple is the lair of a black dragon who Vethka has proclaimed the Chosen of Talona.

Now, this is one of the cool features of a sandbox campaign: Not every encounter, or every area, or every level of an adventure location is custom tailored to present a "fair challenge" to the PCs. A capable group of low-level PCs will be able to clear the temple of Vethka and her followers. They will not be able to deal with the black dragon that lairs on the lowest level of the dungeon. Instead, after accomplishing what they can, the heroes will have to run away to fight again another day. This is cool, because it means that the temple is not a disposable location: The players will remember the dragon, and they may well choose to return and finish what they started as more experienced and powerful adventurers. And, of course, it turns out that the "sacred relic" that drew them to the Lizard Marsh (I'm thinking sun blade, because it's awesome) is in that dragon's hoard. The heroes get just a  glimpse of the golden hilt with a miniature glowing sun for its pommel before they're forced to retreat. Perhaps it even flares, as if it were sentient and calling to them...


 

Getting Started: Daggerford

I anticipate starting the Sword Coast Sandbox campaign in Red Larch, for the simple reason that it is situated between Phandalin in the north and Daggerford in the south. In Red Larch, I'll have a handful of adventure hooks the PCs can choose to pursue, and also hooks that will take them to Phandalin and Daggerford if they choose.

However, I won't receive Princes of the Apocalypse until early next week, so I'm going to begin my preparation in Daggerford. This is the location of many of the adventures detailed in the playtest modules: Ghosts of Dragonspear Castle, Scourge of the Sword Coast, and Dead in Thay.

Again, my goal is to use as much of the adventure content as possible while decoupling the adventure locations from the scripted story. The premise of the campaign is that the PCs are adventurers looking for wild lands to explore, monsters to battle, tombs and lost ruins to plunder and great treasures to win. For adventurers like that, the locations around Daggerford have much to offer.

In Daggerford itself, I'll use most of the in-town locations and NPCs as described in GoDC and SotSC, but there will be no scripted events, no rakshasas or succubi manipulating affairs from the shadows. It's just an interesting town, with some interesting characters and some interesting challenges to confront and overcome.

Here are the adventure hooks available to the PCs when they first arrive in Daggerford:

The Lizard Marsh (GoDC): The ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to Amanautor are hidden somewhere in the swamp. I'll garnish this rumor with the legend of a powerful religious relic that was lost when the temple fell.

Julkoun (SotSC): There has been no contact with the village of Julkoun for more than a tenday. This hook will come with the promise of the good will and healing arts of a Daggerford cleric.

Harpshield Castle (SotSC): Orcs have been raiding outlying farmsteads and communities along the Delimbiyr Route from the highlands north and east of the Floshin Estate. One of the locals helped outfit an adventuring company for an expedition to the keep about a month ago. They hoped to recover a lost treasure trove from the time of the Kingdom of Man, but they never returned.

Each of these adventures will in turn "unlock" further adventure hooks. I'll also include some adventure hooks linking back to Red Larch, which I can modify based upon what (if anything) the PCs accomplished in the Dessarin Valley before heading to Daggerford. That way, the players always know that adventure is waiting for them elsewhere: At all times, there should be several enticing opportunities for them, even if that means packing up and leaving town.

In the posts that follow, I'll discuss The Lizard Marsh, Julkoun and Harpshield Castle in more detail, laying out how I plan to use them.