Im new to posting here but I lurk regularly. Anyhow, I just started running the Key of Destiny module for a group of 5 players. The party consists of a cleric of Kiri-jolith a Cleric of Zivilyn a Ranger of Habbakuk a Thief and a Mage. All are human with the exception of the mage, hes Silvanesti. The cleric of Kiri-Jolith is headed down the path to becoming a Solamnic Knight.
My reason for the post is, does anyone have any suggestions, comments, or advice about running the module? Im looking for feedback from someone who may have run this before. Most importantly, did you find the module too hard for your characters?? And if you ran with more than the suggested 4 how did you generally ramp up the encounters?
Ive read through the entire module and am fairly comfortable with it, just kinda looking for other opinions or ideas. Thanks
Secondly, if you don't already have Spectre of Sorrows it might be well worth your while to pick it up so that you have an even better idea of where things are headed. This way you can more or less plot out things like the best places for training, picking up or inserting extra plotlines to help your players meet requirements for prestige classes, and so on.
Thirdly, use the module as a resource as well as an adventure. If you want to change something or remove something, go ahead - it's pretty forgiving. My players ended up using Ak-Khurman as a home base for a while as they sought to foil the Dark Knight plans in the region, for example, so I came up with invasions, Thorn Knight faction conflicts, conspiracies between the Dark Knights and the Red Dragonspawn, and so forth.
You have an excellent party of characters, too. I wish you luck! Hopefully, by the time they're all done with Spectre, you can move straight on to Price of Courage. ;)
Cheers,
Cam
One of the big concerns of this module that I've heard many people talk about is a bit of "railroading", especially with the various prophecies, visions, etc.
Also, chapter 3 (Shattered Temple) is a great read for the DM, but is really wordy if used in-game. Cam's mentioned taking this section, and having the players play out the roles in the flickers. I would also add that this might serve best as a basic guide, and to work up an outline from it and run it your way.
I found that chapter 4 opens up a lot of freedom for the characters. It's more of a backdrop at this point. Ak-Khurman is a great place for the Test of High Sorcery for your mage. Also, this area may help your prospective knight.
Right now, my group is ready to head across the bay to Port Balifor.
Good luck with the game. It sounds like you have a good balance of characters, which should be loads of fun.
Also, chapter 3 (Shattered Temple) is a great read for the DM, but is really wordy if used in-game. Cam's mentioned taking this section, and having the players play out the roles in the flickers. I would also add that this might serve best as a basic guide, and to work up an outline from it and run it your way.
I actually had Chemosh send half of the party back in time to when the events of the flickers actually happened. Their souls went back and took over the bodies of people in the past while their own bodies were in comas in the present. As each possessed body died, the soul of the PC "jumped" to the character that killed it, taking it over instead. So, it would seem as if an ogre would kill a Hurim Temple guard, then suddenly turn around and kill another ogre. Eventually, one of the possessing PCs was killed by the Betrayer, which ejected the Betrayer's soul out of his body, sent him into the future (to Chemosh), and trapped the PC's soul in his mortal body.
It was something like Quantum Leap meets the Battle of Helm's Deep.
Cheers,
Cam
As it is, what I found was the party was exceptionall well prepared when it came to thing like the Shattered temple, being that they had the turning needed for the undead, and dealt with that location rather easily. But they struggled greatly with the desolation.
The biggest problem for them, and I can understand why, but all the sidequests in the game seemed to well hidden and so they felt a bit railroaded through the stretch of the module. I would try to bring some of those things out and make them more obvious to the players.