Elder Evils, Golarion, and the Inner Sea

[atemu1234]

So I'm currently running Age of Worms, but updated to Pathfinder. Some of the lore changes I've made are as follows:


The setting is, specifically, in Molthune, around Cettigne. This was somewhat arbitrary, basically because googling "Free City Pathfinder" led to me finding Cettigne, and it seemed as good a place to start as any.
The various cults from the original module are replaced with ones from Golarion/previous adventures I've made them for, to provide the players with a sense of continuity from the other adventures they've done.
Dragotha is a black dragon, because they don't get enough love, and the canon is split on whether they're black or red, anyways.
Kyuss was originally a cleric of Pharasma, who was corrupted by Urgathoa, and betrayed both to try and become a deity in his own right. He was the last king of a dynasty descended from the Azlanti, seated in the Mwambi expanse in the Wormcrawl Fissure, which was originally ruled over by Cyclops prior to the Age of Darkness.


This list isn't complete, but it's all the major ones I can think of. I'm trying to figure out more in advance now what other bits of lore won't mesh very well. Is anyone more familiar with Golarion lore than I (and, to a degree, the adventure path I'm running) willing to make any suggestions?

[glass]

It is a long time since I ran AoW, and while I am somewhat familiar with Golarion I would not claim to be an expert, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But nothing leaps out at me as a major issue at first glance. A couple of minor thoughts:


Cettigne is much smaller than Greyhawk, which might be an issue for equipment shopping at higher levels, but Canorrate is just down the river.
On the (admittedly high level) maps I can find, there is no obvious place to put the Mistmarsh near Cettigne.

[Septimus]

Hi there. I am running too Age of Worm with Pathfinder, but I put in Greyhawk. However I am quite ok with Golarion lore, so I'll try to help with my thoughts, which you can discard anyway ;)

The setting is, specifically, in Molthune, around Cettigne. This was somewhat arbitrary, basically because googling "Free City Pathfinder" led to me finding Cettigne, and it seemed as good a place to start as any.
The various cults from the original module are replaced with ones from Golarion/previous adventures I've made them for, to provide the players with a sense of continuity from the other adventures they've done.
Dragotha is a black dragon, because they don't get enough love, and the canon is split on whether they're black or red, anyways.
Kyuss was originally a cleric of Pharasma, who was corrupted by Urgathoa, and betrayed both to try and become a deity in his own right. He was the last king of a dynasty descended from the Azlanti, seated in the Mwambi expanse in the Wormcrawl Fissure, which was originally ruled over by Cyclops prior to the Age of Darkness.

The "Free City" in Greyhawk is not based on the freedom of the people, but on the freedom of the market. Anything, and I mean it, can be found in the Free City. In Golarion, it should be a major trading hub, such as Absolom ou Katapesh. Molthune is quite the opposite to "free market" and over-populated area, but I guess that if you have started it would be difficult to change that. Korvosa, with the proximity of the Mushfens and the numerous Thassilonian ruins would have been a sweet spot.
You can convert the Ebon Triad to an heresy of Asmodeus, Norgorber and Rovagug to follow the LE/NE/CE alignment pattern. Norgorber and Asmodeus might send cultists to erase the problem, and the PCs with them
You can convert Dragotha to a non-chromatic dragon. Black dragons are rather weak, and even a great wyrm lich would not the have the CR high enough to challenge the PCs, especially as pathfinder had reduced the dragons' CR. I recommend to convert it to a planar dragon. Both apocalypse and hell dragons are fantastic beasts and thematic with the background of Dragotha as consort of Tiamat (Dahak in Golarion). Similarly, you can convert Lashona to something else (I chose an occult psychic dragon in my game, more a caster kind of dragon compared to the "brute" Dragotha).

The story of Kyuss seems good to me. In the original plot, Kyuss was a mystic theurge of Nerull/Urgathoa, and betrayed by Nerull/Urgathoa in his ascension: he ascended (mythic rules there?), but was trapped. You might want to think on the Harbinger of Skull as well as the original monster is not a Pathfinder/Golarion one. I had troubles with that, and figured out that a naga (spirit) would be fit, in link with the old naga Empire that disappears eons ago in Casmaron. Similarly, most avolakia became nagas.

One thing you might have trouble to adapt would be the Duke of Winds and the quest of the Rod of Seven parts, which does not fit well in Golarion. I kept it, as I am in Grayhawk, but I don't know what the conversion would be in Golarion :/

Just food for thought ;)

[Tzardok]

Historically, "Free City" means something like a city that is not part of a greater nation, usually without a king or other noble ruler. The Free City of Greyhawk is a city state governed by a mayor; that's why it's a free city.

[atemu1234]

It is a long time since I ran AoW, and while I am somewhat familiar with Golarion I would not claim to be an expert, so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But nothing leaps out at me as a major issue at first glance. A couple of minor thoughts:


Cettigne is much smaller than Greyhawk, which might be an issue for equipment shopping at higher levels, but Canorrate is just down the river.
On the (admittedly high level) maps I can find, there is no obvious place to put the Mistmarsh near Cettigne.


In this case, I just fudged the details. I placed Diamond Lake in the foothills of the mountains south of Cettigne, and retconned there to be a large swamp relatively adjacent, with the titular lake being a man-made one that keeps it from spreading south (due to the influence of a black dragon, actually.

As for Cettigne, since it's just part of Molthune proper, I mostly just have some shopping occur offscreen, and since one of my players likes item crafting, it isn't really an issue offhand.


Historically, "Free City" means something like a city that is not part of a greater nation, usually without a king or other noble ruler. The Free City of Greyhawk is a city state governed by a mayor; that's why it's a free city.

In this case, it's the City-Formerly-Known-As-The-Free-City-of-Cettigne, so it's something of a moot point.

I retconned the Red Death to be a plague known as the Weeping, which is actually the Tears of Achlys, which the players unleashed in the previous AP my group played, Way of the Wicked.

In my setting, the plague hit Cettigne and much of the coastal Inner Sea hard, and during it, Molthune blockaded Cettigne and forcibly annexed them on the condition that Molthunian healers would help deal with the plague.


The "Free City" in Greyhawk is not based on the freedom of the people, but on the freedom of the market. Anything, and I mean it, can be found in the Free City. In Golarion, it should be a major trading hub, such as Absolom ou Katapesh. Molthune is quite the opposite to "free market" and over-populated area, but I guess that if you have started it would be difficult to change that. Korvosa, with the proximity of the Mushfens and the numerous Thassilonian ruins would have been a sweet spot.

Indeed, I'm already actually in the third part of the AP, but your feedback is especially appreciated because it lets me compare the changes I made to ones others have.


You can convert the Ebon Triad to an heresy of Asmodeus, Norgorber and Rovagug to follow the LE/NE/CE alignment pattern. Norgorber and Asmodeus might send cultists to erase the problem, and the PCs with them

I actually primarily made the triad a cult of Asmodeus and Zon-Kuthon to tie into a previous AP the party did, with the Asmodean cult leader being a minor NPC serving Adrastus Thorn in Way of the Wicked.

The NPC in question went crazy after reading a copy of the Nethertome, and the Grimlocks I replaced with Morlocks (actually descended from the clerics who served Kyuss prior to his failed attempt at apotheosis). Overall it didn't much change the plot.


You can convert Dragotha to a non-chromatic dragon. Black dragons are rather weak, and even a great wyrm lich would not the have the CR high enough to challenge the PCs, especially as pathfinder had reduced the dragons' CR. I recommend to convert it to a planar dragon. Both apocalypse and hell dragons are fantastic beasts and thematic with the background of Dragotha as consort of Tiamat (Dahak in Golarion). Similarly, you can convert Lashona to something else (I chose an occult psychic dragon in my game, more a caster kind of dragon compared to the "brute" Dragotha).

Honestly, I was just going to pile on a few levels of caster and call it a day for Dragotha. I'm writing the content from Elder Evils into the campaign as well, so I already have a few extra BBEGs running around without needing to make her too powerful on her own.


The story of Kyuss seems good to me. In the original plot, Kyuss was a mystic theurge of Nerull/Urgathoa, and betrayed by Nerull/Urgathoa in his ascension: he ascended (mythic rules there?), but was trapped. You might want to think on the Harbinger of Skull as well as the original monster is not a Pathfinder/Golarion one. I had troubles with that, and figured out that a naga (spirit) would be fit, in link with the old naga Empire that disappears eons ago in Casmaron. Similarly, most avolakia became nagas.

I actually expanded Kyuss's backstory for this purpose - his entire lineage were prophet- royalty who, up until him, kept a group of Azlanti alive in the Deep Mwambi, basically a line of high priests of Pharasma, blessed by her to lead with wisdom.

Of course, he pulled a face-heel after being corrupted/seduced by Urgathoa, who actually gave him the first cursed graveworm that became the worms of Kyuss via his experimentation. Of course, once someone's cheated once, they're liable to do it again, and instead of corrupting a certain (homebrewed) artifact of Pharasma, he tried to use it to attain divinity, and steal power from Urgathoa. It would have worked, if he hadn't gotten greedy, and wound up trapped.

I actually updated the Avolakia myself, I'm including one as a sort of Mouth of Sauron situation.


One thing you might have trouble to adapt would be the Duke of Winds and the quest of the Rod of Seven parts, which does not fit well in Golarion. I kept it, as I am in Grayhawk, but I don't know what the conversion would be in Golarion

I just brought them over wholesale, and put them in service to the Good Elemental Lords of Air. A race of semi-divine elemental servitors works fine, and the artifact functions well enough as-is.

[glass]

I just brought them over wholesale, and put them in service to the Good Elemental Lords of Air. A race of semi-divine elemental servitors works fine, and the artifact functions well enough as-is.Another possible substitution for the Rod of Seven Parts is the Shattered Star, which is pretty similar in a "serial numbers filed off" kinda way. Although canonically there is no known way to stick 2-6 parts of the latter together like there is with the former, which might b an issue if the PCs end up with two bits - OTOH, you could just ignore it.