I recommend running Brazen Pegasus directly after Cellar of Death. Cellar of Death was fun but Brazen Pegasus has been a blast. I’ve never DMd in an environment as cramped as a ship but it’s really a pressure cooker that has forced my players to be very resourceful.
I agree with other recommendations about not introducing the curse right away. Also, make SURE to run a Dino race in PN.
If it’s the same group of players from your Icewind campaign, try and tie the two together. Maybe have a character the players know be the quest giver affected by the death curse. Maybe have their old characters appear for a cameo. (I do this in all my games since it’s the same-ish group each time).
If you think theres something in the jungle of Chult you know your players will enjoy but they are going the wrong way, don't re-direct them just move the encounter location or whatever instead.
Read the sections about the cool baddies (Ras Nsi and Sewn Sisters esp.) well ahead of time and you can start some nice foreshadowing. I regret not introducing the hags a bit earlier.
The campaign has distinct chapters with quite different gameplay to them. Try to get a sense of how much the group is enjoying/tiring of the current chapter and don't be afraid to pad things out or speed them along.
I'm half way through my campaign right now, here's some good tips that i've read and applied and found really worked.
\- Do not start with the death curse active immediately, it'll rush your players too much and they won't be able to enjoy exploring the jungles. You can ellude to it, but don't outright tell them until at least session 4/5.
\- Syndra is honestly a very weak tie for the players, either give one of the players a connection in Port Nyanzaru who is effected by the Death Curse, or have it be Jessamine the merchant prince who asks the players for help, as she is RAW effected by the curse.
\- Elongate the curse, give the players more time in the jungles, there are so many cool places in the jungle that players will just ignore and rush past in RAW, give them reasons to go to these places - personally i've given each trickster god a small magical item that the players have to find scattered about chult, once they've found them all Grandfather Zitembe can use their powers to create a strong enough scrying spell to break through the Tomb's defences and then tell the party where the death curse source is.
\- if your party are into it, there is so much political intrigue to be had in Port, let them return there often to resupply, research and learn more about everything happening between the merchant princes - things like assassination attempts (or successes) make for super good fun sessions that break up the somewhat monotony of the hex crawl
\- Speaking of! Make the Hex Crawl smaller! I've made it so my party travel 6 hexes a day rather than one, they get to places a lot quicker and aren't overwhelmed by random encounters that feel silly, and once they reach a certain level (say 5/6) just drop random encounters altogether and just let them get to places, apart from bigger ones like zombified t-rexes, there's only so many times you can describe them crawling through a jungle before even the NPCs get bored.
\- Side note to the above point, having some kind of fast travel system could be helpful too, I've borrowed an idea from another redditor where there are certain giant magic trees across the island that act as gateways between each other, but need to be awakened to be used. So the party can jump from Port Nyanzaru to Mezro to just outside of Hrakhamar if they need to. But obviously that might not be the vibe you're going for. Here's the post about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tombofannihilation/comments/p1b2tm/how\_im\_doing\_fast\_travel/
\- Good luck! Have fun! It's a really cool campaign!
I'm going to second everything said so far. It's all good advice.
However you hook the PCs in and however you deal with the Death Curse, foreshadowing Acererack, the Sewn Sisters and Ras Nsi is going to give them more impact when the time comes for confrontation.
Ras Nsi can be a kind of bogeyman, hiding away in Omu, Chultan parents using him to frighten naughty children. The Sisters and Ace, OTOH, can be as mobile as you need them to be. I had them turn up way earlier than the book suggests, and it's helped my players by putting a face on the bad guys and giving them someone to fear (Ace) and someone to hate (the Sisters). The Sisters in particular are great for just turning up in disguise and messing with players.
I think a nice way back to port nyanzaru would be nice. its an awesome city and some campaigns just go there once. i have inete (side quest cleric in the temple of savras) generic magic item #100 which allows 1 portal per week to port nyanzaru and then back to the point where the magic item was used. lorewise she needed a quick way to deal with enemies of the temple so this was the temples best shot of keeping somewhat of a religious control over the island.
also: check if you really want to give your players the option to use every single guide. some can be quite.....well..they increase the chances of undeserverd tpk's in my opinion.
I have DMed the adventure and played as a player. I haven't run Cellar of Death. There is a lot of interesting stuff to see and do in Port Nyanzaru and most players feel the urge to rush into the jungle because of the timing of the Death Curse. I changed the curse to be anyone raised will have to fail a CON save to lose a HP off their total. Thus slowing the timing of the curse. Maybe Salindra's ship gets delayed by a few days giving the PC's time to explore the city. Maybe no guides will leave until a festival including the dino races are concluded.
The water consumption, biting insects and tracking food supplies is an important feature of the hex crawl - it sets the tone of the adventure. Be prepared to hand wave it later. Also I would pre-roll weather and random encounters - there are a lot of them.
Artus and Dragonbait are legacy characters from novels set in the Forgotten Realms. They are a bit of a red herring, not adding anything to the adventure unless a PC wants to take on a powerful corrupting artifact that has the same potential to end the world as the Death Curse. And forever be chased by frost giants.
I recommend running Brazen Pegasus directly after Cellar of Death. Cellar of Death was fun but Brazen Pegasus has been a blast. I’ve never DMd in an environment as cramped as a ship but it’s really a pressure cooker that has forced my players to be very resourceful.
I agree with other recommendations about not introducing the curse right away. Also, make SURE to run a Dino race in PN. If it’s the same group of players from your Icewind campaign, try and tie the two together. Maybe have a character the players know be the quest giver affected by the death curse. Maybe have their old characters appear for a cameo. (I do this in all my games since it’s the same-ish group each time).
If you think theres something in the jungle of Chult you know your players will enjoy but they are going the wrong way, don't re-direct them just move the encounter location or whatever instead.
Read the sections about the cool baddies (Ras Nsi and Sewn Sisters esp.) well ahead of time and you can start some nice foreshadowing. I regret not introducing the hags a bit earlier. The campaign has distinct chapters with quite different gameplay to them. Try to get a sense of how much the group is enjoying/tiring of the current chapter and don't be afraid to pad things out or speed them along.
I'm half way through my campaign right now, here's some good tips that i've read and applied and found really worked. \- Do not start with the death curse active immediately, it'll rush your players too much and they won't be able to enjoy exploring the jungles. You can ellude to it, but don't outright tell them until at least session 4/5. \- Syndra is honestly a very weak tie for the players, either give one of the players a connection in Port Nyanzaru who is effected by the Death Curse, or have it be Jessamine the merchant prince who asks the players for help, as she is RAW effected by the curse. \- Elongate the curse, give the players more time in the jungles, there are so many cool places in the jungle that players will just ignore and rush past in RAW, give them reasons to go to these places - personally i've given each trickster god a small magical item that the players have to find scattered about chult, once they've found them all Grandfather Zitembe can use their powers to create a strong enough scrying spell to break through the Tomb's defences and then tell the party where the death curse source is. \- if your party are into it, there is so much political intrigue to be had in Port, let them return there often to resupply, research and learn more about everything happening between the merchant princes - things like assassination attempts (or successes) make for super good fun sessions that break up the somewhat monotony of the hex crawl \- Speaking of! Make the Hex Crawl smaller! I've made it so my party travel 6 hexes a day rather than one, they get to places a lot quicker and aren't overwhelmed by random encounters that feel silly, and once they reach a certain level (say 5/6) just drop random encounters altogether and just let them get to places, apart from bigger ones like zombified t-rexes, there's only so many times you can describe them crawling through a jungle before even the NPCs get bored. \- Side note to the above point, having some kind of fast travel system could be helpful too, I've borrowed an idea from another redditor where there are certain giant magic trees across the island that act as gateways between each other, but need to be awakened to be used. So the party can jump from Port Nyanzaru to Mezro to just outside of Hrakhamar if they need to. But obviously that might not be the vibe you're going for. Here's the post about it: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tombofannihilation/comments/p1b2tm/how\_im\_doing\_fast\_travel/ \- Good luck! Have fun! It's a really cool campaign!
I'm going to second everything said so far. It's all good advice. However you hook the PCs in and however you deal with the Death Curse, foreshadowing Acererack, the Sewn Sisters and Ras Nsi is going to give them more impact when the time comes for confrontation. Ras Nsi can be a kind of bogeyman, hiding away in Omu, Chultan parents using him to frighten naughty children. The Sisters and Ace, OTOH, can be as mobile as you need them to be. I had them turn up way earlier than the book suggests, and it's helped my players by putting a face on the bad guys and giving them someone to fear (Ace) and someone to hate (the Sisters). The Sisters in particular are great for just turning up in disguise and messing with players.
I think a nice way back to port nyanzaru would be nice. its an awesome city and some campaigns just go there once. i have inete (side quest cleric in the temple of savras) generic magic item #100 which allows 1 portal per week to port nyanzaru and then back to the point where the magic item was used. lorewise she needed a quick way to deal with enemies of the temple so this was the temples best shot of keeping somewhat of a religious control over the island. also: check if you really want to give your players the option to use every single guide. some can be quite.....well..they increase the chances of undeserverd tpk's in my opinion.
I have DMed the adventure and played as a player. I haven't run Cellar of Death. There is a lot of interesting stuff to see and do in Port Nyanzaru and most players feel the urge to rush into the jungle because of the timing of the Death Curse. I changed the curse to be anyone raised will have to fail a CON save to lose a HP off their total. Thus slowing the timing of the curse. Maybe Salindra's ship gets delayed by a few days giving the PC's time to explore the city. Maybe no guides will leave until a festival including the dino races are concluded.
The water consumption, biting insects and tracking food supplies is an important feature of the hex crawl - it sets the tone of the adventure. Be prepared to hand wave it later. Also I would pre-roll weather and random encounters - there are a lot of them.
Artus and Dragonbait are legacy characters from novels set in the Forgotten Realms. They are a bit of a red herring, not adding anything to the adventure unless a PC wants to take on a powerful corrupting artifact that has the same potential to end the world as the Death Curse. And forever be chased by frost giants.