The Freeport Trilogy

Freeport Trilogy: 5-Year Anniversary Edition

Quotes from the Green Ronin forums are given in indented, italicized text. The original poster is credited in [brackets] at the end of each quote.

    My copies of the books were printed slightly too darkly, so the gray boxes on stat block headers and read-aloud passages made the text difficult to read in many places.

    "Encounters" subheaders were labeled as "Creatures" in previous editions.

    The creature stat blocks do not include squares in Spd. Most also omit the list of AC modifiers, just listing the final AC.

    In previous editions, creature stat blocks were given in an appendix, but the print omnibus has moved those stat blocks to the main text (and replaced those that simply copied MM stats with a reference to the MM). However, in the process of moving this data, lists of hp for groups of creatures were often lost. Where appropriate, these notes supply the hp lists given in the 3.5 PDFs.

What timeframe have DMs used for the three main adventures of the Trilogy? Milos states that the Lighthouse ceremony is three months off in DiF. MiF takes place days before the ceremony, presumably--but what about TiF? Suggestions welcome! [Gotham Gamemaster, 4/20/2006, "Trilogy Timeframe Question"]

Death begins about three months before the inauguration of the Lighthouse. (p. 9, last paragraph of Decade of Deceit; p. 15, News Around Freeport)

    Terror takes place approximately one month after Death. (p. 38, first paragraph of Part I: The Serpent's Skin)

    In Madness, the invitation to the ball arrives a few days after Terror, but the timing of the ball itself is left up to the DM. (p. 76, An Invitation)

    As you can see, Death and Madness are not in complete agreement here, so use your best judgment on the timing.

    Note that neither Death nor Terror alone gives quite enough XP to level twice before the next part. (The party should be about 3rd level for Terror, 5th for Madness.) Therefore, you will almost certainly want to run one or more side adventures between each part--either one of the Interludes provided, or an adventure you find elsewhere or craft yourself. So that's yet another factor to take into account.

Credits (p. 1)

Both p. 3 and the product page on the Green Ronin website state the subtitle as "5-Year Anniversary Edition"; change the header of p. 1 to match.

    See the PDF versions of Death in Freeport Revised, Terror in Freeport Revised, and Madness in Freeport Revised for a breakdown of credits by part. The "Special Thanks" sections of Terror and Madness were omitted in the print omnibus; see the PDFs for that text.

    "Holiday in the Sun" was designed by Chris Pramas and revised for 3.5 by Tim Emrick.

Table of Contents (p. 2)

Interlude I includes the ELs for each section; the other adventures do not.

Insert "Sidetracks…73". "Aftermath" is page 120 (not 119). "License…143" should read "Open Game License…143".

Preface (p. 3)

(See notes to p. 1, Credits, and pp. 32-35, Holiday in the Sun.)

Introduction (p. 4)

p. 4, About Freeport and These Adventures: The city book's full title is "Freeport: The City of Adventure".

p. 4, Notes and Encounter Levels: The Terror and Madness PDFs (p. 2 in each) have the following to say about character level:

Terror in Freeport…is suitable for a party of four 3rd-level characters, though it could be run with more, or with characters of up to 5th level, if you toughen up the opposition.

Madness in Freeport…is suitable for a party of four 4th to 6th level characters of levels, though it could be run with less or with characters up to 7th level if you strengthen the opposition. (Note that a party who lacks magic weapons or a cleric will be at a serious disadvantage, especially in Part Two.)

pp. 6-7, The City of Freeport [map]: The following locations are buildings, not neighborhoods, so should have been given numbers and listed on the key, not labeled on the map: Broken Mug; Keelhaul; Rusty Hook; The Scholar's Quill.

"Focus in Freeport" #12 provides a player's map of Freeport, with no keyed locations: http://freeronin.com/gr_files/focus12.pdf

Death in Freeport (p. 13)

p. 15, Sailors: The 8 sailors have hp 5, 5, 6, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11.

pp. 15-16, An Offer of Employment: The parenthetical stats for Egil are unnecessary now that his stat block appears here in the main text, rather than an appendix.

pp. 15-16, Brother Egil: Decipher Script should be +1 (3 skill points, cross-class). Insert "1st--" after the semicolon in his spell list.

p. 19, Orc Pirates: The orcs' hp are 3, 5, 5, 7, 9.

p. 19, Captain Scarbelly: Under Atk, delete the second "+1 battleaxe".

pp. 19-20, B. Officer's Quarters: The poison should be worth approximately 200 gp, so the trap's market price is 1,200 gp.

p. 20, C. Crew Quarters: "Tactics" should be one size smaller.

pp. 20-22, Location 3: The Temple: According to Terror in Freeport (see pp. 61-62), the High Priest's office is on the ground level.

pp. 22-23, Yellow Shields at Sunset: The boxed text on p. 22 says that the setting sun silhouettes the Lighthouse; however, Milton's Folly is south of the city, not west.

p. 22, Yellow Shield: These cultists' hp are 4, 7, 7, 9.

p. 26, 2. Intersection: The trap's market price is 1,800 gp (per DMG, p.70). Add "see Appendix III: New Creatures for details" to the creature entry.

pp. 27-28, Treasury: Add "see the MM for details" to Skeletons; add "see Appendix III: New Creatures for details" to Serpent People.

p. 29, Temple Attendant (Brotherhood): These acolytes' hp are 5, 7.

Interlude I: Holiday in the Sun (p. 32)

"Holiday in the Sun" originally appeared as Focus on Freeport #5, for the 3.0 rules: http://freeronin.com/gr_files/focus05a.pdf

p. 33, Jesswin: The original 3.0 adventure used the assassin class from the DMG. If you prefer that treatment instead, use the stat block in Focus #5, with the following changes to update it to 3.5: add Trap Sense +1 and Trapfinding to class abilities; raise Jump, Spot, and Swim to +8 each, and Tumble to +9; delete Read Lips; Spells Per Day: 1; Spells Known: 1st--feather fall, obscuring mist. Using this original stat block makes this encounter EL 6.

pp. 34-35, Chasing the Rat: If dire rat stats are needed, see the MM for details.

p. 35, Aranea: The aranea's stat block is missing. See the MM for details, but use the following list of known spells: 0--dancing lights, daze, flare, ghost sound, open/close; 1st--cause fear, hypnotism, shield.

p. 35, Bedlam Hour: The "Further Adventures" sidebar was omitted. See p. 3 of Focus #5.

Terror in Freeport (p. 37)

p. 37, Milton Drac: This section would be better titled "Milton Drac and Councilor Verlaine", because it combines the sidebars on pp. 12 and 14 of the Terror in Freeport Revised PDF.

p. 41, Orcs: Add "(3)" after "Orcs".

pp. 42-44, Location 2: The Abandoned Temple: In the Tactics section following the three surface guards, insert "The" after "Freeport:".

p. 43, Byrne: Under Possessions, insert a comma after "sword".

p. 44, Weymouth: Under Skills, add "(* includes -4 armor check penalty for scale mail.)"

p. 46, Reikert Lloyd, Captain of Verlaine's Guard: "Eye of Krom" should be italicized.

p. 47, Reikart Lloyd: "Reikart" should be "Reikert", per the sidebar title. Under Skills, add "(* includes -5 armor check penalty for chainmail.)"

p. 47, Verlaine's Guards: The guards have hp 18, 15, 14, 12, 12.

p. 47, Development: Location 8 is on p. 58; The Shakedown is on p. 48.

p. 51, "Egil" (Nikko): Add "SQ trapfinding".

p. 53, Sewers of Freeport [map]: In the key, "Serpant's" should be "Serpent's".

p. 58, Brother Egil: Add "see page 15 for details".

p. 59, Development: "Exp3" should be "Expert 3"; 3.5 does not use class abbreviations in stat blocks.

p. 59, Verlaine's House [map]: There should be stairs from the second floor to the roof. Location 3 (p. 13) describes Verlaine’s guards as being posted out front and on the roof. The map key is missing text: "Legend / Door / Window".

p. 59, Upstairs: This header should be larger by one level.

p. 59, McNeil: Under Skills, add "(* includes -7 armor check penalty for chainmail and heavy shield.)"

pp. 63-65, The Brotherhood Attacks: Slaan's presence raises the EL to 9 (from 8; see below).

The last encounter, The Brotherhood Attacks, is composed of one CR4 creature (K'Ral) and ten CR 1 creatures (Cultists). On paper, that combination should be roughly an EL 8 encounter. But the adventure shows it as EL 6.

    Does that mean it is considered to be an easier than normal situation? Maybe due to the assistance of friendly clerics?

    If so, shall I reduce XP reward accordingly? "-2 EL" usually worth half XP. [Shin Okada, 6/21/2005, "The last encounter in Terror in Freeport (Spoiler Alert)"]

It should be EL 8; I missed that when updating the adventure to 3.5. (In the 3.0 original, the cultists' stat block was missing. The Knowledge clergy stat block [Adept 1 in 3.0] was the most obvious substitute, which would make them CR 1/2, matching the listed EL 6. For the 3.5 version, we made the clerics clerics and the cultists cultists, and raised the latter to 2nd level to balance the two groups. This made them CR 1, but I forgot to adjust the EL.)

    Depending on how much the Knowledge clerics help in the fight, you can either split the XP award with them (if they actually fight) or simply reduce the PCs' award by 1/4 or so (if the clerics tend the wounded but stay out of combat). Note that this order is not at all militant, so will be poorly suited to defending their temple in any way other than acting as medics, blocking the doors to the library stacks, carrying messages, etc.

pp. 63-64, K'Ral: Under Skills, add "Swim -1*" and "(* includes -5 armor check penalty for chainmail, doubled for Swim.)" (See note to Thuron, p. 65.)

p. 64, Cultists: Add "(10)" after "Cultists". They have hp 8, 9, 10, 10, 11 (east entrance); 7, 9, 9, 9, 10 (west entrance). Replace one Skill Focus with Skill Focus (Bluff) and adjust skill modifiers accordingly. These cultists get Skill Focus (Bluff) and Martial Weapon Proficiency (kukri) as bonus feats (B).

p. 65, Thuron, a.k.a. K'Stallo: Change club to quarterstaff (same damage); note that he has a +2 synergy bonus to turn undead. Add "Swim +9" to Skills. (This last item was an oversight in the Death in Freeport Revised PDF that was carried over to Terror. Serpent people have a swim speed, so get a +8 racial bonus to Swim checks.) Thuron's stat block also appears on pp. 81-83, so a simple "see page 81 for details" would have been sufficient (as was done for Captain Lydon in "Holiday in the Sun", p. 33).

p. 66, A New Ally: K'Stallo also appears in Madness in Freeport, so keep him at the temple if you plan to run that module. Or per p. 93, if something happens to Thuron/K’Stallo in your campaign, substitute Falthar as the source of esoteric leads in future adventures.

Interlude II: Thieves and Liars (p. 67)

No notes.

Sidetracks (p. 73)

These adventure hooks first appeared in Tales of Freeport (pp. 73-78). See that book, and Freeport: The City of Adventure, for more hooks.

The five instances of "Freeport: City of Adventure" should read "Freeport: The City of Adventure".

Madness in Freeport (p. 75)

Part One: The Grand Lighthouse Ball (p. 75)

Prepping for an eventual run of the Trilogy for my group.

    Re-reading Madness in the 5th Anniversary edition I cannot for the life of me locate any guidance on how to handle experience for the Grand Lighthouse Ball.

    Am I blind? If not, any of you folks have any suggestions?

    Thanks in advance for any assistance! [Undeaddan, 12/8/2014, "XP for the Grand Lighthouse Ball"]

There doesn't appear to be any information on XP for the Lighthouse Ball in the book, and that's one question that didn't occur to me when I was updating the Trilogy for v.3.5.

    I would refer you to the "Story Awards" section of the DMG (p. 40). Note that the text for "CRs for Noncombat Encounters" emphasizes that an encounter must pose a challenge to the party for them to earn XP for it. If you go this route, I would suggest a single award for the event, based on how much useful information they get from various guests. If you don't want to bother setting a CR, then "Roleplaying Awards" would also be highly appropriate for the ball.

p. 76, An Invitation: Handout A is on p. 138.

p. 76, 1. Guard Rooms: Change "in the appendix" to "given here".

pp. 78-79, During the Ball: In the summary of guests and the information that can be gained from them, only Tomas's entry should be a quote; the rest are simply summaries of the secrets mentioned in their profiles.

p. 81, Tomas Fleetfoot: Insert "(old)" after his age.

pp. 81-83, Thuron: Insert "(old)" after his age.

DMs may wish to raise Thuron's level to 5th (he was 4th in Terror, and is advanced to 6th in Freeport: The City of Adventure). [Likewise, Egil is 2nd in Death, Terror, and Freeport: The City of Adventure; DMs may wish to advance him to 3rd at the time of Madness, and 4th by the time he takes over from Thuron in Tales of Freeport.]

p. 84, Captain Brock Wallace: At the Ball, Brock is wearing two daggers (+3 melee, Dmg 1d4/19-20), but no armor (AC 14) or other weapons. For the final battle of Part Four (p. 119), he will carry all gear listed in his stats.

p. 85, Melkor Maeorgan: Add "buckler" to Possessions. At the Ball, Maeorgan is wearing his breastplate and dagger, but no shield (AC 20) or throwing dagger. For the final battle of Part Four (p. 119), he will carry all gear listed in his stats.

p. 92, Captain Lydon: The Swagfest celebration is described in "Holiday in the Sun", pp. 32-35. Fix Lydon's stat block as follows: HD 5d6+5 plus 3d10+3. Dmg 1d6+4 with rummer saber. Add "Profession (Gambler) +6" to Skills. Far Shot and Rapid Shot are bonus feats, and should have superscript "B".

Part Two: Black Dog's Caves (p. 93)

p. 96, Ironfoot: Ironfoot is an allip straight out of the MM, so his stat block could have been omitted, as the tojanida's was (p. 95).

p. 98, Black Dog's Cave [map]: Area 6 has 11 spike traps, but only 8 are marked. Insert 3 more into empty spaces, giving preference to spaces closer to the secret door.

p. 99, Black Dog: This dead pirate is a spectre straight out of the MM, so his stat block could have been omitted, as the tojanida's was (p. 95).

Part Three: The Sunken Temple Of Yig (p. 100)

pp. 100-102, Location 3: The Sunken Temple of Yig: Shadow serpents appear in Appendix III.

p. 101, Sunken Temple of Yig [map]: Based on the 20' ceilings (p. 100) and the description of area 13 (p. 108), the map scale should be 10' per square, not 5'. (However, the pit at area 21, p. 110, described as 20' diameter, matches the stated scale.)

On the stairs connecting the 5th and 6th levels, relocate the walls to the opposite ends of the stairs (north on 5th, south on 6th). Area 21 may only be entered through the enchanted double doors.

pp. 107-108, 12. The Sealed Door, and 12A. Sseth's Prison: A "Sseth" is named in "The Legend of Niaggo" in Appendix II.

p. 108, 15. The Servants of the High Priest: EL is 5 (two CR 3 monsters).

p. 109, Gnome of Halfling Commoner Zombie: Add "(2)" after the header. These zombies have hp 10, 16.

pp. 109-110, 17. The Hatchery: Note that this egg was meant to become a priest of Yig. As such a cleric himself, K'Stallo would be eager to help the hatchling achieve that destiny.

p. 110, 18. Yet Another Statue of Yig: This statue is illustrated in Tales of Freeport (p. 23).

p. 110, 20. Exit?: Italicize "arcane lock". These doors become the new entrance in "The Soul of the Serpent" (Tales of Freeport, pp. 5-40).

p. 111, Receiving the Jade Serpent: If you wish to run the adventure "The Soul of the Serpent" (Tales of Freeport, pp. 5-40), the temple only partially collapses--enough to endanger any PCs who linger here, but not enough to destroy the building. The entrance from Black Dog's Caves is rendered impassible.

Part Four: Milton's Folly (p. 111)

pp. 112-113, The Lighthouse at Milton's Folly: In previous editions, the title read as "The Lighthouse 'Milton's Folly'"; perhaps the best fix is to replace "at" with "a.k.a." In the key on p. 113, "Gibberling" should be "Gibbering".

p. 115, Brotherhood Cultist Guards: Sex, race, class, and level should be in bold text.

p. 116, Brotherhood Cultist Acolytes: Sex, race, class, and level should be in bold text.

p. 119, 9. The Yellow Sign: Drac and his minions will attempt to destroy the Jade Serpent, but lack the means to do so (see Appendix II).

Aftermath (p. 120)

No value is given for the lighthouse crystal, in case the PCs remove it from the lighthouse. (I allowed my players to get 1,000 gp for it, but it is likely worth more.)

p. 120, Adventure Hooks: Valossa Reborn: See note to p. 111 (Receiving the Jade Serpent) about the temple's survival.

Appendix I: New Mechanics (p. 121)

pp. 121-124, The Cultist: Tables A5-1 and A5-2, and references to them in the text, should be changed to "A1-1" and "A1-2", as they are the first tables in the appendices.

p. 123, Table A5-2: Cultist Deities in Freeport: The cutlass is also described on p. 125 (see notes for that page).

p. 124, New Magic Items: Page references should be to pp. 96, 103, and 126, respectively. See also pigment of disguise (p. 51) and heat stones (p. 109).

p. 125, New Weapons: The "New Weapons" table is missing:

Table A2: New Weapons

[1] Weight figures are for Medium weapons. A Small weapon weighs half as much, and a Large weapon weighs twice as much.

Appendix II: The Jade Serpent of Yig (p. 126)

p. 128, Attuning the Jade Serpent: The modifiers are cumulative.

p. 128, Level 2 Attunement: Italicize "remove fear".

p. 128, Level 3 Attunement: Italicize "greater restoration".

p. 129, Destroying the Jade Serpent: The great wyrm Azial may knowledge of the location and/or powers of the Azoth Stone (see Freeport: The City of Adventure, p. 81). That artifact may even reside in the dragon's hidden lair.

p. 129, Hatching the Egg: See note for pp. 109-110, The Hatchery.

Appendix III: New Creatures (p. 130)

In the headers to pp. 131-133, change "Monsters" to "Creatures".

pp. 130-131, Shadow Serpent: Under "Combat," change Str damage to 1d6, per the "Damage" entry. Note that shadow serpents have +4 turn resistance (normal shadows have only +2). This could be explained as part of Yig’s curse, or the GM may wish to drop it to +2 in order to give 4th-6th level clerics a better chance of success.

pp. 131-133, New Creature: Serpent Person: The "New Creature:" in the header is unnecessary. In the Civilized column, "Swim -2" should be moved to the end of Skills.

Handouts (p. 134)

These pages should have photocopy permission footers like those on the pregenerated character pages (pp. 139-142; see errata below).

p. 137, Handout E: The Deputation: Insert "Terror" before "Handout E". In the blank space after "appoint", insert the PCs' names.

Pregenerated Characters (p. 139)

In the footers, add "for personal use." after "photocopy for".

For 3rd- and 5th-level versions of these characters, see the PDF versions of Terror in Freeport Revised (pp. 41-44) and Madness in Freeport Revised (pp. 67-70), respectively.

p. 139, Thorgrim: His stat block is missing turning undead.

p. 140, Rollo: Under Weapons, the offhand weapon should only receive +1 damage (1/2 Str).

p. 141, Malevir: Under Equipment, delete the sentence about choosing a familiar. He is a starting character, so lacks the 100 gp required for the ritual.

p. 142, Alaina: Her stat block is missing sneak attack and trapfinding.

Open Game License (p. 143)

In the title, "Gaming" should be "Game" (as in the first line of text).

Add the following items to 15. Copyright Notice:

Focus on Freeport #3: Reikert Lloyd, Captain of Verlaine's Guard, Copyright 2000, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Robert J. Toth.

Focus on Freeport #5: Holiday in the Sun, Copyright 2001, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Chris Pramas.

Focus on Freeport #6: The Temple of the God of Knowledge, Copyright 2001, Green Ronin Publishing, LLC; Author Bill Simoni.

The reason for including of Salon du Masque is unclear. This Focus (#15) was reprinted in Tales of Freeport, which is mentioned in the Trilogy, but the Salon article itself is not.

Back cover

In the first paragraph, insert "with" after "climaxing".