Ah, the time honored problem. How to handle more players than an adventure was originally written for, or alternatively, how to handle too few players?
I'm an old school gamer, and have been running games ever since the second addition of the Worlds Most Popular Fantasy Role-Playing Game came out. And so I'm use to larger than normal party sizes. I prefer 5-6 if possible. And that's what I tried for my game. But as the Way of the Wicked is written using standard Pathfinder rules, it's intended for only 3-4 players.
Below I outline some of the problems & solutions to the problem of too many players. And also mention the problem of too few players.
The biggest thing to keep in mind: Add more content. (Or remove if 2-3 players)
I detail this more in Making it your own & All that glitters, but the key is adding more. Add more monsters to an encounter, add more levels or hit points to boss fights. And add more treasure. Add more, just be careful your group can handle it.
An example, in Book One, Act 1, Prison Break! (available in the free Preview here) I simply bumped the levels of the "boss" who is the Warden. I gave him 1 extra level of Aristocrat (for more hp) & an extra level of Wizard, for a 2nd level spell. And a Cloak of Resistance for good measure. Now, I didn't give him two levels of wizard, because, well, 3rd level spells against a group of 1st level PCs? That's way too much. But an extra couple spells in the form of Hideous Laughter & Sleep? Not the end of the world. Now, would I have used those extra levels if, say, the party was fighting the Warden, Sergeant & 2 guards & 1 guard dog? Probably not. Like all things, use your judgement.
All the stat blocks are easy to follow & I prefer for most things to just throw a couple NPC classes or maybe an extra feat or two, to beef up an NPC. But maybe I'm just lazy. :) You can always add more full class levels, the stat blocks in the books are fully detailed. So if you want to add that extra level of detail go ahead. The nice thing about it, it will bump up the CR of the encounter, meaning more xp, which you need. Again, the adventure is written for only 3-4 players, so leveling can be a challenge.
Also, if you bump up CR of encounters, consider also increasing the CR of the story awards. After all, harder stuff should yield better rewards. Or, if that's too much work, simply increase (or decrease) the XP of the story awards by the percentage of players off a base of 100% = 4 players. So 6 players = 150%, 2 players = 50%.
And remember, for a large group you'll also be at a gold per PC deficit too, so you can get the proverbial "two birds with one stone" by throwing on magic items to the Baddies, or I guess in the case of Way of the Wicked, the Goodies. Use the Pathfinder Encounter building guide & remember, if you add a bunch, the CR of the encounter jumps, which means more XP.
And if you only have 2-3 players? Same thing, only in reverse. I'd consider dropping minor NPCs entirely & de-leveling bosses. Again, taking the Prison break from the Preview as an example, I'd drop a quarter to half the guards & dogs. Maybe just drop the dogs entirely. And drop levels off the Sergeant & Warden. Probably for the Warden, I'd leave the wizard level for the 2nd level spells, but I'd drop the Aristocrat for sure. And for rewards, I'd probably pull some spells out of the spell book, drop most of the scrolls & the alchemical lab (unless it's needed by a PC)
What else is there? Well, normal stuff a good GM should do:
Balance time between players, give everyone some "screen time". I'd play out any role-playing elements. The beginning of Act 2 in Book 1 for example. Add more time between the different knots, so each of your PCs can shine.
Ensure a balanced party & no one is stepping on toes. An extra concern if you use the extra skill points suggested by the Author. That was a problem my group had early on. Everyone had intimidate & some people felt like they didn't get to use it. Also, multiple arcane or divine casters, be sure they stay clear of each other. Specialist wizards with banned schools help give some distance. An extra concern with fewer players, make sure all the bases are covered.
And most important, regardless of the number of players, make sure everyone is having fun!
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