Ask a Shoanti's page

I just like listening to the ever-delightful Rone and Lou.

Iron GM rocks.

That is a fun cover! Which one is Rich?

01 Maps are awesome. . . and now with 50% more Willie Walsh? More awesome.

But, but, the article has end notes! It can't be refuted.

This is such an early 80's throwback.

Congrats everyone!

Awesome stuff all around!

Raises klar to salute the new Coordinator and VC's.

Make us proud guys!

In the meanwhile, here I am looking like a frikkin noob.

*mutter mutter*

Don't worry Steel Wind, I'll help you figure out how that d4 pyramid thingie works!

Major props to Steel Wind for making this happen. (And cool site Feegle!)

I am going to try to swing by to say hello and scope it out, but I think my glorious PC is ineligible for the Devil series. It sounds like there will be some quality GMs there, so if you were on the fence, don't skip it.

Well this is just incredible.

Thanks to Sozin for taking the time to write this up.

How did you make those images?!

Congrats to the victors. ("Damned dinos!")

Hmmmmm - sounds like the dinosaurs are cleaning up! That's 2 years in a row.

This book rocks! I just got a copy today and it's got 21 new dragons from CR 1 to CR 14, plus a bunch of thematically-appropriate spells, feats, and class variations. I smell a dragon-hunter campaign in my near future!

I've been waiting for this book for a long time. It reminds me of the awesomeness back in the early days of Dragon magazine when we discovered there was a class of neutral dragons named after gem stones. I think I was sold by the preview on Kolbold quarterly.

Awesome Spacelard.

I love that the spell names have their true and original titles.

Gorbacz wrote:

I liked this idea so much that I shamelessly stole it. While my PCs were travelling through the Cinderlands, I presented them with what seemed to be a boy in mortal danger... and sure enough, they bit down hard.

Love it!

"Burn Runners: being inappropriately rescued by adventurers since 4702 A.R."

Glad to hear Eando's scene inspired an encounter.

I'm actually getting a lot of mood/scene inspiration from the current fiction storyline in Carrion Crown. I love the atmosphere and look forward to seeing where it will go from here.

I can't tell for certain, but from the picture, it looks like it's a dark blue box, which is a crazy awesome detail for an old 'blue boxer' like myself.

Best wishes for the launch.

Very interesting and very inspiring. Keep it up!

+1

There is a lot of coolness here.

I love that the players were making up stories of old times with Petros - quality players.

Instead of altering Harrowstone, instead add a haunt that teleports people to other rooms when they pass through a doorway.

I think we might actually do that, since it's pretty cool.

Very cool - there even was something like that in Harrowstone at one time.

The pro is that players can get spooked real quick when they find themselves alone - takes them right out of their comfort zone, especially if they are playing a PC who is specialized and relies on others..

The con is that in the wrong spot, PC death can result if they wander into an encounter balanced for a full party. And there's the usual sluggishness in real time whenever a group splits.

With the right group dynamic it can be worth it. Rock that out!

In the Council of Thieves AP #28 The Infernal Syndrome, there is an article on possession. If you can, check it out. It might be what youre looking for.

Ya, tis an excellent article.

As matters stand right now, as written? Ravengro just isn't the focus of this adventure. At all. While you may have a disagreement with the design philosophy, the implementation of this part of the Carrion Crown AP outline is not Mike Kortes' "fault".

Steel_Wind - thanks a ton for your many comments, suggestions and solutions especially the above. However, my family feels it necessary to clarify that in point of fact: everything is my fault, including everything in general, at all times.

As to some of the comments by other posters, I think it is great that people would have liked to see Ravengro further developed or to have more NPCs who tie into the prison itself. There are a lot of different directions a project like this could be taken.

As James has kindly beat me to the punch on, much of the word count was strategically devoted to the prison. With more space, one can achieve more, but now that I'm reading through it, I like to think we did pretty solid in any event.

If folks have cool ideas of how to further develop Ravengro and make it their own - which is usually the case where your audience is a sea of high-end GMs - I think that would be awesome.

I have three additional questions, as I run games for gals and guys who care about such details:

Regards,
Rumere

I'll take a shot at a couple of these:

Re: Water Logistics

Re: Vesora

Nice one Neil!

That sets the stage and takes it up to 11! It also lets the GM get their horror on without ending the campaign in a sudden TPK. Awesome on several levels.

One of my soon players said he wanted to
** spoiler omitted **

That is a really great idea! Thanks for sharing that.

3. The hooks, storyline, and general story are excellent. It had me feeling very much for the NPC's in the background and gives me great inspiration to make them come to life for the PC's, and give them real emotion.

I love the sound of the approach you have described Ice Deep. If the PCs get attached to the NPCs - either because they actually care or just because the NPCs feel "real" to them, there's so much more opportunity for atmosphere.

I think what the OP actually meant was he wants a little buddy NPC who rides in his backpack, firing shots at his foes. Maybe use the Leadership feat, if available, to acquire a Diminutive fey? (Not an option for Society play.)

The thread title was though, somewhat unfortunate. : )

The art is tremendous - particularly the opening and closing shots for the adventure. It's evocative in a way that really makes you really want to DM the thing. Compliments to the artists!

I want that, but I don't want one player to be *that* effective that the rest of the party feel like they're his sidekicks. Having significant bonuses for the most of the campaign (which are greater than rage/weapon training/smite) would just be frustrating for whole of the party.

I think it's smart that the DM is keeping an eye out for internal balance between party members so early, as sometimes this can gnaw away at players over time.

I don't think taking favored undead is a problem though. It's an edge but not much more so than say a cleric taking Extra Channel or the Sun Domain. And it's probably not even as significant as a ranger taking favored enemy (Human) in your typical city campaign.

It's fun when your character generation choices come into play.

ALSO:

Mechanically putting fear effects into a horror adventure is, frankly, kinda lazy.

We're trying to instill these adventures with actual horror that will affect the PLAYERS. None of whom are immune to fear.

I like that - sometimes fear should be more than a saving throw.

Typically when a fear effect goes off the annoyed player counts off the rounds and then comes charging back in.

That's OK, but sometimes, done right, the player ought to be secretly thankful they have an excuse to make a hasty exit. Perhaps even give some serious thought as to whether their sudden flight instinct wasn't the right idea after all.

I'm adding to the chorus of thanks.

Good quality in terms of GMing and players. A good time was had.

Awesome! I am looking forward to this.

Very glad PFS will once again have a presence at Spellstorm - way to go Neil!

Well done! Very cool.

Er hem. It is exactly as I thought - pulling back the curtain keenly reveals that I have no real clue what happens behind the curtain.

(Thanks Jameses!)

After looking at the credits I realized that Brandon and Jason (and Michael, too, but haven't seen him post in a while) are the twisted masterminds I should be thanking.

Really great work, guys! What's best is that I can't even pick a favorite out of the book, although Ilvarandin, Storasta and Sun Temple Colony are the ones I'm most likely to utilize in the near future.

Thanks Asgetrion!!!

(Though I should pull back the curtain and confess Sean Reynolds is the guy who really makes a book like this shine.)

It was a lot of fun to participate in this project. And now I get to read the other entries which I am loving.

"This drink is brewed by pouring boiling water through crushed, roasted coffee beans. Coffee is a common part of many cultures in Garund. A very strong brew called Sargavan Red is potent enough to reduce the penalties from the fatigued condition from –2 to –1 for 1 hour."

Exactly. If it's not made from high quality Sargavan beans - it's crap!

The artwork is fantastic.

And I love that the main chamber has lots of room to maneuver. Many maps become cramped in order to become interesting. This one is spacious and interesting.

(Aren't you glad you took Bullrush. . .)

Funky item!

Reminded me at first of Angela Jolie - didn't she carry around a vial of blood for a while?

I like the swap a bloodline bit. Imagine two sorcerers constructing these for a trade.

This is a REALLY cool item. Love it.

Makes me totally regret throwing my last imp in the dumpster.

Yay for the Willie Walsh adventure!

Here here! Very excited about WWII!

Thanks for taking the time out to share this Dave! Your GM sounds most excellent.

Nice thread idea - the AP supporting articles should not be overlooked. There are so many good ones.

Here's my bias:

1. The Deity articles by SKR are in their own category of essential reading for Golarion fans - I exclude those, otherwise that's the whole list.

2. Ecology articles rarely excite me the same way they do the rest of the world. I am certain many of those deserve mention and are probably the fan favourites.

3. There were a few mini-adventures in "Legacy of Fire" that I really dug and because I'm an adventure fanatic, I generally prefer them to support articles, but it might be unfair to include these as they too are probably a separate category and not really comparable.

So with that in mind, the stand out article for me that should not be missed is "In the Fiend's Grasp" in AP #28 ("The Infernal Syndrome"). This is the article that provides an entire mechanic on how to handle different kinds of fiend possession by breaking it down into different abilities with points based on the fiend's hit dice. It really felt like an article one would expect to find in a source book. It's got rules for possession not just people, but objects and places which are quite creepy. The acompanying rules for exorcism were too short though and could use their own article.

Now to cheat, I have also seen the upcoming support article on Haunts in the Carion Crown path. It was written by a guy who is exceptionally knowledgeable in the paranormal (as a hobbyist - not as an incorporeal being). It reads like a true expert wrote it and I expect it is going to be tremendous. It's a gem so keep an eye out for that.

I'll be stoked to see Wes' Pathfinder Journal! I hadn't hear about that - that's great news.

P.S. Awesome art piece!

OK!

I am regrettably way late on this, but for what it is worth. . .

Greg V.'s popular persona as a PC-killer while fun, is ultimately still just a persona. In actuality he's one of Paizo's most enduring freelancers and something of a household name around here to many of us. He wouldn't be in that position if he didn't spend the prerequisite time routinely worshiping at the altar of game balance. It's possibly to the point where at any given moment somebody somewhere is probably playing in a Greg V. adventure.

I would like to say that I thought the original reviewer deserves props for taking the time to read the adventure before posting the review - reviews based solely on play experience while valuable, are not going to be as meaningful. And props to Kyle (the DM) for filling in the context of what happened at the game table.

You see, Greg thinks he's a killer, but the deep dark secret is that he's a kitten compared to true evil that is the DM's D20 - it stalks us all. (Well there goes my sleep for the night. . .)

Instead, I come up with a central idea for an adventure path (such as "The PCs are all Shoanti tribals whose homeland is invaded by aggressive colonists from a technologically advanced nation run behind the scenes by devils")

Now that is one heck of an Adventure Path.

Wait, isn't that already the central concept Golarion is built on?

Ravage verses Laserbeak. Discuss.

Laserbeak, every time.

Gotta go with Ravage - at the last minute he out-cools him.

Yah! The Canucks have a VC! (or at least Ontario)

"O' Captain my Captain!" or however that goes exactly.

Another option: there's the Osirian mummy template in J1: Entombed with the Pharaohs. It's 3.5 material but should convert well. The mummy has a slightly different feel though.

3. Are my eyes deceiving me or did we just have an honest-to-gosh sighting of the elusive Steve Greer? Last time I saw him was in grainy black and white lumbering thorugh a pine forest.

I think that was a Steve Greer!!!

(This mod officially now rocks)

I'm reminded of the old "Drums on Fire Mountain" TSR module. Good times.

Please pardon the commercial interruption of your most awesome PBP.

If you haven't already gone to Koboldquarterly.com to vote in the Monster design competition (say for Tarren's outstanding finalist entry, the Broodiken!) please consider doing so - today is the last day I think.

Also, the real reason I post is that I could no longer resist jumping in to mention that I have been reading this PBP periodically for some time and some of the player characters in this game are really a cut above with very distinct personalities. I love what you guys have done here - please keep it going.

There was probably a more appropriate thread to put this post it, but I couldn't find it - as you were.

-Ask

P.S. "56"

Personally I'd prefer if nobody ever manually included a signature in their posts, including 3rd party publishers, Paizo staff, secretaries-general of the United Nations or ambassadors from another solar system. But that's just me, and others here may have a different opinion. We'll talk about it.

I feel strongly that some ambassadors from other solar systems should be permitted to manually include signatures in their posts - but not necessarily all. It should be assessed on a case by case basis.

Any game session that opens with someone being decerebrated sounds like it brings the right kinda crazy.

Hey, if we're giving due recognition here, somebody should probably mention that Lou Agresta wrote "The Slave Pits of Absalom" one of the upper crust Pathfinder scenarios out there. There's some really fun NPCs in there.

I usually find his blog by googling Lou & aggression.