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 Recent Posts
I wholeheartedly understand all the issues Paizo had while working on them, and certainly haven't given up on them, but I'd hope this is more constructive criticism and my own "Director's Cut". If one day, 5 or 10 years from now they release a hardcover (after all the original books have sold out) maybe they'd consider some of this.
The weaknesses don't really pop up until books 2 and 3. There's a lot of confusion going around with player information concerning the "Brothers of 7" who my first group thought was the enemy for quite some time, and its connection to the Skinsaw Cult. Book 3 especially had terrible continuity. The authors said before that the Kreeg house would've been better as a setpiece and I wholeheartedly agree. The fort itself was cool, the nymph however seemed tacked on and the Hook Mountain clanhold was bland. Would've been better to have the Ogres and Barl launch a counterattack and assault the fort. Cutting Paradise from the book 3 was also a really bad idea as it would've played up the theme of Greed far better than the Chainsaw Massacre homage. Though yes, if your players understand the 10,000 year old language it is easier to get some information on the background out, but still very hard to get information on what the hell is going on now out until Book 5.
I have been told by my players to post this for the opinions of others. I felt that the RotRL game was very weak as an adventure path, the six individual tales never really tied together into a whole story and a lot of elements were just kind of thrown in by authors either at the behest of Paizo or to be cool, without contributing to the plot. My game had a TON of rewrites, so here is the breakdown. Do not read if you are planning on being a player in RotRL. Also note, that the game was played (and should always be played) with 7 players, or X players plus cohorts equaling a total of 7. Burnt Offerings:
This book probably had the least changes, but it is where I really kicked off the storyline so I'm going to give you a basic overview of the storyline here.
However many thousands of years ago the Thassilon empire ruled, they were united by the Emperor Xin, the Runelords fell into their vices however and plotted together to assassinate the Emperor. They put his young son Xin II on the throne as a puppet, and carved out their territories in the empire. Their expansion and evil ways however brought them into conflict with the Shory (the people of the flying cities). The two nations went to war, and although no one really won, both civilizations collapsed due to the Earthfall. Interjected throughout the Adventure Path will be conversations between the Runelords, conducted through magic much like Akatsuki from Naruto or the Forsaken from the Wheel of Time. Each player gets lines for one of the 7 Runelords. Fast forward to today, and the Runewells are starting to activate, the means by which the Runelords sequestered themselves away are finally fading and they look to reach out and conquer the world once more. They need to feed the Runewells with their particular sin energy. Here under Sandpoint we have Alaznist, who has struck a deal with a young woman wanting to get revenge against her hometown. Nualia's story is pretty much the same as the book, with the exception that she went into hiding and left town after giving birth to the Sandpoint Devil. All the events of Book 1 are meant to fill the Runewell of Wrath. I replaced the Barghest with Alaznist herself, in a severely weakened condition. Accompanying the players is a young man named Shane who wishes to be a Pathfinder Chronicler and came to Sandpoint to meet Brodert Quink, he doesn't get involved in combat, but can translate Thassilonian script and has a lot of knowledge on the weaknesses and strengths of various monsters. The Skinsaw Murders:
Here we move from Wrath to Lust. This is definitely the most 'adult' of the games as sex is scarier than violence, and this game combines both. Aldern is not just a murderer, he's a rapist to boot. The game really plays up on the lust aspects. I ditched the sawmill and the clocktower in favor of a Brothrel/Dungeon built over the Runewell of Lust. Xanesha is replaced with Sorshen. The Hook Mountain Massacre:
Sorry Nic, this would have been a fun module, but as a part of the AP it made no sense. The Chainsaw Massacre bit was cool, but was nothing more than a side quest. Fort Rannick was cool but also, didn't advance the plot. I cut this entire book. Instead now, at the advice of Shane, realize these Runelords are rising and they need to put a stop to them, so they set out to find them. They know the Runelords will be at areas focused around their Sin, and when they hear of a massive card tournament on a riverboat...they think they have a lead.
This book pretty much steals from the plot of the movie Maverick. The players need to do a bunch of stuff around Magnimar to try and work up the money to get into the tournament. I used this as an opportunity to do side quests based on the player character backgrounds. It didn't take them a lot of time to get the money though so we focused a lot on the Riverboat. One of the gamblers on the Riverboat, unbeknownst to the players (but knownst to me) is Karzoug. He needs cash to fill the Runewell of Greed.
Whether or not the players win, Karzoug steals their money from them, and rushes it to the Runewell of Greed. The players navigate his trap filled dungeon to kill him and destroy his Runewell. The Crucible of Chaos:
I stuck this in here, because it came out and was cool. The Shory are the enemy of Thassilon, and rather than giving the players a fort, I wanted them to have a flying city! They venture into the Wyvern Mountains after hearing rumors of a lost flying city there. Hoping to get some magic items or knowledge to help them defeat the Runelords. They find the flying city (I replaced most of the encounters in the book, got rid of the flying monkeys and the three wizards, and made the Lizardfolk into Catfolk) and its primary inhabitant, the Runelord of Gluttony. Well, what's left of him, he's gone from being a powerful wizard into being the Shoggoth. The Chaos stone is now the Runewell of Gluttony, and the PCs are aided by Shory ghosts to defeat the monstrous Runelord. The players spend some time repairing the city, resulting in a time skip of a few years, originally 20 years but I think I'll make it 5 in future runnings. Fortress of the Stone Giants:
Here I started keeping more in line with the books, as it started actually connecting to the story! The only differences were I got rid of the Kobold and the Lamias and added in the Runelord of Sloth and his Runewell. He was controlling the Giant army and getting them to do all his work for them. The more slaves he had, the more powerful he could get, he was quite powerful by this time. When the PCs return to Sandpoint they find that the destruction caused by the Giants wasn't the worst of it, the whole town is sinking. They evacuate them to their flying city. Sins of the Saviors:
Pretty much the same, excepting that I replaced Highlady Athroxis with Belimarius, who was responsible for the sinkhole and followed the players in. Up until this point the players have believed they were going after Emperor Xin, here they learn that it was the Runelord of Pride who has gained the most strength and power, conquering the Imperial City. Spires of Xin Shalast:
So we arrive at the final adventure. It's a lot more fun showing up at Xin Shalast in a flying city ala Independence Day than walking through the mountains. Again this is pretty much the same, but there's a twist. The Runelord of Pride is not replacing Karzoug in the adventure. He is replacing Most High Ceoptra. After defeating him, Shane the young wannabe Pathfinder finishes him off and reveals himself to the players as Xin II. He thanks them for helping him kill all of his father's assassins and offers them a deal. They can become the new Runelords and help him begin a new Thassilonian Empire and enslave all of Avistan, or they can die. He is pretty obviously evil at this point, but we see whether or not the players give into their sins or confront Xin II, who uses Karzoug's stats but is a Universalist rather than a Specialist. And that's my DM's Cut of Rise of the Runelords. Maybe one day I'll do Second Darkness seeing as that is the other weak AP.
Wouldn't the feat and the duskwalker trait be exclusive? One assuming you are from Cheliax and another assuming you grew up in the Nightstalls?
Same here with Gods and Magic.
It's a shame this isn't scheduled for release in time for the start of the AP because I would have definitely bought it then. As it stands now, I simply might buy it. Clearly you just need to get 6 months ahead! *cracks whip*
Between the third and fourth module in the AP I ended up giving the PCs about 8 months of downtime, and they did have periods ranging from a few days to a few weeks at earlier points as well. The players have had chances to use (and have used) their craft skills and magic item creation feats.There is some downtime, looking at the first module (which I am currently running) there are a few points of downtime during it and a short bit before Skinsaw. Fudge the time if you need too, but I'm thinking I'll put in about a month between SM & HMM. I certainly do not want the game to get into a adventure/create rinse wash cycle. I gave my PCs 20 years of 'downtime' between the third and fourth module. We ended up doing Crucible of Chaos in between. It was fun for them to bring their flying city to Xin Shalast Independence Day style.
Any chance of a large River Kingdoms map like the map in Guide to Darkmoon Vale? With an area this large and detailed, the little map inside the front cover isn't as useful, espeically when trying to use it in game. I'd love a map of just the natural terrain and permanent features on a flipmat. Would be awesome for Kingmaker if we're going to be rearranging the borders and rename things.
You might want to pick up Stormwrack if you don't have it already. It's a pretty good book and has some stuff for dealing with naval combat as well as rules for a few different types of boats. It might be cheaper on eBay or at an FLGS if they still have a copy. The setting books (Sandstorm, Stormwrack, Frostburn) are a few of WotC's best supplements for 3.5 (along with Heroes of Battle and Fiendish Codex I))
My feeling is Crypt of the Everflame is best for people who are completely and utterly new to the game. For people who are experienced as players I'd recommend Tower of the Last Baron as their first module. It's more fun to run as a DM, and good for a newer DM with experienced players since the players have to take a lot of the lead in deciding what to do next rather than riding the rails. If he does like it and wants to take up a full adventure path I would recommend starting with either Curse of the Crimson Throne or Kingmaker. Kingmaker for the reasons I mentioned above, and CotCT simply because it's the best one they've released ever.
So do the people of Golarion understand the concept of character classes? I have two scenarios to present. A Legacy of Fire character is a Sorcerer with the Fire Elemental bloodline. He was raised as a merchant's son and if anything leans more towards fighter/rogue. Then some pugwampis get near him and he starts setting things on fire unintentionally. This fire gets more and more powerful and he starts to figure out how to direct it and make things explode. Would NPCs and other PCs automatically know he's a Sorcerer? Would he know that's what he is? A Kingmaker character is an Inquisitor of Norgorber. She focuses on the secrets aspect of her god and doesn't go about announcing her faith. She walks around in medium armor with a halberd and can cast divine spells. She disguises her own faith, but doesn't want to act as a priest of another faith. Would she be able to get away with just saying she's a fighter who has picked up some spells? Or would NPCs/PCs expect or know her to be a Paladin or Cleric and be shocked when she can't channel energy for example.
Not really; the Brevoy article is much more about the history of the nation and a gazetteer of its locations and life in general in Brevoy. There's no crunch at all in the article. I'd like a definition of who the "Aldori" are...I've read the Brevoy section in PFCCS and the Mivon section in GttRK and I still have no idea. Are they a society of swordmasters like the Jedi? Or a human ethnicity like the Shoanti (with a Russian/Slavic flavoring)? Or something else entirely?
My theory has been for a while:
Though Mendev/Vikings could easily be switched around. The asian stuff they'll want to put out around Gencon. I too am looking for a Mendev game and have been screaming for it for about two years now. Mendev has a great WW1 vibe to it (stagnant war) and Rob McCreary seems to have built on that in the PCCS article (there's a few references to WW1 in there). I happen to have a strong interest in the WW1 era so I am really stoked about it. Plus Heroes of Battle was my favorite WotC book.
What about just doing 'monster packs'? Like a box of 8 orcs, or 8 goblins or 8 undead. Those are what I know I need more of, and you can throw some rare stuff in (like the lich guy from the PCCS cover in an undead pack) and have it randomized also (mix of zombies, ghouls, skeletons, etc).
I don't care for any of the troll images above. My iconic troll look I guess is best captured by the thing on the Guide to the River Kingdoms cover (which I assume is a Scrag). The new guy looks too much like this to me.
We've already announced the next AP after Kingmaker: Serpent's Skull. It's set in the Mwangi more or less. Yes, Serpent's Skull is AP 7 (the August ones will always be an odd number) I said AP8, after Serpent's Skull.
For some reason I have this amusing picture in my mind of someone in the party with a "wandbow" wasting thousands of gold pieces in treasure by grabbing up the party's wands and shooting them at enemies . . .well image the damage of fireball wand with full charges :D Fill a shotgun with a necklace of fireballs or beads of force.
My wife has made a dual revolver wielding gunslinger and would also be saddened to see rules cut out.Right now I'm leaning towards including SOME sort of info about guns in the revised book... although likely not as much info as in the current edition (the optional rules will likely go away). But even if we cut EVERYTHING... the rules still exist in the form of the current hardcover. So it's not like you won't be able to keep playing that type of character in the worst-case scenario... Just do an Alkenstar companion and put them there! There's a pretty big demand for Alkenstar stuff (I'm sure some of it is just to spite you JJ =p)
Not instead of, but it'd be a great companion book though I'm sure there is no way to get it out by March/April.
I've updated our open call page to more accurately reflect what I'm seeking. The first two paragraphs, specifically, now contain additional details about what a submission should look like.I read through the updates and I am wondering, since it just says scenarios set anywhere in the Inner Sea region, is there a spoiler-free compilation anywhere of the settings used for the already published scenarios? I just don't feel like writing one that is set in an area that has already been done a lot. The vast majority of them take place in Absalom, Andoran, Qadira, Cheliax and Taldor. There's been a few in Osirion and Jalmeray as well as a couple other further off places, my next query which I will probably wait on until getting feedback from my last two will be Mendev =p
It's a busy week for me wrapping up the January scenarios and I got a decent number of scenarios. Since I'm trying to respond with more than a yes-no right now, my responses are delayed. I received them. Don't resend. Thanks, I missed out on the feedback for scenario submissions that happened earlier and am looking forward to that as much as I am hoping to get selected.
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