Derek Poppink's page

Thanks Yoda! If I already submitted the event, I assume I can go back and add my character?

No, you can't play a cleric of no deity. This thread asked the same question and has Josh's reponse.

I am excited and thrilled! Its a lot more work, but even if your submission is not selected, going through this process (writing a complete scenario) is so valuable to finally become successful. I think its a great idea!
To everyone who is considering doing this,but is afraid of the time commitment and being rejected, I provide the following quote from my favorite athlete, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take." -Wayne Gretzky

I'd love to turn my previous submission into a scenario (incorporating all the great feedback I received), but I'm in a middle of a few life changes currently. I also think my submission might be stronger after Dwarves of Golarion comes out. :)

Who's considering playtesting one of the Advanced Player's Guide classes in Society play?

My primary character (cleric) will probably be sixth level after this weekend, so I'm contemplating making a Cavalier or Inquisitor for other tier 1-5 scenarios I haven't played or run.

Josh, have you considered making some higher level pregens of the new classes available? I wouldn't mind eating a few scenarios to beta test a 7th level version of these classes and I know we're having trouble filling tier 7-11 tables at our open game days (because most of the players with characters of that level have played most available scenarios already).

I tend to agree that the polymorphs are greatly nerfed. You're simply not going to find a mage with enough physical stats to make the polymorphs terribly worthwhile.

As a result, polymorph spells are mainly worthwhile for gaining new types of movement, senses, and occasionally, interesting abilities.

One of my favorites is earth elemental. Earth glide + tremorsense + push can be quite useful.

Draeke Raefel wrote:

Elemental body has been updated in the Core PF book.

It has? The prd still hasn't been updated with anything? Has there been an errata update recently?

So if they get improved bullrush, then can a druid get the greater bullrush feat without actually having improved bullrush as a feat and thus only used it while in elemental form?

A Man In Black wrote:

Purple Dragon Knight wrote:

That's because you haven't read the Polymorph subschool text, which specifies you gain waterbreathing capabilities when shifting into a creature that swims. People not reading these days... grumble, grumble, grumble... :P

Which means if you polymorph into a dolphin, crocodile, or polar bear(!!!) you can breathe water.

swim speed or burrow speed? if yes, then yes

But I'll agree: a lot of the faction missions suggest that somebody has an overabundance of information about the mission. "We understand that you will be entering into the Unspeakable Ruins of Nahud-zareth. If you should run across a red book with the arms of House Refield embossed on the cover, we would appreciate it if you would remove pages 81-84, which contain embarrassing information about our Queen's hairdresser."

Now to eat some humble pie...

Is the item you craft from arcane bond limited in value by your prestige points or can you just craft up to whatever amount of gold that you have?

The module is really good and it would be a shame not to have it published in my opinion. You could even do a series of modules into smaller bite sized chunks, each one covering a level of the spire if it will work better in your schedule.

So to be clear on this if I have 13/13 PAs. I can buy a Hewards Handy Haversack(1800gp) even if it is not on the list of items on your track form for the adventure/tier that was ran. Even if i had 5/13 PAs I can do it as it is Max. PAs not how many you have at the time. Does this also mean i can buy as many Magic items as I can afford and can buy up to with the Max. PAS I have. Example I have 13,000 gp and 27 PAs so if i wanted to buy 3 Magic items at 4000gp each I can buy all 3 at beginning or end of an adventure? Thanks for the clarifications!

There are three cases where you can buy things above the limit:

1. Items in the Equipment chapter of the core rules (including special materials other than dragonhide)

2. Always available items in the Society rules (+1 weapons, armor, shields, and most 0 and 1st level potions and scrolls)

3. Items on one of your three most recent scenario sheets

Five Keys to Really Good Adventure Design

What's with the "optional" encounters? Was that a recommendation from Josh about PFS scenarios? I've seen him discuss how there shouldn't be any "random" encounters and how every encounter should be tied into the adventure with a purpose behind them for moving the plot forward.

Yes, Josh is asking for one optional encounter in each submission (and has suggested that the same standard will apply to all Season 1 scenarios):

"d. A brief summary of each encounter—minimum six encounters with one encounter detailed as optional"

Josh wrote optional encounters for scenarios 29 and 30. I'm interested to see how other authors use them.

Sincerely,
Derek

Congratulations! An intriguing title, to say the least.

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I'm glad you all liked the scenario's main idea. Hopefully I'll have time to revise it based on your feedback and submit it again in a future Open Call.

@taig Thanks for the compliments. I'll work on strengthening the connection to the Pathfinder Society and summarizing the traps.

@Paramo I'm glad you liked the dwarf angle. They're one of my favorite races, too, and I couldn't find another PFS scenario that put them in the spotlight. It sounds like there's common agreement that Torra and a specific stolen relic should play a larger role in the scenario, so I'll work on that. The name Torra is straight out of the campaign setting, but I'll consider alternatives. In my opinion, Mudrym Runerock has the better name in the scenario.

@DM_aka_Dudemeister I'll do my best to watch out for repeated words. I added the first "trap smith" shortly before submitting based on feedback from a fellow gamer, but I should have removed the second one when I did. I totally overlooked the fact that I used "trapped" for the expedition.

@Neil Thanks for taking the time to write such a thorough critique. I particularly appreciate your comments on the relative importance of Torra vs. the expedition in the introduction and the relevance or irrelevance of particular paragraphs in the summary.

I did have a question on your comment about passive voice. My understanding is that forms of the verb "to be" contribute to passive voice when they are paired with another verb (i.e. "was sent", "are trapped", "is slain"). The use of the "to be" verbs by themselves ("Torra is a dwarf") is not passive, is it?

I like the suggestion to replace the lumberjacks with mercenaries. I felt the forest drake (or another wandering monster) was the best explanation for why the dwarves could not retreat to Falcon's Hollow, but a deadlier trap is certainly an option. I'm concerned that it changes Torra from a neutral adversary to an evil foe (in my mind she is more concerned with keeping people out than killing them). My initial thought was that the third encounter provided opportunities for combat or social interaction, although it's possible that the first encounter is sufficient for that.

Long story short, you've given me plenty to think about for revising this submission and/or writing the next one. Thanks again!

Thanks for the feedback, Elizabeth!

I suspected it was hazardous to make a scenario about Torra and then have her slip away at the end. It sets up the possibility of a sequel at the risk of deflating the initial scenario. I gambled that there could still be a climax and adequate rewards if the party dealt with one of her sidekicks.

Given the title I knew I'd have to spend some time thinking through the traps, and it was a lot of fun to study the new rules for calculating trap CR in the PRPG. I decided not to detail the traps as they'd be different across tiers, but that may have been a mistake.

My initial thought on the traps and the optional mimic encounter is that it would be very easy for GM's to add an additional door (mimic) to the room if there was enough time left in the scenario. I hadn't pinned down the relationship between Torra and the mimic, but I was leaning towards saying it worked for her in return for payment.

The earth elementals with Mudrym Runerock were a late addition when I decided that a solo wizard did not present an adequate climax for most parties. My concern with summoning is that it doesn't last long at low tiers and it robs Mudrym of an action. Perhaps they were summoned by one of Torra's stolen items.

Thanks for sharing your submission, Elizabeth. This is a really interesting murder investigation.

I'd recommend putting a lot more information in the summary about what clues, red herrings, and resources the Pathfinders will discover as they move from one encounter to the next. I'm sure it would be spelled out in the scenario, but the submission would be stronger with more details about the how the party can solve the crime.

I like the use of a Cleric of Norgorber as a red herring.

I also like the overall premise and the creative use of existing monsters. I feel like encounter 4 could use some work (using animated objects for a second encounter seems like overkill).

I think it would be helpful to give some background on the villain and the forest spirit in the introduction so the reader understands the overall aim of the scenario before reading the individual encounters.

Yes, you are correct. Shame on me for not assuming that a party of good aligned PCs would slaughter an NPC in an encounter without any provocation, proof, or even at that point suspicion of anything. How quaintly naive of me. :)

However, if your intent was that the party encounter an unknown druid early in the scenario that turns out to be the villain later, that makes for a very different encounter. If so, I'd recommend leaving out the "commonly known" phrase and allowing players to speak with the druid. Give him a cover story or have him send the characters on a wild goose chase (potentially a true one like the hobgoblins so Sense Motive won't reveal he's lying). He doesn't have to be evil to oppose the Lumber Consortium, so detect evil won't necessarily call him out.

Thanks for sharing your submission, Zizazat.

I'd recommend against a phrase from a nursery rhyme as your submission's title. It's not very evocative or heroic.

Your introduction and summary need work. The introduction needs to introduce Zindul, the Orb of Storms, and the druid's plan to flood Falcon's Hollow. It also needs to establish why the Pathfinder Society is involved (the Orb of Storms). Pathfinders have no interest in clearing out ruins of unwelcome creatures unless there are fantastic discoveries to be made. That's work for paid mercenaries or benevolent adventuring parties.

The summary needs to give an overview of the following encounters and describe how they are linked. After reading the submission I could tell that you wanted the party to visit a number of locations around Falcon's Hollow, but I could not tell why they would visit them (and why the order would be sequential).

The storms in the region should be established from the start (it shouldn't require rescuing slaves). I like the idea of using weather as an obstacle throughout the scenario. Work more of this into the introduction and summary as the hook for the submission.

It's probably not a good idea to let the characters see Zindul in encounter b. You can't assume that creative parties won't find a way to close the distance and confront him.

Sincerely,
Derek

Thanks for sharing your submission, Bob. I think I see where you're coming from as far as criticisms of existing scenarios.

I can't say I'd be a fan of non-tiered encounters in PFS. There aren't enough words in the scenario to add redundant encounters, and I prefer scenarios that have a definite opening, rising action, and climax. Open-ended exploration is better suited to home games (Dungeonaday being my favorite currently).

That said, I like the idea of giving a skilled and thoughtful party multiple ways to overcome each challenge. I tried to do something similar with 2/3 of the encounters in my submission. I figured at least a couple of the encounters should require confrontation, otherwise players who thrive on combat would end up hating the session.

You're right that the summary needs more information to be complete. Flight is an unlikely choice for tier 1-7 parties. Harpies are also quite dangerous for low-level groups. I'd like to see a stronger connection to the Pathfinder society. What are the properties of the magical Forge, and why are the dwarves keeping it a secret?

Speaking as someone who has a loved one living with mental illness, I would not be offended. Increasing awareness of disabilities would be a good thing in my opinion. I would love to see a paladin charge from a wheelchair(some people in wheelchairs move faster than people who can walk) or a wizard who failed a "trap the soul" spell be dealing with two personalities in one body, similar to schitzophrenia.Would each mind have its own spell compliment? Would a schitzophrenic wizard be able to specialize in two schools? Get two perception checks?

Writing a setting of an asylum I do not think would be out of bounds. After reading the module Carnival of Tears, an asylum may seem a bit normal.

Thread derailment aside, thanks for sharing your submission, taiga.

For some reason your submission reminds me of an episode of Smallville, where people regular make potions out of meteor rocks that give them supernatural powers. I just watched a Legend of the Seeker episode with the same premise. The ability to make blink potions is an interesting one, but it's hard to believe that the Pathfinder Society would be interested enough to send an entire team to find it.

You've done an excellent job tying your submission to the Falcon's Hollow area, and I like the idea of the kennel master gone bad. Keep trying!

Sincerely,
Derek

Thanks for sharing your submission, cyrusdane!

I agree with AngrySpirit that the writing in the introduction is wonderful. However, It seems a little risky to speculate on the machinations of the aboleth as a whole. That sort of thing naturally belongs in one of the Revisited books of the Pathfinder Chronicles line.

You could do a lot more with the adventure summary. It doesn't feel cinematic to me (well, the water trap and the cracking crystal do, but the other rooms seems like a standard dungeon crawl). The setup may be too much like the Third Riddle scenario from Season 0.

Sincerely,
Derek

Thanks for sharing your submission, Paramo. You've got some very interesting ideas.

My initial impression is that the scenario is LONG. You've got eight combat encounters when the open call asks for five and one optional. You've also got four very different locations and multiple roleplaying opportunities. I doubt this could be fully articulated in 7000 words or played in four hours.

My second thought is that no scenario should ask the Pathfinders to ally with the Cult of Urgathoa. No good characters would tolerate such allies (particularly paladins and clerics), and few neutral characters would either. The Church of Pharasma would make much better allies here. The Cult of Urgathoa makes more sense as the creators of the Ring of Unrot (Orcus is a relatively minor presence in Golarion).

Sincerely,
Derek

Feedback appreciated...

The Trap Smith’s Vault

Dwarves from Highhelm tracked the infamous rogue and trap smith Torra Darkgold to her hideaway near Falcon’s Hollow. When their expedition becomes trapped, the Pathfinders must race the Lumber Consortium to the site and survive Darkgold’s deadly traps to uncover the trap smith’s prized secrets.

Introduction

Torra Darkgold is no conventional dwarf maiden. Although she grew up in a respected and wealthy merchant family, she displayed a disregard for authority and a love of pranks that confounded her elders. Some say it was her early contact with other cultures. Others claim it was idleness and boredom. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t long before Torra absconded with a significant portion of her family’s wealth.

Torra began stealing from nobles and merchants. At first her targets were dwarves of the Five Kings Mountains, but eventually she travelled throughout the Inner Sea region. Torra particularly enjoyed tweaking the nose of her victims by stealing heirlooms and other symbols of power and prestige. She has even snatched a few interesting finds from the Pathfinder Society.

Torra maintains hideaways in several countries, including a vault in the woods near Falcon’s Hollow. She also uses this retreat to design traps, a craft she developed after a close encounter with bounty hunters. Unfortunately for Torra, a dwarf cleric of Abadar visiting Falcon’s Hollow recognized her when she passed through town. The cleric and her companions decided to track Torra and return with the location of her lair.

The dwarf party succeeded in finding the vault, but were unprepared when a forest drake attacked and slew the cleric. The others retreated into the vault, suffering further injury from the trapped entry corridor. The party’s wizard resorted to sending a whispering wind to The Sitting Duck tavern, hoping that other adventurers would hear it and send help. When both Pathfinders and Lumber Consortium agents hear fragments of the message, the race is on to reach the vault.

Summary

Unfriendly Lumber Consortium scouts and lumberjacks comb the woods between Falcon’s Hollow and the vault. Perceptive and stealthy parties may avoid them entirely with repeated successes. Persuasive Pathfinders may scare them off with intimidation or avert combat with bluffs or bribery. If made helpful, they warn the party about the local forest drakes. If not, they attempt to follow the Pathfinders to the vault.

The forest drake, wounded by the dwarves, waits outside the vault along with the cleric’s body. Pathfinders must fight or run for entrance corridor (automatic arrow trap, CR 0/0/3 by tier).

The expedition survivors (ranger, wizard, and unconscious rogue) are holed up inside the first room of the vault. They are suspicious of strangers, but respond favorably to healing and the return of the cleric’s body and gear. If made friendly, they share what they know about Torra. They will not accompany the Pathfinders into the vault due to fatigue and depleted resources.

A locked door separates the dwarves from the second room of the vault, where Torra keeps statues and other cumbersome trophies. It is guarded by a statue of Torra she received from an admirer. The statue attacks those who do not unlock the opposite door within a limited time.

The third room of the vault contains Torra’s trap-making workshop. There appear to be several doors, but three of four are experimental traps (magic, melee, and pit traps, CR 0/2/5 by tier). An optional encounter with a mimic may also take place here.

Beyond the workshop lies Torra’s personal chamber. The trap smith has fled down a secret escape tunnel with much of her portable wealth, but her accomplice Mudrym Runerock remains to deal with intruders.

Encounters

This information was laid out in a table in the doc

Tier 1-2 Encounters

• 1. Ranger 1, Warrior 1 x2 (CR 2)
  
• 2. Forest drake (young, wounded) (CR2)
  
• 3. Ranger 1, Wizard 1 (CR 1)
  
• 4. Small earth elemental (CR 1)
  
• 5. Medium animated object (CR 2)
  
• 6. Wizard 3, small earth elemental (CR 3)
  

Tier 3-4 Encounters

• 1. Ranger 1 x2, Warrior 1 x6 (CR 4)
  
• 2. Forest drake (wounded) (CR 4)
  
• 3. Ranger 1, Wizard 3 (wounded) (CR 3)
  
• 4. Caryatid column (CR 3)
  
• 5. Mimic (CR 4)
  
• 6. Wizard 5, small earth elemental (CR 5)
  

Tier 6-7 Encounters

• 1. Ranger 4 x4 (CR 7)
  
• 2. Forest drake x2 (CR7)
  
• 3. Ranger 5, Wizard 5 (CR 6)
  
• 4. Caryatid column x3 (CR 6)
  
• 5. Mimic x2 (CR 6)
  
• 6. Wizard 8, small earth elemental x3 (CR 8)
  

Conclusion

If the Pathfinders succeed, they will recover numerous heirlooms stolen by Torra. If they fail, she returns to empty the vault before moving to another hideaway. Pathfinders may also earn the enmity of the Lumber Consortium and/or the respect of Highhelm.

Two big rejections for me tonight. First I was turned down for a promotion at work, then rejected for the Open Call. What a great way to start the weekend!

I guess my biggest disappointment is the lack of feedback for first time submitters. That makes it really hard to know what needs improvement and if it's worth it to enter the next Open Call.

My submission was also rejected. I'll post it in another thread. For those with means and opportunity, come to Paizocon next year. With any luck, Josh will hold another seminar for ten people whose open call submissions were rejected. I hear that this year's scenario was really helpful for those who attended, and now I meet the requirements to attend next year.

P.S. There are many other fabulous reasons to attend Paizocon as well.

I dunno how others collect the items they need for their missions without a bag of somesort - I wouldn't want to walk around town with the head of an undead thing out in the open for all to see, especially hard if the mission is completed early in the adventure, as that would mean the character would have to drop the head to fight and then remember to pick it up again. (I don't know if any facton mission requires you to collect the head of an undead, I'm just using it as an example)

"We assume that you have enough bags, backpacks, or muscle to haul around the loot you find or, in the cast of an urban scenario, immediate access to markets and bazaars where you can sell your goods. While this system isn’t entirely realistic, it removes an incredible time sink from the play process (processing gear) and helps keep the scenario on track, on time, and moving fast."

This is Wonky math at best.

A) If you have a table of a 5, 4, 3, 1, 1, and 1. They are playing a tier 1-5 mod

15 levels divided by 6 is 2.5 which rounds to 3 add one so it's a tier 4-5.

*******************************

...Meanwhile table "A" is a TPK because half the table is 3 levels out of tier and one other can go up or down. So you 'really' only have 2 character 'in tier.'

The way many of the scenarios are written, the 4-5 or 3-4 sub-tiers just have more of the same monsters as the 1-2 tier rather than tougher opponents. It's not always true, but I've seen plenty of instances of 1st level character playing in those tiers and surviving just fine.

The way I understand the rules, a character must be playable for the tier of the adventure. Playing "up" or "down"only involves subtiers. So, if an adventure is for PCs in a range between levels 7 and 11, then the PFS rules allow only characters of those levels to play.

Is there a Scenario with 5-6 and 7-8 subtiers? If so, then, yes, the 5th and 6th level PCs could choose to "play up" to the 7-8 subtier. But if the scenario has a floor of 7th level, then they're no eligible to play it.

The tiers are:
Tier 1–5
Tier 1–7
Tier 5–9
Tier 7–11
Tier 12
Each of these Tiers has sub-Tiers. They are:
Tier 1–5: 1–2 and 4–5
Tier 1–7: 1–2, 3–4, and 6–7
Tier 5–9: 5–6 and 8–9
Tier 7–11: 7–8 and 10–11
Tier 12: no sub-Tiers

I agree with Chris that a 6th level character has no place in a tier 1-5 scenario. Any player who wants to keep playing tier 1-5 scenarios after their primary character reaches 6th level are expected to make a second character.

I also agree that 4th and 5th level characters should not be signing up for tier 7-11 scenarios at conventions.

It's only punishment to those people who only get enjoyment out of playing their PC that they wrote and that they get to level up and add wealth to. It's not a punishment to people who just want to have fun and don't care what PC they play or if it helps them get to a higher level. Someone who is nice is rewarded by being nice, not to mention being rewarded by getting to play a game with some friends or friendly strangers.

That said, I really like the idea of boons as a reward for replaying a scenario (with a pregen or an existing character) as opposed to xp or gold (restoring spent faction points would be one possible boon).

Vegas in November? Wonder what my plans are that weekend...

Hi.

I am running a private game using the PFS Scenarios. Two of our regular players will be abroad for a year, so our long-term campaign is on hold and we're running a one year PFS campaign.

I reckon we will be able run about 18 scenarios in this campaign.

So far we've run Slave Pits of Absalom and Frozen Fingers of Midnight. I have picked out another 15 (mostly randomly). These are:

Murder on the Silken Caravan, Mists of Mwangi, Eye of the Crocodile King, Stay of Execution, Decline of Glory, The Asmodeus Mirage, Perils of the Pirate Pact, The Trouble With Secrets, The Eternal Obelisk, King Xeros of Old Azlant, Fingerprints of the Fiend, Hands of the Muted God, To Scale the Dragon, Lost at Bitter End, Lyrics of Extinction.

If there are any other modules that have been widely praised, please let me know. Likewise, if some of these modules have been bashed, I can very well replace them.

I'm not too fond of combat heavy modules (at least not combats that are just there to grind the players), but since this is a private game, I'm free to remove and alter the acts.

Characters are (in case some of the scenarios suit one of my PC's particularly well):
* Male Human Wizard (Osirian faction)
* Male Elven Cleric of Irori (Osirian faction)
* Male Dwarven cleric of Asmodeus (Cheliax faction)
* Male Dwarven ranger (Taldor faction)
* Male Orc barbarian (Qadira faction)

Any help is greatly appreciated :)

This question is better suited to the Pathfinder Society GM Discussion forum. There are individual threads there for most of the scenarios with feedback. There are also existing threads for best scenarios, simplest scenarios, etc.

Having run one of the sections of the Pathfinder Society Interactive at GenCon, I can tell you that they will probably involve everyone breaking up into parties to play a few short scenarios at individual tables (probably 20-30 mins each) and probably a group event of some kind at the end. Then again, they might be designing something completely different. They're generally designed to be somewhere between a standard tabletop RPG experience and LARPing.

Hope that helps!

First,I appreciate your point of view. Now, let me see if i can clarify some things with observations I have made. Though it is true the senarios have a lot of combat in them, not all encounters have to end with bloodshed. PFS senarios have just enough chewy morsels in each value packed session to "ensure the players have at least 4 hours of gameplay"~ quoted from Josh. Someone can correct me if I am wrong but I beleive Josh has even went so far as to have a veteran group of game testers overseas(Norway?) whose job it is to make sure each senario meets the 4 hour benchmark. Not all the senarios are meant to be combat encounters nor are all the encounters required to finish the modules.

Off the top of my head, #1 The silent tide and I think #23 Tide of Morning both have roleplaying senarios which "can" but do not have to end up into combat encounters(they are both well written and interesting to play if you want to try them). I do not think you are going to find a module that is 100% role-play to win though, most people I know like to roll dice at least once a session.

Roleplaying to me is more initiated by the players than the GM. I have not had any problems roleplaying my character with any of the other PFS members. I have had GMs in a bit of a hurry to keep the adventure rolling so we can finish and sometimes that may put a damper on your...

On the other hand, my players had a great time roleplaying in in #29 Shipyard Rats. There were skills rolls for every social skill including Disguise (Diplomacy and Intimidate at least a dozen times each) and half the knowledge skills, each of them because the players and I both chose to roleplay.

Specifically, having the campaign setting hardcover is the best place to start (after the RPG Core Rulebook, of course!).

I figure the paladin and ranger need to be at least 6th level in order to qualify for the feat, but they can lower their caster level to 4 (minimum to cast 1st level spells) when brewing the potion.

And here it is. The blog has been updated with the rest of the adventure, plus the Keeping the Keep article and the remainder of the bestiary.

Tales from the Rusty Dragon

The biggest challenge I've had recently is a party of eight or nine players. They stacked so many buffs and debuffs that it was almost impossible to challenge them.

So now I'm thinking about splitting the party into two groups and sending one to the Fortress of the Stone Giants while the others tackle Sins of the Saviors. I stopped by this thread to see if anyone had ideas on converting the Scribbler. He's a piece of work in 3rd edition and I'd like him to make a big impression.

The only concern I would anticipate with adding images and more complex layout to the Chronicles would be cost and time involved in printing. Adding color images, especially images that people will want to collect, adds extra pressure on GMs or organizers who have to print six copies of each one each time they play. What if they don't have a color printer? What if they don't want to use all their color ink?

An alternative to the flag/symbol would be the illustration from the front of the scenario (usually a principal monster or villain). Consider throwing the scenario summary on there as well.

I think the important thing to remember is that it's the GM's responsibility to be able to improvise on the fly. Be aware of the time, and be prepared to cut a scene or change it so that it doesn't take up time. Do not remove scenes that prevent faction members from completing their task. Not every scene in an adventure is relevant to the story or the outcome, it's just there to grind hit points. It's better to remove an irrelevant scene in the middle of the adventure, then remove the final scene (or even to fastplay it).

While I respect players who take pride in maximizing their characters, there is also important to cater to groups who don't create optimal characters, either because they're not capable of creating them, or because they feel that the most interesting and fun characters are actually those who aren't optimal (a statement I find difficult to refute). It's always easier for a DM to increase the difficulty of a module, then do decrease it.

The good news is that the Season 1 adventures provide more flexibility by design. One encounter is written as optional (to be used if there is at least 2 hours remaining). Because each faction has two goals, every scene (except the optional one) has at least one faction goal associated.

The last sentence of the boxed text in Act 6 appears to be unnecessary and/or wrong.

"Thick wooden doors in the east wall lead to a set of steep stairs beyond."

According to the map, the only doors and stair are to the north and the party arrives from that direction. The following paragraph says the cells are to the north, so it is possible that the key was changed after the text was written.

As mentioned in the reviews for the scenario, the hp for the low level NPC's with class levels are calculated incorrectly. By the rules, "A creature gains maximum hit points if its first Hit Die roll is for a character class level. Creatures whose first Hit Die comes from an NPC class or from his race roll their first Hit Die normally."

So the Druid 1's should have 14 hp, the Monk 1's should have 13 hp, and the Fighter 1's should have 16 hp. I notice they do all have their favored class bonuses listed (or you could switch Con and Int so they qualify for Combat Expertise and give them 14 hp instead).

Dalirio should have 15 hp, although he's still a wimp compared to his girlfriend.

The rules for jumping through the trap door in Act 5 are a little different from the standard falling rules.

The scenario says DC 10 Acrobatics check or 1d6 falling damage.

The falling rules says DC 15 Acrobatics check or 1d6 nonlethal damage if the fall was deliberate.

Grench Teppish is wearing heavy armor without the Heavy Armor Proficiency feat (seems to be a trend for clerics of Groetus).

His aura of madness needs to go away on Tier 1-2 as well.

You do know that you now get full XP, half gold and half prestige for any scenario you run before having played it, right?

But why was it only oils could be up to 100 gp and not potions?

6. Josh mentioned no "retirement home for dragons" scenarios. At first I did not know what this meant. In my home game, I use a lot of wit or sometimes comedy to break up tension to a serious evening of gaming. I do not think the direction of the scenarios is comedy based.

A retirement home for heroes run by a dragon

I don't remember all the details clearly, but the general idea was that the dragon had gathered many high-level, retired adventures and provided a safe retreat brimming with animated objects and living spells as servants and bountiful illusions to keep them entertained. The dragon could have been observing the adventurers to understand their past adventures, learn their current secrets, or because they had some role to play in future events. It was assumed that the party would travel to the retirement home to make contact with one of the adventurers, would discover a third party secretly sabotaging the facility, and would be rewarded with titles or other unusual treasure if they succeeded.

Ever since that seminar Josh has used a retirement home for dragons as an example of the type of adventure Paizo does not want to write.

I believe the 100 gp comment is an artifact from 3.5 when rangers and paladins could only make 1st level potions at a minimum caster level of 2. Now their caster level is class level -3, so their 1st level potions can be caster level 1.

Easy example Bard 1 vs. Cleric 10 with equal starting Chr and Wis of 20 respectively. Assume all stat boosts are to Wis and target has +4 periapt.

Bard Intimidate mod is +9
Cleric DC is 23.

12 or above for a 1st level character to spook a 10th level character.

I think an 18,950gp Staff of Fire would be a better option over an unlimited fireball wand (1800gp for command word * CL 5 * Spell Level 3= 27,000gp).

The Eternal Wand (MIC) is only usable 2/day though and costs 10,900gp, so it's not too insane. Kinda wimpy compared to a SoF since Sof uses your current caster level and ability scores for damage and save DC.

The history of the play is a bit confusing. Today's blog post says it was written more than a hundred years ago (and the author was alive 200 years ago). Yet the House of Thrune has only ruled Cheliax for around 70 years, and it was their rule that led to the use of the "para" prefix for nobility.