Dungeon Grrrl's page

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEE!

When does the first thing he's worked on for you come out?!

Oversized weapons are fine for most builds. They are, however, overpowered for the builds they actually usually show up in.

What bothers me more is the idea of holding an axe with a haft double the normal diameter. 22 Strength or no, that's awkward.

Duck bills are funny. You can put a duck-bill on a dinosaur, and it's funny.

Heck, it's funny on a duck. (Though I have a friend who insists on calling ducks "platypus-billed-water-pigeons, so I guess everything is relative.)

More new material from Absalom, from the author of Guide to Absalom!

Available here.

He's doing this for nothing but praise and feedback (and love of the setting), so if youve enjoyed any of his stuff, please be sure to tell him on his blog!

I have always r8ules weapons come with sheaths, hangers or clips as needed.

And it's a move action to ready any weapon a foe need not make a Perception check to spot. If you start concealing items, I require Slight of Hand or a full-round action to ready them.

All of these from the Guide to Absalom

Hippocampus (the sea cavalry)
Mother Sphinx (the mascot of the city)
Low Azlanti (Gillmen of the Inner Sea)
Blue and red Chimeras (Kortos Mounts)
Sea-ghouls (The targets of the Undying Light commemorated in the Seventh Church)
Honey-producing wasps of Calistria (Pleasure Salon of Calistria)
Winged camels, axebeaks, bladebeaks, huge lizard-like creatures, giant non-venomous centipedes (Transport In Absalom)
The Assembler, the Ruling Escarpment, Thumpers, The Brass Carrots (or at least their constructs)(The Clockwork Cathedral)
The Living Eye, the Self-Consuming Troll, the Inverted Man, the Fish-Head Queen (Aysepir's Astounded Abyss)
Tunnel brach badgers (The Fierce Stripe)

So, was this job opening posted and I missed it (easily possible!), or did Paizo create the position because of the level of talent they suddenly saw was available?

Very cool.

I'm not sure Paizo are about to hand out bits of canon though.

Dungeon Grrrl wrote:

(And if you want to see it compiled and made cannon, like a lot of us do, mention it here, or start a new thread about it!)

I'd certainly like that.

What about getting Paizo to give Mr. Stephens an offical Absalom blog?

Heck, look at the Dunwich Horror. While the time period is further forward, it shows a group of librarians, armed with spells and relics, defeating an invisible horror rampaging the countryside. The good guys win, and no one goes insane.

How is THAT not a d20 fantasy trope?

And d20 cthulu was a huge hit. It sold in numbers that would make a lot of current rpg publisher's blush. But it was, WotC consistantly said from the beginning, a 1-shot designed to prove d20 could work for things other than D&D.

The existence of d20 Modern, Spycraft and M&M are all proof d20 cthulu did what it was meant to, proof-of-concept.

I heartily recommend anyone wanting to play with this to read the game designer discussions and free examples done by The Game Mechanics.

Go to their web site.

I'm curious if there is or are there plans for an official online Golarion calendar?

A lot of this may depend on play style. Actually, I think the guidelines may work BEST for a home game, instead of linked, ongoing "living" games. In a home game, if 4 PCs happen to be an exceptional case, that just underscores they're special, and will do amazing things. In a "living" kind of environment, you may meet 50 people like that over 10 sessions, including a random selection of them in any PUG.

But it is nice to know what the normal guidelines are too, both when RPing as GM, and if a PC begins life as one, or picks it up during a downtime intermission.

I really want to like them. They sound like a cool class. In first edition they just were such an odd thing. In 2e and 3e they just seemed sub par to all other classes. Could someone tell me why bards are worth while?

1. re-read Bilbo's encounters in the Mirkwood with the spiders, and consider his songs and poems as efforts to enhance his own abilities, and/or those of his dwarven pals. (Yes it's just one scene of Bilbo being bard-y, but it's a GREAT scene).

2. Watch the 2004 version of The Alamo. Specifically, BB Thornton as Davy Crockett, facing off cannons with a fiddle.

3. Watch (just the end of) The rundown, and consider the bagpiper as a bard.

4. Read up on dances and dancers of India.

5. Read any book from Dragons of Pern that focuses on the harpers. Of the Arrows of the Queen books that look at bards. Of both.

Now, sit down and decide to make a character that draws on all that for inspiration...

Major rpg author and Pathfinder Contributor Owen "Mr. Absalom" Stephens has put up more free material outlining the City at the Center of the World.

You can see the new material here. And he has an index linking to all these expansions at the bottom of every article!

As always, I beg anyone reading his work to let him know by responding at his blog! (And if you want to see it compiled and made cannon, like a lot of us do, mention it here, or start a new thread about it!)

I would love to see these compiled and released by Paizo in some form. Guide to Absalom 2, perhaps. Or maybe just a super-huge web supplement?

Or maybe an official weekly blog post on the Paizo blog?! Anything that keeps these together, and makes them cannon!

Dungeon Grrrl wrote:

here.
&
here.

Thanks, Dungeon Grrrl. I got behind, too!

Now, dang it, what did I do wrong with the links?! I am SO BAD at these things, lol.

Guide to Absalom author Owen K.C. Stephens has been putting up more material you can use to expand Absalom (or any fantasy city, really, but this is free and of professional quality). I had been posting his links here as a public service, and to encourage people to give him feedback.

I missed two posts, ‘cause I got really busy. So, here are the links, and another plea from me to ENCOURAGE the author to keep this up at his blog. We have like 8 posts already!

I missed a post on Puddles he did a couple of weeks ago, with a really cool and creepy idea called the Moss Stones. You can find it here.

Just today, he put up another one that gives LOTS of details about how social life works in the Pedals District. You can find it here.

And he now has a link to an index of all his Absalom posts, at the bottom of every article, so you can catch up (or go look something up) really easily.

In Absalom it is legal to OWN a slave anywhere, but you can only BUY and SELL slaves within a couple of districts. As a result, there are sometimes raids to grab illegally traded slaves.

I just looked this up recently for a game I am running.

Please choose one of the following.

A) I specifically prefer the rules conceits of d20 Modern (Fast Hero, Smart Hero, etc., talent trees, other mechanics stuff).

I love having a few, really flexible systems. The d20 modern classes can work in almost any modern settings. I love the flexibility of trait classes/talents/advanced classes, and I use it for a lot of games.

But d20 Modern is clunky as written. I suspect it was a d20 3.25 for WotC, and despite some great authors (you could get them for a new P20 Modern game, right?) the source books often do not feel clean.

But the Pathfinder RPG *does* feel clean, and it fixes a lot of core issuses with the d20 game in general. combine that improved Next general d20 rules with adventures and source materials with paizo's high quality and willingness to push past 'appropriate for all ages" mentality that Wotc suffered from, and I'm in love.

But I need you to maintain backwards compatability, just exactly as much as you did for d20 to Pathfinder. So don't throw out those classes or talents. Just Paizoerize 'em.

I want it to be able to handle... Dresden files like modern phantasy. And Masquerade-like Vampire hunts.

Otherwise, I have M&M and Star Wars Saga to handle what 3.P d20 doesn't.

With your players' track records, I will be amazed if really bad and horrible things don't happen to them for several weeks before being sold into certain kinds of slavery. ^_^

Isn't it session 3? ;)

sometimes I think you go out of your way to get your group captured.

How are they going to avoid a TPK THIS time?!

Oh well. I can always start another Kor Kammor game if this one ends in two weeks...

Gatekeeper Ascendant: Session 2

Bayden, Lannik, Murriel, Raqada and Urya are under orders from Topkick, head of the Puddles militia, to find proof someone is running slaves out of the district. They tracked a lead back to the Storm Breakers (angled drainage tunnels designed to protect Fort Tempest from floodwaters), and were attacked by more green-hooded thugs. They drove off the thugs, who fled into the Breakers. Night is falling, and a storm is approaching.

The heroes decide their best choice is to go into the storm breakers, assuming that if their prey live down there, it has to include places that won’t be flooded by the coming storm (and if they don’t go, the slavers can clean up any remaining evidence and move to a new location, now that the heroes are on to them).

The Breakers are at an angle, so the heroes must climb down. They attach a rope (at a hook that seems to have been hammered in recently for just this purpose), and lower themselves into the darkness. Bayden remains tipsy, resulting in a group agreement to have him be lowest, so if he falls from drunkenness he won’t take anyone with him. The downward shafts are covered in algae and slick, and moisture drips along the whole length, creating an effect like fungus-tinged rain. Murriel notices her white shirt is being stained the same color green as the hoods of the thugs they have faced.

Despite all expectations it’s Lannik who ends up falling off the rope, while trying to get a better look at some markings he spot scratched into the wall. Luckily, Bayden manages to make a high enough perception check to go on this “surprise” round, and catches Lannik as he falls past.

At the bottom level the group goes the path of elast resistance. A crude sharpened stack trap swings down on Raqada, and shatters on his breastplate (misses he AC by a lot). The path is dark, and only Urya can see without help. She get ahead of the party so their candles (no one bought better light, and the fear is a light spell would give their presence away) don’t betray here. The group find the water level in the drains already slightly rising, and Raqada makes a Know: Architecture check that convince him not only do the Storm Breakers not help with drainage, they never did. Lannik suggests a previous Puddles district council couldn’t come up with a solution, so instead lied about a solution and spent enough money to make it look good.

As the water rises, a group of dire rats rush past the heroes for a side-passage. Several are slower than the rest, and look extremely fat. When they find a dry spot, these fatter rats lay down and moan, rather than keep running. Raqada notes movement along the fat belly of one, and Uryal and Murriel insist on checking on them convinced they are pregnant females. Murriel goes to pick one up, and is almost bitten. She decides to try singing a soothing song.

That’s when the wyrmspawn burst out of the rat’s bellies (creature collection, revised). Murriel is covered in rat-gore. A dozen small, snake-like creatures burst out and begin climbing rapidly up the walls and across the ceiling. The players lash out (and Bayden summons a light spell). The snakes aren’t all that dangerous, though Bayden fails a DC 9 Fort save and is paralyzed by several.

The heroes kill or drive off the wyrmspawn, and Murriel tries to make a Heal check to get Bayden unparalyzed, but fails. The heroes wait around for him to recover, as it’s too slick to risk carrying him. Water is up to calves now, and Raqada begins to suggest they’ll have to drag Bayden out. Then, the giant wolfspider chasing the rats shows up.

Lannik and Raqada try to block the creature from Bayden, but it can crawl across the ceiling. The size of a small horse it is the color of the stone shaft., seems never to slip, and can jump about with remarkable ease. It tries to grab and haul off Bayden, but lacks the strength to do so quickly. Murriel tags Bayden with her whip, and she and Raqada pull him free while Lannik fights the spider tow-to-toe and Urya hits it with cold rays.

Once it’s down to half its hp, the woflspider decides this prey is too tough, and flees. Lannik gets one last shot at it, and crits with his crossbow. Nearly maximum damage kill it, and it falls from ceiling into the still-rising water. Lannik argues it must know where there is a place the water doesn’t reach, and the group drag Bayden that direction. Once he recovers, he heals his allies and runs along with them.

The water reaches chest depth, and the heroes begin to worry. At this rate, they can’t make it back to the entry shaft before they’d be underwater. Fighting a growing current, Murriel sees some marks on the walls and convinces everyone to follow her. As the tunnel reaches a point where characters are swimming rather than walking through water, they find a big upward shaft they guess must be under the hill Fort Tempest sits on. A single rope dangles down, and when Murriel grabs on to it, it lifts up and hauls her out of the water, up the shaft, and out of sight.

As the chamber fills, adult wyrmspawn show up, and begin trying to catch characters in gusts of vermin-infected breath. As Raqada advocates finding another route, the rope comes back down. Seeing few other options, one by one the PCs take it, and are lifted out of the water. Raqada goes last.

And when he is hauled up, he finds himself in a well-crafted dungeon. With his friends laying mostly uncosncious or badly beaten around him. With a dozen burly men, each with a hideously deformed face, threatening him with weapons. When Raqada moves to fight, one of the guards holds up already-unconscious Murriel and Beyden, each with a knife at their throat.

Raqada surrenders, and is knocked out with a club. End of session.

Best player quotes:

Urya: (Looking at the exploded rats and dead wyrmspawn): “Remind me to become a lesbian.”

(Just before the wolfspdier attack): Raqada: “I wonder what made the rats run like that?”

Player 1: “I just don’t think any serious warrior in the history of the world has ever tried using a trident one-handed.”
Lannik’s player: “I think roman gladiators took combat pretty seriously.”
Players 1: “Okay, I am entirely wrong. Please proceed.”

At the end of each game session one player (or me) chooses a way the players must describe their characters. This time, it was "What is your character’s current end-goal? If his career goes as he/she now hopes, how will he settle down?
Answers, in order given, were:

Raqada: “Married, with a small family, in a position of honor by the House, which allows him to both teach the young of his religion, and guard something of importance.”
Murriel: Anyplace comfortable where she is honored – matron of a great bard school, Lady of a powerful noble, or court advisor to the Primarch.
Bayden: “Sentenced to death by over-pleasuring by a tribe of inebriated amazons.”
Urya: “Duchess-Archmage, ruler of her own small kingdom whose subjects will defend her loyally against all threats.”
Lannik: He has no end goal. He assumes he’ll be dead by age 30, and sees that as preferable to aging past his prime to become a beggar or bully.

Okay, I have none of the Golarion campaign setting books, so I didn't know that "Puddles" was a district in Absolam.

I thought this was going to be a satirical post about unnecessarily detailed minutiae in settings. Humbug.

Author Owen Stephens has a new section of Absalom material, focusing on Puddles! Go look, and tell him how much you want him to continue with these posts.

Puddles

I was thinking of something similar for my explanation to my players. I love this answer and you worded way better than I would have. I'm going to be borrowing...

They were contagious. No one failed their fortitude saves. :D

Okay, so Aroden's really truly, we-mean-it dead. I assumed that, actually.

And Paizo doesn't plan to tell us how or why. I'm fine with that, it lets me pick a reason that works for my games.

SO: In my games Prophecy is a vast cosmic machine. You can't have prophecies about the too-far future, you have to get closer. But the longer that machine chugs onward, the more set prophecies become. So, as God of Prophecy, Aroden could see them earliest and best, maybe even tweak them when they had wiggle-room. He didn't create prophecies, just got a heads-up on them long before they were set, and could then nudge them in a direction before too many details become set.

And of course, he could reveal the prophecies he saw to his allies and worshipers.

Then,he was coming back. A new age of peace and happiness was on the way. He'd let that be seen early and often, because there was no reason not to spread the good news. Priests, gods, devils, they all knew.

But then, before his arrival and before any other force in the universe noticed - gods of death and mortal seers included - Aroden saw the eventual price of his return. He saw a terrible prophecy, and it was set. No wiggle room, no other options. The cosmic machine had too much force for Aroden to nudge this one.

The only way out? Break the machine. Aroden died as an act of divine will, pitting his full divine power against *himself*, to break one prophecy, and thus destroy all others. Even a greater god can't break powerful prophecy without consequences, but the cosmic machine couldn't stop him from destroying himself.

The machine shatters. The world bucks, clerics go mad, and gods stare in shock and horror. The force of prophecy - all prophecy - is reset to zero. No one knows what's coming now. And it'll be centuries, if not eons, before the future gains enough rigidity, before the cosmic machine gains enough momentum, for seers to see the future once more.

Aroden died to save us from the future, and no one, god, demon or angel, will ever know why or how.

So.. what are other GMs using for the cause in their games?

Nice, first cool usage of yellow musk creepers Ive seen in a long while. You still write a great story DG.

If you say "slimy yellow mold" often enough, they expect an ooze, slime or, well, mold.

Then you hit then with something else that makes just as much sense.

Yay, I got another post up in about two weeks!

Woot!

Gatekeeper Ascendant: Session 2

Bayden, Lannik, Murriel, Raqada and Urya are under orders from Topkick, head of the Puddles militia, to find proof someone is running slaves out of the district. At the advice of Urya they have asked the Fish-Head Queen to look into the question, and she's agreed, though she refuses to involve her business, the Astounding Abyss (a freakshow).

The party spends a whole day at the Abyss, taking time to recuperate and plan their next move. Bayden spends most of this time drunk hitting on women of the freakshow. When Raqada asks if that's wise, Bayden pointedly states that if it was wise, Bayden's god wouldn't approve. Raqada isn't sure how to argue that, and gives up on the question. The term Ale Goggles is invented by the players.

The Fish-Head Queen tells Urya that there are some whispers of slavers in Puddles, but no one who knows anything is willing to talk to Topkick about it. However, the Queen has learned that homeless people living in the Storm Breakers have begun to go missing at an alarming rate, and suggests that IF Urya is serious about helping these people, that's the place to stop.

The Storm Breakers are tunnels on the southern end of Puddles, designed to prevent storm surges from flooding Fort Tempest. They are long, angled shafts that channel excess water (any that gets above the current, baseline flood levels of the district) down into the sewers. Due to the sewer connection, Murriel suspects maybe the problem is were-rats, not slavers. After all, why would slavers take risks to close to Fort Tempest?

Lannik makes a natural 20 on a Knowledge (local) check, and convinces the group it's not were-rats.

The party heads across Puddles in small skiffs (which are common and cheaply rented or even bought). Lannik wants to take the safest route which takes several hours, but the group decide instead to go the fastest route, which cuts through Moldtown, where old granaries and stale ocean water and a few collections of wrecked cargo have combined to cover everything, even the water, with yellowish-gray mold.

While crossing through, the group sees a few people staggering through an old elevated roof garden, clearly covered with crawling mold. Though unwilling to risk getting out of the skiffs to go help, the whole party agrees to get themselves into one skiff (which Bayden votes for only after Urya points out she'd have to sit on his lap), and drag the other skiff under the edge of the roof-garden (which is only four feet above the elevated water level), and call to the mold-covered people to come jump into the empty skiff to be dragged to safety.

The mold-people stagger over. Murriel hears a noise on a nearby rooftop, and shouts loudly that if anyone else needs help to come be seen, so the PCs could bring help later. Noises come from many rooftops.

Lannik screams to start rowing. There's no way that many people are in this section of the district – it's avoided by Puddles folk for good reason and he'd have heard if there were that many outsiders around. As the PCs leap to obey him, the yellow musk zombies begin falling from roofs and elevated gardens into the water around the PCs.

The PC-filled skiff takes one direct hit from a falling zombie, and everyone is thrown into the moldy water as the skiff overturns.

Murriel manages to grab the rope of the now-empty, trailing skiff and clamors into it. Urya is grabbed underwater by zombies stuck on the wreckage below the water line. Bayden, Raqada and Lannik all crudely attack zombies trying to reach Murriel and the skiff. Murriel tries to help them in, but lacks the strength to do so, and is too unsteady to cast.

Lannik kills his foe first, because his trident does full damage underwater. He eventually climbs onto a bit of land, and pulls Murriel's skiff to him. The two of them form a point for Raqada and Bayden to move to, and everyone gets back-to-back. Bayden is pleased his rapier does well in water, and since there isn't room for everyone on the landing, stays chest-deep in water. However, his targets don't take crits, negating much of his weapon's advantage.

A few seconds later, Murriel realizes no one has seen Urya, who after all can't breathe underwater. Too drunk to know better, Bayden flings himself into the moldy water to search her out. Things get worse as more zombies start tearing apart the wall at the heroes back. Raqada switches places with Lannik to hold the breach, and realizes the zombies are from the local graveyard – it must have been dug up recently, and the yellow creeper vines got into the bodies.

Bayden can't find Urya, so instead he cuts himself and waves his arms around in the water, hoping to attract whatever has her grabbed. He makes a high Charisma check (too see how tasty he seemed), and his stupid idea works. Urya is released, and the zombies go attack Bayden. Urya pops up, and Bayden is dragged down.

Murriel has grabbed both skiffs, and lashes them together for greater stability. She, Lannik and Raqada flee the landing, and grab Urya as she pops up. Urya asks if Bayden cast any spells on himself and when told he did (bless for himself and the others) uses detect magic to find Bayden underwater. Lannik drives the twin-skiff, and Murriel uses an oar to just trip zombies nearby, while Urya and Raqada jump into the water to recover Bayden, who has begun drowning. Raqada uses smite evil to take down one zombie quickly, and Urya gets Bayden into the twin skiff. Raqada just grabs the skiff and fights off remaining zombies while Lannik poles them out of Moldtown.

The party rests for an hour once free, and Bayden passes out form whiskey to warm everyone. Lannik writes a warning on a building wall in chalk, and explains this is how most news gets around in Puddles, though he'll inform Topkick when they get back. Urya rewards Bayden for his bravery with a kiss and a promise of more, but he passes out as she whispers in his ear.

Once Bayden is kicked to consciousness, the party continues on by rooftop to the Storm Breakers. Just before arrival, they get caught in a huge net trap, hauling them up into the rigging of a wrecked adjacent ship. Crows attack them, and the party is forced to fight swarms of mundane birds while entangled and high above the ground. Eventually Murriel gets lose and finds the trap mechanism, and the group get free.

The trap brought more green-hooded thugs, who attack. Urya unleashes a torrent of spellpower, having been unable to do so in the first two fights, and gets more than her share of kills. The green-hoods flee into an entrance of one of the Storm Breaks. The party look into the black hole, as night sets. A rattle of thunder in the distance tell them a storm is coming, and there is no safe place to camp for the night.

End of Session.

Quick Inebriation Rules
Bayden is going to get drunk a lot, and NPCs keep *trying* to get Murriel and Urya drunk, so some quick rules were in order. These are designed to be cinematic, not realistic.

*Your maximum level of drunkenness is 2 + Con modifier. If you exceed that, you pass out for 1d4 hours.
*For every hour spend drinking, you must make a DC 15 Constitution check, or gain a level of drunk. If you're trying to look like you are drinking more than you are, you may make a Bluff check as a complimentary skill.
*Once you have at least one level of drunk, you must make a DC 5 Wisdom check to decide to stop drinking.
*You can decide on a higher level of drunk each hour, if you wish.
*Every hour spent not drinking, your drunk level goes down by 1.

For every level of drunk, you take the following modifiers;
*-1 to ranged attacks, Str, Dex, Int and Wis based ability and skill checks, and Will saves not based on pain or fear.
*+1 to those Constitution checks, Fort Saves and Will Saves based on pain or fear.

Best PC Exchanges:

Lannik: "There are no were-rats in Puddles."
Murriel: "Oh, come on! Your sewers are overflowing, people go missing all the time, half the district is abandoned ruins, and your militia, no offense, doesn't even TRY to patrol enough to be sure there aren't any were-rats. What the abyss makes you think you're rodendathrope free?!"
Lannik (deadpan): "Were-rats can afford better. They moved to the Precipice Quarter a couple of years ago."

GM: "You're not likely to do well underwater. Bayden can't see in the moldy muck, doesn't know where Urya is, can't cast, and is fighting with a high-threat weapon against foes who ignore crits. Make a Wisdom check."
Bayden: "I take 0, and get a 0."
GM: "Gain a +1 divine bonus to Perception checks, as you fling yourself into the yellowish slime."

At the end of each game session one player (or me) chooses a way the players must describe their characters. This time, it was "If your character was an alcoholic drink, what drink would they be?"
Answers, in order given, were:

Murriel: "Sex on the Beach"
Bayden: "Absolut Can Dew"
Urya: "A lime daiquiri?"
Lannik: "Beast Ice" (Milwaukee's Best Ice, for the uninitiated)
Raqada: "Green Scorpion"

You both ought to A: Let him know that at his blog and B: Let him know what else you'd like to see.

I asked for some Puddles material, and apparently will be getting it soon.

Owen Stephens, author of the Guide to Absalom, has expanded his weekly every-Friday post with mroe stuff for the city to include new areas. This week, it's more Merchant's Quarter!

Go and enjoy. And be sure to leave some positive feedback. At 2,000 words a week, if we keep him encouraged, we'll have doubles the available Absalom material in less than a year!

Huh. You are right, it's not crystal clear.

I assume it is still +1 ability score every four levels, though the table just says things like "1st," and the descriptive text is a bit vague.

Rules are important, DG. But story's even more important. And you tell great stories, which is what matters. Well, that and fun, which never seems to be a problem either.

I'm not *worried* about rules snafus. But it works more smoothly when we have one set of rules we can depend on, so players know how the world works.

For the record, we dtermined that we'd give our half-orc water sorceress Swim as a class skill, and that would cover how well she did in the water at our last game.

Also, you can make an appropriate skill check (currently Heal or Perform with a vocal or oral component, but we'll consider other skills if they come up) to give a KO's target a potion as a standard action, rather than a full-round.

And thus, our list of Pathfinder house rules begins!

You are welcome, and thanks!

This may be more PM territory, but how do you DO that?

Hey Folks!

It went up a little late, but Owen has a new Foreign Quarter Friday up!

http://owen-stephens.livejournal.com/66646.html

Go give him feedback so we keep getting these!

We love the rules. That doesn't mean we *know* them very well yet.

For example, we gave our water elemental sorceress a natural swim speed -- which she does not get until 15ht level. I required a skill check to give a potion to an unconscious target -- which just takes a full round and does not require a check.

But as the game progresses, we'll iron out those little bugs!

Classic DG, just classic. :)

I *do* find that if you have the same DM and a lot of the same players, even when the campaign is very different, that game ends up being pretty familiar.

We'll see if I can throw these players for a loop 'ere next I run.

You're not the only one to notice this thread had been updated a month later, Yasha... :)

Farewell and best wishes to you, author of the Black Days.

For the record I am trying a new format for a campaign journal, to see if I can, in fact, fit one into my lifestyle. First post is up, called Gatekeeper Ascendant.

First thing I need to know is the name of the mountains on the Isle of Kortos. :)

Also looking for some info on the docks in the Puddles. If the Puddles is routinely underwater, how do the docks operate? Do they still operate?

And looking for some interesting locations in the Puddles. :)

(And he answered your mountain question.)

really? What kind of questions?

(Okay okay, I'll check the blog for them...)

Okay folks, I am going to *try* to do another Campaign Chronicle, and only because it's our shiny new Pathfinder RPG, set in Absalom "Gatekeeper Ascendant" . But the posts will be a lot shorter than my Kor Kammor posts were, with much less detail, so it won't take as long to write. And if I go quiet for a long time nothing is wrong, I'm just getting busy. Thne posts *should* hit roughly every two weeks, since that's the game schedule, but I suspect you all know how reliable game schedules are. Or, rather, aren't.

This is the first thing I've run set in a published setting in a long time. All characters start at 1st level, and must be stuck in Puddles when the game starts. They don't have to live there, just be there for the moment with no immediate plans of leaving (or, at least, not plans they have the resources to carry out just yet the game will move to the Foreign Quarter soon).

Since this game is set in Absalom, I'll be using a lot of information from the Guide to Absalom, and additional material provided by its author on his blog. If you want to see me continue to post this Chronicle, go say something nice on his blog about the new Absalom material, so I'll have a good source of information for my games.

http://owen-stephens.livejournal.com/64816.html
http://owen-stephens.livejournal.com/65932.html

The Characters are:

Bayden the Bottomless: Male human cleric of Cayden Cailean (Chaos and Strength domains), and a drunkard. Has a very important mission in the Puddles, revealed to him in a divine vision, but was drunk when it was revealed to him and can't remember what the mission was, just that it's in Puddles

Corporal Lannik: Male human fighter, looking to multiclass rogue later. One of the Muckruckers (local Militia), Lannik is a dirt-poor native of Puddles, who often has to scavenge for food.

Murriel: Female half-elven bard and devout worshipper of Calistria. Intentionally came to Puddles to live as the "wet-foots" do, to be inspired by the poverty and terrible conditions to write a song or poem good enough to draw the attention of a patron who will pay for her continued schooling.

Raqada Ib-Homun of House Ahnkamen: Male Osirion-themed paladin of the Empyreal Lord Ragathiel. Seeks the bodies of seven members of his house whose ship wrecked in Puddles during a storm, and who have not been properly laid to rest.

Urya, the Living Glacier: Young female half-orc sorcerer. A member of the Astounding Abyss, Urya is a an elemental/water bloodline sorceress with natural tattoos of slowly shifting ice that cover her arms, shoulders, back, butt and outer thighs. She was left at the Abyss as a child, and has no idea what outrageous parentage resulted in a gorgeous (20 Cha) half-orc with ice/water powers.

House Rules: Moving through calf-high water halves your move rate.

Game One: Raqada hires Lannik to help him search for the House Ahnkamen bodies, as that gets the official blessing of the Salvager's Guild in the effort. Bayden the Bottomless hears this and tags along (unasked and unwanted), hoping this is the task he was divinely inspired to perform.

The three go to an old wreck, The Crested Queen, lodged in the courtyard of an old manor. A Knowledge (local) check lets Lannik know The Queen is a common temporary repository for things scavengers hope to ransom, like Osirion bodies. The three approach across rooftops, using long, braced boards to cross alleyways. This keeps them out of the water – Lannik reveals he hates getting wet, despite (or because) living in Puddles.

At The Crested Queen, the three men overhear the sounds of battle and spellcasting. Murriel and Urya, who have become friends, are on the tilted deck of the wrecked ship, fighting off a group of green-hooded thugs trying to subdue them with saps and Lawjacks (leather-covered clubs that deal lethal damage, but it only takes a -2 penalty to cause them to deal nonlethal damage, a typical slaver weapon originally created by gnolls). The old manor is a hollow square, with it's flooded courtyard in the center and the wrecked ship stuck there (having been carried in by a major storm surge years ago).

Lannik, Raqada and Bayden are on the northern roof, Murriel and Urya on the deck of the ship, and a dozen thugs are moving up on them. Urya has already been grappled, and only the fact she used her whip to lasso a mast spar and climb into the rigging has kept Murriel out of reach so far.

Murriel starts a limerick performance to inspire courage. ("The slave taker cracked her verbal whip, rewards of grog would be but a sip, if the slavers didn't start-a, swimming through water, and stop giving her any lip!") Lannik throws Raqada a rope so the paladin can climb down, then shoots the guy holding Urya with a heavy crossbow. (For the whole fight, Lannik never left the roofs - he just loaded and fired each round).

Bayden sees that one of the planks two thugs are standing on is resting on a submerged bolder - essentially a teeter-totter. He casts enlarge person on himself. Next round with a war-cry (Aaaaaaaaaaale!), Bayden jumps down on one end (we used CMB and CMD to settle this) and sends the thugs flying. One hits a mast and dies, the other is catapulted into the wrecked ship's tangled rigging and gets stuck.

Raqada places himself between the thugs and the only route to Murriel, fighting five of them at once, while Urya luanches herself into the water. Using her natural swim speed of 60 she outmaneuvers any thug that tries to get close again, and depends on her cold ray to take out foes.

Bayden takes a while to get to the fight (having gotten tangled up when he jumped down), but manages to replace Raqada as Murriel's defender when the paladin finally falls unconscious. The remaining thugs flee when it is clear they are outmatched, and one green-hooded thug takes the time to throw a dagger at the thug caught in the rigging. The dagger turns out to be poisoned, and the entangled thug dies.

The group do introductions. Bayden heals people up as best he can (though it takes a potion looted off a thug to bring raqada back to consciousness). Murriel discovers the thugs have devil-runes on their chests. A search of the ship does not turn up the missing bodies Raqada is looking for, but does reveal rusting cages with manacles, and other signs of slave-taking. Lannik insists everyone come report to his boss, Topkick, who may be a son-of-a-b%@@~, but won't allow slaves to be taken from Puddles.

Topkick is suspicious of Murriel and Urya, who were the targets of the salvers. He figures they must know something important if slavers risked the wrath of the Absalom Council by taking prisoners in the city. Lannik informs Topkick that people go missing all the time, and Murriel mentions there are rumors of illegal salve sales on ships in the harbor, done out from under the watchful eyes of Absalom's trademasters. Topkick demands proof of this from the group, and dismisses them until they can bring him that proof.

Urya convinces everyone that her boss, the Fish-Head Queen who runs the Astounding Abyss, is a good source for information about anything that happens in Puddles or the Harbor. The group goes there and stays the night on the freakshow's grounds. (Cayden shares a tent with the Two-Headed Girl, and Lannik accepts Urya's offer to share her room. Murriel shares a room with Raqada, but is dissppointed that he sleeps on a bedroll in front of the door, rather than in the cot with her). The fish-Head Queen promises the group she'll look into their questions, but privately warns Urya that if this becomes a threat to the Abyss, Urya will have to either give up the adventure, or give up the Abyss.

End of session.

Best player exchanges:
Lannik: "We should check this place out."
Raqada: "But this is nowhere near where the ship was wrecked or the other bodies found."
Lannik: "Have you looked near there already?"
Raqada: Of course!
Lannik: "Did you find the bodies youre looking for?"
Raqada: "No, if I had..."
Lannik: "If you had you wouldn't be hiring me to tell you that NOW, you should look here."

Raqada: "I smite the infidel!"
Murriel:"Wow, you can do that at 1st level?"
Raqada: "What? Oh, sorry. Yeah I can, but that's not what I meant. I strike the infidel with my khopesh!"
Murriel:"What if it's not an infidel? Have you had a quick religious debate already?"
Raqada: "Fine, I strike him with no regard to faith, color or creed."
Urya: "Actually, I think that one's a girl."
Raqada: "I delay."

Murriel: "I take one of the bad guy's healing potions and use it on Raqada."
DM: "You can't give Raqada a healing potion, he's unconscious."
Murriel: "I suck the potion into my cheeks, give Raqada a kiss, and hope I can use my Perform: Oratory skill to get him to swallow..."
Bayden (interrupting): "Bayden looks pale! He might be poisoned! He passes out!"
Urya: "I kick Bayden."
Bayden: "Well, that was fun too."

Lannik: "They're probably just typical thugs."
(Murriel, who was searching the bodies, chooses that moment to rip open the shirt of one of the dead, revealing a huge devil-rune.)
Lannik: "Or, they might be Chelish."

(Bayden's charm attracts the attention of the Two-Headed Girl)
Bayden: "Sure, I'm up for a two-and-a-half-way!"

As a new thing, at the end of each game session one player (or me) chooses a way the players must describe their characters. This time, it was "If your character was a street sign, what street sign would they be?"

Answers, in order given, were:

Lannik: "Economic Recovery Zone"
Bayden: "Slow Children"
Urya: "Watch for Ice on Bridge"
Raqada: "Speed Limits Strictly Enforced"
Murriel: "Additional Parking in Rear."

Dungeon Grrrl wrote:

Guide to Absalom author Owen Stephens has more of his great, free idea on what to add to Absalom.
Absolute Absalom

fixed
Thanks man... I will check it... we have been playing in Absalom.. even before the guide came out

And let's get some more comments going on his blog! That's the only reward he's getting for all this free writing!

Oh... I thought this was a thread about vodka! :)

Nope, sorry. But you *can* read this thread while you *drink* vodka!

Ah, thanks -- I'd have never found this otherwise.

Guide to Absalom author Owen Stephens has more of his great, free idea on what to add to Absalom. If you want to keep getting stuff this good, you have to post feedback on his blog!

http://owen-stephens.livejournal.com/65932.html

Oh, hey, almost forgot ... *passes over a tasty beverage of choice*

Can't properly nomnomnomnom without something to wash it down. ^_^

sluuuuuuuuuuuuuurp. smack lips. wipes them off with back of hand

Done.

Good to see you around DG and thanks for the head's up. Cool stuff!

Source material on demand!