Elorebaen's page

James Jacobs wrote:

)...We'll note that content is from the APG, but don't explain fully* things like how witch hexes, teamwork feats, create pit, or other rules elements work in the text of the adventure...

How exactly is that not assuming someone has access to the APG? I'm not out to pick a fight, but your post contradicts itself. Why the hesitation to just acknowledge that the AP now assumes access to the APG?

*Emphasis mine.

You do not need access to the APG. For example, Witch. You have free access to that information without access to a copy of the APG.

But we have been down this road before, and it seems to me that there are folks who would just as soon as do away with any rulebooks, and just have each adveture reproduce the PRD. This way you would always have everything in one spot. Thankfully that is not feasible, nor is it desirable, imo.

The way I see it, one will always hqve times when you do not have access to certain books, for whatever reason, though primarily monetarily. In those cases, you can attempt to gain access to the free options that are on the net, or borrow from a friend

I understqnd that there are some out there that like to GM with no prep, but in that case you are probably good at winging it anyway. Moreover, if you did decide to prep a little and look up those items that you do not have a book for that bit of prep time does not offsetthe value gained from adding more varied options and more page count for the APs.

It seems to me that Paizo has offered a happy medium by providing the material online for free. (I know some of the material is not currently available, but it will be)

Cheers!

.

Yea. The more options the better. The fact that it is an option does not mean it has to be used of course, but having it available should not be an issue.

How is "getting on with the game" an issue, unless you all sit down make your characters and start playing right then. I normally have at least a week's notice before a new game so even if I dont have the time to make a character in one sitting I can split it up over several days.

I have also noticed that indecisive players are going to be indecisive anyway.

I think you should ask the players. It may not be the burden on them that you think it will be.

+1

Yea. The more options the better. The fact that it is an option does not mean it has to be used of course, but having it available should not be an issue.

How is "getting on with the game" an issue, unless you all sit down make your characters and start playing right then. I normally have at least a week's notice before a new game so even if I dont have the time to make a character in one sitting I can split it up over several days.

I have also noticed that indecisive players are going to be indecisive anyway.

I think you should ask the players. It may not be the burden on them that you think it will be.

+1

Great.story! Nice pacing, clean writing ... Well done. Looking forward to reading the other segments.

Or Skype + Maptool. Either way and you are set.

Elorebaen,

** spoiler omitted **

Thank you for the advice!

I am in the process of prepping this adventure. I am a bit fuzzy on the map locations. Is the intention for the GM to place the encounters wherever they feel like it? Based on the descriptions it is not clear to me where exactly they go based on the segment presented in the magazine.

Thanks for the assistance.

Elorebaen wrote:

Wow, you must've really had tiny grids for that pic. That is a great idea, I have considered it, but I just figured it would be way too much. I may have to re-ponder it, because I really do like the idea of sneaking through.

In play, did all of the sneaking work out?

Yep, I did it all to scale. I am a huge fan of the infinite canvas that MapTool allows, especially as the players reach levels where flight and big maps become standard. Finding the maps can prove to be a challenge though. Luckily for all of you, I plan on seriously honing my catography skills this Summer, and you can be assured that my maps (especially Runeforge) will be made to exploit MapTool in all its glory!!!one!!11

As for the sneaking — Rocs have excellent Perception checks (as well they should) but cannot communicate with the giants. So if you really want to put the fear into the PCs, have the Rocs notice them and descend for the kill... send them fleeing for cover. It's a great way to play that scene with the excitement of being caught without the serious consequences.

- Looking forward to your cartography skills!

- The Roc sounds like a good idea.
- I have definitely started to notice the serious uptick in the need for bigger maps. Thankfully Maptool can handle it :)

Elorebaen wrote:

Sounds like what I do. I was thinking of the variety of possible encounters once in the valley.

For that, I actually used the Rob Lazarretti 3/4 view illustration of the valley. I was fortunate enough to acquire a high res version (which, sadly, I cannot share) and I populated it with tokens for all the giant armies. It made things pretty interesting as the players were sneaking around to check out Longtooth's lair and the secret entrances.

Design-wise, I think it is pretty remarkable that PCs are considered able to sneak in to Jorgenfist at all! The amount of opposition is just incredible.

Wow, you must've really had tiny grids for that pic. That is a great idea, I have considered it, but I just figured it would be way too much. I may have to re-ponder it, because I really do like the idea of sneaking through.

In play, did all of the sneaking work out?

That is super fricking cool!!!! I cannot wait to infect a whole new generation!!

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Elorebaen wrote:

Side note, EL, I was curious how you prepped FotSG for Maptool. Did you create a bunch of new maps? Just curious as I am prepping the adventure.

I cut the pixie/forest sidequest altogether. Most of the other maps were usable as is. I generally pull them straight out of the PDF with the extractor, that takes all the key markings off, then I just pop it into maptool and set up vision blocking and Fog of War. I also usually drop some door objects on top of the doors. :)

That's it really. I sometimes include special "effects" for traps and the like.

I've also been known to use illustrations as maps if they're suitable. I did that for the Storbal Stair, using Jeff Carlisle's illustration. That was a very fun fight to play on the x/z axis rather than the usual x/y axis. That does take an adventurous spirit, though.

Sounds like what I do. I was thinking of the variety of possible encounters once in the valley.

I think I like this idea.

Awesomeness!

Prep Rituals sound really cool I like the idea of special spell books

+1000

Gr4ys, you know that the PDFs after skinsaw (I think) can be extracted directly without legend or markings(In adobe read 8 or similar), right? I've been using an app called simply "PDF Image Extractor" for my PDF->MapTool needs. If you're still doing it the slow way, by god man, I'll show you the quick way.

+1

Side note, EL, I was curious how you prepped FotSG for Maptool. Did you create a bunch of new maps? Just curious as I am prepping the adventure.

I would rather see Paizo focus on what they are inspired by ie Golarion. But I do think that other settings are a wonderful playground for 3PPs. In fact, there are already a handful out there that are high-quality.

I just posted my first review for a Pathfinder module here. I plan to review each module in my sub, with an eye toward the needs of Virtual Table-Top players who get added value from the PDFs.

This is a cool niche! I am especially intrigued as the great majority of my gaming involves Maptool.

Thank you for the head's up!

Wow! This sounds ultra-cool!

What Snigg said. Going to be a doozy! I imagine that if you need some things spread out that customer service would help you out. Shoot them an e-mail and ask.

Awesomeness!

Thank you!

This is the place to discuss the product and its rules.

I concur completely and there are many discussions like this in the forums, especially the Rules forum. In fact, this is where I believe your review(s) would have been more appropriately placed.

Just a suggestion based on the thoughts you've expressed, your efforts would be better placed in offering House Rule ideas in the Suggestions/House Rules/Homebrew forum.

Best.

I am loving the covers lately!

Sorry if I rubbed anyone the wrong way, it wasn't intended. I sometimes come off as rather gruff in my posts. :)

+1

And as the players freeze to death in the snow and are eaten by Linnorm barbarian cannibals, they will wish they had taken a boat.

Surely the Tian have some port cities... I'm looking forward to this and some type of map.

I would imagine that if they want to go the long way around, then this is not the AP for them.

Looking good!

These are really clever!

+1

Happy B day!

Thank you!

Ok, true to my word, this has been resolved, at least internally, by the end of the day. (As long as I haven't gone home yet, it's still "today," right?)

I don't want to get into specifics of what we decided, because like everything to do with the scoring and reporting side of PFS, in order to implement changes we need to get it on the programmers' to do list.

It's obvious that we need a way to thank and reward coordinators similar to the GM Star program, but different from it. As soon as that system is implemented, folks will be honored appropriately for the area of their contribution. In this specific case, our previous campaign coordinator honored Doug Daulton for his awesome job coordinating PFS conventions in the Vegas area and pushing Pathfinder in general with a GM Star ranking. He did this from a good-hearted place, and offered the only sort of recognition that existed at the time.

This happened, apparently, more than 6 months ago, but only recently became an issue when other GMs--who are working really hard to earn that elusive 5th star--took issue with how Doug received his.

Doug didn't do anything wrong, of course, and has been a huge ally of the Pathfinder Society since before there even was a Pathfinder Society. But beyond that, he is not the only coordinator who has sweat blood to ensure that this campaign is popular and successful, so the proper response is not to punish Doug, but rather to create a way to give similar recognition to other coordinators, who make their own important contribution to the success of the campaign.

Until this new system is in place, Doug will keep his GM ranking. I ask those of you upset by this to simply deal with it for a while until we get the solution in place. Because once that solution is in place, Doug's rating will be shifted over to a different column for Coordination, which is an accolade he richly deserves. A lot of other folks, many of them probably reading this message right now, also deserve accolades for their non-judging contribution to...

Very well said, and it sounds like an excellent solution.

That said, I think it’s appropriate that there are different classifications for folks promoting Pathfinder, Pathfinder Society, and the hobby in general when it comes to receiving little rewards. (Personally, my reward is hearing about folks playing and having a good time, especially if it's something I added to the hobby.)

GM’s (of all stars, really) work their asses off. Those gathering a constellation work their asses off running tables, coordinating tables, and being the big man at conventions all across the globe to get the special events. Folks like Doug rent out entire convention centers at hotels on the Vegas strip to host those special events, as well as bunches of other games. Not just coordinating a convention, but creating and building one.

Hell, my dumb ass has access to some of the *special events* due to my contributor status (not that I’m running that stuff; just reading it so I can keep things clear in future work.)

So, yeah, it’d be interesting to see different denominations of status, especially if it keeps from fracturing an already small hobby. It’s a shame when I see folks with the same intentions grumbling over specific details. Kinda counterproductive, if you ask me.

But that’s just, like, my opinion, man.

Well said on all fronts.

Totally cool, and good on your players for rewarding your efforts as a GM

I'll just add very cool. Especially the discoveries look cool.

+1

I am very exicted about these 3 new scenario's.

Seems like a great PFS recruitment tool.
:)

+1

Loving this thread. I'm not running this atm, but since it came out I've been wondering how best to connect the 1st with the rest, and also how impetus could be spurred. Excellent ideas.

Thank you! This has been helpful.

I have a player who is a kind of rules lawyer, who think that the alchemist is over powered compared to the core classes. He sees a 1st lvl Alchemist with what he takes are a number of small "fireballs" per day.

Personally I think they are just fine, but I'm not really a rules heavy person. I was curious if there are other experienced alchemists out there who could offer suggestions on how to allay his fears?

Thank you for any assistance.

Congrats on the Anniversary, and thank you for the sale!

The Mac port is being done such that we're a big chunk of the way towards have an iPad version.

Awesome!

*blinks* I just noticed this says "PFRPG" next to the title. I thought this was only available for AE. Wow, awesome (*places in cart*). Does this mean RP is planning on offering conversions for other AE-made adventures?

OMG, that was my 200th review on Paizo!

O.o

Now I feel OCD. Very OCD. XD

I think I'll open a bottle of Ardbeg to celebrate. :)

Congrats! Celebrate. You deserve it!

It sounds interesting and I would appreciate the effort. My suggestion would be to look at what http://www.d20pfsrd.com/ is offering and whether it would make more sense to contribute, or to if there is another niche you can fill.

Best.

I'm a patron on the Breaking Forstor Nagar project, and let me tell you, it is going to RAWK! Just sayin'

Very cool, thank you!

These covers have been stunning lately. I really hope this is the direction you guys continue to go in.

THIS is how religion books should be done. The material focuses less on the deities and more on those who follow it. Right on the money! This is what players/DMs need to make the religion come alive. Kudos.

The other faith books couldn't come quick enough for me!!

Awesome book! Man, I wish all of the region books were this detailed.

One of my favorite things about 2e was character kits, I know many people didn't like them, but archetypes remind me of them (in a good way), and I strongly prefer them to PrC, even if I know they are not mutually exclusive.

Thank you Paizo for the character Archetypes

+1