I'm running Slumbering Tsar now, having taken over a Play-by-Post from someone else who decided to run it under the Pathfinder rules.
** spoiler omitted **
Spoiler:
Chris Mortika wrote:
(My goodness, but Pathfinder has made hill giants squishier than their 3.5 counterparts. And did you mean to give him five class levels but only one feat? But that's besides the point.)
Yep. A hill giant in 3.5 has 5 feats as a 12-HD monster. With 5 class levels, that makes him a 17-HD monster. Therefore, by my calculation he would pick up one more feat at 15 HD but not another one until 18 HD (which he ain't got to yet).
Chris Mortika wrote:
One of the players has asked why people bother with the Desolation at all. The Elders of Muir presumably have 9th-Level wizards, and maps indicating where Tsar should be. Why not just teleport a party to Tsar, or scry on it from afar? Why would Bard's Gate send a diplomatic caravan through the deadly desert instead of flying or wind walking?
Tsar is basically a forgotten issue by the time of the adventure. And most maps/intelligence on it were either lost with the Army of Light or are lost in the archives still awaiting to be found. If you're using the lost knights hook, then the PCs are either the churche's first crack at it (in a sprt of low-cost/low-risk endeavor) or potentially teleporters have not returned. There are some dividnation type issues over the city itself as explained in ST 2, so the default assumption is a land exploration. That's why it's for 7th-level parties and not 9th-level parties. Those sort of tactics are available as a standard option.
As for Bard's Gate, depending on how high fantasy you want to go, they're exploring long-forgotten markets so they're looking at the low-rent options. They don't even know exactly how deadly the Desolation is because it's bascially been a forgotten no-man's land for centuries.
Obviously your player's tactics are viable and expedient, but then I think they would pretty much work in just about any adventure to get past all the preliminary stuff.
Thanks for the questions. I hope you all enjoy the adventure.
I ran a PFS Scenario this last weekend and the group included a guy unfamiliar with the Golarion setting. When I laid out the Inner Sea Region map at the start of the game he saw Isger and said, "Lager! Is that the Land of Beer?!"
I don't know if he has any love for Isger or not, but I do know he's a little bit illiterate.
I hadn't considered it that way. That is totally awesome (begins designing mok as a PC race for Kingmaker bestiary).
AAAHHHHEEEE!!!!
Who wouldn't play that
Fixed that for you. ;-)
You realize that if you are toying with me here and are not actually planning on putting in mok as a player race, I will cry
You realize that right?
Um...yeah. I would never do that to you...so the mok is definitely in. However, all final editorial decisions lie in the hands of James Jacobs so if the mok does not appear in Kingmaker we'll know to lay the blame squarely at his feet. (That Jacobs makes me so mad--shakes fist).
It's good to see this thing take flight, Greg. Best wishes. And hopefully, parts 2 and 3 get commissioned after a successful launch and viral marketing program. ;-)
--Neil
As much as it pains me, another fan hoping it will happen.
Mnar
Now why did Richard Pett have to come and start clutttering up the thread?
I remember asking you almost exactly two years ago to this day on this very thread if this adventure would work in a setting that was a 'romanticized version of 14- 15 th century Russia'.
Happy that it made its way through !
I expect you to sign my memory stick at next GenCon.
Your ex roomie and still fanboy.
Hey, Noel! Thanks. I'll make a deal with you; you don't bring the gimp mask next year and I've sign your stick...wait, that didn't sound right.
It's good to see this thing take flight, Greg. Best wishes. And hopefully, parts 2 and 3 get commissioned after a successful launch and viral marketing program. ;-)
--Neil
Thanks, Neil. I'm hoping the "Punch Daigle in the Balls" promotional contest I'm putting together really catches on. Just think, in a perfect world Daigle could just be walking down the street in Anytown, USA and some kid will run up to him yelling, "Alright! Slumbering Tsar rocks!" and then proceed to punch him in the balls.
Brings a tear of joy to my eye just thinking about it...
Congratulations, Greg! This getting released is fantastic news! I really feared that I would end up missing out on this. I look forward to seeing it on my desktop.
Quick question: If I planned to run this as a complete campaign, given that its a 3-part release would it flow better if I had all 3 in hand before starting, or are they modular enough that I don't have to worry if my players get sandboxy?
I'm away on business right now, but first thing Monday morning, I'm downloading myself an early birthday present!
Thanks much Daeglin! It's been a long time in coming.
In that I have no idea when or if parts 2 and 3 will be released, I would not recommend waiting before running this one.
That said, part 1 is extremely sandboxy, so that shouldn't be a problem. Your players just won't be able to proceed into the city itself (unless you prepare one on the fly or convert something already existing--maybe the Myth Drannor box, or the old 1e module Dwellers of the Forbidden City or something). Part 1 is entirely concerned with the countryside around the city of Tsar, so as long as they stay there it shouldn't be a problem. Getting into the city requires defeating a pretty high CR monster (which is why the first adventure allows the accumulation of XP and treasure in order to prepare the PCs).
I wish I had better news on that front, I just don't know anything about a release for parts 2 and 3. I would liken it to the old adventure T1: The Village of Hommlet. It was like 10 years before its sequel/continuation The Temple of Elemental Evil was released. So T1 was a great adventure to run, and everything was just fine as long as the PCs didn't go to the Temple itself.
Hopefully better news will be forthcoming, I just don't know any further details myself.
One more thing. I cheked the Vril from the above link. Its a 3lvl warrior but CR:2. I think that NPC class levels was -2 not -1, so the vril warrior lvl3 should have CR:1. Right? And in PF system is -3. Am i wrong?
(editted for more info)
In 3.5 an NPC class is -1 for CR. In PF RPG it is -2 and a PC class is -1. So the CR 2 is correct for 3.5 but it would be CR 1 in PF.
No problem. I just didn't want anyone who wanted it to hold off on buying it only because they might be waiting for the PF RPG version, because at this point I'm not aware of any such plans. I just didn't want to give any false impressions. At this point I have not done a PF RPG version for any of the three (I've only had the PF RPG rules since August), and I have not been approached about doing that.
I'm excited that this is now available. But I would definitely like to know if a PRPG version is planned. If a PRPG version is done, could those of us that purchased the 3.5 ver. get it for free or at a discount perhaps?
Thanks.
I am not aware of any formal plans to convert it to PF RPG. Its current published form is the form it was in when it got pulled from printing when 4e was announced. This version is the one that has been "sitting on the shelf" for the last few years.
That's funny. When I found this adventure years ago used, it was also missing those maps--the major wilderness areas and the Tower of the Heavens. I created my own versions of them based off the descriptions in the text and then ran the thing for a 2e party. Years later I found and bought the pdf through Paizo and was delighted to compare the actual maps with my interpretations. Most of them, like the tower (which was like putting a puzzle together blindfolded) were pretty different. Some, however, were eerily similar. It was pretty cool to look back on it. All in all, an awesome adventure. One of my favorites out of the UK which created many of my overall favorites bewteen the U and UK series and B10. Enjoy!
I love some of the 16th-century Spanish maps of the Americas that show the Baja Peninsula as an island...not to mention the way that coastlines are drawn in old maps are often radically different from their true orientation. These things are limitations of the explorer and his cartographer and just add to the richness of the setting/world. That Chult appeared to be an island in earlier FR products (and was evidently referred to as such in some of the sources) works for me because until James Lowder and 2e began exploring Chult, to all parties involved it WAS an island. Nobody knew any better.
My biggest beef with this however, is when sourcebooks are written from an omniscient viewpoint as they seem to typically be. In this case, the canon really does need to match on the big sweeping stuff or it needs to tread very lightly around unexplored/undocumented areas until they can be looked at in more depth. 1e FR really got that...much less so later, though. Paizo seems to be taking this to heart as they continue to expand upon Golarion for which I applaud them. I don't need a Volo's guide to every place to eat in Absalom, just some consistency on the big stuff. For the most part I think Paizo is delivering on this, and I have been very pleased with what they have done.
Hmmm, what about the guy who plays Mr Locke on 'Lost' for Tywin? Dunno, just a thought.
for some reason he comes to my mind more as The Hound, too soft speached maybe... but certianly i think he can give both an scary and soft interpretation to show the complex character the Hound really is
I vote Michael Wincott for the Hound. He'd have to be made up a bit to fit my mental image (but then with half of his face burned off it shouldn't be a problem), but he has the demeanor and the VOICE down cold.
My favorite T-shirt was spotted while Lou and I panhandled for change and harrassed the participants outside the entrance of the Interactive. All it said was, "Your Retarded."
My favorite T-shirt was spotted while Lou and I panhandled for change and harrassed the participants outside the entrance of the Interactive. All it said was, "Your Retarded."
My favorite T-shirt was spotted while Lou and I panhandled for change and harrassed the participants outside the entrance of the Interactive. All it said was, "Your Retarded."
I don't think it would hurt to keep it on his front burner, though. The last time I discussed it with Clark, he was very enthusiastic about it. So, while I wouldn't recommend pestering the Demon Prince of Undead, perhaps reminding him of the fans' enthusiasm from time to time could be a positive thing. If he and Erik ever get synced up on this, watch out!
I think the success of the PF RPG first printing selling out (let's go second print-run!) is going to shift the publishing paradigm of Paizo over the next six months to a year. Hopefully ST will be a part of that shift. It's probably still too early to tell, but it was brought up again and still received in an extremely positive light by the Paizonians. So hopefully we'll see some progress on this. I'll keep querying (without trying to become too obnoxious) and hopefully possibilities that didn't exist before will be opening up. I think ultimately this will come down to a sit-down between Erik and Clark on the logistics of the thing. (fingers crossed)
The 9 hour game of Call of Cthulhu with Lou Agresta, Eric and Greg.
Oh that was you ! : )
I'm the one that brought Lou and Eric the scotch, you the beer and Greg the double sarsaparilla. (the man is a saint) He must have had fun because he never made it back to the room !! And I left well past 6 am. But I did get to see Greg put a youth's face through an overheating carborator. In game of course.
Hi Noel. I got in about 7 am--must've just missed you--but I got to sleep until at least 8 am. Woohoo!
And in my defense, it was an overheated radiator, and the punk had it coming.
As for the all-night game Lou ran, all I can say is that the King Lives, and that I actually DID shoot Eric. I just replaced him with a mi-go and nobody noticed.
The whole Con was a blast, though. I enjoyed getting to hang out with all the folks, play the games, and it was great to room with Noel (well, the part with the gimp mask was a little uncomfortable).
I just sent you an e-mail. If it's not showing up then Richard's virus messed up my e-mail worse than I thought. Shoot me another e-mail if nothing comes through, and I'll try to reply to it. I think my anti-virus has cleaned up everything in my system.
It got me, Rich. I'm checking now to see if any damage was done or if any e-mails went out. If anyone gets one from me, don't open it obviously.
Greg
Edit - It looks like my e-mail may have gotten fried to some extent. I've got the virus scanner going now. I'm going to stay out of e-mail until it's finished and I know it's clean so I don't zap anyone.
Necropolis is very Egyptian (Khemitian?) in flavor. It's an awesome dungeon crawl, but it would not really fit at all without an EXTENSIVE rewrite, up to and including room descriptions. Scarwall would make a decent dungeon crawl by filling in all the surroundings with rock and making it just a series of chambers dug around an open cavern (the courtyard) and you could then move all the Mandravius drama to the subbasement of Korvosa itself. Or in old, old school Dungeon magazine (a bit Dark Tower of Kabilar-esque) fashion, you could even import the castle, tarn, and gatehouse whole, as a freestanding structure in an immense cavern beneath the city--even tie it in to the Runelords maybe to help explain it.
The Vampires of Waterdeep series from Dungeon is also good idea that fits pretty well thematically.
It's hypocrisy to ask 18 year olds to vote, join the military, etc, but that they can't have a beer. Let's show them that we trust their judgement, and believe they can act responsibly.
I agree with your point, but I don't trust 'em. I'm for upping the voting age to 21...maybe 25. Probably driving age, too. But then I'm a grumpy old man. Hold on a sec...
Thanks, DM. Yep, I ran three games from an excerpt of the first adventure at Paizocon (killed a lot of PCs, too). What I was actually referring to, though, was that I had the chance to sit down with some of the Paizo guys and talk about it, mainly to keep it fresh on their minds. I think the success of the PF RPG book will be very telling in regards to Paizo releasing these adventures. So buy lots of copies of the PF RPG. ;-)
