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Mando's files (3.5E! - part 1 to 5 only) have been forwarded to Unusual Muse & Kenderkin.

@ Potsticker: sorry, TLD, CoBI and following were not among the files I have.

Hagor


***Warning - thread resurrection in progress***

The "running this adventure soon" part took somewhat longer than expected...
I don't know if Mr Logue will see this, but here is a quick run down of what happened when my (over-equiped) PCs went through the adventure.

The cast: halfling druid, human barbarian, halfling bard & human sorcerer; all level 10 (after very successfully defending Farshore against the Crimson Fleet in my Savage Tide campaign).

- I set the stage for the Manderholm textiles uncut material, but the druid summoned a rhinoceros to bash in the doors & let the animal next charge Tamm's group (so no chance for diplomacy). Mason bought some time allowing Tamm to turn invisible, but the dwarf got glitterdusted (& blinded) by the sorcerer in the process, putting him effectively out of combat. (The dwarf got captured & was executed later).

- the idea to infiltrate the prison came (jokingly) from one of the PCs & Gregor was immediately very enthusiastic (Initially, they planned to attack the prison - you can see a pattern here). The plan was that the druid would stay outside (with most of their equipment in bag of holding) & the other PCs would enter Black Maw.

- They staged a bar fight (bard PC started to tell jokes about miners in a bar full of miners) & "resisted arrest".

- Some memorable actions in Black Maw:
* The minotaur was stopped by a fear spell from the sorcerer (unnoticed by sentinels) & the barbarian.
* the bard rolled some very poor fortitude saves during work in the mines (which made him remark: "I survived the Isle of Dread to die by heat & fatigue in prison")
* the first night the druid entered the prison (wild shaped) & they exchanged info & planned their next moves (attack & kill the (suspected) Covenant members next night - remember the pattern?)
* they noticed the poison in Karl's food, but did not connect it (at first) with the Old Man.
* I did not go for the sabotaged elevator, instead I did the prison break on day two.

- Prison Break: with Karl in the forges, the bard turned invisible & hid himself in the forges to keep an eye on Karl.
At the start of the riot, he managed to confuse Duncan, Midnight & two thugs; the barbarian managed to bull rush the giant in one of the mine shafts. The PCs (minus druid) then quickly rescued Karl (killing Duncan & Midnight) and started to return to the surface (via sorcerer's fly). The barbarian & the giant briefly battled near the elevator shaft (with the giant getting bull rushed (again) in the shaft), while the bard & Karl flew up the elevator shaft (ignoring the fighting monks & the Old Man who begged that they took him with him).
- Meanwhile, the druid noticed the commotion at the surface & killed the sentinels who were going down with the elevator to help (the collateral damage of the druid can end up quite high). Rao managed to go down to the cell block level & fought the wereboar there.
The druid (in owl shape) then tried to stop the blackguard & his ally (with swarms & summoned air elementals) - but the blackguard managed to escape to the abbot's room & get his sword. With his sword the blackguard managed to locate the wildshaped druid & attacked him, but in the end he had to flee (too heavily wounded himself). At that time, the sorcerer dimension doored above the prison & downed the fleeing blackguard with a fireball. The (invisible) half orc priest was located by the druid, managed to cast harm but was killed as well. Finally, they demolished the elevator, effectively trapping the (few?) prisoners who are still alive (including the Old Man!) (but the wereboar may manage to climb up). that's were we ended - wrap up in a few weeks/months...


Cronwyn wrote:


(snip)
The party plan to use all the treasure they final in the dungeon to get him raised. I encouraged them to spend the cash on equipment and let the player roll up a new character - I think they are going to need all the help they can get - but they want to do 'the right thing'. :D

Perhaps Lavinia is willing to help them raise their friend, by borrowing money from the Merovanchi family!


Luna eladrin wrote:

Great read! It brings back memories of running this adventure.

Same here!

IMC the taxidermist tried to flee while invisible, but the druid PC had summoned a dire bat & the taxidermist got captured.
In the end, the players tied him in one of his stuffed animals...


Touc wrote:
Same thoughts on the "letdown" from Farshore. Two straight dungeon crawls after all the excitement seems meh. Not sure what to do for a replacement or modification at this point, but have some time.

short answer: drop one of the two or combine them, keeping only the parts you like. (I believe these chapters could be played out in either order, so no real constraints there).

--> IIRC this may have been suggested before in this forum, but I don't know if more details have been given.

--> my ST campaign ended with the battle for Farshore, although a more natural end point would be closing the connection between Abyss & Isle (i.e. after LD & CoBI) - IMC I was thinking of combining these two installments (there is a physical connection between the two lairs), together with some elements of the last installment (e.g. have some aid from Gwynharwyf and other allies as a diversion to allow the PCs to infiltrate)


I performed some Harrow readings for the PCs in my Savage Tide campaign as well. This is how I did it.

Short answer: split up card laying & interpretation in two sessions --> at the end of one session, as an intermezzo, the cards can be laid out out & you have time to interpret the cards in light of the events to come before the next session.

Some more details (& going from memory here):
- although it is not required to memorise all cards & it is quite easy to spot the partial, true & mismatches, it takes some time to look up the cards & make a coherent story from that.

- phrasing the question: although the question asked determines what "suit" of cards the person draws from, this is perhaps not so crucial in the CoT context: the reading at the CoT may magically give insight in "will we survive?" (--> CON, STR cards)

- lay out the cards, perhaps as intermezzo or at the end of a session: "in one of the next sessions you might come across a fortuneteller - just to prepare, this is what I like you to do now ..."

- take the time you need for interpretation (between sessions)

- at the right moment, you do a small replay of the card laying, followed by your interpretation.

Hagor


I let most of the mass combat (between the main force of the attacking pirates and defending Farshorians, Olmans & Phanatons) happen in the background & I just described the tide of the battle, allowing the PCs to focus on the main opponents. (Because my PCs were somewhat overpowered, I included additional officers on the ships & generally upped the attacking force)

I did make a miniature version of the central dock area of Farshore (centered around the last coconot) (using some paper model templates I printed out):

to give you an idea:
link to some foto's/blog (in Dutch)

link to some foto's/blog (in Dutch)(part 2)

Hagor


I also used scenes from Mad God's Key (chase) & Edge of Anarchy (Curse o/t Crimson throne adventure path) (i.e. the fishery), but more to expand the ST scenario.

IIRC (I don't have book with me at the moment), the fishery scene (CotCT) had the PCs escaping/exposing their master/slaver, which would already give them some fame (and/or you can have them find s.t. in the fishery linked to Lavinia/Vanthus)

Most of my PCs had already some minor link with the Vanderboren family and once they realised what Vanthus had been doing, it was clear they would help Lavinia.

Preparationwise: I also took the time to go through the STAP forum here @ paizo - great source of ideas & inspiration! In the end, my campaign was rather heavily modified. The campaign ended with the battle of Farshore (more or less as planned). Perhaps we will return to the Isle of Dread to end the Abyssal threat.

Have Fun!

Hagor


we have some time before the Z:BP box arrives at our door: any ideas to convert the paizo iconics as zombicide survivors?


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I don't usually do this, but I just want to spread the word about a new game that I think some folks on this forum would enjoy:

Wizard's Academy on kickstarter

It is a co-op game in which the players are wizard apprentices trying to save their academy with magic spells, which they still need to discover/learn "on the job". Prototype print&play rules, reviews and a lot more information are available on the kickstarter page as well!

Hagor (just a backer)


do you already have all the paizo website conversion notes? (they can be found here (linked for your convenience))

I cannot help you directly with your question but I suggest doing a search in the STAP section of this forum for "eberron" - you might find useful info and/or links (though probably dead by now) in some of the (old) threads on this subject.

Have Fun!

Hagor


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...DAMN

“No one is actually dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away...” (Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man)

Goodbye, and thank you for the many enjoyable hours in a truly unique world, strangely mirroring our own


with respect to Avner:

for inspiration...

and

picture of Avner I used for my players --> instant dislike!

Enjoy!

Hagor


Congrats! That is indeed one of the best reasons to love your life! (and many more moments will follow!)


It may seem quiet in here, but I'm still keeping an eye on the savage tide forum!
It is always fun to see how it plays out with other groups!

FYI - my (adapted) ST campaign ended recently with the overwhelmingly successful defense of Farshore by my PCs
(due to RL & other RPG campaings we played about once every 2 months so it took a while before we got there).

One tip:
I strongly recommend you take some time to go through the ST forum (and/or story hours): many good ideas [e.g. for roleplaying NPCs (e.g. Avner), for certain encounters (e.g. Olangru)], variants (what if no ship wreck when reaching the Isle), upgraded enemies, etc, etc, etc.
You can use the search function to focus your search for a particular subject.

Have Fun!


Oooh - memory lane!

The first computer game in our house was some big (orange IIRC) console to be hooked up to the television for playing Pong.

I got my first PC second half of the '80s (20MB hard drive! big floppy disks! wordperfect! basic!)

Dos-games I really liked (once I have more time I should get this dosbox thingy up & running): ancient art of war; airborne ranger; gato; some flight simulator where you could participate in the naval battles in the pacific in WWII, ...


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am I the only one who misread the title of this thread as "why I love my wife"?

I have a lovely wife and two fantastic daughters (of 3 and 8 y): I enjoy seeing them growing up and developing their own personality!


*** raise thread ***

Total Victory! (as this was the end of our campaign (for now?) - some more details):

Farshore defence was maxed: all subquests were completed, via stone shape the harbour entrance was partially blocked, several befriended elasmosauri in the harbour; 2 rope golems were fabricated; barricades were put up between warehouses; the ship of Slipknot Pete was turned into a fire ship.
PCs were OP, but Crimson Fleet attack force was powered up as well (+1 ship; each ship +1 lvl 7/8 captain & 2-3 lvl 4-6 "officers"; serpent flesh golems; some weresharks)

in short:
- one ship was destroyed at harbour entrance by the stone shaped under water blockade, but this was countered by raise water; a second ship was destroyed by the fire ship (although sufficient pirates escaped to keep the defenders at the new watch towers busy.
- the elasmosauri harrassed the pirates in the rowboats; the druid (under water) managed to entangle the flesh golems (making them reach the shoreline in separate groups) & managed to destroy the rudder of one of the ships by warp wood as well.
- Spike stones were a big hindrance for the pirates once on shore. - Pirates with evasion annoyed the spell casters.
- Once Vanthus' ship got involved, the action became more tense. V'Sesslin was forced to retreat inside the ship (was losing the magic duel - I changed his animate dead with dimension door), but joined up with Vanthus later.
- Dancing Mirror imaged Vrocks provided a lot of tension, but dance of ruin was disrupted at the end of the 2nd round & the demons were then one by one dispatched by the raging, flying & hasted barbarian/totemnic demon slayer with holy weapon.
- Vanthus & V'Sesslin dimension doored into the city, but V'Sesslin was quickly forced to retreat (dimension door) after receiving crit. Vanthus failed to dominate his sister; but lasted only 3 rds vs the barbarian due to an amazing critical hit (rd 1 - miss ("what do you mean I hit AC 30 & I miss?"); rd 2 - hit; rd 3 CRIT - see glory thread).
In the end, the sorcerer managed to avert the Savage Tide by containing the pearl before explosion.

One ship managed to escape (including V'Sesslin), one ship was captured (Vanthus' ship), the others were sunk.


Adventure: Tides of Dread - Crimson Fleet attack. There were several memorable moments from all PCs, but these are the truly glorious ones:

Setting:
Attack on Farshore is in full swing. The pirates are slowly but surely being repelled, the vrocks have been almost defeated.
Vanthus, V'Sesslin + 2 bodyguards have appeared in the little wooded area near the temple (via dimension door).

1) While Vanthus is talking/trying to dominate his sister, Ra, the halfling druid (in deinonychus form) is sneaking up on V'Sesslin & pounces him. One crit later (using Paizo's critical hit deck), the yuanti suffers an insane amount of bleed damage & decides to retreat back to the ship via dimension door, leaving Vanthus & his bodyguards to fend for themselves. (The bodyguards were quickly dispatched, although the druid did manage to critically hit (Paizo's fumble deck) the dwarven juju zombie PC (long story), but in the druid's point of view, this certainly also counts as a glorious moment).

2) But the most glorious moment happened a few moments later (it really couldn't have been planned any better): Conan, the barbarian/totemnic demonslayer (& husband of Lavinia) is fighting Vanthus (both are flying) and giving him a severe punishment (raging, power attacking & holy weapon). Vanthus pulls out the shadow pearl & threatens to use it. The raging barbarian ignores the warning & one double crit later (nat 20, confirmed by nat 20, confirmed by hit), we have one dead Vanthus (even the augmented antagonist template was no match for this). Of course, the pearl falls from his dead hands & activates when cracking on the ground. Ezren, the sorcerer, then speeds to the smoking pearl and manages to contain it in his bead of force - Savage Tide averted & Farshore is saved!


I'm still patrolling these waters - emails sent!


one golden tip: you can try to do a search in the Savage Tide Forum - I believe there should be some discussions already on this subject

(e.g. Vanthus as combat monster)

In my (modified) ST Campaign the battle for Farshore will actually start next Saturday (I think it will take two sessions) & this battle will mark the end of this campaign.

My group is also quite strong (5-6 players, loaded on magic - strategy is usually: buff & heal the barbarian, while druid & sorcerer do their magic) (this almost backfired when the barbarian was one save away from being dominated) & have prepared Farshore to the best of their ability (as evidenced by their high Victory Point count so far).

At first I was not really planning to give Vanthus a power-up - do not forget the PCs will already have fought some quite tough encounters before meeting him, especially the vrocks (& their ability to summon even more vrocks), but I think I will give him some of the buffs TBA suggested.

However:
I have increased the strength of the CF attack force:
+1 ship (but will be smashed against some 'stoneshaped' under water rocks)
- serpent flesh golems
- each ship now has a captain (lvl 7-8) + wizard/sorcerer/cleric officers (lvl5-6) + some specials (ogres; weresharks)- most of these will probably be dealt with by the Jade Ravens and the other Farshore defenders, but some might turn op leading a group of pirates and/or on the Yuan-ti ship for the PCs to fight.
I plan to have a few of these enemy personalities turn up (flying and/or invisible (an aludemon or flying air sorcerer) to assist Vanthus & thus balancing the action economy somewhat, rather than preparing a powered-up Vanthus.

Hagor


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Sandwitches wrote:

Any chance I can get a hold of this?

g%#$%$nsandwitches@yahoo.com

it seems the "bad language" filter messed up your mailadress...

Perhaps you should message me the correct adress through the boards messaging system instead?

Hagor


send & (in one case) resend!
let me know if the files are lost in the mail.

Hagor


David knott 242 wrote:

One thing to keep in mind is that relatively few stars will collide in a collision between two galaxies -- so odds are, if anyone is actually alive on Earth at the time, they will just see a sky with more stars in it going in more different directions. They may not even realize that they are in the middle of a collision between two galaxies.

Indeed! Just relax and enjoy the show! (whoever or whatever that may be still around)


you're friendly neighbourhood postman is still hanging around.
email sent!

Have fun!

Hagor


James Jacobs wrote:
Sara Marie wrote:

[REDACTED]: DOWNSTAIRS WENT WITH MY [REDACTED] FOR A [REDACTED] FOR [REDACTED]

[REDACTED]: I AM SO INCREDIBLY HAPPY

HA! I'm pretty sure I know exactly what this is about. ;-)

Wink Wink Nudge Nudge, say no more!


Gary Teter wrote:
How much of the dust on the record player used to be me?

Less than you fear/hope.

Just blame the cat.


yellowdingo wrote:

youse is doombed

Yellowstone is getting closer...pushing against California in its slow eruption.

FYI:

is not going to happen soon...

Sorry to spoil the party...

Press *HERE* when media reports about "supervolcano going to erupt"


Gary Teter wrote:
Does my thread still work with the new code?

Is this some kind of trick question? Or something like with Schrödinger's cat?


small update - stat blocks have been sent (some time now) - if not received, you can PM me.

Hagor


rereading T. Pratchett's "Carpe Jugulum" and "Reaper Man" - as funny, twisted and entertaining as ever!


Gary Teter wrote:
What is it with toddlers and repetition?

I think they like the sound of our voice.

also: it is not limited to toddlers - the same goes for kids & teenagers, but that is more due to very selective hearing


Gary Teter wrote:
What is the slimy feel inside the cats' water dish?

The cat is transforming her water dish in a cloning vessel?

or you have to train your kid to use the other potty...


SMURF

(just to show my daughter)


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Clearly, the paizo golem was off on it's own, minding his own business, bumped into the drill and decided to return to the safe haven of the paizo office.


azhrei_fje wrote:
Hagor wrote:

I have Mando's files still in my mailbox (only part 1 - 5)

(attention: 3.5E stats - pathfinder stats are discussed in other thread).
Forwarded to Darkone & Rosenet.

Enjoy!

I'm interested in getting these as well. I'm planning to start STAP in the next few weeks and it (could) cut down my prep time significantly.

If you can provide the files, I'll put them on my DropBox or on my web site or someplace else where they will survive for awhile, then I can post the link here. In fact, I'll post a link to the Internet Archive so that the files will always be accessible!

Thank you!

great idea!

I gladly act once again as postman!
azhrei_fje - what email address can I use?


Orthos wrote:
403 forbidden error.

mmm... strange... - perhaps I should blame Cosmo for this [/threadjack]

unlinked:

"Mankind is the result of millions of years of evolution to produce the perfect cat servant."

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.


Gary Teter wrote:
Why am I scooping the cat food out of the automatic feeder bin into the dish?

For your information and enlightenment:

cat-man relationship

glad I could help.

H


I have Mando's files still in my mailbox (only part 1 - 5)

(attention: 3.5E stats - pathfinder stats are discussed in other thread).
Forwarded to Darkone & Rosenet.

Enjoy!


only 5 days to go!
Hurry!


404:Law not found kickstarter

Update: FUNDED! (but the stretch goals need taken care of!)


It seems my group of 36 to 38 year old players are still young!
I think most of them started almost 25 years ago (AD&D 2nd ed).

Hagor


I still have a copy.
I'll take up postman duty for now.

mail sent to NPC Dave.
Werecorpse, if you give me your email, I'll forward you Carborundum's email as well.

Hagor


I followed some of the suggestions of previous threads as well.

in short:
- the players plan to turn the Sea Wyvern into some sort of night club/temple of Sharess (Forgotten Realms) (the cohort & followers of my bard PC belong to the temple), so I decided to have the Blue Nixie be wrecked by the storm
- there were plenty of survivors of the Blue Nixie(ca. 1/3 died (during wreck or due to IoD fauna), 1/3 had set up camp, 1/3 including Lavinia mounted an expedition to get some help)
- Enter the sea wyvern & players --> Players (+ Urol, Avner) decide to follow Lavinia's expedition on land & the sea wyvern takes up the survivors & continues to Farshore.
- HTBM worked more or less as written (tip: search the forum again for Olangru's creepiness...)

have fun!

Hagor


When Olangru was stalking the party & given his telepathic powers, I thought of the following setup
- Olangru telepathically convinces Avner that he will be spared if he 'proves himself (a life for a life)' (PCs have not noticed this)
- After the skull/rockslide Avner pushed his servant of the cliffs (he actually managed to conceal this while stumbling)
-Avner did mention to the PCs that it may be a good idea to try to make a deal with their stalker.
- Avner got captured by Olangru (instead of the gnome) (PCs think he will make a deal)

Any ideas how you would follow up on this to make it interesting later in Tides of Dread when Avner is rescued by the PCs from O's temple?
Have Avner become possessed?
Avner is now a shapechanging demon?


Congratulations from a fellow Savage Tider DM!

My campaign: set in FR, for the first three episodes I kept the general plot but changed quite a lot of encounters/added side treks.

My group just entered Olangru's temple...
Since we play about once every two months (on average) (real life, other campaigns interfere) some of you will soon overtake my group, but I was planning to end the campaign after Tides of Dread or after some mash up of CoBI/LD anyway (some of my group are more casual gamers & I'm not that confident with high level play as well).


You could focus on the "Duty to the People" aspect. Farshore would be a little too obvious, but:

(going from memory here - so may be wrong)

- one of the infamous seven (I think the shambling mound) was worshipped by a tribe of bullywugs. the Heironeous follower could show them 'the proper way'

- you have the rakasta that have been wiped out (but perhaps not quite...) & link the quest somehow to the rakasta-skinwalker-coautl triangle.

- or you could focus on the lost citadel (& have some survivors from the earlier savage tide (e.g. this was discussed before). IMC I was thinking ofusing Paizo's Crucible of Chaos as inspiration/background for the lost citadel.


locked as well:

for starters: Vampire x1 - Sophie

followed by: Undead Giant, Clockwork Dragon, Red Dragon, Spider Centaurs, Hydra, C'thulhu

& to top it off: Starter Paint Sets 1, 2

Hagor


Zevon asks: "what is wrong with her? Will she be alright?" but is somewhat reassured when he sees that Korihor will watch over the mistress of the orphanage.

"let's get to the job at hand. I will make sure the front & back doors are locked & I will gather the staff in the dining room"

He goes first to the front door, looks outside to see if he can spot the elves (or other suspicious looking people) - spot 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7 - and then locks the door. He also orders the servant who brought the refreshments to gather the rest of the staf.


I don't know if it is the same crest as linked above (but I'll expect it is), but I have one in a word doc on my computer.

I did a google images search just now (vanderboren crest) & I found a picture of the crest in the list --> one of the campaings on Obsidian Portal.

I'll enter the link of the Obsidian Portal below, however the crest may not be visible (red cross on my computer) (I don't know why it can be seen in google though)

crest or cross - do you feel lucky?

If that doesn't work, PM me (edit: or you can try contacting Anthony Law - he still posts).

Hagor

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