James B. Cline's page

The art created by some of the fans is great and I wanted to have a good way to introduce it in a significant manner. For my group I printed out all the art and then printed out a cover sheet with the symbol of Nethys on it, it makes a great prop.

I was trying to avoid any mention of Vordakai or his undead, but at the same forshadow what is to come. I'm going to add in some pictographs of dwarves meeting the centaurs in their prime, in which they are probably still very standoffish. My writeup for the city of skybreak reminds me more of hex exploration, I was inspired by the City of the Spider Queen 3.5 adventure for it, ran that a long time ago. Its a series of random encounters in a city with exploration locations.

If anybody has any ideas to drop in let me know, I'll try and incorporate them. Up soon.. Mutant Morlocks.. Gray Renders... lots of fungus and an ooze or two.

Edit: I try to keep alot of this short and sweet, because I'm pretty bad at maps and I don't want to distract from the game too much. Nothing in here says "hey you must deal with this". Also I would probably suggest adding some extra treasure here and there for flavor. Maybe dwarven gold coins...

D4.  Hall of Ascension
A grand staircase ascends for nearly 100 feet, flanked on either side by large stone bases supporting cracked and broken statues of regal looking dwarves.  Of the 14 bases, only 11 appear to have ever borne statues.  Of the eleven elaborate statues only 1 has survived relatively undamaged.   The staircase ends in a stone archway and blocked by a portcullis.  
Since before the Age of Darkness began, Khadgar Temol the 11th’s line had ruled over the nation of Temol, although Vordakakai ended their line for good.  Although this settlement was a temporary one, Khadgar honored his ancestors and built these rooms anticipating the arrival of three more kings before his people would have to found a new city in their quest.   The only statue remaining is of King Khadgar the 8th with a date of -1647 Skybreak (AR -6634), which is in the Age of Prehistory for Golarion.
Portculis: Can be lifted with a successful DC25 Strength Check after it is succesfully unlocked with a DC 25 Disable Device or the lever on the other side can be flipped if the players can squeeze through the bars Escape Artist DC30. Portculus (Hardness 10, hp 60).

D4. Throne of the Lost CR3 or CR7
Rivulets of water drip from the walls and four sealed bronze pipes in the ceiling into knee deep standing water, the walls and ceilings of this room are made of a dark colored stone that absorbs light, though small twinkling blue crystals seem to adorn the walls at unevenly spaced intervals. In the center of this roughly spherical room a raised stairwell leads to a platform ten feet above the floor upon which sits a corroded metal throne. Several halls lead off around this room creating a circular tunnel with numerous small empty rooms. The far wall stands out as it is carved to resemble another larger dwarves' face leering down upon the throne with fiery eyes made of gemstone that twinkle with an eerie red light, from the dwarve's visage a mighty medallion is carved into the relief resting at the room's edge.
Incorrectly entering the answer to Droskar's Medalion or prying the eyes from the Image of Droskar trigger the Machine Guards to fall from their ceiling tubes, which causes them no damage. This is the throne room of Khadgar, long flooded by an underground river that burst parts of the cieling. The prophets of Droskar whispered stories of a cavern with no ceiling and were given visions, which were later made into this cieling, a replica of their vision of sky. A careful observer would note, knowledge History DC 25 that certain crystals on the cieling represent the planets of the solar system in order from closest to the sun to farthest: Aballon the Horse, Castrovel the Green, Golarion, Akiton the Red, Verces the Line, the Diaspora (asteroid belt), Eox the Dead, Triaxus the Wanderer, Liavara the Dreamer, Bretheda the Cradle, Apostae the Messenger, and Aucturn the Stranger. The medalion hanging from the statue of Droskar is actually a door almost 6' tall, but it is a puzzle. Eleven small metalic balls must be aligned to the exact position of the day of skybreak to open the door knowledge history DC 25, using the dates from the statue in the hall and decifering the ceiling grant a +10 bonus on this check. Once entered the central Sun may be pressed which causes the medallions face to slide back and roll to the side revealing the king's treasury.
Eyes of Droskar: Phosphorescent Rubies 500 gp each, climb check to get them DC 10.
Trap CR 7 Protectors of Droskar Perception/Disable DC27: Creatures Machine Soldier (4) Bestiary 2.

D5. Khadgar's Folly
This room opens into a small deep cavern a cleanly carved pillar of rock stands in the center 20 feet from the edge. There appears to be no bottom to the pit surrounding the pillar which descends into darkness. A slowly swirling sphere of cagelike metal sits atop it, the color of bronze, inside the cage is a large tome half obscured by the swirling metal, though it appears to have a face inscribed upon its cover half white, half black. The cage itself has an odd odd looking control arm with a spinning gyroscopic knob on the end.
There is room is spherical though the chasm drops 100 feet to a spiked floorway below (10d6 plus 1d6 spikes, 1d6+4 each) into a region covered by a permanent 20' radius darkness and silence spell. The Cage device is roughly 10'x10' and spins by force of magic doubling any impact it recieves and increasing the hardness of its materials to 20 while active, possibly shattering any objects it is hit with and deflecting all ray spells. Close observation of the spinning sphere reveal that it is a rough map of Golarion's surface. Khadgar's generals took this tome from one of Vordakai's servants and it granted them the clarity to create their mechanical protectors near the end of their existance. They wanted to ensure that the book would not fall into the hands of the enemy so they hid it away. The device protects the book from divination and teleport based spells. Unlocking the Cage requires the correct placement of the knob, which symbolizes Golarion's single gray tidally locked moon, identifying it as such requires a knowledge Nature DC 20 as well as its location on the current date.
Nethy's Tome: This Osirion artifact was old when the original Vordakai found it five millenia ago. It only shows each holder once vision of their future, but not which path to take, nor what the results could be. In this case, held by any member of the council of the Stolen Lands, it shows the art from Zudiger's Picnic, mentioned in AP#5.(http://paizo.com/forums/dmtz2rhl&page=2?Zuddigers-Picnic-artwork, art by Jess Door)

I'm thinking what we really need is a Community Created Content Thread that gets maintained with links to content similar to the one from the RotRL board.

I'll have more tommorrow on the Hall of Kings and the start of the City of Skybreak. This past Friday my players delved into the Halls of Khadgar then retreated back to the surface having stirred up the morlocks. The player's temporarily disable the lift DC25 Engineering/Disable Device. Left alone for months in my scenario the mutant Morlocks found Nethy's Tome of Secrets and one of them became freakishly smart, at least for their kind and they began climbing the shaft and making raids on the surface during the night. The Sootscale encampment was within the night's march and was attacked. In response, the players rallied their army on the surface and waited for the morlocks to surface, unfortunately they were overanxious and spooked the morlocks back into the tunnels.

Lots of spoilers of course.

My players are 2 years in game time into it and their kingdom is roughly 14 hexes, with 2 cities, the capital Svenheim and Tanzelford, they have roughly a +30 to economy and stability with a dc of about 29. They generate on average about 9 BP a month. I have not allowed the rule about selling magic items. I have also started using the mass combat rles as early as the end of book 2 using DM Dudemeister's rules for the monster kingdom. My players keep a small standing army in the capital at a reduced cost of 1 BP for a 200 man/200 kobold army with several tactics they did not want to loose. We are 3 months of building phases from the start of book 3. In one third ap it does say something about waiting for players to achieve a kindgom size of 50 or so, but my players are very slow to expand and would rather break up building phases during the adventure rather than between them.

I allow them to generate extra BP by looting armies they fight mostly breaking even for having a perpetual army standing in the capital. The PC general has pushed the idea of a standing army and the council has approved due to Tiger Lords in the west, Mivon to the south, possible civil war in the north, and centaurs in the east.

We are also using the river nations kingdom building guide, with some minor modifications like no summoned armies.

More tommorrow, my group is slightly past this point, they have explored the length of the Hall of King Khadgar.

Hall of King Khadgar (Area D)
D1. The Great Door
The massive door depicts the stern face of a dwarf with an open faced helm staring down dwarves pushing large stones and building steps around a massive vertical tunnel that runs the to the top of the door. The top of the door depicts scenes of battles between dwarves and other humanoids some very large.
The massive stone door would normally be difficult to open, but due to dwarven engineering it opens with a strength check DC 18. Two characters can grab each ring netting a +6 on an aid another to a fourth, taking 10, a character with 3 allies should be able to easily pull the door open. The door itself has a dwarven steel reinforced core doubling its hit points, should it be relevant.
D2. The Hall of Toils
The walls here are rife with cracks that run through more dwarven pictographs depicting dwarven battle scenes with orcs and other creatures in the depths of the caverns, particularly detailed stonework depicts a dwarven shield formation against large humanoid rocks.
This hallway has been picked over by an ill-fated duergar scouting expedition nearly a century ago, they were overrun by the nearby camps of morlocks and most died a grizzly death within these halls. Pieces of dwarven plate, a pile of crossbow bolt heads, a chisel and hammer, a broken shovel, and bits of dried bones are all that remain in this corridor. Knowledge nobility DC 20 could tell that the makings of the armor denote duergar, not regular dwarves. A heal check DC 10 can show that the dwarven bones were chewed and that they probably have been here a hundred years or less.
D3. Droskar’s Anvil CR4
This circular room is adorned with dwarven text and and yet more pictographs of dwarves in toil.
This circular room served as both a religious reminder and defense for the royals of Temol, the floor is a conglomeration of small metal shields forged together each bearing the standard of a dwarven noble and various dwarven gods. Unless the passphrase of Droskar is spoken aloud the floors of this room will cause the stone doors to slam shut and the floor to electrify for 1d6 rounds, 4d6 each round. A common punishment by the clerics of Droskar were to cast several lazy dwarves into this room after cutting out their tongues. A DC15 Religion check can identify members of the dwarven pantheon, gods represented on the walls Torag “By the Fires of his forge we are Made”, Angrad “By my Family I shall know my Honor”, Kols “May the Eldest of his line guide our Hands”, and Droskar “By my toils I serve, my blood is mortar my body his bricks.” Many of the walls of this room are adorned with religious text, only by speaking the religious text beneath the image of Droskar will deactivate this trap.
Trap – Magical Electric Floor CR4, Perception 25, Disable DC25, 4d6 Electricity every round for 1d6 rounds Reflex DC 15 for half, reset 1 hour.

Hopefully this doesn't get confusing, I'm definitely not an artist, but if people like this enough, feel free to make sum up and post links.

B3. Base of the Lift CR8
The lift slows as it lowers and outside of the cage a blue lit cavern emerges. Numerous structures, bridges, and doorways line the walls as well as a chill gusting wind and sounds of rushing water in the far distance. The cage cylinder here is coated in a slimy translucent web like substance that obscures view somewhat when the lift settles and stops at the base in what appears to an enclosed courtyard with carved stony pillars flanking a metal fence surrounding the lift. The lift cylinder itself may have once had a gate long ago, its hinges apparent but rended apart.
Long ago in his prime Vordakai descended the lift with his undead giants and ripped the gate off before using the Occulus. The entire city was enthralled, those who weren’t were thrown off the nearby cliff by his minions or fled deeper underground never to be seen again. The city itself has seen hosts of monsters pass through and has been casually looted by squatters over the ages, mostly morlocks and occasionally a duergar expedition. Two strange creatures prey in this area strange flying air breathing jellyfish creatures, change their swim speed to fly. The area is coated in a web like goo they secrete that reduces movement by half, which can be avoided by an Acrobatics DC 10 or Perception DC 15 per round.
Giant Jellyfish (2) Bestiary 2.
C. Fort Skybreaker
“The Cavern itself is large and impressive, a blue hue from tens of crystals along the walls and ceilings lights the area, the walls are covered in dwarven pictographs depicting various figures. The eastern third ends in a steep cliff that descends into darkness pocked by small dim blue lights that lead down a narrow mossy stair. The center of the cavern is dominated by a square cagelike fort with that surrounds the lift cylinder, stone stairs and walkways lead around its edges, an opening on to the west may have once served as a gate, though it stands empty. The raised walkway of the fort leads extends into a bridge to the north nearly 100 feet in length almost 20 feet off the ground. At its end is a massive stone door carved to resemble the face of a dwarf, two large iron rings protrude from it. The western wall of the cavern is a 15’ tall raised portcullis, its operating mechanism a lever on the nearby wall. The tunnel leads down a square undecorated corridor and turns abruptly after 60’ a large iron hanging brazier hangs in the passage.”
Fort Skybreaker is the cavern the lift lowers into the center of and by which the dwarves of Temol could go into the Hall of King Khadgar (north exit, Dwarven Face Door, Area D), descend the cliffs of the Underlands (eastern area, the Narrow Stair, Area E), or go into the City of Skybreak (western tunnel, Area F). The Fort itself is little more than a palisade of iron bars and simple empty stone structures resembling the floor plan of Oleg’s Trading Post with the exit facing west, though all of the buildings are stone. The alchemically fortified steel gate to the fort was disintegrated long ago and its remnants could give clues to its method of destruction DC 26 Spellcraft. Searching the area produces a few artifacts, Perception DC 10 finds human like bones probably no more than a few months old with a strange skull with no eye sockets (an unlucky morlock), DC 15 finds ancient crushed pottery of dwarven origins, DC20 finds a rusted (broken) masterwork dwarven steel* mace. The dwarven pictographs on the wall denote dwarves in various stages of digging, farming vast mushroom fields, mining, fighting orcs, and worshipping the dwarven gods (Religion DC 15) of Droskar and to a minor extent (DC10) Torag.
Dwarven Steel*: Dwarven steel has its hardness increased by 1, increase the base costs of all dwarven steel items by 10% as a general rule. Dwarven steel is made by using semi-rare earth coals that are available in the markets of underground races. A rare earth coal mine is a +1 Economy Resource.

Here's the first part, I'll put it all together as I finish.

Khadgar’s Folly a Kingmaker Adventure Site

Note to GM
This is meant as a lead into parts of the Varnhold Vanishing without giving any real information that would tip off the players to Vordakai. It can be used as a supplement to the Lonely Barrow (Greenbelt, Area F) or placed as its own adventure site. It is based on a group of 6 level 6 pc’s.
Adventure Background
In the Age of Darkness, a long extinct dwarven kingdom emerged into the Stolen Lands led by King Khadgar of Temol who drove his country to the surface in hopes of fulfilling the Quest for Sky. The end of the journey to the surface was bittersweet as Khadgar’s nation was met with an orcish uprising in the bloody kingdom of Vordakai. Attacked from the moment of their arrival, King Khadgar was killed in the first major conflict with Vordakai. It took less than a decade for the dwarven nation to collapse and fade in the wake of the necromancers. Though the kingdom fell its ruins have remained relatively untouched in the last five millennia. Eroded by the wilderness only a small flora covered hill remains where long ago the dwarves had built a surface keep. In time passing barbarians found a collapsed passage and converted the surface ruins to bury their dead never realizing what lay beneath.
The timing of the dwarves coming to the surface would approximate at -4987 AR and in less than a decade through the orcish uprising and finally the use of Vordakai’s Occulus of Abbadon the dwarves of the kingdom of Temol became extinct nearly overnight.
Adventure Summary
The adventurers find and explore the barbarian cairn only to discover signs of dwarves and possibly an ancient dwarven lift that leads into the outlying area of the extinct dwarven settlement. In their investigations they accidentally stumble upon lost dwarven engineering marvels, dwarven clockwork, guardians, and a massive warren of cannibalistic morlocks who have taken residence in the ruins. In exploring the ruins the adventurers will finding artifacts of the lost kingdom of Khadgar as well as a strange magical tome taken from the servants of Vordakai.

If using the Lonely Barrow, add to the last sentence in F5 to read(F4 mistake in adventure). Start with B1. The Lift.
“The stone fixture sets upon a cog shaped metal plate that is unquestionably dwarven in origin.”
If using as a stand alone location place this barbarian cairn in any hill hex.
A1. Outside of the Cairn
A tangled mess of thorns and low trees parts before rocky angular hill a half sphere of large stones surround an opening.
A2. Entryway (CR 3)
“A dark tunnel leads down at a gentle slope along vine chocked stone walls. Primitive cave drawings line both sides, some obscured by the foliage.”
The cave drawings were left here by passing barbarians who in ages past sought shelter before entombing their dead here. Since then this tunnel has hosted many animals including a small family of black bears. There is a 30% chance that the bear will be here with its cub.
Black Bear (1) Bestiary
A3. Entombed dead
“Broken bits of clay pottery and scattered bones litter alcoves in each wall a few pieces of armor and weapons rusted beyond repair lie in each. Several tunnels may have once led deeper, but two have all but collapsed completely. A third is chocked with boulders and debris. “
Over time the elements and animals have eaten away at the bones and gear, leaving little of value. If studied a small clay pot can reveal possible cultural ties to Numeria. The barbarians buried here were of no great importance to the tribes. Three Tunnels branch off from this hallway, two are collapsed beyond all use, but the third can be cleared to reveal area A4.
A4. Abandoned Living Chamber
This room suffered from a cave -in in the non-recent past, bits of broken pottery litter the floor here as well as stones arraigned to form a primitive hearth. Although the floor here is covered in a thick layer of dirt, it is apparent that a huge circular metal tile lies beneath it.

B1. The Lift
After cleaning off the dirt and rubble it is apparent that a dwarven made steel floor tile covers the floor. The seal bears the dwarven inscription “Long live King Khadgar XI of Temol” and the stern face of a dwarf.
Knowledge checks about Khadgar XI or any of his line will likely lead nowhere since his people went extinct five millennia ago, but a knowledge Nobility DC30 will yield that Temol is and ancient nation of the dwarves and no known descendants exist. A Perception DC 20 can find a trio of retractable levers that are trapped which if operated correctly causes the tile to lower with a metal clanking sound at a rate of 10 feet per round down a circular metal tube composed of dwarven steel (alchemically hardened steel +1 Hardness). Correct operation of the device requires a knowledge DC20 Engineering or Disable Device check, failure by 5 or more sets off the floor trap.
Trap: Razor Cog Saws CR 3, Type Mechanical, Perception 20, Disable 20, Reset Automatic 1 Minute, Effect all targets standing on the metal floor, Attack Melee +14, 2d6+7 damage.
B2. The Descent
With a steady and resounding clanking the platform lowers amongst a trio of rails built into a cage like metal cylinder that descends through a lightless stoney shaft at the pace of 60 feet per minute. Outside the walls of the cage it is possible to see rough cut stone.
The lift has room for roughly 10 people to use it at a time and will descend nearly half a mile without any mechanical problems. The walls of the lift are fairly easy to climb at DC5 with numerous handholds in the metal cage. Near the bottom fragile non-magical dim florescent blue crystals were cultivated over the centuries by the dwarves to serve as a dim light source. It is possible to stop the lift or reverse course at any time, although attempting to raise the lift causes three hinged metal poles to rise up and in turn they can be rotated to cause the lift to rise. It is possible to examine the work of the dwarves outside the lift, numerous practical dwarven steps and long rotted pulley systems helped dwarves in its construction, many of the artifacts still exist outside the caging.
Item: Florescent Crystal – value negligible, they shed light at 15 feet, but if cracked or broken they cease shining, it is possible to harvest some Alchemy DC15 or Jewelcraft DC15, but if exposed to daylight they cease functioning.

The group ran through about a third of it last session, I'll get a writeup done. I included some really strange content and alot of traps. My group is looking at using it as a possible city location or a fortification as soon as they clear it out. I've designated it as a pure exploration dungeon, but I did hook in a wierd artifact tome that has the face of Nethys and includes the community created content for Zudigger's Picnic. Just as a what the heck is this thing, kind of moment for the players, its kind of a mcguffin.

As I understand as a claimed hex it generates +1 Economy, I forget where that is.

I know if you are using the River Nations guide you can develope a mine and it doubles its output and more. I definitely recommend the third party supplement.

I gm a Kingmaker game and the bard is probably one of the most important character in the game. Bards rock in Kingmaker.

Yep, when you can just flip and use the monster out of the bestiary. Also I know its not exactly the same... but in a hurry I just find a similarly CR monster as long as the fighting style is similar.

I've never used the beginner box, but I'm betting it wouldn't be to hard to jump right into RotRL and Pathfinder Core.

I would however highly recommend getting a GM screen, has a bunch of really useful stuff that keeps you from having to look it up, specifically the skill checks.

Edit: I don't have my copy, but I believe the feats/traits in the back of the RotRL player's guide are traits. Either ways, I'd make sure my players pick one up, even if you had to give it to them for free, which I believe is what I did. I made them write a half page backstory to get one, it really helps.

When my player ran it they did it at a relaxed pace, there are spots that require immediacy, but for the most part my players breezed through at their own pace.

I also have a standing rule that I won't "rush" the players. Talk to your dm and if you want downtime, have them arrainge some, especially between adventures.

I had Madam Niska be a dragon turtle in my game, I put a sea cave underneath her house that connected to the beach cave from the Catacombs. My players always wondered why she was wet and smelled like seawater. The basics of it were there was a flavorful encounter with a shoanti rebel hidding out in the town, and some hellknights demanded entry into her home, but some old treaty with the local shoanti kept her home as sacred land.

Basically centuries ago she had been the protector of the local tribe and as she got older they venerated her and forgot about her draconic heritage. I killed her off when the giants attacked with the red dragon.

I also gave her a small horde in her cave, one of the shoanti in the party "cave dived" and found out about her little secret, but they kept it to themselves and he looked up to her after that.

I added in the Boggards of Brinestump marsh and my own personal writeup on Chopper's Isle.
http://www.dorkistan.com/dorkistan/PFRPG/creatures/chopper.htm

Have you checked the Community Created Content thread? Alot of good material in there.

Edit: I had Ironbriar pay the pc's to investigate a "murder scene" where he had unleashed a dire tiger from the zoo. After locking them in with it he had a body at the scene and told some townguards that there were some evil adventurer's breaking into houses and wanted for murder.

Guards show up, pc's think they are in someone's pocket fight breaks out and they are now guilty of killing a bunch of townguards over a miscommunication. It was ugly.

When I gmed through RotRL there was a Community Created Content thread, I saw the one for a 6 player conversion, but I figured this would be a good place to drop mine so its not lost in the infinite archives of doom.

Area Modification to Nomen Heights - Location R. Its a chase scene with a monster fight at the end.

Nikos was the pirate lord in Issia who surrendurred to Choral bloodlessly and he married her (his daughter) into the ruling family (Choral) so that the noble house of Surtovas could maintain a position near the crown. In effect, Choral's *spoilerific* children were half Surtova, though they carried the name Rogarvia. Basically they were just really close to the throne and the Surtovas were politically aligned to be the stewards of the kingdom by historical marriages.

Page 67 of Book 1 has a number of rumors you could give him in regards to the dissappearances of the Rogovarias.

Definitely, and just to mess with him some, give him the rumors about House Rogovaria, but have his family know the "truth" behind it. The truth being what his house commonly accepts as fact. I'd roll randomly for it, politics, lol.

Yep, me too!

Almost all of my PC's are noble born from various houses. I like your ideas I'm just unsure about the timing with V's awakening. I haven't run the beginning of AP3 yet, we are in that span of time between 2 and 3.

I think it could be equally usable that, N bargained for some of V's jars and presented them as gifts in a single night to all of Rogovaria's bloodline. That would have been 20 years ago, I know it says that V had a troubled slumber, maybe N visited him in his dreams and bargained to trick Wilas into accidentally breaking his wards in exchange.

Spoilers Book 3/Metaplot

Did anyone think about the similarities between the sudden disappearance of house Rogovaria and the Varnhold. It just seems like there should be some creepy old guy with a twitching eye somewhere talking about doom and gloom spouting wild theories about House Rogovaria and Varnhold.

The only thing I see that I wouldn't let my player's have is the alignment's of the members of the noble houses, the king, and the queen. Everything else looks ok.

If he wants the info he should take knowledge history/nobility. Also alot of that information is going to be considered rumor and non concrete facts, especially if you decide to run any of the variants in book 6.

Personally I'd give him information pertaining to his house, but as I saw most of the info looks like the same stuff in the player's guide.

I modified the encounter a bit, by the time my group encountered the Dancing Lady they had killed the modified quickling and the grimstalker. Out of my 6 PC's two were female, they both made their saves and spent the combat throwing the boys down the stairwell to break her spell.

Since the party was large I let her maintain her ability even while draining helpless victims. It was ugly, but no-one died. Probably helped that all but 1 passed their insanity mist save.

With some revisions:

Area R – Linnorm’s Grave

CR9

Backstory
Long ago an immense Craig Linnorm Krukjalfvir was slain by Armtag the mythical Tiger Lord hero. Now with the awakening of Vordakai, he has found the bones of this ancient creature relatively intact. Focusing his siphoned souls through the Occulus of Abaddon even from afar he is able to infuse the monstrosity with unlife.

Summary
Vordakai raises the long dead Craig Linnorm as an undead, but the spell is fragile, the players must find a way to reach the several fonts of necromantic power severing them before the beast becomes a powerful tool of destruction. PC’s will race via the chase rules up the beast to several points disrupting the magical fonts before finally ascending to the head of the beast to battle Vordakai’s minion within its skull. If the characters choose not to deal with this threat it proceeds to cause havoc to nearby settlements, farms, and tribes leaving Burning Skeletons (Bestiary) in its wake, unheeded this threat may become powerful enough that it could require an army to stop. Suggested Mass combat abilities Regeneration, Breath Weapon, Mobility and possibly the ability to raise small mindless undead armies in places where it defeats others.

Description of Event
A low rumbling of thunder is heard echoing through the hills and as the clouds darken and roil in the overcast sky above, the wind gusts harshly knocking the sea of grass down and whipping it about. A bolt of black lightning strikes the nearby hilltop, where the massive bones of an ancient linnorm lie covered in moss, feathered tokens, pottery, and other tribal offerings, again and again the lighting strikes, a fierce thundering booms from the sky above and the dark clouds begin to swirl, small rocks and grass tumble by born aloft by the churning winds. A herd of mastadons seem unperturbed until a crumbling eruption of dirt and rocks bursts from the hillside and the long treelike bones ascend and swirl among three terrible and dark spheres suspended in the maelstrom that are repeatedly struck by lightning. The swirling conglomeration of massive bones and crackling dark light solidify in the near shape of a colossal skeletal linnorm, nearly a hundred feet long towering over the nearby hills. A pulse of black energy and flame sear forth from its bulk enveloping the entirety of the hillside for a hundred feet setting a massive brush fire. The colossal beast seems to be host to a pair of darkly glowing and swirling fonts of energy, one in its ribcage and another in its terrifying skull, its curved teeth as large as a horse. The ground shakes as it finishes ripping itself from the rocky earth leaving a gaping valley behind as the creature charges off into the hills at a quick pace. The ground trembles with every footstep and its three pronged skeletal tail lies low crushing the underbrush as it whips across the searing plains.

Perception DC20 – The swirling clouds above the linnorm have a slight red hue, there is a powerful necromantic spell effect hovering over the linnorm as it moves. Close observation is a pale red eye that shines like torchlight.

Linnorm Statistics: 80’ Long, 15’ Wide, 20’ Tall; Chase cards should be arrainged in a line from skull to Tail. Moves 40’ per round, double moving at 80’. Treat Krukjalfvir as an unintelligent colossal object, similar to a mountain for the purposes of this scene. Its movements are guided by the Elemental in its skull. Given enough time, the negative energy fueling Krukjalfvir will form sentience on its own.

Skull, Neck, Neck, Shoulders, tail, tail, tail, tail end (Start of Chase).

Tail End – Swiping Tail Acrobatics DC 10/Perception 25
Tail Section x2 – Steep Crumbling Tail Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC10
Tail Section x1 – Broken Vertebrae Escape Artists DC15/Acrobatics DC20
Ribcage*x1 - Necromatic Font, Lumbering Shoulders Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC25
Neck x2 - Steep Crumbling Tail Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC10
Skull* – Necromatic Font, Huge Negative Elemental**, Hole in Skull Escape Artist DC25\Perception 10
*Treat the Skull/Ribcage as a 20’x 10’ platform that gives Improved Cover to those inside.
**Huge Negative Elemental – use the statistics for a Huge fire elemental, but change his damage type to Negative Energy, and change his vulnerability to Positive Energy.

Chase Rules: Follow all the normal rules for a chase (Game Mastery Guide pg. 232) with faster characters getting bonuses of +2, per 10 feet above base 30, flight still grants a +10, but receives a -4 due to heavy winds. Failing any check by 5 or more sends the character rolling back a card and takes 1d6 falling damage. Shortcuts: A character can shortcut and try and get on another part of the linnorm from the ribcage back, but add a +10 to the difficulty.

Necromatic Font – Each Necromatic Font appears as a 3’ diameter mass of raw swirling bones and negative energy that inside can be seen a purplish unblinking eye. Each font grants the reainimated Krukjalfvir fast healing 10 and a cumulative DR5/Cold Iron. The font itself has AC21, HP: 45, fast healing 1, DR10/Cold Iron, Immune to Electricity, Mind Effects, Death Effects; Saves +6, Acid and Fire resist 10. Unarmed attacks on the Necromatic font inflict 1d4 negative levels DC18 Fortitude to negate. Each font spews forth 1d4 negative energy bursts every round which unerringly strike anyone within 30’ for 1d4 negative energy damage each. Spells and effects that emit light deal 2d6 damage every round to a font as well as positive energy deals double damage.

Gusting Winds: The area around Krukjalfvir is under the effects of a windstorm and makes ranged attacks impossible in the area. Flying (-4 due to heavy winds) becomes very hazardous as bones and debris are being flung everywhere failure on a fly check by 5 or more results in 2d6 damage from debris.

Along for the Ride: Any character may choose to stay in position by making a Ride Check DC 10. Characters using ranged weapons may choose to fire on up to 1 adjacent section away at a -4 penalty due to the wind. Spellcasters may additionally cast spells on adjacent sections if they can pass a defensive casting test.

Chaotic Magical Firestorm : The powerful necromantic energy reacts strangely with the bones of the linnorm, every 1d6 rounds a gout of flames envelopes the windstorm dealing 1d6 fire and 1d6 negative energy damage to everything between 1d6x10 and 1d10x10 feet of the linnorm. The firestorm is accompanied by an area of red hued overcast that blocks natural sunlight as per control weather.

Sounds like a great start, just make sure that characters like the bard, who I would envision as a agent of espionage, have a way to fast talk their way out of situations. I would suggest taking a look at the River Nations kingdom building guide, it might give you some neat ideas about the ruling class, concrete numbers on militia, and some rules for mass combat.

Most guards and soldiers are going to bet between level 1-6, with lower level guys getting the crappy shifts like prison guards. You might want to work something out where a thieves guild is also offering help getting people out for a fee or some service at a later time, Godfather style.

There should be plenty of historical references for occupied cities, I'd suggest something like the Russian occupation of Berlin after WW2, or maybe something more brutal like in the Hunger Games.

Sounds like you are off to a great start, also don't neglect to look at the Game Mastery guide, since there aren't alot of humans in the Bestiary, there are a ton of pre-statted npcs. Things like escaping through the sewers could be fun too.

You could probably draw alot of material from Council of Thieves and Curse of the Crimson Throne adventure paths to use as filler and side stuff.

@Courtney! I'm guessing just give a CR9 to the whole thing, the Huge Elemental is 7 and the font's are a minor threat, but the chase scene means they might come in staggered. The environmental hazard of the Chaotic Firestorm is fairly avoidable, it just keeps people from firebombing from afar, plus it has great visuals. I might even have it animate small burning skeletons in its wake, just as a "hey deal with this" thing. I just use level up points in my game.

@PJ Well I was looking through another AP I mashed up with Kingmaker (SD) and there is an instance where there is an environmental challenge that isn't a boss fight. It inspired me!

Thanks for the compliments! My group of PC's is usually 5-7 people, depending who shows, so I have to find strange ways to challenge them.

Concern about Heading:
Also, can anyone think of a good direction for the linnorm to be heading, given its in the plains a swath of fire would follow it, probably some burning skeletons rising up too. I'd think V might send it to some nearby small village like Nikta's Crossing, of course by the time it gets there I'd have it turn into more of a threat.

Concern about Player Inventiveness:
I'd probably have the thing come crashing down in pieces after the players defeat the elemental and all the fonts, probably would derail the campaign for them to have a giant walking engine of destruction.

Now I just need a really cool description about how clouds begin to swirl, strange colored lighting flashes, wind roaring and rising up, with dust flying everywhere and the ground trembles as the bones wrench themselves free combining around three dark voids that crackle with necromatic energy, it burts into existance with a gout of flame and a wave of black energy.

Edit: I had debated adding in a description about how all the joints and pieces of the thing appear to be held together by various ghosts and wailing undead, but I wanted my PC's to jump on the thing and not be to worried about touching it. I didn't add haunts or any extra battles to it because the party would be split. Though I could see where a DM might want to replace one of the SKILL challenges with a CMB challenge where they could bull rush a rising undead made out of mammoth parts off of the thing... Just make it a CR5 CMD of some undead. Also the PC's might not be absolutely sure that V is behind everything yet, so I left it a little vague on descriptions. They still might believe that they triggered a Nomen Centaur curse. Another tie in I'm using is that when one of my pc's died he was raised mysteriously by one of my players (who is the daughter of Sarenrae, making her a demigod, without the powers), but this angered Pharasma so he bleeds from his fingernails and if you read the story about Armtag, he did something similar so he was cursed by Pharasma with her Aeons.

The fonts are loosely based on the Bodak, if people need some saves for them.

Mounts chasing the thing: Just remember the fire burst will appear ahead and behind the linnorm so mounts might be running through burning grass.

Here's my alpha writeup on this craziness.

Area R – Linnorm’s Grave

Backstory
Long ago an immense Craig Linnorm Krukjalfvir was slain by Armtag the mythical Tiger Lord hero. Now with the awakening of Vordakai, he has found the bones of this ancient creature relatively intact. Focusing his siphoned souls through the Occulus of Abaddon even from afar he is able to infuse the monstrosity with unlife.

Summary
Vordakai raises the long dead Craig Linnorm as an undead, but the spell is fragile, the players must find a way to reach the several fonts of necromantic power severing them before the beast becomes a powerful tool of destruction. PC’s will race via the chase rules up the beast to several points disrupting the magical fonts before finally ascending to the head of the beast to battle Vordakai’s minion within its skull.

Linnorm Statistics: 80’ Long, 15’ Wide, 20’ Tall; Chase cards should be arrainged in a line from skull to Tail. Moves 40’ per round, double moving at 80’. Treat Krukjalfvir as an unintelligent colossal object, similar to a mountain for the purposes of this scene. Its movements are guided by the Elemental in its skull. Given enough time, the negative energy fueling Krukjalfvir will form sentience on its own.

Skull, Neck, Neck, Shoulders, tail, tail, tail, tail end (Start of Chase).

Tail End – Swiping Tail Acrobatics DC 10/Perception 25
Tail Section x2 – Steep Crumbling Tail Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC10
Tail Section x1 – Broken Vertebrae Escape Artists DC15/Acrobatics DC20
Ribcage*x1 - Necromatic Font, Lumbering Shoulders Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC25
Neck x2 - Steep Crumbling Tail Acrobatics DC20/Climb DC10
Skull* – Necromatic Font, Huge Negative Elemental**, Hole in Skull Escape Artist DC25\Perception 10

*Treat the Skull/Ribcage as a 20’x 10’ platform that gives Improved Cover to those inside.
**Huge Negative Elemental – use the statistics for a Huge fire elemental, but change his damage type to Negative Energy, and change his vulnerability to Positive Energy.

Chase Rules: Follow all the normal rules for a chase (Game Mastery Guide pg. 232) with faster characters getting bonuses of +2, per 10 feet above base 30, flight still grants a +10, but receives a -4 due to heavy winds. Failing any check by 5 or more sends the character rolling back a card and takes 1d6 falling damage. Shortcuts: A character can shortcut and try and get on another part of the linnorm from the ribcage back, but add a +10 to the difficulty.

Along for the Ride: Any character may choose to stay in position by making a Ride Check DC 10. Characters using ranged weapons may choose to fire on up to 1 adjacent section away at a -4 penalty due to the wind. Spellcasters may additionally cast spells on adjacent sections if they can pass a defensive casting test.

Necromatic Font – Each Necromatic Font appears as a 3’ diameter mass of raw swirling bones and negative energy that inside can be seen a purplish unblinking eye. Each font grants the reainimated Krukjalfvir fast healing 10 and a cumulative DR5/Cold Iron. The font itself has AC21, HP: 45, fast healing 1, DR10/Cold Iron, Immune to Electricity; Acid and Fire resist 10. Unarmed attacks on the Necromatic font inflict 1d4 negative levels DC18 Fortitude to negate. Each font spews forth 1d4 negative energy bursts every round which unerringly strike anyone within 30’ for 1d4 negative energy damage each. Spells and effects that emit light deal 2d6 damage every round to a font as well as positive energy deals double damage.

Gusting Winds: The area around Krukjalfvir is under the effects of a windstorm and makes ranged attacks impossible. Flying (-4 due to heavy winds) becomes very hazardous as bones and debris are being flung everywhere failure on a fly check by 5 or more results in 2d6 damage from debris.

Chaotic Magical Firestorm : The powerful necromantic energy reacts strangely with the bones of the linnorm, every 1d6 rounds a gout of flames envelopes the windstorm dealing 1d6 fire and 1d6 negative energy damage to everything between 1d6x10 and 1d10x10 feet of the linnorm.

Edited a few times. Need Input!!!

I'm intending to have the players approach the tomb as V releases his dread zombie army, one of those, "the sky gets dark and lighting crackles across the sky moments" and zombies pour out.

But just to foreshadow this I'd love to have the Linnorm rip itself free from the ground as they are exploring the hex. Make it one of those epic moments... something unique. The burning skeleton template looked promising.

A skeletal mammoth army.... is there some creature that is just a conglomeration of walking bones?

Edit: I'm thinking I might try and go shadows of the collosus or god of war moment here and use the "chase" rules for them to run up the massive creatures body to do battle with something on its heads animating it..... to cheezy? Maybe have haunts along the way.

Did anybody think about possibly having Vordakai animate dead this Linnorm Skeleton? It says its of immense size, so I'm guessing it might be collossal.

My players are a big fan of the mass combat rules, I'm debating having V raise it and it be so ginormous that they might bring an army to fight it.

Are there any other good undead spells/things I could use with this skeleton if the PC's themselves fight it? Specifically looking for an intelligence template or something around their level that would be interesting.

Character death is an important part of the game, if you remove death as an option for failed rolls, bad decisions, poor planning, or just bad luck you remove alot of the fear and wonder players will experience as they explore.

My players enjoy a good fair character death, it adds drama and gives a chance for someone to play something new or even come back with fairly inexpensive spells like Reincarnation, Raise Dead, or Ressurection.

You can even use it as a story device by inventing whole new plots where someone mysteriously returns from the dead.

Anways,if you want to nerf the haunts that works too, but the trick to using them is to describe them in great detail. Maybe add some extra horror elements by whispering to the player what is about to happen and then let them speak in character but they have no control over their body. It gives the other players a chance to be heroic and horrified.

In game there are alot of combats, sometimes they aren't life threatening but provide alot of fun. Othertimes there are life threatening situations where the luck of the dice and quick thinking determine the course of a character's life or the plot of the game, those moments can become your player's most memorable moments when years from now you sit around talking about "that time when".

I've got this finished, I just need to transfer it from my chicken scratch to a word doc. Hopefully like my RotRL content, some aweseome map maker will make some location art for it.

In my game, I needed some form of movement to happen with the possible rebellion. So I'm having the Surtovas accuse the people in the land of the Orlovskys of sedition and plotting a rebellion after overwhelming taxastion didn't work and then instituting the Hunger Games in their territory. Its definitely extreme, but I don't see it as completely out of character for Natala.

My players like the movie, one of them has family in the region. And its sure to stir the pot. About half of my group is pro-Surtova and the other is undecided, so I think they got the wrong impression from the player's guide. This might sway them some, plus one of them is a Surtova bastard.

Thoughts?

Talk in third person

I said the whole thing about punishing the players, because it was the title of the thread.

I'd give the players a wide berth, I'm betting said criminal resisted with deadly force. And in the future I would specify in the bounties that any ill gotten gains by a fugitive were bonus bounty money.

C'mon the guy was on the run obviously. Call it an incentive to turn himself in, he didn't so he looses his implements of escape.

Also it sounds like you have alot invested in this npc, my advice as a dm is let the players win some. Don't get to attatched. If you start pulling away player rewards its not going to be as fun for everyone.

Its not the DM's purpose to punish the players. You are there to give them a world to interact with.

Do the guards care about the possessions of the fugitive?

Does the fugitive really care about his gear this much right now? Is he fearing execution?

You've got a trained group of adventurers hunting down people that the local authorities either don't have the skill or manpower to handle. Why would the local authorities want to nickle and dime them? Call it a bonus and move on.

If OOC you are having problems with too much loot, have them chase down monsters not people.

PC1: Yep guys I think its time to fire the crafter...
Crafter: But why?
PC2: Well because this other guy is way better in combat because he didn't study to be a merchant.
Crafter: But you are saving money!
PC1: Yes, and I might not have got hit over the head by that ogre had you cast more powerful spells.
PC2: Aufwiedersehen!

Edit:

Crafter: But I can make better stuff! So your head doesn't get cracked.
PC1: I'm listening.
Crafter: And I'll only charge 10% so that you won't get killed!
PC2: So we're out here saving the world and you are trying to make a buck.... yeah, we are going with the other guy. Good luck setting up shop, we have adventuring to do!

Note to GM
This is meant as a lead into parts of the Varnhold Vanishing without giving any real information that would tip off the players to Vordakai. It can be used as a supplement to the Lonely Barrow (Greenbelt, Area F) or placed as its own adventure site.

Adventure Background
In the Age of Darkness, a long extinct dwarven kingdom emerged into the Stolen Lands led by King Khadgar of Temol who drove his country to the surface in hopes of fulfilling the Quest for Sky. The end of the journey to the surface was bittersweet as Khadgar’s nation was met with an orcish uprising in the bloody kingdom of Vordakai. Attacked from the moment of their arrival, King Khadgar was killed in the first major conflict with Vordakai. It took less than a decade for the dwarven nation to collapse and fade in the wake of the necromancers. Though the kingdom fell its ruins have remained relatively untouched in the last five millennia. Eroded by the wilderness only a small flora covered hill remains where long ago the dwarves had built a surface keep. In time passing barbarians found a collapsed passage and converted the surface ruins to bury their dead never realizing what lay beneath.

Adventure Summary
The adventurers find and explore the barbarian cairn only to discover signs of dwarves and possibly an ancient dwarven lift that leads into the outlying area of the extinct dwarven settlement. In their investigations they accidentally stumble upon lost dwarven engineering marvels, dwarven clockwork, guardians, and a massive warren of cannibalistic morlocks who have taken residence in the ruins. In exploring the ruins the adventurers will finding artifacts of the lost kingdom of Khadgar as well as a strange magical tome taken from the servants of Vordakai.

More soon!!!!

Yeah I don't use xp either, you can search the archives under each AP, for this result I used "level up points". I also used this one as a guide when I ran the AP.

Werecorpse wrote:

I am running RoTRL and have just decided to do away with exp points and level up when it seems appropriate.

Does anyone know of a location of detailed suggestions for when to 'level up'?

I figured I would give this one it's own thread so as to not threadjack others.

I used this method when I ran SCAP (my first real time running a campaign as a DM) and it worked fantastically. I figured that this time I would use XP... and I am finding it is coming out to be almost the identical point I would have picked so far.

Anyway, I figured I would give this a stab for you since it will make my life of judging if they need a side trek easier as well.

Level 2 - Before Heading into the Catacombs of Wrath

Level 3 - Just before Thistletop

Level 4 - End of Burnt Offerings

Level 5 - Just before Misgivings

Level 6 - End of Misgivings

Level 7 - End of Skinsaw Murders

Level 8 - After Graul Farmstead

Level 9 - After retaking the Fort
(Maybe after the damn?)

Level 10 - End of Hook Mountain Massacre

Level 11 - Reaching Jorgenfist
(by XP I am guessing they would be part way through Jorgenfist, but I like the cleaner cut off point when using this method)

Level 12 - End of Fortress of the Stone Giants

Level 13 - Entering the Runeforge
(Like above, they would likely level within the runforge, but I like the cleaner line; that and if you add in a lot of RP like I do then there is a bigger lag caused by the time all that takes)

Level 14 - End of Sins of the Saviors

Level 15 - Entering the Pinnacle of Avarice

Level 16 - Beginning fight with Karzoug

Anyway... that is my suggestion roughly. I can only confirm the first three right now (my party is in Thistletop) as I didn't actually do any of the math to see where things happen, but looked for good story points.

Sean Mahoney

Ignorance isn't a reason for an alignment shift. Her intentions are good and she is displaying compassion for life, not greed or any kind of personal gain.

Now, as I remember it the devil was severely weakened and had permanently lost a ton of levels. Obviously its going to need something on the order of a wish or a miracle to bring it back in any short term.

What I would do? I'd leave a telepathic link open between the two so that they could converse. Devils do trade in souls and evil pacts and the best way to get one started is to have someone gullible think they are your friend and a high level PC would be a great ally. Now of course the devil itself may have other allies in the outer planes and news of its return could cause old pacts to reawaken ie. its servants and for all purposes its still looks like a pit fiend. So it could barter out its services to the PC in exchange for sacrifices or a binding contract.

Heck, you could even have it reversed and have the pit fiend call upon the PC for aid! I mean this of course could just be some kind of plot to get the PC believing that the pit fiend really needs help, but is actually a plot to get the pc deeper and deeper involved with it.

Take a look at the Succubus, its got the profane gift it gives its minions, you say some of these players aren't power gamers? Try that out, give the PC the profance benefit in exchange for a future favor.

Yeah, this is great! Can't wait to see the finished article!

I'm meshing Kingmaker and Second Darkness right now, with an emphasis on Kingmaker.

I don't use XP in any of my games, I just set level up points in the game, by the recommendations of the GM's who have played through them and the guidelines in the adventure.

I've got an outline in the Kingmaker forums that I will be adding to over the next week or so. Or follow along with our group at,

I'm already running a plot where the Winter Council is interfering with the Grand Diplomat, she's an elf and she's trying to get more elven culture into their society. Of course the Winter Council wouldn't like that.

Not quite sure where this is going yet, I'm probably going to leave out the underdark section... Ideas?

So at the end of RRR I've decided to mesh in large parts of Second Darkness into the campaign. The only real rule is to keep all the locations within the Kingmaker setting. Luckily, I had just enough time to squeeze in some of book 1... This is a work in progress.

Important Locations:
Nomen Heights Lake Silverstep area S, add the island the Devil's Elbow from SD Book 2.
Nomen Heights 11 Down 3 Over, add the elven cities of Crying Leaf and Celwynvian*.

*I know its kind of hard to rip the city from where it is, but it works and to have a lone lost city at war. I'm sure this could cause some problems with them and Kyonin if they tried to take it. I definitely want to add some more "stuff" to the nomen heights map so it might be beneficial to add something in the surrounding hexes. It needs to be far from Restov, but I don't think it hurts the story.

II. Rivers Run Red
A. The dark cloud from Shadow in the Sky settles of the capital city.
B. Using the entire Devil's Island story, except the part with pc's competing with bandits in their port.
C. This could provoke some interaction with Maegar Varn so its good to get them involved in the story.
III. Varnhold Vanishing
A. Using the city of Crying Leaf and Celwynvian almost entirely. My players have alot of elves in the party so its pretty easy.

Yes, last night my players clashed with the armies of Hargulka narrowly pulling out a win with negotiated help from Maegar's horsemen. The trolls sent small groups of goblins to block the roads and scrags up the river and attacked their capital from their piers, while another larger force waited to the west. The combined forces of the player kingdom's large army of sootscale kobolds and men and the horsemen barely defeated a 50 man army of trolls. Yes I made it tough, lol. Hargulka seeing the armies combined opted for a retreat so that he could fight them on his home ground, not outside of their capital, knowing that such a small kingdom would be bleeding from their treasury to host 2 armies. They followed him to his wilderness encampment and narrowly defeated him along with his green dragon.

Well just to mention, the story between the 3.5 and Pathfinder RotRL won't change. Just the stats, which isn't a big deal anyways if ya'll use the monsters from the bestiary.

Kingmaker may have some additional rules, but wow it is an awesome game. It really is one of the easiest to run adventures I've done, and even the kingdom building is simple. Even better is that there is the Book of the River Nations book, that she can just hand the PC's and virtually it will run itself.

Rise of the runelords is great and if you pick up the hardcover that'd be a good one to run and with no conversions should be a breeze. My group loved just about all of it, especially the early books though. Runelords can be complicated in spots, but the story flows well.

Definitely no to Second Darkness though. I'd mine it for ideas, but from what I've read and asked about it, its somewhat broken. IMHO

I did start running the Curse of the Crimson Throne and it has some really neat stuff in it, seems dungeon heavy but fun, has some great politicing.

My vote is for kingmaker I'm running that right now. And if she wants to see how it might go she can look on my player's adventure logs here:
http://www.obsidianportal.com/campaigns/kingmaker-lures-of-majesty

The player loves the idea, especially since it ties so much into her background and brings it into the main plot. Everything from the threat of Treerazor to the problems with her father the ambassador are things she wrote up, additionally since another player is playing her half-brother he is getting involved as well.

As far as the drama of owing a demon a favor, it makes for great roleplaying and in the meantime she gets the profance bonus of being tied to a succubus and I always have an npc to chime in with, even when they are out in the woods.

As far as choice, the players took the disguised half elf at face value, something they haven't done with many other npcs this game, especially ones with magical spells they have to free them from. She could have refused the favor and even more she asked for the elf to help her father from the large political game he is in. Even moreso, there's actually no binding agreement here the demon is just another villian.

Have her grief stricken npc self jump from the castle. Tragic... . or have her remarry one of the PCs.

I've got to say the Book of the River Nations for sure. Its got alot more detail in it, uses almost all the same rules, and provides a book you can hand your players to reference without spoiling anything.

My group has been asking for some dungeons so I've made a number of locations into crawls adding monsters and traps.

The only other thing I can recommend is have your players read the player's guide and write up at least a 1 page backstory tying them to the region in some way.

Oh and make sure you at least introduce the players to Maegar Varn, one of the charter groups before they all go their separate ways. I had my players meet him in a gaming hall in Nikta's Crossing and gamble for a unmarked map of the region. It just simplifies the mapping for me.

I also spooked them by having a street peddler offer to take a card out of his Things of Many Deck, of course it was a con artist promising future omens.

Note that book 2 gives you the map of the initial journey from Restov to Oleg's Tradepost. I had only read book 1 and had a misconseption about the location of Restov.

My players also particularly like that I'm using the weather rules, I have them roll for weather everyday. And I made it a cold environment so its more like their favorite show Game of Thrones, so everyone bought heavy weather gear and furs.

A few of them were really interested in the mass combat rules, so I introduced that at the end of book two with DM Dudemeisters troll kingdom stuff.

Other than that google an image of the river kingdoms so you can figure out what borders what.

Read up on afflicted lycanthropy, my players got all freaked out over it. Its really not that scary, but it can be a pain.

Lastly, I let my players roll rumors from neighboring regions, just take care not to spoil the timeline of events. But they did like hearing about how Drelev is going to war with the Tiger Lords and how Maegar had a skirimish with some centaurs. The rumors are found near the end of each book.

+1 Yes Paizo you rock!