Jeremy Walker's page

Parking should not be a problem, the hotel has a very large parking lot, although much of it is behind the hotel, so be sure and drive around it if you don't see anything out front.

I emailed you my character Sozin. No one made a healer, so I made a halfling oracle.

I don't have a strong preference, but I only have access to the core rulebook, so I'll probably make something pretty basic.

I'll take some as well, yummy!

I'll be there starting Friday morning.

If there's still a spot open, I'd love to play, it sounds like a lot of fun!

I'm going to the meet and eat this year, possibly with a friend of mine, but we'll see what his work schedule looks like.

I was originally planning on running 2 games this year, but it doesn't look like I'll get the chance to put a 2nd one together, so I'll settle for running the game I ran last year again.

Title: Risen Beneath the Ice
System: Modified d20
Short Description: February, 1941. The Axis war machine is on the march in Europe, and Japan and China are battling in the Far East. Meanwhile, US army intelligence intercepts a radio distress signal from a previously unknown secret Nazi base in Antarctica. Unwilling to risk war, yet unable to pass up the opportunity, president Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes a secret expedition to discover what the Nazis are doing. Awaiting them is a horror awakened after 60,000 years beneath the ice.
Number of Players (Min/Max): 4-6
Character Level: n/a
Pregens Provided (Yes/No): Yes
Maturity Rating (Everyone (6+)/Teen (13+)/Mature (18+)): Mature (18+)

I had a blast running this one last year, so here's hoping it goes as well again.

I'd be interested in what system this is. Is it simply a modernized PF with rifles as the ranged weaponry? It looks interesting.

More or less. Basically I just took 3.5, invented some custom weapons, condensed a few of the skills, made up an alternate hp/healing system, came up with some gear, and gave all the characters a few feats and some special "class feature" abilities. The system was inspired by James's Unspeakable Futures, but I came up with all the rules myself.

NAME:________________________________
Infiltrator/Demolitions Expert

STATISTICS
STR 10 (+0)

DEX 17 (+3)

CON 13 (+1)

INT 16 (+3)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 8 (-1)

SKILLS

Acrobatics +9
Climb +6
Disable Device +9
Explosives +9
Knowledge (occult) +9
Perception +8
Stealth +12
Swim +6

Languages English, German, Mandarin, Japanese

FEATS
Weapon Finesse
Skill Focus (Stealth)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 23

AC 15
touch 13
flat-footed 12

Fortitude +2
Reflex +6
Will +3

GEAR

Colt M1911 (25-ft range, 7-round clip)

2 clips pistol ammo

4 hand grenades (10-ft radius, 5d6, Ref DC 15 half)

Combat Knife

Flack jacket & camo suit (+2 AC)

4 Dynamite Packs (8d6 damage, double damage to structures with a DC 15 Explosives check, can set time delay with a DC 15 Explosives check)

1 Ultimate Bomb (as dynamite but 15d6 damage, requires DC 18 explosives check to arm correctly)

4 vials of paralytic toxin (3d6 Str damage/—, DC 18 Fort Save)

1 vial of death toxin (3d6 Con damage/—, DC 18 Fort Save)
OFFENSE
Initiative +7
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +5 (1d4/19-20)
Unarmed Strike +5 (+3/+3) 1d6/x2
Ranged Colt M1911 +5 (+3/+3) d8+3/x3

Base Attack +2
Grapple +2

ABILITIES

Evasion

Flurry of Blows

Poison Use

Sneak Attack +2d6

NAME:________________________________
Psychic

STATISTICS
STR 8 (-1)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 14 (+2)

INT 13 (+1)

WIS 10 (+0)

CHA 17 (+3)

SKILLS

Bluff +9
Concentration +8
Knowledge (arcana) +7
Knowledge (occult) +7
Sense Motive +6

Languages English, German, French, Latin, telepathy 100-ft

FEATS
Iron Will
Ability Focus (Psychic Assult)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 19

AC 15
touch 13
flat-footed 12

Fortitude +3
Reflex +4
Will +5

GEAR

Colt M1911 (25-ft range, 7-round clip)

4 clips pistol ammo

Combat Knife

Flack jacket & camo suit (+2 AC)

substance 34A-2 (restores psy-points to max, 2 doses)

substance 79E-1 (acid grenade, deals 4d6 acid damage 15-ft radius, DC 15 Ref save half, 4 vials)

substance 99XX/? (use unknown, imbibe only as last resort)

OFFENSE
Initiative +7
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +0 (1d4-1/19-20)
Ranged Colt M1911 +5 (+3/+3) d8+3/x3

Base Attack +1
Grapple +0

ABILITIES
7 power points max, restore power points to full after 10-min rest

Psy powers:
0-points: Telepathy, send a telepathic message to target within 100 ft.

0-points: Assense Aura, takes 1 minute, search for other intelligent minds in the area (approx 500-ft radius)

1-point: Psychic Assault, 3d6 damage, Will DC 16 half, mindless creatures are immune

1 point: read thoughts, Will DC 14 negates

2 points: daze creature for 1d4 rounds, DC 15 will save negates, failure by 5 or more = stunned instead

3 points: confusion for 1d4 rounds on all enemies in 20-ft radius, DC 16 Will save = dazed for 1 round instead

NAME:________________________________
Ranger/Sniper

STATISTICS
STR 13 (+1)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 14 (+2)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 17 (+3)

CHA 8 (-1)

SKILLS

First Aid +9
Knowledge (Antarctica) +6
Knowledge (nature) +6
Perception +9 (+11 outdoors)
Survival +9
Track +9

Languages English, German, French

FEATS
Iron Will
Weapon Focus (Springfield)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 23

AC 17
touch 13
flat-footed 14

Fortitude +5
Reflex +6
Will +6

GEAR

M1903 Springfield (900 ft, 5 round clip) w/scope

6 clips Springfield ammo

Colt M1911 (25-ft range, 7-round clip)

2 clips pistol ammo

4 hand grenades (10-ft radius, 5d6, Ref DC 15 half)

Combat Knife

Flack vest & camo suit (+4 AC)

First Aid Kit

Survival Kit (compass, fire starting gear, flashlight, etc.)

100-ft of rope

OFFENSE
Initiative +7 (+9 outdoors)
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +2 (1d4-1/19-20)
Ranged M1903 Springfield +7 (+10 when aiming) d10+5/19-20/x3
Colt M1911 +6 (+3/+3) d8+3/x3

Base Attack +3
Grapple +4

ABILITIES

Improved Critical Springfield

Scope Master When using a move action to aim with a scoped weapon, you may add your wisdom bonus to the attack roll instead of +1

Ranger Awareness You gain a +2 bonus on Perception checks and Initiative checks when outdoors

NAME:________________________________
Doctor/Tech Expert

STATISTICS
STR 8 (-1)

DEX 16 (+3)

CON 13 (+1)

INT 17 (+3)

WIS 14 (+2)

CHA 10 (+0)

SKILLS

Electronics +9
First Aid +11
Knowledge (science) +9
Knowledge (history) +9
Knowledge (medicine) +9
Mechanic +9
Perception +8

Languages English, German, Russian

FEATS
Iron Will
Skill Focus (First Aid)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 16

AC 15
touch 13
flat-footed 12

Fortitude +4
Reflex +4
Will +7

GEAR

M1 Carbine (200-ft range, 15-round clip)

4 clips carbine ammo

Colt M1911 (25-ft range, 7-round clip)

2 clips pistol ammo

2 hand grenades (10-ft radius, 5d6, Ref DC 15 half)

Combat Knife

Flack jacket & camo suit (+2 AC)

First Aid Kit

Surgical Toolkit

Adrenaline Boost
heals 2d8+3 damage to a lightly wounded character, 6 doses

Dr. Maphesto's Miracle Serum heals 2d8+3 damage to a heavily wounded character, possibly upgrading them to lightly wounded, 2 doses
OFFENSE
Initiative +7
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +2 (1d4-1/19-20)
Ranged M1 Carbine +5 (+3/+3) d8+4/x3
Colt M1911 +5 (+3/+3) d8+3/x3

Base Attack +2
Grapple +1

ABILITIES

Patch 'em Up
unlimited use
When using First Aid to heal a lightly wounded character, you heal a number of hit points equal to the total result minus 12, instead of minus 15.

Minor Surgery
use 8 times
You can make a First Aid check to restore a heavily wounded character to lightly wounded (6 hp). The DC is 15 minus the character's current wound total. This check may be retried, but at a cumulative -1 penalty for each failed attempt. If this check is failed by 5 or more, the heavily wounded character dies. This check takes 10 minutes.

NAME:________________________________
Sergeant—Heavy Weapons Expert

STATISTICS
STR 17 (+3)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 10 (+0)

WIS 13 (+1)

CHA 8 (-1)

SKILLS

Climb +9
Swim +5

Languages English

FEATS
Exotic Weapon (Bazooka)
Exotic Weapon (Thompson)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 27

AC 16
touch 12
flat-footed 14

Fortitude +6
Reflex +3
Will +2

GEAR

M1 Garand (200-ft range, 8-round clip)

4 clips rifle ammo

Combat Knife

M1928 Thompson Submachine Gun (60-ft. special range, 30-round clip)

6 clips submachine gun ammo

Bazooka (200-ft range, full minute to reload)

3 bazooka shells

Flack vest & camo suit (+4 AC)

OFFENSE
Initiative +6
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +6 (1d4+3/19-20)
Ranged M1 Garand +5 (+3/+3) d10+5/x3
M1928 Thompson (see below)
Bazooka +5 (8d6 damage, 10-yd radius, Ref DC 15 half)

Base Attack +3
Grapple +6

ABILITIES

M1928 Thompson
Fires in either a 60-ft cone or a 60-ft line (your choice) hits all targets in the area, has
2 firing modes
Short Burst (standard action) Make a DC 10 strength check or the shots go wild: does 3d6 damage, Ref DC 15 half, uses 10 shells
Long Burst (full-round action) Make a DC 10 strength check or the shots go wild, if successful, make another DC 12 Str check or effect is the same as the Short Burst, if both checks are made, does 6d6 damage, Ref DC 15 half, uses 15 shells

Recoil Compensation you get a +2 bonus on strength checks when firing your Thompson

NAME:________________________________
Lieutenant¬—Mission Commander

STATISTICS
STR 10 (+0)

DEX 14 (+2)

CON 16 (+3)

INT 13 (+1)

WIS 8 (-1)

CHA 17 (+3)

SKILLS

Climb +5
Diplomacy +9
Perception +5
Swim +5

Languages English, German

FEATS
Iron Will
Weapon Focus (M1 Garand)
Improved Initiative

DEFENSE
HP 27

AC 16
touch 12
flat-footed 14

Fortitude +6
Reflex +3
Will +2

GEAR

M1 Garand (200-ft range, 8-round clip)

6 clips rifle ammo

Colt M1911 (25-ft range, 7-round clip)

2 clips pistol ammo

4 hand grenades (10-ft radius, 5d6, Ref DC 15 half)

Combat Knife

Flack vest & camo suit (+4 AC)

Thermos of "Pick-me-up" (heals 1d8+3 damage to a lightly wounded character, 4 doses)

100 feet of rope w/climbing gear

OFFENSE
Initiative +6
Speed 30 ft.
Melee Combat Knife +3 (1d4/19-20)
Ranged M1 Garand +6 (+4/+4) d10+5/x3
Colt M1911 +5 (+3/+3) d8+3/x3

Base Attack +3
Grapple +3

ABILITIES

Coordinate Fire
unlimited
spend a standard action to give all allies a +1 bonus on attack rolls for 3 rounds

Inspirational Leader use 2 times
as a free action you can allow an ally that failed a will save during the previous round to retry the save with a +3 bonus

Jeremy Walker DMed a killer game at Paizocon called Risen Beneath the Ice. I need to find this guy so I can get a memento of the game in the form of the pregens he built. The game was really well designed and merits a rehash at the local level up here in Canada.

Does anyone know how to get in contact with this guy?

Hey Dorkis

I'm glad you liked the game, I had a blast running it, and I'll probably try and run it again next year.

I'll go ahead and post the pregens to this thread, but they'll be missing some of the formatting, if you want the original doc files, pass along your email address and I'll send em to you.

No problem on one-week's notice. We'll set a time shortly. I don't think Friday AM's necessarily a problem from a location POV - we could do it in my room, in the courtyard, or someplace else. Still, I'd like to fit it so everyone on this thread can make it so maybe Saturday night is another way to go. After everyone's sure of their schedules (early next week?) let's try to find a time that works for most people. I'll post my free slots here shortly after I take a shot at event trading.

M

edit: isn't Saturday night the banquet?

Hey Mearrin

I was in the game last year (I just kinda dropped in) and I'd love to play again this year if there's still a spot open. I'm in or running events Friday afternoon and Saturday till 6, but I'm currently available Friday morning or Sunday, or later on Saturday night. Let me know.

Hey all,

Sorry I haven't looked at this thread in awhile.

As for time slots, my first choice would be Saturday afternoon, second choice would be Saturday morning.

Let me know if there's any more info you need.

Title of the game: Risen Beneath the Ice

Description of the game: February, 1941. The Axis war machine is on the march in Europe, and Japan and China are battling in the Far East. Meanwhile, US army intelligence intercepts a radio distress signal from a previously unknown secret Nazi base in Antarctica. Unwilling to risk war, yet unable to pass up the opportunity, president Franklin D. Roosevelt authorizes a secret expedition to discover what the Nazis are doing. Awaiting them is a horror awakened after 60,000 years beneath the ice.

Minium/Maximum # of players: 4-6
Gaming System/edition: D20 of some sort, probably modified somewhat
Maturity rating: either PG-13 or R, depending on how sensitive you are to "Fantasy Violence"
Player experience req.: some
For what Character levels, or will characters be provided?: Characters will be provided, although they will be fairly low level.

Session 4 is now up.

Session 4

Hey all, episodes 2 and 3 have been posted.

Session 2
Session 3

Hey everyone,

I realize that this isn't exactly a campaign journal, but it's pretty close, as I think if you like reading about other people's RPG campaigns there's a chance you would be interested in this.

Inspired by the opportunity presented by the podcast format, as well as by some truly great work from other podcasters out there, my friends and I have decided to record our play sessions and put them online in the form of a podcast for other people to follow along.

The home of the podcast is located here and the RSS feed can be found here.

Finally, if you want a direct link to the actual files, you can them at session 0 and session 1.

The podcast is also available through the iTunes music store, search for Journey to Madness.

I'll try and post here whenever I upload a new episode, and of course I'm interested in any feedback you guys might have.

Enjoy the show!

After watching my last campaign nearly fall apart from the overuse of buff spells (and the resulting mess of multiple dispel magic spells) by the time the characters reached 11th level or so, I was forced to implement a system very similar to the one Jason posted on the first page (and I allowed 4 buffs instead of 3, and no bonuses from spells were allowed to stack with each other at all).

This solution worked well enough that we were able to continue the campaign for awhile, at least until 16th level or so, but the first time someone cast a 9th-level spell (as it happened, it was an NPC that cast gate) that was the end of the campaign, as both myself and the players lost interest in a system that had become, essentially, who can get their uber spell off first.

In general, I agree that a system of limited buffs can be very helpful in reducing both the tedium and time intensive nature of high-level D&D, but I was bothered by 2 things. First, that the solution was a very obvious band-aid to cover up a glaring flaw in the underlying magic system, and as a result the solution felt both artificial and incongruous. And second, I had to spend a lot of time adjudicating on the fly which effects counted as a "buff" and which did not. It also had some unintended side effects.

The problem bothered me sufficiently that after my last campaign ended, I spent a great deal of time reinventing the entire magic system with the "buff problem" in mind before a started another campaign. So far, things have gone pretty smoothly, but the characters are still only level 4 or so, so it obviously hasn't really been tested yet.

Event modules are extremely difficult to do well, and Carnival was something of an experiment to see if we could pull it off and how much interest there was.

Based on the response so far, it seems to have been a success.

2) This one's more for the editorial staff. Are there stats for running the Derhii as PCs? I assume there's a few levels worth of Level Adjustment, but beyond that, what are the Ability bumps, etc to consider?

There's some great suggestions on how to build the Derhii as a PC race in this thread.

It seems that Kobold king will return on free rpg day.

Any idea yet what level this is going to be? I might just put my Falcon's Hollow campaing on hold until this is out...

5th level

That would be important to know - is that how the stat block for locations is defined?

According to the DMG (p 137) which was the original basis for our calculations (although it's been updated a few times since then) the population figure refers to the "Adult population. Depending on the dominant race of the community, the number of nonadults will range from 10% to 40% of this figure."

I do have one minor gripe about the module though, and that was that I wouldn't personally categorize it as a Journey adventure. Really there is no journey involved since the start of the adventure assumes the PCs are already in the valley containing the lost city. To me it read much more like a Wilderness (or even an Urban) adventure than a Journey adventure. This of course, in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the module.

If there's one thing people continually misunderstand about the module line, this is it. Journey in this case does not refer to an actual journey, but more of a departure from the ordinary. We needed a title for those adventures that we wanted to set in strange an exotic places. And we couldn't use exotic, because E was taken by Event.

Anyway, none of the journey modules are about actual journeys. The closest thing we have to that is W2: River into Darkness and W3: Flight of the Red Raven.

Not to sidetrack this thread or anything. Your ideas about turing J3 into a campaign are pretty cool.

If, for some reason, we were to re-release the text of D0 as part of another product, we would endeavor to incorporate any errata to the adventure as part of that product. (Something like what happened with the SCAP book)

But, barring that, it's unlikely we'll ever go back and fix it.

As for the translations, I have no idea, I'm not involved with that process at all. But somehow I doubt it.

Will any future modules involve high-level play? I can see there being multiple play groups out there that retire their high-level characters when they conclude an adventure path (to try the next path), so I can foresee the desire to run some high-level adventures for your group's previous set of characters... you know, getting the band back together once in a while for the one-shot reunion concert. Unlike other types of stand-alone high level adventures, you have a ready market of 'graduates' who will have completed Rise of the Runelords, Crimson Throne, etc.

This is a topic that comes up quite a bit. There was some discussion of it already in this thread.

The short answer is that it's unlikely we will do modules above about 14th level, for 2 reasons. First, it's difficult for us to do a complete high-level adventure in 32-pages. The length of the encounters coupled with the difficulty of finding an appropriate plot that can be told briefly means its challenging to pull off well.

The second reason is that historically high-level modules sell worse that low- and mid- level modules. The only high-level modules that have been consistently popular have been the ones connected to adventure paths.

The upcoming module The Demon Within, is about as high level as we are likely to get. If that module does really well, we might consider upping the number of high-level modules we do. But even then, its pretty unlikely we'll do anything higher than 14th-15th level

Another request would be to eventually put together something like Goodman's 'Adventure Finder' to make it easy to find adventures in your campaign's current area of Golarion, cross-indexed by region.

That's a good idea, and if poor Gary wasn't already so tied up with other (massive) projects, I'd talk to him about it. At the moment, we don't have quite enough modules to make it really useful, but it is absolutely something we'll think about doing somewhere down the road.

Gary Teter wrote:

Another test!

Hmmm. Not a very successful test I guess.

Your crafty escape to another thread will not avail you. Your avatar will be consumed. It is inevitable.

MUNCH!

Gary Teter wrote:

Testing!

Hmmm. OK, so it's not a reliable problem.

My squishy tentacle avatar could totally eat your squishy tentacle avatar.

Many thanks for the response, Jeremy. :)

Would it be possible for you to please clarify what the 'slam' damage for a Shoggoth (mentioned in the 'Engulf' special ability) totals? I can find tentacles, but no 'slam' damage, in the attacks section.

Hmm. The slam damage refers to its tentacle attack. It should really read "tentacle damage." And "tentacle attack" instead of "slam attack." In any case, the damage is 4d6+14

And a question:
Has the fungus in room 9 a CR?

Yeah, it's effectively a CR 1 hazard (as you can probably guess by the EL given for the encounter). We should have included an Ad-hoc section specifically saying that though. Oh well.

As I'm sure Mary will attest, there's a big difference between an optimized 4th-level party and a non-optimized one.

If your players are the type to get the most out of the rules, you should raise the challenge level some. If you want some ideas to make the undead tougher, check out the dread zombie and dread wight templates in the Advanced Bestiary. Having Patrissa keep her sorcerer levels is another good idea.

James Jacobs/Wolfgang:

To kick things off here, I have a couple of questions about Shoggoths.
(1) I see mention made in the 'typical physical characteristics', that the Golarion version of a Shoggoth presented here '...is capable of secreting a thick, viscous, semi-opaque, sticky slime that further enchances its ability to ctach and devour its prey...' but I see no mention of any bonus feat or racial bonus to grapple checks in the stat block. Is this an accidental omission? Should it have better grappling abilities than those listed?

The shoggoth has a racial bonus on grapple checks. It is listed in the Improved Grab special ability description and included in the grapple modifier listed in the stat block.

(2) According to the information on page 27, either attempting to gain control of the Shoggoth or successfully controlling it (via use of the Shoggoth Stone) are both Chaotic Evil acts, even though the Shoggoth's given alignment is CN. Is this because the Shoggoth Stone is a Chaotic Evil item (which I do not find mentioned), or for some other reason? Is attempting to control a Shoggoth by other means a Chaotic Evil act?

While the shoggoth itself is not necessarily evil (being a nearly mindless predator, its hard to classify it as evil) the power that sent it to Golarion is most certainly evil. Attempting to manipulate the portion of its power contained within the shoggoth stone requires you to expose yourself somewhat to his evil, alien intelligence. That's why its a chaotic evil act. By using the artifact, you expose yourself to its taint, and its impossible to completely shield yourself.

Attempting to control the shoggoth by means other than the artifact would not necessarily be an evil act, it would depend on what you were using it for.

As a comment, I was slightly surprised to see what appeared to be teeth/fangs in the artwork, given the Shoggoth's listed creature type, although I realise that these might not actually have any solidity to them, being more decorative(?) than functional.

Unfortunately, mythical monsters don't always fit snugly into the D&D ruleset. In this case, we felt that the overall monster was closer to an ooze than an aberration (possessing, as it does, the formless body and the engulf abilities), although you could make a convincing case for both. Besides, who says oozes can't have teeth?

This group can't cast freedom of movement until 10th level (when the bard can cast it 1/day). They can't cast death ward until 14th level (and that's if the paladin gets up to 18 wisdom...seems unlikely).

Regardless of how much healing you have, the lack of those 2 spells could be a major problem.

I agree, shoggoths rule.

<-------ftw

A minority view here:

snip

I don't disagree with you. The adventure as written is positively lethal for 1st-level characters. It would still probably be challenging for most 4th-level characters, as long as they weren't too optimized. It probably won't kill any of them though.

If you want to make the haunts harder though, I'd aim for increasing the DCs for skill checks by 5, and for saving throws by 3 (that's about how much better people will be at 4th level). I'd double (or so) the amount of damage they do, either just straight up increasing the damage or by giving them some sort of lingering effect (posion, etc.)

Strength 14
Intelligence 11
Wisdom 13
Dexterity 12
Constitution 8
Charisma 14

RIP EGG

Ah doomsday

My feeling is that yes, climate change is bad, and it might redraw the map and end the world order (such as it is), but it probably won't kill off humanity.

Personally my two favorite scenarios are the Supernova Apocalypse and the Gray Goo Scenario

Blight, hands down.

My druid has just attained 7th level. He can transform into thousands of different creatures, his animal companion is either a ferocious killing machine or an unhittable juggernaught. He can call down columns of fire from the sky to blast the perverters of nature. He can walk through a nest of assassin vines without fear of getting grappled. He can bring his companions back from the dead!

Or...he can automatically kill any a single plant (of any size!). Hmm. But wait, I can use it to damage plant creatures! Oh but flame strike does just as much damage to multiple plant creatures.

Yeah....

Personally I've never allowed karmic strike.

Robilar's Gambit is ok though, by 12th-level, I'm fine with the fighter doing stuff like that. After all, look at what the wizard is doing!

Impartial Tribunal, Chase on Charred Ground

In this situation, I think the total concealment issue is important because it means that the attacker has to pick a square and hope the target is in it. If he is, no miss chance. If he isn't, oops.

I agree with this interpretation.

In the monster format we actually use for our products, the name of the monster comes first, followed by a physical description of the monster, followed by its stat block, followed by its ecology and other information.

Mind the Machine, In the Bleak Midwinter, Born of Lightning

He'll certainly be appearing in Pathfinder 7. Not sure if he'll also be appearing in the GM Module before or after that.

His stats (at least at level 8) are in J3: Crucible of Chaos

Sadly, he had a sequel to it called The Lightning Curse that never saw the light of day before the mag's run ended.

I have not forgotten it and neither has Nick.

But I'll say no more right now.

There is also one in "Fortress of the Stone Giants" (Pathfinder 4)...I discovered it in my mail a few days ago :-)

That's true, although the ones in the module are perhaps better examples of the format changes, as they are significantly more complex.

There's not a lot of focus in E1 on tragic loss. Oh, there's puh-lenty of loss, but it's not the party's fault. Tragedy has to do with decisions and ramifications. (Think Oedipus. Think Macbeth. Think Annikin Skywalker.) The massacre in E1 is bathos, not tragedy.

The tragedy in E1 is not the party's fault, that is true, but it is still tragedy.

For the townsfolk, their greed and carelessness has led to aggravating the native creatures that dwell within the paradise they have despoiled. Do they deserve the punishment that the fey are delivering? Perhaps not, but it was their arrogance that caused the situation in the first place, and the whole point about fey is that their values and morals are not the same as humans. To there minds, mortal lives are of little significants next to the eternal beauty of the forest. To them, wiping out Falcon's Hollow is less than the humans deserve for the damage they have caused, which will take centuries for the fey to heal, even without further interference.

Can you truly say that Oedipus deserved what happened to him? Although he may have acted in ignorance, like the people of Falcon's Hollow, it was his actions that nonetheless created the situation that led to his description, just like Falcon's Hollow (except for the timely intervention of the PCs).

Of course, the saddest part is that the common townsfolk had little say in organizing the destruction that they are being punished for, but that is often the way that war works. The (relatively) innocent are usually the first to suffer.

As for claiming that Syntaria does not suffer from what happens in the module, I have to disagree there as well. First, she watches her beautiful and happy children transform into evil twisted creatures of frozen darkness before her eyes, and she is powerless to halt the transformation. Then she has to make a terrible choice, allow the (admittedly unjust) punishment to go forward, or betray her own people to her hated enemies, and watch as the careless and destructive humans slaughter many of her own kin (whose lives, I might add, she values more than the lives of the entire population of the town).

At the end, if the PCs fail, she pays almost as heavy a price as the town, as her fey desert her and join the heartless armies of the witch queen, and her territory is transformed from a paradise into a frozen wasteland.

If the PCs succeed, she is rewarded for her act of treachery by being forced to watch the harvest of her forest continue, knowing that, unless some miracle happens, it is only a matter of time (and for an immortal fey, not a very long time) before the forest is completely destroyed, and she and her fey kin face exile and death.

As for those who say the module is too dark, well, it is pretty dark. But, the good news on that front is we aren't planning on doing something quite so grim again for awhile.