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We've already had this discussion years ago, but there'is something new ! I've just seen that the next Starfinder AP will be a 3 volume AP. OK it's not Pathfinder, but still it's a Paizo AP... So I start to hope again for a Pathfinder Campaign with less than 6 volumes. Personnally, I would love a 4 Volume AP starting around level 5. That format would suit best my rythm and level preferrences as a DM. Like many groups I think, I've experienced many campaign starts form level 1 to level 1d6+1, ending by a TPK. But not so many campaigns have run to the end. I'm not the only one :
I Know I could take a 6 Volume AP and skip the first volume, and maybe some part of the second, but that's not the same as having an AP designed that way : I requires some work, and worst of all it usually requires to skip one of the best volume in the serie. Again, I'm not the only one thinking that way :
Years ago when a discussion about this subject arose, I remember that one argument against changing the traditionnal 6 volume format was the need to announce the future Campaigns in summer, at GenCon. Well I can understand that, but still, it doesn't prevent to have other formats, as long as they fit in a 12 month year. So with 12 volumes, instead of having two 6 volume campaigns, we could have for example :
But that's not the only solution. Maybe there can be 3 APs in one year.
Oh yes, one could says there are probably more customers for the traditionnal 6-Volume APs. Yes, Maybe that's right. But those customers already have lots of choices ! From Rise of the Runelords to Ruins of Azlant, that's 21 campaigns so far, I bet most of 6-Volume customers haven't played all these 21 campaigns... Edit : Making the links good.
I've read the new playtest, and I'm quite disappointed. I haven't been able to read a single class to the end, I've stalled before the end for each of the 6 new classes. I have the feeling that my game is becoming more and more bloated, and I'm unhappy with that. I cannot give feedback about how they play because I've been unable to create a single character using the playtest. I really tried to but I felt overwelmed by the number of things to take care of before making my choices. That was about 3 days ago. I steped back and didn't open again the playtest until today. Today I decided to give it another try. But still I found those new classes to complicated. I really love the description of the classes. I read this :
I read, role, alignement, hit die, starting wealth, class skills, weapons & armors, everything id OK, until :
Damn, that's way too long and complicated !!! And still I have only 18 spirits instead of 54 (I know these are the 54 cards of my harrowing deck - cool idea by the way). So I step back again and think : Is that me getting too old ?
Barbarian : 3 pages
Kineticist : 13 pages
In the CRB, all classes have a beautiful picture that takes up some space but still, most classes are shorter than Occult Adventures playtest. So it's not only me getting older ! Well, it looks that for me, a class description shouldn't exceed 4 pages before I get bored. I know that some classes in the CRB exceed this limit, but :
I'm not sure because I haven't been able to keep my concentration to read everything on the medium, but it seems to me that a medium can take absolutly any spirit in the book over his career. 18 spirit to choose from every day is quite too much. And tomorrow 54 spirits to choose from ??? Woaw. I said that de spirits matching the Harrow deck is a good idea, but every spirit is too complicated by it's own.
Also, a character should be restricted to only some spirits, using for example the cleric's 1 step alignement rule. So I have only one feedback fo this playtest : Make it simpler. I want to add a quote for a conclusion : Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
I was re-reading Part Five in the House of the Beast, preparing for my gaming session tonight. And I suddently realized that my players are totally unable to gain access to the Pit of Screaming Ghosts ! The problem lies in the earth-elemental animated cage in J4. It can only be activated by one of 3 means :
None of my players have access to any of these !
I knew this for a long time, but I thought they could rely on spellcasting. However :
I can solve that problem by adding a scroll in the treasure they found last time. Last game finished late, and I didn't told them exactly what they looted. Tonight's session should be started by an inventory of the looted material. So, I've been looking for a spell with [Earth] or [Air] descriptor, on their spell list. But I'm unable to find any ! Can anyone help me finding a spell with [Earth] or [Air] descriptor in those lists :
Or any other idea ? Thanks !
I run Howl of the Carrion King, and my players did quite well so far. However half of them never played Pathfinder or D&D before, and last session was not so brillant. During last session, they made a few poor choices, and now Kardswann is aware of them. Here is what they did after installing in the monastery : They manage to save Oxvard, and to kill a group of 6 gnolls near the pesh field, they escaped the dust digger and let it devour the freshly dead gnolls. This first step was brillant, Kardswann has no idea why his 6 gnolls disappeard, and he didn't know about Oxvard's rescue. Oxvard gave them some informations about the village, and how he was captured by the gnolls and their demon ally (Kezurkian). Next day (the 4th after the Monastery's liberation) they went on another hit & run raid against the village. They were able to kill the Peryton, but not without raising the alarm. However the guards from B9 and their hyenas took a long time to go from B9 to the other side of the bridge. And they split the party !
I made Undrella appear then, she proposed them to cover their track if they gave her the peryton's horns, heart and fangs. She wanted to use these components for her potions. She also asked for a future service (but had no time to ask for the snake's head). She talked passionatly with the seductive Paladin.
As Undrella began to talk with the gnolls, he went out of the mill and attacked them (insulting the gnolls and ignoring the harpy).
They went to the monastery to recover. We stopped the session at this point. Now, the gnoll and Kezurkian can explain Kardswann about the PCs, and they should prepare for another attack. However, they cannot send the peryton spying on the monastery.
I don't know what to do with Undrella.
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