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 Recent Posts
Which is exactly the type of thing one should specifically call out and mention in an adventure proposal in a situation like this (in addition to mentioning that the NPC in question IS statted up somewhere already... we don't have a perfect encyclopedic knowledge/recall of everything we've published, after all!) Thank you for commenting, James. Yeah, I should have put in the references, but I didn't know where to draw the line. Mythical Monsters Revisited - yes; Bestiary 3 - ?, Bestiary 2 -?, Bestiary 1 - no; Core Rulebook - no; Bestiary variant monsters like the kapoacinths - ? So in the end, I decided to remove all references and let the readers discover how a simulacrum spell works, what Qwoshokk is, and that the Mordant Spire elves possessed 'shapechanging talismans to survive underwater for hours at a time' long before I started writing about them.It just struck me as ironic that you referenced his stat block and then said he had no way to cast a simulacrum spell. It especially unnerved me when Sean later pointed out PC scroll use. Oh well, lessons learned.
I'm not going to do a sentence by sentence rebuttal or explanation of what the judges said - who really benefits from that? However, there are a few things that need to be mentioned for my own sanity:
...your organization, monster (the reef), your encounter (Brike Isle) and your adventure (this) all seem to be part of a preconceived underwater adventure plan. Some may see that as clever. I don’t. Well, thank you for recognizing that some may see that as clever. I'm sorry you didn't. ...when you use established NPCs, especially those like Qwoshokk who have actual stat blocks (see page 39 of Mythical Monsters Revisited, you have to play by the rules of those stat blocks. And since Qwoshokk has no way to cast a simulacrum spell, that means he can’t use it to create a simulacrum of Trentar in the first place. Qwoshokk has Use Magic Device +29 ... I keep thinking you could make something really awesome out of some of your imaginings. Thank you for your in-depth, candid review of all my work and all of the competitors work - even detailed reviews of those not making it into the contest this year. You have put forth another stellar performance this year as Judge. I was particularly pleased by what I didn't see in your comments. No mention of passive voice, forms of 'to be', missing italics, or typos.Ah, wait, I see you mention that there are abjurations that prevent magical egress. Assuming those block entering via teleport as well, that solves the problem... but means you dodged the actual design challenge of this round: making an adventure for 9th-level characters who have access to things like raise dead and teleport magic. The only area in the adventure proposal that blocks teleportation is the holding cells. I don't like the setting. I don't like the villains. I don't like the railroaded linear flow of the events. I don't like... Thanks for not using the word 'sucks' this time. Also, speaking as a copy editor, some of your writing quirks raise flags as I read this. I suspect that what you found quirky came from me trying to avoid 'to be' verbs. I eliminated all but few to see if it could be done, but some - I just couldn't get around. It's particularly interesting to me that you seem to clash with the judges so much. I think almost every one of your entries met with some pretty negative judge reactions, with the exception of you Necrotic Reef. But you pulled through anyway - and I think it's muchly thanks to your focus on the non-combat awesomeness you put so much focus on. Brike Isle made it clear that a lot of people are really excited precisely for that reason. Perhaps something for the judges and developers to make note of :P Thank you for your comments. I wish more voters could see what you see. You know, I considered changing gears entirely and writing something I thought the judges would recommend, but that's not what got me here. The voters did. Round 1 is about impressing the judges; all the other rounds are about impressing the voters. The judges only get one vote each - and the opportunity to provide comments for any voters willing to wade through thousands of words. Once you get far enough in this competition and you are afforded the opportunity to write professionally, then you get to actually communicate with your developers.... I don't think using Qwoshokk was a mis-step. Yes he is far out of the player's CR range. But that makes him, not the villain of this adventure, but more like a demon lord or evil god. He cannot be defeated, but perhaps the PCs can thwart him. For a time. Thank you, Will, for pointing this out. I don't understand why others are lauded for having gods or powerful outsiders be the impetus for their adventures, and I get dinged for using a CR 20 magical beast for mine. Moreover, PCs occasionally see tremendously deep chasms, portals to another world, or scalding volcanoes – do they fling themselves into these death traps? Why would they fling themselves into a sphere of annihilation? What’s the harm in showing an artifact or referencing a CR 20 creature earlier in a PCs career rather than later when they are supposed to be able to use/kill it? One final point:
If this [From Time's Depths] were presented as a sequel to FSTS[From Shore to Sea] … then that would be interesting. Apparently it would be interesting to write a sequel to a yet-unpublished module, but writing a prequel or a multi-parter is frowned upon in this establishment.
Submitted my adventure proposal. And I submitted my months-long project at work that was due today.
Just out of curiosity, are there any groups brought their characters out of retirement to play Academy of Secrets and / or Tomb of the Iron Medusa? Just wondering how many folks have taken this opportunity since it is now available. Some of Raleigh's retire characters are scheduled for Academy of Secrets on March 17th.
Thursday, August 16
Friday, August 17
Saturday, August 18
Sunday, August 19
Same here. I've had Cheerwine and Sundrop, but I've never heard of NuGrape.
I think the skeletal champion template works like the skeleton template: lose most (if not all) class abilities. Whether it is a 15th level human fighter or a 1st level human wizard, the skeleton that is created from the remains is the same. Consider the graveknight instead.
Alright, if no one else is going to say it - I will.
I counted the votes again and changed some numbers on the round 3 exit poll sheet. Feel free to check my data entry using the second tab (Each voter).
Thanks for all the comments, and thanks for the votes.
Last year C. Smith, Joe Jungers, and I hosted 7 tables of Pathfinder Society at MACE West. No too bad for our first year. That's where I met Cat Clarkin, who is now running Pathfinder Society in Fort Mill, SC. I helped with Pathfinder Society at MACE two and three years ago, but with the recent addition to our family I was unable to attend last fall. From what I hear, Del Collins did a great job of organizing in my stead.
Heheh. I'll pile on here and brag about my 4-month old little girl. ;-)Only if I get to brag about my adorable one-year old daughter. I refuse to post about my 12-week-old son in a thread titled: Disappointing. Oh wait, I just did.
Let me just say, I scared myself half to death looking at the universal monster rules last night, because it tells you to put a certain ability in one place, while I had put it in another. So I was freaking out until I looked into it further and realized that the UMR were wrong in this case. Tears of joy. :'D This happened to me a lot during the monster writing time. I'd look for precedence on where a certain ability/sense/quality should show up in the stat block and I found multiple inconsistencies between the Bestiary, B2, & B3. In the end I decided the highest level of correctness started with B3, then B2, and finishing with Bestiary. We'll see if the stat-fu judges agreed.
I'm not sure where this question goes, but I did not necessarily want to start a new thread. Are we allowed to ask questions of the judges regarding assignments during non-voting hours? I’ve never been a freelancer, but I imaging that they are able and encouraged to communicate with their clients making sure that needs are being met. I spent a lot of time during the last writing round wondering how the judges would interpret various aspects of the assignment rules.
Ok, ready for the twist.
I'm with Standback on the plot hooks. Ways to use this organization spring instantly to mind. Say what you will about this group's motivations - they are strange - but they give the GM a reason to throw the Arcadian Interceptors at just about any ship in the Arcadian. These are flexible antagonists in that sense. That is one of the best compliments I could receive when I set out to write this organization. Thank you.
I liked this one. There's some very creative ideas here, and I think the feedback so far has shown a certain failure of imagination in understanding how this organization could be used in-game. Thank you The search for malenti is the justification given - but yes, this group is deliberately designed to be carrying out a massive, ridiculous overkill, in the name of that more-reasonable search. This might be the consequence of being led astray by their leader; it's also a natural reaction that can be teased out of typical fear and apprehension in the face of an insidious threat. That's the core conflict which this organization represents - it's what happens when you give paranoia free reign. Amen, brother. Preach on! How do you use this in-game? You've got oh-so-many options. All the ideas you listed are great. Yeah, this isn't a rock-'em-sock-'em villainous organization. But it's an original concept, and it stirs up conflict relating to something most PCs touch upon quite frequently - lies, disguise, deceit. Sounds like antagonism to me.
I was so thrilled when I saw your post come up. It is so close to the mark that I was worried one of my friends was sticking up for me. I had to check your profile to make sure that was not the case. I’m pretty sure I don’t know any gamers in Israel - until now that is. Thank you very much for being in my corner.Shalom aleichem
Thanks a lot, moon glum. This is essentially what got me in trouble with the judges this round: I took what I initially imagined as a good organization and turned them into xenophobic fanatics in order to give them the potential to be antagonists. I’m glad to see it works for you.
Thank you very much.
I want to know why they are working with TieradeL, I don't like hypocrites or fanatics, this seems like both.The succession part seems odd though, why encourage people to dig into the leaders past if it really is a lie. Their goal seems to narrow to use on its own, what else do they want or are all of the lieutenants in on the secret? Is their goal real? I did want to write that Tierdel admits the hypocrisy. The story in my mind is that Tierdel is one of only a few or perhaps the only good-aligned malenti in the Arcadian Ocean and that the culture is not ready to accept any malenti into their civilization. Therefore Tierdel is hiding in plain sight as a hunter of malenti, which provides two opportunities. 1) destroy the evil malenti who try to infiltrate the communities and who might uncover Tieradel’s own identity and 2) find and protect any good malenti that are discovered. Tieradel prays that any in the Interceptors who the know the secret also recognize the good in the commander. Most games I play have someone hiding their identity and any ship could have an NPC crewman who is. I don't agree with most of the above, it would be easy to use this organization to bring conflict to the party, the best part is it might not be a combat! Yes!, yes!, yes!, and yes! Thank you for seeing this.
I really appreciate Ryan’s comments on all the submissions. They are succinct and to the point. If I don’ t have the time to read through all of another competitor’s feedback, frequently Ryan can sum it up in a paragraph. And when I do read through all the feedback, he and I frequently share the same opinion. However, I think Ryan and I differ greatly on our understanding of life on Golarian.
This entire organization is devoted to trying to suss out folks traveling in disguise? In a fantasy world where such enchantment is commonplace? Like in Hats of Disguise common? Yes Golarian is a fantasy world, but no I don’t think a hat of disguise is common. Nor do I think such enchantments are commonplace. PCs commonly have a hat of disquise or similar enchantments, but I don’t feel that the vast majority of NPC ships would have such enchantments on board. Wow that seems like massive overkill. Plus the amount of work involved would be astonishing - since virtually everyone they manage to detain and question would turn out to not be a sahuagin. Again, it is my shortcoming that I cut important parts of my submission in order to meet the 400 word count. What I initially included is that the Interceptors employ four main detection methods: 1) detect magic, specifically looking for illusion or transmutation, 2) speak with animals, 3) Perception checks vs disguise checks, and 4) racial profiling against elves and half-elves. Of the ocean going vessels they manage to intercept, I imagine the vast majority of NPC ships would provide no reason for the Interceptors to be suspicious. I also imagine that the ships they would be suspicious of (ships containing elves, half-elves, disguises, illusion or transmutation auras) frequently would have PCs on board.They have a headquarters but they don't use it. Instead they use a giant sea turtle, which apparently never moves, since they can always find it. Why have a base you don't need when you have a floating island to use as a base? The Headquarters was something I wrestled with. I wanted to extrapolate on the aquatic communities of Golarion hinted at in the published material, yet I was under the impression that creating new cities was frowned upon. I decided to play it down the middle and create a name for an aquatic city, but not pin it down to any specific location. I chose a mobile base rather than focus on the city. In case the judges cried foul, I had built in some severability from the violation. Being able to find a moving base in fantasy aquatic world? - that, I believe, would be commonplace for the Interceptors. This entry feels like a stew to me. Again, I have to agree with you. I feared that the entry appeared disjointed once I cut it down to size. In retrospect, I should have dropped a few elements in favor of better explaining a few. I also should have used more flexibility in word counts for each section rather than trying to hit the 100 / 100 / 100 / 50 on the nose. Thank you for your feedback.
Okay, the group supposedly is searching for malenti, and they do this by interrogating all elves. I could see how that would be an annoyance for the PCs... but once they establish their non-malenti identities, the conflict is over, right? Absolutely! Don't lie, don't use illusionary magic auras, don't have elves on deck, and be sure to succeed at your Knowlegde (local) rolls to know all of this information. I designed this organization to give role-playing opportunities to the players that want that, and to combat PCs that want fights. Does that mean they're annoyed at half-orcs trying to pass as human? Halflings with the feat that makes them look like a human child? Yep! They certainly start the encounter as suspicious and hostile when you are hiding something. You have to be very personable to end the encounter peacefully when one of these deceptions is discovered. Moreover, once the sahuagin at large learn of the effectiveness of the Interceptors, they start trying different tactics - like perhaps disguising as or hiring half-orcs trying to pass as human or halflings that look like human children. Finally, malenti are sahuagin who look like aquatic elves, they're not sahuagin who shapechange into aquatic elves. Inspecting elves to see if they're malenti isn't going to do much good because they always look like elves--there's no disguise involved, magic or mundane. Agreed. However, malenti share their kin's bloodlusts and cruel natures. This is why the Interceptors are so aggressive - they are trying to provoke malenti to fight. Also, it is my understanding that malenti have the same stats as true sahuagin, which means blindsense, darkvision, natural armor, light blindness, blood frenzy, and speak with sharks are malenti traits that are not aquatic elf traits. These are the abilities that the Interceptors look for in elven travelers they encounter. The writing is good, the gaming elements are neat (zaratan, malenti) Thank you very much.
Thanks! I struggled whether to reveal Tieradel’s secret or not. Obviously in the end I decided to tell the reader, mostly because I was aware of Ryan Dancey’s truism of hobby gaming: Secrets don't sell. If there's such a focus on these Arcadian Interceptors detecting those trying to hide their identities, they must not be very good at their jobs if they've already been compromised by Tieradel. Additionally, if Tieradel is in charge, why would he continue to guide the group in searching for malenti rather than misdirect their resources and/or eliminate the best hunters among them? As the villain of this organization... Two things that I had in my 550 word draft before I cut it down to size: 1) Hierarchy in the organization is determined by who can detect falsehoods the best. They test themselves against each other frequently. 2) Tieradel is not a villain, Tieradel is a NG malenti of the LN organization. Personally, I think you were headed towards a homerun with this assignment,Sweet! but awww It seems clear to me that you've got some really awesome creativity. You also write really well. Your prose moves along and paints a vivid picture from sentence to sentence. Many of the elements you touch upon inspire the GM in me. Thank you very much. I wouldn't be at all disappointed if you make the Top 16. I think you've got the talent to keep going... Thanks again, Neil, for all the great feedback.
Steve, wow, I really think you outsmarted yourself on this. Are you a person who tends to overthink things? Seems like you might have done that here. I've been told that I overthink things. Seriously, the only conflict here is if the PCs are sailing the ocean and disguising their identities. Or if the PCs lie, or have elves on board, yes. (or are swimming the ocean) I love the oceanic vibe Thanks, me too; that's what I was going for. I’ll give you this, I like your writing. You provided good detail and it is well written ... There is a lot to like and I can tell you are really creative Thank you very much.
Thank you to the voters who like my organization.
Your organization should be something heroic PCs would normally oppose or come into conflict with, not an organization a typical heroic PC would join. The organization doesn't necessarily have to be villainous, but it should definitely be a potential antagonist. I read this and challenged myself to create potential antagonism which was specifically not villainous. I knew that an evil organization would be simpler, but I wanted to attempt the challenge. I am pleased that Standback saw this organization’s potential for PC conflict and was able to imagine a number of ways this could occur. Thank you Standback.And now, onto addressing specific comments:
Played Year of the Shadow Lodge at GenCon with the hoard of tables.
At GenCon I loved the feeling that the entire room was working towards the same goal. Plus, Hitchcock was very dramatic, which added immensely to the experience. plot element:
Climbing over the wall/getting through the doors as a cooperative effort among tables was an interesting change from a regular PFS scenario, and it was well received from what I heard. At our FLGS we allowed the high level cleric to remove curse/disease (I can't remember which) on the low level pathfinder who succumb to the condition at a table with no such healing in the group. Everyone seemed to like that. For storytelling purposes, I like the encounters where you can logistically say that all 20-600 pathfinders are in the same area, just fighting their own combats. When each group goes their separate way and coincidentally have the same type of encounter as the other groups-that is harder to explain the story. Kyle you might want to note whether you want spoilers hidden or not.
I believe that Pathfinder Society players/GMs should be especially interested in the outcome of the competition. Not only will the ultimate winner write a Pathfinder Module (which will be sanctioned for PFS play), but the three runner-ups will write a scenario for Pathfinder Society. Also, about half of this round's contestants are Pathfinder Society players, including a few starred GMs, a V-L, and a V-C. Reminder: Voting for this round of RPG Superstar ends today at 2:00 pm PST. So go vote for your favorite 8 organizations.
Shameless plug to vote for my RPG Superstar organization involving merfolk.
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