Emkrah

Painlord's page

RPG Superstar 6 Season Star Voter, 7 Season Dedicated Voter. Organized Play Member. 1,778 posts (48,493 including aliases). 1 review. 1 list. No wishlists. 9 Organized Play characters. 28 aliases.


RSS

1 to 50 of 1,778 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>
The Exchange

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Painlord wrote:
Painlord wrote:

These are the only two complete Paizo APs that I know that has been completed via PbP that I know of:

#1:This bad ass run as Pirates.

#2:GM Evilan's Curse of the Crimson Throne. There is a reason why GM Evilan is so mentioned in the original post.

#3: That Council of Thieves AP is long over and done.

#4: And we finished, after 15000 posts and 5 years, we've put Shackled City to bed as well.

#5: GM Euan did it again, taking us through Second Darkness.

Adding to this totally incomplete list: Carrion Crown. 3 GMs over 8 years, and only 1 player who started finished it. Wren is probably the best character I'll ever have, maybe. Thanks to Motteditor to getting us over the line.

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I am crushed.

Though being able to play in the Pathfinder Society isn’t in my world right now, I did love the ACG in all its many forms.

I can only hope Paizo will resurrect at some future point, or sell the rights to continue.

Oof.

The Exchange

2 people marked this as a favorite.
Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1

Cats has a perfectly and normally platonic dinner and sober night of no-fun with the augers, wondering if it was too late to find a different group of nearby Calistrians. He supposes not, but can't help wonder at the ill-luck to get saddled with this dour bunch of nostradumbasses rather than some funner, drunker Caydenites.

Oh well.

In the morning, Cats rolls out his solo bed, all alone, and with no one to kick out, nor does he need to do any walk of shame. He goes to find breakfast, and not the classy kind of breakfast were you leave an apple on the pillow with a note for your night's partner as you hustle out before they walk so you don't have to deal with morning breath, but a normal breakfast with bacon.

Cats gets to the platonic water boil just as the first truth bomb of the morning hits the air.

"Wait a cat! You're married to Catterfly? Like married-married?! Wow...I guess he has one in every village 'round this lake, don't he?" Cats stands open mouthed looking at Brother Butterfly. "How come you never share?"

The Exchange

3 people marked this as a favorite.
GM Euan - Rise wrote:
When I ran Curse of the Crimson Throne (link) on these boards, it took 745 days (two years, 15 days) and I had 2,706 posts (3.6 a day average). Later in Second Darkness (link) it took 758 days (two years, 27 days) and I had 2,025 posts (2.6 a day average). Then with Mummy's Mask (link) it took 1,217 days (3 years, 4 months) and I had 2,426 posts (1.2 a day average). Finally, in War for the Crown (link), we’re about 189 days in (6 months, 7 days) and I have 260 posts (1.4 a day average). As you can see, I’ve slowed down a bit to allow for more role play by my players but still maintain a decent pace.

If you’ve been on the PbP boards long enough, you know how often PbP APs fail...which is why it should be very clear that GM Euan is one of the best. As a consistent and fair GM, he doesn’t falter. Finishing three PbP APs? That’s nearly unheard of. It’s astounding.

I’m in this game and I truly hope to find four players who really want to explore character and story and have fun while doing it. I don’t care about your class and abilities. I care about your ability to roleplay, to post, and to push the story forward. I don’t care if you’re new to PbP or experienced, but want to play with players who want to enjoy the roleplaying and story.

I’m excited for this and hope every applicant will be too. Let’s have fun.

The Exchange

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Updating this list with a few more completed APs that I am aware of:

#1:This bad ass run as Pirates.

#2:GM Evilan's Curse of the Crimson Throne. There is a reason why GM Evilan is so mentioned in the original post.

#3: That Council of Thieves AP is long over and done.

#4: And we finished, after 15000 posts and 5 years, we've put Shackled City to bed as well.

#5: GM Euan did it again, taking us through Second Darkness. The AP required a bit of editing/changes (so Evilan tells me), but we got through it, saving the world from the starfalling machinations of the Drow. GM Euan again showed that he's just best...consistently posting and pushing us through light and dark. Good job.

#6: GM Motteditor’s Reign of Winter. Amazing run with the same 5 players/characters from start to finish.

#7: GM Sloth/Are/Lareg/RatSass‘s Legacy of Fire. 7 years and 4 *FOUR* GMs, but it’s done.

#8: GM Euan’s Mummy’s Mask. #3 completed AP for GM Euan. He’s pretty ridiculous.

The Exchange

Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1
Tyranius wrote:
Speaking of demented murder clown whats up with that creepy murder clown in the Player's Guide? Hehe.

I noted this as well. WTF? It’s so creepy.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1

Painlord shifts on his hard rock again, his buttocks feeling not only his own weight, but also the weight of his thoughts. There is only so much his ass can take. He does offer a quick smile as he believes he is making progress.

Dreams and ideas have come and gone, and each one kept or discarded have gotten him closer to the act of creation. It is never an easy process for him, for there is never just one side of himself that he wants to put into any one character. Sometimes it was the pain of slicing oneself open and deciding what to share, other times, it was finding nothing but voids inside where one had hoped for charactered essence.

He sighs.

He’s closer. But not yet done.

He closes his eyes and thinks more.

The Exchange

Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1

Painlord shifts his weight upon the rock on which he sits, his own ponderance causing his ass to ache. He shifts to the left, then to the right, then finally stands to stretch and test his silver aether cord before sitting again.

It is clear his ruminations and creations are not going well and he continues to dwell and stew upon the subject matter.

A clown.
A killer clown?
A killer clown...from where?
Painlord shakes his head angrily, certain that bad ideas do exist.

Recovering himself, he puts his chin on this fist, his elbow to his knee, and his ass to rock as he leans to think more. He ponders. He pontificates. He juggles. He does not know yet who or what he is.

Still kicking around concepts, but in no special rush as we have a month or more until book 1 is release. In addition, the HeroLab supplement has yet to be released.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1

***RAWR!!!***

Fabric rips between sight, mind, and screen as Painlord enters the thread.

"I summon myself from the aether and into this thread! Let the circuits tremble and the pixels quake at my coming!" Painlord dusts himself off and removes he silver cord attached at the waist. He shudders to think what would become of him should that special silver cord ever be cut by a special blade.

"Extinction? Curses, eh? This new edition and rules are new to me. They vex and confound me still. Though I will make many mistakes and do many a foolish deed, nonetheless, I shall ponder the depths of my black soul and darkest intents for a character worthy of this group." Painlord looks around the room, meeting the eye of each to ensure his sincerity.

Painlord creates a large stone from the aether and places it near him. Painlord dusts off the rock, has a sit, and begins to ponder. His chin rests upon this clenched fist and that upon a bowed elbow upon knee. In his mind, he creates worlds within worlds, scouring for just the right mortal's essence to bring to life within the Extinction Curse.

Won't be sharing my character or concept with any save the GM. I encourage you to play whatever clown you want, whatever hobo just fell off the turnip truck, or the exact bearded halfling you wish to play.

The Exchange

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Ron Lundeen wrote:
Your clown will have to dungeon crawl at some point!

Wow yes. Yes, I have heard this argument put to my PCs before both from angry GMs and other players, but, in this case, it might actually be literal.

Well okay then. It’s nice to hear this literal, rather than demeaning or pleading, sense.

The Exchange

Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1

***RAWR!!!***

Fabric rips between sight, mind, and screen as Painlord enters the thread.

"I summon myself from the aether and into this thread! Let the circuits tremble and the pixels quake at my coming!" Painlord dusts himself off and removes he silver cord attached at the waist. He shudders to think what would become of him should that special silver cord ever be cut by a special blade.

"Age of Ashes, eh? This new edition and rules are new to me. They vex and confound me still. Though I will make many mistakes and do many a foolish deed, nonetheless, I shall ponder the depths of my black soul and darkest intents for a character worthy of this group." Painlord looks around the room, meeting the eye of each to ensure his sincerity.

Painlord creates a large stone from the aether and places it near him. Painlord dusts off the rock, has a sit, and begins to ponder. His chin rests upon this clenched fist and that upon a bowed elbow upon knee. In his mind, he creates worlds within worlds, scouring for just the right mortal's essence to bring to life within Age of Ashes.

The Exchange 3/5

Vanessa Hoskins wrote:

My team for trivia included Ryan and Perram from Know Direction. We didn't win, but I was amused by the number of questions I was able to answer in the following format:

Me: The answer is ______
Others: Are you sure?
Me: Yes. I wrote it.

This might be my favorite story from the Con. Nice.

* * *

Jessica Redekop wrote:
Painlord wrote:
* I left the hotel at 7:09am on Tuesday morning. Walked the 3 long blocks to the airport. Checked in for my flight. Got in a huge line for screening. Got through it all and at my gate by 8:10. It was amazingly quick. I need to remember this for next year. But also, probably the most important part of this story is that I got a freshly made breakfast burrito with eggs, beans, 2 salsas, cheese, and guac for $5.78. In a major airport. Who won the con? /me 'this guy thumbs'
Where the F did you get a cheap breakfast from, though???

QDoba @ SeaTac. It was on the way to the B-gates area.

* * *
Random List of Things to Do at PaizoCon
1) Banquet and Trivia Contest, obv.
2) Finding time to do an ACG with me. I’m a g#*~+*n delight.
3) Drawing on Dungeon Skirt Lady’s skirt.
4) Getting Goblin Brains from Majuba.
5) Buying Thursty a drink.
6) Eating the sourdough Mac n’ Cheese from Sharps.
7) Post your experiences to the Bloggery.

The Exchange

+1 to the Trivia Contest, a favorite event of mine.

Link to the questions. Answers are later in the thread.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Painlord's Monday:

Ate lunch at the bar, readying for the mini trading that happens every year. I have a friend who was looking for a green haired Lini mini, and a few animal companions for ACG play. Erik Mona was set up early and ready to trade and then more and more traders showed up, and people could browse and trade. I only had my two boxes of minis that came in the PaizoCon swag bag, and hoped to trade them for Lini.

Strangely enough, the first table I went to had the exact mini I wanted. I offered them both of my unopened mini boxes for the perfect Lini...and they pretty much laughed at me. I was offering *way* too much in trade and so I asked if they had a horse. No, they didn't have a horse, but did have a broken unicorn, torn from his pedestal.

Me: "Fine, I'll give you both boxes for Lini and the broken unicorn. Maybe, given time, Lini will fix the unicorn." (this is solid logic in my brain)
Them: "No, that still isn't right." (translation: this guy is an idiot. i would feel bad robbing him)
Me: "Okay...one box then?"
Them: "Fine. But stop trying to give your boxes away."
Me: "Great."

I swap the Legends of Golarion booster box for the Lini and broken unicorn. They mention that they needed a certain queen and it might be in there. I shrugged, having no clue what that meant.
They find me 5 minutes later to tell me that the rare they wanted was, in fact, in the box.

Maybe I should have asked for more stuff. Anyhoot, I had the Skull & Shackles mini box that I couldn't, literally, give away, and so I just leave it on a table, hoping someone could find a home for it.

I'm tired as heck, but get to the gym, knowing that I can crash and watch Greg Vaughan's finale of The Riverboat Game ft. Steampower. My energy is all gone and get nothing done at the gym, but going into watch Greg GM the collected goonage that Al Rigg had assembled to finish the run was pretty entertaining.

Yes, I played a bit, but only after Kate & Dennis left and only after going back to Sharp's for dinner, getting the same amazing sammich that I had earlier. It was still good.

After the game, nearly 10:30pm (and I have no idea how Greg had the energy for all this), we head to the bar for some more talk and drinks. I'm mostly done and barely have a beer, but loved talking to people. Nick Logue showed up again and he remembered our talk from the night before. It was good.

By 1am, I'm wiped and go to bed. My flight out is at 9:30am the next morning and sometimes sleep is good.

I do note that there were lots of after Con games happening, which is pretty damn cool.

* * * *

Jessica Redekop wrote:
Painlord drifts in and plays Merisiel after Kate and Dennis have left for the airport.

Oooh...don't tell Kate & Dennis about this or they are going to be pissed. It'll seem that I waited for them to go before getting involved. Totally, not true. Except that's exactly what happened.

* * *
Thurston Hillman wrote:
Also, I'll try to provide some coherent updates once I'm fully back home.

It was a pure please to tease you throughout this thread, Thursty. I welcome your updates when you get sober/coherent. I'm guessing...late July?

* * *

A few random notes notes:

* After pinging me that she wants Liane's dress from the banquet (it was keen), Mrs. Painlord also wants to read some of Liane's books.

* I left the hotel at 7:09am on Tuesday morning. Walked the 3 long blocks to the airport. Checked in for my flight. Got in a huge line for screening. Got through it all and at my gate by 8:10. It was amazingly quick. I need to remember this for next year. But also, probably the most important part of this story is that I got a freshly made breakfast burrito with eggs, beans, 2 salsas, cheese, and guac for $5.78. In a major airport. Who won the con? /me 'this guy thumbs'

* Apparently, there was a pretty roaring all night gaming as the PFS/SFS room was open all night...and there were people who definitely gamed all night.

* Never saw any of the Glass Cannon crew all weekend. While I didn't make it to any of their scheduled events in their back section, it seemed that they were really tied up in their own events. I hope to listen to their recorded events later. They make me laugh.

* I forgot to mention that we got Pathfinder pint glasses and Pathfinder Second Edition coins at the Banquet. Pretty keen.

* Edit: Ah piddlespot, look, Dennis ninja'd me. :)

The Exchange 3/5

Marc Waschle wrote:
I would like to thank everyone that has posted on this thread. It is great for those of us who could not attend to be able to read about the great time you all had, the people you met and the games you played.

+1 for saying this. I'm never sure the thread is valuable, but glad you liked it. Thanks.

* * *

Looks like I owe you all a few posts.

Trivia Contest Questions and Answers:

Round 1: Paizo Staff and Lore
1) This year Paizo’s long-time remote editor Liz Liddell was hired as senior editor & moved to the Seattle area. In her introduction blog posted earlier this month, Liz is depicted wearing her GenCon 2017 cosplay outfit. What organization’s uniform is she wearing? The Stewards.
2) In anticipation of Pathfinder’s 2e, the Paizo.com blog features a series of flash fiction called Iconic Encounters, with each installment featuring one of the twelve iconic characters. Who is the author of Kyra’s Iconic Encounters story? James L. Sutter.
3) Every Thursday for the past several months on Paizo’s Twitch channel, Jason Bulmahn has streamed one-hour sessions of his ongoing campaign that features the upcoming Pathfinder 2e system. What is the name of this ongoing campaign? Oblivion Oath.
4) The Paizo.com messageboards are a busy place, and as of last night, 3 different threads have 75K or more posts. Name any of these 3 threads. Deep 6 FAWTL. Tales of Agartha: the Avalon Chronicles. Ask James Jacobs Anything.
5) In 2019 Amanda Hamon ran a short Starfinder adventure on Paizo’s Starfinder Wed Twitch stream to show off the Starfinder Beginner Box, featuring the iconic PCs teaming up with a moderately helpful skittermander. At the end of the adventure, the PCs faced off against what type of fearsome creature? Bone Trooper.

Round 2: Paizo Rules
1) Starfinder revels in the sheer variety of playable alien species. Alien Archive 2 introduces plenty more, including both a race of scientific slug people as well as a powerful multi-armed species that most often worships Hylax. Name other of these aliens. Osharu or Trox.
2) The new Adventure Card Game Core Set introduces several new mechanics featured in blogs over the past few months. If a first character fails to defeat a bane, a second character at the location can bury a card to encounter the bane for a second chance at defeating it. What is the name of this new mechanic? Avenge.
3) Starfinder Armory contains a wealth of new weapons, armor, and new equipment. However, while we might know this book for the huge # of options, there is only one item in the entire book that occupies an entire page. What is this item, which requires an extensive reference table all its own? Wonder Grenade.
4) In Pathfinder 2e, PCs use a special pool of points to cast class-specific spells, and PCs can recover some of these points between encounters. These point have featured several times during the Oblivion Oath adventure. What is the name of these points? Focus [points].
5) The magnificent Narvimensus is a 10th-lvl gnome alchemist with a 21 Intelligence and whose obsessive racial trait applies to Craft (Alchemy). He has maximum ranks in Craft (alchemy) as well as Skill Focus (Craft:Alchemy)and he constantly carries a stone of good luck. He’s set up a fine workshops that includes an alchemist’s lab from which he produces a wide variety of alchemical gear. For the purposes of crafting alchemical items, what is Narvimensus’s bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks? +39

Round 3: Paizo Adventures
1) During the Year of Scoured States, the Starfinder Society has traveled widely in the Vast, meeting many civilizations that hailed from the Scoured Star system. Name any one of these Scoured Stars species other than the notorious jinsuls. Izalguun. Nelentu. Syngathrix. Thyr.
2) In Pathfinder Society Scenario #6 Black Waters, the Society explores the ruins of a children’s school in the Precipice Quarter. The Pathfinders can later return there in Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-05: School of Spirits to uncover even more tragic secrets. Name either this school or the nickname of its ruins now bear. Tri-Towers Yard or Tri-Towers Academy or the Drownyard.
3) In the Tyrant’s Grasp AP, the Whispering Tyrant has developed a powerful new weapon with which he can devastate huge areas. What is the name given to this weapon in this AP? Radiant Fire.
4) In August 2018, Paizo released Doomsday Dawn, a module consisting of seven different chapters designed to test the playtest rules for Pathfinder’s 2e. What is the module’s seventh and final chapter, written by James Jacobs? When the Stars Go Dark.
5) Starfinder’s “Dawn of Flame” AP doesn’t just tread previously unexplored realms, but it also features excellent adventure authors. For how many authors is Dawn of Flame their first AP cover credit? #15 Joe Pasini; #17 Mark Moreland; #18 Jason Tondro.

Round 4: Paizo’s Campaign Settings
1) The Pathfinder: Kingmaker computer RPG gives the player control of their nascent kingdom’s development over the course of many months. However, the games a point of using Golarion’s month names, not the real-world names. The action begins in the month of Desnus, which corresponds to which real-world month? May.
2) The cover of Starfinder Pact Worlds features a ferocious beast that resembles a purple tyrannosaurus with scythe-like claws, and it was never quite clear what kind of creature it was—at least not until Alien Archive 2’s release, where the creature finally gained a name and statistics. What is the name of this Castrovelian creature whose Alien Archive 2 entry also features phasic scythes modeled after its claws? Nyssholora.
3) Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faiths of Golarion features 10 deities more commonly worshiped beyond the Inner Sea region or revered by non-humans. Among these are three never-before-detailed deities, including an Arcadian deity of community, liberty, and safety. What is the name or title of this deity (who was also the patron deity of Adam Daigle’s character in James Jacob’s rendition of Temple of Elemental Evil)? Kazutal or Mother Jaguar.
4) The humble town of Sandpoint is among the most famous in the Pathfinder setting, having featured not only in Rise of Runelords, but also in recently published Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast. A sign outside the town says “Welcome to Sandpoint”. A mirror hangs below those words, accompanied by a single piece of advise for visitors. What is the nine word sentence? "Please stop to see yourself as we see you."
5) Many organizations from the Pathfinder setting made their way into Starfinder’s setting, including the Hellknights. However, the Hellknights have two new orders not found in Pathfinder. Name one of the orders. Order of the Furnace or Order of the Eclipse.

Round 5: Paizo Characters
1) In the Pathfinder Comics series Spiral of Bones by Crystal Frazier, the iconic fighter Valeros finds himself in the court of a powerful being Yindaal. What specific type of creature—not a broad category—is Yindaal, whose creature type is also featured in Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4? Yamaraj.
2) The Starfinder Society has spent more than a year unraveling the secrets of the Scoured Stars system, most recently clashing with nefarious jinsuls. But greater yet is the powerful supernatural being associated with the Scoured Stars. Name either this divinity within the trinary star system or the herald who leads the jinsuls. Kadrical or Dhurus.
3) The Pathfinder Society has recently collaborated with the FarHeaven Clan a group of Sarkorian refugees who fled to Iobaria with their clan’s god. This god resembles a powerful feathered bear and features in several season 9 and 10 scenarios. What is this creature’s name? Dolok Darkfur.
4) The Pathfinder:Kingmaker video expands on the original AP with additional story content, including a tutorial prologue that features a rather sinister gnome sorcerer. What is the name of this villain who features several times in the game’s story? Tartuccio.
5) Every Thursday, Paizo’s Twitch channel streams the Oblivion Oath campaign, featuring not only a swank preview of 2e, but also four PCs. Name one of these Oblivion Oath PCs. Carina, Mykah, Qundle, or Zel.

The Viva Kadrical! team won the event and bragging rights for the year. Congrats.

The Exchange

Male Humanoidish Yahoo 4/Painlord 6/Punk 2/Cleric of Happiness & Sunshine 1
Atium of Varg wrote:
Anyone get to do any Glass Cannon stuff while at Paizocon?

I have mixed feelings about GCP at PaizoCon.

I believe they have brought a lot of new ppl to PaizoCon/Pathfinder, but also, they are pretty much separate from the rest of the Convention. It's rare to see any of the crew mixing it up in the Bar or at PFS tables, and so your options for interacting with them are limited to their events with the very sizable groups of fans that follow them.

In addition, they also had their own event scheduled for the same time as the PaizoCon banquet, which was fine, but also lame.

There were a lot of people hanging around and gaming in the GCP rooms at the convention, but it was really far away from everything else.

But also, I will listen to the runs they recorded with Bulmahn because I think those will be fun. So...uh...there you go.

The Exchange

Thanks for the brains, Majuba. I appreciate them (as you know) but I really need to examine my eating habits if those things are the healthiest thing I’m eating at the Con.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Not sure how to explain last night, but it was funky. I’m in the hotel pub awaiting the mini trading where I haven’t eaten all con.

For most Pathfinder Society players, last night’s Siege of Gallowspire was pretty special. It was the final play throughs for a lot of Society players and, from the talk I’ve heard this morning, was an unbelievably epic event...that I completely missed.

Since I missed, I can offer neither spoilers or game notes, but people freakin’ still talking about it and will be for a while. Hopefully, some players will offer their thoughts on the experience.

Pain’s Sunday Night:

As for me, I was playing the Core Set ACG (since at the time I wasn’t going to have access to a Core Box for a long while) and so hiding out in one of the quiet open play rooms was a pretty good time.

We finished our playing at 11pm and I figured that I was done for the night...but Jacob and I headed to the bar where I ran into long-time favorite, super author Greg A. Vaughan. We talk about how Jacob is running me through Book 6 of Reign of Winter that Greg wrote. That play by post game (link) is over 11, 000 posts, is over 6 years old, AND, most incredibly, has the original 5 players.

And we’re in the last few combats now, and having Jacob get pointers on the final encounters from Greg was delightful...not sure how much of what they were saying was real or if Demogorgon really is guarding something.

From there, we traveled on to other topics, where Greg perfectly described the blue Isle of Dread cover from memory...describing each character and monster perfectly. We then were shocked after we confirmed his description on our phones.

He and I share a common origin story: coming of age when the Red Box came out and having few outlets (let another the social skills or maturity) to play with another, but reading all the old D&D stuff we can find. We argued about what our most impactful old modules were. I feel that Keep on the Borderlands, White Plume Mountain, And Expedition to Barrier Peak were the ones that I can almost recite from memory. Bree-yark, you piddlespotters.

He argued that Slave Pits of the Undercity (I think), The Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan, and <somethingelse> were his three.

Neither of us said Tomb of Horrors. And we fight about that...and I learn that Greg has every cave and every encounter (including treasure) memorized from Keep on the Borderlands. And then we discuss the old Giants series compares to Giantslayer, but mostly...we what these memories mean to us now.

And then, Guest Author Liane Merciel joined us for a drink...who called over Wayne Reynolds for a chat. I had 30 minutes of Greg, Liane, Wayne, & Jacob and it was damn cool. Wayne was discussing why he owns a full set of armor because he feels it help his art and understanding how things need to move.

Al Riggs drifted in for a bit, and now more than a few more beers in, and then I meet Rachel Ventura of Legendary Games. Sure...she was amazing. It was a good talk not because I’m into publishing, but because Rachel is also politician and I love talking about campaigns, fundraising, and how we can do a better job electing the right people to represent us. I donated to her next campaign.

They kick us out at 2am ish, closing bar and all, and we ramble to one of the Paizo Staffers room for a post-post-post party.

There I manage to have my first ever long conversation with Nicholas Logue, which was delightful. We had about 45 minutes of good chat about the nature of the creative process and how he is turning his energies to spur on the next generation of actors and how much he loves his current job. Thanks for your time, Nick.

After that I chat with Rachel and Greg some more...a few more Paizo Staff show up.

At around 4am I stumble away and find my room. It was a cool night.

The Exchange 3/5

tqomins wrote:
If folks following this thread want more detailed notes on the Banquet previews, I've put up a thread in the Second Edition forum.

This is damn gorgeous. Nice post.

* * *

I have a ton of stuff to back fill about my Sunday night (one of the best I’ve had), so I’ll talk about my Monday morning until I can process the night well enough.

I say it every year and I want to say this again: The volunteers who make this event happen are amazing. From the GMs to the orange shirted front desk staff/musterers to the red shirted V-levels, y’all did a great job. THANK YOU.

I say this as they are breaking down the convention, putting stuff away as a few final tables go off. They are still working to put things away and set up for next year. Some of them on very little sleep.

* * *

When I came down, I was informed that my ACG team won the Ruins of Bonekeep ACG tourney thing and won a nice slice of store credit for our efforts. +1. I kind of like winning.

* * *
As I kind of had a blowout last night, I had just got 4 or so hours of sleep last night and so had to drag my ass to the tables this morning...but it’s fine as almost everyone is blurry eyed.

I play another round of Fangwood Thieves, but mostly just stared at cards for about 2 hours while I drank a big latte.

The Exchange 3/5

Here (link), again, is the link to the 2019 Puzzle Hunt, which is delightful. PM me if you need help or want to confirm your correct solution.

* * *

In the morning, I participated in part 3 of the Ruins of Bonekeep. With Bryan, and my teammates Luke & Chuck, we had another take at another level of Bonekeep. Again we built from a set pool and again faced up with a scourgeload of scourges as we had our asses handed to us in card form. Our first draw was literally the *worst* it could possibly be, but somehow we wrangled back from that first defeat to win. We completed the run with 2 cards left in the timer and have a chance at winning this thing. I’ll know more tomorrow.

* * *
After that, I played a bit more Core Set using Bryan’s box and with friend-of-the-ACG Nari. There is quite a few scenarios in the Core Set, of which I’ve played two. And if you fold in something like the Crimson Throne, you’re set for a LOT of gameplay.

I played Ezren this time, and after a few very poorly played hands, began to understand what he could do and began to play better and make less mistakes. I’m not sure he’s my favorite, but may continue to tinker with him this evening. We plan on playing a lot more of the ACG this evening while most players are playing the PFS Special.

* * *
Currently in the ACG Q&A with Vic, Linda, Mike, Chad, & Keith. I don’t have many questions, and wish I had had more time to play so I could complain more appropriately. Sadly, I am enjoying the new set so am loathe to throw fruit angrily at the panel. :(

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Hey All—

Here are the questions to the Trivia Contest. Post/spoiler your guesses if you so choose...no cheating. The goblins will know.

I’ll have answers up in a few days.

Trivia Contest Questions:

Round 1: Paizo Staff and Lore
1) This year Paizo’s long-time remote editor Liz Liddell was hired as senior editor & moved to the Seattle area. In her introduction blog posted earlier this month, Liz is depicted wearing her GenCon 2017 cosplay outfit. What organization’s uniform is she wearing?
2) In anticipation of Pathfinder’s 2e, the Paizo.com blog features a series of flash fiction called Iconic Encounters, with each installment featuring one of the twelve iconic characters. Who is the author of Kyra’s Iconic Encounters story?
3) Every Thursday for the past several months on Paizo’s Twitch channel, Jason Bulmahn has streamed one-hour sessions of his ongoing campaign that features the upcoming Pathfinder 2e system. What is the name of this ongoing campaign?
4) The Paizo.com messageboards are a busy place, and as of last night, 3 different threads have 75K or more posts. Name any of these 3 threads.
5) In 2019 Amanda Hamon ran a short Starfinder adventure on Paizo’s Starfinder Wed Twitch stream to show off the Starfinder Beginner Box, featuring the iconic PCs teaming up with a moderately helpful skittermander. At the end of the adventure, the PCs faced off against what type of fearsome creature?

Round 2: Paizo Rules
1) Starfinder revels in the sheer variety of playable alien species. Alien Archive 2 introduces plenty more, including both a race of scientific slug people as well as a powerful multi-armed species that most often worships Hylax. Name other of these aliens.
2) The new Adventure Card Game Core Set introduces several new mechanics featured in blogs over the past few months. If a first character fails to defeat a bane, a second character at the location can bury a card to encounter the bane for a second chance at defeating it. What is the name of this new mechanic?
3) Starfinder Armory contains a wealth of new weapons, armor, and new equipment. However, while we might know this book for the huge # of options, there is only one item in the entire book that occupies an entire page. What is this item, which requires an extensive reference table all its own?
4) In Pathfinder 2e, PCs use a special pool of points to cast class-specific spells, and PCs can recover some of these points between encounters. These point have featured several times during the Oblivion Oath adventure. What is the name of these points?
5) The magnificent Narvimensus is a 10th-lvl gnome alchemist with a 21 Intelligence and whose obsessive racial trait applies to Craft (Alchemy). He has maximum ranks in Craft (alchemy) as well as Skill Focus (Craft:Alchemy)and he constantly carries a stone of good luck. He’s set up a fine workshops that includes an alchemist’s lab from which he produces a wide variety of alchemical gear. For the purposes of crafting alchemical items, what is Narvimensus’s bonus on Craft (Alchemy) checks?

Round 3: Paizo Adventures
1) During the Year of Scoured States, the Starfinder Society has traveled widely in the Vast, meeting many civilizations that hailed from the Scoured Star system. Name any one of these Scoured Stars species other than the notorious jinsuls.
2) In Pathfinder Society Scenario #6 Black Waters, the Society explores the ruins of a children’s school in the Precipice Quarter. The Pathfinders can later return there in Pathfinder Society Scenario #7-05: School of Spirits to uncover even more tragic secrets. Name either this school or the nickname of its ruins now bear.
3) In the Tyrant’s Grasp AP, the Whispering Tyrant has developed a powerful new weapon with which he can devastate huge areas. What is the name given to this weapon in this AP?
4) In August 2018, Paizo released Doomsday Dawn, a module consisting of seven different chapters designed to test the playtest rules for Pathfinder’s 2e. What is the module’s seventh and final chapter, written by James Jacobs?
5) Starfinder’s “Dawn of Flame” AP doesn’t just tread previously unexplored realms, but it also features excellent adventure authors. For how many authors is Dawn of Flame their first AP cover credit?

Round 4: Paizo’s Campaign Settings
1) The Pathfinder: Kingmaker computer RPG gives the player control of their nascent kingdom’s development over the course of many months. However, the games a point of using Golarion’s month names, not the real-world names. The action begins in the month of Desnus, which corresponds to which real-world month?
2) The cover of Starfinder Pact Worlds features a ferocious beast that resembles a purple tyrannosaurus with scythe-like claws, and it was never quite clear what kind of creature it was—at least not until Alien Archive 2’s release, where the creature finally gained a name and statistics. What is the name of this Castrovelian creature whose Alien Archive 2 entry also features phasic scythes modeled after its claws?
3) Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Faiths of Golarion features 10 deities more commonly worshipped beyond the Inner Sea region or revered by non-humans. Among these are three never-before-detailed deities, including an Arcadian deity of community, liberty, and safety. What is the name or title of this deity (who was also the patron deity of Adam Daigle’s character in James Jacob’s rendition of Temple of Elemental Evil)?
4) The humble town of Sandpoint is among the most famous in the Pathfinder setting, having featured not only in Rise of Runelords, but also in recently published Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Sandpoint, Light of the Lost Coast. A sign outside the town says “Welcome to Sandpoint”. A mirror hangs below those words, accompanied by a single piece of advise for visitors. What is the nine word sentence?
5) Many organizations from the Pathfinder setting made their way into Starfinder’s setting, including the Hellknights. However, the Hellknights have two new orders not found in Pathfinder. Name one of the orders.

Round 5: Paizo Characters
1) In the Pathfinder Comics series Spiral of Bones by Crystal Frazier, the iconic fighter Valeros finds himself in the court of a powerful being Yindaal. What specific type of creature—not a broad category—is Yindaal, whose creature type is also featured in Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 4?
2) The Starfinder Society has spent more than a year unraveling the secrets of the Scoured Stars system, most recently clashing with nefarious jinsuls. But greater yet is the powerful supernatural being associated with the Scoured Stars. Name either this divinity within the trinary star system or the herald who leads the jinsuls.
3) The Pathfinder Society has recently collaborated with the FarHeaven Clan a group of Sarkorian refugees who fled to Iobaria with their clan’s god. This god resembles a powerful feathered bear and features in several season 9 and 10 scenarios. What is this creature’s name?
4) The Pathfinder:Kingmaker video expands on the original AP with additional story content, including a tutorial prologue that features a rather sinister gnome sorcerer. What is the name of this villain who features several times in the game’s story?
5) Every Thursday, Paizo’s Twitch channel streams the Oblivion Oath campaign, featuring not only a swank preview of 2e, but also four PCs. Name one of these Oblivion Oath PCs.

The Exchange 3/5

I hung out in the Banquet hall for the Trivia contest. I didn’t participate, but hung out with Nari as we waited for the boards to come back up and the contest to start.

I’ll have all the questions and answers in a future post.

But again, the Trivia Contest was a blast. It went somewhat more quickly and less noisy than usual for no reason at all. <*cough*nothursty*cough*>

* * *
After the Banquet, I wonder around, mostly to the Grimmerspace Party. It was pretty rockin’, with most of the Paizo staff there.

I stopped in a bit in a Cascade room to find staff and attendees playing Just One, a card game that was apparently introduced by Pirate Rob, that seemed like a ton of fun. This was a bit before midnight and I have no idea how long they were going.

Meh, because I had a lot to do, I decided to go to bed sober at little after midnight.

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

<cont>...the PaizoCon puzzle is PIDDLESPOTTING amazing.

Props to Jason Keeley and Joe Pasini.

A con attendee, Nelly, was looking for help near the front of the line for the puzzle. Only somewhat jokingly, we offer to help, but she’s 75% on all the puzzles and so we started collaborating to finish the dang thing.

And holy piddlespot the puzzle is amazing. I’ll get good clean pictures up so you all can try it at home...but the designers of this puzzle...well, you’ll see it when I get quality pictures up. I *strongly* encourage y’all to give this a try.

It took the 4 of us more than 90 minutes to puzzle the thing out...and the line wait passed delightfully quickly.

The puzzle’s theme was goblins and consisted of a mega puzzle wrapped up in NonoGram, Word Search, Crytogram, Crossword, Bridge Puzzle, and Clue & Answer. You’d think it would be straightforward, but no, you see goblins got in and messed up some of the rules and they may not have followed directions correctly.

It’s great...and then you need to get the answer and assemble them into another puzzle and you need scissors (which was a hunt of another matter) and damn...

So yeah...Nelly got all the answers, and claimed her prize.

* * *
Between Bryan, Jacob, and I discuss where to want to sit at the Banquet. We decide to sit with Ron Lundeen, who has been a writing god since the days of Greyhawk.

As mentioned above, we happened to be sitting next to the guest author, Liane. Dinner was great and I ate way too much while trying to make awkward small talk with Liane, Russ Taylor, and the others at my table.

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.

Sweet jeebus what a night. Lots fo good stuff to talk about, in and around the card game.

It’s 7am and went to bed disastrously sober last night, and so I’m at my favorite spot at the Con: getting the buffet and typing stuff up from the day before. G$!~#$n if I’m not going to stuff my face with fresh fruit, yogurt, and well, bagels and mini fritters.

Anyhoot...

Sat Afternoon: First I played a Fangwood Thieves with Bryan and a new player, Nari (sp?) with long time blog-friend, Preston. Fangwood is set up using the Core Set, but we were playing with regular old class decks, so it’s an interesting time to see the interplay between old and new. Yes, they are backward compatible, but also...different because of the old ways to do things are clearly less cool than the new way to things (like armor suddenly doesn’t suck). We kicked butt on the first game and new player Nari quickly picked up the mechanics and rocked an Amiri like one should. Bryan played a class deck hunter, and I played my beloved Oracle.

I also played a bunch of ACG including Cartmanbeck’s Kobold adventure using MumMask base set. He has some custom characters and mechanics (all are good) and was running us through some adventures of his own making. It’s good stuff.

By then it was 2:30ish and the banquet was set to start at 7pm (which means I like to get into the banquet line at 5ish). I had two hours to kill and recognizing that I would need to be able to fake being social for the rest of the day, I retreated to the gym for a bit of quiet exercise time.

I meet Jacob and Bryan in the Banquet line to waste two hours for the thing to start (and have our choice of what Paizo celebrity to sit with) and the best random thing happened.

I’m not sure how I never knew this before...maybe I’ve missed it or maybe it just wasn’t this amazing...but...<cont>

The Exchange 3/5

Liane Merciel wrote:

This really has been a great convention. My personal highlights so far:

-- randomly yelling at everybody ever

G~@@&~n if your title isn’t correct: you *are* a contributor. Thanks for the post.

The Exchange 3/5

Back to Erik. Erik re-introduces the Kingmaker video game.

He announces:
1) Kingmaker enhanced edition- released 6/6/2019.
2) New content. Free upgrade.
3) Addt’l DLC - Beneath the Stolen Lands. Massive dungeon with custom made heroes.

Announces crowd funding campaign for Kingmaker, hardcover - 2e/5E campaign update for Kingmaker? If the crowdfunding hits $400K, they will add another new dungeon.

* * *
Jason Buhlman comes up next to discuss 2e. He’s Director of Game Design.

August 1st, 640 Core Rulebook. It’s huge. J says that they didnt’ feel they could cut much.

Introduction: First rule: THIS GAME IS YOURS. Make the game your own.

How to build a character in 2e:
1) Pick an ancestry. Then pick a heritage.
2) Pick a background. 45 of backgrounds (miner, blacksmith, etc.)
3) Pick a class. Barbarian is a class. Amiri looks fierce on her chapter. There will be 12 classes.
Barb, Sorc has bloodlines (abyssal, infernal, angelic and a few more, hag, undead, demon blood).
Gluttonous Bite spell and image, look pretty awesome.
Also archetypes - bard can have the champion archetype.

JB shows skills next. Section has been re-organized.

Feats: underwater maurader - valeros fighting underwater - sweet art.
Lots of ways to get feats...from class, from ancestry, from heritage, lots of ways to build your character.

Equipment: lots of basic equipment, alchemy, etc.

Spells:
Dinosaur form is a spell. Also JB says there will be a dinosaur fort spell coming soon.

Golarion specific story stuff. Eye of Dread; Golden Road, etc.

How to play Pathfinder chapter. New rules for death and dying.

Gamemastering chapter: how to give XP.

Magic Items: Robe of Eyes, Wayfinder, etc.
Vial of the First Lie: contains a bit of the whisper of the first lie ever told: unbeatable lie.

Sadly the print of the page is too small for me to read.

* * *

Bestiary is next: JB has the bestiary in hand. 400 monsters, 300 pages. Released 8/1/2019.

Angels, Deva, Vrock, Zombie, Flesh Worms, etc.

Talks about templates for monsters: like unkillable and whatnot.

Lich, Dragons, etc.

* * *
First standaround scenario was announced.

Gamemastery Guide: Winter 2019.

* * *
Owen KC Stephens - announces 3rd party support for 2e. Goes through a lot of detail if other publishers can produce content for Pathfinder 2e. Happy to get 2e rules to 3rd party publishers early and whatnot.

* * *
Apparently there will be clearer text to read off the Twitchstream.

The Exchange 3/5

Back to Erik. Erik re-introduces the Kingmaker video game.

He announces:
1) Kingmaker enhanced edition- released 6/6/2019.
2) New content. Free upgrade.
3) Addt’l DLC - Beneath the Stolen Lands. Massive dungeon with custom made heroes.

Announces crowd funding campaign for Kingmaker, hardcover - 2e/5E campaign update for Kingmaker? If the crowdfunding hits $400K, they will add another new dungeon.

* * *
Jason Buhlman comes up next to discuss 2e. He’s Director of Game Design.

August 1st, 640 Core Rulebook. It’s huge. J says that they didnt’ feel they could cut much.

Introduction: First rule: THIS GAME IS YOURS. Make the game your own.

How to build a character in 2e:
1) Pick an ancestry. Then pick a heritage.
2) Pick a background. 45 of backgrounds (miner, blacksmith, etc.)
3) Pick a class. Barbarian is a class. Amiri looks fierce on her chapter. There will be 12 classes.
Barb, Sorc has bloodlines (abyssal, infernal, angelic and a few more, hag, undead, demon blood).
Gluttonous Bite spell and image, look pretty awesome.
Also archetypes - bard can have the champion archetype.

JB shows skills next. Section has been re-organized.

Feats: underwater maurader - valeros fighting underwater - sweet art.
Lots of ways to get feats...from class, from ancestry, from heritage, lots of ways to build your character.

Equipment: lots of basic equipment, alchemy, etc.

Spells:
Dinosaur form is a spell. Also JB says there will be a dinosaur fort spell coming soon.

Golarion specific story stuff. Eye of Dread; Golden Road, etc.

How to play Pathfinder chapter. New rules for death and dying.

Gamemastering chapter: how to give XP.

Magic Items: Robe of Eyes, Wayfinder, etc.
Vial of the First Lie: contains a bit of the whisper of the first lie ever told: unbeatable lie.

Sadly the print of the page is too small for me to read.

The Exchange 3/5

Mike Selinker comes to talk about the ACG. As you know, the new Core Set has been released as well as the Curse of the Crimson Throne pack.

Shows off the Core set, which is pretty damn good. Includes the AP for the Dragon’s Demand, included in the box.

Mike shows off the size of the AP, CotCT, just a clean box that can fold into your Core Set. Has a lot of the harrow deck elements into it (which really shows in how the new blessings/hourglass deck works).

He shows off the new cards, the new design and whatnot.

Announces the new ACG Free RPG day: Goblins Storybook: We Be Heroes?

(As you all might know: I love the ACG.)

The Exchange 3/5

First new 2e AP: Age of Ashes - starts near hell knight fortress in Isgir(sp?). Starts in July.

2nd AP: Extinction Curse. Starts January- June. Based on Aroden’s rising of the Starstone and whatnot. Something might try to sink the Isle of Kortos...and the party might start as circus performers.

Sorry, there is a lot of write, and it’s coming fast.

* * *

Tonya is up to talk about the Organized Play Society.

Starfinder Society: “we are 22 months into Year 1”, but now it’s time to move on. Year of a Thousand Bites.

At Origins: Fate of the Scoured God will wrap up Season 1. Season 2 will revert back to the Pact Worlds. Announces player driven campaigns - players will choose first seeker.

* * *

Live Twitch stream is here: Here (Link)

* * *
Pathfinder Society has a new logo: symbol of Open Road has returned. The new campaign will be Year of the Open Road, returning to our roots.

Pathfinder Society Adventure Card Guild - Year of Rotting Ruin. Going to tell the story after all the APs happened.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Erik shows off the 2nd edition GM screen. Shows the actual new GM screen...complete with helpful charts on the back and sweet art on the front.

Lost Omens Worldguide - 2e overview of Golarion in the new 2e era. Set in 4719, updating all the events of the last 10 years.

They are going to re-present the campaign setting. This book canonizes the changes of what has happened over the last 10 years. They have broken down Golarion into 10 metaregions, Absalom will still be the main locale, but this book breaks down the world in a new way.

Absalom & Starstone Isle: cool maps and backstory, lots of cool new info.
Each of the 10 regions will have some pages into background, themes, Pathfinder Agent archetype.

Other metaregions:
Golden Road
Mwangi Expanse
Old Cheliax
Shining Kingdoms
Impossible Lands
Eye of Dread
Broken Lands
Saga Lands
High Seas

Gah...didn’t get them all...but damn it’s cool.

Lost Omens Character Guide - 2nd hardcover - Character with new heritages and ancestry, feats and stuff. New Ancestries: hobgoblin, leshy, & lizard folk.

Book includes 5 factions and whatnot.

New Thassalonians exists as a playable race.?!

Tieflings and ratfolk: things to come, according to Erik.

* * *
3rd book: Lost Omens Gods & Magic - January 2020
Lots of new feats, spells, weapons, & domains.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Starfinder Creative Director, Rob McCreary at the mic, to discuss...uh, *checks notes* Starfinder.

He mentions there will be a lot of bugs coming up next year. A new Starfinder beginner box exists and Rob talks it up.

Attack of the Swarm AP is announced, starts in August. Rob nails a great Starship Troopers joke. Rob is killing it. Lots of new scary new bugs in the AP.

August: Alien Archive 3. New playable races. Giant Space Tardigrade. Giant space monster takes on starships.

Stridermander from Vesk 3(?), they are the predators of the skittermanders. Damn that’s a good picture.

Spathinae - playable alien swarm?
Morlamaw - walrus space race?
Creature companion - Yasakaja - 4 eyed bug weasel that you can ride into combat.

November - Character Operations Manual released. 160 pg hardcover. 3 new char classes. Themes and archetypes for character options. New alternate character racial abilities.

Two new starship roles - like the Mystic for starship combat (?).

Biohacker character class - adept at chemistry and medicine - cutting edge bioscience.
Vanguard - mystic warrior with power over entropy - melee combat focus.
Witchwarper - spellcaster that focuses on alternate realities.

Threefold Conspiracy Theory - AP for February. 6 volumes.

The Exchange 3/5

Wow. A lot happening, and I’ll back fill as things as I can. My wife mentions that there is a live stream happening too...so no need to wait for my crappy notes.

The banquet has happened and I have eaten way too much already. Luckily, I scored a table with Ron Lundeen and the PaizoCon author Liane Merciel (she’s a delight).

Lisa opens up the Preview Banquet and introduces the Paizo Staff and Eric Mona. Eric Mona comes up and discusses what to come and thanks the staff for working so hard. He mentions that we have s!#%loads of slide to get through and whatnot.

They thank Tim & Liz for staring PaizoCon.

Erik introduces the author guest of honor, Liane, who happens be sitting next to me. Wayne Is the artist guest of honor.

Glass Cannon guys aren’t here because they were keen enough to counter-program an event of their own, but Erik thanks them anyway.

The Exchange 3/5

Morning slot has been good.

The main Pathfinder/Starfinder/ACG room is rocking, tables going off all over the place. It’s not to loud and one can speak without having to yell. Tis good.

My Ruins of Bonekeep team met again at 8am to do part 2 of the run: again we had to build our character decks from a limited set of cards, then tackled a crazy set of win conditions along with a special gem that you could try to get as well. We got off to a horrendous start, pulling the closing henchman with our first draw...but the player didn’t have a condition to even attempt to close the location, as a result, we had to burn through that entire deck before we could close it.

Despite that, we managed to finish things off with 3 turns to spare. Probably not close to a good run, but considering the starting pain and recurring <redacted>, let alone the <spoiler>, I can’t complain. We hope to make round 3.

Walking around and waiting for my 11am slot: it’s just good at the Convention. People are doing their gaming, talking their talk, and enjoying themselves. It is important that everyone enjoys themselves now, because we all know that the night will end in tears when Thursty ruins the Trivia contest.

Yeah, tonight is the banquet and the Trivia contest, two favorites of mine.

Btw, Paizo has twitch streamed the banquet in the past, and is streaming a few of the sessions (I believe), so it’s like that tonight’s banquet will be streamed as well.

My next slot is the ACG Fangwood Thieves thing, using class decks and the new Core set.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

In my afternoon slot, after we finally got started, I played in the Ruins of Bonekeep ACG thing. I joined with a few old friends, and because we only had 3 players, I had to play both Lini and Lem. And because I yet to start to drink, I only mostly sucked through the run. In this Special ACG, there are several different ways to score points, like <redacted> or <spoilered> or <buyThurstyabooze>. This was the first run of this first round at the Convention, with a few more teams trying to score more points in their runs than we did with ours.

We had limited time to build our yahoos from a selected pool, then faced encounters and tried not to die while trying to score points. I think we scored well, but who knows?

That was my afternoon slots.

In the evening, I’ve done nothing but play the new Core Box of the ACG. An old ACG friend from PaizoCon’s past, Chris from NZ, bought the new Core set, and had it sleeved for gameplay. From 6pm to wheneveri’mtoodrunktoplay, me, Balodek, Chris, and GM Tyranius are running through the base scenarios. We’re having a great time, in a quiet room, and had pizza delivered (thru GrubHub). +1 night.

On the downside, not as much socializing and whatnot, but also, quality quiet gameplay.

On the morrow, I’m due at the ACG tables at 8am or so for more merriment.

The Exchange 3/5

Hunt for Blackfang, 2e, part 3

Our party rocked though the rest of the dungeon, facing more kobolds and some skeletons getting more and more used to our powers as he knew that Blackfang was coming up.

In this iteration, he was a red dragon (which was confusing to me because I always thought he was a black dragon, but what do I know) and willing to talk and negotiate his departure. To be fair, there were some efforts to try to pay the dragon to leave, but mostly it came down to sword and spell.

In the combat, Merisiel was felled by by the stairs (yes, she literally knocked herself unconscious trying to jump down some stairs) and Seelah went down to the dragon’s fangs after getting a few good swipes in. The 3 part action economy is interesting, and the dragon quickly tore through our shields. I like shields *much* better in 2e especially as part of the actions you take and the choices you make.

Valeros was able to land the killing blow but only *AFTER* critting his save vs. breathweapon allowing him to keep his feet. Luck matters...and then he stole my dragon kill.

SRM stayed around to answer a bunch of our questions both about our run, but also about the 2e process and the state of all 750 pages of the 2e Core Rulebook. I had a good time but there was far too many new/changed mechanics for me to note them all, but I did what I could above.

The Exchange 3/5

Michael VonHasseln wrote:
[I can just picture the blank looks on everyone’s faces until he said. “Just kidding!”

Yes, that’s pretty much what our faces were like.

The Exchange 3/5

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Michael VonHasseln wrote:
If this is true, I might be done with Pathfinder 2E.

Definitely not true. Still 20 based. Sorry for the trolling, but it’s the joke SRM lead with...and it delighted me once I realized he was joking.

The Exchange 3/5

Apparently, 2e is now on the silver standard, and gp is worth a lot more nowadays. So the Mayor of Sandpoint is offering us 100 gp to hunt the local dragon. 100 gp is a LOT of money in 2e, esp to new chars. We’re all lvl 1.

Seelah Stats:

AC 18 (20 with shield raised)
19 HP (is that buff for level)
F 6/ R 4/ W 6
Stride = 25’
Longsword +7 1d8+4 slashing
Shield Bash +7 1d4+4 bashing
Short bow +4 1d6 piercing range 60, deadly 1d10

Focus points: 1
Spell attack roll +5
Spell DC 15

Str 18 (+4), Dex 12(+1), Con 12, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 14

Merisiel opened up our combat vs. 3 kobolds with a crit. On her turn, she moved up, gakked a ‘bold, then moved back to the party. With 26 damage done, the kobold died quickly. It was pretty slick to where she started.

Merisiel opened a locked chest using her thievery skill.

Ezren still has magic missile. He still has cantrips and actual spells. He lead off the next combat with a magic missile (which he used two actions on) and did 5 and 2 damage to a pair of them.

Valeros has a keen sudden charge ability. Seelah doesn’t have a smile ability, maybe because her class is listed as ‘Champion’ and not what we know as a Paladin. Nor does she detect evil. Since I didnt do too much of the play test, this is all new to me.

AoOs have changed and it’s weird. Only some yahoos (like Valeros) and some creatures have the ability to take AoOs, which really changes movement in combat. It’s pretty fluid.

Random stuff I’ve learnt:
Sneak attack damages doubles on a crit.
Alignment still exists, but is not a part of this playtest.
If you succeed on a check by more than 10, that’s also a crit. Fail by 10, that’s also a fumble.
Seelah has the Pickpocket skill feat (which makes sense in her backstory).
Oooh...there is bulk. Seelah’s bulk is 5, 5L but I don’t know what that means.
Flanking and flat footed still exists. It’s different but didn’t catch the change yet.
Kyra has a forbidding ward cantrip (2/3 actions) that gives an ally +1 to AC/saves for 1 round within 30’.

The Exchange 3/5

Hunt for Blackfang, 2e

So, I can’t post pics of the char sheets, but can post pics of the game and whatnot, which is what GM Stephen Radney-MacFarland has explained at the start of the game.

The table consists Josh, Hunter, my new best friend Katrina aka Numbat1, Brian (kobold press designer).

SRM gives a long long talk about the basics of modes of play, combat, and how things work. Initially, he said that they have moved the system to a d12 based system, and once we recovered from that news, we got a look at the char sheets. Hunter (Merisiel), Seelah (which I play), Brian (Ezren), Josh (Valeros), Katrina (Kyra). Fumbus the goblin alchemist goes unused.

There is a big dump of rules and changes. Perception and other skills take the place of Initiative, which is cool/crazy. And the 3 actions per turn is cool too, which I plan to explore with Seelah’s shield block. Spells and focus points? Interesting stuff.

Seelah has two focus spells, both costing 1 focus point: Athletic Rush (+10’ to speed, +2 to athletics, and can take a Stride, Leap, Climb, or Swim action). I don’t know what the Stride keyword means. And Lay on Hands (Restore 6 hp, +2 to Seelah’s AC for 1 round or damage undead 1d6 and it must make a fort save vs. -2 to AC for 1 round).

Oh, Stride means you move up to your movement. Yes, 5’ steps still exist, but is just called a ‘Step’.

New keywords, you know? Also, Strike is the new attack word, you know? Strike is when you use your weapon in combat, and each additional time you use one of your three actions to ‘strike’, there is a -5 penalty (unless your weapon has the agile quality, then it’s -4).

I’ll have more in a bit so if there are questions you want me to ask SRM, let me have them. I’ll pepper them into the game, which lasts until 1pm PST.

The Exchange 3/5

Pretty sweet load in our PaizoCon gift bags:

Gift Bag:
Wayfinder Vol. 15
Pathfinder City of Secrets Vol 3 hardcover
Ruins of Azlant, AP book 1 of 6 by Jim Groves
Alien Archive Pawn Box (this is huge and heavy)
Skull & Shackles standard booster minis box
Legions of Golarion standard booster minis box
Wereleopard mini

* * *

At 9am, I have Hunt for Blackfang, my first look at 2e. I’ll report what I can but still need someone to send pics to.

In the afternoon, I have a bunch of ACG stuff, which is good times.

The Exchange 3/5

2 people marked this as a favorite.

Tineke, I was asking about you. I hear that Auke is too parental to travel nowadays, but he’s missed to.

* * *
So last evening, the VCs/VLs had a private event where they dinnered, talked, and played some 2e. It didn’t let out until 10pm or so, but since the PaizoStaff was running most of 2e games, the bar was extremely crowded by the time in ended. If you were sitting outside the bar, you might spot various VCs and yahoos coming out of the event, going down to the bar and bringing back a few drinks. I assume they were just to keep Thursty satiated, but it’s possible that others were having a good time too.

After they got out, the bar got loud and crowded as Vs and staff came back for a long night of talking before the convention started. I hung for a bit with Paizo staff Mike & James, and local VC Al Rigg, and had another good moment where I finally met someone with whom I’d been play by posting with for 4 years:GM Tyranius. Dude has run me through 6 books of Giantslayer, most of the Starfinder AP, and now also the first book (so far) of Tyrant’s Grasp. We play in Ironfools Invasion and Strange Aeons too...so it’s incredibly cool to finally meet him.

Beyond that, I hang for a while, but then get to bed because it’s just the beginning.

* * *
I’m up early to get food like I usually do but realize that the line to pick up and check in is really short and stop to do that. The Paizo staff did another fantastic job of checking people in quickly and I’m through the line in 15 minutes. +1 Paizo Staff.

* * *

If you’ve been reading any of the Bloggeries for any length of time, you know I love the buffet, mostly the Continental part of it. All the fresh fruit, yogurt, granola, bagels that I can eat. And good coffee. So I will sit and eat and type posts for a bit and it’s glorious.

The Exchange 3/5

Wow, that was a good first day. I sometimes have a hard time getting going and being social, but I did pretty okay until the energy ran out (which is weird because, like this convention, I'm PST and should be somewhat more lively).

Anyhoot, had a good dinner with old friends (Sarta, Kate Baker, and Helen) and new friend Natalie. I had the best meal I've ever had at Sharp's Roasthouse, capped by a table decision to share an order of their sourdough mac n' cheez. Hell yeah, it was all good.

Came back to the hotel to kick it out the side bar/coffee area and just chatted with old friends and new.

Saw Dragnmoon, and Leg O', Brett & Jim, the really good PbP GM, Motteditor, and more. Heck, got hugs from a surprisingly sober Thursty, Tonya W, and Vanessa.

Of key note, watched BBWolfe (aka Laura), draw a naked vesk onto Dungeon Skirt's..uh, skirt. I have pictures and loved seeing that happen. I've seen the skirt happen for years now, but this is the first time I've seen it happen up close. It was keen. I'll try to get a shot of the final product.

Oh, met Rosc/Nate too. Nice guy who said he read my guides. Can't argue with that.

More tomorrow.

The Exchange 3/5

Well, I've been here about 4 hours and yet to be very social, but I'm getting there. I've seen a few old friends: Nizari, TetsujinOni and the Amazing Kate Baker.

I had a hours of quiet time in the gym, and now about to go down and find people to food with. Sharp's Roasthouse (a short walk) is a favorite, but also TacoHell and there are other options around.

Mostly, it's good to be back, and excited to see all the Paizo staff setting up for the gaming to come.

The Exchange

....it's here. (link) Your comments and thoughts are welcome.

The Exchange 3/5

Also, is there anyone who can help host and post pictures from the ACG and 2e? I can do write ups of the games easily, but getting pictures hosted somewhere and then tagged into this thread is time consuming.

I can easily text or email pictures to some of you if you'll agree to post them to this thread.

Send me a PM if you want to help out.

-Pain

The Exchange 3/5

10 people marked this as a favorite.

Hey All You Magnificent PFS Piddlespotters--

As most of you know, I believe PFS's core is a social community and so whether you can make it to Paizocon or not, I hope that you will participate.

In the past, we've detailed our games, our meets, our greets, and our beerings. There are some good memories stored up in the threads of yesterPFS:

2011 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
2012 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery (w/Grand Convocation and massive Banquet spoilers)
2013 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery (w/GenCon Special Run)
2014 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
2015 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
2016 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery (w/Starfinder Announcement)
2017 PFS PaizoCon Bloggery
2018 PaizoCon Bloggery with Pathfinder Playtest

This year will be cool, with both new versions of the Pathfinder, and ACG being available to play. I'll *should* be able to get into both games, and will try to share what I can.

Again, the Glass Cannon Podcast cast return as special guests. I've listened to most of the Giantslayer run and strongly recommend a listen to everyone. Start listening at Episode 1.

As usual, for you attendees:

  • Post about whom you've met and where they are from.
  • Post about the games you're playing in, with whom, and fun details. (Avoid spoilers...and use spoiler tags if you're going to spoil!)
  • Post about extraPFSular activities.
  • Get others to share their feedback from PaizoCon.
  • Post links to pictures and media.
  • Post about neat characters you've played with.
  • Post any cool 'tricks' you've learned.
  • Post about the sessions and talks you've attended.
  • Post about how awesome your judges have been and what things they did well. Heck, even thank them.

For you non-attendees:

  • Tell us what sessions you want reports from;
  • Questions you want us to ask and to whom;
  • Things you want to know about;
  • Give lip/guff/sass/snark to PFS board personalities you know (or don't...either way, sass is encouraged).

I, like usual, promise nothing...except that I'll be twisting some arms of people here to join me in describing their experience playing PFS, Starfinder, and the ACG this weekend and the people that make it happen.

-Pain

The Exchange

Daniel Penfold 357 wrote:

I had a look at Painlord's guide but couldn't see anything that covers this issue question.

Ok, so I have created an alias. But how do I link this to a campaign. Also do I have to do this step every time I want to change between NPCs?

You don’t need to actively link it to a campaign. Your alias will show when you’ve been invited to post in the game thread and that alias will show up as something to select when you post.

When you have multiple PCs/NPCs in a thread, you’ll have the option to ‘Post As’, just like you did when you posted the post above.

I hope this helps.

The Exchange

Brainz, plz.

You’ll find me, I have every confidence.

The Exchange 3/5

John Francis wrote:

Not quite the entirety ... you catch folks way before they even think about mustering!

...

That was over seven years ago, and we're both still having fun with PFS (and, for the last few years, PACG).

It's funny how much I still remember this day and the day you joined. I was there.

Yes, it's been a fun ride. I'm glad you and Wendy still find joy in all this. :)

The Exchange 3/5

8 people marked this as a favorite.
Hilary Moon Murphy wrote:
The poor heroes have no idea what's in store for them when they muster for their first tables and... Painlord accosts you and says, "Muahahahaha. The Adventure Card Game has caught you! There is no escape!"

Uh, I’m more than a little shocked how much you’ve captured the entirety of my essence in such a short statement.

1 to 50 of 1,778 << first < prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | next > last >>