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 Recent Posts 
I do slightly object to the idea that the statue was a mistake. Some groups shouldn't try to duke it out with every monster they encounter. They could try creative approaches such as grappling it and hogtying it once it's pinned, bull rushing it down the shaft and dropping heavy debris on it, having a high-AC 'cork' keep it entertained while they search the area (which would lead to other problems in this case), hitting it with an acid that bypassed its hardness (the Alchemist's job), tricking it or sneaking past it (Wis 1 and Perception -5), et cetera. Not every foe is best confronted head-on. Fair enough. I retract "It was a mistake". You are right, they should have tried harder.
I ran Echoes of the Overwatched yesterday at Dragonmeet, London. It was a great adventures and everyone enjoyed themselves. The Haunt at the beginning was very threatening and had everyone wondering exactly what they were up against. With the brain-eating, tongue-licking, green jellid acid exploding, temperature dropping, ethereal appearance and the picture, the reaction was, "What the hell was that!?!?!" I had a clan of 3 tengu players on my tables and I had a Harrow reading set up for the Varisian fortune teller starting with "The Crow" then the "Castle" etc to reflect the story to come. The animated statue was a mistake and made for a long and grindingly slow combat because of the Hardness 8. I had to put a "Stopper" on that or we would have all died of boredom and in our alloted three and a half hour slot that is not acceptable. Thank you very much for the explanation of the route the brain eater took. The group certainly thought it was illogical but I was able to explain it away with your description. I would recommend this adventure to anyone. Atmospheric, threatening, original and builds nicely on the legend of the Blakros. Excellent work, James.
Thank you Sir Wulf for the explanation on the Devourer's route and how he got into the Vault. All is now clear. We are running this at Dragonmeet in London on Saturday so it was nice to get the official version. It's a great scenario and I'm really looking forward to running it. Maybe Paizo could mark the secret door on the map instead of the misleading open gap from room 3C to the stairwell 3F.
HELP! Please help me out here someone. I may be being a bit stoooopid but I can't work out the bad guy's route through the Tower of the Horn. As I understand it, the evil brain eater slips by the hostile Merrow and Reefclaws and goes up the stairs. The stairs then collapse in his wake but he gets up them first. Somehow he gets into the "Vault" of treasures. Our heroes can't go up the stairs because they are now rubble. Instead, they climb up the convenient rope. They may notice a mysterious recessed "button". They don't know it but they then need to find a three-part item to operate the button so as to open the door to gain access to the "Vault". I can't see any obvious reason for our heroes to try for the button other than that they haven't yet found what they need. They are unaware of the existence of the Vault at that point and it's not logical to be using an undiscovered device to pursue someone who has gained entry without the need for that device. My question is, how did the bad brain eater get inside the "Vault" without using the button?
Dave, you are just the best! And I loved your star cake, too! Well done.
Good heavens! My word! I am overwhelmed!. Thank you very much. My daughter has just told me that she already knew her Dad was a Geek but she didn't realise what a big Geek he was! I can't wait to put this on my CV. Actually, I have to say a big thanks to those 100 teams of players who kept so very well entertained over the last few years. I love you all. Roll on the next 100. See you at OddCon.
Hiya Michael. I run Pathfinder Society games roughly every fortnight in Muswell Hill, North London. I'm also quite interested in playing or GM'ing in other London groups. Would you like me to include you guys in our heads-up emails about forthcoming games in case any of you want to fill an empty seat now and again. Maybe you would reciprocate with an email about your own games schedules. North London Grand Lodge details and email address are here: North London Grand Lodge Will you be going to PaizoCon UK?
I agree. This was a real anticlimax to the series. I played real hardball with my Tier 4-5 players and they couldn't believe how squishy the combats were. They were really expecting a big mother of a White Dragon and all they got was a flaming great axe wielded by an incompetent cleric. The clerics cast Endure Elements and shrugged off the cold effects. They were good roleplayers and easily charmed the first wounded barbarian and did a great storytelling so they got the big chief and friends as allies. That was completely superfluous in the final battle. When I told them the adventure was over they were ready to lynch me. I have to run this series at Games Expo in a couple of weeks and I am not looking forward the this final instalment. Please, please, please may I throw in some dragon eggs hatchlings? This adventure need serious revisions!
I struggled to find the relevant information quickly and to adjust it to allow for the chosen Murderer when my "detectives" started the interrogations. So I collected all the information for each Suspect with their Location and Faction Missions. Here it is as a PDF file.
BTW I did chat to Leisure Games early in the morning to make sure they had Pathfinder stuff on board. I wanted to check that if I sent people down to buy from them then it wouldn't be a wild goose chase. I guess that wasn't early enough. Next year I'll try to remember to chat to them before the event so they can get a whole display available.
Very well done Dave Harrison for being appointed UK Regional co-ordinator. I know you will do a brilliant job because you have been doing it so well for the last two years, unrecognised! Thanks for all your time and hard work. We'll all support you to the best of our ability.
Y'know at first I had my doubts but pretty swiftly I became incredibly impressed with your leadership, your creative talents, organisational ability and your Charisma 20. I'm so glad we got you over for PaizoCon UK before you left Paizo. "Awesome" is a much overused word but I bet that whatever you go on to do will be just that. Awesome!
Hey Dragnmoon. We miss you! You are well remembered from GenCon several years ago. Conception is probably the best event in the UK [after PaizoCon UK of course] There are loads and loads of games of all genres. We plan to run Pathfinder games until our heads fall off, so there will be plenty of action. This is the one to come to the UK for. It;s also in the right corner of the country for Stonehenge, Avebuury, Bath, castles, cream teas. Come and play, Come and GM. Come and have a beer or three. It's a very friendly event. Be our Texan guest star. Wear a stetson.
Well, it's back to being a Muswell Hillbilly for me and it seems rather dull after meeting all you weird folk at PaizoCon UK with yer summoned munkies and yer strange pupil-less eyes and yer strange fancy for eating screaming worms. Thanks you all for the energy exchange. Every table I had the honour to GM gave me a great big buzz of entertainment. Even the darkest adventure was lit up by your shrieks of pain and laughter. The only disappointment was for Miss Feathers, who hoped for a more substantial form of exchange but maybe he'll get lucky at the next PaizoCon. Ah ha! Wait a minute...there's Oddcon and Dragon Meet and Conception and all manner of locations to set an ambush. I hope we'll meet up again soon. Thanks so much for coming and making PaizoCon such fun.
Hiya Berik. I run Pathfinder Society adventures in the Muswell Hill area of North London. We often have a seat available and you would be very welcome. You can find domestic details of the home campaign on the Find Events link on the Paizo Pathfinder Society web page or on this direct link
We are taking a break at the moment because we are preparing for PaizoCon UK but we'll be back in business soon and catching up with scenarios. The Pathfinder team runs games at many of the major games conventions and you can see them listed on the PaizoCon UK website.
Are you coming to PaizoCon UK?
Hey you guys. 'scuse me butting in. I just wanted to say don't miss PaizoConUK. You can soak up a LOT of Pathfider in two days. It's a very friendly event and we would love to see you. We generally get through at least 4 Pathfinder Society adventures. Pre-gen characters available if you need them. All the info is on the website http://www.paizocon.co.uk
This is an excellent adventure. Vivid settings. Great roleplaying opportunities. Interesting puzzles. Challenging tactical combats. I have just run it and I picked up the hint on this forum about printing out the map of the city and the player handouts. This is essential otherwise the puzzles just don't work. You must rip the unlabelled map from the PDF and print it out big for the players. My players are a sharp bunch and the puzzle was a good challenge for them. Not too easy. Not too hard. Interestingly they took the adventure out of order. They asked so many smart questions at the briefing that they went to the Engineers Guild first. That's fine. They picked up the storyline again, after that, at the Swift Prison. My Qadiran player excelled himself by planting the fake ship plans, not in the Engineers Guild but in the Admiralty Building and conned the rest of the players into helping him. Two fights with limited visibility drove my players nuts but they were interesting tactical combats. The "Gnome repository of clues" VERY nearly died. It took a little fudging to keep her breathing. Down under Cassomir only one character had Darkvision vs. the Derro's Darkness and that was a Summoner's Eidolon. So the party were in a bit trouble here and the Darkness makes it a tough fight for low to middle parties. Now comes the BUT. We played for four and a half hours. It was quality play and we did the best bit of the adventure. But by then we had only just got beyond the Fountain. The players were focussed and weren't messing around. They were motoring. But midnight was approaching and most players had long journeys home. There was no hope of finishing. I had to wrap it up cinematically. Dropping the optional encounter wouldn't have made any difference. It was great quality but a LONG adventure. That may be a liability at conventions, even allowing for 5 hour slots. With a bit of warning about the length of play I think I might have played softball in the fights to get them through faster but it's a shame not to challenge players to their achievable limits. But I say again.. play this...it's a great adventure!
I've run this twice now and I'd like to recommend it as a great adventure. It has lots of atmosphere, hostile weather, dramatic moments and opportunity to roleplay. The combats take place across unusual and challenging terrain that make the fight more than a slogging match. There is an interesting interlude where they are trying to save the ship in the middle of a hell-storm, mostly without any sailor skills. This is fun if carefully handled and laid on fast and furious so they are constantly assaulted by problems. I thought it was going to be a character killer scenario when I first read it because the players meet some quite serious challenges including ethereal foes and undersea combat penalties. In fact the two parties that I GM'd both foundf it relatively easy. (one had six players and the other had four.) So be warned you may need to turn up the volume a little in order to give your players the sense that they are meeting a really worthwhile challenge. On both occasions we had a new player on the table and in order to play at this level they picked up Valeros. Wow! He is a mincing machine at 7th level!!! They gave him the Cloak of the Manta Ray and he was a Terror of the Deep! Another tip: I had all the maps printed out to size but it proved to be a mistake for the complex shipwreck. It slowed down the action because a lot of the wreck is empty apart from floating bodies. (They don't smell them, they taste them, urgh yuk) On another run I would just give the players a description as they moved around -- and then just slap down a map of the relevant area. I think that might make it creepier, too. Good adventure. Enjoy!
I certainly hope to be at Les funeral service and I expect it will be very well attended. It's at 1pm on Friday 26th February at Kensel Green, West London crematorium. That's postcode W10 4RA nearest tube Kensal Green.
It will be a very sad occasion but Les lived life to the full and that's worth celebrating.
That's a lot of good feedback. Thanks everyone. Last year was our first time at the venue and the first PaizoCon UK event we had run, so we were kind of getting the hang of things. This year we will have better idea of what is do-able and how we can direct people to food and drink that they prefer. I'm in favour of 5-hour slots but that means playing 9am to 2pm (with food at the table), then 3pm to 8pm. I would be happy with that myself. I think even hardcore players would be pressed to play 9pm to 2 in the morning and be fresh for the next day. This year we will also be looking for ways to try to make the right games available at the right Tier. Players with both low and higher level characters will be in a much better position to find a game. Perhaps we can ask you for some more information on the booking form this year, so we get the scenarios right. Whatever -- I know we will have a lot of fun and frolics!!!
Oh yes, Conception was very good but very tiring just trying to keep up with demand for games. I wish I had just taken every single Pathfinder module that I own along because by two-days-in some players had played all the low-mid levels games I had brought. Pre-Gens were invaluable and that meant players could enjoy a high level game even if they didn't have a high level character. A problem we are hitting is that the quality of the adventures is very high but they run-on longer than a 4-hour slot. It's a heartbreak to cut them. But, of course, PaizoCon UK will be BRILLIANT! Don't miss it! Your Venture Captain needs you!
I recommend this for a great jungle adventure with lots of atmosphere. I can see echoes of "Heart of Darkness", King Solomon Mines" and "African Queen" in this one. Maybe you can hear the drums beating right now! Just getting by in Mwangi is life-threatening but the adventures has a clever plot device that stops this becoming tedious throughout the whole duration. We found the plot quite complex although its possible for the players to go right through it without realising some of the twists. We had did a plot reveiw after play had finished so that it wasn't wasted. There is a good balance between roleplay and combat. A Ranger or Druid will find lots to do. One of the combat encounters has strong possibility of a TPK if your characters aren't suitably equipped and the DM should have a sensitive touch on the "volume control"! Another combat is very easy by comparison and then you really need to let rip so the players have a challenge. It's true that it is a long one. We played at a relaxed pace and took a full day to play, including the optional encounter. I think it would be a big problem to fit into a normal convention slot without wasting some good roleplaying/story/jungle ambience.
I must throw in a positive note. I have never had any trouble with the reporting system once I got the hang of it and I find it a very fast job thanks to the automatic populating of the fields based on the player's number. But I found the process a little opaque at first. I don't think you need to do much to fix the system but I DO think you need a few screen shots to walk you through the process the first time. System is pretty good but you need a graphic "One-Minute Guide". And hey ...can we have a better event location for Europe that doesn't require you to research your Latitude and longditude! Please.
Lovely module. Certainly in my top 5. We played (at home) over two sessions and had a ball! It would be criminal to try to cram this into a 4 hour slot, in my opinion. There is a whole load of juicy roleplaying in this one and well balanced with combat. Last encounter was a bit of an anti-climax after the "vizier" who challenged my party at Tier 5-6. If the vizier flies and shoots and uses all his abilities to evade and avoid it can be a very frustrating and long drawn out encounter for players. I recommend he closes to combat to make it fast and furious and entertaining.
I ask because there is no "channel positive energy" in Pathfinder Society.I think he meant spontaneous conversion of cleric spells into cure spells, seeing as he talked about turning undead before. Sorry, I expressed it badly. Yup, Shalwar Cleric of Sarenrae could have cast a Cure spell on the vile evil creature and it would have dealt damage by chanelling positive energy into a negative energy creature.
Thanks for your postings here. I ran the game last friday and your messages were a big help. There were 4 characters in the party and they were badly shaken up by the adventure but none died. I didn't fudge the dice and I didn't play softball. But neither was I trying for a TPK. Here's what happened if you are interested. The party comprised: Shalwar 5th level Cleric of Sarenrae; Zaryk Spikestone 5th level dwarven fighter (spiked-chain weilder); Ramona (Ram) the 5th level greataxe wielding fighter; and Gerad d'Petit Fournier 5th level Sorceror and chef. Plot spoiler:
They cut the Pitfighters to pieces without trouble but it served as a decent warm-up. They were paranoid about the statues (following certain other Pathfinder scenarios where statues hinted at a stoney doom). The Hardness on the Animated Statues (Stone 8) made the combat a bit boring. The chain wielding dwarf could only scratch the paintwork. He could Trip 'em but couldn't damage 'em. It was down to Ram's Power attacks with a Greataxe and Gerards Magic Missiles. The combat soaked up lots of healing from Shalwar's CLW Wand. A long 10-round grind!
The Vampire Spawn failed to dominate anyone and didn't have high enough attacks to hit the frontline fighters with a Slam. So they were chopped apart pretty swiftly and Shalwar's Searing Light frazzled them. Broken chair legs made fine stakes and their heads were chopped off for good measure. I had trouble making logic out of the story. I had to assume that the steel door cells in this room were air-tight and surmised that somehow Aygrim had locked the dissectors and Taylin in the middle cell but that stretched our credulity to the limits!!! But it would be even more incredible for her not to have found the secret door over 50 years imprisonment and then find it in a couple of days when Fendal entered. The attack on the jail pissed the players off. They hated being shot at and not being able to shoot back. They started off by blocking the arrow slits with old furniture but there weren't enough of them to maintain this. They had no Rogue to pick the lock and, as it was a jail door, I ruled a 25 Strength check. Perhaps that was harsh and they kept rolling and missing even with Assists. At this point they started to hear a female voice calling "Come to me, my Children ..." [He, he, he.] Eventually Zaryk the dwarf started groping through the bars looking for a key on the body of a dead pitfighter. I ruled that he found one -- to keep the adventure moving along. So they were through and rifling the bodies and looking for the scarred pit fighter. Then a very cautious approach through the next door with the dwarf first. He was easily Dominated and told to "try to prevent his friends attacking Taylin because otherwise they would be very, very badly hurt". (If he had been told to attack them he would have got a second save at +2.) At that point nine called hyenas turned up from the escape tunnel but Gerard slammed the jail door just in time to block them out. Ram waded in, greataxe swinging but vs a Vampire with AC27 and DR10 and Fast Healing 5/round it was very, very tough combat. Shalwar kept trying a Turn Undead but she had very, very little chance of Turning a Vampire with +4 Turn Resistence. The Vampire sliced into the fighter time and time again doing massive damage and Shalwar couldn't keep up with the healing. One cut at the Cleric put her in a position where she would be dead next round and she had to retreat. Ram stepped back and took a Potion but things were very desperate. At this point it looked like a TPK! Here I bent things a little and gave the dwarf a second save because of the horrors he was seeing. He saved and tried to support his friends. In rage Taylin tried to slam him and drain him but she missed. (Her melee attacks were far more effective that her slam attack.) Finally Gerard let loose his last Magic Missile and that finished the Vampire. The party took all precautions to make sure she didn't come back. Of course Shalwar could have channelled positive energy to damage the vampire but she would have been killed in two rounds. She could have presented her holy symbol to repel the vampire and back it into a corner and Gerard had forgotten he was carrying garlic and could have done the same. A full party of 6 characters would have certainly made a difference. Some more hints about the nature of what they were facing would have made a difference. Taylin holds all the Aces. Very hard to hit; shrugs off most of the damage if you do hit her; has two high attack rolls or a Whirlwind attack if necessary; dishes out huge damage or drains levels; highly mobile; calls for numerous allies. I would say run this module, but be prepared to turn the volume up or down depending on the make-up of your party of adventurers. Otherwise it is the last one they will play.
I ran this at PaizoCon UK and I really enjoyed running it. I believe my players had a lot of fun, too. They were a very un-optimized party who were very strong on roleplaying. This module has lots of atmosphere and the setting with the arcane mannekin ritual is quite dream-like and surreal. They got into that and played along brilliantly. The fowl creatures were, of course, a terrifying threat as they should be and the players didn't know their chance being hit by them was extremely low. A well timed Entangle spell stopped my fun. Shame! They looked for the way to the top of the tower battlements from where they were first haragued. It's not on the map but, of course, it must be there. Two agile characters climbed the flint tower. (Flint towers are a piece of cake.) They attempted a sneaky two-pronged attack on the ritualists that kicked off all the action at once. It became totally and gloriously chaotic. By extreme bad luck Haroun the sneaky scimitar weilding fighter was held-off and almost pummelled to death by a young lab assistant using fisticuffs. Alchemists Fire was thrown all over the place. The mannekins blocked off the stairs and the main party while one caster threw spell through the window. d'Aponte was knocked off the stairs and exploded in a ball of fire from the flasks of Alchemist Fire he was carrying. A Summoned pig was sent truffle hunting among the roots of the vine and did more damage in one round than anyone else. At the appropriate moment, I took Ben's hint and described the big bad vine as truly horrendous and earth shaking and, like any sensible players should, they took the hint and fled as the tower tumbled to rubble. I liked the finality of that and the players were just working out what they had got out of the adventure when I hit them with the ambush -- an unexpected pleasure. A lovely drama. Well done, Ben.
OK fellow Pathfinders, the doors are open at the Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge UK. Your Venture Captains await you ... and the mission? Well, it starts with a trip to Birmingham on 11 and 12 July for Paizocon UK. The Paizocon UK website is http://www.paizocon.co.uk. Lots of Pathfinder adventures and maybe a few surprise events. DON"T MISS IT or Asmodeus will getcha!
I had always understood that anything you find during the scenario you can use DURING the scenario. You can wear the armour, use the magic weapons and drink the potions and read the scrolls. We have been playing that way at home and at conventions here in the UK since the beginning. I can think of specific examples in "Mists of Mwangi" and in the "Prince of Augustana" where possession was dispelled and disease avoided because of the carefully placed bits of treasure. Those were carefully placed by the writer. We have never asked players to pay for items used during the adventure. We always ask players to pay for what they take away. The Organised Play rules say
Items they drink, scrolls they read aren't taken away and so as a DM I cannot charge the players. So use 'em up all you like. That's part of the fun. And Pathfinder first and foremost is FUN!
PAIZOCON UK! This is fantastic news! Well done Dave, brilliant work. I am one hundred and ten percent on board for DM'ing or whatever you need. I have a couple of my regulars interested already and I know this is going to be a sell-out. I have a hunch we'll be needed those extra rooms. Wouldn't it be great if we could get those two nice guys, Nick Logue and Richard Pett along to DM a game or two? Wow. It's also a great opportunity for a local trader because the market is so focused. They can trot out all their Pathfinder stuff and know they'll be bang on target for sales. |
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