Russell Akred's page

I have yet to run this but after the second reading the points that seem weak are mainly with the maps.
First they take over two and a half pages of the scenario and three of them are product maps. Also I am tired of seeing Campsites and Mountain Pass in cold climate scenarios. Please, when are PCs going to learn to stay out of the canyons?
The Blackraven Loghouse is an immense battle map with most not used for battle. I don’t know about your tables but as soon as a battle map is laid out at my tables players roll initiative. More details on the rooms would have been nice too. Like showing a couple of obvious blank spots in long hall where Enrik has taken down the goblinoid heads that were mounted there and have them stored in the stables or the sleeping quarters. Pickled foodstuffs in the kitchen that the goblins can smell from outside and in the loghouse also could have some fun implications. A stuffed Ice Troll in the dining area killed by the Ulfen militia and plaques honoring the fallen in the defense of the Linhorm Kings. Having Enrik set the lock on the storeroom to allow the goblins to escape just for an excuse to kill them. Having the warriors attack from horseback would also be good if the battle begins outside.

Remember to give the goblins personalities! Good luck!

Personally I wish they would have dropped the optional encounter and put in fully stated goblins with personalities. So tempted to use the goblins from "We Be Goblins!” but I won’t.

That’s what I thought, just needed a second opinion.

Wasn’t my table was approached by a father and player to see how I can fix things. Sounds like it was a rough game for a table of first time players. Guess I have bad news for some new guys.

Is the permanent Con loss like Ability Drain that can be fixed with restoration?

Also if they were captured and tortured can they do the second mission?

Title “Eruption”

Blurb "A scenario written for levels 7-11 Golarion is not big enough for this scenario. Watch in aw as you find yourself outnumbered and surrounded in seconds by the bestiary. Now you know what the Tribble Lodge is all about and fear is it’s new name."

With Superior Summoning it seemed like it was too powerful of a feat until it was pointed out that it only worked when summoning multiple creatures. Since you are already summoning a random number of lesser creatures adding one more does not seem to make the feat too powerful. What was breaking my encounters was when the battle mat would be filled with augmented twins with a lot of hit points and a great bonus to hit and damage. For the simple reason the other players began to loth it. With the lesser creatures even if there are more of them they could be cleared out by one or two area effect damages. GMs will only push back on this if it becomes a problem at the table. That’s why I was out looking for help.

Still want a scenario with several Master Summoner NPCs with Superior Summoning and Augmented Summoning. I really need to get started writing that one.

Thanks Dragnmoon and Ogre I missed that.

I want to say that Midnight Mauler did not win me over at first. It was a great story and had much potential but I had issues with it. After running it over a dozen time I must say it is a very good scenario full of the drama and excitement you would expect of a Exclusive release. I hope everyone enjoys it the first time as much as I did after running four times. Don’t see this as a slight on Midnight Mauler. It took me a while to love the wild side. Now I look forward to actually getting able to play it. That is unless everyone around here has already.

It would be nice to get a rules calcification. I believe it was a pun written into the rules and not to be taken seriously.

Now lets organize the list by region/nation and then we need one organized by Pathfinder Society member who sent you on the mission. Can we get a list of those with spell books as well?

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He always just has one summoned plus the one. So his character, a she, has two coming out every round. I just want to be sure if anyone brings it up to be able to say we have looked at it and it is all legal and above board.

Can you use Superior Summoning on a spell-like ability?

Superior Summoning

You can summon more creatures.

Prerequisites: Augment Summoning, caster level 3rd.

Benefit: Each time you cast a summoning spell that conjures more than one creature, add one to the total number of creatures summoned.

It specifies summon spell. Is the spell-like Summon Monster ability considered a spell for this?

Looks like he is using superior summoning from Ultimate Magic as well. That way he does not have to take Broodmaster which is illegal in PFS. All legal we just need to figure out how to speed up the combat.

They are augmented creatures not advanced. My mistake. The Broodmaster is illegal for PFS play so I am not trying to figure out how he is getting two a round. I am trying to figure out how he is doing it while waiting for his e-mail reply.

While running a couple of tables with a master summoner/broodmaster I have developed the opinion that the class is broken. Since the summoning is a spell like ability it takes just one standard action to cast then it appears next round the summoning becomes nearly unstoppable. He hangs in the back without his eidolon and just keeps churning them out two a round with each advanced. With nine casting to do a day I have had a small battle space filled with so many small creatures it was ridiculous. No where to move and the character’s turn would drag on even when I had him roll ahead of time.

While running a couple of tables with a master summoner I have developed the opinion that the class is broken. Since the summoning is a spell like ability it takes just one standard action to cast then it appears next round the summoning becomes nearly unstoppable. He hangs in the back without his eidolon and just keeps churning them out two a round with each advanced. With nine casting to do a day I have had a small battle space filled with so many small creatures it was ridiculous. No where to move and the character’s turn would drag on even when I had him roll ahead of time.

Cincinnati is hosting twenty four tables of Pathfinder Society. We have chosen year three scenarios to fill those slots.

The price is right at $7 for a day or $10 for the whole weekend.
Hotel costs are $60 for the night with reservations at the Atrium’s front dest.
Onsite food is good and affordable.
There will be six tables of the new VC only scenario coming out in February.

So there are lots to do and lots to play at this years convention. So come to Cincinnati to play or judge adventures.

CincyCon 2012

WarHorn Sign-Up

Player Sign-Up

Game Master Registration

To allow better organizing please sign up on warhorn as well as CincyCon websites. We have a limited amount of tables so must keep our numbers in check.

- Cincinnati Venture Captain Russell Akred

Great job Thod!

One thing I found useful GMing conventions is keeping track of who is who. On the initiative cards I will put a little arrow pointing toward the player so I know which way to look when calling “Dreadbolt” or “Scrumptious” and keeps those confusing looks from coming back at you.

Also if you can run a small selection of adventures many times it works out better than running a different one every slot. You will be able to bring suitable figures for your creatures and NPCs. Don’t forget to pack a few generic minis for players who don’t have a mini.

Draw the maps ahead of time to make things run faster at the table. Painlord mentions this in his posts but it is always worth repeating.

Drink the water that most conventions give to their GMs. It will likely save your voice after yelling over the roar of the room.

Thank you Adam I hate critiquing.

I am sorry Adam my table really didn’t care for Fortune’s Blight. The creatures are interesting and it has a lot of possibility but no body liked it in both of the runnings I’ve done. Afterwards I set down with a couple of my GMs that were at the tables and we looked it over together. The consensus was it just didn’t work or make sense without a lot of revisions.

I am torn about posting any feedback on this but the reactions were so stark I couldn’t refuse.

I felt like the difficulty was proportional and it ran for three hours. We had fun though most was from players laughing at the disjointed plot.

I hate criticizing scenarios since I can’t write worth a lick. This was something I felt I needed to say. I like Adam’s writing but Fortunes Blight doesn’t seem up to his standards.

There is a lot here that has changed my mind about “Fortune’s Blight” but there is one encounter that still bothers me as being so railroading it is almost broken.

I like the other plot twists after reading this feedback it is just this one that keeps clawing at the back of my head.

Sorry if I get hung up on this but seems like players at my tables are either meta-gaming or just getting plain old paranoid more and more.

I am playing a fighter that enjoys using Overrun and Bull Rush but wonder if there are any weapons that their master work and magical enhancement bonuses would add to the combat maneuver check?

Would playability be better to have the hall be the two inches wide even though the quarter inch of foam core would throw of the battle grid? I found that minis got very crowded in the hallway.

Don't like the Kobold picture. Doesn't match the image fostered for decades instead it looks like a lizardman.

If I redo it with shorter walls maybe it will fir onto one sheet of foam core.

Hmmm I have not run into a problem with the walls not being long enough. Sorry if I did.

The only issue I have had was the walls are all too tall making it hard for players to see their minis. Need to redo it with the walls around half the height except the doors.

When I am running tables and see a player that is outclassed by others at the table it bothers me. Simply because a player wants to enjoy a well rounded character or because he does not have the time to devote to maxing his numbers he feels like a side kick. Always afraid that player isn't long for PFS if he doesn't find a group that shares his play pattern.

It's the new Goblin Pickles brand logo carried at Trader Orcs.

Spiders!

I really like the Pre-Gen death rule. Maybe needs a sentence to give the ways to do it for DMs explaining ti to players but otherwise "I like it!".

The graph was to show if you placed a target on the square it was supposed to be on it would give you the distance to that square in that square. So if there was a target in the square 5' up and 10' over then the range would be 5' because you are 5' x 5' square yourself.

I made a graph to check my results.

altitude to horizontal distance graph

You are about 20 feet off on your calculations. The Pythagorean Theorem puts it at about 243 feet

I was trying to figure out how to calculate range in Pathfinder. The Pythagorean Theorem wasn't working.

I'm sure everyone else has figured it out already but I finally came up with a calculation for distance to a flying opponent in Pathfinder (DnD).

When you know the altitude and the distance from a target take the smaller of the two numbers and divide by two (for distances ending in 5 add 2.5) and add it to the larger number and subtract ten. That is you distance to your target.

So it your target is at 215 feet away 115 feet high.

(115 away ÷ 2) = 57.5 + 2.5 = 60 + 215 high = 275 - 10 = 265 feet

If the target is 35 feet away and 60 feet high.

(35 away ÷ 2) = 17.5 + 2.5 = 20 + 60 high = 80 - 10 = 70 feet

If the target is 75 feet away and 60 feet high.

60 high ÷ 2 = 30 + 75 away = 105 - 10 = 95 feet

Will unpainted or painted miniatures of Tengu come out soon? Hours were spent searching for a Tengu monk until I finally gave up and bought an elf and modified him. Here is the result. It would have been much easier to have had some to choose from. Will Reaper or Heroclix be making these soon?

That is a good question considering that the monk's flurry specifically states it cannot be used with or in addition to flurry of blows. In Pathfinder Society a natural attack becomes redundant for a monk then. It would be nice to know the ways around this if for no other reason than to understand how a player at my table could get there. Better than me holding up the whole game while he explains it to me.

I was wondering if the Tengu's natural attack of a peck counted as a unarmed strike for the monk. If it did then the damage would be increased from a d3 to a d6 at first level.

My guess is it stays a natural weapon and is unaffected by the monks progression with unarmed strikes because they are listed as attacks with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. No beak in the list. Also it states in flurry of blows that natural attacks are not added or a part of flurry of blows.

Reading the blurs it really does sound like the stories of Moribito. "Guardian Of The Spirit" and "Guardian Of The Darkness" by Nahoko Uehashi follows the story line of the blurbs quite a lot. Many stories sound the same though.

What is the time it takes to run these? Have any of you noticed if they each fit in a four hour slot?

<sigh> was hoping for a nice list of jokes.

3. What did the Whispering Tyrant put on before meeting Arazni? Lich Shtick.

4. How can you tell if an Andoran is in the party? You can't, until the coup de grâce.

5. What did Abrogail Thrune II say after she took control of Cheliax? The devil made me do it.

6. Writing things down steals the ideas from goblin memories. You can fit a whole goblin's life on the head of a pin.

Goblin brothers and sisters, rise above this monkey's lies. Show the Paizo messageboard community your true potential: reject this myth of goblin antipathy to literature! Expose Paizo for the anti-goblin bigots that they are!

I say we all hold him down and carve his scribbles into his heretical face and kick him out of the clan!

OK, I have a few things for DMs who might need the pops and handouts.

Come on, reading is bad but writing is taboo! So feel sorry for the poor creature that wrote those books because the thoughts have been stolen from his head.

Remember don't write things down it will make you forget them.

Brought to you by "Gobinspect" your beginning adventurer XP locater service. Don't start your escapade without us!

I will have to check those novels out. The problem I always ran into was that it didn't seem like such a bad place. Surprised goblins haven't moved in there too. Either it was a place that seemed just like every other place or it killed you outright. Also the whole fast overland movement always seemed messed up. When combat starts everyone isn't suddenly moving fifty mph, everyone is back to normal speed. Can you climb, fly, burrow, or swim at fifty mph? Is the water there OK to drink? What about the food or things you kill, are they safe to eat? When you arrive at someplace like a castle on the material plane could you go inside, up stairs, or into the bedrooms? To just say no doesn't seem like a good enough answer and yes sounds like it could be abused by players.

It sounds like though you enjoy it you are also enabling them. Push hard for them to DM. When they make mistakes have them fix them. It will make them learn faster. Keep new DMs on low level games an let them grow in confidence. Make sure before hand they are prepared. Send them a check list for before leaving and after DMing.

Ever since one of my PCs got Shadow Walk spell to travel faster during "Rise of the Runelords" I saw how little is out there to flesh out the shadow plane. Yes there are monsters a plenty and a list of dangers but no real feel of the atmosphere of the plane. I would like to know how a material plane traveler would see this plane of constant shadow. How does it look when they are traveling and when the enter and exit the gloom. Does it affect the traveler's alignment? How to the natives react to and treat them. Then there is Nidal which is all about the plane of shadow and the illusionary source for magic too. The plane seems to be rich with new places to take readers that is the sinister side of life.

Could there be a future adventure, Pathfinder Tales, and source book for "The Plane of Shadow"?

Here is an unofficial prop for room 2. A cut out and hand to players kind of prop.

To start off with one of my players didn't want to start at level 7th so I am running Rappan Athuk for their 3rd level party so I can give them some background on the end of the battle.

Since I am using Rappan Athuk as the jumping off point for the Slumber Tsar Saga I created a link for the two. Since the sunken graveyard was the burial place of the Army of Light I made a sketch for one of the hallways.