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Wormwood Mutiny spoiler!!!
I had to share this tale about my players dealing with the aftermath of the fight with the two pirates jumping the one player in the bilges.

The player handled himself rather well, and I allowed some Sense Motive checks by the other players so they could get a sense of what was up. So, long story short, there were two dead NPCs in the bilges, and more than one PC was responsible. I was prepared to have some severe repercussions for them, as soon as Plugg and his cronies found out.

However, one of the players had chosen a very obscure spell for his Sorcerer: Sculpt Corpse. A couple castings later, and suddenly there were two dead reefclaws in the bilges, and two missing sailors.

Basically, I have to applaud a player taking an unconventional spell and getting a great use out of it.

Dear Paizo convention planners:

This is something I heard about at last year's Gen Con, since I wasn't able to attend. I had talked up Paizo's adventures to a friend of mine. Since he was attending Gen Con, he decided to drop by their booth to check out some of the APs I had mentioned that impressed me.

This was during, of course, the big unveiling of the Advanced Player's Guide. Instead of a regular booth which would have allowed him to browse, there was a huge line of people waiting for the APG. No one was allowed past the sentries to look at the other products.

Unsurprisingly, he felt rather disgusted and walked away.

Now, I completely understand that buzz for the APG was HUGE, and Paizo probably made a killing by selling the book at Paizo. But I remember a few years ago leisurely strolling through the Paizo booth, checking out the various modules and Game Mastery goodies that I rarely saw in stores.

I'm hoping to make it to Gen Con this year, and I'm planning to stop by the Paizo booth. I'm sure I'd be disappointed if I'm not allowed to peruse the booth, and can only stand in line for the Ultimate Combat.

Granted, this might just be a symptom of Paizo's success, and it's possible my friend's experience wasn't typical, but I think there might be a balance you can strike between the dedicated fans there to pick up the big event book, and others curious about what else Paizo has to offer.

I'm really curious about this.

I am (as evidenced by the bold text beside my handle) an Adventure Path subscriber, and I like to occasionally take advantage of the discount I get from Paizo.com.

However, I like to support local, non-chain stores where possible. It so happens that my FLGS carries a number of Paizo products, but never in great quantities. Not counting the Pathfinder RPG hardcovers, there's usually only one or two copies of the guides, flip maps, and chronicles in stock. I also notice that my FLGS rarely, if ever, replaces the Paizo products I purchase, which are usually on impulse.

I am a great fan of Paizo, and hope to see the company thrive to continue to produce great product. So I want to support it in the best way possible.

The thing that I feel I do, though, when I buy something from the brick-and-mortar store, is that I deprive another potential Paizo customer from that very same product I could have bought from the online store.

Yet, when Paizo products sell out at the brick-and-mortar stores, that's gotta be good for their sales figures, right?

So, my question is, to the marketing and sales folks at Paizo, would you like to keep me buying regularly online, leaving the product on a shelf for another potential customer, or is a sale a sale?

I also realize that I, being one single customer in a vast economy, have a nearly negligible impact. But I like to feel important.

This is the write-up of the Skinsaw Murders, but if you're familiar with the adventure, you'll see I departed from the original story, to tie the events more closely with what I had planned in Ravenloft. I'll post more of these old write-ups if folks are interested.

Part Two:

The Skinsaw Murders

After a few weeks, the party begins to feel it is time to move on. Little happens from day to day, with the one exception of a night shortly after the Glassworks incident, a strange black carriage rides through town. A storm whips up just as it arrives, lingers only as the carriage bolts through the streets, then quickly fades after the carriage races away.
As the party starts to go their separate ways, Sheriff Hemlock asks them to check out the Sandpoint Sawmill before they go. There had been a grisly murder the night before. The two victims, the sawmill operator Banny Harker and his mistress Katrine Vinder, were both horribly disfigured, but Harker had a strange rune carved into his chest. Furthermore, Twila was able to detect a horrible, rotten meat smell that was picked up across the river, though the trail again went cold.
Sheriff Hemlock points the party to another murder scene from a few nights before outside of town wherein more bodies showed up with the rune. A survivor of that attack had been taken to the sanitarium. When he sees Twila, he tells her he has a message from His Lordship, but babbles insanely after that. The survivor is cured of his ghoul fever which he had contracted, but not of his insanity.
Back in town, the party learns of a farmer that wandered in from his fields, raving about living scarecrows. The party investigates, and encounters a bunch of farmers transformed into ghouls. More messages from His Lordship to Twila point to the Misgivings, the local name for Foxglove Manor.
As the party prepares to pay a visit to Aldern Foxglove, they meet a Vistani by the name of Lonah who is looking for his sister. She had married Aldern some few months ago and he had not heard from her recently. The party agrees to let him come along.
The party enters the manor and explore it, room by room. They encounter many hauntings -- manifestations of the horrible things that have happened in the manor. These also (rather dangerously) tell the story of Vorel Foxglove, the builder of the manor house who dabbled in necromancy and attempted to become a lich. The learn his son Traver Foxglove went mad and slew his wife, then killed himself. They also learn that Aldern Foxglove strangled his wife Iesha in a fit of jealous rage. Diseased rats plague the lower levels.
The party finds caverns below the basement and there encounter a ghoulish dire bat, which they fight off barely. The party weakened by the undead monstrosity, they were then taken captive by a pack of ghouls.
In the caverns beneath the manor which was Vorel's true laboratory, Aldern tries a twisted mockery of a wedding ritual to transfer Iesha's love to Twila, with whom he has become infatuated. The paralyzed party and the remaining ghouls stand in as the wedding "guests" and the Skinsaw Man, a ruthless ghast as the "officiant." The ritual is botched, and Iesha rises as a revenant to kill Aldern. Aldern flees as the party's paralysis wears off and defeat the remaining ghouls and the Skinsaw Man. Iesha pursues Aldern into the night.
Before leaving the accursed manor, they discover that Vorel's attempt to become a lich ended in failure, and Aldern seemed to have been involved in some secret society in Magnimar. They also discover the book that was used in the ritual to be an ancient text of the Vistani.
Eager to see Aldern dead and Iesha finally receive rest, the party quickly head south toward Magnimar. Lonah convinces the party to first stop at an encampment of his people, the Vistani.
Lonah sought the counsel of his elder, as he conveyed the tragedy of his sister's fate to the rest of his family. Twila, however, was still suffering from some effects of the botched ritual. Surrounded by Iesha's people and her old life, Twila began to lose herself and take on some mannerisms of Iesha, knowing traditional Vistani dances and songs. She also dreamt of seeing through Iesha's eyes, as she hunted Aldern all the way to Magnimar, followed him to the streets of Whitechapel, and was captured.
The party resolves to go to Magnimar.

My wife is jumping back into gaming after a long time away from the table. I've gotten her interested in the the world of Pathfinder and Golarion specifically.

She's chosen to play a gnome rogue (angling for the Spymaster role in the Kingmaker AP), and her choice for her character's gnomish obsession is conspiracy theories. She wants to play a full-bore conspiracy theorist full of wild and rampant speculations -- but she wants there to be a grain of truth to them.

Now, I've already given her a few of the meta-plots of other Adventure Paths to start with (Drow, Runelords, etc.).

I'm having trouble thinking of others, especially others that might spoof some of the better-known conspiracy theories of our time. Any ideas?

I'm thinking of a houserule for the largest (and most costly) buildings that will allow the players to buy them in stages. I've divided them up into four stages, or levels, that these buildings take as they are improved and upgraded. Some have a fifth stage that would add to the benefits of the building beyond what's listed in the Kingmaker rules.

They can only be upgraded once a year. This, to me, eliminates the "overnight" construction of a large, elaborate structure and its attendant structures that fill up the city blocks. The first stage follows the rule of placing buildings just like normal, and the rest of the stages follow the rule of replacing buildings, like the tenement to house upgrade.

For example: the players want a castle right away for their capital city. They can't obviously afford the 54 BPs that it'll cost. Under these rules, they first buy a Keep (level 1) for 15 BPs and get some of its benefits. Then, sometime later (as long as a year has passed), they upgrade their Keep to a Fort (level 2) for 13 BPs. In another year, they can continue upgrading it to a Fortress (level 3), then a Castle (level 4) the year after that. Then, as a "capstone", so to speak, they can make it a Citadel (level 5) and get even greater bonuses for their grand and prestigious home. Essentially, the players took four to five years (minimum) to build their Citadel, though they got to benefit from it as it is built.

These are the buildings that cry out for stages, as I see them:

Academy: (12 BPs per stage); School (level 1), Academy (2), College (3), University (4)

Arena: (10 BPs per stage); Pit (level 1), Amphitheatre (2) Arena (3), Stadium (4), Colosseum (5)

Cathedral: (16 BPs for level 1, 14 BPs per upgrade); Abbey (level 1), Church (2), Temple (3), Cathedral (4)

Castle: (15 BPs for level 1, 13 BPs per upgrade); Keep (level 1), Fort (2), Bastion (3), Castle (4), Citadel (5)

Waterfront: (24 BPs for level 1, 22 BPs per upgrade); Pier (level 1), Wharf (2), Docks (3), Waterfront (4)

Noble Villa: (8 BPs per stage); Chateau (level 1), Estate (2), Manor (3), Mansion (4), Palace (5)

Market: (12 BPs per stage); Shop (level 1), Market (2), Bazaar (3), Exchange (4)

Black Market (14 BPs for level 1, 12 BPs per upgrade); Fence (level 1), Informant (2), Black Market (3), Underworld (4)

The benefits to the kingdom each of these buildings and their upgrades would need to be divided up amongst the different stages, which is a step I haven't taken yet. Furthermore, I haven't made any calls about what the "capstone" levels should be for those buildings that reach Level 5. I'm just throwing this out there to see if anyone likes the idea. Feel free to shamelessly steal this and apply it to your own campaigns! Let me know how it works. And, if you improve on it, let me know that, too!

I've read through the kingdom building information a couple times now, and while I'm excited about putting them into practice, I've noticed something I had been excited about was completely missing from the rules thus far.

I was expecting the various leadership roles to have a broader impact on the player's experience within the adventure path. As of right now, the player picks a role, designates which ability score adds to the kingdom, and maybe makes one of the different command checks if it seems appropriate (otherwise the ruler makes them).

This concerns me in two ways: First, players excited about this aspect of the adventure path may have chosen skills and feats that they perceive to be helpful to their future role. Thus, skill points spent on "Profession: Accountant" or "Craft: Legal Codes" will see limited use and a game master will have to deal with players wondering why such skills can't be subbed for their base ability scores.

Second, the abstraction can take away the feel that the character is really doing his or her job. Roll the die, add up the modifiers, and you've either succeeded or you didn't. And since multiple roles provide bonuses to the check, they may begin to feel like just some cog in a machine rather than a vital part of the kingdom. The players should be PLAYERS, not just modifiers.

My suggestion is occasionally during the Kingdom Events phase, instead make individual Leadership Events that gives each player a problem unique to their Leadership Role.

Since this could bog things down, I'm not suggesting Leadership Events happen as frequently as Kingdom Events unless your particular group is enjoying them. Also, your campaign only need concern itself with Leadership events that apples to roles filled with actual PCs. NPCs will be dealing with these on a constant basis, though it might be feasible that they could ask the PCs for some assistance. They are the heroes, after all.

They can be as elaborate or as mundane as fits the needs of the individual campaign, and can range from a single skill-based die roll to a whole side quest taken apart from the main group, if you've got that kind of time and wherewithal. I'm seriously thinking of doing this in my campaign, and since I likely will have 6 players, I'm well aware that this could take up gobs of time unless I do these things over email or just say, "this past month, you as Magister have been dealing with <roll> a tournament at the wizard college. And you as Treasurer have been dealing with <roll>..."

Examples that I've brainstormed so far include:
Ruler:
A suitor is angling for the empty chair beside the throne. (roleplaying)
A noble estate requests your presence at their gala. (Kno. Nobility)
A holiday requires you to make a speech to the masses. (Diplomacy or Perform: Oratory)
A legal dispute appeals to your authority (Wisdom check or Profession: Lawyer)

Counselor
There is a class dispute between nobles and peasants. (Diplomacy)
Small races petition to have construction facilitate their stature. (Kno. Local or Diplomacy)
Different merchant guilds are jockeying for official sanction. (Profession or Craft)

General
You are asked to put on a jousting tournament. (Kno. Nobility or Ride)
You wish to recruit a seasoned adventurer to be one of your captains. (roleplaying)
The fledgling army participates in wargames. (multiple skill checks)

Grand Diplomat
An ambassador is flaunting his diplomatic immunity. (roleplaying)
An envoy is sabre rattling. (Intimidate or Will Save)
A small community is resisting annexation. (Diplomacy, Intimidate or roleplaying)

High Priest
Two important festivals for two different religions are on the same day. (roleplaying or Diplomacy)
A prominent religion is suffering a schism. (Kno. Religion)
A religion counter to the alignment of the kingdom is growing a following. (roleplaying)

Magister
A botched summoning at one of the colleges has run amok. (Kno. Planes)
A strange relic has been found in a field and brought to you. (Kno. History or Spellcraft)
A teacher is teaching his students from questionable texts. (roleplaying)

Marshal
A patrol has been abusing its power and shaking down citizens. (Intimidate)
Fishing/hunting/trapping has decimated the wildlife in a hex. (Kno. Nature or Survival)
A Robin Hood-type bandit has the support of the locals in a hex. (Diplomacy or roleplaying)

Etc., etc,

Whew. I've got more, but I'll leave it at that to see what kind of response this generates. I'm hoping this generates some interest and board members post plenty of ideas that can make nicely diverse lists for each leadership role.

Final caveat before I close: Obviously, this is completely without knowing what the next four Kingmaker installments will add to the kingdom-ruling process. If I've stepped on some toes and jumped the gun for future official Kingmaker goodness, I do apologize.

I'm running Second Darkness AP using Pathfinder rules, and have been converting from 3.5 as we go. When prepping the Teeth of Araska set piece from Children of the Void (#14), it seemed like Ishana would be a good witch, rather than cleric of Calistria.

I can't say this will provide a tremendous amount of insight, since I left her at 3rd level and she's a small part of this set piece. But here's what I can offer:

I gave her a raven familiar, and the slumber and evil eye hexes. For spells, she had web, glitterdust, burning hands, chill touch, and obscuring mist. She kept her gear from the set piece, which included the wand of cure light wounds.

For those unfamiliar with the set piece, the Teeth of Araska is a statted-out pirate crew and mapped-out pirate ship. For my campaign, I sprang the encounter as they were on a ship heading to the island where most of the adventure takes place. I figure this was an EL 7 encounter against four 4th-level players.

As part of a pirate crew, Ishana probably contributed more as a witch than she would have as a cleric. She cast web into the party's ship's rigging, and glitterdusted the paladin and barbarian. The barbarian was blinded for the full three rounds, limiting her involvement until it wore off. The raven familiar tried delivering the chill touch spell, but I rolled poorly during its attempts.

When the heavily-armored fighter tried balance checks to cross the planks separating the two ships, her evil eye hex made the prospect that much more dangerous.

She met her demise when the raging barbarian finally crossed to her ship, withstood the sleep hex and a burning hands spell, and dropped her with a great axe.

My impressions:
The players didn't know they were facing a witch. (None of the players had read the playtest.) Most just rolled with it, assuming she was a wizard/cleric or wizard/druid. I don't know if that matters to the designers, but nobody reacted to her unusual class abilities (the hex powers) with shock or awe. But my group's like that.

As part of the encounter, she played her role well -- delaying the big hitters who have poor will saves. She didn't dominate the encounter, or appear especially unbalanced. Hexing the fighter to give him a -2 on his skill checks as he tried to balance his way across a plank made for a tense moment.

I'm liking the class so far, but of course, this was a limited demonstration of its abilities.