Steel Horse(Male Construct Dungeon Master 4 / Spouse 8 / Copy Store Jesus 8 / Stay-At-Home Dad 2)
Strange things happen this close to the Mournlands. And I'm not just talking about the occasional mutated monster that finds it's way out of the mist and stumbles into "civilized" territory. I'm talking about really weird stuff, like hiccups in time that can last months, even years at a time. And no city gets a bigger share of the weird stuff than Vathirond.
Looking around the town of Vathirond, it's hard to believe the war is over. You recognize the looks in people's eyes as you pass them. It's a look of of learned and practiced despondency. It's too far gone to call desperation. The people are cleary too used to hopelessness to feel desperate. Vathirond suffered during the war, but now, with the war two years gone, its disheartening to see so many downturned faces.
The war was never truly over for Vathirond. The war memorials in place around the center of town attest to those lost to the Last War, whole generations of men winnowed or whittled down; pick whatever metaphor you like for men and women young and old leaving home so they can kill and be killed on some stranger's land. And then the ones that stay behind get killed too, as the sons and daughters of that foreign land send their best and brightest to kill here. The tragedy of Vathirond is that although it paid far more than its share of lives out here on the border of Thrane and Cyre, the peace didn't help them. They are still on the border of the Mournland, and the abberations that crawl and swoop out of that place do not honor the treaty of Thronehold. Small wonder that so many have simply left, taking whatever possessions they could, they've moved south and west, to Starilaskur, or even farther to Wroat of Sharn, leaving whole sections of the town with abandoned houses.
The Brey river winds its way along the north side of town, supplying the town with a livelihood and a means of travel. Fishermen and bargehands ply the river constantly, carrying the large wheat cargos of the local farmers to other parts of Breland. The Lightning Rail also ends here, delivering and shipping those passengers and goods of a more urgent nature. It is more accurate to say that the lightning rail coaches end their trips here, turning at Vathirond and heading either north to Thrane's Aruldusk or west to Starilaskur. The Lightning rail itself continues east into the Mournland, a constant reminder of what once was. That track has been abandoned and closed off, though the conductor stones still glow, as if beckoning the citizens of Vathirond to follow them.
Spoiler:
This transcript is being resurrected, and relocated from it's previous home/tomb, which is here:
I don't know. This one worries me. I thought the contest was supposed to be fun. Steel Horse voiced my fears a lot more eloquently than I ever could.
...and I was really flattered and stuff.
Then, Sean K Reynolds flattered me some more when he wrote:
It is supposed to be fun.
And for the judges, it's a lot of work.
So when I'm home on a Saturday night evaluating wondrous item submissions, and some jokester thinks he'll be funny and submit the purple monkey statue of explosive monkeybutt butter, he's wasting my time with something he knows isn't going to make it into the Top 32. He's wasting my time just as if he had prank called me. I appreciate humor. I'm a pretty funny guy. But this is RPG Superstar, not Comedy Superstar. I'm involved in this competition because I want to find new, talented game designers, so I can give them work--with the expectation that I can trust them to take their assignments seriously.
There's a place for humor in the game, but as a judge I need to know if you can get the job done. The job in R1 is to design a wondrous item (that we could in theory publish) to show me that you have the chops to be a professional game designer.
I want the contestants to respect that the time I spend judging RPG Superstar comes out of my free time with my new gamer bride. I love being involved in RPG Superstar. I don't treat it like it's a joke. You shouldn't treat it like a joke, either--but that doesn't mean it can't still be fun for you and for me.
...and I have to admit, I'm a convert.
I'm serious. You've convinced me, Sean. And, incidentally, provided further evidence of the thoughtfulness you, the other judges, and Paizo have poured into this project. Just when I think you guys can't get any more reasonable and articulate, you surprise me.
But I stand by my statement that you should consider cutting your judges some slack in some way. The time table seems unnecessarily grueling to me. I like you guys. I don't want to hear about one of you "going postal" some January morning, tromping into the office, and yelling "I'll show YOU some explosive monkeybutt butter! Eat this!"
I see a LOT of posts and comments along the lines of "don't do this, it will irritate the judges" or "if you do this, the judges will think you can't take things seriously", etc. and it really makes the judges come off as a bunch of surly, ill-tempered, humorless curmudgeons. I guess I give them a lot more credit than that. Most of the gamers I've met (and pretty much everyone at Paizo, as far as I can tell from these forums) are pretty good-natured people, so it's hard for me to believe that judging this competition would suddenly transform them into trolls.
Now I'm by no means arguing in favor of submitting a joke item.
But if I submitted such an item, and that item got rejected, I'd like to think that it was because it wasn't a great item. Or because it was poorly written. Or because it WAS A JOKE. All perfectly valid reasons. I'd hate to think it was because I'd pissed off the poor bastard who had to read it.
In my mind, if you've willingly volunteered to read through literally hundreds of wondrous item submissions, you probably know going in that at least a third of them are going to be just plain bad, for a wide variety of reasons. But that's part of the package, right?
(Speaking personally, if I was a judge, and found myself in the position of rejecting 9 out of every 10 entries that came across my screen, I'd much rather reject a well-written joke item than slog through 300 words of poorly-worded, misspelled drivel that didn't deserve the pixels required to display it)
If reading those bad entries actually causes the judges to become angry, that's a problem, and it's time to take a break. They should come back when they're less angry. If that means that Paizo needs to schedule more time for the competition, then so be it.
I'm not sure what "to take out the strongest of presence" means.
I think it's the "fluff" side. The "crunch" side of this sentence (which I would fully expect to see in a full stat block for this creature) might read "In the first round of combat, the Lahamu attacks the character with the highest Charisma score."
My PC's have been skirting the good/evil line pretty closely so far, and so...
In their first encounter with Lamm, they quickly brought him to negative hitpoints.
One dwarven PC (the most vengeful of the lot) made sure that Lamm got healed so that he could beat on him some more. They tied him up, and dragged him along with them, and the vengeful PC made it clear that he would continue to heal/torture Lamm, and would fight anyone who tried to stop him.
Some interesting role playing developed, and, given the situation, I decided to play Lamm a lot like the Benjamin Linus character from Lost. Even though he was in captivity, he continued to manipulate the players with his words, exploiting the conflict and sowing discord whenever he could. Eventually, he egged the dwarf into knocking him senseless with a crowbar. Another PC (a necromancer) took pity on Lamm, and immediately used Grave Touch to drive Lamm below -10, killing him beyond the dwarf's ability to heal.
Initially, the dwarf was very angry, but the two PC's eventually realized how much Lamm had been manipulating them both, and reconciled.
Later, in a pauper's funeral procession, paid for by the city, it was revealed that Lamm's body was missing. He showed up later (at Carowyn Manor) as a revenant, bent on revenge against the dwarf. I used the revenant stats from Skinsaw Murders. The dwarf vs. revenant battle was pretty epic.
As long as you say "with all due respect" it does not matter what you say?
HhHAhHAhahAha!
With all due respect, George Bush was the stupidest president in American history and everyone who voted for him is a slack jawed inbreeding mouth breather IMO.
How was that?
With all due respect, I agree with you 100% IMO.
With all due respect, that was about the most ignorant statement that I've seen on these boards.
Which statement? The one about "with all due respect", the one about George Bush, or the one about agreeing 100%?
A Qassam rocket, the weapon of Hamas, contains from .5 kg (for the Qassam 1) to 10 kg (for the Qassam 3) of explosives.
15 people have been killed by them since their introduction in 2001.
That you would describe them in such a way demonstrates either willful ignorance, willful deception, callous inhumanity towards the victims of this terror weapon, or some combination of those three.
Wait... 15 deaths in 8 years?
By way of comparison, the Consumer Product Safety Commision reports 26 fireworks-related deaths in the US between 2001 and 2005 (5 years). So I guess the comparison doesn't seem that ludicrous to me.
You know, the title of this thread always bothered me. I keep wanting to edit it to say, "You take the marzipan and put it in the tureen, add propensity."
But I suppose using the words incorrectly is more in line with the OP's point (which I couldn't disagree with more).
Like many posters before me, I too developed a larger-than-average vocabulary and a love for reading, which has enriched my life immeasurably, by perusing many a venerable tome (uh... I mean... reading lots of old D&D books).
And anyone who thinks they've got a pretty good vocabulary should check out this site, if they haven't already...
www.freerice.com/
I'd be interested to hear how the average gamer does.
What I find so fascinating about this discussion is how dramatically our own experiences flavor our perceptions.
For instance, I'd always assumed (because this is true for me and my friends), that gamers were, as a whole, more "free spirits", more progressive, more liberal than average.
So I flipped through this thread (well, ok, I read some of the beginning, flipped a bit, then skipped to the end), expecting to find a bunch of McCain/Bush-bashing kindred spirits to chat with.
But if this forum is any indication, gamers, like the rest of the nation, are pretty evenly split, with perhaps slightly more than our share of REALLY free thinkers (libertarians, I'm talking about you).
And it took me by surprise, is all. So much for my plan to launch a national Gamers Take Back Our Country campaign.
Wow. My 90% statitistic explanation got totally glossed over. It's stuff like that that almost makes me resentful about getting chided for poking fun by making up Palin stories.
I believe your 90% to be skewed by the number times the senate votes to congratulate a sports team or other taxpayer waste of time that goes through unaminously. (can't spell).
In 2007, McCain didn't vote much because he was running. He voted for Immigration and Iraq War stuff, both of which he agreed with the president on. Obama agrees on the Immigration stuff too. They're all pro-immigration.
So.....you get a 97% for that year.
In 2005, he had a number in the high 70's. That's considered pretty damn anti-partisan right there. The assertion that McCain is a Bush clone is based on this 90% number they keep kicking around. Yet another example of taking statistics and making them say whatever you want them to mean.
So...
7x% in 2005.
97% in 2007.
What this tells me, is that in the course of two years, McCain has pretty much given up his maverick stance in favor of aligning himself with the current administration, possibly in an attempt to win his party's nomination (mission accomplished!)
I'd be much more impressed with the guy if the numbers had been reversed...
97% in 2005.
7x% in 2007.
This would demonstrate to me that he was more in touch with the nation's (and the world's, and my) appraisal of the Bush administration's policies.
Hate to tell you this but the U.S. is already the best. Of course, there's always room for improvement.
Well, we certainly were during Bill Clinton's tenure as President. But the last eight years have pretty much ruined our legacy as the greatest country in the world. Why do you think all the Europeans want Obama to win? And yeah, I'm sure you think: "Who cares what the rest of the world thinks?" Well, you'd better start worrying. We need their goodwill more than they need ours. We have squandered all the goodwill we had from before. Patriotism is a good thing, but blind Patriotism is not. We can't go it alone forever; we need true allies and friends or we are doomed to failure in the long haul.
Well, that's your opinion. Many people think differently.
Seriously? There's a bunch of people out there who really think that goodwill among other nations isn't important? That, in an increasingly globalized economy, it's not in our own best interests for other countries to think well of us? That we can "win" a "war on terror" without friends and allies? That we can really "go it alone"? That's just plain scary.
Personally, given the choice between having my country and its policies lauded instead of vilified, I'd choose the former over the latter any day. That's why I'll vote for Obama. And, to be perfectly honest, why I'll probably always vote Democrat. McCain (and Republicans in general) seem very focused on maintaining the status quo in regards to our relations with other nations. The thrust of our foreign policy over the last eight years seems to be "we'll do whatever the heck we want, and the rest of the world (and the U.N.) can just lump it, cause we're a super-power, dammit!!"
As a result, we've let our desire for one important resource (crude oil) lure us into squandering another (more important) resource: the moral high ground. And now, when we're faced with an international dilemma like the Russia/Georgia conflict, and no solid moral ground to stand on, and no coalition of allies strong enough to stand up with us, we can hardly go in, shouting "Bad Russia! Stop that! You can't invade a sovereign nation simply by saying you're protecting your national security... wait.... errr... never mind." Well, we can... but it only highlights our own hypocrisy.
Whoa. Not sure where that rant came from. Maybe I shouldn't post this. Maybe I should just delete it.
I started character generation for my PRPG CotCT AP today (Wow, that's a bunch of acronyms!).
For stat generation, we used 4d6, drop the lowest. Point buys are fine, and probably more fair, but I'm still a sucker for dice rolling. Today, when one of my players (a relative newcomer) rolled 3 six's and a five on his 4d6 roll, there were appreciative whistles, obscenities, and high fives all around. Since he's playing a half-orc fighter, I have no doubt he'll be putting that 18 into strength, taking full advantage of his racial mods (can anyone say "tank"?)
I haven't made any plans yet regarding modification of the AP for Pathfinder Beta. SInce I've never been a very good rules junkie, I'd appreciate any advice.
If your players are heavily into the story-telling aspect of D&D (mine usually are), then it might be an interesting experiment to have the players assume different roles for the cut scenes.
In the Blackjack/assassination scenes, instead of playing their usual characters (who conveniently aren't present), the players might take on the roles of nobles come to watch the festivities, servants charged with keeping the nobles' wineglasses full and their boots polished, or even guards assigned to crowd control.
In the sinking of the Direption, the players might become dock workers witnessing the passage of the ship through the channel, beggars scrounging for scraps (or plague-ridden coffers) along the shore, or even city guards manning the trebuchets.
The main purpose would be give the players a first hand account of the events, without having to worry about them having enough power to derail the story. If they try something extremely crazy/foolhardy, well, these NPC's are essentially red-shirts anyway, right?
The other main advantage is the immediate impression the players get that "Ok, we're doing something different now. This isn't a traditional scenario, because I'm playing a completely different character. But I still get to interact, ask questions, etc. Cool."
Obviously, this would only work with the right kind of players. Players who can separate themselves from their PC's for the sake of the story. Other players might end the speculated quote above with "Lame." instead of "Cool."
Problem is reason I chose to run this is because I enjoy the cinematic scenes. If im rebuilding everything to get rid of them im just as well starting from scratch and making up my own campaign.
I don't think anyone's suggesting "rebuilding everything" or "starting from scratch".
Just because you decide that a single scene doesn't (or in this case, didn't) work well for your campaign, doesn't mean you have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I have never run a campaign (pre-written or otherwise) in which everything ended up going 100% "by the book". Part of the joy of playing an RPG is that the story (and the characters involved) take on a life of their own. As a result, you never know for sure what the characters will do, or where exactly the story will go. Essentially, the DM is the main author of the story, with three or four or more players/co-authors contributing to the final product.
Notice that in this analogy, Paizo, or Richard Pett, or any other of their fine contributors are NOT the authors. They may have written the outline, but YOU and YOUR PLAYERS are the authors of your own story/destiny.
So enjoy. If something doesn't work they way you thought it would, learn from it and do it differently next time. It doesn't mean you have to reinvent the wheel. Just reimagine what your group's "wheel" looks like.
The plaguedoctor's masks... they provide immunity to a particular disease (in this case, blood veil). How do they affect an already-infected person who dons the mask AFTER contracting blood veil?
I assume that they DO NOT cure the disease. At the most, perhaps they halt the further spread of the disease until the mask is removed. Otherwise, all the PC's have to do to halt the spread of the disease is round up and incapacitate enough Queen's Physicians, steal their masks, and start an assembly-line "vaccination station". Step right up and be healed. Wear this funny hat, and you'll be cured forever. Hallelujah!
Even with this restriction, it seems likely that the PC's may want to masquerade as Queen's Physicians (despite the rather stiff penalty), simply so as not to contract the disease themselves.
Do you still have this architectural wonder? Or at least a photo of it?
Sorry. No. It was several years ago.
But I remember it the structure itself was built mainly of Castillos (the coolest Lego knock-off's ever, and a small desk clock which nestled into the top to form the clock face.
You had me until "Steven the Vile". After that, it was all I could do to finish the paragraph. "Robert the Pure" and "Rasputin the Black" (I'm skimming by this point) were just nails in the proverbial coffin.
Too bad, too, because, conceptually, I thought this approach had a lot going for it. It seems to capitalize on the "That would be frickin' awesome!" vibe that Paizo has pulled off so well in the past. I hope the author keeps working (and writing), because with a little more polish, this thing could go places.
Spoiler:
Of course, since it was submitted as a part of this contest, it's probably Paizo's intellectual property now.
So, this is like the Battle Mats from Chessex? Is the surface a flat surface, or are there indentations? Will it support Dry Erase and Wet Erase while cleaning up easily?
The surface of the outdoor vinyl is flat (no indentations), but I have to admit, I haven't actually tried writing on it, with an eye toward wiping off afterwards. Guess it's experiment time. I'll get back to you.
Most of my players love getting stuff like that, and the more and bigger the better. It requires keeping the campaign in a local area, but they all love the prestige it represents. It also serves as a great way to drain off some excess loot from them.
I'm curious about this bestowing of large amounts of valuable property as a mechanism for draining excess loot. Are we talking about property taxes/maintenance and upkeep costs? Or maybe the cost of renovation? In the real world, the way that the PC's would recoup those losses is by a) selling the place to , b) renting it out to reliable tenants, or c) starting their own business (and perhaps hiring a manager for times when their away) on the property.
All of which sound like interesting subplots, assuming, of course that things don't go quite as smoothly as they originally plan (do they ever?)
I've been doing this a lot lately (recalling favorite encounter locales), but this whole claiming the manor as personal property idea puts me in mind of one of my favorite classic D&D modules of all time, The Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh by Dave Brown and Don Turnbull.
In this module, if the PC's played their cards right, and the DM let them get away with it (against the author's advice), they could actually end up with posession not only of a "haunted" mansion complete with secret underground cave system, but also the Sea Ghost, a smuggler's boat complete with hidden compartments (Millennium Falcon, eat your heart out).
The encounter with the smugglers on the Sea Ghost has become so ingrained in my consiousness as an iconic D&D moment, that it has reappeared (in one form or another) in every campaign I've run since. If I ever have time to finish The Savage Tide (my players are currently still under Parrot Island), I plan on the Sea Ghost making an appearance (as a weather-beaten, nearly-destroyed husk) once the PC's reach the Sargasso. Heck, maybe it'll end up being the home of the Mother of All!
I haven't gotten my copy of Skinsaw yet, but all this talk of clocktowers puts me in mind of another memorable encounter from The Speaker in Dreams by James Wyatt. The module gets mixed reviews on Amazon, but the PC's attempting to infiltrate and fight their way to the top of a clocktower as a lair for a band of wererats and a female grimlock assasin ended up being one of the most memorable battles of that campaign.
Of course, it probably helps that I built a clocktower (complete with working clock and tinkertoy gears) with a removable roof for the final battle. Never underestimate the power of a good prop!
I wonder how much a Kinko's would charge for 1 map? I haven't been to a Kinko's in years...
I have access to a color laser printer at work, but it only goes up to legal or maybe 11x17.
I suppose having it on one sheet is better than pieces.
As a current Kinko's employee, let me give you the skinny on oversized color printing.
Most Kinko's can print on 4 types of material: Matte paper, Glossy paper, Indoor vinyl (glossy), and outdoor vinyl (matte).
Everything is priced by the square foot. Now, contrary to common sense, the two vinyls are actually cheaper than the papers. Prices vary somewhat by geographic region, but in Ohio, they run this this:
What this means is that a 24x36 inch (2 foot x 3 foot) print is going to run you somewhere between $42 and $72. Pretty pricy for a one use item (even with an employee discount). However, what we lack in affordability, we make up for in speed. Most stores (particularily the ones that are open 24 hours) can turn around a map in 1 day or less.
Having said that, my favorite material for this type of thing is the outdoor vinyl. It's comparatively cheap, but rolls and feels a lot like the rubber sheet material you sometimes see in professional write-on / wipe off mats. It's also a lot less susceptible to scratching/wrinkling than the indoor vinyl.
They won't be able to print from Dunjinni, so you'll have to save as a JPG or PDF (remembering to set your export for the highest quality setting, of course).
Let me know if there's anything else I can answer for you.
Ooohhhh...I know...he was ambushed in a dark alley by Snap, Crackle, and Pop!
You know, Snap, Crackle and Pop would make a great group of evil sorcerers, perhaps specializing in murder/arson using pyrotechnic techniques?
I can see the criminal mastermind, known only as "Crackle", in my mind's eye right now... devillishly twisting his handlebar mustache between thumb and forefinger as he plots his next dastardly plot. His trusted (but not too bright) sidekicks, "Snap" and "Pop" cracking their knuckles in anticipation of their next victim.
It was getting late we return back only to find my father had became a victim of cereal killer.
So...your dad was mauled to death by Tony the Tiger? Or maybe he was mortally pecked by Toucan Sam? Ooohhhh...I know...he was ambushed in a dark alley by Snap, Crackle, and Pop!
I would probably make some kind of preemptive DM ruling, preventing the ability from working beyond the kopru's posession. Presumably, this ability functions by reading some kind of psychic residue or "fingerprint" left behind on the object.
Surely, if the Bilewretch of Holashner is really "from beyond the realm of time so age is meaningless", then it stands to reason that it might also fail to leave a recognizable psychic fingerprint. Or, perhpas the phychic imprint is so corrupted/evil/chaotic/bizarre that it obliterates any previous imprints. Maybe it's so vile, in fact, that making even this tenuous psychic connection wIth the Bilewretch (or it's imprint) damages/nauseates/knocks unconscious the PC attempting to read the object. It's unlikely that your character has ever encountered a Bilewretch (or anything even remotely resembling one) and thus has no frame of reference to interpret such a bizarre reading.
The advantage of such an approach should be obvious. It still gives the PC some valuable information they didn't know before (the Vanthus-->Troglodyte-->Kopru connection), which in turn leads them directly towards the next stage of the AP, while stopping short of revealing everything (and potentially leading them to the central plateau prematurely).
In addition, the sense of tension it creates is a nice perk. And when your PC's finally confront the Bilewretch, your psionic PC could have a flash of intuition/recognition that this is the same creature he sensed earlier, which should make him appropriately wary.
On a side note, it strikes me that this ability, in the hands of an ornery player, could end up being a huge PITA for the DM. Imagine having to come up with a 10-person chain of possession for every mundane object in your campaign, on the fly.
Player: "I'm using my psionic powers to see who has used this tankard/soupspoon/torch/gold coin!"
DM: Grrrrrrrrrrr...."Okay. Prior to you, the tankard was posessed by Katya, the serving wench, age 23, who loaned it you in order that you might consume it's contents. It was handed to her by Brugar, the barkeep, age 47..."
A reference to another adventure from dungeon TAMATAUT's Fate. It has nothing to do with the AP, just the shared universe. Great adventure BTW.
According the Dungeon Magazine Index at Intwischa.com, the title is "Tammeraut's Fate" from issue #106. The teaser text reads:
Ten years ago, zombies arose from the foamy sea to take vengeance against the inhabitants of Firewatch Island. Now, they have risen again, just in time to welcome the visiting player characters! Will your heroes manage to escape the island with their lives (to say nothing of their delicious brains)? A D&D Greyhawk adventure for 6th-level characters.
Sorry Haldir (and others). My last post was overly harsh. Looking over my posting history, I find that I often sound meaner and more sarcastic than I normally like to think of myself.
Note to self: Stop before making a negative post. Think. Is it really necessary to bash this person? Do I have a valid point? More importantly, can I make that point in a different way, without possibly hurting someone's feelings?
My name is Steelhorse. I'm just trying to be a better person.
I'm going to risk sounding like an 80's valley girl, because that is TOTALLY awesome! Kudos to your group for their creativity and bravado, and to you as DM for allowing them to attempt this hare-brained scheme. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a little believability for the sake of the game. Rest assured...this is gaming moment that your players will remember years after this campaign is over.
"Oh...yeaaaahhhh! Remember that one time, when we convinced that pompous dillweed...what was his name...? Avner! That's right! Rememeber when we convinced Avner to try and lasso the killer ostrich thingy...and it ran off down the beach, dragging him face first through the sand, screaming! That was AWESOME!"
Maybe it's just me, but I get a little tired of the inevitable "When the heck am I going to receive my next issue?? So and so got theirs already, and I still haven't gotten mine!" posts every month.
Why is "You'll get it when you get it." so hard for people to understand? Here's a thought. Each day, when you get up in the morning, just PLAN on not receiving your magazine. Then, when you DO receive it, it'll be like a fun little surprise.
Now, if people are starting to talk about NEXT month's issue, and you still haven't gotten THIS months yet, THEN maybe it's time to start asking around.
I'd like to post your Lotus Dragon tattoo image (http://www.onasteelhorse.com/STAP/tattoo.jpg) on the private site my players and I are using for our Savage Tide campaign. Would that be okay? If so, how should I credit the art ("Steel Horse", or your real name, or ...)?
Glad you enjoyed the artwork. I posted those images expressly for people to use as they saw fit, so no credit is necessary. If you still feel compelled, how about "courtesy of steelhorse (at) mac (dot) com"? Of course, the original (unmodified) artwork is coutesy of (and no doubt copyrighted by) Paizo.
How's your game going? Have you started yet? We had our first session last Saturday, and so far, the party has messed around in Sasserine a bit, been attacked by a couple of Lotus Dragons in Shadowshore, met Lavinia and the Jade Ravens, and skulked around Pier 14 until they witnessed some unusual activity in one of the nearby warehouses, where some thugs were loading a caged cheetah onto a small barge for transport over to the Blue Nixie. They quickly dispatched the smugglers (with help from a Mage Hand spell to open the angry cheetah's cage). They have now appropriated the barge, and are planning on disguising themselves as the smugglers to take the Blue Nixie's occupants by surprise. It's unclear whether they've been spotted by the Kenku yet.
I too created a Dundjinni map but dressed it up in Photoshop by adding a crow's nest (with an actual Kenku for a lookout), and some rigging from Darkmaiden's Dance.
Other artwork I've modified for my own use include a Portrait of Lavinia to match the one of Vanthus in Vanderboren Manor, and a Lotus Dragon Tattoo (mentioned several times in the adventure text). Since one of my players has taken ranks in Artisan (Tatoo), I thought it appropriate to provide him with a nice visual aid.
I never got excited about all of this and don't really know why dms/gamers are so into it. Could somebody explain me what's so great about this? What's so cool compared to true diamonds like the Marco Volo trilogy or the Temple of Elemental Evil (by the way the only dungeon I ever found appealing and interesting)
Just so I'm clear...
You don't like dungeon hackfests, but you DID like ToEE? That's the only module I've ever DM'd where the players just gave up out of sheer apathy. To be fair, we were in high school at the time, so I may have overlooked some of the role playing possibilities, but once we got away from Homlet and the moathouse, the whole thing turned into the biggest snorefest since Ruins of Undermountain (i.e. a series of random dungeon rooms strung together with an even more random assortment of monsters and treasure). To this day, we still refer to it as the Temple of Elemental Boredom.
Come to think of it, maybe there's an idea there. I'm picturing the MM entry for the Boredom Para-Elemental as we speak...
There is a small chance that you may not need the VPs at all. My group just finished Tides of Dread and their command of the defence of Farshore and their preparations resulted in the destruction of the Crimson Fleet. Can't argue with success, regardless of what the VP total might say.
So, how many VPs did your players earn (if I may be so bold)?
To riff on the phanatons, I'd have them spend a few days studying the Farshore inhabitants. Humans probably all look pretty similar to them, and they'd have to know who's the enemy and who's friendly. Imagine that you as a human are involved in a hypothetical epic battle between warring tribes of phanatons; it'd be extremely difficult to tell who is who in the heat of the moment.
On the other hand, the phanatons might be just bright enough to differentiate between the villagers and farmers and such who are inside the palisades protecting the settlement, and the burning, looting, pillaging types piling off the five ships in the harbor, dressed all piratey and such.
Dungeon #138 has a Savage Tide preview in which the 12-part series is fully outlined. There are conversion notes here on this site for Forgotten Realms and Eberron available as a free download.
Where can I find the conversion notes PDF? Thx, SJE
Heroes get to Blisterwall (decribed in Dragon 349) and are given a hippogriffon ride and dropped off in the jungle, to which they will walk the rest of the way to the temple. (The hippogriffon ride saves them 2-4 days of jungle travel.)
Just curious... do the PC's really get a ride from a "Hippogriffon"? I'm pretty sure I know what a griffin is. And, thank's to Harry Potter, everybody and his dog know what a hippogriff is. But what the heck's a hippogriffon?
Well it's over. What an unmitigated disaster. The player's made it through the challenges fairly well, although my own descriptive abilities were greatly lacking. Fortunately the players are all coming back next time, but this was one of the 3 worst sessions I have ever DMed IMHO in terms of the level of job I did. It wasn't the players faults and I made mistake after mistake, almost culminating in a TPK. I got to leave the game design to the experts and stick to running with that.
Brent,
Sorry to hear you had such a crummy session. I've had a couple of those, and they're no fun, especially if you're like me, and tend to beat yourself up for days afterwards. The important thing to remember is...did the you and the players have any fun? If If so, which parts did you/they enjoy most? And, more importantly, how can you have more of it?
By the way, you mentioned earlier you were from Manhattan, KS. I spent a lot of years in Manhattan myself (most of them working for Kinko's) before moving out to NE Ohio. How are things back in the Little Apple?
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