paizo.com Recent Posts in PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]paizo.com Recent Posts in PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]2014-12-26T17:11:29Z2014-12-26T17:11:29ZRe: Forums: GM Discussion: PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]strangeporkhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ncvo&page=2?PFS311-On-Hostile-Waters-SPOILERS#542014-05-08T04:16:20Z2014-05-08T04:16:20Z<p>I just finished a run... it went very well from my perspective, and i think everyone had fun. i had a player who has already played part 3 ask me if he could play in my friday session of part 3 anyways for no credit, which i took as a pretty big compliment. </p>
<p>I took a lot of time at the start to establish the setting, and also to try and bring up the paranoia to a boil. I am not sure, but i think it had the desired effect:</p>
<p>- lets plan out a 24 hour schedule for who is driving and sleeping when, that has to last weeks - introduce the idea they might be attacked any day, any time.
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- borrowed the great idea to have them pre roll a bunch of perception checks
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- Wrote down all of their Swim scores, and ACP - i think this got them a bit worried.
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- Casually mentioned i had printed out the rules for swimming and drowning on a cheat sheets haha! (little gm fun there)
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- rolled dice on 'off days' to make it seem like something might be happening even though the events are fixed on certain days. They did not fall for it though, assumed they would have time to rest (and they were right). i just cant find a way around this when they know its a 14 day voyage or so... it just logical on their part.
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- when familiarizing them with the boat as directed, I made sure to emphasize the boats hit points, poor armor class, and such, and stressed the dire circumstances of it sinking. Again, trying to build up some fear. </p>
<p>The party was built for this scenario though (same crew that ran part 1 and most will run part 3, so Ill get my revenge!) </p>
<p>Bard(s) with insane knowledge skills manned the tiller while magus, inquisitor and gunslinger handled the combat. Not the scenarios fault though.</p>
<p>Tien-speaking Diplo face character nat 20's his roll for a 33 bargaining for the incense...</p>
<p>They beautifully hid the braid and ended up bluffing Sun Cheyeng that they had seen another ship of Inner Sea folks following them, off he went to chase that lead (of course he still alerted his superiors, who still dispatched the Hailong)</p>
<p>The final scene had the potential to be deadly and i didnt hold back. I got a terrible init roll, and the invisible gunslinger and magus one rounded the enemy magus before she could flinch. just good rolling on their part, could easily have gone against them 3 out of 4 times if we re-fought it. </p>
<p>In the end, especially when they heard the very strict secondary success conditions, i think they all felt like good solid play had won the day, not at all a cakewalk. i think they felt they earned it, especially the okogai and sun cheyeng scenes which both almost beg you to attack.</p>
<p>Good scenario! i would recommend reading up and introducing, when allowed (like the 33 diplo roll and a night of partying with the Jhels) the fact that they are in the middle of a warzone. I also stressed the claustrophobia of the second half of the river.</p>
<p>I regret not doing the optional - according to the clock we were past the time for it, but the rest of the scen went so fast, we could have fit it in. If i run this again, the optional will be used if its appropriate time wise. If i had started the clock not when we began play, but when we actually began to roll dice, i think it would have made it under the clock. It was hard to know what our exact 'start time' was with so much exposition, explaining sailing rules, describing the ship etc. I now wish i hadnt counted that as official time, and so we could have barely squeezed in the optional. But i had no way of estimating how long the scenario would last, so i went 'by the book' as best i could.</p>
<p>Kudos to the author</p>I just finished a run... it went very well from my perspective, and i think everyone had fun. i had a player who has already played part 3 ask me if he could play in my friday session of part 3 anyways for no credit, which i took as a pretty big compliment.
I took a lot of time at the start to establish the setting, and also to try and bring up the paranoia to a boil. I am not sure, but i think it had the desired effect:
- lets plan out a 24 hour schedule for who is driving and sleeping...strangepork2014-05-08T04:16:20ZRe: Forums: GM Discussion: PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]strangeporkhttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ncvo&page=2?PFS311-On-Hostile-Waters-SPOILERS#532014-05-07T14:36:17Z2014-05-07T14:36:17Z<p>I am running it tonight, so i will report back - the feedback here, especially about the river bend "flock of birds" thing, is very helpful.</p>
<p>Just from reading the scenario however, it feels like a lot of GMs didnt take all of the drama of the setting itself into play. being trapped on a barely-crawling junk, traveling down a river that is the border between a) a three-way 100 year civil war to the south and b) bandit and hobgoblin nations to the north, should install a deep feeling of dread. I am going to try and play up 'sailing into a warzone' aspect of it. This is not a carnival cruise (the scenario specifically states they have clean food and water ha)</p>
<p>Also the implied length of the journey needs to be pressed into the PCs - sure as players they know they are gonna get probably 4 good fights a few days apart, but they need a watch schedule - the attacks could come at any time, day or night, on a long journey. I wish their were stress/fatigue factors perhaps at the end of the journey from the players standard reaction of "we all take 20 on all perception checks, for two weeks straight."</p>
<p>If you want some flavor or to get you in the mood, I suggest you watch the Steve McQueen CLASSIC http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sand_Pebbles_(film)</p>
<p>Its very similar - a group of over-stressed americans aboard a small warship in 1920s china find them selves floating down a river into a warzone. They even have to either negotiate or fight their way past a chain stretched across a river.</p>
<p>But watching this recently has helped me envision the mood i want to set - constant stress or paranoia. I plan to introduce a few roleplay items picked up from the movie - villagers, fishing or doing laundry, watching from the coast line as the curios ship and its far more curious crew. Some wave, some are silent, some run when they see the ship - are they about to get ambushed, are they being sold out?!?</p>
<p>I want to play up emotional fatigue and stress of sailing into a warzone as much as i can. </p>
<p>Also i think the scenario intentionally starts you on the boat then ret-cons the Amara Li conversation specifically to prevent the party from buying items, such as a boat driver, or handy haversacks, or basically anything useful hehe. If they try to hire or buy along the way, it will be a hard sell to convince a simple peasant to drive a boatload of suspicious foreigners, clearly trying to avoid contact with Lingshen officials, into a warzone. let a lone a warzone named the Sea of Eeels haha!</p>
<p>Im going to try to turn this into a scenario where the atmosphere/stress is a character of sorts.</p>
<p>If the party is fully prepped and just unloads everything every fight, i can see how some of the encounters might go. Ill do my best to trick them into paranoia and holding back with the 'anything could happen at any time' angle.</p>
<p>Im hoping for heart of darkness / the african queen / apocalypse now / the sand pebbles type emotions.</p>I am running it tonight, so i will report back - the feedback here, especially about the river bend "flock of birds" thing, is very helpful.
Just from reading the scenario however, it feels like a lot of GMs didnt take all of the drama of the setting itself into play. being trapped on a barely-crawling junk, traveling down a river that is the border between a) a three-way 100 year civil war to the south and b) bandit and hobgoblin nations to the north, should install a deep feeling of dread....strangepork2014-05-07T14:36:17ZRe: Forums: GM Discussion: PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]Doug Mileshttps://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ncvo&page=2?PFS311-On-Hostile-Waters-SPOILERS#522014-02-04T18:23:20Z2014-02-04T15:23:07Z<p>If that's your biggest problem with this scenario, you have it pretty good.</p>If that's your biggest problem with this scenario, you have it pretty good.Doug Miles2014-02-04T15:23:07ZRe: Forums: GM Discussion: PFS#3-11 On Hostile Waters [SPOILERS]Ghanrak Serpenthelm (alias of Matthias_AT)https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2ncvo&page=2?PFS311-On-Hostile-Waters-SPOILERS#512021-04-23T17:31:54Z2014-02-04T02:43:05Z<p>The biggest problem I have with this scenario is the Lingshenese Soldiers in Tier 1-2. They have Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) and Power Attack, which they do not qualify for as 1st-level Monks have a +0 BAB.</p>The biggest problem I have with this scenario is the Lingshenese Soldiers in Tier 1-2. They have Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike) and Power Attack, which they do not qualify for as 1st-level Monks have a +0 BAB.Ghanrak Serpenthelm (alias of Matthias_AT)2014-02-04T02:43:05Z