Beginner Box Continuation


Beginner Box


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Hey guys!

So I'm a 4e convert who was inspired to try out Pathfinder because of Penny-Arcade's recent postings. I felt that a simplified version of D&D that someone could just 'pick up and play' would work very well for a bunch of my friends who were new to a d20 system, but had a lot of intererest in playing.

We played the starter campaign and everyone had a blast. My party favored rushing in and murdering everything (So they didn't do the dragon toy quest, heh.) instead of talking. But overall, they all had a really great time. Even though I told them I only planned on once-a-month adventures, they wanted to do it the next week!!

With less than a week to prepare an entire adventure, I had a lot of work ahead. Here's what I've got so far. What do you guys think?

(It's in the spoiler so I don't murder the thread)

New Adventure:
Beating the Birdcrunchers

“Our heroes embark once again in the best interest of Sandpoint. A few townsfolk stand and watch you depart, offering prayers and cheers for you all. According to the information you’ve received, the Goblin Lair is about a mile from town and up a long, twisting road to the side of a mountain. After some time, you stand at the long, winding path up the mountain. It is faint, but you can see an irregularity at the face of the mountain which may be your destination”

1. Goblin Lookout Party – XP 405

(Bring out the forest tiles – Include a nearby lake or stream)

“Ahead on a somewhat beaten path is a sort of clearing. You can’t help but get the feeling that you’re being watched. You all look around…”

Perception Rolls. If half the party succeeds (DC 14), they are not surprised.

“…ugh. Goblin ambush again? Two goblins come out behind trees with might pass for ferocious expressions on their faces, if they weren’t 3 feet tall. One swings down from a tree, uttering a ridiculous war cry!”

Monsters:
3x Goblins

Treasure:
2 Short Swords
1 Vial of Red Liquid (Potion of Healing, 1d8+1)
Food
Ragged Clothes
16 Gold
________________________________________

1B. Climbing the Rock – XP 200

“You continue down the path ahead of you, following the river like the goblin in Sandpoint told you. Somewhere, past the wall of trees ahead of you, you hear the sound of rushing water. After a few more minutes, the origin of this noise becomes apparent. A beautiful waterfall adorns the mountainside, water cascading down the sheer Cliffside. The path dead-ends next to this large waterfall to a large, vertically climbing slab of stone. The rise seems to go up at least 40 feet.”

Climbing DC’s
With Kit – DC 16 / Without Kit – DC 18
+2 for 1st person to assist, +1 per person after the 1st
.
“While climbing up the mountain, you see several birds nests with cracked eggs, blood and feathers littered everywhere. Once you finally come to the top, a magnificent sight stands before you. Large stone statues, most of which have given way to the elements, are erected everywhere. Worn walls, broken in most places would offer protection from the chilly wind, but there are no roofs here. The craftwork here looks interesting (History DC 13+ Dwarven, but not like most dwarven architecture. DC 17+ This would belong to the surface-dwelling dwarves, the Borsomer.) but foreign. You think you hear something…”
________________________________________

2. Goblin & Orc Patrol - XP 675

Perception DC 16+

“You see a goblin patrol incoming! Something else is with them…!”

Failed DC

“Three goblins and two larger, uglier creatures flanking them come down a path ahead. The goblins cry out in alarm, grabbing for their weapons clumsily. One of the larger creatures’ face is split with a large grin as it raises it’s own weapon.”

Monsters:
2 Goblins
1 Dire Rat (“Snarky”)
2 Orcs

Treasure:
23 Gold
Written Note

________________________________________

3. Waterfall Lake

“Here you see a large body of water that runs to the waterfall. In the center of the pool is a small island with something shining in the sunlight…”

Swim skill challenge! DC 16+ - No help allowed. If failed by 4 or more, roll a d4. The result is how far the person is moved by the undercurrent. On success, roll a d6 and the person can move forward half that many squares.

Treasure:
Helm of Charging +1 (+1hit/dmg on charges)

________________________________________

4. Goblin Sleepy Camp

“Ahead you can see various goblins doing various things. Some are cooking on a fire, others fidgeting thru a pile of junk, some are sleeping…”

Monsters:
6 Goblins~!

Treasure:
19 gold coins
1 Bird Feather Token
Savah’s Stolen Goods*

________________________________________

5. Underground Lake becomes Aboveground Lake

“Just a stream of water coming out of the mountain. Not really a big deal.”

________________________________________

6. War(ning) Horn

“A skeleton with most of the flesh rotted off stares blankly into the distance, standing vigil over a large bonfire set beside an ornate looking horn. Two orcs and one goblin encircle the fire, dancing and throwing weird stuff into the pyre.”

Monsters:
2 Orcs
1 Goblin
1 Skeleton

Treasure:
The Horn itself is adorned with various gems and is made out of Olyphant horn worth 1,200 gold coins.
13 gold coins
________________________________________

7. Orc Bunker

“A small clearing leads to a dark cave.”
Players can try to be sneaky and see what’s in the cave without being seen.

Stealth DC 17+

If successful-
“Immediately in front of you is the silhouette of a skeleton standing guard. It doesn’t seem to have noticed you. You can see thru its ribcage two orcs standing by a fire, spinning a large spit with some dead thing rotating above the flames.”

If failed –
“You catch a glimpse of a skeleton standing watch… But he sees you too! It draws a sword from its chest and opens its jawbone in a soundless war cry!”

Monsters:
1 Orc Leader
3 Orcs
1 Skeleton

Treasure:
1 Rusty Key (Opens the Armory)

________________________________________

8. Armory

“A large picket fence hums the closer you are to it. Behind the fence, you see various boxes and sacks.”

If someone casts detect magic, the humming goes away. It was a very weak charm, but if someone tried to just pick the lock or open the gate, they take 1d6+2 points of damage.

Lockpick DC 27+

Treasure:
1,250 Gold Coins
2 Small Rubies worth 50gp each
+1 Leather Armor
Potion of Healing
Potion of Mage Armor
A Spellbook! (randomized spells)

________________________________________

9. Sacrificial Pit

“Past the brush and rubble of another weathered and broken wall, you see a large pit. You can hear a goblin’s voice shouting orders.

‘Move it, bone breath! Git yer boney arses movin’ fasta! Much fasta! Big bosseses Thuun no like waiting… hurts me when waiting…. Rrrgh, Move it! He needses more by tonight for da masta!’

“The goblin paces back and forth, screaming at the top of his lungs. His orders are appearing to fall on deaf ears, which make sense, because the ‘people’ he’s speaking with is a bunch of animated skeletons. They appear to be rolling bodies into the large pit. Surrounding this pit, you see several iron cages holding some scary-looking things.”

Monsters:
4 Skeletons
1 Goblin Leader

Treasure:
1x Goblin Scroll of New Life (Written in Goblin. It almost always works!)
1 Emerald worth 40gp
Staff of Scorching (Half-used)

________________________________________

10. Altar Room

“You cross some rubble and stone where a wall of this ancient structure looks to have been bashed in. A tattered cloth separates the enclosure from the rest of the ruins.”

“Griggle, if you come to beg for more time, I’m afr--- oh. Visitors. Surely you didn’t come unobstructed, which means… Oh, Griggle….

“Well, congratulations. You’ve managed to defeat the all-powerful leader of these Birdcruncher Goblins. All power, No-talent. Well, they’ve served their purpose as much as can be hoped. You, however, you all can still serve. Kneel now. Accept me as your master and Lamashtu as your Goddess… and at least then you will be aware that you serve.”

Let the party answer…

“A shame we couldn’t come to an understand. Napegrip! Minions! Make them to serve!”

Monsters:
1 Evil Cleric
2 Skeletons
1 Orc Leader

Treasure:
Headband of Inspired Wisdom

________________________________________

11. Cavern Behind the Altar

“Behind the mossy veil that covers the mouth of a cave lays a well-lit cavern with a single stone fountain in the center of the rocky area. Its shallow pool is filled with a too-blue liquid.”

Detect magic works. Arcane knowledge works. This is a scrying pool, essentially a magical phone-pool for olden-magical days.

“A voice booms in your head, violently spinning the cavern and weakening your knees’ resolve to keep you upright;

Ah, Thuun, you return so soon? I take great pleasure in having one such as yourself swear to Her Majesty. Now if we can just attend to the mystery of Black Fang’s demise. Have you acquired all the things I’ve asked you for?

…Thuun? …THUUN!? Who is this?! I demand you answer me!”


I can't speak for the adventure you wrote up since I'm brand new the world of RPGs but i did notice there are some free adventures that Pazio has on it site if you want more examples.

GM KIt

Bash Demo


Wow, Erif.

I don't know if you can hear the sound of me kicking myself from where you are... But thank you for those links. If I'm ever ambushed again by my players got another long gaming sessions, I'll be sure to reference those links.

I'm trying to figure how to work my scanner so I can include the map I have made as well.


When I finish the free items that Erif suggested, I am going to try 0ono Game's Fangs from the Past. The adventure is designed for the Beginner Box. I have looked it over and it looks like fun but I will not know for a while how good it is.

Scarab Sages

I haven't ran Fangs From the Past yet, but I bought it and I like it. There's supposed to be a sequel coming out in February, also Beginner Box-compatible.


It looks like a good adventure. I'm assuming that your party has played the suggested adventure in the GMs guide and defeated Black Fang.
The only thing I might change is the first encounter. I think I'd put in a different monster, something non-humanoid, just to mix things up a bit, but that's totally personal preference.


Dream Daemon wrote:
I haven't ran Fangs From the Past yet, but I bought it and I like it. There's supposed to be a sequel coming out in February, also Beginner Box-compatible.

The next adventure is named Curse of the Sickled Hand, going in playtest in a couple of days.

It isn't exactly a sequel, but it shares the same starting location (the village of Gafolweed), which will be also detailed in an upcoming product.

People who played Fangs from the Past will find familiar NPCs and places in the next adventure.


@Kradlum - Thanks for the input. Now that I look at it, I am inclined to agree with you. Maybe I'll have something crawl out of the pit =) They did indeed defeat Black Fang

@The rest of you's - Those adventures sound really cool! It's almost a mirror-image of what the story of my adventure is going to be like, from what I can tell.

Grand Lodge

Some other free adventures from Paizo that might work with just a little effort to switch the monsters to Beginner Box versions are:

"In Service to Lore" , "To Delve the Dungeon Deep" , "A Vision of Betrayal"

These are Pathfinder Society adventures, but can easily be used for any low level campaign. If your PCs are above level 1 just add a few more monsters or use tougher ones.

And remember the Beginner Box rule:

If you encounter a rule you don't know or something you don't understand, just ignore it.

Paizo Employee CEO

5 people marked this as a favorite.
Don Walker wrote:

And remember the Beginner Box rule:

If you encounter a rule you don't know or something you don't understand, just ignore it.

I LOVE that you picked up on that! I would have to say that this rule is one of my favorites from the Beginner Box. In fact, I think GMs should use this rule all the time. Don't become a slave to the rules. Ignore them if they get in the way of having fun and advancing the storyline.

-Lisa

Grand Lodge

Lisa Stevens wrote:
Don Walker wrote:

And remember the Beginner Box rule:

If you encounter a rule you don't know or something you don't understand, just ignore it.

I LOVE that you picked up on that! I would have to say that this rule is one of my favorites from the Beginner Box. In fact, I think GMs should use this rule all the time. Don't become a slave to the rules. Ignore them if they get in the way of having fun and advancing the storyline.

-Lisa

If I could somehow condense this statement into my avatar pic and or make it a signature I would.

Liberty's Edge

Master of the Zero One wrote:
Dream Daemon wrote:
I haven't ran Fangs From the Past yet, but I bought it and I like it. There's supposed to be a sequel coming out in February, also Beginner Box-compatible.

The next adventure is named Curse of the Sickled Hand, going in playtest in a couple of days.

It isn't exactly a sequel, but it shares the same starting location (the village of Gafolweed), which will be also detailed in an upcoming product.

People who played Fangs from the Past will find familiar NPCs and places in the next adventure.

How's this going is it ready for release yet? Bought Fangs and I'm excited about Curse.


Warpath42 wrote:
Master of the Zero One wrote:
Dream Daemon wrote:
I haven't ran Fangs From the Past yet, but I bought it and I like it. There's supposed to be a sequel coming out in February, also Beginner Box-compatible.

The next adventure is named Curse of the Sickled Hand, going in playtest in a couple of days.

It isn't exactly a sequel, but it shares the same starting location (the village of Gafolweed), which will be also detailed in an upcoming product.

People who played Fangs from the Past will find familiar NPCs and places in the next adventure.

How's this going is it ready for release yet? Bought Fangs and I'm excited about Curse.

Playtest ended yesterday (we had tons of fun!). There are a couple of encounters that just rock!

The adventure will go to editing very soon. If all goes well it should be out in 3 weeks or so. I will do my best to publish it as soon as possible, but we have quality standards and some work must be done! :)

Scarab Sages

This pleases me. Your quality standards are always very high.


I will certainly buy Curse upon release!


Sorry for resurrecting old threads (but I paid for the diamond), I just wanted to say that we have since branched out of the Beginner Box and moved onto the real deal. Our last session the cleric died and now that the sense of real danger is amongst my players, they're having a lot (with extreme trepidation) fun.

My players can't get enough of Paizo products now and have since purchased ~$300 in merch collectively. I only wish local dealers sold more of the stuff!

<3 Paizo. Keep on keepin' on.

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