Razor Coast


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The Exchange

Yes but 4 swarms are CR8 and Roachlord plus 1-4 swarms is CR 7.

One of the issues I do need to sort out is that they really want to get onboard a ship. I keep trying to head them up the coast to deal with the smugglers, but not biting so far. Once I've done a mass of sewer stuff I think they definitely need to get out,

Spoiler:
but luckily if they find Durrell's body that should be easily doable.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Hey Mark,

As for getting them out to sea, I agree the sewer connection with

Spoiler:
Garr's Gold
can do the trick. I also found that trawling
Spoiler:
Captain Mercy and the City of Gold from HotR
was a great way to put many opportunities for acquiring a ship in their hands.

Didn't quite work out for my players, but at one point they had the makings of a small fleet. Three ships, possibly four.

Here's a short play report from my game:

Spoiler:

They bought a ship in Port Shaw, the Thunderstrike, and put her in drydock for repairs and refitting.

They defeated the Lizard Captain who beats them to the Veiled Island, and seized that ship. Two ships.

Then they had Captain Mercy's ship, and all her crew were eaten by the Pale Queen, one by one. I used that to ratchet tension and fear. Eventually the Queen took Mercy and Xander Brim -- along as a consultant -- and made them into Vampire Spawn. Three ships.

They might have taken out one Admiral Tame's courier ship as well, should the story have played out that way.

Instead, after releasing the insane dragon child from the Caul and defeating it, they immediately decided to rest. Dismissing the rumblings and early earthquakes as related to the Caul and the dragon's destruction, they entered a rope trick for 12 hours or more.

While they slept the volcano erupted, the tidal wave annihilated the island, and they emerged from the rope trick to nothing but ocean, boundless and bare, stretching far away.

The first character to exit just said "I jump out, using acrobatics to land with a flourish. I don't need the rope."

Plop into the ocean.

Hilarious!

PS They got out only the gold they teleported away before rope tricking.

PPS I decided the tidal wave they unleashed destroyed Admiral Tame's floating wreck-city, and that unbeknownst to them the Admiral and his surviving ships now hunt the players for revenge.


Louis Agresta wrote:

The first character to exit just said "I jump out, using acrobatics to land with a flourish. I don't need the rope."

Plop into the ocean.

*snicker* Oh, that is too precious. I highly approve. ]=D

The Exchange

Yeah the connection was how I expected them to get an impetus to get out. They are close to being sewered out :)

The Exchange

Well I got another session and had planned to deal with 2 sections of the sewers.

Spoiler:
The session started with the group buying up supplies ready to go into the sewers. As is usual with my group they always seem to prep for the encounter they last had rather than ready for what might be coming so after the swarms they stocked up on blast effect weapons and swarm repellent. This was despite knowing they were looking into hoarding of alchemist's fire.

They got Lester to take them via the Roachlord area so they could get a sample to try and establish what the creature had been. Then on to section 2. They came in under cover of the dark and their Dragon disciple snuck ahead to see what was going on. He went left and then came back. The party moved up and then went to look in the room with the Scorpion which attacked with its stinger. They withdrew quickly and decided to leave the Scorpion alone.

They dealt with the Kyton fairly quickly then moved up and got involved in a conversation with the Succubus. They spent a bit of time trying to establish who she was as she tried to coax one of them into the cage. Eventually they rumbled her at which point she summoned a Babau and the group of Quasit and Dretches which had been waiting her command descended.

The group fought through them fairly well despite the resistances and no Prot from evil or overcoming the DR. The Quasits ended up getting into a dogfight with the Witch and eventually she managed to take them down.

They were feeling pretty good and moved off to finish looking through the rest of the area before deciding if they would deal with the scorpion or go through the door at the top. Just a note that drawing out the map they decided it looked like a giant space invader with the cages being eyes.

The Dragon disciple snuck off again and went into the alchemist fire room. Once in there the disturbed Babau moved around and began to summon their counterparts. The group ended up fighting them in the corridor, but set themselves up so that the teleporting Babau were able to get sneak attacks on them. The Witch moved through one of her party members despite the party pleading for her not to and died before being dragged in to be eaten by the Scorpion. Eventually the Tulita Barbarian died as well just as her rage expired. I had Lester having heard the fight and he came in as the summoned Babau disappeared. The group managed suggestions and other mind effecting abilities on the unsummoned Babau and got them to return to their guard positions.

The group retreated and they came together as players to discuss what they needed to replace. I've allowed them to adjust some of the remaining characters because the players who play them are rebuilding them. Previously the group has had one of them build all the characters, but with the new characters coming in the whole group is being adjusted so they each know their roles and there is less overlap.

Next time back to get revenge on the Babau and then up to look for the bones.


Mark, you've got to be really tired of sewers by now! Will try and get your group out somewhere else!

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Question about the Razor Coast:

I really want to get it, but should I'm torn. On the one hand, I'm far more likely to be able to actually play this if I get the S&W version, but the setting seems a lot more friendly to the more complicated Pathfinder rules.

Any advice?

Pathfinder Creative Director, Frog God Games

Yakman, to fully appreciate the many nuances and creative uses of the rules, then PF is your way to go...including the wonderful ship-to-ship fighting rules of Fire as She Bears. However, some people just want to game and not get caught up in all that. And if that's how your table likes to roll, then S&W would be your thing. As an example, the ship-to-ship rules were not translated into S&W, so there is no S&W version of Fire as She Bears (unlike the other books, which all got converted) because it was deemed as unnecessary for that game style. S&W can do free-flowing, loose ship fighting stuff without getting all hung up on the rules. But if you like the idea of rules for it to give an unarbitrary sense of winning and losing, strategy, tactics, advantages, etc. then I'd go with PF.

Not much advice, I know, but you've really got to decide based on the type of game you (and just as importantly, your players) will want to be in. I think S&SW is great, but I'd pretty much pick PF every time. I really enjoy the added depth it brings to my table. Bill or Matt? Not so much.

One final note: It's a whole lot easier to convert on the fly from PF to S&W than vice versa.


Or you could do like me on the real important ones and get both:) At least in pdf.

Acquisitives

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Greg A. Vaughan wrote:

Yakman, to fully appreciate the many nuances and creative uses of the rules, then PF is your way to go...including the wonderful ship-to-ship fighting rules of Fire as She Bears. However, some people just want to game and not get caught up in all that. And if that's how your table likes to roll, then S&W would be your thing. As an example, the ship-to-ship rules were not translated into S&W, so there is no S&W version of Fire as She Bears (unlike the other books, which all got converted) because it was deemed as unnecessary for that game style. S&W can do free-flowing, loose ship fighting stuff without getting all hung up on the rules. But if you like the idea of rules for it to give an unarbitrary sense of winning and losing, strategy, tactics, advantages, etc. then I'd go with PF.

Not much advice, I know, but you've really got to decide based on the type of game you (and just as importantly, your players) will want to be in. I think S&SW is great, but I'd pretty much pick PF every time. I really enjoy the added depth it brings to my table. Bill or Matt? Not so much.

One final note: It's a whole lot easier to convert on the fly from PF to S&W than vice versa.

Pathfinder it is then.

Thanks.


Ironically, I had the opposite problem to Peyton: my party (lead by the halfling rogue worried about the depth) declared that they were important adventurers and going down into the sewers was beneath them (pun intended). The number of plot threads that lead through them cuts off lots of options. On the other hand they were immediately keen to set sail. That said I used the 'Minerva's Joy' introductory hook and had the captain reward them with shares in his ship - they bought him out completely with early rewards,so they had a ship available almost from day one.

Just about to hit my party with Night of the Shark, and would appreciate any advice from people who've run through it. They've just reached 10th level so I'm planning on bumping the boss up a level or two and I noted earlier in the thread that some ranged options could be useful. Any other thoughts?

Sovereign Court Contributor

Just finished running my group through night of the shark. Bumping Dalang up a level or two makes a big difference. Here's a couple of other things I found very effective:

Night of the Shark Tips:

1. Who has the jawbone and where (or were - haha) makes a big, big difference. Try to place it a distance from the party, but invent an event that makes them _need_ to cross that distance. That will make throwing the various NotS encounters at them flow more easily.

2. Filling the pyre raft with each and every one of their beloved NPCs (and a few hated foes) made a huge difference. It really drove up the tension as the party genuinely cared about their favorite folk not dying.

3. The Enforcers and Raiders will be a bit weak against your party, serving mostly as a distraction that helps Dalang to nail the PCs from the shadows with spells. Well and good, but I'd double up some of his more potent area of effect spells when you level him up.

4. The Enforcers and Raiders will be more effective if they knock your PCs into the water then grapple them at the bottom of the bay. That killed two PCs.

5. I made the bottom of the bay 40' deep, and that depth seemed to work well. I also made it murky from churned up mud and such, limiting visibility under the water, which made Dalang nearly impossible to find. He, however, has a shark's blood sense and most PCs entered the water bleeding.

Hope some of that proves helpful! Would love a play report if you have the time.


Louis Agresta wrote:

Hey Mark,

As for getting them out to sea, I agree the sewer connection with ** spoiler omitted ** can do the trick. I also found that trawling ** spoiler omitted ** was a great way to put many opportunities for acquiring a ship in their hands.

Didn't quite work out for my players, but at one point they had the makings of a small fleet. Three ships, possibly four.

Here's a short play report from my game:

** spoiler omitted **

Thanks for the tips on this, Mr. Agresta. I'm having a heck of a time getting my players to leave Port Shaw (by boat), even though they are more than capable of surviving the dangers, because OMG TEH WATERZ BE SCURRY!1!.

Sovereign Court Contributor

What about giving them the specific Lighthouse on Beacon Island mission? After introducing them to Donovan through that inciting incident wherein

Spoiler:
Jenkie nearly burns the dock down?


Thanks for the suggestions Lou - with the party at 10th level would you recommend bumping the Dalang to 12th or 13th level? I have a moderately optimised eidolon and a buffed druid who likes giant octopus anywhere wet to deal with. (The rogue/alchemist and sorceror cause me fewer issues)

Lot's of spoilers:
The raft is one area I worry about, between being at sea a lot and our play style the only main character the party bonded to is Bonedeuce so the raft will be a bit thin. On the other hand they have named most of their ship's crew so I think they will have to provide.:)
They found the lair under the lighthouse and wiped out everything except Jalamar so he knows what they can do, so I'll be trying my best to optimise his spell lists although higher level clerics aren't my forte - I've got a week left to prep for a bit of research there.
They have absolutely no idea about the jawbone due to their 'avoid anything linked to the sewers'.I'm going to have to lay it on thick with the intro bits as they sail back into town and probably have them intercept were-sharks returning with the bone.

I'll certainly post an update of how things go...

Liberty's Edge

Are there going to be anymore Razor Coast products?

Mike


I know my PBP players are getting awfully tired of the sewers. They are level 7 and having to deal with Section 2 now. I can't help if they keep pulling on those plot threads!

Pathfinder Creative Director, Frog God Games

Qstor wrote:

Are there going to be anymore Razor Coast products?

Mike

Hey, Qstor! Probably eventually. We don't have anything on the immediate schedule (we've got a lot of other stuff we want to get out there too), but we'll be making use of our whole campaign world as much as possible, and I know of at least 2 product tie-ins that will probably appear in 2016. As for specific RC-only products? If Nick, or Ling, or Lou, or Tim, or one of the other many Razor Coast-y people would like to expand on it, I'm all ears.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Arquestan wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions Lou - with the party at 10th level would you recommend bumping the Dalang to 12th or 13th level? I have a moderately optimised eidolon and a buffed druid who likes giant octopus anywhere wet to deal with. (The rogue/alchemist and sorceror cause me fewer issues)

** spoiler omitted **
I'll certainly post an update of how things go...

I'd go 13th. That makes him a CR 12 creature but allows him full use of his gear. With the other creatures thrown in that should make your Battle an EL 13 encounter. 3 above the average party level, and that makes for a cool "boss" encounter/capstone in my book.

One spoilery idea:
The undead Tulita emerging from the sewers moaning jaaaawwwboooneee... is a good foreshadowing. I played up the fecal reek and that led them toward the sewers.


I like the spoilery thought Lou, I inverted it already and had them receive reports of elite groups going in (mainly to get my Tulita PC paranoid ) but coming back out might be perfect :)

Spoiler Question:
I notice the Dalamar Jalang has a candle if invocation in his items list. I assume the intent is he's using this - it is his big night after all, +2 all rolls and a 15th lvl caster gets nasty + Gate? ( a Drolsharg feels appropriate)


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Play Update

One big spoiler!:
Play started with the party returning from their latest exploits (with Eduardo as a mini-shoggoth in a fish tank and a baby tricerotops in the hold - long story).

Sailing back they met 'Good Day's Catch' a few hours out from Port Shaw at dawn . Initially scouted the vessel with the Tulita druid as an air elemental to see the blood stains and shark claw marks. They then had themselves rowed across in the launch, lifting the hatch to the hold so I read them Nick's description of the hold verbatim - that had a real impact - no PC's going anywhere near the hold! The eidolon did get sent in and the bursting corpse clearly got their imaginations going :) They spotted McDugyl in the corner and persuaded him onto the deck (Nat20 diplomacy) where he promptly hugged the dwarven sorceror before collapsing writhing on the deck begging to be chained. He got 'Hold Personed' instead. I then had the party notice they were on a sinking ship, just before a wereshark ripped through the bottom of their launch. Various flying/dimension door abilities got everyone back to the ship but not before the eidolon and a crewman got bitten, and the paralysed McDugyl got coup de graced. All went over pretty well and the threats and curses from the sharkmen definitely got them focused.

Arriving in Port Shaw they promptly split into four groups of one PC each to spread the warning. (DM nightmare - tried as hard as I could to give each facet 5-10 minute slots...)

Halfling rogue/alchemist took the crewman to Trafalgar for healing to be told 'too powerful for me to break the curse - I've seen several others in the last few weeks too', then returned to his lab to work on paralysing poisons.

Tulita druid went to the shanty town recalling that Milliauka claimed to have a cure. Also looking for details of what Dalang is looking for. Learnt that Milliauka can cure people but only has three doses and that the jawbone has been stolen and is probably in the sewers.

Dwarf Sorceror went to the harbour master to report the loss of the fishing vessel. Got a guilt trip about McDugyl's large family and a reminder of the attitiude to tulita - Creely knew the immigrant crewmen by name but didn't know or care about the tulita crew. On the way back I had Jalia plant a note on her warning about Paol - Bonegnaw escaped long ago so I'm using him as the distraction. Being very un-stealth she completely failed to catch him so far.

Finally the summoner and eidolon set off to the Fort, met the tulita lacedons en route then went with Darenar to a secure location. The eidolon and multiple summons edged the resultant fight just (AC30+ without buffs). He's now in a cellar trying to think how to explain that he's just killed the acting commandant....

And that's where we finished last night. All in all it went very well - seeing lots of loose ends suddenly pull together into a coherent plot has really worked very well. They've remembered far more details from months ago than I expected and the urgency definitely came across


So what kind of motivations do your various parties have? My group has been having difficulty figuring it out.
Probably doesn't help that all four of the original four PCs have died. I had started them at 1st level & have been using Freeport stuff to get them to 5th.


I had a similar problem for the first few weeks - then suddenly one player came out with 'I've just realised we can do any of these hooks'. They had been hunting round discarding 'side-quests' in the expectation that they'd eventually find the 'main plot'. I found it was all about who they're looking to get the job from - in my case people in positions of influence. Following the web and the level by level adventure sheets has worked out well for me. We've just reached 'Night of the Shark' and the party have acquired lots of links to the plot despite mostly sailing the high seas.


Play update 2

More Spoilers:

Struggled a bit with pacing this week -I felt that I needed to take my foot of the accelerator to give them time to rest, but it turns out my players had completely missed out on the immediacy of the threat. They were largely focused on how to take advantage of the power vacuum with Bonedeuce, Chambers and the Pride plus the Albatross all at sea to launch a coup.

The summoner simply announced 'Acting Commandant Darenar changed into a wereshark and attacked me, so I killed him' and walked out. The dragoons don't really have the power to do anything about it short of a full scale assault. At the moment there's a stand-off with them visibly watching the party's ship and escorting them through town, but not pushing it any further. (Of course I could soon add a hit squad hired by Hargroves but didn't want to disrupt the build up to NotS)

They took the bait on Paol spying for Bonegnaw. I placed him in an old shed behind Barrett's Barnacle - despite adding a couple of levels they took him out quite easily (I didn't to burn too much of their resources.) They also took the opportunity to hire Lester to investigate the sewers in search in the Jawbone.

I closed with the cliffhanger of Lester running towards the ship yelling that the sewers are full of man-sharks before a pursuer smashed him to the ground. Then the full moon plays across the harbour and there is a scream in the distance, then another, and another...
The one question nobody had asked was 'when is the next full moon!'
(Oh, and then I asked everyone for their Fortitude save bonus so I could check who might have suffered more than HP damage from previous encounters with were-sharks ready for next week.)

I'm currently thinking of three encounters in the build up, dealing with little Jessica, a TBD depending on where they go, then intercepting the party of were-sharks that have recovered the jawbone. My main worry is that they may just hole up in the ship. Maybe a messenger from Zalen begging for help? But they are pretty mercenary.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Arquestan wrote:

Play Update

** spoiler omitted **...

Yup!

Sovereign Court Contributor

Arquestan wrote:

Play Update

** spoiler omitted **...

That's awesome! Thank you for sharing. TOTALLY different from my NotS!

Spoiler:
For one my group had already made pacts with Milliauka and been very anti-dragoon from the get go. They found the jawbone in the sewers before it meant anything to them, waltzed it into the Tulita hideout, and said 'Hey, you guys misplace this?'

When they tracked down some secret weresharks and overheard them grousing about the jawbone, they put a lot of clues together all at once and ran back to their friend, Milliauka. 'Keep that thing hidden!' they said. 'We're on it!' Milliauka said.

Then they collaborated with Zalen to use the Quellish pulpit, super high perform oratory and diplomacy to sell everyone on a new holiday called "Silver Day" -- and they used Rumor Mongering to spread word that folks should arm themselves with silver when attending, because... weresharks.

They then held a massive festival on the green north of Fort Stormshield, actually paying 2 sp per inhabitant and feeding the entire city to induce attendance. Of course that coincided with the new moon and the Night of the Shark.

I pulled a trick on them by having it be one of those days when the moon is in the sky with the sun, so they weren't as safe as they thought. Wereshark transformation at the picnic chaos ensued.

Then "The Young Warrior" (inciting incident) ran up and *gasp* Milliauka (who was with them) learned that this young warrior was the sole surivivor of the 40 warrior strong band sent to guard the jawbone. Milliauka sent his 40 _back_ into the sewers, because 'You found it there. Who would ever think we'd hide it there?" That kept the jawbone in Port Shaw even though the party had given it to the Tulita months ago.

A few encounters on the streets of Port Shaw later, they intercepted the weresharks who'd recovered the jawbone and just after winning that fight -- "Battle for the Jawbone."

Just in the interest of credit where credit is due, Tim Hitchcock wrote that particularly chilling passage you mentioned. :)

Sovereign Court Contributor

Spoilery thought...

Spoiler:
If they decide to just hold up on the ship, hit them with encounters on the way to the ship.

If Zalen needs to entice them off the ship for help, have him reveal his has a scroll of resurection that they can bank as insurance.

If they skip a few wereshark encounters and don't want to go after the jawbone, put the Battle for the Jawbone in between them and their ship. With them between the weresharks that have the jawbone and the Dalang.

Just a noodle or two, in case any of my thought-spaghetti hits the wall and sticks.


Hola. Okay, I need help getting my party on the right track.
Before I posted about the party having motivation issues, because each one had a different motivation. They sorted that out by having each of their current characters joining the Explorer's Guild. So,that hurdle has been overcome, but now I have a new one.
None of the characters has a connection to the Razor Coast at this point, with one Tulita character getting killed & the half-elf from Port Shaw being retired, and I've been having them do things in Freeport, the pirate city. They've just hit 5th level & they're now ready to tackle the Razor.
The matters that they've dealt with in Freeport have all run their course. There's really nothing much left to those plots, but the players are absolutely convinced there is more going on. They've created their own red herrings and are hellbent on following these "clues" to the bitter end.
So, how can I steer them towards the Razor Coast?


Play Update 3

Lots of Spoilers:

...the scene for week 3 started with Lester sprinting across the docks to the party's ship yelling that his sewers were full of sharkmen, pursued by two men. As the first moon beams spread across the harbour they caught him just before the ship, shifted into man-sharkform and back-handed him into the harbour before stalking back towards the city. Meanwhile a doxy on the next harbour spontaneously shifted form and immediately savaged her paramour. The party were rather piqued by being ignored by the monsters and set off in pursuit (while the druid dived into the sea to look for Lester). Sharks easily defeated and Lester fished out the sea the players then considered turtling on board ship, but a plaintive 'there's people dying out there' from Lester and a suggestion that they check how Trafalgar was getting on in the temple got them moving. (Ship left with lots of silversheen and cannons loaded with grape shot salted with silver)

En route to the temple I ran the Jessica scene - again pleasantly surprised that the party remembered her, and that she'd been fostered. They incapacitated Jessica and took her with Mum to the temple. Trafalgar's stock has gone up gone up significantly now they found him with a few sailor guarding the steps of his temple, with the remains of a FlameStrike they saw in the distance still smouldering in front of him.

On into the city to warn people and send them to the temple they bumped into a pair of men running pell mell past them yelling for them to hide from the group a sharks round the corner. Druid and summoner buffed, rogue and sorcerer took to the air to see a group of weresharks surrounding one carrying a huge jawbone. Interesting change of pace with the weresharks running interference, bull rushing etc. to try to get the bone to the harbour before eventually failing (but with two escapees). The party decided their best plan now they had the jawbone was to hold out on their ship. They returned to find the ship had been defended successfully by the crew in their absence but several crewmembers had been snatched and dragged into the sea (including Confused Mary, the ship's transvestite boatswain) but not long after getting back they learnt of Jalamar's challenge on the docks.

I chose to leave them with the opening scene of seeing the raft from the docks.

It still seems to be going well - playing the monsters with objectives other than trying to kill PC's has worked out well. If I were to do it again I'd have prepped some more non-combat scenes (improvisation isn't my strength), a ruined bar full of corpses, a smashed in house, a group of dragoons slain trying to defend the townsfolk behind them etc. I think I'll reprise the trip back to the docks and add two or three of those to get the mood back next time we run.


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wspatterson wrote:
Hola. Okay, I need help getting my party on the right track.

in case there's anything useful:
make a red herring real and have them flee to Port Shaw? Maybe an ally of Bonegnaw who flees there or an agent of Hargrove (who was trying to expand his influence, the Ring of the Kraken would already have plans in train to expand once Port Shaw was conquered). Once there leave a trail of crumbs through a couple of intro encounters (Salty Dogs and/or Barrett's Barnacle?) to their villain then grant them closure when they corner their foe. Seed a few hooks to other stories as they go and hopefully you're off and running.

No idea if that fits your game so far, but I hope it helps.

Sovereign Court Contributor

wspatterson wrote:

Hola. Okay, I need help getting my party on the right track.

Before I posted about the party having motivation issues, because each one had a different motivation. They sorted that out by having each of their current characters joining the Explorer's Guild. So,that hurdle has been overcome, but now I have a new one.
None of the characters has a connection to the Razor Coast at this point, with one Tulita character getting killed & the half-elf from Port Shaw being retired, and I've been having them do things in Freeport, the pirate city. They've just hit 5th level & they're now ready to tackle the Razor.
The matters that they've dealt with in Freeport have all run their course. There's really nothing much left to those plots, but the players are absolutely convinced there is more going on. They've created their own red herrings and are hellbent on following these "clues" to the bitter end.
So, how can I steer them towards the Razor Coast?

Here's a thought or two...

Spoiler:
  • Let them "find" a fake map to Gar Bloodbane's gold?
  • Offer them "Black Spot" from Heart of the Razor, but leave them stranded. Have a ship that picks them up be heading for Port Shaw?
  • Shipwreck. Have a ship that picks them up be heading for Port Shaw?
  • Let them catch wind of the Tarath Vreen's necromantic fortress beneath Port Shaw
  • Give them a vision of Dajobas?
  • Post a job from Zalen to help him defend the Chapterhouse of Quell in Port Shaw?

Sovereign Court Contributor

Arquestan wrote:

Play Update 3

** spoiler omitted **...

Nice! That sounded awesome! I particularly enjoyed your scene with Trafalgar. Thanks for sharing.

The Exchange

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Well we managed to finish the sections of the sewers they were interested in and that I prepped for 2 sessions ago.

Having killed 2 of the party and the others deciding to take responsibility for their own character builds the group now looks like this:

Rake - Half Orc Bard 3/Ranger 2/Dragon Disciple 2 - ex slave who sympathises with the plight of the Tulita. According to his player he is focused on buffing, knowledge skills and acts as the trap monkey. Others in the party still aren't sure what he actually does.

Obadiah Flint - Human Swashbukler 7, Pirate wanting to do piratey things - I so want to introduce him to Bethany. Dex Fighter, Bluff, Multiple AOO/trips and High AC. Did very well parrying and getting to attack in response.

Mary Belle - Human Cleric of Pekko 7- encouraging whoring and drinking. Used to be an Aasimar, but no one ever remembered. She no acts as Heal bot, has the worst perception we've ever seen on a Cleric and did surprisingly good work helping defend with her shield.

The new characters:
Hanale - Human Tulita Brawler 7 - the kin of the mourned Maka'Koa. Not spent much time in Port Shaw and acting as a 'fresh pair of eyes' asking questions on why they are doing certain things. Punches and throws his shield a lot. Has a tiki.

Angelino Durrante - Human Sorcerer 7 - didn't get to form much of a personality as his player turned up late in the day - the rest of the group had this very charismatic sorcerer act like Goofy instead. Already making friends though.

Spoiler:
Having retreated from the Babau they took the body of Makakoa back to the Tulita having warned Zalen of the danger below. They met Hanale who joined them to aid them in their work for the people.

Back to Port Shaw and they met Rake's cousin, Angelino, who also introduced them to Major Roland Lawrence. They played it well given their hatred of the Dragoons and agreed to come back to meet him the next night.

Then back to Lester and into the sewers again. The fight against the Babau went ok, but got dicey when Rake moved to get flanking and the Babau slammed him back into range of the Scorpion. So they had to go rescue him.

So with all the enemies dealt with they sent the Tiki back with Lester and camped out in the barrel room to protect it overnight. In the morning stone shapes were used to create an opening and get the barrels up into the Chapter House. The plan was to sell some, give a chunk to the Tulita for later use and use some. Zalen was ready to

Then they went to look in the room below Samuel's, back to Lester and heading to the top of the sewers.

There were definite issues with how water was working in the Karikanti section given the descriptions, but also how water was not coming from some places - the pool room for example.

They prepared to enter the sludge and started figuring how they would deal with forms of aquatic combat. They used the Tiki to look over the area flying in the space above the water so it didn't attract attention. Once they had an idea where to go they headed for the pool room first where the scout had retreated to. Once in they managed to spot some of the skulkers and attempted to bargain. They offered meat for free passage into the next room. The Karikanti were fine with that as it meant the party would be trapped.

Into the Throne room and Roarog was impressive. He didn't get chance to surrender due to a good roll from Rake.

They failed miserably to identify any items as Angelino revealed he didn't know Detect Magic.

On to retrieve the bones and starting to figure what might be going on at Beacon Island. They finished the day breaking into the shrine, dealing with the Golems and then using Consecrate to try and deal with the shrine.

So next time they plan to go see Roland, look to get a boat, off to the Broken Skull and then go after Bonegnaw finally.

I'm hoping for a lot more roleplay focused next session. They are now on their way to getting on to the high seas.


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Great session of RC last night.

My PCs, having defeated the Caller of Crooked Forms in the Drowning Temple (I decided the sacrifices were granting souls to fuel a skeleton anchor), were going to mount an assault on Bonedeuce's mansion estate. The group's "captain" (player) talked them out of it, much as they wanted to stick it to The Man, and I got to avoid a scene like the ending of DJANGO UNCHAINED.

They returned to Port Shaw to find a dragoon boat sidled up to their own ship. (I used the Cetaceal from Ships of the Inner Sea. They had demolished the inhabitants of Bonegnaw's Cove, and wanted to claim it as their own, but the ship I gave them early on was too big to fit. So the Cetaceal was the result of an expensive bribe to Shakes Montgomery to get a dragoon patrol ship to use incognito.

Returning the Tulita captives (from the Drowning Temple) to the Tulita elders outside of Port Shaw, I decided they would be met by a Tulita insurgent leader who had lost her squad of warriors out by Beacon Island. (When they get there, the captive pirates below the island will be these captured Tulita warriors.) Now that they have a new ship, Bloodbane's treasure map, AND a story motivation, they finally left Port Shaw!

Cue boldly storming the beach on Beacon Island like James Bond, wyvern attack, and terrified PCs standing in the scrub approaching the lighthouse...


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Finally got back to Night of the Shark after a couple of weeks off after Easter. Everything else in a spoiler...

PlayReport:

OK, so I went with a Lvl12 Jalamar to get the best from his daggers, circling the raft with his candle of invocation in a lantern on the raft.I also tweaked his spell list as the party had previously attacked the caverns under Beacon Island so he knew their strengths.
(True Sight, Spell Immunity, Resist Energy Electricity and Free Action, plus a Repulsion to keep summons away)
I opened up the scene with a reprise of the trip though town to the docks highlighting the scale of destruction and slaughter rather more than before. I then cut to the scripted intro and Ayton's challenge. The party immediately opened up with ranged blasts and a flying eidolon with improved invisibility. Ayton barely lasted two rounds and failed to land a single blow.

The party tulita druid had prepared by locating a large bone during the day so he summoned a dire bat and had it fly straight out to sea with the decoy. I had Jalamar send the enforcers round the raft in pursuit. Meanwhile J used his blade barrier across the land side ends of the piers as the fires were lit. Unfortunately that was a bit too effective - the players gave up all hope of saving anyone on the piers.

Things devolved into a bit of a stalemate after that - the party struggled to bring anything to bear on Jalamar while he dumped blasts but they were generally lucky with saves and were reluctant to get in the water with the shark. Eventually J ran out of ranged options and came on shore - it all ended pretty quickly after that - his melee skills were pretty ineffectual. It did drag on a bit towards the end - given the time again I'd look for ways to keep the pace up. The custom Summon Monster for a drolsharg I gave him helped somewhat but the action economy of one significant foe vs. a party was a struggle.


Question for Lou, Nick, or anyone else on the RC design and development team reading this: Falken Drango has a feat called Dreadful Gaze that is said to be in the appendix, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the book, or even something close to that name. I ctrl-F'd the PDF and everything. Can anyone shed some light on what this feat was meant to do? I am adding 6 levels of deep sea pirate and the fortune-spurned template to Drango to make him a bit tougher in my next campaign leg, so I'm interested to know what this feat does before I replace it altogether.

SIDE NOTE: I also rebuilt Bonedeuce as a swashbuckler/duelist, and then made a death knight version of him (I'm merging Razor Coast with Savage Tide, so he's taking on some of the role of Vanthus Vanderboren in that AP, with Bethany filling in for Lavinia in parts as well). I expect to have quite a few nice custom stat blocks to add to the repository for other folks to use soon! We start back in 2 weeks, so I'll be posting play reports here again, although I may move the non-RC content (such as the Isle of Dread, River Styx, and other crazy additions of my own) elsewhere to ensure that this thread stays on-topic.

The Exchange

Savage Tide spoiler

Spoiler:
I can't wait to see Bonedeuce's diary then. It always amused us as players in Savage Tide with the preface which was basically 2 days before my parents died.

I'd be very interested to see the play reports.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Power Word Unzip wrote:

Question for Lou, Nick, or anyone else on the RC design and development team reading this: Falken Drango has a feat called Dreadful Gaze that is said to be in the appendix, but I couldn't find it anywhere in the book, or even something close to that name. I ctrl-F'd the PDF and everything. Can anyone shed some light on what this feat was meant to do? I am adding 6 levels of deep sea pirate and the fortune-spurned template to Drango to make him a bit tougher in my next campaign leg, so I'm interested to know what this feat does before I replace it altogether.

SIDE NOTE: I also rebuilt Bonedeuce as a swashbuckler/duelist, and then made a death knight version of him (I'm merging Razor Coast with Savage Tide, so he's taking on some of the role of Vanthus Vanderboren in that AP, with Bethany filling in for Lavinia in parts as well). I expect to have quite a few nice custom stat blocks to add to the repository for other folks to use soon! We start back in 2 weeks, so I'll be posting play reports here again, although I may move the non-RC content (such as the Isle of Dread, River Styx, and other crazy additions of my own) elsewhere to ensure that this thread stays on-topic.

I'll check for you and get back. Sorry it seems to have gotten lost along the line. :/

Sovereign Court Contributor

I looked everywhere: my external storage, my notes, everything. Couldn't find it. As best I remember, it was supposed to be a paralysis inducing intimidation feat. Sorry I couldn't do better.


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Louis Agresta wrote:
I looked everywhere: my external storage, my notes, everything. Couldn't find it. As best I remember, it was supposed to be a paralysis inducing intimidation feat. Sorry I couldn't do better.

I found it in the proofing files I still have, in the Appendix.

Dreadful Gaze
The intensity of your gaze causes enemies to think twice about tangling with you.
Prerequisites: Intimidate 3 ranks, Profession (sailor) 3 ranks, Iron Will, Piratical Nerve.
Benefit: As a swift action you may activate your Dreadful Gaze, which allows you to make an Intimidate check to demoralize all foes within 30ft. You roll your Intimidate check against opponents’ level checks as usual.
Normal: Without this feat you may only use the Demoralize Opponent effect of Intimidate on foes you threaten in melee combat.

Sovereign Court Contributor

Go Ernest!


Awesome! Thanks so much to both of you for looking into that for me. I think I'll be keeping that feat on him after all!


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My pirate PCs are in Ilizmagorti and preparing to head south to the Razor Coast themselves... It's been a long time coming!


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wspatterson wrote:

Hola. Okay, I need help getting my party on the right track.

Before I posted about the party having motivation issues, because each one had a different motivation. They sorted that out by having each of their current characters joining the Explorer's Guild. So,that hurdle has been overcome, but now I have a new one.
None of the characters has a connection to the Razor Coast at this point, with one Tulita character getting killed & the half-elf from Port Shaw being retired, and I've been having them do things in Freeport, the pirate city. They've just hit 5th level & they're now ready to tackle the Razor.
The matters that they've dealt with in Freeport have all run their course. There's really nothing much left to those plots, but the players are absolutely convinced there is more going on. They've created their own red herrings and are hellbent on following these "clues" to the bitter end.
So, how can I steer them towards the Razor Coast?

I ran my PCs through the Freeport Trilogy (in Riddleport, but whatever) and here's the hooks I have to get them down there. I mashed together Riddleport, Freeport, and Razor characters/plots freely to do it.

1. Elias Tammerhawk, rogue serpentfolk, escaped down there and they have a "dead or alive" bounty out for him.
2. Black Dog's ghost (both from Freeport and also Jaren the Jinx's dad from the NPC Codex) geased the party rogue to find and kill the Shark Lord's mistress who betrayed him.
3. The captain is a Bonuwat Mwangi from down there.
4. The captain is loving up the Golarion equivalent of Mami Wata, a juju water spirit, who then urges him along the spirital side of the path
5. The cleric is a cleric of Gozreh, so Shimye-magalla is involved (related in some undefined way to Mami), same deal


So we've now run our first session since completing 'Night of the Shark'. It was all a bit vague given how open ended the situation is at that point in the arc.

Play Report:

With Jalamar dead Manu, the party Tulita opted to take the jawbone straight to Milliauka where he received the news (after an e-mail check that the player was interested) that he is the lost heir of the high cheiftain and ended up leading war parties to hunt down the remaining were-sharks.

I had Hargroves organise a conscription of noble house-guards the following morning, then a public ceremony to declare Milliauka, Moktoli and Jameson (the party Summoner) as new members of the council of elders.(Milli advised Manu to keep a low profile).

Rather to my surprise the party spontaneously approached Hargroves to ask for news of Bonedeuce and volunteered to go look for him and take his place searching for the Albatross while he returned to sort out Port Shaw. They refused Captain Mercy's offer in favour of following Hargrove's (fake) treasure map looking for Garr's treasure and the Albatross.

They chose to Scry on Bonedeuce and eventually succeeded so I had them overhear him mention Sharkjaw Docks to get them started on Jungle Fever. My main worry is that they are so focussed on their mission that they will refuse to follow it up, so I'll probably end up doing bits and bobs from various sources. On the plus side I've been broadly ignoring XP and handing out levels when it felt right so I can get them to right levels reasonably easily.

Sovereign Court Contributor

I had a similar issue with my group. They'd worked with Mercy earlier and were very on mission when it came to Jalia, Perrin, Bonedeuce etc.

Spoiler:
They decided not to pursue the leads at Sharkjaw Docks and therefore passed on Jungle fever. :/

However, I turned it into a sea-going hunt for Old Makana by letting them learn at Sharkjaw that she's the bees knees when it comes to knowing where people are in the Pearl Eyes.

Some encounters at sea, a big storm, a run-in with Undead Cannibal Pygmies while trying to resupply, a ship-2-ship pirate battle that they won handily, the kelp-devil, luring them to an island by the sight of gold in the sand -- eggs of the Draconic tyrant -- and they were leveled nicely. Along the way I let them find the wreckage of ships destroyed by a Kraken and learn more details about Harthagoa.

They found old makana, dealt with the musical theater of the Sara Belle, and headed for The Degenerate Cyclopes of Lost Omargwato. That was a very fun two-session battle in which I wound up more than doubling the number of Cyclopes.

After putting together the details provided by Perrin and concluding that the Ring of the Kraken has it in for Port Shaw, they decided to salvage and then scuttle the Albatross, for lack of crew or any inclination to repair her.

Among other items, they removed the bowsprit of non-detection. Co-opting the Albatross' cannon and equipment took a few days. No bowsprit of non-detection meant that during those few days Bonedeuce could scry for the Albatross.

Oh, while in Sharkjaw they also presented Bethany with Bonedeuce's dagger, taken from her husband's skeletal ribs. I decided an enraged Bethany headed off to find Bonedeuce half-cocked and got herself captured.

By coincidence one of the party has been carrying a torch for Bethany so he chose to scry her -- imprisoned in the brig of the Pride.

The brig included a porthole of the Pride and so the party had the strange experience of scrying Bethany and seeing their own ship, still anchored in Omargwato Bay, slide into view behind her through the Pride's porthole!

Good cliffhanger.

Pathfinder Creative Director, Frog God Games

Ernest Mueller wrote:

I ran my PCs through the Freeport Trilogy (in Riddleport, but whatever) and here's the hooks I have to get them down there. I mashed together Riddleport, Freeport, and Razor characters/plots freely to do it.

1. Elias Tammerhawk, rogue serpentfolk, escaped down there and they have a "dead or alive" bounty out for him.
2. Black Dog's ghost (both from Freeport and also Jaren the Jinx's dad from the NPC Codex) geased the party rogue to find and kill the Shark Lord's mistress who betrayed him.
3. The captain is a Bonuwat Mwangi from down there.
4. The captain is loving up the Golarion equivalent of Mami Wata, a juju water spirit, who then urges him along the spirital side of the path
5. The cleric is a cleric of Gozreh, so Shimye-magalla is involved (related in some undefined way to Mami), same deal

That's awesome, Ernest. :-)

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32

Ernest's Campaign Journals are one of my favourite things to read in the whole world. The pdfs are permanently installed on every laptop and telephone I have, so I can always read something amusing that gives me ideas for the next game session, even when there's no internet around. (The train to work passes through plenty of countryside).

Start here!

Reavers on the Seas of Fate is the Riddleport/ Freeport one :-)


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Firstly I'd like to say how impressed that so many of the Dev's still take an interest in this page and thank Lou for all his helpful suggestions.

Back into the spoiler zone...

Thoughts:

I like the idea of a hunt for Old Makana although I think I need to work in a bit more about Razor/Bonedeuce first. My players have skipped over it each time it came up so that side of the story won't mean much to them right now. I was thinking of having them bump into Bethany who is out hunting Captain Bravancello. (incidentally that name reduced my players to hysterics on it's own - how they will react to the play I hesitate to imagine :) )

There definitely need to be some Undead Cannibal pygmies on the route too, that totem pole has stuck deep in my imagination.


carborundum wrote:

Ernest's Campaign Journals are one of my favourite things to read in the whole world. The pdfs are permanently installed on every laptop and telephone I have, so I can always read something amusing that gives me ideas for the next game session, even when there's no internet around. (The train to work passes through plenty of countryside).

Start here!

Reavers on the Seas of Fate is the Riddleport/ Freeport one :-)

Thanks man! Yeah, we go way above and beyond on our session summaries. It's fun, but it also gives a lot of insight into how these adventures actually play out...

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