lol; Jilly makes me look easy
It totally throws you off your game, too. Jillian looks like this little angel, and then the dice start rolling, her head peels back, and this demonic GM comes popping out. Ive seen it at cons. Brutal. No trace of mercy.
Oh, the humanity!
LOL
She's a great kid.
Skeeter
Laric, S&W is brutal compared to PF (a large part of why I like it so much!). Make sure your players know that up front.
Like Bill said, clearing a level is dangerous (and usually wasteful). You get your xp from treasure, and smaller amounts from combat. Make sure they focus on a plan, and don't get side-tracked. That's when PC's tend to get in over their heads. It's all about determining Risk vs Reward. If they can avoid a combat and still get the treasure, more power to them. That's smart play. Charging into battle 'like a hero' usually just leads to a 'heroic death'. :)
Thanks Bill! Thanks Michael!
I'll make sure to let them know.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Purchased on the FGG website. Anxiously awaiting the shipment email. I am running my Friday group through an AP, but want to run them through something from FGG.
I'm about to start running the ToA portion of this for my group. Our first foray into S&W.
Bill, any advice about running this mod?
Just make sure they know to hit and run. Groups that try to clear levels are in for a one way ride. Not everything has to be fought.
The most successful groups avoid stuff in there and focus on the real bad guys (priests).
After playing through a bit of this with my boys, just a tester of the excellent Scarlet Heroes ruleset, ...
<digression>for those that don't know it allows you to play old school modules with a single PC by beefing them up, it is a very clever system and the PCs are not so powerful that the don't have to know how to run and/or negotiate. Glass cannons describes them well. With an 8 and 10 year old the power of the PCs allows me to play in FGG modules without being arrested for child abuse!</digression>
... I showed them the Holy Grail sketch of the Brave Sir Robin song. That is now the parties theme song.
"running away and buggering off, brave brave brave Sir Dragor"
Discretion is the better part of valour in OS games. For FGG modules rat-bastard cunning is the better part of cleverness, too :)
Anyone remember if there was any fan made maps for these adventures? Preferably something that can be used for a VTT.
I don't think I've seen him post here in a bit, but it looks like Bigkilla post some home made maps a long time ago here:
http://forums.d20pro.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=663
Not sure if anyone here is in contact with him, but I would love to see His versions.
Chaos Monkey - That's a link to this very same page. :)
Chaos Monkey - That's a link to this very same page. :)
Looks like my link skills suck. Try a cut and paste I guess. Its a d20pro forum.
http://forums.d20pro.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=663&sid=2e779cfa332e8 553ce96af0588864299
Hi everyone,
I have some questions from reading the S&W version of Stoneheart Valley that I was hoping someone could help me with:
1) Page 68 lists the following for the Old Locked Wooden Door: Open Door (-1, x2)
I know the -1 is applied to the d6 roll to open doors but what does the x2 refer to?
2) Page 69, in the description of the Giant Poisonous Frogs it lists the following attack: Tongue (Grapple plus poison)
Is the target automatically grappled on a hit from the tongue or does a hit start an grapple contest as described in the S&W rules under Unarmed Combat?
3) Page 69, Regarding the Door and Stairs to Level 4, it says: "one needs one of the several silver keys that the priests of the temple possess to open this door." I don't see silver keys listed in the equipment of any of the clerics of orcus. Do all the evil clerics have these silver keys or just the higher ranking ones? If so, what ranks (Acolytes, Lesser Priests, Priests, Major Priests) would have them?
4) Page 70, Regarding Draeligor: How does Level Drain work in S&W? From my reading I can see that there is a 7th level Cleric spell that restores drained levels, but I can't find an explanation for the effects of level drain anywhere. Is it permanent or does it recover with time and rest? Does a character have to recalculate all statistics and reroll hit points (this seems like an awful lot of work, especially that it could change several times in a single fight) or would they just take a -1 to all rolls for each level drained?
5) Page 73-75, regarding the tombs of the knights who served Alaric: Should I tell the players at the start of the adventure that it is generally forbidden to take any treasure from tombs unless given expressed consent from the spirits who inhabit the tombs? The reason I ask is that in some cases, if the PCs disturb the tombs and steal take the treasure as their own (such as Level 2 area 2B) they will penalized/cursed, however, in other instances such as the tombs in Level 1 area 7 and 10 there is no penalty for taking the treasure from those tombs.
Is there a simple guideline that the players could follow to not get in trouble?
Thanks everyone
I'm no expert but:
1. Requires two successful rolls to open
2. However you do grappling, if you use those rules in the book go for it. I really don't like them, but I would just have it grapple like any other in your game.
3. Not sure there
4. S&W level drain is exactly that. The level is gone, and needs magic to return. I make the XP halfway between the two levels
5. That is up to you, trial and error often works ;) However I do not tell the PCs anything that wouldn;t be common knowledge to peasants of the world. Even in the real world there are myths of curses from tomb robbing so that is something all character know. SOme tombs and religious sites etc affect those who desecrate them with curses. Is the possible gain worth the risk? up to the Players.
Mach hit most of it,
1) Sounds like the door is *harder* to open, so not -1 to your roll, but -1 to your chance to open. If you normally open doors on a 1-2, you instead can only open this one on a 1. On top of that, it takes 2 successes to open it.
2) I would just assume grappled on a hit. Giant frogs are cool like that.
3) I don't remember this one specifically, but it would be simple to just plant the keys on any of the priests.
4) Level drain is nasty. On a hit, you lose x number of levels. No save. Ouch. I have seen some house rule in a saving throw though, if it's too much of a culture shock for your players.
It's permanent in that it doesn't come back on its own. You have to adventure and regain the experience, or have a cleric powerful enough to cast 7th level spells (easier to adventure and regain, imo). Recalculating is actually pretty easy in S&W. You don't have feats or skill points to worry about, so all you really need to check is a) hit points, b) saving throw, c) attack matrix, and d) spellcasters should check to see if they lost any memorized spells available. [edit] and class based things like monks / druids losing special abilities, thieves drop back to the previous level on thief skills.
5) What Mock said. If the party has a cleric, they should have a fair idea that some tombs should not be messed with, but make them work for it. Sigils, warnings, runes can all be used as hints if you don't want to go the 'sheer luck' route.
Good gaming!
Yeah, what they said.
Man, it's good to have knowledgeable fans (most of the time) lol
Thanks everyone! Very helpful!
1) Ok, two attempts, got it. Michael, I think it is -1 to the roll (making it more likely to succeed) because I found another example:
P. 76 - Wizard Locked Iron Door: Open Door (+2, x2)
I would think this door would be harder to open than the Old Locked Wooden Door, so the +2 would be added to the roll making it less likely to be opened.
2) Yeah, I think I'll just go with automatic grapple on a hit.
3) Since there is no official answer, only Priests and Major Priests will carry silver keys.
4) Level drain is nasty! (I remember it now from when I played 2nd edition in high school) I'll discuss with the group and see what they think, but I think a save is a good idea.
5) For the tombs I'll either add written warnings or signs OR if there's a cleric in the group, he will know that any tomb with a hallow effect means "behave yourself"
Aha! I just assumed it was a stout door (didn't have it in front of me).
And good luck to your party Laric, they'll need it!
>:)
And good luck to your party Laric, they'll need it!
>:)
Thanks! I'll let you guys know how it goes.