From Shore To Sea - Newbie DM questions (spoilers)

[Lima Beans]

I'm a newer GM and I have a few spoilerific questions about Shore To Sea....

-the natatorium -- this is likely the first place my players will go, but it's supposed to be the last. The book says it should be hard for the players to find the entrance to and you should downplay it ... Not sure how to do that, put up some slippery steep steps and my players are definitely gonna climb down and check it out.. Probably finding the secret entrance even before they find out the villagers are enslaved... That's fine if they do that, but would like to make it slightly less likely... Also I'm not sure how the secret entrance works:

entrance trap statblock:

"The switch to control the opening is found in the..... Otherwise, the portal requires a dc 25 disable device check to open. Once the portal is open, it snaps shut once per round if the PCs cross the threshold." The stat block for the portal says: "Trigger: Location - Reset: Automatic (immediately) - Effect +20 melee (2d6+6/x4)"

I really don't understand how this works... Need to disable device just to open it, then it attacks anyone who passes through it? That doesn't seem right...

-the observatory-- my players first reaction will be to SMASH IT! SHASH IT TO BITS! I seriously doubt a little called lightning or earthquake will be enough to change their mind.. Any other advice for what I could do if my players just try to tear the whole building down?

-how do you guys usually handle players exploring a big open space like this? There is a TON of place with no descriptions of any kind in the module.. Do you show them big portions of the map at once and ask them where they want to go? Then, calculate the hours it takes to get there and roll for Random encounters? What if they want to explore the main city, which is a big part of the map, but the module never mentions it? Just handwave it, and say they find nothing of interest?

-It seems from the map that the players are likely to go to the excavation site LAST. Which seems like it will cause a couple of problems of them trying to solve some of the puzzles before they have any context as to why... Im thinking of adding another encounter early on where they encounter a villager who resisted the domination and is living as a hidden hobo that could urge them towards the excavation site... How did other's campaigns go? Any other Island Events people found useful to add?

[The 8th Dwarf]

Dot....

I am at work and will look through my notes when I get home.

Congratulations on DMing one of the best modules ever.

You can make this module creepy as hell, with this module you get to mess with your players brains and make them shudder and thier skin crawl.

[Brandon Hodge]

Hey LB! Here are a few pointers for you.

The Drain Aperture

Spoiler:

Keep in mind that this mechanism was never meant as an entrance--its a complicated drain mechanism for a big public pool, which is why it acts as a sort of trap. So, without finding and flipping the switch, you have to make the Disable Device check to open it, but it still snaps shut each round as a sort of emergency shut-off mechanism as a nature of what it truly is--which may come as a surprise to PCs who thing they've figured it out when they think they've disarmed it. And that's the point. But, if you want to open it and make it stay open, just have them make another DC 25 Disable device check to do that. No big deal.

The Observatory

Spoiler:

I don't have much advice for PCs that just run around indiscriminately smashing things without properly investigating them first. But don't discount the effects of the call lightning and earthquake spells on 6th-level PCs (those are 3rd and 8th-level spells, respectively!). Look them up, and apply them liberally if they don't get the point, which is what the module suggests anyway. Maybe they'll take a powerful artifact seriously when a couple of them get fried to blackened husks and crushed by a rocky pile of ceiling debris. I only mean a *little* snark there, but seriously, I don't think your PCs are that thick. That palce is the real deal, and a serious threat if not handled gingerly.

Sandbox Play

Spoiler:

As for sandbox play, the world is your oyster: play it naturally, and react to PC action appropriately. This is where the random encounter chart comes in handy. If you feel you need to lead PCs to where you want them, like the excavation site, then maybe let the PCs spot a work team heading that way in the distance, and entice them to follow ("it looks like they're carrying big chests..." they're full of tools, but they'll assume they're carrying treasure, of course). Or, if they're intent on exploring the natatorium, tempt them away with the distant sounds of hammers and picks working on the bedrock. But maybe they run into another encounter area on the way there. The island isn't *that* big--it is basically several big city blocks--so little tricks and tools like that can help you get PCs where you want them.

When the adventure came out, we released a little "web extra" called "Ten Interesting Ruins" that fills in some of the blanks on the island. I think you'll enjoy them *and* find them useful, so I hunted them down and have republished them below!

Ten Interesting Ruins

Spoiler:

Little of Nal-Kashel remains above water, but even then chances for exploration are vast, and the events transpiring here are but a small part of the intricacies that could be taking place among the white-shale ruins. Below are ten sites to spark the GM's imagination should players delve deeper into the decaying spires of old Azlant.

The Russet Library: The crumbling edifice of this domed structure is completely choked with overgrowth. A violent tribe of three dozen vegepygmies aggressively guard the contents within, believing all outsiders seek control of the mold colonies the rotting books harbor.

Blood Fruit: This building is completely overgrown with thick vines dangling large, blood red fruit. If approached within 60 feet, the putrescent globes split, disgorging stirges that immediately swarm trespassers. Slain stirges are regrown unless the fruit is destroyed.

Research Facility: Narrow, crumbling passages and tangled iron bars show this building housed a vast collection of cages. A clutch of chokers lurk in the cramped shadows, baiting seabirds and snatching them from the air as they near.

The Gibbering Cylinder: A single intact chamber remains in this crumbled hall. Within, a cracked glass cylinder etched with strange glyphs contains a babbling allip. The creature seems contained, but it’s disturbing sound leaks from the vessel. Small orbiting baubles occasionally tap the glass threateningly.

The Copper Beast: Enormous copper beams and green rotting plates jut upwards from the upside-down remnants of some massive, lobster-shaped Azlanti war machine. Green foliage hides enormous black egg cases unearthed with the odd creation. They burst, and mutated centipede swarms attack.

Pauper's Burial: A white marble mausoleum, cracked apart on two sides so the ceiling slumps dangerously, holds canopic jars bearing brass plaques in ancient Azlanti. If disturbed, ochre jellies erupt from the tombs to attack the defilers.

The Showering Tower: An orbiting tower passes overhead, dropping 1d3 gp in ancient Azlanti coins per round. The tower holds approximately 2,000 gp, but is home to a massive wasp nest (3 swarms) and is difficult to navigate inside due to the tumbling motion, nest and heavy debris.

The Sinkhole: The dull rhythmic clack of driftwood, debris and surf funnels upwards through the mouth of this small sinkhole choked with a collapsed building. Giant crabs clamber out from the depression, attacking ravenously.

The Lectern Hall: Twelve copper colored podiums face inward in a acre-wide stone circle. Inlaid into the center of the circle is a now-broken spiral pattern made from black pearl. Each podium has strange, geometric patterns engraved into its ancient facade, now various glyphs of warding.

Fearful Flora: A withered giant flytrap known to locals as Brinetooth, crusted in salt from the ocean mist, stalks prey in an overgrown garden littered with statues behind a ruined manor house. The beast hides among the undergrowth waiting for the next victim.

[Lima Beans]

Thanks for responding Brandon!

Love the additional sites you listed, will definitely use them. I have a feeling my player's will really enjoy this setting, and will want to explore the island a good deal.

Also great art in the module, going to try and re-use as much of it as possible for my players, which will take a little photoshopping on the maps to hide some of the DM notes, but should be worth it.

One of my player's has really been interested in persuing immortality through any means necessary so I am thinking of having the Mohl’omog figure this out and tempt him with some false promises or something as he explores the island :p

Can't wait to run this, will let you know how it goes!!!

[taterbill]

Lima Beans wrote:

Thanks for responding Brandon!

Also great art in the module, going to try and re-use as much of it as possible for my players, which will take a little photoshopping on the maps to hide some of the DM notes, but should be worth it.

Hey Lima,

Did you ever run this module? Any after action thoughts? I plan on running this soon and would like to hear your tips. Did you ever edit the maps for use as handouts? I would love to get copies of those if you've posted them somewhere.

Thanks!!

[terraleon]

As a note, referring to a recent review of this adventure-- I ran it at Gencon about 3ish years ago. It took about 16 hours? But it was epic, fantastic, and a blast. It is not meant to be done in a single sitting, unless that sitting is an epic all-nighter weekend convention-or-college-dorm-game. This is a delicious treat, to be savored and enjoyed.

-Ben.

[Brandon Hodge]

terraleon wrote:

As a note, referring to a recent review of this adventure...

Yeah, I saw that unfortunate review, Ben. I expect nothing less from a reviewer whose PFS character is named "Duck-Duck" and inflicts an "Urban Barbarian1/Scout Ninja4/Emissary Cavalier1 who wears a Hat of Disguise to have a Duck-Clown suit while he does the chicken dance with his Giant Chicken(AxeBeak with Boon Companion, the Perform Trick, and 1 rank of Perform [Dance])" on fellow gamers and GMs at the PFS table. I'm sure it's hilaaaaaarious.

And MY materials are "poorly designed and overly challenging." Sheesh. I obviously write very different games for a very different audience than that guy. Apparently using an aboleth's at-will special abilities to create illusory walls to conceal itself is "cheap" and not at all in line with the actions of a hyper-intelligent Lovecraftian creature trapped in a subterranean prison while avoiding becoming prey to a bunch of multiclass-bloated adventurers wearing clown suits and chicken-dancing their way through his home.

And shame on me for that DC 40 Spellcraft check. When we were "poorly designing" this thing we should have considered there are folks who will "leave the table in disgust and frustration" because they can't figure things out with a single skill check or be bothered to participate in an adventure's encounters that are designed to overcome and mitigate that difficult skill check and, you know, create a linked series of exciting challenges and important goals for those players at the table. But what do I know about game design? =-)

Since when do adventures written for the Pathfinder Module line have to conform to 4-hour PFS session gaming expectations? It wasn't even converted to be PFS-legal until 2 years after it was published. Tough crowd. You figure being the sole 1-star reviewer among a sea of 5-stars would maybe trigger a little self-evaluation or introspection as to where the source of his lack of enjoyment truly lies.