I'm looking for a good place to put these in Golarion. Either currently existing towns I could substitute out for Hommlet and Nulb or empty areas that could have them introduced. Any opinions?
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Sandpoint! But in all seriousness, try to get your hands on Towns of the Inner Sea to get some ideas on some of the towns on Avistan.
You could drop it anywhere in Taldor and it would fit in perfectly with the stuffy hereditary monarchy there, always so concerned with titles.
Make it close to the Ustalav border and the Elemental Evil was probably something that leaked out of there.
==Aelryinth
You could drop it anywhere in Taldor and it would fit in perfectly with the stuffy hereditary monarchy there, always so concerned with titles.
Make it close to the Ustalav border and the Elemental Evil was probably something that leaked out of there.
==Aelryinth
That is a pretty good idea too. Although placing it down in the Geb/Nex region could be interesting especially if the Temple is actually right at the edge of the Mana Wastes. Maybe tie the Temple into some sort of connection that points to involvement in the open conflict of Geb & Nex with the Isle of Jalmeray (if I remember correctly that Isle has a lot of contact with djinn, jann, and that ilk).
Developer
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Turns out, James is currently running a Temple of Elemental Evil for all the developers. We've just hit second level, so we're still in the moat house. We're playing as having it set on the Isle of Kortos. There might be better places, but it's serving us well so far.
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I would put it somewhere in Northern Andoran. That way you are near the elven and Dwarven realms but but also several human nations. That was the feel I recal. Otherwise I would put it in the southern River Kingdoms.
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Turns out, James is currently running a Temple of Elemental Evil for all the developers. We've just hit second level, so we're still in the moat house. We're playing as having it set on the Isle of Kortos. There might be better places, but it's serving us well so far.
That's a pretty good idea, since the interior of the Isle is uncharted territory. Brevoy might be another contender, with Homlett lying in Brevoy and Nulb and the Temple over the border in the River Kingdoms.
Well, where do you put an area with a temple, a moathouse, two minor towns, and a big field where a battle took place?
Anywhere, does that sound reasonable? =)
Well, where do you put an area with a temple, a moathouse, two minor towns, and a big field where a battle took place?
Anywhere, does that sound reasonable? =)
Absolutely! Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to see this in Isger, Nirmathas, the River Kingdoms, even in the wilder and less society-touched areas of Nidal. Inland of the Sodden Lands? Sure.
Turns out, James is currently running a Temple of Elemental Evil for all the developers. We've just hit second level, so we're still in the moat house. We're playing as having it set on the Isle of Kortos. There might be better places, but it's serving us well so far.
Wonders if any of the developers got "Frog Swallowed" ;) - also wonders if it's the original one, or the return to one?
I rather like the idea proposed for Taldor, so have a look at that for sure.
Also you could think about the temple being over the border in Cheliax for extra scare factor, with the Hommlett and Nulb being on the "safe" side of the border.
Thanks all for the suggestions. I'm leaning towards rural Taldor now, though I quite like the ideas of Absalom and Isger too.
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Turns out, James is currently running a Temple of Elemental Evil for all the developers. We've just hit second level, so we're still in the moat house. We're playing as having it set on the Isle of Kortos. There might be better places, but it's serving us well so far.
Wonders if any of the developers got "Frog Swallowed" ;) - also wonders if it's the original one, or the return to one?
No one got swallowed because my barbarian one-shotted all of them. One Small character was at risk, but never ended up in an amphibious gullet. I believe James is using the original version of the adventure, and is simply slotting in Pathfinder RPG versions of all the enemies on the fly as we encounter them, even if they now possess a challenge rating far above what our characters should be able to handle.
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That can be dangerous later on. I ran a 3E conversion I did for the Temple several years back, and there are some monsters that, as written, will kill parties dead. This is especially true in the nodes.
If I recall, there's a banshee in there somewhere, and that means you're facing a CR 13 creature in an adventure built for L5-6 characters. The nodes also have tons of giants appropriate for the element in question, which means you're facing all sorts of high HP baddies. 1 fire giant is a CR10 encounter, and you usually don't encounter just one. Some modifications might be necessary, much the same way modifications to the GDQ series would need to be done as well.
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The players asked for "the original experience" and that's what I'm giving them. It's the original 1st edition game. The monster mix and numbers are staying the same, as is the treasure. There's 6 players and they're tougher than normal (I gave them each 15 race points for their characters and 20 point buy for stats and some other boons).
I'm honestly quite curious to see how things play out.
Hiya.
I ran this semi-recently (6 or so months ago it ended; lasted 6 or so months too). I set it in the River Kingdoms...'ish. I put it right at the 'border' between the SE River Kingdoms and Galt. I decided that Homlett had gone through several "changing of hands" over the years; some bandit guy claims it for a few years, then Galt tries to claim it "back", then it's left alone for a bit, etc. In the end, the River Kingdoms gave up because it was too far south, and Galt figured it was to far north to maintain. Homlett (and Nulb...but Nulb is more 'in' the RK) became a more or less independent town. The "friendly rivalry" between the worshipers of Shelyn (St.Cuthbert) and The Old Way (druidic) fits well into this area I found.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
The players asked for "the original experience" and that's what I'm giving them. It's the original 1st edition game. The monster mix and numbers are staying the same, as is the treasure. There's 6 players and they're tougher than normal (I gave them each 15 race points for their characters and 20 point buy for stats and some other boons).
I'm honestly quite curious to see how things play out.
Sounds great fun - maybe you should really treat them and slot in the original experience of the Tomb of Horrors as a side trek! :P
The players asked for "the original experience" and that's what I'm giving them. It's the original 1st edition game. The monster mix and numbers are staying the same, as is the treasure. There's 6 players and they're tougher than normal (I gave them each 15 race points for their characters and 20 point buy for stats and some other boons).
I'm honestly quite curious to see how things play out.
I think teaching is a pretty cool gig but you guys have the greatest job in the world.
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Creative Director
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Sounds great fun - maybe you should really treat them and slot in the original experience of the Tomb of Horrors as a side trek! :PThe players asked for "the original experience" and that's what I'm giving them. It's the original 1st edition game. The monster mix and numbers are staying the same, as is the treasure. There's 6 players and they're tougher than normal (I gave them each 15 race points for their characters and 20 point buy for stats and some other boons).
I'm honestly quite curious to see how things play out.
The plan is to run Elemental Evil, then Slavelords, then Queen of the Spiders.
I've got completely different plans for Tomb of Horrors.
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Creative Director
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There's 6 players and they're tougher than normal (I gave them each 15 race points for their characters and 20 point buy for stats and some other boons).James, out of curiosity does that include Hero Points? We've recently added these to our gaming & the jury is still out.I'm honestly quite curious to see how things play out.Likewise- any chance of seeing recaps or play sessions report, maybe even via Obsidian Portal?
I use plot twist cards instead of hero points.
If you show up to the session, you get a plot twist card at the end of the session as a reward, but you can only ever have a "hand" of cards equal to your character level. At the end of a session, you have to discard down to your hand, so if you didn't use any cards during the adventure, you get to pick which ones to keep.
I also award full XP to anyone who doesn't make it to any one particular game. I want the PCs to stay all the same level, and in this one I'm not all that interested in overly "punishing" folks for not being able to make any one game. Missing out on the plot twist card is your only punishment there... well, that and missing out on what I hope was a fun session!
I don't have time to post recaps, alas... but maybe you can convince one of the players to do so? ;-P
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I think that when you take one of the Greyhawk classics to put in Pathfinder you gotta think about where you'd put many of the others first -- look at them collectively -- then see what's best.
Otherwise, a year down the road you end up kicking yourself when you try to put Tamoachan in the Mwangi (perfect fit, yes?) but realize that you've already made the Mwangi Hepmonaland!
ToEE (and Return to ToEE) are great for far eastern Taldor, nice and rugged, out-of-the-way area for Hommlet & Nulb & Verbobonc. And that leaves some of the more obvious Pathfinder-locales for other GH classics.
But you should look at several...
Age of Worms would have to be near something like Greyhawk, for example, and pretty close to Scourge of the Slavelords (The Pomarj). But far from wherever you put Tsojcanth and G-D-Q.
I've put Against the Cult of the Reptile God in Varisia, a bit north of Wartle, that area, but nearer the Churlwood than the Sanos.
Tsojcanth I'd put in the northern tip of the Mindspin Mountains, on the Belkzen side, not the Nirmathan side.
Saltmarsh I'd put on the south Taldor coast (but far enough from Qadira to not be a problem).
G-D-Q seems right for just west of the World's Edge Mountains of eastern Taldor, though LOTS of folks will want it in northern Andoran. Just make sure it's not too close to ToEE -- maybe put ToEE in the NE mountainous region of Andoran if the World's Edge Mts aren't big enough for both GDQ and ToEE in your mind.
Here's a surprise: Ravenloft in Nidal, in the northeastern Uskwood -- NOT Ustalov. Ustalov is just too pulp, too "high fantasy" to be the terrifying, low fantasy I6.
(And have you read Nightglass? It's much more "Barovian" than any of the pulp-fiction of Ustalov.)
Tamoachan in the Sodden Lands, leading into the Mwangi.
I ran "Ghost Tower of Inverness" in the Spire of Nex.
"Dwellers of the Forbidden City" in southwestern Mwangi, on the Sargava side but remote from the Chelaxian colony.
A1-A4 is tricky but I'd go somewhere between Brevoy and The River Kingdoms. That's "Pomarj-enough."
I think you have to save Cheliax for the Kingdom of Ahlissa. (Which fits nicely since north of Ahlissa is the Pale -- not too unlike the darkly religious Nidal, and south of Ahlissa is Tilvanot which holds The Scarlet Brotherhood, AKA, plagiarized Red Mantis & Mediogalti.
Thanks for those thoughts. I've run Age of Worms and Return to the Tomb of Horrors in golarion and the plan this time was to follow ToEE up with the GDQ series. I never owned the greyhawk boxed set, so I don't really have a handle on the different countries that existed there - just the classic adventures. I'm not too stressed if I have to mangle the surrounding areas a lot to make them fit.
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Creative Director
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I don't have time to post recaps, alas... but maybe you can convince one of the players to do so? ;-PJames, are all/most of the players part of Paizo? If so, I think there's tremendous value to the company in assigning someone (or having a rotation) to write up session re-caps.
For example, I had forgotten all about Plot Twist Cards until your mention. Your post made me check the cards out but I'd want to see some more concrete examples of how my group could use them in our own game before buying. Recaps from a Paizo game could do that, as well as show off various products through showing how they are actually handled in a real game.
But documenting a campaign isn't just about a soft-sell of stuff. It's a great way to show off the talents of the Paizo staff & gives the fans even more insight into how to better run their own games.
Yes, everyone in the game is a developer here at Paizo.
And I can understand that it'd be valualbe from a PR position to have someone post recaps of the games... but there's a more important element to consider.
Remember—writing games is our job. It's an AWESOME job, but it's still a job, and that means it can get frustrating and stressful and annoying and can burn you out. One of the most important things we can do in-house to retain our passion for the games we create is to PLAY the games... and once that drifts into "you need to take a few hours after each session to write up a summary to post on the boards or as a blog post" that starts to blur the line between playing the game and going back to working on the game.
If our in-house playing of the game turns into just more work, that defeats the primary purpose of playing the game. It runs the risk of transforming relaxation and gaming into unpaid overtime. That's something I'd like to avoid.
So if someone in my group wants to write up the posts on their free time, that'd be great. But I'm not going to ask them to do it. And if they DO decide to do so and then give up, I'd hope that folks wouldn't be too pushy about trying to make them continue... but I fear that might happen.
In short... we need our moments to relax and unwind without having to turn those moments into work. I hope that makes sense.