Rappan Athuk - Starting, DM Set up, Questions, Advice and Stories / Run Through Experiences


Advice and Rules Questions

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silverhair2008 wrote:
Onyxlion, I have a request. Could you send me any of the maps that you converted please? Trying to draw the maps from what's in the book is very frustrating and they don't always match up. My email is in my profile page.

Sure, but be aware there are atm bare bones, extrapolated, and in most cases huge. As of this moment they are mostly basic outlines, while I do plain on enhancing them as best I can they are for all intents and purposes made quickly and with the goal of fitting the roll20 70px ratio correctly with out distortion. Basically you'll need to add back most of the inner walls, and others like secret doos.


I had found a copy of the Mouth of Doom that someone had removed all the traps and secret doors and converted the scale to one square = 5 feet. I don't recall where I found it but that is what I am hoping to find other maps that have been done the same way.


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Well I did find this when I was looking around. It's the first couple of levels already done. I am doing something a little different in that I'm tired of fiddling with maps that don't line up so I'm working from that perspective. I'll more than likely just put up a share with my work and you'll be able to use what you want or not.


My group has one room left to check out before they are done with the Mouth of Doom.


silverhair2008 wrote:
My group has one room left to check out before they are done with the Mouth of Doom.

Awesome, mine have nearly finished the mouth of doom as well, they have a few rooms left. I did you check out the maps?


Yeah. I was sort of hoping to get something like that but on a grid.


silverhair2008 wrote:
Yeah. I was sort of hoping to get something like that but on a grid.

I left most of it transparent in order to cut down on size since the maps are huge. If you want a grid you can just add a layer underneath with the grid lines on. The grid size on these maps is 70x70 px.

I'll see what I can whip up.


What I do is send the cleaned up map to my players. Then when we are playing they draw whatever room is needed instead of me drawing it beforehand and trying to hide it til we need it. We play at a FLGS. So maneuver room is at a premium. I am somewhat disappointed that the maps in the book are so unclear as to distances and sizes or rooms.


silverhair2008 wrote:
What I do is send the cleaned up map to my players. Then when we are playing they draw whatever room is needed instead of me drawing it beforehand and trying to hide it til we need it. We play at a FLGS. So maneuver room is at a premium. I am somewhat disappointed that the maps in the book are so unclear as to distances and sizes or rooms.

FLGS? Sorry I'm just curious. Yeah the maps are nicely done but hard to translate at times. Though I did mess up the dimensions of 3 rooms on the bottom right by 1 square. Main reason I left the floor transparent is I use them in roll20 so that has the grid built in, they been working awesomely.

Note I have the original working images in a xcf gimp format for easy editing they are just huge in file size like 300MB plus.

Scarab Sages

FLGS = Friendly Local Game Store


Onyxlion, I have a Dropbox account that should be able to handle that size of file. The email that is attached to that account is gof2048@hotmail.com.

Davrion, thanks for the interpretation.


silverhair2008 wrote:

Onyxlion, I have a Dropbox account that should be able to handle that size of file. The email that is attached to that account is gof2048@hotmail.com.

Davrion, thanks for the interpretation.

ha yeah thanks lol. okay I just uploaded the grid version of the mounth of doom & the demons gullet, still working on finishing off the fountain of pestilence.

I'll work on uploading the gimp xcf's with all the layers in tact, I'm not sure of the file size limit on dropbox.


Onyxlion, if you upload through Dropbox's website the file size limit is 10 Gb.


silverhair2008 wrote:
Onyxlion, if you upload through Dropbox's website the file size limit is 10 Gb.

Cool, been a little busy but I'll get them up sometime Sunday. They must have upped the size limit because I remember having trouble uploading files when I first joined up.


I have a question. Has anyone ever had a thought of restocking any of the encounters that your players' have cleaned out with a different group of opponents? Say for example they clear out one of the bandit camps, then a few weeks or months later a new group of bandits has moved into the same camp.

My group fought some Gnolls earlier in the campaign and now after they finish MoD they want to check out the Gnoll camp. In the book there are only 5 Gnolls in the camp. My thought is to make a much larger camp either at the same location or else to leave a clue to the larger encampment. As if these were the scouts for the larger group that plans on moving into the area.

Any recommendations?

Dark Archive

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silverhair2008 wrote:

I have a question. Has anyone ever had a thought of restocking any of the encounters that your players' have cleaned out with a different group of opponents? Say for example they clear out one of the bandit camps, then a few weeks or months later a new group of bandits has moved into the same camp.

My group fought some Gnolls earlier in the campaign and now after they finish MoD they want to check out the Gnoll camp. In the book there are only 5 Gnolls in the camp. My thought is to make a much larger camp either at the same location or else to leave a clue to the larger encampment. As if these were the scouts for the larger group that plans on moving into the area.

Any recommendations?

Silverhair - if I may (I'm going to anyway) lay out how I restock encounter areas in adventures/campaigns that are sandbox in nature?

If it's a small out of the way area - I generally will not restock the area - for a few reasons:
- It's out of the way, and unless it has another function (good vantage point, near a road) then it should stay empty for a very long time. this is just by virtue of logic. There are enough fixed and random encounters that every area does not need to be restocked (at least quickly) with new monsters.
- Victory/Staging areas. Sandbox adventures are very fluid and open, a cleaned out area (small) can easily serve as a safe house, meeting point, etc, for the PCs. More importantly - its a reward of sorts for being successful in an open environment where success may be harder to gauge than say a linear adventure. The more they clear out near town, the more prosperous the town becomes. This in of itself shows some kind of progress with its own benefit (better resources available to the PCs over time).

High traffic areas:
Should either be restocked by like creatures (with new security considerations) or with a wholly random set of creatures moved in (small group of humanoids, outlaw on the run, clutch of vermin, etc) to make the encounter feel new.
- Closer to RA proper - I would tend to restock more. In my game RA is a beacon of Evil, so it draws vermin, minor undead and evil creatures of all types. This serves as a natural defense, but also explains the current crop of creatures after the place has been breached several times.
- A favorite of mine is if one threat was taken care of but another was not before the party decided to retreat is to have the other threat flourish a bit and encroach on the open real estate. You can see alot of potential for this in the Lost City of Barakus, so I think it stands to reason that it would work in RA encounter areas.

-----------

As to your specific question: either way works as long as you telegraph the message. Either enough clues that there is a bigger camp/something is going on, or a beefed up camp to reflect that something is going on/staging for something huge. That would mean adding in some hyenadons, elite flind commanders, maybe some ghouls and to make it real - some carts or transports w/portable siege weapons (maybe even a small ballista). Something with implications that will scare the crap out of the players.

Some encounter ideas (these vary depending on how important you want the Gnoll faction to be in your game).

- Gnoll scouts - ranger/rogues. They can be running intel, spying on the town or even the players.
- Gnoll/ghoul patrol lead by a cleric of Crocutus (see below). This should show a relatively low level threat as being organized (even though chaotic) and scary. Mixed forces always bring players attention front and center. Its a good trick.

I would also go with the Crocutus angle (if running it in the Lost Lands). He is the savage Gnoll god who deposed of Yeenoghu and took his flail (as implied by his write up) and is probably pushing for his clerics towards conquest. Crocutus may see the Dungeon of Graves as a potential feast. Crocutus isn't a god of undeath, but he is a god of eating the dead. You can see where the potential conflict can occur - all that die/become carrion - belong to him and his followers.

So the Gnolls may in fact not be allied with RA and RA factions and in fact become presented as another religious cult or force that presents an extra threat to the region. This actually adds more layers to the onion: extra factions, intrigue, potential allies, etc. More importantly, it helps stress the evil vs. evil aspect which keeps this place in check.

----------------

I hope this helps.

I also know I owe you all some encounter tables - work has been hell as of late, and I have been very ill. I even stopped working on my beloved Gamma World re-write.
But I will get it out there - maybe throw in some extra bonus items - working on a random loot table/with encounter tie-ins. Basically a RA custom random treasure table with module tie ins - items can be dropped in any loot pile. Been working on something like this for Tsar, started doing tables for RA also.


Hey, Aux, it seems you forgot to include the info on Crocutus. Where can I find more info on him/her.

Dark Archive

Crocutus
This is more or less a copy-paste from Bards Gate (out of print) from the section on non-human deities. Such an incredible book, just like Barakus I am lucky enough to have a physical copy - but I would like it to get an expanded KS treatment.

He should appear in the Lost Lands campaign book coming out sometime next year.


I finally have those gimp files uploaded, I haven't worked on the maps lately so I've only got 3 up. I'm going on a trip tomorrow so I'm going to try to get a few more done on the train ride.


Before North Texas RPG Con my group had attacked the Gnoll encampment. I had expanded it to a small fort using the Bandit Outpost flip-mat. There were 8 Gnoll Bruisers (Ftr 4), 3 Flinds (Ftr 4), a Gnoll Shaman 4, and a Gnoll Barb 8. The Barb had just blasted out of the gate and ran away. There are 2 Flinds left and a Bruiser or 2. They had just taken down the Shaman when we had to stop, so it will commence again this coming Friday. The carnage continues.

Dark Archive

Excellent silverhair!

I have almost finalized my revised Zelkor's Ferry environs encounter tables for a re-post here.

The big changes is that I added a listing for NPC encounters: lone travelers, lone PCs, Party of PCs, lone cultists and groups of cultists. The lone cultists are custom NPC entries that vary from evil SoB (a genetic experiment of the Cloister - a Killer Were-Frog Slayer of Tsathoggua) to just insane (the Matchmaker of Orcus).
I have expanded some of the omens and also added in a few new types of low level undead. The last thing is I just need to make a slight re-write of the Charnel Pits background - with some tie-ins to Bards Gate and a few other cities.


One of my players has answered my question of what after the Gnolls. He wants to go to the Castle. I am considering changing the Goblins to an evil party. But maybe use both. For some reason I don't feel like just a castle of Goblins is a sufficient challenge.

Any recommendations?


Silverhair2008-
There are the usual tricks, give them some levels. make lots of traps and they have intimate knowledge of the battleground, so can snipe or sneak attack at will with such knowledge. Another idea to steal from Dragon Mountain is to morph a bad ass into a goblin and add it to the horde, that will be a big surprise. In the adventure I mention it was a fire giant changed to a kobold, but that is not allowed in the current rules. Maybe make some alchemists or golem builders to beef up their numbers with some low grade golems. Necromancers...the dead rise again. Did I mention traps yet...there is always that route...Also, give them a leader capable of teaching them how to make use of teamwork feats...that will surprise them too...(crap, do they even have those in Pathfinder?)

Dark Archive

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Thedmstrikes wrote:

Silverhair2008-

There are the usual tricks, give them some levels. make lots of traps and they have intimate knowledge of the battleground, so can snipe or sneak attack at will with such knowledge. Another idea to steal from Dragon Mountain is to morph a bad ass into a goblin and add it to the horde, that will be a big surprise. In the adventure I mention it was a fire giant changed to a kobold, but that is not allowed in the current rules. Maybe make some alchemists or golem builders to beef up their numbers with some low grade golems. Necromancers...the dead rise again. Did I mention traps yet...there is always that route...Also, give them a leader capable of teaching them how to make use of teamwork feats...that will surprise them too...(crap, do they even have those in Pathfinder?)

This pretty much right here. I would not write off the quirky Goblins of the keeps so quickly. I think if you added some levels, added in some extra support you may come to like the setup.

I actually have an expansion of the Castle (Beyond Castle Calaelen - original, isn't it) that adds a small secret dungeon and a few entrances throughout the complex (primary one is in the sealed library).
There are a few other areas that I added to the module: Rubbled Stairway in area 7, Courtyard Well - area 8, and of course some secret stairs in the library (area 15) in the eastern wall that all provide different access points to the new areas.

The reason for me is that I always use slow track xp, I tallied up the xp for the entire complex and felt that I still had a budget to work with to add a few more encounters. Going through my written notes in my little blue notebook (have not converted it to word yet) I have added:

Added to Roster:

- A Fiendish Orgekin-Gnoll cleric of Crocutus (level 2, but that's assuming the original mod) - with Fragile and Oversized Maw as features.
He works with the Goblins as the leader of the Gnoll mercenaries but has his own designs and visions of conquest. This also ties in with the local Gnoll threat and adds some plot points and back story.

Unbreached Crypt (not yet accessed by goblins, entrance is in sealed library):

- Petrified Zombies and Skeletons (increased AC +4, flat DR 5/-, Resist Fire , but move slower). Regenerate 1 point per minute.

- Bat Swarm (Fiendish Bats) I call "Strip Bats" - fly around like a bat swarm at first, then start attacking PCs trying to strip flesh from bone.

Torture Chamber:

- Animated Gibbet (I have a full write up and history of this monster if I ever get the courage to post it).

Advancing the story: Since becoming a cleric of Orcus, Jedra has been given visions of undead by her demon god. She has started to dig around the complex (and is looking for slaves to do the work) to find and free the Petrified Dead. While they are particularly slow monsters, nothing would prevent her from controlling them, rounding them up in a wagon and deploying them on an unsuspecting camp..or town. Somewhere strategically where their slow speed wouldn't be a problem and escape would be difficult.

Lead ins/hooks: Missing farmers or traders in or around Zelkors Ferry are being used as slaves to dig out the Castle or being used as sacrifices by Jedra to give her more "visions" and guidance.

I loved Mr. Clatworthy's original module, my only regret was that it was not longer. So I made it longer.

silverhair (or anyone else interested) PM me if you need ideas on expansion or some of the stat blocks for any of the these additions.

Dark Archive

I am almost done converting the Castle Calaelen extra encounters from paper to word doc. Once I get them finished (probably this weekend) I will email them out to you silverhair - I will give you a PM on here as a heads up.


Thanks, Aux.

Dark Archive

Ok Silverhair, sent you the file. Little longer than I expected (8 pages).

Few changes from what I originally posted as I transitioned the work from paper to word doc. Strip Bats now instead have Terror template instead of fiendish, I added a cavern area/encounter. Let me know what you think about the Devils Cage - I had that background written for another file about Fiendish variants that I planned on posting here someday (Evil is as Evil Does - DM Toolkit).

Let me know if you have any troubles opening it or any other questions. Feedback is also helpful.

If any other RA DMs want the file, PM me your addy (unless I already have it) and I will email it out to you.


Aux, would you like the breakdown of what I did with the Gnoll Encampment? It was quite the fight. My group is 7 players but they are only 3rd level. They handled a higher encounter than a 4 member party could.

Dark Archive

silverhair2008 wrote:
Aux, would you like the breakdown of what I did with the Gnoll Encampment?

Most definitely!I still have not written up if this is going to be base/fort/dungeon in my game or if the Gnolls are going to be more nomadic.

Send me whatever you have, I would love to see it.


Sounds cook Aux! I have started not one but two new games of RA PBP. I started recruiting and another group asked me to take over their game that had barely started when their GM abandoned it on them. They really had to twist my arm, not! So now I am running 4 PBPs and 3 live games and playing in two games, sheesh. Good thing I don't have a thing called a life!

Dark Archive

brvheart wrote:
Sounds cook Aux! I have started not one but two new games of RA PBP. I started recruiting and another group asked me to take over their game that had barely started when their GM abandoned it on them. They really had to twist my arm, not! So now I am running 4 PBPs and 3 live games and playing in two games, sheesh. Good thing I don't have a thing called a life!

Thanks brvheart, just trying to put out extra content for those who want it or need it.

Wow, and I have trouble running a game twice a month!
Hey, if you can pull it off then more power to you. I know that I wish I had more time to GM and play in games (which is..never).

If you don't mind me asking, where is each group at right now?


One is at Castle Calaelen (they are level 1) on the second floor and the other is on the 1st level of the Mouth of Doom (The other GM started them level 3). My third group is just starting part three of The Splinters of Faith and my Razor's Coast game is doing Angry Waters at present. That pretty much covers my PBP games.


Aux, I sent the PDF's from HeroLab for the Gnolls of my Fort near Zelkor's Ferry. I hope you got it.

Also, now whenever they see skeletons they ask if they are Black Skeletons. I've used them a couple of times and they had a hard time defeating them.

Dark Archive

Yes, I looked at them - wow, hero lab seems like a very nifty tool. Couple of questions:

- Why does the Gnoll shaman have a Str of 14/6? I couldn't find a reason or listing for it?

- Also, I think the Flind's hp are too much - unless I'm missing something max hp should be 69 (Con, favored class) instead of the listed 100.

- I like what you did with Najack - sort of a NPC designed to exist beyond a simple fight and actually function as a good leader and beyond the scope of combat.

Good work. Good mid level beatdown stats.

----------------------------

Did you get a chance to look at my "Beyond Castle Calaelen" encounters? I was going for a creepy vibe but I wasn't sure if I hit the mark. Thoughts?

I wish I could have provided you with a map, but the layout should be pretty easy to draw out. I should probably invest in a good map drawing app. That or just draw it and use a scanner.

The encounters are somewhat optimized - keeping in mind that the encounters were all scaled for low level play.


There was a penalty to the Shaman's STR, and his Saves. I'll send the corrected PDF. I always max out HP for the NPC's. HL may have been wrong on the Flind's HP but it didn't really matter.

Here is the breakdown on the Flind hp:
Flind 4 levels x 8 = 32+ Con +5/level (Con of 20) +20= 52
FTR 3 levels at max hp 30 + 15 for Con bonus + 3 for Favored Class = 100

In my players favor I have never used the Black Skeletons to their full potential. They do 1d3 of STR damage on each hit. Also they use Short Swords and get 2 attacks a round on a full round action.


They went to the Castle. It went pretty much as expected, they won. They did not kill the Goblin Blacksmith. I believe they will probably use the Castle as a base even though they have a Lodge inside Zelkor's Ferry.


So far I have had one request for the set of Stairs they want to go down from MoD. Surprisingly it is from room 36 where the Leeches were, and that set of stairs goes to the Fountain of Pestilence. Are they in for a surprise.

Has anyone resupplied the MoD with more monsters or bandits while the party was out doing other stuff?


My players pretty much did the same in the castle on not killing the blacksmith. Also they are hiring the half-orc commoner as a butler. They have hired six guards to watch it while they go to the MoD. They are only a few rooms in so far.

Scarab Sages

Pathfinder Maps Subscriber

Silver Hair,

I really enjoyed that transition into the Fountain of Pesitlence. It was probably a year ago and they still talk about those zombies.

My group has left the area of RA and is in TofA, but they talk about coming back. I have decided if they return to the MoD that I will restock it with gnolls, ogres and goblins (as the Gut has many of those), and maybe set up a new Inn with the their favorite Inn Keeper from the Gut.


Shem, do you mean the Demon's Gullet or the Gut? They are 2 different levels.


Shem, I looked it up in my gaming copy. You are speaking of the Gut.


I think he is talking about both. The fountain is in the Demon's Gullet. Of course from level three you can get into the Gut.


It looks like to me that levels 1C, 2B, 3C, and 4B all comprise the Mouth of Doom complex. Initially I thought just 1C was "The Mouth of Doom" but I was wrong.


Tonight is scheduled to be a makeup for our missed session last week. They have chosen to enter the Fountain of Pestilence (3C). I hope they survive.


It can be rather nasty! I lost a few characters there if I recall.


I hope to also. I mean I have to live up to my Killer GM 0706 status.


I think I killed a dozen in all three levels total although two kind of committed suicide.


They did enter The Fountain of Pestilence. Two of the PC's contracted Pestilence Disease. The Teleport room confused them for a minute or two. They also teleported into the room with the Defender Globe. They also deciphered the numerical code, then said the word they found. They managed to escape with minor damage into the room with the stairs up. They are hoping that the stairs lead to the first level.


Last night they made it to the magical painting room in the Demon's Gullet. That had them very confused as they came up the stairs from the Fountain of Pestilence. They took the door out of that room to enter the hallway. They managed to find the room with the Dam Thing and had to fight it. None of them had a Sleep spell. They had fun with the four rooms on the northeast portion of the level. Their Rogue entered a room and started seeing things that aren't really there. Then their Theurge got swallowed by a giant head statue. They destroyed the statue.

All in all a very interesting night.


I am concerned about my parties also with the dam thing. None of the new players seem to consider sleep as a valuable spell, but the module presumes they will have it as a traditional spell, magic missile and sleep.

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