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So. The Overflow Archives.
Who GMed it? What problems did arise? What solutions did you find?
I read the scenario and two problems became obvious to me:
1. Caught's statblock is erroneous, and at one of the worst places possible: His saves do not differ between his bard 3- and his bard 7-statblock. This leads to a Will save of +3 (instead of +5) in Subtier 4-5, or in other words: he'll be slumbered before he can say "Stop what are you doing" as soon as a witch is on board. We may not fix it (I think) and I've never seen a scenario fixed after release, so that's a bummer.
2. The author HATES foreign GMs who have to translate the poems and plays on words into other languages. ;)
But nevertheless, I look forward to judging it. I plan to swap Albatross' and Owl's names - after all, the text never explicitly states who is who, and I think it might drive a group appropriatly crazy that the owlheaded one is Albatross and the albatrossheaded one is Owl.
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Prepping it now, running it Tuesday. I think when something is an error, we can fix it if it's just math. Although if the party slumbers Caught, no big deal - most of the scenario is still to be solved. He's not even the biggest combat. There are a lot of combat encounters in this one (up to five) plus other rooms to be explored and traps/hazards to overcome, so it looks like it could run long.
Looking forward to seeing what the party does with Mistress Koi - fighting her would be... fatal. I think I'll voice her as a mix between "Dory" from "Finding Nemo" and "Forest Gump".
Trying to think of some good dialogue for the second time they meet Kreighton Shane...
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Ran it tonight. Messed up a few minor things but had a blast.
party chatted pleasantly with the birdmen.
The tooth fairy fight was hilarious but seemed more than a little underpowered at high tier. The fairies can't flank because they're tiny, making their rogue levels more than a little underwhelming.
The party had no luck catching the wily fox. The confusion spell delayed some, gaseuous form to the ceiling and the croc delayed a few more. He was close to getting away, when the party tried some diplomacy. he agree to take the parties help trying to take the fish, handed the party the last bit of scroll so they could look over the riddle...
And the monk read the first big letter of each scroll outloud, sealing the fox in the scroll.
The party feels bad about it, and wanted to help get him out. He didn't deserve to be stuck in the scroll after all. But there's no way in the adventure to help him after you say that word.
Lesson 1 in the dark archive: you do not read anything out loud. You do not move your lips when you read.
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Ran this last session and had a blast. Here are some thoughts about it.
1. Look up the rules for maneuvering in a shallow, deep, etc. bog (here under "Marsh Terrain") and keep them handy during the game. They are used frequently in the scenario. Also, if needed, re-familiarize yourself with the rules for drowning in case your PCs get especially unlucky. Furthermore, I'd remind newer players about the dangers of drowning and the mechanics involved with it should characters be heading in that direction.
2. In the lower tier, the fight with the bird and the worm lacks the bird, and so makes it lose some of it's punch. Because of this, I had the bird chasing the worm as the PCs began combat even though it wasn't in the fight in tier 1-2. Then, before anyone got to go, the bird hit its head on a low hanging beam and knocked itself out. This got my players to go, "Oh! It's like the bird and the worm from the poem," which is exactly what you want your players to start doing. Something similar to what I did with my players can keep the uniqueness of that encounter intact for yours should you run the lower subtier.
3. As a general rule, I think it is always a GM's responsibility to encourage roleplaying at the table by leading by example and doing it themselves. And this scenario is a perfect platform for doing just that. It's a 1-5, which means you'll likely be getting new players, and it's also stuffed to capacity with dynamic NPC personalities. For example, when it says the Fox is outraged at being unable to solve the riddle, you should be outraged too. Slam your fists on the table and raise your voice--be angry! When it says the Sleeper is absentminded and repeats itself, you should repeat yourself too. I did this by reading the same lines over and over after about 3-5 minutes of conversation with it.
There's so much potential in these pages and as a GM its our job to bring that out for our players. One of the best opportunities for this is right at the start where you get to play out Zarta and Kreighton arguing back and forth. Give it your best split personalty performance. I also expect to hear lots of shrieking at conventions when players find the Dark Archive tome in this scenario, so don't let me down!
4. Lastly, you will want to draw out the maps in advance. The final one is a real pain in the butt. That said, I still reviewed this scenario at 5/5 stars. If the orientation of the map (diagonal to regular) is the only thing I would change about a scenario, then it's still an A+ scenario in my book. So prep this one up and enjoy; it's one heck of a fun ride.
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Funny thing about the basement map, I started to draw it and said, "I think it's supposed to be a butterfly, you know Desna and all" which granted some bizarre looks from the players as the map started to look more whole. I decided to show them how the map was supposed to look according to the PDF and they forgave me after that.
Despite the fact that they only gave 4-5 stats for the bird I ran the 4-5 bird for my 1-2 players. They actually didn't have much of a problem with it. Particularly given the fact that its tactics give them some time to position themselves. The 4-5 bird does make quick work of the 1-2 void worm though.
All in all most of the combats went fairly quickly without much fuss but the players seemed to enjoy the bizarre mix of creatures and the situations they were in. I know for at least one of the players at the table getting to battle it out with Kreighton Shane was the highlight of the scenario.
The end of the scenario when the character stated to Kreighton quite plainly without any context that he had just defeated him in combat a few minutes ago was just a perfect way to end things.
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2. In the lower tier, the fight with the bird and the worm lacks the bird, and so makes it lose some of it's punch. Because of this, I had the bird chasing the worm as the PCs began combat even though it wasn't in the fight in tier 1-2. Then, before anyone got to go, the bird hit its head on a low hanging beam and knocked itself out. This got my players to go, "Oh! It's like the bird and the worm from the poem," which is exactly what you want your players to start doing. Something similar to what I did with my players can keep the uniqueness of that encounter intact for yours should you run the lower subtier.
Running this on Monday. This is an excellent idea. Thanks for the tip!
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I won't say I had problems, but we did have some complications, and a blast last night.
The group was 2 fighters, a hunter, a paladin/monk, and a bloodrager. No one spoke Sylvan, no one had linguistics, and no comp languages. Luckily, they were very patient and well behaved with the fisherfey, and enlisted them as translators. The negotiations with Mistress Koi was a reverse of Dory and the whale from Finding Nemo, and I almost killed one of the fighter players (not character) after the 13th reminder "theeeeeeeeeey arrrrrrrrre calllllllllllled paththththtththfinderrrrrrrrrrrrsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, donnnnnnnn't eeeeeeeeeeat meeeeeeeeeee"
No detect magic, but luckily lots of perception and appraise to find the loot, but couldn't identify or use much of it.
The few fights were good, my dice were streaky in all the right places and thiers were cold in really bad spots. The bird hit hard but the worm was taunting him through the party splitting the hits. I only nabbed 2/5 for the song but got 4 teeth. The boss got 4/6 for the confusion and one of the last two in a hideous laughter, which was an approriate audience for the last 4 rounds of the confusion lock battle: fighter hits wolf, wolf hits fighter, hunter hits wolf, wolf crits and trips hunter, fighter brains self. All while the pallymonk solos the boss and pet, and the bloodrager laughs at the confusion.
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I ran this yesterday with a group of new young players, and they had a lot of fun. It's a great mod, and allows for a lot of roleplaying. Ham up the weirdness, and have fun with the adventure.
I had all of the water and creatures get sucked back into mistress koi's mouth at the end, and then have her get sucked back into the scroll, which rolled itself up and tied itself with a red ribbon at the very end. Kind of a big finish for the party.
I think this is a great mod, and a blast to run.
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Did any party try to unclog the drain in the main room? If so: Did you rule that the Pathfinder in the bird cage below drowns instantly or did they have a chance to save him?
(Given the amount of water that would flush down there I imagine the room would be filled pretty much instantly...)
Also: Did any group decide not to return Caught to his prison? I feel that him accepting this fate makes it better ("Bwah, I'll be out there again in notime!") but especially Liberty's Edge and Chaotic Good characters might feel that this is a pretty harsh punishment.
I mean, they can still go outside, read the poem, slay the Koi and be done with it, but still.
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I'll be interested to see what the party does on this - will have to make sure I don't railroad them into the expected end-game. Although, they will be hard-pressed at the low subtier to slay the koi and survive... that's a big bang he can deliver. It is hard to clean up the mess without re-imprisoning Caught, though.
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There's so much potential in these pages and as a GM its our job to bring that out for our players.
This is a key point. I'm making face cards for the NPCs so they can have a presence at the table without being "just" on a tactical battle map.
Any other thoughts people have one ways to make the encounters come to life? I myself always have trouble carrying on a dialogue with two NPCs... anyone tried anything unorthodox that worked well?
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There's so much potential in these pages and as a GM its our job to bring that out for our players.This is a key point. I'm making face cards for the NPCs so they can have a presence at the table without being "just" on a tactical battle map.
Any other thoughts people have one ways to make the encounters come to life? I myself always have trouble carrying on a dialogue with two NPCs... anyone tried anything unorthodox that worked well?
I knew somebody who was bad with voices but had an awesome hat collection. They switched hats to demonstrate which NPC was talking. Worked surprisingly well.
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Noticed a few things during prep tonight... not sure if it's something worth playing up at the table or not.
First: I made little stick puppets for the owl and the albatross, to aid in my NPC dialogue. I'm going to do a little puppet show from behind the GM screen to see if it helps the party keep the two characters straight and distinct, or if it's just silly. (I figured since their fey, this would be the place to try silly, if anywhere...)
Next: So, the owl and the albatross can use their entangle ability with all the loose paper that's floating around in the water (with -2 on the DC of the ability). So there must be lots of loose paper and books already off the shelves and floating around in the water?
Fine, but if the party gets the grondair to suck up the water before she leaves... doesn't all that loose stuff get sucked up as well? According to the Bestiary entry, plants and even small water animals get sucked up when a grondair takes on water. So, the Society loses a bunch of stuff into that fishy's belly.
So, is it better for the Society if the grondair removes the water (and the loose books), or if she doesn't?
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Noticed a few things during prep tonight... not sure if it's something worth playing up at the table or not.
First: I made little stick puppets for the owl and the albatross, to aid in my NPC dialogue. I'm going to do a little puppet show from behind the GM screen to see if it helps the party keep the two characters straight and distinct, or if it's just silly. (I figured since their fey, this would be the place to try silly, if anywhere...)
Next: So, the owl and the albatross can use their entangle ability with all the loose paper that's floating around in the water (with -2 on the DC of the ability). So there must be lots of loose paper and books already off the shelves and floating around in the water?
Fine, but if the party gets the grondair to suck up the water before she leaves... doesn't all that loose stuff get sucked up as well? According to the Bestiary entry, plants and even small water animals get sucked up when a grondair takes on water. So, the Society loses a bunch of stuff into that fishy's belly.
So, is it better for the Society if the grondair removes the water (and the loose books), or if she doesn't?
There's certainly some paper floating in the water, but the worst of the entangling paper is probably comes from the shelves themselves as scrolls lash out from the walls and bookcases.
Koi is also a fabrication of some pretty wonky fey narrative—on both levels of storytelling. I suspect her reabsorption of the water leaves most of the paper behind. Certainly it captures little enough that the Society much prefers her cooperation to dredging and drying the archives manually.
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Had a blast running this. Ran it at high tier. Two Barbarians, a Witch, and a Warpriest.
The party had a blast roleplaying with both the Fisherman and Mistress Koi.
The Worm and The Bird was a cake walk for the party. They just bum rushed through it quickly.
The toothfairy fight was awesome. Captivated the animal companion of one of the Barbs and the other Barb. Toothfairy one paralyzed Barbarian A and the toothfairys descended upon him removing teeth as the witch kept tossing evil eyes out and watching his party loose teeth quickly. Ended up with 13 teeth between the entire party. (Barbarian could not save against the paralyze nor could the warpreist.) Was an awesome fight. Toothfairys got many teeth, many sneak attacks, and nearly drowned the barbarian.
Caught was a very simple encounter. The took the ink to the face, crit the croc and one shot him and then bum rushed Caught. At this point they quickly cornered him (even with spider climb) and proceeded to non-lethally brutalize the poor kitsune.
The party spent a good twenty minutes trying to figure out the riddle before just tossing the six slips of paper in the air.
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I think the scenario might have underestimated how reluctant good parties might be to return him to the scroll. After all, he didn't do anything worth getting imprisoned for a thousand years.
The party feels really bad about accidentally sucking him into the scroll and wants to try to get him out at some point.
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Contributor
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I think the scenario might have underestimated how reluctant good parties might be to return him to the scroll. After all, he didn't do anything worth getting imprisoned for a thousand years.
The party feels really bad about accidentally sucking him into the scroll and wants to try to get him out at some point.
Yeah, that's sort of how I felt as a GM after reading the scenario, too. The summary calls him deranged (which is sort of a cop-out), but when you read his stat block and tactics, he doesn't fight to the death, he cracks one-liners throughout the entire encounter, and he's all-around pleasant to be around. If anything, I feel like the adventure makes the fey feel more like the villain.
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As I said - nothing hinders the party of declaring they want to free him under more controlled circumstances later. He will probably not trust them and boast that he can escape anytime he wants to, but as there is no check box to see whether he stayed/returned to the scroll living/returned to the scroll dead I doubt he'll show up again, so there is no reason the party should not keep their promise.
You also could argue that he deserves being caught again as he is meddling with powerful magic just to get his revenge.
And if it does come back again - the only timeline as messed up as the PFS one is Doctor Who. And maybe Terminator. A kitsune who a party freed being caught in a scenario one or two seasons later shouldn't mess up too much.
As I see it, there are a few possible outcomes:
1. You display Caught as extremly reckless and really make a point out of how carelessly he endangers others. While he might not have anticipated Virml drowning in his bird cage, he imprisoned him and left him to the tooth fairies. That's pretty evil and if my players pulled such a stunt I'd consider it torture by proxy.
2. The party can let him loose after the scenario outside Absalom, though they will have to slay Mistress Koi to make sure she does not try to recapture him.
3. The party goes out of her way to convince the Master of Scrolls to look into freeing the bard again.
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If the party befriend the Fox or are simply looking for a different solution, I would be fine with them contacting Shane and bringing him up to speed on the situation. Then the decision would be made by Shane to use the scroll and seal away the Fox. Also, the Fox doesn't mind being re-trapped necessarily, he just wants to know the true answer to the riddle. So I'd have Shane encourage the PCs to figure that out before sending the Fox away, that way everyone involved is happy.
Also, the Fox isn't necessarily evil, nor did he deserve his sentence, but he certainly locked a pathfinder initiate in a cage and allowed some fairly sinister creatures to dissect him piece by piece (or tooth by tooth). So I take that for what it's worth.
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While this looks like a really fun scenario, it might hinge upon a major mechanical error.
The Overflow Archive is about a kitsune bard who escapes from an enchanted fey scroll. This kitsune possesses the Realistic Likeness feat, which he uses twice during the scenario. The first time, he transforms into a lowly, male, Pathfinder initiate. This is all well and dandy, but the next time that the PCs encounter him, the bard has taken the likeness of Kreighton Shaine. An elf.
Realistic Likeness reads as follows:
When you are in human form, you can take the shape of a specific individual.
Prerequisites: Kitsune.
Benefit: You can precisely mimic the physical features of any individual you have encountered. When you use your racial change shape ability, you can attempt to take the form of an individual, granting you a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks made to fool others with your impersonation.
Now, I'd like to direct you to change shape's rule text:
Change Shape (Su): A kitsune can assume the appearance of a specific single human form of the same sex. The kitsune always takes this specific form when she uses this ability. A kitsune in human form cannot use her bite attack, but gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear human. Changing shape is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as alter self, except that the kitsune does not adjust her ability scores.
So a kitsune has three criteria that must be met when using change shape: the form must be human, it must be be of the same sex as the kitsune, and it must be a specific, single human form.
Realistic Likeness allows you to use your racial change shape (which requires you to change into a specific, human form of the same sex) to attempt to take the form of an individual. That would alter the "single, specific" clause of Realistic Likeness, but it wouldn't change "human" or "same sex." I admit that the rules text is vague, but it seems to be backed up by the flavor text, which says, "While you're within human form."
As a result, the bard shouldn't be able to use Realistic Likeness to transform into either of the Venture Captains present in the scenario: Kreighton Shaine is an elf, and is therefore not a legal target, and Zarta (who is also present) is female, so she is not of the same sex as the kitsune and thereby not a legal target.
I'm willing to bet that some people are going to counter my assertions by citing that the feat doesn't say that it only works on humans, so it should work on any individual. By that vein of logic, the feat also doesn't say that it is restricted as per alter self, and considering that Mengkare is an individual gold dragon, I should be able to transform into him too with that logic. Should the counterargument refer back to the kitsune's change shape, ("Well, it can only be humanoids because change shape SAYS alter self,") then a hypocritical statement; why should the feat refer to the kitsune's change shape for limitations set by the feat, but not for unaltered limitations set by the racial trait itself?
The easiest way to fix this problem is to issue an errata that states that as part of his reward for tricking the djinni, Caught also received the ability to transform into any individual allowed by alter self with his Realistic Likeness feat, instead of just humans. The alternative is to issue a PFS errata that says otherwise until the PDT addresses the issue with an official FAQ.
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Caught is a rather exceptional kitsune, and although I acknowledge the oversight in his being unable to take the form of an elf using the Realistic Likeness feat, the story is made more interesting for the exception. Ultimately, he could take anyone else's form and still accomplish approximately the same result, as the second deception is based principally on his appearing as not-a-kitsune rather than appearing as anyone in particular.
I would go with the transformation as written in the scenario unless you're especially concerned about the exception. In that case, Caught can easily enough take the form of a random agent or even Zarta Dralneen without ruining the story.
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Caught is a rather exceptional kitsune, and although I acknowledge the oversight in his being unable to take the form of an elf using the Realistic Likeness feat, the story is made more interesting for the exception. Ultimately, he could take anyone else's form and still accomplish approximately the same result, as the second deception is based principally on his appearing as not-a-kitsune rather than appearing as anyone in particular.
I would go with the transformation as written in the scenario unless you're especially concerned about the exception. In that case, Caught can easily enough take the form of a random agent or even Zarta Dralneen without ruining the story.
He can't transform into Zarta because she's female, plus I'd rather not mess with her because she's involved in the scenario's faction mission. That would arouse a lot of suspicion from the Dark Archive players, who were told by her to effectively try and win Shaine's good graces while looking for their prize.
I was planning to go with the transformation as-written; it adds more credence to the idea that he was a legendary bard during the Age of Anguish if he has something out-of-the-ordinary like that. I simply felt that the mishap deserved to be mention to prevent future errors.
If questioned about it, I plan on referencing the story behind wish that he received for the inherent bonus to his Charisma as the source of his exception.
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I referenced the Fox's former wish when I ran this scenario as well. It really helped to add to his persona as a legendary gentleman explorer. I was able to easily bring it up when he started spewing off all his accolades after being captured by the PCs, all the while bemoaning his current fate and the absurdity of answering the riddle wrong (or so she claims).
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While this looks like a really fun scenario, it might hinge upon a major mechanical error.
The Overflow Archive is about a kitsune bard who escapes from an enchanted fey scroll. This kitsune possesses the Realistic Likeness feat, which he uses twice during the scenario. The first time, he transforms into a lowly, male, Pathfinder initiate. This is all well and dandy, but the next time that the PCs encounter him, the bard has taken the likeness of Kreighton Shaine. An elf.
Realistic Likeness reads as follows:
When you are in human form, you can take the shape of a specific individual.
Prerequisites: Kitsune.
Benefit: You can precisely mimic the physical features of any individual you have encountered. When you use your racial change shape ability, you can attempt to take the form of an individual, granting you a +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks made to fool others with your impersonation.
Now, I'd like to direct you to change shape's rule text:
Change Shape (Su): A kitsune can assume the appearance of a specific single human form of the same sex. The kitsune always takes this specific form when she uses this ability. A kitsune in human form cannot use her bite attack, but gains a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear human. Changing shape is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as alter self, except that the kitsune does not adjust her ability scores.So a kitsune has three criteria that must be met when using change shape: the form must be human, it must be be of the same sex as the kitsune, and it must be a specific, single human form.
Realistic Likeness allows you to use your racial change shape (which requires you to change into a specific, human form of the same sex) to attempt to take the form of an individual. That would alter the "single, specific" clause of Realistic Likeness, but it wouldn't change "human" or "same sex." I...
I get that NPCs "following the rules" is important to some, and while there is nothing wrong with that, it seems unlikely that the players would ever note this discrepancy unless the GM shows them [REDACTED]'s stat-block.
In short, this seems like something best ignored. YMMV.
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Just ran this last night - went really well. Didn't notice the elf issue referenced above, actually, but in my run it was important that the second shape was Kreighton Shane. Partly, because no one else would believably have a crocodile sitting next to them doing nothing, and partly because it gave one of my players immense satisfaction to attack the Master of Scrolls!
One other bit that I noticed just before game time: the entire scroll is actually written in Sylvan. Yes, the party might befriend an interpreter, or find the comprehend languages scroll (although quite late in the adventure, for my party). If no one spoke Sylvan, I'd probably just use it an as example of preparedness, and let them leave and go get whatever resources they need. Luckily we had one player who could speak Sylvan and one who had a scroll of comprehend languages already, so they were able to proceed without delay.
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I get that NPCs "following the rules" is important to some, and while there is nothing wrong with that, it seems unlikely that the players would ever note this discrepancy unless the GM shows them [REDACTED]'s stat-block.
In short, this seems like something best ignored. YMMV.
That's a big assumption to make. I'm a huge kitsune fan / kitsune type player, and I noticed the issue after reading the story plot description because I'm familiar with the feat; I never needed to look at the stat block or the Advanced Race Guide. You might have a similar reaction as I did if a scenario depended upon a dwarf villain automatically finding a secret door made of wood, built into a wooden wall, with his stone cunning racial trait. Good storytelling shouldn't be an excuse to go against the rules, or what's the point of having rules in the first place?
That isn't to say that what's done shouldn't remain done. I've already said that my personal solution is to cite [REDACTED]'s wish bonuses as the source of this peculiarity. I only brought it to PFS's attention because it is a rather glaring issue that will (hopefully) be avoided in the future.
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Actually when players made mention of how strange it was for Kreighton to be in the company of a crocodile I did pull out the little gem from the scenario text
after all, Shaine has a reputation for eccentricity and performing strange experiments, so finding him alone in a scriptorium with a crocodile is not completely out of character
This scenario is rarity, sure it was insanely fun to run but it had me laughing pretty much the entire time I was prepping it.
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Just ran this last night - went really well. Didn't notice the elf issue referenced above, actually, but in my run it was important that the second shape was Kreighton Shane. Partly, because no one else would believably have a crocodile sitting next to them doing nothing, and partly because it gave one of my players immense satisfaction to attack the Master of Scrolls!
One other bit that I noticed just before game time: the entire scroll is actually written in Sylvan. Yes, the party might befriend an interpreter, or find the comprehend languages scroll (although quite late in the adventure, for my party). If no one spoke Sylvan, I'd probably just use it an as example of preparedness, and let them leave and go get whatever resources they need. Luckily we had one player who could speak Sylvan and one who had a scroll of comprehend languages already, so they were able to proceed without delay.
Note that also the Fishermen speak common and can be prompted into translation service, at least with the Sleeper. So PCs without magical assistance or the ability to speak Sylvan can actually get through this scenario without much difficulty, provided they can think outside the box.
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Yes, those were the "interpreters" I referred to in my post. Although, since they start out unfriendly it is a DC 32 Diplomacy to make them friendly (with a +5 at the low subtier).
EDIT: You can just make them indifferent (DC 22) and then make a request of them (DC17) - that makes it much easier. Mea cupla!
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That's a big assumption to make. I'm a huge kitsune fan / kitsune type player, and I noticed the issue after reading the story plot description because I'm familiar with the feat; I never needed to look at the stat block or the Advanced Race Guide. You might have a similar reaction as I did if a scenario depended upon a dwarf villain automatically finding a secret door made of wood, built into a wooden wall, with his stone cunning racial trait. Good storytelling shouldn't be an excuse to go against the rules, or what's the point of having rules in the first place?
Not all rules are created equal? To me this sort of thing is a giant red flag that Pathfinder has (1) too many rules, and/or (2) too much focus on rules; at least for my taste. However, I appreciate that is entirely a matter of opinion (and beyond the scope of this thread).
That isn't to say that what's done shouldn't remain done. I've already said that my personal solution is to cite [REDACTED]'s wish bonuses as the source of this peculiarity. I only brought it to PFS's attention because it is a rather glaring issue that will (hopefully) be avoided in the future.
Without question it was nice of you to bring it to everyone's attention (I would never have noticed myself), and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. I apologize if I came off that way. :-)
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So, I'm running this twice this weekend, and have now read it twice. I am really looking forward to the NPCs, and planning to continue prepping tonight.
However, I've also sunk over an hour into drawing the maps. The first map took 15 minutes, even with a bit of detailing...no problem. So far the second has taken nearly an hour, and it still isn't finished (or 100% accurate). IMHO maps predominantly oriented on the diagonals should be rejected outright before reaching a cartographer.
