Ancient City Conclave of Adventurers - Rise of the Runelords


Rise of the Runelords


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So, inspired by the Order of the Amber Die's Giantslayer Endeavour, and looking for something special to do this Summer for my group, the ACCoA are going to have their own marathon session to start the Rise of the Runelords Adventure Path.

We kick off at 8 o'clock on Saturday 1st August, and are going to finish with a BBQ lunch after stopping the game at midday on Sunday 2nd August. Hopefully we will be well through the first chapter by then, but how far we get is in Fate's hands, and how we continue is still to be discussed.

Although I've been working on this for a couple months now and I am pretty much done, I'm going to use this thread to post some of our preparatory work this week leading up to the game starting, and to highlight some community material we have used. Then the Players and I will update it throughout the weekend so you can follow our adventures if you wish. You will hear lots from one Player in particular as he has volunteered to be the 'Publicist'.

No plot spoilers in the thread please.


THE GROUP

We are based in Paris, and met up via the ERoP MEETUP site. We play in English, but have German, Polish, Welsh, Spanish, Brazilian, American and Scottish Players. There are two couples in the group and the overall makeup is three female and four male Players. Between us we have people who work in schools, offices, laboratories and the military (a schoolteacher, a microbiologist and a soldier go into a bar.........)

We've been playing together for about 2 years now and play every second or third weekend on a Sunday, from midday to around 8 o'clock. The group rotates DMs every 6 months or so and currently have the following games ongoing:

Against the Giants (original adventure, but using Castles & Crusades rules) - paused at the end of Steading of the Hill Giant Chief
Ravenloft (D&D 3.5) - paused part way through the castle (due to birth of DM's daughter - in RL, not some in game plot device!)
Numenera (Numenera) - paused for summer holidays, Rise of the Runelords and impending birth of this DM's (and one of our Players') child.

The Rise of the Runelords session is taking place between Numenera and what we pick up next. That is to be confirmed due to, of all things, newborn and soon-to-arrive babies :-)


THE DM

A bit of context of where my D&D career has gone might help to understand some of what I decided to do in preparation, and will do during, the game.

I've been involved in RPGs for about 30+ years. I started with AD&D, D&D as presented by Frank Mentzer in the brightly coloured books (now called Classic I think) and Tunnels & Trolls, but also dabbled in GURPS, MERP, CoC and Dragon Warriors as time went on. I first DM'd D&D and AD&D 2E if I remember it right. But as with many, I took a hiatus for a while. I returned to D&D, but never really got into the new editions. Not through any perceived fault of theirs; just that I didn't have any problems with what I had. And I was now playing with my young children and Frank's rules suited us (and we go the chance to have lunch with him a few years ago).

I switched to Castles & Crusades about three years ago, after playing it for a year. I got the chance to play a bit of Pathfinder over the last two years, but didn't really want to invest the time to get to know it well enough to DM. However, after playing D&D3.5 in our Ravenloft game for about 8 months, and playing through the first chapter of the Shattered Star AP (the detail and cohesive story of which impressed me), I thought I'd give it a go.

Despite finally taking up 21st century gaming, I'm still a simple swords & sorcery lover at heart, so Rise of the Runelords seemed to be the right AP to start with. And here we are!


THANKS

A big thanks to Adam and the Order of the Amber Die for inspiring our game. Not just with the idea to play a 'very long game', but also the additional work you put into the immersion. As you will see later in the thread, I am a lover of 'Gaming Bling' and was impressed by the many models, maps, minis, etc which supports my gaming creed of:

"Just because you don't need it, doesn't mean you shouldn't use it".

When I DM, I use the same type of approach in our games, so you will see quite a bit of the same type of thing. A special thanks to Adam for taking time out of his Giantslayer prep to offer a bit of encouragement and advice on running Rise of the Runelords.

Thanks also to everyone who 'donated' their work to the Rise of the Runelords Community thread. You may recognise your ideas, suggestions, maps, NPCs, etc as the game progresses. You have all made the adventure better for us.

Thanks to Fayries for putting me touch with a store in France which had a copy of the Rise of the Runelords Face Cards for the paltry sum of €14. That saved me having to make up my own or sell one of my children to raise money to buy one on Amazon.

And it wouldn't be a traditional thank you speech, without crying and mentioning someone close so, a final thanks to my Wife, for both playing fair in our games and putting up with me buried in a pile of books and cards for the last few months and rearranging the furniture for next weekend's game :-)


THE PARTY

As far as possible I wanted to DM the AP as is. However, we have 6 Players, so I felt I had to boost up the encounters a bit, but kept things simple, such as extra HPs and maybe an extra level here and there for key NPCs. I also added a wee bit of treasure here and there to balance things out.

Party makeup is:

.....well why don't you see for yourself.....

ACCoA-Rise of the Runelords


Pathfinder Maps Subscriber; Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Sounds great! A marathon session like we used to play when I was in high school back in the 70s. Am I correct in understanding that you're going to play through a "nuit blanche", non-stop?

I'm envious of all the playing opportunities you have in Paris. I live near Châteauroux, a 3-hour drive to the southwest, and it took ages to get together a group (most of whom live near Tours) but we manage to play about once a month. We're doing RotRL and stopped last month in the middle of Foxglove manor for the summer. Starting again in September. Our sessions begin around 6PM and usually end around 1AM, so that's a far sight less than the marathon you're planning.

Good luck!


Thanks. Yeah, that's the intention, but we will see how far we get.

The ERoP Meetup site is pretty well supported by a whole variety of locals and ex-pats. I've got a really great group at the moment; all very easy going and whatever we are playing is always nail-biting and a good laugh.

We've got a blog up, which we are going to update with pictures and stuff as we play this weekend. One of the Players if running it. You can find it here:

ACCoA RotL Blog


So we are nearly 10 hours into the game, and just at the end of Chapter 2. The Characters are sitting at around 1000XP, so should be levelling up nicely.

Changing up the Goblin in the Closet with a Feral Goblin who had two Stirges in a bag to throw out in the corridor if anyone interrupted his 'meal' made for a memorable and challenging encounter in the enclosed space of a 10x10 room and 5' wide corridor.

Sticking a Wasp Swarm to chase the Boar in Boar Hunt birthed some very clever play.

Check the blog to see photos and Player commentary of what has been going on.


22 hours and still going strong. The Minor Runewell is closed. Epic battle against the Quasit, which ended with the Ranger throwing a Tanglefoot Bag, then the Barbarian pinning her and drowning the witch in the pool.

Check the blog out for photos and Player comments.


We finished just before midday on the approach to Thistletop through the briars. After the BBQ, sleep was much needed by all. I'll try to put together a journal with all the photos and detail of what went on.


And my wife's Sihedron cake now seems to be famous as Paizo re-blogged it:

Paizo Inc Tumblr

We had it at about 2300hrs when, instead of describing the engraving on the Runelord statue in the Catacombs of Wrath, I put the kettle on and pulled out the cake for a (nearly) midnight feast!


A feast well deserved, and a nice cake!


Thank you. The sugar-rush was much appreciated by all!


So we are going to continue the adventure this weekend. The plan is to finish Thistletop, this Chapter 1 on Sunday, from 'Eight 'til Late'.

Then we will see what cunning plan we come up with for running Chapter 2......

You can catch up on what happened last time, and follow along tomorrow, on the blog:

ACCoA Blog

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