New GM Looking For Help !!!


Carrion Crown


Hi there, my name is Michael. I've played pathfinder and enjoy playing it. I'm getting some friends into the game, and I am trying to do all the studying I can and figure out what I am doing. If anyone wants to help me it would be so appreciated. I need help looking over character sheets and just figuring out general questions. Maybe even help me run my first session. I am going to run Carrion Crown

Preferably add me on skype: BasalFire2454
Or leave a reply here.

Any help would be VERY appreciated. Hoping to get some help here !


Reading the core rule book will help tremendously. Cross reference everything on a character sheet or module with its explanation in the CRB and you'll be fine. Make notes in your module and highlight skill checks so you don't miss them.


Hi Scurrel, I would also suggest that the more time you put into prep work, the easier it will be for you to run the game. For example, have all your maps drawn/printed and ready to go for every encounter.

And have fun running the game!

Grand Lodge

I've run it PbP and I'm running tabletop right now.

I can back up the above poster.

Know your materials for the module. Print out a calendar for the month you want to start it. Pre-plan village events to happen (roughly speaking - changes on the fly are necessary).

Have your maps and miniatures ready. Have handouts - players LOVE handouts.

I'll PM you a link to my Campaign site that has a lot of handout style materials you can print up.

I 100% recommend that you add in story/plot devices to keep the players AWAY from Harrowstone. They'll get there soon enough. I included a local law forbidding people to enter Harrowstone (rescinded after the townhall meeting) a spring festival/cooking completion, a Barn raising and a funeral or two for the cleric (of Pharama) to officiate at, as well as a trial for someone who is is involved in certain events - it was great foreshadowing for trial of the beast.

Believe me, the party will find its way there on its own.

Trust as a score is a tricky mechanism. Some GMs ignore it, others add to it by generating some positive events (such as the afore mentioned barn raising). I am tracking it as an individual score and adjusting due to negative (and the odd positive) event.

The village itself should be run as an NPC, along with the other NPC characters. Its atmosphere makes the game, not the prison (which can degrade into hack and slash very quickly, making it just another dungeon, which is a pity).

Prep yourself with descriptive language for the prison itself - that will set the right tone. Play music in the background (I found a Youtube video of 8 hrs of dripping water sound that is in an echoing windy cave that is great for atmosphere).

[edit]If you have Module 6 of CC you'll find information on the protagonist - I recommend STRONGLY that he at the funeral along with Embreth Daramid (module 2)- have both of them leave straight after the funeral. I also had Madame Ivanja (module 3) and Garius from the Carrion Hill adventure but I did that to create connections to future events/games.


The advice so far is outstanding.

Here is a thread with letters from the main villain. They are fantastic and I highly recommend using them: Letters Link

Spoiler:
I went one further and had Adivion attend the funeral as one of the pall bearers. But it might be too late for you to do that.

I'd also recommend possibly using the info in this link to flesh out the NPCs in Ravengrow which will help keep your PCs in town: Reavengrow NPCs Link

Lastly, during the game, don't get too hung up on not knowing a rule. If you have no clue how an entire rules set (like mounted combat) works at all, then go ahead and look it up. For smaller situations, make a call on the spot, use it for the rest of the session, and look it up after the session is over. At the start of the following session, share with your players what you found. It will keep the game flowing, you'll learn the rules faster, as will your players. But, most importantly, they'll respect you.

Above all, have fun!


Great advice already given. Don't forget to really read up on haunts as they play a significant role in the early stages.

Also, read up a bit on Ustalav so that you can set the general tone of the people that they meet. Most will be suspicious of outsiders (hence the trust mechanic).

Read the entire GM thread for each module well in advance of running it. Lots of great advice can be found there.

Also read up on foreshadowing the big bad earlier in the AP. It's either in the GM thread or a separate thread.


Another idea I'll be using in Carrion Crown is to limit the race and class to something good more Ustalav specific (various GM, various view on this).

In my case Racewise, I see human (primarily Varisian, but Khellid, Ulfen and Shoanti also possible), halfling, (half-)orc from the western border, Thiefling (demon blooded dominating) from the northern border, dhampir, changeling shape-shifting (Rat being dominant in town, wolf, bear and boar in the country). Maybe Android from across the Eastern border.

Other race are obviously possible, but those fit the settings and the neighbour country.

Classwise, al core but monk (too Asian themed), restrict Barbarian and derivative as well as shaman to Ulfen, Khellid (half-)orc and shifters. Allow alchemist, vigilante, witch, oracle, hunter, brawler, inquisitor and investigator to all others.

Not to say other classes doesn'the exist, but I fell those are moreally mood setting.

Again, my view, yours and other GPS will vary.


Carrion Crown, as I guess can be expected with the undead theme, is full of haunts.

Now, experience varies, some like them as is, some do not. I do seem to recall that for like...the last 2 episodes of this series, it seems like every other room in the 'big bad' or 'almost the big bad' plot places is going to be a haunt. Which can mean alot of 'surprise! another haunt' encounters and potentially (depending on your players) grumbling about having to deal with the persistent annoyance when the thing might come back..

For the last book, the Tyrant Whisper Haunt (renchurch) stuff can be especially annoying if you're not taking into consider the recommendation noted above its description. Add to it that its a 'forever haunt' that can't be feasibly broken by a player group (at least not in this adventure path, unless maybe you'd added mythic or somesuch)

Dark Archive

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

I ran it through a couple of years ago... Let me see if I can remember the stuff I had problems with.

1.) If one of your players brings you a paladin archer have a friendly conversation with them where you beg them, "Don't do this. Aren't we friends?"

2.) Haunts
Remember that everyone gets a perception check before the encounter begins to notice the haunt.
Holy Water, laying on hands, channeling and all sources of positive energy damage haunts.
If the group can act before initiative 10 in the surprise round (assuming they notice the haunt is active) and do enough damage to destroy the haunt then no encounter.
Unless it's a secondary effect all haunt effects are fear effects which means fighters get bonus' to resist their effects and paladins are completely IMMUNE to them.

3.) The BBEG
There are a number of threads about the boss in these forums. I recommend checking them out.

I agree with the overall sentiment that he should be introduced somehow earlier and getting him involved with the PC's so he remains a constant string between the weakly connected volumes that make up the path.

Remember however, that you don't want to give away too much about this guy (like his name and appearance) because once the party learns that kind of information divination spells can potentially cause major problems to the narrative of the path.

4.) Book 3
There is an encounter at the end of book 3 that has killed entire parties probably more than anything else in the path. The caster uses a spell that is just able to outright kill party members on a single fort save at a time when they don't have a lot of resources to raise dead or reincarnate.

Consider adding earlier on in the path evidence that this spell has been used and kno arcana checks to identify that the guy they are chasing has it on tap. That way you give them the opportunity to prepare with death ward scrolls / spells.

5.) If you are looking for a supplementary adventure the Carrion Hill adventure can easily added between books 3 and 4.


I'm always up for chats, so I can add you, but I can't help you run.
tommydude or tommy.dude.davis on skype. I'll be adding you tonight.

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