Solstice Scar GM Thread (Inactive)

Game Master Granta

I should be back tonight.... I underestimated the after con.

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The after con is vicious!

I'm still catching up, post-GenCon. But I have to give GM Lorenzo kudos for those amazing pre-formatted posts, and to everyone (but especially Granta and Magabeus) for having monster tokens completed for Tier 3-4.

Gentlemen, I was drowning and you threw me the life raft that kept me afloat.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Hmm

Well, my con was this weekend. And i was the non-official organiser.

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On that note, my fiance just surprised me with a weekend away. I'll be AFK Friday 1800 EST until Monday 1800.

Did you need a backup then? I can jump in.

@GM Granta

Can you walk me through the trap at A3?

1. The players are disabling the runes-swarm.

2. To get to the swarm, they players have to trigger the trap in A3. The trap is triggered by anyone within the boundary.

3. The trap in A3 cannot be disarmed, at all. And thus players are automatically subjected to it if they are inside and it resets.

4. The swarm never leaves its area so the players have to stand next to it.

Wouldn't the swarm leave the trap area to engage PCs? If not, then a player should be able to stand next to it without ever being attacked.

What am I missing?

They can spend a move action to move the trap, and a standard to force it to trigger. I'd say the swarm would follow it out and then begin using actions to move the trap and trigger it as long as it's charged. That's more or less what mine has been doing.

Ah. Didn't read the living runes. So the swarm can constantly blast everyone working on the swarm, as soon as the trap resets? That makes a lot more sense for how this is suppose to work.

Thanks.

I don't see anything about the swarms not moving, and as TMBC said, the traps can be moved (see the runes' stat block).

Also, the trap can be disabled--"see creatures above". I took that as a reference to the section titled "Creatures" rather than to the living runes, i.e. it is an Average DC Disable Device.

The swarm definitely can move, the 5-6 has a fly speed!

I will need the services of one of the awesome stand in GM's from this Friday 1800 until Monday at 1800 as well. I will brief them up on where the group is currently at in the scenario and where to expect them to go and will list out all of the small tidbits of issues I neglected to do. Many thanks in advance.

I will need the services of one of the awesome stand in GM's from this Friday 1800 until Monday at 1800 as well. I will brief them up on where the group is currently at in the scenario and where to expect them to go and will list out all of the small tidbits of issues I neglected to do. Many thanks in advance.

Since Dungeon Master S didn't respond, I will jump in on that.

Just PM me with the details!

Oops, Paizo post monster got me. No worries. Someone else will jump I'm sure. I can also sneak in a daily post most likely.

Oops, Paizo post monster got me. No worries. Someone else will jump I'm sure. I can also sneak in a daily post most likely.

Sorry...

Well, that's why there are like five backups, right?

FYI - I will not be available September 14-17 due to Skål Con 2017

Dungeon Master S wrote:

Oops, Paizo post monster got me. No worries. Someone else will jump I'm sure. I can also sneak in a daily post most likely.

Sorry...

Well, that's why there are like five backups, right?

FYI - I will not be available September 14-17 due to Skål Con 2017

No apologies necessary. Yeah, I'm not worried.

While I would love to jump in and help out, I'm away all weekend on a camping trip

Also, the trap can be disabled--"see creatures above". I took that as a reference to the section titled "Creatures" rather than to the living runes, i.e. it is an Average DC Disable Device.

Okay, this is something that I am pretty sure our GM does not know and is confusing. You might want to broadcast this info. I assumed that the trap could not be disarmed because the scenario said:

Traps: Nigel installed magical traps all around the museum. The magical rune constructs control the traps, so they cannot be disarmed normally.

I interpreted the "see creatures above" meaning that this trap cannot be disarmed without disarming the swarm i.e. 10 successes.

p. 13 wrote:

Traps: Nigel installed magical traps all around the museum. The magical rune constructs control the traps, so they cannot be disarmed normally.

Hmm . . . I think your reading makes more sense--or at least less nonsense. I really don't like the wording of this section.

For example, it says 10 successes destroys a swarm, but I don't see anything that says how destroying a swarm affects the traps. Perhaps you can disarm a trap, but there are simply so many traps that it's pointless. Who knows?

Well, my team are acing this section. Given we head onto C next week, I assume we can do section B as well at the moment, or is there a time gate on that?

Well, my team are acing this section. Given we head onto C next week, I assume we can do section B as well at the moment, or is there a time gate on that?

Section B is live. Double check the ooc text in my overseer announcement to your game :-p

All of my announcements will have directions like that.

The Backup Calendar is live. If I've set it up correctly, everybody can view, but only the backups can edit--and please do so anytime you cover a game or are unavailable. Link is in gameplay.

Would any backups be able to take my table until Thursday morning? My normally somewhat crazy Wednesday looks a little crazier than normal.

Hmm

We're looking for two backup GMs for the second run of Solstice Scar (October 6 - November 17). Please PM me if interested.

On that note, my fiance just surprised me with a weekend away. I'll be AFK Friday 1800 EST until Monday 1800.

I can get you unless another backup GM hops on it.

Would any backups be able to take my table until Thursday morning? My normally somewhat crazy Wednesday looks a little crazier than normal.

I can get you

We're looking for two backup GMs for the second run of Solstice Scar (October 6 - November 17). Please PM me if interested.

I volunteer for Backup GM.

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For example, it says 10 successes destroys a swarm, but I don't see anything that says how destroying a swarm affects the traps. Perhaps you can disarm a trap, but there are simply so many traps that it's pointless. Who knows?

It was explained to me that disabling the rune swarm disables all the traps in the museum, including the trap that protects the runes/swarm.

Thank you to DebugAMP and nightdeath for volunteering to be the round 2 backups.

For the rest of you, I will post the sign-up sheet in 2-3 days.

GM Granta wrote:

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For example, it says 10 successes destroys a swarm, but I don't see anything that says how destroying a swarm affects the traps. Perhaps you can disarm a trap, but there are simply so many traps that it's pointless. Who knows?

It was explained to me that disabling the rune swarm disables all the traps in the museum, including the trap that protects the runes/swarm.

Hopefully you are not referring to me? Because I don't think I said that.

It looks like Aram Zey, nightdeath, Qwerty, and Woodenman have yet to pass their starting Aid Tokens. Please, PLEASE pass the tokens within a day or two of getting them.

Remind your tables to use or boost them. Encourage your tables. And if neither of those works, tell them to pass the damn tokens or suffer your wrath.

Is it going to be "Big Brother is Watching" throughout the special? because in my opinion - it is obnoxious to call out those GMs in public for something as unimportant as aid tokens.

It looks like Aram Zey, nightdeath, Qwerty, and Woodenman have yet to pass their starting Aid Tokens. Please, PLEASE pass the tokens within a day or two of getting them. Remind your tables to use or boost them. Encourage your tables. And if neither of those works, tell them to pass the damn tokens or suffer your wrath.

Tokens have always this problem. I wonder why.

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Is it going to be "Big Brother is Watching" throughout the special?

Heck no! There's no way I'm going to waste that much time watching over you guys. Which is also the reason why we have this thread, and why I post here before PMing GMs about things.

There's nothing sinister going on here, and nobody is being called out. I just try to avoid saying the same thing multiple times.

Tokens have always this problem. I wonder why.

My guess is because it's nobody's particular responsibility. That's also why something so simple as opening a door can take days.

Many thanks to Granta and others for the pre-formatting. If you all were close I would buy you your beverage of choice as a show of appreciation.

One success reported at my table and moving on. As a side note- I hate to gloss over RPing for some folks because of the timed nature of PbP specials and I was wondering how other GMs handle RPing and keeping pace during the scenario.

Even in live specials passing aid tokens is a problem...often tables hang onto them looking for that perfect time to use them, and if that doesn't come it just sits...or the table is busy and it gets forgotten about.

Aid Tokens tend to stay stagnant that's why sometimes a reminder is nice. I'll encourage my table to use it.....

Also those pre formatted posts makes this run a breeze....so much that I'm tempted to go do something to them lol.

Yes, totally. This is only the 2nd special that I'm running but the pre-formatting and other stuff has made this experience so much smoother. I can concentrate on rping, tactics, etc more than formatting text.

Ditto issue about aid tokens. At a systems-level, it is more beneficial for the aid tokens to circulate, especially if we have the understanding that if my table needs one and I holler, some other table will pass it our way. :)

First success.

Question

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Aid token sent to Dungeon Master S

I believe the potions are always cure moderate wounds, but I also don't have the scenario handy.

At a systems-level, it is more beneficial for the aid tokens to circulate, especially if we have the understanding that if my table needs one and I holler, some other table will pass it our way. :)

Would it be helpful to let players know GMs are able to request tokens when needed? If yes, do people want to handle it individually or have an overseer announcement?

In the event the PCs are really struggling in this Part of the adventure, Svaralk can provide them three potions of cure moderate wounds as a professional courtesy. He considers the cost negligible, given the fortune he earned as part of the Ulfen Guard.

N N 959 wrote:

GM Granta wrote:

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For example, it says 10 successes destroys a swarm, but I don't see anything that says how destroying a swarm affects the traps. Perhaps you can disarm a trap, but there are simply so many traps that it's pointless. Who knows?

It was explained to me that disabling the rune swarm disables all the traps in the museum, including the trap that protects the runes/swarm.

Hopefully you are not referring to me? Because I don't think I said that.

After double checking, I'm not seeing any other traps in the museum other than those involving the living swarm. Are there more?

Aid token sent to Gayel Nord's table

Anyone in trouble who needs a boosted healing Aid Token?

Everybody please remember to track the tokens here when you do anything with them. That includes boosting, passing AND receiving them.

Since we don't have physical tokens to write on and keep track of, that slide is crucial. I can't tell for sure, but it looks like at least 4 GMs haven't written their actions on the tokens.

And the above link is always at the top of the recruitment thread, along with instructions in case you forget what the protocol is.

I'm realising that I don't quite understand how traps that have trigger: location (alarm) for the living runes works. Does it mean that that:
1. the trap is at a particular location, but even if a creature moves into the location, it does not trigger unless the living rune uses its standard action to activate alarm and hence trigger the trap, or
2. the trap will trigger if a creature moves into the location, regardless of whether the living rune activated alarm.

RAW for location trigger seems to be #2, but that doesn't make sense as the living rune would not need a standard action to trigger the trap. And I couldn't find references to "location(alarm)".

I took it to be like "Trigger location" except that it is only active once the alarm has been activated, i.e. it won't go off when a customer steps on that square during normal business hours.

Ah, that makes more sense. Thanks!

For boosting the Aid Tokens, do we know whether the Knowledge checks are general or specific? That is, if the booster rolls Knowledge (arcana), can it be used for any Knowledge check or just arcana?