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I'm with Maxim - let's trust the GM. What could possibly go wrong? ;)
Seriously though, extended dungeon/cavern crawling in PbP can be a slog unless you have some SOP set up to make it easier for the GM *and* people are willing to try and make it more entertaining with some well-placed RP...which this group does :)
Speaking of going forward, spell selection suggestions for Ryan is well appreciated.
With a cleric and a theurge of my own I also find this to be a pain in the ass when you start gaining some levels.
I cannot cope with it as I have better things to do than finding the best spell for each situation. In the end I usually default to core book to ease my time, because the cleric possibilities are just too broad nowadays and increasing.
But back when I had more time I made a cleric spell selection guide to help me out finding what kind of spells are out there and how useful they are. My plan is to group them by investigation, exploration and combat situations, then perhaps by theme, like undead, planes, etc. But I seldom find time for the project, and I am currently stuck at level 5.
I can give you write permissions if you are interested to contribute.
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A bit of GM Fiat to keep us on the story line track won't be such a bad thing.
Especially in the present setting.
I reckon it's way easier to get hopelessly lost down here than most places.
And anyway, you can trust Uncle Joe, er, The Big Boss, er, the.
I've been watching way too many videos about WWII on You Tube to pass the time lately. :P
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I can't really offer much input about Cleric spells that would be best.
Since I've never played one.
The only one that springs to mind is Searing Light, if your Ranged Touch attack is decent.
I've been in parties where clerics have used that to good effect.
It could be quite handy v. light sensitive denizens where we are now.
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Where did you get that cool spell selection list?
Very well laid out, that one!
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@Ryan/GM Rutseg - Yeah...that's a large part of why I've grown to prefer spontaneous casters over prepared ones because I'd rather have a limited selection of spells that I know are likely to be useful at some point than suffer analysis paralysis trying to pick the perfect selection every day!
Thanks all, I would be glad to contribute GM. I went through and made some selections, if they're wrong for the situation, well I can play medic - thats what a cleric is anyways - afterwards.
I chose daylight over searing light, but can see where both are useful
I always like spiritual weapon. Hold perosn is also useful.
Which level were you thinking of?
And I'm keen to see what is behind that grin.
Ooh yes, Spiritual Weapon is always a good choice because it can allow you to do some damage and still contribute to the fight in other ways in the meantime!
Hold Person is also good, especially since (so far) we seem to have primarily tangled with humanoids.
I had taken spiritual weapon, but didn't consider hold person as it is language dependent, wouldn't be bad once we're back above though.
Command is language dependent. Hold person isn't.
Sorry, was looking in HL and had hit the up arrow, was looking at the specs for enthrall - operator error.
Good suggestion on you guys part
GM, could they be made into broaches/necklaces/earings? possible ideas for after we get back above, pending we have some downtime.
Yes of course! You can cut them, then mount them on any jewel or magic item you wish to produce.
If we ever find them again!
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Waking up in the Duergar 'Crowbar Hotel', are we all in the same state of fatigue and exhaustion as before?
None is exhausted. All of you are fatigued because of the lack of real rest.
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'Crowbar Hotel'? I love it!
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Very interesting turn o' events...
@Kikinnin: Apologies Bror - should have listened to you... they are indeed murderous megalomaniacs lol.
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Gluttons for punishment, the lot of you.
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JJ is more worried about it being a cockroach hotel.
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Or something along those lines :P
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Up and at'em, its Atom ant, that mighty ant, with his atomic power.
He's got what it takes, and always makes, the vilest villain cower.
Afternoon Gang
Wee bit of a threadjack here. I'm also in a fledgling D&D 5E game here on the boards: GM_Fang's Old School 5E
We recently had 2 players drop out - a Human Ranger and Elven Fighter, so we're pretty light on the meatshield skilled combatant front.
GM and several of the players are new to 5E, so its a slow burn tip to the old school of D&D - rehashed adventures etc.
Looking for a new recruit to fill the ranks and thought what better place to ask than with you talented and fun lot (GM-R included).
If anyone fancies joining let me know or drop the GM a PM. We're sitting at 5 players at the moment, so just looking for the 1 recruit (I believe).
Cheers
BD
- Threadjack over. Normal service in the Slave Pits of Dark Dvergr is resumed :)
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Thanks a lot for the invitation Maxim! I am on my maximum number of games I think though.
I hope you get to convince someone to keep those backs protected ;)
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Going dark til Monday, good people. There is a Lollapa-loose in my neck of the woods, so I go off to sacrifice what little hearing I still have left, by entering the hunting grounds of downtown Chicago...
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Thanks for keeping us going. So may APs die even before the first book is complete. I'm guessing at level six we must be close to the end of the second or maybe into the third of the series now.
9 minutes read.
Actually the 6 books layout was not established until Paizo started publishing the Pahtfinder Adventure Path line (initially with D&D rules for Rise of the Runelords). Before that, Adventure Path's were published in the Dungeon Magazine, and so, they were delivered in chapters instead of books, better fitting the pages of the magazine.
It happens the Shackled City AP was later compiled into a single Anniversary Edition volume adding an extra chapter. Fortunately one of those gorgeous volumes did it to Spain.
Thus, there are 12 chapters in the AP, and so far we are in the 4th of it. First episodes had the longest dungeons on them, so they were extra lengthy. The middle chapters are more 'event driven' which I feel fit better for PbP. The last ones come back again to lengthy dungeons.
I wanted to share this piece of art with you, so you get to better understand were the AP comes from and how much it influenced Paizo and Pathfinder authors, artists and company. My plan is to keep updating this kind of 'archaeologist' posts as we advance in the story. It also serves me to let you know about changes I introduced, in case you like to share about APs with friends or you are the kinds interested on those crafting details.
Chapter 1: Life's Bazaar
Written by Christopher Perkins. Cover by Chuck Lukacs. Originally published in Dungeon #97.
This is by far the longest chapter in the whole AP. I already made a post about changes I introduced.
Chapter 2: Drakthar's Way
Written by Christopher Perkins. Cover by unknown author (I could not figure out).
This was not included in the original AP and it was later introduced in the Anniversary Edition. It was intended to easy the experience points leap between Life's Bazaar and Flood Season and to introduce some NPCs like the Blue Duke and his half-orcs.
In my opinion this one and the penultimate are the weaker chapters in the whole campaign.
- Triel encounter with JJ was a nice way to introduce this cool NPC. Given the AP says she tries to lurk the adventurers into her bath, Orak's bathroom seemed a cool place for the encounter and it gave you the opportunity to know more about Orak and Triel.
- I introduced the Major's assassination attempt prologue to foreshadow the Lucky Monkey, in order to show the local before its collapse and in order for the party to feel more involved on its destiny. All the NPCs and events there, including the assassins were of my forge (I got some inspiration for the Lucky Monkey family on a fan event posted on Paizo forums). Chapter 2 is the shortest one in the AP, thus it felt a nice spot.
- Enriched the details about Xoden and the mercenaries, so you get to know more about the Blue Duke and what it has been going on in the city. Some carefully 'left' letters in Malachite helped me introduce the dwarf and made his link to the plot visible to you.
Chapter 3: Flood Season
Written by James Jacobs himself. Cover by Stephene Daniele. Originally published in Dungeon #98.
Originally this is the first chapter were the Stormblades appear. While reading it, all the social games and events suggested for the Flood Season Festival remembered me a lot about the games presented in Burnt Offerings (first volume of Rise of the Runelords). I guess James took inspiration on his previous work on Flood Season when he came to write the Burnt Offerings classic.
- I thought it would be more interesting to reuse an old acquaintance of the party, Insu the bard assassin, as the base for the werebaboon Tongueater. In the original Tongueater is a werebaboon half-orc instead of human. This idea came to me a bit late, so I hope it did not hinder your sense or reality the fact most of his body was supposed to be consumed during the baboon attack.
- Again, the chapter has plenty of details for the GM to know the relation between the Ebon Triad and the main plot, but makes a terrible job on transmitting the details to the players. Thus, I went far beyond the spare Kopru Ruins Workroom info by greatly expanding and adapting for our group a fan-made Skaven's diary. I do not like when players have no hint of what is going on and feels the Campaign as a succession of unconnected events and fights. I hope these hints here and there help you some day put there all the pieces and see the image of the whole puzzle.
- There were some adaption to Pathfinder rules. The final boss, Tarkilar, is a gnoll based on a huecuva, a monster that changed a lot on Pathfinder. The Skulvyn and Kopru required a rework, but fortunately The Creature Chronicle has been very helpful on these tasks.
- We played most of the chapter as written, but I think to remember we skipped a couple of the bandits and traps encounters when it had long ago become repetitive.
- The Demonskar Ball is just one more of the social events suggested in this chapter. Plenty of GMs in the forums described it was a great event at their tables, so I tried to make it to ours too. In most campaigns it is the first opportunity to get to know with the nobles of the city but fortunately we had already plenty of chances so I fear it became a bit tedious for some of you. Also, had it been now, I would make it shorter an make it happen before the Kopru Ruins. As we run it, it became too close to the Cusp of Sunrise social event.
Chapter 4: Zenith's Trajectory
Written by David Noonan. Cover by Mark Nelson. Originally published in Dungeon #102.
I really enjoy the main idea of the chapter, all this pursuit of a lost dwarven hero in the Darklands. There are some lost opportunities on its execution in my opinion though. Mainly, it avoids the Darklands! They even placed keys for some Darkland doors in the 1st Chapter and then never used them on this chapter. This makes me belive there were some changes on the initial intention for a full Darklands chapter.
I forgot to show you this nice illustration by Jeff Carlisle about the Cusp of Sunrise.
- The author takes the party to the Darklands (Underdark in the original as it is D&D) by... traveling through Cauldron exterior wilderness. It seemed crappy to me and a lost opportunity for a compelling landscape like the Darklands. From the beginning I had a clear idea I wanted this corrected. Being Davked the one that releases the mission briefing (yeah, I know, why Davked and Celeste here together... but I decided to run it as written because... well I am already talking too much, aren't I? :D) it felt much better to link it to Zenith's bastion, the Malachite Fortress. Thus I planned for the Fortress to be something alive, placing dwarves there on first chapter and engaging your dwarven backgrounds to it. I think it feels more right you are leaving Cauldron to search for a lost dwarven hero now. Summarizing, we are merely skipping some overland travel and random encounters in favor of subterranean one. The only relevant encounter, Crazy Jarred, will be there, adjusted for the different landscape.
- Finally it seemed some of you needed a closing about Kazmojen's slaves bazaar. Thus, I went a long way out of the AP and created all the story about the faeries, the duergar slavers and their Slave Pits. All that content is made under my 'fist' erm... I mean writting hand. Then, do not complaint the original authors for this suffering. I felt we might skip it when you avoided exploring Hackbus cascade hut, then discussed about helping the fairy, but well, we are here now.
- In the book, the Cusp of Sunrise is presented with plenty of detail as a major social encounter. The problem with us I guess it was too close to the Demonskar Ball, and by then the interest on noble's interaction seemed low and we all seemed more interested to get back to the main plot. Additional note, the entrance encounter with the Majordomo seemed a total fun while reading, but felt cumbersome to play in PbP. I guess on table it should be easier to negotiate clothing etiquette.
- ... more to come ... still more than half chapter remains in front of us once we are done with the duergar 'extra' business...
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Bravo GM-R - very well played.
Love seeing the insight into how our adventures were constructed and where you used creative genius and artistic licence to get us from A to B by way of X and maybe Y :)
I'm in a very long running Freeport freebooters game that is a patchwork campaign of old Dungeon scenarios and Green Ronin material. We've been going since 2011 and have hit just under 13k posts to date. So the fact we've hit 5K+ in 1-1/2 years bodes very well indeed.
Like you our Freebooter GM has put ALOT of love, care and ill intentions into our (mis)adventures - and I firmly believe this group of special players will see out the entire Shackled City AP come time.
When we do (and we will) then you my friend will be at the heart of that achievement as you are now.
Cheers for the insight and can't wait for the next instalment :)
It is interesting seeing how this all came about.
At the rate we're going, we'd have enough material to write a bit of a novel with our Myth-Adventures (apologies to Robert Asprin).
In the distant future of course.
In the mean-time, lots of fun not really being sure what's up next.
Thanks for the peek behind-the-scenes, GM! When I was younger I always liked to pick our GM's (my older brother) brain after we finished a module, curious about things we missed or how things might have unfolded if we'd done things in a different way.
So we're coming up on roughly 1/3rd of this AP completed...good to know! Looking forward to many more adventures to come :)
Was on my phone earlier, thanks for the ride so far and joining the other's kudos for the job you've done. We only get to shine when drawn into a good story, and that story takes a good deal of work. Thanks for the look into the background. Looking forward to the rest.
Wow, as I said before, I think you are doing a great job at this. The transitions between the books/chapters are there, but they are so smooth that knowing when on stops and the other starts is totally not obvious.
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Indeed this is an everybody work. It still surprises me how message after message, response to response, we slowly wove a story non of us ever imagined :)
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For me, a lot of the fun is not knowing what to expect.
Kind of like reading a good story.
Except we're writing it as we go along.
It makes the twists and turns in a story more interesting when they come as a surprise.
We keep getting ourselves into these epic scraps!
Hopefully Kikinnin awakes from his slumber soon - we needs him!
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It's not the best time for Kikinnin to be having a prolonged kip!
And all because of that real life stuff . . :D
Please, let's all help Ryan find a feat, item or ability that transforms 1 rolls into something else. Let's stop this 1s spawning!
AMEN! I've rolled so many it isn't funny anymore
There is a trait in healers handbook that lets you reroll 1s on heal dice.
Of course, if you do get a feat or trait like that then you'll never get a 1 to need re-rolling ever again! :o
Murphy's Law and all that.
Yep, theyll all be 2's then. Jacob's luck
That too.
I just realized under the pinned rules you would not be able to mine or attack with the picks. Because this manacles are not fixed to any point, and thus, they allow some mobility, I think it is better to use the grappled condition, which just imposes a -2 to the attacks.
Sorry for the confusing rules. It's not everyday you have a prisoners fight :)
Even grappled doesn't normally let you use two handed weapons :-(
Just wanted to say that whoever is adding the uh...notes...to Kikinnin's icon on the map is making me giggle :)
I was wondering about those.
heheh, I hadn't even seen them, Ryan was blind due to the darkness, so I wasn't reviewing the map. too funny though
Well, it's not us three and it's not Kikinnin himself so it's either Maxim or JJ or Rutseg himself and to be honest I could see all three of them doing something like that - being shifty characters and all ;)
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<stumbles off to look...>
I added some, but I didn't start it... Blame the GM.
If you ever want to hear record setting snorers, check into a hostel where there are mountain climbers. I'm surprised there are not more avalanches.
I wrote the first zzzzZZZZzzz, it seems JJ followed the joke ;P
How was the Chicago Lollapaloosa dancing?
It was a long slog, but had its moments. Muse got rained out, on the first night, and my hiking boots were never dry after that. Was up front for Spoon, Vant, Jacob Banks, Live, Flint Eastwood, The Shins, and Arcade Fire... all very loud and lovely. The XX was a great finish to Saturday night. I decided to color my beard differently each day, though glitter only entered the picture on Days 2, 3, and 4. Daughter's friend got struck by a full beer can, and I did too, though it was only my thumb on a metal rail. Still hurts. This might just be my last Lolla.
Crowds are nasty. Years ago I would find fun on them, but I try to avoid them increasingly as I age.
Just curious, how did you do to color your beard?