[ACG] BR Dinketry and the Shield of Rannick (Pathfinder Infinite Runelords Variant)

Game Master dinketry

This Shield of Rannick adventure path uses the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game—Rise of the Runelords Base Set and all six of the Rise of the Runelords adventure decks.

You can use whatever you'd like to make your character and your deck. Check out the PbP ACG thread for help with your deck handler. We will make use of Discord for day-to-day communications in this game: HERE

A quick rules note: though the adventure deck cards are all pre-Core, we will be incorporating Core cards in your decks (I envision), so we will be leaning to Core rules. Any adjudication of these rules will be my responsibility, but I'll take suggestions into account. I just want a fun and fair game.

Howdy, you lucky few!

Allow me to respond to a few questions from Bigguyinblack that I think are important to address for all y'all first.

1.) Character advancement will proceed differently than typical ACG tables. I will suggest that we follow the schedule of advancement that Ron Lundeen wrote into his AP. It generally speaking mirrors the Skill Feat-followed by Power Feat-followed by something else-followed by Card Feat progression for each adventure of the AP. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry! I'll just tell you after each scenario what rewards you get and how to advance your character.

2.) Build your character exactly like you would for any ACG table. You may use any character from any base set (like Ezren from Runelords, or Mummy's Mask, or Core) plus 3 adventure packs (or in place of their version in their class deck), or any character from a class deck plus 2 adventure packs, or any character from a class deck plus an ultimate deck, or any character from an ultimate deck plus an adventure pack. Any promo card that is of your tier (tier 0 to start) is a valid card that can be a part of ANY deck. Owner rules (that state "owner" on cards - i.e. Lini is the "owner" of the Droogami ally card) still apply. Cohorts are applicable for your characters (in other words, if you have a cohort, it's valid).

3.) You will be getting cards from your decks of the same tier for upgrades when you qualify for them at the end of adventures. That's when you can also grab any promos in exchange for any tier upgrades for which you'd qualify (i.e. like Embiggen as a tier 2 upgrade - available to anyone within their virtual deck).

4.) For the game vault, there are only cards from the Runelords set. That means no triggers, no curses, no siege decks, no ships, no merchants, no conditions, no adventure vault cohorts....just the original game.

5.) You don't get your role card until the start of Tier (Adventure) 4. That might affect what character choice you make as I understand there are some characters with not so many great power feat options. Choose wisely.

6.) In essence, I'm trying to run this game so that players/characters have as much post-Core options as possible, but all within a game that is distinctly pre-Core. It's an odd marriage, but I'm happy to make it work as well as I can.

As far as the last two seats at the table.....

What are people's ideas for characters?

I am a fan of the random. As such, I rolled for my character (out of 162; that's how many character options I believe are available - or at least that's what Cartmanbeck said in this blog post.

I will be playing Hayato from the Ultimate Combat deck. Weird, yup. Not sure what I'll be adding to his UC deck.....perhaps Sorcerer? (just kidding)

What do you want to play?

Thank you for the invite!

Hmm. A 6 player table means we will have a lot of locations to close but will average 5 turns each at most.

So extra explores or encounters are very useful. Healing less so though my only ACG death was early at a 6 player table.

Old sets started with a lot of level 0 blessings and the rules for removing cards left a lot of tier 0 boons behind so upgrades will be harder to come by.

with that in mind here are some character ideas I'm considering.

Core Ezren is an explore machine but I'm already playing him at another table I don't want to play him here.

(Oracle) S&S Alahazra's Stargazer role can recharge divine cards to examine the top card of locations and with her role if they are boons she can encounter them.
Good at clearing low tier boons and having a lot of examined banes so that the right person can go face the right bane.
Her downside is she has very few skills so she struggles with anything other than monsters.

(Paladin) Raz's Fair Trader role allows acquired cards to be replaced with random cards of the same type allowing better overall boon quality. But that ability doesn't kick in until late tiers. He is good at acquiring boons.

(Alchemist) Mother Myrtle is a very good Arcane and Divine caster and is good with utility Alchemical items. Her Reanimator role lets her retrieve cards from her discard pile or even deck when a local monster is defeated. Frankly she may be too powerful but she is potentially a great support character.

All 3 of them will have at least some healing.

If anyone has thoughts on which one I should play let me know. Otherwise I'll pick once more players have decided what they will play.

Dinketry is using Core deck building rules so here are some interesting deck tips for new players and potentially veteran players as well.

Some older decks had cards at rarity B. When building your initial deck you may include any tier 0 boons from your deck boxes and that includes those B rarity cards.

If a card in your deck has a Core or Curse of the Crimson Throne version with the same name up to your current tier you may swap it with that card.

Some examples:
Force Missile is a b rarity spell in a few decks. Since it's a b you can start with it and you can run Force Missile (Core) in it's place since the Core version has more utility.

Earthbreaker is a tier 0 weapon in the Ultimate Combat deck box but since you start as a tier 1 character you can choose to run the tier 1 Earthbreaker (Core) in your starting deck.

Belt of Physical Might is a tier 5 or 6 boon in several decks. If you are playing one of those decks you may use an item 4 upgrade to put Belt of Physical Might (Core) in your deck.

While this is interesting, I wish you had lead in the recruitment the fact that you were going to be making such major changes to advancements and when we get our role cards.

It is to much of a departure for me. Please remove me from the game.

It's been a couple of years since I played her and using the original version was easier than remaking her so I'll play Mother Myrtle.

Ignore the Mythic part.

I might swap one of the packs for Divine. I'll think on it.

While this is interesting, I wish you had lead in the recruitment the fact that you were going to be making such major changes to advancements and when we get our role cards.

It is to much of a departure for me. Please remove me from the game.

It’s all good, TCol. I wish you well!

I don’t mind pre-Core or post-Core. Kind of curious to try the hybrid, actually.

I’ve yet to play the original RotR Seoni via PbP, and that might be appropriate in a RotR-based adventure, so leaning towards that + Ultimate Magic.
But not final. And trusting the dice gods could be interesting too. (lol Sorcerer Hayato does sound fun.)

Well, it looks like I'm not the only one recycling a deck handler ID on the Paizo boards. Ha!

Welcome Hayato, master of the arcane! Kidding....this is Hayato (Ultimate Combat) made with the Paladin deck.

What are people’s thoughts on free access to all promo cards?

I had thought that most promo cards included a way of knowing what tier they were supposed to be, but I might be mistaken.

I don’t want to break the game by allowing too many too-powerful cards.

Pros: free access to promo cards gets some visibility for cards like Asyra or Corpse Plate or Sweet Dragon Costume that don’t get enough love.

Cons: too powerful. Hard to know what tier they should be. Those who don’t know about the promo cards might not know of them.

I’m leaning towards restricting access to promo cards on second thought….but I’ll hear arguments.

I'm easy on promo cards, whatever you're most comfortable with!

I think let’s examine promo cards as they come up. If you want one, let’s talk about it and decide as a group.

For example, Bigguyinblack would like to use Fire Sneeze with Mother Myrtle and I don’t have a problem with that (also, if it mattered, he has a boon that allows him to use it), but REGARDLESS….

Thoughts?

Confirming RotR Seoni! After trying longer than I should admit to make a sorcerer Hayato.

Re promos: I don’t feel strongly one way or another, but I don’t plan on using them myself.

Mother Myrtle by Bigguy
Seoni by EmpTyger
Hayato by yours truly.

Just keeping track for everyone.

I have gone ahead and posted our opening scenario to the Gameplay thread. I think we've got Eddie planning on playing Yoon, so we only need SwampApe and Maelwys to choose their characters.

Of note, SwampApe has been having challenges getting onto his Paizo account, so we're working on that. There's no rush and I'm not expecting us to be ready to start until after the weekend.

Yep, I'm still building out my deck. Should be a good time!

Ok! We have a party!

Mother Myrtle (Bigguyinblack), Runelords Seoni (EmpTyger), Twozees (Maelwys), OA Yoon (eddiephlash), Hayato (dinketry), and Core Seelah (ZJXShawn).

I just need Maelwys to register Twozees on the Paizo website (I suggested Cognsap as his icon will look similar to Twozees) so I can load him on the ACG website, and then for starting hands and locations to be chosen, and we can start it up!

ZJXShawn, you can see how we've all formatted our starting Gameplay posts. Copy (Control-C) the cells from F-H #37-38 on the Excel spreadsheet deckhandler and then paste them (Control-V) in Gameplay and that'll give you a representation of your deck for all of us. You can also see that we sometimes put a little advanced advice for how we can be used to support other players' turns in our notes (cells C-D #37-38). Feel free to do that or not!

Exciting!

Any thoughts on turn order?
I'm in Central-US, but I'll post throughout the day, often by mobile.
For my own enjoyment, I typically like to include in-character flavor in my gameplay posts, but please don't feel pressure to do likewise, though- use as much or as little flavor as you like.

Any thoughts on turn order?

I'm in Central-US, but I'll post throughout the day, often by mobile.
For my own enjoyment, I typically like to include in-character flavor in my gameplay posts, but please don't feel pressure to do likewise, though- use as much or as little flavor as you like.

I'm very happy to make create a random turn order, but I would suggest that we don't put Seelah first.

I'm the same, EmpTyger! - I love creating in-game narratives. And yes, no one else needs to do that. If you'd like to do so, by all means, join in! If not, that's all good, too!

One other note: I'm going to suggest that Hero Points will be earned after completing adventures. I would also recommend that we award our brand new player - ZJXShawn - with a bonus Hero Point to start off, if they'd like it. Think of it as a "Welcome to Pathfinder Adventure Card Game PbP" boon!

Everyone ok with that? Here's my random turn order:

Random: 5d5 ⇒ (4, 3, 1, 1, 2) = 11

Proposed turn order:

I just need Maelwys to register Twozees on the Paizo website (I suggested Cognsap as his icon will look similar to Twozees) so I can load him on the ACG website, and then for starting hands and locations to be chosen, and we can start it up!

Have done so, here's my number: # 188694-1009

Still need to finish building my deck, but that should be done either tonight or early tomorrow.

I'll say it now, and probably repeat it often. When I'm playing a bard, I play it as a pure support character, the way I feel bards are meant to be played. So in my updates I'll post a list of the order I want cards in my hand used by other characters on their turns. If it comes back around to me, and I still have more than 1-2 cards in my hand, I'll be very disappointed in all of you. On a perfect turn, I have no cards left in hand at all, and I'm happy with that. Bard are support, so make sure you use me as such, I'll be doing my best to stay near as many people as I can. ;-)

Ah, yes. To clarify:

The Hero Point that we would get (and that Seelah would start with) would be for a reroll, not for any character feat advancement.

Just awaiting Shawn (Seelah) to post on here, and then we can head on out!

I have messaged our new player - Seelah - both on Discord as well as Reddit since the weekend without a response. I've yet to see a post from them on these boards, but I remain hopeful that they will join us here.

Nevertheless, I don't want to delay the game any further, so I have a compromise: I'll send out the first BR post and start the game off with the appropriate number of locations for 6 players. It'll likely take some time to get to me, and I have the final turn before Seelah would have their first turn. If no reply from Seelah in that time, then we can discuss recruiting a 6th or continuing on with 5 (recognising the need to drop a location and re-configure the game as box runner).

If that's acceptable to all, then we can get started.

We have some downtime and I'm bored so I thought I would go into detail about Mother Myrtle. It's a cooperative game so it can't hurt to know more.

MM is an Alchemist which honestly just means many of my items work like spells.

She doesn't really have any powers until I get a role. She has decent skills and her power feats are about skills.
My Wisdom skill is used for my Arcane checks. I can potentially also use it for Divine checks or add 1d4 to the check.

And I get a way to recover old Alchemical items.

Fortunately with so many spells and spell like items she potentially has a lot of versatility.

And as you'll note many of her attack options can double as support cards.

When we do get roles I plan to take the Reanimator role. Initially this will let me draw an ally from my discard pile when a local monster is killed but eventually when a local monster is killed I'll be able to pull an ally, spell, or item from my discard pile or deck.

So once we get roles I would love to be at a monster heavy location with someone else to trigger the ability often.

Like most characters there are many useful upgrades but here are a few that will be particularly important.

Tier 1
The Carnival blesses any check and allows the player to flip one of the dice after the check turning a low roll into a high one.

Tier 2
Embiggen display next to a local character for the turn and boosting all of their skill rolls by approximately 2 die types. So a d4 becomes a d8 and a d12 becomes a d20.

Potion of Focus allows me to add my high craft skill to one of my non combat checks.

Tier 3
Twitch Tonic lets me draw 1d4 +1 allies from my discard pile. Or just discard it to explore.

Tier 4
Returning Totem Spear lets me utilize my high Survival skill for combat freeing up more of my spells and items for utility purposes.

Hey y’all. It appears that we are not getting a reply from our new gamer who was going to be playing Seelah. I’ve messaged multiple times in multiple places without a response and I don’t think there joined us on the Paizo boards.

I’m going to open recruitment once again for one more player to fill us at six, but I’ll only leave it open for the next 12hrs. If we don’t get a nibble, then I’ll move us to a 5-player table. I hope that sounds alright to all.

Yoon seems quite interesting. She has an innate local combat help power, which I will pump feats into as long as folks are using it, so please do so! Though it has a high cost, she also has a built-in self-heal that can keep her going.

I have access to lots of healing. Elixir of Healing is just Cure but it's an item and I can recover it with Craft so I'm running that.
Another item only heals 1d4 and is harder to recover.
Assuming I don't get an actual upgrade I can theoretically upgrade a spell 0 to swap in a cure. I'm proficient in Divine so it won't get banished but I would probably pass it to our Bard if possible.

As said in other places, I've heard from our Seelah and IRL has interfered, preventing them from joining us.

We will proceed on with a 5-person game.

Yoon (eddiephlash) is up!

Just as a reminder for those more used to playing Core or even post-Core ACG, locations remain once they're closed - they are simply marked as closed. Many of them have post-closure powers (for example, Shimmerglens).

1-A: Across the Shimmerglens - SUCCESS!

Reward: Each character gains a skill feat. No Hero Points as it's pre-Core for advancement.

Acquired Cards:

Scorching Ray (Spell 1)
Caltrops (Item B)
Toad (Ally 1)
Grizzled Mercenary (Ally 1)
Dog (Ally C)
Yap the Pixie (Ally 3) - equals Ally 1
Standard Bearer (Ally B)
Svevenka (Ally 6) - equals Ally 1
Magic Leather Armor (Armor B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of Irori (Blessing B)
Blessing of Irori (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of Irori (Blessing B)
Light Crossbow (Weapon B)

A bit light on the upgrades, yes. Those higher-level allies translate as Ally 1s.

I'll get the new scenario up shortly.

Taking skill feat Wisdom +1. We get a hero point?

Ally 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 604
spell 1: 1d1 ⇒ 1

Hayato will take a Strength +1 skill feat reward.

He's only interested in an Ally 1 upgrade; hopefully someone wants a Spell 1 (HA!).

Ally 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 839

Skill Feat: Charisma +1

Ally 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 476 - Though I'm sure we don't really need to roll for it, since there are plenty.

Burgler -> Leech

Skill Feat: Con + 1

Spell 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 48 Sooo many to choose from, but maybe Spirit Surge first
Ally 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 606 Psychokineticist

Seoni’s first choice is Spell 1 (Life Drain), but I could also take Ally 1 (Riftwarden). So I’ll defer to Yoon.
Skill feat will be CHA+1.

Upgrade from Recruit to Surgeon.

Upgrade from Dog to Clockwork Servant (Core).

I think I've finally gotten most of this sorted out. Thank you for the skill feat (and the invite!) - I went with Cha +1

1-B - Ousting the Intruders - SUCCESS!

Reward: Each character draws a random weapon from the vault (done below)

Acquired Cards:
Quarterstaff (Weapon B)
Short Sword +1 (Weapon 1)
Returning Throwing Axe +1 (Weapon B)
Shortbow (Weapon C)
Quarterstaff (Weapon B)
Bastard Sword +1 (Weapon 1)
Archer (Ally B)
Sage (Ally B)
Aldern Foxglove (Ally 1)
Dog (Ally C)
Magic Shield (Armor C)
Magic Half-Plate (Armor B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing C)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of Pharasma (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Eyes of the Eagle (Item C)
Bracers of Protection (Item B)
Tome of Knowledge (Item B)
Staff of Minor Healing (Item 1)
Inflict (Spell B)
Acid Arrow (Spell B)
Mirror Image (Spell B)
Speed (Spell 1)
Detect Magic (Spell B)
Aid (Spell C)
Fiery Weapon (Spell 1)
Mace (Weapon B)
Dogslicer (Weapon 1)

We have Q (Alahazra) joining us for the next scenario. I'll get that next scenario up shortly.

Seoni could take either Item 1 (Binder’s Tome) or Spell 1 (Life Drain). Slight preference for the item, but would be happy with either.

Item 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 469 - Either Ruby of Charisma or Mist Horn (Core), haven't decided which yet...
Spell 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 866 - Probably Locate Object, maybe Good Omen or Cure (though it sounds like we have plenty of healing now)

ally 1 for another Clockwork Servant: 1d1000 ⇒ 582
spell 1 for Firebolt: 1d1000 ⇒ 964

Hayato will take a Weapon 1 as an upgrade.

No competition for the other Weapon 1, so will take that. Quarterstaff of Vaulting replaces Haki Stick.

Using Spell 1 to replace Fireblade with Pyrotechnic Blast.

1-C - Ratcatchers - SUCCESS!

Reward: Each character gains a power feat.

Potential Upgrades (including Targ's cards):
Toad (Ally 1)
Cyrdak Drokkus (Ally 1)
Fox (Ally B)
Quilted Cloth Armor (Armor 0)
Magic Leather Armor (Armor B)
Blessing of Gorum (Blessing C)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of Calistria (Blessing C)
Blessing of the Gods (Blessing B)
Blessing of Desna (Blessing B)
Potion of Gracefulness (Item 1)
Potion of Healing (Item C)
Wand of Shield (Item 1)
Token of Remembrance (Item B)
Acid Arrow (Spell B)
Enfeeble (Spell 1)
Holy Light (Spell B)
Speed (Spell 1)
Enfeeble (Spell 1)
Augury (Spell C)
Fiery Glare (Spell B)
Scorching Ray (Spell 1)
Allying Dart +1 (Weapon C)

I'll work on getting the new scenario up shortly.

By my count that's 2 Allys, 2 Items, and 4 Spells. Lots of upgrades for everybody!

Since I've already taken both an Ally and an Item upgrade, I'll leave those for others and roll for one of the spells.

Spell 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 405 (Fiery Glare -> Charm Person)
Item 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 149

Power Feat: (or recharge an ally)

Hayato wants to be helpful, so he'll tick the power feat box of "On your (X or a character at your location's) non-combat check against a monster, you may recharge a card to add 1d6 (☐ 1d10).

Item 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 243

Sadly, there's not much else in the upgrades for me but an Item (Ally options are largely garbage for me at low tiers).

Power Feat: Hand size to 6.

Upgrades:
Spell 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 337: Searing Flesh (OA)
Ally 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 214: Psychokineticist (OA)
Item 1: 1d1000 ⇒ 77: Riffle Scrolls (UM)