Order of the Amber Die—The Azlant Odyssey, Part 2

As always, I am in utter awe of the Order's attention to detail. Those sets look amazing.

And best quotation for a starting scene ever! :)

As always, I am in utter awe of the Order's attention to detail. Those sets look amazing.

And best quotation for a starting scene ever! :)

Thank you, a couple of our players in the project worked on the palisade for the skum assault, and it was a blast to play on! We ended up with a fierce battle at the gate as the majority of skum bottle-necked there.

As for the quote, it was a moment I was more than happy to deliver. Two of my favorite GM-lines occurred in the same sentence: "Save or die," and "coup de grace!"

If you're looking for more, I just posted a few more details from the story of that first encounter on The Azlant Odyssey thread over on the messageboards.

Game on!

Ooh, I just looked at the Facebook page too, and decided that the contest would be worth entering.

If I've understood the instructions correctly, please just assume that my comment above included: #TheAzlantOdyssey, okay? :)

Ooh, I just looked at the Facebook page too, and decided that the contest would be worth entering.

If I've understood the instructions correctly, please just assume that my comment above included: #TheAzlantOdyssey, okay? :)

No problem Bellona, you're all set, hoping to get some good discussion going. It's been a fantastic AP so far!

That sounds like a great way to open a session.

What has been the most useful spell for the party so far?

#TheAzlantOdyssey

That sounds like a great way to open a session.

What has been the most useful spell for the party so far?

#TheAzlantOdyssey

Hey, Michael, great question! It's nice that Valeros is an aquanaut, but almost everyone else lacks a swim speed and has been having a rough time underwater. It's slow going without spells like touch of the sea, and dropping below 0 hit points is almost certain death without spells like air bubble. These are definitely two spells our party has needed and relied upon throughout our exploration of the Ruins of Azlant so far. Fortunately, we survived this far, and since we're higher level we'll be more prepared for underwater combat moving forward!

Great recap and I love the photos. I'm tempted to show them to my players but no doubt they'll start to think their GM is of the inferior sort. Perhaps one day I can attain such immersion for my players.

#TheAzlantOdyssey

Anya NOOOOOO! :(

Anya NOOOOOO! :(

Yes, Berselius, her loss was a terrible tragedy. Five hammerhead sharks was already a tough fight, but throwing the feeder in the depths into the fray made things so much worse. First, it spooked us when it taunted us in Infernal, then it tore into us with multiple bite attacks with bonus bleed damage. With attack and damage rolls each in high 20s we didn't really stand a chance, so if Anya hadn't bravely held it at bay it would've been TPK! She will be missed, for sure.

Great recap and I love the photos. I'm tempted to show them to my players but no doubt they'll start to think their GM is of the inferior sort. Perhaps one day I can attain such immersion for my players.

#TheAzlantOdyssey

Thanks Fumarole! We shoot a ton of photos each marathon, and it takes a long time to go through them; feedback is always appreciated, and if there is anything people want to see more of from our game we're always excited to hear that too. If you're going to GenCon by chance, we run a seminar there where we discuss what it takes to put these marathons together. Your players are lucky to have a GM who was thinking of them when they saw this blog. :)

Anya NOOOOOO! :(

Berselius!

Oh man, Anya. :(

Even I felt the sadness of her death, the feeder in the depths was that nasty. I was already swimming circles around them with sahuagin, and delivered some brutal hits with locathah bane bolts (yup, locathah bane). It was pretty impressive to watch them fight their way out of that trap and head for the surface at record speed.

What's cool about going underwater is watching the tension in the party rise. As soon as they cast their buffs and dove under, all the players became visually apprehensive. I like to drag out the descent a little bit, describe a fish that darts at them, what the sunlight looks like the farther we get from the surface, etc. Can't wait for part three!

I DEMAND DIVINE VENGEANCE FOR THE DEATH OF MADAM SANDSTRIDER! The Feeder in the Depths must DIE!

...but seriously, I hope the party goes back when their more powerful to finish off that hellspawn and give the soul of Anya some closure! :(

...also maybe this time the party could have help in the form of Anya's ghost which wants justice for her death as well by needing that accursed aquatic abomination dead as well? ;) :D

So many GM tips I'm pulling from these marathon blogs! That opening scene is dynamite.

So in the burning building encounter, (I love the flame tokens btw) what rules or mechanics are you using to have the fire spread?

#TheAzlantOdyssey

--VrockLobster

So many GM tips I'm pulling from these marathon blogs! That opening scene is dynamite.

So in the burning building encounter, (I love the flame tokens btw) what rules or mechanics are you using to have the fire spread?

#TheAzlantOdyssey

--VrockLobster

Thanks Vrock, it's great to know our work is helping other GMs. That opening kicked off this marathon with a jolt, and much credit goes to Dan (playing Kyra) who dropped a natural 19 in response to the coup de grace. He's an experienced player who has been in his share of "save or die" situations across nearly a decade in the Order. I gave him (and Sterling playing Merisiel) only a few seconds to choose their actions, and to represent one of them being asleep they weren't allowed to communicate out-of-game. They responded well--saving their characters--and it was a fine performance from both players.

As for the fire rules, you'll have author Robert Brookes to thank for those, as he details them on p. 56 of PF122. There is even a fun table (d20) to roll on each round, but don't take the smoke inhalation rules lightly. Also, I'd recommend some tokens to track the fire, since it can spread pretty quickly on just a couple of rolls. Once again, quick thinking by a player (Erick playing Valeros) when calling for the air bubble saved a character from death.

I DEMAND DIVINE VENGEANCE FOR THE DEATH OF MADAM SANDSTRIDER! The Feeder in the Depths must DIE!

...but seriously, I hope the party goes back when their more powerful to finish off that hellspawn and give the soul of Anya some closure! :(

...also maybe this time the party could have help in the form of Anya's ghost which wants justice for her death as well by needing that accursed aquatic abomination dead as well? ;) :D

Berselius, thanks for engaging once again. It's always good to see your name!

The feeder in the depths encounter was definitely nerve-racking and left us all feeling the hurt of losing Anya (as Aerick touched on). She was really beginning to become a great companion. Underwater combat is definitely a test of patience and vision. Adding the additional axis along with diagonal movement takes its toll. A few of our players cut their teeth using Stormwrack from 3.5, but some were new to detailed underwater encounters. As our GM, Adam, mentioned above, it can put the pressure meter on high as buffs tick off quickly at these low levels.

It might go without saying, but having a firm grasp of the expanded underwater rules from Aquatic Adventures is highly recommended to anyone looking to play Ruins of Azlant.

Wishful thinking of course, but Anya's ghost would be awesome. Incorporeal ally? Yes, please.

Whoa, where'd you get those aerial standees?

Whoa, where'd you get those aerial standees?

Hi Cyrad, those 3D stands are a custom OAD creation, put together by our players in preparation for Azlant. We've used some others in previous blogs, but most of these are newer and sturdier versions. The players merge a couple of Games Workshop flying bases and use some other modeling tools to make what amounts to be a double-sided flying base, which turns out to be perfectly suited for any underwater or zero-g environment. Thanks for checking out the report!

These blog posts are so great. I can't imagine how cool it must be to play in such an immersive and focused environment. I look forward to hearing about the next part! Oh, and #TheAzlantOdyssey :)

These blog posts are so great. I can't imagine how cool it must be to play in such an immersive and focused environment. I look forward to hearing about the next part! Oh, and #TheAzlantOdyssey :)

Thanks Frogs, it really is that cool being so immersed. That also leaves me with something I wanted to offer up about those 68 hours and 10 minutes you see above. Marathons give players so much freedom of time to work with, that the hours can quickly slip away in unexpected areas. As such, these players are interacting with colonists as if this is some version of The Sims meets Pathfinder. It's awesome, don't get me wrong here, this colony is ALIVE. Somewhere on Saturday or Sunday night, they had me spend an hour role-playing as Ramona Avandth, the colony's facilitator, in an exchange with Lyra Heatherly (live-NPC played by Ian Haberman). Normally, an hour in-character without being plot specific isn't so hard, but after several days of straight play--including a 17-hour session in there somewhere--it's much more difficult. Being able to GM this long for six or more times a year is a gift from the dice gods, but this marathon I got close to the limit, which now I think might be somewhere around 80-90 session hours. I still want to try and put together a 10-day run at some point (with a whole year to prepare), but first just give me a couple of months off from this one...

OAD Life!

I have to say that even though a sandbox-style adventure has its perks, it also comes with some serious risks. We randomly chose to walk into the hardest encounter on the island first, where we were probably supposed to be at least one level higher, and got a terrible trashing by a chuul. (After the marathon, Adam told us he used the option to tone it down, so I can only imagine how much worse that could've been.) Anyway, we barely survived our retreat, only to accidentally go to the second-hardest encounter the very next day and almost got killed by a HUGE crab! We screwed up the information gathering though, and it wasn't until later that we found the Pathfinder notes that may have been able to guide us somehow, but we had a really hard time just getting to that point. Best of luck to anyone who has the same thing happen, you'll need it!

Thanks Frogs, it really is that cool being so immersed. That also leaves me with something I wanted to offer up about those 68 hours and 10 minutes you see above. Marathons give players so much freedom of time to work with, that the hours can quickly slip away in unexpected areas. As such, these players are interacting with colonists as if this is some version of The Sims meets Pathfinder. It's awesome, don't get me wrong here, this colony is ALIVE. Somewhere on Saturday or Sunday night, they had me spend an hour role-playing as Ramona Avandth, the colony's facilitator, in an exchange with Lyra Heatherly (live-NPC played by Ian Haberman). Normally, an hour in-character without being plot specific isn't so hard, but after several days of straight play--including a 17-hour session in there somewhere--it's much more difficult. Being able to GM this long for six or more times a year is a gift from the dice gods, but this marathon I got close to the limit, which now I think might be somewhere around 80-90 session hours. I still want to try and put together a 10-day run at some point (with a whole year to prepare), but first just give me a couple of months off from this one...

OAD Life!

Wow yeah, it's an entirely different ball game (dice game?). The longest session I've run was only ~10 hours, and even that took a lot out of me. Hats off to you all, it's really an extraordinary game you have.

Aerick definitely said a mouthful, haha. This was a really challenging adventure to get through, but overall a fun one. There were a few "classic" gaming moments to be had too, like at the observatory when we couldn't figure out how to get through the front so we risked climbing up the side of the tower instead. Thankfully we had a strix with us to fly up and attach a grappling hook and rope to the top, otherwise Kyra would have fallen to her death.

Anyway, it turns out we skipped a whole bunch of stuff (good and bad) and got straight to the end battle. Apparently that was the right move though, because we needed all remaining healing resources to survive it!

These blog posts are awesome! Looking forward to the third part! :) Can't wait to see your versions of my maps, and how you'll tackle the challenges.