Aaron Gillespie's page

My players just defeated Kardswann. They bound him in the battle market and they're on their way to the Magic door underneath the chapel.
I know my players, and I can bet that, when Kardswann tells them he is going to return to his mistress to tell her what happened, the players are going to want to accompany him (especially the player who is the moldspeaker.)
I'm all for letting the players make choices, but I don't know how I would handle this if they want to go with.
Thoughts?

My players just defeated Kardswann. They bound him in the battle market and they're on their way to the Magic door underneath the chapel.
I know my players, and I can bet that, when Kardswann tells them he is going to return to his mistress to tell her what happened, the players are going to want to accompany him (especially the player who is the moldspeaker.)
I'm all for letting the players make choices, but I don't know how I would handle this if they want to go with.
Thoughts?

I'm running Carrion Crown in Ravenloft.
I want to change it so that Kendra turns out to be one of the big bads.
What I would like to do, is have the players run through the campaign, thinking that they are going to confront AA who is trying to bring Azalin back, but in reality, AA is just a pawn and Kendra is running the show...
BUT, I would really love to end this thing with a raid on Castle Ravenloft and a fight with Strahd. Strahd has a complicated relationship with Azalin...maybe somewhere along the way, Strahd's minions steal the components from the Whispering Way (The Ebon Fold in Ravenloft setting) and the focus shifts to Strahd? Maybe Strahd wants the components to ritually ascend him to a Dark Power?
I'm kind of at a loss on how to do this. Any ideas?

Thanks Sunderstone. I may give that a shot.
And also thanks for answering my question, rather than giving me an unsolicited opinion.
It is a huge pet peeve when people ignore the question to offer opinions/advice.
If my question had been, "is it a good idea to start II a different way," then sure, tell me what you think. But that's not what I asked.

Thinking of starting II but I dont think my players will like starting the game with a retreat...even a tactical one.
Has anyone started it a different way?

I'm actually working on the same thing. I think Kendra makes a great villain in this campaign. One that's been with the group from the start. I haven't fleshed out the details either, but I like to think the Professor is not only a Professor Van Helsing type, but also a dabbler in the macabre. I'm not a fan of how the Esoteric Order of the Palantine Eye works, and I'm probably going to focus on their pursuit of forbidden knowledge. One of the gothic tropes that wasn't touched in the adventure path was Jekyll and Hyde. (At least that I can recall). So I was also toying with the fact that perhaps the professor or the order was involved in some experiments that went askew. What if Kendra actually was a test subject for a ritual or potion that split her personality? Perhaps she isn't all evil, perhaps she has an evil counterpart. This would also help with any spells of detection. Perhaps Kendra doesn't realize about her evil half? She might even actively try to track down A.A. not realizing it is herself. I'm thinking like Tristan/Malken from the "The Enemy Within" Ravenloft novel. I'll nail this down more as I develop it some more. But I think she's a good villain and will make a more memorable ending to the campaign.

Keep me posted. This sounds great@

How much work would it take to drop Wake of the Watcher? Just go from Broken Moon to Ashes at Dawn?

Or have Kendra be the real necromancer :)

This is my plan, too. Working on it right now, as i plan on running this as soon as I'm done with RotRL (about 2 more sessions.)

Maybe her dad's zombie shows up to get revenge on his daughter. A fact the PCs won't realize until the end when Kendra is revealed as the big bad?
I'd really like to direct them at AA as the big bad and then reveal that he is working for her, or ensorceled by her, or so in love with her he does her bidding, etc...

Yeah, I was originally planning on putting the big bad at the funeral so the players have at least SOME connection to him before the reveal at the end...but I still wonder if there's a way to have it be Kendra in the end.
The players will spend a month with her at the beginning, getting to know her and really connect with her. Maybe even one of the players starts a romance with her.
She follows her father's wishes, contacts the PCs, but doesn't realize her father included his journal and, likely, clues to his murder in with the other books until they are given to the PCs.
Hell, maybe her father's zombie shows up to attack her for some kind of revenge. That motive won't be obvious to the PCs until the end when they realize she's the Big Bad.
And she resurfaces here or there, through letters and whatnot, keeping in touch. But really, she's just trying to keep tabs on them.
AA would just be her most trusted lieutenant or something. The PCs think he's the big bad until the end when there is a twist.
Because, if i just put AA at the funeral, along with some other NPCs, sure the PCs will remember him, but they're not going to feel a connection with him. I want the ending to have more resonance than written.
Again, these are just thoughts. I need to sit down with the AP again and see if I can make it work. If not, no big loss...but I can't help but think there might be something worth pursuing here.

I literally JUST had this idea and haven't had a chance to work it out, so if it's lame, or wont work, please let me know.
Trying to make a big bad guy with more resonance than the AP provides...

What if Kendra is the Big Bad? What if she ordered her dad killed?

Again, brand new idea that I haven't worked through yet....

I'm an experienced GM wrapping up Rise of the Runelords with my group. We have about 2 sessions left.
I've read through the first 3 books of CC so far and I'm really liking it. This will be the next AP I run.
I do see some deficiencies in the plot. I'm pouring through this message board and reading some great ideas.
My question is, in general, what do you see as the big problems I should address? I'll admit, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed for some reason I cant really explain.

I get a "Page Not Found."
Is this still available somewhere?

I'm about halfway through reading CotCT. Thinking of running it as my next AP. I love the tone and setting of the AP.
What I dont love is that so much of the main plot happens with the PCs merely being observers. Or just told about major happenings.
Anyone have any advice on how to rework the AP to make the players more participant than observer?

If the players miss the full moon fasting method, what are other ways they could find the path to Xin Shalast?

Having a problem in my RotRL campaign.
My characters are on the way to Xin Shalast. They've just left the Vekker's cabin...
I have one character that wants to constantly retreat to safety or teleport back to sandpoint/magnimar over and over again for a variety or reasons.
I keep stressing how close Karzoug is to returning but this player keeps acting like he has all the time in the world. And he basically wears down the other players until he follows them.
I try to solve this in game by having consequences. For instance, after the giant raid on sandpoint he talked the rest of the party into waiting weeks before heading to Joegenfist.
So I had a second, much more devastating raid on the town...
I'm having the giants occupy large portions of variisa currently, building seige equipment and outposts in preparation for karzoug's imminent return. Shaleleu has had to recruit a band of guerilla fighters to try to keep the giants at bay...all because of this player's lazy attitude...
I'm getting so fed up with this I'm considering having Karzoug return and enslave the entire region, but I thought I'd ask your opinion...
How should I escalate this in a way that teaches him a lesson?

Having a problem in my RotRL campaign.
My characters are on the way to Xin Shalast. They've just left the Vekker's cabin...
I have one character that wants to constantly retreat to safety or teleport back to sandpoint/magnimar over and over again for a variety or reasons.
I keep stressing how close Karzoug is to returning but this player keeps acting like he has all the time in the world. And he basically wears down the other players until he follows them.
I try to solve this in game by having consequences. For instance, after the giant raid on sandpoint he talked the rest of the party into waiting weeks before heading to Joegenfist.
So I had a second, much more devastating raid on the town...
I'm having the giants occupy large portions of variisa currently, building seige equipment and outposts in preparation for karzoug's imminent return. Shaleleu has had to recruit a band of guerilla fighters to try to keep the giants at bay...all because of this player's lazy attitude...
I'm getting so fed up with this I'm considering having Karzoug return and enslave the entire region, but I thought I'd ask your opinion...
How should I escalate this in a way that teaches him a lesson?

I find the Xin-Shalast portion of Chapter 6 somewhat lacking. Anyone have any advice/examples of encounters to add to beef up this section of the AP's climax?

I'm halfway through Runeforge now and I couldn't agree with your assessment (all of it) more.
The further we get into this AP, the more rewriting I have to do.

I'm about to run this on Sunday. I'm going to alter some of it, but I was wondering if anyone else had tried this (I think it's a fantastic idea) and, if so, what changes did you make?

I just started building select pieces of 3d terrain for my RotRL campaign. So far, I've just built the Lecture Hall from Jorgenfist so we could have it for the Mokmurian battle. Hope you like it. Comments are always welcome...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1992069430809003&set=pcb.199206 9527475660&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1992069467475666&set=pcb.199206 9527475660&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1992069500808996&set=pcb.199206 9527475660&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1992069470808999&set=pcb.199206 9527475660&type=3&theater

I'm always looking to buy RotRL minis for my campaign.
My players are about to wrap up chapter 4, so I'm looking for minis from chapter 5 and 6.
Send me a PM!

This gives me a lot of great stuff to think about. Thanks!

I have a setup for my halloween sidequest. It'll be a fun take on GREMLINS. But I'm having a difficult time deciding where to go with it.

First, the set up:

A body is discovered in the streets of Sandpoint. The party's investigation leads them to believe that Pidget Tergelson did it. (Back story...the PCs took him from Habe's Sanitarium and took him to Sandpoint. An old woman adopted Pidget and he locks himself in a shed during the full moon.) After investigating, they figure out that Pidget couldn't have done it.
After further investigation, they figure out the killer came from The Feathered Serpent (not sure how i'll lead them to this conclusion...still working on this part.)
When they get to the Feathered Serpent, Vorvashali tells them that he recently sold a strange creature from a far away land to a father looking for a present for his son's birthday. Vorvashali sold the man the creature and gave him three rules: 1. Don't expose it to strong light, especially sunlight, 2. Don't get it wet and 3. Never, ever feed it after midnight, even if it begs.

Okay, so that's all I have. I figure gremlins will start running wild, but I can't think of a good way to escalate this with a few encounters until a bigger conclusion. I'm usually okay at this point, but this is eluding me.

I could really use any help you'd like to offer.

This is great. Really cool and interesting and unique. I may try to do something like this.

My only concern is, there is little (and in some cases no) "catch" to them accepting these boons or accepting the Rune Giants offer.

But kudos on this. It's a really cool idea.

Are you talking about that section of Chapter 2 of Rise of the Runelords?

Because my characters are way past that part.

Thanks for the info!

Anyone know where I can find more information on The Wishing Well in the Sandpoint Hinterlands? Other than what is in the back of the AE, I mean...

That's the one.

Other ideas I've had that I could use some help on....

What if they find some dead body and they are lead to believe Pidget did it...but when they investigate, they realize he couldn't have done it. They do some investigating that leads them to the curio shop (I don't remember the name) and the shopkeeper tells them that he got some kind of cute creature recently and sold it to a kid in town. But gave him three rules he had to adhere by: 1. Don't get it wet. 2. No bright light and 3. NEVER feed him after midnight. (Yes, some kind of homage to Gremlins, maybe?)

Also, I recently offered up the sidequest that (I think) The Lorax posted on these message boards. Cyrdak got a copy of The King In Yellow. But, in my campaign, rather than entering into the portal to get Cyrdak back, the adventurers closed the portal, trapping Cyrdak forever.
Some kind of creepy Lovecraftian revenge would be REALLY awesome.

Where can I find the story of the black dragons in the dragon's punch bowl?

I'm in the process of making portions of the caverns below Jorgenfist. I'll let you know how it goes and give any advice I come up wiht.

Hey all,

I want to have a one-off Halloween adventure with my players set in Sandpoint. They liberated Pidget Tergleson from Habe's Sanitorium and brought him back to Sandpoint where he was "adopted" by an old widow who is able to keep him contained on the full moon.
I'm wondering if there are any good adventures with werecreatures that I could use for something like this?

Thanks!

What kind of incriminating evidence would be in Scarnetti Manor? What kind of treasure?

I know that the AP details the blackmail letters from Jubrayl to Titus, but what else would there be?

Sorry for all the errors. Thumb typing on my phone...

Yossarion, I really like the sound of that NOV. It would be easy to get some questing out of that.

This would be a solo mission.

The party has already encountered the Sandpoint devil.

I've already played through Runner's Hermitage. My party's witch is trying to get the favor of Paxuzu, so I played through that there was a Lamashtu cults on the island and she cleared them out and the island was given to the mothman.

The witch in Brinestump sounds promising. Is there anyplace I can learn more about her?

Thankbuou SO much to all who are postinf. You're giving me great ideas.

They stopped the raid on Sandpoint and have a bit if time before heading to Jorgenfist.

I want to give one of my players a sidequest during some downtime and I'm having a hard time coming up with something.
The PC is an 11th level Ulfen shapeahifting ranger who worships Erastril.
Many of the obvious options aren't currently available. Jubrayl is currently lying low, for example.
Tsuto is still out there somewhere, after Ironbriar (who is Tsuto's real father in my campaign) orchestrated his escape. So I guess that's a possibility.
Anyway, any brainstorming is greatly appreciated.

Is there a map for Scarnetti Manor anywhere?

Yeah, there are no Fire or Rune Giants in Mokmurian's army.
There are a couple Frost Giants that are in Jorgenfist for diplomatic purposes and a taiga giant as well.

First, let me set up where my players are and what they are doing, then I'll ask my question:

The PCs did a good job of stopping the raid on Sandpoint, but Teraktinus got away with a stone from the Old Light.

Once they figured out that he was probably heading for the Storval Stairs, they teleported to Ravenmoor (They had intimate knowledge of the town from earlier in the campaign) to try to cut him off.
They located him and killed him.

They suspect he was taking the rock back to Mokmurian so Stone Tell could be cast on it (the way they came to this conclusion would take too long to tell and is pretty unimportant.)

Most of the characters wanted to go on to Jorgenfist. The Barbarian/Sorcerer/Eldritch Knight convinced them not to. Jorgenfist will be too tough (this is something this player always does...if something is going to be hard, he talks the other players out of it until he can figure out some metagamy way to conquer it... B.I.D.)

He convinced the rest of the party to return to Sandpoint with the stone so they could find someone to cast Stone Tell on it and maybe they could figure out what Teraktinus wanted with the rock.

So far, they've come up emptyhanded. The Barbarian is currently wandering the hinterlands of Sandpoint, hoping to run into the druids that make periodic stops into town to help Madam Mvashti. He's hoping one of the druids will be powerful enough to talk to the stone.

So, here's my question...

How should Mokmurian respond when Teraktinus doesn't return to Jorgenfist? I'm getting a little tired of the one player convincing the others to deviate from the heroic course for no other reason than self preservation, so I'd like Mokmurian's response to be pretty nasty with an obvious lesson built in.
My first thought is having another party of giants sent down to find Teraktinus and, when they find his corpse a half hour away from Ravenmoor (which is where the PCs killed and left him), the giants burn Ravenmoor to the ground to extract information about what happened to him.

Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Per the developers, casting spells creates visible manifestations in the caster's square. It's a very hot point of debate whether invisible spellcasters reveal themselves due to this. As DM, you've got final say on this.

Where do you find this?

I'm GMing Rise of the Runelords. The players are currently heading for the Storval Stairs on their way to Jorgenfist.

I have a player that figured out a tactic last night. It is, as far as i can tell, by the book...but it is frustrating to me as a GM.

My player is a barbarian/sorcerer/eldritch knight who has taken the Leadership feat. His cohort is a Life Oracle.

He casts invisibility on the cohort and then goes into battle. The cohort stands right behind him, constantly healing him (even going full healing elemental) meanwhile I can't do anything against the cohort because, since the cohort isn't attacking any of the bad guys, she stays invisible.

This is completely rule-abiding, right? How should I get around it?

What's the deal with Grubber's Hermitage? Is there a Paizo product that goes into detail about what's going on at the island?

Elven witch (possessed pc)
Halfling barbarian/sorcerer/eldritch knight
Human ranger
Gnome alchemists

They are 11th level

If a character is possessed by a demon lord, like Pazuzu, how would you go about excorsizing them?

Done. Thanks!

By the way. I'm running the RotRL campaign. Last night, my players finished the raid on Sandpoint and are preparing to journey to Jorgenfist.
I would love to use these minis in my RotRL campaign.

I'll pay for shipping. I would even return them when I'm done, if you'd like. I'm not close enough to drive to you, unfortunately.

Yeah, they're learning that it's not the easiest thing in the world locating an NPC that can cast the spell.
In my world, dying might not be permanent, but it is pretty darn inconvenient for the entire party.