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Thanks! We'll miss Highhelm, but hope to return! For anyone running this fabulous dwarven city in their game, we just released a series of tips and experiences from our first two marathons playing in Highhelm: Hope it helps in some way, and don't forget to visit Clan Firecask and say hello!
If you're looking to run Mantle of Gold, it has a really high ceiling with extra prep put into the many set location encounters in Part 1. In case it helps anyone out, here are some afterthoughts from our experience with running Highhelm:
I have a question. I see you are using a playmat and colouring directly on it with markers. How does one erase after using markers on the playmat? Additional question: what kind of markers would one use? Always happy to talk about maps! The first decision you'll have to make is what type of surface you want to work with. The rolled vinyl you see above is great for games at home and you'll use wet erase markers on it. They come right up with water after you play, typically with a wet paper towel. If you are drawing a bunch of them at once, you can always hose them off like this. Travelling with rolled vinyl can be a bit difficult at times, depending on the size (the one above is 8.5L x 4.5W). If you want a map you can easily fold up, the Paizo Flip-Mats are great for taking with you in a bag, and with those you'll likely want dry erase markers. Flip-mats are super durable, and a good place to start since they are often 24x30in. They can also take wet erase just fine, but since you have the option for dry erase, you might want to go that way as dry erase markers are easier to find and less expensive. As for the type of markers, with dry erase there are lots of choices and it comes down to preference. I use Expo in my classroom so I'm used to the way they perform, and I like the colors they offer. For wet erase, you might want to start with a fine point Vis-a-Vis, they come in small packs or larger boxes. Over time, with wet erase, you'll want to build your marker collection since they are harder to come across and many brands come and go. For the maps you see on our Paizo reports, I tap into different types of wet erase and anything with chisel tips are my favorite, even chalk markers -- but it's important to note that I don't always erase every map I draw and some of them are given away or kept for convention play. Black markers will come off easily from wet erase surfaces, but deep colors like purple might need a little help from a Magic Eraser. Try not to let deep colors sit on the map very long after you play, either. You'll build your skill set over time, so start small and don't be tough on yourself about mistakes. In my experience, players often like to move miniatures around on a hand-drawn map regardless, they will be thankful you drew it for them! There are a bunch of other tips and techniques we keep on our YouTube and especially Patreon if you really want to dive into map-making. If I had to pick a tip I wish I knew before I started drawing maps regularly, it would be to make sure and prep the surface well. For wet erase on vinyl, I clean the map several times with a Magic Eraser to get the nearly invisible residue off. Vinyl also responds better with time as the waterproofing wears down, so as part of my prep I often leave the mat out for days (even outside sometimes) before I draw on it. Prepping dry erase is easier, but just because marker comes off it quickly and it is the more convenient surface, you should still completely wipe it down, especially after it's been in your bag. Treat your surfaces well and your markers will last longer, too!
Salthrun doesn't have an alignment, we've been converting to Remaster along the way with this AP. She's money-obsessed, but doesn't usually harm others unless they harm her family. That's Salthrun in the picture backing up her brother as we entered the fungi-filled tavern. We're preparing for our next marathon in a few days, so I'm transforming into Aunt Sally right now! I remember Heroes Unlimited from WAY back, but not the alignment system unfortunately. As for the classes in Sky Scions, inventor was definitely in the discussion and I wouldn't rule out seeing one before this project is over. Gunslinger, on the other hand, only came up once and the vote was unanimous. After two years with our all-gunslinger party in the last project, we did not want to see another one in this project -- not even one. We had our fun with the mini-gun/Barricade Buster during The Abomination Arsenal though!
Any chance you can post your PC's basic stats (aka names, genders, ancestries, and classes)? Sure! In this video I described some of the family tree, and you can see a sketch of the generations. I'll put the rest below. We knew going into this project that we would have a cameo by a member of the past at each marathon, which meant this project would have the largest overall roster of anything we've done before. This also meant that many members would be playing alongside other members they had never met, only heard of. With this in mind, we decided to bind the characters together by making the group one big strong-blooded dwarven family! We used players' out-of-game ages in Order of the Amber Die to create the generations within our family (PF 1e age categories). It's also important to note that we have what we call the "core four" on every roster you've seen over the years. This core of players remains the same at each marathon regardless, which means to be in the core four you must be able to commit to every marathon in a given project -- it's major! A typical marathon involves these four players and up to three additional players at the table (maximum of seven). Local members might even rotate on separate days within a marathon, so for example we had eight different dwarves see action in marathon one, made easier because the clan lived in Highhelm and the entire marathon took place there. I'll note the core characters with an asterisk. Marathon 1 featured: *Disa Firecask
*Renck Firecask
Dungruain Firecask
Fissure Firecask
Drothgyr Firecask
Zuls Firecask
*Salthrun Firecask
*Thorgreigir Firecask
In the comments section of the last blog, Theodora also talked about some of the roles each character has in the clan. Hope this helps, and portraits are here!
As usual, y'all bring it! Thanks Adam! This marathon was something pretty special. Having a lifelong friend back at the table after two decades, it was a reminder that this game is so much more than a game. That's my guy Andy standing in the second pic. Keep the adventures coming!
Thanks for all the kind words here, can't wait to report on Mantle of Gold !
We might be able to make that happen. Usually each batch is made specifically for our marathons and we pick them up a couple of weeks beforehand. However, we have a marathon coming near the time that PAX Unplugged will be in Philly, so if you're either going to be at PAX or are Philly-local anyway, reach out and we'll get a Battle Axe into those hands!
Glad everyone is as excited as we are about this one! We started creating a thread like this maybe a couple of projects back, and it’s great way to provide little updates or feedback from our journey that also stays permanently here for GMs to use for their own playthroughs. One of the first challenges I faced while prepping this AP was the opening itself. The AP leans mostly toward having your players be a party of visitors to Highhelm, and doesn’t expect them to be a party of all dwarves. For example, the first volume (Mantle of Gold) has the PCs wandering around the city of Highhelm, with the goal of building their reputation before the Clan Tolorr festival. But what if the PCs have already lived in the city for a hundred years or more? I created a series of scenes providing extra motivation for the PCs to enhance the current place of Clan Firecask. Most of these scenes involved Perill Firecask, our clan leader from the sourcebook, reemphasizing to us the importance of the Tolorr festival and of maintaining our Goldhilt status. What makes this festival different? Well, there are a lot of changes taking place in Highhelm, starting with the construction of Torag’s Shield, which is not only a controversial citywide construction project as described in the Highhelm sourcebook, but has also placed economic and industrial strain on the economy of Highhelm. As Perhill explained, economic shifts in the city can often provide opportunities, especially if we can coincide this with the release of our new beer. We have been strategizing the release of Battle Axe ever since our clan began perfecting the recipe two decades ago. The Tolorr festival, the upcoming basilisk championship hosted in Highhelm, and the upheaval provided by Torag’s Shield have combined to provide us the perfect time to release Battle Axe. First, we needed to reinforce our reputation and put Clan Firecask at the forefront of popularity in Highhelm. To do this, Perhill spent money from the clan’s coffers to secure us a room at Zelgin’s tavern in the King’s Heart district. But why not start in King’s Crown where our own clan hall is? Well, as Perhill explained, we often get a reputation of having “soft hands,” a Goldhilt clan from the top of the city that doesn’t know how to get dirty with the rest of Highhelm. We need to get down and work among the people of Stonebreach, the Depths, and anywhere else in the city that people might not expect Clan Firecask to show up and assist. We played the first marathon a couple of months ago so a few words might be different, but it opened with something like this: (the PCs stood before Perhill Firecask, who sat on a throne made from firkins of ages past, each container once holding a famous beer from clan history) “The king’s construction project has taxed almost every resource in Highhelm, and it’s a great chance to build our reputation before the launch of Battle Axe. If that means they need help in the forges, I expect to hear about how well you handled the heat. If they need help in the mines, I want to hear how surprised they were that Clan Firecask could swing a pick. If you just end up handing out samples of Battle Axe, I want them saying that the reason they finished their workday on the Shield was the quality of our new beer. When Clan Tolorr sends us an invite to the upcoming festival, I want it to come complete with gold chairs for us to sit in. We need to get out there are remind the city why Firecask is a name that’s steeped in legend!” At this point we shifted to the opening scene at Zelgin’s with the introduction to Ria, a key NPC, and Sky King’s Tomb had begun!
So where and when can we watch? Yup, Steelhead has it right, there are a few ways to follow along in addition to the reports that will drop here on the Paizo blog: -our social media has additional pics, video, and updates from inside our marathons.
For example, we just posted a picture on our Facebook of the Clan Firecask miniatures and what an actual can of Battle Axe looks like!
Figured we'd announce it first on the forums: NEW PROJECT BEGINS! Name: The Sky Scions
There's more, but we'll wait for the official introduction blog.
I really didn't think you would make it through all ten levels and not suffer a TPK. Grats to all of you! I am glad to see Belcorra and company managed to take some gunslingers with them to prove this wasn't a easy dungeon. Thanks, this project was definitely unlike anything we've tried so far! Off the top of my head, the total number of character deaths across the project was nine (including the final TPK), so this dungeon is certainly deadly. I'm with you on some of the doubt. I try to keep my distance from the players on things like that until it's over, but I can safely say now, that I did doubt their ability to make it to the final battle. I did not doubt them because they were playing all gunslingers, it was simply because there were some NASTY encounters. The Clay golem and graveknight in the same battle comes to mind right away. I never cared much for the outcome of the final battle of the AP, as I've seen those go every which way over the years, sometimes they are mechanics-based and it's not about winning the combat but performing certain tasks, etc. Final battle rundown of Pathfinder projects, in order: The Emerald Spire: Win (close victory, thanks to Riftwarden)
I included Runelords, but it's a story I've only told on our media -- it was a six-year project cut short. Can't wait to see what our next party can do!
Man, this is beyond epic. Such dedication to the craft. Always the golden standard in my book. Awesome recopilation! keep being awesome OAD. Thanks! This project was a huge team effort, especially the final marathon. We're also fortunate to work with friends in the industry who have the same level of dedication; for this marathon, Black Bard Studios stepped up to help us make the massive level nine dungeon experience possible. We just put out a video of what it looked like during setup, it was so stunning that we left it fully assembled on the patio just to spend the day with it. I'm looking forward to the wrap-up blog to come, there is a lot that goes on outside of the project reports that will be fun to tell. Our players also tracked data across all seven marathons which is already looking pretty interesting, especially how much ammo we crafted along the way. There are even some fun stories with each project, like how we had to cut a year off the Arsenal play schedule and cram four marathons into an eleven month window. That final 22+ hour session happened for a reason -- one of our members was being transferred to Europe and we were determined to finish this project with the same members that started it! I'm happy to say that another team of OAD members is already months into preparation for the launch of a new project...
Too true. This series of encounters and the role the drow played in our journey made for a perfect farewell!
These are always my favourite batreps, and seeing the glee in Joe's eyes on that picture makes me smile. You can tell he's loving every second of it, you made his dream come true! Thanks, we always have fun putting these reports together. We like to accumulate everyone's favorite moments before we decide on which highlights will make it to the final few for each report -- this one had so many great moments we didn't want to cut! Joe ended up playing in three different marathons for this project, and we had such good times that I know he'll find his way into the next one somewhere along the line. We'll also have another celebrity guest at our table for the upcoming project this fall...
It's insane to me that even the drawn-on walls and doors look gorgeous in how sharp and clear they are. I'd be curious to know how they do the doors at least. I imagine a stencil along with a way to align it really well. Thanks, that marker was kind to me! No stencil for the doors, just years of practice and some patience. Each door is done in four separate lines, and big doors like this are much easier than 5ft wide doors. Doors in general are more forgiving than other aspects, since they can be adjusted without having to erase them, just by extending the short sides of the door frame. Now the purple watercolor effect for the crystal chamber, that was tough! If you are into drawing your own maps for tabletop play, there are a few time lapse videos on our YouTube where you can see how I draw the doors (and everything else). If you want more detailed walkthroughs of the maps that end up here on the blog, those are on our Patreon. If you liked this little outpost map, wait till you see the map of level 10 that we have coming in the next report!
I love the recap. Amazing photos as always! My group will be doing our third annual weeklong RPG marathon next month. Your reports here are what inspired me to organize it for our group. Thanks for the inspiration! Fumarole, thank you, and I'm so glad that keeping up with us all these years has helped your group create something special! What an honor, sometime I would love to hear about your annual week together and how you arrange it all. In the rare case that anyone can catch our Marathon Gaming seminar at certain game conventions (or on our Patreon), we lay out our formula for how to run a 48-hour marathon for groups out there that want to try it. Speaking of marathons, we originally built this project to run through to completion in six marathons total. I did NOT expect them to roleplay as much as they have in a megadungeon, and now we've added an extra marathon to what was already a tight schedule (new project around the corner). Marathon 7, the final marathon whether it be victory or TPK, is going down with just a few weeks in-between. Time for me to start drawing!
Still following along on this! Glad to hear! We just played marathon six last weekend, our schedule is tight for these last three marathons so the blog for marathon five just dropped today. Marathon seven is early April, and that will be the last one either way. They've faced Belcorra twice now, and both times it was difficult. They held a two-hour meeting after the marathon to go over strategies for dealing with her, because so far she's exposed nearly all our weaknesses and played to only one of our strengths!
Still alive, on level eight now. Teaser from the upcoming report to drop next month: "One of the things we love about delving a megadungeon is how you get to make a different entrance onto each level, and level eight was hard to beat. We descended on an elevator into a large cavern filled with water, docks, and a few boats. Cypress Hill prepped the scene with “Cock the Hammer” as we spotted forms moving below – undead forms to be precise. One ran for a door and only made it to the handle. Another tried to launch a skiff and never had a chance. We dumped lead on them until the shouts of 'cease fire!' echoed off the walls."
Truth about Adam's maps! They're amazing. I've never gotten to play on one, but I am the proud caretaker of Adam's Briarstone Asylum map from their Strange Aeons Experiment marathon. :) Thanks Adam! I was wondering if that map was still around, I'm so glad it's in good hands!
Your maps are always so good looking. Well done! Fumarole, thank you! This was a joy to render on vinyl, many thanks to James Jacobs for such design variety among the levels in the Vaults. Level 6 was probably one of my longest draws in a while (c. 30 hours). I like to imagine the encounters in each room as I draw them, and even come up with dialogue or little scenes that play out when the PCs first see an area I've spent a lot of time on. I get to walk the halls before they do. The game is in such a great place right now, I'm always amazed at the virtual options out there, but for me there's still something I can't duplicate about watching my players standing around a map that's 20sq ft, moving their miniatures, and slapping hands. Glad we can help carry the tabletop torch as the game continues to evolve!
Cool to see Joe joining y'all! Praise Log! We had a great time! Being in the same NJ/NY area helps, and also makes it likely the Beast Gunner will see action again. Speaking of which, our next marathon just happens to be this weekend. I tweeted out some pics of the level six map in progress -- we're set to launch Saturday morning! Praise log.
Blue Blazer Irregulars, yes! It's funny, Zoric blurted out "Blue Coat Adventurers" because he didn't want to give the party's actual name (see backstory), so instead we ended up with something the group will never let him live down. Neither will I, so as they pass by townsfolk in Otari, whispers of "look honey, it's the Blue Coat Adventurers" can be heard. About this time next year, someone picks up a newspaper all the way over in Galt: BLUE COAT ADVENTURERS KILL BELCORRA. Never gets old for us! Great question about the map tags. For this one, I simply printed a version that didn't have the secret doors. I wanted to use the official GM-version of the map for the blog, which is what you see above. Most of the time they can be removed with a single click in the interactive map files, but in the event that they won't come off, we've found it fairly easy to remove them with editing. In a pinch, I've had to use a version with the secret doors still on it; I simply slid the mat board that we use to provide fog of war over the edge of walls as far as I could, along with extra "fake" boards to the outside of rooms to throw PCs off from knowing where secret doors might be. This will work until there is a door between two rooms that they've already revealed and yet haven't discovered a secret door between them. My goal at the beginning of the project was to vary the way we presented each level, so it's been: Level 1: 3D build
For the lower levels, you'll have to wait and see...
I've received quite a few messages with the same question about the maps from this blog and the previous one, so I thought I'd just answer them here in case it helps. I love that people noticed the ACTUAL mulch on the map of level three! After all, violet fungus needs a good place to thrive, why not just use real mulch on your map? Yes, there will definitely be another hand-drawn map in our next blog (much like the first blog, but I had both eyes functioning this time). I posted some pics of the progress on social media last week, it's level five of the Vaults. It measured in around 17sq ft, so it was a pretty serious draw!
Eddie, thanks for the kind words! That golem is so nasty, I can't wait to go round two against the team! As it turns out, we're about to play marathon 3 of the project THIS weekend, starting Friday morning and going through Sunday night. We'll post some of it to our social media; if that second showdown with the wood golem happens, I'm definitely displaying the outcome! More than one PC has wanted to go back in there already, and I even heard "But what if the golem TPKs our project out?" Either way, if the golem wins round two, it's getting a name. I'm going to start the encounter by handing each player one of the dead body minis we use at our table, then call for initiative...
Thanks, glad you like them! We had a lot of fun putting this one together, especially because the "gunslingers in a megadungeon" theme has been on the OAD bucket list for a while. I'm the one who shortened the death description (maybe too much), but yup there was some lethal damage in there. I want to say it was from falling into debris after he was unconscious, but I'll ask Erick to confirm. It was not a glorious death, he even crit-failed his last recovery check. If you look closely at the pic of the graveyard battle, you can see Rome at the bottom...most of the party didn't enjoy putting having to put him down. See here's the thing: Erick is the best PvP player in the Order. We would struggle to count the number of beloved characters that have fallen to his charmed, confused, or dominated warriors over the years. Then there is also that look of glee he gets when he is allowed to attack a fellow companion. Heck, he had that look as a zombie approaching us from across the graveyard! This was their chance to return the look. :)
Well, we're a few months into the project and there's a lot to say about what it's like to go through this Adventure Path with a party of gunslingers. One of the above characters is dead. The others are doing well. Before our first report drops on the Paizo blog next week, you're free to guess at who we lost -- or better yet -- what killed them!
This is the first time I hear about the Order of the Amber Die.. I went back to the first project and its a PDF of the Spire. Are there recordings about the live gameplay or was that in future projects? The Spire was a great run! Our goal there was simply to play the entire megadungeon in a summer of continuous marathon format and thoroughly document the experience. 195 hours in 35 days was the result. We never broke down the setup the entire time -- we lived in the Emerald Spire. The hardest part was assembling a team that could do it. We brought our data to GenCon that year (2014), and the rest is OAD history. The Spire is primarily the PDF, photos on our Facebook, and the advice I left on the forums during our run. For the other projects it varies between PDFs, still photos, and video on our YouTube and Patreon. For six of the eight projects, there are blog reports from each marathon. It's fun to reminisce about the Spire, so feel free to ask about anything that you can't find in the PDF!
So many kind words here, thank you to all! I’m also glad that people are as interested as I am to see what happens. From the party lineup to the props, this might be the first project where I’m a little jealous of how cool things are from the players’ side of the screen. Really though, it’s just awesome to be launching another project again. Our team right now is predominantly teachers and nurses, so it’s an understatement to say that COVID tried to beat on the Order pretty hard – but we’re still here. As for that model of the Gauntlight, it looks even better up close, and it did most of the work to make those photos! Heck, even the fog is real and not editing. I'll see if I can get the Black Bard himself to chime in about it, but only if he can get some time away from working on our next build. I can promise that you’ll see more of the Gauntlight -- a lot more -- on the upcoming blog. We’ve already played the first marathon and put a bunch of pictures of it on our media, but the best ones are yet to come. With a little coaxing, we might be able to drive the whole setup across the bridge into Philly for PAX Unplugged…
the players are busy commenting away in the Google Classroom we use for our campaign Hi Wind! Hope you’re enjoying watching this project develop. I’m in a mad flurry of prep before our launch Marathon in a few days, so I’ll come back to address the Google Classroom at some point after the Marathon (if I forget just hit us up on the blog comments when the intro blog drops), and I know we already had a post set to talk about it some on our Patreon next month. Only the Player Captain and GM are “teachers,” with the rest of the players being “students.” It’s honestly been incredible for managing projects, though we also have a lot more deadlines than a standard group might have, and the "Assignment" feature is really where the Classroom shines. Lastly, being a teacher for twenty years REALLY helps, so I’m not exactly sure what the base skillset looks like for a GM trying to implement this for the first time. Thanks for your interest, and I’ll make some notes as I go so we can talk more about it as the project continues!
This looks like fun! :-) I'm excited for this one too! This project is something I've wanted to see for a long time as a GM. A party of all gunslingers, thrown into what many would consider the "standard unit" of adventure: a dungeon. In this case, a megadungeon gives us even more in the way of reporting as far as how this will play out. Will they fare better on certain levels than others, and why? Which encounters will they struggle with the most, and which ones will they simply obliterate? We purposely chose not to go with the Outlaws of Alkenstar AP for this reason, in that we wanted more of a control group (classic dungeon experience) for our experiment using this extreme party. Of course, it's not a perfect science experiment, especially when you toss in all the other variables and controlled chaos that comprise tabletop roleplaying. It sure has us eager to see what will happen though! We're one week away from the launch marathon, and the players are busy commenting away in the Google Classroom we use for our campaign -- their main concern is not healing but ammunition right now...
Yes, Order of the Amber Die is back, was wondering what ever happen to them. What I would like to see and hear them do next is run through the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path, if they would be interested or wait until the Hardcover issue comes out. Heard! Here it is, but with an OAD twist.
We're known for pushing the envelope of tabletop roleplaying, and yes, we're doing it again. A new Paizo blog project begins! Abomination Vaults is the Adventure Path of course, but as the title of this thread suggests, it's with a twist. This is where the party comes in. For nearly a decade (and many Paizo blog projects) we've set ourselves apart by playing iconic characters. That said, we've read your messages and pondered the email requests for a while now -- it's time to personalize our characters. In our private work, OAD has never been one for party balance or a traditional approach; we had plenty of that during the first phases of our 35 years. What you'll get in this project is nothing short of extreme when it comes to party construction. Much of this project was inspired by the release of Guns & Gears, so why not use this chance to test out game theory in front of the community? Who cares about TPK, anyway? After crawling through 150+ published adventures, we've TPKed more campaigns than most people ever play. Heck, we even put up pictures of a TPK in our inaugural project for Paizo! So let's use this opportunity to see if an ENTIRE PARTY of the same character class can successfully delve the first megadungeon of Pathfinder 2E. That's right, this party is ALL gunslingers. Every character, even cameos. Nope, not even that friendly NPC who offers free healing is welcome in the Black Powder Cadre. Unless you're fully strapped, that is. This thread is where we'll post our stat blocks, starting with the first character next week. Feel free to ask questions, interact with the Order, and offer your predictions as to what will happen when you try to go both guns blazing into an epic megadungeon. As always, sessions will be in our Marathon format, with play continuing over several days each time we meet. Our launch Marathon is set for late August. According to our custom, we’ll play the entire Adventure Path as written, using the complete PF 2.0 rules set, and we ask no quarter from our GM or the Amber Die itself. We'll post mid-Marathon and pre-Marathon updates on our social media, as well as full reports on the Paizo blog like we've done for previous projects.
Sold. Our project will be here on the blog -- but it won't be the party you'll expect.I'M LISTENING! ... Well then, you might already know that we like to push the envelope a bit with each project. I wonder what would happen to an entire party of the same character class inside a Megadungeon? I'm thinking a lot of it would depend on the class...
Sold. Our project will be here on the blog -- but it won't be the party you'll expect.
Omg look at that setting. Is like Warhammer meets Pathfinder. So Awesome as always!! Thanks! Yeah, a little Warhammer and tabletop wargaming feel, right? I’ve also had a couple of messages asking about that setup so I thought I’d add a little explanation here. We have a 48sq ft table that we sit around, it often has anywhere from 6-8 players at it. In the center of the bridge and ruined city pictures you can see the base layer we used, which was a 4x6ft vinyl mat typically employed with games like Warhammer. Most companies that make these will add a 1” square grid like you see on ours if you look closely. Then we added the trees and terrain separately; the ancient road to Xatramba was created from ballast like you’d use on a model train setup. For each encounter, PCs were told whether the trees on the table were precise areas of cover/difficult terrain, or if the trees just represented vast areas of jungle and everything would be played as standard forest terrain. If it’s a random encounter, I will often tell the players to just build any kind of jungle setup while I get an encounter ready, and having the players do this can also give a GM time to prepare other things during a marathon session (plus everybody wants a chance to play with fancy terrain). Sometimes I have them arrange a setup while I’m doing something else and then we just do a camping scene really quick with no encounter—it keeps them guessing. Lastly, it’s worth noting that battles in Pathfinder 2.0 are more mobile than in PF 1.0, so we did see quite a bit of use out of the 4x6ft mat in a lot of these encounters (including the entire 300ft bridge at one point). There are some more pics of these encounters on our social media as well if that helps as well.
Yes, Order of the Amber Die is back, was wondering what ever happen to them. What I would like to see and hear them do next is run through the Abomination Vaults Adventure Path, if they would be interested or wait until the Hardcover issue comes out. Yes, still here! 28 blog project reports since 2015, and more to come. The Order is also a lifestyle for most of us, so it'll never go away. As for any delay, we still really enjoy the tabletop in "tabletop roleplaying," which meant that we had to push this project back twice to be as safe as possible when assembling the group. Totally worth it though, I will miss the setup we had for this one!
Quick question, now that things have picked back up here. We've got some time this winter to do some conversion work. If we were considering playing an older PF 1.0 Adventure Path on the blog, which one would you be most interested in seeing presented?War for the Crown? So with this choice we have a more recent AP in addition to the two older ones listed. War for the Crown interests me, since from what I understand, it's got a larger focus on roleplaying encounters. I like the challenge of bringing court intrigue to the blog, it's something we haven't done before, and you know our feelings about anything we haven't done before...
Quick question, now that things have picked back up here. We've got some time this winter to do some conversion work. If we were considering playing an older PF 1.0 Adventure Path on the blog, which one would you be most interested in seeing presented?
What miniature is that in the picture, that you're using for the huge black ooze? Hi Brell, it's the "Carnivorous Pudding" from Reaper Miniatures, the Bones line of figures. Then you'll want to probably create a base for it, you can always slice a huge pawn base flat if you have extras of those around and don't want to buy a blank one. Pathfinder Battles also has an awesome black pudding mini, you can even put a figure standing in/under its wave of pudding; however, it's worth noting that the Battles one is only large size and Pathfinder 2.0 has made the pudding huge size now.
** spoiler ** Spoiler: Yes! We actually had a lot of fun having Jirelle in the roster because of that, as she may or may not be immune. She was also required to have the Elf Atavism feat to add some story to any potential immunity she might possess. However, rumors have already started in Kibwe that the curse affected its first half-orc...
Isn't it fun to keep a player wondering if they are immune to the curse--or will stay that way throughout? :)
They're beautiful up close, we definitely will! They will show up here in part two, and they've already been on our social media a bit. The trickiest part is playing with the same minis we use for the photos, yet still keeping them in good shape afterwards!
... Thank you, glad you could come along for the ride! I was wondering if marathon 2 might get a mention after that farewell. Alright, here goes: So we had about seven people present for that one, and it was a cold weekend in January. We had exactly four days to play the adventure, and a standard Pathfinder Adventure Path volume has somewhere around 30 to 40 encounters. Considering the amount of extra role-playing we had done in part one, we needed to keep a strong pace but we had the right amount of time allotted. On Wednesday night, one of our guys showed up and was definitely battling something he had picked up the week before from an injury. By Thursday morning, the whole team had rolled in and we were ready to start at 6am. A couple of members were also struggling with something that we thought was a standard cold, but if you pile three days of straight play and little sleep onto it all--hello group membership to Urgent Care! Three of us managed to dodge it, so I guess we teachers can thank our students for the boosted immune system and circumstance bonus to Fort saves. Still, this wasn't the worst thing that has ever happened across decades of marathons now, and we played on. Major credit goes to the author here (Robert Brookes) because the adventure was complex enough to hold our attention on the game the entire time. We plan these marathons months in advance and a lot of us travel pretty long distances to make them happen; we approach them like any sports team that can't postpone the playoffs because of a few injuries, and it's that dedication to the group that has kept our story going all these years.
Where do you get that Lusaka miniature from? I need me one of those three headed sharks Gorgeous, right? It's even better up close. The lusca is a custom piece created by one of our partners (Black Bard Studios, listed above). The lusca was separated into several pieces and carefully placed inside luggage, then flown from Oregon to GenCon 2019. Once there, the lusca was assembled in a hotel room and painted over the course of the convention. The final step was to drive it from Indianapolis to New Jersey, while being held the entire time in the capable hands of a good friend of the Order. :) It survived the trip, and made it all the way to the Paizo blog!
Speaking for myself, this is the hardest project to let go of, and that includes every Pathfinder project since 2014. Each undertaking has its own story in our real lives, and its own spin inside the game as well. The Emerald Spire Project tested how many days we could play consecutively toward a goal. The Giantslayer Endeavor tested how many marathons we could sustain in half a year's time. The Strange Aeons Experiment tested our ability to adapt to an entirely new genre for us. The Pathfinder Playtest tested our skill in crunching a new system at the fastest pace imaginable. The Azlant Odyssey tested our ability to hold a long campaign together despite the real-life events that challenged it. Two babies were born, two new members were inducted, and we tossed an eight-blog playtest into the middle of this AP. In terms of session hours, Azlant was the lengthiest campaign we've ever played, and a lot of that had to do with the amount of activities available to characters during downtime. Yet we found a way to come together again and again, to stand in awe as we opened the chambers of lost Azlant to gaze upon sites unseen for thousands of years. Now a little something for the Order, you guys know I do this at the end of every path... Marathon 1: Never forget that hike down the beach that we took as a group out to the end of Long Beach Island, with the lights of Atlantic City in the distance. Marathon 2: I'd like to take a moment and thank Urgent Care, for providing medical treatment to three OAD members during this marathon. Oh yeah, there was that hospital trip in there too. The Order is more important than any one of us, so we played through. Marathon 3: We already have a name for this one, and that evil USB chose it: File not found. It's too painful to elaborate on. Safe to say we won't forget it--yet there's nothing there. Marathon 4: Hands-down one of the top three marathons in OAD history. In thirty-three years of tabletop, none of us had ever spent so much time underwater. Always remember that night we partied with merfolk in July, with fireworks going off a few blocks away. Marathon 5: The most frantic of the six marathons. 15-hour sessions and then building the Trident at night while you guys slept. Eight hours of sleep in three days? No problem. It was worth it to descend another tower which deserved as much respect as Nightfang Spire. Marathon 6: The loudest midnight build (mid-marathon) we've ever done--we don't have to worry about Savannah forgetting it! And that final day, riding the waves to victory from 6am until past 2am. Longest sessions in the industry, baby. A huge thank you to the players who gave took days off and traveled long distances to make the The Azlant Odyssey possible. These players also spent their time in-between marathons compiling data and helping to create the setups that can be seen in these blogs. Also, a warm thank you to the other Order members who found ways to contribute despite the distance between us. Lastly, to the Amber Die itself: We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Ever since those four 20s in '87, you've still got it, and you're the greatest die a GM could ask for.
Thanks! It's crazy to think this began on an actual beach and ended up with that "Final Morning" video you probably saw. I've come to equally value the out-of-game journey that a group of friends goes through when trying to pull off six volumes of an AP. As for what we take on next...I'm allowed to say this: It's PF 2.0, and it's soon! That's not nearly enough of a teaser, is it?
I've spent my career teaching, and now could GM my players as they go from students to teachers--to administration--and beyond? Very, VERY intrigued. :)
They're right there in the Bestiary!#sorrynotsorry. I love shining children!really excited to see what kinds of variant shining children we'll see in PF 2.0! :) (slides aside a stack of Ruins of Azlant and Beyond the Veiled Past materials for Labor Day marathon, checks 2.0 Bestiary) Hehehe...
Seriously though, Tower of the Drowned Dead was incredible Ron, I'm looking forward in particular to showing everyone some of the video we compiled of the tower during assembly and play, as well as some end photos of the Omen Dominion. Thanks for an adventure that was very rewarding to GM!
#sorrynotsorry. I love shining children! Gotta say to the group, I'm on the side of the author here as usual! The Amber Die approved of the pelagic child, and spoke by gifting it a 20 with a searing ray. I will miss Aoinse dearly, but the Amber Die's word is final. Shining Children vs. the Order
Let me just throw some more salt on the players and say that I'm really excited to see what kinds of variant shining children we'll see in PF 2.0! :)
I look forward to meeting you (through my words) in your next installment! :D Thurston, all these projects over the years and finally Beyond the Veiled Past will be the first one of your adventures that I get to run! Lots of prep has gone down already, and I'm excited to show off some surprises. There are a couple of encounters in particular that I've set aside the Amber Die itself for, so we'll see what kind of magic it can deliver...
Wow, that's incredible! This is the level of gaming that I aspire to. You all are amazing! Thanks so much, Steph! Day three of the marathon passed nineteen hours for a single session, and definitely tested the Order. I think I was still talking like a lich when my students walked into homeroom the next morning... Onward to part six!
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