Allen Cohn's page

That "Last Temptation of Christ" idea is just brilliant! I'm absolutely stealing it.

I'm going to have them think they're just about to die from Radiant Fire resonance...and then each PC finds themself in a dark box. Yes, they're back in the sarcophagi of Rosler's Tomb!

They'll leave the mausoleum without trouble and discover that they're in the town of Rosler's Coffer, which is rebuilding (although is is enclosed in yet another impenetrable bubble).

Of course they'll discover that this idyllic outcome is actually a sort of holodeck situation that Pharasma created for them.

Umble and Thoot will reappear (which I think they'll enjoy) and explain that if they choose to stay, they can live out their lives in peace...but Tar-Baphon will succeed. Or they can give up their happy endings (again) and save the world.

I think a cool hook for a character who's unsure of why they're in Roslar's Coffer would be for them to be a courier delivering a package with an unassuming shard inside to someone in the town. Maybe Lady Grive, or someone else. The viability of this idea might hinge on book 2, however.

I want to thank you for this utterly brilliant idea!

One of my players came up with a backstory (completely unprompted by me) that his PC was a courier all over Last Wall. And the reason his PC was in Rosler's Coffer was to deliver a package. With as much poker face as I could manage, I said that was "OK." Bwahahahaha!

I even offered to make up the name of the last person who hired the PC. I pretended to pick a random name: Kilibrandt Erstwhile (who is actually a key NPC in Book 3). Of course the player wrote it down...but forgot about it.

Tick tock. 7 months pass. And during last game session...when we're in Book 3... the PCs read a note with Kilibrandt's name mentioned. I send that player a secret message saying he's heard that name before...

Then Kilibrandt tries to assassinate them from a rooftop. I send him another secret message that he's *seen* that gnome before...

Then they interrogate Kilibrandt. Kilibrandt tells him that he delivered the bomb that destroyed Roslar's Coffer. Finally a harsh light goes off in his head....

His PC claims he was an innocent patsy. But the player was shaken.

Priceless!!!

it is more than a little annoying that the Shield is not described in the text of the AP. I spent like 10 minutes describing it, saying it had powerful magic, etc., and then found it in the Inner Sea World guide which mentions that it's just wood. How hard would it have been to describe the shield's present state in the AP itself?

Thank you for this post. Knowing that the pieces are just wood makes it more plausible (in my mind) that Bruna could make a passable copy of it.

Yakman wrote:

A nice fella on reddit redid the maps for the first four books and his dropbox is here

These maps are in a format .webp. That format is new to me. How do I get those into Roll20? Do I convert to another format?

And I looked at one and it was unusably dark. Was I just activating it incorrectly?

Allen

OK. I found a kluge that works for me to "fix" the darkness of the maps:

* Download the .webp files to my local drive.
* Open a file using the free Photos app built into Windows 11.
* Click the Edit button at the top.
* Click the Adjustment button at the top...this should cause a bunch of horizontal sliders to appear on the right.
* Slide as desired to adjust to my liking. Typically this is only sliding both Brightness and Exposure far to the right. (But for some of the maps in Roslar's Coffer I also added a green/yellow tinge to reflect the light filtering by the fettering maw gas dome.)
* Save as a .jpg file. (Photos can read .webp, but not write it. .jpg is fine...but it takes up twice the space as .webp.)
* Start Roll20, launch my game, create a page with the same dimensions as indicted in the map file name. Activate the Map layer.
* Using Windows Explorer drag the .jpg version of the map onto the Roll20 VTT.
* If Roll20 asks whether I want to adjust graphic to fill page or adjust page size, pick the former. Otherwise slide the graphic so that the upper left corner is in the right place. Then drag the lower right corner to expand the graphic to fill the page.
* Back in Explorer delete the huge .jpg file...I don't need it anymore.

I hope this helps others!

Oh, that's just cruel. Ramp up my anticipation and make me wait weeks for book 2.

I think a cool hook for a character who's unsure of why they're in Roslar's Coffer would be for them to be a courier delivering a package with an unassuming shard inside to someone in the town. Maybe Lady Grive, or someone else. The viability of this idea might hinge on book 2, however.

I'm just starting to run this AP. We're doing character planning. Without prompting one of the players proposed that his PC had just arrived in Roslar's Coffer to deliver packages...

Having read this post I was filled with glee...

Allen

StabbittyDoom wrote:

Unless the spell specifically calls itself out as a trap, then it is not a trap and does not act like one with respect to other rules (including perception to notice and the ability to disable them with something other than dispel or antimagic). Alarm is not called out as a trap, therefor you cannot notice it with just a Perception check, nor can you use Disable Device to remove it (even if you are a rogue).

I'm leaning that way Stabbitty. They were pretty conscentious about putting that detect and removal clause everywhere else.

In that same spirit, would a mechanical device that merely rang a bell in a nearby guardroom be considered a trap with respect to Perception and Disable Device?

Allen