Okay so with a full session of research complete, my group is being the most. Three days of research with different players researching each day and two of them focusing on much more personal interests. Also had to deal with druids Ancestral Memory(?) spell when he's basically a first generation immigrant from Tian Xia.
They did clear out the research from the Outer Stacks and found out about the Spiral Archive (but not where it is yet, lol), and the party leader fighter has been trying to gain audience with the haty-a just to update on the Wati undead situation (not even mentioning Hakotep yet). The pacing is seeming to go okay, it's just a lot of split-party management as they go. They're about to meet Muminofrah.
PCs win. But this is an odd question so it makes me wonder what you think the difference is. Either way wouldn't Mumminafrah actually provide assistance to the group? As for the rewards of a more tangible nature it would be that the winning chariot would get what they get and then it's up to the group to decide how the rewards are given out.
In my group one pair of players won, the others didn't. It wasn't an issue.
I think I misread the Winning the Race paragraph. For some reason I thought that it said all the PCs had to finish the race within 10 rounds to win, but then at least one PC had to do it within 10 rounds...I just got overly confused.
My group will be starting the library research at our next session this Friday, so I'm just guessing that it will go quickly. It's a high knowledge group, even the cleric and fighter. The research mechanic is maybe my favorite part of this AP, so I don't want to just blaze through it, but I understand your points. It doesn't really matter how quickly it goes, but I was curious if anyone had worked through scaling it up any before me.
I finally started this campaign in 2020 and my play group just started this book. We've been having a ton of fun so far, and I've added some story bits to help fill out some of the down time.
One question I had was regarding the chariot race: do the group of PCs win as long as one PC wins, or should I keep the winner individual?
Also, I have 6 players - what's a good way to scale the library research for 6 players (arcanist, alchemist, druid, cleric, fighter, and barbarian)? At this point, I've increased the complexity DC of each library stack by +1-+3, and added 2d10 kp, but the scaling of the kp unlock amounts are very subjective and manual. Not sure if there's any better ideas.
Finally, I've read lots of posts here on the nameless assassin attacks being confusing. I'm not sure if I read it correctly now, but I was assuming that one assassin drops down on a PC from a roof at point A with the studied death attack (which would be melee), and then that assassin high tails it through the alleys to point B, where the other two assassins were waiting to ambush with ranged attacks from the rooftops. But everyone else here seems to have read it very differently.
Venture-Captain Bulain Zygmunt (NG Dwarf Ranger 17) somehow got missed.
Homeland of Razmir, no patron deity
Currently hunting the green dragon around Thistletop.
Performances: tavern bards (singing, storytelling, etc), traveling circuses (a couple of modules), theater productions (Council of Thieves, part 2)
Games: card games and betting; not sure if we have any specific references to sports besides gladiatorial fighting
Lots of songs
I think there are lots of entertainment outlets throughout Golarion. Bards make entertainment easy, but there's a reason why Perform is an untrained skill set.
Everyone so far has given great advice and a lot for me to think about. Thank you very much. I will leave this open for anyone else who wants to add their two cents. Our next session is this next Thursday, so I'll need to make a final decision before then, but I think I have made a mistake with my players that I will need to correct.
Zaigeran: male CG aasimar investigator. Has ties to the Szcarni family, but trying to get out. Basically trying to lead the group from the backseat.
Magnus: male LG human paladin of Iomedae. The only truly experienced role player in my group. Actually leading the group, though not a big talking character. Married (in and out of game) to...
Haven: female NG half-elf ranger. Secret princess on the run from racist elf assassins.
Wilaktugk: male NG half-orc oracle. The orcacle that seems to do everything right. Has love/hate relationship with fire, and nice relationship with Shayliss.
Etah: male CN fetchling magus. Treasure hunter for an underground fetchling shadow organization. Puns intended.
Teymiel: male CN half-elf efreeti-blood sorceror. Impulse driven, has penchant for fire and women. Has trust issues.
Armoth: male CG fetchling slayer. Thought the investigator killed a friend of his, but recently found out the killer is elsewhere, so will be replaced by...
Athrogate: male NG dwarf archivist bard. Looking for an epic story but not necessarily the best companion.
Hey everyone,
So I have recently started running the RotRAE with a group of 7 players: 4 completely new to role playing and two new to Pathfinder. I'm having a bit of trouble deciding which sin a PC is taking on strong with a particular situation involving another PC. Let me set up some context so you can help me out.
PC "A" is playing a CG male investigator with ties to the Szcarni. In all fairness, he's trying to "get out." Roughly he has maintained a CG alignment, though the player has done an excellent job at role playing a shifty, shadowy character.
PC "B" is playing a CN male half-elf sorceror with parent issues. This player is new to role playing, and has kind of taken this opportunity to just do whatever he wants to do, within reason. He has maintained CN and not CE yet. He has also started to try wooing Rynshinn in Sandpoint, the most beautiful female in town. It seems like he is trying to do this for no other reason than she is the most beautiful, for which he is attaining a lust point.
What happened between the PCs:
Spoiler:
In the Catacombs of Wrath, the party found the meditation chamber with the six floating items. Paladin and investigator were up front, sorceror was in the back. While the investigator was still checking for traps in the room, the sorceror sees the wand and scroll floating and says "I jump into the room to grab the wand." As a GM, I let my players learn from their mistakes, so when a player says "I do this thing" that's what the character does.
So the sorceror jumps into the chamber, fails his will save, is overcome with thoughts of Wrath and betrayal "from memories from his past", and the player promptly freaks out. Like I said, his character has parent issues, although they are a secret to the rest of the party. He grabs everything but the maggots and bird and floats out of the chamber, all while being berated by the rest of the party for the reckless behavior.
While looking over the loot, the investigator says he's interested in having the bottle of wine. I run that if multiple players are interested in the same item from loot, highest die roll gets it. Instead, the sorceror, who is still freaking out about the wrathful memories, replies "No, I'm keeping the wine," uncorked the bottle right there and starts downing the wine like there's no tomorrow. I laugh, thinking this is a very reasonable reaction to the little bit of emotional trauma his character just experienced. The investigator remains surly about it however.
Later, back up in town, the party splits up a bit to follow up on some leads. The sorceror goes off on his own, but is stealthily followed by the investigator to make sure the sorceror doesn't do anything dumb. Well, the sorceror says he is going to confront an NPC about any sort of connection he may have with the goblin attacks. The table erupts with everyone telling him not to do it, be cautious and patient, etc. I quiet the table, explaining that he is off by himself, but the investigator pops in saying he is pretty close to the sorceror and tries to dissuade the sorceror from his plan. They argue, the investigator fails an opposed diplomacy check and an intimidate check, so I rule that the sorceror can go to the NPC. He NPC is Ven Vinders, so obviously he's not involved at all, and the "confrontation" is more like an interrogation. No harm no foul.
What the investigator wants to do:
Spoiler:
So the investigator player is upset at the sorceror player for being really chaotic and "not playing well with the group." Because I don't allow any fighting to go on between characters in game, the investigator wants to try and hit the sorceror emotionally. So his plan is to try and secretly seduce Rynshinn away from the sorceror just for one moment so the sorceror can see Rynshinn kissing the investigator first. I decided to allow him to do that, as a manipulative act like that is very much in line with the investigator's back story.
I can't decide if the investigator should get hit with a greed, envy, wrath, pride, or lust point, or possibly a combination of two. I'm trying to be fairly conservative with sin points, but this definitely warrants something.
What do you guys think?
Experienced player able to build any character looking for a play-by-post for any AP except Serpent's Skull, Iron Gods, or the latest two Hell's APs. Prefer to get in at the beginning or lower levels (or book 1) of whatever AP offered. First time at pbp, but I don't have time for RL sessions anymore.
After reading the discussion above, I now understand why this is the case, but I was pretty disappointed when reading the scenario. Several typos slipped by the editors that are fairly obvious. What with illnesses being the cause, I'm not angry or upset. I'm excited to run this tomorrow night and hope that it will be as much fun as I think it will.
This is my first year submitting also, and I keep going back and forth between days I honestly don't think of my item and days when I freak out worrying about my formatting, mojo, concept, mechanics, etc. I had pretty much finished my item by the time round 1 opened so I was one of those "submitted-way-too-early-for-my-own-good" people. (vague time stamp is vague) I did spend some time to look it over again, reworked it quite for the better, and so on, but I've had a lot of time to either freak out or completely ignore. When I freak out, I know I messed something up.
But then I completely ignore myself the next day, and I'm happily excited again.
JDNYC: Looking at the home page for the RPGSS, you should see a bolded message under the logo thanking you for entering the contest, good luck, and all that.
I entered the world of rpg's under the tutelage of a friend of mine, who was our GM. He taught me how to bend characters until they break the world. I watched him do it. I did it. And then, as years passed, I realized it was more fun to play characters with real flaws and setbacks instead of the Superman version of whatever class. Role-playing and storytelling is very important to me and my rpg experience.
This is not the game, however. This is a game design competition. As Sean K. Reynolds posted elsewhere, it is much easier to teach people how to write stories than it is to teach them the rule mechanics. Much of the RPGSS is geared towards the mechanics side of things to test us on that, and less so on the storytelling.
As you said, sometimes the item is cool because of someone else. Awesome, I totally agree. But then you are taking away some of the cool of the item itself and putting it on the person. And this first round isn't about the person, it's about the item. So make an item that's cool regardless of who else has worn it or even who made it.
The type of item you are discussing is more of a Maguffin than a standard Wondrous Item. It has backstory, it has flair, it is unique. The wondrous items for the competition are supposed to be more standard, run of the mill, can-be-played-in-any-setting-not-just-mine. For these type of items, a backstory isn't necessary, and players don't really care who created or wore such-and-such item 500 years before Aroden's death when they're buying standard equipment for their character.
The roleplaying is certainly more important than the item, but the rp is also the realm of the GM, not the item. The GM should tell the story, not the item's blurb in the book.
This is my first year submitting, and I'm nervous/excited. But the archetype round has me nervous/nauseous.
I really like my item; I think it has good chances. And I'm giddy about my monster idea. Round 2 is the round that's gonna hurt me the most. As a not-math person, I was really hoping for another organization round 2, or even a PrC round. But alas - whay may come will come.
At this point, I'm trying not to overthink about round 2 until I know for sure whether I made the 32 or not. =)
