Crivens's page

1-10 Urban sandbox thieves guild.

Think kingmaker but the “wilderness” is a single city and each neighbourhood has it's own flavour, gangs and legal obstacles.

As much talking and skulduggery as combat. I’d really go ham on non-combat encounters that have repercussions for failure (one of those might be a potential combat). When making my own encounters I like to go by a guideline of: social, stealth or combat, each encounter can be solved by at least two of the three.

Multiple choice finale depending on player choices. Do you end up as ruthless crime lords or Robin Hood folk hero's?

I’d like to see the talented Pathfinder writers step away from the linear encounter design for one book and make something more modular. Less adventure path and more adventure guide. Detail 7 gang themes for a 5 zone city so you can pick the ones you like. Is prostitution or slavery a no go for your table? Don’t chose those gangs. Encounter templates could be written for each player level and then the GM could skin those encounters with a choice of per-written gang themes.

Multiple city options for extra choice could also be cool. Thronestep (Razmiran), Elidir (Isger), Canorate (Molthune) and Katapesh could each work for the thieves guild theme but pull focus in very different directions.

If done right this might also bring a whole new aspect to the product: replayability.

I don’t know if this theme would fit into a 3 book AP mould. Perhaps a 6 book level 1-10 or 1-12 AP instead. Perhaps a 4 book AP. Then a quick 2 book level 16-20 plane skipping romp?

I don’t like the idea that the publishing template restricts the artistic merits of the written product. I don’t claim to know if or by how much this happens but I imagine if you tell an author they can only ever tell stories in 6000 word blocks their 4000 word masterpiece either gets cut, stretched, chopped or sits in a drawer, presumably to the detrement of the quality of the product.

Anyway, I’ve digressed from the topic. Sorry OP.

Just got my PDF of Book 3. The other gang is the Diobel Sweepers.

This book actually has those two gangs practically at war with each other, with the Agents needing to "pick a side". The winning side will have control over the Docks and become the reigning local gang.

I think your PC's backstory will be VERY involved if you go this route.

I hope this helps, let us know how it goes!

Thanks. His criminal past is a secret so this will be perfect. Can't wait to see how he handles it.

Looks awesome!

I found it somewhat difficult to locate the twitch vod so that's the link if you want to watch it yourself.

Something I'm trying to do more of these days is find ways for my players characters to have more connections to NPC's and places in the AP before we even start session 1.

Player wants to have grown up in a gang and there is a gang war in Chapter 3? Perfect, he has a past connection to one of the gangs.

Sveinn Blood-Eagle, Ruler of Kalsgard vowed to find a King strong enough to unite the Linnorm Kingdoms against the south before he died. As the Oracle foretold he found them in Valenhall. The only problem is... they're dead.

To break the curse and resurrect the body they need to resurrect the saga. The person who killed both was Baba Yaga. By cursing their name she killed a hero's story before they could gather a resistance against her.

This is an AP about building a fairy tale. A story strong enough to resurrect a King needed to unite the Linnorm Kingdoms long enough to rebuff an envious Runelord with her eyes set on upon the frozen north.

(This theme was inspired by three of the Linnorm Kings and Runelord Belimarius' entries in Lost Omens Legends)

I have a PC who has a backstory connected to a gang in the docks. His brother is a high up gangster who did his best to keep his little brother out of the life.

I'm thinking of the gang been one of the two the characters need to negotiate a peace between. I imagine one is the Washboard Dogs. Any chance of getting an early hint at the name of the other gang?

"Shanty town established by immigrants who'd been hired to help in the reconstruction of the ruined Precipice Quarter. Now that the surprisingly low paying construction jobs are drying up, many have found that living in Absalom is beyond their means, yet lack the funds to return to their original homes (or would prefer not to)."

That's my edit when we get to that part. It still gives a community of impoverished individuals, wronged by the festival organizers and the city by not having been paid enough for their hard work and unable to move elsewhere.

This is a great idea. I'll probably emphasise the Aspis Consortium more as my players have a history...

I don't see any issues here that can't be rectified by a good session zero, players who are invested in playing good agents in a very popular entertainment trope and any half decent GM who can improvise around issues their table may have.

The core of what is written here is an excellent adventure.

Alter recipe to allow for allergies and add seasoning for taste. Bon appetit!

Do any of these fellow officer NPCs have larger, scripted roles in any of the future volumes? Or are GMs more-or-less free to drive them like stolen cars?

I don't know but if I had to guess I'd imagine their listed levels of 6-8 might be a giveaway for late book 2.

Roleplaying is a storytelling device.

What you do with it is up to you.

There is an opportunity here for respectful expression on a topic that negatively effects or reflects on all of us.

I wouldn't want to see that wasted.

More than ever though we need to be mindful of how this topic might effect our players. I'd encourage anyone thinking of running this AP to have a conversation as a group about what everyone is comfortable with. Or if they are comfortable playing it at all.

As someone who was already planning on running this AP, current events inspire me more to tell good story on this topic. Hopefully my players will feel the same way.

I'd like to see a AP where the players are the random encounters your typical hero's meet on the road.

Orcs, Goblinoids, Halfgiants, Changlings etc all the intelligent races that give guards pause to allowing into a big city.

This wouldn't be an evil campaign. In fact I would call it fiercely neutral. I imagine it along the lines of kingmaker only you are a part of a tribe just trying to survive in a harsh land.

I'd like it to be so neutral that the tribe has to worry as much about questing adventurers sent to clear out the dark forest as it does about wandering Lamashtu evangelicals.

To make it interesting at the beginning I'd like to think that the tribe starts as a collection of thralls to a local evil dragon. Which is a double edged sword as far as protection and lack of freedom goes but it allows the Dragon to give the party some early direction in the form of errands to do.

Mid AP I'd have some high level adventurers kill the tribes Dragon "patron" and then the things that the dragon protected them from come knocking.

I'd see the endgame as the party having to convince the local "civilized" settlement that they can live in peace with each other. The 5th book boss could be the head cleric of the church of Abadar and then the last book will be about co-operating with the town to save both societies.

Man, I want to write this now.

Super excited that they announced two 3 part AP's.

Running through a Mega Dungeon is just not my groups jam but I'm glad that others who like that style of game get a full three books to play through (instead of the usual one out of six).

Plus it means we don't have to wait a full six months for other content we might like more.

Jason Tondro mentioned they have a two page list of AP ideas the want to write and if we get to see an extra one or two of those ideas come to life each year the game will be only better for it.

On a slight tangent to this I'm also a fan of each of these AP's not necessarily having to have world ending events the characters need to thwart. Not every hero's story has to be about saving the world twice a year.

Good job Paizo team.

Here is what I noted about the announcement for the Fist of the Ruby Phoenix book titles by Patrick Renie and the comments he made about each:

1)Despair on Danger Island: A "Battle Royal/Hunger Games" on a jungle island to survive and qualify for the tournament.

2)Ready, Fight! The Grand Tournament

3)King of the Mountain: when things go wrong and some powerful entity messes up the tournament and claim the title for themselves, like Dragon Ball Z apparently.

Edit: I should emphasize that this is my take on what he said and not his words verbatim.

Edit 2: I would encourage anyone who is interested to watch the whole panel on Adventure Path Design on Twitch. It starts at about 1:55 in the video titled "Organize Play Marquee Event - PaizoConOnline 2020. It took me a couple of minutes to find.

I politefully agree with Aratorin. It sounds like your player is getting into the circus theme. I wouldn't discourage that for the sake of anathema semantics.

C4.Reading Rooms in Hollow Mountain pg 36:
"The face in the west wall depicts a man, his
visage adorned with a drooping blindfold
covering only one eye, his jaw hanging open
in bewilderment."

Anyone know what this refers to? Apologies if it is in a later part of the book.

I'm also a fan of unusual concepts that have RP potential.

I'm really enjoying my Liberator Champion. Firstly because you get to play a paladin outside the LG trope. Second, it keeps you engaged in the combat outside your turn as you are constantly watching for when to best to use your reaction. Lastly, you get to use the new shield rules to maximum benefit.

Some ideas that have piqued my interest are:

- Cha high Cleric of Nethys with Sorcerer Archetype. You prob want to go human to get an offensive cantrip at lvl 1.

-Goblin erotic dancer bard (male). For a silly group only. A friend came up with this for an all goblin adventure. Be prepared for a lot of gyrating, Magic Mike references and laughs. Get GM/table approval and try not to be too disruptive.

-Animal Instinct Barbarian has easy but potentially deep RP potential and I have a fondness for high Wis low Int character types. I'd play up the "fish out of water" trope. It's a different take on Barbarian, so I like it.

-Dwarven Mountain Stance Monk, low dex. Being a dwarf means you can ignore the movement penalty. It's a different take on Monk, so I like it.

-Ex-guardsman Ruffian Rogue. I'm sure you can think of a valorous (or nefarious) reason for been kicked out of the guard. Lots of ex-cop tropes to draw from. It's a different take on Monk, so I like it.

Crivens wrote:

Playing a level 8 Shield Ally Champion with a sturdy shield (lvl 4, Hardness 10, 98 Hp) and I'm loving it.

Would you ever consider a different shield?

No?
Then the fact that Sturdy Shield is fine doesn't address the problem that "shields that are not sturdy are not fine."

Yes.

Looking to pick up a Spellguard Shield when I can. Possibly also a Force Shield. I wouldn't wield Forge Warden for religious reasons, but I think it is interesting.

I like that I can have choices for different circumstances. I also like that those choices have consequences.

The biggest issues I have with shields is that the DM role plays smart enemies to not attack me so I don't get to use it as much. The more choice and flexibility I have with my "load out" the better.

Hell, if it feels like a fight isn't super threatening where we just want to kill stuff as quick as possible I sometimes don't equip my shield and swing a two-hander and rely upon lay on hands and medicine healing. Choices!

For a brand new player I'd suggest avoiding the Alchemist but given you have experience I'd concur with Coldermoss.

Playing a level 8 Shield Ally Champion with a sturdy shield (lvl 4, Hardness 10, 98 Hp) and I'm loving it.

Using a shield is engaging and I feel tanky as hell.

So I guess my feedback is at the very least for a mid level character very focused on shields it is a rewarding experience.

Oh, I've also put skill feats into blacksmithing and quick repair so I can fix my shield up between combats (3 actions fix 20hp)

Are we expecting this to show up in the Paizo store when it is released?

I'm playing a 12th level Wizard in Curse and I've found quickened casting to be great. Especially in the parts of the AP that don't have multiple fights in a day.

Sounds cool. Let him roll Athletics/Acrobatics with a low dc to ensure he falls deliberately in such a way to hit properly and then one attack roll.

If he rolled a crit on the Athletics I'd make the target flat footed for his melee attack.

Dryder wrote:

CorvusMask wrote:

Another reason why its not reaaaaally necessary for Pathfinder: Most of APs are easily cut short and made to be 2 or 3 part APs anyway. So 3 part ap would only really work for the tables that are never able to stay together 6 parts so they can feel like they officially managed to complete an ap.

Or for groups, who would like to experience more different stories in a shorter time.

You could do that by just cutting APs short though.

I found the earlier posts here about some AP's working really well when cut short encouraging.

But I'm not sure they work as a cut down version due to any deliberate design decision.

Which is in essence the suggestion proposed: plan, plot and write a more concise version of the current AP publications. Story's with a clear beginning middle and end over three books.

Trilogies are all the rage now! Just ask hollywood.

Matt Colville running the game serries

You don't need to watch everything to get started. Just plan one session and see how it goes.

Good luck, welcome to the GM club and most importantly... have fun!

I love paizo APs but they cast a pretty wide net for player and DM interests. As a result I find it is pretty common for groups to adjust to suit their interests.

For example, my group tends to trim encounters that don't progress the plot and find ways to cut short extensive dungeon crawls.

If 3 part APs meant clumping parts that my group did not find interesting into a different AP OR adventure design more focused on story or character progression I'd be all for it.

From a product publication perspective instead of splitting an AP you could instead publish 3 "adventure modules" that are written to be run back to back with a continuous story.

They could be marketed as "Pathfinder Adventure Arcs". I'd sub to that.

Kingmaker might suit your needs.

There is a lot of room there for PC motives to be entirely materialistic.

If you are purely looking for an AP that is all about chasing a MacGuffin, Shattered Star maybe? I have not read or played it but the summary is "hunt for the 7 shards of the Shattered Star".

Hi, I just finished watching the Paizo At Gen Con "Ask the Paizo GM's" panel on the Twitch VOD and wanted to thank the GM's for a great discussion and their insightful tips.

I've been GM'ing for close to 20 years and it goes to show you can always learn something more about doing our craft.

Part 2: The Zincher Siege. Having the players defend against npc's trying to break into the "dungeon" is a really refreshing role reversal. I already know my players are going to love it.

Any insight into how Sorshen reacts to a character with the "accidental clone" campaign trait? Which is an amazingly flavorful trait by the way, my PC's loved the idea!

Not knowing how much of a part she plays in the rest of the AP I'm wondering how much or how little drama I should attempt to milk from this initial interaction? Is there some conflict I could foreshadow here? Does she completely ignore the clone? Is she amused?

Alchemist Archetype: Construct rider.

Get creative with your descriptions of what the construct you ride looks like.

We have a "you better have a really good RP reason to try and play with X" list. Most of my gaming group DM's as well as plays so we tend to discuss and mostly agree on all of the following:

Summoner (game balance reasons)

Leadership (at the loosest interpretation where the player effectively makes and controls a 2nd character this is outright banned. We have allowed it for a three PC party game where one of the charters developed a relationship with a pre-written NPC. Shalelu in RotRL)

Gunslinger (Thematic reasons, we have never had one in a game)

Furious Focus (group decision, power attack should have a drawback)

Non-consumable crafting feats (We decided that they felt like a necessary feat tax for the group caster and resolved to hand out more loot instead and let casters take something more interesting)

Alchemist (one DM doesn't feel they are balanced correctly, although a good character concept will likely get this class past muster with the rest of us. Multi-class dipping for a level or two is frowned upon)

Some other things that were discussed:

Opposing alignment characters:
We normally just set out at the beginning of the campaign whether the party is going to be heroic, evil or mercenary. The party needs a reason to stay together that isn't a metagame reason.

Eastern Weapons:
We never really discussed banning them, but they are rare and not generally available.

Sleep Hex:
This caused a big debate, but we eventually decided to put the onus on the DM to design around it. We came to the conclusion that early level Witches suffer to much without it. So now most encounters get more minions and more mobs where it's effectiveness is limited and someone can wake up the sleeping BBEG. We made it a spell like effect though, so it provokes, needs to get past SR and can be interrupted.
We also amended Coup De Gras so they don't force a Fort save or die. Specifically after players started delaying their turn next to the Witches next slumber target.
In my opinion these changes have improved encounters in general.
Also, the DM added a 2nd level Witch to the last fight of Ch1 Kingmaker (He laughed a lot at our reactions). The Witch ended up sleeping most of the party at some point in the fight... Karma?

There is a saying amongst our group that if you can find a way to break the game so can the DM, and it's generally easier for him/her. This keeps most things in check.

Name of PC: Bethany
Class/Level: Tiefling Witch 9
Adventure: Hook Mountain Massacre - Part 4: The Haunted Heart
Catalyst: A Bogeyman additional "random" encounter.
Story:
Coming from Bitter Hollow on their war to the Whitewillow for the first time the party encounters a band of loud jovial Gnomes who explain that they are singing to keep the bogeyman at bay. They presume he must have been attracted to the sorrow that has overtaken the Whitewillows recently.

Not being jovial enough for the GM's liking the party attracts the attention of an invisible Bogeyman (Bestiary 3, Pg 42). He starts whispering in Bethany's ear trying to convince her to capsize the boat, drown the party, kill the annoying Pixie and generally hangs around for an extended time basking in her fear.

With everything else that is going on in the corrupted marsh the party don't take Bethany's warnings about what is happening very seriously (The Wis 7 Paladin preaches that an open mind is like a fortress with it's gates left wide open and suggests that she ignore everything that is happening in the marsh. Eventually, Oak (Half Orc Barbarian - see previous obituaries) makes his perception check and is convinced there is actually something next to the witch whispering in her ear.

The party decide to take the Gnome troupes advice and start singing, which sends the Bogeyman into a rage. A surprise round crit, a high initiative roll and two claw hits later (116 damage) means the young witch falls.

She wasn't dead for very long though, Sigrune (Aasimar Paladin/Oracle) used 10 charges of lay on hands and the Ultimate Mercy Feat to bring her back to life instantly.

The Bogeyman soon died to a cold iron greatsword with a raging barbarian on the other end of it.

Currently every PC has at least one negative level. Next session they are likely to meet the Black Maga.

I'd play it by the book for a session or so and see how your players are handling the challenge level. Then you can start making adjustments to the scripted encounters or adding more as you see fit.

How optimized your players characters are and whether or not they work together using effective tactics has a massive impact on how challenging the "as written" encounters are.

Also, if the encounter is the only one they are likely to fight that day I like to up the difficulty a bit.

I misread James saying it is traditionally out within a week of the street date of the AP. I blame my man-flu. It makes all the things blurry.

Very happy to hear we might have it next week!

I think I read somewhere that the player's guide is normally released a week or two after the first chapter of the AP.

"Ser" Penelope Laith (Halfling Cavalier / Hunter of Erastil) rules the Kamelands with her husband Miro (Halfling Swashbuckler / Bard).

From the kingdoms capital of Tusk she promotes a pro small folk agenda (the entire party is small, three goblins and a small changling were-bat).

She rides into battle mounted on her faithful ex-circus bear Matilda.

Name of PC: Oak
Class/Level: Half Orc Barbarian (Armored Hulk) 8
Adventure: The Hook Mountain Massacre, Part 2: Retaking Rannick
Story: Hasted Lucrecia got crit happy(1d4+18 is pretty impressive for hitting someone with a dagger!).
Kaven helped with the flanking.

Hi NobodysHome. I just finished reading through the entire campaign journal. Great job on running such an epic campaign and kudos to you for having the determination to get a complete journal written (and written very well might I add).

I'm running my own RotRL campaign right now and found your journal while looking for hints and tips on how to best handle the Graul homestead (Which we just finished this week). I found it very interesting seeing how stories vary between groups*.

*for example, Tsuto became a member of the Black Arrows in my game, was captured by the Grauls along with the other 3 NPC's and is a nice red herring to the investigation into who betrayed the Brotherhood. The party has just found out that Ironbrair is his father (totally stole that from your journal, thanks!) and that he "took the black" instead of accepting his evil fathers help. Hopefully he will turn into a nice redemption story. Perhaps he will even risk execution to return to Sandpoint to save his sister from a Stone Giant raid?