Result: “Begin Intuition”
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Starting from 1.1.001 The engagement roll for the job is 3d (1d for sheer luck + 1d for the early warning + 1d from “The Getaway” ship special ability).
Scene One
Hi! I’m hoping to support Paizo a bit, by buying Pathfinder or Starfinder PDFs for other members of this forum. This time around, I’ll purchase 1 PDF for each of the first 9 people who post in this thread to let me know what they’d like - you may choose any Pathfinder or Starfinder PDF that’s available from this site now and costs $25 or less after the current Paizo discount is applied. Inspiration, if needed:
Best wishes to all!
Hi! I’m hoping to support Paizo a bit, by buying PDFs of Pathfinder Rulebooks or Player Companions for other members of this forum. I’ll purchase 1 PDF for each of the first 9 people who post in this thread to let me know what they’d like. You may choose from: Best wishes to all!
This year, I’ll probably be playing more than GMing, and one of my goals is to help out the GMs in our group by playing proactive PCs who will occasionally take risks, make choices or form connections with other characters in ways that will (hopefully) create new possible directions for the story. Do you have examples of when this has worked well in games you’ve played or run? (I’d be particularly interested in examples that offered the GM flexibility in how to use the new possibilities.)
Earlier this year, I finished GMing an Adventure Path that I altered significantly, particularly the second half. The experience inspired a few thoughts, listed below in case they’re interesting, useful or thought-provoking for someone. (I’m not arguing for or against adapting pre-written adventures - there are many different reasons why individual GMs may prefer to run adventures as written or to create their own from scratch.) 1) Adapting an AP gives opportunities to suit the game to the group’s preferences, remove aspects that are unlikely to be fun or interesting for the players, and involve the PCs more closely in the events of the adventure. I’ve also found it useful to alter pre-written adventures whenever something doesn’t make sense to me - it’s much easier to convey what’s going on to the players if I’ve worked out a version that’s logical in my own mind. 2) Many players are very quick to spot patterns in games, especially when it can seem to them that their PCs are repeatedly being punished for taking reasonable actions. If you’re adapting an AP, then you have an opportunity to make changes to NPCs or events that may be notably similar to ones in games your group has played previously. In particular, you may want to look out for in-game consequences that are likely to discourage actions you don’t want to discourage. 3) Even taking into account point 2 above, an AP is long enough that there’s space to explore variations on particular themes. I’ve done this with themes of temptation versus redemption and the different ways that people can be evil - themes like these have lots of scope to be included in various ways in NPC backstories without obvious repetition. 4) Pre-written adventures often contain enemy NPCs who will attack on sight, so that the only way for the PCs to deal with them is by combat. (My understanding is that this is often due to word count limits.) If you want to allow the PCs more options, then a possible approach is to give some of the NPCs different motives. For example, if the NPC wants something and thinks the PCs may be able to acquire it, then the PCs may be able to use diplomacy or deception as alternatives to fighting. 5) It may be feasible to rearrange a linear adventure into one that allows the PCs more choices about the order in which they confront various problems, and about the approaches they take. If the PCs have opportunities to learn useful information about their choices in advance, they can make meaningful decisions. And if the PCs’ choices in one part of the adventure have consequences elsewhere later on, this may help to make the game world seem more real. This style of adventure can be very complex to write in advance, but a GM has the advantage of only needing to track and react to the choices that one group of PCs actually made. 6) If you know your players and their PCs, you can consider including scenarios that AP writers tend to avoid (I’m thinking of situations where an impulsive PC can easily get the entire party killed, or opportunities that may tempt ambitious or avaricious PCs to abandon the party’s goals). But I’d still recommend caution! (GMs don’t always understand the PCs as well as they think they do. And if the players know they’re playing an AP, they may make assumptions about what outcomes are possible.) 7) Some pre-written adventures contain lengthy backgrounds for particular NPCs. I’ve found that it’s easier for me to portray this sort of NPC effectively if I replace the complex background with one or two key events and work out how these have shaped the NPC’s personality. 8) I’ve also found it can be fun and interesting to include some NPCs who are hostile to the PCs but not evil, and some NPCs who are evil but won’t necessarily be hostile to the PCs. 9) I’ve been thinking a bit about how to make setbacks and tests that are determined by roleplaying choices (rather than by the rules and the dice) seem fair to the players. This can be tricky, but in my experience it helps to try to make the logic behind what’s happening clear and built on information that the PCs already have, to avoid the impression that events are occurring arbitrarily. 10) If the PCs are venturing underground, it’s useful for the GM to remember where the water table is.
Nine random words for Part One:
“So while the doorway itself is invisible,” Ysvellei is saying, “there may be some subtle traces that reveal its location.” She walks around a bend in the mountain pass. Just above the pathway ahead, thick white mist is continually appearing. At its origin, the mist is neatly shaped like a large vertical hanging circle, but then it flows forwards, outwards and downwards. The ground nearby is covered with so much dew that the dusty surface between the rocks has turned to mud. As Donralaiz, Tririesk and Woohoo’oosh are following Ysvellei towards the mist, the air becomes warmer and more humid. There are footprints on the path - it seems that someone has taken a few steps away from the mist but then turned back towards it. Ysvellei raises her eyebrows. “Or perhaps some not so subtle signs.”
Background: Our group had time to playtest parts 1, 2, 4 and 7 of Doomsday Dawn, and we provided feedback through the surveys. One weekend, when several of our group were away, we played a rewritten version of part 6 that was designed to be completed in one evening and focused almost entirely on social interaction and investigation. There were far too many changes for us to respond to the standard surveys for part 6, so I’m posting this report in the hope that it contains a data point or two that will be useful (or at least of some interest). Key changes: The PCs: The player of the elven rogue commented that she particularly enjoyed playing this character. Some numbers: Results of some skill checks: A comment on a couple of feats: Glad-Hand and Lengthy Diversion were both used in effective ways during the adventure. The players of the bard and rogue seemed to enjoy having access to a range of social feats. Results of some spells: Necerion’s scheme: The PCs interrupted Necerion as he was just starting to implement his plan for getting past the kraken. He was about to set a contraption (consisting of an enormous oily sheet of chainmail connected to a complex spring mechanism encasing a whole tuna) swinging above the water near the vault. (He commissioned this from a master trap-maker visiting Plumetown.) The idea is that the kraken grabs the tuna, triggering the springs that wrap the chainmail around one of the kraken’s tentacles. The chainmail is coated with antimagic oil, which makes the kraken immune to the enchantment that was cast on it, allowing it to escape. () The most fun part to GM: The PCs stayed at the best (and third worst) inn in Plumetown and found that they were in the room next door to a polite contract devil. They shared a breakfast of white wine and muffins with her on the terrace. The genteel conversation began with pleasantries about the weather but quickly progressed to hints that Kasbeel might not be entirely committed to the success of the Night Heralds’ plans, and then to offers of wishes in exchange for something unspecified. (No souls were sold in the course of this adventure.) Reflections: Setting DCs for the various checks seemed straightforward. GMing this session had a somewhat different feel to it from other Pathfinder games our group has played. In our previous Pathfinder games, there are typically a few PCs with high Diplomacy, and all the other PCs tend to avoid interacting with NPCs if there’s any risk of negative outcomes - in these cases, a diplomacy-focused part of an adventure can be lots of fun to GM but there’s always pressure to move on because some PCs aren’t letting themselves get involved. In this session, all the PCs had high enough Diplomacy to engage with the investigation. The results of the various skill checks were a reminder that sequences of random numbers will often have more “clumping” than most people intuitively expect - there were several cases in this session where all three players got similar results for the same check. (This may have a particular impact on adventure design if DCs are set high enough that there’s a significant risk of failure even for PCs with high modifiers for the relevant skill.) After I decided that Necerion would not want to risk casting dispel magic while in range of the kraken’s tentacles, it was a bit challenging to work out if there were any feasible alternative approaches - this is probably inevitable given my unfamiliarly with the rules. The oil-coated tuna-baited chainmail trap was the best* option I could think of. * the use of the word ‘best’ is not intended to imply ‘good’. :-) Trivia: Completely unfounded and yet entirely true:
The best coincidence of the session: The bard PC impulsively started a rumour that Kasbeel had secretly met with Whark’s former first mate. This rumour was repeated to the PCs every time they subsequently made a Gather Information roll. Although they had no way of knowing at the time, the rumour happened to be true. Hell’s soundtracks: During breakfast on the terrace, the goblin bard PC has been singing random repetitive snippets of goblin songs…
Kasbeel (not seriously): “This background music reminds me of home.” Goblin bard PC: “Sounds great!” Elven rogue PC: “No, you get sent to a part that’s full of elves. Singing dirges. That each last for thousands of years.”
In the spirit of (a slightly early) Mikazemas, I’m planning to buy PDFs for at least nine forum members. If you’d like to enter the draw, please post in this thread by 11:59 pm on Friday the 30th of November 2018 (Seattle time). You don’t need to specify your choice of prize at this stage. Winners will be determined by this forum’s random number generator. Each winner will be able to choose one prize package from the following list: Package 1 From Engine Publishing: Odyssey: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Campaign Management (PDF) + Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters (PDF) Package 2 From Engine Publishing: Focal Point: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Running Extraordinary Sessions (PDF) + Never Unprepared: The Complete Game Master's Guide to Session Prep (PDF) Package 3 From Engine Publishing: Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters (PDF) Package 4 From Engine Publishing: Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs for Any Roleplaying Game (PDF) Package 5 From Kobold Press: Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design (PDF) Package 6 From Kobold Press: Kobold Guide to Plots and Campaigns (PDF) + The Kobold Guide to Gamemastering (PDF) Package 7 From Paizo: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: GameMastery Guide (PDF) + Pathfinder Roleplaying Game: Villain Codex (PDF) (For more by the team who created the books from Engine Publishing, see the Gnome Stew blog. And the Kobold Press website has a list of articles by category.)
When the story begins, none of the three PCs are consciously aware of their supernatural powers (although Farenthar has long suspected that there is something unusual about how other people react to him). Any early use of their special abilities and psychic magic will be intuitive, and they won’t fully understand what they are capable of for a while.
The previous dream blurs and reshapes into a windswept, stony landscape beneath dark clouds. Two figures stand nearby. They are wearing featureless silver masks and black hooded cloaks. Several different voices speak in unison, from somewhere above or perhaps all around. “You must find each other before others find you, or you will be trapped by ancient unjust laws. You will soon receive an invitation that may trouble you. Accept it if you hope for a destiny of freedom instead of slavery.” The two figures begin to raise their gloved hands, but the dream fades before they can remove their masks.
Hi! I’m starting to put together a set of generic NPCs. These characters will be bland. They’re the vanilla-icecream-made-in-a-time-of-vanilla-rationing option. This set of characters could be considered as a (much more boring) supplement to the NPC Codex. Possible uses for these NPCs include:
The PCs were created using the point-based method with the High Fantasy values. Character creation took just over half an hour (to complete all three characters). Note: for abilities, a rank of Average is the level of an average professional in that field, not an average person (see page 16 of the Mythic Role Playing PDF).
The path has changed. There are many more turnings, and the canopy of leaves is higher and denser, so that the ground is in dark green shadow even at midday. After walking for several hours, Donralaiz has finally reached Ysvellei’s glade. The nymph Ysvellei is there, sitting on the grass next to the mirror-like pool of water. Frowning, she looks up.
I’ve enjoyed reading about changes other GMs have made to Adventure Paths, so I thought I’d post descriptions of some changes I’ve been making to Jade Regent. These changes shouldn’t be interpreted as any sort of criticism of the AP - I’d be happy to run it as written. There are two main reasons for my changes: suiting the preferences of our group and avoiding anything that’s too similar to other games we’ve played recently. I’ve also been inspired by reviews and comments on these forums. And some of my additions are tied to a theme of how power and ideals of honour can be used and abused. (And quite a few of my changes are just due to personal preferences and pure whim.) Thanks to the writers of the AP and everyone who has contributed to the Jade Regent forum! I’m planning to describe most of my changes in the order that the PCs encounter them, but I’ll begin with a brief description of the two most significant changes: New oni:
I’ve replaced the Five Storms with an alliance of oni who call themselves “The Ceaseless Storm”. They see themselves as incarnations of the destruction caused by war. They are organised, strategic and strongly lawful evil - they are willing to wait and plan if that will allow them to create greater destruction in the future. Although they’ve kept their influence largely secret, they already have strong control over Minkai. A trick of the Seal:
I gave the Amatatsu Seal some new abilities - in particular, it can create certain powerful illusions and place protections against divination magic on members of the Amatatsu family. At the end of the second book, it used these abilities to give the Ceaseless Storm very good reasons to believe that all the members of the Amatatsu family are now dead. Implications of these changes: The second half of the AP will become a “sandbox” style of adventure, with the PCs infiltrating Minkai (their cover identities will probably be ordinary caravan guards, guides and cooks) and choosing what approaches they will take to oppose the oni. There will be much less need for the PCs to hurry, because the Ceaseless Storm won’t be sending agents to kill them. On the other hand, the Ceaseless Storm are formidable opponents, and the PCs will need to act carefully to exploit their weaknesses. 
About this journal: At some point in the future, a chronicler living in the city of Kasai will put together this account. The identity of this person (as well as how he or she learned about these events) is yet to be determined. (I’m the GM, and I’m writing this journal as a reference for the players. There will be plenty of spoilers for the Jade Regent Adventure Path, but I’m also planning a number of changes.) |