Findas's page

Relevant Room Description "The room constricts near the middle where a low, stepped platform formally partitions the two halves."

I don't think that the two triangles are platforms that hang above the room. I think they are solid. If they're not solid then the room can not be divided into two halves. Also, that also makes sense with the text stating that "the walkway terminates in twenty-foot ladder".

You're spot on with your dotted line description. I still have no idea what the dotted lines on the two triangles represent. If I were to guess (and only a guess), I'd speculate the dotted lines represent something left over from an earlier version of the room.

Thanks for the clarifications. I think you're right that the two triangles are solid. I'm also inclined to go with your guess that the dotted lines there are artifacts left over from something else and just ignore them - it makes things easier all around.

The controls for the lab equipment are the 'different' element on the north side of the triangle.

That makes sense, thanks Dave.

I'll just add my thanks to xebeche, James McTeague, and Swiftbrook for their resources. Much appreciated!

I still have questions concerning the layout of the final room. Here are the relevant parts described:

...this laboratory has an arched ceiling that soars to a height of fifty feet. The room constricts near the middle where a low, stepped platform formally partitions the two halves. To the north, a narrow metal walkway hugs the walls about five feet above the open workspace. To both the east and west, the walkway terminates in twenty-foot ladders that lead to higher observation decks. Easily three labs’ worth of tables, shelves, and other heavy equipment hovers thirty feet off the floor, suspended by chains. Beyond to the south, lies a circular, elevated platform with a curving set of stairs.

By manipulating controls along the north partition, a creature can raise, lower, or rotate any number of these fixtures.

A PC adjacent to the control panel can choose to raise or lower a feature as a move action, though doing so is at first a matter of trial and error; randomly determine which of the twelve features moves.

What is clear:

• The walkways end at the ladders.
• The triangle portions are “observation decks” 20 feet above the walkway (and thus 25 feet above the open workspace), which seems to indicate that someone can walk underneath them.
• There are 12 features that can move.
• The dotted lines that are above the main “open workspace” seem to add up to those 12 features.

What is not clear:

What are the dotted lines within (above or below?) the two triangular observation decks? They don’t seem to be a part of the 12 items since those are accounted for. They look mostly like a continuation of the walkway that leads to smaller triangular areas underneath the larger ones, but the text says the walkway ends at the ladders, and the ladders also block most of the space to get past anyway. If these are areas that can be raised and lowered, are they underneath the observation decks or above?

A few other questions:

By manipulating controls along the north partition...

What “north partition” is being referred to? I notice that the north side of the eastern triangle is different than the other sides, as though there’s something there, but nowhere are there any obvious controls.

How high is the circular platform? Judging by the number of steps it would seem 7-8 feet is about right.

Finally, a minor point, but if the observation decks are open underneath, then I would assume the set of 3 steps in the center come to a point at each end and someone could just walk around them to the east or west.

This is great news. Big congratulations Tonya, I'm sure you will do a super job. I look forward to seeing you back at PaizoCon UK now :)

There are some great suggestions in this thread, so thanks to everyone who has contributed. I'll definitely be using some of it when I run this on Sunday. Thanks especially to Doug Miles for the letters he came up with, I'll be using those.

I've been thinking of how to give the players some of the backstory and motivation for the villians. As has been suggested by others in this thread, the most concise way I can think of is to include a journal for Dalton Krunne that could be found either in the house or on his person. It's not ideal for it to be at the very end of the scenario - especially if it's at a convention and time is short - but it's better than leaving the players wondering what just happened.

I've tried to come up with a brief diary that might help the player's understand things a bit more, not to mention try and explain why Dalton decides to attack them in the end. So here's my go at a journal for Dalton:

13 Sarenith

Desimire suggested I keep a diary! A silly idea I thought at first, but it could be fun to look back at some of my more memorable conquests when things get slow. And I wouldn't want to forget any of the souls I'm sending to our master Shax now would I?

10 Erastus

The quasit Tovril has convinced me that it could be more fun to slowly corrupt a good soul, rather than just destroy it outright. He has his sights set on a paladin called Ekira Corum. Says that if we can turn her that Shax will reward us lavishly. I don't doubt that it will be worth a lot to Tovril, but I'll play along for now. It could be fun to see some righteous do-gooder like Corum fall from grace!

24 Erastus

So this corrupt-the-pally game at least includes some blood play. The way that farmer screamed while I flayed him was worth the wait. Got interrupted trying to do that bard last night, so it had to be quicker. But no matter - seeing those Pathfinders arrested for both murders was magnificent. Tovril does have a point about this larger goal thing. Seeing those three innocents swing will be sweet, but I only wish I could be putting the ropes around their necks myself.

1 Arodus

Tovril said we needed to add to Corum's Pathfinder prejudice and get a few more here before the others hang. Doesn't make much sense, but I said I'd go along, so I sent that second letter to Nerosyan.
So now there's more Pathfinders poking around, trying to free their convicted mates. Tovril says to stay cool and let it play out, but if they get the other three off that means there's no blood on Corum's hands. How are we supposed to corrupt her if she doesn't kill those innocents? I'm starting to wonder if the quasit is as clever as he thinks he is.

Later -

This is getting frustrating. Those other bastard Pathies are going to ruin this whole thing! My blades are getting real itchy. Shax blessed me with a gift, and that gift is killing things with my own hands, not sitting around playing politics. Screw the quasit and his plans to become a demon lord or whatever, I'm out of patience.

Well deserved Dave, congratulations!

I've recently changed how I roll my dice, having always used a full screen in the past. I like having a screen to hide minis and notes, as well as to hang pictures from - though I don't like if it's too high as it does overly separate me from the players.

So what I've done is make my own screen from 2 landscape pieces of cardstock, which I've decorated with maps of Golarion on the outside and a few charts on the inside. I set this up just off-center to my left. Then I can easily do most of my rolls in the open, but if I need to make a hidden roll I can use the screen.

After hiding all my rolls for the better part of 30+ years, I find I really like rolling out in the open, at least for attacks and saves. I notice the players being more engaged with my end of the combat as well, eagerly watching to see how the die falls. It makes for a more engaging and exciting combat.

I can't think of anyone who deserves this more than you Rob. I'm very happy to see all your tireless efforts rewarded in this way. Huge congratulations my friend.

I had the rare privilege of playing this with Mike Brock as GM at this past weekend’s PaizoCon UK (side note: Mike is a pretty good GM ;)).

There were 5 of us playing low tier and it was a good, challenging adventure. We were still in full stealth mode as we came down the stairs and heard the mechanicals. We went down the other hall, ignored the middle rooms, and never fought them. Given what I’ve read here I can’t say I’m sorry about that.

We set off the web-swarm trap, at which point Mike asked for will saves. Upon making mine I was shown a brief bit of text saying that the spider swarm was an illusion (at least I’m pretty sure that’s what I read). Not having read the scenario myself I’m not sure if this is just for low-tier or what, but it seemed much less deadly than some of the descriptions I’ve read here. In any case between some hacking and burning of webs and most of us disbelieving we got through relatively unscathed.

We picked up that there was magic on the carpet and simply avoided it, assuming it to be a trap.

Oiudda was a good, challenging fight. My character was incapacitated once with hideous laughter and again with deep slumber, while others spent much of the time confused. We eventually beat her into submission and headed back to Torch.

Ah, Grandmaster Torch. I must admit I didn’t see it coming. My Shadow Lodge character, unswervingly loyal to Torch, was absolutely shattered. Torch himself won initiative and escaped easily. His brutish minions did their best to kill me, and very nearly succeeded.

I enjoyed the adventure. At the end I genuinely didn’t know what I was going to do with my character. Her back-story was built on her being personally recruited by Torch and trusting him implicitly. While she may find his motivations for turning on everything he’d built inexplicable, as a player I think it’s an interesting twist and I don’t have a problem with it.

I briefly considered retiring the character, but I think she is too much of a fighter to give in like that. As far as where to go from here, there is only one faction that specifically says they “seek to be more than just adventurers doing the bidding of the Decemvirate and the venture-captains.” And who look beyond the petty infighting of selfish factions or individuals. And while my character is certainly no goody-two-shoes, I think she will be joining the Silver Crusade after this. It will allow her to most closely follow the best ideals of the Shadow Lodge – helping fellow Pathfinders, leaving no one behind. It allows a continued distrust of the Decemvirate and their machinations. And it doesn’t require allegiance to some foreign country or other questionable power.

Pretty much what everyone else has said already - it was simply a great weekend of gaming!

Thanks to Dave and Rob and Pete and Tonya and everyone else who organised a brilliant convention.

Thanks to all the GMs and players who gave life to the weekend.

Thanks to Paizo for their support.

Congratulations to all of you, and well earned!

As with Thod, I've had three of the four at my game table and also missed Zrinka this time around - I sense an excuse for an eastern-European road trip brewing...

Rob is personally responsible for introducing me to PFS back in its beginning days - in fact he's not gaining much going from PFS number 1772 to 712, other than that 700 designation giving him a license to kill or something (not that it ever stopped him before).

It's great having such dedicated, hard working people making our PFS experience that much more enjoyable. Thanks for all your efforts!

There is a confusing bit of text on the chronicle sheet regarding the Sihedron Brand:

"A character marked with the lesser version of this arcane tattoo receives a +2 profane bonus on attack and damage rolls against creatures brought to the Material Plane via a conjuration (summoning) effect, and gains a +2 profane bonus to AC against attacks from such creatures. Lesser versions of this mark exist, which grant +1 profane bonuses on attack and damage rolls and to AC against summoned creatures instead."

Seems as though the bolded section shouldn't be there, as it says later that the lesser version is +1.

Grats to both of you, I'm sure you'll do us all proud!

Big congratulations Jens, well done!

I hope one day to play at your table. I've played or GMed with the rest of your family, but not you yet :)

Congrats Crispy, well done and well deserved!

At the con I attended last week, I intentionally made a point to tell my players that these alternatives existed, and most of them were unaware they did. If they wanted to know more I gave them a print out for their faction of the Season 4 faction goals that I posted here last month (not quite as elegant as what you did Justin, nice job).

Only one person made use of this alternative method, but I thought he did a great job with it.

I’ve always used a GM screen, for many reasons that have nothing to do with fudging dice:

• Regardless of how fair a player wants to be, if they see something they shouldn’t it is difficult not to meta-game to some extent, if even subconsciously. And I think that takes away from some of the fun and surprise. With the scenario on the table in front of me, I don’t want a player looking over at me and accidently seeing some text or picture that is going to clue them in to something.

• At a convention, every minute is valuable. A screen allows me to have all my monster minis set up and ready to put out as needed, without having to root through a box or bag. Having those plainly visible to the players would certainly spoil some of the fun, and with the limited room at a convention table it’s not always practical to put them somewhere else that’s quick to reach.

• I always print out pictures of the NPCs and other bits to show players. A screen allows me to hang them where they can be seen by the players and looked at throughout an encounter. I think this is much nicer and more immersive than just flashing a picture once and having it disappear.

• I can clip important notes and pages to my side of the screen, where they won’t get lost under the sheets of paper on the table.

And frankly, my attitude towards GMing is that we’re all there to have fun and play a game. I believe that the vast majority of players are honest and fair. When they roll a die out in the open I usually don’t look to see what it is, and if they’re at the far end of the table I probably can’t see it anyway. I rely on them to tell me what they rolled, and I believe them.

I also believe the best game, the most fun, and yes even the “fairest” game, is one in which everyone is cooperating in order to create the best shared experience possible. Such a game is not contingent on me rolling every die out in the open. And there are enough other reasons for having a screen that I will continue to use one.

This post is long enough that I’ll avoid the “fudging” rolls debate, except to say I agree with most of what Bob Jonquet has said above.

It was a great convention, and Pathfinder was everywhere. PFS was certainly the largest single presence there, with games being run everywhere you looked. For each game slot, all the other non-Pathfinder games combined took up one message board, while PFS had another board all to itself.

VC Rob Silk deserves special mention and huge kudos. If he wasn't GMing himself, he was ever-present to make sure everything went smoothly. If anyone had a problem, he did his best to resolve it, from finding games for late players, to roaming the play areas lending support to any GM who needed it. Lots of little things made our jobs as GMs easier, such as the readily available folder of pre-gens, all organised by level and class. And his work isn't done, as he now has the task of entering some 134+ scenario chronicle reports into the Paizo database (that's over 800 individual entries - ack!).

You definitely earned your Venture Captain stripes Rob, well done!

Thanks also to Mike Brock for providing lots of nifty boons, books, and GM rewards. It's nice to feel the love from Paizo all the way over here in Britain :)

The text on page 26 does not specifically state that you may not earn 1/2 point. It is actually text left over from a previous edition and when noticed, it was felt that the page 26 text was not specific enough to contradict the text on page 23.

However, it may be updated in a future version of the Guide to remove any ambiguity.

Well if that is in fact the case then I'm a happy Pathfinder and I withdraw my argument.

I suppose though that there will be some players who received 0 PP on their chronicle sheets when they should have gotten 1/2 PP. Can this be corrected, and if so, how far back can they reasonably go?

OK, first of all, that post by Mark Moreland was made on August 25, 2011. There have been two revisions of the PFS Guide since then under Mike Brock's leadership.

This issue has been addressed and fixed. The wording has been changed and does allow for earning 1/2 a Prestige Point on slow advancement.

I don't have my copies of the last two versions of the PFS Guide with me right now, but it has been this way since at least Aug 2012 if not Jan 2012.

Thanks for your comments Don, but the wording in the Guide to Organized Play (version 4.2) is still not clear.

On page 23, Step 4: Prestige, it says "These numbers are halved for characters on the slow advancement track," which would indicate that you can in fact earn 1/2 a PP.

But on page 26, Earning Prestige, it says "To maintain balance between characters on both advancement tracks, those PCs utilizing the slow advancement track may only earn 1 PP per scenario. This point is dependent on completing both the overall scenario objective and the character's faction mission" (emphasis mine). This would seem to indicate that you can't in fact earn 1/2 a PP.

I've looked at the Compilation of message board clarifications for PFS Rulings, and I've done board searches, and I don't see anything that clarifies this issue. It's entirely possible I'm missing something somewhere, in which case I'd appreciate being pointed to it.

With the possibility of characters earning prestige points by furthering their faction’s larger goals, it can be difficult to keep in mind what those goals are. This is an attempt to create a quick reference to consult during play.

I’ve pulled out the relevant paragraphs for each faction regarding their larger season 4 goals, then tried to distill those down to one sentence so I have something quick and easy to look at while at the table. Hopefully it will be of use to others as well.

Andoran – Promote Andoran and Magnimar, weaken Korvosa.
While adventuring in Varisia, be ever watchful for ways of improving our embassy, both in appearance and reputation, and give Magnimar’s movers and shakers a reason to listen when we offer them our hand in friendship. Keep Magnimar’s interests in mind, and as you strive to further the goals of the city, make sure all around you know that it was Andoran who came to its aid. And while I cannot openly suggest you do harm to the citizens or property of Korvosa, the weakening of that Chelish thrall-city would benefit Magnimar and the Andoran cause.

Cheliax – Improve Zarta Dralneen’s name and reputation, prevent further harm.
As you travel the world doing what it is you do for fun, be on the lookout for potential enemies who may use you to get to me, or worse, attempt to sabotage our collective efforts by disrupting your work. And should you find the opportunity to improve my reputation, clear my name of slander, or otherwise show House Thrune that I and those Pathfinder agents loyal to me are effective and valuable resources to the empire, by all means, exploit those opportunities for all they’re worth! I believe many chances to do so will present themselves as you and the Society shift your glance north to Varisia, where the city of Korvosa could use our help in establishing itself as the true center of power in the burgeoning nation.

Grand Lodge – Thwart the Aspis Consortium and the remnants of the Shadow Lodge insurrection.
The recent conflict with the Aspis Consortium within the Hao Jin Tapestry was unfortunate, but we will not have the luxury of waging open war with our rivals in the streets of Magnimar or even the wilds of Varisia. Despite the limitations presented by the real world, we will doubtless have plenty of opportunities to make things difficult for the Consortium, both in Magnimar and elsewhere in Varisia. Ensure you take every such opportunity!
Additionally, it was in Varisia—in the mysterious and ancient city of Kaer Maga—that the rogue Shadow Lodge agents who troubled us recently made their first move against our loyal agents. Likely, remnants of that cell still operate in Varisia and are either plotting our demise or sullying the Pathfinder name. We have largely come to terms with the Shadow Lodge, but those who still defy Grandmaster Torch could present a problem for us. Continue to rout out remnants of the Shadow Lodge insurrection and ensure they either fall in line with the rest of their kind or are eliminated as potential threats to the Society’s wellbeing.

Lantern Lodge – Weaken the Aspis Consortium, maintain our honor, promote our worth.
As you know, many Pathfinders lost their lives in the Hao Jin Tapestry, many to the ruthless agents of the Aspis Consortium. Whether logical or fair, there are many in power within the Pathfinder Society who put the weight of those deaths on the collective shoulders of the Lantern Lodge. We have dishonored the Society by allowing Aspis Consortium agents into the Ruby Phoenix’s realm, and we must right that wrong by further weakening the Consortium wherever we may face it, be it in Varisia, Goka, or Absalom. While the Society now controls the Consortium’s backdoor into the Hao Jin Tapestry, we must take it upon ourselves to ensure the route from Absalom through the tapestry to Varisia is safe for future Pathfinders. The Aspis Consortium must never again breach our defenses and sully the honor the tapestry should have brought to our faction.
Last year, as the Society’s gaze focused on us and on our homeland, we were honored by the attention, and relevant to the organization’s larger goals. But now, the gaze of the Ten has shifted elsewhere, and we must work doubly hard to ensure we maintain our honor and prove our worth, lest we be supplanted by others hoping to establish themselves in the Society’s good graces.

Osirion – Help to find a cure for the Ruby Prince.
The Lissalan idol that seems to have caused this curse was brought from Varisia to Sothis by a Pathfinder, a promising young agent who I had taken under my wing. It was I who urged her to impress the Ruby Prince with relics of an empire older and ultimately more feeble than Osirion itself. And since I was indirectly the cause of the Ruby Prince’s interaction with that damned idol, he rightfully blames me for his condition. If I am unable to find its source and, more importantly, a cure—and find them quickly—he has promised that my time serving the Osirian throne will be at an end.
Thus I need you, who are more able to explore the ruins of ancient Thassilon, to search for lore on Lissala and the magic she and her faith may have used to forge such a harrowing curse. I will work here in Absalom to piece together what clues I can from the works in Forae Logos and the Grand Lodge on a potential cure. I may, from time to time, ask you to retrieve reagents or ingredients that I can’t easily get while conducting my research; know that such requests are of dire importance, for the life of the Ruby Prince may well rest in all of our hands.

Qadira – Promote trade, find new resources, prevent the Aspis Consortium from getting resources.
Our primary and most transparent motivation in the coming months will be the establishment of formal trade relations with the cities of Varisia—especially Janderhoff, which to date deals almost exclusively with other dwarven communities and the nearby city of Korvosa. Work toward this goal openly among your allies who are not invested in this enterprise and you should draw suspicion away from our more lucrative plans. But while you venture into the wilds of Varisia, be ever watchful for new untapped resources to exploit and see to it that any competition for control of these resources are stopped—especially the Aspis Consortium, which has already taken from our grasp many resources from within the Hao Jin Tapestry.
And if during the coming year I or an associate of mine asks you to carry through the Hao Jin Tapestry a simple, nondescript bag (which may or may not hold within it more than it seems from its weight), think little of it, and know that your cut of the transaction will be paid in favors both material and intangible.

Shadow Lodge – Fight the Aspis Consortium – infiltrate it if you can.
Keep up appearances by making sure Pathfinders of all stripes see you fighting the obvious enemies of the Society, especially the Aspis Consortium or holdouts from when our own Shadow Lodge agents turned against the Society. An enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all, and the more Pathfinders who see us as friends and not enemies, the better.
Ever one to present two faces, I need you to use a bit of subtlety when dealing with the Aspis Consortium. I have a suspicion that the schism among our membership a few years ago was the work of someone who had much to gain by setting Pathfinders against Pathfinders in open conflict. Who better than the Aspis Consortium to benefit from our self-destruction? If you have the chance to infiltrate the Aspis Consortium and learn about their leadership, their structures, and their plans, all of this information can be of use to me. If it also benefits the Society, then so be it. But someone in the Consortium played all of us for fools, so now it’s personal.

Sczarni – Promote the family’s interests.
As you’re running errands for the Pathfinders, you can also deliver some messages to other members of our extended family who might need a reminder of who’s really in charge of things. Between the two of us, I think we can be the ones planning all the Karela family reunions in just a year’s time, no?
Make sure you’re always looking out for those who have your back, and if you need to rearrange your priorities a bit so the Pathfinder Society’s serving us instead of the other way around, I certainly wouldn’t stop you. Don’t get into any trouble that’d make you unable to do your main mission, however. Knowing your place is important.

Silver Crusade – Learn runelords’ weaknesses, spread the light.
You have a great opportunity in Varisia, for you can learn from the ruins of the runelords’ unholy empire what their weaknesses are, what fates they succumbed to in the past, and what we may use to combat them should they return again in the future.
Along your travels, spread the word of righteousness, vigilance, and sacrifice. For the time may very well come when untrained farmers and common merchants must take up arms to fight the forces of evil, be they the demons of the Worldwound, the orcs of Belkzen, or a risen runelord and her army of enslaved monsters. Prepare the people for the coming war, for when the tide of battle washes over them, it will be too late.

Taldor – Expand the empire in Varisia.
We can expand Taldor in a way that hasn’t been accomplished in millennia. The world is too populous now for armies to march forth into the wilderness and tame them. But in the Varisian frontier, the taming has already been done by both Magnimar and Korvosa, and like little mice on the edge of the jungle, they will crawl under our lion’s paw for protection. Taldor’s future and our return to glory will come in Varisia, and you can be the catalyst for this revival! Show the mighty and influential of Varisia Taldor’s puissance, and teach them that with us, they too can rule.

PFS does its best to be a fair system. It is clear that Mike Brock, Mark Moreland and others at Paizo work hard to create a game that is balanced, equitable, and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of play style, class choice, or racial preference.

And yet there is one aspect of the game that is neither fair or logical: If you choose to play your character on the slow progression track, you cannot earn 1/2 a prestige point if you only complete one of the two eligible missions. The Guide to Organized Play is ambiguous regarding this, but Mark made it clear in this post – here is the relevant quote:

“In the end, a PC on the slow progression earns half the PP he would have received had he used the normal progression rounded down. That means if he succeeds at 1 mission, he gets 0 PP; if he succeeds at both, he gets 1 PP.”

I would like to ask why this is the case, and to put forth the proposition that it should be changed.

This rule wrongly penalizes someone choosing the slow progression track for their character. If they have successfully completed the requirements for earning what would be a full PP on the normal track, then they should get credit for that. Someone on the slow track already earns only 1/2 an experience point, so why can they not earn 1/2 a PP?

It has been stated that a character is not necessarily supposed to complete every faction mission he or she gets, whereas it is much more likely that a party will successfully complete the scenario requirements. So those on the normal track can pretty much count on getting at least 1 PP out of each adventure. But if it’s statistically less likely that a character will always complete both prestige missions then someone on the slow track will always be operating with an unfair disadvantage.

This seems to be something that could be easily fixed (though I could be mistaken). Right now the policy acts as a deterrent to playing a character on the slow track. I hope it can be changed and that choosing the slow track can be made a more attractive option.

I missed the thread as well, so let me add my hearty congratulations! I'm sure you'll do England proud.

Thanks for pointing that out. It's not quite what I picture the adventure's fortress looking like, but it gets the general concept across.

While I love all the artwork for this module, there is one piece I really wish had been included. That would be an illustration of what the Striding Fortress looks like from the outside. There is a brief description of it on page 26, and of course the maps themselves, but it’s such a quirky structure that it would be immensely helpful to have a picture of what it looks like as a whole.

So I’m wondering if there might be sketch laying around the Paizo offices that could be posted, or if anyone in the community has attempted to illustrate the fortress?

Knowing my players, they are going to want to thoroughly scout around the outside of the structure before going in. I’m sure they’ll want to look through the windows to see what’s inside – I’ve already decided the glass will be virtually unbreakable (good old glassteel, how I miss that spell). Having a picture to show them would help so much with their immersion.

Mark's post is in this thread which had to do with earning prestige points for season 2 scenarios if someone was on the slow track.

(And sorry for calling him Mike in my first post!)

There is some confused wording regarding this in the Guide to Organized Play. On pages 20-21 it says this:

“To maintain balance between characters on both advancement tracks, those PCs utilizing the slow advancement track may only earn 1 PP per scenario. This point is dependent on completing both the overall scenario objective and the character’s faction mission.”

This indicates that the character needs to complete both the main mission and their faction mission in order to earn 1 PP. If they only complete one of those missions then they earn 0 PP.

But then on page 29 there is this statement:

"A character on the slow advancement track can earn a maximum of 1 PP: 1/2 PP for completing her faction mission, and 1/2 PP for the scenario’s success condition."

This would seem to indicate that it is in fact possible to earn 1/2 a PP for completing one of the scenario objectives.

I did a board search and found this in a post last year from Mike Moreland:

“In the end, a PC on the slow progression earns half the PP he would have received had he used the normal progression rounded down. That means if he succeeds at 1 mission, he gets 0 PP; if he succeeds at both, he gets 1 PP.”

This unambiguous statement seems to settle the matter. But I’d like to ask why this is the case. Characters on the slow progression already earn 1/2 an experience point for completing the scenario, so why can’t they also earn 1/2 a PP? It seems an unfair penalty to impose on them, particularly since it’s been stated that you’re not necessarily supposed to complete every faction mission you get, whereas – barring a TPK or something extraordinary – you are supposed to complete every scenario.

So is there any reason this can’t be changed to make life in the slow lane more equitable?

The jailor was me I was very lucky with my little Goblin choir. We were told about 30 seconds before the hordes waiting outside were let in what we had to do and the song was the best I could come up with in that timescale.

Maca

And a brilliant song it was too, you clearly have a bit of goblin blood in your veins :) As I heard it probably 50 times that night - and sang it myself three - it went like this if I recall correctly:

"Boom, boom, go the drums,
as we kill the hu-muns,
Keep our swords nice and sharp,
and stick them in their bloody hearts!"

I kept imagining the kids going back to school and the teacher asking them what they did over the weekend. "I learned a new song, let me sing it for you!"

In any case, great job Maca, those kids were one of the highlights of the night.

I thought the LARP portion of the Grand Convocation was fantastic. In fact I was sorry to have to go off to another room for the side mission and miss some of the action in the big room. There was so much going on there that it was hard to take it all in, let alone interact with it all. I'd love to see it done again without the side missions, then have the tables at the end as happened this year.

It was great to see how involved those playing the NPCs became, and the lengths they went to with their costumes and preparation. Makes we want to go and get myself a costume so I can participate next year!

For the final battles, I liked the idea of the bard song and channelled healing spreading over to adjacent tables. I think it would be nice if there was more of that sort of cross-over if possible - anything to give the sense of a larger happening around the individual PCs. Perhaps some of those playing the NPCs earlier in the night could move from table to table, jumping into fights to help out with a timely spell or bit of advice before moving off to another group, or something like that.

Given how many people went all out with the interactive though, I'd say it should definitely be a part of next year's event.

I just wanted to add my thanks to everyone who made PaizoCon UK such a great weekend. Sometimes as a GM, as I’m prepping multiple scenarios before a convention (5 in this case), I think to myself “maybe next year I’ll just go as a player.” But then I sit down at a table of enthusiastic players eager to go, and the magic of table-top gaming happens and I remember that this is why I put in all the prep work beforehand.

Every player I had this weekend was energetic, friendly, and engaging, and made my part easy and fun. I wish it was practical to have conventions like this more often, because it’s just a great community of people to hang out with. See you all at the next one :)

Thanks for that Mark, and thanks also for the additional clarifications. None of it may come up, but then again I may get a curious player asking these things, so it's good to have the information ready if needed.

Thanks Findas! Can you put the scenario title in your spoiler title please?

I'm no longer able to edit my post, sorry!

I didn't create the environment of the demi-plane, so hopefully whomever did shows up and answers the question. If I had, however, I would have had an omnipresent glow of soft daylight everywhere throughout the demiplane. There would be no day/night cycle or weather to speak of. The air would remain a constant temperature and humidity based on my own likings.

I just found a few answers concerning the environment in another adventure, Storming the Diamond Gate.

The portals actually don't move. They stay right at the spot where you enter the demi-plane and if you want to go back through them you need to travel all the way back to where you first appeared in the plane.

Thanks for clarifying that for me. I obviously misinterpreted the initial description. When it says "behind each arriving creature floats a 2-foot-diameter sphere of pulsing blue light" I assumed it continued to float along behind them the entire time. Having it be stationary makes things much simpler.

I have a few flavour-related questions concerning the demi-plane, just to add a bit to the description when the PCs first arrive, and one more serious question about the extraplanar eddies that follow the adventurers.

I assume since there is vegetation further up the mountain, that there is normal daylight and the sky is blue. But is there a sun? Is there a night and day cycle? Climbing 10,000 feet is not a short jaunt, and should take the adventurers an entire day (at least). While it's likely they'll continue straight on into the mountain, it would be interesting if they chose to rest outside first. It's still a short enough time that I'll assume there's no significant weather to bother with. But is there wind? Or clouds?

All minor stuff I know, and easy enough to make up on the fly. But I'm curious, and I'd like to be prepared in case anyone in the party asks.

Now for the more serious question: In the box-out description for the demi-plane it says: "Behind each arriving creature floats a 2-foot-diameter sphere of pulsing blue light, each visible only by the creature whose journey to the tapestry created it. A creature stepping into its own extraplanar eddy is shifted back to the Material Plane, to the same place it traveled from."

But on page 18 under "Conclusion" it says: "Because of the specifics of how the Hao Jin Tapestry works, the PCs are now far from their exit eddies..."

Where along the way do their eddies stop following them? I assumed from the initial description that the eddies remained with the PCs the entire time, and at least one account above describes someone using theirs to get back after being injured. If the eddies only follow the PCs so far, is that a fact that can be known or discovered beforehand?

The feedback here all seems quite positive, and I'm looking forward to running this in a few weeks at Paizocon UK.

If the PCs successfully sneak the Braid past the border guards, why would he send a ship after them anyway? He searched their ship already. They didn't have it.

Am I missing something?

There's an explanation given for this in the adventure. See page 14 under "Development."

Not sure how much of this should go into a spoiler, so just to be safe:

Not the Jzadirune keys, but the Cauldron master keys that Keygan Ghelve made. In the Dungeon issue, one of the skulks (I don't recall where) is mentioned has having a necklace with a ring of three cauldron master keys on it. Unless I've missed it every time, it's not there.

I would have thought that would be an important detail to make the cut...

They are mentioned on page 42 of the hard cover, in the list of information that Keygan reveals if captured:

"...One of the "tall ones" carries the keys on a silver ring (see area J15)."

However, the description of area J15 makes no mention of the keys, so your confusion is understandable.

I ran this at tier 4-5 and as Will Johnson said, I also could have doubled the number of opponents in every encounter. Granted I had a table of 7 for this one, so that was something of a factor.

The first encounter was interesting if not overly-challenging. The horsemen managed a crit on the oarsman, and the ensuing mishap caused the boat to be grounded on a sandbar. This at least allowed the non-ranged folks to wade ashore and get a bit of action in towards the end. But the biggest factor in this fight was a single spell: create pit. Four of the five horses ended up in these, and it split up the attacking force in a way that made the fight very easy.

The player of the Osirion PC was a bit confused in not knowing whether these were the nomads she needed to speak to in order to fulfill her faction mission. So some time was spent in stabilizing and questioning one of them.

The encounter with customs had some RP drama as Sun Cheyeng made his search, but the ensuing fight was over without the characters taking a scratch. I did use 3 border guards as it seemed that was the intention.

The kijimuna were colorful but completely unchallenging. And the fact that two of factions just happened to find their MacGuffins in the fishing net debris made the players roll their eyes.

The optional encounter was skipped due to time constraints, but to be honest I wasn’t crazy about it to start with.

The final encounter was completely anti-climatic, but that’s partially my fault as I think it could have been run a bit better if I thought about it more. Bad dice rolls from the NPCs were also a big factor. As with Sniggervert’s party, my player’s first instinct was to try and cripple the larger ship at range. The spell caster threw another create pit under the oarsman, but I ruled that by then the momentum of the larger ship brought it up next to the PC’s boat anyway.

A large-scale battle with all the crew of that ship could be great fun, but I can see how it would be difficult to do within the confines of a PFS adventure. I did have the players asking about the crew on that boat, and without any information in the scenario I was making it up on the fly and pushing to get the two ships together so the NPCs could attack.

The magus was almost a non-factor in our final fight. She was able to step up and cast a color spray – perhaps not the best choice of opening spells, but it caught 4 of the PCs and stunned 2 of them for a round. Then another PC successfully cast command and told her to flee. She ran below deck for a round. By the next round only one her henchmen remained. 3 of the PCs waited for her by the hatch she had run down, and with their better initiatives she was dead before she ever got to act again. One of the players actually asked “Was that supposed to be the final boss?”

All criticisms aside though, the players seemed to have fun for the most part. They liked the idea of travelling on the boat as something different. So challenging or not, overall I’d say it was a success.

I GMed this at tier 4-5 last weekend. Overall I’d say the players enjoyed it and it was a good adventure.

Snow leopards: 2 characters made their Perception rolls, so no surprise. They won initiative = 1 dead cat in surprise round; poor rolls by 2nd cat = dead in round 1, no damage to PCs.

Crag fishers: This was a challenging and fun encounter. After unsuccessfully trying to pull up the big armored fighter, the halfling rogue obliged by stepping into range and got pulled up. Some tense moments as she realized she was the only one in the cave with the two beasties. Meanwhile the monk was having trouble climbing the wall, but eventually made it up to help out. 2 summoned eagles and the fishers were down in short order.

I definitely recommend having a side-view drawing of this encounter map ready to help the players visualize the set-up.

The ghasts were much easier than I thought they might be, but that was partially my own fault. The first one tried twice to bull-rush the halfling rogue, but rolled terribly. I should have tried to paralyze first, then bull-rush. It was a bit of a standoff given the tight quarters. I eventually had the other 3 ghasts begin to scramble up the side of the ravine to get at the other PCs. With some good ranged attacks by the characters, by the time the ghasts made it up they were well wounded and only got a couple of hits in. Good saves from the PCs and no one was ever paralyzed.

We had no time for the optional encounter.

The yeti runts managed to paralyze a couple of PCs, but they were still dispatched quickly.

Shang Xu was an okay fight, but he fell victim to several create pit spells. Though he could easily climb out of them, he was taking damage from spells, ranged attacks, and attacks of opportunity each time. He did manage to bring the monk into negatives when he fell into one of the pits with the yeti, but otherwise he only ever managed a few other hits as he was too busy climbing out of those damn pits.

Fortunately we had enough time at the end for the PCs to explore the rest of the monastery, so I didn’t need to skimp on the conversation with Jiang Dan. Between him and some great Knowledge rolls I was able to give the players most of the information in the introduction, which I think they appreciated.

It's been awhile since we played the Demonskar chapter, but I don't have any recollection of a sword named Crescentia lying at the bottom of a gorge. Nor do I recall any references to Vitriss Bale until chapter 7 - Secrets of the Soul Pillars.

There is the legendary staff Alakast, guarded by the hags. But in the book it's not at the bottom of a gorge.

Can you elaborate on where the reference to Crescentia might be found?

Having been a player in many of those games, I can say that it well-deserved. Big congratulations my friend!

Okay, having just run this over the weekend at Paizocon UK (tier 1-2), I’d like to add some positive comments to my above criticisms. This is a fun scenario to run, and the players all liked it as well. If you have a group that enjoys roleplaying they will love this adventure. Likewise if you’re the type of GM that enjoys off-the-cuff roleplaying of NPCs then there are many opportunities for that as well.

My group felt a bit lost initially as far as where to start their investigations, but once they got going everything moved along nicely. As a GM it was a pleasure to get to roleplay all the side characters in the initial investigations, giving them all some memorable quirks as they fed the PCs bits of information.

The highlight for me from a GMing perspective was getting to improvise Yaro, aka Senlokto Boraminder at the Captive Audience. He urged as many of the PCs as he could onto the stage and began directing them to do all manner of odd things, all in the name of the performance. Having your greatsword-weilding, power attacking fighter make a Perform check is not to be missed. And the look on the druid’s face when asked if his badger knew how to juggle was worth the price of admission.

I think that the highlight for the players had to be the council meeting, where they got to present all their evidence. We had one particularly verbose player who stood up and made an impassioned speech that was just superb. As he finished he even had people at the adjoining tables clapping for him. Having gathered every possible piece of evidence and with bonuses for roleplaying, he managed a 55 on one of his Diplomacy rolls.

I did ever-so-slightly tweak Ouidda’s tactics for the final battle. It says she drinks her potion of invisibility when she hears someone approach her door. But given that it also says she tries to avoid melee at all costs, I didn’t see how being invisible at the start gave her much of an advantage. Instead she attempted to use enthrall to affect as many of the PCs as possible right at the start before they could get into melee range.

Once the PCs had closed on her and gotten her below half hit points, she drank her invisibility and attempted to flee. This made for a very exciting few rounds as the PCs attempted to track her down. One of them ended up readying an action to attack the square next to the door should it be opened, and sure enough was able to hit Ouidda, then hit her again on the PCs turn, which was enough to fell her. A tense, exciting way to finish a fun adventure.

There was a lot of discussion about this topic in the past on these boards. Take a look at this thread for a very good discussion. Also check out this Alternate Villians thread at RPGenius. You may also want to have a read of this thread for some further ideas.

Don't know if this is too late for you or not Cleanthes. The umber hulk in my campaign didn't have time to do much destruction at all. The thing I remember most about this encounter (it's been over a year now, so my memory is a bit hazy) was the umber hulk's confusion ability - it played havoc with the crowds as well as a few of the PCs. But with 7 PCs in the party - even with a couple confused - there were enough of them doing damage to the umber hulk that it simply couldn't ignore them for the sake of demolition. But the battle did take a number of rounds in any case.

Similarly, some of the scripted events described in the encounter just never took place, mostly because the battle never got that far down the street. The whole thing ended up taking place in a relatively small area of the map.

I enlarged the included map and printed out the scene, which made for a nice encounter - I had dozens of figures put out to represent all the citizens and it presented a memorable scene when the players first saw it. I can imagine it would be especially striking to have it all in 3D. Given how small an area the actual fight took place in I questioned whether it was worth it to print it all out, but I'm thinking now that I'll reuse the map for one of the scenes when I get to chapter 9 (Foundation of Flame). If you were to do it in 3D I imagine you might even be able to move some bits around and use it in more than one spot in that chapter.

Good luck, and post some pictures of your creation!

Overall I like this scenario, but I have some issues with a few of the faction missions.

Cheliax PCs have two missions at the Captive Audience theater. The first is to retrieve the script of a play. In the player’s note that’s about all it says. But in the GM notes it says that the PC is supposed to take this script without the other PCs noticing.

My first issue here would be why does it matter if the other PCs notice? This isn’t exactly a sensitive political matter. The second issue is of course that the player is not told they should be taking this without the other PCs seeing them do it. Common sense would dictate the GM not penalize the player in this case, but I just thought I’d point it out.

The second Cheliax mission involves rescuing and convincing someone to join a different theater company. The GM notes say “snapping her out of her charmed state requires the use of dispel magic or other compulsion negating magic…”

This requirement would seem to preclude anyone from the lower tiers from being able to complete it. I know that one of the faction missions is supposed to be difficult, but in this case it appears to have been made nigh impossible. Is there other “compulsion negating magic” available to low-level characters that I’m not thinking of?

Taldor also has a mission at the theater, to retrieve some books on Taldor history. Once again the player is told merely to find this information, while the GM notes say it is supposed to be done without other PCs noticing. See above for my issues with this.

I understand why some faction missions should be kept secret for story reasons. I’m guessing that others are arbitrarily made that way to add difficulty to the task (which I don’t agree with, but that’s a topic for another thread). But in either case it should be made clear to the player that they need to be doing their task secretly. The other Taldor mission in this adventure clearly states that it should be done without the other PCs noticing.

I just want to thank TwilightKnight, Sir_Wulf, and Painlord for their considered responses. I only got into organized play about a year before the end of Living Greyhawk, and I never played in LFR. In that time I didn’t personally experience any of the problems you describe. That doesn’t mean they weren’t there of course, but I was happily unaware of any “geeky powergamer nature” on display when it came to replaying scenarios.

I do see your point regarding the role-playing and discovery aspects of each adventure and how those can be lost with repeated replays. I guess I’m just a perpetual optimist regarding other’s behaviour, and have been blessed with unselfish players most of the time. I envision replay being something someone would do to help fill out a table or let a newcomer learn the game, not as simple grinding for loot and prestige as seen in many MMORPGs. But since plenty of folks are willing to do that in a video game I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that they’re just as willing to do it at a gaming table. The fact that so many people would rather not play at all if they don’t get credit should have told me all I need to know.

Thanks again for your comments. This has been an interesting and informative thread and I’ll continue to follow along and see where it goes.

I’d like to ask a few questions, partly out of naïveté and partly to just look at this issue from a different perspective. Why have any restrictions on replay at all? Are there that many people out there “abusing” the system that there is a danger of it falling apart? Does it matter if someone replays a scenario more than once or twice? How does this hurt the game?

Most of us are playing Pathfinder because it’s a fun thing to do, and I think that most of us do so honestly. But even if there are a minority of players out there who would take unfair advantage of replays, so what? Unless someone is spoiling the current game by giving away information they shouldn’t, what other negative consequences are there to replay? No one is losing money, no one is getting hurt, no one is missing out on an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii, or anything of the sort. In fact it seems just the opposite: restricting replay is the thing that is losing people money – including potentially Paizo itself.

Maybe someone with more experience dealing with organized play can point out how the potential negatives outweigh the positives here. Does the entire organized play system really suffer so much that it’s necessary to institute these kinds of restrictions on replay?

Hey DD - if you can find the old (probably in Archives now) thread that I posted in regards to me finally finishing SCAP - I posted a lot of detail of how my climatic session went, including a lot of info as to how I ran the "entering Addy's mind/madness theme" via his dreams.

Here is one of the discussion threads I think you're referring to: Adimarcus Dreams.

I've had it on my desktop for a year or two now, and it will likely be at least that long before we get that far, but there are some great ideas there that I don't want to lose :)

I had my players stop by the Lucky Monkey on their way to Cauldron for the first time. The original post regarding that can be found here: Thoughts on the Lucky Monkey, or you can also find it at RPGenius: Visit the Lucky Monkey - scroll down the page to find the link.

Good luck with your adventure!