Gotthammer's page

When I was a young DM, everything was last minute. I was either making stuff up as I went along or reading the module the day before and cobbling things together. I either never took the time, or had the time. As an adult, I began really investing myself in reading modules or sourcebooks like I research as an academic. Public speaking had taught me to be prepared, so that I could take things in whatever direction my class needed them to go. When we gamed in ICE's Middle Earth, I read the campaign sources over and over, until I knew the world my players inhabited so well that they could go virtually anywhere in Arnor or Cardolan and I could say who owned the lands, or in some cases, farmer's names. When my kids came along, this became a greater challenge, and I was glad when we switched to Pathfinder, since the simpler gaming mechanics allowed me to internalize the information much quicker. When I prepared for our Freeport campaign, it was during the first time I was freed from DM duties by other players with DM experience. While we played the first installment of Rise of the Runelords, I was preparing for a Freeport campaign. That six-month planning period was invaluable. I was given that six-month period for Jade Regent as well.

In those six months, I read the module over repeatedly. I read it quickly first, to get the bird's eye view of the story. Where is this going? What is essential to the core of the module, and what elements are just rabbit trails or side-adventures? My group doesn't mind side-adventures, but they have to remain tied to the story in some fashion. For example, when Ameiko falls sick right before the third act of The Brinewall Legacy, a group of characters opted to return to Riddleport to see if they could find a healer. That's a side-journey connected to the core of the story, whereas the sin-spawn at the beginning just felt like a Wandering Monster roll gone horribly wrong.

Once I know the big picture, I begin crafting the story to fit my group. Knowing what your group enjoys is important. Not much point in trying to make your players do political intrigue if they're all about the hack and slash.

My group wanted to play Samurai and Ninja. They wanted an Asian adventure. Jade Regent was supposedly an Asian fantasy RPG. But anyone who has read the Brinewall Legacy knows that the quest begins in Varisia, which might as well be medieval Spain or France. No ninjas, no samurai. The module and Jade Regent Player's Guide assume you are locals who assist unwittingly stumble on a treasure which sends you on a quest toward the Pathfinder equivalent of the Far East, Tian Xia.

My group wanted to play Samurai and Ninja. They wanted an Asian adventure. Clearly, some adaptation would be necessary.

I read the Brinewall Legacy's Adventure Background repeatedly. I read the adventure over again. I re-read Part One: Fires Over Brinestump more than anything else. And then, while staring at the map of Brinestump Marsh on page 10, an image hits me. It's of the characters on the shores of Sog's Bay, washed up there after a shipwreck. They are part of a group of adventurers from Tian Xia, sent to recover any remaining survivors of the Amatatsu family, or to find the Amatatsu Seal. From that image, everything else about the beginning of the adventure began to take shape.

At the very least, my players would be ready to start building their characters. They were told that they were the squires, sons, and aides to three veteran characters who were conspiring to save Minkai from political unrest by questing to discover the fate of the disappeared Amatatsu family. As I posted on our private Facebook group after their characters were rolled up:

"Here are the three masters who are responsible for your journey:

1. Jinbo Masakatsu - Samurai, father of Musashi (PC), lord of the Jinbo clan. Xaigan (PC) works for the Jinbo household as body-servant to Musashi. Xaigan and Musashi share a room with Masakatsu and his body servant.
2. Master Watagawa of the Kusanagi - Head of a special order of Kensai (Magus archetype). Too infirm to take the voyage, so he has sent Tetsuo (PC), a promising pupil, in his stead, along with one of the great Kusanagi Kensai, Ryotaro Shiba, as a bodyguard. Tetsuo and Shiba share a room.
3. Sifu Sun Lutang, Wong Kai-Ying's (PC) master, and four of his pupils (one of whom is Wong Kai Ying). Sifu Sun Lutang has a room to himself, while the four pupils have been bunked with the crew, who take up the remaining berths, in the front of the vessel."

The remaining two characters were crew members on the four-deck merchant junk which was to take them from Minkai to Varisia in year-long voyage. I charted the voyage based on real-world voyages from Japan and China - these voyages went via India (Vudran in Pathfinder), so I brought the group around the south tip of Vudran, then up to Absalom, and then up to Varisia (that's a huge simplification, but that's the route, more or less - since it's all preamble, it's not necessary to have the details, though I have to - I had to chart how long it would take them, and the most likely ports they'd put in at. I have a map of Golarion with the route on it - I'll post it at the blog I'm going to repost all this information at, and will link it if anyone is interested).

Two of the characters were in the know on the full purpose of the journey. The rest had fuzzy ideas about why they were on this journey (the crewmen, for example, overheard things, but since it was a voyage and they were getting paid, it didn't matter much).

Here is the (Somewhat spoiler filled for those taking the traditional Jade Regent route) info-dump I gave to those two players to set the game up:

"Decades ago the Amatatsus, relatives of Musashi's clan, the Jinbo, disappeared over the Crown of the World, never to be seen again. Musashi's father and Tetsuo's mentor are part of a secret cabal of men who seek to find the Amatatsus, since they were the last of the five royal families of Minkai. While the details are sketchy, what is known is that the Amatatsus changed their names and settled in lands on the other side of the world to avoid the pursuit of powers that sought to destroy them, thereby wresting power and ruling Minkai. Some twenty years ago, Tetsuo's mentor witnessed the Amatatsu Seal giving off a brief flash of power, thereby becoming visible to seers in Minkai - Tetsuo's mentor believes assassins were then dispatched to eliminate the Amatatsus. Masakatsu, Musashi's father, believes all of the family is dead, but since the political situation in Minkai has become dire, he wants to see if there are any Amatatsus left alive. If even one descendant can be found, then there is hope - both mentor and samurai believe the current Emperor has been assassinated, and that the Jade Regent is positioning himself to take over Minkai. A true Amatatsu would be a strong claimant for the throne. This is a last ditch gamble to restore political balance to the land."

While this is a bit of a spoiler for the overall story, it gives a definite shape to what the PCs are doing this for, something I found sorely lacking in The Brinewall Legacy. "Let's go on a massive adventure with our friend, though we don't really know what's at stake" is harder to generate motivation from, whereas, "Our country's survival is at stake," is short, sweet, and to the point. Having three connection points with powerful men who are plotting to see this done enabled me to imagine upper level characters who were going to bring home either a claimant to the throne, or the seal itself, in hopes of finding a claimant. All I needed to do now was kill all the upper level characters and leave the first-level PCs stranded in a strange land, with the only hope of ever returning home being Ameiko Kaijitsu's quest for her past.

I'll introduce our cast of characters in the next few posts, before revealing the massive modifications I made to the opening game.

I'm going to start off my discussion of my preparation with my soundtrack playlist. As I said in my last post, music is an integral part of my Game Mastery style. A really well-orchestrated playlist can help steer your game in the directions it needs to go, and if one has an extensive enough playlist, you can be prepared for when your players take things in directions you hadn't anticipated.

I build a playlist for each game, based on what I suspect the feel will be like. Sometimes, I place alternate pieces next to each other, in case things are less intense or more intense than I anticipate. I always have the media player on "repeat 1." It is better to loop a song than to try to have many different pieces with a similar feel. Trust me, your players won't notice the repetition for about 10-15 minutes if the song is right for the mood. And if they gently remind me "time for a new track," that's not the worst thing that can happen in a gaming session. I usually switch songs every 10 minutes. This is why alternate pieces for similar moods are good. I just find that switching from song to song all the time breaks the focus of the scene.

Building a soundtrack for Jade Regent was a challenge. A Google search for "Epic Gaming Music" will produce some great results. A Google search for "Epic Asian Gaming Music" will get you people suggesting the same things as the first search. But my group had wanted a campaign that was Asian in flavour, not a typical Euro-fantasy setting (more about this in another post, when I talk about the trouble with The Brinewall Legacy for groups who wanted to be playing Ninja and Samurai from the get-go).

I also try hard to avoid reusing gaming music once a campaign ends. There was a point where "The Bridge of Khazad-Dum" was a regular piece in our playlist - but that was because we were gaming in Tolkien's world. When I ran my Freeport campaign, I abandoned it. I also limit the number of instantly recognizable pieces, since they tend to take players out of the game, rather than keep them focused: "Hey, this is the part where Johnny Depp is riding on the water wheel..."

So I couldn't rely on others' lists, nor would I draw extensively from my previous playlists. My first step is to check video-game music, which was an initial dead-end. Bioware's Jade Empire, a seemingly obvious choice, is a milquetoast soundtrack, and a good example of a soundtrack that creates Asian music through a Western lens. This is also largely true for Hans Zimmer's soundtrack for "Last Samurai." With this in mind, I decided that the majority of music for our campaign would be by Asian composers.

I had already decided I would be using Taro Iwashiro's soundtrack for Red Cliff - however, most of the tracks from that recording are too dynamic - gaming playlists should be populated by songs that are primarily one dynamic, or they don't serve their purpose. For example, if you have a piece that begins very exciting, then drops to a mournful dirge, your players will be taken out of the tension of the battle. So I choose music that keeps its mood throughout, whenever I can. Consequently, most of the Red Cliff soundtrack did not end up in the final playlist. This is also why I couldn't use much from the soundtrack for "Hero" or "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Then I chose to include Shigeru Umebayashi's soundtrack to "Fearless," which was a fortuitous choice, since he was the composer for "Curse of the Golden Flower" and "House of Flying Daggers." Using selections from those three albums created a cohesion to the soundtrack. I joke that Umebayashi is the primary composer for our imaginary TV show.

It takes me weeks and sometimes months to cull the tracks that are really usable for gaming by listening to the soundtracks over and over again while reading the module and imagining possible scenarios. I am always adding songs and looking for new pieces to keep things fresh. But here is what I ended up with for the final working playlist:

The Best of the Yoshida Brothers - Tsugaru Shamisen:
Track 11. Kodo (Inside the Sun Remix): Player suggestion - used for combat where the stakes aren't ridiculously high.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Tan Dun and Yo-Yo Ma
Track 4. Night Fight - used for stealthy moments

Curse of the Golden Flower by Shigeru Umebayashi
Track 7. Shadow and Escape - used for stealthy moments
Track 19. Heroic Battle - used for stealthy moments and battles that are less frenetic

Drummers of God
1. Drummers of Vengeance
15. Destroyers of the Sun
I used both of these tracks for intense combat. Soundtracks by Asian composers tended to have more percussion than Western ones, so these fit nicely. You just have to be careful about overusing them.

Enchantment by The Silk Road Ensemble
3. Distant Green Valley - used for either a mid-game break, or for moments where the action is general - wandering around town, journeying with the caravan, etc.

Epic Trailer Impact by Erik Ekholm
7. The Agent - one of several "70s Martial Arts Movie" songs I included. We had one character who was playing to those classic Kung Fu movies which had (at least in their American iterations) great, cheesy '70s soundtracks. This was one of his themes.

Fearless by Shigeru Umebayashi:
7. Huo Yuanjia's Theme - the second half of our "title credit" music. This was the song I chose very early on as the "focus time" for the beginning of the game. Later on, I made a video in iMovie which became the title credits using this song and track 30 - Hasu - Tea Ceremony.
10. Huo Yuanjia and Master Qin - great track to go between moods - very ambient, very subtle. It works really well right before Shadow and Escape from Curse of the Golden Flower. You can play this track for 10 minutes while your players plot and plan, then switch to Shadow and Escape when it's "go time."
11. Yuanjia and Qin - Another in-between low-key track.
12. Qin Enters - In-between low key track with minor tension
13. Sword and Fist - mixed dynamic, but good for tense scenes, not necessarily battles - chases on foot would fit this well.
16. Mother and Daughter - emotional, quiet - gaming playlists are too often one long string of combat songs. Finding pieces for the moments where characters die, fall in love, or learn of the past are more rare. This is one of those emotional spike songs.
21. Moon Explains - Very quiet, rising to an emotional crescendo. I used it for a number of scenes with Ameiko, or for death scenes.
22. A Long Road Home - Quiet, somber. I love this song title, since my PCs were from Tian Xia, and were a long way home, with a long road before them.
30. Hasu - Tea Ceremony - the first part of our "title credit" music. Once I'd paired this with Huo Yuanjia's Theme, I had a grasp of the feel of the campaign as I wanted to see it develop.
35. Fearless Men/Theme of Yuanjia and Moon - this song is a reprise of the themes heard in Huo Yuanjia's Theme, and I used it whenever a key moment of the quest to find the Amatatsu Seal was revealed. I sometimes use songs like this for "cut scenes" like in video games, describing the action without allowing characters to jump in, or at least, tightly controlling the action through NPC speeches and action.

Final Fantasy X - multiple composers
5. Servants of the Mountain - I rarely used this piece, but when I did, it was with the caravan in motion.

The Good, The Bad, and the Weird (or Strange) - Dalparan and Jang Yeong-gyu
(This is a tough soundtrack to get in North America, but worth hunting down - lots of good material here - I've included alternate track translations, so if you get a different version, you'll still know which track I mean)
1. One Map - great for raising tension, or for stealthy scenes
3. 1st Class Room/First Class Space - good for raising tension
4. Black Train/Sword Cryptogram - I used this largely for combat
5. Passenger Quarters/Passenger Compartment: Ambient - good for tension or quiet moments in the middle of tense scenes.
6. The Muzzle Of The Gun/Muzzle Bruise - for dynamics in fight scenes
7. Speeding In Desert/Running Rapidly Through the Desert: This was another of my '70s Kung-Fu style songs. Use these for fight scenes that aren't critical or necessarily deadly.
9. Dreaming Taegu/The Teacher That Dreams - Excellent ambient tune for those quiet moments of static action.
10. Escape From The Tavern/Tavern Escape - We love whimsy in our game - used for moments of tension mixed with humour.
13. Reminiscence Of Changi/Windows of Recollection - could be used for a moment of creepy, or low-key moments when you need to maintain a degree of tension.
15. Gunfight At Ghost Market/Ear Market Gun Battle - I would use for combat or chase scenes - lower intensity.
16. Rainy Ghost Market/It All Kicks off in the Ear Market - Combat
17. Wind Of Sand/The Sand Wishes - could be used for stealth, or low-key moments when you need to maintain a degree of tension
21. Run!/Running - Just what the title says, really.
22. Searching For The Map/Seeking the Map - Journeying in the Caravan, or for low-key moments when you need to maintain a degree of tension
23. Moor Of Desire/Plain of Desire - Good for fight scenes that are approaching a critical point. I like the mix of Western/Asian in this song for evoking that the first AP takes place in Varisia.
24. Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - A mix of Western style (Varisia is more Spanish in our campaign - spaghetti western, anyone?) and 70s kung-fun styling. Again, only use if you have a character who fits the flavor.
27. Only Once In My Life - good for low-key moments when you need to maintain a degree of tension

Halloween - Two Steps From Hell
28. Burn Baby
40. Twisted Children
I used both of these for a moment of horror involving a child at Brinewall Castle - Those who have read the AP should know what I mean.

Hero - Itzhak Perlman, KODO, Yo-Yo Ma
10. Swift Sword - used for low-key battles or scenes needing tension.

House of Flying Daggers by Shigeru Umebayashi
4. The Peonyhouse - great for stealthy scenes or whenever you need the action level raised without getting crazy intense.
5. Battle in the Forest - very dynamic, but makes for an excellent transition from quiet to intense - I always used it as a transition track, never on repeat.

Kitaro: Digital Box Set
Disc 2
2. Matsuri - I used this for a break in the middle of a session, or for scenes where the caravan was traveling.

A Playlist Without Borders - The Silk Road Ensemble
9. Night Thoughts - good for scenes where tension is mounting. Long enough that you only need to play once. A strong transition track.

Red Cliff by Taro Iwashiro
1. The Battle of Red Cliff - I used this as our "end credit" music. I started doing this during our Freeport campaign. There's nothing like hitting a cliffhanger moment and then going to the end credit music. The players groan and lament the end of the session - it's good fun.
5. Shoooooot! - Good combat tune that, once or twice, fooled my group into thinking we'd hit the end credits.
7. Secret Stratagem - light hearted stealth piece. I think you always need a sneaky song that isn't deadly serious. Stealth gone wrong is often funny.
8. Closing in Upon the Enemy - combat.
10. Precious One - I used this for high emotional moments, especially those involving Ameiko.
11. Sound of Heartstrings - good for rising tension.

Resident Evil 5 - Kota Suzuki
Disc One
4. New Fear - ambient creepy music for rising tension
7. The Town - ambient creepy music for rising tension
11. Majini II - horror/combat
21. Executioner - horror/combat
Disc Two
1. Majini VIII - horror/combat
The Brinewall Legacy has its share of creepy moments, or battles with undead - these songs were great for those.

Silent Hill: Homecoming - Akira Yamaoka
19. Dead Monks - I think the title says it all. I'd already used the soundtrack to the Ring in earlier games, so I needed some new terror tunes.

Ultimate Movie Trailer Music Collection (Megatrax Music)
9. Eastern Assignment - '70s Kung Fu espionage track

Yumeji OST - Shigeru Umebayashi
1. Yumeji's Theme - whimsical, slightly forlorn piece - good for low-key dynamics.

47 Ronin - Ilan Eshkeri
3. Resentment - low key, sober piece. Haven't used it yet.
4. The Witch's Plan - ambient, creepy.
5. Ako - triumphant opening, moves to quieter piece - good for entering Sandpoint or Riddleport.
10. Dutch Island Fugue - battle music without Asian flavour, just to mix it up while in Varisia.
13. Shrine Ambush - dynamic piece that works as transition from quiet to combat, especially if followed by Palace Battle.
14. The Witch's Lie - starts out creepy, moves to positive ending.
15. Kira's Wedding Quartet: whimsical, good for down-time/static action.
16. Palace Battle - 'nuff said.

I bought 47 Ronin without listening to much of it, then felt compelled to use it, despite it breaking my rule of Asian composers.

So there it is! My Jade Regent playlist. I hope it helps you set the mood for your Jade Regent game, or Asian RPG.

I'll start by describing our group's gaming style and the room we play in, so the rest makes sense.

We play in the basement of an academic in his '60s. His name is George, hence the name of our group: Geomancer's Dungeon. We've been gaming at George's since around 2004, and since then, he's rennovated the room to suit our needs. Our DM screen is an old tool bench with a flat-screen mounted on one side so players can see stuff from the computer, and another monitor and keyboard raised above a desk where DMs can put stuff. We are very, very spoiled.

The room is filled with shelves, which are filled with map packs, flipmats, Dwarven Forge, cardstock models, prepainted, unpainted, and painted minis, and sundry fantasy knick nacks.

The computer is mostly there for running Combat Manager, which has changed the face of gaming for me. I use Combat Manager to make combat move fast. Fast combat means more time for roleplaying, and my group loves to roleplay.

Our style of gaming is cinematic - we talk about our gaming sessions like they are episodes of a season of television: "The ratings just shot up," or "the fans won't like that." Since I ran a Freeport campaign from 2011-2012, we've begun our games with "opening credit music." It's a way to focus everyone's attention. No one talks during the credits - they focus on getting into character. We also have a system called "reshoot," where we can take back a roleplay moment by "reshooting the scene." We don't do it a ton, but it's helpful when you have a "should have done that" moment.

We use minis and battle maps whenever we can, but don't rely on them exclusively. They just make the question of "am I in the room?" or "is there a table between me and the orc?" superfluous.

I have run gaming music since as far back as the year Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves came out. That was our gaming music back in the 90s, but since then, technology has allowed me to be more sophisticated with how I bring soundtracks to the room. I'll post about that another day, as it is a conversation unto itself, and can best be related by me telling you what I used for the Jade Regent campaign (which was one of the biggest preparatory challenges). We have a stereo devoted to the room, and the sound is controlled from iPhones, iPads, or the computer itself. I used the computer for this campaign, as I was combining soundtrack with ambient noise from a site called ambientmixer.com.

We bought the entire adventure path for Jade Regent late last Spring, while we were running another campaign. Since I was not slated to DM until the Jade Regent campaign, I was able to spend six months prepping. That is a gift. A beautiful gift.

So next post, I'll tell you about those six preparatory months, and how I determined I would kick off the game.

I'm wrapping up the first installment in the Jade Regent adventure path, and wanted to pass along some of the things I did to make the game work for my gaming group, Geomancer's Dungeon.

If we finish up next game, it will have taken us 13 sessions with approximately three hours each game. We game bi-weekly on Tuesdays, and started in January of 2014. We have seven people at the table, including DMs. We rotate DM duties between 5 of the 7 players, and 4 of those signed on for an installment of Jade Regent. It's the first time we've tried an entire Paizo Adventure Path, and it will be interesting to see how the rotation works out. Inasmuch as running the Brinewall Legacy has been one of the most fulfilling DMing experiences I've had in my 30+ years behind the screen, I'm looking forward to being a PC again for awhile. With our rotation, I won't be back in the DM's seat for at least a year, possibly two, which is why I want to take the opportunity to share what I learned for those who are planning to run the Jade Regent campaign.

Had a crushing weekend with marking end-of-term papers, so I missed the opportunity, but congrats to all who were chosen. I'll keep my eyes peeled for another opportunity!

Here's my character: Kætilmund.

Very interested in joining. Have never played an online campaign, but am really keen on trying. Been playing RPGs for 30+ years, have a home group, but am interested in this as a new experience. Do I create the character and then audition, or is it first come, first served?

Jason for sure!