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I want to give thanks again for all of the players and especially the GMs who continue to make this game day happen. Cheers! Our games day is now FREE at The Round Table in Guelph. Our next event will be at Gryphcon Shadow at the University of Guelph on November 2, 2024. Our Facebook page is
Weirdly I still see my review in the reviews section of my profile, just not in the product reviews. I think it's because you wrote the review before the scenario was Available. The same thing happened to me. Try copying and pasting your original review, change the original review to no stars and blank it out. Then paste the old review and review it again. The same thing is going to happen to the 5 reviews for Salt of the Ocean. They will be hidden once the scenario becomes available.
Will definitely get, all of the other core bestiary pawns are sold out on Amazon, Ebay, and all local shops. Can't get them and I'm not interested in more obscure monsters. This will do nicely to fill in where I don't have good minis or even paper minis (love paper minis).
For me, the best campaign arc was in season 4, with Runelord Krune. Excellent high level play. Next comes season 5, with the demons. Also excellent. Season 6 features technology but I didn't really like that. With either season, you can mix in the best scenarios from the other seasons. We Be Goblins, you play a pregen goblin. Where Frostfur Captives, you're moving captured goblins from point A to point B. They don't work well together. The We Be Goblins series work together and you'll probably have the group wanting to play goblins after. I'm not sure Blakros museum scenarios really have a theme besides the location. They are dungeon crawls and I think would be boring if too many were stringed together.
How would running all of the encounters work? Would they happen in different locations or the same location? All at once, in a chain, or with rest between. The beauty of home games is you can do whatever you want, but scenarios are designed with organized play in mind, and there's no way all encounters could ever fit into a 4 hour time slot.
The funniest scenarios depend on the players (and GM), not the scenario itself. As for the fun coming from the scenario itself, there is some potential humor in the following: Sandstone Secret (Durvine Klein)
I agree with most of Hilary's list, but I found the following ran long for me (some of these I've GMed a few times). Also, I'm very prepared. 1-02: The Mosquito Witch 1-4 (Very heavy roleplay, which is what makes it good. There are many encounters and spots to explore. Cutting would need to be done in the village). 1-03: Escaping the Grave 1-4 (yikes, would be nice to run short, but runs long) 1-04: Bandits of Immenwood 1-4 (there are a lot of long technical battles and there are lots of them (5?). I don't see it going under 3.5 hours without mods) 1-13: Devil at the Crossroads 3-6 (nope. Runs in 6-8 hours. I'm not sure
1-22: Doom of Cassomir (this can be as short as 2 hours or as long as 5. Depends on how decisive the players are. It's wild how this one varies)
I don't mind buying scenarios, but now I'm going to really start thinking about whether I need to buy it or not (I've purchased scenarios I haven't used in the past). I'll probably be taking the VL up on the offer to provide them for free in the future. Gamers are notoriously cheap (far cheaper than myself), this move really surprises me because scenarios are supposed to be "loss leaders", they're used to promote their other products. They aren't supposed to make money, it's marketing. Anyway, thought I'd share that I was concerned and surprised as well.
Those maps were really useful, thank you!
Name of PC: Mousey
It happened twice as well technically, as one of her friends opened the other door. Elf with low HP. The group is a bunch of kids, so I was soft and didn't auto-kill them, especially since they didn't even know about the rule. Instead I destroyed their light armor.
Given that this is a dangerous AP and you never stay dead long in it, I thought it would be fun to have an obituary page, in the same vein (heh) as Rise of the Rune lords and other APs. Where and how have my fellow GMs killed PCs? Please try to include
Most of all, I'm disappointed in spells like Ignition, which is meant to replace Produce Flame. Produce Flame did an average of 6.5 damage, Ignition now does 5 damage at range, and 7 damage in melee (which is not ideal for a wizard, especially considering how low their AC and HP are). The last thing spellcasters needed was a nerf. They should have been given a huge buff. If they were going to do that with Ignition, why not make it one action, since spellcasters also get the multi-attack penalty? That would at least be a reasonable trade-off. In previous editions, casters were glass cannons. They had low hit points and armor class, but to compensate, they had huge offense and utility. Now Wizards have low HP, do less damage than martials, and have low utility because skills seem to have taken over. It seems like every class that was weak in PF1 was made powerful, and every overpowered class in PF1 was made weak in PF2. The alchemist is the perfect example.
It won't be. Thanks for the reply. That's too bad. I don't agree with the reason for not sanctioning it. I'm playing it now, with 10 year olds with non-evil characters. The plot still makes sense, the Pathfinder society is trying to get a Pathfinder Lodge in Geb and Berline is providing that opportunity. The horror element isn't too much (it really depends on the GM). It's certainly not worse than Rise of the Runelords, especially with the incestuous ogres (if you want, you can take that way way over the top)... Then again, we're just playing the first book, and will probably head back to PFS scenarios afterwards. So I don't know what happens throughout the entire campaign, maybe there are evil actions to take, I don't know? But so far, not at all. To me the reason not to sanction is because it's open ended and takes so long. Would be almost impossible to fit a book into an 8 hour slot. That bank is deadly and so was the ostovite nest.
Any idea when this might be sanctioned for organized play? This campaign is really good stuff.
Shadow Gryphcon is October 21st and there will be 2-3 tables! There is no preregistration. The GMs plan to run season 1 and 2 scenarios. The first slot is 11AM-3PM, the second slot is 4PM-8PM. Hope to see you there! (location in the link below)
Also, the next Guelph Game Day is set for November 25th! The first one was a huge success, so we want to continue doing it as a regular event. If anyone else wants to GM, we could always use the help!
Cheers!
Your customers could really use a preview of what the maps might look like. Currently, I watch unpacking YouTube videos, otherwise I just don't buy them.
Nice to see Sheila Heidmarsh back.
I ran the trap again at subtier 3-4 last night and it went much better with only 1 sensor and trap per alcove, but it's still a beast. The PCs were level 3 and it actually brought one PC to 0. What messes people up is that they can't get a key unless they are not holding a key. And turning the keys at the same time. The damage is significant enough that people panic, stop thinking, and stop performing trial and error. And the trap DC is very high, unless you are extremely good at nature or thievery, highly unlikely to be successful, with a reset after only 5 minutes. They disarmed only 1 trap. Oh, and the perception DC is super high at level 3. They have to beat a 22, so it's almost a guarantee they will be taking damage before they can insert a key or attempt to disarm. The group last night walked in and almost instantly knew how to solve the puzzle, but the devil is in the details and because of that, took almost 1 hour. I'm not sure how you fit this puzzle into a 4 hour slot without simplifying. We went 4.5 hours and still have 1 hour left for the Lelzheshin conclusion.
The WoTC crisis, but I think that the end of COVID, lockdowns, mask, and jab requirements is a bigger factor. Locally, GMs and players are coming out again. Origins is also sold out. I'm glad to be doing in person gaming again!
Yeah, the trap wasn't clear at all. Unfortunately I ran the scenario before your response and targeted a single PC with 4 actions (assuming no one disarmed the trap, which would only remove one sensor and action). The disarm DC was super high, very difficult in subtier 5-6. I'm also assuming there are no dance mishaps in this section, assuming someone crit failed to disarm a trap. Anyway, yes, hitting a single PC for almost 80 damage a round at subtier 5-6 kind of put the brakes on the scenario and dragged it out, making it unfun. When I run it next time, I'm just going to use 1 action per alcove. I get the feeling many GMs handwaved the trap altogether, this scenario runs very long.
I read through the Core Rulebook on traps and I'm looking at the Season's Toll trap, and I just want to be 100% sure before blasting the PCs that I got it right. So if the PC who enters the trapped area fails to notice the trap (perception vs stealth DC) and then fails initiative against the trap, the trap could potentially blast the PC with 4 actions in the first round, for 4D6+4 damage each action (on a fail on subtier 5-6)? Does this happen every round (potentially to someone that entered with the PC that was blasted, or to someone who enters to rescue them)? Could this trap potentially target a PC that is down and dying? Or does this trap only take action once every 5 minutes (on the reset)? This is a potentially deadly trap or at least an intense resource sink if I understand it correctly.
Call for GMs! July 15th Guelph game day! This is a call for GMs! The Guelph Pathfinder Society is having a games day on Saturday July 15th and we need your help! Please register below and let me know if you plan on GMing. I left the last table in each slot up to the discretion of the GM, they can run whatever they like.
If you’d like to GM and all of the tables have already been booked with GMs, let me know. ---------------------- Welcome to the Guelph Pathfinder & Starfinder Super Game Days event! The Guelph Pathfinder Society is hosting a games day on July 15th and we hope this will be an event we have every 2-3 months! This games day is graciously hosted by The Dragon, located at 55 Wyndham St N! Pathfinder is a version of Dungeons and Dragons, and if you are familiar with D&D you'll also be comfortable with Pathfinder. While D&D 5E is easier to learn, Pathfinder has a richer variety of options to build your characters, while still being easy to play. Our first games day will be held on Saturday July 15th starting at 9 AM and we hope to see you there! We welcome both new and experienced players! If you don't have a character, no problem, we'll have pre-generated characters at the event for you so you can try the game out and just have fun. We'll also have a table that will help you start playing Pathfinder on your own and will help you make a character. GMs can signup now, player signups begin on Monday May 15th at 9 PM. The cost per player per session is only $5 which will go back to the venue for hosting. GMs play for free. Although we're currently featuring Pathfinder 2, we're also open to hosting tables of both Starfinder and Pathfinder 1 in the future if there are GMs! Our games day needs GMs! So if you're a GM and can run something to help the community, it would be much appreciated! Our games day only exists because of you! In future events, we hope to have more tables, expand to 3 slots, and perhaps even run a special event if there's enough interest! If you have any comments, questions, or feedback, feel free to contact me. Jason S
I had a similar problem with my daughter, who played a druid, and always used and befriended animals creatively. It's actually a super useful and extremely powerful ability when used creatively (and given the time to do so). The problem isn't the Pathfinder game. When I was playing with her solo or with her friend who was similar, we came up with lots of alternate stories, creative solutions, and cool ideas. I was actually more satisfied with those stories than "normal" stories. The problem is when I added my brother and his two children into the mix. They wanted to kill everything and got extremely agitated when my daughter tried to find alternate solutions, or less direct methods. In the end, she just got used to killing everything and as a player, doesn't try to use her resources as creatively. Which is kind of sad now that I think about it. I think the answer is that someone's play style has to compromise. If they won't compromise to her play style, then perhaps you're better off doing solo games, or taking only a few trusted players with her.
Curious what this version of Champion looks like with Alignment gone. I do hope what we would’ve called Neutral Champions can still sneak in somehow; a very classic LN-style “Judge” is definitely missing. Oh damn, I kind of liked how the different champions had different powers, although LG was much better than the rest.
Where is a watermarked image of the final map? And the other side?
For one the first ever full blown Pathfinder second edition conventions in Ontario, we had a great turn out! Lots of interest, we had 4 tables in most slots, from Friday night to Sunday afternoon (where we finished with 2 tables). Next year we're looking to have 6-7 tables, with plenty of kid tables! If you're interested in PF2, try reaching out to the Google group for Ontario PFS and hopefully we'll see a lot more local PFS in the future!
Maybe we should get a Facebook group? Just a thought! Thanks again to Matt, Paul, Jeff, and the other great GMs and players that showed up, we had a great time!
Quests are primarily used to introduce new players into the game. IMO, PF2 already has enough quests and was very generous with them in season 1. At this point, as we shake off he shackles of lockdowns and mandates, and start meeting again in person, what PF2 needs is a scenario schedule that has more scenarios. In season 4 there were only 15 scenarios, compared to 21 and 25 in seasons 2 and 3. Hopefully, more profit is being made and that can be ramped up to at least 21 again.
Glad errata is happening more often. I'm not sure if the community at large will be watching, use it, or want to use it, but it's good for any future iterations of the game. Bottom line: The game needs to be ready to go on the 1st printing. Not sure how I feel about the ancestry changes, I'll have to look into it more. I don't think a character with a 16 in the prime stat ever made then "non-viable", I always thought it made them more interesting.
I would assume the lighting would be darkness. There are less Pathfinders and servants, there would also be less torches, mundane or everburning, around. I would assume this scenario would be on a tight timeline, but there's nothing that mentions time in the scenario. What should be the penalty for taking a 10 minute rest or even taking hours of rest? It makes no sense that all of the rogues would be running around. They would be cleaned up, long departed, or trying to escape, not trying to create a diversion. Their leadership would certainly be gone.
We need preview images please.
Being involved with the creation of Vampire: The Masquerade, Magic the Gathering. Employee #1 at Wizards? And Pathfinder of course. Wow, you've had an amazing career! Thanks for having a hand in making some of the best games ever!
Virtually every scenario can end with a non-violent solution. It depends on the GM and the players if they want to make it happen and are creative enough to make it happen. Sometimes it means making deals with evil creatures/enemies though. Is that really better than having a violent solution? I don't think so, but to each their own. I'll give you some examples of scenarios where they assumed you'd have a violent ending and my group (of children age 8-11) turned it into a non-violent ending. Doom of Cassomir example:
The hag at the end, the party druid (who wanted to save the frogs and crocodiles of the swamp) made a deal with the (evil) hag. They negotiated the following:
Shadows and Scarecrows bounty:
The bounty assumes the party will defeat Tefla, who is evil. Instead Tefla offered the group a deal, defeat Kareida and help her track down the other refugees, in return for more gold than the rancher was offering. So they took the deal. I ran this 3 times and only 1 group took the deal. They actually didn't know Tefla was evil (no Religion), Tefla was an authority figure, and they didn't investigate enough to know what was going on (the first location they investigated, they had the skills to track down the refugees). So they didn't knowingly work with evil, it was done more because of ignorance.
Oh this is an old thread, sorry for continuing the zombification.
The one bad thing I'll say about quests and bounties (I've run 5 quests now and 2 bounties) is that the time per XP ratio isn't very good. Typically they take 1.5-2 hours to complete. Everyone has a good time, but I can usually complete a scenario in 4-5 hours, which gives 4 XP compared to 1 XP. The kids actually care about XP a LOT (too much), so when they find out, they generally don't want to waste time with quests and bounties. But like I said, when a new player want to jump in for an introduction to the game, they are great. (Well, SOME of them are).
I'd maybe start with a quest or a bounty. I ran the following two and they were very good.
I like them just because they are short, leave time to teach the game, and have enough roleplaying etc so that people can decide if playing the game is right for them.
I ran this for the 4th time last week. I would avoid the statue encounter in subtier 1-2. I had two big hitters (2H fighter and a monk) so I thought it might be suitable but they could hardly put a dent in the hardness before he crushed them. The sorcerer and druid did nothing basically. I've been running the mummies before this and will continue doing that if I run this again (which I probably will). My 9 year old daughter's favorite encounter was talking to the scorpions (she's a druid). Kids.
I guess everything is virtual for a while and maybe a few more months, I was wondering if anyone had any tips for online play. I had my first session the other night and I noticed it had some similarities, and some differences. I noticed that people spontaneously take breaks when I play in person, but when I was online we went 90 minutes with no break. When should you take breaks? Every 45-60 minutes? How long? Maybe I'll set a timer next time. In person, I can game for hours, maybe all day (if I'm not the GM). Online, at least with a headset, the limit seems lower. At 1.5 hours I think everyone in my group had enough, maybe I could have gone for another 30 minutes before needing a break or calling it a day. Is it better to have micro sessions or just take a 15-30 minute break every few hours? Or have 4-6 hour sessions like in person games? I was playing with the complex options in Roll20 and tried them out, but it takes so much time to set them up with little benefit, I will use them sparingly. (I guess it demos well). I'll be using my own tokens, no macros for monsters, and normal fog of war (like a normal tabletop where parts of the map are revealed). I think basic is better, at least for me. If I was more invested in online play, I would buy the Bestiary for $50 to have everything done for me, but scenarios have so many custom monsters, it wouldn't cover everything. Any thoughts, advice, or tips for online play, virtual tabletops, or Roll20?
1) You read each review with a grain of salt. 2) You take an amalgamation of all of the reviews. Often there is a common theme that runs through all reviews, it depends on how the GM and players like it. 3) Read the reviews, run a table, and compare that to what other reviews have said. Find a reviewer you agree with and follow them. I find the reviews extremely helpful in knowing whether I want to GM or be a player in a scenario, much more helpful than long winded "professional" reviews. After about 20 reviews, the star rating is pretty much spot on, at least for me. There have only been a few times when I've disagreed with it. I wish there was an easy way to see new product reviews, like we had before on the front page. I loved logging each day and reading what people thought on different products. I think Paizo really screwed up when they removed it from the front page, I don't log onto this website much anymore.
I must say, I'm starting to see WotC's point - okay so cantrips aren't meant to impress, but if you can do something impressive three times a day, I'd prefer it if what you did then actually impressed. In short, where are the "striking runes" for spellcasters? This forum is going to disagree with you, but I agree with you. I like 2E, but spellcasters are under powered in it. It's like you say, since their spells are limited, these spells should be impressive, but they aren't, they're often not even as good as a martial attacking. Fireball isn't a good example btw. A good example would be Acid Arrow or Spider Sting. But yeah, what can you do about it? At home, make house rules, at conventions, play martial characters. |
