JaysonFour's page

I'm looking into starting an online Jade Regent campaign for some friends (gotta keep busy through all this pandemic downtime), and I wanted to maybe ask the fine GMs here a few things on running this.

1) What maps would I need? I have a few downloaded map-packs courtesy of Humble Bundles, but which ones should I be looking to invest in for this adventure path? (For example, I figure Swamp and River Crossing should get me through Brinestump Swamp, along with the provided maps in the module.)

2) I'm looking at using the relationship/romance system- I know, I'm a bit of a sap for a good love story, but... only one chance per level to try to win over one of the six possibles (I'm thinking of keeping on Ulf and Kelda for the entire trek once Kelda gets sprung in Brinewall and Ulf from Ravencraeg). Besides those, would it usually be a good idea to maybe award or penalize particular PCs on actions and things they say in the NPCs' presence in order to supplement the usual things?

3) What character classes should I allow? The players guide doesn't make any mention of some of the newer character classes that were released after it- is there anything in there that I might need to nix because of being so overpowered it's unbalanced? I want to give my players some freedom in character design, but I don't want them to break the game wide open.

I keep coming back to this and re-reading it because it just gives me a good happy feeling in my heart to know that no matter what happens, at least they have each other. This was needed, especially this year.

...though it's a heck of a lot tamer than I would have thought Meri would want for something like this... I guess Kyra's having a calming effect on her! Maybe she's losing her edge now she's bonded? (Though I'd hate to be the dumb idiot who lands a shot on Kyra now... I think we'd find out how many stabs someone could take before they die messily...)

I wish there were more opportunities in PFS for roleplaying.

Way, way, way back in the day- pre 2000- there was the RPGA, which ran a number of different "living" campaigns. The most famous (I believe) was "Living City", which was based around the city of Raven's Bluff in the Forgotten Realms (used D&D 2nd edition as its go-to set).

Usually it was a weekly thing- you showed up, played an adventure, and added in your stuff and counted XP. But sometimes, at bigger events and conventions and game days, you could find "interactives", where you could just hang out for a few hours, in-character, meeting and trading stories, trading gear, buying things and meeting NPCs for induction into orders and societies and things like that. You had your bigger ones where people would dress up in-character and everything, and it was a lot of fun.

It's literally one of the only things I hate about PFS- that there's no incentive, no opportunity to go for greater roleplaying opportunities that aren't just sitting around a table waiting to roll dice. I wish there were opportunities- even just at conventions- to give a chance for people to just go out and roleplay in-character, maybe have some interactions and things.

I guess this is why I kind of prefer playing online text-based and play-by-post over in-person- because there's more freedom to play the character you want to play, one you want to tell the story of, rather than one you feel that you can actually play in-person around others- you could craft up someone with a pretty intricate backstory and things and really let your writing and story-telling skills shine without having to worry how you come off to everyone else at the table. How many characters with great stories to tell get cast aside simply because we get nervous about how we're going to roleplay them in-person around other people? Maybe you want to play another gender, maybe you want to play another race, but when you think about it, you just roll up another whatever and go for it.

Awesome, that's exactly what I was hoping for!

I was figuring it was Age of Ashes and onwards as far as the Adventure Paths, but I wanted to doublecheck- I really wish they were all labeled like the Rulebooks are so they'd come up in the sorting function...

I think as far as PFS stuff goes they started a whole new series of modules and scenarios and things for Second Edition as well, but I'll wander over there and check (gotta grab the new handbooks and stuff for that, too).

I'm trying to make a list of everything I'm still missing from my Pathfinder collection, and I'm trying to figure out just what's been released for Second Edition as far as Campaign Settings and Adventure Paths and that kind of thing. I click on the Second Edition listing and all it gives me are the rulebooks- is there anywhere where it says "hey, these books here are for First Edition and these are for Second Edition"?

It gets kind of confusing because right now, everything's all mashed together in the same listings and I don't know what's compatible with what...

Yeah, I kind of figured the answer was something obvious like that that I was missing.

Thanks, everyone! It's heading to my printer right now so I don't forget again.

I couldn't find the answers I was looking for, so I was hoping to get a few answers from people in the know:

I'm looking to build quite a few characters, and I've recently come into a stack of players' guides, comics, and the like, and I see that there are options for stuff like new feats, traits, prestige classes, etc. in all of this stuff. I was wondering, are these sources (players' guides and other external sources) legal to draw traits and things from for PFS character building for PF1?

With my luck, the answer is somewhere obvious and I've missed it because I've been looking for it so hard... :)

I'm still having a lot of fun with Kingmaker, and if this is just as good, I say let them keep making games until they can't. Looking forward to this one!

Hello!

I'm here to check out some PFS PbP action, finally.

As far as characters go, I have a pair of pretty seasoned ones, but on the other hand, I have more than a few concepts I'm excited about rolling up into more than a few character sheets! I just, uhm... might need a little help getting the stuff set up for PbP (this isn't my first go-round with making characters; I'm busy rolling them up right now).

I'll have the first few up soon, though- as well as a list of what scenarios/modules I've played through on my profile.

I remember there used to be a couple tables that would run a few times a month at the second floor cafe of the D&W in Kalamazoo, but I don't know if those are still going- I tried going to the old website where people would sign up for games on my phone and hit the mother of all lairs of pop-up ads...

Is there still any kind of Kalamazoo/Portage game day? Or are there nothing but home games and the like these days?

I'm looking at both PbP and Roll20 to run some games on. I'll need a bit to figure out just how to get the blasted maps to snap to screen on it, but otherwise the interface looks pretty darn easy to run with. Once I hammer out the details and am not a complete newbie with the Roll20 system, I want to start running some Society games there- preferably starting from Season 0 and working my way on up: I mean, I remember when I played 'Murder on the Throaty Mermaid' at Marmalade Dog and I had an absolute blast- that's the kind of excitement I want to bring to the table. (I mean, cripes, that scenario is a fixture at M.D., seems like there's always at least one table of it.)

I downloaded the free Quests and the free First Steps module off the Paizo store, and I still have a gift certificate for ten bucks, so I figure I'll hang onto that until either I get my feet under me and need to start picking up paid scenarios (where else can you get a month's worth of adventures for the price of a pizza; and let's face it, the local pizza joint has been dropping the ball a lot lately- inedible frisbees come to mind), or for GM School if I need to pick up a scenario for that.

And yeah, there will be a lot of PF2 run, and I expect I'll give it a shot once it has its legs under it (and I have the $$$ for a copy of the Player's Guide)- and Starfinder, too. But I can grab and run PF1 scenarios and adventure paths and run those while I wait, heh.

I'll look up when the GM school next meets, then! I was thinking about primarily running PbP games, but you never know if the interest is there for a table IRL. I mean, there's a university close by that has a game night every Friday that I might be able to get a table together at during the school year, and there's more than one friendly local game shop in the area that has open gaming tables I may be able to get a session at, too.

I mean, I guess I could always run the scenarios and hand out Chronicle sheets even if the PF1 Society shuts down because it's one heck of a way to keep track of everything- not to mention it would be a really fun way to guide some newbies through ten years of storylines. I mean, you might have to adjust in some places as far as old-school faction missions and the like, but it might just involve a little tweaking to keep things working here and there. I mean, obviously it would take more than one character per player to go and run through everything, even on slow progression.

I mean, I'm not going to get a chance to play a lot of these scenarios and specials and everything, but if I can run them for others, that's a real close second. And maybe it'll finally get me off my rump and into writing some fiction of my own based around an agent or agents of the Society working through each of the seasons.

Is there any specific test I have to take to be able to run a Society scenario, or is it "just pick it up, don't flub it too bad, and get your paperwork sent in on time"?

Kyra: It is again time for the hero in you to spring free, Merisiel.

Kyra: You are Merisiel. And that is enough. (Pathfinder Adventures, Scenario 3-5 opening text w/M & K both in party)

Yeah, Kyra's definitely got it for you as bad as you have it for her, no matter how much she tries to deny it, hehe. I think "Operation: Loosen up the cute cleric" is at least a minor success, indeed. Have to admit, you two go together like goblins that need to be stabbed and implements of stabbing.

Have you ever managed to get Kyra at least a little drunk and relaxed enough to finally let her hair down, so to speak? She looks like she's got a lot on her mind, all the time... she needs to find a way to burn some of that off, you know?

What with the upcoming switchover to PF2, and all the uneasy rumbling it's causing among players, is there still any possible value to wanting to earn my GM's stripes so I can be able to run PF1 Society content? I have a lot of good memories, and now that I finally have a lot of time and a way to run games (online, possibly in person if I can find a blasted table that's big enough), it just seems a waste to let all of these scenarios and adventure paths just sit there and rot.

I mean, there's some 300-odd Society scenarios out there, and piles of Adventure Paths that are good for Society credit. But to hear people say it- "Oh, everybody's played everything already, PF2 is going to kill the game, everyone's playing Starfinder, the sky is falling, etc."- it just makes me second-guess the idea of wanting to learn to run Society games. There are always going to be newbies to the system, and somehow I don't think PF2 is going to kill everything dead quite instantly, so I figure "Why not? At the very least if the PF1 Society closes down, I have a massive, massive pre-made campaign on my hands and I can run people through that- you can't just toss ten years of stuff in the trash... and there will always be people who love PF1 much like there are always people who play 3.5 and can't stand any newer edition because of reasons.

But I'm still kind of antsy about it- it's like, I want to, but is there going to be that much of a player base for it? And are there any plans to release the Pathfinder Society scenarios in bundles of some sort instead of just buying by the individual scenario?

If you're playing a wizard/sorcerer, spell selection's also very important. The last thing you want to do is choose yourself into being a one-trick pony. Yeah, that great bloodline attribute that gives you extra damage on spells of that element may seem like something to take advantage of early on, but when you start coming into DR and immunities later in your character's lifespan, you don't want to be stuck with most of your offensive arsenal being less than effective or unusable. For example, while Alec may be a hot hand with the fire spells, he's also packing things like Acid Arrow, Ice Storm and Lightning Bolt just in case he finds something that he can't roast. Some other advice for wizard/sorcerers...

As someone else said, take utility spells! Stuff like Fly, Haste, Animate Rope and the like can make things easier on the rest of the party members, and being that they'll likely have more HP than you- and that they'll be holding the enemies back so you aren't turned into a big fleshy wad of goo on the floor.

-Max out your ranks in Use Magic Device, every level. This skill is a godsend if you find yourself shy any healing classes- it allows you at least a chance to use a healing wand to fix some of the damage. I've honestly never been asked to roll a check for it outside of combat- is that wrong? Spellcraft is another one to keep maxed- it's going to be your identify workhorse, and usually a good Spellcraft rank +10 from an identify spell is going to knock just about anything loose.

-Spells like Identify and Detect Secret Doors are only 1st level and 25 gp a scroll, but are REALLY handy to help make sure you didn't miss anything. Not to mention you can buy them right off because they're first level. Knowing what to expect can be a big help.

-Detect Magic is your best friend.

Yeah, that's him. I had lots of fun with him last year, and I wish there was a Kalamazoo group to play with, too.

I've actually been waiting all year for the con to come... started playing Pathfinder last year and ended up playing in all the games on Saturday and Sunday, so I'm really looking forward to playing again!

Of course, I managed to forget whatever I did with my character sheet... I can't remember if I kept it somewhere or if I gave it to the GM who ran things or what... I hope I can find it tonight at home- if I can keep him alive for this con, he should make fifth-rank by the end of the con... if not, I'll just have to start another guy, and I really don't want to...