Jon Cazares's page

Zrinka - Hi there. I was going to respond but Serisan beat me to the punch. So ... what he said and then I'll add:

The cloaker is spying on the PC's, convinced they are after it, which is why it hides in the garden and eventually tries to communicate with them in the most alien, chaotic, insane way possible. Because it is alien, chaotic and insane. To it, a shadow puppet performance is a totally reasonable way to communicate. =)

The cloaker's full scripted performance (and rules detailing how to understand it) was lost in editing (due to length). I wrote a post earlier how a DM can tackle the performance. Otherwise, yes, it is totally out of the blue. As one poster said weeks ago, "Performance? About what? wtf?!?" =)

Torches - You don't mention this in your post but I've read a few questions about the use of torches to help fight the swarm. It has been pointed out that torches don't help with such a swarm fight.

Originally, there were lanterns in town. And players could break and smash them on the swarm for splashing fire / burning oil damage to assist them if needed BUT there was risk of catching gardens and / or homes on fire which would lead to the huge disaster of players and townfolk battling the blaze.

But that was way too long and got edited down to "torches" and I suspect the translation is what created the lantern oil / torch damage confusion. *shrugs*

Also, not all scenario's are to the taste of all players. Twisted Circle is a slow burning investigation of diplomacy, knowledge use and role playing.

Not all folks dig that. I do but some don't.

In fact, a few weeks ago I played in a (nearly) five star rated scenario. Player ratings raved how much fun the action was.

And I was bored out of my mind. So. Much. Stupid. Combat. =)

And some folks will feel, "So. Much. Stupid. Diplomacy" about Twisted Circle.

It's all good.

And by the way, I've noticed a few people attaching a "he" pronoun to the cloaker. I was unable to find any information that cloakers had gender and tried my best to use the universal "it".

Does anyone know one way or another? =)

I finally had a chance to run the published version of TC. I have read the comments and concerns and am posting this as a general list of things you could do to fit it in to a four hour slot.

A few notes on the table I ran: My round ran four hours with an extra ten-fifteen minutes for end of game paper work. Tier 1. PC's had a fair amount of appropriate skills spread over three of them (Know: Nature, Know: Religion, Perception, Linguistics, Diplomacy). PC's had the capability to use Speak with Plants but did not cast the spell once. PC's never went to the weavers house, never went to the artisans square and never even saw the children. That being said they figured out most of the town's secrets from the Sheriff, the head priest, the journal, role playing speculation with each other (and Nira) and the cloaker's performance. They had the optional encounter and killed the cloaker. PC's saved Nira and returned the artifact to the PFS (but felt really bed about the fate of Mercy without the artifact).

The first thing I would advise is to not stress out (as a DM) that PC's MUST obtain every last scrap of knowledge contained within the scenario. For some the investigation will go their way and for some it will not and that will frustrate some players but that's just the way it is. I know conventional wisdom claims a scenario supply ALL motivation, background and secrets within it's short run time so that no one goes home feeling unsatisfied but TC is simply not that kind of scenario. And not all scenarios are designed for all mixture of characters or all players. And that's okay.

I don't think there is any harm in letting a table of players know TC is a skill heavy investigation and they might want to have an appropriate mixture of character classes. If they chose to bring six city slicker hack and slash warriors then so be it.

There are multiple ways to get enough information to figure out what is happening. There appears to be common concern a party lacking Know: Nature and / or the ability to cast Speak with Plants is SOL but as I pointed out above, my table never bothered to use Speak with Plants and never even saw the children and managed to succeed in the primary and most secondary victory conditions.

Specific Tips (not previously mentioned in the thread):

Use the journal to quickly supply them with information they are missing. As written in TC Amenira's journal is used to supply the PC's with a clue on how to interact with the town folk. It can also be used to house all manner of additional information. More about the Smiling Shadow of Flight, more about Azathoth, more about the town, more about the investigation , more about the sheriff, etc. You can quickly sum up information and point them exactly where you need them to be. My table obsessed over the journal, spent hours reading it and then marched to the Sheriff for more answers.

Use the cloakers performance (see previous post earlier in thread) for more information about the cloaker.

Use Nira to point them in the right direct. Remember, Nira is Amenira. You can have Nira offer flashes of coherence and give advice or answers. She can lead PC's away from Red Herrings and point them on the correct path. She can be as cryptic and awkward (or not) as you see fit to use her.

Finally: Condense the Impossible Forest!

Too many caves to explore! Ugh.

There is no reason the Impossible Forest can't be one large cave. Any reasonable plan will find the Verdant Spark. Detect Magic will find it quicker.

If you want to keep a hidden treasure cave have it near the entrance. OR you can combine the hidden treasure cave with Sheriff Molume's gifts. When he hands over the "This might help you beat the monster" loot he can add the potions saying, "A visiting alchemist gave us these for payment but we have not the means to know what they are".

If you have time for the optional encounter, try to stage it after PC's are leaving the Impossible Forest and exiting the crevice. That seems like more reasonable placement.

I had the cloaker circling above the crevice when PC emerged. It was deciding if it could kill three of them (or not). It dive bombed them when Nira popped out of a PC backpack.

Anyway, even if the PC's are out of time for the actual combat they can come out, see it, it flies away, they shoot after it and maybe get an arrow or magic missile in. Which leads to...

Later they find the cloaker "riddled with bullet holes" on the side of the road, then you can throw in that the damage PC's did to it was instrumental in helping take it down.

Partial closure.

Also, a very broad tip that may be common sense for a DM but ...

I've always found Living campaign modules to be a blue print of the most likely way to tackle that particular story but you should never feel as if your hands are tied to do it exactly as the scenario says. The scenario doesn't know you, your players or their class combination so when the modules says, "Players must have Skill A or B" or they get zero information, take it with a grain of salt.

Despite my insistence that it's okay if players don't get all the answers in TC that is a far cry from getting zero answers and then thrusting PC's in to the Impossible Forest for the final encounter.

Feel free to reward players for good role playing, or hell, for just having fun.

For example:

If you have a table with no appropriate skills and no way to cast Speak With Plants just pick a random (appropriate) PC's and start telling them things like, "When you were a kid, you remember your mother working daily in the garden. You were more of an eater than a grower so never helped out but you would swear she always said that vegetable A and vegetable B don't grow together because they'll produce rot and wipe out the entire crop. But that garden over there is growing both of them and they look healthy. Weird."

In the case of TC feel free to hand the PC's a few bits of free information if you think it will enhance their story telling experience. The only loose rule I would add to that is don't let the substance of said free information out weight the substance of information PC's work for.

Free information should be just enough crumbs to keep them from starving. =)

In conclusion, as pointed out in previous posts, the scenario might require more DM preparation than most do. That is very possible. Sorry about that.

I hope this helps. =)

So are you local to us in the Twin Cities, Jon?

Hmm

Yes. Grew up in the Twin Cities, moved to NYC and lived there for a long time then, a few years ago, moved back to MPLS. MPLS is like the Godfather III - "Just when you think you're out, they pull you back in!!!" =)

When you have a date for April's "Twisted Circle" play through at Your Mom's Basement let me know. I'll try and make it out and meet you folks.

Jon Cazares wrote:

It looks like I am running this on March 3rd at the Fantasy Flight Game Center in MPLS (actually, near MPLS). I've only run this scenario during the play test phase (back in Oct).

I am curious to see if the published version of it runs long for me too!

We'll see how it goes! =)

That's where Hmm and I were on Sunday. How'd Adriano rope you into a Thursday night game?

It's a cute story. I posted on a meet up page for a Feb 28th game day at The Source. I wrote something like, "Hi, I'm the author and I would be happy to run a table or two of the scenario but I am not available on that specific day. If there is future interest I could run it March / April".

Almost immediately, Adriano responded to me on The Source page with a, "Hey, I'm from FFG. Can you run it for us instead, on March 3rd?"

So, he totally trolled me from his competitors page! Well played Adriano! =)

It looks like I am running this on March 3rd at the Fantasy Flight Game Center in MPLS (actually, near MPLS). I've only run this scenario during the play test phase (back in Oct).

I am curious to see if the published version of it runs long for me too!

We'll see how it goes! =)

Jon,

Does this mean that the sherrif has a Charisma score of 1? Is he really that grumpy? Is that correct? What do you think the Sheriff should have for a charisma score? What should I use for Diplomacy DCs to improve his attitude?

Thanks!

Hi Bill.

Hmmmm. He most certainly does not have a 1 charisma. Let me double check the module because I think we tackled his stats ... somewhere.

Searching .... ah hah! Found it two pages after all the other info about the sheriff. You know, the obvious place it should be! =)

Page 11:

"It is difficult to avoid the sheriff while he is nearby—his
bonuses on Perception and Sense Motive checks are both
+10 —but his work takes him all over Mercy over the course
of the day, and so the easiest way to evade him is to wait for
his duties to take him elsewhere. His Will save modifier is
+6. If further statistics for the sheriff are necessary, use the
ones for a barkeep (Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide
303)".

Looking up "Barkeep" I see he has a Charisma of 10.

As for Diplomacy checks with him I would keep them between 13-19 depending on the subtier and composition of your group.

Or don't roll & let them role play it out and reward them with exceptional ideas through role playing. Either way seems to work out well. =)

Have fun! =)

Dear Jon,

I did enjoy running this, last Sunday, but I have to say that in my opinion, the additional information you provided in this thread was quite necessary for me to bring the adventure as more than two random story arcs.
All-in-all I think I enjoyed the weirdness of the cloaker most of all.

When you rely heavily on role playing, investigating and "tone" instead of challenging combat encounters things can sometimes go astray. The classic "role playing" vs. "roll playing" argument. If you lean too much on role playing & tone the story can, perhaps, get dull at times. If you lean too much on roll playing the story can, perhaps, be one dimensional. If you attempt to thread multiple plot points with detailed backgrounds for all pertinent NPC's & antagonists the story will run long but can be, potentially, really rich and compelling ... if everything goes perfectly. If everything does not go perfectly then things will be frustrating for DM's and obscure for players and can lead to valid exclamations such as, "We've been playing this game for sixteen hours! Does anyone know wtf is going on?" =)

But since you brought it up I do agree that much of the information that was cut (or changed) would have made it more memorable (and perhaps smoother to run). Not necessarily better (or worse) but more memorable. I did not do any of the edits. *shrugs*

That being said, Paizo has very specific and clear guidelines on exactly how scenarios should (and should not) be written and exactly how long the word count should (and should not) be.

I kind of ignored most of their guidelines because ... well .... you know, I'm special.

And rules don't apply to me!

(Only, not so much). =)

**James Anderson's Questions:
1. Are there locks on the doors to the houses? Particularly the guest house, Amenira's house, and the weaver's house?

With the exception of the carriage house and the lockers where large weapons are placed locks didn't occur to me at all. Probably not too many locks in a small, tight knit community like this.

2. How does Nira feel about being seen by the sheriff and other townspeople? Does she try to hide that she's animated?

I would say that is entirely up to the DM. She can be open and understanding of her situation be be used to supply exposition if PC's need it or she can hardly say a word and become more mysterious, creepy and tragic by not knowing she is a little wooden girl.

3. Given that there's 100 houses, I guessed that there's an average of 3 people per house (including kids) so about 300 people, maybe a bit more. Is that about right? Basic goods should be available?

That all seems reasonable to me. With the caveat that "basic goods" would all have to be created / built by the town folks and conform to their rules. No Large weapons, for example. =)

4. The cloaker's "performance" is an attempt to communicate - what is he trying to say? How does he expect a response?

I'm sad to say the cloaker's full performance / PC's attempt to respond was lost in editing. Because of my diarrhea of the word processor I wrote too much and several non essential (but memorable and flavorful) elements had to be cut. The cloaker's performance was one such element. =(

The cloaker was paranoid it had fallen out of favor with Azathoth. It had recently only been hanging out with bats and sacrificing gross mutant gnolls. Not exactly the stuff of high priest legends. So the cloaker became paranoid it had not done enough for Azathoth and when it saw the PC's in Mercy it was convinced the PC's might be agents of Azathoth sent to test(or kill)it. Which leads to the cloaker setting up a performance using it's shadow spell ability to create a silent shadow puppet performance. The cloaker's shadow puppet performance laid out the main antagonist (the doll) and the hero of the story (it) as well as the PC's. The deciphering (with language spells and / or linguistic rolls) would have revealed the performance was asking a series of questions directed to the PC's ... "Why is the Idiot God displeased with me? What must I do to regain it's indifferent favor? Are you working with the Disgusting Child of Wood?"

Stuff like that. The cloaker was self absorbed, paranoid and alien. As far as it was concerned everything was all about it. Everything was after it.

And did I mention it was weird? =)

Hi guys! I wrote the scenario. I am happy to answer further questions to assist in the running of the game (but I think the tips laid out by Kevin Willis are great!).

Reading over your thoughts I will say right off the bat that your concerns are valid. I used to write scenarios for Living Death, Living Greyhawk: Shield Lands and Living Dragonstar. None of which enforced word counts. As long as we were reasonable about it, length wasn't an issue. This is the first Pathfinder scenario I worked on and they run a much tighter ship than those other folks ever did. Also, I have not actually written a four hour scenario in more than a dozen years and it really shows.

To be frank - it appears I am utterly incapable of writing a four hour adventure! =) The draft I turned in to Paizo was colossally long and they had to do a herculean amount of editing to make it presentable.

Which, as has been pointed out, makes the final scenario run (potentially) VERY long! Can you imagine how long it could have gone with the additional three (four? five? Maybe six?) pages of plant / crop / cashew / bat relationships and townfolk background info (including almost a full page of "Creepy Things the Townfolk Do That Are Actually Pretty Mundane") and the overly complicated ten year enmity I tried to create between the cloaker and Amenira?

And, well ... yeah ... it was maybe, like, three thousand words long.

So, there's that. =)

A few of your questions:

The name: The Twisted Circle. The idea was that the townsfolk have evolved unnaturally through accidental exposure to the Verdant Spark. Which is a twisted version of the circle of life. Hence, Twisted Circle. Also, the cloaker worships Azathoth who's symbol is an eight pointed star. In the cloaker's cave there were stars and twisted circles etched in to the walls. The handless cloaker did it's best to etch an eight pointed star but it came out more of a twisted circle. (This last bit may not have made the final edit).

The transformation: Makes them immune to disease, poison and the magical wasting effect within the Mana Wastes as well as giving them a borderline mystical green thumb. I thought this was covered in the scenario somewhere but it may have been edited out to make the transformation more vague and mysterious.

As to the scenario being hard to get back story to PC's - this is a fair point. I guess I have no problem with it, though. It should be hard. The town should be allowed to keep some of it's mysteries. Make those PC's work! =)

I am happy to answer further questions to assist in your running the scenario. Let me know.

Good gaming!