MadDwarfish's page

Thank you everyone. I love the ideas here. They could take some torture, and Orik, already sickened by Lamashtu sermons, and having some idea of the torture decides to change sides and free the group from the prison cells some night.

Tangent101: They probably didn't outright assume the PCs were still there. But if there's a bunch of dead bodies on the floor of your base, don't you think you'd at least do a once-over? :D

Well, they aren't necessarily captured yet. But after slaughtering all the goblins outside the ones in the throne room in the top-level, they decided to sleep in a supply closet and block entrance. But with all the goblins bodies of the floor, it was clear to me that someone was eventually going to search for the culprits.

Sometime later, Bruthazmus and Orik are smashing down the door. The Quasit was there too, she was driven from the Catacombs so I figured she probably joined Nualia at Thistletop, biding her time before the horde could help her retake her 'empire'.

Anyways, these three lackeys are standing in front of the closet, and that's where we left off. The heroes aren't really in a fighting state, so I imagine they will be captured if not beaten senseless first, and given to Chieftan Ripnugget.

I am wondering what kind of outs I can give these guys that will be relatively believable? One thing I've been thinking about is having Shalelu arrive, although still not sure how much help she'd be considering the circumstances.

But there ARE hints to his existence... in Thistletop. Just lower the difficulty to determine what the Murals are of and understanding the holographic illusion message.

I should read more carefully ahead. Probably wouldn't be doing this either way, in retrospect its pretty hacky and inappropriate for the tone of the adventure anyways - I was pretty sleep deprived when I wrote it :P

Hey fellows. I was wondering if you could critique something I've done here.

I dislike how there is no awareness of BBG Karzoug in the first adventure. I would like to preview his existence through one of my players, a cleric, who is essentially having semi-prophetic visions, perhaps partially triggered by the proximity to an activated Runewell after entering the Catacombs.

I thought I should share, let me know what you think.

PS. If you are in a RotRL game and your GM's name is Dave, you shouldn't be reading this.

PSS. I let my PCs choose pretty much any deity they want so long as it can work in the campaign setting, they are new to it and to me it doesn't matter if its from Golarion or not.

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"You begin to pray and meditate as you do the dawn of every day. You steady your breathing and picture yourself being basked in the light and glory Pelor shines down upon you, as you begin chant Pelor’s prayer in Celestial."

"You even start to see other visions of violence that you know never happened. You see Starry ((PC)) choking a white-faced Thoros((PC)) back at the inn. You then see yourself looking down at a sword you are holding out, you look up and you see its buried in Sandpoint's priest Father Zantus's chest, blood running down from his mouth, a sad expression on his face."

"What happened? Maybe you just fell asleep while you were trying to meditate. It has been a trying couple of days and you are a little exhausted. But something feels very wrong, and as chills run through your body you suddenly feel very alone and vulnerable. You want to get someone else, and fast."
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Thoughts? Just to explain a few things, the visions of violent horror are coming from the Minor Runewell of Wrath, but it is connected to Karzoug's, which is why a thought of greed comes into play early on. Starry and Thoros have an on-and-off love-hate semi-sexual relationship, and the symbolism of dream-states have a way of taking out the filter, and then exaggerating. This character killing the priest is kind of possible subconscious feelings he has about him, jealousy: man of faith living a settled life with a flock of followers to watch over must be nice...

Then again, that's kind of envy, I'm not sure it has its place here.

In the future, I am thinking the cleric will have prophetic nightmares when he sleeps about this mysterious stranger (Karzoug) and the doomsday scenario he may one day incur. The sun (Pelor) being eclipsed and the man appears and the world begins to tear apart from underneath him. Eventually the nightmare will change to be the man growing large, so large his head eclipses the sun, the aura of light produced in an eclipse looking like a crown on Karzoug's head.

I am wanting to do a summary of every game I do with my players for my players on our roll20 board. On page 368 of RotRL (Anniversary Edition), it says that the Pathfinders find our heroes at the end and record their tale.

I am thinking of writing the adventure log in this format, from the perspective of Pathfinder Chroniclers. They start from the beginning and it'll be spoiler free, perhaps with a little foreshadowing.

Suggestions?

I am sure questions have been asked like this before, but I haven't been able to find a definate answer in my search. Do non-combat "encounters" with listed CRs like The Shopkeeper's Daughter in Burnt Offerings reward xp equal to an encounter of that CR?

MadDwarfish wrote:

A few hours until game-time. Right now, my plan is they encounter Bruthazmus and some goblins, on a mission of gather stray Birdcrusher gobs to bring back to Ripnugget.

One concern I do have about Bruthazmus is if they capture him at this point. I don't plan on it happening. I would like that they narrowly escape him with Shalelu's help. But in the case that they do, they would blow the lid off the whole operation, it seems like he knows quite a bit. How can I work around this possibility?

(I know I could simply not use him, and in his place a large group of goblins or even some other monster, but I think this would be an awesome way to show off the rivalry between the two characters.)

Maybe too late, but...

Bruthazmus attacks the characters, but instead of fighting in melee, he uses longbow or similar, always keeping distance from them.
When their HP have been depleted almost completely (eventually "round" the rolls in your favor after a while, to create a dramatic scene), Shalelu arrives to save the day:
at that point the two recognize themselves, being long time enemies, and Bruthazmus throws a final shot at her before leaving and commanding the goblins to cover him.

Shalelu takes care of remaining goblins, but instead of tracking the hobgoblin, prefers to take the wounded characters back to town.

Shalelu will explain that she's met him before, during an attack in the woods in which she lost some of her best men, bla bla bla...

The game was delayed but I did this and it worked fantastically. It was quite difficult considering the terrain and Bruthazamus' henchies to catch up. I think Shaelelu came off as a pretty important and useful ally through this sequence of events, so thanks again for the solid advice RuyanVe.

They are back in town now, staying there in preparation for another attack, running the events that happen there.

A few hours until game-time. Right now, my plan is they encounter Bruthazmus and some goblins, on a mission of gather stray Birdcrusher gobs to bring back to Ripnugget.

One concern I do have about Bruthazmus is if they capture him at this point. I don't plan on it happening. I would like that they narrowly escape him with Shalelu's help. But in the case that they do, they would blow the lid off the whole operation, it seems like he knows quite a bit. How can I work around this possibility?

(I know I could simply not use him, and in his place a large group of goblins or even some other monster, but I think this would be an awesome way to show off the rivalry between the two characters.)

Thanks for your help guys! I think that will be a great way to both introduce Shalelu and get her to bring back the adventurers, they'll need to stay in town when the word of another attack comes.

Running Burnt Offerings. The day after the goblin attack, the PCs were curious and ended up finding a tracker to help them find goblin tracks, and are currently far north of the town. How do I get them back to Sandpoint? Or should I let them come upon one of the minor tribes' hideout?

Thanks for the feedback guys! Tagent101 you've been especially helpful with all your replies. They will have high ability scores and start at level 2. They also will start with some Hero Points, and I they are on the fast track for xp but will also be leveling as if starting at lvl 1 (it will take the amount of xp to get to level 2 to actually get to level 3). If things get sticky or it seems like it will get sticky, I will bring in a minion for them, an extra guard that Hemlock assigns them who will take orders from them.

I like that idea mcbobbo. Really puts into perspective the danger at hand at times.

As others pointed out, having two characters per player would solve the issue.

However it would also complicate things for the players.

Maybe have a couple of NPCs that follow and help them, possibly fighting classes (easier to use as NPCs) that intervene in the combat, leaving to them the decisional part?

You guys have some great suggestions. As far as two characters per player, I agree it might complicate things. Also might take away some immersion as the characters are less the avatar of the player in the world.

So, it looks like I will have at least 2 players now, if not 3 for sure. going back to maybe having second level characters as at least one fix, is that not a reasonable one? I know my players aren't really crazy about level 1. If that doesn't work I might go Geshtalt. Also I am thinking about a 25-Point Buy.

Hey guys, where can I read more about mythic rules? I've been searching the Pathfinder SRD but no luck yet.

Also, double hit-points sounds good. Would that provide relative balance, or could it make it a little too easy to start?

Cool, thanks! I've already been wanting to utilize Hero Points. Considered GMPC but not crazy about the idea, I've done it before and both myself and the players didn't really like it. The game is actually being run over Skype and roll20 completely right now, I am using this game to keep in touch with some friends back home. Fewer people have responded than I thought, but I am really excited still.

True, I guess one concern is I might be getting more players later on, but not sure yet.

Hey guys. I am a relatively new GM, and on top of maybe looking for some tips on how to get the most of RotRL (which I will start GM'ing next week), I was curious about something.

It looks like I am going to have a small group. I might have 2 at most, but otherwise, to start, this will be a solo-player campaign.

Should I tell my players to start at level 2, put them on a fast-leveling track, or modify the encounters?