Marcia Daniel's page

Since I am currently still running Savage Tide, I haven't gotten around to actually using any of the very handsome Pathfinder volumes that are rapidly piling up on my table. Rise of the Runelords is very likely going to be the next game that I run.

However, since I run this particular gaming group online, I've made heavy use of the free .pdf files of maps and characters that came with each issue of Dungeon. I was a bit dismayed to see that there doesn't seem to be anything like that for Pathfinder. Does anyone know if either a) the .pdfs are somewhere I'm not looking? b) there are any plans on paizo's part to start releasing those .pdfs for subscribers/"renters"?

If I can't get those .pdfs, I'll probably just run Shackled City or Age of Wyrms, but I'd hate to leave those sleek and sexy Pathfinder volumes so virginal and untouched...

So, I'm DMming the Bullywug Gambit tonight online and need to get together icons for all the monsters. Problem is, I left my copy of that issue in my car, which my mom took to work today. Can anyone help me out and let me know the monsters that are in Kraken's cove? I've got Harliss and that dinosaur thing from the online supplement, but I can't for the life of me remember the other stuff. Any help would be very very very appreciated! Thanks! (I don't need stat blocks or any copyrighted stuff, just the names of the monsters.)

Ooh, I like the idea of a prelude adventure, and will probably steal yours, Fiendish Dire Weasel. What I might do, though, is start everyone out as one of the NPC classes (adept, aristocrat, commoner, expert, warrior) and tell them they can only spend skill points on naval skills (broadly construed, so that balance and climb count). We RP for a bit and then run an attempted pirate attack (give the captain of the PC's ship lots of ranks in profession sailor and put the PCs in a faster boat to put the odds in their favor). After this prelude, they arrive in Sasserine and "level up" to first level regular PC classes. The captain sells the ship, pays everyone the max for the starting gold for their class, and leaves them to their own devices. PCs get skill points for new PC classes as if they were first level characters (so x4), and can put the skills in anything they want (we'll say they were practicing/studying those skills in their spare time on the boat and it just now all catches up with them). That way they'll get a few extra hp, some extra skills, and some extra money to spend at the beginning. Bam, an extra leg up, but it doesn't feel like they got it for free.

Has anyone ever done this before? I guess I'm trying to come up with the equivalent of starting with 0-level characters that cropped up a couple of times in 2nd ed.

I also have Stormwrack, and you make a good point...when else are you going to get to use it??

As for the free feats, maybe what I'll do is PCs who are from Sasserine will get their special feats, and everyone else gets a free skill focus for one of their maritime skills. Again, it's something that's so specific that shouldn't be overpowering, but should also be at least kind of useful at some point.

I'll probably go with the 28 point buy, in that case, like Paolo suggested. I usually like rolling dice, but in this case I'm playing over the internet and one or two of the guys I don't know very well. Point buy will help avoid any cheating problems.

I also will probably institute your house rule, Cthlulu, and provide the caveat emptor at the beginning...

This is going to be pretty sweet.

Hey all,
I'm about to start an over-the-internet Savage Tide campaign, and am a little concerned about making sure that the party is ready for what looks to be a difficult game. There will be 6 or 7 players. So here's some questions:
1) For those of you who determine stats by using buy-in points, what's a good number of points to make sure they've got good enough stats?
2) I was also thinking about letting them take their Sasserine regional feats for free and maybe giving them four or five extra skill points to spend on naval-related skills. Has anyone else done anything like this? Did it work?
3) I'm going to be doing it over the internet with OpenRPG. This will be my first time using that program. Has anyone used it before and have tips? Anyone know where I could download some good OpenRPG minis appropriate to STAP?
4) Are there any other things that a DM starting up the Savage Tide should know?
Thanks a lot

Regarding the Kingpriest's alignment:
I remember in one of the Weis/Hickman books (I don't remember if it was Legends or Chronicles), someone in a position to be able to say so (maybe a God or somebody?) corrects someone else's view of the Kingpriest by telling them that the Kingpriest was a good man, he just took his goodness too far. It was a line about the necessity for the balance between good and evil. I guess you don't have to buy that in your own games (it seems a pretty suspect philosophical position to me), but that's the canonical metaphysics of the world.
Come to think of it, I think that someone is telling this to Crysiana or whatever her name was.