Michael Cummings's page

Tempest_Knight wrote:

Is the sanctioning correct in granting;

"0 Reputation that can be assigned to any faction."

Yes. (I mean we could remove the "can be assigned to any faction" but the material facts are correct)

Is there a reason why this is granting 0 Reputation? Adventure Path and Module chronicle sheets grant the normal amount of Reputation for Society credit (12 Reputation per chronicle). Shouldn't the One-Shot grant 4 Reputation along with the 4 XP?

Just curious if anyone has modified the Negotiations with Nezera encounter? I'd like it to be a bit more dynamic than just Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimdate for each issue. I'm contemplating somehow incorporating the Verbal Duel rules from Ultimate Intrigue - I think using these in business negotiations would be very interesting. I'm also thinking of a mechanic to track progress differently - thoughts are on a Negotiation Point total that starts at a certain value for both sides and wins during the Verbal Duel reduce that point total downwards (think a dart game of 301 where competitors try to reduce their point total to zero the fastest). If Nereza's side reaches 0 first they get the concession listed in the summary for that issue. If the PCs reach 0 first, then the remaining point total for Nereza would determine their level of success. This would replace the 1NP/2NP/3NP concessions.

Any thoughts/suggestions on ways to flesh this out in more detail would be greatly appreciated.

My dream AP would be a Shoanti kingdom building AP where the kingdom building rules are adapted to build a tribe. There would be rival members within the tribe vying for tribal dominance and also have orcs as a secondary antagonist.

Similar concept could also be cool in Land of the Linnorm Kings or Realm of the Mammoth Lords - again centered on tribal building.

For anyone with old Dungeon magazines, I am inserting a revamped Legerdemain from #39. I have fond memories of playing in this with my 2e halfling thief with a ring of invisibility. He popped visible on stage with his famous line "Forsooth yon maiden" and things spiraled out of control from there. I remember spending much of the combat trapped by the mechanical beast puppet.

Will be connecting House Sarini who will be pledging their patronage if Legerdemain's owner turns his plays into Theater of the Real. The PCs will end up saving the NPC who is to have been killed in the opening performance.

I have made Nox a tyrant antipaladin with Mephiry her fiendish servant. Since hell hounds normally aren't available for summon monster III, I applied the young template - also makes it not such a killer encounter at the protest if Mephiry does get involved.

Accountant by trade, so Abadar

I know this is kind of an old thread, but I am just in the early stages of Shattered Star and I also looked at some of the Season 4 PFS scenarios and thought it would be a good tie-in to the Shattered Star AP. One major curveball I'm contemplating is having Sheila be a turncoat and have been the major villain at the head of the Lissala cult the entire time. I think it would make sense for her to send the PCs on the side quests of the PFS scenarios - by doing this she is attempting to send the shards into the hands of the Lissala cult agents. Her ultimate betrayal will occur at the Reforging ceremony. I'm giddy with how this will all play out.

Chris Mortika wrote:

Hi, Mary.

Let me ask: what has been your most positive role-playing adventure? What's been the best for you, and why?

Gosh. Twenty-nine years of gaming gives a lot to choose among.

Probably the most fun was the _Radiant_ space opera campaign (run in a homebrew) where the PCs started out as crew of a struggling tramp merchant starship, and ended up as major players in two different star systems (one highly civilized and connected, one a "lost colony."

The background and setting became very rich over five years of play; the PCs' home base was particularly well developed, as was the lost colony world. The PCs had enough power to do a lot of interesting things, but they had to use finesse--they couldn't go head-to-head with their biggest opponents, like the demon-possessed AI that turned out to be running the colony planet.

My favorite part was the PC infiltration of a "self-improvement company" (really a dangerous cult which was using demon possession as its road to self-improvement): one of the PCs managed to get himself quite far into the cult leadership, while the others worked from outside to support him and gather the evidence needed to convince the authorities. The insider PC complicated things immensely by falling in love with the cult leader's daugher.... The arc ended with a very tense raid to extricate the PC (and his girlfriend) and try to bag the cult leader; and a lengthy roleplaying situation where the PCs were trying to discover if there was any way to redeem the daughter.

I think fantasy is a lot easier to run, and I've had good experiences there too, but this game really stands out for me. It rewarded thinking, planning, and understanding the setting. The PCs managed to uncover a ring of vampires by tracing a complex series of clues starting with "Why does this class of people on the space station spend more money and drink more fluids than they ought to?" and ending with a PC needing to deliberately bait a suspected vampire into...

If the first volume is any indication of the series, I think there will be much opportunity for characters to form relationships and bonds with NPCs in the CotCT AP - volume 1 introduces a number of NPCs that it seems will be recurring characters throughout the campaign and puts the PCs in situations where they can interact with the NPCs. This is one of the main reasons why I love urban campaigns so much - the opportunity for the DM to grow and develop NPCs in much the same way the players grow and develop the PCs.

My solution to bring the Faceless One back as a recurring villian - he is a simulacrum. Simulacrum is a 7th lvl spell which can be accessed by a wizard at 13th lvl. It creates a duplicate that is at 1/2 the lvl of the creator - 6th lvl. Watch your PC's eyes bug out when you tell them that after striking the final blow their foe melts into a puddle of water (simulacrum is made of snow & ice).

I'm thinking I'll have the real Faceless One just before a Gathering of Winds. I don't plan on running the Champion's Belt - don't want to run PC's as gladiators. I'm also setting in the Realms so I plan to have some of the action take place in Skullport and bring in Nhyris D'Hothek and the Crown of Horns. Thinking of a triangle with PC's, Nhyris & shadowraths, and Faceless One & Ebon Triad all vying for the Crown of Horns. Haven't decided what role the crown will play yet though.