Micronian's page

we use This 5000 card box along with dividers, labeled appropriately, like these

On a completely unrelated note, I know I'm probably getting into wishful thinking / PACg v2.0 territory, but I'm going to throw it out there, in case it can be incorporated:

I'd love to see more made of alignment.

+1 and agree. There are several cool ways to do this such as the one you mentioned or during the Justifiable Diecide (sp?) from WotR there was a penalty mechanic for using cursed blessings (our play group felt this was directly related to alignments).

See page 16 for the villain encounter sequence. In order, it is:
1. Attempt to Temporarily Close Open Locations
2. Encounter the Villain
3. If You Defeat the Villain, Close the Villain's Location
4. Check to See Whether the Villain Escapes
5. If the Villain Has Nowhere to Escape, You Win!

Glad to know we've been doing it right, thanks for the clarification.

I browse these forums maybe once a quarter so hopefully I’m not too late to the party. Background info on our PACG group:
1) There are 5 of us
2) We are all in our 40’s
3) We have all been friends since middle school
4) We are all experienced RPGers (both as a PC and DM)

I mention the above because it provides some context as to what issues we might (or might not) see. First I’ll start with some ideas that I’ve seen thus far and would like to endorse.

Penalties for Failure – Yes yes please yes! I believe I posted an idea about this maybe 2 ago. In an RPG or story, if you have objective A and you do not accomplish it, this significantly alters objective B (in route, difficulty, both, etc.). Currently, it seems as the only cost of failure is the time spent playing the scenario and even then, we got some cool stuff so no big deal. Failing a scenario is more of a meh rather than instill a sense of urgency or impending doom for what lies ahead now that you screwed this up.

More Story – The only exposure to Pathfinder our group has is from this card game. Sometimes we will dig around online to try and find a PDF or additional material during a campaign because it offers so much insight as to some of the cards we’re playing with. Not only characters but locations, weapons, items, etc… I posted a while back complaining that a MM “key” card didn’t have the correct power but it was pointed out that in the story, the “key” was not actually a key but a holy symbol, the power made much more sense after knowing this. Including additional story content in the box, or as a printable / downloadable section of the website, would be fantastic.

Side Quests / Secondary Objectives – We’ve always tossed around ideas on how to make the game a little less linear (penalties for failure mentioned above works into this as well). This could be a great area for those lost loot cards and could even be for temporary rewards (Using MM as an example, if a side-quest was completed, then all merchants have +1 cards of their type after this scenario only).

Merchants / Vendors – from the MM set, this is a fantastic mechanic. We actually had a house version of this for all of the previous box sets. We didn’t like having access to so many cards when rebuilding a deck so we had a trade value to get basics, and later elites, only (much like a particular merchant in MM, one of the markets I believe). I hope this mechanic will continue throughout future sets.

Some things I’d like to see improved or disagree with:

1) Temporary closing has been mentioned before but our group has always temporary “blocked” a location when someone encounters the villain first. Long ago we never really knew the correct order but just figured that made the most sense. Experimenting with the order can ultimately change the strategy either way but we thought by handling locations first it was less prone to manipulation (if this is now a clear rule then apologies).

2) Maybe a better QA/QC process for cards. Hopefully this won’t come across as being too OCD or nit-picky but there have been errors on cards (like a weapon not having a certain damage type) that are really significant errors which should have been noticed before printing (more leniency in RotR, but not by now). New players may never know there is an FAQ with card rulings/updates for each box set and sometimes we even forget to look.

3) Removing Locations Once Closed – I would not like to see this happen in PACG. Having closed locations are great to generate lasting effects for a scenario, offer a place of reprieve or regroup yet still pose some risk (monsters or barriers that affect all locations for example). A closed location is generally safe, however nothing is for certain …this is a great thing in my opinion.

I’ll try and come up with a few more thoughts as the weekend progresses…

Thanks for the game context and insight into the item Vic! Now our group can put this to rest.

Axoq,

I appreciate the feedback. I understand that combinations of cards may seem awkward, especially given the random nature of how locations are constructed.

What I am referring to specifically is the text on a single card that seems thematically wrong with itself.

While this certainly is not a full-blown RPG, it is the card game adaptation of one. Having an aquatic monster at a desert location may be humorous, however I would expect the themes of individual cards to make sense.

I'm fine with how it's currently worded but it just seems "off", strictly from a mental image / RPG sense..at least to me.

You have this magical key that helps bypass obstacles but doesn't actually open anything.

no worries either way

I don't have Seelah in front of me to look at the exact wording of her power.

If her power triggers when she has to make a check, then yes...she can use it.

If her power triggers when she encounters a card, the no...she cannot use it.

Take a look at how the power is worded and it should make more sense (hopefully).

So during an adventure last night the Key of the Second Vault item came up and we had a question about the "banish" part of this card's wording.

You see, it doesn't specify if the barrier you banish is defeated (or not). While this might not matter for a barrier such as Collapsing Scaffolding, it does matter for something like Trapped Locker, which rewards you when the barrier is defeated.

So a key works on scaffolding but not on a locked box? Hmmmmm

We played the card exactly as it was written, however we felt the game developers intended for which ever barrier you banish to be defeated. Figured I'd put my question here for clarification.

Thanks in advance!

Skizzerz,

Thanks for the insight. I'm an avid player of PACG however I have zero knowledge of the RPG story.

Reign of Winter sounds kick-ass tho

Soooooo,

Now that deck 6 will be shipping soon, I've been looking around the forums for any chatter about the next box set but haven't found much.

I want to board the hype-train but can't find the station! choo-chooooo

Anyone seen a preview, talk with a dev at a con or even complete speculation?

Micronian wrote:

I'm guessing the digital version is single player?

They've announced single and pass-and-play multiplayer. No word on any form of local multiple device or online multiplayer.

Hmmm, ok... thanks for the info!

I'm guessing the digital version is single player?

A blue tooth option for co-op multiplayer would be so sweet (thinks back to the days of mario kart or tetris on the Nintendo DS)

Well, I'm a professional game designer, and I wrote Shield of Rannick, a full adventure path with 30 all new scenarios for your Rise of the Runelords game. I also wrote Mhar of Leng, a five-scenario "Adventure 7" for Rise of the Runelords. Both are absolutely free at welbybumpus.com, and I suppose that sells very well! :-)

I'm working on a new adventure path for the Skull and Shackles set called Bloodlust Corsairs. I haven't yet decided whether my project after that will be an adventure path for the Wrath of the Righteous set, or a large cross-over requiring all three base sets. Probably the latter, I think.

That's awesome material and thank you; I will definitely check it out.

So here is another idea that my gaming group wishes PAIZO would create:
Expansion Decks

One thing our table top game master has been working on is our own, custom campaign using the PACG and some of the characters we completed adventure paths with. One thing we would love to see are expansion decks that offer something like the following:

Adventure Gear Expansion:
• Additional gear: weapons, items, armor (> level 6)

Scroll Case Expansion:
• Additional spells (> level 6)

Adventure Pals Expansion:
• Additional allies and cohorts (> level 6)

The ability to create a custom campaign with all available PACG cards is a huge plus to extending the life of the product beyond just playing the base sets. Having a product that’s professionally designed and balanced for adventures beyond level 6 would be something I believe would sell very well.

What do you guys think?

Much like the OP, I was having a similar issue finding promos. When I eventually found them (on ebay or where ever), often they were at a premium.

I got a subscription ...problem solved.

I didn't get my promo card either.

Micronian,

From a narrative point of view, I love this idea. From a gameplay point of view, it makes me nervous. If you give rewards for success that make the players more powerful and give then penalties for failure, you risk a situation where strong groups win-more, and more casual groups could go into a spiral of losing.

As the Weasel said "If there was a practical way to balance/manage/print an idea like this, it could be electric. At a glance, it's a big undertaking, though."

Good point, you definitely don't want people failing on purpose. I think that "MOST" of the time, the reward for a conditional scenario would be the chance to make up the reward you would have gotten for success. This would help mitigate intentional sandbagging. Maybe every so often the reward might be different ...of course passing the "balance" test by the dev team.

...Imagine that every so often you get to choose if you crash the evil guy's castle with an army, or rather attend his villainous ball in disguises.

This would be such a blast, even getting the adventure party to AGREE which path to take would be an epic debate for some groups!

...then a group might activate 'hard mode' or 'easy mode' on the next scenario. This would allow different types of groups to play at their level and pace.

This made me LoL for two reasons...one, it's a great idea and calling it hard mode made me chuckle. Second, the group I play in has a similar homemade rule for when we fail a scenario, which I think we shall now call hard mode :D

IF Scenario = FAILED, THEN:
1) any boons acquired during a failed scenario are returned
2) the blessings deck for the second attempt gets reduced 1d4-1 (added pressure / focus ...helps get some chronic shoppers out of the market and helping to find the bad guy :P )

Great comments all around, nice to have this chat with you guys.

Fair enough Jim,

Truth be told, if something like this were ever part of the official game...a separate card for "conditional scenarios" would be awesome. I'd pay an extra $1 for sure ;)

fuji6100 is using logic, reasoning, politeness and articulating an opinion without lingo typically found on the internet....

I ...I.... I don't know what to do...I feel my eyes watering.

Paizo forums, where have you been all my life!

Ah ok,

I know charges can do things without being spent, via use of the mythic path, but things like auto acquire a Blessing of Ascension would be a relevant effect for having a mythic charge but not a mythic path.

Good to know, thanks.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2sajt?Mythic-Charges-Without-A-Mythic-Path

In which a developer states that there is no rule preventing you from having a charge without a path - you simply have no way to use it.

Ok, thanks for the clarification. Though the charges still do not do anything..since that power comes from the path correct?

There are two ways.

1. Defeat a Mythic bane (eg, Temptation of Big Die)
2. Use a Blessing of Ascension for that purpose.

You'd keep the one on your character card (for want of a better place for it.)

My point is according to the rule book for WotR, a mythic charge is placed (and used) by your mythic path. If you are playing AD0 or AD1, and do not have a mythic path...you cannot acquire (or use) mythic charges. The WotR rules wording about spending charges says "After you acquire a mythic path..."

This is of course unless a developer has clarified this somewhere on the forums.

I agree with the original poster (OP) as well. Some facts / observations about WotR:

• I've only played PACG in large groups (>4).
  
• We spent hours selecting our party members, looking for ability synergies and assigning very specific roles like the OP mentions.
  
• You can't play WotR like the previous two sets. For both RotR and S&S, after about deck 4 there was never a feeling/threat of actual death. Sure there was damage the occasional loss of your hand but I never really worried about actually dying.
  
• We spend quite some time discussing the locations and formulating a strategy before we even start. Which location to close first, which to avoid, what characters synergize with certain location effects, etc...
  
• Stick to your strategy! (unless of course things have gone horribly wrong).
  
• Like others have mentioned, it gets better...hang in there! There will always be a small component of luck, we're playing a card game that's randomized with shuffling. However I don't feel WotR is any more or less dependent on luck than a previous set.
  

I guess a bonus to having such a high mortality rate is getting to play more characters :) Between the previous sets and class decks there are a ton of choices.

You can have mythic charges in Adventures 0 and 1 as well, the issue is before you reset your hand you lose any number of them greater than the current adventure number (so charges don't stick around between turns in AD0, although in AD1 you can have a single charge stick around to make Ascension an auto-acquire).

If you don't even get a mythic path (the ability to use mythic charges) until after completion of AD1, how is it possible to have mythic charges before then, where exactly would you put them?

Ok, so how about an example?

Take Skull & Shackles, Adventure Deck 6, Scenario #2: "The Armada"

So the premise of this scenario is that your pirate fleet goes toe-to-toe against one of the most powerful and feared fleets around, the Chelish Navy.

Using a system like I mentioned above, let's say you failed this Scenario. In a movie, book or table top RPG you couldn't just run and get another fleet to fight again (at least not before the bad guy wins).

So why not have a condition on Scenario #3 Storming For Hazard say something like:

• If you failed The Armada, players must play the following scenario before proceeding to Storming Fort Hazard.
  

The description text can be something like:
Your Pirate fleet fought hard and dirty but did not manage to break the lines of the mighty Chelish Navy; however this does not mean they are not wounded! The time seems ripe to run a blockade; load one ship with your best warriors and sneak past the damaged Armada.

• The Ship Abrogail's Fury is no longer available for players to select.
  

Scenario Details
The actual scenario could be one where the players need to evade encountered ships (instead of fighting them).

• If the player's ship remains damaged for 2 advances of the blessing deck, they fail the scenario.
  
• At the end of the scenario the players could be rewarded based on the number of ships they successfully evade. This could give the players a chance to earn some of the rewards they missed from failing the Scenario The Armada....OR it could be something completely different (although probably not quite as good).
  

I'm a HUGE fan of the regular promo cards that come with the subscription. For the longest time, I was buying these cards individually online and eventually got my own subscription for the sole reason of promos. Given this, I'd say Paizo's strategy is working.

I don't have any issues with the ICONIC promos being included with mini's or other marketing strategies. My problem with the ICONIC promos is that a few of them seem massively imbalanced when compared to other promos (and other cards in general)...some are even game breaking in my opinion. I don't think the ICONIC promos scale in power level as good as the other promos do.

my $.02

I haven't posted a lot on these forums so I hope this is the right place.

So I'm an old-time table top guy (I'm sure like many of us) that really enjoys how the PACG integrates elements of card games and RPGs. I think there are several ways PACG could add more depth to the game and the idea I wanted to present today centers around story telling.

Visualizing the action and following the story behind the scenarios is something my group and I really enjoy. Often times we will look at the actual table-top modules to get a better understanding of the adventure setting, villains, stories, etc...

I think an idea that would enhance the story aspect of PACG would be to alter future scenarios based on the success or failure of the current scenario. So let's say your group fails a scenario...rather than just replay it, there could be rules/mechanics to alter a future scenario(s) based on that failure. Merely replaying a scenario could definitely be an option, but having your enemies change, or your path from A to B change could add another layer of depth to PACG.

I know you can add in your own role play reasons for replaying a scenario, but it would be a ton of fun if you failed a scenario and had to take a different path to complete the adventure deck.

From a cost/production perspective, Paizo wouldn't have to create extra Scenario cards. They could just add sections to existing Scenarios that have different rewards / effects / etc...if the previous scenario had been failed.

Thoughts?

cool, thanks for thinking about me :)

Howdy Friends,

I'm looking to buy the PACG cards that come with the miniature set (set #3 in particular, also missing Kyra from set #2). If anyone is buying the set that only wants the minis and would be willing to sell me the cards, please send a PM.

Cheers,
M

thanks...my first post ...DOH :p

Howdy Friends,

I'm looking to buy the PACG cards that come with the miniature set (set #3 in particular). If anyone is buying the set that only wants the minis and would be willing to sell me the cards, please send a PM.

Cheers,
M

thanks for the suggestions!

So as a PACG player...$30 for 6 cards?

....must...resist....purchase....