Narlena's page

I'm prepping for the next few sessions in the game I'm GM-ing, and was hoping for some general advice on doing urban intrigue well. The PCs will be arriving in the capital city soon, and they have a few goals to achieve there (get more information and get to/use the well guarded portal in the center of town). I want to encourage the players to use methods other than fighting their way through the city to achieve their goals.

What kinds of things do you like to use for urban intrigue? Which mechanics have you found to be most helpful? How do you keep it from getting boring or turning into just rolling on a table of rumors to find out what the PCs hear? (And do you have any advice on mystery/clues/finding information in a city?)

So most of the material I've read about other planets in the pathfinder universe makes it clear that not everyone knows there is alien life and portals to other worlds, but that there are many legends surrounding the concept.
I'm trying to come up with and collect legends explaining portals to other worlds, life on other planets, etc. - legends that contain at least some small element of truth surrounded by speculation and tradition.

Does anyone have anything they've run across or thought of that they'd like to share?

I'm GMing a game where the party has chosen to travel on foot all the way across the country. They could have travelled by boat if they had been willing to part with some gold to rent/buy one, but no dice.
I don't want to just say "many days later you arrive" because then their choice to be cheap and walk has no weight.
I've managed to make the first few days of travel interesting - some random encounters, a blizzard, pretty scenery, a bunch of fey running around in the moonlight trying to trick the PCs, etc. They've been loving it so far, but I'm starting to run out of ideas, and they still have a ways to go.

They're traveling through a magical forest filled with fey and dire wolves and blizzards and winter-themed monsters, and have pretty much figured out how to not get lost. I want to come up with more role-playing opportunities as well as interesting combat encounters but I've got a bit of writer's block.

Any ideas?

If they were to come across, say weapon/armor with Spell Storing, or an unlabeled wand, or something of a similar nature, how can the PCs discover what it is?

I know a Knowledge (arcana) check will tell you the spell storing weapon/armor has an evocation aura, but is there some way they can find out exactly what it does via knowledge checks? Or do they just have to test it out and see what happens?

(And how does spell storing armor work if the wearer is unaware of the fact that a spell is already stored in it?)

I'm new at GMing, and trying to find ways to make treasure exciting and not "you found a +1 dagger and 342p worth of stuff"

I'm a new GM, running a module that's about to be finished. I've found another I want to run, and it works pretty well plot-wise with only a few tweaks. The issue is that the next module starts at level 4, and the PCs will be about halfway between 2 and 3 at the end of this module.
How can I get them to level 4 without it feeling like a string of random encounters with no plot relevance? They have to get to the next town over, so there's a few days of travel involved, but I don't want to spend forever just beating up monsters in the forest.

The basics:
They're about to finish a pretty self-contained dungeon-crawl type quest. Clues in the dungeon point them towards the capital city if they want to chase down some thieves and find treasure (The thieves have a few months head start already, but they're missing some key information). Also, the Forest Marshall wants to hire them to help retake a fort just outside the capital city. The fort will hold yet more clues to the location of treasure and the goals of the thieves. I want the PCs to be at level 4 before trying to take the fort.

They have to make the journey from Kassen to Tamran on foot or by boat, but I don't relish the thought of getting them to level 4 by just beating up monsters on the road.

How do you come up with story tie-ins for side quests? How do you manage long journeys?
Is there anything you've done that worked really well?

Thanks!