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I also wanted to know if any of you have incorporated any of the death traps into the vaults listed in the back of this book, and if so how did it go and do you have any suggestions for running them?

I have used the Pendulous Staircase and Philosopher's Stone thus far and they have been very memorable encounters, causing the PC's to think outside the box a little.

As I noted above, the in the Philosopher's Stone trap, the PC's really didn't push each other out in the hall, but tried to stop the ball with a stone elemental which failed. I did not did not do the staircase right as I forgot to roll a reflex save for the PC's every round only when they broke another stair (it was about 1am at that point) so the stairs didn't fall. The PC's did get smacked around a lot though. In the end, the PC's did cut the chain at the top of the main shaft causing the whole thing to come down. They will use a rope next time.

I am going to try to use all of these traps in the halls and caves, though I may need to adjust the save DC's for some of them as my PC's are at a higher level than what is suggested.

Kudos to Gareth Hanrahan for these traps. They are very well written and provide some different play as opposed to fighting or diplomacy.

Jenner, how do you get around the fact that the people can't willingly accept aid if they are paranoid? That is the problem we have run into. Those who are insane cannot take the resotrations whether they are spells or potions from other players. One of the paranoid players has even gone so far as to say that not only are they not going to accept aid from others, but they are not going to give aid to those who would willingly accept it. That sounds what an extremely paranoid person would do to me.

If they were truly paranoid, I would even argue that they wouldn't trust their faction either, and would not spend their faction points for services, as the faction is most likely out to get them.

This is all on top of the fact that the magic fountain can only be used once per year. At first I was thinking that once the PC's found this thing that they could just come back to that vault to heal up once they became insane again, but they can't. In fact, since the portal is in a vault infested with the spores, every time they use the portal to go there or come back to camp, they have to make a will save against the madness. Or maybe there is something written in the other books that says the spores lose their effectiveness, but I haven't read it if it is in there.

Given all of this, to really play out the insanity and the lack of cures, could potentially add harmful effects to the players and NPC's for the rest of the AP. I understand having to bend the rules, but I really do not like changing the adventure all around just because something is uncomfortable, but it seems like I am going to eventually have to ignore the spores, and or the one year limit on the fount. Tell me I am missing something.

Here is something else that came up the other day. In the temple district, the party alchemist became paranoid when he failed his will save from one of the ghosts. That is bad enough, but the party doesn't have a cleric, or any kind of divine spell caster.

I have been letting them use Jask when they go back to camp. I bumped him up to level 6, but I told them that's as far as the old man is going to go. He's ready to go home anyway.

So there is no way for the insanity to be cured or reduced, except through 17 weeks of successful will saves (not likely).

What I did was adopt the Pathfinder Society rules for buying services from the faction either with gold or prestige points as follows:

Atonement 500gp 2pp
Break Enchantment 450gp 2pp
Dispel Magic 150gp 1pp
Greater Dispel Magic 660gp 2pp
Greater Restoration 5,910gp 16pp
Lesser Restoration 60gp 1pp
Make Whole 60gp 1pp
Neutralize Poison 280gp 2pp
Raise Dead 5,450gp 16pp
Regenerate 910gp 3pp
Remove Blind/Deaf 150gp 1pp
Remove Curse 150gp 1pp
Remove Disease 150gp 1pp
Remove Paralysis 50gp 1pp
Restoration 380gp 2pp
Resroration dispel negative lvl 1,380gp 4pp
Resurrection 10,910gp 32pp
True Resurrection 26,530gp 77pp
Have Your Body Recovered by a rescue team 5pp only

We haven't tried it out yet, but it does give the PC's some options instead of repeatedly punishing them for not having a cleric or giving them a free pass with a high level NPC cleric. This way there is at least a way (though pricey) for them to stay normal.

We'll see how this works in the vaults.

Since I have played this out a little with my group, I have modified the timeline somewhat. I made the other factions start exploring the different sections of the city. I also used someone's idea of having a set number of research points from each city district, but changed the discovery DC to 25 in general, 30 if the section is hostile, and 20 if it has been tamed. Furthermore, I tied how much a faction (including PC's) knows about a section to to how many points they have. If they have all the points from a district (roughly 20) then they know all there is to know including how to activate that particular spear.

The other factions pretty much follow this rule as well, however there is some fudging of their stats if they fall to far behind with the research or if it looks like they are going to be destroyed too early.

Doing things this way changes the timetable somewhat, due to how many discovery points a group has and/or which way the PC's go.

This also allows for the exploration to be done away from the table, saving our meeting time for fighting and such. Sometimes our group will go two weeks without playing and they are able to tell me their parameters for exploration, either to keep rolling up days until they have explored their conquered section, or roll out a certain number of days till the convoy gets back, or until something major happends like accumulating 15 destruction points.

Since this group is allied with the pirates, one of the ways they can gain status is to donate 10,000g to the free captains. When I told my group that, and they saw what they would get in return, they were not impressed. However it gave me an idea. The way I initially thought the camp store would run was that the players could buy or sell anything under a certain price (2,000g) and every other purchase would have to be sent for. I decided to extend the pirate donation rule to say that for every gold they donated to the pirates, the store's trade capacity would increase by that much. Currently they have donated an additional 2,000g. I am also adding additional trade capacity (200-500g) when the PC's stabilize the reagion either by defeating or allying with other factions or city zones.

So far this has worked out well.

Thanks. I did think about some of the groups getting there erlier or later than the PC's, due to the reason you named. My guys got to the outpost 3rd because they let their supplies burn up. They didn't think it was their responsibility to take care of ther fire.

However, I think I am on the same wavelength you are with regard to the start day. Even if camp is established, who can tell how long things will take to get a party ready to send out into the city. (Also, the PC's have no idea (nor do they really seem to care about the time lines of the other groups).

I toyed with the idea of one or the other groups being destroyed. I have been playing up the rivalry between the PC's and the Red Mantis, and have built in a showdown in the temple district, so they will probably end up being wiped out by the PC's. The hot elf leader woman might make it out with the evil sword. Based on the way the Aspis Consortium is in this adventure, they will likely bite the dust due to the position I put them in. If they take control of the Market district, then the PC's won't have the pleasure of doing it. Short of that, I can see them being soul food for the magical beasts.

My main concern was how a senario like this will play into the rest of the adventure. There is a chance for the PC's to reunite with all the NPC's from the first book, but the posibility of some of the other factions being ruined is a definate possibility. I just don't want to be painted into a corner by not having key parts of this game in tact.

I read all the posts here and I must say that you guys sound like you've been doing this for a while. When I read the 7 spears book through, I was a little lost. I really wasn't thinking about what the other factions would be doing since it wasn't noted in the book.

I like the idea of the spears affecting the whole city. This could be interesting if certain factions control different spears and turn theirs back on when it turns off. Also, the PC's, who are allied with the pirates, ventured into the military district and fought Olujimi, however he escaped. While they were gone, their camp got hit for 10 destruction points so they are most likely going to hang around for a couple of days to make sure it isn't wiped away. That will allow for some of what I have planned to take place.

Thinking more linearly I came up with a timeline of events. Of course this will be affected by what the PC's eventually do.

Day 1 -all groups set up camps as described in book.

Day 2 -Sargarvian Government leads an attack on military district.
-Aspis Consortium infiltrates the mercantile district. They remain in the district and can help or hinder PC’s.

Day 3 -The Red Mantis infiltrate the Temple district.

Day 4 -Sargavian attack is finally repulsed by Olujimi. 50 Charau-ka killed. Jask and 5 other fighters are captured and sent to the arena to fight a dinosaur or two.
-Pathfinders attack the residential district.

Day 5 -Aspis Consortium Attacks area E2
-The Red Mantis forge an alliance with Lessikal.

Day 6 -Sargarvians regroup and attack again defeating Olujimi.
-Red Mantis move their camp to peninsula between L1 & L2

Day 7 -Grugonoth is awakened and routes the Sargarvians. They return only if he is dead. When they return, they set up permanent camp in area D1. Twenty days after they return, they accidently figure out how to activate the spear and do so if it is not already on. If it is turned off, they do not know how to turn it back on.

Day 8 -Sargaravian Government will attempt to recruit the help of the PC’s if they have not already secured the sector.
-Aspis Consortium retreats out of area E2, and moves camp to peninsula just south of E5.
-Pathfinders kill 118 vegepigmies and are allowed to look around the area. They set up camp in the long tan building just southwest of G1.

Day 10 -Aspis Consortium explores E3 and is driven off by the chimeras. Ishirou is captured and they "play" with him. AP remain in their camp until Chimeras are defeated by PC's. Once cleared, the Consortium figures out how to turn on the spear in 10 days by the jewels. If changed, they do not want pay to turn it back on.

Day 15 -Gelick is captured by Egzimora.

Day 16 -Red Mantis activate Temple spear. They keep reactivating it unless the military spear is active.

Day21 -If the Aspis Consortium is established in the mercantile district and the Sargavan Government in the military district, they will join to clear what remains of the government district (F). This will happen 5 days after both are established in their districts.

Day 22 -Pathfinders activate the residential spear. Unless hindered, they will do this each night. This does not work as Red Mantis activates there spear as soon as this one is activated. By the next day they allow the residential spear to stay on all night, turning on theirs in the morning.

Day 25 - If not allied with AP, the Sargaravian Government regroups (assuming they have been in camp for 15 days) and attacks the nearest, weakest sector.

Day 30 -Red Mantis find the Mantis Blade and it is given to Chivane. Chivane assumes control of the temple district. (Red Mantis must be driven off in addition to other conquered conditions having to be met.)

Day 31 -Ishirou is finally killed by the goat head of the main chimera as it played too rough.

Day 35 -Red Mantis launch an attack on boggards in Farming district, in an attempt to get ‘key’ to Savath’s Crypt.

Day 40 -If the Pathfinders are still in the residential district, and Egzimora is still alive, they fall under her charm and fight for her, until she is defeated.

Day 45 -Gelick succumbs to the torture and becomes a vegetable man.

Day 60 -Red Mantis is finally repulsed by the Green God. (may or may not have found the key). Sasha is separated from the group makes her way to the PC’s camp (maybe).

Day 100- If the Pathfinders are still in the residential district, and Egzimora is still alive, they have irrevocably started turning into vegetable people and cannot be redeemed.

Day 120- If the Pathfinders are still in the residential district, and Egzimora is still alive, they are all advanced vegetable people.

This is all very flexible, depending on how fast or slow the group pushes through the sectors. However, this does give me a sequence of events.

I have not looked at the next book yet, and I was wondering how these events will work into the next adventure.