I want to run a roleplay idea through the crucible of the other gms. Like many, I have neglected tracking sin points. Part of the reason is that I play alignment behind the scenes. Part of me also knew that, when the time came, they would not be the same characters. Where that leaves me is with a party that I could label with a few sins here and there based on how I feel they've played their characters, but that seems more fun for me and less fun for my players. So I thought that I would create a trial for their characters to undergo as part of passing through the portal to runeforge. Sort of a personality test, designed when Runeforge was built, for whatever alien notions people had 10K years ago on why it was necessary. I looked for similar threads here and found one piece of inspiration here. For additional inspiration, I am also thinking about The Cube personality test and that issue of Knights of the Dinner Table where Sara gets a chance to gm and runs them through a personality test(epic, btw).

Closer to the test from the link, I want it to reflect the seven sins, and be designed to look for the associated virtues as well. i.e. the Envy test is _meant_ to be the Charity test... because in my version of history, Runeforge was built before the corruption of magic from the seven virtues of rule into sin magic was complete(and wouldn't they have insisted that they were being true to the virtues anyway?! but that's a different thread) Here's what I have so far:

Begin by describing their experience as they step into the portal, both for the person and for the rest of the party watching them. These are both individual journeys and a group journey for anyone who steps through in the hour the portal is open.

Once done, I'll know which of the wings of Runeforge welcome them. The party finds that everything which happened during the journey goes away: no new possessions are held, they can't kill with one blow, nothing.
We play in three days. It's intended to be a session where dice are not rolled. However, I'm not opposed to changing that. Or any part, really. I'm looking for feedback, and the only thing I'm truly married to is the idea of it being an existential journey. So what can I do to improve the parts or the whole?

...between Longtooth and Freezmaw; I'm confused. I get that Freezemaw has a lot of magic items and the greatly changes the value of his hoard, but I assumed, as most anyone would that the pile of coins he collected for 300 years would eclipse the pile of coins that Longtooth's been collecting for x number of years(and complaining about the size). And yet, they are....weirdly similar and yet off-puttingly disparate:
.
.
.

Longtooth:
360,000 cp
29,000 sp
3,000 gp
23 pp

Freezemaw:
39,000 cp
9,000 sp
3,000 gp
120 pp

What the what?! One expects both magic items present AND coin total to be much greater for the older, and more powerful, dragon. What am I missing? I searched the boards and found nothing, so if there's an old thread about this, please point me to it.

One of my players started running Curse of the Crimson Throne for his family. I've read of tie-ins between the two campaigns... enough that I had considered running CotCT after this campaign. Are there any straight-up spoilers, though? Is running CotCT going to tip him off to anything juicy in RotRL? Anything I should change as a result?

We're hip-deep in Jorgenfist, if that matters at all. Thanks!

This is a share thread for fiction written for players.

My players expressed a real desire to know more about what's going on. The reached midway through Book 3 and still had no clue what the larger plot was (some key character deaths did not help). We had a talk about it, and realized that gaming is unique in that you are the audience and the main character(s), and so there's a fine line but definite line between what they can know as audience and what they can know as protagonists. They were suffering as audience members, so I offered to do some writing on the side for them to give some backstory they might not otherwise get. i.e. The Scribbler... I remember playing in Jade Regent and seeing on the boards that a particular npc had a three-page backstory in the book, but in play ended up coming across as a door guard. I definitely see a chance to enrich player experiences both at and away from table, here.

And rather than sit on them as I have been, I thought I would post them for others to use or not use. I don't have time for things like rewrites, though, so everything is kind of as is. I'll make notes about things that seem like errors or singular to my campaign.

Feel free to add stories if you have them.

When my players found their first Sihedron Medalllion and identified it, there was some general ooh-ing and aah-ing, but they decided to give it to the wizard who was a little apprehensive about wearing something an evil villain wore that harkened back to an age they knew nothing about. Consequently, he didn't immediately put it on. The next session he still hadn't. I was a little sad, as that meant they were missing out on a some flavor and knowledge going forward, but I generally wrote it off because they hung on to the medallion.

They've got 3 of them now, though, and still no one will touch them. I couldn't believe I'd failed so miserably to stress the advantage of a free action false life spell to my (new) players. It had been so long since they were part of play (and because one player lamented that she didn't know where the story was going)-while doing a WBL check for my own edification, I looked up the price of a Sihedron Medallion and read the description. I was online because I was on lunch at work; not reading my book. And there it was:

So ware, new GMs. Print out or write or type up the description of what Sihedron Medallions do, because if you let them look it up, they'll get some spoiler material. Just sayin.

My group has done well so far, in book one and two, despite a penchant for running straight to the BBEG in each dungeon. They are also new to roleplaying, with the exception of the alchemist's player. I recently adjusted the Shadowclock back to as-written because we lost the druid player to real life, leaving 4 players.

Anyway, I used a fan-made journal for Ironbriar's diary/ledger which gave them some good info on Xanesha's powers ,etc, but they didn't think to do more research (odd for this research heavy crew), but they headed to the Shadowclock and prepped for the Scarecrow more than Xanesha. They blew through the Scarecrow, they enjoyed the suspense of the stairs and survived the bell. They used invisibility to great effect and easily overcame the two Faceless Stalkers that met them at the top, and even located the third one hiding in the clockworks in case I needed some flanking for Xanesha.

Prefight:
The ranger uses a fly potion to fly away from the tower and check out the roof (which I have made flat, rather than slanted). X, having heard the bell and buffed, interacts with the ranger via her demon illusion to toy with them. He makes his will save, reports the lone demon to the others (who make a Kn:Planes check and can't figure out what kind of demon, because she really didn't bother to make an anatomically correct demon. Aka the DM used a mini inconsistent with the bestiary) The ranger flies back to the rest of the group, having made his will to disbelieve the demon, but not having seen X.

Round 1:
The alchemist moves to the top of the stairs. He's nearly fully buffed and in his feral mutagen form, ready for a fight. He can see invisibility, so he knows X is there. X goes next, though, and Charms him. Oops. Ranger flies back up to flank the spot where he thinks X is, causing an AoO (X simply says "Welcome", pleasantly to him), so X is visible, the despair from Impaler of Thorns goes off, making the alchemist and ranger sad. Cleric and Wizard double move to make it onto the roof.
Round 2:
Alchemist forlornly drinks an Enlarge Person potion. X, forgetting that the Ranger can fly, attempts to Bullrush him off the roof, and comes up 5' short. Great- everyone knows that's possible way to die. Ranger full attacks and hits all four times. Wizard uses Dispel Magic on X's mirror image and takes it down. Cleric channels to heal the Ranger (bless was already up).
Round 3:
Alchemist dejectedly drinks a potion of Bear's Strength right next to X, who doesn't attack him. X proclaims that even if they prevail the city will swallow them up (backstory: they never bothered to confirm that Ironbriar was the bbeg of the sawmill, so they just left him and Magnimar without reporting it to any authorities, so the city rumors are that Ironbriar was getting too close to finding the murderer and paid with his life. The city watch is now looking for a group that matches their description), and full attacks the ranger, much to his chagrin. The ranger full attacks but only hits once, bringing x down to 3/4 her hp. The wizard attempts to use Command on her (W5,C2), but she's immune. The cleric runs up and uses Inflict Moderate Wounds on her, but fails to get past her SR.
Round 4:
Alchemist, fully buffed, summons the will to attack but finds that he only has friends on the roof and doesn't know how to make them all stop fighting. He does nothing. X bulrushes the cleric off the roof, but the wizard is handy with a Feather Fall, so the cleric catches herself on the clockface, 60 ft below. The ranger provokes an AoO to fly down and retrieve her and fly almost all the way back to the roof. The wizard tries magic missile, but fails the SR. Cleric heals the ranger as he carries her.
Round 5:
Alchemist gives in to despair and does nothing. Player looks up duration of Charm Monster and is grumpy. X casts magic missile at the wizard, and moves to a new position on the roof. Ranger drops the cleric and pulls out his bow (he decided he didn't like being toe-toe with her. Wizard tries magic missile again(?) does no damage. Cleric runs up and tries inflict moderate again, this time it gets through.
Round 6:
Alchemist broods, now. X uses her medusa mask on the ranger, _who fails his fort save_.

We left off there for the night, only because I knew in my heart of hearts that this fight was far from over: The party is down to 2 actively fighting members, and X hasn't hit the threshold where she begins healing herself.
The good news is the replacement for the druid is starting next session, so we will likely have the deus ex machine built in that saves their bacon(like a caster with a dispel primed and ready, that's been tracking the party or the tower and decided to follow them up). Otherwise, it doesn't look good, because neither the wizard or cleric have a counter to the charm or petrification. The Impaler's despair trickled through to real life, too- it was like a funeral march as the players left that night.
Hope you enjoyed the read.
I'll update after the next time we play.

Ok gang, here's a long story with a concern at the end, submitted for your opinions. It details my groups travails through Thistletop, and the possibilities awaiting them when they get back. It starts off dry (because I think I'm going to do something short), but I eventually realize I need some more detail.

The party invades the mainland portion of Thistletop, they tangle with Gogmurt first and after coming to a stalemate with him, they parlay and gain unmolested passage over the bridge. Gogmurt does alert Ripnugget, though, and the party finds the island on alert. They wait for the patrol of commandos to head out of sight and assault the main door. This fight finishes quickly, and the tower reinforcements are intimidated into telling the party where to find Ripnugget. Large battle ensues with the end result that all gobs on the top level minus 1 warrior and the four commandos on patrol escape back across the bridge to Gogmurt and the refugees, slashing the bridge behind them. The party, unaware that they've effectively cleared the first level in one battle, decide they need to heal and rest in Ripnugget's chambers, taking great precautions to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, the group on level 2 are curious why gobs aren't underfoot all of a sudden, and send an invisible Lyrie up to investigate. She sees the carnage, and doesn't bother looking for the party due to her cowardly nature- she heads straight back down and she, Bruthasmus, Orin and Tsuto give Nualia the bad news. Not knowing about Tsuto's journal, Nualia is unconcerned by a threat, figuring that the party came to kill goblins, did, and left. Lyrie et al are a little more cautious and retreat behind the secret door to the third level, expecting there to be looting of the 2nd before the party leaves, and thinking they'll miss the now closed secret door.

Thus the party gets a completely safe night in a hostile dungeon. Amazing. They start out the second day by immediately finding the well-used secret door and _completely skipping the second level_ (which still had the tentamort and two yeth hounds waiting for them). The party hears furious whispering behind the first door on the third level where Lyrie et al are arguing about how to defend themselves now that they're trapped. Epic battle ensues, Nualia joins the fight after two of the anti-party have fallen, but she tries to trick them into springing the hall trap and so doesn't join the fight fully. In this way the party mows down a formidable group of villains.

They take another night in Nualia's observation room before exploring further, and two nights to recover from the shadows on the 3rd level, but they don't figure out the secret door on the 3rd level yet. So they head back to the 2nd level and clear it out. So they are on their 6th day in Thistletop and just opened the secret door on the 3rd level thanks to a detection spell. that's where we left off.

Here's where I am curious what the board thinks: because the party has taken so long on Thistletop without sending word back to town, the mayor sent to Shalelu to track them down and see if the threat is still there. Now our group consists of 8 players total- HOWEVER- only 5 show up. It's a long story, but the short version is that the 3 that don't show are, ironically, the 3 that convinced me I had to run a game, and they assure me they intend to play if they can only 'get their work schedules to align with the game'. So I keep them in the email loop and their characters are npcs heroes that also fought in the first raid, but the current group didn't see them, yadda yadda. There's a one-sided rivalry going on and a running joke about this situation with "The Others". But it's fun to work this side relationship of another party in the town in to the larger story. So I completed them with a paladin (who happens to be one player's back-up character) and have this phantom party that does stuff behind the scenes.

In this instance, prudent Shalalu decides that she'd rather not go by herself to a place that may have wiped out a group that she respects, and takes The Others with her to investigate the party's potential demise at Thistletop. When she gets there, she steals in to the mainland thicket only to discover it completely empty and the bridge to the island gone. Fearful that she's too late and troops are on the move, she looks for tracks and this removes her fear- she sees that the party made it onto the island, but see no large troop movement coming off, only the 6 remaining Thistletop gobs and the refugees leaving. So she and the Others track the gobs to the Licktoad tribe, and see that there really is no longer a threat to Sandpoint.

She decides to head back to Thistletop and find out the party's fate, but thinking the danger is gone, dispatches the Others back to Sandpoint to tell mayor Deverin the good news. She will meet the party on the road back, but that's not important. What's important is that the Others _may_ have framed the news in such a way as to imply that the party died, and their bodies weren't recovered, and that the Others were the ones to thwart the impending goblin attack. The mayor, the sheriff, and Ameiko have seen Tsuto's journal, so they have reason to believe that Nualia's still alive, but they don't know anything about what she's doing on Thistletop, so a mundane larger attack is a logical conclusion to the Others' story.

So when the party makes it back to town, everyone will be pleasantly surprised to see them still alive, but confused over who it was that really stopped the goblin invasion. They're willing to believe the party, even though a demon and dead Nualia and some magical minions from below the town itself are all hard to swallow over 'a big goblin attack'. The only person who really thinks they are full of it and trying to steal glory back from the Others will be Titus Scarnetti. Everyone else will celebrate their favorite celebrities' return.

I worry that this turn of events might distance the party from the town. What do ye o' the boards think?

I have two characters who opted into the Z Horns affiliation. They're interested in bringing back live specimens for the arena and have asked me what sort of equipment is available to buy or rent from the Horns or in the Champions district. I put them off slightly (they're on the Sea Wyvern ATM) saying I'd research it. I haven't found much. I imagine they'll invest in cages to hold the monsters, and I found taht the Bands of Balaro would be useful, but little else. They're short on cash, so I'm trying to hunt down mundane or low magic items (under 1500gp). Anyone else have Z Horns characters who wanted to capture things? Anyone else have some ideas for subdual items?

As you all may or may not have noticed, Lavinia has a robust pair of monologues to begin both TINH and SWW, and Harliss takes some time to vent in the middle of BWG. Well, to preserve my players from hearing me attempt to imitate not one, but two major female NPCs I collaborated with my girlfriend to make a recording of these important monologues. I thought it'd be a nice change of pace from listening to me all the time, and would help immerse them a little more into the story.

I took a chance and uploaded the first recording onto the site from which we sampled random background sounds (a very awesome project, BTW: freesound.iua.upf.edu/). I say chance because it seems they deal with more 'raw' sound, rather than produced pieces. The site moderator has been receptive, but has legitimate concerns over hosting copywrited material like this, and has not yet posted it. I think he raises a valid point whether I pursue posting it there, or elswhere.

Here's my question:
May I or do I have permission to post these recordings for general use, not intending or expecting to receive compensation in any way, shape, or form for doing so?

I'll shoot an email to paizo, but with spam guards and whatnot I figured I have as good a chance of getting a response here. I'd love to share them- my players loved the first one- and I'd like to think that all the work she put into it could be put to use for more than just my campaign.