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I am running RotR with an online group...the largest group I have ever GMed. I am amazed at the turnout and enthusiasm the group has put forth so far. Their depth of character is astounding.

Cassandra (female human oracle) - Very shy and reserved, has serious doubts about being thrown into the "adventuring" lifestyle. Her minor healing magics have proven to be a help to the party, as have her scholarly abilities.

Illian (male halfling fighter) - Illian was an adventurer for many years, but has practically bankrupted himself trying to break a wasting curse that has been slowly killing him. As a result of the curse, he has become easily fatigued and requires frequent rest. He has sworn an oath to Dothan's mother that he will not let any harm to come to her as she seeks her life of adventure. He is still trying to find a cure and avoid the minions of the villain who cursed him.

Dothan (female half-orc bard) - Only 15 years old, Dothan is a bundle of excitement and energy. Dothan is different from most half-orcs in that she was raised by both of her parents in a truly loving atmosphere. As such, many of the more ferocious traits present in half-orcs are absent (many alternate racial features were taken). She has developed a close relationship with Kailana, and is almost always under the watchful eye of "Uncle Illian".

Kailana (female half-elf rogue) - A teen with a troubled past from Riddleport, Kailana has taken to calling Dothan her younger sister. She has also displayed some potential for arcane magic (the player plans on multiclassing into sorcerer). Her recent crush on Eldthor has started to manifest, though he seems oblivious.

Eldthor (male human ranger) - Eldthor is somewhat of a mystery. He has not revealed much of his family life to anyone. He works as a guide through the civilized portions of Varisia, and known Kailiana from her earlier days in Riddleport.

Dwyn (female human fighter) - A local of Sandpoint, Dwyn works for her second-aunt Alma Avertin at Sandpoint Savories. In battle, she wields a scythe to devastating effect.

Nellah (female human alchemist) - Another local, Nellah is daughter of Nisk Tander (Bottled Solutions). Except, her concoctions always seem to work. She might be something of a pyromaniac, though that still needs to be determined.

Dorrac (male dwarf barbarian) - Dorrac is a middle-aged dwarf who never planned on adventuring. After his peaceful surface village was destroyed by giants and his wife and children slain, Dorrac became driven by vengeance and grief. He has also become something of an alcoholic (and, unknown to the rest of the group, prone to hallucinations).

Garidan (male human witch) - A newcomer to the party, Garidan hails from the frozen North. Coming to Sandpoint to study Thassilonian ruins, he happened upon a wounded Shalelu Andosana. After healing, the two traveled to Sandpoint to alert them of the goblin threat.

Can someone explain me to what I should do to encounter Bruthazmus twice? Do I shuffle him back into the location deck after the first encounter, or do I encounter him back to back on the same turn?

My group also went "out of order", the same as yours. They're planning an assault into the grimlock's lair to figure out exactly what is going on down here. They've caught references to some of the NPC's, and they're now convinced that one of these "unkillable green worm zombies" is down here some place. They're holded up in the Faceless One's laboratory right now. While resting, Mumbles (human rogue) translated Theldrick's scroll with the code found in the lab. They figured out that something is going to happen with the pool, and they think they might have done something to make the pool angry. They were quite confused with the references to Theldrick.

Mumbles: "Theldrick? Who the heck is Theldrick?"
Quint (barbarian): "I don't know. What does that journal you found say?"
Eleshaba (elf druid): "Yeah, does the diary say 'Theldrick's diary' on it?"
Quint, OOC: "In pink glitter pen, with hearts dotting the i's?"

As they read the diary, Theldrick's references to Grallak Kur made them quite curious. They figure he's behind the third door and they should take care of them. Quint is starting to worry about how to get back up through the mine. They've managed to tie the elevator down with some pretty complicated knots and a lot of rope. It's going to be great when they come out and find all the knots have been sliced and the elevator has been pulled up. . .

My party is only partway through Faces of Evil, and I haven't really seemed to have any problems with the amount of treasure that has been handed out. So far, only two wands of the several they have found have had any use (cure light wounds and ray of enfeeblement). Two of the party members now have +1 weapons, and there's a nice stock of potions, mostly unidentified. As for non-magical loot, the statues of Vaati architecture were given as a good will offering to Allustan, and most of the rest was spent on fixing up the abandoned mine office. That was honestly the best piece of treasure the party had - none of the players have ever actually earned a "home base" for their PC's, and it was a great reward.

Gee, it'll be a shame for them to find out what happens after they get back from the Free City. :)

This is probably a stupid question, but I'm asking it because I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere.

While fighting zombies in the temple to Hextor, the party rogue was attacking with a shortsword +1. I told him that he had to subtract 5 points of damage from the rolls due to damage reduction; he said he didn't because "magic" outranks "slashing" when it comes to damage reduction. I told him that I really didn't think that was the case. We actually spent a few minutes looking this up, and eventually settled on my decision. Afterwards though, I couldn't find an answer that seemed definite in either direction. Help??

We're only part way through The Whispering Cairn (the last session stopped just as they barged through the front door to the Observatory).

Quint - Human Barbarian 2. AKA "Bobo". Quint grew up in the swamps south of Diamond Lake, so he's had some experience with the politics of lizardfolk tribes.

Mumbles - Human Rogue 2. Mumbles works as an errand boy for Chaum Gansworth. He's gotten some time off to go adventuring. I'm not sure if Mumbles intends to return to work or not. I'm hoping it does - Gansworth's stance between Smenk and Tilgast could prove interesting.

Harvey - Human Sorcerer 2 (possibly planning to become a Spellfire Wielder). Harvey USED to work for the Emporium, until one night when he decided to take his cut of the night's income in the form of a map leading to the Whispering Cairn.

Elishaba - Elf Druid 2. Eli usually hangs around with the Bronzewood Lodge, but decided to join her drinking buddies when the prospect of adventure came along. There's a slight rift with her and a few members of the Lodge over her decision to raise the young owlbear....we'll just have to see how that turns out.

I am somewhat worried about running the Whispering Cairn. I expect to have four players (experienced) when I run it. As far as I'm aware, it was play-tested with eight players. Shouldn't the very first adventure be a little easier to finish? I would like my players to at least get to know their characters before killing them. Some of the encounters that worry me:

- the Beetle Swarm/Mad Slasher in the False Tomb.
- the 2nd Beetle Swarm in the Workers' level
- the Water Elemental in the submerged room.
- the wounded Owlbear at the Land Farm
- the final encounter versus the Wind Warriors

I've been running this with 4 PC's. Two of them are very experienced, having gamed with me for about 10 years. My wife has been playing about 4, and my friend's wife has been playing less than a year, so we've got some inexperience too. We've had character deaths - four - but everyone has loved it so far. They've taken a lot of time finding a place to rest up, and a lot of them are taking ranks in Heal to help each other out.

The first death was in the false tomb. While the rogue and barbarian (both experienced) were trying to take out the mad slasher, the swarm attacked the druid and sorcerer, killing the druid (my wife - my dice seem to hate her for some reason). Tough encounter, the first time my group has ever dealt with swarms. When they saw the second swarm, they were much more prepared and took care of it with only minor damage. The water elemental was not a problem either.

The rogue, Mumbles, died during the fight with the grick. It snuck up on him and got in some good hits. Luckily, he stabilized quickly.

My group had VERY little trouble dealing with the wounded owlbear. In fact, just the druid and the barbarian went to the farm while the other two poked around the city.

The bar fight, however, went VERY badly for the group. Mumbles started talking smack in the bar. The big half-orc (name escapes me at the moment) lifted him out of the chair and told him to stop talking if he knew what was good for him. Mumbles responded by knifing him in the gut. Half-orc then pulled out his greataxe, and got a crit for 42 points of damage. Then the barbarian died fighting the ranger. Hooooooo boy.

I give each of my player's one "Brownie Point" per campaign that they can use in a really bad situation to help them out. Needless to say, Mumbles burnt through his to stabilize at -9 hp instead of instant death. I don't mind using this system, because my PC's still know that death is a VERY viable option for all of them, and that I'm not going to hold back. It puts the proper sense of fear in them all. MWAHAHAHA!