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Patrick Walsh's page
Goblin Squad Member.  Organized Play Member. 529 posts. No reviews. No lists. No wishlists.
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My group has finished playing through Shattered Star, Book 3. Here is a link to the Asylum Stone Landing Page on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast.
Total run was 37 sessions. This book seemed to make more assumptions about how the adventurers would do things, expecting more murderhobo activity than what we actually did. It also seemed to assume we would interact with all the factions in Kaer Maga instead of staying focused on finding our objective. As a result, the DM switched us to Milestone Experience so we would not fall behind the expected character levels for the adventure.
My group resumed playing through the Shattered Star AP back at the end of July. I have finally posted my session notes for Session 1 today on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast. The link is Book 3, Session 1.
I will be posting at least one session a week, two if time allows and I haven't caught up yet. We just played session 10, so I have some ground to cover before I catch up.
Book 1 wrapped up!
Session 32 - Covers wrapping things up. Follow the links at the bottom of the blog page to go back and read all the way through or at least since Session 25, the last time I posted here.
There are, of course, SPOILERS!
Book 1 wrapped up!
Session 32 - Covers wrapping things up. Follow the links at the bottom of the blog page to go back and read all the way through or at least since Session 23, the last time I posted here.
Sessions 24 and 25 of an all ratfolk party are now live on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast.
Session 24 - Further exploration of Sub-level 3. SPOILERS!
Session 25 - Exploration paused while summoner gets over Devil Chills. The rest of the group re-equips.
After a "short" hiatus in posting while I wrote my own OD&D clone RPG (Adventures in the Green), I recently resumed posting my Shattered Star session notes on my blog. I'm currently posting 2 posts a week until I catch up to Session 32, which ends Book 1 of the adventure path.
There are links at the bottom of the post to go back to any posts you might have missed as I've been terrible about posting here.
Session 23 - Dealing with Lord Baz
After a short hiatus in posting while I wrote my own D&D clone RPG, I recently resumed posting my session notes.
There are links at the bottom of the post to go back to any posts you might have missed as I've been terrible about posting here.
Session 23 - Dealing with Lord Baz
Session 18 of an all ratfolk party following the Shattered Star Adventure Path is now live on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast.
Thank you for reading!
Now up to Session 15 for the ratfolk and it is progressing nicely. We occasionally find assumptions in the writing where it is assumed the PCs are using light sources, but it hasn't been very often. There are links at the bottom of each post for navigation, all the way back to the first session.
Thank you for your interest in the Shadowrun material as well. :) We had fun playing in that system.
The continuing adventures of the Ratpack, a group of ratfolk adventurers going through the Shattered Star AP.
Session 14 - Deal with the Tower Girls in place, the search begins.
Session 15 - a day off to identify something and then the search resumes.
Session 13 session notes are now live! Sorry for the gap in posting - life has been busy. Hope you like the unexpected turn!
Sessions 9 through 12 are also posted on Bugbears for Breakfast.
Sorry - fell behind on posting these.
Session 6 went live December 18.
Session 7 just went live today (December 24th). Half the part was arrested by the City Watch!
Session 8 will go live next week on New Year's Eve.
Thank you for reading!
My weekly group started the Shattered Star adventure path. The GM ran a precursor adventure (Master of the Fallen Fortress, also by Paizo) which we've mostly completed. It gave our group an earlier exploit for the local Pathfinder Society lodge to learn about and justify bringing us in for the AP.
Our group decided to all play ratfolk, mostly for the swarming and Darkvision, but also as it was something new to do. We've reached Session 5 of the campaign, which starts us on the AP itself. (The link is to my session notes for the game.)
I'll try to keep the spoilers here to a minimum, but the session notes will all be spoilers, so be aware of that.
Session 5 is now live on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast.
We properly started the AP in this session while still wrapping up the intro adventure our GM ran, Master of the Fallen Fortress.
Currently playing through the Shattered Star AP using Pathfinder 1E. Blog entry for latest session notes went live on Tuesday:
Session 5 of the Ratpack
There used to be a Campaigns sub-forum for posting updates about ongoing campaigns. I can't find it now, so I'm posting this here for those that might be interested in such a thing.
Session notes for Session 4 of our campaign are now live on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast.
Did I mention we are all playing ratfolk? We are. It makes certain parts of the written adventures stand out in unusual ways.
We have just finished playing through Master of the Fallen Fortress as a pre-cursor to the Shattered Star adventure path. I've also just fixed the forward navigation links, so if you want to start at Session 1 you can and easily move forward.
I'm also consolidation our first Pathfinder campaign, The Aldelle Group, into an easier to reference set of pages in the right sidebar. That can be found here. I have Book 1: Dyson's Delve completed, but I'm only part way through Book 2: The Gate Saga, so it is not visible yet.
Our group is playing through Master of the Fallen Fortress as a prepatory adventure to starting the Shattered Star AP. I'm writing up my session notes on my blog, Bugbears for Breakfast. To avoid dropping spoilers here, I'm posting the link to the Session 1 blog entry.
Ratpack Session 1
Got it and thank you for the help and information. I was part of the latter Kickstarter, so I will go back to waiting mode.
Again, thank you.
I'm running behind here, but I seemed to have missed a critical piece of communication.
I pledged $105.00, but it was $5.00 to the MMO and $100.00 to get the book upgrade.
I do not seem to have ANY communication asking to confirm or explain this and it looks like the books are shipping.
Help please!
Patrick Walsh
Trying it out tonight while my weekday group is between campaigns. I'm teaching it after just a read through. I'm thinking of trying "Competing Secret Societies steer the course of civilization" as my History Seed and seeing what genre the others would like to fit that to.
Dungeon Grrrl wrote:
Arlkang CR 5
NE Large Humanoid (Goblinoid)
Init +0; Senses Darkvision (60 feet), Scent; Perception +6
...
Thank you for the insight and stats. I also use Hero Lab and should be able to enter this in easily for later (evil) re-use. Heh, heh, heh...
I very much like the blending of "regular" monsters with types unique to your campaign. The Arlkang is a neat concept. Is it a goblin with the giant template or an ogre reskinned?
It is good to see you posting again and sad that it may only be once a month. I understand the demands of time, but impatience has its demands too.
I look forward to next month's entry.
Long story short, our DM on a new weekly campaign moved to a different state, ending his sandbox campaign. One of the new guys, who had just started playing D&D in this campaign, volunteered to step up as the new DM for a new campaign. I've been writing an adventure log for the campaign (amongst a few other things) over on my Blogger blog, Bugbears for Breakfast. I'd repost here, but there's a lot of material and some of the posts are a bit long.
We are up to 42 sessions now (I'm two sessions behind on transcribing my notes at the moment) and mid-way through a major quest in the service of Ra. We have been very happy with the Pathfinder rules. Our next hurdle is the player group splitting into two as one of the founding players is going away to college and will only be available on weekends, which are busy for several others. The DM will be running two groups in the same world at the same time, each on a different sub-mission. I'm looking forward to it!
Trevor Gulliver wrote: Nick Waln wrote: It is unknown what the Mind Reapers were before they became what they are, or if they ever were anything else at all, as no known true conversation with one has ever taken place. Every Mind Reaper shares an intense fear of darkness and will retreat from anything that could quench their light. I've often been tempted to do this -- create a sense of mystery by not revealing something about the creature explicitly. I think in previous years one of the judges railed against that or perhaps it was somewhere else on the boards.
The judges pointed out last year (or in 2008 - I've slept since then) that it is one thing to be coy with your players as a GM, it is entirely another thing to do so when you're pitching a concept. Never make a potential client/employer frustrated that way - it makes you look bad and inclines them to find someone else.
Darkjoy wrote: This always happens to me as well, I start off giving some feedback and then I stop doing that and just start saying "no" mentally to entries that I don't find interesting. Good thing I am not a guest judge, my entries would soon go like:
No
No
Sucks, no.
Are you insane, no!
Right there with ya.
I suspect that the judges fall into a sort of shorthand on their initial pass and then go back at the stuff they found interesting and sharpen up their comments.
Chris Mortika wrote: "Caltrop Golem Optimism: Things are Pointing Up!" Hahahahahaha!
FireHawk wrote:
"Sin-fallen angels are created when an angel ... is overcome by sin" Not being well versed on angels I'm going by the seat of my pants. Arent angels good souls that have ascended and then promoted into servitude of a god? which means their best of the good and now immortal. Yet these god chosen servants can fall prey to their self serving?
Point of note: Theoretically, no. Angels were created as angels. Depending upon who you read, good souls might become angels or just might remain virtuous souls. Seems to depend upon whether or not they come back on a mission (or a TV show) or not.
Also, fallen angels are called that for a reason - they were angels who fell from grace, usually involving a Sin in some way, and I mean one of the traditional Big Seven (Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, er, and the other three). So there is no issue here with "these god chosen servants can fall prey to their self serving".
I really grooved on the name, but the description was not what I was expecting. Additionally (and as mentioned elsewhere), the description is rather confusing, which made for a hard disconnect from the name. Which is where you lost me.
Sal's Master Key worked for me, but seemed to have a similar focus issue. If you make next round, work on that focus. If you don't, work on that focus for next year. You have good ideas, but they need some more focus to become really clear.
Vote Caltrop Golem - It's six kinds of evil fun!
(Which I thought was a better slogan than "Vote Caltrop Golem - I did!" even though it is true.)
I liked it. There is a weak point or two (allies with humanoids/cannot communicate, being notable). But really, this monster works on many different levels for me. With feed back from a developer, the relatively rough patches would be smoothed over (communicates through wing vibrations and the aforementioned cure disease swap out).
I voted for this.
This turned out to be my fifth most favorite, which is one short of getting a vote.
I think the best route to avoiding "it's a template" would have been to give them all the same powers, rather than tying them to the motivating mephit.
In no particular order:
Ossuary Golem
Caltrop Golem
Chymick
Ardorwesp
Also, what the heck was it with "when you get a lot of them together, they get smart"? That showed up multiple times and I didn't like it at all. Seemed a cheap way to fill two monster slots with one monster.
Interesting, but...um...I saw this creature (or something very like it) in last month's Anita Blake comic.
As stated earlier, this monster seems to require a lot of work from the GM. This limits the usability of the monster to significant plot point, rather than something found.
I like it, but you could have gone farther with it. Have it fling caltrops like big shuriken or, as Clark suggests, embed caltrops in grapple victims.
I like the fluidity of the creature. If I had a wizard use this, they would station the creature in a maze-like area with tons of tiny cross channels between paths and leading to a few some caltrop supply points for the creature to heal itself from. Then have it strike with guerrilla tactics.
This'll get a vote.
Good visualization and description. Being completely silent is just creepy!
The vortex part is important, as with out it, it reminds me of something I saw in my wife's Anita Blake comic.
The name makes me expect something...larger. That it's man-sized is a bit of a let down. It should have been Large at the least as this would allow more whirling parts, making it appear more threatening.
The description of the monster is solid. I feel I can see exactly what the author envisioned. Good work there.
As a player, this would be an aggravating monster to deal with. Not challenging, aggravating.
These things would be actively hunted down and destroyed by any culture that worked out what was going on, so I have trouble seeing more than one ever showing up in a campaign.
Cool idea, but I'm not convinced the text follows through.
Mephits does detract from the seriousness based on prior history of the game - any other original name would have been better, especially an Arabic sounding one.
On the other hand, I know EXACTLY where these fit in my home game. And man, will they freak out my players...
This item was exactly what the name told me it was - full of win!
Wow!
I wasn't keen on the name, but after reading the description, I've changed my mind. As someone who studied Ancient Greece in college, I'm also keen on actually invoking the nine muses in your description.
I really look forward to your work in future rounds.
I like the concept - it let's players look cool and do cool things and it benefits imaginative players. The name needs a little work - I'd tie it in to a war god or possibly what's-iz-name, the new god on the block (who's name escapes me). He seems to be the "be ready for whatever comes along" sort of god this would be named in honor of.
This is one of the last items for me to get to, because of the name. I almost didn't read it. After getting past the name, I liked the effects. I would, however, keep a strong rein on availability of this stuff.
I liked the skill test aspect and that everyone within hearing learned if someone was lying or charmed.
The rest...it was OK, but not my cup of tea.
After discussion in a different thread, I withdraw my statement about this being a potion variant.
However, the cost being off is now an issue for me. Clark's suggested revision of 1400 cost and 2800 price goes a long way to fixing this.
It also NEEDS a definition of how it is activated.
Ok, so the main thing is, potions only have one effect, ever. That's something I can work with.
Thanks to all who commented and helped guide my learning.
Hydro wrote: Wondrous items are a catch-all category, so technically, anything that doesn't fall under the purview of another item type can be a wondrous item. I think that the snapleaf is very much not a potion because it uses two consecutive spell effects (you become invisible, but not until you hit the ground) and also because of the swift-action activation. Point of note: the effects are not consecutive, they both happen at once, but the invisibility continues after touching the ground while the FF terminates.
Still, point taken.
I still have trouble with the answer: "its a wonderous item because it doesn't call itself a matched set of potions and it has a shorter duration". What if the effects were instantaneous (like minor healing and lesser restoration combination)?
(Apologies if the spell names are off - I'm at the DayJob and can't pull out the rulebook or hit the SRD.)
Sigh.
OK, here's my real question:
Why isn't Snapleaf a potion with a different means of consumption?
A while back (and we may be talking 10 years, but I think less), either Dragon or Pyramid published an article on different ways to represent potions. Examples that I remember were rune magic (magic rune inscribed on a piece of slate or clay that was snapped in half to activate the effect) and bone magic (same thing but with bird bones and the like). The game mechanics were the same (one use, "consumed" at use, source subject to crushing), but the flavor was different.
Snapleaf is a glass leaf or twig that is "activated" (generally assumed by the comments to be broken, although the write-up does not specify how it is activated) and provides a one-shot effect (in this case, feather fall and invisibility, both 3rd or less in level). Note also that it doesn't take a slot, just like a potion as well. In fact, you can eeasily substitute "potion on a rope" for "(glass leaf) worn around the neck".
Why is this different, specifically?
Is it because there are two effects? What if it only had one?
Is it because you don't drink it? How can you tell, there isn't any description.
I'm not 100% convinced there is an issue here, but I'd like a solid explanation why there isn't, preferably from the Paizo folk or the judges.
Draeke Raefel wrote: ... Ummm... Posting on the boards isn't a good way to avoid a discussion of it on the boards :) Though I want to reply with my thoughts I will abstain in respect of your wishes. Yeah, I know, but noone seems to have a "click here to send a private message" button and I'm failing at seeing a "Contact Us" link either. So I'm putting up a "Help Me" sign here.
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