Shai2e's page

I'm GMing SoG and I'm nearly done with book 1.
I've noticed - rather, my players noticed and expressed some concern - that there is little loot to be found. The party is poor, they're lvl3 and barely got enough money for a +1 rune transfer and a full plate for the fighter and a scroll for the witch.

I'm refreshing on book 2 now, and I see the party is going to have to spend 10gp on each tea ceremony, money which they only get back on a critical success. I'm worried they're not going to have the money to do tea ceremonies, which is a real shame.

Does loot continue to be sparse? Is that intentional? What should I do to ensure my party is properly equipped and wouldn't mind doing tea ceremonies in autumn?

My players just reached the mindscape border for the first time, and obviously one of them used detect magic.
In retrospect, I'm not sure if the mindscape border should register as magic or not- it is part of a curse, but also just the edge of the plane.
My first guess was it would br magic, but now I think it isn't. What do you think?

The lumber camp and everything else in chapter 4 is obviously supposed to happen at the end of the summer.
However, the lumber camp can definitely be encountered by chance in hexploration, and additionally, my players are *increadibly* invested in Ugly Cute and want to find him ASAP. Even if I won't have him tell them about the lumber camp, he has to tell them about the Noppera-Bo, which increases the chance they'll actively look for their base.

What would you suggest I do/ what did you do to prevent the PCs from doing chapter 4 before chapter 3 is close to done?

Which combat actions can Mo Douqiu use his Reach for? The stat block oF AoN only lists the attack as Reach 10 and finesse, but text implies he can also Grab? Can he Grapple or Trip with Reach?

The Sanmi complex confuses me. Do they live in the Sanmi household (B10) or the mudwall house (B11)? What is the other one then?

Firstly: My party is going to give him the Dreamtime Tea. Is that what makes Gurglegut sickened or is he already? If he is already, since it says "effectively sickened", does that also reduce his fortitude check for the tea? If I'm counting right, that means he only has 1 in 4 chance to succeed in the roll, which means 15 to 16 chance to bypass the encounter entirely in 2 minutes of waiting due to a suggestion from an NPC. Am I reading this right?

Second question: How much xp is defeating gurglegut? Is it according to moderate (accomplishment) 1, meaning 30?

Thank you for the clarifications!

1. The given map is mostly of the clinic, however it's written that the centipedes attack the PCs before they reach the door. Does that mean the battle is supposed to mostly take place in the area outside the clinic?
2. Is North really supposed to be up on this map? Because in that case I'm not sure what would be the western building Dami comes from...

I don't really want to open another thread about Jinkins, so I'll ask here: should Jinkins be considered expert in crafting traps? Meaning, if a jinkin crafts a snare, do the PCs have to actively look for it or use some exploration action to notice it, or can they notice it passively?

So Sneak attack works against off-guard enemies, and jinkins are normally written as only having a melee weapon.
Now, jinkins are tiny, so they cannot flank.
If they attack in melee, they cannot remain hidden then attack so their enemy won't be off guard (or did I miss something?)
They have no special ability to make the enemy off-guard, which only leaves the option of feint, which they only have +5 to.

So other than feinting, how would you make use of the jinkin sneak attack?

I'm considering running SoG to the 3 players I've managed to gather so far.
I found the guidelines for adjusting battles very easily, but I'm not sure what to do regarding all the different kinds of VP accumulation throughout the adventure.

Given there's one less PC to try and accumulate points how should I adjust? Change thersholds, roll opportunities, roll results? And how?

There are actually clear instructions in the book for her strategy in the fight such that she won't just kill the PCs, so that part isn't a problem. It just doesn't have the stat block

A little clarification about the winter event "interview with a spider":

Sorry, it's been a while since I've used actual forums and I forgot how to mark spoilers...

In any case, it seems I misread something in book 2 pg 25

On the end of book 2, in "Vanishings", it is said one NPC vanishes and more will vanish in the winter. There are 3 NPCs in risk of vanishing on the first scene of winter, but I didn't see anything else in the winter events that points to any vanishings.

Did I miss anything?

Thanks for the answers!

Making sure I understand: So noppera-bos can impersonate kitsune or tengu (and thus vice-versa)?
Also, I understand the noppera-bos have hearing as an accurate sense, but would a faceless one be able to tell if one of the PCs is a leshy?

I see. Thanks!

Noppera-bos are described as faceless humans, which makes me wonder about their ineraction with nonhiman ancestries, especially ones who are significantly different like tengu or kitsune, or leshi who are not even humanoid.

1. Mechanically, can noppera-bos disguise themselves/steal faces from such ancestries?

2. In chapter 4 of book 1 it is mentioned that a lot of the noppera-bos in the lumber camp might assume the PCs are noppera-bo tricksters. Would that still be the case if the PCs are playing as one of those nonhuman ancestries?

I'm starting to run SoG soon, and now reading the books.
I tend to pay too much attention to details, so I can't get over some briefly mentioned unimportant detail that doesn't quite add up: Shinzo's horse.
When Shinzo first comes to town, he is described as coming with a horse-drawn cart. Now, I know that Shinzo and Yix can come and go from the mindscape because one's a shinigami and the other's a psychopomp, but where does the horse come from and goes to?
Is he considered an object Shinzo can bring along?