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Wow. I return from work and in less than 50 posts, I got folks insinuating I’m a bigot or supporter of such, a dog-whistler, a purveyor of argumentative fallacies, having a false centrist position, having ulterior motives, suggesting I just leave the forums, etc. By doing that, you automatically ascribed NEGATIVE aspects about ME without actually knowing who I am, where I come from, what’s my background or anything about me. You simply painted me as an OTHER when all I did was present my opinion as many other posters do. I gave that personal anecdote in my original post and several of you folks here outright confirm it with veiled (or outright) inaccurate assumptions. I say it again the Community is fractured, combative and defensive all at the same time, we need time to heal. Just take what I said in my OP as my position. You don’t have to like it or agree with it, but there is no need to attack the person. There is no hidden agenda. Attack the position, Not the person. Like Hillary says in her post “We can disagree without being disagreeable”. And to the folks here who either disagreed and moved on or disagreed and gave their views why they disagreed with my position. I thank you for providing points and counter-points as these add a different perspective to things.
@Hillary - I think Jhaeman's recommendation could help alleviate this concern. @ Jhaeman - While I didnt go into detail into what a proposed temporary shutdown would look like, I agree with you that leaving the PbP like Hillary mentioned and the product discussion open would work. @Wei-ji - Look at it as a pause, not as a surrender, to allow the company to regroup and put things in a clearer path, perhaps implement some changes based off of the recommendations folks have made. @ Drunk Dragon - When I say pause for a reset I mean restructuring the forums themselves, work out the kinks in the new systems, etc. You also mentioned the log/pers issues. This could address that very issue by giving them implementation time while temporarily not having to worry about these things. @Lady Ladile - In similar fashion to how posts are closed, I believe Mods already have the ability to do so to entire forums if they so choose. PbP, Product discussion and Blogs (topic dependent) would stay open.
It’s time for the Paizo Forums to go away and perhaps come back in a new restructured format. We need a reset, to heal, to take a forced beak from all these events - and not just in the past months. This is something that has been brewing for years, festering until it has reached this critical level. As a personal anecdote, I rarely post any more, driven away by a lot of what I viewed as selective enforcement by previous mods, of vitriol between people I used to game with over differing viewpoints, of simple misunderstandings that became emotionally charged and lines were drawn. It’s pretty sad really, since I miss many a great gamer in these forums and in person, I felt as though I was no longer part of this community. Feeling like an ‘Other’. Aside from the social aspect, this has also affected what I buy from the company, and even though my financial situation never changed, I gradually went from a Superscriber to a nothing scriber. It’s just from my view, the common decency and shared understanding that the vast majority of Paizonians had as a community is gone. We’ve become needlessly disagreeable, sometimes unknowingly. There was a time where we could disagree respectfully, even if sometimes it needed clarity. It seems now we expect the worse when people respond to our words. Our defenses are always up, we assume the worse and many times this can cause communication problems between people due to a lack of nuance. It may be the wider influences of our western culture - be it political, social, economic or a myriad of other things changing our landscape today, whatever it is, its infected these forums, and not in a positive way. We’ve lost much of the decorum in communicating with each other. Disagreeing or having differing opinions has made people the “others” and this is not healthy, it’s not healthy for us as a community or for the employees, nor for the company as an entity. It seems that no one really feels comfortable here any longer. And although some of this may not apply to everyone here, it is my current viewpoint of these forums, for which many others have also noted. Don’t look at this request as a negative thing. Today, almost all major media sources with messageboards have at least paused messaging/posting on their sites, those that haven’t thrive on the conflict discourse to unfortunately generate ad revenue. So I reiterate my recommendation to the Paizo Executive Staff and Director: Shut the Forums down, at least temporarily (a PAUSEX in military parlance). Archive them so that they can be viewed (and used) without the ability to post. Discuss a way forward internally and come back better when the company has had a chance to reset their Organizational Vision and allowed personnel and the company time to be comfortable with whatever new parameters or restructuring have been enacted and staffed with a level of forum moderation that it can reasonably provide.
To all my fellow Veterans thank you for your Service. Although our experiences in service may vary, our shared sacrifices are similar. Some have done their duty and others continue to serve. All are appreciated. Long are the days spent away from family and from home, doing things the vast majority of people never do. Lost holidays, birthdays and other cherished events. We persevere, become resilient and find the strength to serve our nation. I thank and salute you all!
SUPER-HYPED for this!
I use a mix of A and C, when found the item's spell default to A, but when used by a player they decide what it is by either casting the spell ino9 the weapon or negotiating and paying an NPC to do it.
In the Strange Aeons campaign that I am DMing I've deviated a bit from the storyline. However it gave me the opportunity to draw a detailed map of the interesting town of Rozenport which will be a source of many adventures for my PC's. There is nothing official here all the locales (other than the name - Sincomakti School of the Sciences) are made up. However you're free to use them. Here's the link: Rozenport Map
I believe the Swordlords issued at least 4 charters (the Wraiths, Var, PC's, and Drelev. They could of easily had more charters of eager would be nobles/adventurers. I would start them at 2nd level. One of them could be from Oleg's tavern area and know some of the details of the former PC's (can fill the gaps)
My gaming group and I finished this campaign about a year ago, I added all the items listed above as well as a PFS adventure that brought the players to Citadel Vraid to recover someone. I changed some of the parameters around but I focused on having the entire campaign with a few minor exceptions in the city itself. A short mini-adventure out of the city and back again they came. pretty much got rid of book 4 and 5 and changes the final scenes in book 6 and placed it back in the castle.
That’s usually where the hotel lottery comes in, but it’s a pretty enormous crap shoot I was trying to do an ABnB a few blocks away. I plan on enjoying the whole con, no volunteering for the 1st time in 10 years.
Cause I am !!! I am planning on going as well, although I do think turnout will be lower - WHICH IS AWESOME!!!! Unfortunately the hotel/local rentals have already shot their prices through the roof...price gouging as usual.
I enjoy(ed) PFS1 a lot. But at some point you have to look at the writing on the wall. Either you (or someone) puts forth effort to get more material out there (likely unsanctioned), or...you're out of material. It isn't about replays. I dont think it was ever about replays or even new material. Many players just stopped playing PFS for other reasons. PFS1E is still popular with 220+ games currently on Warhorn. I've toured the convention circuit a lot and one of the most common reasons why people stopped playing was the steep curve in competing with others when this new insert [feat combo, class, archetypes, item] that blew everyone else out the water in a game became discouraging or just not fun for them at a table. I've seen this both as a GM and a Player. Barring changes to allowable content, I don't see a meaningful way to grow past the initial group of players that currently play 1E content.
Side note, I think it's pretty telling that among all of us saying "could this be done?" "Wouldn't it be great if this was done?" and "Someone could do this" we have yet to have anyone say "I will head up this new campaign." I would not mind heading up something like this. BUT....The amount of effort needed would be pretty steep. We would need a scenario 'How-to guide', a new campaign guide, new version of allowed resources (a Make or Break item). The 'Campaign or Alternate Society would need a website for news, a tracking system, some admins, scenario writers, editors, artists and PDF formatters. (I'm sure I'm missing a few things.) Finally a way to successfully market the Campaign both online, in-cons (post-covid) and game stores. We need some big signal boosts. As some of us who have printed high-quality 4x6 full color gloss post cards for PFS I can tell you it gets expensive fast. Ultimately I don't think we'd be any bigger than say Living Arcanis organized play campaign in terms of player size. [ A subset, of a subset, of a subset of gamers]. So that a lot of effort for very little, to no reward. Many OP gamers have moved on to 5E DnD AL, PFS2E and don't plan on coming back to 1E.
We've very occasionally managed to schedule a themed series that's longer than your standard 2- or 3-part story (like all the Thassilonian stuff in Season 4 that leads up to the final faceoff with Krune) but that's been the exception rather than the rule. I would love to do more of that sort of thing. I've done this exact thing with that specific series of season 4 scenarios added the Temple of Lissala Gencon special with maps, added/expanded some other season Thassalonian flavored scenarios and made it my version of the Return of the Runelords AP. It's doable if your willing to put in the effort, but I did not give chronicles for it.
Not sure about that. Someone could create their own Pathfinder Society compatible Campaign using very similar rules, and create Scenarios using intellectual property such as names, locations and such and produce it, (except trade dress.) under fair use. The system as a whole is 99% in the PFSRD so mechanics wouldnt be an issue. Everything would have to comply underr Community Use. But it would have to be free of cost of any sort, you also wouldn't be able to report the scenarios or anything else, unless the campaign creator had a website that kept track of it on their own. It also wouldn't be backward compatible unless the rules allowed it. In short it would be difficult, expensive, time-consuming and may not be fruitful.
They've already hinted that its going to be an online Paizocon on memorial day weekend. Being that it is Washington State you dont have to worry about them changing quarantine mass socializing rules to make it more accommodating. The requirement will remain strict for a long while.
I dont think many cons will be physically active until the Fall once either two things happen. There is a big push for voluntary vaccinations and a tipping point has been reached or FDA approves the vaccines and its mandated. I know Gen Con has kept its August dates, but the 2nd largest US con Origins moved its dates to October.
" They may have been cannibalizing their own sales through excessive production of books or supplements too." It's my personal observation that THIS statement holds true to the demise of PF1. PF2 was going in that direction as well (prior to covid slowing things down), they just mixed up the delivery of products by merging some lines (and increasing book costs).
You can get a Pegasus mount in 1st Edition PFS. Here is how you do it. Have your 1st level character play all six quests in Pathfinder Society Quest: Honor's Echo (PFRPG). On the chronicle sheet you will get :a figurine of wondrous power called: broken figurine of wondrous power (alabaster pegasus): At a higher level and when you have enough gold you can upgrade it by paying 8750gp. It then becomes a figurine of wondrous power (alabaster pegasus): Other than its appearance, this figurines functions identically to a figurine of wondrous power (ebony fly). <- This part is important. You then get Companion Figurine and the Vermin Heart feats and boom you now have a Pegasus animal companion that can fly at 8th level. In the case of this figurine, the usable duration of the companion figurine doubles and you may use it up to six times per week for up to 12 hours per use.
I'm still running Strange Aeons, we are currently in book two, but I heavily modified the starting story and skipping books 3&4 and replacing them with other modules, quests, scenarios that fit right in. We play regularly about 2x month. I am also a player in a Hell's Vengeance campaign. (currently on hiatus until after the holidays).
The AP's were pretty profitable and the main source of income for Paizo for many years (especially the subscribers). Now I don't know if that holds any longer since they've branched out so much.
Here is my take on a fixed Synthesist Summoner. Rather than summon an eidolon to serve by his side, the synthesist fuses his eidolon’s essence to his own. Instead of two creatures, the synthesist is a fusion of the summoner and eidolon into a single being. Fused Eidolon
While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist gains all the abilities of its eidolon’s base form except for saves and ability scores. The synthesist also receives the ability scores bonuses of the base form’s physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) as an enhancement bonus, but otherwise retains his own ability scores. The synthesist gains 2 temporary hit points for every HD the eidolon possesses. When these hit points reach 0, the eidolon is killed and sent back to its home plane. The synthesist gains a +1 base attack and save bonuses for every 3 that an eidolon would normally possess, and also gains the natural armor bonuses and modifiers to ability scores as indicated in the eidolon base statistics table. The synthesist also gains access to the eidolon’s special abilities, and the eidolon’s evolutions. The synthesist’s maximum number of natural attacks while fused is 3 plus an additional attack for every 6 levels after 3rd level. The eidolon has no skills or feats of its own. The eidolon must be at least the same size as the synthesist. The eidolon must have limbs for the synthesist to cast spells with somatic components. The eidolon’s temporary hit points can be restored with the rejuvenate eidolon spell. A synthesist is not proficient in any armor and cannot fuse with his eidolon while wearing any type of armor. He counts as both his original type and as an outsider for any effect related to type, whichever is worse for the synthesist. Spells such as banishment or dismissal work normally on the eidolon, but the synthesist is unaffected. A synthesist and his eidolon are considered a single creature while fused for targeting purposes and cannot take separate actions. While fused with his eidolon, the synthesist can use all of his own abilities and gear. In all other cases, this ability functions as the summoner’s normal eidolon ability (for example, the synthesist cannot use his summon monster ability while the eidolon is present). This ability replaces the class’s eidolon ability, bond senses, and life bond and alters a summoner’s armor proficiency.
I also recommend Curse of the Crimson Throne. The first three books are fantastic. Skip books 4, and 5 and you miss nothing. Then in Book 6 adjust NPS levels and end the campaign in the final floor of Castle Korvosa (which is what I did). To make the entire campaign within the city.
Contingency can hold a maximum of 6th level spells and can only be spells that affect the caster, so no Maze.Your BBEGs and their lieutenants play strictly by the rules? Really? YEP These are ancient Thassalonians masters of magic. queue : Elminster's Evasion
Hint: nobody runs aps as written. This right here. The BBEG and his minions are no doubt watching or hearing of the PC's tactics and abilities both individually and as a team if they're coordinated. Adjust the enemies to provide a challenge. It does take work on the part of the GM. For my RotRL I wrote an entire adventure that wasn't in the book to fit characters, motives and mapped out the Black Tower in book 4. In your case in the final book the barrier between Xin-Shalast on Golarion and Leng (Nightmarish area of the Dimension of Dreams) are thin presenting the possibility that teleportation magic is not as reliable causing every teleport to possible bring forth horrors from that realm or send PC's to that realm.
I loved GMing this AP but it unfortunately ended before we got to book 3. Here is what I made for my group: I believe there is a trait that lets you be a minor noble, but its limited to the known houses. Make up your own minor house and have a conglomerate of those houses bankroll the charter. The houses funneled the official act through the mayor for plausible deniability, but once the PC's are successful, the noble sponsors begin populating your land with their distant cousins. So you get a host of minor nobles as well. (it was my RP way of describing the kingdom rules outside mechanics) The issue of the kingdoms (stolen lands area)is that this area is notorious for not being able to keep a steady ruler/kingdom so it not unexpected that petty barons/kings pop up all the time and last for 10-20 years until the founder dies or is killed. What really matters is recognition from your neighboring kingdoms. One thing I dabbled with is the southernmost river kingdom having a say especially because the last hexes in the southwest are actually part of Mivon. Use the pathfinderwiki on Mivon it states they have several stone keeps along the rivers and such. And it made up of former swordlords, that kingdom would be more than willing to help your PC's and have mercenaries, weapons and are hostile to Pitax. Really odd that this wasnt developed further in the AP. I also used an evil druidic society from one of the pathfinder npc codex as a faction. And lastly I added a faction of exiled elves in the SW part of the forest who may or may not be part of the evil druidic faction. These elves are noted in the Mivon wiki as well.
All that said, goblin is an uh... interesting choice.Haha, yeah! He isn’t set on it yet but the idea was essentially that he would masquerade as the sickly young child of a noble family as his cover, and then go goblin mode when he wants to fight, because “nobody expects the kid to be a goblin.” He’s not wrong lol. Thanks for the answers everybody. Having Gm'd this AP for 2 yrs to a conclusion I would recommend if they are playing a goblin to masquerade as a half-orc child in one of the orphanages in the game. The Guide to Korvosa sourcebook has some info on the orphanages and who runs them. One of my players used a similar theme with his halfling character.
I have to agree, please start being more proactive in showing the correct art in a timely manner, when you dont you lost customers trying to buy these things.
I dont think they are easter eggs, just creative license of the writer. a quick search on the boards for red destiny will help you out.
Hey congrats. I’m glad to hear anytime someone finishes an AP. I personally struggle with the concept of APs (‘Ok - we’re going to fight giants/undead/pirates for the next 2.5 years!’) but I’m thrilled to hear about others’ exploits. I do too. Some ways that I've shaken things is to add other adventures that take place in the area or are somewhat thematic to the AP to surprise my adventures, I delete and add things. For my Strange Aeons campaign I've rewritten the premise to fit the player's persona's, I've added Carrion Hill, Doomsday Dawn and Phantom Phenomena and gotten rid of two of the books that I dont think fit in with my version of the story.
My group is still happy playing 1e, we have like 5 campaigns going, it's great. Same here, they have no desire to switch over to another system even though they've tried 2E and 5E. There is so much material for 1E I have years before I use it all. Currently running Strange Aeons, and prepping for another version of War for the Crown.
Any update on the product images? I want to see if the map tiles blend with each other to combine two maps into one large dungeon.
Finally a positive post that's needed around these parts! Back at you bro! Hope all goes well in the job hunting department 2020 has been crazy for just about everyone.
First of all thank you for these they were a great inspiration for the background and direction I am going with my campaign. Considering we are many years from the original AP publication there were a plethora of directions and books to add stuff from. Thanks again.
I used some of the material in the Runescars and Spiral of Bones series for my home campaign, also loved the 5' maps and got them laminated.
It flamed out. He is not the only writer to do so after a funded KS. This is unfortunate but I have seen it now with several 'rpg game companies'
I think this is really the Gm's job to use the PC's personal backstory, and most importantly their interactions with people in the 1st book of the AP to set the stage for the rest of the AP. Recurring antagonist/allies adding tidbits of a PC's past and weaving it to the adventure storyline is the best way to integrate. Make sure you get a blurb on a PC backstory dont let them just materialize a bunch a numbers and add a name to make a PC.
I can agree with many posters after running 5 AP's to completion giving PC's a good challenge is a difficult process considering all of the player assets that have been published in the past. In the past I have taken a few approaches: 1) Change the AP's to slow character advancement in the middle three books so that they gain 1.5 levels. Personally I think PC's at lvl 13 is a sweet spot for me to end the final AP's. I understand in your this is not possible now. 2) The other thing I do is I look over the PC sheets and find a chink in their armor and restat many (not all) of the character/monsters with class levels and archetypes that can create similar shenanigans. 3) The CR system in Pathfinder (1E) has been skewed by the sheer number of options available to PC's. So its no longer as accurate as it would be if it was a Core only group. I reccomend most time a +2 CR bump after level 8 or so when using monsters and NPC's. Use those to your NPC's advantage also, include terrain effects, or monsters that can penetrate their defenses to scare them a bit and make it exciting.
I don't see WftC being that good. In-fact, it's one of the worst instances of lack of a clear overall vision. It never clearly established the exact nature of its primary conflict so each author's depiction on the details is all over the place. Likewise, as far the actual plot goes, only two factions for control exist, but there's supposedly a bunch of others you only get the name of. Gameplay is all over the place too, often picking UI stuff at random. I agree as well, one of the worst IMO. I had imagined something like THIS out of WftC before this AP was announced, some of the AP followed my ideas, which was cool, but then veered into railroad land fast. But honestly some folks loved WftC as written due to the intrigue in the politics RP. Better than SD but not by much.
Just got an email from Origins: on or before May 1st will be their date to decide whether to cancel the con. Fingers crossed, also concerned if vendors will show up. The impact of lot of con cancellations in the spring could be a boon for summer cons if the Coronavirus threat subsides by May.
After GMing 5 AP's to completion I absolutely agree. Although several of the AP's may not be strong in a cohesive sense it is the GM's job to weave the PC's story and background into the AP itself. This makes it more immersive and keeps players engaged and motivated to find out the outcome of their storylines. I always create a flow chart of each player to add tidbits of their background - names of people they have mentioned become actual characters in the AP, gods they worship are tied to the storyline. I will also change specifics in the AP to align with a PC's motives and interactions. As written AP's provide tangible links to each book but its the GM who needs to make that into glue to bind it together.
It may be that the attempts at containment will last for several weeks at most. There is more than enough time before the end of May. By then I believe we will be out of the coronavirus cautionary measures.
Thanks, not harsh at all. An honest critique is what's needed.
It looks like Seattle will be banning gatherings of 250 or more people. Not sure how long it will last looks like this is the go to number that many states are banning gatherings of this size and larger. NY, NY, MD are in this perhaps several other states.
BFG Con in Maryland just cancelled.
Well Hell, it's about time!
Folks, I need a bit of assistance and review of several Homebrew AP's I've been working using products others have made as well. I like to see what others think of them. Rank them 1 through 4 with 1 being the best. Whats needed to make them pop in a small blurb that I have. Strange Aeons is pretty much like the regular AP except I've changed the reasons for being there and why the PC should continue on the quest. My rise of the runelords focuses one runelord (Krune).
Starting up two more 1E campaigns. Strange Aeons and a Dark Sun homebrew called Mindmage Ascendancy. I have a War of the Crown re-imagined AP called Interregnum as well but I'm saving that for later.
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