Small Attention Span's page

It's been a long time since I last posted on these forums, but I've been meaning to start again for some time. In the tradition of Kevin Andrew Murphy's Pathfinder Poetry, I wanted to add my own work to the mix.

This particular post, and those to follow, are about the lives of NPCs, from their journals and forgotten diaries. Here's the first. I hope you all enjoy.

From the journals of Telar, second son of Aer, servant to the Arclords

I’ve a gem behind my eyes,
Between the halves of my brain.
A birthright, a wonder of medicine,
A source of power.
With it I see distant shores,
And devils in black castles.
There’s my sister’s soul in the Wastes.

The lightning storms arc through her.
Her eyes are burning green.
My jewel’s a faded blue,
And rarely does she forgive my gaze.

At the edge of the deadlands,
Where my father could not find me,
I called her years ago.
I sought her, blue eyes straining.
The anger in the green faded slow
Gave way to something the gem wouldn’t see.
A flash of light; she was gone,
Black ash and emerald dust
Are all she left behind.

As much as I hate to have Carrion Crown be the first Pathfinder AP I don't finish, I can't swing continuing financially at the moment. If I get back on my feet, I'll be back, but until then, I have to stop.

Thanks

Count me Among the Dead and the Murdered on the SIlken Caravan. If not, I'll put my chips up for the Shadow Gambit.

I'm down for anything on Wednesday, just not Shipyard rats. Already played that one (By the way, it's really good!)

What levels/classes needed? Got a cleric 2 I'm trying to boost up.

Adventure Background: Here

I'll post the stuff I find really cool, which may or may not be a lot, and update it here. If you're interested, give it a look and a read and comment, or just a look and a read if nothing comes.

Thanks!

(edited)

Query:
'Level: 12th-16th'
Does this mean that the adventure is for characters of anywhere between levels 12 and 16, or that the characters will advance from level 12 to 16 over the course of the adventure? If the latter, I'm concerned that high level stat blocks and unique creatures might well take a lot out of your intended word count, given the numerous battles that implies to me, not leaving many words for anything else.

I don't really need unique monsters. Monte Cook said in a DungeonaDay.com blog that he doesn't always stat up new monsters when there's a whole slew of them already done. He just adds some new abilities, different looks and a little equipment and modifies the CR from there. That will probably be how I do things.

Also, the battles while numerous, aren't all encompassing. The first part of the adventure certainly is combat intensive, but I might make it a minigame, seeing as there are so many monsters to deal with. And again, the PCs won't find the horde themselves, and they'll have help from other parties of similar level, and a whole army, so the hordes are cut down a bit.

I'm also not sure high level PCs can be relied to travel on foot through the countryside, so that they can be conveniently ambushed by monsters and hooked into the adventure. Teleport, shadow walk, wind walk, carpets of flying, and various other means of getting about are all options.

It might be an idea to include at least a variant hook into starting the adventure along the lines of an NPC pleading for help: 'Your reputation proceeds you, please help us great lords and ladies. Your standings will only be enhanced by coming to our aid, and the reward will not be inconsequential...'

Good point, and I considered that, but in writing it went to the back of my brain and decided to hide. With reality warping and all that, I suppose I could say even high level teleportation is wonky and doesn't work on first blush, but that's probably a little cliche. Again, this is a pitch and some explanation of points brought up, but when I get to the actual adventure section I'll have to come up with some viable answers. I'll start now.

1. The teleportation takes an unusually long time to actually function and so even though the party continues to travel at near light speed (or some derivative thereof), they manage to catch glimpses of their surroundings as they near the town.

2. A giant occlusion field which contains any teleportation to within its own boundaries and negates any from outside forces the party to either go through point 1 again or keep them from going in at all through magic, and so they have to see at least some of the chaos.

3. Finally, perhaps the reality warp (this is getting old, I'm sure) screens the Tower from scrying and wipes important details of it from mortal memory, making direct teleportation dodgy at best, and scrying all but impossible. The general area remains known, down to maybe a fifty square mile area, and the tower is pretty big (but not skyscraper), so flying towards it still awards the party the horror of seeing the burning houses and towns. I haven't ruled out flying aberrations, either, so the fights can still happen. This also gives the spread of the creatures a little time as the armies scramble to contain them and find the location of the Tower and its citadel.

As for level range, the party starts at 12th and should end around 16th by adventures end, if all goes to plan.

Said some really constructive stuff.

Thanks for the reply! Commentary and clarification time.

First, yeah, I'm a sucker for combat, and the first part certainly is focused on combat, since that's really the only way to get a bunch of mutants with only the will to destroy to stop. However, the puzzle door acts sort of a transition from COMBAT MODE to diplomacy and cleverness as they work for an ancient god.

And the breaking up into parts I think is a good thing, and something I usually do, so we're sharing a mind in that. I want each section of the adventure to be modular, beyond the opening, perhaps. The dungeon of the citadel can be dropped into any campaign with aberrations. The underwater based stuff and the beyond reality stuff too I want to have the ability to come outside the adventure without taking away from it. That's the theory, anyway, and I'll try my darnedest to follow it.

As for Valneeth, reading again, I didn't explain real well why he wants to stay imprisoned. Essentially, he's an overgod of tyranny. Think Asmodeus if could fight Rovagug one on one and was less worried about contracts. However, his method of control isn't a peaceful one. Another side of his portfolio is torture (less enjoyment and more pain), and unfortunately, both he and his worshipers take too much joy in the agony they cause, killing both themselves and their victims. However, through some mechanism I haven't nailed down yet, Valneeth got on the bad side of something worse than even he and realized that he didn't want whatever this was interfering in his plans. In a calculated move, he played the other gods against himself, and had them seal him behind his tower. He corrupted some of their chains to better hold back this thing and took his position as its eternal guardian. Over the millenia, he found that the fear and respect people felt for his tower, the impenetrable barrier erected to protect said tower, and that he alone prevented something stronger than himself from getting in was a far better way to control things, even if it's more indirect.

Also, Valneeth isn't a forgotten god, but he doesn't go by his given name anymore. Again, I don't have a name for either he or his worshipers in this new guise, but it'll be a much lesser, and significantly altered, version of his real self.

Finally, as to the "Let's kill him!" thing, I do rely a little on the "He's too powerful to kill." idea. He's thousand of feet tall to start with, and his head is almost a hundred. Secondly, he's completely contained. He can't even move, let alone attack. He invests most of his unfathomable power in keeping the outside at bay, relegating him to around demi-deity (lesser at best) in power. Last, and I didn't mention this in the preview (should have), it's not him that's sending out the mist that warps reality. There's a small hole in his chest that oozes indescribable mist. Essentially, the outside is acting like a bacteria and eating Valneeth from the inside out. If the party still wants to fight him, they'd have both more than ten thousand hit points to burn through (cliched, I know), but also the weight of reality on their shoulders.

Whew! I hope that clarifies things a little.

Hello everyone, names John/Steven R. Schutt (depending on which name I give the publisher). You might have seen my stuff on NevermetPress.com and Weredragon Magazine #1 (my adventure was the big one, with the Otanshu).

Oh, and I want to write a super adventure. So yay for that! However, I don’t want to write one that sucks or one that no one would have any interest in, so I thought I’d ask the wonderful and experienced gamers on these boards for their opinion on my ideas.

To begin, I’m not asking for anything but words. This isn’t patronage, since I don’t think I have nearly the clout to even try it, and it’s not something I even want money for. I’ll probably finance it out of my own pocket (though that’ll be an interesting trip, seeing as I’m broke). Your opinion is all I need.

Below I’ve presented one possible super adventures. Take a look, if you could, and tell me what you think. Anything is great. A word or two is appreciated, more words more so. Tell me also if the word count is wonky, so I can adjust it to better fit my proposal. Granted, of course, that things are subject to change in the writing process.

Finally, all of these are probably going to be written with Pathfinder RPG rules, so if I ever get around to finishing one, I’ll need to sign that little contract Paizo has up on this site.

I plan on putting more ideas up as they come to me, but for now, take a look at this.

And I don't know which forum to put this in, so it went here. Mr. Wertz or the Postmonster (or whoever has the power of post moving) can move it where it belongs.

Yes? Good? On we go!

Rupture of the Tower of Valneeth
Level: 12th-16th
Length: ~50,000 words
Setting: Generic Fantasy

None know where the Tower of Valneeth came from, who built it, or why, but all are sure of one thing: it is the key to the lock of something unimaginable.

Some time in the past, after Valneeth’s construction but before history began, a citadel grew up around its strange, adamantine base. Nothing ever breached the walls of the citadel, which seemed built of the same material as the tower. However, when the adamantine’s sheen fades and the walls of the citadel crack, the world takes notice. When a strange mist begins pouring from the cracks, warping reality around it, a crack team of mercenary mages give everything they have into somehow containing the mist. Their efforts hold of the smoke for a month, while the citadel walls crumble, releasing the warped bodies of the guardians of Valneeth. The PCs tangle with several of these monsters as they travel through what should be serene countryside. Farmsteads are razed and covered in flames of indescribable color. Trails of blood lead towards the citadel, and an army of all races and creeds seeks to hold off the swarm of reality-warped monsters.
The party, along with several others, are sent into the Citadel to investigate while the reality warped creatures battle the main force outside. Within the citadel, the party and their companions face horrid aberrations and constructs warped by Valneeth’s breath. Fighting their way to the tower itself, a huge, multi-locked puzzle-door bars their way. The clues lie scattered throughout the citadel, hidden in simple items of living. Beyond the doors a sea of liquid malevolence waits, and in the sky above eight strange apparatuses hand, chains extending from them towards a central figure: Valneeth.
With his infinite power, even bound as he is, Valneeth summons the party and their surviving companions before his face and entreats them to reinforce the bindings in three of the eight strange devices. He does not want freedom, for he knows that his freedom means the death of untold billions. Far from benevolent, Valneeth relishes dominating a world, and feels that his imprisonment is a far better way of controlling people than wantonly destroying them or throwing warriors at them. He tells the party that their first mission, the repair of the Godlink Binding, the strange object directly behind him, takes them into the depths of the sea, where a strange creature spawned from Valneeth’s flesh holds the needed part. Second, he says, takes them into his mind, where he does not have high hopes for their survival, but desires it greatly. Last, the party must edge the path between dimensions and go to the Fundamental Holdfast, which hold all reality in place. Only there can they repair the final apparatus and seal the bindings once and for all. Unfortunately, the contents Holdfast remain unknown even to Valneeth, and once the time comes to enter it, he fears something far worse than even himself awaits.
He could not be more right.

Read like I've never read before to master the book. Thus shall I prepare for next summer and Games Camp, wherein the youngsters will learn the glory of Pathfinder. I plan to GM.

I hope it's not to late to mention this, but I received neither Pathfinder 20 nor Pathfinder 21 in my mail. Been waiting forever, as this message suggests.

Any help is greatly appreciated, O Customer Service Agents!

So say we all!

It's disappointing. No notice: bad. Punishment to those who bought honestly the whole time: bad. Overall Reaction of WotC: bad.

It's sad really. Not angering, just sad.

By any chance has Nic Logue picked up a snazzy British accent?

167 here. OoOo this'll be fun to read.

Post filing the downness into advisement.

Horrifyingly simply post.

First of all, there are some similarities between meme transfer and Pathogen transfer. There is research that shows that high population density and highly mobile populations are the perfect conditions for the spread of pathogens, so to might the conditions on the internet, which are in some ways very similier be a perfect vector for rapid meme spread.

Hm, I hadn't thought of it like that. Interesting.

Study of benign Memes, like many of the 'chan memes', seems to back this hyposis.

Mudkips, anyone?

Undoubtly your right about acceptance on authority, but unfortunately it is unrealisitic to expect individuals to evaluate all infomation for themselves. We infact seem to be hard wired to accept such things on trust, after all, the proto-human who reacts to an alarm call without checking for themselves has an evolutionary advantage over the proto-human who gets eaten by a preditor because they turned to look.

Well there I go generalizing again. I don't think that we should immediately discount everything we hear, only the stuff that, at first blush, seems a little too much to believe. Your example of the guy who thinks about running vs. the guy actually running is true. I'm talking about the "holier-than-thou" people who say that they're right, everyone else is wrong and you'll end up in a bad way unless you talk and think as they do. (I'm looking at Shawn Hannidy, but that's just me)

But yes, taking things on trust is something we just do, I just don't think we should take the crazy stuff that way.

As for Miley Ciruses and Jonas Brothers; they should be censored on principle. No one deserves to have to listen to that stuff. ;)

And the young masses descend to devour us for our transgression.

I think in large part the problem is not necessarily the means by which the information is transferred. Rather, it is, as you said, the knowledge and logic, or the lack thereof, that leads to the fanatical actions. Too many people take what a "stronger power," be that the Church a politician or an otherwise influential person to be exact and unquestionable truth.

The internet, is, unfortunately, far too large to regulate by any one nation, and even more than a thousand people working towards such an end might never get the chance to eat or sleep, even with all their skill and numbers.

Add to this, the drop in teaching ability among certain sectors, though not at all universal, leads to either a drop in educational spread and the increasing number of young people who don't, at least on the face of it, have to do much than simply exist to be successful. I do, of course, point to the Miley Ciruses and Jonas Brothers, but there are, will be and have been others like them. With children, again not at all in the majority, looking to these images and thinking education or expansion of knowledge as superfluous, develop tendencies that do not allow them to differentiate between the "right" (take that as you will) choices and the choices that might lead them to not realizing wrongness, fanaticism and just plain ignorance. With this in mind, the "truth" for them is whatever they see, hear or read, and when that "truth" is not the whole, all encompassing truth on the subject, we have a serious problem on our hands.

Just some thoughts.

Pacifistic Post

Post of ecstatic mumbling.

Post of crying after receiving an "F" on above test post.

"I swear that's what Ezren said! I couldn't believe it myself!"

I ordered this around the 25th of last month, and it's still pending. Is it close to being shipped, or should I sit on my duff and grow a patience muscle?

I'd go for the Campaign Setting, or if you want a little less information, the Gazetteer. Also, Gods and Magic and the Guide to Korvosa.

You can still find Burnt Offerings and many of the RotRL on Amazon I think, and Crimson Throne is a very good path.

Happy in the Birthday!

Here's one or two of the ones I File 13'ed.

Pebble of Blades
Aura: Moderate evocation; CL 11th
Slot —; Price 3,300 gp; Weight —;

Description
When thrown, this tiny pebble detonates in an explosion of daggers, short swords, broken glass and other sharp and pointy objects. This deals 5d6 slashing and piercing damage to everything within 20 feet of the epicenter of the explosion.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, blade barrier; Cost 1,650 gp

This one is too much like the necklace of fireballs, so I put it aside.

Cagecoin
Aura Moderate evocation; CL 13th
Slot —; Price 36,400; Weight —

Description
This is a silver piece emblazoned with a cage on both sides. Once per day, the coin can be flipped towards an opponent as a ranged touch attack. When it comes within five feet of the target, it suspends itself in midair and projects a forcecage as the spell in its barred cage form. The cage remains vulnerable to all things that destroy a forcecage, but the coin itself is safe, nestled inside the bars.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, forcecage; Cost 18,200

I didn't like how I worded this one. Never could get it right. I wanted to do a coin thing for the actual entry, but nothing other than this came to mind. Still, I think if I could nail the wording down, it'd be pretty cool.

Indianapolis, Indiana. It's so much warmer here than it should be.

I'm trying to get the math right, since I know that getting it wrong leads to bad things. So I'm trying the math on some of the items from the Beta Book but am coming up with incorrect results.

Case in point:

Eyes of Doom
First power: Doom on command- User activated, Spell level times caster level times 2000

or

1 x 11 x 2000 = 22,000

Second Power: Continual Deathwatch- Continuous, Spell level times caster level times 2000

1 x 11 x 2000 = 22,000

Total so far, 44,000

Third Power: Fear once per week- User activated, Spell level times caster level times 2000 = (assuming sorcerer/wizard spell)

4 x 11 x 2000 = 88,000

Total all told, 132,000

Divide by the uses per day (5 divided by 0.14825 or 1/7 = 35) and two additional abilities: multiply by 1.5 twice

Total after final calculation = 8485 gp without decimals.

I know I'm complicating this more than I should, but any help is sincerely appreciated.

Well done!

Josh is out sick today, alas... so updates may be somewhat delayed for a day or three.

Best wishes for a quick and happy recovery then!

Hey, Mr. Frost, any news?

That is a little frightening, but there's a long way to go before anything is sure, so let's hope GenCon falls into the hands of a good group.

I should be able to scrounge up a little something. It probably won't be anything special, but the writing must go on.

I've always loved the chicken sammich!

There is no way to thank all those who serve enough. They do, I think, believe in their cause, fight for their beliefs and their pride in their country.

Thank you. Without you, there would be no free world to call home.

Its a Mona-Bration!

I was in a line so long today that when I got to the front I had to wait in two more lines.

I enjoy the look of dragons. And this one kicks ass. Plus, I don't think a goldie would have a small attention span. I also enjoy contradictions.

Great work! Can't wait to see what you've got in store!

Charles Evans 25 wrote:

So, oh evily tantalising director of Marketing & Organised Play (by te way, you need something along the lines of 'mercilessly tantalise the board regulars' recorded as an at will power in your profile, I think); when can we have the details for the next open call?

Charles, let him give us the promised results of this open call first, ok?

On that note, when will the evily Event's Manager give us the results we so desperately seek?

For all those who may have purchased Issue #1, would it be too much to ask to post a quick review/critique/general feedback on the content?

with a spoon, me you must gag.

I should say that would make quite the dirty rag.

When will we see the real cover art for this piece?

Anti-trollish post filled with sentimental images of puppies, holding hands and a world without hatred.

The mad lag was made by a hag with a tail that wag...ed.

Dog's tail goin' for a wag.

Goldie post.

a pillow.

Well, right now they're 5th level and about to hit the end of Seven Days to the Grave. If anyone gets it, they won't have the money to spring for a resurrection. And I doubt they would anyway.

Maybe their replacement could be an experimental subject of some sort, and when they free him, the player takes control of this subject, now a new PC?