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My CoTCT campaign (now on Book 5) has gone quite a lot differently, partly because the PCs have been making good use of Kaer Maga as an obvious resource - a city beyond the control of Ileosa, and handily between Korvosa & Scarwall. They've already had several adventures there on the way out, and have just returned there from Scarwall to get a comrade Raised. I was wondering if Kaer Maga has come up in other GMs' CotCT games, and if so what sort of stuff did you do there?
My group just got TPK'd by Nualia in the catacombs, having lost one PC to the Thassilonian trap, some terrible die rolls and she carved up the other two with 5 hp left. Also lost Shalelu Andosana to double-turncoat Orik Vankaskerkin, who turned back to Nualia's side when he saw which way the wind was blowing. Do you think there's any way to continue the campaign with new PCs, or should I scrap it? I'm kinda down at the loss of all the plot threads & NPC relationships from the dead PCs. If I smash up Sandpoint with a goblin invasion that would make Book 2 un-runnable.
I was just thinking about this in relation to Guide to Korvosa specifically, since I'm running CoTCT. I'm not thinking about APs, where the levels of encountered NPCs are set to give the PCs a good challenge, but rather the background NPCs. In ISWG it discusses NPC levels on Golarion, and suggests that level 11-15 characters are rare, typically a handful in any given nation, while level 16-20 characters are legendary individuals of great power. Hoever 3.5e material seems to adhere pretty much to 3e D&D norms, where very high level characters are a lot more common. So Korvosa is a city state and just a Large city, not a Metropolis, but has some high to very high level characters (eg Toff Ornelos is listed as Ari 1/Wiz 16) who hardly seem legendary in the setting. Personally I like the PF approach to NPC levels a lot better; for one thing it stays closer to the roots of the game. So I was wondering if there is any guidance/recommendation on conversion, lowering NPC levels? Do other GMs have any particular formula or approach they take?
This actually just came up in my Forgotten Realms campaign - a woman was murdered, Raised, and had a child ca 9 months later, the question arising whether she might have been pregnant prior to being killed. But I'm running Rise of the Rune Lords and Sandpoint includes the arbotificer Hannah Velerin, a NG Elf one goes to to end a pregnancy. Ending a pregnancy once the foetus has a soul seems a lot like murder (and this is the basis of RL religious objections), which might make the NG alignment look iffy. I guess my own preference for the game setting is that the soul is something that comes into being over time during the process of growth between conception and birth, rather than coming into existence at the moment of birth (which seems very arbitrary to me) or at the moment of conception (which would seem to make Hannah a murderer), but I was wondering if there was an official answer. It's not just a metaphysical question, since it also has implications for the Raise Dead spell; do you need two Raises (with two 5,000gp diamonds) to bring back a pregnant woman and her unborn child, and if so, from what point? I'm guessing the designers' preference might be that souls of children only come into existence at birth, since that fits closest with 'modern' morality, which is what Golarion generally operates under?
Just saw this idea here - http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=750846&postcount=37 Mind. Blown. :D Here's how it'd work - like a kid's book of reuseable stickers, you have say 16 or 32 pages of squares in a (say) 7.5"x10" grid, with 16 or 32 pages of 2.5" square dungeon geomorph stickers that can be arranged in any position as desired, using great Paizo art - dungeons & caverns are obvious. This could works for city streets, forest, marsh etc too, but I would aim it at 'adventure' mapping rather than 'campaign' mapping. It's system neutral, it can sell to anyone playing a D&D-like game of dungeon exploration. It lets you create your own 'printed' dungeons fast, and have them look great. All the printing technology already exists. Isn't this a good idea? :)
Hi all - looking at the possibility of starting an AP campaign with my son, friend's son etc. Would need to be suitable for children aged 7. I'm not so worried about the mechanical stuff, I've found (using the Beginner Box and the stuff at the back of the Dark Waters Rising hardback) that I can handle the rules-crunch fine, and they pick up on a lot of stuff about the d20 system very quickly, but I'd like something that was mostly PG-rated, not much R stuff which I'd need to edit. A couple I've just bought and am wondering might be suitable are Skull & Shackles and Shattered Star; I was also wondering about Jade Regent? I'm currently running Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne for adult groups; both are on the edge of what I'd consider ok.
My son is about to be 7; he likes demons and is interested in playing Wrath of the Righteous. I was thinking about running it for him and some others, maybe a friend's child of similar age. I was wondering about (non-mechanical) child-unfriendly content in the AP? I currently only have Book 1. I reckon I can handle gay & lesbian characters for them ok (he's ok with the basic concept) but the convoluted transsexual sort-of-lesbian marriage thing in Book 1 looks way too much and will need editing out; I was wondering if this is a big plot point in later books? Is there anything else that's likely to cause trouble? He's pretty robust but I wouldn't be happy with graphic torture porn, mutilation or various other 'adult themes'.
What if they only told her it was dead?
Has anyone else done anything with this? Any old threads?
Does it melt? Magically vanish?
(Because, you know, places where the snow doesn't melt have a name - "Glaciers". And most of Irrisen isn't glaciated.)
So, the Varisians seem to be a clan/family based society, the design influenced by real world Romany Gypsies. The Sczarni are Varisian criminal gangs. Now, in the real world a 'crime family' is usually just that - a literal family, at least at its core. Crime syndicates without blood relationship, the fantasy 'Thieves' Guild', is much more the exception than the rule. Organised and semi-organised crime requires bonds of trust; these can sometimes arise from non-familial relations, eg a group of military veterans or a religious cult, but family bonds are by far the most common. The partial exception would be street gangs that often operate more on a 'Bruderbond' or 'warrior society' ethos, with induction/hazing helping to create a kind of virtual family. And there can be hybrids, eg the US Mafia seems to have developed with a partial Bruderbond type system as the close kinship ties of the original Sicilian immigrants loosened. So, what are the Sczarni? They're not simply particularly criminal Varisian blood families, as far as I can tell. The indications from eg Sczarni gang descriptions in Guide to Korvosa seem to fit the Bruderbond model, eg a gang of all-female second-storey burglars. Historically IRL you'd tend to see this kind of gang more in societies where extended family relationships are relatively weak, Victorian London and other European cities, say (real world Romany Gypsy criminal organisation seems to be entirely clan/family-based, as far as I can tell). So, if the Sczarni are Bruderbonds, what causes the members of tight-knit Varisian families to join these gangs? Are they outcasts from 'respectable' Varisian society? Youths who rejected arranged marriages or committed other infractions, perhaps?
How do other Varisians see the Sczarni? Are they the social rejects, the unwanted outcasts? Or are they looked up to as the defenders of Varisian culture against the Chels, the way many Sicilian immigrants to the US once saw the Mafia?
So, pirates are traditionally a lusty lot, right? I recently acquired Skull & Shackles. The two other full APs I own, and am running, are Curse of the Crimson Throne and Rise of the Runelords. Runelords is chock-full of relationship stuff, CoCT too has plenty of relationship stuff among the NPCs and fairly clear indications of possible romantic interests, eg Trinia and Vencarlo. So far, from what I've read of Skull & Shackles, all this stuff seems weirdly lacking. I've not read the whole AP yet, but I've read book 1 in full and everything seems weirdly asexual. I initially assumed, following Fritz Leiber, that 'cabin girl' meant a provider of intimate services to Captain Harrigan, but even that doesn't seem to be indicated in the text. I was wondering if
Hi all - so, I'm currently five sessions into running my first Adventure Path, Curse of the Crimson Throne, and finding it a bit intimidating. I do my best to prep, but often feel slightly lost. I often have a hard time figuring out exactly what the authors intended, and what they expect to be happening at the table in actual play. I was wondering if anyone can suggest some good essays or discussions on principles for running an AP successfully? What should I be doing? What should I look out for?
So, I know that modern Cheliax is a slaveholding nation, and this is a source of conflict with Andoran. I was wondering whether slavery was always legal in Cheliax, and in the Chelish Varisian colonies, and what the modern situation is. I'm running Curse of the Crimson Throne, set in Korvosa. From what I can tell, slavery is legal in Korvosa, King Eodred's harem were apparently slave concubines, but that seems to be the only reference - slavery does not seem to be part of the Korvosan economy, or a feature of Korvosan society. There are no references to Cheliax ever enslaving the conquered Varisians or Shoanti during the colonisation (in fact Korvosa's rural hinterland economy is not discussed anywhere, as far as I can tell) - this is a bit striking as there is something of an Imperial Spain/Latin America vibe about Cheliax/Varisia. I wasn't sure whether this should be explained by slavery being illegal at the time of colonisation, or that early attempts to enslave Varisians and Shoanti failed and were abandoned? Perhaps private citizens aren't allowed to hold slaves at all? But how would that square with Chelish influence in Korvosa, which is a LN city with a strong LE component? I've also started running Rise of the Runelords. From what I can tell, Sandpoint is a colony of Magnimar, Magnimar broke away from Cheliax (or Korvosa?) and is a more 'good guy' city. I was thinking this might mean that they made slavery illegal when they broke free? Are there any official references?
Took a few hours to do this, trying to do it BTB for my Crimson Throne campaign. Thought I should disseminate it. :) If you spot errors I'll edit it. Intended to be Order of the Nail, hence the Bastard Sword. Base was the Ftr-3 human Hellknight Armiger. Hell knight CR 7
Just taken a few hours out and attempted to stat out a full Hellknight of the Order of the Nail, such as appear (unstatted) in Book 1, by the book - Core Rules & ISWG. First time in I think eight years I've attempted to stat out a 3e/PF NPC above 2nd level, and I won't be doing it again in a hurry! >:) I used the official Hellknight Armiger Ftr 3 as the base, and have attempted to do it by the book. Here you are: Hell knight, Order of the Nail. CR 7
I'm going to be running Rise of the Runelords written for 3e/PF to AD&D/OSRIC, thinking about what issues are likely to come up. Has anyone done this with Runelords or a similar AP? Googling turned up one useful blog on running it in 2e AD&D. Any significant problems from different game assumptions?
Base Save Bonus = Level, for all saves, Fort Ref & Will, for everybody. This is one of those simple fixes that solve so many balance problems (caster/noncaster, caster/monster, weak classes/strong classes) I don't know why I didn't think of it years ago. It restores the game to a somewhat pre-3e state, where characters slowly get better at making saves as they level up, although they never get to the AD&D stage of making saves on a '2' vs equal-level opponents - eg I checked out Runelord Kazoug and he looked to be typically saving on around an '8' vs his own spell attacks.
The current Egyptian-themed AP is no interest to me (haven't enjoyed any of the Eypt-themed stuff I've GM'd or played), and I swore I'd never subscribe to the APs (due to P&P, a subscription to the UK is expensive even with 30% off)... BUT the past several APs all looked brilliant, and I love the whole Heavy Metal barbarians vs laser-wielding robots sub-genre... My questions:
I know, I know, no plans revealed, can't cannibalise sales, etc...
Getting APs in the UK is not a cheap or easy prospect. I'm currently running Curse of the Crimson Throne in Pathfinder - acquiring all six issues of the AP here in the UK was an adventure in itself! I now have everything from brand new & unused (#2) to used with the original GM's sticky-notes included (#3) to a laminated ex-public-library(!) copy of #4. Final cost inc p&p was similar to what it would have cost to buy the issues at retail in the UK, that's around £75 - maybe a bit less.
(Yes, I had a lot of coffee this fine morning). :D
Just started a blog for my upcoming campaign - Campaign Blog.
I was wondering if this is mentioned anywhere in the AP, or what approach other GMs take? It would affect stuff like: Whether Cressida Kroft is unusual as a female commander.
I was thinking about using something in the 10%-25% region, but it could go higher if Cheliaxan culture is gynarchic, or lower if female warriors are unusual.
What do you think? If you ran CoTCT and thought about this, what approach did you take? (If for some reason you think this is a stupid question, please ignore this post, thank you.)
I'm interested in running Crimson Throne in 4e D&D, which seems like potentially a good system for it. To kick things off I thought I'd have a go statting Ileosa. I currently have the first two parts of Throne and I've seen Queen Ileosa in 3e D&D online somewhere, ca CR 18 AIR; I am adapting the rather appropriate 4e Monster Manual 2 Human Insane Noble as a high Paragon Solo. I don't know if this has been done previously and/or if anyone uses 4e for Paizo Adventure Paths? I halve all monster hp BTW.
Queen Ileosa Arabesti Level 18 Solo Skirmisher
Traits
Just played the Pathfinder Beginner Box with my 5.5 year old, Bill (using the rules!) Bill wanted to play an Orc Boss called Korkas, so he was Korkas, Boss of Orcshire, exploring Black Fang's Dungeon. Lots of fun roleplaying with his incompetent and cowardly orc minions, Samael and Tomael (RIP Tomael, roasted by the dragon). B)
I'd definitely recommend the Pathfinder Beginner Box for parents wanting to introduce their kids to D&D. Bill made a good choice of PC too, as the Orc Boss is tough enough to survive a few fights. The 'Evil Fighter' 'Evil Rogue' 'Evil Cleric' and 'Evil Wizard' should also make good pregens for solo play. Or you could use the free Hero Builder Starter Edition for Beginner Box to make a 3rd or 4th level PC - http://wolflair.com/index.php?context=hero_lab&page=starter_edition
"although none of them survived the siege..."
How could they take in Seelah, if they all died in the siege? It sounds from context as if the first line is wrong.
http://www.ennie-awards.com/blog/congratulations-to-the-2012-ennie-award-wi nners/ Gold for both Product of the Year and Best Production Values, both very well deserved. I think on production values the PBB sets a standard that has never been equalled.
Full 3.5 & PF often seem very magic item dependent games, but the Beginner Box much less so, in my experience. The Beginner Box PCs IMC don't feel item dependent; partly because they are not constantly fighting powerful monsters; there is the occasional Ogre or Black Fang >:), but most of what they face is of CR lower than their level (currently 2-4). There are no crafting rules in the BB, and IMC there are only healing potions and a few random items typically available to purchase, so a +1 magic sword, +2 attribute booster, or +1 ring of protection is a nice bonus to help you kill more goblins, not a necessity. With the lack of crafting rules, limited item purchase, and a few other things (no opportunity attacks, armour check penalties, or DEX cap by armmour) I also find the BB balance between classes is much better than in core PF. The Cleric does not overshadow the Fighter, for instance. The Wizard goes from weak at 1st to strong at 5th, but never dominates. How have other people experienced this issue?
It says so under Toughness in the Feats section, but I don't see it mentioned in the Fighter class description. Is this right?
As a veteran of 3e D&D, I find that the lack of Attacks of Opportunity in the Pathfinder Beginner Box has a hugely beneficial effect on play. Combats go much faster and are more dynamic. Wizards and other back-line fighters are much more likely to be attacked; and with no Concentration skill they can't cast in spells with melee. However it does raise a couple issues, eg it should be possible to 'bodyguard' or otherwise stop people running past you. Here are my ideas: 1) Readied standard actions are back: you can Ready (going out of initiative order) a standard action, eg Ready to attack an opponent when they move adjacent to you. Your initiative then goes to just before theirs. 1) A move ends if you are adjacent to an enemy. You can take a second move action to move again. These may make fights a bit less run-everywhere, but should be simple to adjudicate and keep things fast, while enabling battlefield control.
I finally did it - finally ran my first Pathfinder Beginner Box game yesterday! It went very well, the system is smooth, fast and deadly to PCs and monsters alike. We played through Black Fang's dungeon from the GM's book with 4 PCs, and all appeared to go well, the PCs faced and drove off Black Fang, reducing him to 17 hp and seizing his treasure, then rested before clearing the rest of the dungeon. By the time that was done they were wealthy men (and elf girl). However, the PCs then decided to track him down and finish him off... Two days later they tracked the dragon (now at 29 hp) down to a cave on an icy riverbank. Unfortunately the dragon detected their approach, and as they turned the corner it took down the Fighter & wounded the Alchemist with one breath attack, then moved in for the kill, felling the wounded Alchemist with one bite. The Cleric tried to revive the Fighter with clw but rolled too low; Black Fang full-attacked and tore him apart. The Elf Rogue ran for it then hid and managed to escape, while the dragon consumed her comrades. Bit brutal, but I think a great time was had by all! :D
Long time 3e-er, never played Pathfinder. So, I've been going through my BB this morning, I have a plan to use it for an old school sandboxy campaign for levels 1-5 - http://www.meetup.com/London-DnD/messages/boards/thread/19272292 - if you're in London you're welcome to come along and give it a try! :) Looking at what rules were left out, generally it promotes the old-school flavour I'm going for. Eg no attacks of opportunity, no ranged spells or ranged weapons in melee, no DEX cap on armour, which makes armoured Elves potentially very nasty; a good thing IMO. I like all of these; opportunity attacks in particular don't work well IME and tend to bog down combat. No armour check penalties, and no encumbrance - a good thing I feel, but there are cases where the DM will need to reality-check it, eg swimming long distance in plate will require a buoyancy aid or you'll sink; you can't carry 30 crossbows, that sort of thing. However: the one house rule I'll be adding is allowing Readied actions, standard + free. This enables a PC to eg ready to 5' step & attack if someone tries to run past him, enabling some battlefield control. Otherwise it looks like the box rules meet my needs very nicely. If you're using the BB for a campaign, how about you? Are you using any house rules? |
