Steven Robert's page

As one of the perpetrators of the original story on RPG Geek (I can't take credit for the idea, though I was responsible for the Millennium Falcon), I am glad to see people enjoying it - and am very grateful to Paizo, and Lisa Stevens, for taking it with such good grace. What we thought would be an amusing story for our regulars turned into much more when Paizo themselves shared the link, and it was great hearing about others enjoying - or being briefly frightened by - the joke.

In all seriousness, we at RPG Geek are big fans of Paizo - our forums have hosted over 50 play-by-forum Society games, as well as many other campaign games (including two year+ campaigns run by myself). So we are very pleased to have injected a bit of humor into the days of Pathfinder community and especially any staffers at Paizo who got a kick out of it!

Thanks Paizo!

PS Also, if anyone is worried, we've added two notes to the story about the posting date to ensure that anyone who stumbles upon it at a later date won't fall for it.

Area "C" should be just north of area "A", on the ramp level above that one.

Congratulations to Greg on getting the final installment out! This is an epic achievement - I only wish I had the players (and time) to try it! I really look forward to seeing the bound version.

Lou, you are awesome.

That looks AMAZING Thod - thanks for posting! It's even better than it looked in my head...

Thanks for the continued discussion, folks! It's very interesting to read how that encounter goes in different groups.

About the timing in the final encounter:

Well (as the author) I am certainly very sorry to hear about your frustration with this encounter! I always strive to give creatures interesting tactics and environments, which sometimes is difficult - especially at the higher levels where the defenses of different groups can vary dramatically. I'm sorry it didn't gel well with your group, but thanks for letting me (and others) know; it's always helpful to get feedback on what worked and what didn't.

Happy gaming!

I can answer these based on the original map I turned in - doesn't look like any of these things changed in development.

Enjoy!

I will jump in here with my author hat! My apologies the architecture isn't clear; it is often difficult to describe unusual features that are "fantastical" and so don't occur in the real world, but I should have done a better job here.

The basic idea is that the sauna is in a minaret and turret extending above the roof, but the turret has a "belly" that protrudes into the room itself (from the ceiling). A fragile-looking metal staircase spirals up, around the (open) column of smoke, and ends by wrapping around the belly, with a door on the far side (from the entry door, so it faces Gali's vantage point).

It definitely makes sense that PCs would feel more and more heat as they ascended the stairs!

As for Gali, he can look through not only the eyes of the carving but its open mouth, which I meant to be large enough to see the door - I wanted to take advantage of the fact that looking through a densely-packed grate (i.e., the ornate mouth) that is right next to you is much easier than looking through such a grate when you are far away. The ceiling isn't actually all that high - after all, open/close is a close range spell. At least, it seemed reasonable at the time.

Personally, I don't see any reason to have Gali trigger the trap from range anyway. He's a sufficient challenge on his own and if the players can avoid tripping the trap, then they should reap the reward, not be blasted from afar. Smells of unnecessary vindictiveness to me.

My apologies again, it is not meant to be vindictive but to turn a potentially "boring" (at least for my play style) one-shot door trap into an interesting challenge. I think of it as part of Gali's initial illusion drawing the PCs up the stairs...if they do not take precautions following those, they will pay a price for it. But I can see that others would view the sequence differently.

As one of the PFS scenario authors who got a break (as well as help and advice) from Josh, let me say a special "thank you" and best of luck with your future endeavors!

I personally am all for creative solutions - I think that's the best part about RPGs! So I think the GM made a great decision. (Keep in mind, though, that my opinion is just that, and it isn't official in any way!)

Indeed, Doug is correct - it was meant to be part of the whole package, just mattering long enough for the scenario.

Doug: You make an interesting point about the skill check, and it is something I had considered. My thoughts:

In any case, these "bonus" missions are supposed to be challenging, so players shouldn't expect to succeed all the time, as you say.

Thanks for the feedback, folks! It is great for us novice writers to hear how things play out in other groups, and I'm glad people have enjoyed it. Special thanks to Fu-Man Chu for the pics - especially nice to see things come alive!

Sorry about the lack of detail on the walls - I guess that slipped out of my final draft. I definitely picture superior masonry, which should give Gali plenty of time to react to PCs bashing in his hidey-hole.

Again, thanks for the feedback!

Thanks for the kind words, and the feedback! It is definitely helpful to hear how it reads and plays to others, and you point out a couple of things that were clear in my head but not in the manuscript. Here's how I meant them to go...

As for the artifact itself, here's my vision: The lorestone is a sphere of unadorned granite, polished to near perfect smoothness. It can be inserted into subtle depressions in druidic circles, where intricate astronomical rituals—now lost to history—could unlock a trove of druidic knowledge. To be honest, I never considered how the PCs could attempt to use it, although in a home campaign that would definitely be a good direction.

For the final encounter, I basically pictured it as a challenging game of "keep away," with Cyflymder darting around the circle with the stone. In Tier 4-5, the second quickling can spring to action if the PCs wrest it away from Cyflymder, and the spriggans act as blockers. In Tier 1-2, the atomie (using entangle) can play a similar role as blocker. But, of course, every DM should interpret it as they'd like!

As for spriggans, I'd always assumed they were fey themselves, until I looked at their description closely while preparing my proposal. So DR/cold iron would fit in great there - I am looking forward to seeing how they evolve into their Pathfinder RPG stats, where they play a much larger role than ever in the world.

Thanks again for the feedback!