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Interesting! Perhaps I misremembered...but I could swear I encountered the stance I described in a forum thread years ago. Who knows, though.
You didn't misremember, I remember James saying that as well. It's maybe less of a formal policy than just a good idea.
Just because we post a thing here, that doesn't guarantee we have the right to actually sign away rights to the idea. So the legalese Zimmerwald quotes is helpful, but still not a ton of protection in the event they want to use an idea they find posted. For all they know we're accidentally remembering an obscure novel or the plot of an old Shadowrun mission or something. Best to be careful.
There's a lot of important info (clarifications, etc) wrapped up in the Pathfinder Society product page comments. Are those going to be lost as part of the migration?
Thank you, Mark, and everyone at Paizo. This is immensely appreciated.
I'm still saddened about the loss of Paizo Infinite as a venue for 1e Pathfinder and Starfinder content, but that's far easier to understand (even if it remains challenging) than the revocation of the CUP.
First, I have some organized play references I've made for Pathfinder 1e that exist on a website that may or may not be changing form. The website's made use of the CUP so far in a way that means I don't ever have to worry about what I'm doing so long as I'm not charging for it.
Since the site may be changing form significantly or migrating some of those references to another site for long-term archival storage, what happens? ... Is that really what's intended here?
We're going to be adding FAQ information to clarify what existing CUP sites that may need maintenance or other technical updates that don't fundamentally change the content or functionality need to do to be compliant with the FCP.
Terminalmancer wrote:
If I put those up on a website for everyone in my little home group to read, am I running afoul of the updated rules?
Home group play is covered under personal use and isn't really something this policy is intended to govern.
I appreciate the clarification, and I will check back in after the FAQ is updated.
IANAL (seriously, definitely not a lawyer), but just to clarify:
My point of concern with this response is that in my experience, personal use has generally been construed to mean "not in public where other people can get it" and posting things on the internet has been seen as "publishing" them.
I think "product" and especially "publish" mean a thing in the RPG publishing industry context that is different than the legal context and I'm nervous about the collision of those two worlds in the language of the policy and its FAQ.
On the bright side, it's a policy and not a license! So at least the text of the policy doesn't have to be 100% perfect so long as you enforce it the way you're describing...
Fair! That’s my bad for misunderstanding their statement! Still, the spirit remains that all you can do at this point is wait. I sincerely don’t think they’re going to make you guys wait longer than they ABSOLUTELY have to, but besides gencon, obviously you got stuff like lawyers to consult with first on what’s feasible, so it’s not going to be an immediate thing. Best case scenario, I imagine they’ll rescind this post and announce their goals more transparently but for an indeterminate future as they figure things out themselves
I just don’t think the endless cycle of negativity is helping anyone when right now waiting is all you can do, but again, you do you, I’m just a stranger
That's the thing - this is something that demands action from those of us with content that will be impacted by the deadline, not zen, and every day spent waiting is a day wasted. I don't know the process of getting something into Infinite but I suspect it's not nothing.
The frustration isn't an especially useful reaction, no, but it's not unwarranted or unearned.
Second, as I'm such a grognard, I'm splitting off a local group to run PFS1e adventures using mostly PFS1e rules (sans reporting, don't worry VOs!)--but we have to make some changes to enable sustained play. If I put those up on a website for everyone in my little home group to read, am I running afoul of the updated rules?
What you and your own group do for your own games in your own little circle is never, and never has been, of any concern of anyone or any company. (And don't ever let anyone try to convince you otherwise.)
I don't think that's the question though. I think the question is about putting the organized play rules (PFS1e) up on a publicly available website. Even if their group is the intended audience.
Yes, exactly - that's a nicely concise wording of the bigger-picture question. "Where does this leave Organized Play aids from the OGL times?"
I'm no longer a VO so this kinda has to be my venue for asking.
Everything we've done for org play (and I don't just mean for myself) has typically relied on the CUP.
First, I have some organized play references I've made for Pathfinder 1e that exist on a website that may or may not be changing form. The website's made use of the CUP so far in a way that means I don't ever have to worry about what I'm doing so long as I'm not charging for it.
Since the site may be changing form significantly or migrating some of those references to another site for long-term archival storage, what happens? Do I have to all of a sudden spend hours and hours digging through, say, a list of languages on Golarion to figure out what the heck is OGL and what's not? Even if I do (and I don't have the time to do that, I'm pretty sure), a simple list of PFS-legal languages is going to be significantly less useful if I can't simply write out the languages in question. Is that really what's intended here?
Second, as I'm such a grognard, I'm splitting off a local group to run PFS1e adventures using mostly PFS1e rules (sans reporting, don't worry VOs!)--but we have to make some changes to enable sustained play. If I put those up on a website for everyone in my little home group to read, am I running afoul of the updated rules?
Are there any PFS people/events north ish of Pittsburgh?
Thank you
Hi! Alex here, coordinator of the Pittsburgh area. We do have a number of folks in the area, although the pandemic has made it a little more complicated like everything else. Want to drop us a line at pittpfs@gmail.com?
Thanks for this, John. I ended up picking this up late and running it (cold!) at a convention and it... ran weirdly smoothly, but I couldn't get any of the implied dates to line up, and I didn't have the time to figure it out. I'm glad I'm not crazy.
I just ran this for the first time yesterday, and I blundered into an unasked and unanswered question: how on earth are the PCs supposed to get into the reliquary in A7? There aren't any doors into it, let alone airlocks, and if you cut your way in the thing is going to flood. You're too low-level to (reliably?) have any of the flash teleport abilities. Am I missing something?
(My party had the serpents crack the glass, which led to five or six rounds of me inventing mechanics as they attempted to drain the room of water, which let them eventually break their way in. Which I think is an acceptable outcome, but it's clearly not the intended path!)
Thanks for sharing your take on #2, makes me feel a little better about having run it that way. I definitely under-prepped; three cheers for convention schedules!
Regarding your own Q: it's implied and not explicit, but:
1. My read is that the planetoid is hollow and there's at least one very large chamber inside it that is basically the entire adventure, which is reached via the stairs inside the pyramid, and
2. A9 is arrived at from the stairs exiting area A7 to the east. The stairs lead right up to A9. (See the box text for area A7.) It's the same complex, you don't need to head back outside to get there, etc.
This was not the Rasheen scenario I was expecting! (It's short on crocodilians, among other things.)
Noting some things as I come across them.
1. Hey, a good use of in media res for the intro! Sort of. Maybe not technically.
2. DR/wound? I guess bypassed by a weapon with the wounding critical hit effect? Hrm. I'm not familiar with a rule as to whether it's any weapon with the wound property, or on an attack that creates a wound, which would usually be a crit. I'm thinking any weapon with the property?
3. The sphinx's makeshift haste circuit is "broken." By using up a swift action as normal, but forcing it to only last one round (as abnormal), it means that she really only benefits from the increased movement speed. She doesn't have a swift action to use for her full attack, so she can't move and full attack in the same round like you would expect as someone benefiting from haste. Smells intentional to me, but I'm not 100% sure.
4. Keystone's mentioned (a possible victim of the editorial process?), but it sounds like they're supposed to be lumped in with the four other AIs that are working in the background and go undescribed.
I have no explanation for the poor kobold, but I turned the alchemist into a recurring character who would set up shop with slightly overpriced consumables in dungeons throughout the adventure path. A little bit of a timeworn trope, especially if you've played too many JRPGs, but Mimips has turned out to be really popular anyway!
I made Dagio quite a bit more powerful but didn't really play around with the immortality bit. It seemed way too difficult to really communicate to the players, and the circle bit was probably the more important bit for them to latch onto.
Correct. Boons and the like are going to be part of the rewards of the adventure, so just like Steven says: unless the sanctioning document (that doesn't really exist) tells you to cross something off, players get everything on the chronicle sheet. Money, prestige, fame, items, boons, everything.
I suspect the Starstone Compass wouldn't work either, but I'd probably invent something about it spinning wildly before settling in a direction, and then spinning wildly before settling in a totally different direction.
Unrelated: nobody at Paizo seems to have caught onto the whole "it's not a light particle beam, light particle beams don't exist in Starfinder, it's a light particle cannon" thing. I guess it's time to bring it up...
Hey, new authors! Woohoo! I'm excited to see what everyone put together.
I was going to start with a question about page 5:
Quest 1, Endless War wrote:
PCs who rolled less than a 20 on their check feel an odd tingling around their heads as they recall these facts; this sensation is a manifestation of Myrrium’s assistance, as the orrery helps the PCs remember relevant information.
It's very confusingly worded, but I think I just put two and two together: the "actual" DC is 20, and the orrery is giving the PCs a +2 bonus which is already reflected in the DC, so if the orrery is responsible for the PCs succeeding at the check, then and only then do the PCs' heads feel fuzzy. I don't think that whole head-fuzziness-thing is supposed to happen if the PCs fail, but that particular bit didn't make it into the text.
I dunno, maybe that'll help someone else puzzle through it.
Just to let you all know: we are currently experiencing an unplanned, extended outage of organizedplayfoundation.org, which is the website for the Organized Play Foundation. It also hosts the Pathfinder Society Second Edition and Starfinder Society guides. We are actively communicating with the hosting service, who are working on restoring access. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA on when the website will be available again. As part of restoring access, we have taken steps that may cause the guides to remain unavailable until Monday morning. We will provide more information as we receive it. We apologize for the disruption, and thank you for your patience!
Just to let you all know: we are currently experiencing an unplanned, extended outage of organizedplayfoundation.org, which is the website for the Organized Play Foundation. It also hosts the Pathfinder Society Second Edition and Starfinder Society guides. We are actively communicating with the hosting service, who are working on restoring access. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA on when the website will be available again. As part of restoring access, we have taken steps that may cause the guides to remain unavailable until Monday morning. We will provide more information as we receive it. We apologize for the disruption, and thank you for your patience!
[...]You can advertise your event to 'locals' - what constitutes as public event depends on the location and region. As I described, advertising your game at the local townsquare is public.
Advertising it on the wall of a local gamestore is public.
Discuss with your VC/RVC what requirements you need to fulfill to count as "public".
However, after you've decided to advertise your game to whatever definition of public you are using, I -do not- agree that you should be allowed to then pick and choose your players from the demographic while still calling it public.
I think your desire to make your point is twisting up your logic here. You're using two different definitions of the word "public," and only because you change the definition mid-stream is your argument coherent. If advertising to a small group is advertising to the public, why would the definition of public change to be broader when determining who is then allowed to sign up?
It doesn't sound like it's the public part or the RSP part that sucks for you. Rather, it's a terrible experience using the Warhorn search and finding games you like that aren't open to you?
It's interesting how different folks have such different preferences. I like having one resource pool and multiple options. Giving each option its own resource pool, even if it's a 1/day style thing, sounds awful to me!
100% agree on full BAB. Giving up your EP progression just to have full BAB doesn't seem like a win. An evolutionist without their EP progression compares very poorly to a soldier. VERY poorly. At later levels it improves because you start with 2 EP/round, but it's still not good.
If we didn't need to punch someone to get EP, that might be more appealing. Starting with 2 and retaining the ability to convert RP to EP might be one way to address it. That would be a very different approach than what the class currently boasts.
That said, any sort of out-of-combat utility would be a very different philosophy than what we're seeing so far. So that's not necessarily an obstacle.
I'm not a huge fan of putting it on the player to remember their drawback--that's the exact opposite of how I'd like the incentives to work.
I'll be trying to keep them in mind, but with as many concussions as I've had, I know I'll be forgetting them!
Having a plausible frontliner with 6 sp/hp per level and light armor and drawbacks that frequently result in them taking more damage is also a very weird decision to me. We'll see how it playtests, but I suspect that they're going to be pretty squishy.
Evolution point question--it looks as though evolution points just stick around until you spend them on something, or until you dump 2/4/6 of them as a move/standard/full-round action? I'm not able to find anything that says you lose them at the end of combat or after a ten-minute rest or at the end of a day or anything like that.
Reading some of the other text makes me think that's PROBABLY intended, but we all seem to be reading it in a slightly different way. Help?!
Qualifying Event: Any public event at a qualifying location.
To build on some of the things that have already been said, the word "public" in English is a very ambiguous one. When you say something is public you could mean:
Absolutely anyone could sign up
Any member of the community could sign up (but which community?)
The event is out in the open for anyone to watch
...among other things.
My current public library lets anyone get a library card, but my last public library limited library cards to local residents. They're both considered public libraries, though.
We often think that "anyone can run for public office" because it's "public" but in truth there are usually restrictions on who can run, like minimum ages or residency requirements.
Even if we let anyone play from anywhere, there are still restrictions--having a character of the right level, sometimes. Being able to connect to the services we use to play. Even knowing the language the game is being run in.
We can argue about whether the restrictions we have in place are the right restrictions, it's true. But using the word "public" does not automatically mean restriction-free.
Okay, so you have to run it very differently from most PFS scenarios. The ending's in a very different style. If you're expecting your typical PFS romp, it's not for you.
But mystery! Horror! Laid out in a way that you can make it work well in PFS!
I'm not hugely thrilled with the reduction in Starfinder scenarios, since I don't play much PFS2 - and with (seemingly) more of the One-Shots going Pathfinder 2's way, it doesn't seem like there'll be as much to make up for what looks to be a more drastic reduction.
So, I'm disappointed.
But constant crunch isn't crunch anymore, it's a workload management problem. We've all been able to see the problem for a long time, and it's not a good place to be. Something's gotta give. You either need to do less work or hire more people, and it looks like it's the former.
Considering that and reacting to a long-standing problem is a really, really good thing, and I'm glad something's being done. I don't want to jump too far ahead, but maybe in time you'll all be able to hire someone new and bring the total scenario count back up to where it was--with less psychic damage this time.
Much less important, but maybe helpful for consistency for those who care--it looks like Paizo grabbed the art for the CR 12 paraforan, rather than the CR 6 paraforan fragment. The fragments are these cute little crystalline bird things. (Which, I guess, is not far from what the larger paraforan is supposed to look like!)
The correct art for the fragment is on page 77 of the Alien Archive 3, hiding on the second page of the paraforan entry. (Yes, they got put in the opposite order of how they appear in text. It's no wonder someone grabbed the wrong one.)
Hmmm, something to keep in mind is that the fancy high-res map that's included in the .zip file is actually slightly different from the map included in the scenario itself. It looks like someone got a tile flipped around in the wrong direction and didn't notice! Shame it's the tile with the elevator on it, that might be important.
I was hoping they'd open up some of the options that were reserved for chronicle sheets, myself, but I think we're out of luck. We might be anticipating "No" answers on those, based on:
Quote:
We anticipate that this will be the final version of these documents, barring any major issues
I would just like to take a moment to appreciate the MC Escher work that is the ground floor of Waterhill Manor. Very fitting for an immortal madman's occasional abode! Would have been nice if I didn't have to photoshop some steps in between the dining room and the kitchen in order to avoid a random 6-foot drop somewhere, though.
These scenarios may be run anywhere if they meet the listed table minimum, are playing the scenario simultaneously, and are in contact with each other:
It's worth specifically noting for posterity (and future thread necros) that the VO corps recently received some updated information, and the post linked to above is currently out of date. Maybe it will be updated or included on another page soon! In the meantime, Alex gave us permission to share the updates publicly.
For Pathfinder 1e, the changes in the most recent batch are:
RVC approval is no longer necessary to schedule a multi-table interactive, but you should keep 'em in the loop, especially if you're scheduling a convention (this one's for us venture-officers and convention organizers),
No multi-table interactives must be scheduled at conventions, and
PFS1 10-98 Siege of Gallowspire now has a 3-table minimum (previously: 5-table minimum) to run.
I was not a fan of the Agents of Change system, not at all, and wrote a replacement system I'm calling the spymaster system. In the case of the book 2 reference, I relied on the updated system to help guide the party through the wide-open sandbox section of Part 2. Those changes don't really play into milestone leveling, though, so long as you know what it translates to, you should be okay.
As it is the first Oathday of the month, a crowd has gathered at Pharasma's Pulpit. Crowds from outside of Cassomir have flocked to the city to see the condemned beheaded, hanged, drawn and quartered.
It is a baking hot day and you each stand facing a curious structure that stands tall in the central square
of Old Cassomir. Like so many of the crowd you are disgusted, shocked and plain curious about the events about to unfold.
The structure is built from wood, rope and mortar with a central platform thirty feet above the ground. It is a gallows, plain and simple. Once a month, those condemned to death for their crimes are marched from Swift Prison to meet their fate.
As you wait, unsure where to look, you become aware of a note tucked in one of your pockets that certainly wasn't there a minute ago. You glance around - seeing nobody that looks suspicious - and then take the note out of your pocket and read it.
Aseve:
Aseve
I have information that could lead to the whereabouts of Benhov. All I ask in return is a small favor. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
Thelonius:
Thelonius
I have information that could lead you in your quest to seek out new alchemical substances. All I ask in return is a small favor. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
David:
David
I have information about one of your previous incarnations. All I ask in return is a small favor. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
Ellaria:
Ellaria
I have information that proves that some fairy-tales are more than something for children. All I ask in return is a small favor. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
Emrys:
Emrys
I have information about how you can help Abadar advance civilization in the world. All I ask in return is a small favor. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
Valendrion:
Valendrion
I have an opportunity where the cause is just and the coin is plentiful. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
Earnest:
Earnest
I have a commission for you. Please follow the black rat at your feet if you wish to continue.
Jacques
As you look down, you see a black rat at your feet, its whiskers twitching and it appears to be looking right at you.
Before I give out the character creation information, I want you to all agree here on a party composition – namely race and class. It doesn’t matter what your suggested concept was. You can still go with that or switch to something else – if it suits the party.
How you decide is up to you – but I would frown on first come-first served. With seven PCs, you may choose to duplicate classes. It’s entirely up to you.
Once you’ve agreed…
Character creation
- Pathfinder rules (obviously)
- Epic Fantasy (25 point) ability score points
- 1st level characters
- Maximum hit points at every level
- 2 traits (anything from the Character Traits pdf except ‘Additional Traits,’ and from other sources e.g. third party or adventure paths by agreement)
- Pathfinder published races only
- Pathfinder published classes (including play-test) (from other sources by agreement)
- Starting gold – 300gp (no magic items)
- Background – The more you give me, the more I can use and the game will be interactive for you. The less I get means you will be more of an observer.
- More than just stats – Please make your descriptions match your numbers. I’ve seen too many stunningly beautiful but aloof female characters with a charisma score of 8. If you’re that beautiful, your personality would really have to suck to be rated an 8 overall. You get the idea.
- Starting point – Use this thread to see if some of you want to know each other before the ‘game’ starts. You will all start in one location and how it begins will depend on your interaction prior to that point.
- Once everyone has their character created (ideally use the site to post your data) then we can begin…the timing is up to you.
House rules In no particular order - and don't worry, I'm not a control-freak GM, it's just easier to say these things up front
Magical items are hen’s teeth. When you find one, you’ll be so pleased; you’ll look to use it, not to sell it the first chance you get. That better reflects ‘real-life.’ If a level one swordsman fighter found a magic axe, he’d likely switch his weapon of choice.
If a party member makes a group decision and nobody contradicts within 24 hours, that’s what you all do. This rule can be amended if, for example, you appoint a party leader who could make the decision without a day’s wait.
No posting for 48 hours gets a frown. Real-life happens, but please post here if you know you’ll be away for any length of time.
No posting for over 24 hours when we’re waiting on you gets a frown and you’ll likely be NPC’d.
Too many frowns equals a strike-out. How many? I don’t want to put a number on it. 1 is too few, 100 is too many – so somewhere in-between.
I believe in real-world economics. Little villages don't have shops with +3 daggers, nor do they buy them. Their trade is too limited for one thing and they couldn't afford the security for another. This means that, from time to time, I won’t go off the book price. Cassomir is big enough to stock most things at 100% of the book price – but don’t rely on it.
XP. I don't dish it out every encounter. Instead, I have split the adventures up into sections and when you hit a milestone, I'll ask you to level up.
Pace. I’ll start by giving plenty of time to role-playing. If it’s too slow, let me know and I can minimise the NPC encounters and give you a précis of what happened.
Local knowledge aka meta-gaming. Try to advance characters in keeping with how you’ve role-played them. If you’ve become an expert on Cassomir, I would expect you to take a rank of Knowledge (Local) when you next levelled up.
Useful information about Cassomir
None of you are local, so detailed knowledge is pointless. I’ll send out a basic map soon and you can keep track of what is where if you want. At some point I’ll decide you have enough local knowledge and give you a master map with locations on it.
Cassomir is the second largest city in Taldor. It’s home to the Taldor Imperial Navy and the Imperial Shipyards. Strategically located at the mouth of the Sellen River, it serves as a trade city – connected to all of the kingdoms that touch the Sellen. Trade ships come in from all regions that are on the Inner Sea, and others that can access a port on the sea.
The Navy boards and checks every vessel that comes through the mouth of the Sellen and blows out of the water anything that chooses not to be boarded.
Finally, Cassomir acts as gateway to the Verduran Forest, a region of Taldor controlled by the empire but that it largely ignores.
Rumours and facts about Cassomir But which are which?
City life revolves around water.
Cassomirites are religious people. Gozreh is revered above all others.
Many Cassomirites believe Aroden isn’t really dead.
The Wildwood Lodge maintains the trade agreement between Cassomir and the Verduran Forest.
Cassomirites believe they are better than most Taldorans.
Cassomir is home to five separate adventuring companies. Dog’s of Dog’s Teeth is the largest.
The shipyards are always plagued with rats.
Cassomir’s Locker is the name for the sewer system. The Pathfinder Lodge keep it locked from prying eyes due to the vast treasure within.
There is an underground city below Cassomir called Corgunbier. Its inhabitants steal unsuspecting Cassomirites for slaves.
The Imperial Navy regularly press-gangs law-abiding citizens if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Of late, the games I have joined have had a shorter shelf-life than a glass of milk on a hot day. So I decided to take control of matters and GM a second campaign.
I have been working for a month now on a home-brew affair – to compliment the AP I’m currently running. It’s set in Cassomir for a number of reasons:
1. The Cities of Golarion sourcebook
2. The associated beautiful map
3. The Taldor campaign sourcebook
Ideally I wanted an area that both excited me and that hadn’t been covered in pre-published adventures. This in theory excluded all areas with sourcebooks – but I pressed on regardless.
Taldor – and specifically Cassomir – offered enough scope to allow me to run something home-brewed without cutting across established adventures. But I digress…
This is not a first come, first served posting. I have done all of the background to start the game straight away, but I want to take a few days to allow players to see the post and come up with a reason why they should be included. I’ll accept emails until the end of this week-end (the 21st).
Those interested should email me at: cassomir at betternovelwriting dot com and not on this thread. This thread is for you to ask questions that I haven’t answered.
So what do I want from your email? I really need the following:
Why you as a player?
What do you want from the game? What can you bring to the game? Point me at a character that best demonstrates how you PbP.
What would be your character concept?
This could be as simple as a couple of lines. I do not want a full character. Please don’t invest the time in creating one (or worst still just point me to a pre-created one for a game that didn’t last). This character concept may not be used in the final cut – it is the player I am interested in at this stage, not the character.
What can I tell you that will help?
Posting
I expect players to post daily. I will use the board’s dice roller and will provide maps via Flickr or googledocs.
Players
I will start with 7 players. There will be no reserve list once the game starts. If one or two drop out, I have factored that in.
Style and substance
I will endeavour to use American spellings but my English will sometimes creep in (no apologies – just an observation). So I’ll make every effort to write armor when my brain wants to write armour.
I will use maps wherever possible and I will give plenty of opportunity to develop the story in the way you want.
I like to GM role-playing. I anticipate plenty of interaction between PCs and with the NPCs. If you only like combat, this is not the game for you.
I expect this to be an inclusive game. Players will have a big say in the party composition, adventures chosen etc. I will have house rules, but I’ll be clear and up front about these.
Background
Your characters will have arrived in Cassomir looking for adventure. Are you running from something or towards something? No characters will be locals. This will allow you to learn about the city as you progress.
What is your character’s goal? What separates them from the ‘vanilla’ heroes that I see so often? One house rule up front is that there will be no evil PCs.
Game length
I expect this to be a long campaign. I have over 100 ‘adventures’ sketched out already and you will head in the direction you want, not one an adventure path forces you down.
I will, however, insist that you remain in and around Cassomir though – at least to begin with.
Miscellaneous
Don’t worry about point buys, starting gold etc. That will be revealed when the party is agreed. I expect to start at 1st level – I know this has challenges but I want the group to grow together.
As stated before, use this thread for questions I haven't anticipated.
If you've read this far, thanks...I look forward to your email.
The Swallowtail Festival begins promptly, as scheduled, on the first day of autumn. The square before the church quickly becomes crowded as locals and travelers arrive, and several merchant tents featuring food, clothes, local crafts, and souvenirs are there to meet them.
Welcoming Speeches
The turnout for the opening speeches is quite respectable, and the four keynote speakers each deliver short but well-received welcomes to the festival.
Mayor Deverin’s friendly attitude and excitement prove contagious as she welcomes visitors to town and jokes about how even Larz Rovanky, the local tanner (and notorious workaholic) managed to tear himself away from the tannery to attend, much to everyone’s but Larz’s amusement.
Sheriff Hemlock brings the crowd down a bit with his dour mood, his reminder to be safe around the evening’s bonfire, and his request for a moment of silence to remember those who lost their lives in the fire that claimed the town’s previous church five years ago.
Fortunately, Cyrdak Drokkus is more than up to the challenge of bringing the crowd’s mood back up with his rousing anecdotes as he delivers a not-completely-irreverent recap of the long process the town went through to finance and construct the new cathedral. He throws in a bit of self-promotion at the end, as is his wont, inviting everyone to stop by the Sandpoint Theater the following evening to check out his new production of “The Harpy’s Curse,” revealing that the lead role of Avisera the harpy queen will be played by none other than the famous Magnimarian diva Allishanda!
Finally, Father Zantus steps up give a short speech thanking everyone for coming before declaring the Swallowtail Festival underway.
Swallowtail Release
At noon, Father Zantus and his acolytes wheel a large covered wagon into the square, and after recounting the short parable of how Desna first fell to earth and was nursed back to health by a blind child who she transformed into an immortal butterfly as a reward for her aid, they pull aside the wagon’s cover, releasing the thousand children of Desna—a furious storm of a thousand swallowtail butterflies that swarm into the air in a spiraling riot of color to a great cheer from the crowd. Throughout the rest of the day, children futilely chase butterflies, never quite quick enough to catch them.
Lunch
Lunch is provided free, at the expense of Sandpoint’s taverns. Each brings its best dishes—this event is a marketing push by the taverns as much to win new customers as it is to feed a hungry crowd. It soon becomes apparent that the darling of the lunch is, once again, Ameiko Kaijitsu, whose remarkable curry-spiced salmon and early winterdrop mead easily overshadow the other offerings, such as the Hagfish’s lobster chowder or the White Deer’s peppercorn venison.
Consecration
Finally, as the sun begins to set, Father Zantus takes the central podium, uses a thunderstone to attract everyone’s attention, and clears his throat as he prepares to recite the Prayer of First Dreaming.
Please follow the link below to the map of the square in front of the church (Father Zantus is on the podium) and indicate approximately where you are standing.
This is the second post, as my first one disappeared.
I've never GMed a PbP before but I have plenty of GMing experience.
I'm looking to start a Rise of the Runelords campaign. I'll be using the Pathfinder core rulebook, the Player's Guide and the Pathfinder Character Traits Web Enhancement to create characters.
If you're interested, let me know what sort of character you'd like to play.
I'm looking to GM the Rise of the Runelords campaign via play by post. I've never run a PbP before (but I'm old enough to have GMed PBM as well as PBeM).
I'll be heavy on the role-playing and keep the dice rolling to a minimum to keep the game flowing.
I'll only be using the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (plus the Player's Handbook and the Pathfinder Character Traits Web Enhancement pdf).
If you're interested, give me a flavour of the character you'd like to play.
