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Hey i had this idea recently about stories that were run by the players and no-prep GMs having to improve a lot. I Wanted to take it to a new level to give myself a challenge and also give the players a chance to drive the story in a somewhat random way where they create the clues and it is up to the GM to tie all of the clues together. Essentially the players can create a fact about a setting or clue that they are given. These facts are not intended for combat advantages. You can create one fact every few encounters with the exception of "clues" which the GM will decide how many facts you can assign to any given clue. Here is an example:

GM: *The GM Hands player 1 a blank map of korvosa* On the corpse of the Aristocrat you find a map of Korvosa and the surrounding area with multiple notes scribbled in the margin and points circled. You may each create one to two clues.
Player 1: "I've found a map of Korvosa, it seems to be old. at least 15 years, this district was demolished a long time ago"
Player 2: "What is this line extending out from the Academae?"
Player 3: "I Don't know but it probably has to do with this 'Count Whimble Daerik' its circled with a number 5468"
Player 4: Can i roll Knowledge Nobility on the Count?
GM: Sure
Player 4 rolls 18
GM: You have heard of the Daerik line but you don't recall a specific Whimble
Player 4: "I think i've heard of the Daerik family, they are a Andoran Nobility. Currently they employ a large fleet of textile traders."
Player 3: "There's also blood on the map, dried but not 15 years old"

After all of this the GM has to piece together the clues to form a somewhat comprehensive story. It would obviously require a roleplay heavy enviroment. The players and GM would have to be very knowledgeable about the Golarion. But i think it would be great fun as a GM and allow the players to put in lore from around the world that they want to see. Player 2 would like to learn more about the Academae while player 4 would like to know more about Andoran.

Has anyone done anything like this? And do you think it would work at all?

honestly i don't even think about boob plate. but if we wanted to get into that argument wouldn't we argue that Crossbows could penetrate metal plate armor anyway? Which lead to the down fall of plate armor anyway? Sooo shouldn't crossbows be running on touch ac similar to guns?

Anyway, its fantasy i like it being a little unreal.

Roberta Yang, you are being so venomous. You could at least try to be constructive as opposed to shut down everything the OP posted.

OP: I would like to ask you if this is for pathfinder society, or not. If it is not i would talk with your GM and ask about a few third party tools. Some you could use, or you could buy for your GM to add into his campaign that make skill monkey's more viable.

Rogue Glory adds a ton of new options for the rogue and gives them a slight boost to reach bards and rangers in viability. I use it in all the rogues i build that my GM allows.

Doing "Rogue like things" can just be enough, sure bards and rangers can still use poisons but this poison crafting rework can make higher level-poison not suck. Dipping a level into alchemist, ninja, or a poisoner rogue archetype would make it much more viable as well.

Lorefinder adds some amazing rules into the game that make mystery campaigns much more fun.

Honestly, being a skill monkey is totally reliant on your DM, the module you are using, and the players you are playing with. Do you have the opportunity to stealth ahead and do solo things? other players get bored while you are doing this unless they really like listening or they helping in some way. Forum roleplay is great for this. Do you have the opportunity to poison your enemies, climb the mountain to look for clues and interrogate the bad guys? If not then no, skill monkey rogues just aren't viable.

Hey, i'm pretty new to GMing and i've never made my own campaign before. But it is something i am very interested in. I've been looking through products that were designed to help with that, and just wanted some opinions on what to get.

I was looking at Masks: 1,000 Memorable NPCs because adding memorable NPCs sounds amazing. But are there any more cheap alternatives that i could browse? Maybe ones that also have stat blocks? I've noticed a number of books with only 10-15 NPCs but at a more expensive cost per-npc.

Also i was looking at Complete KOBOLD Guide to Game Design just to see if that would help my game designs. Has anyone used this resource?

What other things do you use frequently to help you create your games or be a better GM?

I would like to see perception reworked to better define searching and passive. Also a higher score in some skills increases speed. Ex. You can only climb at 1/4th your speed even with a +40 to climb. Maybe beating the check by 5 or more gives you half your speed. Better falling rules would be nice.

It has always bugged me that so much of damage is dependent on bonus damage. At higher levels you roll 1d8+45. Your d8 roll really doesn't matter at that point, maybe rolling below half on a damage roll also cuts your bonus damage in half.

Poisons have bugged me as well, I've seen some good poison rework rules though, also I would love to see some magic reworks that give lower level spell caters to cast spells above their level with rituals. Like you can cast spells one level higher of you do studying and a ritual of ten or twenty minutes per standard action that it would normally take

oh, i was thinking you wanted something for lunch breaks at school- well i would suggest this, make 2 encounters each to be run in only a few minutes. One would be roleplay the other would be combat. Try to make the roleplay only 2-5 minutes so the rest can be done. Try to have your players incorporate 1 skill check (Diplomacy, bluff, intimidate) and the results will determine the combat. Example:

You and your party are a group of mercenaries. You have been hired by the local mayor to provide safe transport for this merchant caravan. It was a hot day outside, [provide flavor description. Very important]

As the sun dipped low into the horizon you see smoke on the horizon, too much smoke for this to simply be a bonfire. What do you do?

[[for DMs eyes]] Ahead is a pack of bandits, they have set up an ambush using a burning caravan as bait. Have 2-3 disguised bandits look like a family trying to put out the fire. with another 2-3 in the woods waiting to attack.

Assuming your players follow: "Sire, we were attacked by bandits! We scared them off but our caravan is burning! Can you help us?" At this point have your players roll a sense motive check [[ DM MAGIC: Have the player with the highest roll know the bandit is lying. Tell him he is getting a bad feeling but he doesn't know what it is]]

Assuming your players help with the fire, the bandits draw their weapons and surround the players while their backs are turned. Assuming the players DON'T help, the bandits still cling to hope and try to attack the caravan.

So I downloaded this, and I have no idea how to read it. Is there any rappan athuk for dummies? From what I can tell the CRs and levels are random. Where does one start? As a dm, where do I hint the players to go? And what levels should players start in this?