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I'm honestly glad they never replied to my applications.Same. Also glad I wasn't the only one to experience that silence after applying. I kept reassuring myself it was just unprofessionalism and not that my resume and portfolio were trash. Maybe my efforts to protect my ego were more accurate than I thought.
I commiserate with you, Hilary. Many years ago I thought in a way similar to you, but two things happened to help me move past some of the trappings of a privileged upbringing: one, I took it to heart when marginalized people told me that the most helpful thing I could do, at least at first, was shut my mouth and listen instead. Two, I watched a few well-meaning progressive friends go into an ironic crash and burn routine by openly arguing with marginalized people about what was best for them. Not saying you did this, but my friends certainly did and lacked the insight to realize what they were doing. Fortunately for me, seeing others get corrected was enough for me to learn from. It doesn't come naturally for me, but I know that when I encounter instances of bigotry it is my responsibility to call it out in no uncertain terms and make it clear that it is unacceptable. This does not have to be done in a mean-spirited way or with cruelty. But if you sacrifice a clear and open condemnation of the bigotry and the bigoted speaker for the sake of being nice, a disservice is being done to those who are victimized by the bigotry. Finding a voice that was clearly condemning without being cruel took some practice, but I eventually found it. The only regret I have is that I actually had the opportunity to practice it at all.
Apparently it shows up in an AP. That's what I'm curious about. Spoiler: As a matter of fact, yes. Delvehaven is located in Westcrown and is a point of interest PCs in the Council of Thieves AP (a pre PF1 ruleset) visit.
In a situation like this, I actually think pointless contrarianism says a lot about someone's politics. :P I disagree.
Quoting this for emphasis. I've been reading the majority of the APs and running them too for years now and this is the same conclusion I came to on my own. My players know that I will never GM an Adventure Path for them unless the entire AP has been released and I have been able to read through all six volumes so that then I can understand the entire story arc in context and make "adjustments" to the overall flow as necessary to help strengthen some of the weaker narrative moments that may come or to fast forward through dungeoncrawly slogs that won't keep my players' attention. That latter part convinced me to eschew the normal XP system and just level the players when appropriate, which they approved since it is one less thing they have to track and doesn't contribute to their sense of rewards. I don't assign XP for combats and often change XP rewards from non-combat challenges into alternative rewards that might be simple vanities, a non gamebreaking piece of magical equipment, extra gold, etc so that there's still some incentive to achieve. But this allows me to do things like skip the majority of Book 5 in Giantslayer and get right to the meaty part in dealing with the Fire Giant royalty before ascending to higher heights. I don't think this makes any AP wrong, but each AP is a story of varying length and some fit (or are made to fit) a six volume design better than others.
Ravingdork, I brought your scenario before my players the other night as described without leading them into any question of why I was bringing it up. After I explained it all from start to finish, I asked them for a gut reaction on how they would feel if I did that as their GM. They were unanimous in their opinion that although the idea was clever and they would be more than happy to roll with it as a plot complication. They were okay with the muted description so long as any unfairly leading language is carefully removed, but not being prompted into certain checks* to make sure they're getting all the information is what made it a poor introduction that would injure their trust. *When checks are necessary, I prompt players to make them. I decided a long time ago with my players that if I rely on them to take the initiative to make certain checks to notice details, they will seriously bog down the flow of action by making checks all the time when they aren't really necessary.
Right, "railroading" isn't always a bad thing. In our home group we found out that we have a bad habit of doing this when we play in any module or adventure path. So at one point when I stepped up to run an AP I was transparent and I asked, "We have a habit of doing this. Do you want me to gently nudge you away from a dungeon boss encounter, or do you want to be underleveled/underequipped at the encounter?" They wanted no railroading and thought it was funny to crash face first into the boss. My players can be masochists.
I feel I take a simpler approach when GM'ing and try to be as player-centric as possible. A "locked in" rule can resolve issues with hesitant or dominant players, but there are usually better ways to do so, like being encouraging/reassuring to the hesitant player and having an honest conversation with the dominant player about the nature of cooperative storytelling. I think it works for a group of players who are there to experience a challenge (for them, the challenge is the fun). I've had groups like that, sure. Most of my groups are there for fun more than challenge and we've talked about rules like that making the game less fun.
A lot of great advice here, especially when it comes to doing more listening than conversing as part of your learning process and making an effort to be conscientious about what you do that may be offensive. I write and roleplay characters who identify in many different ways, and my process is to isolate the defining characteristics of a given character and then scrutinize them to see if I have allowed any gender stereotype or bias to influence my decision to make it a characteristic. In the process, I also ensure that my presentation of these characteristics also doesn't get wrapped up in gender stereotypes. My initial litmus test is whether that characteristic could be applied almost equally to any character of any gender identity - if the answer is yes, its probably just fine. If you have to do some mental gymnastics to make it fit, then you might have a problem. Of course, at the same time, you want to make sure you aren't erasing representation of individual gender identities, which goes too far and is harmful. But with enough work and dedication you can find a good balance.
My players are currently in Siege of Stone right now, violently chopping their way through Morlocks. Except for the duergar warpriest of Grundinnar who bestows the Merciful feature to her warhammer to keep that fast healing she earned above the ruins going!
I am currently running this campaign for my players and I tried to emphasize a certain parallel between Nirmathas as a country and the way the fey are "organized" socially in the Fangwood. The Nirmathi people are very decentralized and highly independent. Likewise, I made the fey similar, and they really are presented that way at the Red Rock Revel, which is basically a nightmare version of a frat party, just trading out greek letters for prehensile beards, hooves, wings, or green knickers. The only one directing anybody is the one everyone else is afraid of, which is exactly what happens in Nirmathas when the Ironfang Legion steps onto the scene. They conquer much of the breadbasket of Nirmathas because they are superior in strength and numbers and of course logistics. I did add one other detail to most of the fey encountered in the forest - they have a vague memory that they used to be part of one of the most happening fey kingdoms around, but all that collapsed and now they just wander around unguiding doing whatever they wanna do. See book 5 for how that all fits in. Its just some good foreshadowing. Ultimately, though, its your story that you have to tailor for your players so you get to develop the theme and the organization of the fey in the Fangwood in a way that makes the best story for your group.
I have not encountered any problems. On the contrary, I've been amused by some peoples' interpretations of goblin PCs.
If Bards are the Facebook of the fantasy genre, then my bard PCs should be making millions selling the personal data of my adventuring companions.
Hi, Alex! Paizo's HQ is located in Redmond, WA. The most direct way to land a staff position would be monitoring this link to see when something comes available: http://paizo.com/paizo/careers Most staff positions I have seen advertised require relocation if you aren't local. As far as contract work and contributors, an actual staff member or someone who has done contract work for Paizo would be best to answer your questions there. Best of luck with Empyrean.
Although our band of merciless ragamuffins didn't hate Conchobar, per se, it still wound up as a "poor Conchobar" story. Because, you see, my Halfling female companion turned wannabe B$+&& of the High Seas was really out of sorts after being press-ganged. Not only did she need a trustworthy scurve to broker information through, but she also really needed someone to schtup on the regular just to keep her nerves from fraying. So when my Halfling Babette was unilaterally named Captain, he by default became first mate. Not First Mate, a paid position with some amount of power and influence on board, because she gave that to a capable PC; Conchobar instead always carried the honorarium of first mate. And of course she forgot his name by the second book and either responded with a perplexed "who?" when he was brought up by other crew or called him Cinnabon or Camaroon or Conklebuns because she knew his name was something like that, but...yeah, you get the picture.
Just glancing through some undead creature types, you have a lot of options to choose from. The fun part is developing a reason behind the encounter that tells a story or maybe has some personal connection to the PCs. As an example, there's the Caller in Darkness, a wailing conglomeration of psyches belonging to those who died a horrible and violent death. Imagine one of these haunts a section of the temple. But the question is, how did it get there? Maybe one of the dwarf's "jailors" sealing him in this temple was actually a demon worshipper, specifically seeking to worship the demon bound within the dwarf. Just before most of them evacuate, this demon worshipping dwarf seals some of the remaining dwarves inside with him, intending to sacrifice them to the demonic entity possessing the other dwarf in the hopes that it will give it enough power to break its bonds. Perhaps because he was several levels higher than some of these other dwarves, he hunts them down in the temple, captures them, drags them to an altar, and sacrifices them one by one to the demonic entity. Unfortunately, once he had sacrificed his ninth dwarf or whatever, their psychic resonance forms a Caller in Darkness and kills the demon-worshipper. Oops. If your party is open to something a little more challenging/spooky and you're apt to invent some stranger encounters, you can build on this. Imagine that the demon-worshipper set up some kind of trap or lock on the chapel where the possessed dwarf is being held, and the only way to get through it is with information/knowledge that the demon-worshipper possessed. In the absence of Speak with Dead, the demon-worshipper's mind is technically still around...trapped in the Caller in Darkness, perhaps as a dominant psyche. The PCs might then have to find a way to communicate with his fractured mind within the Caller, and help him separate himself from the minds of his tormented victims in order to get what they need. Some people might have a magical solution. My games would involve diving mind-first into the Caller, finding the demon-worshipper, and aiding him in dealing with the bitter minds of his victims, maybe by finding some kernel of guilt or remorse and exploiting it.
If this temple is located underground, there's always the possibility that darklands creatures crept in from the bowels of the earth. This seems a lot like random chance to me, but a design truism seems to be that for players, variety is the spice of life. Were I putting it together, it would be a combination of defensive mechanisms put in place through the temple to keep people from foolishly unleashing the possessed dwarf and the undead/tormented casualties of those who had to seal the dwarf there in the first place. For example, maybe the dwarves populated the temple with construct guardians, fearing that the possessing entity would just leapfrog its way out if they used living guards. And maybe the demon managed to incapacitate some of its jailers before they sealed the temple and summoned lesser demons to possess them? Also there are some unique kinds of dwarven undead that could have been victims that you can find ways to incorporate.
I recall a game at Gencon in Year 0 where we spent half the session thinking this player's character was a barbarian. When it came time to literally storm the gates of some fortress, we tactically planned for the barbarian to knock the gates open. When we picked up on the fact that she was having trouble physically knocking it down and appeared to cast a spell, we realized that the barbarian was actually a bard in disguise! It was the original "bardbarian" before the skald class. The player was hilarious!
I would open a plane to a terrible place with horrible monsters and a timeline that moves much more slowly than ours. Then, I would manufacture evidence that makes it seem like my entire cult fled the hideout into the portal and took a bunch of awesome treasure with us. The adventurers will jump into the portal chasing valuable gold, xp, and vengeance; then we come back from the cantina around the corner, close the portal, set up shop again, and have a few centuries to cement our dominion over the local communities before the adventurers return. But I'm sure someone else has a more fun and fair suggestion!
...is anyone else in suspense about how this actually ended?
Never drink and ride. Always do your drinking before you get in the saddle.
HARVEY WEINSTEIN REMOVED FROM WILLIAMS-SONOMA MAILING LIST
Chilliax, one hell of a place to party at. Ruled by Abrogail the Deuce, so titled for dropping that wicked deuce in the Phi Kappa Talda tank at their rush week bash.
Sometimes you can answer seemingly inconsequential questions (how old? what part of the world is he from? what's his daily diet like? what kind of live did he envision and what kind of life did he get? where does he live? what does he value in other people? does he have friends or just acquaintances? what kind of music does he listen to? does he hold down a steady job? etc.) and flesh out a character from that. A backstory is nice and helpful, but try to view a backstory in terms of what it means for the character's current motivations and personality. Some things I think of... Is the summoner a young man? If so, he may not trust his magic because he doesn't understand it. It is an unknown and frightening. Is he an older man? If so, he may not trust his magic because he does understand it and is very well aware of how much danger it can get him and others into. Is his Eidolon a servant whom he cajoles or begs to defend him? Is his Eidolon a guardian who imposes its guardianship upon him? Or is their relationship more complicated, one of companionship? Or driven by a mutual desire to understand something about one another, or about the worlds the other inhabits? Cowardice is a dangerous trait. There's being afraid of things, which is reasonable. There's being a survivor and using rational fear to keep you alive from day to day. But cowardice is a title that is earned, often by a repeated deficit of courage in the face of adversity, or in rare cases one very public incident that lets a lot of people down. Were you too strong in referring to the character as a coward, or is he publically known as one when he failed in one moment of greatness? Or is he genuinely a coward who has no qualms with using others to spare him from conflict?
I fell in love with the troop subtype when I read through the Hell's Rebels AP. So much so that I am now running a homebrew wartime campaign that utilizes troops subtypes rather than using the preexisting mass combat rules which my players don't like because it doesn't feel very special. In so doing, of course, I've discovered that troop on troop combat doesn't work very well and was really intended for PCs on troop, so I've had to modify a few things to make it feasible, but they are small modifications.
Overall, things went great! Everything seemed well organized with the exception of what others have noted, the empty tables and GM no-shows. One of my own tables had a very near GM no-show, and unfortunately the GM was very unprepared. I suspect from certain comments like "I'm not sure if this module has a starship battle or not" that the GM had not even read the module. It made that particular event not worth the money spent on the ticket, but it's the only experience like that I've had in several years of PFS at Gencon. Fortunately, a VC was a player at our table and I suspect he may have had a chat with the GM afterwards about preparation. That's more of a side note than anything, I realize experiences with individual GMs isn't really indicative of the overall organization that you were asking for. More on point, I thought the decision to have the Starfinder Quest events have an actual organized event to play all of the hour-long scenarios in a single sitting was awesome. I've always loved doing those. I appreciate that you kept both formats, too, leaving the freedom for people to squeeze them in if they wanted to like it always has been in the past. I'd be curious to know how the overnight games went for GMs. I wasn't insane enough to do any of them on top of everything else, but I was happy that they were opened as an option. Thanks also for reducing the number of tokens required to retrieve boons on Sunday. I found an odd one buried in my tote bag from a few years ago and that helped me cash it in!
I've been told that when I was a child I would point out in a mournful voice that "somebody died" every time an ambulance went by.
To think I've come so far since my first day in Skyrim, when I learned how ridiculous these Nords can be... I was exploring the village of Riverwood and found myself in the mill owner's home. At first, a young boy in the house seemed open to answering a lot of my questions about current events in the region, but when I kept pressuring him to tell me more he copped an attitude and told me to stop asking him questions! My first thought was, Ugh, RUDE. Then he ran away from me and cowered behind his bed! My second thought was, What milk drinkers these Nords raise. Which is about the time his mother stabbed me in the kidney with a dagger and his father buried an axe in my chest, screaming at me to get out of their home. As I collapsed bleeding on the floor, my vision tunneling into that narrow death, I looked at the clock and realized that it was a couple of minutes after midnight. Silly me! I had accidentally overstayed my welcome. But I must say the family's reaction was an unnecessary escalation. Who knew Nords had problems with strange men in their homes badgering their children with questions in the middle of the night? Such a backwards part of Tamriel.
A while back I wandered through Riften and found my way into a neighborhood for homeless people located in a section of the sewer below town. The neighborhood would have been quaint except that some cretin had been in there littering the floor with things like bottles of wine, tomatoes and cabbage, iron cookwear, ratty cloth garments and shoes. As a thane of Riften I feel I have a duty to its people, so I tidied up their home by removing all of these meager possessions scattered around their sleeping area. I would have taken them to a local Goodwill, but there isn't one in Riften - a local jest of sorts that there is no "good will" to be found in there, ha ha! - so instead I did the next best thing: sold them to a merchant for some pocket change and bought some sweet rolls to reward myself for a good deed done. #keepskyrimclean
This game is a rabbit hole. A very deep rabbit hole that I dove into two months ago and may be wandering for the next thousand years. And my own head canon keeps telling me that I am not the hero Skyrim wants, but I am the one it deserves.
Second, what the hell is Grimace? I mean really, what is he? Grimace's original incarnation was an evil, four-armed purple monster who stole milkshakes from people. He had four hands so it seemed reasonable that since he could carry a lot more milkshakes than your average person, he should. Then he had a change of heart (and a loss of limbs) and became one of Ronald's friends. His interest in milkshakes didn't necessarily go away and it even runs in the family: his uncle, Uncle O'Grimacey, regularly visits in March to bring everyone Shamrock Shakes. To further thicken this milkshakey plot, Grimace may in fact be royalty, as the canon has mentioned that his brother is none other than King Gonga, ruler of all the grimaces.
Agreed with Gorbacz. There's always something dissatisfying when corrupt leaders are absolved because "the devil made me do it".
I play in a game where I could be the "backseat GM" but I never made a habit of jumping in and correcting because it irritates me when someone does it and I am GM'ing! In a few instances where silence began to rein and there was some confusion about a rule I would speak up, but otherwise I stay engaged in the action/story. The GM and I eventually developed an unspoken arrangement where he knows that he can give me a look if he can't remember a detail or a specific ruling and I'll chime in, but otherwise it's his show. I hope you can create a similar spoken arrangement with this player who is also a friend by finding the politest way possible to say "if I need your help, I'll ask for it."
Very much looking forward to the release of this AP, as intrigue based games with a lot of social interaction and politicking and espionage is fun for me. A great group of writers working on the books, too.
Your voice is one that originally drew me to Pathfinder in the first place so many years ago. Thanks for making your mark here, and I look forward to seeing what you do next. Or at least saying hi at Gencon!
In my experience, the Paizo staff at Gencon is very approachable, including Wes. Adopting your general etiquette of not interrupting conversations and making your requests politely is the way to go. I would say the best way to find out who is going to be there and where they are going to be is to ask the person you want a signature from directly, as you did with Wes. They may be able to tell you roughly when you could find them at the Paizo booth in the Hall or at certain seminars. In fact, just dropping by the Paizo booth in the Hall at times is a great way to see if any of the staffers you want to meet are around. Just be mindful that most of them have a tight work schedule they are following while there, even if it might seem like they are actually having fun! I think it's awesome that you're traveling so far to make it to Gencon. I'll be there, too, and I hope you enjoy all that Indy has to offer!
If you are setting up an NPC with those qualities to be an adversary of the party, you may want to look at rules related to Verbal Duels from Ultimate Intrigue (mentioned above) and also rules for using Nemeses (introduced I think in Ultimate Campaign?) The threat presented by an NPC of this quality to your average adventuring party is not a direct threat, but more of an indirect one. Those high bluff, diplomacy, and intimidate scores can cause PCs to pay more and receive less when bartering with local merchants, to have them turned away at inns, threatened by city officials, investigated and/or arrested by local constables, even assaulted by other NPCs of a threat level equal to them because they have been convinced that roughing up the PCs is "the right thing to do".
Your GM is definitely providing his own spin. The original text in the AP barely even flirts with depravity, especially of a sexual nature. I echo others in saying that you should bring this up to your GM again, but perhaps in a stronger way, especially if it is making you uncomfortable. Pointing him in the direction of this thread might be helpful, because those of us here are not judging your GM (nor are you!), just pointing out that he is embellishing with his own content. Unfortunately, that embellishment is at the expense of your enjoyment.
Our group enjoys ABP for a lot of reasons. My mechanically oriented players are grateful that they don't have to worry about affording the stereotypical stat boosting gear. The fact that it is stereotypical for us is also problematic, and often no matter how you flavor a headband of intellect or a belt of dex, it's still a headband of intellect or a belt of dex. They've also expressed the fact that it finally frees them up to feel good about purchasing some of the wondrous items they always eyeballed but that weren't as critical an expenditure as the rings of protections and amulets of natural armor and such. My experience as a DM is that the system makes homebrew games a lot easier. When it comes to APs, it isn't that difficult to incorporate. When I was running Giantslayer for the group, I found it easiest to remove the +X value of weapons and armor but keep any specific modifications (flaming, thundering, bane, etc.) in place. Otherwise, it was just a MW version of the weapon or armor. Doing this almost hit the mark of halving character wealth. It overshot the mark a bit and I had the pleasure of being able to invent a few opportunities for getting some good old cash. That balancing act depends upon the AP. Having just read through Strange Aeons, I feel like it would mostly work out, but I think you'll have to find more opportunities for gold infusion than I had to. The loot seems less effusive, at a glance.
I might suggest the Mutant template, KC, taking Fragile as the deformity and maybe Armored, Celerity, Increased Speed, Leaping, or maybe Rugged, depending upon your interpretation of how being "boneless" might confer said benefits.
I thought ahead about Ingrahild. My PCs all wanted to play dwarves, so I strongly encouraged them to have blood relations. Incorporating the NPC dwarf siblings was a cinch, then, as they were extended family that everyone knew, so the party had built-in give-a-crap. I was running a party of 5 optimizers in the campaign, so she did not prove to be overbalancing. On the contrary, she served a wonderful role as ranged overwatch during the infiltration of Redlake. I wish I had had Tark's orcs throw smoke on the boat to cover Tark's boarding, that is a great idea. Alchemist's fires would be out of the question if I stay true to the text, of course, since Tark would have forbidden the use of any fires being thrown too close to him.
He worked as a dealer for a local casino, but when hard financial times hit, they decided to lay off dealers using a lottery system. He was one of many chosen to be let go. He worked as a typesetter for a printing press and his editor stamped "authorized" on a typeset for a story that proved either misleading or unpopular with the authorities. The editor was sacked, but unfortunately, so was the character, even though he was just following orders. The press had to protect its reputation, after all. He worked as a herald but shortly after being hired came down with a cold and subsequently developed acute laryngitis. Fired. He ran a hot dog stand. Some poor schmuck, a despised critic and notorious overeater, almost choked on one of the hot dogs. Although the PC was never held personally liable, the critic decried hot dogs so vehemently that no one wanted hot dogs anymore. Worse, all of the other hot dog vendors had to start selling falafel and blamed the PC, so the whole "food vendor" line of business became a total washout. He got into the real estate market and bought up a lot of waterfront property in the same summer as the 100 year floods. These should all be examples where there's no significant way anyone could point to the PC being at fault or some lack of understanding or technique or a mistake on his part, but mostly just rotten circumstances. Which are the hallmarks of being on Beshaba's bad side.
I noticed this seemed to have been overlooked on the initial readthrough and did something very similar to Ambrus. She knew he was dead when the locket told her, and she knew he had been in Trunau. I had placed her in Freedom Town about the time that the orc raid began, and as soon as the destitute people in Freedom Town heard that Trunau was getting sacked, they knew that if the orcs were repelled, the people of Trunau would need a bunch of cheap, available labor to rebuild. A mass of poor laborers traveled from Freedom Town to Trunau to "make themselves available" to be hired as cheap labor and Melira snuck in as a part of them. I had to make this a detail because my PCs were members of the local guard/militia and took responsibility for watching the gates of Trunau, so when they figured out that was how she got in to eavesdrop it made sense to them. She then just did some basic gather information to find out what the PCs had accomplished, including killing the orc that must have been Skreed, and when she saw Bloodtusk in town and knew him as a riverboat captain, she put two and two together. When the locals started talking about the Trunau heroes going to Redlake, she knew how they were getting there and left the night before by horse and got to the riverboat first. And that's pretty much where the module picks up.
I have some questions, and I hope that just by thinking about them you might find some ideas. The angel is a prominent character, since it is the one that is the closest to the true story and is the herald that gets the PCs involved. What caused the angel to fall? Why is the angel a statue as opposed to, say, some broken man wandering the earth? What broke him into a bunch of different parts? Why does he want to impart the message of doom? Is the angel doing penance for the sin that made him fall by warning the world about a great fate, or is he instead given over to pure nihilism and just happens to be telling the PCs out of a combination of boredom or perhaps mild sadism, amused at the thought of what mortals would do if they knew the end times were nigh? Either way, is he grateful, and if so, how might he show his gratitude? Who was this ancient king and how did he discover fire? How did he steal it and why? Did he steal it because he saw its potential to save mankind, or because he needed a powerful weapon? Or, maybe, was it stolen first with good intent and then, when he discovered its power, realized its capacity as a weapon and was then given over to his baser nature? How did he retreat into undeath? Was it by his choice, or a curse, or a property of the "fire" he stole? What are his armies like? How does the cult venerate him, as a savior or as a conqueror, or aspects of both? Questions aside, the king's motivation can be as precise or as imprecise as works for your narrative, but it is best to adjust that for the enjoyment of your players. If your group gets annoyed by gray areas and thinks in black and white, you may be better served with a concise motivation such as "he craved power, stole it from the gods to have it, and has defied even death to hold onto that power for millenia; now that he has returned, he will finally have the chance to unleash that power to conquer all mankind". If your group is open to multiple interpretations, you could make his motivation less clear. For example, historical documents (oral tradition, if he is a king of legend) claim that he stole the fire to save his people from a great threat, like something threatening to bring an eternal winter, and in the process of using the fire he sacrificed himself to save them, leaving just normal "fire" behind for mankind to use. However, his the angel may know the truth: that the "threat" spoken of in legend was actually a threat of rebellion against his dominion that he could not tolerate, and it wasn't a foreign or alien power that he defeated but rather his own people, condemning his army and people to undeath. And the cult might be people who want this kingdom to return. I am a big of fan of mixing modernism into my fantasy and parallel themes, so I would arrange this king's ancient kingdom and its virtues/sins with the world the PCs live in. Figure out which things are similar and which things are not and take advantage of those when the PCs deal with these "ancient" forces and try to reason and/or fight with them. Things like political worldviews, military tactics, views on race and interpersonal relationships, religions, even food and table manners can change so dramatically over this amount of time that the characters can be in for some unique experiences when dealing with a man and his army that have been locked away for so long. Possible motivations: - the king felt himself a conqueror but never got the chance to do so in ancient days, and now he has his chance again. (Possible development from this: he finds out he cannot conquer and his fire can only bring ruin, so he decides that if he cannot conquer it, he must instead destroy it utterly.)
There are a lot of other possible motivations others can dream up, I'm sure. Feel free to borrow, mix and match, use or not use any of the suggestions.
I give my players very strong clues, so strong they almost break the fourth wall without actually breaking it. The clues are within the narrative itself and my description, so I try to keep them IC, but my player group understands the cue. To start with, I have never pitted my players against a single foe that is beyond their capacity to defeat. By defeat, I do not mean kill - I have pitted them against things that are far more powerful than they are, but aspects of the environment or the tools at their disposal allow them to defeat the challenge with some ingenuity, or courage, or sacrifice, or whatever theme I need for that story. I also avoid the GM NPC stepping in to save anyone, as such a thing usually leaves a bad taste in my players' mouths, and for good reason. They are the heroes of the story, after all. However, the heroes can be saved by "the cavalry" in some situations, as it were - the arrival of forces they have become friendly with for backup, for example, like local law enforcement or the horsemen of the steppes or whatever applies in the scenario. Then it isn't a single person outshining the PCs, it is the PCs own previous actions to gain their alliance being cashed in to help them out. There are only a handful of situations I have run that fit this bill, because I use them sparingly. One is when reinforcements are arriving in greater numbers than the PCs could handle, such as if they are assaulting a location where enemy forces can be marshaled quickly. I allow a Perception check mid combat to "hear the sounds of reinforcements gathering and approaching" and tell the PCs they think the reinforcements will arrive in X number of rounds. That way they have time to try to extricate themselves. In the case of enemies that get the jump on them, where a perception check to notice reinforcements is irrelevant because the reinforcements just got there, or the Perception check failed, I will simply say, "this feels like a second wave, and the enemy fights with a certain confidence - sparingly, defensively, as though they are waiting for even more reinforcements to arrive", thus handing them the hint that things are going to get hairy. I also like to give surrender or escape options to the PCs through an enemy NPC, as well. For example, an enemy leader calls a brief break in the fight to allow his forces to maneuver and the PCs to take a breather. His motivation is to try to get them to surrender without him sacrificing any more of his men and resources than he has to. This allows the PCs to plan an escape as necessary, if they feel that's what they want to do. It also puts a human face on their enemy, because they regard an challenge who has a sense of honor - or, at least a sense of humanity - far differently than just random monsters that give no quarter. I often find it makes for a more interesting story when the enemy is not out to kill the PCs, necessarily, but definitely does not want them to win. If they are more goodly or neutral aligned, they begin to hamstring themselves a bit in fights because they don't want to outright slaughter their enemies because they are "just doing their job". This doesn't work for every situation, but it works very well for the ones where it applies.
There is also the somewhat less popular "bard as Batman" approach by pumping ranks into UMD and taking advantage of scrolls and wands (and later, staves).
You have permission to use my responses in your paper, and using the avatar name is fine. You also have permission to use my actual name, Sean C. Henderson, if that is more appropriate for your paper. 1) How long have you been playing Pathfinder? Since 2006. 2) Have you ever been the Game Master/Dungeon Master? Have you ever been a player? Yes, and yes. a)How long have you/did you play each role? I have been a player since 2006. I have been GM'ing Pathfinder since 2012, though I have experience both GM'ing and playing games other than Pathfinder prior to 2006. i) If you've played both: which did you like better? I prefer being a player. 3) Have you ever played Pathfinder Society? Homebrew? Yes, and yes. a) Which did you like better? Pathfinder Society, but specifically because I play it at Gencon and have the opportunity to play with all kinds of different people. The social aspect of gaming with new people is a real attraction for me. 4) Have you ever played a game with maps? Without maps? Yes, and yes. a)Did playing with a map make a difference to how you liked the game? Yes, I preferred playing with a map because it allowed me to "orient my imagination". 1) Do you think maps effect how player's play? How Game Master's play? Yes, and yes. a) If yes: how do you think they effect the player's/Game Master's play? For players, a map is a visual aid that helps them to form their imagination around something more concrete, even if the map is itself an abstraction. For the GM, it makes storytelling easier for the same reason - players often have less reason to interrupt the action or narrative with logistical questions when there is a map at hand. 2) Do you think maps effect the game? Yes. a) If yes: how do you think they affect the game? They are ultimately an improvement. Not every gamer can roleplay within a purely abstract environment, and a map provides a concrete detail that helps to structure the imagination in the same way that rules help structure gameplay.
The Aeolian Harp is such a passive instrument. As a GM, I would allow an aerokineticist or an air elemental type creature to create sound from the instrument by manufacturing and guiding the wind; to say that I would allow them to "play" the instrument with a given Perform skill, however, may be stretching verisimilitude to the breaking point. I could be persuaded to allow an air elemental type creature with incredibly fine manipulation of its body to move over the strings and produce music that is the product of deliberate artistic pattern rather than incidental sound, and in doing so would permit either Perform skill to work. I don't think Basic Aerokinesis would be a fine enough manipulation of the air to achieve a certain predictive mastery over the instrument. I think a keener use for the Aeolian Harp is as a fixture, an instrument that can remain in place and produce a cantomantic effect when exposed to the wind, such as a semi-permanencied Calm Emotions effect, for example.
I suppose there are a lot of ways it could happen. The time traveling twin from a branch of alternate reality, the wish gone wrong, the raise dead/resurrection gone wrong where what returns is the PC but what is left behind also animates as a twin. In one of my own campaigns a very long time ago I flipped the "evil twin" script on its head by having a twin arrive, but it wasn't an evil one. It was a very good twin. Better, and more popular to the point that it got the PC in over his head and unable to meet the ridiculously high bar the twin was setting for personal achievement. The PC was convinced the twin was actually evil and this was all just an elaborate plot to ruin him, but when they met he discovered that all he had to do was ask his twin to go away and leave him alone and the twin obliged out of respect with the parting words: "Everything I have accomplished has always been within your grasp. We are no different, you and I. We're the same person. No matter what has caused this rift in you, I believe in your ability to pick up right where you left off." And then disappeared. Also, remember that when Ren from Ren & Stimpy was separated into twins, he was separated into an Evil side and an Indifferent side. Not everyone battle must be good vs. evil!
Here's a new question: What is your preferred level of danger in a game? How common is PC death? Do you fudge it, or look for ways around it, or do you run a harsh, cutthroat campaign? Do you hate it when your own characters are at risk of dying? I love high danger games where the tension maintains a pitch just below screaming. Such games can only maintain this tension for just so long before it wears thin and needs to evolve in some way, even if only in circumstance to maintain the thrill, but I dig it while I have it. I am also sensitive to playing characters whose lives are normally not filled with danger suddenly realizing the reaper lurks around every choice they make and how this affects them, often in ways they don't comprehend but that may be obvious through dramatic irony. PC Death in my games is not common, but it does happen. I do not run a cutthroat campaign and in some circumstances have quietly fudged things from time to time because that particular death would have been meaningless. And sometimes a meaningless death is in itself meaningful! But most of players like to play "grizzled" types for whom death in the face of random dice rolls is a commonplace. In asking players I have DM'd for over the years, the majority prefer some kind of significance in their character's death. Not all, mind you! There are some who love the randomness of death as much as the randomness of creation, and I can appreciate that viewpoint. It just isn't what I come across often. I don't hate much of anything, but when my characters are at risk of dying I begin finding significance in the death - and manufacturing it at the last moment, if I have to. People act differently when faced with their own imminent demise. The courageous are betrayed by cowardice, cowards find courage, a soul may be unburdened by "deathbed" confessions in either word or deed (a name cried in anguish speaks as much volume as a dagger placed between an old friend's ribs), etc. I seize the opportunity to impart a meaningful death for my own character if it is within my reach and doesn't come out forced.
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