Zhyth's page

First of all, I'd like to start by saying that I'm a huge fan of what I've seen - the campaign outline has some absolutely fantastic ideas and a whole bunch of things that I absolutely didn't expect - so bravo to everyone involved!

But what has me curious is the apparent lack of a foreword in the first volume of the AP. Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't every installment in every other AP had a foreword to set the tone for the rest of the book? I know that I've always loved reading them, not only to set the stage but also to give some insight into the mind of the people behind the adventure, and learn a bit about why the adventure was chosen to go in the direction that it does. Is the lack of a foreword here a part of the space-saving exercises to push this AP all the way to level 20, or is it an unfortunate oversight?

Hey everybody!

I've been GMing Shattered Star for my online group for the better part of a year, and I've been using the maps made by GM Bigrin up until now. I still love his maps (saved me so much work and time for the first two books of the campaign), but for The Asylum Stone, I decided to try my hand at making some maps.

I made a few changes to some of the maps (for example, changing the wyvern nest in the Black Keep down to the first floor instead of in the rafters), but for the most part, I tried to be as accurate as I could, taking the original maps and the descriptions into account.

And so, I present to you my attempts at recreating the maps for that book. All of them have been created at the default resolution for Roll20, 70 pixels by 70 pixels for every 5-foot square. I hope that they might prove useful to some of you!

Clash of the Sorebacks, 20x12
Screams in the Dark, 15x20
The Hanging Manse, 30x30
The Therassic Workshop, 54x34
The Black Keep, 58x38

There are some Rise of the Runelords spoilers ahead, as well as the obvious Shattered Star spoilers, so be warned.

I recently finished GMing Rise of the Runelords for my group, and have since moved on to GMing Shattered Star. I've been trying to spice up Shattered Star by really playing up the Pathfinder Society portion; I've been making plans to add in a bunch of Pathfinder Society scenarios as optional side-missions to be played between (and sometimes during) the main books of Shattered Star.

However, in my attempt to personalize this playthrough of Shattered Star, I had an idea: see, when my players fought Karzoug on the last session of Rise of the Runelords, they lost. I've issued forth the statement that, despite this, their characters in Shattered Star are in the same continuity as the ones in Rise of the Runelords, but what I haven't done is tell them how Karzoug was defeated so that the world could go on as normal. In fact, I believe that the only time it was brought up, I had Sheila Heidmarch state that it was "a long story."

That brings me to my idea: I'm thinking that Karzoug wasn't defeated, by either their old group of adventurers, another group, or any other means. Instead, he decided to bide his time, and to ensure that when the other Runelords decided to rouse from their slumber, he would be the most powerful one, and be able to dispatch them. How did he decide to do this? Why, by assembling the fragments of the Shattered Star, and rebuilding the Sihedron, of course.

Now, this is where the plot gets loopy. Instead of using his sheer arcane power to find the Shards, what if he decided that it wasn't worth his time to do so directly? What if, instead of searching for the Shards himself, he managed to convince a group of lowly adventurers to find them for him?

What I'm sort of planning is thus: Karzoug, undefeated by Varisia's greatest heroes, wants to ensure that his rise - and that of his empire - goes completely unchallenged. To do this, he plans on re-assembling the Sihedron, which has the added benefit of bringing back the Dead King Xin, who Karzoug would certainly love to put down once and for all. To this end, he decides to masquerade as someone who could, within reason, be able to bring on small groups of adventurers to do his bidding without any questioning. And who better than the lovely Sheila Heidmarch?

Thus, Karzoug kills / captures / whathaveyous the real Sheila Heidmarch, disguising himself as her (I know he can't use Illusion spells, but he's rich. He can afford something). He spends a couple of years establishing himself as the "real" Sheila, and searching for the location of the first Shard to kick off his little game, whereupon he brings in the PCs and the campaign starts.

What I'm asking, then, is does this sound like a good idea? If so, how should I go about alluding to it during the campaign (and should I even bother doing so)? How should I have it play out in the end? I was thinking about having "Sheila" congratulate the PCs after they put down Xin, asking for the Sihedron, and then revealing herself as Karzoug (maybe teleporting the group to the Eye of Avarice), whereupon the PCs would have to fight him, but I don't know whether or not that's a good idea.

So, comments, critiques, suggestions? Anything's appreciated!

In the game of RotRL that I'm running, my players are very close to reaching Xin-Shalast, and certainly will reach it in the next session. What I'd like to do is give them something of free-roam through the city, making it a bit of a sandbox where they can explore whichever buildings they want (within reason, of course). However, the AP doesn't seem to really give much in terms of what can be found in the city, especially in most of the "named" buildings.

Some of the areas (such as the Lair of the Hidden Beast or Ghlorofaex's Lair) are both mapped and given encounters; some (such as Krak Naratha) are given encounters, but no maps; and some (such as The Temple of the Sihedron) are given neither maps nor encounters. What I'm looking for, then, is ideas about what kind of encounters I can throw into the city at the marked buildings, and ideas for what each of them might look like / contain, so that I can (poorly) map them.

Any help is greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance!

Possible Rise of the Runelords spoilers ahead.

For some perspective: I'm GMing a game of Rise of the Runelords for a group of four friends, who are playing a CN Bloodrager, a LN Unchained Monk, a CG Skald, and a NG Armiger (a third-party class). They're currently in Runeforge, have just cleared out the Halls of Wrath and defeated Highlady Athroxis, and hit level 15.

During the fight with the Highlady, three party members were hit by a Prismatic Spray. Two of them got out fine, but one of them failed their save against the Insanity-causing colour, and nobody in the party had any way of directly curing the effect. The Skald decides to delve into the mind of the now-insane Armiger by using Share Memories (OOC, he had already decided what he wanted to try, but wanted to justify it in-character) to see if she knew any way of fixing this.

Now for a little bit of backstory: about two months back in-game, the Armiger was part of the group who saved Turtleback Ferry by opening the floodgates in the Skull's Crossing dam. They did so by promising the Pit Fiend that they found there freedom in exchange for information on how to operate the dam. They held to their word, and he to his, so the Pit Fiend went free and the town was saved.

Fast forward to today, and the Armiger is the only surviving member of the group that saved Turtleback Ferry. And, sure enough, the Armiger knows one creature who might be able to fix her problem: the Pit Fiend. So, desperate to save his friend, the Skald manages to use Contact Other Plane to ask the Pit Fiend if he'd help (I allowed the spell to work because I thought it'd be fun). Pit Fiend agrees, appears before of the party, and asks what they want. The Skald informs the devil of the Armiger's situation, and asks that the Pit Fiend cure her. The Pit Fiend agrees to do so, on the condition that the Skald sign a contract.

The Skald decides to challenge the Pit Fiend to a fiddle battle instead. If the Skald wins, the devil has to cure the Armiger and leave. If the Devil wins, he'll cure the Armiger, but only once the contract has been signed. Sure enough, the Pit Fiend wins the battle, and the Skald begrudgingly signs the contract. The Pit Fiend, satisfied, leaves.

And that brings us to now. I've got a player who signed a contract with a Pit Fiend, but absolutely no idea what that contract should actually say. So, I turn to this wonderful community: what would a Pit Fiend's contract look like, and what would it contain? How should I go about making this whole thing fun, but without going too far out of the scope of the Adventure Path?

Thanks in advance <3