Wow, I really hurt them last night. The blue tiles did massive damage until I nudged one of them into baseballing them to bits. Then, half the party failed the crypt thing's frightful aura save. A quickened Dimension Door right in the middle of the party, followed by a teleporting burst sent two very scared characters into two even scarier rooms. I changed the negative energy creature, so that it was obsessed with healing magic; imagine a person alleric to grapes who is obsessed with wine - he has gathered a decent collection of healing potions!
I'm using snippets from this wikipedia page for the eye taker encounter. I'm also leaving a book of law on the defendants' table (i.e. the players can look this url up on their tablet) and every snippet they manage to use in their defense *in a meaningful way*, results in a +2 bonus to their roll. I hope to steer this towards an RP encounter, which most of the players seem up for anyway; fortunately I ended the last session with eye taker taking an eye and the players interrupting the court in session, thus automagically becoming the next defendants.
Tomorrow, we're going to finish this book. I will use the insane rants I found on richard dawkins reads hate mail to let the angels speak their minds a bit. Replace God with Sarenrae a couple times and you're all set. "I will look forward to observing from my post in heaven the exquisite tortures you will suffer at the hands of the just and loving Sarenrae you have rejected." I couldn't make it up if I tried. I just love those adorable religious trolls.
We've hit a rough patch - but I'm very happy to read all of your comments that you're committed to this game. I want to thank you all for that respect and patience. I think I've found a way to keep the momentum going storywise - I just ask from you that you try to post a relevant roll in your posts. That sounds a bit vague, but if you're talking about patrolling or looking around, it'd be nice to roll perception so I have something to work with. I'd just rather not roll for you, but I will if that's blocking progress. and finally, in respect of tomorrow's Blackadder quote's day, I leave you with this:
'Do you fear death?' --whimper-- 'Would you sacrifice the others if it meant that I won't kill you?' --verifies friend is unconscious-- --whimper--
Only then does the ranger recognize the bald Oread; he mouths an enormous :-O of disbelief, and suddenly regrets his belittling tone. "What are you doing in this forest" "We...We are the legion of the lillend Callista. She protects the forest; we protect Her."
"What are you doing so far from your allies?" The fey ranger is now fully resigned to his fate. Lowering his head, he shares everything. "We...we were scouting. We were supposed to assess the threat you'd pose -gulp- so that we might...overwhelm you."Realizing the folly of that plan, he hesitates.
I'm not aware of any mechanics we can use to extinguish a burning tree.
and possibly Movrius? definitely Morvius. The bastard burned my tree.
Finally - someone to protect! The nature of Jurak's task is impossibly dull. Consider him acting as a warning, when whole years go by and there's nobody to warn.
But what's this??? In the middle of his carefully formulated and weekly rehearsed warning, Jurak is rudely interrupted by a tap on his stem.
Aerent Day 3 : buy poison at alchemist;
Talon Day 2 : ravens;
Kind reminder...if there's anything you'd like to focus on, but you're unsure how to go about it exactly, please put it in the discussion thread; once you've decided you want to investigate something, please put it on the spreadsheet.
If the players jump to the end, that means they've understood the goals correctly, i.e. job well done.
http://paizo.com/products/btpy8go0?Pathfinder-Module-The-Witchwar-Legacy
"hey - what the - HEY! HEEYY! WAAAAAARG *sizzle* "
The Captain's last words echo through the chimney, right where Jonas, Ricky and Leroy are watching the Frosthamar.
L "huh?"
I've been in my share of groups. Over the course of my gaming life, I've had the misfortune of meeting LOTS of dick DMs. Either you've had the misfortune of playing with the wrong people, or perhaps the root of your problem isn't external. Have you ever tried to run a game yourself? I guess from the way you speak, you haven't. Do not underestimate the level of dividing attention and juggling of mental notes that goes into running a game. There's a 'disruptive player' archetype, the player who likes to joke around, distract from current affairs, simply because he thinks that's funny, not considering the consequences of the distraction.
Has anyone fleshed out Baron Vandermir's ball? on creating a grand feast, you could have a look at council of thieves book 2; the Cornucopia may be a bit much, but 'too much' may be an easier starting point than 'too little'. question for you folks:
One of the other players came up with a great idea of creating departments within the organisation : every character commands missions that are tailored to their highest ability score. The strong orc will handle any ruthless quests, the cleric will handle espionage, the rogue will handle secrecy, the alchemist drug dealer runs the connections department, and the high-CHA sorcerer will control any left over departments and have final say in case of a tie. (I'm a big fan of letting them create and then sort out their own problems) However, in fairness to the sorcerer, who will be taking the RAW Leadership feat, I intend to ask all those who want to lead the organisation to invest in a similar feat. This should change the situation from 'problem' to 'flavor'. Each character will attract creatures / NPC's that have similar strengths as the character himself, who want to learn from the master. This way, a cleric attracts disciples and kobold shamans, a fighter gets a pet ogre, and all roles are neatly separated. Yet, as far as I know, no suitable feats exist. So, I made up 6 feats to represent the 6 abilities. All feats have the same mechanics as Leadership, except the key ability is changed from CHA to one of the others. character ability => made up feat
Do you see obvious flaws / balance issues to this? any suggestions for better feat names would be most welcome :) Or if someone knows a 3rd party who has Leadership-but-not-by-CHA already covered, I'd love to know.
phew, rules lawyers sure suck the creativity out of the game :)
we've stopped using names of feats/spells/abilities during combat. Only names of weapons are allowed(*).
*unless they're called Sword / Weapon / Thing. also, if everybody's having fun, there's no problem :)
I have my concerns about the title. It is over the top and could bring another wave of anti D&D publicity if the wrong parent runs across it. My message to those parents: Religion is like a penis; perfectly fine if you have one, just please don't rub it in my face all the time.
No, that probably wouldn't work. You need to have them ransacking his liquor cabinet. Ah, yes, that would work. But that would be a waste...Let's try an incentive? -ahem- Dear Gary, the sooner book 5 is out, the sooner we'll give you money, so you could buy one of these!...
[rant apology='sincere']
[/rant]
I had Robahl shout these while the characters were waiting in line to do the audition. I also added a crying wannabe-actor running away after each insult; they were 4th in line, so the got to see three actors' hopes destroyed before it was their turn. Anyone who told you to be yourself couldn't have given you worse advice. Dear gods girl - if you are not smuggling halflings under that gargantuan dress, you are obviously too thick for this audition. Don't let your mind wander - it's far too small to be let out on its own Don't worry, girl, that mustache makes you look dignified. I already anticipate the feeling of relief I will get as soon as you leave. I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce. I don't think you are a fool, but what's my opinion compared to that of thousands of others? I have this rare auditory disorder that keeps me from hearing people who have an IQ below their shoe size. I like you. You remind me of when I was young and stupid. Except, off course, I wasn't stupid. I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public. I will always cherish the initial misconceptions I had about you, but alas, you have no talent. I'd like to help you out. Which way did you come in? If I throw a stick, will you leave? I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter. I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant. Ooh now there's a fashion statement...and the statement is "please help me!" Person A: "You read my mind!" - Person B: "Yess well it was a short story anyway." Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view. The fact that no one understands you doesn't mean you're an artist. The only chance you'll ever get to perform on stage is in a seedy topless bar *whispered, but hard enough to be heard* this yokel has less culture than a bowl of yoghurt would you please close the door for me? And please stand on the other side, thank you. You almost sound reasonable. Time to up my medication. You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers. You're about as much use as a sundial in a coalmine.
My party calls themselves 'Westcrown Action Front' which admittedly works a little bit better in our language (Dutch).
It's also working well for the villains: I'm having the bad guys refer to the PCs as "puppies", "barely housebroken pets", and ehm 'girl dogs'.
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