jj_maxx's page

Yeah, it refers to the sidebar on page 2:

"Before the Kobold King
Aside from being its own adventure, Hollow’s Last Hope works well as a prelude to GameMastery Module D1: Crown of the Kobold King. GMs interested in running this adventure as part of Crown of the Kobold King can remove all elements of the disease afflicting Falcon’s Hollow and instead use the encounters in Darkmoon Vale and in the ruins above the kobolds’ lair as supplementary encounters. Containing its own complete adventure and extensive details on the town of Falcon’s Hollow, Nicolas Logue’s Crown of the Kobold King is available now at your favorite local game store and online at paizo.com."

If you want to run Crown of the Kobold King as a follow up you might just want to relocate Droskar's Crucible and pretend it's another dwarven monastery. I think that's the easiest way to make the transition less clunky.

I think you're right. I will make the entrance to the dungeon be further towards Droskars Crag and more to the west. This will also mean they have to cross the river, which I will make interesting.

So I am a new GM running Hollow's Last Hope for my group and I really like Falcon's Hollow and want to continue after my group finishes D0.

So far I have managed to have my PC's meet the 5 children already as they were 'protecting' the road from bandits. It was a quick meeting, and then the children ran back to town before the group told their parents where they were. I just wanted to add something so the PC's were familiar with the children before finding them missing when they return from D0.

The end of D0 states:

If this adventure was used as an introduction to D1: Crown of the Kobold King, the characters are free to explore deeper into the ruins beneath the monastery after dealing with Graypelt.

I don't really understand this because the lower ruins are part of the D1 module where my PC's are tasked to find the missing children. I don't want my PC's heading down into the dungeon until they have to.

Now, once they kill Greypelt, they find the last ingredient they need for Laurel to make the cure for the town. I have been rolling a D4 every day they have been traveling through the Darkmoon Vale, telling them how many people died the previous day. I am hoping this gives them a sense of urgency and they will not wish to waste any time exploring a large dungeon when they have what they need.

...but I know they will want to and they might think it's important, or else it wouldn't be there.

Frankly, the transition from D0 to D1 is clunky, and I might just make the entrance in a different location, completely separating the two modules. I can't take the risk of my PC's heading into the dungeon of D1 until they've discovered the children missing.

Any tips on the best way to transition from D0 to D1?

I suggest the two of you sit down and have a long discussion, NOT DURING THE GAME, about what you both want and how you can find a way to make this work for both of you, or there will be lots of frustration for you two and for the other players at this table.

Thanks for the advice. The player is a totally awesome guy and if it wasn't for him this entire game wouldn't even had happened in the first place. He has already affected some really cool surprises and twists in our game with the two of us working together. His character is the most colorful and interesting in the party so far and I am excited to see how his character develops ion the future.

We talk every day about his character and he always gets my permission before doing anything questionable and I appreciate that immensely. I know that everything will work out in the end and there's no worries. ;)

I am the (newbie) GM of the OP. As a new player and GM, with little-to-no experience with D&D-type games, I'm trying to keep things simple yet fun. I've read many places that GM's usually will not allow evil PCs and especially new GM's should refrain from it.

The issue that you inevitably run into is that you have one PC that is opposed to the rest of the PC's and that makes the game less-fun. So for my first game, I want the PC's to all be good together. I don't mind a little neutral mischief or tom-foolery but anything darker than that and I will shut it down. A majority of my game will involve the PC's fighting against evil characters and I think that combination works well, increases fun and everyone feels good. Good guys win, bad guys lose and people are happy. We eat pizza, laugh and go home feeling good.

I know in our last session, the character in question stole a potion from a hole-in-the-wall herbalist shop. He had no reasoning for needing the potion and he simply stole it because he wanted to steal something. The rest of the party did not approve and in the future I don't believe they will tolerate this character consistently performing such non-good actions. Robin Hood stole from the rich, but not the poor.

I suppose I just don't feel good with one character devising a future that will be diametrically opposed by the rest of the group.

These are just the feelings of a brand new GM and I have told the player that I'd rather not have his character stray evil. I'd rather he start CN and drift more towards good as he is influenced by the good works of the rest of the party.

As for the 'Campaign Setting' knowledge issue, I don't have a problem with it as long as it stays geographical and broad. I would expect an adult character living in Golarion to have an understanding of the world and some of its areas.

At our first session, I explained to the group that I am running a pre-made module and that they could spoil everything if they wanted, but they are all adults and should know that doing so would destroy the fun for themselves. When you are a kid, cheating seems fun but when you become an adult, you realize that it is the not-knowing that carries the fun of the game.

Once I am comfortable with the game and the rules, I will be using Golarion as a setting and will create my own adventure paths but for now I am using a module to take some of the load of being a new GM.

Just my 2 cents. :)

In my opinion, the random encounters are meant to show the passage of time. These are long distances to travel through heavy forest and you want to show that time is passing. Also, most of the random encounters do not involve combat.

Wooooow dude, thank you so much! All of you! And also thank you for sidequest! But, how do you know a name for the owner? You made it up? Or is it from another adveture? Last question, about swim check. Is it just one DC 15 check, because of rough water? Or it's more complicated? And what DC is for making a raft? Is it high-quality item or typical item?

There are three resources for Falcon's Hollow information: The modules, (Hollow's Last Hope, Return of the Kobold King) Towns of the Inner Sea and the Guide to Darkmoon Vale.

If you don't want to buy the books, the Pathfinder Wiki will provide you with most of the info.

http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Sitting_Duck

Good luck!

I am currently running HLH...

According to Page 5 in the module...

The entire journey, from Falcon’s Hollow to the lumber camp, to various forest locations and on to the old dwarven ruins, is just over 37 miles in length. Assuming the group moves at a speed of 30, the entire

journey takes a little more than three days, plus any time spent exploring or days spent resting. This time increases to five days if the group’s speed is 20. Crossing the water on the return trip cuts it down to only 22 miles but requires a treacherous swim or the construction of a crude raft.

It's 11 miles from Falcon's Hollow to the Lumber Camp, 5 miles north to the lake, 9 miles to the Elder Darkwood Tree, 6 miles to Ulizmila's Hut and another 6 miles to the Ruined Monastery.

If your party is moving at 30 speed, they will need to rest when they reach the lake. (More than likely after the Grunge Knifetongue encounter.) You will want to roll their first random encounter after they leave the Lumber Camp and enter Darkmoon Vale.

Next, they will head north to the Elder Darkwood Tree.

The party should rest before heading to Ulizmila's Hut, they can rest either before or after the second random encounter between the two locations.

The party can continue on to the Ruined Monastery, but they will roll a third random encounter and it will be dusk or dark by the time they reach it and might trigger the wolf encounter on Page 9.

The party can enter the Ruined Monastery that night or choose to wait until morning.

So it goes like this:

Day 1: Falcon's Hollow --> Lumber Camp --> Random Encounter --> Lake *rest*
Day 2: Lake --> Random Encounter --> Elder Darkwood Tree *rest*
Day 3: Elder Darkwood Tree --> Random Encounter --> Ulizmila's Hut --> Ruined Monastery *rest*
Day 4: Enter Monastery

If your group is slower, then it works out like this:

Day 1: Falcon's Hollow --> Lumber Camp *rest*
Day 2: Lumber Camp --> Random Encounter --> Lake *rest*
Day 3: Lake --> Random Encounter --> Elder Darkwood Tree *rest*
Day 4: Elder Darkwood Tree --> Random Encounter --> Ulizmila's Hut *rest*
Day 5: Ulizmila's Hut --> Random Encounter --> Ruined Monastery *rest*
Day 6: Enter Monastery

Hope this helps! My group has had two sessions and hasn't even made it out of town yet. Shoot me a message if you have any more questions.

Oh and I created a side quest if you'd like to use it. If your party stops at the Sitting Duck and speaks with owner Elgin Tock, he offers to pay them to gather ten Appleleaf plants so he can brew a keg of Appleleaf Ale. Laurel has three of them hanging in her shop and the other seven plants can be gathered on their travels through the Vale. Use a Nature Knowledge or straight Perception to find the plants. Just more fun stuff!

Good luck!

~ Jason

J to the Max - greetings and salutations bro-dawg! Welcome to the world of PF and Tabletop RPGs! You're already well on the way - ready to improv with some proven skill already, versed in combat basics and learning right alongside your players.

One thing that jumped out at me in your OP was the comment about when your players run out of spells and such. There's a few ways to deal with diminishing resources:

1. Let the party rest: during rest the world around them should react to their presence. Monsters can re-supply and reinforce; animals sensing their presence get skittish and the wilderness gets that much darker; folks back in Falcon's Hollow (if they go all the way back there) show signs of getting sicker and more desperate.

2. Add in extra treasure: say they get jumped by a certain guy and his pet dragon in the woods; maybe modify the gear they have or drop a not-so-well-hidden cache in the bole of a nearby tree. Inside said treasure, give them the consumables they'll need; Alchemist's Flasks or Acid, scrolls with helpful Arcane or Divine spells on them, maybe even a wand that only has 3 or 4 charges of a decent 2nd level spell like Bull's Strength or False Life.

3. Improvise resources: remember that shocker lizard heart? Say the PCs are getting desperate; they've had 2 tough fights, expended lots of spells and they're miles from town. They stumble upon some way to use the heart. Maybe they meet some fey creature who smells the heart on them and is willing to trade a potion for it; maybe they find a tree recently struck by lightning and just then the heart begins to beat - it absorbs the residual energy in the tree and can now be used like a lightning-based splash weapon; maybe they just conveniently find a recipe that includes Shocker Lizard Heart and eating the dish imparts Resist Electricity 5 for 1 hour.

Some examples I've used for my own game have been:

- a font infused with Positive energy that delivers healing 1/day but the water has no effect if carried from the pool.

-...

Thank you so much for this. It really made me feel excited and confident for my main session on Monday night. You are even familiar with my module I'm running! You have no idea how much your post encouraged me. Thanks.

I played a little more Master of the Fallen Fortress last night with my two-player group and it went well, except when combat gets complicated.

For example, whenever grapples, grabs, CMB's, etc... come into play. It really overwhelms me. In MotFF, there is a room with a Giant Frog. He uses his Tongue ability on the first person who enters the room. I didn't really understand it, then the Swallow Whole ability just compounded my confusion because it all needed to be rolled against and rolled for and I wound up just using the frogs melee attack as normal.

Combat maneuver's are really bogging me down right now.

Welcome to the game!

You've already made a great start with premades and starting with Core rules.

The temptation to use expansions is always there. I strongly recommend that new material be introduced slowly after you and your players have a firm grounding in the fundamentals.

Making things up is par for the course.
Keep the story/game moving along.

For example don't quibble over the cost of a pint of ale, or spend all day shopping for arrows with the right color fletching...UNLESS that's the kind of game everyone wants.

Also players may do their utmost to go beyond the rules (harvesting organs was just a start) in the end do not let them go beyond the rules...no fancy maneuvers or ideas should grant a greater bonus that what is already specified in the rules. On the flipside don't let the rules dictate the entire scene if you find it doesn't fit or find it unfun or bad storytelling.

If you want a more free-form game where the players shape the scene and story, I strongly advise switching to a narrative driven roleplaying game such as Dungeonworld or FATE. Not a tactical miniatures combat simulator with roleplaying elements (Pathfinder.)

Most important of all...have fun!

Thanks for the tips!

Well, I think PF is pretty flexible for both RP and Combat Simulator. I think you could go as extreme on either end.

All good advice. One thing I'd add is, make notes about the pcs you make up. Now you have a Nobleman who has made contact with the pcs. What was his name? What was he like? You may not remember, but your pcs probably will and it's going to look bad if you accidentally call him by a different name or have him act in a different manner. Similarly the shopkeeper. Maybe you said he squints; well make a note because the pcs will be expecting him to squint every time.

Don't be afraid to change the Npcs: They have lives outside of the pcs world, and it comes to life if, after a few meetings the shopkeeper is suddenly replaced by a nervous young man. What happened to Surly Bill?, the pcs ask. His sister is Ill and he asked me to mind the store for a few days while he goes visit. Now he's more than a 2d character who's only there to buy and sell. Perhaps it will lead the adventure in a new direction if they think the young man is lying, perhaps not. Maybe he comes back after a few days with a new fresh scar. Was he really just visiting his sister, or is something more sinister going on? Maye he got into a fight with his brother-in-law, who he considers a good-for-nothing wastrel and was the reason he left to come to this town in the first place - or maybe he is secretly a thief who nearly got caught while attempting to steal the crown jewels. The more the pcs are interested in an NPC, the more of a life s/he needs to have; the more life they have, the more the pcs are interested in them.

I love this. I love the fact that the game is so organic that even though I am running the game, I have no idea what's going to happen. When we ran our mini-session we wound up staying awake till 2:30am because we were having so much fun.

Thank you to everyone for the advice!

As for maps, I went super cheap. I went to wal-mart and bought a large piece of white poster-board for like $1 and drew 1" grid on it. I also bought a roll of clear cellophane wrapping paper for a few bucks and covered the grid with the cellophane. Now I can just draw my maps with dry-erase markers and make changes on the fly. We didn't have miniatures so I bought a bag of 100 assorted buttons and let my PC's pick one and I used small green buttons for lizards, black buttons for bats, etc... It worked well keeping track of movement.

In fact, the cellophane worked out so well I might draw the outlines of my maps for my main session on pieces of the cellophane in permanent marker, and then I can roll them up and put them over the grid when it's time. It might work.

And yes, I think I need to ramp up my collection of 'utility' entities. A good assortment of NPC's, CR-appropriate enemies and in-town and wilderness side-quests.

Also, a quick question about combat beginning. How do I start an encounter? As an example, if there is a room behind a closed door where two Troglodytes are posted guard, when and how would I start the fight? When they enter the room? What if the PC just opens the door? I assume the guards would notice the door opening. Would I just say, "There are two young troglodyte guards in this room and they notice you walking in, spears ready. Roll for initiative!"

Normally in that case, the PCs would leave the dungeon, find somewhere safe, and then rest until they get their spells back.

Thanks for this, that's a good idea.

Tip: don't use MMO-speak like 'mob' in the presence of hardcore tabletop players.

Oh my, sorry! Sometimes my video game knowledge creeps in.

Some general tips here.

This is great advice! I'm gonna bookmark this! Thanks.

So a group of friends and I have decided to start a Pathfinder group. They elected me the GM and honestly, it's absolutely what I want to do because I love improvisation and creativity.

So our first session is Monday night and I have already purchased the Core Rule Book and decided on playing a pre-made module. (Hollow's Last Hope)

I have never played a tabletop RPG so I am coming at this completely new. I have watched YouTube videos, read articles and I played a mini-session with two PC's a couple days ago. Well, the mini-session went great and I learned a lot that I had not thought about. (Like how much a room at my Inn costs.) I still had to stop frequently because I wasn't sure how to proceed. It seems like a lot of GM'ing isn't about concrete rules but just going with whatever the players want to do within reason. (For example, one of my PC's wanted to dissect a shocker lizard to take its heart. I didn't know if it could be used for anything official and I assumed it didn't but it might come in handy, so I let him.)

Combat was interesting, I'm still trying to figure out when attacks of opportunity's happen and what to do if my PC's run out of spells and potions halfway through a dungeon, especially when the tougher enemies are ahead.

So I have a binder of prepared material for Monday night. I've got a lot of local information memorized and the main NPC's are listed on a separate sheet. I don't have the beastiary so I just printed out all the mobs included in my module, along with a bunch of 'spare' mobs in case my PC's go off into 'La-La Land'. (I've heard they do that.) Also, I created my own little mini-quest involving a small cave and a large bear that simply loops them back around to the main module.

Oh, I almost forgot. In my mini-session, I was using the module 'The Fallen Fortress' and in one of the rooms, there is a dead dog with a jewel-encrusted collar worth 50gp. Well, it also had a name engraved on it. Well, of course my PC's would want to head back into Absalom and start asking around to find the owner of the dog. I had to make up a bunch of random NPC's on the fly and think of a rich nobleman that they find and he rewarded them with 100gp. They were so happy that they did it and it wasn't anywhere in the module.

So anyways, It's a little less than a week away and I was wondering what last-minute advice you experienced guys and gals could give a fledgling GM about to jump into a campaign with a group of equally newbish players?

Thanks!

~ Jason