Just popping in to second SatiricalBard's post. About 2 weeks ago, my weekly Pathfinder group voted on me running Season of Ghosts when we finish Malevolence. At the time, I was unaware of the hardcover book coming out. So I bought the first book to start my prep. In the process of reading and understanding the material, I learned about the hardcover. I am excited for it and plan to by the PDF of it as soon as we learn the price. But the community not knowing anything about the Foundry situation is slightly irksome. When I run a game, I pour a lot of time into prep. Not knowing if there will be a new Foundry module and if so if it will release the same day or what the release date when we are less than a month from the date just feels like we are being left void of information intentionally. Also knowing how much I should be budgeting for this would help a lot. Foundry mods and PDFs represent a fair chunk of money to me and are always worth it... but I need to know how much I need to save up.
I will also second that my frustration isn't directed at Maya but rather this situation. I am excited to run this but having prices, dates, and even confirmation of existence would really help.
Strangely, no one has brought this up. RAW, it would seem that Hobji knocks players out as a free action if he hits them with their fist. It says the target begins suffocating and the rules for suffocating say
AoN on drowning and suffocation wrote:
"you fall unconscious and start suffocating. You can’t recover from being unconscious and must attempt a DC 20 Fortitude save at the end of each of your turns. On a failure, you take 1d10 damage, and on a critical failure, you die. On each check after the first, the DC increases by 5 and the damage by 1d10; these increases are cumulative. Once your access to air is restored, you stop suffocating and are no longer unconscious (unless you’re at 0 Hit Points)."
This means suffocation starts after you are already out of air and that is what Strangling Grasp says it does. I have to believe that the writer meant to start the holding breath aspect rather than suffocation.
Lastly, it isn't clearly defined how he keeps suffocating people. I am ruling he needs to successfully hit the victim once per turn with his fist attack to trigger the free action again or else the victim is free.
I am only through Part 1 of Book 1 so far. I felt the combats in that part were very easy for my 4 person group besides the first moose With a 5 person party, I am sure you will need to up the difficulty from my experience. (My group is barbarian, witch, druid, bard)
EDIT: also thank you for the write up! I will check it out.
It hasn't started yet. They just announced it last week (?) and it is run by Jared Logan. I believe they want to start it off in January and are already recording. Cast is Skid, Joe, Mary Lou, and Paula Deming. The biggest down side is that it is locked behind a $10/month paywall.
No Troy, no enjoy. :(
Behind a paywall? Guess I'll go AWOL.
I would agree in that Troy is my favorite GM on the network. It will be interesting to see how Jared does with running a tactical game (so far we have only seen him play more narrative based games) and how he does a prewritten adventure (we have only seen him homebrew). But if I wasn't already a $10 subscriber, I don't think this would be enough to make me one. That being said, Timewatch with Jared, Joe, Mary Lou, and Paula Deming was a beautiful cast and excited to add Skid to that mix.
Also, throwing my support behind this adventure. The story needs a little help and most of that is covered in these forums but it is fun and lots of NPCs to play with. The structure of it seems perfect for PbP as well. Highly recommend it for people playing in online communities.
I wouldn't say this is forgotten - the Knights of Last Call are streaming their play-through, and so is the Glass Cannon Podcast.
Is the Glass Cannon one available as an audio pod? I might love that, if it's good.
It hasn't started yet. They just announced it last week (?) and it is run by Jared Logan. I believe they want to start it off in January and are already recording. Cast is Skid, Joe, Mary Lou, and Paula Deming. The biggest down side is that it is locked behind a $10/month paywall.
He is the relative to one of the Following's elders and they have no evidence of him doing anything wrong besides being a jerk. Your players should get bad vibes from him and they should not trust him. But nothing he does should warrant putting him to death. If your players attack him, I would use his stat block at the end of the book but have the Following break the fight up after 1 round or something. If you let the fight play out for long, you will probably have some dead PCs on your hands.
If they take off with the idea that he may of killed Wipa's husband, I wouldn't let them find any evidence that he did because that would accelerate the conflict.
My take on Pakano is that he is an entitled jerk due to his physical strength and his status with Grandfather Eiwa but wasn't set on causing harm to the Following until the Night of the Green Moon when he gets embarrassed in front of the whole Following and scolded when he was expecting everything. That was the final straw that made him go from jerk to villain.
I am considering running Bounty 10:HIllcross Round Up as a introduction to the campaign setting. How far from Hillcross does the campaign start? And across the three books, do they visit Hillcross at all? I know the players guide mentions they go there about once a year or something like that.
Amiri | Female CN Medium Human Barbarian 3 | HP 50/50 +5 while raging | AC 20 AC 19 while raging | F +9 R +7 W +7 | Perc +7 (+2 Init) | Default Exploration ( Search) | Speed 25ft | Active Conditions: None
Amiri is shocked at the effectiveness of the spell caster getting the wolverines to cooperate. But then looks up at the countless books. Why did I think the library would be a good idea? but gets to work, even with her limited knowlege.
nature:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 society about odd humaniod (untrained):1d20 ⇒ 1
So I was planning to pick up secrets of magic with my next pay check (this up coming Friday) and was pretty excited about it. But the end of last week has really put a damper on that excitement and I am not sure I will buy it. The update from Jeff has put it from a definite no to a possibly but I am torn.
I am a straight cisgendered male who plays a game with cisgendered males and I feel passionatly about trans rights. The APs have really helped me with the other members of my groups take transgender people more seriously and that feels great. The first time I introduced a trans NPC they took it as a joke and stuff but because of the way Paizo builds their NPCs, it didn't take long for the group to stop thinking it was funny that they were trans and saw them as a character. Since then, they don't even blink at inclusion of LGBTQ+ NPCs. That makes me feel good and is one of the many things I love about Paizo. It hurt and confused me that the company who helped me educate on transgender also had transphobic tendencies.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
The hit from the ooze burns Ron much more than expected. In fact this is the hardest Ron has been hit outside of the academy. But just as quick as the burning comes it is washed away by the strange pseudopod from Maruta. Thank you for what ever that was!
Ron then takes his trained stance and puts all he has into a swing against the ooze.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Ohh that is what those things were? At the time we had no clue. Okay so one of those but oozey, got it. I think I am ready to visit this house and clean it out! Lets do this.
Ron seems skeptical of the cover story that this wizard came across time but can't handle a few problems like this but isn't going to call him out, as long as his gold is good.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Before we head out
Wait, you can just create these doors when you want? Can you choose where they go? How often can you do it? I should probably check in with the Society to make sure they haven't missed me. It has been some time. Ron pauses to think for a moment and then continues ehhh they kept me waiting, I am sure it won't hurt to learn some new places his some experienced people as yourselves. It will make me a better agent, right? Ron then happily goes through the door with everyone else.
Present
Ron travels through the market but not in much of a shopping mood. He knows what he wants and despite his recent work, he is still short on cash. So while we wonder the market his keeps a close eye on his companions and their good to be sure no one is taking advantage of our curiosity. That being said he is happy to partake in the food Zendel offers.
When asked about the new shirt, It doesn't seems to offer much protection, but I think the black and silver buttons will surely allow you to look great for those times that we are in social situations.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Sorry, it was a busy weekend for me but we seemed to be very busy on here! I will catch up early tomorrow when I settle into work. I apologize if I am holding us up in gameplay. I will also update the excel sheet tomorrow.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
I can make no excuse or apology since I wasn't there for the attack on your castle, but Ron looks over at the logs. I think I might be able to fix it. Let me give it a try...
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Small payment, full bellies, and a place to sleep more comfortable than my bedroll, and some joy? Sounds like I might be willing to help! What is this winter week? Also, I share the confusion of my friend, a rock seems a strange ingredient for stew... not that I would judge local traditions. Ron turns red as if is concerned he might of accidentally offended.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Acorns? Umm okay. I don't have any right now but I think I find some. You never answered about tall folk though, do I need 3 or 6? Sorry, I am unaccustomed to your part of the world.
Ron begins to search the immediate area for acorns.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
The trip was overall very unexpected. We got ambushed by dust monsters and the badits were already gone by the time we got there. But there was a strange creature who gave us a hard riddle. I thought there was a chance we were going to need to fight it to get your box back! By the way, what is the trick to that box, if you don't mind me asking. I played around for a little bit and the puzzle certainly has me stumped.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Ron smacks his head. I think I get it now. I was looking at the mirror as seeing something inside themselves that horrified them, but I think it is literally something inside of them! Pestilence... illness... Apollyon. I think that has to be the answer. Ron looks at the Sphinx hoping to catch a reaction since he knows he already used his guess.
perception:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
He then looks to his Matei you have the last guess. I like that is the answer but I also already got it wrong so I would not hold it against you if you go a different direction.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Given what we know and that we were told we were close with Charon, I think the answer must be one of the other horsemen... but I cannot figure out which of the other horsemen makes more sense than Charon... Ron looks visibility worried. That means there are 3 options left and two guess. If you have a better idea than me, I would say go for it but I am going to take a guess at one of the 3 options.
Turning to the Sphinx Ron crosses his fingers and says My answer is Szuriel.
To be honest, I am really struggling to see any of the options being more fitting than the others with additional hints. Unless I am going down the wrong track that it is one of the other horsemen.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Unless anyone can come up with a different answer we might as well use our last two guess on the two options we believe it to be... Ron subconsciously places his hand on his sword and thinks to himself when he realizes that he did that If don't get this right, will we need to fight them for the box? I hope it doesn't come to that...
I will wait to see if Zendel's hero point resulted in another clue or not before submitting my guess.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
At first I was dismissive of the idea of it being the river because the words of the riddle make it seem as if the answer is above people but that would make sense that it is fatal to the people the river is above, wouldn't it. But the river is on top of a throne? And the river doesn't fell people with blows.... that I can think of at least.
You know, I think you are on to something Matel. And if you are right, that would mean that Vanvathar wasn't far off either... hmmm... I am really drawing a blank on any other answers at this point.
After opening the spoilers, I really thought Charon made the most sense. The scythe works but for a different reason than I expected. The scythe is the weapon of pestilence, not death but still one of the horsemen. The medicine spoiler still has me very lost on the meaning of "I fell with Singular Blow". This riddle is harder than I expected! At least it seems to require more knowledge of the world than other riddles i have done and more than I have myself.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Ron sits quietly as he listens to everyone's thoughts and ideas and chews on his bottom lip in contemplation. Finally he speaks up, I think Ignatius is on to something. To me this riddle is describing some personified version of death. What I don't know is if that means the answer is some specific death God or avatar or just death in general and it is personified for the sake of the riddle... Ron goes back into deep thought.
I am struggling to role play Ron answering because personally see myself better at riddles in real life than I envision Ron being. But I love a good riddle or puzzle in an adventure.
CG Male Human (Versatile Heritage) Fighter 1| HP 22/22 | AC 18 | F +8 R +6 W +4 | Perc +6 | Stealth +1 | speed 25| Hero 0/3 | Active Conditions: ---
Straight to the point I see.Maybe this will be helpful training for me as well. Ron smiles with a youthfully optimistic look on his face as he dons his freshly polished armor.
He accompanies Zendel for the conversation but does not add anything to the conversation at the moment.
Male NG Orc Inquisitor 10 Champion 1 | HP 121/121 | AC 24 T 16 F 22 | CMB +13, CMD 25 | F: +12, R: +8 W: 15 | Init: +5 | Perc: +18, SM: +23 | Speed 20ft | Bane: 16/16 | Judgement 4/4| Discern Lies 11/11 | Mythic Points: 5/5 | Spells: 1st 7/7 2nd 5/5 3rd 5/5 4th 3/3 | Active conditions:
This is not about "making me uncomfortable". We lost an opportunity to learn more because destruction was your first reaction to the new situation. But yes, try to make it sound like you are being the bigger person and "playing to my sensibilities" when the orc is asking you to not break other people's things. Fenrick is clearly upset both by Gavin's actions and now the way the old man is talking down to him. He doesn't respond much to much more as he tries to think over how he could of made his point better to not put Gavin on the defensive in the future.
Fenrick stays quite as we slow down and allows Gavin to take the lead.
Just to clarify, I the player, am fine with things so far. Don't take Fenrick's frustrations as me being a bitter player.
Mine looked goods besides that I regretfully must pass up some of the credits. I was playing out of the sub tier rather than at the correct level so my money gets cut some.
I thought the adventure was well designed. Lots of unique stuff and the final fight could of gone very badly. We were able to handle it well but it seems easy to get over run and the boss is tricky.
Thank you for running an adventure with me again! I think I will be taking a step back from the PBP world for a bit while I try to get my life back on track but I hope to play with you all again once I get back into it!
Hey guys. Sorry for the delay! I am moved in and everything is good. I am hoping to get back into a normal post schedule now. I am going to start working on my next post now, but I might get interrupted before I finish. Regardless, the post will be up tonight at the latest.
I will have my master's degree in experimental psychology. I am interviewing for a job to be a data manager for a longitudinal study on adolescent development when I move back to New York.
This upcoming week will be pretty crazy for me. It is exam week, I have a lot of work to do on my thesis, I graduate next weekend, and I am moving to a different state that weekend. I am still planning to keep my x2 minimum posting but that might not happen everyday. Feel free to bot if needed.
Naiaj seems reluctant to explain but quickly relents.
The bleachling gnome takes a slow breath before she replies. She... she’s taking some personal time. I realize this is not how we do things. I’ve only just been assigned oversight of your mission and I’m still coming up to speed. I certainly appreciate your efforts. There is another pause and then Naiaj continues. In your place, I would want to know what you went to all the trouble for. We’re going through the data and are trying to ascertain who these people are and we’re not there yet. We do, however, know some of their recent activities, thanks to you. They’ve got financial data on almost every corporation within the Pact Worlds. We think they’ve been manipulating the markets, especially with regards to pharmaceuticals. Price fixing, if you follow. It’s disturbing because they appear to be trying to fix the price of medicine, system wide. I’ve got an uneasy feeling about this, but thanks to you... we have forewarning.
Unless you have any questions.. that is a wrap. I will mark this page inactive Sunday night. Thanks for being part of this interesting story and continuing us down the story of the mysterious "Conspiracy". Hope to see you all around.
Will gets to work bursting through the fire walls. He makes the first one look easy. Opening it up reveals that the data core’s chamber has four traps, their location in the room, and the location of their local keypad controls. Those rods that do the EMP pulse in the boss fight and makes it so you wouldn't need the perception checks to disable them. There is also a scanned copy of the original building plan prepared by Hira Lanzio. It shows the mostly empty room to the North of you was intended to be the original data core chamber, but per a series of notes “the board of directors found the space insufficient for the desired level of security.”
The second firewall comes down as well with Will's expert work. Opening this one reveals data files that describe how the data guardians were adapted from ancient lore guardians. Ak is positive this is something that the Dataphiles would love to get their hands on.
The final firewall was almost a failure. After making the others look so easy, Will got a bit careless but right before the computer auto-deletes the data, he is able to shut down the wall. This wall concealed a small data file with the disarm code for the traps mentioned above. Would of made it so you could of shut down the traps without a check. This one also contains an account containing 4,100 credits that can easily be transferred to a credstick.
Since you have the building plans from the one firewall, I will reveal the rest of the map. It is up to you guys what you do from here. The only place left unexplored is that tunnel connecting this room to the room north of you.
Of course, you guys are rolling crits left and right and I can't even roll high enough to hit you! haha
The rest of the group (besides Will) hits and break the statue but it is left standing, but then Chuck comes in and slices the darn thing right in half! Needless to say, no combatants are left standing.
While the others are taking care of the statue, Will gets to work hacking the computer. He is an expert at his job and as he works he recognizes that the computer is designed to make you think you got in before you actually got to the good stuff and is able to bypass that. It has a fake shell that you noticed and got through.
The computer has your standard spreadsheet and word processing software on it and that appears to be mostly all that is on this computer. After digging a little, you also find that this computer is able to control the thermostat for the “Data Core Chamber.” You are able to remember that Lanzio mentioned something about you can increase the temperature in the data core to put additional strain on the hardware. Would of given you a bonus to hacking in the boss fight room.
Further investigation reveals that there are 3 separate firewalls on this computer. I will need you to make 3 computer checks for me please. Assume you have a +2 from aiding since there are multiple people who can auto aid you.
Several pieces of wall art are actually quite valuable and are worth 2,000 credit.
Angrid carefully steps away from the combatants and draws her melee weapon.
Will is able to trick the blue statue yet again but thus time, the statue breaks down from the shot. 17 to blue
Reynold is able to take advantage of the constuct and hot with his attack. The poor statue was barely holding on but the shot finishes him off!8 damage to purple
I was thinking that solarions to slashing damage but I wasn't sure if one of their leveling up choices changes that or not. I am not very familiar with them yet. That or if it counts as different materials for going through DR like a monk fist does. Chuck slices the yellow statue that has been untouched right down the middle! It is clear that it is not long for this world when he follows that up with another strike, finishing off the statue. 58 damage to yellow[/ooc]
Ak is able to get his exo-cortex to start tracking the last enemy and Ak finally has a bout of good luck as his shot strikes the enemy. 4 damage to red
Goose is up!
Bold May Act
----------------------------------
Round 2 statusnothing special
-------------------------------------
Chuck 0/32 SP 22/34 HP 3/4 RP
Ak
Will
Goose 42/42 SP 8/9 RP
Reynold
Angrid 24/40 SP (has taken IB)
Red -4
Blue -50 Yellow -58 Purple -47
Sorry. I hate botting people so I try to make sure to give people time to post but I want to keep this game moving so I will start instituting my typical botting policy. You have 48 hours from the time I call for a post for you to post. You will get botted at around the 48 hours. After that point, you will be botted again as soon as you are the one we are waiting to post again. This will coninue till you make another post for yourself and then you will start back having 48 hours to post.
ENTER AK BOT
Ak manages to dodge the magnetic field. Having a clear shot, he boosts up his gun and takes it at the security bot.
Medrick is completely oblivious to Hudson's meaning. You put more faith in her than I do. You would let he walk about unrestrained? What if this is an act? He pauses but I am sure you are smarter with these tactics than I. Let us go inform our native friends that the research has been put to a stop.
Medrick may not get the joke, but as a player, I appreciated it haha
Will is able to use his computer "magic" to make the door think you swiped the key card and said the password. The vault door slides open.
This opens right away to a stairway going down about 40 feet. At the bottom of the stairs, the hallway turns to the right, then opens into a large room.
A corridor connects the forty-foot staircase to the west to a large and empty but well-lit chamber. The air is climate controlled, with tolerable temperature and humidity, if not actually fresh. Clean vinyl tiles cover the floor with a neutral checked pattern commonly seen in buildings across the Pact Worlds. Power outlets and data jacks routinely jut from the walls, suggesting the area could repurposed or left empty for future expansion. Two doors exit to the north and east.
This area has a 15-foot-high ceiling and has normal lighting
Map is up to date. What is the plan from here?
I have made a bit of a mistake. I feel foolish but I jumped over a small dielog and reward before you left the Stewards. I will post the relevent info with the reward you get in a spoiler below. I will try to be more careful (will be easier now that I am back to my apartment).
Retcon... Sorry:
You are approached by one of the Stewards after your interview. She introduces herself as Xatina Marcos, a female lashunta. Xatina confesses she and her fellow Stewards have monitored the interview remotely. They’re impressed you got Lanzio to talk. The Council of Legates recognizes the Society is not only acting on its own agenda but toward the safety of all the Pact Worlds. They offer the team the following resources to support their investigation: two darksight goggles, two mk 1 diffraction cloaks, and mk 2 serums of healing and a credstick with 1,630 credits, one targeting computer upgrade and two purple force field upgrades.
Feel free to discuss who gets what as there is a lot of loot there. Since it is my mistake and you have some unexpected credits, I will allow you a brief window to retcon some shopping (about 23 hours,10 PM Eastern time) But also feel free to move along in the dungeon was well.
Ak, I think your post was meant for the gameplay tab.
Just because this a rule that I just learned about that I have played wrong before I would like to explain how traps work in starfinder. This does not necessarily mean there are traps in this adventure... but it is an explanation that I think would be fair and help spread the little known rules of the game to more people.
You do NOT get a passive check to find traps in starfinder. When you encounter a trap, if you are not searching for a trap, you will just trigger it with no check. The rules are semi-vague about detecting traps. It says that it is a move action to search for "nearby traps or hazards." It then goes on to mention it takes 1 minute to search an area no more than 20 feet by 20 feet (or smaller, if the GM rules the area is particularly cluttered or complex).
Because of this, I will rule that is a move action to search a 5ft square (or specific object) and 1 minute to search a 20x20 area (unless I specify otherwise).
Feel free to ask any questions here. As I mentioned before, this was new information to me and wanted to make sure expectations were clear, this does not mean that there will be traps in this particular adventure (this will be posted in all my games and in my GM profile).
Sorry folks. Was and will continue to be a busy weekend. Driving back home tomorrow and then I will be on a steady posting stream. I plan to put a post up moving us to the base tomorrow.
I think they might leave if we can make it less profitable for them to be here than they are making. The idea that they are building plants for addiction is awful... science should be working to fix people, not how to make the most money off of them.Medrick is disgusted that someone he was appreciating so much could be this wrong.
