That's great, Neil. That really helps. Thanks! :)
Thanks for the random encounter tables in today's blog. I'll definitely be using them when I get my hands on this module. And Arvormeigh too. :)
Thanks for your comments, sozin...and the positive review!
I've read that this adventure is "family friendly." Could anyone help explain why "Fellnight Queen" may (or may not) be suitable for a group of guys whose pre-teen and early teenagers want to play? As the regular GM, I'd love to advance my gaming group to 7th level to start- character creation is one of the things my gamers love to do! However, I also realize that - with a bit of tinkering or substitutions - many adventures or encounters can be watered-down statistically and by theme. I'd love to have an adventure that can be relatively "safe" for kids aged 11, 12, 13, and 19, with their 40-something dads.
I'm sure Neil will jump in here, but there's no sexual or drug content in the adventure (the closest I can recall is a male gnome interested in a female gnome, but she's not interested and she rebuffs him), just your "typical" level of fantasy-game violence (i.e., the PCs have to fight monsters and oppose an army, but the monsters and army aren't doing anything gruesome that you'd want to shield younger players from--just "they're an army of evil creatures that want to take over this territory as their own").
Keep in mind that I'm a father of three young girls, and my oldest is only five. That said, a lot of the inspiration for Realm of the Fellnight Queen springs straight out of the fairytales and Disney movies they've grown up watching. So you'll find elements of everything from Sleeping Beauty to Tinkerbell in this adventure...or "Rumpelstiltskin" from Grimm's Fairy Tales to Stephen King's "The Mist"...and so on.
It's really all a matter of how much you want to play up the fear, paranoia, and hostile nature of the fey. I purposefully tried to keep the tone of Fellnight Queen a little more in check than say Carnival of Tears (which is an awesome adventure in its own right). And that's because I'd like to run this someday for my own kids...and not just when they they're well into their teens (because I suspect gaming won't be their highest priority at that point in life).
At the same time, though, I also purposefully wrote Fellnight Queen in such a way that a GM can definitely run it with a major horror theme if he or she wants to. It's that whole "trying to please most of the people, most of the time" thing that I strive for in my designs. I like writing stuff that lots of people can enjoy on lots of different levels. And I think Fellnight Queen achieves that as well as anything I've done.
So, if you're interested in some insights into some scenes from Fellnight Queen that could potentially disturb younger gamers, depending on how you run them...and you don't mind spoilers...read on:
1) Wedding Crashers - This scene can come off a couple of different ways, depending on how you present it as the GM. When I playtested this encounter with my regular gaming group (all adults in their 30's and 40's), I played up the horror of it. Specifically, I explained the absolute carnage the attack had on the unprotected wedding guests. Swarms of bees overran the wedding party, killing some people outright, while chasing and harrassing those who tried to flee or take shelter. Then, when the Fellnight spriggans appeared, they put Tenzekil's wall of thorns and their prickle whips to great effect...basically, snagging people on a bramble-like whip and then dragging them through the wall of thorns (which had no effect on the spriggans, but totally carved up anyone else). I had the spriggans focus most of their attention on disrupting and intimidating the wedding guests rather than just the PCs themselves. This drove home the horror and urgency for the PCs to "do something" to stop the attack by driving off the bees and slaying the spriggans.
Now, that's the gruesome version. But if I ran this scene for my kids, I'd spin it completely differently. And, in fact, none of the things I described above for my regular gaming group are specifically written into the adventure in a way that it has to play out that way. That was simply my personal choice as GM to be as entertaining as possible for my individual players according to their preferences. For younger gamers, I think you could run the adventure without the heavy-handed description. Have the bees mostly scare and chase the wedding attendees and only "damage" the PCs when they try and stop them. Same goes for the Fellnight spriggans. They don't have to murder and slay lots of innocents. The purpose of the encounter is just to showcase how dangerous the bees, the spriggans, and Tenzekil and his mistress can be.
2) The Dryad Grove - This too is a scene that could come off particularly gruesome if you wanted it to...but it isn't written that way. In this encounter, the PCs arrive after a group of Fellnight spriggans have already slain a bunch of dryads by chopping down their trees and interrogating them about the forest. One of them is still alive, but they're about to toss her onto a large bonfire if the PCs don't intervene. There's also a helpless (but stable) unicorn they fought. And the whole purpose of this scene is so the PCs can start performing some heroic actions to save the good fey from the bad fey, gain some allies and information, and generally be heroic. The scene isn't written to be particularly horrific, but it could be if a GM wanted to present it that way.
3) Devarre's Animal Companion - When the PCs finally track down the archdruid who can supposedly help them find the source of the strange mist and Fellnight creatures plaguing the forest, they discover his animal companion that died of starvation in a deep pit. This resulted because the malevolent will-o'wisp inhabiting Devarre's body forced him to trap and abandon his wolf companion in such a manner. This scene isn't presented in a particularly graphic manner. But again, a GM could play up the animal cruelty factor if he wanted to...
4) Rhoswen's Nightmare - Once the PCs enjoy their brief respite at the conclave of good fey, the Fellnight Queen visits her anger on them in the form of a nightmare spell. The actual depth and degree of what that nightmare entails isn't described in the adventure, other than the fact that it involves an attack on the fey encampment where her spriggans overrun everyone. The PCs eventually awaken and find it was nothing but a nightmare...but a particularly troubling one, nonetheless. If a GM wanted to present this scene in a more graphic manner, he or she could also choose to do so, however.
5) Rhoswen's Dungeon - The Fellnight Queen has a well-stocked dungeon below her palace. It includes a variety of implements for torturing captives to extract information from them about the Verduran Forest before her armies fully invade Golarion. As such, her Fellnight spriggans have been interrogating a group of Lumber Consortium workers they abducted under the direction of the queen's chief interrogator, a satyr named Jaxir Tarm. Now the way I presented Jaxir showcased him more as a charmer who used the magic of his panpipes to pry information from them. But, there's also evidence in the actual torture chamber that the spriggans have been a little overzealous in their questioning of the lumberjacks. Again, there's no horrifying description of dead bodies or particularly gruesome wounds caused by the torturers, but the room's description does make mention of a "...table housing a complicated pulley system for driving thorns into victims from multiple angles..." and "...Two punctured bodies, long-deceased, lie upon the floor." That's about as far as this scene goes in helping set the tone for what these spriggans and the satyr have done to their captives.
6) Hall of the Punished - One of the corridors in the Fellnight Queen's palace is a showcase of "art" which depicts the variety of punishments she's employed on her enemies over the years. There are animated picture frames containing permanent images placed by her documentarian, an evil pixie named Kenchlo. They show scenes of her cursing nymphs into ugly crones, polymorphing rebellious gnomes into swine for her feast hall, changing upstart elves into songbirds for her entertainment, and even blinding or deafening victims to deprive them of any enjoyment of beauty or music they might enjoy. The hall also contains several life-sized woodcarvings from treelogs suspended from the ceiling. Each one is carved into a likeness of the dryad from whose tree the log was taken. This location isn't presented in a highly horrific manner. Even so, it paints a better understanding of the depths of Queen Rhoswen's evil...and the extent of her power.
7) Rhoswen's Songbirds - As alluded to in the paintings from the Hall of the Punished, the Fellnight Queen makes judicious use of the baleful polymorph spell, transforming many of her victims into songbirds, which she then keeps in small cages all about her palace. Most of these victims have lingered in bird form for so long they've totally lost their minds and, even if restored to their true selves, would continue to act and think like a bird. Worse than that, however, the Fellnight Queen also uses vampiric touch to grasp and drain these birds of temporary hit points she can absorb to make herself more powerful before fighting the PCs when they arrive. And, because of her ability to magically move about the palace pretty much at-will, she can retreat and use this trick multiple times to keep herself in the fight. The description of this tactic isn't presented in a gruesome or particularly callous light, but the elements are there to demonstrate her evil again and again. Perceptive players and PCs would presumably pick up on some of these indicators. But younger gamers might not unless the GM made a point of explaining how Rhoswen uses this tactic.
So, that's really it. None of those scenes or encounters have to come off as disturbing. But, again, they could if a GM chose to present them that way. I hope you give the adventure a try. And I'd be particularly interested in your experience with it if you run it for a group of younger gamers. As I said, I hope to run it for my own children someday. But realistically, I don't expect that to happen for a few more years. Until then, I'd love to know how it worked out for anyone else with that kind of gaming group.
Thanks,
--Neil
Think this is "hexable" for somewhere in the Kingmaker AP? Or does the plot really make the Verduran Forest too much to be thrown into a random Kingmaker forest Hex?
Havent read too far into Kingmaker yet but would it be easy to add a new forest for this as a better fit?
Dear Sean & Neil,
Thanks so much for a quick turn-around for answering my post and question! I applaud your gaming skills and design. I feel more confident in my pitch to our gaming group this week, and look forward to a near-future purchase. Again, thanks for great customer service, help, and advice.
-Dave
Think this is "hexable" for somewhere in the Kingmaker AP? Or does the plot really make the Verduran Forest too much to be thrown into a random Kingmaker forest Hex?
I'm not sure. There's already a pretty serious fey angle to the overarching plot of Kingmaker. So, introducing Fellnight Queen might be a bit more difficult in some ways, and yet easier in others. My advice would be to wait until you've got the entire Kingmaker AP in your hands before arbitrarily deciding to the plunk Rhoswen into the equation. I think there are definitely ways it could be introduced. You'd just need to get under-the-hood in some places to determine where and when...i.e., you might need to adjust the intended level for the adventure on when it would be experienced by the PCs.
Thanks so much for a quick turn-around for answering my post and question! I applaud your gaming skills and design. I feel more confident in my pitch to our gaming group this week, and look forward to a near-future purchase. Again, thanks for great customer service, help, and advice.
No problem, Dave. I hope you (and your gaming group) enjoy it.
Best wishes,
--Neil
Think this is "hexable" for somewhere in the Kingmaker AP? Or does the plot really make the Verduran Forest too much to be thrown into a random Kingmaker forest Hex?I'm not sure. There's already a pretty serious fey angle to the overarching plot of Kingmaker. So, introducing Fellnight Queen might be a bit more difficult in some ways, and yet easier in others.
I figured as much already. I dont want to overdo the Fey angle with another serious Fey angle, theres enough to do in the AP already. I just have "Hexploration"™ fever. Its so nice having a plug and play AP for a change and the Fey flavored Fellnight queen seemed like a good side-trek and a chance to burn off a good one shot.
Question: How difficult would this be to scale up? It sounds really good but my players are 11th level. Would it be hard to scale it up 4 levels?
Question: How difficult would this be to scale up? It sounds really good but my players are 11th level. Would it be hard to scale it up 4 levels?
In terms of scaling up the adversaries, I think you could easily do so.
But, if you do, certain scenes might become less challenging if your 11th level PCs have access to certain spells and abilities. That's kind of why I chose the 7th level range. It precludes access to spells like teleport, passwall, antimagic field, break enchantment, commune with nature, find the path, plane shift, and so on. In addition, certain class abilities like venom immunity, a paladin's aura of resolve (which shields against charm effects), and even some of a rogue's advanced talents could complicate a few things...or at least, impact how certain scenes play out by making stuff less challenging or by giving the PCs a quicker and easier solution to a problem than consulting one of the NPCs for assistance.
Not sure if that helps,
--Neil
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Think this is "hexable" for somewhere in the Kingmaker AP? Or does the plot really make the Verduran Forest too much to be thrown into a random Kingmaker forest Hex?
Havent read too far into Kingmaker yet but would it be easy to add a new forest for this as a better fit?
In an effort to rebuild a regular gaming group and test the waters for a longer campaign, I plan to DM "Fellnight Queen" and a couple other 'rural' Golarion adventures for some long-time friends and newer gaming acquaintances. Those that can keep the commitment for those sessions and who are fun to game with will be invited to play "Kingmaker."
I'm going to require the PCs for that one be related in some way to the PCs, NPCs, and maybe even the villains from the earlier adventures, retroactively setting the time for the earlier happenings an appropriate number of years in the past.
So, "Fellnight Queen" should end up being a prequel of sorts to "Kingmaker" for us. Should be fun!
Is any more info on the Bleaching & greenblood oil?
The Bleaching is described on pg. 11 of the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting as a key element of what makes Golarion gnomes unique.
And greenblood oil appears on pg. 559 of the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. It's a relatively low-grade (though fast-acting) poison with a DC 13 venom that attacks a victim's Constitution.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
Nice adventure, I'm gonna run it at ReaperCon this year...
Thanks! Let me know how it goes...
I'm also a little curious how it'll run at a convention. I always envisioned it as a bit too long for most 4-5 hour timeslots. For instance, I'm currently putting together a prequel adventure called Shadow of the Fellnight Queen that I'll be running for ConCarolinas (June 4-6) and PaizoCon (June 17-20) and I'm purposefully keeping it much shorter to better accommodate the average gamer's convention schedule.
I don't believe that's permissible. Many of the same characters from Realm of the Fellnight Queen have cameo appearances in the prequel. Nothing major. Just small foreshadowings of what will come in the main adventure. And the pregen characters for the convention game will have some backstory that would make them good candidates to carry on into Realm of the Fellnight Queen as another option alongside the regular Paizo iconics.
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Neil
I'll let you know!!
I'm gonna shorten a few things, epically in combat, if the PCs are pretty much winning the battle, I'll jump it ahead, I may skip a few areas but for the most part I think I can get the entire adventure in my time slot.
Hoping to make up some paper minis using the artwork in the book, epically the Spriggans, Tenzekil & the treant, just so the PCs can partake in the great artwork that's in the book, that & even thou it's a mini-con I'll probably have allot of junk with me & I want it to be light, ha ha.
RM
Would you mind if I post a reference/errata thread at some point in the modules section, or are you happy to keep discussion here in the one place?
That's not my call. If Paizo wants one...or wishes to place one in a specific forum...that's really up to them. I'm just doing what I can to answer questions and help out anyone running the adventure for their gaming group.
I'm not sure to what extent it's acceptable to have spoilers in this thread. :-?
Neither am I. :-)
As to my reaction to the module, I purchased it today, and the first two parts look good (especially with the extra bits from the blog), but I have some doubts over the last part.
Post a review if you want. Or preferably a playtest experience. The adventure will always run differently given how different GMs approach it. We all add or enhance various elements in how we play/run such things. And we all bring our preferences and assumptions to how we do so.
I have concerns, as well. In particular, the BBEG looks like a push over, especially for her CR. I'm considering making her a dryad or nymph with class levels so she'll be more on par.
If you run a playtest of the adventure and Rhoswen becomes a push over for the PCs, I'd be interested in hearing how you chose to run the encounter. There are some very specific tactical elements that can swiftly turn things to her advantage even against high-level PCs. But again, it gets back to how each GM portrays the challenge she poses. As written, Rhoswen is CR 11 and the PCs will presumably be 8th level when they face her (though possibly 7th, depending on how much experience they amass in Parts 1 and 2). That means she should represent an Epic level encounter. But, given that she's a standalone villain (with summoned allies, granted), I still see her as more of a Hard encounter...though, a lot of it depends on how many resources the heroes expend before they get to her.
But that's just my two-cents,
--Neil
I think I'd better post a reference thread for GMs at some point in the next couple of days when I have the time... :-?
Most Pathfinder publications have similar threads, so I don't see any reason not to for this one. I don't think anyone will begrudge you starting a thread specifically geared toward GMs collaborating to provide the best possible experience for their players, whether that involves running the scenario verbatim or with modification.
Varthanna:
Thing is she is no different than any other sorcerer (except having SR and irrelevant DR), who would be CR 10. I think its just a poor selection of feats/spells, imo. I'm going to give her Bear's Endurance and Eagle's Splendor, bump her strength to 10, and redo her feats and she should be more on the level I'd expect. Ive no issue with how she is to be run by the book, tactics are great. Its just my PCs (Rogue, Paladin, Summoner, Cleric) have been tearing through everything* up to now, so I want to make sure she's worth the fight.
So, what I hear you saying here is that you're finding you need to tweak the adventure's challenge level according to your own playstyle and the selection of PCs your players are running. I think it's fair to expect any GM to do that. And, with the limited spell options for a sorcerer (and I needed Rhoswen to be a sorcerer with the fey bloodline for story purposes), I had to judiciously make some rather strategic spell choices for her that would work well for her tactics.
For instance, the use of vampiric touch can power up her hit points pretty significantly as well...and even repeatedly over the course of the battle against the PCs. She can either target one of her polymorphed song-birds with such a touch spell, or use it against her opponents during the fight. So, that spell had more versatility for her than bear's endurance. And, it helped further define her character as a rather nasty, evil fey-queen willing to use such a spell even against the defenseless polymorphed songbirds in her cages.
I made some similar choices with Rhoswen's other spell and feat selections. Enough so, I didn't feel the need to 'optimize' Rhoswen any further. Her tactics already give her greater mobility and staying power than your average sorcerer. And she's a legitimate threat from a CR perspective. I think she could even generate a TPK if the PCs aren't prepared to deal with her. After all, she's had plenty of time to scry them for virtually the entire adventure. So, she'll have noticed their tactics and weaknesses. In running the final encounter, I'd fully expect Rhoswen to use her enchantment and illusion spells against those with low Will saves and baleful polymorph against those with low Fortitude saves. And rely on her summoned air elementals and shadow conjurations to hold off anyone else while she continues weaving her magic.
But, in all honesty, the encounter can play out just about any way you as the GM want it to...Rhoswen has a lot of flexibility in how things progress from the moment they meet her.
They bemoaned they'd rather fight fifty overgrown gnomes at once than any more bees. Ha!
Heh. During my playtest, I think the wedding scene with both the bees and the enlarged Fellnight spriggans accomplished the same thing for my players. And I originally included a sidebar in my turnover that covered ways to "play up the paranoia" by having the heroes hear sounds of buzzing bees somewhere in the fog as they traveled through the Verduran Forest...just to keep them on their toes and stress them out.
I hope you have fun with everything!
Sincerely,
--Neil
...Upon reflection I think that a lot of my current disappointment stems from my completely unreasonable belief that someone who wasn't a seasoned industry professional could write something amazing for a rules system which was still under development....I need to have dramatically lower expectations of all future RPGSuperstar modules....
I've always known I'll never meet everyone's expectations. And I'm okay with that. RPG Superstar modules go through a very open process of laying everything out for the voters' consideration. As such, they're privy to a lot more than the typical consumer would be. And maybe they then carry a higher set of expectations as a result.
It's true that the Pathfinder Bestiary wasn't out yet. And I did attempt to incorporate a number of creatures that didn't make the cut in that particular manual. So, Sean had to redo some things and cut some stuff. I think he did an outstanding job. I really like how Fellnight Queen came out. And, if I had it to do over again, I don't think there's a whole lot I would change.
And the good news is you [Neil Spicer] are now a seasoned (or at least more experienced) writer, better up to the task of writing other stuff for Paizo (such as Kingmaker!).
We'll see. Every writer grows the more they write. And I've certainly picked up some further insights into how Paizo prefers certain things be done in adventure design. It's an ongoing learning process, to be sure. Thanks for taking the time to comment, review, and purchase Fellnight Queen.
Sincerely,
--Neil
Neil
I'll let you know!!
I'm gonna shorten a few things, epically in combat, if the PCs are pretty much winning the battle, I'll jump it ahead, I may skip a few areas but for the most part I think I can get the entire adventure in my time slot.
Hoping to make up some paper minis using the artwork in the book, epically the Spriggans, Tenzekil & the treant, just so the PCs can partake in the great artwork that's in the book, that & even thou it's a mini-con I'll probably have allot of junk with me & I want it to be light, ha ha.
RM
I also want to hear more about ReaperCon.
Neil, could you please shed some light on some plot points? Why doesn't the fey court have the power to restore the Faengard? If the crook of Cildhureen is so powerful, why couldn't Rhoswen use it to break out of the Faengard? Thank you.
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Neil, could you please shed some light on some plot points?
I'll spoiler my reply for you, JZ:
Why doesn't the fey court have the power to restore the Faengard?
The underlying plot to Realm of Fellnight Queen involves a disagreement between Rhoswen and the other fey of the First World. When she started dabbling in shadow magic, using it to twist and pervert the creations of the First World, the other fey banded together to oppose her...and thus, they employed a bit of deception. Under the guise of "aiding" her efforts, they're the ones who gave her the crook of Cildhureen, knowing full well that such a staff would intrigue and please Rhoswen to no end.
At the same time, however, they secretly laid the wardstones to create the faengard and constructed the "anchor points" in the First World and the Second World (i.e., Golarion), attuning the staff to them. Cosmologically-speaking, those anchor points on the two "planes" of existence allow you to draw a straight line across the multiverse towards the Plane of Shadow. The fey did this purposefully so that when Rhoswen used the crook of Cildhureen it would react with the wardstones and the anchor points to literally project her Fellnight Realm out of the First World...towards the Shadow Plane...and into its own demi-plane bound by the limits of the faengard to act as a prison and keep Rhoswen safely locked away.
But, the whole crux behind this elaborate deception is that the "key" to invoking the faengard has always been in Rhoswen's hands. As she used the staff to perform ever greater shadow magic, it doomed her to the outcome of shutting herself away...in essence, she provided her own punishment for her misdeeds in a fey manner of speaking. This bit of irony and equilibrium is something the First World fey rather prided themselves on.
But, what that ultimately means is the fey court doesn't have the power to reinvoke the faengard unless someone turns the "key" to the "prison" again...and only after repairing the "lock"...meaning, somebody has to go into the Fellnight Realm, wrest the crook of Cildhureen from her, and then use its magic in a strong enough invocation to fire up the repaired faengard again and push the Fellnight Realm away from Golarion (where Rhoswen's realm is slowly being drawn because of the presence of the stolen wardstones there).
If the crook of Cildhureen is so powerful, why couldn't Rhoswen use it to break out of the Faengard?
Because, through the efforts and trickery of the First World fey, the crook of Cildhureen is inextricably tied to the faengard and the anchor points in the First World and Golarion. To use it would only strengthen the prison around the Fellnight Realm...but only if the faengard is intact. That's why over the years, Rhoswen has tried many different ways to lure creatures into moving the wardstones to weaken the faengard. That way, she can probe at the prison walls until she finds a weak point that'll let her break through into the plane where the removed wardstones are taken.
Due to their own perversion by the force of Rhoswen's shadow magic, the Fellnight fey actually aren't capable of moving the wardstones themselves. Instead, they're burned...badly...just by interacting with the wardstones while on Rhoswen's demi-plane. Even summoned creatures to the Fellnight Realm are tainted enough by the use of conjuration magic into the demi-plane that they can't move them either. In fact, the Fellnight fey can only barely move the wardstones on Golarion (by using sticks, sack-cloth, charmed minions, etc.).
Hope that helps,
--Neil
That's truly fascinating backstory, Neil. Thank you.
More answers, properly spoiler-fied, JZ:
Has Rhoswen figured out the relationship between the crook and faengard?
Oh, yes. After millennia of being trapped in the Fellnight Realm, you better believe she understands the full extent of the trickery the First World fey used on her. The crook of Cildhureen is simultaneously her favorite possession (because of her affinity for using it to bend shadow magic to her will) and her greatest liability (because she knows it's the key to her prison). In her hubris, she believes the power of the staff will always be hers to command and ignores the danger it poses if anyone can wrest it away from her and reinvoke the faengard. In fact, now that she's found a breach into the Second World (i.e., Golarion), she fully intends to use the very "gift" the First World fey gave her to punish their descendants in the Verduran Forest...and then also turn her attention to finding a gateway from Golarion to the First World so she can fully visit her wrath upon her ancient kin.
If the adventurers go on the mission to repair the faengard, would the fey court reveal that relationship to them?
That's a good question. I think it depends on how much the Fey Court in the Verduran Forest come to trust the PCs. If they're won over by a particularly charismatic and successful adventurer, one of them (probably Aripha) might be willing to tell them the full story. Otherwise, the rest of the fey (at Maligorn's urging) would be more likely to only tell them about:
- The extreme danger Rhoswen poses to both Golarion and the First World...i.e., she is thoroughly Evil, fully tainted by the shadow magic she practices. They would impress this upon good-aligned adventurers to convince them to stop her.
- Rhoswen's affinity for shadow magic, which most fey find repulsive...because it draws far more upon negative energy than the healty amounts of positive energy used in the creation magic that brought the First World (and eventually, Golarion) into existence.
- The First World fey feared and reviled Rhoswen so much, they literally cast her out with the establishment of the demi-plane that now comprises her Fellnight Realm. The anchor points help establish where that "prison" exists (i.e., they project the Fellnight Realm into its own demi-plane). The faengard serves as the "lock" to that prison (i.e., once activated, it prevents the Fellnight fey from leaving the demi-plane). And, the crook of Cildhureen is the "key" to the lock and the creation of the prison (i.e., it's the only means by which the faengard and anchor points can be activated).
What the Fey Court may or may not tell the PCs is their ancestors' active role in tricking Rhoswen with the "gift" of the crook of Cildhureen and the full deception they wove. The way I've personally chosen to imagine (or re-imagine?) the fey is that they're far more driven by their emotions than normal mortal beings (such as the adventurers). Hence, Rhoswen's anger and hate are off the scale towards her kin. And the Fey Court's anger and revulsion towards Rhoswen's use of shadow magic is off the scale. Both are using these emotions to fuel their behavior in ways that might seem irrational or super-heated to outsiders. But that's part of the wondrous aspects of the fey psyche. They feel everything to the n-th degree. And so their emotions (love/lust, hate/anger, fear/sorrow, etc.) can overwhelm lesser creatures who come into contact with them.
Hope that helps,
--Neil
That's of incredible help, thank you! It's that depth of background that makes RoFQ a very rich experience. You can tell there's a lot more going on than the adventure itself. It's really fortunate that I'm able to ask you directly on this board.
That's of incredible help, thank you! It's that depth of background that makes RoFQ a very rich experience. You can tell there's a lot more going on than the adventure itself. It's really fortunate that I'm able to ask you directly on this board.
Thanks! I hope you and your PbP gaming group are enjoying it. I follow along when I can, just to see how various encounters get handled. My own playtest group weren't nearly as optimized or prepared for some stuff, so they had some more harrowing experiences in a couple of battles.
At some point, please consider posting a review here of the module and your game experience with it. Also, I'm running a brief prequel adventure called Shadow of the Fellnight Queen at PaizoCon this year, which sheds some light on other ways Rhoswen has attempted to escape the Fellnight Realm. If you make it out to Seattle, sign up for the game if you'd like...or even just drop by as a casual observer. :-)
--Neil
I won't be going to PaizoCon, but thanks for the invite. I absolutely will post a review of my gaming group's experience here, and I hope my players will do so as well.
What part of Golarion is this adventure located? I would be interested in using it as a side mission on my Kingmaker Campaign, if it is not too far out of the way
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We played our fifth session on Thursday and are having a good time.
The spriggans have been push-overs for the group--a gnome fey bloodline sorcerer, a dwarf fighter, half-orc cleric of Desna (frequently uses domain powers and spells to give the dwarf nice mobility), elf druid, and human monk. They all have ACs above 20, some as high as 26 without buff spells. When the spriggans have hit, it's been scratches.
And then...
The conclave will not look highly on them torching the area along the falls, so negotiations will be tougher.
So... they're 9th level now. They'll be facing some Fellknight Wyverns (plan to give them some sort of advancement, maybe shadow-like blur or blinking) with the pixes at the Faengard, while Tenzekil will have his pet and the two swarms.
My players were wondering if any other groups decided to fight their way out of this situation, and whether or not they were successful.
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** spoiler omitted **
My players were wondering if any other groups decided to fight their way out of this situation, and whether or not they were successful.
LOL!
Tinkerbelle is on crack and packing an Uzi, huh? That's awesome! Thank you so much for the review. If you get a chance, cross-post it here at Paizo's site, as well. That was a fun read. And your review came across almost like a movie trailer...very cool!
--Neil
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I have concerns, as well. In particular, the BBEG looks like a push over, especially for her CR. I'm considering making her a dryad or nymph with class levels so she'll be more on par.
A pushover? Are you NUTS??
Without putting too fine a point on it, if you can't TOTALLY wipe out a group of 4 8th level PCs with Queen Rhoswen in the throne room portrayed in this module, you need to work on your GM skills. Because this encounter is essentially unwinnable.
As written, the final fight against Rhoswen is a TPK encounter 95 times out of 100. It is, imo, basically an unwinnable fight if you play the BBEG correctly.
The reasons why this is so are expounded upon in spoilerific detail in Episode #011 of Chronicles: Pathfinder Podcast.
Pushover? With a Baleful Polymorph of DC20 (FORT killer) , Deep Slumbers (DC 20) (WILL killer), and an Air Elemental which can scoop up and drop a PC 130 feet onto spikes below (REF killer)? Doing ALL of this while casting while under Greater Invisibility, levitating, while the group is in hindering terrain and in a position where it is impossible to hit her with a melee weapon? Not even remotely close my friend.
I have not yet read a more dangerous encounter in ANY Paizo product than the final fight with Queen Rhoswen in this module.
I have not yet read a more dangerous encounter in ANY Paizo product than the final fight with Queen Rhoswen in this module.
I must admit I feel equal parts pride and embarrassment to earn that kind of distinction. In the podcast interview with the guys at PFPC, I mentioned it seems people are split on the deadliness of this encounter. Yet, I'm left wondering how much of that commentary about her being a pushover is colored by actual playing experience or simply supposition on the part of those who haven't played it yet. I believe Robert (aka Steel_Wind) clearly does his homework and he crunched a lot of the numbers on his analysis of FQ. And I agree with much of his assessment, as I've always felt like Rhoswen would be a seriously deadly encounter at the end of the adventure. She's purposefully written that way and designed as an Epic CR encounter (though not as epic as originally proposed). Typically, that means a GM should expect around half the party to die. And, I think this is especially possible if the GM runs her according to her tactics.
That said, however, I don't think it's an unwinnable fight...at least, not on the scale of 95 out of 100 times. She can certainly target opposing spellcasters with baleful polymorph...assuming they haven't made themselves invisible as a precaution. And she can certainly afflict the warrior types with deep slumber to lay them low for however long it takes for their companions to slap them awake again...which a tactical group should certainly do to keep them on their feet. As for the air elementals dropping opponents 130 feet onto spikes...well, I don't remember including that as a part of that encounter (though a GM could certainly do so if they wished). There are some water elementals with a similar strategy elsewhere in the adventure, but that's not part of the Rhoswen encounter setup.
Regardless, I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. And, honestly, that's what I was shooting for. As Robert mentions, we go into some other elements in the podcast about stuff in the original turnover that would have further offset some of his concerns. And, truthfully, I think every GM needs to assess that encounter vs. the tactics of their playing group to determine if anything needs to be turned up or down a notch. I meant for this module to put some serious teeth back into the fey. And, marching into the Fellnight Realm to take down the millennia-old ruler of an entire demi-plane has an epic enough purpose to it that I'm still glad with how that final encounter came out.
Lastly, I'd encourage anyone reading this forum to give the module a try and see how it plays out for your group. Then, come back and let everyone know. Was it too hard? A total TPK? Did you wind up having to make adjustments? If so, share them. Everyone will be better off by pooling that kind of discussion and insight...including the author. ;-)
Thanks,
--Neil
If your PCs hit level 8 and they don't have at least 1 anti-invisibility scroll or potion (especially when you're dealing with fey), they've left themselves an Achilles' heel for the enemy to exploit.