Chris Mortika RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16 |
Liz Courts Contributor |
Mark Moreland Director of Brand Strategy |
The scenario picks up immediately after the events in part I, and part III picks up immediately after the conclusion of this one. That said, the nature of organized play often means that players have to hand-wave some of the continuity between scenarios, and ultimately, the continuity of each individual character is all that matters, as no two players will have played everything in the same order. That's the long way of saying, "yes, they are designed to run consecutively, but if someone plays other things, it should be easy enough to justify in-character."
Mark Moreland Director of Brand Strategy |
Sniggevert |
They're done and should have gone live yesterday evening. It looks like something has snagged in the process, however. I'll ask the web team to poke this when I get into the office in a few hours and we'll get it up as soon as possible.
Thanks Mark. I was hoping it was just something like this.
DMFTodd |
I'm not understanding the first encounter.
How are the raiders supposed to get on the ship? Even if they manage to shoot the driver, and get a snag or collision result, the water is 10-15 deep. Are they going to swim out to the boat?
Benchak the Nightstalker Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 |
Played this scenario yesterday with at a table of level 1s.
It was great! We had a lot of laughs at our table.
My squishy 8 HP Sorcerer survived the module and has progressed to level 2. Huzzah!
Excellent! Glad to hear you enjoyed it, and also glad to hear about your Sorcerer! (My Ranger leveled up from this module too, GM credit of course.)
I'm not understanding the first encounter.
** spoiler omitted **
Hope the rest of the adventure plays alright for you!
DMFTodd |
A question about the Andoran faction mission:
The PCs meet the Jhemulit camp second and that's where the Andoran mission is mentioned, but the text doesn't actually describe them as Mutabi-qi.
DMFTodd |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The Driving DC is 20 for both Tier 1-2 and 4-5? Because a 20 is pretty darn difficult for 1st level PCs. This provided a lot of hilarity when I ran it as things quickly went to crap, but I could certainly see a lot of groups being very frustrated at having so little control over such an important aspect of the module.
Benchak the Nightstalker Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 |
A question about the Andoran faction mission:
** spoiler omitted **
As for the Drive DC, I sort of agree :) The drive system got a bit of an overhaul between my turnover and the final draft. On the other hand, a lower DC wouldn't challenge the higher Tier very much, and while I can sympathize with your group for feeling a little out of control, I also think the chaos caused by a failed check can make some of the easier combats more exciting (at least that's how it felt for me when I ran it).
gbonehead Owner - House of Books and Games LLC |
Lord Twitchiopolis |
Two things
Also, it gets a little foggy on what happens if the PCs DON'T hide the braid, instead taking a very lawful route and volunteer up the Braid for inspection, like my PCs did. They even went through all sorts of paperwork (one is quite skilled in Diplomacy) and filed a travel plan with the border guards. I used this to justify the final encounter in Act 3, as well as to give the villians the upper hand in that encounter (supprise round, as the PCs thought that they had a standing contract).
Lord Twitchiopolis |
As for the Drive DC, I sort of agree :) The drive system got a bit of an overhaul between my turnover and the final draft. On the other hand, a lower DC wouldn't challenge the higher Tier very much, and while I can sympathize with your group for feeling a little out of control, I also think the chaos caused by a failed check can make some of the easier combats more exciting (at least that's how it felt for me when I ran it).
I'd agree. It actually worked in favor of my PCs, helping them clear out an encounter with only half the fighting.
Benchak the Nightstalker Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 |
Two things
** spoiler omitted **
If the PCs don't hide the braid in that encounter, Cheyeng should definitely attempt to confiscate it. Remember, his whole tax-assessor schtick is a front. In truth, he's there on the river trying to intercept the braid.
I originally gave the PCs a few ways to talk their way through the checkpoint, but that text got cut from final draft.
Lord Twitchiopolis |
** spoiler omitted **
Wiggid. I figured as much, which is why I played it out as I previously stated. Now that I've got my rules questions answered, time for the praise.
All in all, I dare say that this was an excellent scenerio, and that you deserve much kudos for it. It was a refreshing venture from the norm without bogging the players down in too much extra rules. It also had some great comedic potential, as happened in my group.
Failed drive check, lurch to the right. Goblinoid goes overboard.
Barbarian to cleric, "What...what just happened?"
Benchak the Nightstalker Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 |
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:** spoiler omitted **
Wiggid. I figured as much, which is why I played it out as I previously stated. Now that I've got my rules questions answered, time for the praise.
All in all, I dare say that this was an excellent scenerio, and that you deserve much kudos for it. It was a refreshing venture from the norm without bogging the players down in too much extra rules. It also had some great comedic potential, as happened in my group. ** spoiler omitted **
Thanks! Glad to hear you had fun with it!
BLAMM! |
DMFTodd wrote:A question about the Andoran faction mission:
** spoiler omitted **
Spoiler:Mutabi-qi is the generic name for the nomadic tribes of Shaguang. The Jhemulit are one tribe among the Mutabi-qi, the raiders that attack in encounter 1 are another (I mentioned the name of their tribe, the Managha, in my turnover, but it looks like it got cut).
I played this as an Andoran in Feb and failed my faction mission. I'm GMing this scenario soon and was looking forward to reading the scenario and finding out what I had done wrong. I'm disappointed to find that I was actually operating on false information.
I was pivotal in the party's success with the Jhemulit, but I didn't pursue my faction mission because there was nothing to indicate that the Jhemulit are Mutabi-qi. In fact the only clue in the entire scenario that this is not the case are the mission notes at the end of the act that indicate Andorans can complete their mission there.
You state that "Mutabi-qi is the generic name for the nomadic tribes of Shaguang," but the scenario doesn't make that clear. My GM either wasn't clear about it either or just neglected to make it clear to us. I don't mind when I fail because of a bad roll or even when I don't recognize my opportunity. But to have failed because the scenario write-up misled me makes me steam a bit.
I realize this sounds like sour grapes, and maybe it is, but I had no problems with the failed mission until I discovered *why* I had failed it.
Benchak the Nightstalker Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 8 |
Benchak the Nightstalker wrote:DMFTodd wrote:A question about the Andoran faction mission:
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
I played this as an Andoran in Feb and failed my faction mission. I'm GMing this scenario soon and was looking forward to reading the scenario and finding out what I had done wrong. I'm disappointed to find that I was actually operating on false information.
** spoiler omitted **
I realize this sounds like sour grapes, and maybe it is, but I had no problems with the failed mission until I discovered *why* I had failed it.
I'm sorry to hear that Blamm, and reading back over it I can see where the confusion comes from. The connection isn't explicitly made...but it's definitely in there.
Still, it could definitely be made clearer, and it sounds like more than a couple GMs and Players didn't pick up on it though, which is regrettable.
When you GM the scenario, Blamm, I would suggest you have Amara-Li specifically call the Jhemulit out as being a mutabi-qi tribe (if you hadn't planned to do so already).
TetsujinOni |
So, this recently ran at one of our fine local gaming stores, and I managed to get pictures of the ships we used.
The larger vessel was one I had commissioned from my custom terrain builder (i.e. my wife - evil grin) to have a "properly sized ocean going cargo vessel" instead of these dinky little ... skiffs suited for Mediterranean conditions.
The smaller vessel was made by printing the Laughing Crow maps to scale and then making a ship shaped hull... (which is notably not evenly sized... see pictures).
Enjoy!