Okay Vic, fair enough. :)
Oh and it seems I must correct myself on my prior post about AP covers and all iconics appearing on one (or more) DL the Shattered Star part 1 and after seeing the cover minus Sheila Heidmarch(sp?) all the iconics are on the cover of PF AP #61 also.
But I really like that all of the iconics are appearing on the cover(s) together. :)
Carry on.
Badass art for the cover, love the unmasked gray maiden really nice to see what they look like under the hood so to speak. Surprised she doesn't have any scars like as they were said to be scarred up during the initiation and training process.
It's low-res, but the entire left half of her face is horrifically scarred.
She's also on the cover of the Player's Guide. Has an over-the-eye anime scar, and some mutilation.
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Badass art for the cover, love the unmasked gray maiden really nice to see what they look like under the hood so to speak. Surprised she doesn't have any scars like as they were said to be scarred up during the initiation and training process.It's low-res, but the entire left half of her face is horrifically scarred.
She's also on the cover of the Player's Guide. Has an over-the-eye anime scar, and some mutilation.
That's actually what led to my earlier "Is she a Grey Maiden or an Iomedaean paladin?" confusion.
General terriblenesss to demonstrate just what kind of hell those people had been put through, with the notable exception being because she was the queen's favorite(for what that was worth). I'd be hardpressed to describe her Crown of Fangs appearance as non-beautiful in her own way. Heck, I'm still thinking about having her say that she inflicted those scars on herself out of guilt over what was happening to the women under her command, rather than it being the work of Illeosa or some proxy of hers.
This lady looks to be squarely in "cool/badass scar" territory, but that's perfectly fine as well. :)
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Badass art for the cover, love the unmasked gray maiden really nice to see what they look like under the hood so to speak. Surprised she doesn't have any scars like as they were said to be scarred up during the initiation and training process.It's low-res, but the entire left half of her face is horrifically scarred.
She's also on the cover of the Player's Guide. Has an over-the-eye anime scar, and some mutilation.
That's actually what led to my earlier "Is she a Grey Maiden or an Iomedaean paladin?" confusion. ** spoiler omitted **
This lady looks to be squarely in "cool/badass scar" territory, but that's perfectly fine as well. :)
Yeah though I think we may see some more harsh ones in internal art so as to not throw some people off from picking it up. On my end though I love the concept and enjoy seeing a powerful female faction that isn't focused on seduction and wears neither the chainmail bikini or breastplate now all I need is one that isn't focused on killing the PC's so I can point some of my female players that way. Maybe we can get some gray redeemers or something in a later companion as a faction trying to undo the damage of their former compatriots and masters. Could also be cool to see an archetype or even a prestige class around the gray maidens would be cool.
If she's too beautiful you could print her low-res and say it's a branding rather than a tatoo.
Anyways: BOGGARDS!!! Slimy, croaking, hopping boggards!
so I can point some of my female players that way. Maybe we can get some gray redeemers or something in a later companion as a faction
Why not let her start the whole thing?
Ruyan.
PS: B-O-G-G-A-R-D-S! First the mites, now this!
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If she's too beautiful you could print her low-res and say it's a branding rather than a tatoo.
Anyways: BOGGARDS!!! Slimy, croaking, hopping boggards!
so I can point some of my female players that way. Maybe we can get some gray redeemers or something in a later companion as a factionWhy not let her start the whole thing?
Ruyan.
PS: B-O-G-G-A-R-D-S! First the mites, now this!
Ehh right now we run in a homebrew world so gray maidens don't really exist though we do have amazons. I suppose what I'm wanting to see is something like that show up in future works as so that other players can work with it and see how it goes.
Is this the first time a second chapter has been made for PCs as high as 5th level? Interrestiiiing...
(I'm wondering if we're gonna span all 20 levels with this AP.)
Is this the first time a second chapter has been made for PCs as high as 5th level? Interrestiiiing...
Legacy of Fire's second chapter started at 5th as well, due to chapter one running a little "long," as I dimly recall.
Is this the first time a second chapter has been made for PCs as high as 5th level? Interrestiiiing...
(I'm wondering if we're gonna span all 20 levels with this AP.)
I doubt that, since #6 starts with the PCs being 15th, which is similar to e. g. KM, where the chars are around 17th-18th level once they've completed the story arc (or so one has heard - not there yet).
Ruyan.
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Is this the first time a second chapter has been made for PCs as high as 5th level? Interrestiiiing...
(I'm wondering if we're gonna span all 20 levels with this AP.)
I doubt that, since #6 starts with the PCs being 15th, which is similar to e. g. KM, where the chars are around 17th-18th level once they've completed the story arc (or so one has heard - not there yet).
Ruyan.
I also doubt that this'll make 20th, but #6 starting at 15th is almost certainly still provisional until it's developed, which I'd guess is still a month or two away...
Is this the first time a second chapter has been made for PCs as high as 5th level? Interrestiiiing...
(I'm wondering if we're gonna span all 20 levels with this AP.)
Lady's Light was originally designed for a party starting at level 4. However, Greg Vaughn threw so much nastiness into the first volume that this one had to be adjusted (it's probably just as well that this happened, as I think my turnover only had a single encounter that was below CR 5 anyway). By the end of this volume players should be 8th level (providing, of course, [maniacal laughter] that they survive [/maniacal laughter])
I don't think there are plans to take this AP all the way to 20th level, but that's something the evil geniuses at Paizo would have to answer for certain.
Well, even if not, it's nice to see that it'll be hitting higher levels than they typically do.
Creative Director
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Curretntly, I'm almost done developing part 4, "Beyond the Doomsday Door," and that one's looking like it'll hit 13th level at the end. Which, I'm guessing, will make part 5 a 13th–15th adventure, and part 6 a 15th–17th one.
I'm trying to get them to go as high as possible in this one, with the use of side quests to bolster XP now and then and the fact that you can just fit a LOT of encounters into a classic dungeon crawl. More than you can fit into adventures that feature more complex types of plots.
That said... If you do everything Burnt Offerings has to offer, you'll start part 2 at 5th level. And I think you could hit 5th in Souls for Smuggler's Shiv if you have a few extra wandering encounters or shipwreck explorations.
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Director of Game Development
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Will we got three deity articles in this AP ?
I mean, with Torag in this book, Groteus announced in part 4 and Lissala in part 5, it seems that there will be 3 deity articles in SS ([praying] hope it's not a mistake [/praying])
Not a mistake! The Shattered Star AP will feature deity articles on Torag, Groetus, and Lissala.
For that matter, Council of Thieves had Iomedae, Asmodeus, and Mammon. Although the article on Mammon was in a slightly different format, so maybe it don't count.
I'd be interested in an AP that ran to 12th, PFS style, use the slow advancement rate. High levels always break down for me (YMMV etc).
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Creative Director
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I'd be interested in an AP that ran to 12th, PFS style, use the slow advancement rate. High levels always break down for me (YMMV etc).
That's something I can more or less guarantee won't happen. If only because we already service that campaign model with the Pathfinder Society campaign.
I'd be interested in an AP that ran to 12th, PFS style, use the slow advancement rate. High levels always break down for me (YMMV etc).
I believe Council of Thieves tops out at 13th level, if you haven't run it yet. It's the lowest-level endgame of the APs.
^Thanks, I didn't know that
I'd be interested in an AP that ran to 12th, PFS style, use the slow advancement rate. High levels always break down for me (YMMV etc).That's something I can more or less guarantee won't happen. If only because we already service that campaign model with the Pathfinder Society campaign.
Yeah it was more of a statement of personal preference than an real wish :D
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I just got my subscriber shipment email, and checked out the PDF.
My VTT map copy paste test has a problem! The Dungeon Level 1 map pastes with a Secret Door label.
I don't suppose there is a chance the maps with smaller grids could be embedded with larger versions? They will look very pixelated in a VTT zoomed in :( This isn't something I expect to be fixed - just a comment.
Holy crap.
The trap at the begining of the dungeon is just... brilliant.
I just got my subscriber shipment email, and checked out the PDF.
My VTT map copy paste test has a problem! The Dungeon Level 1 map pastes with a Secret Door label.
I don't suppose there is a chance the maps with smaller grids could be embedded with larger versions? They will look very pixelated in a VTT zoomed in :( This isn't something I expect to be fixed - just a comment.
I'll take a look at that particular map and it should be updated sometime this week. The DPI and quality the images are exported at for this adventure are the same as all of our other Adventure Paths, but I will double check to be sure this volume was exported correctly.
I don't know if you can do much about it, Chris, but the pdfs of the two Shattered Star volumes are particularly slow with the Apple pdf engine (both on Preview, or with iBooks on iDevices). Not all pages have this issue, but the engine takes a long time to render the maps in both volumes, as well as the foreword pages of Curse of the Lady's Light. It wasn't the case in the previous AP volumes.
I can provide more information if needed. :)
All I have to say is...Mike Shel's early trap made me absurdly happy.
I don't know if you can do much about it, Chris, but the pdfs of the two Shattered Star volumes are particularly slow with the Apple pdf engine (both on Preview, or with iBooks on iDevices). Not all pages have this issue, but the engine takes a long time to render the maps in both volumes, as well as the foreword pages of Curse of the Lady's Light. It wasn't the case in the previous AP volumes.
I can provide more information if needed. :)
I am aware that there were some issues. I thought I had resolved them, but I will take another look. It is actually an issue with Apple's PDF renderer, which I thought I had worked around.
I don't know if you can do much about it, Chris, but the pdfs of the two Shattered Star volumes are particularly slow with the Apple pdf engine (both on Preview, or with iBooks on iDevices). Not all pages have this issue, but the engine takes a long time to render the maps in both volumes, as well as the foreword pages of Curse of the Lady's Light. It wasn't the case in the previous AP volumes.
I can provide more information if needed. :)
I can confirm this issue, it takes forever to turn pages in Preview on Mac OS 10.8.2 (Mountain Lion). Pages with maps and artwork seem especially resistant, and sometimes when I try to go to the next page, it takes a while and the page is then shown again and only on the next try does the page actually flip. "Shards of Sin", checking again, seems to suffer from the same issues, only not as prominently.
I knew adding those two minis to my order was a mistake. :(
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Got the shipping notice today, but I borrowed a friend's(who will be playing in this campaign) copy yesterday. Still doing a thorough read, but I wanted to say:
This is some really good stuff. Crimson Throne fans are in for a real treat. In fact, people planning on running Crimson Throne could get quite a bit out of this book.
Postin' more in a bit.
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Okay, incomplete thoughts, but from front to back so far, from what I've managed to digest:
SPOILERS AHEAD MAYBE
Love whoever you guys got to do that interior cover art for those NPC portraits. Sabriyya has had some great art already, but it's good to have multiple options and multiple angles on the same character. Really like how Ayavah turned out too. That's one character I've really been excited to see explored further, and while I don't expect much more for her in Shattered Star, I'm definitely eager to see what may be possibly hopefully coming down the pipeline next summer if my suspicions are correct. I have to admit, for ALL the details on that character detailed in Magnimar: City of Monuments, the thing that had me wondering the most was what the heck those "pointed hats she favors" would look like. Huh, didn't see that design coming. :D
OH HAI VAMPIRELLA
In all seriousness, that look works for that character. Still wondering at those embedded crystals first seen in Inner Sea Magic. They're bigger than the expected Thassilonian-style-implanted ioun stones at least. Has me thinking this was a fashion statement for those that could afford it back then. Going to be playing with that for flavoring recovered glimpses of everyday life in Thassilon and possible surviving styles in Kaer Maga or at the fringes of Varisian and Shoanti society.
The adventure itself is a huge treat for Crimson Throne fans. Said it before and saying it again, if you're planning on running Crimson Throne and haven't yet, you should really check this volume out first. There's a lot of stuff in the adventure proper and the Gray Maidens support article that could really enrich your campaign.
Without going too indepth or spoilery,
Redemption focused characters are going to have a ball with this one if the GM plays it as written
Then there's the matter of That Trap. I honestly have no idea how this is going to go over with folks. Hopefully for most groups it will be seen as a character opportunity rather than a character derailer. I guess that mostly depends on how invested a player is in their character's race. How all the various characters that'll fall victim to it cope with it afterwards, that's a thread I'm looking forward to seeing.
One thing I'm glad to see come back from Savage Tide is the "weaken the powerful big bad through various accomplishments" thing. Also have some sneaking suspicions that this villain's themes of madness and broken dreams might be a prelude for what happens with Xin in the climax. Just a feeling.
One thing I really, really like and want to thank the writer for: Giving all of those dead Gray Maidens names, at least as far as I've seen so far. Having their comrades, especially Oriana, able to name them without missing a beat is very important when it comes to humanizing these characters and keeping many players from slipping into that unfortunate metagamey pitfall of thinking "doesn't have a name, not important". I was already planning on having names ready for each and every Tower Girl and other Sczarni thugs in the previous chapter, and was planning ahead on doing the same here, and it turns out that work was done already. Thanks for going that extra mile. :)
Man, looking through the Lady's Light area, there are so many things that can change around completely if someone's fallen for that initial trap already. Extremely dynamic at a glance, lots of moving parts and people.
Gnaeus really helps fill some fanservice gaps for the parts of the fanbase that have been looking for some beefcake, so it's great to see some of that available. Wondering at how the Sorshen-alikes will play off that encounter. Cheesecake fans certainly aren't missing out in this volume eithe- Ha, you tricked me once with that ghoul in Second Darkness, Paizo. You're not pulling that off twice. >:( The encounter description with her mingling with the crowd in that illusion? Really like.
I mentioned somewhere, maybe earlier in this thread, that Oriana's scars on the cover didn't look all that rough compared to what the descriptions in CotCT had led me to expect. Her art on page 54 though, ow. That crosses back over the line from "cool to have/badass" scars to "oh wow those are deep, holy hell that must hurt/still badass" scars.
This current format for the major NPCs at the end of the adventure? Really liking. I'm hoping I get to use all of that backstory for Oriana organically. Some people may complain about "wasted text" being used on super detailed NPC backstories that players will (supposedly) never know about. As a GM, I love having that stuff, both just to read and to inject into the game to further flesh out those characters. Please keep that kind of history coming.
So glad I already established Sorshen's theme song for our group near the end of CotCT. Breaking it out again once they get to the Lady's Light is hopefully going to make for a great callback moment.
Love the Gray Maiden article.
Love it so much, going into detail:
CURSE OF THE CRIMSON THRONE SPOILERS MIXED IN HERE
Sabina Merrin was undoubtedly a complicated character and issue for many groups. One thing I really like about her entry and what's touched on in some of the other entries is that even with a Good End outcome for her(she got a bit of a bittersweet deal in our campaign), she never does come out of CotCT completely clean in the eyes of others. Her current location after our CotCT game really has me wondering if we should revisit that, especially with folks like Jirvaslie Rhanamors. Speaking of whom, I really liked that detail. The events of Crimson Throne were such a traumatic mess that it's left some fundamentally decent people(one of whom got as happy an ending as any Gray Maiden recruit could get!) still at each others' throats. More jobs for heroic characters there, and some especially painful potential for drama.
I really, really wish I had known about Vavana Dhatri while running CotCT. For those that haven't run it yet, MILK THIS FOR ALL IT'S WORTH. Her fate is certainly left wide open, and given what her specialty was, I'm not counting any possibility out entirely.
Kordaitra Destaid, Erid Suuls, and Erinyes Company certainly are worrying, but honestly that is a perfectly logical direction for many of those folks to go considering their conditioning. The idea that the program that made them is now going to be spread and continued anew...I would not want to be an outwardly competent-with-any-weapon woman living in Cheliax at the moment is all I'm saying.
Faceless Kaid's story on how she left Korvosa really helps drive home just how brutal the overthrow in Korvosa had to be. In our game I mentioned that there were lynchings happening and the group did their best to stop that, but this one little bit of text was much more visceral in capturing what it must have been like for those on the losing side of that battle. I'm really wondering if this group is going to turn up in Asylum Stone. If so, there are definitely some post-CotCT developments I'm going to need to prepare for.
Wolchine Savaltana...cripes. And the armor is still on. Just...GAH.
Filario Grantsleim. You know, between Ayavah, That Trap, and this character this is probably the gender-complicated Pathfinder book yet. This character brought back memories of Le Chevalier D'eon, and I mean that in the absolute best way possible. (also, man, the knife bit) With the mention of his sister being killed in the uprising, can't help but imagine that she was one of hte many previously faceless Gray Maidens slain by the PCs during the events of CotCT. Again, going back to good people being set against good people in the aftermath of that ugly conflict.
Kelles Vel? Midnight Maiden? Old Korvosan vigilante? There needs to be a story about this character, like right now. ;)
That sidebar listing the atrocities of the Gray Maidens is another element that would be useful for future CotCT GMs. The Merciless Way Massacre is a fantastic background event to serve as a pivot point to let the players know that something is even more wrong with Korvosa than it seems, even in the midst of that crisis.
Haven't had the chance to read the Torag article in full, but my friend has stated that it made Torag quite a bit more likable in his eyes. I have to admit, the dorf got is starting with a handicap for me, but I'm going in with an open mind.
Bogwids bring back every horrible childhood memory of that damned frog documentary I wish I had never seen. NO. Well done and well executed and I'm certainly going to use it, but still, NO.
I've always dug the general shape behind the Thassilonian Sentinels, so I'm glad to have a take on that symmetry available now. The Bestiary's opening image is absolutely perfect for use in the Lady's Light. Wonder if more of these will be showing up throughout the future ruins in this AP.
tl;dr: Is good.
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Okay, incomplete thoughts, but from front to back so far, from what I've managed to digest:
SPOILERS AHEAD MAYBE
Love whoever you guys got to do that interior cover art for those NPC portraits. Sabriyya has had some great art already, but it's good to have multiple options and multiple angles on the same character. Really like how Ayavah turned out too. That's one character I've really been excited to see explored further, and while I don't expect much more for her in Shattered Star, I'm definitely eager to see what may be possibly hopefully coming down the pipeline next summer if my suspicions are correct. I have to admit, for ALL the details on that character detailed in Magnimar: City of Monuments, the thing that had me wondering the most was what the heck those "pointed hats she favors" would look like. Huh, didn't see that design coming. :D
OH HAI VAMPIRELLA
In all seriousness, that look works for that character. Still wondering at those embedded crystals first seen in Inner Sea Magic. They're bigger than the expected Thassilonian-style-implanted ioun stones at least. Has me thinking this was a fashion statement for those that could afford it back then. Going to be playing with that for flavoring recovered glimpses of everyday life in Thassilon and possible surviving styles in Kaer Maga or at the fringes of Varisian and Shoanti society.
The adventure itself is a huge treat for Crimson Throne fans. Said it before and saying it again, if you're planning on running Crimson Throne and haven't yet, you should really check this volume out first. There's a lot of stuff in the adventure proper and the Gray Maidens support article that could really enrich your campaign.
Without going too indepth or spoilery, ** spoiler omitted **...
Now be nice and copy-paste that into a 5-star review of the product ;)