Under Frozen Stars (PFRPG)

Now available!

Thanks to blue_hill for the great review. Glad to hear you enjoyed the adventure. When I wrote The Hungry Storm, I was kind of disappointed that I wouldn't have the space in the adventure to do more with the idea of an alien city at the top of the world. It seemed like such a great place for an adventure, where you could do almost anything! A little cross-genre mash-up adventure seemed like it would be perfect, and I had a lot of fun pulling the pieces together and making it really feel like somewhere DIFFERENT from your ordinary adventure, and yet with a logic that made it still make sense in the world (and within the story of the AP around it).

I also enjoyed the creative process, as I ended up altering a few details as I got back the fantastic artwork from Tim Kings-Lynne, as his art gave me a few bits of inspiration and fed back into my creative process. It was a great collaboration and I was very happy with the end result.

Glad to hear you had a great time with the adventure and thanks again for the review! I hope you'll check out our other products, as we have a bunch of great ones planned for October (including Superstar author Matt Goodall's just-released The Baleful Coven. While it's designed to fit ideally in between adventures #2 and #3 of the AP, it also includes scaling notes to increase the adventure's difficulty, and it could be a perfect fit between adventures #3 and #4 in the Adventure Path as well.

I'd love to hear from anyone else who read it or played it and how they liked it!

I have a wet dream: have Legendery Games re-make Memory of Darkness and City of Seven Spears. Possible?

Jason, great work. This is exactly what LG was created to do. Brilliant!

I have a wet dream: have Legendary Games re-make Memory of Darkness and City of Seven Spears. Possible?

Re-made? Unlikely. Enhanced? Very likely.

One of the additional goals we had when we were forming the idea behind Adventure Path Plug-Ins was that we'd go back to some of the older APs to get a sense of what was missing or, in some cases, what might need fixing. While we don't have the license or space in our products to re-do an entire AP chapter, we do have the ability to round off some of the rough edges or present a few alternatives to enhance the existing storylines of certain APs. From what I've seen or read, Serpent's Skull, Second Darkness, and maybe even Council of Thieves would seem like good candidates for that.

And, even if you look back across our existing AP Plug-Ins, you can see that we attempted to address the "trust" mechanics in Carrion Crown by creating two low-level side-trek adventures meant to give PCs more opportunities to meet that challenge in the storyline. The new stuff for Jade Regent is designed to give you more adventuring opportunities to round out all that time spent caravaning. And, to shore up the "West meets East" trope behind that AP, we wanted to give traditional Western-style PCs opportunities to more fully immerse themselves in Eastern-style culture by learning new mechanical tricks along the way (and without having to multiclass as a monk, ninja, or samurai). Thus, Jason's upcoming The Way of Ki is meant to help with that, as it provides a means for PCs other than monks and ninjas to still get some mileage out of their own inner ki if they're willing to invest the time and energy in doing so.

Looking further down the road, we've already announced that we're wading into the Kingmaker AP next. And, obviously, one of the larger disconnects for that campaign was how the fey elements on that AP's end-game came in kind of jarringly in the sixth chapter. So, we're hoping to introduce some new material to aid with the foreshadowing of the AP's conclusion. Once we get around to Serpent's Skull and Second Darkness, you can rest assured we'll be taking a hard look at what worked and what didn't work in those AP's, as well. And, our products will be designed to address anything where we think we can add value. Since Jason, Greg, and I all worked on Kingmaker, we feel like we've got some good insight on where we can do that.

Also, in general, Paizo's Adventure Paths have really good "legs" and lasting power, because it takes a long time to run through the 10+ campaigns they've got in print now. If you shelved Serpent's Skull or Second Darkness in the past (either because you didn't like them or so you could enjoy a more exciting AP instead), hopefully by the time we create new accompanying material for those APs, you'll be ready to pull them back off the shelf and give them a run...with some Legendary stuff to really make them sing. That's the design goal, at least. And our customers pretty much let us know how we're doing by commenting here. Just about every product we've done has garnered 4- and 5-star reviews. So, we must be doing something right. Right? If you haven't checked us out, please do. You won't be disappointed.

My two cents,
--Neil

Any chance you will be able to provide printed versions of your products (or some of them, anyway)?

Any chance you will be able to provide printed versions of your products (or some of them, anyway)?

I know Jason is taking a look at that. Specifically, he'd like to make sure we either have a PDF-to-print partnership we can direct people to (i.e., there are a handful of small companies that can take this on)...and/or have printed product in small print runs available through the Paizo webstore and at PaizoCon next year. We'll see. Some of it depends on how big of an outcry we have for that sort of thing. So, if others have an interest in LG print products, make yourself heard.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Any chance you will be able to provide printed versions of your products (or some of them, anyway)?

I know Jason is taking a look at that. Specifically, he'd like to make sure we either have a PDF-to-print partnership we can direct people to (i.e., there are a handful of small companies that can take this on)...and/or have printed product in small print runs available through the Paizo webstore and at PaizoCon next year. We'll see. Some of it depends on how big of an outcry we have for that sort of thing. So, if others have an interest in LG print products, make yourself heard.

Cheers. I'll keep my fingers crossed. :)

Download includes FOUR files: a full color version AND a stripped black and white version for easy printing, and by popular demand both files are available in classic vertical (portrait) orientation as well as our legendary horizontal (landscape) orientation.

What is the difference between the two listed versions? Based on the description, I get the impression that both landscape and portrait orientations are in the same download...???

Kuddos for all the fabulous work! The layout design and artwork are uber fantastic!

Looking further down the road, we've already announced that we're wading into the Kingmaker AP next. And, obviously, one of the larger disconnects for that campaign was how the fey elements on that AP's end-game came in kind of jarringly in the sixth chapter. So, we're hoping to introduce some new material to aid with the foreshadowing of the AP's conclusion.

Thank you for this good news!

And am I mistaken in my getting a rather Lovecraftian vibe off of this particular PDF? Samurai versus the Elder Things?

Also, just what is the difference between 'Landcscape' and 'Portrait' style PDFs?

Also, just what is the difference between 'Landcscape' and 'Portrait' style PDFs?

Portrait is your typical format for print (longer vertically), while landscape is wider horizontally for reading on computer and tablets.

Is there any way to turn off all the hyperlinking?

I'm not a big user of PDFs and when I browse this on my iPad, I'm finding that tapping the screen to page through the document opens up a new window from time to time (with monster stats and so forth). I'm sure that's a feature for those in the know, but its a little annoying to one with clumsy fingers who wants to use it like a book.

I ended up somewhere in the pf reference document and couldn't get back. (I ended up having to abort everything, close down good reader and then open it all up again which was irritating). :/

I don't have the advanced bestiary so some of these things I can't check.

location 5
6 creatures CR 4 each should be 1200xp each but 800 is shown. If they are CR 3 then the XP and total CR (8) are correct but I can't check the template CR adjustment to verify.

location 7
CR 7 creature should be 3200xp not 3600

Is this adventure scaled for a party of 4, as the Jade Regent Adventure Path is?

Eric Hinkle wrote:

Also, just what is the difference between 'Landcscape' and 'Portrait' style PDFs?

Portrait is your typical format for print (longer vertically), while landscape is wider horizontally for reading on computer and tablets.

Thanks for explaining that.

I don't have the advanced bestiary so some of these things I can't check.

location 5
6 creatures CR 4 each should be 1200xp each but 800 is shown. If they are CR 3 then the XP and total CR (8) are correct but I can't check the template CR adjustment to verify.

They were originally CR 3, but after playtesting the adventure at PaizoCon this year I thought the monsters were not tough enough and added the advanced template, making them CR 4, but I forgot to adjust the xp value upwards. 1200 xp is correct.

location 7
CR 7 creature should be 3200xp not 3600

That is just a typo and it should be 3200. Alas for TWO mistakes on xp values in the same adventure!!!

I'll ask Tim to adjust the files and we can upload corrected copies whenever he has time to do the fix.

Is this adventure scaled for a party of 4, as the Jade Regent Adventure Path is?

Yep.

Looking further down the road, we've already announced that we're wading into the Kingmaker AP next. And, obviously, one of the larger disconnects for that campaign was how the fey elements on that AP's end-game came in kind of jarringly in the sixth chapter. So, we're hoping to introduce some new material to aid with the foreshadowing of the AP's conclusion.

Thank you for this good news!

And am I mistaken in my getting a rather Lovecraftian vibe off of this particular PDF? Samurai versus the Elder Things?

It's left ambiguous exactly who built the city and why and what happened to them. The place is deserted and the architectural style and technology are clearly alien as well as being advanced. One of the wandering monsters is literally a Lovecraft monster, but it's not a key feature of the setting. There are strange alien THINGS that live in the city, but I think they feel almost like the wild parasites and weeds that grow monstrous in the ruins of a decimated ruin.

So... I'll say maybe. :)

In other words, there's ample room for the GM to interpolate a lot more direct Lovecraftian horror into the place and its backstory, but it could just as easily go the other way and say these are just little seedlings and such left behind and mutated along the way into something dangerous.

Also, just what is the difference between 'Landcscape' and 'Portrait' style PDFs?

As Liz said, landscape is a horizontal view (like Dogs Playing Poker) and portrait is vertical orientation (like the Mona Lisa).

Our first products were produced in landscape view because we had a definite visual style we wanted to create and also because we wanted to make these products as easy to use as possible as electronic products, which meant doing more than just making them PDF versions that look like books. It meant leveraging the technology and the form factor, so we created them to fit on screens and with embedded hyperlinking that was internal (within the document) and external (with pointers to online resources to explain non-core rules elements) and plenty of other little technical bits and pieces that I couldn't explain half so well as the guy who actually does the layout and graphic design, Tim Wickham.

That said, some people said they still preferred portrait, so with the Jade Regent line we have been offering products in landscape and portrait as a test marketing project to see how people would vote with their dollars on which version they preferred. We'll continue gathering data as the products continue to sell, and that will inform our future plans on how we produce things. We may continue to do both, or if the preponderance of sales is in one format vs. the other we may choose to just switch to that format entirely. If you've got a preference, let us know!

Just finished running a group through this side quest. made a few mods to it (used the charda rather than force morlocks for example) but over all was so impressed and picked up the witches side quest also for another group I am running through jade regent.

But I do have one big question.

Whats up with the CRs in the final boss room

+31 to hit and 2d6+19 damage. (not to mention the whole cyborg zombie making action. Rated CR9

protected by

CR4s with +14/+9 melee attacks dealing 3d6+12 damage or +10/+5 (2d6+8) ranged) The monsters themselves were not overpowered. they actually worked perfectly for my players which are a slightly overpowered group... but the CRs seemed a little low for the monsters themsleves.

not complaining though. ultimately we really enjoyed the side quest and the occasional fear of TPK does a play group good.

The cyborg zombies are standard CR for zombies made out of ogre magi. They are pretty tough for their CR, I'll admit.

The final boss is brutal if you get close to melee it and it has harsh reach (plus the aforementioned delightful special attack), but it can barely move so if you can maneuver and keep at range you can take it. Also, you may be able to have help in the battle, at least against the guards if not directly against the big bad.

The party that playtested the adventure at PaizoCon I think was a 5-person group, maybe 6. It was a tough fight but they made it, and that's how I intended it. Tough, dangerous, and a little fear of a TPK, but not too impossible. Sounds like it went just about right. :)

It did.

there were a few rounds of "WTH are you throwing at us man this is a TPK." But they managed to work it out.

Loved the environment, one acrobatic player essentially "flew" through the room. I gave the room the "cluttered" condition which meant characters could move normally but could not charge or run. I also gave a -2 to ranged attacks every 30 feet beyond the first 10 feet to simulate the general chaos in the room.

once again great little side quest. I have already purchased the witches pocket dimension to run another group through and I will be looking forward to spicing up other adventures with your product in the future.

And reviewed here, on DTRPG and sent to GMS magazine. I'll do all the AP-plugs for JR soon! :)

Thanks for the glowing review Endzeitgeist! Hopefully every product we make will continue to impress!

I will be running JR in the next year or so, and I would love to supplement it with this and the other adventures you guys have done. That said, which ones are designed to go with JR? Is there a master list or something?

Either way, they will all be making it into my cart eventually. :)

This and The Baleful Coven are the only 2 adventures that Legendary Games has released in support of JR so far, and they are both excellent.

Meditations of the Imperial Mystics and The Way of Ki are both supportive on JR as well, though they are not adventures (still great and recommended though).

The similar color-coding of each product makes it easy to spot and associate which products go with with which AP.

The kind folks above have answered in full - each series of AP Plug-Ins has its own unique layout style, including color, font, and artistic background details, all hand-crafted just for YOU by our ace layout man, Tim Wickham.

As noted, we have 4 AP Plug-Ins for the Far East AP thus far, along with 9 for the Gothic AP. We've had a bit of an interruption in product flow due to two of our key guys (including the aforementioned Master Wickham) having just added new babies to the family, which creates an understandable amount of reprioritization, but I am hopeful that by next week we should be ready to get things moving again for your enjoyment!

Just finished "Under Frozen Stars" for my group last friday night, it took two nights to run though this plug-in. They enjoyed it quite a bit, thanks for getting this out there. The final encounter killed the party ninja (for the second time) through INT drain and nearly killed another PC the same way if not for a timely critical from the party Magus, wielding Suishen. Tough fight, the first round my guys were hot and hit with all the traps and nearly all the arrows, and it scared the crap out of them, but they managed to win the day.

Managed to fly through this in one 4 hour session.

Unfortunately the Force Morlocks had us rolling in the aisles....there is a classic UK comedy sketch about a play on words, specifically Fork Candles...which is misheard as Four Candles.....the same thing happened here as we faced Four Small Locks!!

Glad you guys enjoyed the adventure. Yay for the body count and that your players had a fun and memorable time with it. Also amusing about thenovalord's soundalike. You gotta be careful around Small Locks. They got nasty tempers! :)

Jason, I am getting questions from some of my players about

The beauty of Waj Khor is that since it's a destroyed kingdom, it doesn't have to exist anywhere in the current map of Tian Xia. You can place the ruins of it anywhere you like. Also, since how long ago that happened is left intentionally ambiguous, it can be as long ago or as recent as you like.

Sorry if that's kind of non-answer, but it's kind of like doing improv theater. The answer to your question is, "Whatever will make the story more interesting."

If you think the characters have enough on their plate with the events of the Jade Regent AP, then the kingdom is lost and its people wiped out and the crown means nothing to anyone, although maybe a scholar of history or sage might recognize it.

On the other hand, you could make the fallen kingdom have a diaspora spread around Minkai of people descended from Waj Khor. If word gets around that the lost crown has been found, perhaps it might help in recruiting allies for the final adventures among those people (if you read the Wheel of Time series, it could be like the fallen kingdom of Malkier, of which Lan Mandragoran is the nominal king, though the few remaining people are scattered across the Borderlands, only rising up near the end of the series when an army gathers to his banner).

In a nutshell:

Hope that helps. :)

OK, Thanks, that helps a lot...I guess I hadn't considered that Waj Khor had been destroyed, I was under the impression that this was a pseudonym for one of the present countries and you weren't stating it for IP reasons. I think mostly he's worried about being branded a thief, I mean, after all, the crown was STOLEN...! :)

My group just finished this last night. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. The only real change I made was that Miriya was an ancestor to one of the player characters. That really made the adventure a personal part of the party's story.

I am glad that I picked this up when our group was just starting the Jade Regent adventure path.

I am so impressed with this, that I think Frozen Stars is an essential chapter to Jade Regent. Running the adventure path without Frozen Stars will make The Hungry Storm seriously lacking in story plot.

Thanks to everyone at Legendary Games for producing this.

My group just finished this last night. We all thoroughly enjoyed it. The only real change I made was that Miriya was an ancestor to one of the player characters. That really made the adventure a personal part of the party's story.

I am glad that I picked this up when our group was just starting the Jade Regent adventure path.
** spoiler omitted **

I am so impressed with this, that I think Frozen Stars is an essential chapter to Jade Regent. Running the adventure path without Frozen Stars will make The Hungry Storm seriously lacking in story plot.

Thanks to everyone at Legendary Games for producing this.

Several months late, but I just happened to spot this today - thanks for the kind words and glad you enjoyed it!

Also, thanks to Scribbling Rambler for his kind words and taking the time to review the adventure!

Could this also be translated into Numeria/Iron Gods? (Or should I say "Metal Gods"?)

@Lord Fyre: Yes, imho a perfect fit though it does predate the Technology-Guide and thus does not utilize its mechanics. Theme-wise, you just need an isolated mountaintop with lots of snow.

Aaaaaand reviewed 4 effing years after purchase. Still awesome!