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I want to add I really like the bit at the end that James added that discusses where the plot came from, how it differs from what he himself ran and a general mindset in a behind the scenes view of adventure writing. While I can't expect it to always have the room for such things I greatly appreciate it and would love to see more blurbs like this in adventures that are published.
Creative Director
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We used to do little blurbs like that in our adventures a lot, or in the forewords for Adventure Paths, but fell out of the practice over a decade ago. I always liked reading those bits in adventures I read, so yeah if more folks want to see more of those sorts of peeks behind the curtain, let us know!
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We used to do little blurbs like that in our adventures a lot, or in the forewords for Adventure Paths, but fell out of the practice over a decade ago. I always liked reading those bits in adventures I read, so yeah if more folks want to see more of those sorts of peeks behind the curtain, let us know!
It depends on forewords, some of them were more interesting to read than others. Like I really liked reading ones about design philosophy of the adventure rather than the ones which are like "hey check out these cool articles at end of the book or the next upcoming ap!" or when foreword's writer is completely different person than writer of the adventure and they are writing about personal experiences tangentially related to the subject of adventure.
Those ones felt like kinda "well we had to have foreword and someone had to write something for it" to me.
That said, I always have loved the 3.5 module(from few I've seen) "author notes" where they comment on the encounter design or narrative of the adventure and such.
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Good blog content if there is no room in print. Noted.
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Those sound awesome! I'd definitely read those blogs.
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Good blog content if there is no room in print. Noted.
Agreed. And I enjoyed reading the foreword in all the old APs, and was sad to see them kinda go away with 2e. Anything more around game design philosophy is super interesting to me just as someone who likes the storytelling aspect of it all and see how others design and develop their ideas.
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Good blog content if there is no room in print. Noted.Agreed. And I enjoyed reading the foreword in all the old APs, and was sad to see them kinda go away with 2e. Anything more around game design philosophy is super interesting to me just as someone who likes the storytelling aspect of it all and see how others design and develop their ideas.
Plus Paizo Live interviews.
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I picked this up yesterday and i have to say, it seems to be a really good adventure, firmly rooted in the horror genre, particulary in the Call of Cthulhu mythos section.
There are really cool mysteries here that first have to be unlocked and researched, like it should have been possible within Foxglove manor.
I have only read the first 27 pages (of 72) which contain the manor grounds and the first floor, but already want to build Xarwin Manor with WarLock Tiles, despite having bought the "Malevolence Flip-mat".
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Note for GMs:
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I hope I'm not the only one that's been having ideas of using this as a launching point for a globe spanning campaign. It has so many loose threads at the end of the module that could lead all over the place.
I hope I'm not the only one that's been having ideas of using this as a launching point for a globe spanning campaign. It has so many loose threads at the end of the module that could lead all over the place.
** spoiler omitted **
One hundred percent, me too. I'm wrapping up Age of Ashes probably in September or October, and my current thinking is to work this as a core adventure kicking off some sweet occult mystery solving!
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Roll20 does not have a release date for this product at this time.
"For those of you asking about other Paizo AP/Adventure titles: Ruby Phoenix and Malevolence we don't have ready at this time, and I don't know at this point when we'll be able to release them on Roll20 but will do better to keep you updated about those timelines moving forward. At present, our production focus has been on the Lost Omens line as well as staying day-and-date with upcoming book releases like Secrets of Magic and Tech Revolution. We know we have a lot to catch up on due to Paizo's sheer volume of content and are prioritizing as best as we can to make the best Paizo experience possible for y'all!"
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Unless one will be playing or Running The Dead Gods Hand Adventure when it shows up as that has 5 players in mind.
:)
Tom
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For anyone who played it, how long did it take to finish? Or how long is this type of adventure designed to finish? Thank you in advance!
For anyone who played it, how long did it take to finish? Or how long is this type of adventure designed to finish? Thank you in advance!
It covers three full levels of play, so depends a bit on your group. Between 6-12 sessions, I'd say? Haven't run this specifically but I've run modules of similar length.
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Note for GMs:
** spoiler omitted **
Paizo seem to have an aversion to this which is pretty shocking given how the math of the game assumes players have them
I have also seen this as feedback for other published adventures such as Lion Lodge. The pregens don't have them and don't find enough in the adventure. And then lose easily...
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Wow. It's literally taken me weeks to read through this adventure. I like it a lot, although I found the map to be (sorry, James!) a bit boring, at least from GMing perspective. It pains me to say that, because I usually love all Jacobs Maps (TM), and I know James is one h*** of a map-designer and writer, one of the best in the business.
This is also a very plot-heavy adventure with lots of stuff going on; if you're going to run it, you'll need to take notes and do some serious prep for it. On the other hand, if you do it, it's going to be one memorable rollercoaster ride on the Horror Express for your players! :)
Oh man, there are lots of juicy stuff in this one, and I love how certain elements (like the research subsystem from GMG) is utilized in the module.
However, I thought some of the hazards in the adventure were a bit confusing, and maybe even contradict the game rules (CRB, specifically):
Giving them AC, hit points and weaknesses means they can be attacked, even though they won't even roll initiative (they have just a single reaction). And I spotted only a single simple haunt that resets, making physical attributes pretty much irrelevant anyway.
I guess this whole issue is probably due to copy-pasting the hazard stat block, because only physical and/or mechanical hazards should have Hardness, BT and "object immunities"?
It would be great to know how people interpret this. Or do these "phantasms" actually manifest or exist in the visual world, so that they can actually be attacked before they are triggered?
I found this whole thing to be a bit annoying, though, since many hazards in 2E are unique, and you need to carefully assess their stats anyway. I actually had to read through the Hazards section in CRB a few times to make sure I hadn't originally misunderstood something.
Helping a friend set up a character for this campaign. Without spoiling things too much, is it precision damage safe?
Helping a friend set up a character for this campaign. Without spoiling things too much, is it precision damage safe?
I would say yes.
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Is there a reason that we can't have an unmarked PDF of maps A, D, and E?
We can at least buy B and C as a flipmat, but for those of us trying to run on Roll20 it's really frustrating to be unable to get a clean copy of the map.
Here's a tip I've learned over the years:
If you select just the image in Acrobat (by clicking the image so it's selected) you can copy the image and paste it into your image editing software of choice. The image will copy over but the text labels will not, so you'll have a blank map.
Is there a reason that we can't have an unmarked PDF of maps A, D, and E?
We can at least buy B and C as a flipmat, but for those of us trying to run on Roll20 it's really frustrating to be unable to get a clean copy of the map.
Here's a tip I've learned over the years:
If you select just the image in Acrobat (by clicking the image so it's selected) you can copy the image and paste it into your image editing software of choice. The image will copy over but the text labels will not, so you'll have a blank map.
I 100% do this for my games as well. You don't even have to use Photoshop either. Just the free 3d Paint program on your windows computer has some really useful features.
Image size isn't huge, so you might not be able to use it on VTT programs, but it works great for printed or emailed handouts.
My download seems to no longer be working, the site says its a 22 byte download and does not unzip once downloaded. I've done the "Click here if you have trouble downloading" a couple times and it has not helped. Any advice?
Just the free 3d Paint program on your windows computer has some really useful features.
What windows computer? :-)
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Halloween has me in the mood to run something like this. Is this a good introduction to PF2? Is it easier than an AP?
Complete introduction for new players? No. It starts them at 3rd level.
Easier than an AP? Could be, but it is still a lot to prep. I ran this 2 weekends ago for a group of 5 players. They were what I would call a mix of experience levels. Two were very experienced, two moderate and one with some experience. They played smart, didn't waste time and keep after the main goals.
It took me 27+ over a three day Con to run the module, they defeated the main "boss", but there was still more they could have done/accomplished. I had to summarize and shorten the ending due to time constraints. I suspect that there was at least another 4ish hours to play.
It is a VERY cool, spooky, haunted mansion style game that I highly recommend and would run again! Just know what your getting yourself and your party in for if you decide to challenge the Malevolence!
Both of those links take me to the top of the page those posts are on, rather than to the posts themselves. :-(
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This is not a true review, just a overview of the condition of the non-mint version. I picked one of the non mints up.
I will note I noticed like a day or two after I placed my order that Paizo stopped offering non-mint versions of the book.
I bring this up, because I am wondering if they ran out of non-mint or over sold them or something. Because the copy I got is perfect, I looked and looked and there is just nothing at all wrong with it. The print out I got still says non-mint, but it was not in bold like all the other non-mint books I have gotten. Coincidence? Maybe, or is my theory above true.
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They are extremely strict about what counts as "mint".
Ive regularly bought non mint copies where I couldnt tell what the issue was.