Reading through "There is No Honor" I was intrigued by the notes that the party will find in the Vanderboren family vault. The ones I'm talking about are the ones written by Lavinia's mother (I can't recall her name right now) which are said to include scetches of monsters, maps of coastlines and other things she wrote down when she was at The Isle of Dread. The adventure describes these notes, but there isn't any handout for them. Will there be a handout for these in a later adventure?
I am thinking about writing up some of these notes, but I have to leave it general enough so that it will fit with what the characters actually find on the Isle, without giving away too much. What would be some good general things to describe in these notes? Obviously things about the jungle would be included, but what about some things that Lavinia's mother may have encountered on the isle? I think this could be a real cool handout for the players to give them a preview of what they'll find later on.
Also, as a nod to the original Isle of Dread, I am going to name the captain of the ship that Lavinia's parents took to the Isle Rory Barbarossa, after the captain whose notes the characters find in the original IoD adventure.
Obviously these questions are primarily meant for James Jacobs or one of the other writers of STAP.
Creative Director
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The primary in-game purpose of Larissa Vanderboren's notes are to reveal to her daughter Lavinia (from BEYOND THE GRAVE!!) the existance of the colony they established on the Isle. They end up being the catalyst that sets adventure #3 rolling.
The notes themselves are pretty extensive; providing them all as a handout would require providing an entire artbook-type product about the Isle of Dread. Which would be cool, but it's not something we can afford to do right now. Now, that said... there IS something in the works that'll essentially be excerpts from Larissa's notes on the Isle of Dread. It's still a ways off, so for those who are playing Savage Tide as it comes out, it'll be unfortunately too late to serve as a handout for "There Is No Honor".
Rory Barbarossa will have some name dropping later in the campaign as well, although not before the PCs reach the Isle.
Im sure a combination of darwins (or other pre 1900 naturalists!) scetches, and a bit "jurassic park" conceptive art works ;)
ps. isnt are like this the perfect downloadable handout?
ikki, I think the main problem that James and the wonderful people at Paizo are having with doing that handout is one thing... Time. From what I gather, they are pretty swamped, so we will just have to wait. ~grumbles~ Gee, thanks James! I guess you figure that we can use a dose of patience, humn? ~grins~
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Hey James, I have an idea. How about enlisting some help from the boards? There are a bunch of regulars that have a good amount of experience and background as artists, post a list of pages and needed artwork with a general idea of what's needed and see what you get. If you can cobble together a decent handout, then great, if not maybe a few pages will be enough to add some flavor. Worse that can happen is a very minimum of Paizo's time is wasted with a failed product. The best that could happen is that you find a free resource that can help to flesh out areas that Paizo finds they don't have enough time to do. There are Savage Tide themed character sheets out there that aren't too shabby and who knows what could happen, you may find someone with a talent you need.
Just a thought,
FH
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Hey, maybe this helps a bit:
LINK
or this
'NOTHER LINK
and a cool map
LOOK HERE
Just use Google and type "Sketches" or "Jurrasic Park" (Thanks ikki), and on the result-page click on pictures on the top. You might have to click a while, but you'll definiately will find stuff there to put in a notebook!
And my #139 is still not here...
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Oh, and this site Sketches by Anne has some cool buildings and persons for a D&D game. Check it out!!!
Thanks for the info, James. I thought that a handout for those notes would be coming later in the adventure. If it's not out before I run "There is No Honor" making up some notes should be easy, especially with those handy sketches linked above.
Thanks for the info, James. I thought that a handout for those notes would be coming later in the adventure. If it's not out before I run "There is No Honor" making up some notes should be easy, especially with those handy sketches linked above.
My players never really asked for much details since when these things are mentioned, they are in Lavinia's family vault and are pretty much her personal papers. The PCs really have no right to go nosing through her things, especially with her standing right there.
In game, I had Lavinia looking through the notes kind of puzzled when she came across the material written in Sylvan. I had her ask one of the players if they could read the notes, which one of them did and she did so. That was as close as they got to going through her papers. I simply described them and the players seemed content.
Good point, Steve. They would only get a chance to look at them if she asks them to and gives them permission. If none of them speak Sylvan it won't matter anyway, unless they have a handy Comprehend Languages ready. I think I will have some notes ready just in case, because I know my players would get a huge kick out of realizing that the notes concern the Isle of Dread.
Also, if Rory Barbarossa's name will be mentioned at some point then I will leave his name out at this early point. I am glad to hear that he will be mentioned, because any tie-in to X1 is really cool.
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Creative Director
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It's not really a matter of resources at this time. We're already working on a version of Larissa Vanderboren's notes, and they're going to look excellent. But they won't be done for a while.
And in any event, home-made versions of the notes would actually work just as well, provided you're already familiar enough with the Isle of Dread and know what's a spoiler about the island (pretty much anything in the central plateau) and what's not (pretty much anything living elsewhere on the isle).
If it'll help folks out, I've been working on my own player's map with a parchment feel...
If it'll help folks out, I've been working on my own player's map with a parchment feel...
"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator"
Does one need an account on the board to see the map?
--Ray.
Hmm, I don't think so. Let me try a pointer to the full thread and not just the image (it's the last entry).
I found this site and it’s a rather cool place!
http://prehistoricsillustrated.com/welcome.html
Scattering a few of these images on the table might be fitting.
I really like the sketches too.
Can you believe it, i found out that one of the things i have in my possesion is the original Isle of Dread Adventure! I am definately going to look it over now.
RPJ
Hmm, I don't think so. Let me try a pointer to the full thread and not just the image (it's the last entry).
The last entry still requires a login.
--Ray.
I recently picked up this book. IMHO it's very useful for the Isle of Dread.
Regards
Mortis
Hmm, I don't think so. Let me try a pointer to the full thread and not just the image (it's the last entry).
The last entry still requires a login.
--Ray.
Dang...let mesee if I can remember how to get into my FTP server and I'll stick it up there...
And another shot...
Also made a (quick) fancy on for folks that prefer that look...torn/burned edges, sitting on a wooden table.
Isle of Dread - Player's Map (Fancy, with background table)
Also, I think I've settled on how I'll handle the notes--I've got Map Folio I and II, so I'm going to use the map sets for the isle of Chac Tlaloc and the Greater Poh-Toc-Lah Valley as filler material (other map of the week stuff from the WotC site would likely work as well). Lavinia will hand these to the players and say, "Hey, look at these!" as she's reading over other material. Lavinia will be coming into the realization that her parents were more than she thought. Those two sites will represent two areas they'd explored and mapped (leaving room for side treks if I need 'em...) in their time as Seekers. And of course the last sheet the players will get will be the largely incomplete Isle of Dread map (above) along with rough sketches of the wildlife from the island (using that excellent dino site).
EDIT: For those that might not own the Map Folio sets, you can find Poh-Toc-Lah entries here:
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The primary in-game purpose of Larissa Vanderboren's notes are to reveal to her daughter Lavinia (from BEYOND THE GRAVE!!) the existance of the colony they established on the Isle. They end up being the catalyst that sets adventure #3 rolling.
The notes themselves are pretty extensive; providing them all as a handout would require providing an entire artbook-type product about the Isle of Dread. Which would be cool, but it's not something we can afford to do right now. Now, that said... there IS something in the works that'll essentially be excerpts from Larissa's notes on the Isle of Dread. It's still a ways off, so for those who are playing Savage Tide as it comes out, it'll be unfortunately too late to serve as a handout for "There Is No Honor".
Rory Barbarossa will have some name dropping later in the campaign as well, although not before the PCs reach the Isle.
The player of the bard in my group asked me if he could borrow the maps, ledgers, and other papers from the vault so his character could study and copy them. Obviously I don't have any info about the papers found in the vault but I did give him a copy of the map of the Isle of Dread from issue #114. I told him that's all the info I have so far except for the minor details given in the adventure. I'm hoping that giving my players a map of the Isle of Dread didn't spoil the campaign! I know that's where the characters will go later on but, should I have given it away so soon?
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Creative Director
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You should be fine... What's scheduled to take place on (and under) the Isle of Dread isn't really revealed by that map, after all. You just might have to do some tricky maneuvering to keep your players from taking off for the Isle TOO early if they get all excited about heading south to a monster-infested island where there's nowhere to cash in treasure...
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For me the journal was a little trickier, because one of the characters is an archivist who is all about exotic books and knowledge. So I had the journal in a hidden compartment in one of the chests, so that the PC's weren't aware of it. This last session, I had Livinia ask the PC's to look at it, and the Archivist speaks Sylvan, so Livinia has commissioned her to translate it. I expect to keep them busy though, so that she doesn't have time to do it until I have better info on what is inside as the AP continues. It also worked out great because the Archivist wants to research a spell that works like Amanuensis but also translates the stuff it copies from any language the caster knows to any other language they know as it goes. I think I will set the spell level at level 2, and just call it greater Amanuensis, since it essentially combines Amanuensis (0-Level) with Comprehend Languages (1st-Level).
I do look forward to getting the actual journal that you guys are working on at Paizo though. I have to gush a bit, you really know how to make a first rate campaign. 10,000 times better than anything I could come up with on my own. Keep up the good work!!!