In the "Dread Pagoda" there seems to be areas that aren't labeled on the map and they have no descriptions either.
If you look at the map section on page 36 that has the areas 13-15, just east of area 15 has no number or description.
Also the area east of 13 & 14, which has an open hole into area 9, has no number or description.Intentional?
Thanks
Yes. In the original manuscript there was an overall description of the Pagoda and a "random encounter chart" (which you can find here at this link) that allowed the DM to fill in some of these more unexplored nooks and crannies. Basically the first area you described is an ornate entrance and meditation hall to area 9, the Library. There are other similarly unmarked stairwells this one just so happens to be a bigger area which is touched on in the discription of area 8 the Main Stairwell (which it is actually a part of). The Library (Area 9) is three stories tall - so the "9" on the 3rd and 4th floors covers that immediate area as well as the hole it's centered over. There are low shelves around the "hole" that hold even more ceramic plates on both sides (normally the gauth librarians or Xotkil has to fetch the inner ring plates).
There is one real mistake on the map - the scale. It should be one square equals 10' not 5'. Also it might be a bit ambigous about that brown area around the upper three floors, which is supposed to be a covered walkway/terrace.
Hope that helps,
Matt
Matt, thanks very much for that link! I love all the extras, and will be sure to use them once I get a chance to run through the story arc.
Matt, thanks very much for that link! I love all the extras, and will be sure to use them once I get a chance to run through the story arc.
No problem there, Ben. There are pretty much always extras when I write (or rather overwrite) stuff. You should have seen Masque of Dreams. Let us know how it turns out.
-Matt
Another quick question.
If the True Source of Sehan was destroyed in the previous adventure, where do current Children of Sehan look to go for the Hive Mind?thanks
The True Source is at least in my own personal little world not the True True Source. The True True Source exists on another plane in the Far Realm in fact, it might even be a plane itself. The "True Source" in the Necropolis of Cair Pahor'an is just a small bit of Sehan (like a person's toe nail or glob of spit) brought to our world - possibly by accident. Sehan however can in a primative instinctual way sense its surroundings and the presence of other bits of itself pretty much anywhere (on other planes, in people's digestive tracts, in thoughts of those who have touched it's "mind", etc.... regardless of distance). Therefore the Children of Sehan tend to congregate in places where the largest concentrations of the substance are located (strength in numbers, like attracting like, and all that). In this regard any sizable concentration of Sehan is "Sehan" for purposes of the hive mind ability including at your discretion the Children themselves. At the very least in the Seeds of Sehan Arc the True Source being larger, purer and older than the stuff found in the the spriggan hideout counts as "Sehan" for purposes of the Hive Mind ability (which was a mechanic added to the creature after we turned the manuscript over - before that it was just assumed that Sehan's servitors where extentions of Sehan itself). If it is destroyed then the next largest concentration of Sehan (largest HD Child, Kanuut, or some other relatively pure manifestation of your own invention) becomes the new epicenter. When the yak folk conduct their tests and create the Sehan Abomination it becomes the epicenter for all the local manifestations and in fact any surviving Children of Sehan start migrating toward the Dread Pagoda as soon as feel its presence, which as explained above, is possible regardless of distance.
At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to.
Matt
Creative Director
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heh... Yeah. Which is why the word counts for Dungeon adventures are so important to hit. 'Cause if they're over, we have to get out the knives and cut away. We usually do our best to make sure that the cuts are invisible, but since they generally happen toward the end of the editorial process when we finally see how much room we have in the magazine (ads being the last element to come in, and the first element to mess with content space available), the cuts sometimes leave scars.
If the magazine were still going forward under my stewardship, I'd at this point start talking about how to build adventures to fit word counts here, but since it's not, I guess I'll just close with an amusing anecdote about how I overwrote "There is no Honor" and had to cut about 9,000 words of my own writing. Heh.
heh... Yeah. Which is why the word counts for Dungeon adventures are so important to hit. 'Cause if they're over, we have to get out the knives and cut away. We usually do our best to make sure that the cuts are invisible, but since they generally happen toward the end of the editorial process when we finally see how much room we have in the magazine (ads being the last element to come in, and the first element to mess with content space available), the cuts sometimes leave scars.
If the magazine were still going forward under my stewardship, I'd at this point start talking about how to build adventures to fit word counts here, but since it's not, I guess I'll just close with an amusing anecdote about how I overwrote "There is no Honor" and had to cut about 9,000 words of my own writing. Heh.
Actually as I recall we hit our word counts on these pretty solid. I only say this because Steve and the others made me cut the 800 words I went over my proposed target (15,000). The edited piece comes in a couple thousand short of even that. Now if you want to talk over written, well the probably-never-to-be-seen-in-print Garden of Wonders the short version of which clocks in at 22,000 words, well that's over-written. I will however say in my defense that I proposed it as a 12th or 13th level adventure, but you guys wrote back that you wanted me to blow the roof off and shoot for 17th level+ sooo, I did, but it forced me into about 10,000 words worth of stat blocks alone.
My head still hurts, ;)
Matt
Yes. In the original manuscript there was an overall description of the Pagoda and a "random encounter chart" (which you can find here at this link) that allowed the DM to fill in some of these more unexplored nooks and crannies.
Hope that helps,
Matt
WOW!
Do you create pages like that for ALL your adventures?
That was really great!
Matt's done a good bit of work to get all the missing stuff up and available to everyone. And a great job of it, too, I might add.
Spawn of Sehan was mainly my part to write (I say my part meaning most of the typing up of the ideas we had already formulated as a group) and dress up nice and slimey-like. There actually wasn't much missing from that particular part of the arc. I think I had explained that some of the excretions that Kanuut had dribbled into the filthy pool he liked to soak in had bred green slimes. I explained that he was immune to his spawned slimes, but venturing into the nasty water was potentially fatal to anyone else.
That's about all I can think of.
Dread Pagoda... definitely took the biggest hit both before sending it in and by the Paizo editors. A double whammy. I'll say one thing about Matt's writing style: when he warms up to a subject, he really warms up to a subject. The man's brain spawns far too many ideas for me to even try to keep up with.
Yes. In the original manuscript there was an overall description of the Pagoda and a "random encounter chart" (which you can find here at this link) that allowed the DM to fill in some of these more unexplored nooks and crannies.
Hope that helps,
MattWOW!
Do you create pages like that for ALL your adventures?
That was really great!
Matt
Matt
Man, IF I had the time and skill...
Very nice work!
Oh like I have either either. ;) ::takes another shot of coffee::
Thanks for checking it out though. I makes me happy to see folks can use the stuff even if it's for a quick read.
Matt
I like the link GGG. I hadn't been aware that you were among the folks who wrote that trilogy. Nice work. I've always thought the Yak Folk were underused, but had great potential. And the title of part 3 was fantastic.
My only prior experience w/ Yak Folk was in 2nd edition's Al-Qadim. You're right, they're underused.
And Matt, now that I realize you also did the "light" adventure, "The Menagerie", let me complement you on your range. That was a short, sweet and fun adventure; plus Tony's artwork fit perfectly.
I'll say one thing about Matt's writing style: when he warms up to a subject, he really warms up to a subject. The man's brain spawns far too many ideas for me to even try to keep up with.
This from the guy who has a sidebar titled "Green Slime as a (gernade-like) Weapon."
;)
-Matt
Nice work. I've always thought the Yak Folk were underused, but had great potential. And the title of part 3 was fantastic.
Thanks for the compliment. I have to admit I don't think I ever ran into the yak folk before I picked up the modern Monster Manual II. So my version is very solidly Tibetan - hence the title. I was pretty happy with it too. I had secretly been planning an adventure somewhere in the back of my mind featuring yak folk (or maybe that was my yak folk conditioning returning) when Tom had this great idea to do a collaborative round-robin style adventure. As soon as it turned into a trilogy with a Lovecraftian spin I remembered the yaks and the third-part (as it ended up being) wrote itself. It just so happened that Tom had a similar fixation with another monster we all thought was underloved - spriggan - which he got work on in Vile Addiction.
Beyond just little-used races, Annapuma, Rakeri, Kanuut, the leaders of the Dread Pagoda, and even Sehan itself are some of my favorite bad guys this side of Chimes at Midnight, and I'm not just saying that because I was part of the group that made them. I think that they're each pretty solidly motivated and different enough that they don't get old. Also I like the fact that there's some built in friction between all of them. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the results.
Okay that's enough back slapping. I return you to your regularly scheduled thread. ;)
Matt
And Matt, now that I realize you also did the "light" adventure, "The Menagerie", let me complement you on your range. That was a short, sweet and fun adventure; plus Tony's artwork fit perfectly.
Yeah, I have been blessed with some excellent artwork - so thanks to Sean Glenn, Tony Mosely, Michael Kaluta (Masque of Dreams), James Ryman (for the cover of 142), Rob Lazzaretti (maps for Sehan and Masque) and the Udon crew. You guys all rock mightily and make me look good in the process.
As for "light," well, if Garden of Wonders (high-level Wonderland-like tribute to Dungeonland and Land Beyond the Magic Mirror) had made it into the mag before the end, I probably would have gone down as that Wacky Dungeon Guy (post-Walsh). ;) But hey, the manuscript is out there in the ether somewhere. If we all make enough noise maybe it will show up in and digital initiative-like form or in a Gamemastery suppliment or as the script to the next D&D movie or something. I honestly have written some grim stuff.... it just never gets picked at the proposal meeting. Dang Connors family! ;)
Four words: winged dire war rhino.
You know you want it,
Matt
I'll say one thing about Matt's writing style: when he warms up to a subject, he really warms up to a subject. The man's brain spawns far too many ideas for me to even try to keep up with.This from the guy who has a sidebar titled "Green Slime as a (gernade-like) Weapon."
;)
-Matt
Some player was bound to try it so I figured I might as well beat them to the punch. I'm actually surprised that it made it in to the published version. I figured the editors would think it was too broken.