My group and I had a blast running through Burnt Offerings. When the party's Shoanti barbarian smashed his earthbreaker into Nualia's skull, the whole room erupted into cheers. Their expressions of joy really made me think: wow, being a DM is really rewarding.
Now, I'm on to Skinsaw. For those DMs who have already run through this adventure, what advice can you give me? What do you wish you could have done better? What are you particularly proud of? I'm going to be running this on the 3rd so I still have couple days of prep time.
Thanks y'all.
|
Now, I'm on to Skinsaw. For those DMs who have already run through this adventure, what advice can you give me? What do you wish you could have done better? What are you particularly proud of?
Here is the question and answer thread that will be a lot of help skinsaw FAQ
Some things that might pose a little difficulty in letting me run the adventure the way it was written:
- 7 players instead of 4
- My PCs almost all univerally disliked Aldern right off the bat and refused to have dinner or go boar hunting with him. (The object of his obsession is an aasimar priestess of Pharasma, who is pretty much the de-facto party leader)
- The encounter with Shayliss was extremely awkward and uncomfortable (IRL) for my players and I ended up just canning further development of that encounter, when my wife goes: "What kind of encounter is this?!" Thus, they won't be able to get the connection between Shayliss and Katrine.
Well, that's all for now. Thanks Cpt. Kristov for the prior answer.
- My PCs almost all univerally disliked Aldern right off the bat and refused to have dinner or go boar hunting with him. (The object of his obsession is an aasimar priestess of Pharasma, who is pretty much the de-facto party leader)
- The encounter with Shayliss was extremely awkward and uncomfortable (IRL) for my players and I ended up just canning further development of that encounter, when my wife goes: "What kind of encounter is this?!" Thus, they won't be able to get the connection between Shayliss and Katrine.
I'd plant the idea that he is still interested in the priestess: Perhaps he commissioned a nice gift from the local jeweler, not something terribly expensive, just some custom-made trinket with an embarrassingly intimate engraving. If he made arrangements to have it delivered later with a mushy note ("By the time you receive this, I will be in Magnimar, but my thoughts will be of you, my fair rescuer.") the party may soon decide that "this guy just doesn't get it."
Shayless is likely to gossip about the party member that snubbed her. ("I just wanted to be friends...") It won't mean much, but might suggest that they have a problem with the Vinter family.
|
I'm getting ready to run Skinsaw as well...
3 days after the Goblin raid the PCs left for Thistletop.
It took them 1 day to get there (they encountered an Owlbear that cleaned their clock).They were there 2 days, and it will take them 1 day to get back. That's a total of 7 days.
Should they be out of town when the Sawmill murders occur? Or should I give them a few days breather and then they are approached by the Sheriff concerning the murders?
Oh and they didn' explore the Catacombs of Wrath...
I didn't give my PCs much time between Burnt Offerings and Skinsaw, and they got battle fatigue--Skinsaw is *intense*. Too much horror too quickly. You might think about your own group's tolerance for this--maybe a few days off would be good for them. You can play up the goblin-slaying heroes' reception a bit before they are framed.
I had the town reaction split, with people the PCs had helped mostly sure they were innocent, and others not so sure.
There's a thread elsewhere on this board about changes I made to Skinsaw to tie the haunts more tightly in with their resolution. My changes depend on the PCs' reaction to Aldern, though, and may not be as useful to you.
There are two points where TPK is relatively likely:
The fight with Iyesha at Foxglove Manor, if it happens--it can be triggered in various ways, even if the PCs don't want a fight--and the fight with Xanesha at the end.
Depending on your tolerance for risk, you may want to look carefully at these. My group's PCs recruited a lot of help for the second fight mentioned, and barely won.
One suggestion from this board that I really liked (wish I'd seen it in time to use it):
If you own both modules, switch the stats for Xanesha (in Skinsaw) and Lucrezia (in Hook Mountain). They are the same nominal CR but Lucrezia is much less likely to wipe out the whole party, and Xanesha will be an interesting fight later when they have improved.
Mary
|
I found that printed-out and handwritten handouts were pretty effective. For the first of Aldern's notes, I actually wrote it out on high-quality notepaper, folded it, wrote the PC's name on the front, and smeared it with some tomato sauce the previous day.
When running the Hambley Farm or foxglove manor, turn down the lights, light some candles, and give the group a small flashlight to read their character sheets. seriously, it really helps bring out the horror.
There's this idea of mine:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/pathfinder/runelords/facelessStalkersI nAldernsTownhouse
well, I sleightly increased the power of the ghouls in Skinsaw. They were fine as-is, but advancing them by 1 hd makes them slightly more dangerous, maintaining the traditional "toughness" of undead. I mean, seriously, for shambling corpses that cant be killed by stabbing them in the lungs, undead dont have much HP, and their BAB sucks. You have to give them tons of HD to be dangerous.
Obviously, unnecessary stat blocks are a bad thing in a published adventure, and the encounters are fine as-is, but I like my players to sweat just a little, and ghouls are easy to advance.
Slightly Greater Ghoul
CE Medium Undead
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60-ft; Listen +2, Spot +8
Languages Common
AC 16, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+3 Dex, +3 natural)
hp 19 (3 HD)
Immune Undead
Fort +1, Ref+4 Will+5
Speed 30-ft
Melee Bite +4 melee (1d6+2 plus paralysis) and 2 claws +1 (1d4+1 plus paralysis)
Base Atk +1; Grp +3
Abilities Str 14, Dex 16, Con -, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 15
SA Ghoul Fever, paralysis
SQ Undead Traits, Darkvision 60 ft, +2 turn resistance
Feats Multiattack, Weapon Focus (bite)
Skills Balance +7, Climb +5, Hide +8, Jump +7, Move Silently +8, Spot +8
Ghoul Fever (su) Disease-bite, Fort DC 13, inc 1 day, 1d3 con and 1d3 dex
Paralysis (ex) DC 13 Fort, Paralysis for 1d4+1 rounds
I also gave the cultists an additional level of rogue, to give them an actual attack bonus, more HP, and evasion. I used "stuck in the middle with you" for battle music, when they pull out their war-razors.
Skinsaw Cultist
Male Human Cleric 1/Rogue 2
CE Medium Humanoid (human)
Init +6; Senses Listen +2, Spot +6
Languages Common
AC 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+2 armor, +2 dex, +2 sheild of Faith)
hp 19 (2d6+1d8+3)
Fort +3, Ref +5, Will +4
Speed 30-ft
Melee mwk war razor +4 (1d4+2/18-20)
Base Atk +1; Grp +2
Special Attacks Death Touch 1/day (1d6), Sneak Attack +1d6
Spells prepared (CL 1st:
1st- Command (DC 13), Sheild of Faith (already cast), Cause Fear (DC 13)
0-Virtue, Mending (2) Inflict Spells
Abilities Str 12, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8
SQ Turn Undead, Evasion
Feats Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse, Martial Weapon (razor)
Skills Balance +7, Climb +6, Hide +7, Know (local) +5, Know (rel) +1, Listen +3 (+5 masked), Move Silently +7, Search +5 (+7 masked), Sleight of Hand +7, Spot +7 (+9 masked), Tumble +7
Leather Armor, MWK war Razor, Skinsaw Mask, 20 gp
|
|
I also gave the cultists an additional level of rogue, to give them an actual attack bonus, more HP, and evasion. I used "stuck in the middle with you" for battle music, when they pull out their war-razors....
How very Reservoir Dogs of you.. don't suppose any of the cultists doused the PCs with lamp oil :)
Trent
My players are always in a rush to save the world, so I sometimes have trouble keeping them from jumping ahead.
At the end of the first goblin battle, they were ready to ride after the golins right then, despite the fact that one of the fighters was down to 3hp and they were pretty much out of healing for the day.
The party has a good tracker, and they were all gung-ho, so I let them charge out following goblin tracks and find Shalelu and rescue her from some goblins.
They said "okay ma'am, you're safe now, you should be able to get back to town without our help, we're going to keep going" (To the 3rd level elf. Sheesh!)
WTF? How do I keep them from getting creamed? Can you imagine a party of wounded 1st level characters rolling up to Thistletop?
"Oh, wait, it's getting dark so you'll have trouble tracking".
They were so focused on the goblin threat that I haven't even mentioned the idea of a boar hunt. Aldern gave them the reward, but he ended up sharing the spotlight at dinner with Shalelu. I may still bring up the boar hunt if the PCs ever actually stop to rest, but I'm not gonna hold my breath.
But I thought of a good way to hook him in.
My group is about to begin Skinsaw, so I wanted to thank everyone that offered suggestions here.