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I'm struggling with the geography in this adventure. Two rivers are mentioned: the Pashman River, which is close to Lopul, and the Shat-al-Qadr River, which the PC's approach at the end of the adventure.
Looking at the world map in the PF Chronicles, I see three rivers going through Qadira: a forking one to the north, near Zimar; a middle one that passes near Katheer; and one to the south that starts near Sedeq.
Which of these is the Pashman River, and which is the Shat-al-Qadr River? And where is Lopul, roughly? Does anyone know?
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Another question is about the Taldor faction objectives, it states that they get a PA if they can cover up Gaspar's involvement. I just have trouble imagining how on earth they would be able to do that. It's really out in the open, everyone's aware of it. They might bribe Jamila into keeping quiet, but if there are members of rival factions within the group, they would surely spread the word.
How lenient should I be in considering that the player(s) have "covered it up"?
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Just as an aside, I know this has spoiler in the title, but it might still be safer to spoiler the inside of the thread too, so there is no accidental "leakage."
Anyway, as to the first:
That having been said, I was going to pull out the map from the Gaz to show them where they were, but of the three times I ran it, I never really got around to it, and it didn't seem to cause any problems.
Hopefully someone more learned in Golarion geography can answer this more satisfactorily than I can.
As to the second:
Since they coordinated this pretty well, and since they made sure there wasn't anyone around to contradict this story, they got the award, even though the rest of the party members were a bit suspicious "wait, you knew he was an outlaw the whole time?"
Of the three times I ran this, I think I only had Taldor faction members in one session, oddly enough.
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Another question is about the Taldor faction objectivesAren't they contradictory to Cheliax objectives? Whoa, as I understood it that shouldn't happen in Organized Play.
This is actually true. I play a Taldane bard, and although both the Chelish and the Taldane (me) got the Prestige Award, I remain wary about how this should really be done. Possibly interrogating the writer about this would suffice. ;)
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I play a Taldane bard, and although both the Chelish and the Taldane (me) got the Prestige Award, I remain wary about how this should really be done. Possibly interrogating the writer about this would suffice. ;)
How about giving the rest of the readers a quick run-down on what actually happened in the scenario you played in? (Yes, I was there, but I managed to firewall most of the information that didn't interest/concern my character.)
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Okay, well, it progressed to the end as the scenario assumes, and in the end we came to this hassle. A chelaxian cleric proposed a deal; they keep the book/thing/evidence or whatever, and publically this whole incident would be very hush-hush. My character, being very naïve, agreed to this without much other thought. The chelaxian proposed this deal since, well, these Chelish people have this odd affinity to halflings. :P
Unfortunately my memory about details in scenarios is terrible. I cannot recall anything more accurate about it.
Anybody have any idea how much time is supposed to pass between encounters 2-3 and 4-5? It occurs to me that these are all going to be extremely tough on low-tiered parties, and the description isn't really clear on whether there's time to rest in between.
Director of Brand Strategy
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Anybody have any idea how much time is supposed to pass between encounters 2-3 and 4-5? It occurs to me that these are all going to be extremely tough on low-tiered parties, and the description isn't really clear on whether there's time to rest in between.
Considering that encounters 3-5 happen on the caravan, I'd say that you can rest overnight. It's overland travel in a desert, which involves prolonged rests during the hottest and coldest parts of the day as written in the scenario itself, so I don't see why players shouldn't get the effects of this. If they are, though, remember to make periodic endurance checks for the weather between their rests.
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I don't have the module with me, so I don't remember what 2-3 and 4-5 are, but I'm planning on having no more than one encounter per day. These encounters are rough, so I want to make sure my PC's are as well rested as possible before each one.
I was planning on having something like:
Day 1: Arrive in Lopul and do the encounter there.
Day 2: First day of journey on the caravan.
Day 3: The sandstorm.
Day 4: They arrive in the valley, they do the encounter at the old shrine.
Day 5: They exit on the other side of the mountains and do the final encounter.
I'm struggling with the geography in this adventure. Two rivers are mentioned: the Pashman River, which is close to Lopul, and the Shat-al-Qadr River, which the PC's approach at the end of the adventure.
Looking at the world map in the PF Chronicles, I see three rivers going through Qadira: a forking one to the north, near Zimar; a middle one that passes near Katheer; and one to the south that starts near Sedeq.
Which of these is the Pashman River, and which is the Shat-al-Qadr River? And where is Lopul, roughly? Does anyone know?
I struggled with this very question the other day as I was putting together some continuity documents and have researched and resolved the mystery of these rivers:
The River Pashman is the eastern branch of the river that flows through Sedeq in southern Qadira--the main branch does not yet have a name.
The River Shat-al-Qadr is the river that flows through Katheer and the Zho Mountains.
Lopul is located about a day's journey from the source of the River Pashman. In the scenario, you travel northwest from Lopul to the Zho Mountains near where the River Shat-al-Qadr splits the Zho. Once the scenario is complete, you finish your journey across the western desert along the River Shat-al-Qadr.
Hope this helps!
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Director of Brand Strategy
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Thank you very much, and your timing is perfect, because I will be running this module on sunday! :)
I am a bit scared because the adventure seems quite rough, especially the last fight.
It's not so bad if you have color spray, a high DC, and roll well on the duration of the effect.
Venture-Lieutenant, Arizona—Tucson
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The encounters are really tough and can easily be a TPK for a truly heartless GM. Half-a-heart should suffice for acceptable PC deaths while still having a good time. That having been said, the intervals between encounters are intentionally vague so you can tailor them to the party. For most Tier 1-2 parties I'd put at least a day (or more) in between each encounter. Tier 4-5 PCs may need less time. However, considering the entire journey should take probably at least a week or so, I wouldn't try to pack them too close together.
Most parties should rest between each encounter. There are ways to reduce the TPK potential of some encounters:
The harpies may stop to devour their prey before all of their victims are finished climbing.
Weaker parties may overhear the head villain's boastful monologue before the villains realize they're approaching. Those rocky desert canyons can have tricky acoustics...
I actually came up with the same idea regarding camels, Wulf, and was considering posting it. This could alleviate player tension on multiple fronts during what is potentially a very stressful encounter.
Also, thanks for all the clarifications, Greg :).
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Consider the soaked leather bindings around wrists, the broken glass in the chair, and the blinding lamp in the eyes to have been a smashing success. I'll sing like a canary.
I would've preferred using Diplomacy, but I guess the "bad cop" way works too ;)
Thanks a lot for the answers! I've played the Frozen Fingers of Midnight and the Hydra's Fang Incident today (and was fortunate to have Craig Shackleton as a DM!!!). It went really well. Nobody died. That reassured me for tomorrow's sessions. The players are really good and don't do anything stupid. Also, if we're lucky, the group's fighter will have done 3 adventures by then and will be level 2. So hopefully we'll be all right. :)
And thanks also Wulf, your suggestions are good. :)
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Contributor
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I've been staying out of this thread because I still haven't played Silken Caravan and I want to avoid the spoilers, but it's hard to resist reading comments from Greg Vaughan when I see his name in the recent posts bar. Imagine my surprise when he's saying nice things about me!
Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the adventure!
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Hello again,
Yesterday's game went well, except that we were pressed for time, so I had to rush the end quite a bit. I am very relieved that nobody died, although our fighter was level 2 by then, and we had 2 healers. With a "softer" group, I think things would've been very grim indeed.
I will give a detailed description of what happened in a spoiler tag. If you haven't played the adventure yet, please don't read this:
The characters were:
- Vogun, level 1 human ranger (Andoran faction)
- Beleth, level 1 human sorcerer (Cheliax faction)
- Victius, level 1 human druid (Cheliax faction) with a dire rat animal companion named Pokey
- Essel, level 1 human cleric of Desna (Osirion faction)
- Asham, level 2 human fighter (Taldor faction)
- Lannak, level 1 half-orc rogue (Taldor faction)
Most of them had played at least one session together, except for Lannak who was a new comer. I gave everyone the chance to introduce their characters just before they entered Lopul, as they got a chance to better know each other during the travel from Absalom.
The encounter in Lopul went very smoothly, they easily defeated the opponents without taking any damage or disease, actually. I decided that the guards came a few minutes after the fight, to investigate, but the PC’s were able to diplomatically escape any reprisals, given the circumstances, a good Bluff check (which raised an interesting point around the table: can you use Bluff to tell the truth? ;) ) and Jamila’s help. To speed things up (we were VERY short on time :( ), I decided that Jamila approached the PC’s with the idea of inviting them to her caravan.
The characters got the chance to interact a little bit with Jamila, Gaspar and Hokama during the evening in Jamila’s tent. Asham, the fighter, did some great role-playing there: he is of the Taldor faction, but was born in Qadira and sold as a slave when he was young. He was later rescued by Targos, who became his mentor and eventually introduced him to the Pathfinders. Asham showed great sadness for Targos’ death and honored his memory. He also acted as a father figure/hero to the young slave boy, who reminded him of himself as a child. He now felt he had to become the boy’s mentor, like Targos had been for him.
Vogun, the Andoran, posted his message at Targos’s house. Lannak managed to bribe Hokama into helping the Taldor faction. A few people around the table, Asham and one other person (sorry, don’t remember which one, but ironically it wasn’t the Andoran), tried to convince Hokama to release or sell them his little slave boy, but they failed to convince him.
There was a minor dismay around the table when I described the fortitude saves needed to survive in the desert, thankfully, Victius cast an Endure Elements spell on Asham to enable him to keep his Half-Plate armor on.
The encounter with the raiders went well, the PC’s took a few hits, but overall, easily dispatched the villains.
Once they reached the temple in the valley, everyone was entranced by the song except Vogun the ranger and Beleth the sorcerer. Vogun tried to cover Asham the fighter’s ears, and Beleth took out some wax that he had in his inventory, and tried to plug it into Essel the cleric’s ears. I wasn’t sure how to deal with that, but we agreed around the table that it would give the players whose ears were blocked another will save.
Eventually, Asham and Essel came out of their torpor in time to see poor Vogun being beaten up by the first harpy. Eventually, they managed to slay both harpies, but poor Vogun was very badly wounded and fell deep into the negatives, but was later revived by the healers.
The companions examined the shrine. Essel (Osirion faction) cleaned it up with the help of the NPC’s. He would’ve like to consecrate the shrine further with a Bless spell, but alas, he didn’t have one memorized at the time, and he failed to convince the rest of the group to camp there for the night (I decided it was mid-afternoon by then). The rest of the group felt that time was of the essence, especially given the fact that a murderer was in the caravan.
Lannak (Taldor faction) was the first to climb up the statue, and to find the harpies’ treasure. He didn’t have time to open the chest before Victius (Cheliax faction) joined him, so he just sneakily put the chest in his bag. He didn’t get a chance to open it until the following night (Victius suspected something and was keeping a wary eye on him during the day), and saw the compromising information inside.
By that time, we had only a short amount of time left to finish the scenario (which was in the last slot of the con…), so I felt some pressure to wrap things up quickly. They arrived at the final scene, and Jamila triggered the battle with her summoning, although I gave the PC’s the chance to buff up before the fight.
They were surprised and somewhat dismayed at the strength of Gaspar, but thanks to the fighter being level 2, and having the druid and cleric chain-healing him, the heroes emerged victorious, dropping Gaspar just a few minutes before the con organizers would’ve started using harsh language at us. ;)
The lowest our fighter was dropped was 0 HP, so if he had been level 1, though, it might have been a TPK, or at least, a much longer fight. I personally feel that Gaspar was too strong (and perhaps, the initial fight in Lopul was too easy).
But thankfully, everyone survived, even the dire rat pet, who heroically tanked Gaspar for one round while the fighter had stepped back to get healed.
Sadly, I didn’t have the chance to role-play the end of the adventure, but I will write emails to the players to tell them what happened. I just gave them their rewards.
The Chelaxians had an easy time proving that Gaspar had been a dangerous threat, and the two Taldans were not able to convince the rest of the people otherwise. In a very noble and selfless gesture, Lannak then gave the two Chelaxians Gaspar’s map.
Faction awards:
- Cheliax got 2 PA’s thanks to Lannak’s gesture.
- Taldor got 1 PA for hiring Hokama.
- Osirion got 1 PA for manually cleaning up the shrine. If I had to do it over again, though, I would’ve allowed the Cleric to know ahead of time that he would need a Bless spell to truly cleanse the shrine, so he could memorize it. I feel bad because I saw he was disappointed about not being able to finish the job within the adventure.
- Andoran got 1 PA for posting the paper in Lopul.
Thanks again everyone for answering my questions and giving suggestions!
Antonin Cote, aka Moonbeam, aka Sonril Eledan the cleric of Calistria
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Just a short input; the second table ran in Finland consisted of probably the most fragile group ever to take part in this, and it survived without a single PC death. Truth be told, they resulted in very low income and many traumatizing memories.
- A Chelish sorcerer
- A Chelish druid with STR & DEX 7, and whose animal companion rolled 1-5 all the time
- A gnome illusionist
- An Andoran cleric
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Just a short input; the second table ran in Finland consisted of probably the most fragile group ever to take part in this, and it survived without a single PC death. Truth be told, they resulted in very low income and many traumatizing memories.
- A Chelish sorcerer
- A Chelish druid with STR & DEX 7, and whose animal companion rolled 1-5 all the time
- A gnome illusionist
- An Andoran cleric
The Cleric rolling 20s and while dm rolled 1-5s :P?
Other then that I call shenanigans! (Please don't pistol whip me ; ;)
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Were they all level 1? How did they survive?
By the skin of their teeth.
I was the DM of this session. A brief outline follows
Ben-Garri and the Funky Bunch: The gnome wizard cast grease, the cultists promptly failed their saves and were easily dispatched by the druid's riding dog animal companion, a few summoned wolves and fiendish scorpions.
The Hobgoblins and the goblins: Again, the druid's companion killed most of the goblins while the druid's summoned wolves and the human wizard's summoned fiendish scorpions did the mopping up. The cleric and the gnome wizard got KO's early on by accurate hobgoblin bow-fire.
The Harpy Damsels in Distress: This was the hardest one so far, as the alpha male (the dog) of this troupe couldn't fly and didn't have a ranged attack. The Harpy's KO'd the cleric early on. The cleric got stabilized and received a Cure Light Wounds. After which it got clubbed unconscious again. The still living NPC:s got massacred. The harpies were eventually defeated by a combination of readied actions with spears, summoned wolves and hawks and sheer dumb luck. There was a total of 4-6 PC KO's followed by last minute stabilization rolls by spell or by skill during the fight.
After this fight the character's were pretty much out of hit points, friends and other resources. Since their main mission was the delivery of Targos' body and not the murder on the silken caravan, they decided to camp out in the caves for a few days and rest.
When they managed to reach the main trail and the rest of the caravan the big fight with the bandits had already happened. The were met by a wounded and weary Jamila, who told them the whole story. Gaspar had managed to make off with most of the loot and had probably fled back to Taldor never to be seen again.
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Well they failed to capture Gaspar, and most of the prestige awards went down the drain. I don't know how they survived, I wasn't there. I knew the setup and players and the scenario.
True. Most of the money and the awards went down the drain. On the (debatable) plus side, the Andoran Cleric did earn a new nickname: Henceforth he shall be known as Ardem "Keijo" Cleitheld. The word-pun being "Keijo", which is close to the phonetic pronounciation of KO'd and is also a pretty common Finnish male first name.
Oh yes, Keijo also managed to contract
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| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
I've run Murder on the Silken Caravan twice now and I think I've given three PCs leprosy. However, the disease has to incubate for 2d4 weeks which means the PCs don't know they were infected in the course of the scenario. Without modern medicine you can't diagnose a disease until there are signs & symptoms anyways. There was a quick notation in Ben-Garri's stat block that more details concerning the disease would be found in Pathfinder #8. I have not played The Slave Pits of Absalom yet, so I don't know if that is where it will be explained/dealt with. I noted the leprosy on their chronicles along with the number of weeks before it is noticed, as well as the consequences.
Since I have a decent number of PFS players in my area (17 and counting) and we have organized a Yahoo group, I have unilaterally decided to wait until the afflicted PCs play PFS #8 before I allow them to suffer from the leprosy--and subsequently find a way to be cured. If I don't judge them again, I will know the judge who does and he/she will be aware of that loose end.
I was tempted to ask on the messageboard if anyone has judged Slave Pits and if so, was there anything in the scenario about the leprosy or was it overlooked. Can anyone give me a simple, non-spoiler answer?
I've run Murder on the Silken Caravan twice now and I think I've given three PCs leprosy. However, the disease has to incubate for 2d4 weeks which means the PCs don't know they were infected in the course of the scenario. Without modern medicine you can't diagnose a disease until there are signs & symptoms anyways. There was a quick notation in Ben-Garri's stat block that more details concerning the disease would be found in Pathfinder #8. I have not played The Slave Pits of Absalom yet, so I don't know if that is where it will be explained/dealt with.
"Pathfinder #8" refers to Pathfinder #8, not Pathfinder Society Scenario #8. That's a little confusing on our part.
I noted the leprosy on their chronicles along with the number of weeks before it is noticed, as well as the consequences.
That's the perfect way to handle it--before or during their next scenario they'll need to deal with the disease as a "condition gained."
Since I have a decent number of PFS players in my area (17 and counting) and we have organized a Yahoo group, I have unilaterally decided to wait until the afflicted PCs play PFS #8 before I allow them to suffer from the leprosy--and subsequently find a way to be cured. If I don't judge them again, I will know the judge who does and he/she will be aware of that loose end.
If they contract it after that scenario then they need to deal with it in the very next scenario they play. Again, this stems from the confusion about where to find additional information on this disease.
I was tempted to ask on the messageboard if anyone has judged Slave Pits and if so, was there anything in the scenario about the leprosy or was it overlooked. Can anyone give me a simple, non-spoiler answer?
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Thanks to both Greg and Joshua for the quick replies. It is really fantastic how responsive you guys are. Thanks for correcting my error and I'll address the disease the next time those players sit down to game. I was hoping there would be a tie-in with the Slave Pits of Absalom (which I haven't played yet) and I didn't want the players to miss a scene (for example) where they were sold into slavery at a deep discount because they were 'damaged goods'. Anyways, I'm glad I got around to asking about this and doubly happy I got such an authoritative answer.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Running this tonight, wish me luck.
I'm not as worried about the goblins since I've the group with the illusionist. I am going to print out the '10 fun facts about goblins' from Burnt Offerings and might bring my laptop just for the goblin song.
The Hobgoblins worry me more. I'm thinking of giving the hobgoblins whips, to drive the goblins forward, and inadvertantly weaken them through subdual damage if needed. Most of our party is 2nd level, so I'm more concerned about them taking damage than dishing it out.
Need to check if i have 3 Sabertooth Numerian miniatures at home, they'd be perfect for the hobgoblins.
Thank you for the leprosy info, as it also applies to my weekend game Taldor rogue's ghoul fever.
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Running this tonight, wish me luck.
I'm not as worried about the goblins since I've the group with the illusionist. I am going to print out the '10 fun facts about goblins' from Burnt Offerings and might bring my laptop just for the goblin song.
The Hobgoblins worry me more. I'm thinking of giving the hobgoblins whips, to drive the goblins forward, and inadvertantly weaken them through subdual damage if needed. Most of our party is 2nd level, so I'm more concerned about them taking damage than dishing it out.
Need to check if i have 3 Sabertooth Numerian miniatures at home, they'd be perfect for the hobgoblins.
Thank you for the leprosy info, as it also applies to my weekend game Taldor rogue's ghoul fever.
Matt, another option you might consider is the point of the raid is not to kill all the guards (PCs). The goblins are attempting to steal the camels and the trade goods that are loaded on them. They will only fight anyone who tries to stop them. If you are worried about the goblins overwhelming your PCs, try having them waste a few actions trying to intimidate the PCs (as the skill) or spread them out more to draw away melee types so the other goblins can dash in and grab a camel. Once a goblin had a camel, they make their escape and leave the battlemat. I used these tactics in one of the games I ran when the dice turned against the players, and it ended up they lost some camels but lived to tell. I did insist that the PCs had to buy camels of their own in the city if they wanted to join the caravan. Each camel they lost came out of their own pocket, but success in the last encounter meant they got everything back. And I did make a note which camel was transporting the body of Targos Min-Katheer... Losing the body would be bad.
How common are sandstorms of the type encountered in this adventure? If desert raiders frequently wear headgear of the type described, wouldn't caravan merchants have figured out the utility of this by now?
Could a PC conceivably know to bring appropriate face-protection with a decent survival or knowledge (local) check? Certainly Osirion PCs should be familiar with the desert.
Also, does Gasper's 19 Str reflect his state pre- or post-bull's strength?
Could a PC conceivably know to bring appropriate face-protection with a decent survival or knowledge (local) check? Certainly Osirion PCs should be familiar with the desert.I wouldn't recommend it for running a sanctioned event, because it would give those players an advantage not otherwise written into the scenario, but for use in games outside of the Pathfinder Society, I'd think it would be reasonable.
Acknowledged. Granted you don't have space in a 7000-word scenario to go into Osirion's weather patterns - I was more-or-less trying to establish the line of reasoning: If sandstorms of this severity happen often, shouldn't the PCs know to prepare for them ;). You're right though, that in the interests of fair play this is probably not a good option.
Spoiler: Entombed with the Pharaohs
This disturbance would certainly justify a lack of preparedness on the part of the caravan, and if the Osirion ranger asks how a bunch of goblins out-survived her, I'm going with this as an explanation :).
Also, does Gasper's 19 Str reflect his state pre- or post-bull's strength?The Str 19 is with bull's strength. His stats without the buff are listed in the "Base Statistics" portion of the stat block underneath "Morale."
So they are - thanks :).
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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After Action reports.
The lepers were fun, if leading to a lot of off colour jokes. "Let me hug you, Lamashtu loves you." being the tamest. Didn't get to infect anyone though. Stupid colour spray/cleving fighter.
The Fighter grumbled about having to take his armour off or bake, but the cleric laughed and said "Endure Elements."
The goblins weren't the slaughter I thought they'd be, though they had their moments. Most of my group were familiar with the stupid little freaks from pathfinder, but not the more militaristic hobgoblins. While they weren't that big of a threat (see fighter, stupid cleaving) the fact that the Hobgoblins were following military type drills, barking orders to each other "Target Caster, 3'oclock!" "Counterfire on the elf! Ready! Aim! Fire!" When the Cleric faced off against onee of the Hobgoblins and missed, he yelled "You swing like a halfling, son!" This was followed up by a thematically accurate crit that dropped him. I described the hobgoblin as, "F Lee Emry, in full helm and desert gear." I did replace the scimitars with dogslicers though, for the goblins. I also dressed them in black t shirts and the shirts had writing on them 'pathos' 'logos' 'mentos' 'adios' and 'amigos'
Oh, and no matter how bad the heal check, taking off the elf's shoes does not help stabalize her, nor does sand make a good coagulating agent.
I have to strongly disagree with the harpies as written. Even w/o the one singing, and the reduced hitpoints, this fight will most likely kill the party, if they aren't stocked up on potions of healing and/or their cleric is down. The +6 on will saves makes even a maxed out 1st level spell (11 + 4 for int +1 for SF +1 for specialization = 16) a 50/50 chance, and while the bard's countersong made the song an annoyance (I said, ever hear Kelly Osbourne sing? and everyone understood) the hitpoints, and the incapicated cleric made the fight difficult, if not impossible. If I'd remembered the dodge and flyby attack, well the term 'mulligan' would have been well known.
As for Gaspard, the bastard sword should be 1d10+6 by my math (+4 for strength 19, +2 for weapon specialization) with the Fighter likely not wearing armor, he's a tough fight for anyone without an incapacitating spell (ala colour spray or ray of enfeeblement)
All in all, while the premise is useful, this is still the deadliest module I've seen, even for level 2 characters. Level 3 characters may survive, but only if the party is well equipped and tactically inclined.
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RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Wanted to add/boast Now that I know what I'm doing (insert nervous laugh here) I'm going to contact the Guardtower on the West side about running a society game on the west side. I live on the north east corner, but I'm pretty loyal to the Guardtower.
We're almost too full at the Armoury both with number of players, and with just room.
The good news is that it means we'll have two nights, two seperate places to play, and I still should get my Sunday home group back up and running after the new year.
Viva la Pathfinder!
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Wanted to add/boast Now that I know what I'm doing (insert nervous laugh here) I'm going to contact the Guardtower on the West side about running a society game on the west side. I live on the north east corner, but I'm pretty loyal to the Guardtower.
We're almost too full at the Armoury both with number of players, and with just room.
The good news is that it means we'll have two nights, two seperate places to play, and I still should get my Sunday home group back up and running after the new year.
Viva la Pathfinder!
Go Matt! I'm glad to hear you're expanding Pathfinder in your area. It seems like its catching on wherever there are a few enthusiastic players willing to spend some time & effort. Once people play one game, they usually come back for more--they just need an opportunity. Nice work!
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As the other DM at the Armoury with Matt, I'll add my thoughts here. I'll note that I waited until most of the characters were level 2 before running this scenario.
I ran #3 with a party of 4 players: a 2nd level cleric, a 2nd level monk, a 1st level rogue, and a 1st level fighter.
Act I was fairly easy for them. Only one person managed to get touched by a leper, and I had him sufficiently freaked out at the prospect of contracting leprosy-even though he made his save the first time. :) The cleric went along with it, giving him a vial of mysterious liquid-water-and told him to call him in the morning. Eventually, the cleric informed him that he does not have leprosy.
Act II went pretty well, until the Andoran fighter tried to post his missive outside the tent. After several rolls, the fighter convinced the trader that it was in fact a letter saying "hello" in several languages--the trader added the saying in Kelish at the bottom of the letter.
Act III took a long time, but we got through it with few problems.
Act IV was fun. The NPCs and the rogue both became enchanted by the song. Atmar was knocked unconscious to protect him, but that only made him an easier target as the harpy carried him away. The cleric and the fighter both began climbing the shrine, while everyone else tried to take refuge inside the shrine. The harpies harried the climbers, and those on the ground start throwing things up at the haripes as they came towards the ground. After the encounter, some healing was done, and we moved into the final act. Playing the harpies as they were, wasn't really an issue for my table--good strategy and better rolls made it easier.
Act V was a cakewalk, thanks to the Djinni Jamilia called-who scored two critical hits on Gaspar. I did get the cleric and the fighter to 1hp a piece, but after dealing with the hobgoblins, they surrounded Gaspar and took care of him.
The game ended with a hilarious conversation, as the Taldor rogue tried to convince the Taldor monk that the best way to cover up Gaspar's actions was to slaughter the whole caravan. They didn't of course, but it was pretty funny.
My only real complaint was the Osirion faction mission. Part II of the mission isn't very clear, and very difficult for some players to accomplish. My Osirion cleric was the only one who didn't get both prestige awards.
And Matt, let me know your plans at the Guardtower. I can't help out there (I'm out maxed out for games at the moment), but I'll be happy to post information on the Cbus PFS info site we have.
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Go Matt! I'm glad to hear you're expanding Pathfinder in your area. It seems like its catching on wherever there are a few enthusiastic players willing to spend some time & effort. Once people play one game, they usually come back for more--they just need an opportunity. Nice work!Wanted to add/boast Now that I know what I'm doing (insert nervous laugh here) I'm going to contact the Guardtower on the West side about running a society game on the west side. I live on the north east corner, but I'm pretty loyal to the Guardtower.
We're almost too full at the Armoury both with number of players, and with just room.
The good news is that it means we'll have two nights, two seperate places to play, and I still should get my Sunday home group back up and running after the new year.
Viva la Pathfinder!
And just to add...we had 2 newcomers to the tables this week...one who drove from Canton and one from Mansfield. I feel pretty honored that they made the trip for our event--and on a Tuesday night no less. We have a pretty regular group of players for our 2 tables. It's nice to see the same faces from session to session.
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PLAYER 1: What? A harpy carrying an adolescent boy?
GM : She could grab him as an unattended object!
PLAYER 1: It's not a question of how she grabs him! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A Strength 10 harpy cannot carry an eighty pound slave.
GM : Well, it doesn't matter. Please roll initiative.
PLAYER 1: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a harpy needs to carry a light load, right?
GM : Please!
PLAYER 1: Am I right?
GM : I'm not interested!
PLAYER 2: It could be carried by an elite harpy!
PLAYER 1: Oh, yeah, an elite harpy maybe, but not a monster manual harpy. That's my point.
PLAYER 2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that.
GM : Will you please roll initiative and prepare for battle?!
PLAYER 1: But then of course a-- elite harpies are all flesh-eating.
PLAYER 2: Oh, yeah.
PLAYER 1: So, they wouldn't really need slaves anyway.
[GM leaves]
PLAYER 2: Wait a minute! Supposing two harpies carried it together?
PLAYER 1: No, they'd have to have it on a line.
PLAYER 2: Well, simple! They'd just use a strand of assassin vine!
PLAYER 1: What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?
PLAYER 2: Well, why not?
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A player at one of my tables said he was picking up one of the desert helmets from a dead hobgoblin for his own use. He anticipated that this might not be the last time he finds himself in combat amidst a sandstorm. There's nothing like this item that a player can purchase out of the PHB or the Pathfinder Campaign Sourcebook, however I have a hard time telling a player that a mundane item like this helmet cannot be retained beyond the scenario in which it was acquired. Would it be a grievious affront to any of the powers-that-be (Mr. Frost in particular) if I assigned an arbitrary GP value to the desert helmet and documented its properties on his Chronicle sheet for his future use? Is this a practice that would be allowed in the future, or is there too great a chance that such an exception would lead to abuses in the future?