|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Hello everyone,
It’s my great pleasure to announce that a group of bold adventurers has defeated Runelord Karzoug and saved Varisia!
My friend and I recently finished the Rise of the Runelords campaign. I just want to share that achievement with you, and give to fellow players and to the good folk at Paizo our feedback about the campaign.
I wrote a complete log of the campaign, which I invite you to read at this link if you have the time.
A few facts about our campaign:
- It started in December 2007 and finished in March 2009. It took us about the same time in real life to play it as happened in “game time”. :)
- I was the DM, my friend played two PC’s, and I played two DM-PC’s. We played core class characters, with almost nothing from splat books. It was the first time we played above level 10 with the D&D 3.5 edition rules, so that was an enlightening (and at times, frustrating) experience for both of us. Up until then, we had mostly been playing home-brewed campaigns light on rules, focusing more on exploration, excitement and role-play, where we mostly stayed at the level 5-9 “sweet spot”.
- Mostly, we played one 4-hour game per week. It took us 53 games to go through the entire AP. So that’s a bit over 200 hours of gaming.
- Even though the log is in English and most of the “in-character” dialogues were in English, the rest of the game was played mostly in French. :)
The four PC’s were:
- Navan Attaway: Human (Varisian) Cleric of Desna (with 2 levels of Rogue).
- Ruh: Gnome Wizard (conjuror).
- Kerista Vigandir: Human Paladin of Sarenrae. [DM PC]
- Drithnar: Half-Orc Ranger (reincarnated as a Human at the end of Burnt Offerings). [DM PC]
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
General comments on the campaign
Overall, we had a great time playing this campaign. It’s the first time I’ve DM’ed using Paizo products and I found them to be very well-done. I really want to thank everyone from Paizo who poured their heart and soul into this AP. It’s of very good quality. I am sorry if sometimes in the following review I sound harsh, it’s really meant as constructive criticism to help you make even better products. Also, as is human nature, I tend to be more verbose about the nitpicking little negative details than the great and very important things I liked. :)
I would say there’s nothing really major we didn’t like about the campaign itself, but where we hit a kind of brick wall was more with the high level D&D 3.5 rules. You’ll read about it below.
As a general comment, the player’s guide was well done and gave a good introduction to Golarion and Varisia. The maps of Varisia and Sandpoint are very well done. They sparked my player’s imagination and his character’s wanderlust.
One slight negative aspect was that we would’ve preferred a campaign where it takes longer for the characters to level up from 1 to 15. It would make it seem more believable. My campaign, even by forcing longer stretches between adventures, took less than a year and a half of “game time” to complete. It’s a bit unrealistic that the PC’s increase so much in power over such a short time. Also, between one adventure to the next, as written, there’s always a sense of urgency, they don’t have much time to stop and smell the roses (or at least, sell loot and buy/craft items), as written.
|
|
1 - Burnt Offerings
This was probably our favourite adventure in the AP, although the Skinsaw Murders and the Hook Mountain Massacre came very close. We had a blast playing this adventure! It is really a gem.
What we especially liked :
- Sandpoint: The town is wonderfully detailed and feels really alive. There is just the right amount of details, and the NPC’s are interesting. It serves its purpose as a base that the PC’s will care about. It’s easy for the DM to make fun things happen in Sandpoint with the info that’s given.
- The whole "Late Unpleasantness" background was amazing… it put an intriguing atmosphere right from the start.
- Very cool villains with lots of potential for role-play (especially Tsuto and Nualia).
- The goblins are fun enemies to fight, with the silly things they do.
- The several events that are described to introduce the PC’s to Sandpoint (Aldern’s hunt, the goblin in the closet, Shayliss, etc.) are of tremendous help to the DM to help bring the place to life, from the very start of the adventure. Honestly, it’s this more than anything that made me want to DM this campaign. I really love this kind of stuff, both as a DM and as a player.
- The map of the hinterlands around Sandpoint, and the other locations, was excellent. Even though the locations weren’t described in detail, there was enough information to create side-quests, if needed, and to give the player the sense that the world was alive and that there was more to it than just what he saw within the confines of the adventure.
- The catacombs of wrath (cool and creepy), the glassworks and Thistletop were very interesting locations to make the adventure in.
- The investigation to uncover Nualia’s plot was very interesting, by finding, fighting, questioning Tsuto and reading his journal and interacting with him.
- Erylium was a very interesting encounter. She’s above the competencies of the characters to deal with, so they have to be creative (but the encounter’s not too damaging either, so they don’t get destroyed while they figure out what to do).
- Once the campaign was over, and my player was browsing through the modules, he stopped at the picture of Thistletop and how it’s shaped like the head of Karzoug’s statue, and thought it was really cool! (the PC’s never noticed this in-game).
- The ecology of Thistletop was interesting: that the Tentamort was eating goblins and they were afraid of it. The dungeon was still being explored by Nualia: there were still mysteries in the dungeon even to her.
- The mystery around the Sihedron rune was fun (this goes for the first 3 adventures).
- I loved the zombies in the pits of the catacombs: reminded me of a scene in “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”.
- The player loved the fact that there was a side-quest to free the horse Shadowmist: he thinks it’s good to have such side-quests in an adventure.
- It’s cool that the followers of Nualia were so well fleshed-out.
- The rumors about the Sandpoint Devil are a nice addition to the adventure, especially since the players are not even meant to encounter this monster. It remains a mystery. It’s good that there are red herrings like this (makes the world feel more complex, alive).
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- I wasn’t too keen on the PC’s being heroes right after killing a few goblins. I would’ve preferred if they had stayed “nobodies” for a bit longer, and only became appreciated by the town after proving themselves. Since they reach the status of “heroes” just after killing a few goblins, for the rest of the AP, even though they kill more dangerous and epic enemies, they were already “capped out” in heroism from the start. Maybe I should’ve changed that.
- It would have been nice if the remains of Mr. Stoot’s house had been described at least a little bit, as it seems a likely place for the PC’s to visit upon hearing about the Late Unpleasantness. I only learned about the Pazuzu statue months later on the boards, alas.
Most memorable fights of the adventure:
- The one against Erylium.
- The series of quick fights when the PC's infiltrated the Thistletop stockade by a mixture of stealth, force and cunning.
- The one against Nualia, Lyrie, one Yeth Hound, Orik and Bruthazmus.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
2 - The Skinsaw Murders
Another absolutely awesome adventure. We had a lot of fun doing it!
But I find that the second part of the adventure could’ve been better. I would say this adventure is a 10/10, but that’s because the first part is a 11/10 and the second part is a 7/10, and the module gets a bonus of +1 because it has the lovely Seoni on the cover ;).
What we especially liked :
- The transition between the first and second adventures flowed really well.
- The murder investigation, the creepiness of the way people were killed. It was very scary. It felt like we were playing Call of C'thulhu for a while.
- My player loved the corn fields/scarecrows/Hambley farm encounters. He found them very creepy and the scene really came alive in his mind.
- I adored Foxglove Manor. Very cool setting. The story of the place was great, and the way we discover what happened to its inhabitants through the haunts was well done.
- The story of Aldern Foxglove, the way he's introduced as a somewhat harmless jerk in Burnt Offerings, and then his terrible transformation in this adventure: absolutely wonderful. That was brilliant.
- The fact that some of the farmers got killed by ghouls, and Mr. Grump tells the story, is grim and goes well with the adventure: makes it feel more poignant.
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- Xanesha is much too powerful for her level (but that has been mentioned many times on the board already), and the location where she's expected to be fought is fiendishly harsh to the players. If the PC's are "smart" and do something like collapse the tower, they will likely miss the letter that shows that she was about to assassinate the Lord-Mayor, and miss out on the big reward at the end, which is a major part of that adventure's wealth for the PC's. In my campaign, I just played it so my PC’s finished the adventure without actually fighting her. Otherwise, I’m 99% sure she would’ve destroyed them.
- It seems that the PC's resolve the Skinsaw cult's threat too quickly and easily, while the cult has eluded the Magnimar guards for so long. It makes it seem like people in Magnimar are useless.
- The stats of the members of the cult (both Ironbriar and the regular guys) seem too low for a supposedly elite cult of extremely competent murderers. I would have preferred like 4 level 6 guys rather than 12 level 2 guys (maybe not encountering them all at the same time to keep the difficulty reasonable).
- There should've been more encounters in Magnimar, perhaps as the cult becomes aware of the PC's, tries to assassinate them, etc.
Most memorable fights of the adventure:
- The one against Justice Ironbriar, Tsuto, the scarecrow golem and the cultists.
|
|
3 - The Hook Mountain Massacre
This was another incredibly fun adventure!
In this adventure, we had some of the best role-playing content of the entire campaign. The first parts: the Graul farm, Fort Rannick and Skull’s Crossing, are perfect. But at the end, the swamp and the Kreeg caves that are just “ok”. I’m very curious to see what the adventure would’ve looked like if it had been feasible to keep all of what Nick Logue had initially written.
This adventure, like the first two, was dripping with flavor. It really had an atmosphere all of its own, which was very vibrant. Often, it didn’t feel like we were playing D&D, we felt like we were in a movie. The next 3 adventures, on the other hand, felt more like “regular D&D”.
What we especially liked :
- I loved the whole Graul Farm setting. Very, very cool. I then watched “The Hills Have Eyes” based on the suggestion in the adventure’s foreword, and I enjoyed it a lot. :)
- The horror of the beloved Black Arrows being slaughtered was gripping. It made the ogres' cruelty very real. Those monsters were really evil and we hated them intensely. They weren't just creatures we killed to gain XP and treasure; we felt an urge to kill them, to avenge the Black Arrows.
- My player especially loved the Skull's Crossing setting.
- I liked the layout of Fort Rannick as well, it was fun to invade it. It really felt like an epic adventure.
- I liked that the PC’s are joined by 3 of the Black Arrows, and Shalelu. I like interaction with NPC’s. The 3 surviving rangers were very interesting characters and really added another level to the adventure. Especially, Kaven is an interesting character, because although he did something horrible, it was a mistake: he was being used, and it’s not easy to determine HOW accountable he is for the terrible things that have happened because of his actions (although I don’t doubt that 90% of parties doing this adventure answer it with a simple ‘we cut off his head’).
- The “torture porn” aspect was perfect for mature audiences. Some people complained about it, but personally, I liked it a lot. As disturbing as it may be, that’s the way ogres would behave.
- The concept of ogres as deformed, inbred, insane people was really cool. They really were memorable foes.
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- Black Magga was too strong for my party. They couldn't even scratch her. It didn't seem logical that she would leave the town rather than (very easily) devouring the entire party. Her defences should be very high, but not so high that the PC's have no reasonable chance of inflicting at least a little bit of damage (although, it’s true I could’ve changed that. Guess I should have).
- The PC’s had no desire to take over Fort Rannick. Its remote location and state of disrepair made it unappealing. And nothing further in the campaign is linked to it.
- Turtleback Ferry wasn’t very detailed at all (maybe because so much text had to be cut from Nicolas Logue’s initial adventure, unfortunately). But it seemed pretty dull compared to Sandpoint, which was GREAT. The delta between the two was pretty noticeable. ;)
- Many people have complained that Fort Rannick is too far from Sandpoint. I agree to some degree (although I don’t think it should be too close to Sandpoint, either). In my case, I didn’t have trouble bringing the PCs to Fort Rannick, but at the end of this adventure, I had a hell of a time convincing them to return to Sandpoint rather than going straight to fight Mokmurian, who lives in the mountains, very close by. And when my PC told me he was exploring the mountains during the few months’ in-game downtime between adventures 3 and 4, I was hard-pressed to justify that he didn’t find Jorgenfist; I said he didn’t find it, but my reasons why weren’t very good.
Customizations
- I had one of the PC’s go to Fort Rannick with Shalelu BEFORE it got destroyed by the ogres. They got to know the Black Arrows, so it made it even harder when they all got killed (of course, the PC miraculously escaped the battle). I strongly encourage other DM’s to do the same if it fits in their adventure and style of play (having one PC go to a place before the rest of the group), it really bumps the entire adventure up by one “emotional level”.
- I made Kaven Windstrike the brother of one of the PC’s, to increase the impact of his betrayal, and to make it morally harder to decide how to deal with him.
- I swapped the location of Hookmaw and Lucrecia. I didn't want the first creature that the PC's fought in the keep (they entered via the secret tunnels) to be Lucrecia. Would've been anticlimatic. Also, I found it hard to believe that fancy Lucrecia would make her bedroom in the crappy dungeon level near the jails. She instead took the bedroom of one of the Black Arrow officers on the ground floor. Be warned though, if you’re considering doing the same thing, that it makes the battle on the keep’s second floor even more brutal.
- The section in the swamps is a bit flimsy in content, so I added an encounter with a Witchfire (from Pathfinder #5) for the PC’s to fight before they meet Myriana. Just to spice things up.
- I mapped and populated the two tunnels to the West/South of the forge in the Kreeg Clanhold. To the west were some mines with ogre miners/slaves/overseers and to the south were communal caves with women, children, a (small) treasure cave and a feast hall decorated with trophies taken from rival ogre tribes and from the Black Arrows. It’s good to do this ahead of time because you just KNOW that players always head straight for the unmapped areas of a dungeon. :)
- In my campaign, Magnimar sent a troop of Hellknights to take over Fort Rannick once they learned that the Black Arrows had fallen. They arrived at the end of the adventure, after the PC's had defeated Barl. So it freed up the PC’s to return to Sandpoint (so they didn’t feel bad about leaving Turtleback Ferry defenceless) and it gave the sense that Magnimar was doing something about the situation.
Most memorable fights of the adventure:
- The one against Lucrecia, Dorella, Jaagrath, 2 ogres, and Kaven.
- The one against a Witchfire in the Shimmerglens.
- The one against the witch covey and Lamatar in a cramped tunnel.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
4 - Fortress of the Stone Giants
Alas, our “momentum of fun” that we had going for the first three adventures of the campaign stopped at this one. I thought this adventure was ok, it wasn’t as good as the previous three, but I thought it was still pretty decent, but my player absolutely loathed it. He couldn’t wait for it to be over. Up until this adventure, we felt that the challenges seemed just right for our group of 4 core class PC’s, but this adventure was too hard for our group. We decided to bring 4 NPC’s with us to help out (Jakardros, Shalelu, a level 10 enchantress, and a level 9 rogue/fighter).
This was also the first adventure that we played higher than level 10 in D&D 3.5, and we were really disappointed with many of the side-effects of higher level game play:
- how long the fights take in real time due to amount of dice-rolling and math involved
- the many attacks of the warriors
- the many buffs on everyone (and the paperwork to keep track of them)
- the “shotgun” effect where everyone seems to do a tremendous amount of damage, so people can go from full HP to almost dead just by taking a round of full attacks from someone. So whoever attacks first wins. The fights only last a couple rounds, so they don’t feel “epic”, yet they take a long time in real-life. It should be the other way around.
- The ultimate cheesiness of the five minute adventure day: pop into the dungeon, kill 1 or 2 sets of monsters, blowing all of your high level spells, teleport out 5 minutes later, sleep for 8 hours, repeat until the dungeon is empty. That’s really not something that inspires me, and I hate playing/DM’ing an adventure that goes like this.
These gripes aren’t against the adventure itself, but I am listing them here since this adventure had the unfortunate honor of being the one where the game sort of “fell apart” in certain aspects. Up until then we were happy in our naïve little bubble, content with the belief that high-level gaming was heroic and fun.
On the bright side, we had another player join us for this adventure, so that made things livelier around the table. And he really enjoyed the adventure! He likes killing giants. :)
What we especially liked :
- The raid on Sandpoint was awesome! We had a lot of fun doing it. We liked having to decide which places to defend first, the emotional attachment to seeing Sandpoint under attack, townsfolk dying, wondering why the giants are attacking us. The fact that they were interested in the Old Light, which had been a mystery since the first adventure, was also very well done. And the challenge level of the attackers was just right for my group. Also, the sequence of the raid was very well explained (what happens where and when), and it was easy to run it as a DM.
- My player liked the side-quests of having to recover the Scarnettis’ stolen goods (although they were too easy to find), and to free the captured villagers.
- The fight against Mokmurian was interesting, and memorable.
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- My player found the dungeon dull, a mindless series of rooms with monsters. He found there wasn't enough role-playing, except for Conna dumping a lot of information on the PC’s in one shot. I agree to some degree, but personally it did not bother me (and I don't think it would have if I had been a player).
- The difficulty level seemed high and forced the PC's to think in a very strategic/powergaming manner instead of role-playing, which is not our favored style of play.
- It would be nice if the adventure mentioned a bit more what the rest of Varisia is doing in preparation against the giant invasion. It feels like nobody's doing anything, which gives the PC's the impression that the rulers of Varisia are apathetic fools.
- My player was very disappointed with the encounter at the Storval Stairs. He had been dying to visit that location since he saw it in the player’s guide at the start of the campaign, but he found that the encounter was very dull and didn’t use the setting to its full potential value: just 4 giants throwing rocks from the top of the stairs. I guess part of this negative comment goes to me as well for not improving the encounter.
- Similar comment about the black tower: it was a cool setting, but was kind of dull in its lack of details.
- We found it a bit odd that the black monk fights unarmed, but his feet are wrapped up, and he’s holding a scroll case with both hands. How does he fight? Does he headbutt people?
- I think it would have been better if the entrance to the Jorgenfist dungeons wasn’t a big gaping hole in the middle of the camp. That’s too easy to enter for a group of flying & invisible people. Basically, my PC’s had ZERO interaction with everything above-ground in Jorgenfist, until after Mokmurian was dead and the giants surrendered. That’s a shame, given how much detail is given about the giant camp (which I found rather interesting), and the 2 entrances in the cliffs. If at least the entrance had been within a building, it would’ve forced my PC’s to be a bit more creative.
Customizations
- I changed the map dimensions to 10' squares for all of Jorgenfist's underground levels. The place looked too small to serve as a home for giants.
- I decided that each giant could only be resurrected once by the Runeslave Cauldron, to avoid the characters fighting the same foes too many times.
- I decided that at the end of the adventure, the tribe of Frost Giants who's briefly mentioned in the module as being about to join Mokmurian arrived, but they decided to attack Jorgenfist once they found that many of Mokmurian's minions had been killed by adventurers, and that Mokmurian himself was in danger. Those Frost Giants were not hostile to the PC's and spoke to them of strange events that foreshadowed some of the content of adventure 6.
Most memorable fights of the adventure:
- The whole Sandpoint raid
- Both times the PC's fought the Lamias in their shrine, with the 2 charmed red dragons and a few other giants.
- The annoyance of the Scanderig (and the cheer when the wizard finally disintegrated it :) )
- The big battle against Mokmurian.
|
|
5 - Sins of the Saviors
This was a solid adventure. The “magic” of the first 3 modules was gone, eroded by our ordeal of getting through Fortress of the Stone Giants, and our embitterment toward the rigors and deadliness of high level gaming, but still, we had a lot of fun with this one.
What we especially liked :
- The idea for this adventure is original and interesting: a demi-plane with sin-based denizens.
- The level of difficulty seemed good. It felt easier than the previous adventure (relative to our level).
- The concept of finding a secret level of the catacombs below Sandpoint was interesting.
- The setting of fighting the white dragon in the snow was interesting, the player had been looking forward to it ever since seeing the cover of the adventure. :)
- The contents of the wings were fun to explore, we were curious to find out what would be in each wing. The NPC’s were interesting.
- The final battle against the golem was fun, and gave another chance to show Karzoug and make the PC’s hate him even more.
- I liked that what was presented for the interaction between the various factions (like envy having been annihilated), but it would’ve been nice if there had been more interaction still.
- This module was very generous with magical items. It gave a sense that old Thassilon had a lot of magic. It was a welcome change after the many unusable large-size items in previous adventures. It’s also a way to help the poor players who lost items in the disjunction trap (though none of mine did).
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- We almost had a TPK in the very first game of this adventure, because the group fought the Scribbler and the Glabrezu at the same time, and I had the 6 nearby hounds join the fight due to the noise. But that made it too hard – if I had to do it again, I would reduce the number of hounds, or place them somewhere else.
- The sins thing was a great idea, and I was looking forward to it since the start of the campaign, paying attention to the PC’s behaviors, looking for sins. Alas, didn’t go as well as I intended, as two of the PC’s (the cleric and the paladin) didn’t have any obvious sin. Another potential danger that some groups might encounter, is that if a DM pins a sin on a character, the player might take it personally and feel that the sin is pinned on him as a person in real life. I think it could degenerate into something ugly. Finally, I find that not all sins are equal in game terms: for example, being envious isn’t as useful as being gluttonous or wrathful. It’s not fair! Why is every sin better than envy! It’s so typical. Poor envy always gets shafted… Ah, how it wishes it were a different sin… :)
- My player felt that 10000 years was too much. It felt unbelievable that the people in Runeforge had been caught there for THAT long. Might’ve been better to say that time stopped while the runelords were asleep. What happened in 10000 years between the factions might’ve happened in the last 5 years, for the most part. Or at least the time could’ve been compressed, so like 300 years. I found it a bit over the top, but it didn’t bother me. It reminded me of the show Red Dwarf when the main character wakes up and finds out he’s been in hibernation for 3 million years and that the entire human race is long gone. :)
Customizations
- I changed the timing of the start of the adventure: I wanted to give the PCs a few months to rest between adventures 4 and 5. So the sinkhole didn’t appear quite so fast.
- I removed the Cloudkill effect from most of the Festering Maze of Sloth; I drew a map of it ahead of time and populated it with generic vermin and oozes.
- I removed the penalty to Diplomacy from the Runeforged weapons, and in general, I made the weapons less of an annoyance for the PC’s. I really wanted to make it feel like it was a worthwhile investment of their time to have visited Runeforge, so I didn’t want there to be too many “strings attached” to the end result.
- I made it really easy for the PC’s to avoid 2 of the 3 deadliest traps of the dungeon. It’s good that they were there, but to match my play style, I gave hints to the player on how to avoid them. I like that the traps were there, with the design note: “if the players don’t like them, take them away”. That’s good design.
Most memorable fights of the adventure:
- The fight against the Scribbler, the Glabrezu, a summoned barghest and 8 shadow mastiffs.
|
|
6 - The Spires of Xin-Shalast
I found this to be the toughest adventure to DM, not only because the combats were more complex and I had to remember the enemies’ abilities, but because I had to do a lot of customizations to make it all fit together. I was confused by some aspects of the adventure, even after reading it three times. Also, I found that the content wasn’t as well balanced as in some other adventures: the Vekker Cabin was much too easy, and the Pinnacle of Avarice was much too hard.
What we especially liked :
- The setting is epic, high up in the frigid, remote mountains, with the influence of Leng being felt.
- The simple fact that it was the last adventure of the AP meant that we had high expectations, but also everything seemed more “meaningful”.
- The Vekker cabin: that setting, with the howling blizzard outside, was very cool.
- Karzoug’s power level felt right. I liked that we had the chance to interact with him before: at the end of adventures 4 and 5, and this time, through the projected images in the Pinnacle of Avarice. Also, it’s cool and devious that he could see through the Sihedron Medallions since adventure 1. :) He was a good villain, and well introduced.
- My player really like the final scene in the Eye of Avarice, he thought the environment was really cool (very “Soul-Calibur” kind of environment).
Some things that didn’t work out so well:
- My player found it a bit odd that Brodert Quink just remembered out of the blue that he had letters talking about Xin-Shalast: he would’ve said so before. That introduction seemed a bit awkward.
- The exact way of reaching Xin-Shalast, at the full moon and being under starvation, is very complicated and counter-intuitive. What group of level 15 adventurers would ever suffer from starvation? It was complicated for the PC’s to figure out they had to be starving to see the path. So I just made things simpler and decided that Svevenka came to pick them up.
- The fact that Leng influences the region is great, but it’s also vague and I was very confused. How exactly is it influencing the region? How are the Denizens of Leng getting into Golarion? What’s their interaction with Karzoug’s minions?
- I found that the Vekker cabin would have been a GREAT location for an adventure below level 10. But it was way too easy for such a high-level group, and that part of the adventure lost a lot of its appeal, because it was meant to be scary, but it wasn’t due to the lack of challenge. The haunts are trivial to bypass for adventurers with Heroes Feast, because it makes them immune to fear effects. Haunts are not really a good mechanism after level 11 because of this as long as the party has a cleric. And that’s too bad, because the haunts in the cabin were a very interesting way of discovering about the dwarves’ fate.
- Some text about the Wendigo’s actions before the PC’s find the cabin seems to be missing. It was a bit confusing. Also, the Wendigo didn’t feel like a CR17, his damage output is too low I think (compared to other creatures in the adventure, such as Gamigin or the Hidden Beast, who are both lower CR and have more powerful abilities).
- The description of Xin-Shalast was pretty vague, like someone else said on the board, it felt more like a gazetteer than an adventure. But on the other hand, I don’t see how it could’ve been improved with the number of pages available. Nor did I want my player to stick around Lower Xin-Shalast for more than a couple of encounters, so I was fine with that. No big deal.
- It’s also true that at high levels, the PC’s can be invisible and fly everywhere (or even worse, teleport, which I disabled just to make things a little bit less trivial for them), which means that it’s very easy for them to bypass Lower Xin-Shalast. So I guess it would’ve been a waste to detail it more than that. :)
- The Pinnacle of Avarice was WAY too hard for my group (even though I removed the magical armors and rings of the giants). We had to fudge a lot of things for them to survive the first 2-3 assaults. After they killed about a third of the enemies, my player was completely fed up with it and asked me if we could skip ahead to the fight with Karzoug and just end the campaign already. I feel bad we had to do that. If I had to do it over again, I would reduce the number of giants and lamias in the pinnacle at least by half.
- My player found that fighting rune giants was too over-the-top epic: they are SO big! It doesn’t feel realistic that even heroic mortals could kill them with weapons. I guess that’s a matter of personal preference. I don’t mind it.
Customizations
- In Runeforge, I arranged for the PC’s to discover a new wizard spell that allowed the group to breathe at high altitudes, easily. While I find the “high altitude breathing” rules presented in the module realistic, and interesting from that point of view, I felt there were so many challenges in the adventure already that I didn’t want my player to have to worry about such a “mundane” (big quotation marks) problem.
- The material component for this spell was a form of crystals that the Vekker brothers were rumored to have mined. That way, the PC’s were forced to seek out their cabin. I had been afraid that my player would pull out a “Find the Path” or some other such magical way to trivially find Xin-Shalast, so I wanted to be safe. In the end, he didn’t, but I don’t regret having a backup plan.
- I didn’t want the PC’s to trivialize the adventure by teleporting all over the place, so I made teleportation effects difficult to use in the region: if they failed a caster level check, a random (nasty) effect happened and the spell failed.
- I added a whole other dimension to the adventure, with the frost giant tribe the PC’s had befriended at the end of adventure #4. They had by then gathered a small army of giants of various types, and got ready to launch an attack on Xin-Shalast that would coincide with the PC’s attack on Karzoug’s tower. But to be immune to the rune giants’ control, the leader of the frost giants needed to activate a special magical item with 3 Sihedron Rings taken from Xin-Shalast. He asked the PC’s to fetch those 3 rings, which gave the group a reason to visit the lower city (otherwise they would’ve bypassed it and gone straight for Karzoug), and they pretty much did the 3 encounters that are fleshed out in the module… worked out perfectly.
- I decided that Sihedron Rings/Medallions weren’t necessary to bypass the occlusion field: having a runeforged weapon was good enough (or being a minion of Karzoug). Again, this was to justify the time and effort the PC’s spent in going to Runeforge rather than going straight to Karzoug after killing Mokmurian.
I really enjoyed the story hour
With my group they like high level combat and tactics so the major problems you had with the game my players will like
I have stolen alot of your ideas and intergrated them into my notes, hope to see your next story hour you run
Moonbeam - great post or posts. Thanks for taking the time to do this I found it very interesting and useful.
My group is still playing Burnt Offerings and so I will look into some of your suggestions. If you have any additional adventure supplements, enhancements or side quests documented please share with the community.
I've really loved your story hour and please tell us you are going to play Curse of the Crimson Throne next and that you'll give us so much useful material as you did with your ROTR campaign.
I printed your campaign (493 overall pages) and with Jolly Doc one (187) is one of the my main official books on my shelf (with the 8 of Paizo) for what concern ROTR section.
I think every master going to make Golarion alive should read it. A final prayer if you'll never plan to do something online (pbp or by internet tool) please consider my proposal to be one of your players, I'd love to have a part in your wonderful world.
Like Joey I am stealing many of the ideas that you used for my campaign, thank you so much!
Congrats on completing the campaign! Any plans for what is next? I would love to read a story hour for Curse of the Crimson Throne next.
Sean Mahoney
|
|
Hi guys, thanks a lot for the kind words!!!! I'm glad you enjoyed the tale of our campaign!!
Writing the log was a huge amount of work. It took much longer than actually playing the game. :)
My group is also playing a Savage Tide campaign, and you can see the log at this link.
I'm kind of exhausted from my writing marathon of the past few weeks to bring RotRL to a conclusion, so I'm debating whether or not to take on such a colossal task again in the future. But for sure, reading such positive feedback is making me want to do it! :)
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to write another one, would you guys rather have a Curse of the Crimson Throne journal or a Legacy of Fire journal?
I'm more inspired by CotCT, and I've already read the entire campaign (so I could better tailor the story, knowing the entire AP ahead of time). But on the down side, there are already many CotCT journals available, so perhaps it would be more relevant to the community to get one about Legacy of Fire?
Moonbeam - This is great. I read the entire thing and benefit greatly from your interpretations and suggestions. It must have been an incredible amount of work, but I am glad you did it. Thank you.
Do you think it would still be possible to have such organic, complex dialogues if you had more players?
I would recommend highly that you run a game that you have the entire campaign for rather than running one before all the books are out. I think it is just possible to work far more into backgrounds and keep a coherent and if needed improved story that way.
If you were starting Rise of the Runelords, for example, when only two of the books had been released then your entire section and involvement in Fort Rannick would not have been there. As I recall you indicate that was one of your favorite portions of the campaign.
Sean Mahoney
My group is also playing a Savage Tide campaign, and you can see the log at this link.
This will be next book on my shelf even if at the moment I have still wonderful material to read from Golarion (as Pathfinder's Journal I always tought uneseful and only lately I discovered fantastic and a necessity to know Golarion and to get very good Role Playing ideas)...
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to write another one, would you guys rather have a Curse of the Crimson Throne journal or a Legacy of Fire journal?
mmm... very difficult question also because you completly jump an option on Second Darkness...
Before reading your wonderful story hour on RotR I had already read almost all Paizo books on this AP. This was however a reason to appreciate your work even more and so even if I already read something from CotCT (while I know nothing at all on LoF) my vote goes to the first because there are more link with RotR in that and I'm sure they could be transformed in gold by your ink.
Another reason is that I thought your RotR writings were really really really useful because you did a wonderful job of preparation before and you knew everything about Varisia locations and its inhabitants. Now this is, if possible, even more true and the fact that you have already read all the material before starting the campaign could transform the campaign in something very useful and in a compendium to official books filling those parts with small black holes.
I think that Paizo materials is near perfection but due to commercial stress to release products they lack, sometimes, of something and I think this gap is perfectly recovered from works like your (I think Paizo should print your story hour... really).
So if it's true that other story hours exists for CotCT I still haven't found anyone able to do this job (if there is any around please inform me).
Then in my opinion it would be more relevant to the community to follow with CotCT
(however I'll love a Legacy of Fire choice too, anything will be good until you will not stop)
Thanks again Moonbeam... I really really really enjoyed your stories and I passed very beautiful moments reading your writings during my work meal pauses.
|
mmm... very difficult question also because you completly jump an option on Second Darkness...
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to write another one, would you guys rather have a Curse of the Crimson Throne journal or a Legacy of Fire journal?
Moonbeam didn't mention Second Darkness on purpose. Some time ago, we divided the APs between ourselves, and that one is mine to DM :)
But, truth be told, I don't really know if/when we'll get around to playing that one...
|
|
With my group they like high level combat and tactics so the major problems you had with the game my players will like
I'm sure you're not the only ones, Joey. Which makes me say a double Kudos to the Paizo guys! It's definitely a tall order to please so many and diverse players and play styles. Good job guys for keeping us all happy :)
|
|
Ayronis: "Do you think it would still be possible to have such organic, complex dialogues if you had more players? "
Yes, I think so. Some of the dialogues in the log were really said in-game (we record our games, so for a few worthwhile scenes, I usually transcribe almost word-for-word what we said). Most of the time though, I just write the dialogue from scratch. Actually, many of the most "on-the-side role-playing, not in the module" scenes in my logs didn't even happen during the actual game, I added them later (there is a LOT of this in my Savage Tide log since I don't want to bog down the actual game with my character's inner conflicts). But with multiple players, there are (obviously) more jokes being told around the table, more goofing around, so that makes a funnier log to read. With several people looking at the same problem, some situations are handled in a more unusual manner than with just 1 player. On the other hand, there are more "STOOPID" moments for the group, as the characters are not as well coordinated than when they're all controlled by the same people or 2 people (we had a lot of those in Savage Tide, especially at the start of the campaign).
Sean Mahoney: "I would recommend highly that you run a game that you have the entire campaign for rather than running one before all the books are out. I think it is just possible to work far more into backgrounds and keep a coherent and if needed improved story that way."
I totally agree.
Sneaky: "I'm sure they could be transformed in gold by your ink "
That's a little trick I learned from Runelord Karzoug. :)
Seriously, thanks a lot! Wow! You guys are really motivating me to write another journal. :) :) :)
|
|
I finally got around to finishing your log. It was very well done and would be very helpful to anyone that wants to run that AP.
Regardless which one you decided to do next I will read it and steal idea's from it as well. Just wanted to say it was a very good writeup and this is a interesting overview from a GM's point of view in this thread.
|
|
I finally got around to finishing your log. It was very well done and would be very helpful to anyone that wants to run that AP.
Regardless which one you decided to do next I will read it and steal idea's from it as well. Just wanted to say it was a very good writeup and this is a interesting overview from a GM's point of view in this thread.
Thank you very much! :)
|
i can't read :P
i am in the end of Skinsaw murders :P
my cleric by accident jumped half the escenario, now she has elarned where Xanesha hides and is going for her
recommendatiosn for everyone: don't botch Divinations against the minions of the endbosses or the end bosses... its ahell of a problem :P
I have to say, this entire thread intrigued me greatly and for good reason. I ran Rise of the Runelords with my group for quite some time, we started not long after #6 arrived in the mail and the PC's had fun... for the most part. I'll admit I had the misfortune of having two PC's with very... strong personalities that often clashed with eachother. Alas the less 'magic' and heightened 'annoyance' factor of Fortress of the Stone Giants killed the game for them. Some were fine with the game but others didn't simply dislike the lack of useful magic items included in the adventure, they loathed it. I tried to satisfy them but I guess damage had been done and the game died near the end of FoSG. Still, it's interesting hearing how you handled things, I'm hoping to move here in the next year down to the states and should I end up running this campaign again in the future I'll keep these suggestions in mind.
I'm running Burnt Offerings in a play by post but it's slow going and has nearly stopped running due to the reasons many pbp games fail. Still, I may get the chance to steal some of your changes in the future :-)
Anyway, look forward to reading the story hour. My vote would be for Legacy of Fire. I plan on running that one here in about a month and intend on investigating other DM's takes on it as much as I can. I've found it's one thing to read a module and think 'wow, this is awesome!' it's another thing to run it and make sure the PC's feel the same.
Keep up the good DMing.
|
|
Cher Moonbeam !
I just read half of your fantastic story and I have to say it's very well written.
Since you played it in french your English is way better than mine could ever be (Well I'm French too)?
Anyway, you gave me lots and lots of great ideas.
Oh btw, recording sessions is a GREAT IDEA ! I will do that now ! and it doesn't cost much now.
All of my PCs 4 were foreigners from Varisia and so I did not find that many ties to Sandpoint but things are coming as we will move on to Skinsaw murders.
May be one of the reason you found high levels a bit boring was that you had so many NPCs to deal with and that looked more like a wargame than a RPG ?
Anyway, my players are far from being min-maxers and much more interested in the RP. That means I will take your advices on what went well and what didn't.
Your work is SURELY a MUST READ for anyone who intend to run RoTRL and should be sticked in the RotRL forum.
Thanks A LOT again for the great free work.
P.S. The joke on Welcome Home(Sanitorium) really made me laugh loud ! :)
Cher Moonbeam !
I just read half of your fantastic story and I have to say it's very well written.
Since you played it in french your English is way better than mine could ever be (Well I'm French too)?
Anyway, you gave me lots and lots of great ideas.
Oh btw, recording sessions is a GREAT IDEA ! I will do that now ! and it doesn't cost much now.
All of my PCs 4 were foreigners from Varisia and so I did not find that many ties to Sandpoint but things are coming as we will move on to Skinsaw murders.May be one of the reason you found high levels a bit boring was that you had so many NPCs to deal with and that looked more like a wargame than a RPG ?
Anyway, my players are far from being min-maxers and much more interested in the RP. That means I will take your advices on what went well and what didn't.Your work is SURELY a MUST READ for anyone who intend to run RoTRL and should be sticked in the RotRL forum.
Thanks A LOT again for the great free work.
P.S. The joke on Welcome Home(Sanitorium) really made me laugh loud ! :)
This is a great thread. Congrats to Paizo and to Moonbeam's crew for making this thread a great, great read!
|
|
Salut Chewbacca ;)
Thanks a lot for the nice feedback. :)
May be one of the reason you found high levels a bit boring was that you had so many NPCs to deal with and that looked more like a wargame than a RPG ?
For the Fortress of the Stone Giants, indeed, it was a bit slower because the party swelled to 8 people for the second half of the adventure. That wasn't so bad, though. Each player controlled 3 characters. My initial player took care of Navan, Ruh and Jakardros, and the guest player handled Drithnar, Kerista and Sebania. I played Acacia and Shalelu. But I'm glad they decided to recruit more NPCs to finish the dungeon (which they never do, usually!), otherwise it would've been a royal pain to finish that module. And I'm happy that these 4 cool NPC's had a more active role in defending Varisia.
In the Spires of Xin-Shalast, the mass combat weren't played in-game. I added them to my journal so the story felt more complete, and I wanted to describe what happened to the various NPC's I had lovingly introduced. And here too, I liked showing that other people besides the 4 PC's played a role in the glorious victory achieved that day.
P.S. The joke on Welcome Home(Sanitorium) really made me laugh loud ! :)
hehe, I always try to put little jokes like that in my logs. ;)