Creative Director
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On page 28, it states "since the Cornucopia is seven courses long and there are more than seven key NPCs, the PCs will need to divide and conquer if they hope to learn everything there is to learn." However, I'm only seeing a total of six "key NPCs." I'm making the assumption that those with a listed gossip are said "key NPCs." Am I missing something here?
There are only six key NPCs. We cut a seventh because there was no room for a seventh... but then in editing missed the fact that there was a fragment back there in the text that still referenced seven key NPCs.
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I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around roomb B16 in the Asmodean Knot. Room B16 (Observation Chamber) says that "the stairs that lead into this room, as with the stairs in area B3, don't quite behave as stairs should, looping back in eternal descent or ascent depending on the direction one travels." Does this mean that when PCs ascend towards B16 from either B13~B15 or B17~B19, they keep ascending indefinitely, never actually reaching B16? If so, how exactly do they reach B16 (and for that matter, leave the room, since when descending, they descent "eternally")?
The other question I had was whether occupants in B16 can see into B14, B15, B17, or B18. I would imagine so, since it *is* called an observation chamber, after all. And if they can, do they observe through some kind of window or just by peering down the "eternal" stairs?
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I'm having some trouble wrapping my head around roomb B16 in the Asmodean Knot. Room B16 (Observation Chamber) says that "the stairs that lead into this room, as with the stairs in area B3, don't quite behave as stairs should, looping back in eternal descent or ascent depending on the direction one travels." Does this mean that when PCs ascend towards B16 from either B13~B15 or B17~B19, they keep ascending indefinitely, never actually reaching B16? If so, how exactly do they reach B16 (and for that matter, leave the room, since when descending, they descent "eternally")?
The other question I had was whether occupants in B16 can see into B14, B15, B17, or B18. I would imagine so, since it *is* called an observation chamber, after all. And if they can, do they observe through some kind of window or just by peering down the "eternal" stairs?
So does anyone have any insight on this? Any help is greatly appreciated.
The observation chamber is in the middle (via the central stair-hallways) of the other umpteen rooms. These chambers seemed clear to me on the map. The rooms do not appear to have direct observation of each other. However, I do caveat this by saying that I am operating from memory...
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The chambers depicted on the map are clear, however, the problem I'm having lies within the description: "the stairs that lead into [the observation chamber], don't quite behave as stairs should, looping back in eternal descent or ascent depending on the direction one travels." Which makes me believe that if you start climbing up the stairs, you would be ascending "eternally," as the text suggests. So how, then, does one actually enter this observation chamber?
The chambers depicted on the map are clear, however, the problem I'm having lies within the description: "the stairs that lead into [the observation chamber], don't quite behave as stairs should, looping back in eternal descent or ascent depending on the direction one travels." Which makes me believe that if you start climbing up the stairs, you would be ascending "eternally," as the text suggests. So how, then, does one actually enter this observation chamber?
It means like... you go from B16, to B14, to B13 to B15 to B16. The entire time, you're going down stairs, but you arrive in the same spot. You turn around and go from B16 to B15 to B13 to B16 to B17 'cross the corridor to B18 and into B16 and the entire time you're going up stairs, but you are still able to get into B16 both times while traveling up the staircases.
Remember that it's very important that each room is always the same room they were in. So, if the PCs mark a wall, and then try to go down the stairs away from their mark and always make sure to go down, they could go down 19 flights of stairs and never touch a step up and see their mark every time they pass.
like it should normally be something like
B13
..B15/14
......B16
........B17/18
..........Corridor
Both stairways going from B13 to 15/14 and from B13 to B16 are going down, B16 going down further. You can go from the ground-floor corridor to 17/18 to 16 to 15/14 to 13 by climbing the stairs. If you turn around, you can go from 13 to the corridor again.
But instead it's
*infinity*
B13
.B15/14
...B16
....B17/18
.....Corridor
......B17/18
.......B16
........B15/14
.........B13 <-- You Start Here
..........B15/14
...........B16
............B17/18
.............Corridor
..............B17/18
...............B16
................B15/14
.................B13
*infinity*
In this example, the left staircase in B13 to B14 goes down while the right staircase, B13 to B15, goes up. The center staircase from B13 to B16 goes up. No matter how far you travel down, you always go to the next room which seems to be infinitely below the last room. No matter how far you travel up, you always go to the next room which is infinitely above the last room. I imagine the central staircase goes both up and down, but they go either a much, much, much shorter distance than possible or an extremely long distance. Whichever makes the least sense.
For a visual cue, google M. C. Escher's drawings. Even when the stairs should be rationally going up to reach the top floor, you can reach the top floor by going down.
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Ah, I think I understand what you mean now. So you can make any sort of path through B13~B18 and you're always descending or ascending. One problem I'm seeing, though, is in B13, the description says: "three stairways proceed--two leading down to the left and right and one leading up in the center." So, let's say you start at B13 and go down towards B15, down to B16, down to B14, down to B13. Now, you're back where you started, but if you turn around to look at the stairs you just walked down from, would it still look like a stair that leads "down?"
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I did send an apology to the cartographers, but they think I'm not being sincere now as I always send an apology, and anyway they've never forgiven me for a place called the Wreck some time back and secret plot my painful demise. My mind tends to think in these unfortunate ways, just wait until Thousand Screams, now that really is complicated:)
Ice Titan gives a very good visual clue however, bravo and spot on.
Sunny werewolf and tarrasque-infested hills out.
In the Casting section, specifically Casting Tybain, it calls for the PCs to make a Reflex Save, but doesn't specify what the DC is. Anyone have some insight on that.
Trav
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In the Casting section, specifically Casting Tybain, it calls for the PCs to make a Reflex Save, but doesn't specify what the DC is. Anyone have some insight on that.
** spoiler omitted **
Trav
I think I did DC 15, but I just made that number up on the fly since I didn't realize there was no DC until the moment I was running that part. This is slightly on par with the fact that the AC of the swinging sandbag is 16.
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When the PCs attend the Cornucopia, aside from the army of servants the mayor has wandering the manor, are there any sort of guards (dottari and/or hellknights) guarding/patrolling the ground as well as inside? I'm assuming so, because if not, then what was stopping the PCs from sneaking into the manor in the first place? Also, there must be some sort of antagonizing force to hinder the PCs as they sneak around the manor looking for the Knot.
What I was going to run with takes a cue from the fact that the servants are noted as having a perception of +1. Everytime the servants notice the PCs actually doing something, like picking a lock to get into a room, they will have to bluff their way out of the situation, or else worry about the servants calling a guard.
My assumption is that most of the guards are outside of Abeiran's Folly at this point in time so as not to disturb the guests. I'm also running with the idea that for the most part, the PCs are suppose to be able to do what they are doing in the manor itself, so its more of a formality to try and hide from the servants and feed them a line if they get caught, which shouldn't take much of a bluff check.
I'm prepping to run my group through The Sixfold Trial this weekend, and I wanted to double check how to run The Belly of the Beast. I presume the players should start making saves as soon as they enter, and not wait until it is tipped upright, correct?
With an extra player, there will be a total of 6 bodies in the belly, which will take quite awhile to get them all in and out. I may leave my "lucky" dice at home that session, since I'm expecting the last one out to have failed at least 10 rolls by the time it is done...
I just ran my group through this book, and I'll throw in my 2 cents into the experience.
Note: I have a total of 8 players, 1 animal companion, and 1 eidolon.
Group Composition:
Half-Orc Fighter
Halfling Cleric of Pharasma
Halfling Summoner
Human Wizard (Evoker)/Cleric of Cayden Cailean
Dwarven Druid with Cat companion
Half-Elf Rogue/Monk of Irori
Half-Elf Ranger
Human Paladin of Iomedae
I can see some of you rolling your eyes at me already, but bear with me, this is my first large group. Looking back on it now, it's actually kind of funny how the party doesn't realize their size hinders them as much as it helps them. :P
BTW these are mostly the party complaints. I will admit that the maze in B21 did get on my nerves, but more on that later.
For the play, there were no real complaints other than the "Man, we actually have to act in an RPG?" for the play section. However, for the most part, this was the easy going part of the book, and I liked that.
The toughest encounter was the Belly of the Beast, especially when they had to rescue Calsenica too. Still, it could have been worse. Everything else ended smoothly for them for the most part. BTW, the summoner became a stage-hand for the play while I introduced the two extra characters given in the book. (The Human Paladin wasn't back yet, so we went without him and no other extra was needed) And, the Eidolon made an amazing horse! :P
The actual complaints from the party started when we got into the Asmodean Knot proper.
First complaint, too small of a room. Chalk this one up to the party size, companions, and stupidity of the party :P
Second complaint, the shadows. Shadows were definitely the threat in this dungeon. However, the right party members were taking care of business, so whine and moan all you want :P
Third complaint, the staircase rooms. Despite my whole Labyrinth awesomeness description, the party just got tired of the whole thing. But it didn't get too bad until we reached the maze proper in B21 I believe. Oh man, they hated that maze. They absolutely demanded that I change that or some were going to walk. Personally, it got a bit old on me as well as some of the party had decided to split up and were in two different sections of the maze causing some doors to open and close on the other party members. I basically made a decision that if they were going to skip the maze, then they had to face some of the tougher encounters, ie the large water elemental in B20.
Fourth complaint, the nausea and the diseases. This is where I learned that I should roll all the saves in my little corner because the players are only concerned with what they want to do not what's going to happen. They hated making nausea saves and disease saves, especially when some of them could cough and roll a 20 without trying. Still, it was worth it to see the Evoker get his butt handed to him as he tried to shimmy across a rope to the other side and get nailed by the large water elemental (I threw in some small water elementals for a little spice :P and I managed to kill the eidolon).
Now the party managed to fight off Sian and capture (in an amazing aerial display from the summoner and his eidolon - before the lwe), but the wizard, again, nearly died. BTW, the eidolon is a grapple monkey. Anyway, the party had removed all she had (including her clothes, pervs) and left her with nothing but a pouch with the Potion of Gaseous Form stuffed with the Runecurse letter inside the vial (I allowed it...). It was fun cause she took the potion, the devil showed up, and it couldn't do crap to hurt her while the party seemed to be unable to do anything to it save the paladin. To move it along, I decided as the GM to go ahead and let the bone devil escape (it teleported very close by and remained invisible) to let the party feel they had accomplished their goal.
A party member had decided to leave the game around this time, so the next game I had her character guard over Sian and Calsenica (who had been following the party thus far) near the entrance. I let the party proceed through the Outcast King encounter and as they began their return trip, I had Calsenica and our former player's character come from behind them to show they had been poisoned by the bone devil and managed to escape with Calsenica beginning to suffocate (0 Str) and being dragged by an armor-less half-orc fighter. The party had luckily one more lesser restoration available to stem off her suffocation, and then used one of the doors to teleport to the Children of Westcrown hideout.
Calsenica is being given a proper introduction into the Children of Westcrown and may return to aid the party at a later time. Sian's been killed ... or has she? And the party is moving onto book three...and for some reason the halfling summoner wants to turn the erinyes head into a flail.../facepalm
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Though hardly a real issue, I would like to point out that Robahl's description on page 11 has him with a 'huge walrus moustache'. His picture on page 18, while capturing well the bellowing drill sergeant aspect of him, depicts him greviously sans moustachio.
I'm saddened as I often pictured it bobbing up and down as he spoke and berated PCs. Combined with his short stature and bad toupee contrasted against his serious demeanor made for the perfect comic relief. XD
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Creative Director
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Though hardly a real issue, I would like to point out that Robahl's description on page 11 has him with a 'huge walrus moustache'. His picture on page 18, while capturing well the bellowing drill sergeant aspect of him, depicts him greviously sans moustachio.
I'm saddened as I often pictured it bobbing up and down as he spoke and berated PCs. Combined with his short stature and bad toupee contrasted against his serious demeanor made for the perfect comic relief. XD
This came up in a few other threads. The cause of this problem is that sometimes, artists wait until the last minute to finally send in art; in this case, the art came in the day of or maybe the day before we had to ship the adventure to the printer, at which point all of the editorial passes for the adventure were done and no one thought to double check the art against the description. The artist decided not to give us the illustration we ordered to match the text, and the end result is what you see.
Normally, we double check late art versus the text, and often have to rework the description to match the art since there's no time to fix late art but fixing late text is easy.
But in this case, two ships passed in the night and it went to press with an error.
It's frustrating, but it happens.
(A more recent example occurred with the cover of Kingmaker #6; the cover illustration of the nymph came in very late and it was pretty different from what we'd envisioned so we had to rework that character's appearance to match the unexpected turn the artist took... but in that case we were able to make the changes to the text before the book shipped to the printer.)
Ah, creative license and all that...
Still, it is just different than the discription, nothing wrong. It seems the artist went more towards the dapper (with the monocle and soul patch) than foppish. I think that is ultimately more in line with the character as incredibly strict and demanding. Having some experience in theatre, I can say that is about right.
I find these little insights into the inner workings of Paizo to be rather valuable.
In the Casting section, specifically Casting Tybain, it calls for the PCs to make a Reflex Save, but doesn't specify what the DC is. Anyone have some insight on that.
** spoiler omitted **
Trav
I know this is way late, but I've got the answer. I had to read and re-read that section a few times to catch it.
It simply says that the person who makes the highest save wins the role.
So there's no specific DC to make. There's no success/failure. There's just "give me a Reflex save", and write the numbers down.
Has anyone experimented with "fixing" Sian Daemodus? As it was pointed out by someone earlier, she doesn't have 3rd level shadowdancer abilities.
I don't want to lower the CR (I've got 5 players), but I think she'd mop the floor with the PCs if she had a shadow companion flanking partner with 35 HP.
My thought right now is to swap out a level of shadowdancer with a level of rogue. CR, BAB and HP stay the same, saves and skills improve slightly, and gains a rogue talent. Seems incrementally better and not overpowering.
Has anyone altered her stats for their game?
I had completely forgotten about that. I'll have to re-examine her stat block as my group is just on the cusp of entering the Asmodean Knot. From what I can tell that seems like a very viable solution. I agree that the shadow companion she would gain from the Summon Shadow feature could ruin a PC's day far too quickly for her current CR.
I'll adjust her accordingly and if they manage to run into her anytime soon I'll be sure to post how that fight goes.
I was thinking of making the following changes:
- rogue 6/shadowdancer 2
- increase Perception to +12
- increase Fort to +6
- increase Will to +4
- increase trap sense to +2
- add Bleeding Attack
I think that's all that's needed to update the stats and make her a full 8th level NPC.
I may replace Bleeding Attack with Resiliency if I really want her to be around a bit longer. The PCs grabbed the haversack, but didn't open it yet, and may not before encountering Sian. I might throw them a bone by making her more likely to survive the encounter, and stage one more fight in the Knot before she gives up.
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Under 'The Rebels' Joy' on p25 it mentions that the Children of Westcrown have been gathering info about Aberian's Folly and that what they know is detailed below, but as far as I can see the info is not listed. Suggestions?
I just finished running my group through the Six Trials of Larazod play last week. The group includes:
Alizander Carmelizzia - Human male (Varisian) sorcerer 3
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc male (Alkenstarian) wizard 3
Nagiphax - Cyclops-kin female (home-brewed medium sized half-cyclops) rogue 2 / barbarian 1
Slavé – Tiefling male (appears human) rogue 3
Tavo Dechirent - Human male cleric of Pharasma 3
Vaeden Corleone - Human (Chelish) male rogue 3
I just have to let you all know how much we enjoyed the dress rehearsal and play. Fantastic! A big 'thank you' to Richard Pett, Nicholas Logue and Paizo for a unique gaming experience. Can't wait to continue with the mayor's party next week. Here's a link to an interpretation of Nagiphax (the half-cyclops rogue) in costume as Ilsandra, by Nagiphax's player.
My group is about to plow through the rest of the Knot shortly, and I've got a question about the Outcast King's attacks.
Shouldn't the +1 keen longsword be +6/+1 and the +1 defender longsword be +1?
I have the keen longsword attack as:
+6 BAB
+5 Str
+1 weapon bonus
+1 weapon focus
-1 size
-2 inappropriately sized weapon
-4 TWF penalty w/light offhand weapon
+6 total
I have the offhand longsword attack as:
+6 BAB
+5 Str
+1 weapon focus
-1 size
-2 inappropriately sized weapon
-8 TWF penalty w/light offhand weapon
+1 total
Is that enough bonus to threaten most parties? Have people been running him as if he had TWF (in which case the +8 and +7 values are okay)? I'm real tempted to ignore the Dex requirement and just let him use TWF anyway.
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Is that enough bonus to threaten most parties? Have people been running him as if he had TWF (in which case the +8 and +7 values are okay)? I'm real tempted to ignore the Dex requirement and just let him use TWF anyway.
I definitely ran it as written (with the +8 and +7); I didn't even notice the error. I think +6 and +1 would make the battle pretty easy. My group already had a pretty easy time with the +8/+7 attacks of the Outcast King. They ended up triggering the battle up on the stairs, so they ended up just shooting arrows down at the lemures and the Outcast King in the sludge. And of course, the Outcast King has no ranged attacks, so he just got destroyed. Even when he finally did manage to get into melee, he didn't do anything very significant to the PCs.
My group finished the book with the play in it last session and we had a blast with it! despite noone having ranks in perform (act) with more than a few lucky rolls we got through the play unscathed and quite well known.
between the play and the dungeon its the most fun I've had in a pathfinder path so far.
On the runecurse.... my character got it, and we managed to get out of the dungeon without it going off fortunately, I was feeling quite a bit of dread when we got out, but with a bit of guile I passed the runecurse off to Thessig the prima donna actor who had taken quite a dislike to my character. Pawned it off as a fan letter. Don't know how long it'll be before the runecurse triggers, but it was another fun moment :)
Can't wait to see whats waiting for us in the next installment!
The outcast king was a definite threat to our group even with an artificer and a necromancer with minions helping out. Fortunately one of our attempts to make a dust of disapeance had resulted in a dust of sneezing and choking so making use of that saved our bacon, stunned him for enough rounds for us to finish him off.
We'd probably have still made it out, but likely would have lost at least one of the PCs
I definitely ran it as written (with the +8 and +7); I didn't even notice the error. I think +6 and +1 would make the battle pretty easy. My group already had a pretty easy time with the +8/+7 attacks of the Outcast King. They ended up triggering the battle up on the stairs, so they ended up just shooting arrows down at the lemures and the Outcast King in the sludge. And of course, the Outcast King has no ranged attacks, so he just got destroyed. Even when he finally did manage to get into melee, he didn't do anything very significant to the PCs.
We finished the Knot over the weekend, and the group mostly plowed through it, with the fearsome half-orc barbarian leading the way, and the other 4 PCs hiding behind him. They killed Sian outright in about 2 rounds (she failed her save on Hold Person, which allowed her to be flanked and sneak attacked and was critted by a power attack with a greataxe the round she broke the hold). They avoided the water elemental with good tactics and luck, but did struggle a bit with the mummy (the barbarian now has Mummy Rot).
I ran the Outcast King as +8/+7, but he didn't seriously threaten the party. Before the fight, they got some good intel from Livia, so they blew all of their scrolls and potions in preparation and were fully buffed (bull's strength, cat's grace, pro from evil, shield other, magic weapon, align weapon, false life, etc). The barbarian got grabbed when trying to cross the lake on the rope of climbing, and then held on while the melee types joined the fray and the spellcasters stayed on the balcony.
Towards the end of the battle, I decided to turn up the heat and had Szasmir teleport in just past the door. [ The PCs left him in the cell, and I had Sian cut a deal with him while the PCs were conquering their "fears". She'd free him if he attacked the group when he had the greatest chance for success before leaving the Knot. ] This completely freaked out the spellcasters, but the wizard bought time by casting grease, and the meat shields were able to get back up onto the balcony the following round and keep him at bay until he teleported away with 8 HP. I decided he was too out of it to try to summon another devil, and I had the glaive remain behind when he left (which had the group very perplexed). Szasmir mostly served to scare them a bit, and generate a little more XP and treasure since they were a little light with 5 players. It also now creates a "loose end" that may come back to haunt them in time...
Overall though, I think this was our most enjoyable session to date!
One tip I wanted to share was something that worked well for us when navigating through the B21 (The Knot's Heart). I knew my players would have little patience for dealing with a maze at this point, so I printed out the blank hex sheet from Kingmaker, and drew a simple map for them. I used a pencil and put an X on a hex side where an opening was blocked, and a dash for an open passageway. I then altered the ones they could see when the layout changed. That made it real easy to explain things, and they were able to get through to the other side with minimal pain (once they talked to Anvengen’s spirit and got some hints).
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We finished the Knot over the weekend, and the group mostly plowed through it, with the fearsome half-orc barbarian leading the way, and the other 4 PCs hiding behind him. They killed Sian outright in about 2 rounds (she failed her save on Hold Person, which allowed her to be flanked and sneak attacked and was critted by a power attack with a greataxe the round she broke the hold). They avoided the water elemental with good tactics and luck, but did struggle a bit with the mummy (the barbarian now has Mummy Rot).
That's interesting, because my group (which I neglected to mention is an evil party) easily avoided the mummy. In fact, because they were evil, they used the intelligent Anvengen's Edge weapon without hesitation and even wore the Asmodeus symbol. So, when they walked in to the mummy room, they were basically able to control the mummy. And used the mummy to do all their bidding (like fight the Outcast King!). So, in case anybody else is running the game with an evil party, the last part of the Knot is pretty easy with a group of evil Asmodeus-worshipers that control a mummy. :D
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Keep those fine tales coming, the feedback is not only fun to read, but useful:)
I'm pleased the adventure seems to be running quite well across several groups of players. There's always a danger with any type of dungeon maze that it treds a fine line between being fun and being annoying to play. This seems to be running fairly well and the efforts of GMs are doubtless enhancing it as well.
In Thousand screams you'll see something quite, quite different:)
Scuttles back into the dark.
Rich
There's always a danger with any type of dungeon maze that it treds a fine line between being fun and being annoying to play.
I was looking forward to playing through the maze and puzzling it out, and then we walked into that room and the DM rolled the exact correct number to give us a direct pathway into the next section.
I wish I could tell you how the puzzle was in a group full of power-gamers, but we seemed to have power-gamed the puzzle...
Keep those fine tales coming, the feedback is not only fun to read, but useful:)
I'm pleased the adventure seems to be running quite well across several groups of players. There's always a danger with any type of dungeon maze that it treds a fine line between being fun and being annoying to play. This seems to be running fairly well and the efforts of GMs are doubtless enhancing it as well.
In Thousand screams you'll see something quite, quite different:)
Scuttles back into the dark.
Rich
One of these days some one will tool you out from under your rock and into the ... er, "fine" ... weather so well known in your homeland...
One tip I wanted to share was something that worked well for us when navigating through the B21 (The Knot's Heart). I knew my players would have little patience for dealing with a maze at this point, so I printed out the blank hex sheet from Kingmaker...
Damn, I wish I had thought of that, that's a great idea! I'll be sure to remember to do something similar if I run CoT again.
Also, I know you've gotten plenty of praise already, Herr Pett. However, I have to say that the play itself was refreshing. The Cornucopia was a pleasure to run and served well to offer great insight into the decadence of Chelish nobility. The Knot was also plenty interesting with it's Escher-esque inspiration. Aside from the obvious fun my players had throughout the module, I think its greatest achievement was in how much it fleshed out Wiscrani culture as a whole.
We've come to expect great things from you (especially the delicous, delicious fluff) and to my knowledge you've yet to disappoint! Case in point: Carrion Hill, which was a great deviation from the norm.
One of these days some one will tool you out from under your rock and into the ... er, "fine" ... weather so well known in your homeland...Keep those fine tales coming, the feedback is not only fun to read, but useful:)
I'm pleased the adventure seems to be running quite well across several groups of players. There's always a danger with any type of dungeon maze that it treds a fine line between being fun and being annoying to play. This seems to be running fairly well and the efforts of GMs are doubtless enhancing it as well.
In Thousand screams you'll see something quite, quite different:)
Scuttles back into the dark.
Rich
Do you know, the day people tell me it's been sunny for about a month.
One tip I wanted to share was something that worked well for us when navigating through the B21 (The Knot's Heart). I knew my players would have little patience for dealing with a maze at this point, so I printed out the blank hex sheet from Kingmaker...Damn, I wish I had thought of that, that's a great idea! I'll be sure to remember to do something similar if I run CoT again.
Also, I know you've gotten plenty of praise already, Herr Pett. However, I have to say that the play itself was refreshing. The Cornucopia was a pleasure to run and served well to offer great insight into the decadence of Chelish nobility. The Knot was also plenty interesting with it's Escher-esque inspiration. Aside from the obvious fun my players had throughout the module, I think its greatest achievement was in how much it fleshed out Wiscrani culture as a whole.
We've come to expect great things from you (especially the delicous, delicious fluff) and to my knowledge you've yet to disappoint! Case in point: Carrion Hill, which was a great deviation from the norm.
Why thank you kindly, yes the twisted works of Mr Escher were festooned across the study for about 2 months, obscurring the stuffed and stitched things I often talk to. It is, of course, those fine Paizo fellows who take the risks, design the skeleton and kindly ask me to some flesh upon them, and that lovely Mr Jacobs who makes sense of my scrawlings. Case in point Carrion Hill again, which would have sat in my documents file forever had he not been determined to let it crawl into the light.
I hope you and your players enjoy thousand screams, it's much more traditional Tolkien fantasy than my usual fayre, but with a usual poisoning of Moorcock:) And some fluff, and some lanterns made of flesh, and some brillig...
Galumphs away:)
Hi Keinlicht,
I'm pretty certain I've seen this question before. I'm just off to patrol the Pett estate, but if someone doesn't get to it before me, I'll have a look when I get back after culling an owlbear.
Huzzah!
Rich
Hi Keinlicht,
I'm pretty certain I've seen this question before. I'm just off to patrol the Pett estate, but if someone doesn't get to it before me, I'll have a look when I get back after culling an owlbear.
Huzzah!
Rich
Mr Pett has a keen eye and an astounding memory.
He is right. My tidbit to argandize the play was to translate the lines into the german language and to put two extra players (Farus and Monris) - for a total of six players.
@Nolight: As it happens to be, you seem to be a lucky GM. Just post your email address here in the board and I'll send you the "deutsche Version des Theaterstücks".
:o) Darn lucky, this GM...
Aha - Scharlata! Thought so.
What a very fine community this board is, thanks for helping Keinlicht out.
Have fun with the Deutsche Version des Theaterstücks!
Rich.
You're welcome.
Look into your inbox.
mfg, scharlata
Hi,
I will run The sixfold trial this saturday. So I thought I will check this board to get some more hints to what I should take crae about (after some very tough fights in our last modules which I realised a bit too late and changed them on the fly...).
I'm german and even if I think that my group is able to stage the trials in its original english version, I'm quiet interested in this german translation Scharlata and keinlicht were talking about.
Could maybe someone send it to me? My mail adress is killer.power at gmx.de
So, my group went through the play (and we had a lot of fun with it) and yesterday they found the entrance to the Knot. We finished after they had encountered Szasmir (the Bearded Devil) and the Sorcerer of the group mentioned something like: "Maybe we should ask him to get the Crux for us and then he is free to go."
Normally players aren't that exact if they are dealing with devils, so that the devil in question finds a point in the contract which he can abuse... But I do think that this is different: The player of the sorcerer has the wits to come up with some foolproof contract and his char is a sorcerer with the infernal bloodline which is a former member of one the noble houses of Westcrown. So his character should know how to handle devils as well...
Any suggestions on this? I wont let the devil do the work (or even weaken "the king" so that the PC's have an easy go on him).
If you have the time and time-efficient players, I would go with the following:
If signed to help them get the crux, Szassie refuses to go any other way than directly to the crux (I assume h knows the way). I would then up every encounter with around CR5 (more ghouls with Jabe and more gear for Sian, for example), and let one of the players make his rolls as an extra party member (I would even hand them a sheet, since a Bearded Devil really has very few tricks). I would also remove the mummy or nerf him, on the possibility that your group could command him with the (un)holy icon (two monsters on their team against the King would be overkill). I guess a bunch of lemures with the King will balance that encounter out too (It needs more of them to make the King hard to reach, my party cut them down real easily).
Why would you do this? In my opinion, to make that deal with Szassie is great roleplaying and not at all a cheesy deal ("help us out FOREVER" would be cheesy), and your PCs will feel like they are rewarded for a good idea. If your party can use another character without dramatically increasing the time used each combat round, the rewards outweigh the benefits.
Oh, and don't give them the xp for the extra monsters if you are afraid of getting too much. Say the devil also needs xp.