| blaznee |
So my group decided to ditch 4.0 and went to Pathfinder. Usually we do our own stuff, but I decided to try to run an adventure path after reading some good comments about it..
I decided on Rise of the Runelords - which may not have been the most clever decision, as it's written for 3.5 rules and a few things are off or missing.. But we got by.. I wouldn't say the entire story went completely without hitches - it was practice as much for me as for my players.. :)
So here's a short recap.
Players were:
Cho-lau the Varisian Monk with a dark secret
Nalrak the Varisian Rogue. Flashy combatant and avid entertainer
Rukan the stout fighter. Heroic to the last drop of blood and a fierce combatant specialising in using his Spiked Chain.
After the first session they were joined by a 4th character.
Sijit the gnome elemental sorceress. Big power in a small package!
So the players decided they knew eachother from a travelling circus group travelling the cities from magnimar to korvosa and even Riddleport. Cho-lau was the most recent addition, joining the group after their last visit in Korvosa. Travelling towards Riddleport trying to make a shortcut their caravan had been attacked by Hill Giants. The entire convoy had been destroyed and our heroes had only barely managed to escape with their lives. Travelling south towards the last city they remembered they run into a Dwarven brewer on his way to Sandpoints swallowtail festival, they decide to jump on his cart as "protection". That's how they arrive at the festival..
They quite enjoyed the festival, and got really into the whole food competition thing. Cho-Lau was somewhat of a cook himself and got acquanted with Ameiko at the festival. They were absolutely clueless when the Goblin raid startet, but they jumped straight to it.. Much hilarity ensued as new players fumbled with new rules and had to try everything. Among the highligts was Cho-Lau being grappled by a goblin after himself fumbling his grapple ending up face down in the dirt.
They spent the next few days running into the various scenes from the path, especially enjoying (and facing the challenges it brought) the seduction in the General Store basement. Nalrak completely fell for it, and couldn't talk his way out of it. During this they also had a habit of finding Goblins in the most odd places - both dead and alive.
They made good friends with Ameiko while staying at the Rusty Dragon - courtesy of Sandpoint for their efforts during the festival. So when she dissapeared they really got into it to rescue her. The big fight at the glassworks was a memorable piece and they spared Tsuto's life and imprisoned him instead. Once they spotted the tunnel downstairs they didn't feel that compelled to check it out, but a shambling monster coming out of the dark stirred their curiousity.
Catacombs of Wrath turned into an old school dungeon crawl, but it has some memorable moments. They especially liked that flying head thing I forgot the name of now. The end battle turned out to be too much for them though, so I had to tone it down a bit.
Next came Thistletop.. I lured them up there with some urging from Father Zantus.. They quickly found their way through the thistle maze and missed most of it really.. BUt they didn't seem to care at all.. I kinda screwed up the front of the fortress, but to my luck the ever entertaining Cho-Lau decided to basically charge 4 goblins and 4 goblin dogs.. They did take it careful with the bridge, so nothing happened with that.
The fight outside did take quite a few recources from them due to some really bad rolls, so I gave them a slightly easier time inside. I had peaked into the next adventure, so I wanted to present a few "wrath, lust, envy" things on them.. Things turned especially dark when the Gnome sorceress snuck into the bedchambers of goblins and sliced the throats on 6 sleeping goblins.
The big fight against Ripnugget ended with Ripnugget bravely shouting "For Thistletop" and charging the Sorceress who had killed most of his entourage damaged himself quite a bit. A few attacks of oppertunity later he was killed. Not the most challenging fight, but it was very cinematic.
First dungeon level took quite a while. They quickly subdued Lyrie the scholar, and I used her to explain a bit of plot. They ended up almost making friends with her. The Harem encounter I decided to just make a plain old fun - and slightly disturbing scene. It involved some panicky naked goblin girls and a painfully naked Bruthamus :).. Lots of laughs :)... The chapel scene turned into a regular slugfest as they fought the Yeth Hounds. Rukan was panicked by the howls, and the rest had a very hard time. They were heavily wounded after that. It turned out to be a good thing though, as the memory of those hounds made them really fear the Nualia encounter later.
On the second dungeon floor Nalrak pulled off a few amazing rolls, and my disarm roll ended with a 30 on the trap. Suffice to say they pretty much danced across that trap :).. The fight against Nualia was a little annoying due to the small room, but it was a challenging fight and the party was pretty exhausted after. They decided to go up a level and rest until the next day.
THe next morning they soldiered on, and at the golden pillar it was Cho-Laus turn to pull out the abnormously high search roll. "A small line in the wall?? Ok, I put a gold coin in it!.. ".. I was mildy surprised :).. They quickly found their way to Malfeshnekor, and even still being badly hurt they attacked. One round later they were running for their lives and closed the door again :). The demon was beyond what they could handle.
They made it past the Shadows, although Sijit the gnome was left with a strength score of 4. Badly hurt they made their way to the treasury only to run for their lives from the Crab as well..
They saved Shadowmist and made their way back, and I ended the campaign just outside Sandpoint.. The players were really happy, and the notebook from Nualia coupled with some lore they got from Lyrie has spurred their interest.
Out of game though they were happier with the first part of the book than the 2nd part.. They enjoyed the small scenes in the city more than the dungeon crawly bits.. They were hooked though and are eagerly awaiting the continual..
I must say I really enjoyed the book, and it's by far the best published adventure I have tried.. Ofcourse their are some grey areas here and there, but overall it's a really nice GM tool to run after.