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I might have mentioned before, but Tiny T-Rex hates Build-a-Bear. He's convinced they hunt down and gut stuffed animals and then sell their hides to poor little kids who then are forced to stuff them themselves.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I might have mentioned before, but Tiny T-Rex hates Build-a-Bear. He's convinced they hunt down and gut stuffed animals and then sell their hides to poor little kids who then are forced to stuff them themselves.
I love this. Mostly because my first recurring babysitting gig as a tween was for the local taxidermist. His son's playroom was in the basement, across the hall from dad's workshop. And the kid took a perverse delight in throwing the ball/toy/whatever just out of my reach and out of the playroom into the workshop, and then being too frightened to go in there himself so I'd have to fetch the damned thing. Over and over and over again.
Yes, the mom always paid me extra.
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I ran errands for an old blind guy with taxidermy animals all over.
He did not pay me extra, in fact he hardly paid me at all.
Still wasn't as scary as the abandoned cemetery up the road with occasionally freshly dug graves.
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Random question: I've already told my party that the big bad they're supposed to fight next is south of Sandpoint, but then NH threw a bunch of books on Varisia and Magnimar at me, and I really don't want the party getting too close to Magnimar yet. I'm looking at the random empty countryside just north of the Mushfens - close enough for atmosphere and an eldritch aura, but just far enough away that we're not going to be distracted by mobogo.
Is there a good and logical reason why I shouldn't?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I might have mentioned before, but Tiny T-Rex hates Build-a-Bear. He's convinced they hunt down and gut stuffed animals and then sell their hides to poor little kids who then are forced to stuff them themselves.
that's.. Kinda AWESOME, I would love to see an adventure based around this.
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We're on Iron Gods right now, so it's been a long time since I've wrapped my way through Varisia, but sounds good. :-)
Job hunting is the single most annoying thing on earth, particularly when you are specialized in a field you are no longer medically capable of continuing in.
Sorry, my friend. That is... sucky.
Random question: I've already told my party that the big bad they're supposed to fight next is south of Sandpoint, but then NH threw a bunch of books on Varisia and Magnimar at me, and I really don't want the party getting too close to Magnimar yet. I'm looking at the random empty countryside just north of the Mushfens - close enough for atmosphere and an eldritch aura, but just far enough away that we're not going to be distracted by mobogo.
Is there a good and logical reason why I shouldn't?
Nah, it's fine, or should be. I'll check it out, soon, myself, when I can, but, while the Mushfnes come up first in the We Be Goblins games and then in Jade Regent (specifically, the tribe there), the area immediately north of that should be fine. I think it has a name, but I need to check my maps, when possible!
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All the maps I looked at were a bit vague when it comes to flyover country. They seem to assume, "Well. Of course you're on your way to Magnimar."
But I'm not ready to GM in a big city for more or less the same reason I don't play spellcasters. Too damned much to keep track of.
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I'm playing a Medium in one campaign. I have six separate character sheets for him. One for each spirit he channels.
Though truth be told, he's a bit... scattered right now. :-)
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All right sir, you've been warned before!
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The wife is playing Skyrim for the first time. She hated the "tutorial" and wonders why it wasn't better. She has only played Diablo III and world of Tanks on the PC, so she has never played a FPS or used a controller. Having said that she is learning fast. She learned how to pick locks in record time. ~grumbles under my breath about beginners luck~ What? Oh it was nothing Honey. Just ignore me!
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Super bored tonight.
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Random question: I've already told my party that the big bad they're supposed to fight next is south of Sandpoint, but then NH threw a bunch of books on Varisia and Magnimar at me, and I really don't want the party getting too close to Magnimar yet. I'm looking at the random empty countryside just north of the Mushfens - close enough for atmosphere and an eldritch aura, but just far enough away that we're not going to be distracted by mobogo.
Is there a good and logical reason why I shouldn't?
I'd help you out, but I loaned out all my books on that area...
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Nobody's Home and TacticsLion:
We ran the first 2/3 of the apprentice necromancer adventure last night. Silly Symphonies was a big hit. I used the skeleton pulling off his skull and throwing it in the owl as inspiration, so after I showed the players the video as they were creeping up on the camp, they discovered that three of the skeleton warriors were so bored that they were taking turns playing a bowling game with a stash of extra femurs and their own skulls. When they saw the party, two of them pulled off their skulls and lobbed them at the PC's, (I figured 1d4 plus additional bite damage on a crit) BUT THEY MISSED, so there were two headless skeletons running around the yard looking for their skulls.
My big mistake was making the cast of bad guys too small. I used the encounter budget table and even went a couple CR's higher (including the emo wizard currently ugly-sobbing into his pillow in the tower waiting for the adventurers to run up for the final battle), so I only threw a dozen skeletons and four zombies at them. But I'd forgotten that the cleric's channel positive energy went up to 2d6 now that she's 3rd level, and it's a 30' radius. It actually took her two whole rounds to get most of them.
oops.
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Taxes submitted. Now to wait for the refund.
Yeah; we're in the opposite boat. I was just happy that my rough guesstimate of $5k this year was only off by $131, so at least I have the money set aside to pay the darned things.
After 13 years, though, I *finally* went in and adjusted my exemptions from 14 down to 4 (having a working spouse and kids old enough that summer camp is no longer deductible sure does change things), so hopefully next year I'll get a small refund.
Shiro's player loves to withhold a ton, then get a big fat check in March so he can do silly things with it. I don't see why I should give the government an interest-free loan for a year, so I prefer to just barely not pay enough. Considering $5000 is nothing remotely close to "just barely", I gotta withhold more. Ouch. But not as ouchy as having to save up just to pay my taxes...
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Nobody's Home and TacticsLion:
We ran the first 2/3 of the apprentice necromancer adventure last night. Silly Symphonies was a big hit. I used the skeleton pulling off his skull and throwing it in the owl as inspiration, so after I showed the players the video as they were creeping up on the camp, they discovered that three of the skeleton warriors were so bored that they were taking turns playing a bowling game with a stash of extra femurs and their own skulls. When they saw the party, two of them pulled off their skulls and lobbed them at the PC's, (I figured 1d4 plus additional bite damage on a crit) BUT THEY MISSED, so there were two headless skeletons running around the yard looking for their skulls.
My big mistake was making the cast of bad guys too small. I used the encounter budget table and even went a couple CR's higher (including the emo wizard currently ugly-sobbing into his pillow in the tower waiting for the adventurers to run up for the final battle), so I only threw a dozen skeletons and four zombies at them. But I'd forgotten that the cleric's channel positive energy went up to 2d6 now that she's 3rd level, and it's a 30' radius. It actually took her two whole rounds to get most of them.oops.
Sometimes, encounters are just plain easy. Look at Hooken the floating Howitzer in my current Serpent's Skull fight. If the players had fun, it's all good.
And now you know -- once clerics get 2d6 of channel positive energy, skeletons and zombies are mainly, "Fill in the square 'til they die on round 2" troops...
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Taxes submitted. Now to wait for the refund.Yeah; we're in the opposite boat. I was just happy that my rough guesstimate of $5k this year was only off by $131, so at least I have the money set aside to pay the darned things.
After 13 years, though, I *finally* went in and adjusted my exemptions from 14 down to 4 (having a working spouse and kids old enough that summer camp is no longer deductible sure does change things), so hopefully next year I'll get a small refund.
Shiro's player loves to withhold a ton, then get a big fat check in March so he can do silly things with it. I don't see why I should give the government an interest-free loan for a year, so I prefer to just barely not pay enough. Considering $5000 is nothing remotely close to "just barely", I gotta withhold more. Ouch. But not as ouchy as having to save up just to pay my taxes...
I'm with Shiro on this one.
Mostly because I get an incredible amount of vicarious delight witnessing Shiro's purchases. Particularly the ones with wheels.| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
The bored son of a local noble has spellcasters animate, then awaken stuffed animals, then sets them loose just so he could hunt them. The party is approached by one of the stuffed animals, begging the party for help.
This is so insanely epic I think I *must* steal it...
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The bored son of a local noble has spellcasters animate, then awaken stuffed animals, then sets them loose just so he could hunt them. The party is approached by one of the stuffed animals, begging the party for help.This is so insanely epic I think I *must* steal it...
It would be worth it just to see Impus Major's reaction.
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Random question: I've already told my party that the big bad they're supposed to fight next is south of Sandpoint, but then NH threw a bunch of books on Varisia and Magnimar at me, and I really don't want the party getting too close to Magnimar yet. I'm looking at the random empty countryside just north of the Mushfens - close enough for atmosphere and an eldritch aura, but just far enough away that we're not going to be distracted by mobogo.
Is there a good and logical reason why I shouldn't?
Nah, it's fine, or should be. I'll check it out, soon, myself, when I can, but, while the Mushfnes come up first in the We Be Goblins games and then in Jade Regent (specifically, the tribe there), the area immediately north of that should be fine. I think it has a name, but I need to check my maps, when possible!
All the maps I looked at were a bit vague when it comes to flyover country. They seem to assume, "Well. Of course you're on your way to Magnimar."
But I'm not ready to GM in a big city for more or less the same reason I don't play spellcasters. Too damned much to keep track of.
So! I had a look at a map or two, and I'm immediately reminded that I was thinking of the wrong thing. I was thinking of the Brinstump Marsh, and not the the Mushfens.
Point in fact, the Mushfens themselves don't really come into play until entry two in Shattered Star.
The first map I'd direct you to, though, is Sandpoint Hinterlands - yes, that scale seems very... small; I agree. I'unno, though.
Either way, the region that I was thinking that you were considering was a place called "Hag's Plummet" - about three miles south, as the crow flies, from Sandpoint, sure, but you'll notice on the eastern side of the 'Hinterlands map, there's a place called "Shank's Woods" - it was a nameless forest, until an outlaw named "Shank" fled there from the law in Sandpoint, and set up shop a few years ago (shortly before the "late unpleasantness" if you're playing Rise of the Runelords). It was then named because of his presence, and it is said he still dwells there today, as such a notorious and skillful criminal fled to such lengths as that forest right over there, approximately half an hour by horseback out of Sandpoint, so that the reach of 'the law man' couldn't get him.
:I
The point of that is that Shank is, you know, really easily within reach of Sandpoint, and yet it's still considered wilderness. So you can think, "really, really close" and still have virtually unexplored wilderness nearby with strange and bad things going on.
So anyway, Sandpoint Hinterlands (or, as I like to call it, "the hellish landscape of horror near a sleepy little town" because that's basically what it is) is a great place that is literally crammed with adventure. Nearly every listed location has a link to a new possible adventure seed - or even campaign - so I wouldn't recommend poking around unless you're staking your claim as absolute GM over the Sandpoint region (and probably a lot of Magnimar, too, eventually), or else are super-okay if someone uses a plot you've seen the basics of before. Because that's "almost any link" you look at.
That said, Hag's Plummet is one of the few reasons it's "almost every listed location" instead of "every listed location" - it's a place with a story, but no real pre-made adventure seed. You might think that's plenty of seed for an adventure - and it is! - but I assure you, compared to most of the rest, it is not.
That said...
There is no reason that she couldn't be allied with this cult, waiting to see if the deal pays off, or if they're simply amusing bunglers who's deaths she'll watch with glee...
In any event, that cliff has as history, it's right next to the Ashen Moor (another of the "almost") and Brinestump Marsh ().
This wild, if small, region is near enough to the Lost Coast Road to make travel relatively straightforward for low-level PCs.
If you're looking for other areas nearby, there's the Ashen Rise (origin of Cougar Creek*) and nearby Egan's Wood (though I'd avoid Habe's Sanitorium*), along with Ravenroost itself (as the tiny "range" juts south of Sandpoint).
Unless you're going into Mosswood (or its nearby Biston Pond* or Tors) or Whisperwood (or it's nearby Soggy River**, I'd recommend avoiding literally everything else, as it holds pretty major spoilers.
Now, if you're going further afield, you'll start running out of resources (at least that I know of) rather quickly, though some of the region is discussed at great length in part three of Rise of the Runelords (though a lack of easy links and lots of reading/typing are a non-starter for me, right now; sorry), so there's that.
And then, of course, is the Mushfens***
If you want to know what my wife and I did in our Varisia in that region, then...
[spoilers=Not Really Spoilers, but It Goes Here Anyway!]... we established a thorp for a character of hers to come from, called "Country Meadows" that resides on the northern bank of the Yondabakari River^ (specifically, that northern tip juuuuuust a hair to the left of where the "Y" of "Yondabakari" is on this map I linked earlier; that town is known for their peculiar breed(s) of axebeak^ raised for generations on the finest nuts and greens~ for decades, and selectively bred, to make an actually domesticated version of the creatures. They don't yet have an official name for these creatures, but they have released them into the nearby wilds - both swamp and hills - and go forth and collect the creatures. They make fantastic mounts, and come in a variety of colors - yellow is the most common, but green and blue are also possible, while the extremely rare black, red, and white occur on occasion, and twice, a rich and deeply gold hue has been achieved. In addition to being great mounts, excellent and vicious defenders, and even solid (if sometimes awkward) beasts of burden, the creatures are quite intelligent and bond loyally and easily to humanoid masters.
The thorp has only the deity of whatever local priest decides to reside there - Shelyn in the most recent case, as that priestess still lives there - and a fierce hatred for, and continuous opposition to, the goblin tribes that continuously raid their solid wooden palisade-walls to hunt, kill and eat their birds and people.
Generally, though the life is hard, and the rewards few, the thorp has continued to live due to a fascination with this domestication project. And it's working.
Recently, the arrival of an especially blessed priestess~~, the population has blossomed as diseases are nearly eliminated, their walls have been fortified with extensive earth-works and local stone shaped into useful structures, and their physical worries were almost eliminated. Not to mention the sneaky little bastards kept getting face-fulls of glittering dust, changing them from "hard to notice" to "easy targets" for the first time, causing a sudden and solid increase in the population.
~
~~ [/spoiler]
Anyway, that could be a sort of home base, as it were, as well as a place to introduce a nifty new creature, from which you can have your PCs launch assaults into the Mushfens, or even the hills north, to attempt to locate the necromancer.
It was somewhere in the middle of this that my internet gave out entirely. So I'm going to save this and submit it a couple of times, if necessary, to try and get it to you. Here's hoping!
*
**
***
^
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Okay, it only took me ten hours+ to get that posted...
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Awakened, animated stuffed toys.I might have mentioned before, but Tiny T-Rex hates Build-a-Bear. He's convinced they hunt down and gut stuffed animals and then sell their hides to poor little kids who then are forced to stuff them themselves.that's.. Kinda AWESOME, I would love to see an adventure based around this.
Solitary, or in swarms packs?
How can you tell you've successfully fixed a bookcase.
When you have several new scrapes or cuts you didn't realize you had gotten.
That was more of an offer of ready made sapient toy monsters that I wrote over a year ago.
Primary inspirations were the hospital scene from Akira and a short animated video of a teddy bear fighting a monster.
So I got my portal access time for GenCon housing...
Sunday, February 12 at 10:05 PM Eastern
*headdesk* I *really* hope they weren't lying about the close rooms apportioned across the slots.
Otherwise, that's a huge middle finger extended skywards in my electronic direction.
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Nobody's Home and TacticsLion:
We ran the first 2/3 of the apprentice necromancer adventure last night. Silly Symphonies was a big hit. I used the skeleton pulling off his skull and throwing it in the owl as inspiration, so after I showed the players the video as they were creeping up on the camp, they discovered that three of the skeleton warriors were so bored that they were taking turns playing a bowling game with a stash of extra femurs and their own skulls. When they saw the party, two of them pulled off their skulls and lobbed them at the PC's, (I figured 1d4 plus additional bite damage on a crit) BUT THEY MISSED, so there were two headless skeletons running around the yard looking for their skulls.
My big mistake was making the cast of bad guys too small. I used the encounter budget table and even went a couple CR's higher (including the emo wizard currently ugly-sobbing into his pillow in the tower waiting for the adventurers to run up for the final battle), so I only threw a dozen skeletons and four zombies at them. But I'd forgotten that the cleric's channel positive energy went up to 2d6 now that she's 3rd level, and it's a 30' radius. It actually took her two whole rounds to get most of them.oops.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I totally missed the actual play-session!
Whoops!
... sorry! I really, really tried!
Anyway: sounds like a blast! I'm so glad they had fun!
As for "too easy" - yeah, that happens, and it's a pretty common problem/easy to have happen. And the reverse, too!
(I thought I low-balled an encounter at two PCs, recently, but unfortunately, the abilities the bad guys had somehow entirely circumvented the strengths of a PC, and a nasty fall did more damage than I thought it would... that... ended poorly; another recent encounter caused two melee demigods to struggle a great deal and take rather intense damage, even though it wasn't really expected to be all that that powerful.)
Anyway, it happens. One thing to think of for the future of such things is possibly staggering the encounters so that, yes, the cleric could do that sort of thing, but has to use multiple channels, because only a relatively few at a time are within the burst. Also, putting up terrain obstacles that are ideal for the bad guys, but not so much good guys can extend things - like a portcullis that only stabbing (piercing) works through would be ideal to let the cleric shine (channel passes through fine), but also stalls the good guys (you have to remove the portcullis).
That said, you're now being introduced to the, "Spellcasters are more powerful than warriors, due to versatility." concept if you go with that...
If you ever wish to weaken the efficacy of channeling, using an unhallow and/or desecrate or ten* could be ideal (especially, if you want to boost the will DCs), as can using skeletons of creatures that, you know, actually had HD to begin with... XD
(This not only grants a bonus to the save against channel energy, but unhallow also hypothetically increases the hp of creatures created within it, and it's trivially easy to say that it happened when the robe was created...)
So there are lots of strategies for forcing up extra resource use or making encounters more difficult.
One of the things that made this encounter even easier (in addition to what others have said) is that it you had skeletons looking for their heads instead of rolling initiative. That's actually a really cool thing, and an awesome idea (totally stealing it), but it also effectively reduced the CR of the encounter, as those creatures weren't actually doing anything during those rounds.
Bear in mind, though, that I'm not criticizing - I'm pointing out how, in retrospect, things went towards "easy" mode. Frankly, I should have seen this coming myself and mentioned it... but I didn't. XD
Oops!
Encounter design be hard, yo. (Sort of. It's also easy. Go figure.)
Anyway, it sounds like it was a great game! Here's hoping that everything's a lot of fun for you and your family! :D
(For me, I'm running a game, now, called "Piradical!" in which my wife and son are playing two different captains of two different ships... so kind of two different games, really... and each of them have different goals. It's pretty fun, though we've only just started, and I totally sent NH an encounter/story that I'd written for that in case he wanted it; we're using d20Past, though.)
So, needless rambles aside, sounds like a great game! I'd want to play it! XD
*
You know, I can't help but notice that either way I'm a genious... hmmmm... this may actually explain things...
EDIT: to make a change, then a second time to note that I'd made an edit...
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Spent five hours digging irrigation ditches for the kids' school this morning.
The good news: AZ soil is much easier to shovel than NY soil. Seriously, even without soil quality considerations, there's a reason that 'bread basket of the USA' is not a nomer of the northeast! Also yes, I just made up a word. If 'misnomer' is an incorrect designation, than 'nomer' is a correct one.
The bad news: Five hours digging is still five hours digging, and there is a reason that the only job I ever got fired from involved continual digging. First the thirst, then the increasingly frequent cramps, then the low blood glucose...by the end of that fifth hour, I was ready to be buried halfway dead. I am so thankful that I have a relatively cushy job!
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"In twenty hundred and seventeen,
My corduroy britches they turned green,
My corduroy britches they turned green,
From working on the railway.
I was wearing
Corduroy britches
Pulling switches
!!Digging ditches!!
Dodging hitches
I was working on the railway"
I most certainly wasn't (though TS sort of was, but not very); this is as relevant as you're going to get at 2:15am, I'm afraid.
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Captain Yesterday's Ultimatum To The Kids.
"Hibernate or get along"
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They decided to get along.
I wanted to hibernate. :-/