This sounds like great stuff! My players and I have 30+ years of gaming experience between us, and we frequently get bogged down with gear-fixation and combat. It sounds like you're doing a great job of keeping the focus on RPing and having fun. Your story has given me lots of good ideas for RP-opportunities in the early part of the Shiv, please keep posting!
Concerning new players: It's my experience that new players generally tend to follow the more experienced guys in style. If the "older" players focus on min-maxing and combat, the new players will pick up on that and follow that play style, so it's something to keep in mind (but it seems like you and your friend are focusing more on fun that "opmizing combat builds"). One of the joys of playing with new players is that they will often come up with great ideas more seasoned players never will consider, not thinking insise the "rules box".
Those ideas are cool, especially the CLW-potion toss. Allowing for stuff like that is crucial for letting the players feel in control, though it can get our of hand (we had some issues with Magic Rope in Kingmaker :P). I would say that you need to be careful with xp progression, as becoming to high lvl for the encounters can take away some of the fun, but it seems like you have a pretty good control on the technical side of GMing. The most important "technical" thing with lvling and new players is that they might loose control of all their powers and skills, but this depends on the player. My experience is that problems with d20 lvling for new players is directly proportional to their level of high school math education. When I play with math students at my university, they are almost offended when I ask them if they need help to figure out lvling, but my friends who didn't take math in high school still make mistakes after 10+ years with the system. Too fast lvling can also remove the novelty of new abilities because you don't get to use them before a new even more awesome ability comes along, but that not a big deal if everything else is working well.
Regardless, this is great inspiration for our Serpent's Skull campaign, as my group are trying to get out of a bad "role-play breakdown" in Council of Thieves and focus on NPC interaction and the part of exploration "outside the rules" (maps, weather, seeing weird stuff).
Fay-leaf induced logical reasoning (that no one but Olondir and Piper understand) dictated that Piper should get buried up to his neck in a small pit in the early morning. At the time there was much laughs around the table and I let it happen. I informed Olondir that to bury the halfling, it will require attack roles and skillchecks etc... but then Piper chipped up and said it was his idea for this.. so I let this happen willingly. He also wanted to inspire courage for no apparent reason while buried.
Everyone else woke up and helped the halfling out of his pit.. everyone scratching their heads and deciding its best to not know why.
The party had breakfast and waited for the hottest part of the day to recede and adventure in the late afternoon to the X on their map. They figured it would take about 2 days. In addition, they hope to find some of these viper nettles for Aerys.
They traveled for a while and got to the clearing that Orin and Relius spotted the RMD and the half-part of a goat. At this time, 4 poisonous snakes attacked.
It was difficult to keep track of 7 people and 4 snakes, combat wise. In addition, I had to explain on the fly tactical combat to the new comers, the different actions (move/standard etc) and explain how reloading a heavy crossbow takes longer than a light crossbow, perception checks for who saw the snakes hiding in the different jungle brush, etc. The combat went off very well for the group. Only Saldlon and Dierdre got bit and are poisoned.
The party worked very well together, with bless and inspire courage helping everyone, but Olivia really shined with sleeping 2 out of 4 of the snakes. I forgot to attribute the 1d6 dex damage she got from being diseased.. but she still did great. I was concerned of her morale for combat after getting diseased and basically being useless against the zombies, so I'm glad she did well.
Dierdre, although poisoned, talked to one of the sleeping snakes and got some info about the location of viper nettles. The snake exchanged this information of the prickly berry patches for its life. Crafty, crafty snake.
We called it a night after combat. I'll begin next session with the diseases, poisons, and experience for the snake fight. Next session will also be the first time they get a visit from the captain of the brine demon, discovery of viper nettles, and the treasure pit.
Handling 7 PCs is tough work. Combat seems slower and more one sided (due to PC's action economy roflstomping monster's action economy, I think). I changed 1 snake to 4 on the fly but they still flew through that fight with the exception of the poison. I need to look up rules about upgrading fights and encounters for >6 PCs.
As far as NPCs go, I wanted the NPC benefits to be hidden, but decided a little more direct approach to get the PCs to bite and interract with them was required. (aka the mention of a map). It worked out great.
I'm deciding whether or not I should reward story XP proportional to contribution or a flat, universal amount for everyone.
Everyone had a lot of fun with roleplaying with the NPCs and eachother. Thom really likes playing Piper and his roleplaying I think, inspires others to roleplay in character as well. I explained to them that roleplaying is one of the many things that separate DnD from some generic PC RPG.
- Be Polite
Every so often, I ask if everyone is having fun. I ask what they are liking about the campaign and what I can do to improve it. I also am not afraid to let "unconventional" in-character actions occur if it encourages roleplaying. If things get too far out of hand, which is rather easy, I'm prepared to reel things back in from crazyland.(in a nice way of course.) As DM/Host, I always have enough chairs, dice, pencils, and paper for everyone. Food and drinks are also usually provided but I encourage people bring things to share. We aren't hardcore rules lawyers who play the game perfectly as written. I let things slide or enforce things as I see fit. This isn't true for everyone's group, but for mine, these aren't just players.. but my friends. Treat people with respect and provide a fun playing environment for everyone. My goal after every session is for my friends to tell me they had a great time and can't wait to play again.
- Be Efficent
I planned about a week of in-game time out. This includes random weather, diseases, and what random encounters you are going to have.
I would re-roll some weather effects for more naturalism in my game. If there is a thunderstorm, then the skies will be dark leading up to it etc. If I get a disease or an encounter when rolling during gametime, I just run the first one on top of the stack of stuff I have prepared. If something seems out of place, I also feel free to choose a different disease or encounter. In addition, it isn't necessary to go in-depth accounting of every bolt used, ration ate, and spell component used on the shiv.. even if items are limited. Instead, to keep the game going, maintain general tabs and keep things beliveable. Don't invoke "you're out of bullets" randomly without provocation. Sometimes players will suggest an action you weren't ready for. It is important to listen to them and more often than not, fun to go along with their idea and use synthesize their ideas with yours. (unknowingly to them of course!)
Every now and then, I'll let people know they are running low and work things out from there. Also,know how long your sessions last. I prepare enough for 2 sessions worth of locations and events in the actual adventure path. Example: I will prepare and be ready to run Captain Kinkarian, the viper nettles, and the treasure pit before next session even though I expect only to get up to the viper nettles next time we play.
- Have a plan to kill everyone you meet
It is important to keep the atmosphere of death around the PCs. Never let them actually be invincible. Adventuring is a risky risky business. Also, part of the challenge of the shiv is the environment. Try playing up how its always so unbelievably hot, the poor food quality, it being rainy all the time, how really hot it is, the risk of diseases, how everything that moves on this island wants to kill you, how seriously hot and miserable it is on this rock, and away from the benefits of civilization (new gear!). It should be motivation for players to get off this thing!
Writing down effects, initiative order and other things is essential for combat. It is sometimes difficult to remember what is a move action and what is a standard action, etc. All my ranged characters get hissy at me when they have to take wait a round to attack again as they move and re-arm their sling or crossbow.
Do you guys allow perception checks as free actions when, for example, spotting a snake you saw slither into some foilage? or is that a move or standard action to really see it?
Also, regarding EXP, the group consists of 3 level 2's and 4 level 1's and thusly has an APL of 3. They just encountered 4 CR2 snakes (effective CR of 6). Going by the table, they get 400 exp a piece for that fight? That seems pretty darn high for how easy it was for them...
Did I do this correctly? Is it is viewed as "ok" to reduce the XP gained from an encounter if it was very easily overcome?
** spoiler omitted **... Also, regarding EXP, the group consists of 3 level 2's and 4 level 1's and thusly has an APL of 3. They just encountered 4 CR2 snakes (effective CR of 6). Going by the table, they get 400 exp a piece for that fight? That seems pretty darn high for how easy it was for them...
Did I do this correctly? Is it is viewed as "ok" to reduce the XP gained from an encounter if it was very easily overcome?
Actually, 7 PCs would get 400 XP each for a CR6 Encounter by the book. A fight might seem easier than the CR but also even harder depending on the circumstances. If the PCs made good use of the environment or came very well prepared to the fight you should never punish that by lowering the XP award.
Thanks! So my maths was right. I also realized I totally messed up where the Brine Demon was supposed to be. I thought d3 was the brine demon for some reason... whatever. I'll replace G with another shipwreck.
We played last night. Once again it was a full house! Everyone came and many brought food and drinks for everyone.
I had the group tell me their typical marching order, night-watch patterns and then finally tallied up EXP. After totaling EXP for everyone, I talked about poisons, diseases and the rules to cure them (since 3/7 of them have some sort of ability damage). We also went over marching orders and typical night watches.
This was important because tonight, Captain Kinkarian came looking for his amulet! I had him show up around midnight (end of 2nd watch, beginning of third). He bursts through Saldlon's bag spilling its contents and demands to speak to the leader of this pack of mutinous, scurvy dogs. (He assumes anything breathing and 2 legs to be mutinous and/or scurvy dog).
Saldlon proceeds to talk to Captain K and I have the sleeping party members do perceptions to wake up. He isn't being convinced these guys aren't traitorous scum since they have a goblin with them and breathe. Also, they refuse to tell him about his amulet. Things were about to take a turn for the worst, but then he saw Dierdre. I described how his visible heart started beating faster and how his one eye opened up and he seemed to smile! Such began the mistaken identity game.
Captain K wanted none of this nonsense about her not being his lost lover or perhaps her granddaughter (which as of right now seems like a pretty awesome character story line for later). He rushes over there to give her a hug and a kiss but she stops him saying it will kill her if he tries (technically true) and if you come any closer I'll destroy your amulet. She dangles the closed amulet but it is never opened.
Confused and suddenly held hostage, Captain K begins to really turn anger. He is convinced his love has been put under some spell and screams for the death of her captors. Playing Captain K as chaotic neutral and me not wanting the party to fight an incorporeal undead pirate captian, I rolled a d20 and asked for high or low. (whatever they chose, if false, he would attack). As the dice would have it, there would be combat.
He drew his sword and impaled Saldlon, who retaliated with a cure light wounds spell (after he saw Olondir's hammer have no affect on his incorporeal body). Relius shot a bullet through his head to no effect. Oren is one of the few who knew about undead and let everyone know ghosts can only be harmed by magical things and even that is iffy. Oren prayed aloud and channeled energy. Saldlon was healed, but the ghost was unaffected (50% miss chance). The captain had his next target. He cursed the goblin scum and said how he's going to skewer his little green body like a pepper. Dierdre intelligently held onto the idea that diplomacy is still an option and she finally opens the locket and yells if you love her you'll stop fighting!
Everyone in character and out froze when she said this at the table. The ghostly being dropped his sword (The sword rematerialized in its scabbard) and sighed and a happy sigh as he gazed at the picture of his long lost love. He walked closer, uninterrupted, and held his locket. He wept with joy as he looked at his love's face. Soon he phased away leaving the now empty locket.
Afterwards, they rested and prepared for the next days journey. They continued south to the treasure spot and find some berries. They got to a small clearing on a hill (right below C2 near the nettles) and had them roll perception checks. Saldlon saw a boat and campsite docked to the right and Piper saw some large rocks moving on the beach. (Actually giant crabs).
They proceeded to check out Yarzouth's landing and it definitely rekindled their anger for the captain who left them to die. Saldlon is currently wearing the captain's hat and a scarf. He proceded to tell everyone in character how you were NOBODY unless you had an awesome scarf back in the academy. (I was impressed at his roleplaying throughout tonight... always being in character and stuff). Before they knew it was the captain's/ieana's ship, Oren and Relius thought it could be survivor's from their own ship (something I should work on incorporating).
They also spotted a trail leaving the camp heading further south!
They quickly followed it and brought them near the patch of berries they were looking for. Viper nettles were no big deal for Dierdre who just woodland strode her way to get them. They considered following the path but they lacked supplies. They are going to explore the treasure area and then return to camp and hopefully catch up to them.
This is where we stopped for the evening.
Next in-line for the group is the yellow musk creeper and its 6 zombies (crew members from the Anne), the treasure pit, the party's first encounter with cannibals, more sightings of the RMD, and a few shipwrecks.
I really like, as someone on the boards suggested, a shipwreck that zaps whoever touches it into some alternate time when the ship is under attack by pirates and such and if the party fails in repelling the pirates, they zap back and find new skeletons among the other dead crews... the same number as PCs. It would be a hell of a lot of work managing all the NPC crews and enemies but it will be well worth it and a break from all this jungle business.
I'm really liking this idea that Aeshemara and Diedre are related and one of her character background goals is to discover who her mother is.
Anyone have any cool ideas to help me out?
Also, I'm thinking about ways to include things about the Anne on the Shiv for Relius and Oren. Yhat is other than the actual wreck of the ship. I'm thinking most of the ship became cannibal food, diomorphodon food, snake food, crab food, bacteria food, and/or RMD food, but possibly a few survivors were among the crew.
I'm thinking the party might rescue some survivors who are being hunted and/or trapped by cannibals soon.
Awesome stuff! We just started the AP, and I find reading about your group really inspiring (we're stuggling a bit more with RP, but it's picking up).
I have GMed for 7 players before, and have the following tips:
- Designate the most experienced players as "rules-checkers" or assistants to more inexperienced players. You don't have time to do those things.
- Accept that big combats will generally devolve into a huge mess. Properly mapping out miniatures and locations are essential (just a whiteboard and a chess set is enough if on a budget). Try to see to it that no PCs die bc/o misunderstandings (if they don't pay attention, it's their fault, though). The "20 seconds in 2 hours" became something of a joke in our Deadlands group.
- Balance is a tricky thing, but I agree that action economy is key. A good fix is to sprinkle in more "goons" around the big baddies, to keep excess PCs occupied.
|
Oren prayed aloud and channeled energy. Saldlon was healed, but the ghost was unaffected (50% miss chance).
Good stuff, fun to read.
Thought I'd point out some rules errors though, for next time, in case it hadn't been caught yet. Channeling energy can be done to heal the living or harm undead, but not both at the same time, the channeler has to pick each time he/she does it. You can find this on page 40 of the Core Rulebook, "Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric."
Also, incorporeal doesn't give a miss chance on damaging effects anymore. It's a straight up 50% damage. Page 301, Bestiary, "Even when hit by spells or magic weapons, it takes only half damage from a corporeal source."
However, channel energy does full damage to undead, incorporeal or not. This is in the bestiary errata: "Corporeal spells and effects that do not cause damage only have a 50% chance of affecting an incorporeal creature (except for channel energy)." It's still not exactly right, because channel energy does damage, but the gist is that channeling affects incorporeal undead normally, no miss chance and no half damage (other than the normal will save of course).
Hope that helps some, I know it can all get overwhelming after a while. Keep up the good work. :)
(Solid Advice)
Thanks good sir! Next combat I'm definitely having someone keep track of whose turn it is. I find the bard and/or the alchemist great for starting roleplaying. I have been told by one of my players that roleplaying is a lot of fun but it is just so awkward to do. Having people who aren't as afraid leading the way and just being in a mental state of comfort to do this sort of thing are the best things I know that contribute to roleplaying. The player also said that a little bit of fayleaf in real life helped calm his/her nerves a bit about roleplaying and get "into it". I personally do not endorse that claim regardless of validity.
Good stuff, fun to read. (things about rules I should have known)
:D thank you and thank everyone for reading! It is my pleasure to document my group's exploits into tabletop roleplaying.
I was aware that incorporeality has changed since 3.5, but when I read over that section I must have associated the 50% reduced damage with miss chance and got mixed up in the heat of battle. I admit I made the mistake.
I really had no idea that channel energy worked that way. I was operating under the assumption that channel energy was a simple burst of either positive or negative energy that affects everyone in the area. This is why I thought (one of the reasons at least) any intelligent ghost worth his ectoplasm would want to take down the cleric first. I try to balance my game between keeping the momentum going and keeping it as RAW as possible. This is one of those times where if I knew what you told me now, I would have totally used what you said about how channeling works. In fact, I have made a note of it and will remind myself for future channelings. So thank you very much!
(I'm in the process of texting Leo now and letting him know how Oren's prayers to Nethys helped out quite a bit and not to rely on his channels healing living things AND hurting undead at the same time in the future.)
I have been giving some thought about character backstories and how they fit into the story.
- I like that Deirdre and Relius share that their mother's left. To tie this back into the main plot, I'm considering Relius' mom be an agent for the Pathfinders and Dierdre's mom be with the Red-Mantis. Dierdre's mom did/is currently doing something concerning Viperwall, while Relius' mom is currently researching some strange supernatural phenomena with a certain specific professor up in Ustalav. Relius will hear about her mom's work if they talk to Gelik/the pathfinders soon or in the next book, but Deirdre's trail to find her mom will grow cold for a while. (I'm talking she won't know that fact until like book 5 or 6).
- Piper's hero, Tomas, will be with the pathfinders. He is a quintesential heroic cavalier and could even be with Eando.
- I'm thinking Saldlon is going to be blackmailed/coerced by the Aspis Consortium somehow and for something. (Ideas?)
Other than that, I'm still coming up with ideas for the others. Also,
I still don't have Saldlon's*, Oren's or Olivia's backstories.
(Dan described some stuff during roleplaying... mainly how Saldlon grew up in cheliax and attended an academy. He wrote a few papers and is looking for new ingredients for his bombs.)
Also, I really want to have the faction/intrigue/power struggle in my game for the next book. When I pitched both adventure paths, I got a lot of positive remarks for Serpent's Skull and wanting competing factions and intrigue.
I'm looking for ways to play up and maintain the factions are vying for power/influence amongst the PCs, but at the same time not split the party and have the party lose their togetherness. Anyone have any thoughts or advice about connecting the PCs to the story/adding factions and intrigue to my game?
The other castaways are a great way to "tie in" with the factions. I think the players will be less likely to just want to destroy/avoid another faction if that faction's spokesperson is a NPC they have a connection to. The most critical part will also be to present the five factions as a genuine choice at the start in Eleder. Inadvertently giving the impression that one faction is "pure evil" (like Aspis) will probably remove some of the fun. I like the fact that all the factions are "morally ambiguous", so the players have to choose more based on style and NPC interaction, not just default to "the good guys" (IMO the Pathfinder Society is far from "pure good").
Concerning RAW when GMing 7 players: You will never have the time to make spot on rulings with that many players making up crazy stuff, so it's important to be clear about the possibility of mix-ups and sudden changes with the players. If they want everything to be RAW, they have to go that extra mile themselves, or else they have to live with the occasional slipup. Most important goals is to have fun and all that...
Using the NPCs is a great idea, and so is making every group morally ambiguous, but I'm having trouble associating these individuals with their respective groups. I could very well be mistaken, but these are the NPCs and how they relate to their faction:
Aerys - Pirates - This one, given some work, can go pretty smoothly. There is no reason for her, in the books, for her not to be a pirate. Especially if she gets promises of gaining her own ship. The pirates are ruthless and efficient, but believe the loot you find is yours and want the least amount as a commission tax.
Jask - Gubbermint - The dude was going to go to prison. I doubt he wants to help them now. Blackmail/coercion seems the only way. These guys are bumbling jerks who are the type that make the natives sign away their rights to basically everything but their loincloths with a single signature.
Sasha- Red Mantis - IIRC, she doesn't want to be a Red-Mantis and was basically exiled by her mom. I really have a hard time finding the plus side of working with them and making Sasha the Red-Mantis flavored Jask.
Gelik - Pathfinders - Awesome. This one seems the most viable. They help out Gelik, they get in good standing with them. Perhaps I can play up the pathfinders unsavory parts like how they aren't hostile to the natives, but will lie/cheat/steal to get some pretty new artifacts. Pathfinders themselves are pretty dispensable too.
Ishirou - Aspis - Now he is in debt with them. Ok. He will probably be working with them to payback his debts, but to make the Aspis appealing, they are almost a militaristic Walmart. Unethical? Yeah. Lowest prices and access to anything you could ever want to buy? Yeah. I'll be sure to bribe, donate, and monetarily assuage the PCs all courtesy of the AC. They do expect their favors to be repaid, of course. They also want the biggest commission rate/tax than other groups. Oh and if you don't help them you'll become a skeleton that moves boxes and boxes of feather tokens in a warehouse in Cheliax.
I'm gonna re-read the factions and the standings each NPC has and try to come up with some ideas.
I totally agree with you about making the PCs fit, but here's my bit on the three tricky ones:
Aspis and Ishirou: He doesn't have to be coerced into working with Aspis, could just as easily be "I've worked with these guys before, it's good money". As far as the Walmart'ness, Aspis doesn't need to be any more heartless than a modern international corporation. That is to say, it can be pretty ok or totally heartless, based on your vision of the campaign. I don't think my PCs will join them, but I'll work them in as the faction that's in it for the money, and the PCs can make deals with them.
Example: Aspis might be willing to give the PC expedition the right to explore ruins and catalog artifacts, but they want trading rights with natives and monopolies.
Jask And Sargava: This one is tricky. The easiest solution here is to say that Jask's old boss was revealed to be corrupt and an old friend of Jask took his job. I would think that Jask is more a "contact" than a government worker, but I agree that the fit isn't optimal. Bottom line is that my group really loves Jask, there's no chance they won't talk him into joining their expedition. But any group which wants to ally with Sargava doesn't really need a contact. I would imagine that the colonial government is visible enough that any PCs who want to be "agents of the State" will manage to contact them themselves. I see the Sargava expedition as full of soldiers and concerned about ruling stuff and owning land.
Example: Sargava might be willing to work with the PC expedition by providing troops and arms, but will want to claim the city as "Sargavan territory" and set up the rule of law (judged by them, ofc).
Sasha and the Red Mantis: Trickiest. I don't see my group joining these guys in a million years, and I've already made plans to make them a kind of boogeyman. My idea is to use them more as a rumor in Eleder and have Sasha either be recruited (if unfriendly) or telling the PCs that she's seen mantis agents about town, saying they're bad news. I'll then drop them in here and there during the Race and exploration, hoping that my PCs will see them as mysterious and dangerous, totally ruthless in the pursuit of their (to the PCs) unknown goal. It's important to point out that EVERYONE of the "guards" in the expedition has Invisibility 1/day, I'm planning on there being sightings of "invisible insect demons" by the tribals in the city.
Modern Corporations is exactly what I meant by Walmart. Ethically bankrupt but financially savvy. I'll play up ishirou's private-contractorishness instead of being in debt. I like that idea.
I could have Jask be in back in good standings.. perhaps a friend of his that is in power with the government is a friend of Oren's from the Order of Aesthetic Remedies (see below).
Last night I recieved Saldlon's and Oren's backstories.
Sparknotes versions:
Saldlon hails from Egorian, Cheliax where he studied at the academy of magical arts. He recieved highest honors and the title "of the vial." He hopes to find secrets and knowledge so he may write his masterpiece thesis. He is uncaring to the morality of good and evil, takes diddly from anyone deemed below his intellect, and loves his new tri-corner hat and red, black, and gold scarf.
Oren was adopted by a goblin shaman recluse somewhere.. probably the sodden lands. He was encouraged to be more civilized than his kin and with the help of the Order of Aesthetic Remedies. (He describes them a traveling band of clerics). He has a strong sense of goodness, he dislikes the use of physical weaponry (preferring magical ends), and also has a strong dislike of dogs.
We won't be playing until either thursday or friday, so I have plenty of time to think about how I can incorporate these backstories.
Class for now. I'll think about this more today.
My point about Aspis is that they don't have to be all "selling disease-blankets and taking slaves", you could just as easily have this particular expedition be just about the profit in looting ancient ruins (which is a lot less evil than slavery and exploiting the land). My fear is that a too "morally bankrupt" Aspis will be too unappealing for the PCs to deal with. But then again the other factions are an imperialist government, a cult of assassins, glorified tomb robbers and a bunch of pirates. There are no "awesome NPO"-prizes being dealt to any of them.
My plan is to set the other factions up as "neutral until directly attacked" by pointing out that going all-out against one faction will probably weaken the PCs' expedition enough to be easily outplayed by the remaining factions, even if the PCs themselves could beat up some of them. Since the factions are 80% of the NPCs the PCs will interact with during the AP, it would be a shame if the players felt that they couldn't deal with them.
Absolutely. I like how everyone is a shade of gray. As far as the AC go, I like to think my Aspis Consortium is kind of like the East India Company from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
I think I am going to take my time when they are in Eleder.
The notes they find from Yarzoth and the walls of the temple will be hard to decipher since no one in the party knows Aklo and no one has knowledge history or linguistics. I will have to tread lightly, but I will describe that the they decipher and deduce that this stuff is referring to the mythical undiscovered Saventh-Yhi but not much more than that. My thoughts on the matter is that Saldlon won't know what the text is about, but he will know the importance of this knowledge and what is at stake. He will be aware that this is the kind of research any scholar would dream of having. It can be his master thesis material. It will take some time to decipher correctly.
During this downtime while the notes are being deciphered, I'll have the different factions come in contact with the PCs and ask/demand alliances/sharing of information. This will also give me a chance to introduce some player character development.
Saldlon has a contact in Eleder. In fact, meeting him was one of the reasons why Saldlon was going to Sargava in the first place. Belegion of the Tome is a high-class wizard from the academy and I'm planning on using him as a "trustworthy" contact to decipher the notes.
I'm considering Belegion also being a weak-link and selling out some of his notes to the Aspis Consortium and/or other groups.
Clayton Sage, one of Deirdre's contacts will also be in town. He was long ago friends with Relius' father (both ex-adventurers) who went to his Relius' father's funeral. He was in town for a few days before leaving back to Varisia on the boat, Queen of the Ice Age. I'm not sure what I want to do with him but he'll be there. Maybe he can inform them a bit more about Azlanti culture, etc.
Brick Goresmith is the uncle to a contact of Olondir's. He is the brother to a merchant that Olondir knows. He lives in Eleder and if things are roleplayed well, Olondir and his group can get 5% off non-magical swords/armor etc.
[Unnamed Cleric NPC] will be the contact for Oren. This guy is in with the Sargavan Government and pretty good friends with Jask. He is a member of the OAR. Helping this guy will enable the party to get away with a little more shenanigans in the city.. especially if they piss off the government and withhold info about Saventh-yhi. (jail, fines, red-tape, other delay-tactics so the government gets there first).
Eva is one of Relius' Contacts. Eva is the female gunslinger that Relius lost the competition to. She will make a casual appearance in the inn/tavern the party is staying at. She knows nothing about Saventh-yhi but it would be cool to involve her and get Relius-centric roleplaying (he is a kinda passive player when it comes to roleplaying).
Sir Tomas is Piper's major contact in Eleder. Sir Tomas is surprised to see Piper and is glad he made it. I am positive this will be a great experience for Piper since the player loves roleplaying and I think this might bestow a sort of benefit like the NPCs on the shiv.. i'm thinking a bonus to fear checks.
Racing to ruin is quite a far ways away so this is all subject to change. I have plenty of time to include all the factions and think of fun adventures in the city before the "amazing race" part kicks in. I hope to finish Smuggler's Shiv before the start of summer.
Last night's session we had four players (Piper, Saldlon, Dierdre, and Olivia). Things had a late start. I was pretty busy and didn't have a lot prepped. I also realized that after the dice were cast, I was not prepared for the rules for this kind of fight. I had to house rule negating charm person, entanglement effects, and grappling/carrying away a PC all unexpectedly tonight.
We started the session leveling up Saldlon and Olivia. With our group not at full strength, I went ahead and rolled for the afternoon's random encounter dice. If that failed to produce a combat, I figured we'd spend the evening roleplaying and get some more in-character development going.
Probability decided tonight would not be a casual roleplay filled evening. 2 cannibal scouts, were in the area (by now Yarzoth has made it to at least the cannibal camp and they know others are on the island.) Piper and Dierdre hear movement near the viper nettles and they cautiously get into defensive positions. Piper starts playing his flute anticipating a fight. The cannibals proceed to stealth and stalk up on the group after the first note of Piper's flute-only version of Eye of the Tiger started playing. Piper rushes forwards and sees two tan, scarred and tattooed (with pentagrams) humans with broken scimitars and a javelins on their backs. At this point, I tell Piper to roll initiative. Piper and the two cannibals will have a round before the rest of the group catches up. Piper wins initiative and screams for help. He stands his ground and successfully charms the bigger looking barbarian.
Well the non-charmed cannibal decides killing Piper would be a waste of delicious halfling flesh so he proceeds to grapple and carry Piper away.
A few grapple checks and attack of opportunities later, Piper is firmly in the grasp of the raging cannibal (who now has a dagger lodged into his clavicle).
The charmed barbarian, seeing his two friends fighting, at first is unsure what to do. He is compelled to help both his old bud Grug-grug the skinlicker, and his new buddy Piper. That is until he saw Piper lodge a dagger into his his friend (causing a new will-save). Unfortunately he fails again and just rushes up to them both confused about what to do.
I now asked everyone for initiative, I discussed how each round is basically 6 seconds long and as soon as you heard the cry for help you only had time to draw your weapons/arm your slings at that point. We were all ok with that ruling.
Dierdre went first and proceeded to land a bullet square on the head of the barbarian firmly holding the squiggling halfling trail ration.
This time the charmed barbarian successfully broke free of his charm and in guttural chelaxian, tells Grug-grug to take him back to camp. He'll hold off the others.
Everyone else basically makes full-round movements to get into position and rescue Piper. Grug-Grug moves at half his speed as far as he can bringing this halfling with him, while Piper's former cannibal friend draws his scimitar, moves to cover Grug-Grug and rages.
Dierdre casts entangle centered near Piper. (Side note: Good god entangle's range and size is crazy.) The way entangle reads, I had to make a ruling about whether or not it affects allies. As DM, I ruled that the moment it is cast, any foe caught in the AoE gets tangling vines and grass trying to grab them. Allies are safe. However, from then on, for the duration of the spell, any friend or foe moving in the entangled area has to make reflex saves or get entangled. The whole fight turns into a mess as almost everyone is entangled from the initial cast or entering the entangling area.
A max-damage alchemist bomb burns away a lot of skin on Piper's former barbarian friend and destroys some of the entangling vines around him. (I know they are magic and will re-grow next round). Balor breaks free of his entangling and proceeds to move in to maul the guy into the negatives. Grug-grug is stuck and makes no progress carrying this halfling through magical vines and back to camp.
Here is where we ended the night as Olivia's player had to get up early.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
This encounter really wasn't planned and 4 level 2 PCs should be able to take a 2 CR 1/2 barbarians so I went with it. I know I made so many mistakes tonight and I felt bad, but at least my players don't know the actual rules to call me out on my mistakes. I tried to make as fair of rulings as possible.
My rulings for charm person follow that the other barbarian would not harm his friend Grug-Grug just because Piper is now your friend, too. Instead of attacking either party, he just got confused as he saw his two good friends duke it out. Since no attacks were directed on him the spell didn't automatically break. That being said, seeing his friend Grug-Grug start getting attacked made him try to snap out of the spell.
As far as entangle goes, This spell causes tall grass, weeds, and other plants to wrap around foes in the area of effect or those that enter the area. The last part of that makes this spell confusing. Affecting both allies and enemies as well as just enemies both make logical sense. I went to the internet for a decision and saw several posts about entangle hitting allies and went with that as my decision.
Grappling and moving someone also confused me. I decided that Grug-grug had to make a grapple to keep holding Piper at the start of his turn and then Piper gets an escape artist check at the end of Grug-grug's movement.
I probably could have looked up some rulings, but that takes away time from the game and we were already late starting etc and decided to get as much pathfinder in as possible instead of rules checking. Everyone still had fun, so I guess I did ok.
Breakfast post, so I'll make it short.
Grapple: The Pathfinder rules for grappling aren't that complicated, but you do need to read up on them and run through a couple of fights before you get the hang of it. It's better than most RPG systems, but the bottom line is that any low str caster stuck in a grapple is basically out of the fight. But it looks like what you houseruled was in the ballpark.
Entangle: Entangle affects "creatures", so it's friendly fire from the start.