Ghenett Manor Gauntlet Character Death - Spoilers!

[Lab_Rat]

So I just ran Ghenett Manor Gauntlet for our group (6 players sub-tier 8-9) and I have to say that this is an awesome scenario. Not going to go through it all but I wanted to share a very hilarious and iconic character death.

SPOILERS!!!! Don't read unless you want to know too much

Spoiler:

So the players all make it to the library and discover the secret door under the lectern. The players understood the warning inscribed on the door but then forgot to do a perception check to spot for traps. I think this was mostly do to the gunslinger wanting to blast open locks with his gun and the rest of the party going toff on a tangent involving Egyptian grave robbers. So the gunslinger jumps ahead of everyone, blasts the lock, and blows up his gun. This was his nice gun too, not his backup. The sonic trap (greater shout) then goes off, instantly killing the poor gunslinger and showering the rest of the party in glass shards and gore.

[Professor Calaelen]

Lab_Rat wrote:

So I just ran Ghenett Manor Gauntlet for our group (6 players sub-tier 8-9) and I have to say that this is an awesome scenario. Not going to go through it all but I wanted to share a very hilarious and iconic character death.

SPOILERS!!!! Don't read unless you want to know too much

** spoiler omitted **

I loved running this at GenCon recently, and was lucky enough to have the writer of the scenario play as the historian NPC, Besai I believe...

This was great fun.

My party's were at each tier. They didn't die instantly from the trap (you must have rolled really well on the damage or had a gunslinger with not much hp to kill him instantly!) I would have given him a perception, even if he didn't say it, but then I roll player's perceptions behind screen most of these times.

Further Plot:

What nearly killed my party is the fact that they have to face a pretty tricky party (the Consortium) almost directly after them lose a ton of their hitpoints on the trap. My guys had 6 seconds to regroup (while the other team cast haste) though this never lead to any PC deaths, I once only had 2 guys standing to kill the alchemist, is was a tense and crazy fight! Loved it all the way, but certainly hard!

[Mike Shel]

Post reviews, Ladies and Gentlemen, post reviews...

HERE

I'm looking at you, Matt

[Professor Calaelen]

Mike Shel wrote:

I'm looking at you, Matt

Ha! I will! I will! I keep meaning to get around to the massive load of reviews which I need to do after GenCon...

[Lab_Rat]

Professor Calaelen wrote:

Lab_Rat wrote:

So I just ran Ghenett Manor Gauntlet for our group (6 players sub-tier 8-9) and I have to say that this is an awesome scenario. Not going to go through it all but I wanted to share a very hilarious and iconic character death.

SPOILERS!!!! Don't read unless you want to know too much

** spoiler omitted **

I loved running this at GenCon recently, and was lucky enough to have the writer of the scenario play as the historian NPC, Besai I believe...

This was great fun.

My party's were at each tier. They didn't die instantly from the trap (you must have rolled really well on the damage or had a gunslinger with not much hp to kill him instantly!) I would have given him a perception, even if he didn't say it, but then I roll player's perceptions behind screen most of these times.

** spoiler omitted **

Spoiler:

It was not the trap alone that killed him. It was the fact that his gun exploded in his attempt to disarm the lock, damaging him just before the trap. It was a very comical one-two punch. Luckily the player had the PA and was not put out at all by his own death, he spent most of his death scene laughing.

[Darius Silverbolt]

Mike Shel wrote:

Post reviews, Ladies and Gentlemen, post reviews...

HERE

I'm looking at you, Matt

I had mike at my table on THursday...Man I wished I would have thought of using him to run the NPC that was BRILLIANT.

[ArVagor]

Had fun in that one, especially after my barbarian ended up with a Wisdom of 2 for the entire second half of the mod! You know how hard it is to complete a faction mission at that point??? ;-)

[Chris Kenney]

It could have been worse. The witch might not have decided the gnome barbarian made a cute pet and let him wander around.

[Professor Calaelen]

Darius Silverbolt wrote:

I had mike at my table on THursday...Man I wished I would have thought of using him to run the NPC that was BRILLIANT.

Yeah it was great fun, gave me time to focus on other stuff and allowed Besai to be much more annoying. Mike was great (since it was his character!)

Just a little spoiler:

I still like the idea that another GM came up with to get Po to give a toast! "To the Pathfinder Society!" with the tea. That's Brilliant!

[Darius Silverbolt]

<-- EVIL GM:

I did the toast with PO. I got them all with that one.

[Mark Moreland]

Very glad to hear people like this scenario. Would people be interested in seeing more PFS from Mr. Shel?

[Mark Garringer]

Mark Moreland wrote:

Very glad to hear people like this scenario. Would people be interested in seeing more PFS from Mr. Shel?

Yes!

[Chris Kenney]

I certainly enjoyed it.

[Darius Silverbolt]

Mark Moreland wrote:

Very glad to hear people like this scenario. Would people be interested in seeing more PFS from Mr. Shel?

Absolutely would like to see some more from him!

[Mergy]

I have a question regarding this scenario.

Spoiler:

How did the GMs running this play the flesh golem encounter? Did you have your players roll initiative but only attack if they attacked the golems, or did you just try to play up how menacingly the golems were in their approach?

Also, how did everyone do the map? I was planning on printing out a plan of the house and giving it as a handout, but with the inside of the house blacked out so that the PCs could better see the scope of the building.

[Alizor]

I've run the Flesh Golems both ways. I think I prefer the initiative route, as it forces people to "jump the gun" a bit with the golems... however both ways are effective.

The time that I ran it with initiative, the party delayed until the golems and realized they weren't a threat.

One time when I ran it without initiative they attacked the golems as they were moving closer to party, starting initiative. Another time they just sat there and watched.

[Lab_Rat]

I agree. Players in initiative tend to think combat first and so it suckers them into the encounter. ::evil grin::

[Myron Pauls]

Mergy wrote:

Also, how did everyone do the map? I was planning on printing out a plan of the house and giving it as a handout, but with the inside of the house blacked out so that the PCs could better see the scope of the building.

I made a map of the manor in Dundjinni, then cut it up into separate rooms. As the players opened the door, I just placed the next room and they could see exactly what it was. I didn't map out the entire grounds - there's no way that map would fit on a gaming table anyway.

If you're interested, PM me and I'll see about getting you the PDF of the map. If I recall, it cost me about $7 to get printed at Staples.

[Mergy]

Unfortunately there's no time for that really. The game is in like... 4 hours? :)

[Jiggy]

I'm running this tomorrow. I was really hoping to find more map ideas in this thread. :/

[Quadstriker]

Arise, thread! Let the life flow through you!

Running this later this month and it looks like great fun.

How have others handled the mapping of this scenario?
I'm thinking of having handouts of the map of the grounds with the interior of the building cut out. I can fit the building itself on a large chessex battlemat. I guess I could bring a blank flipmat and draw out on the fly any encounters that occur outside.

As for the tea ceremony. I'm going to bring dixie cups, buy a small bottle of the interesting Katapesh blend known as "Coke Zero" and offer the toast to the PFS in person. Now let's see who gets caught up in it.

[PolydactylPolymath]

Quadstriker wrote:

As for the tea ceremony. I'm going to bring dixie cups, buy a small bottle of the interesting Katapesh blend known as "Coke Zero" and offer the toast to the PFS in person. Now let's see who gets caught up in it.

When I ran this, I actually brought a thermos of Chai, with cream and honey. Unsurprisingly, no one refused.

[pH unbalanced]

Played through this yesterday (high tier) and had a blast, even though I had my first character death.

As it turns out, if you fail your saves against the Greater Shout, the falling glass, *and* the Fireball -- death is fairly likely.

[thistledown]

I have an enormous map that fills a conference table for it. In practice, I just use pieces of it at a time.

[Slothsy]

PolydactylPolymath wrote:

Quadstriker wrote:

As for the tea ceremony. I'm going to bring dixie cups, buy a small bottle of the interesting Katapesh blend known as "Coke Zero" and offer the toast to the PFS in person. Now let's see who gets caught up in it.

When I ran this, I actually brought a thermos of Chai, with cream and honey. Unsurprisingly, no one refused.

I am going to use this when I run it in person. I never would've thought of it - great idea!