The Brinewall Legacy (GM Reference)


Jade Regent

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Matthew Downie wrote:

If you follow strict relationship mechanics, then players may start trying to mechanically pursue the relationship system.

"Right, in order to gain another relationship point with each of the NPCs I'll have to leave the dungeon and give each of them a presents from my bag of pre-bought gifts until I pass the diplomacy check. No, it can't wait - if we keep going I'll level up and miss the opportunity."

To avoid this, I basically allow my PCs to give them gifts late. So they can give them the level 3 gift when they're level 4 or so too. And yes that means two gifts or one big gift at level 4.


Spivey's speeds are listed as 30 ft overland and 80 ft flight, the norm for a Lyrakien, but since she's a Cleric with the Travel domain, shouldn't these be increased to 40 ft and 90 ft respectively? Just a minor thing, but I was wondering if there was something preventing the ten-foot boost from being factored in.


ok, I just ran Goblins a couple weeks ago, setting up jade regent.(I wasn't really satisfied with it) My groups role playing wasnt the best and the FINAL encounter Vorka didnt wake up and the Rogue goblin just up and killed her, She missed her Fort save by 1! I didnt do so great running it either I was not as prepared for it as I thought I was.

Anyways, I'm running the Brinewall Legacy within a month, and one of my players is playing a Garuda blooded monk...I know that Yamabushi Tengu are fascinated with Garuda and a Garuda blooded ought to be something that Kikonu is very fascinated with. Beforehand, I wasnt going to do much with Kikonu, but now I want to make the encounter memorable especially for the player whos playing the Garuda blooded. I just thought I'd ask for some ideas of how Kikonu would view this particular PC.


Hi everyone, I'm running the Jade Regent adventure path as my first ever GM experiance. Reading through the first three books I noticed that caravan combat becomes almost an integral part of the campaign. However, with the way my group plays, I don't see the caravan working out very well. The group likes combat, roleplaying, and advancing the story, not managing a caravan. Is there a way I can run this campaign without the caravan as an integral part to the story?


Cgruenke124 wrote:
... Is there a way I can run this campaign without the caravan as an integral part to the story?

You can - and should - skip the caravan bookkeeping. Just pretend that all four relevant NPCs are on board a caravan and there're enough (paid) resources for wagons, provisions, and repair matrials. You can't - and souldn't try - to skip the relevant NPCs altogether. Just think of'em as back-ups and story-steering characters. Look up the caravan encounters and pick the monsters type. Take as much monsters as needed for a balanced encounter and let your players "fight, be diplomatic or whatever". It wouldn't be wise to cut the caravan feeling out of this Adventure Path but you can run the game without the bookkeeping.

Cheers


What changes do I need to make to this AP to make it so the events of the Rise of the Runelords never happened or could still happen later?

I'm running Jade Regent first and RotRL right after.

The Exchange

there's several things in RotRL that you'd have to change regarding shalelu if memory serves


Ameiko's immediate family background may also have to be changed.

i.e. In RotRL, her father is murdered by her half-brother and the PCs get revenge.

The point is that, in the standard story of Jade Regent, she doesn't have any living relatives but comes from an above average social background. In RotRL, her father is quite alive in the beginning.

Change Ameiko's family name in RotRL for it to be the "other" Tien family who took up the business once Ameiko left.


Chernobyl wrote:

there's several things in RotRL that you'd have to change regarding shalelu if memory serves

Do you or does anyone else know exactly what changes I need to make to Shalelu?

And as long as I replace the Kaijitsu family with a different family in RotRL, I'm good there right?


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In RotRL (as I understand it, haven't played it) you meet young Ameiko and young Shalelu. In Jade Regent, Ameiko and Shalelu cross the world with the PCs and become physically/politically powerful (or die).
So the best thing to do is to let Jade Regent play out naturally, and in RotRL, replace Ameiko and Shalelu with other similar people who can fill the same roles.


Matthew Downie wrote:

In RotRL (as I understand it, haven't played it) you meet young Ameiko and young Shalelu. In Jade Regent, Ameiko and Shalelu cross the world with the PCs and become physically/politically powerful (or die).

So the best thing to do is to let Jade Regent play out naturally, and in RotRL, replace Ameiko and Shalelu with other similar people who can fill the same roles.

Sounds good. Thanks!


First time posting here. Spoiler question to follow. I will be DM'ing this in a few months. I have read through all 6 of the books and I know what is supposed to happen by the end, in theory. I did have one question from this book I wanted to get answered if possible. Once the PC's finish Brinewall Castle and get the Amatatsu Seal, why wouldn't the seal use its Resurrection power to bring back Rokuro Kaijitsu and further reinforce the Amatatsu line?


That's an issue that applies to most RPG stories. "Why not just cast Raise Dead on the assassinated king?" Players don't normally ask.
There are all sorts of reasons why resurrections might fail. The dead person might not want to come back. Pharasma might not want them to come back.
Also, in this case, bringing Rokuro back would depower the seal for a month, which might doom Ameiko.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Brent Behrens wrote:
First time posting here. Spoiler question to follow. I will be DM'ing this in a few months. I have read through all 6 of the books and I know what is supposed to happen by the end, in theory. I did have one question from this book I wanted to get answered if possible. Once the PC's finish Brinewall Castle and get the Amatatsu Seal, why wouldn't the seal use its Resurrection power to bring back Rokuro Kaijitsu and further reinforce the Amatatsu line?

If Pharasma has already judged his soul then even the Seal can not Resurrect him.

Liberty's Edge

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Brent Behrens wrote:
Once the PC's finish Brinewall Castle and get the Amatatsu Seal, why wouldn't the seal use its Resurrection power to bring back Rokuro Kaijitsu and further reinforce the Amatatsu line?
SRD wrote:
So long as some small portion of the creature's body still exists, it can be resurrected
Brinewall Legacy p.49 wrote:
Rokuro Kaijitsu’s body is long gone


OK, used search-fu on "Date" and didn't find anything.

Did anyone choose a particular date to start this AP off?

My players LOVED Rise of the Runelords, then did another campaign that started with an interrupted festival, so I'm thinking of starting it a few days before the Swallowtail Festival, letting them poke around for a week or two, and then kicking off the AP proper.

Any issues with such a random start date anyone can think of?


Oh! Pick me!
off the top off my head we started jade regent in late june (game time) figure at least 3 months just to get to the crown, my goal was to reach Hongal in mid april, just in time for the first crocus of spring poking out of the snow:)


Only dates to consider, plot wise is the AP assumes you're traveling across in the offseason my assumption is the offseason is between Mid to late october-mid march:)


Date to begin previously discussed here.


Matthew Downie wrote:
Date to begin previously discussed here.

Perfect! Thanks!


Here I'm, again, reviving old posts...

Well, I've partially played this Adventure 3 times.

Spoiler:

I started the first run long ago, near the adventure debuts. There were a samurai, a kitsune ninja, a half-elf wizard (Shalelu’s brother) and a cleric of Desna. We made it to the caravan party, but we needed to stop because of time issues. When fighting the goblin chief, I almost did a TPK with a skyrocket. Only one of the PCs passed the reflex save and didn’t drop below 0 hp.
The second run was an attempt to play in weekdays (we played Rise of the Runelords on weekends). We started playing We Be Goblins!, which was a really good (and funny) prologue to the campaign. We had two-handed fighter, an oracle, a wizard (the same wizard from the first run), an investigator and elf ranger (she is developing an interesting rivalry relationship with Shalelu). The players fight their hero goblins from We Be Goblins! In the Licktoad village, and that was a really tough fight actually. We finished the first adventure, but I haven’t started the second party because we were focused in finishing the RotR first (which we just did one week ago).

The third run started yesterday. I was trying to play Pathfinder with my roommate, only we two. We tried it with The Dragon’s Demand module and it worked out kinda well, so we tried with an Adventure Path. The group is an half-elf arcanist (the previous wizard), another human arcanist (Ameiko’s half-brother, Amaya’s twin) , an elf paladin and a human bloodrager. These characters will be played by my roommate. I also added to the party a human cleric of Milani and a lvl-1 Ameiko as GM-PCs.

An one-GM one-player game runs slowly than a normal game for me, so in your first session we just made to the hafling’s house and saved him. Now we’re moving to the licktold village.

It’s one of my favorite adventures ever. I love the swamp exploration and the Brinewall Castle is great, but I feel that the whole npc-ralated-thing and caravan-thing is not well stressed in the AP RAW. There are few interaction hook with the NPC, some NPC basically vanishes from the AP. It’s a GM homework to give live to the caravan, I know, but I expected some more support to do that.


Hi Guys

Our group just kicked this AP off the other night, and they are doing well so far.... but I thought I would throw some planning into the mix for the trip to Brinewall itself.

Given that its about 16 days right ? was thinking of throwing in some additional types of caravan encounters, and was wondering what other GM's did to keep that part of the story interesting.

Things I was considering, were, a small ruined manor house that they can explore, a tower, a graveyard, or bandit toll, or something sinister, that will make them really work for it.

I want to give them the chance to do some trading as well, so any advice in that department would be appreciated.

I don't want them to be bored with ...ho hum, its another goblin raid, or what ever, I would like at least the latter parts of the trip to build a bit of suspense, since the road gets worse, so they don't get too comfortable.

Thanks for your help
Andy


Try the thread linked below for some ideas thought up by a complete fool.

Some moron's ramblings


I created a video for the "Visions of Jade" for my game.

Basically, a slide show of images, musics and my voice (in Brazilian Portuguese). It's here.

If someone is interested, I can put english subtitles on the video.


Running a few different games (Eberron group, another Crimson Throne, another Saga Edition SW, another Heroic Marvel), but we can't always get them together (hence numerous groups). So to get our game on regularly, me and my family decided I would run this Path in-house. Runner Ups were Carrion Crown and Kingmaker. I think this is going to be a LOT of fun, especially since I am playing in a Runelords game right now.
I know after starting that CT campaign that all of you are a treasure trove of resources, and after only a half hour on here my game is shaping into something AMAZING. Thanks for sharing your experiences with this AP for the rest of us.
I love this community.


Nargy wrote:

Running a few different games (Eberron group, another Crimson Throne, another Saga Edition SW, another Heroic Marvel), but we can't always get them together (hence numerous groups). So to get our game on regularly, me and my family decided I would run this Path in-house. Runner Ups were Carrion Crown and Kingmaker. I think this is going to be a LOT of fun, especially since I am playing in a Runelords game right now.

I know after starting that CT campaign that all of you are a treasure trove of resources, and after only a half hour on here my game is shaping into something AMAZING. Thanks for sharing your experiences with this AP for the rest of us.
I love this community.

Enjoy it. This is the campaign my players are still talking

around 1 to 2 years later, and still trying to convince me to do the 'Return to Minkai Christmas special'.

Their are same great full campaign writeups on the forums (shameless plug for mine http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rxuo?We-Finished-Another-Final-Review-of-Jade- Regent#1 ).

I would say the big thing that makes this AP shine is the friendly NPCs.
Each one is interesting in their own right and the PCs can easily become very possessive of them.

Good Luck!

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

This is the only AP I know of that lets you both go on an epic journey (in the literary sense) AND take your village of interesting NPCs with you.

I can't recommend that enough.


When it comes to calculating xp for the AP, it seems like no one expects to give out "session" or RP xp -- which my players expect. After seeing how fast my PCs were leveling up, vs. the chart at the front of the book, I pedaled session xp back to 50, and none if they killed something. They're feeling gypped! (Okay, I'm not running the sort of game where they kill something every session.)

I'm not worried about them being high enough level for Brinewall, I'm worried they'll be 5th by the time they're hitting the last level! (And then we'll be starting the next book, expecting 4th's.)

Apparently, the answer is "Just increase the CR's of everything." <gulp> That's a bit of work... Does anyone have any other suggestions?


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We abandoned XP in favor of the recommended level-up points in the APs LOOONG ago. It has many advantages:

  • Your PCs are the appropriate level at the appropriate time.
  • If they're too low-level, you don't have to add random encounters just for the sake of XP.
  • If they're too high-level, you don't have to worry if you apply the advanced template to the monsters, or give them extra HP, because the extra XP you're supposed to give for 'tougher' monsters don't matter.
  • PCs don't wander into every nook and cranny, trying to squeeze every last drop of XP out of every single dungeon. They actually follow the story, instead of the XP.
  • The *only* disadvantage we've seen is the inability to grant XP rewards for good roleplay, heroic actions, or whatnot. We've taken to granting simple boons ("Your god is happy with you, so you have a +1 sacred bonus to all rolls for 24 hours") that more than make up for that.

    Unfortunately, if your players are all obsessed with XP, the level-up points may not work for you.

    But I had a fellow GM who tried and tried to use XP, but after running through a couple of my "No XP" campaigns, he was a solid convert.


    bitter lily wrote:

    When it comes to calculating xp for the AP, it seems like no one expects to give out "session" or RP xp -- which my players expect. After seeing how fast my PCs were leveling up, vs. the chart at the front of the book, I pedaled session xp back to 50, and none if they killed something. They're feeling gypped! (Okay, I'm not running the sort of game where they kill something every session.)

    I'm not worried about them being high enough level for Brinewall, I'm worried they'll be 5th by the time they're hitting the last level! (And then we'll be starting the next book, expecting 4th's.)

    Apparently, the answer is "Just increase the CR's of everything." <gulp> That's a bit of work... Does anyone have any other suggestions?

    In the long run, if you want to stick with the XP system, the question is: do you increase your story rewards as you level up?

    100 XP a session might give an early level boost or two. But let's say you play 80 sessions over the course of the campaign. If you don't increase it, That is only 8,000 exp in the long term. Over 16 levels that means nothing and will soon be evened out.

    Also, are you using the caravan system and relationship system? If you aren't, you have a healthy XP budget to draw from that you can give to the players for story and role playing, especially in the third book.

    Another option, usually there are 2-3 story reward XP amounts through each module. Sum these up and instead of delivering them as a big lump for arbitrary milestone, hand it out as you see fit.


    NobodysHome wrote:
    We abandoned XP in favor of the recommended level-up points in the APs LOOONG ago.
    <snipped for length>
    NobodysHome wrote:
    The *only* disadvantage we've seen is the inability to grant XP rewards for good roleplay, heroic actions, or whatnot. We've taken to granting simple boons ("Your god is happy with you, so you have a +1 sacred bonus to all rolls for 24 hours") that more than make up for that.

    It's an innnterrrressssting idea. We had a terrific session of RP, really golden, and I didn't know what to do because I was terrified to hand out 200 XP. So I gave out my measly 50 and a hero point that was usable on others (and could be stocked above limit). My players loved it!

    I'm also using Plot Twist cards, which I could hand out by the session. That might run amok if they're getting one most sessions, but between hero points, the cards, and your simple "+1 fate bonus" (and fate is what I think I'd go with -- Koya's harrowings are turning out to play a key role in this campaign), I probably could keep them excited without xp.


    Carter Lockhart wrote:

    In the long run, if you want to stick with the XP system, the question is: do you increase your story rewards as you level up?

    100 XP a session might give an early level boost or two. But let's say you play 80 sessions over the course of the campaign. If you don't increase it, That is only 8,000 exp in the long term. Over 16 levels that means nothing and will soon be evened out.

    That's a good point. If I cut back to 50 points a session now, and raise it to 100 in the next book, I'll probably not be in trouble by the third. Thanks for the perspective!

    Carter Lockhart wrote:
    Also, are you using the caravan system and relationship system? If you aren't, you have a healthy XP budget to draw from that you can give to the players for story and role playing, especially in the third book.

    We ended up abandoning the caravan system as too much of a distraction, but not the relationship system. And I made the mistake of assuming that the player who builds the great relationship gets all the rewards. I'm rethinking that... (Shalelu's sister got to I think it's Friendship and +400 xp as soon as the party got to second level.)

    Plus I'm taking the slow route to Brinewall even without caravan mechanics as such. I want my players to see the countryside as they travel, along with the more significant settlements they pass through. RP opportunities, along with the chances for heroism, whether big or small, never hurt in my view.

    Carter Lockhart wrote:
    Another option, usually there are 2-3 story reward XP amounts through each module. Sum these up and instead of delivering them as a big lump for arbitrary milestone, hand it out as you see fit.

    Another great idea! I've been handing out session rewards and the specified story rewards both. Hmmmm...


    To NobodysHome: Are you using the relationship system for Jade Regent? If so, how do you handle it without xp?

    I mean, if everyone levels when they're expected to, building a deep relationship with an NPC is completely outside of the leveling mechanic. And a simple reward that the PCs might have gotten for just one session seems...short-changed.

    I don't have the relationship rules in front of me, but I know that there's a significant boon in game mechanics for the third and I believe fourth level of attachment, but nothing for the second. Have you added something?


    bitter lily wrote:

    To NobodysHome: Are you using the relationship system for Jade Regent? If so, how do you handle it without xp?

    I mean, if everyone levels when they're expected to, building a deep relationship with an NPC is completely outside of the leveling mechanic. And a simple reward that the PCs might have gotten for just one session seems...short-changed.

    I don't have the relationship rules in front of me, but I know that there's a significant boon in game mechanics for the third and I believe fourth level of attachment, but nothing for the second. Have you added something?

    My PCs had no interest whatsoever in the relationship mechanics nor the caravan mechanics.

    They dump the caravan, run off, interact with NPCs, do their thing, then return to the caravan.

    False modesty aside, this group of players say that I'm a "great GM" precisely because I run NPCs so well, so the notion of some kind of "relationship system" was anathema to them.

    So... dumped, without a backwards glance.

    But we dump almost all the AP systems... they just don't work for us.
    Caravans in JR? Dumped!
    Army combat in WotR? Dumped!

    If it's not part of the core rules, we tend to just dump it. But that's our group and our style.


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    You dumped the relationship system, how apropos. :-)


    a few Questions:

    my party of six players came to the goblin village, they egged on the hiding goblins till they all attacked they managed to win the fight. i did give the goblins short bows instead of fire works.

    how do I do the EXP this is a CL7 the apl is 6 correct? so the 535 each?

    also the relationship system: do the pcs pick one friend and one enemy? or can they hate all 4 NPCs?

    it is really confusing.


    Lobolusk wrote:

    a few Questions:

    my party of six players came to the goblin village, they egged on the hiding goblins till they all attacked they managed to win the fight. i did give the goblins short bows instead of fire works.

    how do I do the EXP this is a CL7 the apl is 6 correct? so the 535 each?

    also the relationship system: do the pcs pick one friend and one enemy? or can they hate all 4 NPCs?

    it is really confusing.

    An APL of 6 means that the party would be the equivalent of four 6th-level characters. That would be a very unusual party for a module designed for four 1st-level characters. Six 1st-level characters are the usually the equivalent of four 2nd-level characters (the "usually" is because they have unusually low hit points compared to 2nd-level characters), so APL should be 2.

    Fortunately, APL matters for designing encounters, not for awarding experience. If you check the Core Rulebook, Gamemastering chapter, under Awarding Experience (page 399), the only interaction between APL and XP is that an encounter whose CR is 10 below the APL is too trival to count, i.e, a single party member could defeat that without using any valuable resources or taking any real risks.

    Instead, you add up all the XP earned from the foes and divide that even between the PCs. Table 12-2 simplies this for a single encounter with known CR. A single CR 7 encounter, for example, would give 3,200 XP, which divided among 6 PCs would give 533 1/3 XP each, rounded up to 535 XP each. In reality, I don't think Brinewall Legacy listed the goblin village as a single CR 7 encounter, since fighting such a powerful force all at once would overwhelm the party. But my copy of Brinewall Legacy is in storage, so I cannot look up the details.

    You can also give bonus XP for overcoming extra difficulities, such as a village wall. Or award story XP for finishing an important mission, even if all foes and traps were avoided.

    As for the relationship system, forming a relationship is voluntary for the PCs. They make friends and enemies as they wish, but having many friends requires more effort and resources.


    Mathmuse wrote:
    Lobolusk wrote:

    a few Questions:

    my party of six players came to the goblin village, they egged on the hiding goblins till they all attacked they managed to win the fight. i did give the goblins short bows instead of fire works.

    how do I do the EXP this is a CL7 the apl is 6 correct? so the 535 each?

    also the relationship system: do the pcs pick one friend and one enemy? or can they hate all 4 NPCs?

    it is really confusing.

    An APL of 6 means that the party would be the equivalent of four 6th-level characters. That would be a very unusual party for a module designed for four 1st-level characters. Six 1st-level characters are the usually the equivalent of four 2nd-level characters (the "usually" is because they have unusually low hit points compared to 2nd-level characters), so APL should be 2.

    Fortunately, APL matters for designing encounters, not for awarding experience. If you check the Core Rulebook, Gamemastering chapter, under Awarding Experience (page 399), the only interaction between APL and XP is that an encounter whose CR is 10 below the APL is too trival to count, i.e, a single party member could defeat that without using any valuable resources or taking any real risks.

    Instead, you add up all the XP earned from the foes and divide that even between the PCs. Table 12-2 simplies this for a single encounter with known CR. A single CR 7 encounter, for example, would give 3,200 XP, which divided among 6 PCs would give 533 1/3 XP each, rounded up to 535 XP each. In reality, I don't think Brinewall Legacy listed the goblin village as a single CR 7 encounter, since fighting such a powerful force all at once would overwhelm the party. But my copy of Brinewall Legacy is in storage, so I cannot look up the details.

    You can also give bonus XP for overcoming extra difficulities, such as a village wall. Or award story XP for finishing an important mission, even if all foes and traps were...

    thanks!


    Whats a good rule of thumb to increase the CR for my group? I usually have a group of 5-6 players and the module is meant for a party of 4 do I just clone 2 extra monsters? or maybe add a +2 across the board to all badguys attack ac ext...


    Lobolusk wrote:
    Whats a good rule of thumb to increase the CR for my group? I usually have a group of 5-6 players and the module is meant for a party of 4 do I just clone 2 extra monsters? or maybe add a +2 across the board to all badguys attack ac ext...

    The easiest way to increase the CR of an encounter to adjust it for a party of six people is to add 50% more monsters. For example, increase a group of 8 skeletons to 12, or increase a group of 2 ogres to 3.

    This does not work for a singleton monster nor for unique NPC opponents. For an NPC, adding a level to the NPC is about right, but be careful that the new abilities are not devastating to the party (oh no, the evil wizard just learned how to Fly!). For a singleton monster, you add a second weaker monster or find some way to make the challenge tougher, such as attacking at night.

    In the middle part of Brinewall Legacy, the caravan trip north to Riddleport, the GM has to construct the encounters himself, so you invent an encounter that will be fun. I threw four ogre barbarians at them, CR 7 each, one for the party to fight together, one for Ameiko Kaijitsu to fight alone, and two for the caravan guards. My campaign had eight players, hence, the high CR. I did not use the caravan combat rules. The party received XP only for the one ogre barbarian they personally defeated.


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    My experience in increasing fight difficulty is that giving the monsters max hit points is an excellent way to deal with less-experienced parties of 6 or 7 players. The number of PC kills I have in my kids' Serpent's Skull campaign is a testament to how dangerous just having an extra couple of rounds can be.

    The nice thing about this method is that they don't hit any harder, so they're no more likely to kill PCs than the unmodified version. The bad thing about this method is that a well-organized or somewhat-optimized group of 6 will have no more difficulty with a max-hp monster than a regular-hp one.

    My suggestion would be:
    (1) Step 1: Apply max hp. Run a few fights. See how things go.
    (2) Step 2: If that doesn't work, apply the Advanced Template. That's usually enough for most 6-party groups.
    (3) Step 3: Advanced Template + Max HP

    Only if all three of those steps fail would I add extra pieces to the board.

    6 players are already going to make the fight last significantly longer in real time. Adding more monsters just adds even more time to that.


    Hello,

    I'm gonna start the jade regent campaign very soon (in 2 days, actually), and I was wondering ...

    Concerning the goblins : it is said at the very beginning of the brinestump chapter that Sandpoint officials have sent an adventuring party in the swamp to deal with the goblins, 3 days before the start of the AP. They have not returned yet.

    Did someone tried to expand this plot hook ? The only idea i've had so far was to dispatch thoses adventurers corpses somewhere in the swamp, as victims of the sin spawn (or near megus shack, as victims of the ratling).

    They could be used as a warning about the swamp dangers, and they even could rise as zombies (or some other low level undead). I don't think the few items they gonna have on them will break the WBL.

    If someone as an idea to do something better with them, well ... I'm all ears. Thanks by advance.


    Hmmm, this is dusty in my mind and I should probably re-check the book. But as I recall they're linked to the Sinspawn, with their skulls/heads/remains being described at it's lair. So technically it is expanded upon, but certainly if you'd change it that is fine and up to you. It might be good to emphasize the faceless stalkers to give more fore-shadowing to Proudstump's situation if you want to change things.


    I believe I had them return, complaining of getting lost in the swamp, which provided a way to steer the PCs towards Proudstump.


    Thanks for the idea, I like the idea of the "not so courageous" adventurers getting lost who decide to botch the whole quest of stopping the goblins !


    Hi all,

    I am doing a couple of things with this adventure path (including converting it to 5e) but the most relevant questions for this thread is that I am setting it all in “fantasy Asia” with a strong Japanese theme (I am purposely being a bit vague with my PCs. It will be more like Rokugan than Kara-Tur in terms of setting). I plan on making the following changes to make it fit entirely in fantasy Japan:

    Eliminating the whole caravan thing.

    * Ameiko is now a 10-year-old boy who has been kidnapped by bakemonos (goblins) and taken to the swamp after murdering the royal family (PCs don't know he has been kidnapped but believe he is also dead as per the Jade Regent’s proclamation).

    * The Jade Regent is now in charge.

    * My PCs were retainers of the Divine Family and before committing seppuku they plan to find and punish the bakemono.

    * After searching the swamp finding and dealing with the goblins they find the seal which makes them scions, tells them the prince is still alive and is in Ashina (Brinewall) Castle. The seal manifests as a two-tail fox kami that can lead them where they need to go (or whatever heraldry I end up deciding on).

    * Now they don't have to kill themselves they head to the castle, deal with the tengu and his allies and save the prince. They should learn its more than just bakemono causing strife but oni are now involved. Castle itself will be mostly tengu of different kinds which makes more sense thematically.

    * They need the mortal blade (renamed suishen) which is the only weapon that can permanently kill an oni otherwise they discorporate and just come back later (so here is my link/motivation to retrieve the blade which will be a prize in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament which will replace the Frozen Shadow adventure (modified of course)).

    I think that all works fine. But any suggestions on linking in the two ships and the caves? In particular the fallen samurai skeleton. I can leave them just as random encounters if the PCs explore but would like to link them to the rewritten story a bit more so looking for suggestions.

    Thanks.


    On suggestion is to prepare travels. More or less, this aspect of the campaign hasn't been treated in book 1.
    On my side, it was an important moment which allow good moment of roleplay and to ring the characters together.

    Regarding the seal itself, I think it would be interesting to adapt visions to each characters. On my side, I plan to have a common vision, plus a specific scene for each of them.

    Apart from that, I don't know exactly what you are planning for next steps, but I tried to plan specific event for each characters in next books.


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    Thanks for the info. I’ve mapped something out now so it all takes place in fantasy Asia. Dropping book 2 and 3 entirely (though stealing Katiyani as the ice/wind Yai of the five storms) and adding Phoenix tournament (to get Suishen), Frozen Wind (where they will have a showdown with the wind Yai) and Winding Way (to show the gods involvement).

    I’ll plant hooks for all of these with my PCs.

    Will share details once I am actually DMing it.


    Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, PF Special Edition Subscriber

    The beginning of the brinewall castle section (p 29) mentions, "While the castle walls allow its denizens a commanding view of the castle approach, no creatures guard the walls when the PCs first come to the castle."

    Later, in area U1 (p 36), about the walls themselves, it says, "Three dire corbies stand guard here -- at any one time two of the creatures are walking lazy patrols along the walls to areas U3 and U5. Very little approaches the castle these days, so the first time the PCs approach, the dire corbies aren't being very attentive and take a -5 penalty on Perception checks to notice Intruders."

    These statements seem contradictory to me, and I'm wondering how others have run this section, or how it was actually intended to work (or if I'm missing something here...).


    So I'm new to PDFS and official maps, where do I find Brinewall on the Sandpoint map? I've been looking everywhere but I can't seem to find it even when I look for the other places mentioned that are near it.

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