Hi Pathfinder Fans!
I've recently started GMing PFS games. I just joined PFS a little over a month ago, and by my third session I was running a game. Today, I ran my second PFS game and it was the Ghennet Manor Gauntlet. Fortunately, Gming isn't that new of an experience for me, as I've run some home games, but I am new to PFS.
I have a question relating to this scenario, below the spoiler tag.
There's a thief who got to the manor before you did, and he drops a bag full of valuables. You can take that bag. Later on, you find the thief dead, and he has some stolen loot from the manor. One item he has taken was quite obviously from the manor - a valuable gem pried from one of the statues, of which earlier the players discovered a statue that was damaged with a missing gem. The manor owner does not consider you taking the gem from the thief to be stealing from him, because it was already stolen by the thief.
My question is how would the players know this? It feels like I would be cheating the players out of gold by denying them Max Gold at the end just because they didn't grab all the loot available to them. Especially when the reason they didn't take the loot is because it was requested of them in the beginning. How would they know the difference between "safe" loot that they can take to get Max Gold, and "unsafe" loot that if they take any they lose a prestige point?
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They don't. That's part of the risk involved in the scenario. When I GM'd it the only character to take stuff was a rogue with sticky fingers. He ignored the warning and his character ended up being caught at the end. Just let the players do what they do and punish those that ignore the warning. Getting "Max loot" and Max Prestige is not a guaranteed thing in PFS. As GMs we tend to give players the max loot irregardless of what they actually found and players tend to expect max prestige. This is one of the few scenarios that punishes players for not listening / ignoring what is told to them. Go along with it and have fun, it's a great scenario.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Oh no, not another double-rat thread! ;)
Anyway, I have to disagree with Lab_Rat. Not on the principle of Max Gold not being guaranteed (that's true), but be careful about what gets held back.
Remember that the Guide to organized play specifically says that players who bypass loot due to good roleplaying/tactics are still entitled to that loot, even if you have to fabricate a treasure chest and drop it in their lap.
The only way the PCs don't get a given portion of the loot is if they fail in some way. For example, if they TPK halfway through, they don't get the gold for encounters they hadn't reached yet. But if they do everything they're supposed to do, and complete all their objectives, and so forth; then they get all their gold.
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RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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Jiggy, have you read Ghennet Manor Gauntlet? It explicitly says if they don't take certain items, don't give them gold. If they take other items, they get in trouble.
Getting max gold in that scenario is a badge of honour.
Oh.
No, I haven't read it, so I thought the question was a bit more generic - didn't realize the scenario had such specific instructions.
Do what the scenario says, then. :P
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, I became the GM at the last minute. Of the four of us there (we had to use a premade to make a full group), the decision was either I could run a random scenario that no one had played or there would be no game. None of the other people were willing to run a game without preparation. So I missed the part about earning max gold being a badge of honor. I ended up just giving them their rewards . Next time i have the chance, though, I'll run it properly, even if that means i don't get anything for GMing the same scenario twice.
That's what mine did! Right over the back wall as their entrance to the compound.
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Mine as well... then they met the puppies who were patroling back there. Much screaming and burning was had.
I also had a rogue with sticky fingers but that may have had something to do with the lingering description I gave. Greed must be encouraged if you want to hand out the good results.
Same Here! I totally roasted their front line fighter with flanking cones of fire. Took him from full hit points to 2 points from dead in the first round. The gunslinger then ran halfway across the field to cauterize the wound before he died. It was a great way to set the tone for the scenario.
One of my players decided to take meat from his rations and lay them out (they saw the hounds before they started the battle). I thought it was a good idea, and gave the hounds a Will save to see if they'd go after the food instead. Two of them did, which allowed the players to make quick work of them.
As for the back door into the Manor itself, how did they get in? From what I read, there was no handle or lock on the outside for which to get in. I believe it was magically locked from the inside. So my players climbed on the wall, scouted around, and decided to drop down in the back (where they were attacked by the hounds). Once the hounds were dispatched and they realized they couldn't get in from the back, they walked around the house to the front and entered from there.
Did you have the Aspis meet them in the back with the hounds at the beginning (in this scenario, they would have opened the back door from the inside)? I saved the Aspis for the end, which ended up being in the garden. I decided they were unable to figure out how to open the locked back door, which ended up being their undoing as they had no place to escape once they started losing. Although I almost took out the cleric with two well placed lightning bolts (and she only had to sacrifice one of her companions to do it). Would have got him, but someone managed to get off a CMW wand between the two rounds and I rolled really low the second time.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 32
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Sorry for the necro, but I'm prepping this and had a quick question. If the first time that the party steps on the grass is during a fight with the Aspis agents in the garden (assuming that it is where they end up), do the hounds attack at the same time, making one giant encounter? That seems rather deadly.
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That situation is almost, but not quite, covered by the scenario
I would say that possibly falls under the tactics discretion rule from the guide
Guide 4.3: "However, if the actions of the PCs before or during an encounter invalidate the provided tactics or starting locations, the GM should consider whether changing these would provide a more enjoyable play experience."
If not then remember the hounds have an equal chance of attacking the Aspis as the PCs, and more importantly they wont arrive for 2d4 rounds (average 5 rounds).
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Prepping this to run next weekend, and I'm a little confused by something. Apparently, if the PCs go in through the back, they can break down the door (or glass wall) to the greenhouse to get in that way. But they aren't supposed to meet the Aspis there if they do, because the Aspis fight is supposed to happen last.
So exactly when and where do they fight the Aspis gang instead? It mentions something about fighting them on the grounds on the way out, but I'm not sure how that's supposed to be set up.
Actually, my GM got that wrong when I played this 5 years ago. I remember fighting the Aspis in the greenhouse as the second fight of the adventure (after the hounds in the back lawn). Then we proceeded into the rest of the manor.
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I know I can have the fight happen anywhere on the grounds, but it just doesn't make sense. The Aspis have the fake book. They're trying to leave. Why would they be there to fight the Pathfinders? Why would the Pathfinders try to attack them, if they already have the real book?
I guess it makes more sense to me if they just happen to run into them in the greenhouse, trying to decode the lock and get out, regardless of whether that happens first or last. I may stick to that, like the GM when I played it did.