RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Back in December, I ran "God's Market Gamble" for an enthusiastic group of college students as their introduction to PFS, to Pathfinder, and to Golarion.
There were a lot of side discussions, about the establishment of the in-world Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge, about the nature of the gods and the Starstone, about Absalom's various districts, about the Heresies of Man. I thought it worked reasonably well as an introductory adventure, and the players ended up knowling a lot more about the campaign setting. But that made the session go long.
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Back in December, I ran "God's Market Gamble" for an enthusiastic group of college students as their introduction to PFS, to Pathfinder, and to Golarion.
There were a lot of side discussions, about the establishment of the in-world Pathfinder Society Grand Lodge, about the nature of the gods and the Starstone, about Absalom's various districts, about the Heresies of Man. I thought it worked reasonably well as an introductory adventure, and the players ended up knowling a lot more about the campaign setting. But that made the session go long.
That sounds like it was an awesome session! Of course, not everyone cares about the lore of the game but I think the extra time spent was a good investment for your group. Hopefully you will get to have more sessions with them.
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I think it's reasonable that 5 PP could get someone in the Society in contact with a priest of Lissala who would be willing to cast raise dead, but such a cleric wouldn't do so for free. This would effectively allow a PC to be recoverable from dead but cost an extra 5 PP on top of the prestige or gold cost of the actual raising and removal of negative levels.
I see that this quote said "added to errata" but I have not seen it in the scenario. Are people using this option to penalize but not screw over a player who dies from sacrifice? I like the idea and would like to use it if it comes up.
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It is with great sadness that I must report that no one can play the Valeros pregen in PFS anymore. Thanks to an unfortunate incident last night his soul is currently trapped in a quite heinous place.
Hopefully someone in the Society will pony up for a wish soon, I'd hate to see him eliminated as an option for new players.
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Oh, and I now agree with whoever it was who said they would mark this as "Not appropriate for first-time players."
I just TPK'ed a crew. L1, L1, L1, L2. The L2 Sorcerer shot the thing in the face when they had yet to activate it. It was just sitting there, and he shot it.
Then wrecking commenced. 2 +10(1d8+5) attacks will wreck anyone. The (Pregen) cleric I was playing went down in round 3. Died hard. The rest followed.
A brand-new never-been-to-our-lodge player actually made it OUT of the map. (I did not make her stop to open the door.) The golem turned around to go ALL THE WAY back to its pedestal to go after the sorcerer who was trying REALLY hard to activate a Wand of CLW with UMD.
And the girl came back in. And attacked it. :(
Sorc got the CLW to happen, but not before the golem got back. They both went down, and he went after the girl. And she kited it around for a while. Then she died.
Sadness.
I hope she comes back. She was a fairly resourceful player. But you can't solo that thing.
Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Has anyone played / run this since the secondary success conditions came out?
To get the secondary success condition, you must perform 3 significant acts of sabotage. There are only three possible acts, and low level parties are almost certain to be unable to perform no more than two.
It also allows for "creative acts of sabotage" These have to be extreme enough that they render the place unusable.
What acts have your PCs come up with.
Things that I can think of:
Collapsing the entrance to the hideout? (DC 20 Engineering / Dungeoneering + What?)
Sneaking into the Arena (their lair basically has a back door into the arena) and stealing some other (expensive) animals and leaving a trail of clues to the lisallans, so that when the arena goes looking they find their new "tenants"?
Leaking the location of the safe house to Lissala's enemies in riddleport (?who? - Knowledge Local 15?) while pretending to be Aspis (Bluff 20?)
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a random sabotage idea...
Creating a number of "treasure maps" to the lair area, to be scattered out to a variety of places... seedy bars, rumor mongers, stuck in old books in musty old book shops, in equipment at second hand weapons/magic item shops, etc. Thus "bands of adventurers" will continue to show up for years...
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Venture-Agent, Massachusetts—Boston Metro
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When we played it, we found the secret door to the street and broke through to the street. Then, just as we were leaving, we had summoned an air elemental the fly back into the ritual room, with orders to loudly disrupt the ritual while demanding the Lashmistress sign a "receipt", as well as 'accidentally' dropping some alchemist fires when it held out the parchment.
While it was doing that, we burst from the middle of the street loudly ranting about how we'd been kidnapped by a hideous cult and just barely managed to escape from their clutches. Even in a town as blase about kidnapping as Riverport, leaving behind a gaping entrance to a 'secret' headquarters isn't going to please the Lissallans.
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Wow! how about listing the location with several Real Estate companies as a "Slightly used Secret Lair, Perfect Hide-Out and Get-Away Location!" You could do a really cool write up in Villains Monthly,...
And, you know, put it up on the local Craigslist as a space available for rent... the Cultists would keep getting people dropping in asking to "take a look at the place... what's this about a 'Meditation Room'?"
Then there's always pointing out to the Mayors office that the Cult hasn't paid Organization Taxes in like... 2000 years. So the Interest and Penalties alone would be... like wow!
Put up a few signs around the neighborhood listing an Estate Sale (Yard Sale, etc.)...
And do all this while still in the cover identities as Aspis Agents - posing as Pathfinders. "Hi, we're with the Pathfinder Consortium, totally not an Aspis team, and we'd like to rent space on your Billboard advertising a new Night Club opening up..."
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Venture-Captain, California—Sacramento
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Went off pretty well.
There was a bit of confusion early on where they saw through the whole "fake magic dagger" thing, and were brow beating the calistran priestess to get the real dagger. I couldn't find anything in the scenario about the real dagger, so I had her tell them that the temple hasn't had the real dagger for 40 years, and it was this, her previous offer of pleasant company, or nothing.
At one point they were getting ready to track down who had stolen the dagger from the temple, and I had to remind them that they didn't actually care if the aspis got the real dagger...
(One player actually said "Oh yeah. I forgot we don't actually work for these guys.")
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Venture-Lieutenant, Oregon—Portland
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I'm running this for my first outing as a PFS GM. I realize this is technically a rules question, but I'm sure it's an obvious one people here can answer.
Unnerving Gaze (Su) Range 30 ft., Will DC 15 negates. A kyton can make its face resemble one of an opponent's departed loved ones or bitter enemies. Those who fail their saves become shaken for 1d3 rounds. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Is this run like a gaze under the universal monster rules, or is this a standard action? I'm assuming it requires an action.
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Venture-Agent, Missouri—St. Louis
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Nope, it's a gaze attack.
Unnerving Gaze (Su) All kytons have a gaze attack that manipulates the perceptions of those who look upon them. An unnerving gaze has a range of 30 feet, and can be negated by a Will save—the exact effects caused by a particular kyton’s unnerving gaze depend on the type of kyton. All kytons are immune to the unnerving gazes of other kytons. Unnerving gaze is always a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC is Charisma-based.
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Ok. So I read the first page. Regarding the 3 rounds:
The PROSTRATION in round 2 is also a combat maneuver.. This ALSO provokes AoOs from the target. Per CRB, unless specifically mentioned, ALL combat maneuvers provoke AoOs from the target.
So there's one more attack players get before going to hell.