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I ran this yesterday and it went better than I could have dreamed. Two keys to success that I found important are:
Know what clues the PCs NEED to find.
Know how you expect the PCs to put the clues together.
At least for me, when I am DMing I find that I may forget or omit some small pieces of the story. While this may have almost no effect on a regular hack and smash adventure; in this adventure it is paramount that the PCs get the clues or they will never put the pieces together and it will seem forced.
Putting a little extra time into preparing this adventure paid huge dividends when I saw the looks on my players faces as they figured out who the bad guy was. They had narrowed it down to a few suspects and they said it was almost like a thriller movie.
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That stuff is all fine. You know your group the best. They may not even care about the carnival games too, so don't get too carried away. A tool that I haven't yet mastered but adds some cool flavor is a Harrow Deck. You could offer the PCs a free Harrowing for sparing the 'baby dragon'.
Be sure to check out the GM Shared Prep drive for useful player handouts.
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I'm currently running a forum game of this on the Finnish PFS forums, and we're having great fun.
My hook for getting the Society involved was just saying that they were in town to meet up with a merchant who had this spectacularly ugly but undeniably ancient little statuette that Sheila Heidmarch wanted to get her hands on – nothing dangerous really, but a fine job for a bunch of rookie field agents. You know, the kind of drudge mission that probably comprises most of a field agent's workload. They'd done the trade and had the statuette in their possession, but they still had a couple of days before they needed to head back to Magnimar, and there's this carnival that just arrived in town… two hyperactive gnomes and a paladin in the party ensured that was all the hook I needed.
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My group is currently 6 PCs and they are about 4 and 5 XP and I'd like to run it as a part of my home PFS campaign. This module is for 4 1st level characters. Do I need to balance it somehow, for it not to be a piece of cake?
If you are running this for PFS credit, then you can not rebalance the module. You need to run it as written.
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I'm just finishing this module with a group of five first-level PCs in a PbP. (They started with six, we lost one about a third of the way through.) They've not had too terribly much trouble, although a few things have been challenging. Things got a little bit touch-and-go with Robella (her first bomb took out one PC, although didn't kill him, and then her feral mutagen tore a few others down to few HP). But, they've now just made it through with everybody alive (assuming somebody bothers to heal the one guy at negative HP; they've already stabilized him).
Are there any modules or campaigns you can advise as a follow up for this module? Something in the same area and for low levels to continue?
Our group is new to pathfinder and this module was kind of a test but players are loving their characters and the system so they want to advance from here on.
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What does the Sphinx actually do to be considered an attraction? She's "performing" and "breaking free" when in the main tent... but besides that? It's hard to imagine a creature like a sphinx doing stuff a lion would normally do... that doesn't seem right.
What does she do when she is in her cage?
Also, what happens if the players want to talk to the Sphinx outside of the normal schedule? What do the carnival people tell when asked what the Sphinx is doing when she's not on display?
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These are great questions! I’m surprised that, for as long as this module has been available, no one has raised the topic before.
I’ve run the module a few times, but this encounter is always a challenge to referee. The meeting with the sphynx is not scripted, so as the GM you will need to improvise. Let me begin by setting up how I view the sphinx’s tent.
There’s an enclosed wagon that’s ostensibly used to transport the “sphinx”. I stress that it is enclosed, so there’s no way to casually look inside between the acts. There’s a heavy door in the back of the wagon with a strong lock. It opens into a cage that is assembled from 10x10 panels of bars that are secured together by chains and locks. If that sounds strange, remember the whole operation needs to be portable. The cage is secured tightly to the wagon and held in place by large stakes driven into the earth. The dirt floor inside the cage is covered with exotic looking rugs and large cushions. This whole affair is inside of a large tent that is itself inside the menagerie bigtop. Around the inside perimeter of the sphinx’s tent is hung a curtain, close to the outer panel of the tent, with just enough space for Ika to skulk around using her illusion magic unobserved. Also, there is a rope creating a partition between the cage and where the audience stands, to keep them at a distance in case the sphinx tries to lash out at a cheeky spectator. The light level is dim inside the tent.
When it is time for the sphinx’s performance, the guards within the tent first go over the rules—kind of like what Dr. Chilton said when Clarice Starling went to meet Hannibal Lecter for the first time. They are trying to ratchet up the suspense—it’s all part of the showmanship. It’s also an effort to prevent anyone from interacting with the illusion. After the “safety lecture”, one of the guards uses a hooked pole to reach into the cage, lift the bar from the door and swing door open. Ika has her spells up and out comes Jherizhana. Now we finally get to the questions…
What does the Sphinx actually do to be considered an attraction? I don’t mean to be immature, but turn to page 7 in the module and tell me if you see anything the 13 – 99 year old male demographic would pay to see. That won’t get you very far at a PFS table, but honestly I think that’s the motive for most of the townies. OK, for real now, at first she paces around the cage without speaking, meeting the gaze of each spectator, looking for weakness. She’ll select the boldest one and begin to interview him/her. “So. Do you like what you see? Am I everything you paid for?” You could play her off as either mocking or self-pitying. She will ask the PCs questions about where they are from and why they have visited the carnival. If they performed very well (or very badly) against the “baby dragon” she will also compliment (or belittle) the pertinent PCs. If asked how she knows what happened, she’ll just say that word spreads quick in the carnival.
If asked about herself, she will describe her homeland in the desert of northern Garund. Often players have asked her if she is being held by the carnival against her will. This is a touchy subject. If the PCs think of her as a slave, they may act to free her. To counter this, she’ll describe how she’d love to rip her captors to pieces if she escapes. Their families too. She may be sentient, but never doubt she’s a maneater. To impress this upon the players, after they’re going back-and-forth for a bit she might ask if they want her to read their palm. She’ll ask them to step closer, at which point the guards will intervene to “protect” the PC from losing a limb. She will try to act innocent, but everyone can see her stifle a sly smile if the ploy almost worked.
Remember, she’s an attraction. If there’s no menace, people will lose interest. She can’t be docile and innocent. Yes, this can lead the players down the path to immediately believe the carnival is behind the whole plot and the sphinx is guilty. Good! This is why the Guilded Hands targeted her. The longer the PCs have doubts, the more interesting the mystery is. If they metagame from the beginning, it kills much of the role-play opportunity.
Another thing you can have the sphynx do is tell the PCs their fortunes. It helps to think ahead about a reading specific to each PC, they’re hard to come up with on the fly. As a last resort, grab a bunch of horoscopes out of the newspaper. They don’t need to be accurate, just mysterious and foreboding.
If they PCs get too pushy, suspicious, or discover Ika’s presence the guards will immediately end the performance and try to hustle everyone out before the illusion is broken. Otherwise, the sphynx will tire of the conversation after 30 minutes or so.
What happens if the players want to talk to the Sphinx outside of the normal schedule? It depends if they have the carnival’s permission. If they don’t get Almara’s blessing, they’ve have to sneak in or cause a diversion. Remember, the wagon is enclosed so it’s not as simple as peering through a window. The PCs would have to get into the cage (chained and locked) and then pick the lock on the door. However, they would be suspicious from the get-go because something that big would make noise when moving/breathing in a confined wagon. If they have Almara’s permission then Ika would be in place and the PCs could talk to a much more cooperative Jherizhana. The sphynx would explain that what she says is mostly an act, and that she’s actually treated quite well by the carnival folk. She’d do her best to assure the PCs that she was innocent of the murders.
What do the carnival people tell when asked what the Sphinx is doing when she's not on display? Pre-murders, she’s sleeping or plotting a way to escape her wagon and have revenge on the carnival. Post-murders, she’s outraged that she’s been falsely accused and has been demanding the chance to represent herself and face her accusers.
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Well, the first thing that happened in my game was somebody talking to the sphinx in draconic. Guess what languages Ika doesn't know? Right. Sphinx and Draconic.
With regards to the "attraction" - well, I am not from the US. Naked bodies are not really taboo in Europe, so naked breasts are way more common here and are not considered raunchy unless presented in a "sexy" way. So, TBH, it didn't even cross my mind, that simply "being" would be enough. And I had a hard time imagine a sphinx doing a sexy dance in the tent.
I like the idea of portraying her like a sexy Hanibal Lector.
Another problem occurs if the PCs get the "The sphinx is with us on her own agenda and has her own private wagon" story. Esp. if they want to talk to her in her private wagon, since I don't think, there actually is one. I was winging it last time, and it worked out, ok-ish, I guess.
Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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Are there any modules or campaigns you can advise as a follow up for this module? Something in the same area and for low levels to continue?
I know it's a little late to answer this question, but I'm thinking of doing Feast of Ravenmoor as a follow-up, since they're both investigations, and both in Varisia.
I figure that it's a natural tie-in to have Sheila Heidmarch be the VC for both adventures, sending the PCs off to help with issue of a missing goverment official after their 'brilliant' handling of the investigation here.
Hmm
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The total amount of time it takes to run this module is heavily dependent on how much roleplaying the group does. In one recent run it took a total of about 16 hours because we were all enjoying things so much.
If you're trying to run in a total of 8 hours then I'd definitely want to get pretty much all the investigation done in the first session. Going after the alchemist, warehouse and dungeon will take close to a session. I'm not sure if I'd push the manor house to the second session or try and do it in the first session.
If 2 5 hour sessions, I'd have the manor house, alchemist, warehouse and dungeon in the second and everything else in the first.
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Do you have any idea about your party comp? I actually just ran this today at a con, it was scheduled for two con slots. The slot was supposed to start at 9:30 am, we started maybe 10-15 minutes late. We finshed the investigative portion just before 1:30, and we picked back up at 2pm, from there it took about hours to cover the mansion and the guild, I was trying pretty hard to keep the table moving.
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The investigation can take wildly varying times depending on player actions. The whole thing is essentially set up as EITHER a sandbox and a railroad.
If the PCs proactively investigate then they'll get a much greater sense of accomplishment but it can take extra time.
And some groups (can you tell I've run this multiple times ? :-)) get very fixated on something (the Sphinx in one run, the skulks in another) and can easily lose time.
It is also easy, in the investigation, to essentially drop the entirety of the shiver addict murder side plot (Forget his name at the moment. Klegg). It doesn't really add much to things.
So, I'd play it partly by ear. If the PCs are floundering in the investigation, push them, make it obvious when they're going down false roads, etc.
A nice cliff hanger that may work would be to aim to start the manor scene (they get there and discover or are attacked by the bandit outside) and then stop the session before actually entering the mansion
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The last session I ran took about 9.5 hours (there's no way I'd let a session drag on for 16 hours if I could help it; my players were already getting wary past 8 hours). At the 5 hour mark they were at the Manor doors. That would have been a perfect place to split the module. By that time, the investigation is essentially done (other than the major reveal at the end of the Manor part) and the remainder of the discoveries will occur in the warehouse. The Manor is basically a moderate fight scene and the warehouse is a major fight scene that can last awhile.
I spoke with one player that said the whole module took 6 hours and didn't see why it would take any longer. I was surprised it was that fast and noted to him that they were likely railroaded a bit. I didn't do that with my players as I wanted to let them have the space to try to figure things out. That and the fact they rolled poorly on perception/survival/knowledge during the investigation did help drag things out a bit for them.
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Venture-Captain, Minnesota
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So I ran the first half last night with the Venture Captain briefing coming from Sheila Heidmarch. "I like to make certain that new Pathfinders in my lodge know how to visit a village and talk to people, so I've got an assignment for you. My second-best pearl tiara wound up in a pawnshop in Ilsurian called the Locked Box. Never mind how it wound up there. Suffice it to say, the group responsible for that debacle is on a much less pleasant task than yours."
She looks at the group, frowning, and hands them a pawn shop claim ticket. "I just need you to go there, pick up the item, and give me a report on the town. Try not to murder half the inhabitants while you're there, or do anything else that would embarrass me."
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It was amazing how much my group held on to the idea of fetching back Sheila Heidmarch's second-best pearl tiara. Throughout the night, the gnome mesmerist kept saying, "But I have a claims receipt ticket! We just need a few minutes to waltz in there, present it, and get that tiara!"
At the circus, talking with Circus people, "Have you seen Archivin Walder? I'm looking for him, because I have this ticket..."
To the guards guarding the murder scene: "Are you sure I can't go in for five minutes? See, I have this ticket..."
To the Sheriff: "Look, I have this ticket, and it won't take long..."
To the bereaved widow Walder: "I'm sorry you lost your husband. By the way, I have this ticket here..."
To the news that gems had been stolen from the Locked Box: "Nooooo! But... the ticket is right here!"
And every time they found another body, he asks, "Is it wearing a pearl tiara, by chance? One with the Heidmarch crest?"
Finally, the barbarian says to him, "May I see that ticket a moment?" Then he announces to the group, "I eat the ticket."
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I'm afraid I'll have to necro this thread as I plan to run this game soonish.
Since I'll be doing this for PFS, and I've loved the intros I've found so far for modules (Emerald Spire, Feast of Ravenmoor, Master of the Fallen Fortress, etc), I was wondering if anyone had written up a complete read-aloud PFS Venture-Captain intro.
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Venture-Agent, Texas—Houston
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My intro to this usually goes something like:
"Shiela Heidmarch has assigned you, as unproven agents, the mind-numbling dull task of researching the histories of small towns in Varisia for follow-up by more experienced teams.
You're in the towl of Illsurian, which you've learned was established by Ilsur... [read establishing paragraph on page 3 up to] ...this racism has
rarely been a problem."
"As you're finishing up your studies for the week, the circus rolls into town. Want to go relax?"
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Sheila Heidmarch looks around the room, waiting for someone to speak up. When no one does, she sighs, steepling her fingers together. “A rather interesting carnival, the Umbra Carnival, is making a stop in Ilsurian this upcoming month. It is a rather curious carnival. Most notably, it proclaims to have a baby dragon and a gynosphinx—rather unusual creatures to serve humans in any capacity, much less as carnival attractions.”
“I would like you to go to Ilsurian, make notes on your impressions of the town. I also want you to attend this carnival and find out what you know about both the dragon and the gynosphinx. Oh, and while you’re in town, please stop by the local pawn shop, the Locked Box. My second-best pearl tiara, a true family heirloom, somehow managed to end up in its shop window. Never mind how it got there. Believe me, the team responsible for that mishap is on a much less pleasant task than visiting a carnival and enjoying some fried dough.”
With that, Sheila Heidmarch hands you a pawn shop claim ticket, a set of tickets to the carnival and detailed travel arrangements, including passage with a local caravan heading through Ilsurian and rooms at a local inn.
Working with caravans is old hat for some of you, and caravaners tend to be a diverse and tolerant lot so long as you can pull your weight. After a bit of curiosity about your group, they welcome having extra guards, scouts and magical assistance. You have good weather, and plenty of opportunity to talk with the merchants and guards along the road about both Ilsurian and the Carnival.
“A traveling carnival? Beware my friend! These things are just a front for criminal activity. The games are rigged, the sideshows are farcical and the food is filthy. Sure the women are comely, but their welcome smiles and scant costumes are a distraction for the menfolk to cut your purse. My cousin got lured behind a wagon by a likely wench and got his head cracked open for his trouble. Blasted dancers! Now he’s dumb and broke. Trust me, keep your distance!”
“Traveling carnivals are wicked fun! Even if you don’t have much coin, there’s always something to see. Harrowers, savage beasts, all manner of freaks and the dancing ladies—oh my! The smell of perfume, roasting meat and pipeweed makes me delightfully dizzy. There’s usually a good fight to watch, too. My uncle told me about this time he won 10 gold Sails wrestling Khoshut the Backbreaker, an exiled Shoanti warchief. I only wish they came more often.”
The Umbra Carnival is one of the many traveling shows that circulate around Varisian towns and cities providing entertainment in exchange for a bit of coin. Some believe these troupes are a front for Sczarni crime families who fleece as many locals as they can before hitting the road ahead of an angry mob. They feature freakshows, games of skill and chance, a menagerie of exotic or dangerous creatures, acrobats, musicians and fortune-tellers. The workers are often all part of an extended family, but there are always a few collected castoffs of society.
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Please excuse the necro for four quick things as I get ready to run this tomorrow night:
1. Thanks to GM Hmm and others for compiling the Knowledge (Local) and Diplomacy (Gather Info) materials--I'll definitely use those.
2. For what it's worth, I decided to go with a bit of a stripped down introduction from Sheila Heidmarch:
--the PCs are summoned to Heidmarch Lodge, the Pathfinder Society’s base of operations in Magnimar, a large city in southwestern Varisia
--a steward shows them into a small waiting room, the walls of which contain portraits of past Pathfinders to have explored Varisia [Have PCs introduce themselves]
--after several minutes, the PCs are shown in to an elegantly-appointed office, containing a large oak desk, a thick carpet, and display cases full of mementos
--seated behind the desk is an attractive middle-aged woman [SHOW PIC]
--Sheila explains that an old adventuring companion of her’s, Almara Delisen, now runs a travelling circus named the Umbra Carnival; the Umbra Carnival travels all over Varisia, collecting countless rumors and legends about places and artifacts that might be of interest to the Pathfinder Society
--however, she explains, she and Almara did not part on the best of terms and Almara hasn’t been willing to cooperate with the Society. Sheila wants the PCs to journey to Ilsurian, an independent city to the east where the circus will soon be setting up; the PCs are to befriend the rank-and-file members of the circus, help them with any troubles that may come their way (especially with being Varisians in racist Ilsurian), and, ultimately, see if they can get on Almara’s good side so that her view of the PFS changes
3. I don't think it's been mentioned in this thread, but Towns of the Inner Sea has a chapter devoted to Ilsurian which is really useful, as it contains a map of the town and the NPCs from this module are integrated into it.
4. There's a "Carnival" flip-mat coming out next month! Too late for me, but perhaps of use to future GMs.
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They were knocked down by Robella, so they did not get the gear on her, including Bracers of Armor +1 and Handy Haversack. They have no time to search the underbase so they miss Clockwork Spy boon and Scroll of Locate Object.
Because of how the chronicle sheet is, they'll still get the gold and prestige, but you can cross off the items they didn't get. Technically they do get the boon.
running for 6 people and wondering how to balent it better?
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running for 6 people and wondering how to balent it better?
It's actually not bad for 6 people. If it's a creature, give it the Advanced Simple Template. If it's an individual NPC, add an additional level. If there's multiple people, adding an additional 1-2 additional NPCs in the group and add one more NPC class level.