Running God's Market Gamble for the first time

[Paul Bradley - batcut]

Running this via forum over at rpggeek.com and I have a few questions on this scenario and chases.

I was wondering where GMs start the PCs, in relation to the enemy, when starting Act 4: In a Narrow Alley and Act 6: Finale?

I am running it at Tier 1-2, so does Tersula get a surprise round as she is invisible?

Also, does Parani get a surprise round or only if she makes it to her preferred position?

It doesn't say that she uses her animal companion for any attacks, but I assume that she does? If so, does it attack from the start or only if she is in trouble?

Now to the chase. I've played Return of the Goblin Guild, so now how one proceeds but GMing one is another story.

I guess the thing that confuses me is the move 3 squares option. This is a full-round action, so I'm presuming that the PC has already moved through this square on a previous turn and not exited it - either took an action not related to the chase or failed the obstacle. So, if they pass both obstacles in square 1 they effectively bypass square 2 and end in square 3, ready to move next turn and take an action.
Have I got the gist of it?

[Silbeg]

For running a chase... detailed information is in the Game Mastery Guide (and in the PRD here).

From that section:

PRD Game Mastery Guide wrote:

A character who wants to attempt to move three cards during his turn can do so by taking a full-round action. That character must overcome both obstacles on the card he is leaving. In this case, if a character fails either obstacle check by 5 or less, he only moves one card forward and his turn ends. If a character fails either obstacle check by more than 5, he cannot move at all that turn. A character unfortunate enough to fail two obstacle checks in a turn becomes mired in his current square (he might have fallen from a ledge, gotten a foot stuck amid roots, or got caught in a crowd, for example). A character who is mired must spend another full-round action becoming unmired and effectively loses his next turn in the chase. In some cases, becoming mired might impart additional penalties (such as falling damage).

The way I read it is that as the full-round action, he takes the two checks, and if successful moves up three cards. This is instead of moving, and encountering a single test. Since, conceptually, the two tests could be in completely different locations on "the card", I see this as more of an abstraction to allow characters to hurry through the chase... mostly because they are falling behind!

Of course, I could be entirely wrong, it has happened before.

[Drogon]

Please, for the love of all that is good, can we stop duplicating threads?

This thread...

and this thread...

and THIS thread...

already all exist for this scenario. Did we really need a fourth?

Please, folks, just use the forum search function to find your scenario, then read the advice threads. People have very likely spotted your problem before, and discussed it already.