|
PaizoCon is a few days away. This is going to be my first time running one of these big multi-table specials, so I'm excited, but also a little scared....
The first section ("A New Arrival", page 6-7 of the draft that was put online Friday, which is last I checked still the most current version)... OK, that was too long of a parenthetical comment. Let me start over. The first section says a new Pathfinder arrives to serve as a mouthpiece. There are three possibilities given, but it also suggests "A GM can also provide her own NPC."
I'm seriously tempted to bring in one of my PFS PCs as the NPC in question.... Too cheesy? I suppose I could just do it, and nobody would know, as it is just an NPC I created. (It would be the PC that would also get the GM credit for running this scenario. Makes me feel all verisimiltudinous or something.)
|
I asked Thursty and Mike about doing that with Siege of the Diamond City, and got a resounding yes. I see this and any other special as no different. I even do it with regular scenarios.
Now I just need to get my hands on this and see who is most suitable. I'm thinking Kane Elish, scion of efreeti or perhaps Professor Trey Hurtubize. :)
|
I also thought I would use my PC as the one who tells the party to get started, instead of the cowering noble. That character doesn't seem otherwise important, and it feels more natural to me to return to the PC that they spoke to earlier (especially since he is a VC in game anyway).
I like that idea, I was considering the same for the walk-in NPC but replacing the cowering noble with his manservant is an excellent idea.
|
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2010 Top 4
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Sir Croome? From Seeker of Secrets? He's no coward. I think he's British. Well, the Golarion equivalent, Taldane.
There are a lot of cameo's and special mentions throughout the scenario.
Seriously, if you read it again if he didn't duck behind the barricade, he'd take a crossbow bolt in the head. Then he runs off to fight an elephant by himself.
Aint that tuff enuff? Fabulous Thunderbirds? Bueller?
I thought that was pretty badass for a guy with a monocle. Elephants are CR 7.
That said, there's no harm in swapping him out. I'm not offended on Sir Laribold's behalf. There's just a lot of NPCs that have small roles or are just mentioned by name. This is to reflect how much of the Society is present for this special occasion. Its likely not all players will catch the references, but they're kind of like "legal Easter eggs."
|
|
Seriously, if you read it again if he didn't duck behind the barricade, he'd take a crossbow bolt in the head. Then he runs off to fight an elephant by himself.After giving the elephant a formal duelling salute, no less.
-Rob
I was clearly reading too fast on my first pass. My apologies to the great man. I tip my lance in respect! :)
|
|
I assume the extra points are to give all tables a chance to run each encounter in Skyreach. As each one is important to the story, to have fast tables complete the act before the rest of the house can experience everything would be less than optimal. I know that earlier specials suffered from tables only getting through half of the set pieces that explained what was going on before the house had to move to the next act.
|
Seige of serpents ends with a definitive fight, unlike Stonelords and Diamond City that let players wait for the rest of the house by continuing waves of fights if they end early. What are we supposed to do if our table ends early after all the listed waves? Did this happen at paizocon, or is it incredibly unlikely due to the amount of content for the final act?
I'm considering prepping a particular NPC from earlier in the scenario (with a monocle) show up and "debrief" them by having the pc's tell him about their exploits if I end earlier that the house.
|
|
Another few questions, looking at my notes from beginning prep tonight:
1) Can the players use aid tokens retroactively after a result is revealed? Is it an immediate action? Can the healing one be used to prevent someone from dying immediately during damage resolution? Or does a PC need to use (call for) the aid as a standard action? If unspecified, I'm easy-going enough to rule in the pc's favor on this one. (Except immediately starting inspire courage after you roll and miss by one seems total cheese)
2) Pards: phasing attack text states a -4 to hit them with attacks of opportunity. Is this pointing out their mobility, or does it stack with mobility? (Giving them a 28 AC against aoo). Seems high at tier 3-4, but the map is tiny so they will not be able to benefit much from that crazy 120 ft. movement, so balances.
3) Who is Janis ivulxtin? Don't remember that VO from previous content, want to read up so I know how to present the NPC. Where does he appear?
|
Did this happen at paizocon, or is it incredibly unlikely due to the amount of content for the final act?
My table was running very quickly (only didn't finish 2 encounters in the first massive part). We had to wait a bit to start the final part, before though house caught up, but not very long. Just a quick bathroom break. In the final part we were one creature away from finishing the last wave. This was 3-4 sub-tier. This seemed abnormal. Most of the people I talked to didn't even find out there were Protean in the circle at the end.
(The Pard's were one of the only encounters they missed, otherwise I would comment on them too).
|
Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I've been going over this prepping for a con next weekend that I'm overseer GMing. Like others have posted, why the big HPs for the acts? It is literally impossible to get any of the districts in Act 3 green and unlikely that many will get green in Act 2. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the HP's the Number of Tables for Act 3? For the Waves in Act 4 it would make more sense to have it 2x tables since that would allow all the tables an average of 2 waves.
I'll give my own con as an example.
We've got 5 tables scheduled. Meaning each of three districts has 20 hp.
There are 7 encounters possible between the 3 districts. Meaning if all tables do all 7 encounters they'll only do 35 hp's of damage to the districts. That's not even clearing 2 districts let alone all 3 for an early transition. Why even have that in the scenario since it's impossible to do?
Act 3 has 10 hps, but as stated earlier only 5 damage is possible. While Act 4 will have 6-7 hps with a possibility of 15 damage. That's just messed up math!
|
Venture-Captain, California—San Francisco Bay Area North & East
|
There's a continuity issue between Siege of Serpents and Serpents Rise that I want to point out, regarding Aram Zey. {Super-spoilers for both scenarios, obviously}
So, in this, Aram is found in the tapestry room. In Serpent's Rise, he's found in the Sky Key room. This is reconciled by an easily missed line, that some of the monsters from the tapestry dragged him back from the Sky Key room and put him here. In your descriptions of the room, it will cut down on a lot of confusion the next day when people play through Serpents Rise if you harp on the point that he was dragged in here. Maybe ask for a survival check when they're in the hallway before opening the door to see the blood smear.
To that end I made some art of this very important scene. Here are two versions of the room. The first is lit per the map, with some extra glow from the floor circle and tapestry. But since the scenario describes it as unlit, there's another with just light from the doorway (No matter what I do, I can't get the bloodstains correct on the unlit room).
Forest backdrop: Colourize-Stock's stock 147. http://colourize-stock.deviantart.com/art/Landscape-Stock-147-323676328
Blood smears: http://gtaforums.com/topic/415200-gta-sa-3-blood-pack/ and http://mediamilitia.com/assorted-strokes-109-free-images/
Floor, sidewalls, ceiling: Inlite hallway http://inlitestudio.com/3d/product-tag/hall/
Far wall: Columna Wall by teknology3d https://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?item_id=55571 with texture from side walls
Near wall & Doors: http://www.joes3dfantasyworlds.com/down/arch01/arch01.htm 46th item.
Floor seal: Olympus Props Base http://www.sharecg.com/v/27935/gallery/11/Poser/OP-Base-III with texture from Nobiax's free set. http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/880815/#Comment_880815
Table & Chairs: House of Mog Ruith http://www.daz3d.com/house-of-mog-ruith-interior
Tapestry (love this one): 2 copies of Brick In The Wall https://www.daz3d.com/brick-in-the-wall with 3 textures (fiber, jute, and upholstery) from Nobiax's set above. One is flipped over so that there are bricks at top and bottom. The top pole is from https://www.daz3d.com/war-banners
torches: Dwell by Jack Tomalin (Daz Platinum Club free item). Fixture with the Brass texture from Tom2099 http://www.sharecg.com/v/81214/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/DAZ-Iray-car-related-sh ader-presets-megapack - light from Real lights for Daz http://www.daz3d.com/real-lights-for-daz-studio-iray
Columns: Columns of the Nile (Daz Platinum Club free item) with texture from the far wall item.
The Body
hair: http://www.daz3d.com/pure-hair-cool (for the widow's peak) and MD Mermaid Hair http://studiomaya3d.com/mayadoll.html for the rest with http://www.daz3d.com/uht-hair-shaders-for-iray
pants & boots: http://www.daz3d.com/voyager-m6 with http://www.daz3d.com/leather-and-fur-iray-shaders
shirt: http://www.daz3d.com/shieldmaiden-for-genesis-females with same shaders
beard: http://laticis.deviantart.com/art/Laticis-Imagery-FREE-Genesis-2-Male-Beard -512280041
Pose: modified from Eagle in http://www.sharecg.com/v/76523/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Ghastlys-Vacuumite-Syst em-Genesis-1
|
When prepping my maps for this scenario I noticed a possible problem...I don't see anything that is specifically a door to area C1h in the Mausoleum in Act 2. The best I could come up with is there looks like its "possible" there are open entries to C1h and C1f from C1a on the far right and left sides its C1a's upper edge. That would kind of make sense that there would be easy access to the main room of the Mausoleum and the Library. Am I missing something here or does that seem like a reasonable approach?
|
Venture-Captain, Michigan—Mt. Pleasant
|
Since Mike left John is pulling double duty. He's the one that puts the scenarios in your downloads, and I believe last I saw he finished last half of Sept. conventions. So if you're running in October you'll have to wait until John starts doing early October conventions, or borrow a hardcopy from someone who has run it already.
|
|
I would also really appreciate a clarification on this issue.I've been going over this prepping for a con next weekend that I'm overseer GMing. Like others have posted, why the big HPs for the acts? It is literally impossible to get any of the districts in Act 3 green and unlikely that many will get green in Act 2. Wouldn't it make more sense to make the HP's the Number of Tables for Act 3? For the Waves in Act 4 it would make more sense to have it 2x tables since that would allow all the tables an average of 2 waves.
I'll give my own con as an example.
We've got 5 tables scheduled. Meaning each of three districts has 20 hp.
There are 7 encounters possible between the 3 districts. Meaning if all tables do all 7 encounters they'll only do 35 hp's of damage to the districts. That's not even clearing 2 districts let alone all 3 for an early transition. Why even have that in the scenario since it's impossible to do?Act 3 has 10 hps, but as stated earlier only 5 damage is possible. While Act 4 will have 6-7 hps with a possibility of 15 damage. That's just messed up math!
Yup, me too. Currently prepping to run this soon, and wondering the same thing. It's literally not possible to clear all the sections in part 2, and only some will be green, even if every table finishes every encounter successfully. The math is obviously broken.
I haven't gotten to reading the later sections yet.
|
|
Is there a place to report issues with the scenario?
p. 14, I'm pretty sure the large number of CR 1/3 creatures (for tier 1–2) shouldn't have 37 hp each.
Fire beetle
But I *am* having fun imagining the table conversations. PLAYER: "What do you mean TPK in the first encounter?!" GM:"I'm required to run the scenario as written."
|
|
Geesh, this one is full of little errors.
One more example: Encounter C1 has the compass rose pointing "down" on the map... about 1/3 of the descriptions for this part respect this. The other 2/3 assume north is up instead of down.
Like the other errors I've seen in this scenario, it's pretty easy to correct once it's noticed, but it's off-putting the first read-through.
|
|
I hadn't noticed the compass rose bit, but I had noticed the inconsistent terminology. I suppose knowing there's an explanation makes it somewhat better.
I know it's been said many times above, but the HP for the different acts really doesn't make sense at all (Act 2 has 7 encounters, but complete success would require each table to succeed in 12 encounters, Act 3 has only 3 encounters versus 6 HP/table, and then Act 4 seems to dramatically overcorrect and wrap things up before most tables have even started the final encounter.)
I'm currently running this as part of the PBP Gameday at the 1-2 tier, so it's not the typical experience, but I expect to run it in person in early 2016. We're about to wrap up Act 2, which is very good because I'm just about to run out of encounters for that act. I am concerned they'll run through act 3 and be stuck waiting for the other tables.
I do hope future specials make sure that there's no chance for a party to just have to sit around and wait for others to catch up, especially at the low tier where combats can be quick. At the very least, throwing in several more floating encounters would be nice in the future. As a player, part of what's made these specials so fun is the feeling that there's too much for any one team to do, but I'm not really getting that from this scenario.
|
Venture-Lieutenant, Netherlands—Leiden
|
I was wondering about this myself when prepping to run it. I believe the idea is that it's supposed to be hard for the house to get maximal success, that you're not supposed to get to all the encounters anyway before you run out of time.
In our playthrough, the players didn't manage to fully secure the grounds before we had to shove them into the tower, even though we had 6 hour timeslot.
|
|
The point I'm trying to make is that hard is good, but mathematically impossible is not. For example, Act 3 is supposed to end after 70 minutes or when all three districts are reduced to 0. Using the numbers given, there is no possible way to reduce any district to 0, never mind all of them.
Getting a district to 0 in act 2 would require every table to run both floating encounters in the same district, and even then it couldn't be the Northeast.
I'd like there to be enough encounters that you won't get through all of them, but at the low tier I'm not sure that's the case.
Anyway, my advice for people running the low tier would be to save encounter A1 for last in part 2, as it's the easiest one to stretch out if necessary.