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Welp, now it has a name. Karl the ankheg.
I have the best players.
That's excellent!
My PCs befriended the one of the Monkey Goblins from the smith's forge, and have nominated Harcourt Carrolby as Ambassador to Goblins™.
They were considering taming the Ankheg, but one of them decided they couldn't do it after it took a healthy bite out of him. :(
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I'm using FantasyGrounds to run this AP, so we needed a few extra battle maps. I drew these up in DungeonPainter; not the prettiest maps in the world but are serviceable in a pinch:
- Welcoming Committee
- A5. Smithy
- A6. Chapel (couldn't find a good Talmandor or Erastil statue, so a couple of hunting trophies took their place.)
- A3. Provisions Building
- A10. Government House ground floor
- A10. Government House top floor
- A18. Levin Farm
Hopefully I made those links public. Let me know if you can't access.
<snip> Does she know Ochymua's name? Does she know what he is? I'm reluctant to spill too much, because I don't want to mess with the 2nd book and all of the secret stuff happening, but I also want to reward them somehow for their line of questioning. Thoughts?
Yeah. Great situation to be in because (as DM) you can really build up the sinister and mysterious nature of Ochymua through the questioning of Eliza.
First, i guess just keep in mind Zone of Truth doesn't compel the target to speak, it just prevents intentional lies. So, Eliza can refuse to speak, or she can be evasive in her responses, if you want to run it that way. Also, if she does speak, she would only tell the truth as she knows it, which doesn't have to match up with reality. As an option, you could chose to portray her fanatical devotion to Ochymua where she responds to the PCs questioning in grand praise for her malevolent master.
Next, Ochymua's domination doesn't give Eliza any insights into Ochymua's thoughts (and vice versa), so Eliza would only know what Ochymua chose to tell her (or show her) whenever it initially dominated her (and during its refresh sessions). It probably wouldn't have given her its name, and it certainly wouldn't have revealed what it is or any of its plans to her (or Arkley). But, clearly, it gave her some kind of information because she saw something (power, charismatic attraction, etc.) in Ochymua which caused her to give herself willingly to it. Perhaps it presented itself to her as the object of her deepest desires, perhaps it simply posed as "the island" (see Jacob/Smoke Monster from Lost or The Island from the Dresden series), or maybe it falsely promised her fantastic rewards in return for her service.
Lastly, don't forget that according to her motivations and the alt ending on page 54 that whether under domination or not, Eliza will try to identify the most powerful colonists and get that information to the skum raiders at the first opportunity. So, if the PCs were to somehow compel her to talk about her plans, this might be revealed under the ZoT spell.
Very interesting possibilities!
<snip> Does she know Ochymua's name? Does she know what he is? I'm reluctant to spill too much, because I don't want to mess with the 2nd book and all of the secret stuff happening, but I also want to reward them somehow for their line of questioning. Thoughts?Yeah. Great situation to be in because (as DM) you can really build up the sinister and mysterious nature of Ochymua through the questioning of Eliza.
First, i guess just keep in mind Zone of Truth doesn't compel the target to speak, it just prevents intentional lies. So, Eliza can refuse to speak, or she can be evasive in her responses, if you want to run it that way. Also, if she does speak, she would only tell the truth as she knows it, which doesn't have to match up with reality. As an option, you could chose to portray her fanatical devotion to Ochymua where she responds to the PCs questioning in grand praise for her malevolent master.
Next, Ochymua's domination doesn't give Eliza any insights into Ochymua's thoughts (and vice versa), so Eliza would only know what Ochymua chose to tell her (or show her) whenever it initially dominated her (and during its refresh sessions). It probably wouldn't have given her its name, and it certainly wouldn't have revealed what it is or any of its plans to her (or Arkley). But, clearly, it gave her some kind of information because she saw something (power, charismatic attraction, etc.) in Ochymua which caused her to give herself willingly to it. Perhaps it presented itself to her as the object of her deepest desires, perhaps it simply posed as "the island" (see Jacob/Smoke Monster from Lost or The Island from the Dresden series), or maybe it falsely promised her fantastic rewards in return for her service.
Lastly, don't forget that according to her motivations and the alt ending on page 54 that whether under domination or not, Eliza will try to identify the most powerful colonists and get that information to the skum raiders at the first opportunity. So, if...
That's great insight, thank you! She ended up not giving away a name, just that she opened the stasis chamber because there was a person trapped inside, and doesn't remember what happened to her after that. I went the "atonement" route, since the dominate had ended, and they sent her home on a supply ship, which is really the best of all possible worlds - now I'm not sure if I want her to muck around with people in Almas, or come back on a later boat to be with Ochymua. They were definitely left with the feeling that *something* malevolent was at work, but not necessarily what its nature is. I think 2 of my players know OOC what the slime is all about, but they're pretty good about not metagaming.
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Welp, now it has a name. Karl the ankheg.
I have the best players.
Dang. I thought about Kate's players while running two separate groups through the ankheg encounters this weekend, and....no such luck. None of my players are bug-friendly and slaughtered nymphs and mama on sight. One group did take a monkey-goblin as prisoner (both groups have taken to calling them 'gunkies'). The 'pet' gunky is tied up and lashed to the saddle of their riding dog. None of them speak goblin, but since they left him un-gagged the thing shouts unintelligible insults at any opportunity and makes a general ruckus whenever they want to be stealthy.
I may not have the best players, but I find them entertaining, at least.
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I loved all of the conversation about the final encounter on here, it greatly helped me, and I wanted to offer my experiences with it just two days ago. This can be a fascinating ending with a lot of potential, but one that I'd recommend GMs read several times through before running. I called a break just after the library fight, and used our group mealtime to prepare one last time to pull off this ruse. The more a GM pauses and looks down at the text, the more reason for concern that Eliza and Rayland are not simply two captives waiting to be rescued; call a bathroom break if you need to and go practice. Also, you might want to jot down several lines in advance that both NPCs might use, as well as some of the key answers Eliza will use to her advantage: fuzzy memory, trepidation about her physical state, detect magic simply showing her skin condition and not mental control or otherwise, etc.
I'm coming off of GMing 51 session hours of this adventure in 4 days, so I'll do my best to keep things organized, but bear with me:
I was dealing with a lot of veterans, so this encounter involved knowing how they might perceive it with any metagame they'd inadvertently apply, and then getting ahead of that. For those players who struggle to resist the metagame, I lured them through Eliza's role-playing that this was an encounter where both Eliza and Rayland are grateful but cautious of any rescuers, but perhaps a bit unstable due to their physical condition and what they've been through at the hands of the skum. This leads the players into thinking that they are supposed to role-play their way out of a combat, and that any suspicion on the part of the players only scares the NPCs closer to attacking the party. It is essential when trying this that you make anything voiced by a player at the table what their character actually says. For example, if a player laughs at something they probably shouldn't (maybe another player's attempt to calm the situation, as happened with us), increase the tension by not dropping character and saying "Why are you laughing? Why are you laughing?" (Eliza on the edge of tears and unstable, looking at her transparent hands, seems distraught, now nervous because a PC is laughing). We role-played this encounter for probably 8-10 minutes straight holding everyone in character. If players are allowed to talk to each other away from the table or out of game, they'll start the usual "I don't trust her, how can we figure her out" conversation that players like to do. If their characters break away and do this in secret, have Eliza put the pressure on them as she looks around nervously, and add "Other skum may be arriving soon, and there are lots of them. We may not have much time." It's not a lie, no bluff check needed. Use "May" and "Might" and "Maybe" a lot, as everyone is allowed to speculate without being considered lying. Describe Rayland as very physically overwhelming and competent; a party low on resources should be nervous of a high-level fighter in a finale, and seek to avoid combat.
The biggest question I struggled with and almost lost the whole encounter on: "Why did they leave you up here with all your items?" Eliza answered by alluding to herself being a psyhic, which was something that the skum may not be able to understand, and they preferred to quarantine her and Rayland here for now. It was a stretch, but luckily this question came late into the conversation when the pitch was most sold already.
They also asked "What did they do to you?" She simply shows them her hands, and appears distraught: "Horrible things..." If they press, as Ezren did, and ask "What EXACTLY did they do to you?" Eliza responds with "How could you ask me that?" in a shaky voice. Kyra quickly jumped in and shut Ezren down with "Don't ask her that, old man!"
My players tried to figure this out, I will give them that much. They even pulled out Rayland's whiskey bottle and asked him "Do you recognize this?" If he wasn't Rayland, the ruse was up. Problem was, he simply said "Yes." Valeros offered him a drink and he took it, as the two fighters nervously stared each other down. Out of game, stand close to your fighter and appear strong, almost intimidating, and emphasize what it's like to look someone in the face who has transparent skin. My goal was to intimidate the player using Valeros into thinking that a fight against Rayland at the end of the adventure might not be one he wanted to bite off.
Rayland never had to save against domination, as he never attempted to go against his nature.
There were only a couple of bluff checks I did have to make with Eliza's beautiful +13, but I had rolled five of them in advance just in case, so I wouldn't need to roll during the encounter and tip off the PCs to anything. Don't forget the +5 modifier if the lie is one that the target wants to believe.
As for detecting domination through sense motive, I only had one player pass me a note to try it, and the additional +2 wasn't needed due to a 9 on the roll. Remember what the author mentions on p.59 about ruling that a roll may not even be warranted for Rayland, and on p. 57 when he notes that Eliza is free to speak and behave naturally, which makes it difficult to detect anything.
My players did not have Detect Evil. I don't have much for this one other than what's in the module, and I think it might be a tough sell if they do have it.
Eliza did most of the talking, Rayland appeared distant (and was farther on the map to start) and nodded a couple of times, occasionally speaking if necessary, but always short answers that seemed like his personality (of which they know nothing).
Eliza acted worried about their condition (transparent skin, etc.), and hinted to the party that Rayland has been suffering from mental distress that is nonmagical (i.e., PTSD), and that he will need their support in the days to come. If she needs to, she can respond to why she does not suffer from as much distress by saying that "As a psychic, I handle some matters of the mind better than most." PCs often like to feel needed, and in particular they seemed excited to have Kyra play the role of therapist and believed it to be yet another intriguing facet of Groves's adventure. Remember that we played this as a marathon, so in one long weekend they had already seen: a love triangle, social combat, wilderness hazards, logistical/interpersonal challenges of establishing a colony, and traditional combat. They should be guessing at the end, this adventure has already shown them that.
If they start up a conversation about how the "last big battle" was the skum in the library, just nod and give them something like "I thought he was really tough, you guys just did a great job there." Slap their hands, congratulate them, and keep them feeling a sense of winning so they don't get too suspicious and start trying to detect anything on the way back or in the days to come.
As a final note, my players obviously do not read this thread, but they do read The Azlant Odyssey thread where they respond to comments, as well as our Paizo Blog reports. As of right now, they have no idea anything is wrong, or that Rayland and Eliza are preparing their nefarious scheme. I'd rather handle any questions about Rayland/Eliza here or on PM (instead of the odyssey thread or our Facebook) so that they can be kept in the dark until our next marathon in January.
Now the biggest question I have for myself involves PC death, as one-on-one for Ezren or Kyra (our spellcasters) vs. Rayland or Eliza (about a week later in game time) could certainly spell doom for a character. Feel free to offer up what you would do from here, as it will certainly be on my mind until the next marathon.
Hope this gave back in some way , and that everyone has fun trying to fool their players!
Adam, thanks for the great detail on how this went down with your players!
As for how to handle death in the early books, your situation is much more difficult if you are trying to hold to the iconics even for replacement PCs. How have you handled PC death in your other APs, or is the first time you limited the PCs to iconics?
I would probably have my players give me their 1-2 backup character concepts also at first level and keep those characters as background parts of the colony.
Apart from current colonists, other opportunities to get new characters new colonists or even sailors from re-supply ships, strix PCs from the nearby island, locathah PCs from the waters around Ancorato, an inquisitive merfolk, gillman, or undine that happened by, an early encounter with a mordent spire elf checking the colony out. Later, freed colonists and citizens of Talasantri are good options too. Also, a stray grippli or ratfolk may call the island home, or any castaway really, or perhaps even a monkey goblin PC if you have good RPers.
However, with iconics you may have to get more creative. The locathah, strix, or new naga friend could have a scroll of raise dead (or more fun, reincarnate) to trade. The witch could have one available as treasure too. Also, the resupply ship may generously bring one on behalf of the colony's backers.
Finally, Eliza or Rayland wouldn't necessarily opt to kill a character. That is one less test subject after all.
Adam, thanks for the great detail on how this went down with your players!
As for how to handle death in the early books, your situation is much more difficult if you are trying to hold to the iconics even for replacement PCs. How have you handled PC death in your other APs, or is the first time you limited the PCs to iconics?
I would probably have my players give me their 1-2 backup character concepts also at first level and keep those characters as background parts of the colony.
Apart from current colonists, other opportunities to get new characters new colonists or even sailors from re-supply ships, strix PCs from the nearby island, locathah PCs from the waters around Ancorato, an inquisitive merfolk, gillman, or undine that happened by, an early encounter with a mordent spire elf checking the colony out. Later, freed colonists and citizens of Talasantri are good options too. Also, a stray grippli or ratfolk may call the island home, or any castaway really, or perhaps even a monkey goblin PC if you have good RPers.
However, with iconics you may have to get more creative. The locathah, strix, or new naga friend could have a scroll of raise dead (or more fun, reincarnate) to trade. The witch could have one available as treasure too. Also, the resupply ship may generously bring one on behalf of the colony's backers.
Finally, Eliza or Rayland wouldn't necessarily opt to kill a character. That is one less test subject after all.
Glad you found it useful, and great points there! I'm excited to keep hearing how it plays out for others.
PC replacement will be made easier with the options presented in the introduction to volume two, and we have a system that I've described a couple of times in some of the Paizo Blog reports that will allow us to replace even an iconic (at level one). I would lean toward making Anya a full character at this point if an iconic was lost, as they're closest with her. My main concern will be how hard to be on them. Rayland or Eliza against one character is pretty rough, but in the Order the players don't like me to pull punches, either. Everything is run as closely as we can get to the author's intent, so I'm leaning toward those one vs. one matchups to lead off the series of encounters Groves discusses on p. 54. Or maybe I'll take out some of the spellcasting colonists that the PCs have come to rely upon for certain resources, that could get interesting as time goes on. It seems like the betrayal will need to come fairly soon before Rayland's domination wears off. I've got some cool stuff worked up for that squad of skum attacking the colony, maybe I'll throw in a 4x6' battlemat and really have at it... :)
I was hoping someone could help me. On page 43 in the treasure section for the Celedons it references an item called a "cognizance crystal (1PE)". In the text, it says it is in OA which I assume is Occult Adventures, but I can't find it anywhere in the book.
I am aware of what the crystal is in the terms of 3.5 Psionics, but I did not think Power Points and the like existed in Pathfinder. I know that in the Psionics Unleashed book, the item was converted but I am unsure if that is what is being referenced. Any information would be appreciated.
I had the same issue! I think my players looked up a couple of cognizance crystals from a couple of different places (3.5, DSP Psionics, and one other source I can't remember), and all of them were essentially the same - a thing that gives 1 "point" for whatever psionic system they used, that cost 1,000 gp. Fortunately, I have no psionic PCs, so I just retconned it into a Pearl of Power, which they were all good with.
There is a Prismatic Crystal in occult adventures, maybe just go with that for now?
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<snip>
I'm coming off of GMing 51 session hours of this adventure in 4 days, so I'll do my best to keep things organized, but bear with me:
<snip>
Wow! Terrific recap of that epic book 1 final encounter. And...51 hours in 4 days? Egads, I need a nap just thinking about it.
Maybe a few valium to kick-start the nap. I'd be wound tight.
There is a Prismatic Crystal in occult adventures, maybe just go with that for now?
My only objection to that is the 970gp discrepancy. At low level, that’s their wand of CLW and then some.
Wow! Terrific recap of that epic book 1 final encounter. And...51 hours in 4 days? Egads, I need a nap just thinking about it.<snip>
I'm coming off of GMing 51 session hours of this adventure in 4 days, so I'll do my best to keep things organized, but bear with me:
<snip>
You got it Ted, I usually sleep hard for a day after each marathon. Then the prep starts for the next marathon, and repeat six or seven times a year. That being said, this adventure left me so inspired for the rest of the AP, instead of sleep I dove right into prepping PF122 the same day the marathon ended! We're definitely going to utilize the Ultimate Campaign downtime rules, just to keep the momentum going in addition to the enrichment it provides the path.
I love this adventure so far, but we just got to "Shipboard Strain," and I'm not a huge fan of how the influence mechanics were used here.
I actually quite like the influence rules generally, but in this case, my four players only get two actions each, which requires success on every discovery check and every influence check to succeed at influencing all four NPCs. They only need three NPCs to cooperate to accomplish the goal, but that's still very little room for error. On top of that, three out of four NPCs use traditional social skills for their influence checks anyway. So a player uses their first action to succeed on a knowledge check for Harcourt only to learn that the influence check is diplomacy, which they probably could have just guessed, and would have preferred to have two attempts at rather than using one of their two actions on a discovery check that didn't tell them much.
I would have preferred to see more variation in the influence checks, particularly since there will probably be a lot of parties with low social skills for this specific adventure. I also would have preferred more actions total, which could have been offset by some NPCs requiring multiple successful influence checks in order to succeed.
My specific solution was to use some modified influence rules from a PFS scenario. I let them know both the checks for discovery and influence up front. If they succeed at a discovery check, they learn a bias for that NPC, which will just be the strategy described in the writeup, such as "Harcourt loves to feel important." If they use that strategy, they'll get a bonus on the influence check.
I'll report back how it play out.
And seriously, the first part of the adventure went swimmingly (pun intended). My players are invested in the mystery and trying so hard to work out what happened to the first colonists. This is the first point where I have felt the need to tweak anything, and I wanted to provide that feedback.
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Here's a DungeonPainter battle map for the Talmandor's Bounty barracks (A11) for the itty-bug fight in case anyone needs one. A11. Barracks (I forgot to include this in my previous post).
Also, I provided some text for some of the log books in the Government Building for my player's to pore over. They got a kick out Governor Arkley's Sea Journal, so I'll pass it along to the community. This is actually Captain James Cook's journal from 1768 (England to Rio) during his first world circumnavigation with names and dates changed (and a few odd events thrown in) Oddly enough, Cook makes a point of writing about how he saves two kegs of beer - which ended up making a nice (coincidental) detail.
I gave them some snippets of Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac for a taste of what the daily weather and tide charts looked like. I also gave them a few entries that I just made up for Arkley's diary once the Liberty's Herald colonist made land.
I am using FantasyGrounds software to run the game and because of this my players like to have the contents of any given room represented as objects, so I filled A3 Provisions Building and A4 Tool House with specific tools and provisional stores. I gave them a quartermaster's log, too, and the last entries matched exactly what was found in the Provisions building, but the Tool House ended up showing a fair number of tools checked out to various laborors, which the PC's found when investigating the unfinished homes in Main Street. Well, all of the tools were accounted for except for a single chisel, which I included in a stash of loot in Vegelror's lair (my PCs have yet to encounter Vegelror, so the missing chisel is still a mystery) - I think some of my players think its the key to the missing colonists. Ya gotta love a good red herring.
I can provide any of these things too, if anyone wants them.
Just a warning the Monkey Goblins listed on page 13 (and in Bestiary 6) have maximum hit points instead of average. It makes them somewhat tougher then expected.
It's because they have PC class levels, where the first level is always Max hp.
Thanks Captain collateral damage
I have only ever used that rule for PC's. Looking thro' other Beastiary's I can see you are right
Wow this has been great reading all of this. This is my first as a GM and I am enjoying the challenge. I've got fairly experienced players which has been both helpful and keeping me on my toes.
1) My group had troubles with the cockroach swarm (of all things) and eventually decided to start a fire at the door, funnelling smoke into the building and smoking the critters out of the building so they could torch them without ruining the good food.
2) They've also had troubles with Silas. His first appearance was on my first night and it was quite rocky. I've got some ideas for round 2, but would love to hear how people created puzzles to help the PCs figure out what he wants.
3) Also figured I'd share a memorable moment from A10. They did not perceive the clockwork spy until they were already upstairs and it would have gotten away completely unnoticed. By then that PC had 30ft movement and would have caught it WAAAAY to easily. So I decided it would be almost out the window as he got there with the window open. My rogue decided to leap out the upstairs window to grab the spy, passed the first check to grab it, failed the second to land crashing to the ground, our caster enlarged him so he could continue to hold onto it. Meanwhile our monk decided to climb up the enlarged rogue to help pin the spy. Then with two horrible disable device rolls and a few failed knowledge checks to identify anything the self-destruct fired up. The monk tried to bail unsuccessfully as the spy blew up and the enlarged rogue got knocked out. This group has not failed to entertain me.
Looking forward to reading more experiences about this module and am excited to keep working our way through it.
The clockwork spy moment is wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
As far as Silas, my group fled the church. I was foolish, and read in the book that the Poltergeist was tied to the body, rather than the location, so I had it chase them. They tried to put the thing to rest, but it kept yanking the shovel out of our strong-guy's hands and throwing it at him. Eventually, they ran the body to the end of the dock and tossed him to sea, shouting obscenities at him.
As far as clues to put him to rest, I had the haunt come back still, and it tapped out "Why, Rayland, my friend? Why?" in Morse code, over and over. But I didn't tell them where the breaks were between words or letters. So they got to do a little haunt puzzle.
So my party got to the warden jack swarm today, on their way to the tower. Nobody had AoEs, but they managed to escape it via a clever ploy with a horse. They continued on to the tower, and the swarm, once finished chasing the horse around, went to the tower to report intruders. When at the tower, I began to play this repeatedly, increasing the volume.
I terrified my friends with the sound of a small metal ball rolling. This module is great. :D
This is my first as a GM and I am enjoying the challenge.
Well, congrats to you, JadziaKD for GMing your first game. It sounds like you are off to a great start!
2) They've also had troubles with Silas. His first appearance was on my first night and it was quite rocky. I've got some ideas for round 2, but would love to hear how people created puzzles to help the PCs figure out what he wants.
I've had two separate groups take on Silas. One group spent several hours at it and spanned two game sessions. It's not an easy encounter - incorporeal, invisible, immune to physical attacks and 50% effectiveness on magical damage (sans force effects). Similar to Hedwick's, both of my groups thought that dealing with the body of Silas would solve the poltergeist problem, so there was a lot of running around with a badly decomposed corpse (picking up dropped pieces, and such) as they wrestled with what a proper Andoran-Erastil burial ritual would entail, followed by disappointment when the rain of telekinetically launched objects did not cease. Both groups hit upon the idea of luring the thing away from a ready supply of heavier objects and/or securing the more dangerous objects so that at the end Silas could only had small stones available for ammo.
Each group eventually defeated the poltergeist, but they were a sorry bunch at the end of the encounter - wiped out of resources and just a few hp among them. They were pretty sure once the poltergeist was defeated that it was the end of it, but at midnight that night, the knocking in the chapel started up. I'd say both groups were more curious than freaked out at that point and they roused their groups to investigate. After awhile they realized the knocking was not coming from a physical source and there was a pattern to it. A PC in one group had comprehend languages available and a PC in the other group had a rank in linguistics (gave him a DC15 shot at realizing the pattern was an old Andoran shepherds code for communicating at night over long distances (like Morse code)). They deciphered the knocking as a single word repeated over and over ..."Why?" Now the players were more freaked out than curious.
I didn't give them any more hints than this I had it so that two-way communication (returning the knocks) was minimally effective. They used the clues they found around Talmandor's Bounty to piece together an idea of what may have happened, but neither group is completely sure. They guessed Silas was a farmer from his clothes and they were able to tell he died a slow and painful death from a blade wound to the gut. One group is sure Silas drug himself into the altar and bled to death there while the other group thinks his killer stuffed him into the altar. From the note under the plum tree, they both suspect Rayland had something to do with it, and they suspect the body might be one of the names listed on the note - like Dulin or Barnabus.
They are going to wrestle with this mystery at least until they encounter Rayland at the end. Until then, Eamon Caranth either is or will be staying in the chapel and trying his best to sooth the rapping spirit, like someone tending a rabid dog. At any rate, this is a great encounter and an excellent mystery. My players are all really into it.
So my party was deceived by Eliza and Rayland and I'm now plotting the ensuing betrayal and skum attack. Anyone have any suggestions for how to run it and/or how many skum would be able to muster?
For some reason I kinda want to run a Cause and Effect-type scenario where the odds are impossible and the party gets TPK'd over and over again, but slowly for figures out a plan to avoid dying, probably because I'm a horrible person who wants to kill their friends repeatedly... >:)
So my party was deceived by Eliza and Rayland and I'm now plotting the ensuing betrayal and skum attack. Anyone have any suggestions for how to run it and/or how many skum would be able to muster?
For some reason I kinda want to run a Cause and Effect-type scenario where the odds are impossible and the party gets TPK'd over and over again, but slowly for figures out a plan to avoid dying, probably because I'm a horrible person who wants to kill their friends repeatedly... >:)
We did a pretty extensive playthrough of the series of encounters that Groves described if your party was duped by Eliza and Rayland. This photo album shows how it played out. Hope it helps a bit in your planning, and good luck killing your friends! :)
We did a pretty extensive playthrough of the series of encounters that Groves described if your party was duped by Eliza and Rayland. This photo album shows how it played out. Hope it helps a bit in your planning, and good luck killing your friends! :)
I've been impressed by OotAD before, but, truly, Adam, the Order has outdone themselves. Bravo! A truly impressive portrayal of Shattered Continent!
So my party was deceived by Eliza and Rayland and I'm now plotting the ensuing betrayal and skum attack. Anyone have any suggestions for how to run it and/or how many skum would be able to muster?
And, Captain, while I typically shy away from such sadistic gameplay as you propose with your cause/effect scenario, I've got to find out how it went...so, how'd that all work out??? If you haven't run Eliza&Rayland Part II, yet, I think the scenario that played out with the Amber Die looks great! An early morning, coordinated ambush/assassination attempt by Eliza and/or Rayland, timed with about a dozen skum. Personally, I'd work hard as the GM to see that Eliza escapes into the jungle - there's so much you can do with that (plus, the recurring villain in the jungle thing is perfectly reminiscent of "Lost")
We did a pretty extensive playthrough of the series of encounters that Groves described if your party was duped by Eliza and Rayland. This photo album shows how it played out. Hope it helps a bit in your planning, and good luck killing your friends! :)I've been impressed by OotAD before, but, truly, Adam, the Order has outdone themselves. Bravo! A truly impressive portrayal of Shattered Continent!
...Personally, I'd work hard as the GM to see that Eliza escapes into the jungle - there's so much you can do with that (plus, the recurring villain in the jungle thing is perfectly reminiscent of "Lost")
Thank you Ted, I'm glad it's useful, that's always our goal! As for Eliza, they followed her tracks down the beach after she escaped, only to find they went into the ocean... (what they don't know is that she resurfaced elsewhere, re-entered the forest, and is at large ;)
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I recently started running this adventure path and wanted to share some observations after my first 2 game sessions.
1 - My players have not overly min-maxed their characters. They are a fairly well balanced group (Druid, Ranger, Wizard, Investigator), with diverse abilities without being munchkiny in their optimization. The encounters in Talmandor's bounty have been pretty tough, especially considering the minimal resources the party has as fresh off the boat (literally) adventurers.
While the Grindylows were not too bad the Ankheg nymph, monkey goblins, and poltergeist have been challenging. The party feels a sense of urgency to figure out what is going on with the missing colonists and to rendezvous again with the Peregrine, so they press on beyond what their resources can deal with. I had to compensate by giving them a wand of cure light wounds (hidden in a tiny compartment carved into the Talmandor statue in the chapel).
2 - The party hasn't finished exploring the deserted colony yet. There are still the adult ankheg, more nymphs, choker and blood maize to encounter. The choker is likely the easiest of them, but the ankhegs have very high damage outputs and likely ambush the party every time with burrow speed and tremorsense. The blood maize has a very nasty bleed effect and also likely will ambush the party since it has the ability to hide/illusion among normal plants. I'm hoping the party rests before dealing with them, at least after encountering the choker.
3 - There are a lot of monsters that grab,trip, etc.
4 - The timeline of what happened to the original colonists is a bit fuzzy. It would be nice to add a very simple timeline of events. I am going to try to work on this, so my story seems consistent as the party uncovers clues.
I'll share more as I figure stuff out. Fortunately, my group isn't blazing through the story too fast, so I have time to adapt between sessions.
I get that, I'm just confused why they would go THERE in particular. I haven't read AD2 yet---waiting til I get my physical copy today or tomorrow---but from the looks of the map, they explore the rest of the island in book 2, so to finish book 1, they need to go to those specific places. Now, it's possible books 1 and 2 can easily blend into each other/overlap, in which case, great! If not, obviously I can come up with a reason that Ramona sends them there---missing scouts, searching for the origin of the skum that attacked them, etc. I was just making sure there wasn't a reason in the text that I was missing.
@Eliandra Giltessan:
The characters can be compelled by Ramona or other colonists to "keep investigating the missing colonists," leading them to eventually hit areas N, O or P. They'll likely encounter the warden jack at some point even if they don't go looking for clues, which should prompt them to wonder where it came from, as its obviously constructed. The skum in area P know where the colonists are, so you can have them attack the colony if the characters still won't go investigate.The players can be compelled to investigate because they're playing the adventure, and that demands they keep investigating. They either implicitly or explicitly agreed to buy into the adventure and keep pursuing it, its on them to continue and find area P.
The book can easily just end (well, until Book 2 if the hints are any indication) if the players and characters are content to just live in town and not investigate. They're adventurers, they need to adventure!
I believe the Skum attack party is carrying a note that says they are supposed to bring any prisoners to the tower at P. Page 21 Treasure section of encounter M - Attack on the Beach.
I was just wondering why there was not 5' scale maps of the buildings in the colony. It seems if you are going to have encounters there, there should be maps.
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So, being a map nerd ... what are the contour intervals for the elevation lines on the islands map?
Hey, so I have a question. The Adventure Path descrides the charter as having all the names except the officers checked, but this strikes me as odd, as we know colonists died and we're not captured. It seems odd that the faceless stalkers would check off names of people they didn't get. Has anyone compiled a list of the colonists we know didn't get taken (ex. Weatherbee, the guy in the ankheg hole, the guy in the puppetmaster fight)? I think it would be more fun to note those guys with a strike through thier names, or maybe question marks next to them. I think this will let the PCs figure out what the list might represent quicker. My PCs just found the list, and got Silas Weatherbee to share his name. They looked on the list, saw he was checked (by virtue of not being an officer) and now assume checked off people were murdered by Arkley. I'm going to retcon it next game, and have his name and all the others not taken have different marks. If someone could help me out with that list, especially any we learn about in book 2 (don't have yet myself) it would be appreciated.
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Hi everyone,question. The info on roughing it states that the ship will return with supplies every 6 weeks but the initial arrival box text talks about it being a 6 week trip from almas to the island. Which is correct? Is it a 12 week turn around or a 6 week turn around (and I should adjust box text accordingly)? thanks!
Hi everyone,question. The info on roughing it states that the ship will return with supplies every 6 weeks but the initial arrival box text talks about it being a 6 week trip from almas to the island. Which is correct? Is it a 12 week turn around or a 6 week turn around (and I should adjust box text accordingly)? thanks!
It would be a 12-week voyage round-trip for a single vessel. Depending on where, exactly, the island of Ancorata is within the Azlant Isles, it seems to be between 3,000 and 4,000 miles from Almas. According to the overland travel rules, a galley under sail with oars can make 96 miles per day, which is about 6 weeks (one-way) under ideal conditions.
Its safe to assume the Bountiful Venture Co. is not using a single ship to make the supply runs. The ship bringing the first colonists was the Liberty's Herald and the second was the Peregrine. So, it could be that there are a number of ships in the supply rotation, leaving port every six weeks. I see what you have noticed under "Roughing It", it does says that the Peregrine and Captain Markosi returns in 6 weeks - this would not be possible. Even if the distance between ports was only 2,000 miles (half of what it appears) a ship needs time for repairs, crew furlough, etc., and could not/would not keep up such a grueling schedule. So, if you like the 6-week supply train, I would just make sure you have several different ships in the rotation.
I think this might have been a typo and should have been that the Peregrine returns in 6 months. Maybe Adam could weigh-in on it. In the background section we see that it is a 6 month period between Liberty's Herald dropping off alpha colony and when beta colony arrives on the Peregrine. Actual travel logs by medieval ocean explorers show far less progress than 96 miles per day and delays, bad weather, accidents, layovers, etc. all contribute to a much slower pace. Here's Cook's sea journals, if you are interested . . . https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8106/8106-h/8106-h.htm#ch1
Personally, I like the 6-month supply schedule. I think its more realistic - the infamous Jamestown Colony in America waited nearly 2 years for supplies (more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia) I've told my players it will be 6 months before the supply ship returns and they are resigned to the fact that they are truly cut-off from help - if the colony is going to succeed,they are going to have to truly apply heroics and cannot rely on outside help. They are currently exploring the island and are desperate to locate better natural resources to help the colony survive. But, that works for my group(s), yours may be different.
Let us know how it all works out! :)
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I've been meaning to post this for awhile and just now remembered to do so. You may find having three echeneises attached to the ship in The Peregrine's Plight a better idea than just two. From the Beastiary 5 entry: "A vehicle with an attached echeneis has its speed reduced by half until the end of the echeneis's next turn. A creature or vehicle slowed by a second echeneis is reduced to one-quarter speed. A creature or vehicle slowed by three or more echeneises is reduced to a speed of 0 feet."
Having the Peregrine unable to move solves a few issues. In "Land, Ho!" at the start of the adventure, Ramona asks the PCs to row out to the colony and check it out while she and Markosi take the Peregrine nine miles up the coast to the secondary landing spot. She instructs the PCs (which we see at the intro to Ch. 2) to head up the coast when they are done and meet them there. That just wasn't going to fly with my players as they would have wanted Ramona to send the Peregrine back for them once they scoped out the secondary site rather than risk their necks hiking through dangerous, unexplored areas to meet up with them. So, I had Ramona tell the PCs that regardless of what they found at the secondary site, they would sail back the following day to pick the PCs up.
Both of my groups took a very long time to explore Talmandor's Bounty - more like a week instead of a day or two. When the Peregrine did not return on the following day, the PCs got really worried and by the time they had finished exploring the colony, they thought it was a real possibility that something dreadful had happened to the Peregrine and that they were now on their own. Still, they needed to head up the coast to check out the secondary site, and when they got there they were relieved to see the Peregrine, but I had included an extra echeneis, so the ship was completely stopped - with only 2 fish attached, it would have limped back at quarter speed and returned to Talmandor's Bounty long before the week was up.
Also, the third fish made the battle more difficult. My players had not done a lot of underwater combat before, so this was truly (as the sidebar suggests) a great opportunity for them to get to know the rules. The third fish extended the battle and they had to defeat 2 of them before the third fled, joining a pair of grindylows and foreshadowing the upcoming battle in the Shellcracker Caves.
This series of encounters (including Shipboard Strain) has been a favorite of my players, so my advice for GMs is to really play this one up. Don't rush through it! Also, I opted to introduce Carver Hastings here as a farmer that was suddenly advising Ramona. They still do not know he is pathfinder society, and are very suspicious of him. The mistrust of Carer has made for some good gameplay, thus far.
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I am opting for a 12-ish week delivery schedule. That gives the PCs a chance to place their orders (and Ramona provides colony updates), the ship heads back - orders are placed in Almas and then the goods can get on the return ship (almost certainly a different vessel) which departs Almas a few days later. So, about 4 supply ships per year, but only every other ship is bringing colonists.
Of course, some ships might get delayed, or encounter...challenges.
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My campaigns often emphasize knowledge checks. Monster lore checks are something everyone gets into, not just the inquisitors. At the start of an encounter, players who show proper RP etiquette and ask something like, “What do I know about yonder beasty?” are awarded with a knowledge roll. Dim-witted players who ask if they can make a knowledge roll (or who commit the ultimate sin and simply roll a d20 and ask what they know about a creature) are rewarded with no information at all. Untrained knowledge skills only get DC 10 (or less) information. Taking 10 or 20 on these checks are never allowed and “try again’s” can only happen after a new rank has been added to the appropriate knowledge skill or whenever an Int base stat is increased. Players who make successful monster lore checks are sent (via text, whisper (virtual tabletop software), email or folded note) all of the info granted them by their roll. If the roll happens during combat, I allow the recipient of the monster lore 15 words or less as a free action on their turn to communicate with the rest of the party. If the roll happens outside of combat, players are free to pontificate and educate their fellow party members to their heart’s content (sometimes to the dismay, but often the amusement, of their fellow players).
Here’s the Monster Lore I cobbled together from various sources for Part I. I can add Part II and Part III (and the random encounters) if you all want, otherwise it just takes up forum space.
For the most part, this info is culled from the Paizo Beastiary entry for each beastie. Other times the info comes from other Paizo sourcebooks and I’ve tried to reference them whenever appropriate.
Part I. The Vanished
Grindylow
Knowledge Dungeoneering
DC 10: The top half of this creature appears to be a bluish colored goblin (or a shark in the right light), while the bottom appears to be an octopus.
DC 11: Some believe these beasts to be related to the vile race of goblins
DC 12: Grandma-mas all across Golarion tell bogeyman stories to small children about grindylows, saying they will grab them and drown them and eat them if they get too close to the water's edge.
DC 13: Beware their vicious spears made from coral, the wounds of which are hard to heal and will forever leave a scar.
DC 15: They often use their tentacles to trip up the unwary and drag them under the waves.
DC 17: grindylows are known to use octopi as pets, sometimes training the greater of these beasts to aid in their vicious attacks.
DC 20: While the predators of the deep, like sharks and orca, cause great fear to a grindylow, nothing terrifies them more than a squid, no matter what the size.
Profession Sailor
DC 12: Legends say great schools of these beasts have been known to attack schooners at sea, swarming the vessel and sending it, along with its crew to a watery grave.
DC 17: There is a story sailors tell of a village of merfolk outside Stormshoal, deep under the Eye of Abendego which was overrun by a rabid pack of grindylow. For years after, fisherfolk would find the gnawed remains of mermen and maids in their fishing nets.
* Excerpts taken from The Inner Sea World Guide
Fuath
Knowledge Nature
DC10: This creature is a gremlin of some sort, one of the fey.
DC11: Gremlins are vicious pranksters who take great pleasure in destroying things. The more complex the thing, the more pleasure they take in its destruction.
DC12: Some communities plagued by gremlins have discovered the secret of using gremlin-bells. Hung over doorways or attached with delicate chain to valuable objects, the bells mysteriously deter gremlins.
DC13: Other communities use a more direct approach and train weasels to hunt and kill the creatures.
DC 15: This is an aquatic variant of gremlin known as a Fuath (FOO-ah). They are feared as the drowner of sailors and the sinker of ships. They sneak aboard vessels at night and do great damage, causing death and mayhem to all aboard.
DC15: Fuath use dirty fey tricks to attack humans. They especially like to attack when their prey is asleep.
DC16: A favorite trick of the fuath is to cover their victim's nose and mouth with a mask of magical water and cackle gleeful as they watch their victims drown.
DC19: As fey, they are fairly immune to non-magical weapons, but they fear cold-iron, as do all fey.
DC25: This little gremlin can be slain easily by fire and will quickly dry-up to a husk in the full light of the sun.
DC 27: This gremlin is not harmed by water or cold.
Profession (sailing)
DC 10: This is an aquatic variant of the Sidhe known as a Fuath (FOO-ah). They are also named drowner of sailors and sinker of ships. They sneak aboard at night and do great damage and cause death and mayhem.
Knowledge Planes
DC10: Fey, like these, tend to reside near or within soft-spots of reality, where the veil between this world and theirs is the thinnest.
DC15: Gremlins are strange in that the smaller they are in stature, the more nasty, dirty tricks they retain from their fey ancestry. Ofttimes larger ones pose a more physical danger, but lack strong fairy magic.
Cockroach Swarm
Knowledge Nature
DC 10: Cockroaches are nasty, filthy, hearty bugs.
DC 12: These insects love devouring piles of garbage and rotting vegetation and meat. When hungry, they may go after living prey.
DC 13: Cockroaches live under leaves and debris until food is near.
DC 15: Swarms of insects are known to attack living creatures with horrible efficiency, sometimes rendering a body to bones in a matter of minutes.
DC 15: Its best to run from a swarm of hungry insects.
DC 17: Weapons do no good against a swarm and most magic is ineffective.
DC 20: Swarms are handled by spreading damage across a wide area.
DC 23: Fire is ofttimes deadly to a swarm.
DC 25: Sages who study insect swarms sometimes wear specialized clothing to mitigate the bites and stings of the more ferocious specimens.
Monkey Goblin
Knowlege Nature
DC 10: This is a goblin, but a strange one, indeed!
DC 11: Goblins are considered nothing more than murderous pests by most civilized peoples across Golarion.
DC 13: Goblins dwell on the fringes of other societies, scavenging amongst their waste and building their tribes in squalor.
DC 15: Though weak on their own, goblins often gather in huge numbers to overwhelm their enemies.
DC 16: Fairly rare, the fierce monkey-goblin is known to live in the tropical forests of Mediogalti Island (pronounced med-ee-oh-GALL-tee) located off the western coast of Garund.
DC18: Monkey goblins pride themselves on their ferocity and never back down in a fight.
DC 19: Monkey goblins excel at climbing, poison use and net-combat, always striking from above.
DC 20: Monkey goblins are fast, but foolishly impulsive and disagreeable.
DC 22: Goblins are defined by their fears, but not all goblins fear the same thing. Discover their fear and you can permanently rid yourself of any goblin infestation.
Knowlege Geography
DC 15: The monkey goblins of Mediogalti Island (pronounced med-ee-oh-GALL-tee) live in an arboreal village known as Ganda-Uj.
DC 17: Ganda-Uj consists of precariously balanced bark huts, linked by swaying vines and bridges.
DC 20: Scholars believe that the current site of Ganda-Uj is the fifth lair to bear the name; the other four were accidentally burned down by the fire-loving goblins.
Knowlege History
DC 15: Though they usually remain beneath other races' notice, legions of goblins under the command of hobgoblin leaders wreaked havoc in Isger and neighboring realms in the Goblinblood Wars, a conflict that lasted four years starting in 4697 AR. Though the goblinoids were defeated, there were huge losses of life on both sides.
DC 20: According to the First Songs, the goblin creation myths, goblins were created from human blood spilled by the four Goblin Hero-Gods. From the most powerful barghest-god, Hadregash, goblins gained the gift of the tribe, giving them strength in numbers. From his mate Venkelvore, they gained the gift of raiding and learned to steal from other races. From Zarongel, they gained the gift of riding, learning to master wolves and other animals. Finally, from Zogmugot, they gained the gift of scavenging, harvesting the bounty of the sea's flotsam and jetsam. The goblins have since spread across the Inner Sea region, especially in Varisia, where they say Zogmugot first walked into the sea, and Isger, where they were taken by Venkelvore's wolves.
Knowledge Religion
DC12: Goblins conduct their worship in simple, bloody rituals filled with howls, animal sacrifice, and ecstatic dancing.
DC 15: They craft fetishes from the bones of their enemies, particularly dogs and humanoids.
DC 17: The four Goblin Hero-Gods (Hadregash, Venkelvore, Zarongel, and Zogmugot) are common objects of worship among goblins,
DC 20 … but they revere Lamashtu above all else, because she freed the hero-gods from Asmodeus.
DC 21 Goblin tribes that worship one hero-god to the exclusion of others are considered heretics.
* Excerpts taken from The Inner Sea World Guide and Goblins of Golarion
Poltergeist
Knowledge Religion
DC 10: When a departed soul is not allowed rest due to some great injustice, either real or perceived, it sometimes comes back as a ghost.
DC 12: Such beings are in eternal anguish, lacking in substance and unable to set things right.
DC 15: Ghosts often cling to the living world out of a powerful sense of rage and hatred—even the ghost of a good creature can become hateful and cruel in its afterlife.
DC 17: This particular ghost seems to be a poltergeist. A poltergeist is an angry spirit that forms from the soul of a creature that, for whatever reason, becomes unable to leave the site of its death.
DC 17: A poltergeist is difficult to harm. Some magic seems to affect them.
DC 19: A poltergeist cannot rest as some unfinished task keeps him from the grave.
DC 20: Desecrating a grave site by building a structure over the body below is the most common method of accidentally creating a poltergeist.
DC 21: Holy water is effective against a poltergeist.
DC 22: The poltergeist experiences great trauma over its condition; this trauma twists its psyche to evil and fosters an overall hatred of the living expressed in outbursts of rage.
DC 25: A poltergeist is bound to a specific place, usually a building, room, or recognizable area (a section of a cemetery, a stretch of lonely road, and so on). This place typically corresponds to its place of death or the resting place of its mortal remains.
DC 27. Even disrupting a poltergeist is not enough to send its soul to restful slumber, only by resolving whatever unfinished business it had in life will allow its soul to pass beyond the veil.
Clockwork Spy
Knowledge Engineering
Hmmmm…can’t find my clockwork write-up. Will add later.
Ankheg
Knowlege Arcana:
DC10: Ankhegs are often mistaken for monstrous spiders, scorpions or earwigs. In fact, they are the product of an ancient magical experiment gone wrong.
DC12: Ankhegs love to burrow in the soft soil of farmland and, as an added bonus, they get to feed on livestock or the occasional farmer.
DC 14: Ankhegs often live in large groups and breed at a fast rate.
DC 15: Ankhegs can detect prey walking on the ground above their tunnels, like a spider detects victims in their web.
DC 16: Legends tell of enormous ankhegs living in the remote desert regions of Golarion, feeding on camels or even elephants.
DC 17: Ankhegs secrete two types of venom. This first is an acid used to slay their prey. The second is an adhesive used to shore up the walls of their tunnels.
DC 19: Ankhegs often grab badly wounded creatrues and haul them underground where they are immediately devoured in a grisly fashion.
DC 20: These creatures can spit a stream of deadly acid.
DC 23: Ankhegs can only spit their acid once every several hours.
DC 25: Ankhegs have no known weaknesses, except, perhaps, they have no intelligence to speak of.
Blood Maize
Knowledge Nature:
DC10: This is a plant.
DC12: There are many plants that are dangerous to consume, being poisonous in nature. Other plants release toxins or spores which can be deadly to breathe. Rarely, however, plants may be encountered that feed off the blood of living creatures.
DC 15: Plants are immune to: all mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms).
DC17: Plants are not affected by: paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep effects, and stunning.
DC 20: It’s said that blood maize plants arose spontaneously in ancient times at the sites of great battles, where blood pooled like rainwater and the plains were covered in broken bodies.
DC 22: Legends say blood maizes were created long ago when crops left to wither and rot due to raging wars adapted to their harsh new environs via a mixture of natural hardiness and the latent energies of suffering that permeated the land. The results were the first blood maize.
DC 25: The blood maize is a patient and stealthy hunter. It has the ability to change how others perceive it, often mimicking the appearance of other nearby flora, blending in until an unwitting creature wanders near.
DC 27: A blood maize plant will sometimes produce a blinding cloud of pollen to obscure its hasty retreat from any danger.
DC 30: Blood maize plants secrete an effective anti-coagulant which promotes the constant flow of blood from wounds it creates in living creatures.
DC 33: A blood maize possesses a sturdy taproot which in can anchor deep underground in the blink of an eye, giving the plant extra stability when it takes down its prey.
* Sourced from Ruins of Azlant The Lost Colony
Choker
Knowledge Dungeoneering
DC 12: This small, aberrant creature is a hunched-over wretch with long, pliable arm-like tentacles capped with five wide, spiny claws.
DC 14: Underground predators that dwell on the outskirts of subterranean ruins, lurking in the darkness and lashing out with their long, rubbery arms to grasp prey as it passes by.
DC 15: Chokers have an unerring talent for seizing their victims by the neck.
DC 16: Those grappled by a choker cannot speak or cast spells with verbal components.
DC 17: They seldom attack multiple enemies at once, stalking their quarry until they can isolate a weaker victim from its pack.
DC 18: A choker is supernaturally quick.
DC 19: Chokers have no problem skittering across walls and ceilings, often lodging themselves into shadowy corners, tunnel intersections, walls, or staircases.
DC 21: Chokers appear to have little culture of their own, gathering only briefly to mate before their wanderlust and hunger spurs them again to a solitary existence.
DC 22: Their just-better-than-animalistic intelligence grants them a fascination with the trappings of society even if they do not truly understand it.
DC 23: Accordingly, the grubby lair of a choker (often situated in a difficult-to-reach nook or cranny) usually contains valuable objects such as rings, brooches, cloak clasps, and loose coins gathered from devoured victims.
DC 24: Chokers prefer to keep hidden during the light of day, emerging from their hidey-holes under cover of darkness to hunt for food and cruel pleasure.
DC 25: Favorite tactics include using their long arms to scoop prey off the street from the safety of a nearby rooftop, attacking sleeping families by squeezing through an open chimney, or tapping on a window to bring their curious food within grasping distance.
DC 27: Chokers speak Undercommon,
Knowledge Geography
DC 12: Chokers are found throughout the Inner Sea region, both in Avistan and Garund, and have also been reported in the far southern parts of Garund.
DC 15: They generally live underground, from the periphery of surface ruins to the secluded depths of Sekamina.
DC 17: From time to time, though, a choker will become curious about the world above, and make its way to the dark alleys and abandoned buildings of surface cities.
DC 20: Korvosa's Shingles areas are particularly notable for their high choker populations.
Knowledge Religion
DC 17: The foul patron of the choker is usually the demon lord Shivaska,
DC 20 Some chokers also worship the demon lord Shax.
* Excerpts from Inner Sea World Guide and the Guide to Korvosa
Thanks for the work with the knowledge checks. I strongly disagree with some DCs (mostly the arbitrarily high ones to know basic swarm traits), but the lore parts are incredibly useful.
Thanks for the work with the knowledge checks. I strongly disagree with some DCs (mostly the arbitrarily high ones to know basic swarm traits), but the lore parts are incredibly useful.
Thanks, Lintecarka. I understand your point on the DCs. I've set the DCs differently for each group Ive played with and suggest doing the same for any GM using these. I agree, relatively speaking, that's way too high for knowing swarm traits. The group I used these knowledge rolls with last has been with me for two decades, now, and they have the 'mandatory' 1st level swarm encounter each time we start a new campaign - and each time they totally forget to take some form of AOE damage at 1st!! Some of them even act surprised when their weapons don't seem to do much...so, maybe I was planning to punish them by not giving them easy knowledge that they should already have known - i dunno *shrugs* ;P
Well, if you at least find the lore helpful, I'll post parts II and III (and random encounters) then.
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Had to make a map for the player's house in Talmandor. Again, not the greatest, but serviceable and if it saves someone some time, I'm happy to share. Players are currently adding an alchemist's lab and workstation for crafting using downtime rules from UC. A brewery is next up.
If you are doing virtual tabletop gaming, you may need maps of the celedon buildings (Area N). These may help:
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Here's a possible map for the skum soldiers (area m)
Just noticed a slight issue with a certain NPC's class.
The 6 soldiers are listed as Fighter 2 on page 69, but Antona Sedgewick is listed as being one of them but being only Warrior 2 on page 28. Which of these is correct?
Has anyone compiled a list of all the NPCs who were part of the Liberty's Herald expedition?
Here's the ones I've found mentioned:
??? Levin (Farm family) Book 1 page 23
Adran Felton Book 1, page 16
Armin Book 3, page 53
Barnabus Braeton Book 1, page 49
Celia Book 3, page 53
Edwin Fox Book 1 page 21
Eliza Haniver Book 1 page 56
Jaram Book 3, page 53
Livvy Felton Book 1, page 16
Raila Lyonhart Book 1 page 25
Rayland Arkley Book 1 page 15
Silas Weatherbee Book 1 page 15
Uma Hendrake Book 1 page 18, 20
If anyone has a more complete list of the 60 or so original colonists, that would be helpful.
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I am preparing to run this AP. All of the feedback and insights have been tremendously helpful. I have decided that I really like the idea of this being an expedition that the PC's need to apply for. Using the information I had read about the Mars-One initiative (to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars) I altered it to reflect the Bountiful Venture Companies process. It explained the three selection rounds and what it would take to be a candidate to be a colonist representing all free peoples of Andoran. I then asked each of the players to submit two characters for the adventure and I would review them and on day one of the game I would hand them which of their two characters had been chosen for the mission. I am holding onto the second character and may use them to be introduced in the next ships arrival as an NPC or have the secondary characters available in the event of a PC death. No need to explain how that character got there as they applied to join the expedition originally. I also think it might be fun to hand random secondary characters out to the players if there was a character death, they could play a character somebody else had created complete with back story.
Here's a snippet from the material I started to put together:
First Selection Round
Talmandor’s Bounty Second Wave started with 586 applicants. These 586 individuals filled out the application, which included a confirmation of their country of origin, and age. Additionally, each and every individual agreed to the legal terms and conditions of the Bountiful Venture Company, thereby officially agreeing to be part of the colonist selection program. The application procedure contained a number of hurdles that applicants had to overcome to show their commitment to the mission to Ancorato. The first was a payment of a small administration fee of 1 gold sail. These funds were used to pay The Spirit Council application management costs.
After completing the payment, applicants received access to the full application process, which included various steps divided into public and private components. The public component included submitting basic personal information, and a public testimonial in which they answered various questions about their motivations. The private component included a questionnaire consisting of open questions, a letter outlining the applicant’s motivation, along with personal information. Everyone had to complete the entire application in order to be reviewed as a candidate to move to the 2nd round. The total number of completed and submitted applications was 327.
Provided that all the steps were completed, the selection committee composed of representatives of The Spirit Council, the Andoran government and the Bountiful Venture Company reviewed the applications in order to select which applicants would proceed in the selection process. In the testimonials, the applicants answered various questions that addressed why they were applying, what kind of sense of humor they had, and why they would make a good Second Wave candidate. In the questionnaire, open questions were asked about how applicants handle difficult and stressful situations. This helped determine if the applicants seemed to understand what they were applying for and if they were sincere about settling on Mars. After the complete review, the Second Wave was left with 178 applicants from around the Inner Sea region, all vying for a place in Talmandor’s Bounty!
Second Selection Round
The 178 candidates then entered Round Two of the selection process. They were required to take a health and wellness exam conducted by practitioners from the Spirit Council. Among other things, the candidates were examined for good eyesight, general health, drug dependency, and range of motion and full function in all joints. Secondly, the candidates were required to make a publicly voiced statement before the People’s Council in Almas. This condition was implemented to confirm the candidates were willing to be open regarding their commitment to the mission. Additionally, after this phase of the selection process, all selection steps thereafter would be public. Of the 178 that entered Round Two selection, 86 candidates successfully completed these two steps and were invited for their Round Two candidate interview.
The Round Two candidate interview was a brief, carefully structured interview. The interviews were designed to screen out those who are less likely to fulfill our requirements. This interview included open questions and knowledge questions from material that candidates were required to study, including pages from the history of the Temple of Sun settlement, Talmador's Bounty First Wave and basic legends of Azlant.
The knowledge questions helped determine whether the candidate was a good learner, was able to retrieve and apply their knowledge (essential for Ancorato colonists), and was serious about the mission. The fact that the candidates had to study material also ensured that they really understood some of the dangers and risks involved in a mission so far from civilization. This involved memorizing numbers, such as how to calculate wind speeds, how much equipment is needed, and how to preserve water and food supplies.
The open interview questions helped determine the likelihood that they would be good team players – that is, to determine if they were really likely to put the team ahead of themselves. Finally, we asked a question that got people to reveal their real reasons for being part of Talmador’s Bounty. We were looking for people who really are sincere about settling on Ancorato for all free peoples.