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I STRONGLY suggest checking out NobodysHome's SA Journal before running it, so you can hopefully head off some of the headaches and confusion you may encounter as GM.Hm. Got a link?
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In short, you are going to want to make some adjustments and really read up on exactly what the AP is telling you, and make sure to be reading ahead.
Some of it is AP expectation v playstyle issues. It's not written well for NH's group from that standpoint, and he's definitely having to adjust how the party is earning any money at all.
Other stuff...instructions in a later book (or later in the same book) that have repercussions on an earlier section that the GM wouldn't know unless reading far enough ahead, badly written creatures that aren't following the rules, obvious options for the players to take that are beyond the scope of the AP, timelines dragging on forever, etc.
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The King in Yellow is actually...
>_>
<_<
Really now. Even terrifyingly amoral and incomprehensibly alien entities from an unending abyss of soul-searing eldritch terror draw the line at Coldplay.
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Rag,
Fan repair expertise along with electrical work isn't something I feel is in my wheel house...
Lol,
I hear ya sir,To be fair, while do not LIKE replacing ceiling fans, light fixtures etc, I have been dealing with repairing lighting instruments, working with large electrical dimmer systems for theatrical uses, and large voltage systems, etc, for so long, that replacing a physically small thing like a lamp or a ceiling fan doesnt scare me.
Much. :)
The trick is just to make sure the power is off, whether you tape off the light switch, or trip the breaker, so there is no danger of doing anything dangerous. Or at least not stupid.
(I know peeps who will re-wire a wall outlet while it is live, But I do not trust my fingers THAT much!)
;P
I still laugh at my mother.
She had a bad pull switch on her ceiling fan once. Had bought the part but was whining about not wanting to pay the electrician to do it, it was going to cost so much, etc. While she was talking about it I stood on a chair (I am short) and swapped the part. Talking to myself while working on it to make sure I got it right. (I do that a lot) So she KNEW I was working on it. I even told her to make sure she did not turn on the switch while I was doing it.
Half an hour later she says "Thats it. Im going to call the repairman. I need to get it done."
I said "Mom, I did that 30 minutes ago."
;)
I love my mother. :D
In short, you are going to want to make some adjustments and really read up on exactly what the AP is telling you, and make sure to be reading ahead.
Some of it is AP expectation v playstyle issues. It's not written well for NH's group from that standpoint, and he's definitely having to adjust how the party is earning any money at all.
Other stuff...instructions in a later book (or later in the same book) that have repercussions on an earlier section that the GM wouldn't know unless reading far enough ahead, badly written creatures that aren't following the rules, obvious options for the players to take that are beyond the scope of the AP, timelines dragging on forever, etc.
To be fair, I think that's likely true of a lot of the AP's. (?)
I mean even the ones that I LOVE and can just read them like a book, are usually presented with the most 'obvious/desired' way to approach the scenario. But I KNOW that if I was running any of them with my old gaming buddies, (who are shall we say "very creative in their mayhem'), we would be off the rails by the second encounter."Oh look, A big old ramshackle farmhouse in the middle of nowhere that we think is inhabited by hill giants. NO WAY am I going up to the front door. Lets drop some alchemist's fire and fireballs down the chimney and bring them out to us!"
;P
In short, you are going to want to make some adjustments and really read up on exactly what the AP is telling you, and make sure to be reading ahead.
Some of it is AP expectation v playstyle issues. It's not written well for NH's group from that standpoint, and he's definitely having to adjust how the party is earning any money at all.
Other stuff...instructions in a later book (or later in the same book) that have repercussions on an earlier section that the GM wouldn't know unless reading far enough ahead, badly written creatures that aren't following the rules, obvious options for the players to take that are beyond the scope of the AP, timelines dragging on forever, etc.
To be fair, I think that's likely true of a lot of the AP's. (?)
I mean even the ones that I LOVE and can just read them like a book, are usually presented with the most 'obvious/desired' way to approach the scenario. But I KNOW that if I was running any of them with my old gaming buddies, (who are shall we say "very creative in their mayhem'), we would be off the rails by the second encounter."Oh look, A big old ramshackle farmhouse in the middle of nowhere that we think is inhabited by hill giants. NO WAY am I going up to the front door. Lets drop some alchemist's fire and fireballs down the chimney and bring them out to us!"
;P
Oh, when it comes to different people running things differently just based on style, yeah, that's always going to be there.
What NH brings up is stuff like "the APs assume you're going to have roughly Wealth By Level, but the only way to get that is to loot everything...you were hired to investigate, yet you're expected to loot the place you've been hired to investigate on good faith..." Actually committing criminal behavior levels of looting. His groups tend to play fairly LG and the emphasis on Good.
But again, that's a play style issue, and every group will run into that.
The more important stuff...all the other stuff I mentioned...are actual problems with the AP. Instructions for Section A that aren't stated until Section D kind of things.
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Sometimes Monkey Santa can be a real pain in the ass.
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Little primate miscreant.
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He made me sing all 10 verses... the neighbors came out to watch. So humiliating...
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I think someone needs a mickey in their banana brandy.
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I have a dinosaur we can feed the little warmblooded miscreant to.
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Ha! I'll dance on your crater-grave when the asteroid comes!
*funky dance moves*
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Feeding? Perhaps I can assist.
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I resent all this chatter about me, as tho I were a mere destructive beast. I have an artist’s soul!!
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I resent all this chatter about me, as tho I were a mere destructive beast. I have an artist’s soul!!
Ah, he's completed his phylactery Picture of Monkian Gray. I didn't realize he was a...
(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
...Wilde animal.
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*debeverages*
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I resent all this chatter about me, as tho I were a mere destructive beast. I have an artist’s soul!!
I dont know why I expected him to have a famous ghost captive in a jar or something,...
:)Or something,...
I resent all this chatter about me, as tho I were a mere destructive beast. I have an artist’s soul!!Ah, he's completed his
phylacteryPicture of Monkian Gray. I didn't realize he was a...(•_•)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(⌐■_■)
...Wilde animal.
<Facepalm>
Well played,...
,... The more important stuff...all the other stuff I mentioned...are actual problems with the AP. Instructions for Section A that aren't stated until Section D kind of things.
Yep, copy that.
No running on the spur of the moment things.Definitely not one you can run without reading ALL of the module/info/adventure through first.
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I resent all this chatter about me, as tho I were a mere destructive beast. I have an artist’s soul!!
A reminder that they come for the artists and intellectuals first.
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‘Twas beauty... killed the beast... *sniff* *sob*
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So I'm sorta stuck for ideas for this weekend's game. All I can think of are things I want to do for the Halloween game.
Here's what I have:
In the last session the players rescued an acquaintance, a Gnome named Twiggy Jackapple from a band of assassins, though one did not engage the party but observed from a secluded place. They are making their way to the coast to leave a war-torn area before they are conscripted into the army of the defending nation. So, they'll be traveling.
The only things I have written are three lines of notes and two NPCs, a Quickling Rogue and a Quickling Assassin. The leader of the previous assassins, a Vishkanya Steel Serpent Stalker (from Path of War) is still on their trail. That's all I have. I'm not really keen on just making it a repeat of last session's game, but I'm not sure what else I can put in here. The hope is they'll reach the coast at the end of the session and book passage back to their home city of Dar-Shalul, which will lead to the Halloween game in 2 weeks.
Any ideas?
I kinda already did that in a very early adventure in the campaign.
Hmm..what if I can substitute a dark forest filled with fey instead of an undead army? The region isn't known for its great forests, but maybe it's plausible that some energy from the Realm of Faerie leaks through into the Prime Material, allowing one to grow and spread. Anyone having any ideas going forward from there?
Hmm...maybe not armies of Fey, but just one small group against the other and the players are in the middle. I'm going to tinker with this in my notebook for a bit. Thanks!
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An inn that seems to be haunted, but really is inhabited by trickster feys (or maybe malicious ones, or ones who are looking for mortals that they will trick into becoming playthings for their lords)?
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MORE FREE SWAG!
Pugmire Core Rulebook, phone-sized rulebook (which regretfully means it's ugly like a pug when read on computer)
Unfortunately, I don't own any of the APs, running only homebrew stuff. It sounds pretty cool, though.
An inn that seems to be haunted, but really is inhabited by trickster feys (or maybe malicious ones, or ones who are looking for mortals that they will trick into becoming playthings for their lords)?
I like this one (goes into the notebook as one of the ideas).
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Cal,
You could always borrow my copies. ;)
Also I think I'll wait until my brother who worked on houses and my sister-in-law who's dad is in construction and thus have a stronger background than I come back to Morgantown to fix it...So...2025 maybe?
Also I wanted to say "If you're going to plane shift to the City of Brass, make sure you bring a wizard just in case." Cause I didn't...if not...Here's an sample exchange;
GM/DM (NPC): So, is this your first time?
My character: First time here, yes. First time in a situation like this? No.
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Cal,
You could always borrow my copies. ;)
Also I think I'll wait until my brother who worked on houses and my sister-in-law who's dad is in construction and thus have a stronger background than I come back to Morgantown to fix it...So...2025 maybe?
Also I wanted to say "If you're going to plane shift to the City of Brass, make sure you bring a wizard just in case." Cause I didn't...if not...Here's an sample exchange;
GM/DM (NPC): So, is this your first time?
My character: First time here, yes. First time in a situation like this? No.
You should ALWAYS bring a wizard with you.
Just. In. Case.;)
Yeah well...no one wanted to play a wizard. Go figure.
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Hah!
Thats funny.
Wait, seriously?!?
I was once noted on these very boards as having "created more wizard characters than JK Rowling".
;P
So,.... That statement does NOT compute!
;)
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On a way back home from elections, I started to wonder what would happen if a giant scorpion got a skull at the end of its tail... Scorpiterr...
I unsurprisingly don't play many wizards in PnP. In NWN I have several, but in PnP I tend to play more sorcerers and psions.
I tends towards magus, arcanist, wizard, cleric, and a bunch of gish ideas, including some faux-wizard stuff.
One of my favorite faux-wiz gish ideas is the good old 1 level of inspired blade swashbuckler, x levels of empiricist/steel hound investigator, and then use variant multiclassing with diviner (foresight) wizard. So that character has panache, grit, and inspiration pools, and I flavor the effects of those points being spent as the character's ability to see a short distance into the future. Much like Alex Verus (author Benedict Jacka).
I unsurprisingly don't play many wizards in PnP. In NWN I have several, but in PnP I tend to play more sorcerers and psions.I tends towards magus, arcanist, wizard, cleric, and a bunch of gish ideas, including some faux-wizard stuff.
One of my favorite faux-wiz gish ideas is the good old 1 level of inspired blade swashbuckler, x levels of empiricist/steel hound investigator, and then use variant multiclassing with diviner (foresight) wizard. So that character has panache, grit, and inspiration pools, and I flavor the effects of those points being spent as the character's ability to see a short distance into the future. Much like Alex Verus (author Benedict Jacka).
That sounds cool,...
Also very complicated to keep track of. ;P| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I unsurprisingly don't play many wizards in PnP. In NWN I have several, but in PnP I tend to play more sorcerers and psions.
Well, to be fair, I think the poster was lumping together all of my magic-type characters. Wiz, Sorcerer, etc.
:)
I unsurprisingly don't play many wizards in PnP. In NWN I have several, but in PnP I tend to play more sorcerers and psions.I tends towards magus, arcanist, wizard, cleric, and a bunch of gish ideas, including some faux-wizard stuff.
One of my favorite faux-wiz gish ideas is the good old 1 level of inspired blade swashbuckler, x levels of empiricist/steel hound investigator, and then use variant multiclassing with diviner (foresight) wizard. So that character has panache, grit, and inspiration pools, and I flavor the effects of those points being spent as the character's ability to see a short distance into the future. Much like Alex Verus (author Benedict Jacka).
That sounds cool,...
Also very complicated to keep track of. ;P
It's complicated to set up how I want to level the character, since he loses out on feats due to the variant multiclassing and I'm giving him a rapier and pistol combo pack. And a lot of alchemical items (those fuse grenades do good work at low levels when the timing works out).
In play, it's generally more a question of "do I spend a point for this or not".
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And then there's my group, which likes the maelstrom of what even is this that is gestalt.
My swashbuckler|magus is very much a one-trick pony , but she does that one trick very well.
And then there's my group, which likes the maelstrom of what even is this that is gestalt.
My swashbuckler|magus is very much a one-trick pony , but she does that one trick very well.
Oh...if I could get my group to go for gestalt...
And yeah, that's a combo I've wanted to try to cram together for a while.
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My specific combo for it is very archetype heavy, and I don't know that I'd have been able to pull it off nearly as well if we didn't A) roll stats and B) allow Path of War feats.
Swashbuckler (inspired blade)|Magus (bladebound/kensai). Halfling for both the extra size AC and the fact that it boosts two of the skills you need.
Inspired blade draws from both Int and Cha, and kensai relies on you going full Dex/Int since you can't even have light armor. But it makes up for that with spellcasting and adding your Int modifier to AC, initiative, and crit confirmations. Which you'll have a lot of. Swashbuckler gives you improved crit really early...and since Inspired blade requires a rapier, you've got 15-20.
And spellstrike. Nastiest thing I've done was crit with a vampiric touch spellstrike.
End result is a 2'10 terror in a long coat, wielding a blade about the size of a ruler...that everyone hides behind.
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And then there's my group, which likes the maelstrom of what even is this that is gestalt.
My swashbuckler|magus is very much a one-trick pony , but she does that one trick very well.
I played one for a bit on a PbP. Much fun, very one-trick-pony, but WHAT a pony! :)
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My specific combo for it is very archetype heavy, and I don't know that I'd have been able to pull it off nearly as well if we didn't A) roll stats and B) allow Path of War feats.
Swashbuckler (inspired blade)|Magus (bladebound/kensai). Halfling for both the extra size AC and the fact that it boosts two of the skills you need.
Inspired blade draws from both Int and Cha, and kensai relies on you going full Dex/Int since you can't even have light armor. But it makes up for that with spellcasting and adding your Int modifier to AC, initiative, and crit confirmations. Which you'll have a lot of. Swashbuckler gives you improved crit really early...and since Inspired blade requires a rapier, you've got 15-20.
And spellstrike. Nastiest thing I've done was crit with a vampiric touch spellstrike.
End result is a 2'10 terror in a long coat, wielding a blade about the size of a ruler...that everyone hides behind.
LOL, now THAT'S funny!
And awesome! :)
My specific combo for it is very archetype heavy, and I don't know that I'd have been able to pull it off nearly as well if we didn't A) roll stats and B) allow Path of War feats.
Swashbuckler (inspired blade)|Magus (bladebound/kensai). Halfling for both the extra size AC and the fact that it boosts two of the skills you need.
Inspired blade draws from both Int and Cha, and kensai relies on you going full Dex/Int since you can't even have light armor. But it makes up for that with spellcasting and adding your Int modifier to AC, initiative, and crit confirmations. Which you'll have a lot of. Swashbuckler gives you improved crit really early...and since Inspired blade requires a rapier, you've got 15-20.
And spellstrike. Nastiest thing I've done was crit with a vampiric touch spellstrike.
End result is a 2'10 terror in a long coat, wielding a blade about the size of a ruler...that everyone hides behind.
My problem is figuring out just what balance between inspired blade and kensai I want to pursue (my versions have always skipped out on bladebound).
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Advantages of going shopping after eating:
+ You aren't swayed by your stomach into buying more food.
Disadvantages of going shopping after eating:
- You have problem picking things for the next day because you are meh about eating at the moment.