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In here I will do some thoughts about my campaign, do not expect long stories, just how things are getting along, with also some commentaries about mechanics and so on.
And oh ,Spoilers! Huge SPOILERS! Spoilers all around for Age of Ashes!
A little intro, Here we are, I am the Game Master, I have 44 and have been playing RPGs since around AD&D, 3rd Edition, 3.5. Got burned out before 4th Edition (dodged that bullet) and a few years back returned to the fold with Pathfinder.
Did not complete Rise of The Runelords due to life happening, but then stuff settled down, went and did Emerald Spire and now pumped up for 2nd edition and Age of Ashes.
The party will be composed of 4 players with a 5th one appearing also but not on every session.
Two of them are very experienced and are playing with me since the early days (one in the thirties, the other late 40s), another one (the older of the bunch, past 50´s) come around for regular gaming a few years ago, and now is part of the bunch, the three work very well as a group, tactical and always thinking about the good of the party, the fourth member is my wife (age unknow but close to mine it seems, I am a lucky person, she shares my love for RPG and Board gaming), she’s stull a newbie in this but has enthusiasm!
The fifth that will appear in not all sessions will be a godson of one of the more experienced players. And also the youngest of the bunch (13).
The usual four:
Human female Sorcerer (Seoni, yes, my wife is a HUGE fan of Seoni, since playing her in the Pathfinder Card Game, and of course her first ever sorcerer would be Seoni, and yes, she will be using a Seoni mini also…)
Human female Cleric of Sarenrae (Nelka)
Dwarf male Fighter (Morgrym)
Goblin male Rogue (Omgot No-Ta-gain)
The not so usual fifth:
Elven male Monk.
The first session was on 26/10/2019, and it was the beginning of Age of Ashes.
So the party got together in Wizard’s Grace tavern, first all alone, them combined as a group, humorous moment of the meeting, Omgot trying to rob purses as an intro for his abilities to the party.
Luckily all others liked the goofy goblin!
On the next day meeting at the Town Hall and time for the Council of Heroes!
I liked the fire and how it was different as a intro for starting the campaign.
The party went for the Fire Mephit, and the first rolls of the campaign were rolled!
First role? The Fire Mephit burns Morgrym, who rolls a 1…..
Second role? My wife sents Electric Arc on the Fire Mephit, guess what? I rolled a 1, she did 14 damage, then she sent a Magic Missile. And puff, no more Fire Mephit….
And with the Fire Mephit killed in a single turn they even managed to put off the second fire that appeared, as the initial one, they did not personally put it down, but managed to get a bucket chain going on, and dealt well with saving and coordinating the rescue of “civilians”.
I awarded all the awards to them, since, yes, for me they did it all well. Then it was time for the trip to Hellknight’s Hill
They entered for the first door, smoothly, and Omgot offered some food to the “nice doggies” and fight averted and all is well with Omgot scratching the “nice doggies” while the party got an healty distance from it!
Next they went for the left, and stumbled into Yoletcha, Omgot got very near and stealthy on the room, but then the rest of the party entered also and Yoletcha noticed that! And the fight was on!
They beaten the bugbear, even if Omgot was downed by her.
Then they a sweep of the room, encountered almost all, except two flasks of holy water and the wooden shield, they proceed for the Kitchen and the first session ended there.
So next I will have fun with Spiders! Oh yeah!
Of course the first session needed some rule consulting (done fast), but me and the players did liked the mechanics and I really really really want to see how the various monsters behave in combat.
I tend to go with the material as written, and so far so good.
And that’s all folks, comments and questions are very welcome.
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Sounds like great fun! The mephit died incredibly fast in my game too. The dwarven fighter posted up near the door it would come through by a fluke of roleplaying. Then he rolled wildly high on initiative, strode over and squish-smashed the elemental with a near-50 damage power attack maul crit. Thankfully he then tried to jump through the burning door to chase after whoever let it in and failed that badly, so he almost burned to death and didn't completely snooze the first fight he ever entered in Pathfinder.
And we did our second session (01/11/2019) and our third (09/11/2019)
The Elven Monk now has a name: Zaptrick! And he played in most of our second session and did not played on our third one.
And the players are working in their backgrounds, Morgrym will be a ex gladiator indeed, while Seoni is in a quest for knowledge. Nelka it seems it would be a Knight Of Lastwall.
We resume the campaign where It ended in the first session, with Omgot searching the Kitchen and the two spider swarms appearing.
And it’s a five player session (at least part of, you will see why later). So Zaptrick appears (it seems he came running from Breachill!), and in time for a fight!
The party rolled very high for initiative and the poor spider swarms didn’t stood a chance, Morgrym got TWO critical hits against the swarms….
And puff! Just like that, and I was so eager to see Poison working in 2Ed, oh well, there will be another chances.
As soon as the fight ended and before Omgot checked the whole room, Seoni entered in the kitchen, right where I put a trap (my adjusting for an extra player)…
Ouch, spear on the sorcerer, and high damage! Nothing that some medicine could not cure of course…
And of course they found the secret door and went for there, then Omgot found one trap (the spear one) and almost felled on the second, a pit (my adjusting for an extra player) but he grabbed the edge of the pit.
Then they went all around for the corridor (and all around the area where Alak was), and went straight to area A6, and hearing the noise decided to do some saving and a hard fight started.
While most of the party concentrated on the Garuladon, Zaptrick went for some climbing, his goal, rescuing a goblin and kicking some halfling behind!
Alas, the best plans of men (or all races indeed…).
The beast was a worthy opponent, and poor Omgot went down twice! And he just got alive from that fight thanks to using a Hero Point.
Morgrym, Seoni and Nelka concentrated in saving Omgot and beating the Grauladon. Meanwhile Zaptrick up he went into the battlements!
Against the Grauladon and despite Omgot suffering, Magic Missiles from Seoni and some nice attacks from Morgrym were putting hurt on the beast!
But that tail, the body slam, the mighty jaws, they were suffering!
Then the party saw how Calmont lost the hostage as Zaptrick went for him, they taught this is easy! Zaptrick went to kick some halfling behind, and missed! Twice!
Calmont was nervous but he got more bold, when he saw that with his trusty dagger he put Zaptrick down (crit and maximum damage, ouch!).
Now our heroes were worried, the Graulado was still alive, and Zaptrick was alone, dying on the battlements!
Nelka saw this situation and decided it was time for some holy fire! And sent a ray of fire down on the Grauladon, but alas it seems it would be a horrible miss, but! Some holy force seems to affected the ray and instead of an horrible miss it was a fantastic critical hit! (Yes, a Hero Point, rerolled a 1 to a 20!) and the beast was down!
Up they went to confront Calmont and after some intimidation he surrendered
The goblins were happy with the outcome, Omgot felt awesome helping his “bros”.
I loved using the Grauladon, had a ton of fun with the fight! Lots of stuff going around, felt alive, dynamic!
After this battle the player of Zaptrick went home (a 13 year old got obrigations ), but we did continue without him, we just the usual 4.
After talking a little with Calmont they got worried about Voz! Did he do something with her?
So they talked with the Goblins, they were to expect the party return in the woods next to the castle. Then they went and deliver Calmont to the authorities, manage a authorization (with a guard present) to check on Voz store, entered there, Omgot amost got downed by a trap, and they found out lots of info about Breachill and also that Voz is maybe not so much a victim of Calmont… They got the connection to Alseta Rings and Guardian´s Way.
But what is Alseta Rings? Well they talked to Calmont before but since he was winny and arrogant, they got him unconscious before he could talk much about Alseta Rings….
They went and talked with Calmont on the prison, and found out Elf Gates and so on.
So next session their plan was to check first the top floor totally, then cleaned area where the Goblins lived so they could went there, and then check what was about Guardians Way!
So the party did all of this in one day of adventuring, I love it!
In the second session with just the usual 4, they went into the Castle, meet the Goblins near, they talked that they saw someone going inside (Alak), so they went with caution.
They meet Alak on the usual area, and went well with him, the kind of humor Alak likes my players have so they did get along, and they giving to him some Hellknights Insignias helped also!
They found that the deed to the castle is somewhere in the castle!!!
In the fight they were frustrated with Imps flying and getting invisible!
Next they went and did more investigating, fight some Giants Rats easily, their noise in the next room attracted the Warg, it was a fast fight, but I did manage to swallow the Goblin, it was fun, short fun but fun anyway.
And they level up, the party is near cleaning this area, they got more than the needed xp for leveling up, and so they will feel how 2nd level players deal with the next menaces.
In the top area they are still going to meet the Giant Bat, the Skeletons and of course the Graveshells.
My players are adapting to the tactics in Pathfinder 2Edition, they are liking how it plays. And of course I’m having fun also!
As always feel free to give feedback
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So we had our 4th Session in the 16/11/2019.
This one was with five players:
Morgrym – Male Dwarf Fighter 2
OmGot No-Ta-Gain – Male Goblin Rogue 2
Nelka – Female Human Cleric 2
Seoni – Female Human Sorcerer 2
Zeptrick – Male Elven Monk
The usual 4 and Zeptrick who so far appeared in half the sessions.
And they are having the company of an NPC, Alak
Now at second level they continue where they ended, they went straight to check the area near the Graveshells, the monsters did surprise them, it was a nasty but fun and fast fight, they also dealt with an Zombie (my addition because of the extra player), it was a fun fight and they liked to flex some 2nd level muscles!
After that and after discovering some loot near by, they went and found the warg puppies, and of course they decided to kept them (I knew my players, and it was a done deal from the start), but since they were in the middle of the adventure they left them in the same room, after giving the puppies some food and water.
They keep exploring and went into the Gian Bat room, they deal with that even if surprised by the bat reaction and use of the wings for that. They are loving in a masochist kind of way as each monsters has some special ability that surprises them. I made the Gian Bat Elite because of the extra player.
After that they went int the cells area and got into the fight with 5 skeletons (added one extra because of extra player), it was a short fight, a 3 action heal from the cleric and puff, no more skeletons!
So the first level was officially clear!
After some instructions from Helba and they also gave instructions to the Goblins to move for now into the top floor, but to leave in peace the war puppies, and if necessary feed them also, they went then into the Vaults, they had a source of light courtesy of Nelka.
They meet the birds (who were not blind to them since the source of the light went near the birds (awesome hehehe), I also added to the encounter the appearance of a Spider Swarm in the second round of combat.
The Dazzling Display of the Emperor Birds did some damage, and things could turn very bad for the party since Morgrym got confused. But luckily for them (in this case) the Spider Swar appeared, and after bitting on Morgrym the pain of the bites returned him to his normal self.
It was a hard battle but they dealt with both the Swarm and the Birds.
They went into the city after that for some rest, and returned on he next day, leaving Zeptrick in the city (the player of Zeptrick is very young so he has a curfew hour!)
After some real rest in the real world (and some pizza time), the party returned to the vaults (after checking on the puppies!), and they went for the area that have the cultists.
They beaten several cultists, killed all the Boggards in romms B6 and B7, and got as prisoners two Charau-kas, now the party knows that one of the Elf Gate did activated!
Then they went with extra care to deal with the Bear, they went into great care and detail to give him a open route out of the vaults, with fresh corpses on the way, and since they did that I did one of my first changes to the text of the AP (I usually run things as they are), so, the bear was not killed while fighting cultists, I had the bear went into areas B9 and B10, where he gave a huge fright on the Charau-kas, who stay alived by climbing and being on top of the curtains and killed the two Boggards on the shallow puddle. Then he went outside.
The party do not know (so far) what has the Bear done on those two rooms, they just kept very quiet hearing the growls, and then the steps of the Bear going away in the distance.
When they decided to left for town with the two prisoners they saw fresh footprints of the bear going into the woods.
The party loved getting the Bear alive, and they are talking about renaming the Citadel as Roaring Bear Keep, and even did a banner…..
And it was a wrap. So far the party are liking Pathfinder 2nd Edition, they are dealing well with the fights and they have great teamwork, Alak is helping of course.
For me it’s a breeze dealing with the rules so far! Of course still adapting but nothing extraordinary about it. I am worried about the Gelatinous Cube fight, but by them they will be in the 3rd level If they progress the way they are, they have now 816 xp.
Next session on the 30/11/2019.
As always comments are welcome.
So we had our 5th and 6th Sessions in the 30/11/2019 and the 07/12/2019.
Both were with the regular four players:
Morgrym – Male Dwarf Fighter 2
OmGot No-Ta-Gain – Male Goblin Rogue 2
Nelka – Female Human Cleric 2
Seoni – Female Human Sorcerer 2
They keep exploring what was below the Citadel, they did found out that the Bear before went away took care of the two Boggards in the “pound”, they dispatched the Charau-Ka Warriors in the makeshift Jungle and decided to explore the middle wing.
In there they battle the Soulbound Doll who was possed with hate for poor Alak, then they level up (Welcome to level 3 people!), and they went and meet the MITEY DRAGONS!!!!
This is one of my favorite parts, it was a short fight (because the MITEY DRAGONS!!! Surrendered of course), and loved the interaction with the party after that, they saw the Kobolds were relative harmless and just wanted to be in peace in their spot with their “dragon hoard”, and of course, my party indulged the MITEY DRAGONS!!!! part and so the Kobolds returned to their previous lair, and my party even gave them some rations.
Also loved how my players keep trying to avoid metagaming, they saw that the Kobolds had different color in the scales, the Player thought that the red one could have some immunity to fire or resistance, the PC did not know that, so took a fire ray on him anyway!
After that they battled the Gelatinous Cube, I was worried about this fight and with reason, one time there were 4 of them inside the cube and one outside paralyzed! Fun times indeed!
But they prevailed and they now have a new respect for the Gelatinous Cube.
In that session they still went for some exploring in the now undead area, went for the secret door, battled the two Wights, found out about the ward, took some magic weapons, but left the ones they had as a show of respect, and then went to rest in Breachill, the Rogue was feeling a little drained (the player is saying he is collecting conditions since it seems he is the one who gets to try new ones!).
In Breachill they stayed for some days of Downtime, did some selling, some shopping, there were some awesome tries at doing odd works and some not so good at it, the players are loving the concept of Earning Income even if they know that the majority of their income would be of course adventuring.
After the rest they returned and dealt with the rest of undead area, some quick fights (Heal is being a killer of my poor undeads), some fun with exploding skeletons and throwing of skulls of course also!
They did opened some graves (they knew there was treasure on them), saw some Hellcrowns (they loved the concept of them), took some nails due to them, and they proceed to the room where Alak found his heirloom, where Voz made the ritual, and run away.
From that they proceed to the tunel and into Breachill! And so after talking with Roxie they found out about Voz (of course they knew about her already, was just more confirmation), they decided to help Roxie anyway being more around the Pickled Ear.
And so it ended, next session they would be for the Guardian’s Way, and without Alak who took leave, saying a thank you to the pcs.
The party is enjoying the adventure path, they now have allies in the Goblins and in the MITEY DRAGONS!!!, they have two puppies (who already have names: Fluffy and Anubis), and the players have a Banner of arms ready when the Citadel is theirs, with a Bear as central theme!
They are enjoying also Pathfinder 2nd edition, life is good! So time for me to keep worrying about the fight with Ralldar….
As always feel free to give comments and so on
In my game the kobolds heard the players looting through the door and tried to intimidate pcs from the other side. One of the pcs talked with them for a minute so they could do some diplomatic stuff. That didn't work so the rogue intimidated the kobolds through the door. It was a very odd few minutes that left the kobolds alive with no fighting.
In mine that one Fire Ray really took the fight out of them even! The party did loved the MITEY DRAGONS!!!