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I noticed that all the maps are flipped from their "standard" position in the PDF. For live games it obviously doesn't matter, but was this intentional or just coincidence? It really doesn't matter to the encounters so just seemed a bit arbitrary. Its not a big deal, but it is an additional step for VTT prep so I'm sure some GMs will complain about it. Just looking for insight into design philosophy.
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Here's another scenario with custom skeletons that break the GMG's guidelines. I don't know if its intentional, but its starting to bug me. I'll add it as a review on the scenario after I run, but the main problem is Bestiary skeletons have HP on the 'low' end because the have all the resistances. Custom skeletons in scenarios keep having 'moderate' or 'high' HP. At least this scenario sticks to moderate instead of high like some previous ones.
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Given the encounter range I don't think it will matter very often, but I set it at 30ft which is fairly typical for most non-mechanical weapon range
Just a warning, be careful with the peat ball. My high-tier group had three monsters and two of them crit throwing a peat ball. Dropped one PC and the other was standing only because he was barbarian with high Con. I had to hold off on throwing with the third one for fear of a TPK.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Canada—Manitoba
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Hi folks, looking forward to seeing what people make of this one. Here are some author answers to the questions I can shed some light on:
Twilight Knight: I was also surprised the last reward wasn't on the Chronicle - although because of the way treasure allocation is handled, most such items are already within the reach of the PC who gets the Chronicle. The map flipping was intentional for at least one of the encounters to match the directions to various things in the scenario. GMs don't have to flip the map in a VTT, though, just put the creatures in the right spot and you're good to go.
andreww: Glad you liked it! I've run it twice so far (beyond playtesting) and yes, it can run long if you don't rein in your investigative PCs. I feel better cutting a long combat short, though, than rushing the investigation. YYMV. I'm not sure what happened with the DC to influence R., but I'd leave it as is since an extra +2 won't make much of a difference for the higher subtier anyway.
The.Vortex: Yes, the foliage should be considered shallow bogs in all the encounters. And yes, the low-teir leaded skeletons had their weapon changed from a sword to a hammer in development, but one reference to slashing got through. Change the damage type to bludgeoning to match the weapon.
LeftHandShake: Hmm, the range increment was supposed to be 20 feet. They are on the high side, for sure. Remember they are mindless and aren't smart enough to gang up on a single target - spreading the damage around helps keep PCs alive. Also, the coach and horses are valid targets if you really need an excuse to not kill someone.
Venture-Agent, California—Silicon Valley
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LeftHandShake: Hmm, the range increment was supposed to be 20 feet. They are on the high side, for sure. Remember they are mindless and aren't smart enough to gang up on a single target - spreading the damage around helps keep PCs alive. Also, the coach and horses are valid targets if you really need an excuse to not kill someone.
They do not have the Mindless trait. Should they? Not being Mindless can allow for the PCs to apply a lot of good debuffs like frightened.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Virginia—Norfolk
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I just realised that there is likely a mistakte in the types of damage for the low tier leaded skeletons. According to the adventure, the hammer does slashin damage, while the claws do bludgeoning.
It won't make much of a difference in most groups, so not a big issue overall.
This actually has happened in several of the adventures - or where they they have listed claws as ranged attacks.
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Venture-Lieutenant, Canada—Manitoba
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A question for those who gave run this: how does the investigation section go without any maps of the crime scene? (I'm assuming people are running mostly online.) I'm prepping for PaizoCon and toying with making a map for the cottage, as soon as I get the next deadline done with...
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As an old-skool GM accustomed to theater of the mind, I have no problem dealing with the issue. I have a handout for each NPC they could question. My group started doing CSI without my prodding them. However, if they are quiet players that do not take action without being prodded by the GM, I have the town marshal stay with them after escorting them to the house. She can "direct" them to the some of the evidence having found it herself with the idea that it didn't lead anywhere but maybe the PCs could discover more than she did.
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Had a blast running this scenario. I think it is well written too.
Investigation ran a little long, but was player-choice-driven, a trade-off I am nearly-always willing to make.
I say make the map. Never hurts. People who don't "need" it won't use it. But for others, adding another visual to the (online) gamespace (like NPC cards / slides) can facilitate in the organizing of information, which is what you want the players to do generally, and is at the heart of the story's engine here specifically. It also communicates "this place is important", which it is. My players circled back at least once, looking to follow a second lead.
The only thing I would change is the Timeline of the Investigation in terms of Narrative and Mechanical Impact - in other words - rewarding players for conducting themselves with expedience by some measurement of effort and time. (The only place where Timeline seems to matter is whether or not they go "guided" or "unguided" to the Bog, getting either "birds + light" or "bugs + dim light" - I am wishing here that earlier successes / failures could feed into this determination).
I will probably run this again.
Cheers!
Contributor
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Table was online via Roll20. I handled the investigation by hijacking the map of Etran's Folly for Plaguestone. I marked a few theoretical points of interest on the map as they discovered them starting with the inn where the mob encounter occurs. There were really only a few others of note: the Sundries store, the Tarsolu home (I used the larger house just across the river that backs up to the forest (swamp). I put Jahandreal's home in a clearing on the northern area of the forest (swamp).
This is bloody brilliant. When I played this, we had trouble keeping our whole party focused without much to look at on our computer screens. I am going to borrow this idea from you (with full citation/credit forthcoming) when I GM this in a couple of days. Thank you for the great idea!
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Note for GMs in the future: the Drained condition does not stack unless explicitly told. Had two players on Drained 4 in the final combat. The temporary HP does still happen, if I'm right.
Did I run things wrong, or is it possible for players to jump immediately to the final combat? Page 7 says the following:
Furthermore, a PC who succeeds at a DC 12 Perception check to Seek discovers the tracks of two booted humanoids of Medium size lead from the back window away from the house. (Evgeni took effort to ensure these tracks were noticeable.) A PC who succeeds at a DC 12 Survival check to Track can follow these tracks into the bog—they lead in the direction of the Aspis camp (see area A on page 10). Once in the bog, the tracks disappear in the spongy ground and can only be followed with a DC 24 Survival check (DC 26 for Levels 5–6). (Once in the bog, Evgeni and Ottos turned east and headed to the ruined cottage to stash their prize, and then Evgeni returned to his parents’ house and pretended to sleep. Ottos remained with the Maid at the cottage.)
So, the tracks are much harder to find, but not impossible, right? My players managed to beat that DC 24 and stumbled upon the final fight completely by accident. DC 24 isn't super unlikely, so either I screwed something up, or the author intended for this to be a possibility. Any help?
By the way, the final fight is pretty nasty. The repeated bleed is pretty annoying, and the mists can heal quite easily. I've seen them heal 10 hp every round, which is pretty bad. Didn't help that their dice hated them and couldn't hit AC 20 repeatedly. The fight took about 3 hours to resolve. 4 mists with 50 hp each (17 challenge points), with repeated temp hp. They must've chewed through at least 300 hp there.
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I find the final fight can go long when scaled up based on CP - I've made a mental note to find different ways to up the difficulty for future scenarios. Since it is the last encounter, GMs can always just narrate the end when they run short of time, if the final outcome is clear.
The tracks thing was probably a oversight on my part - my first draft was very sandbox-y, and I forgot to remove that reference when we added a bit more structure. The tracks do first lead to the Aspis camp, though, so they should still find the camp and encounter <redacted>. It would be a focused party indeed that would walk past an unguarded Aspis camp just to follow some tracks!
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Ah, thanks for that! I interpreted it as going towards the camp, but veering off. Good to know that you'll pass the camp before it veers off. That does change things a lot. Good to know for a potential re-run.
I forgot how many CP I was on, but yeah, that fight ate up a lot of time. As I posted above, they have a lot of staying power. My players went from investigation straight to the final fight and I still ran long. Good to have author's permission to cut things short. :)
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I ran this on the low tier with 15 CP this weekend: The adjustment for the Ambush encounter seemed to skip a "14-15 CP" adjustment. I ended up using the 16-18 CP adjustment, which still made for an easy encounter (The leaded skeletons are sooo slow!). It's only now that I look at it again that I see that the sidebar seems to have two "12-13 CP" entries with a different description.
Compliments on the scenario though: Easy prep, easy running, everything was where I expected it to be, lots of fun!