Funny, are last AP was Strange Aeons and our current one is Reign of Winter. We are in volume 2, just got to level 5.
Now, winter is coming for our group – Reign of Winter that is ;)
You're in for a treat!
Are you going to be running it or being a PC?
Dragon78 -- Same question goes for you! ARe you running or being a PC?
I am playing the party cleric in RoW after serving on the frontline as a paladin in Strange Aeons.
Funny, our last AP was Strange Aeons and our current one is Reign of Winter. We are in volume 2, just got to level 5.
Great minds and all that, Dragon78.
I am a player character- Female Aasimar Unchained Monk(Scaled Fist)
I do wish the scaled fist gave you energy resistance or at least there was a ki power that gave you a Resist Energy spell effect.
Finished Strange Aeons last Friday over VTT with a group of international friends who got together via PFS 1e online.
Awesome campaign which began in January 2022, played fortnightly to three-weekly (depending on real life plans) and managed to perfection by our superlative GM P.
Book 1 was very good, but got eclipsed by Book 6 IMO.
Now, winter is coming for our group – Reign of Winter that is ;)
My group it's going to start strange aeons but we are going to improve the difficulty by using only psychic class or similar
I think you'll have a lot of fun with the roleplay aspects of that.
Is there much chance you will get tired of the samey-ness over the course of an entire AP?
Night Below
My guys are hunting Trolls in order to get the help of the Deep Gnomes. After wiping out one tribe they found a tribe of Troglodytes that are hiding from the trolls and on the edge of starvation. Their leader however is a Cave Druid like one of my Party so they were able to talk and come to an agreement. They still have the larger tribe of trolls to defeat as well as a group of diseased trolls and a mysterious Plague Beast living at the bottom of the underground lake
15 minutes later (in another encounter with guards):
FOOOLS, YOUR DUMB MANIPULATION OF WEATHER PATTERNS WILL NOT STAND! I REPRESENT THE AABA, OR RATHER THE FEARSOME MIGHT OF THE ABSALOM-ALYUSHINYRRAN-BIKINI-ASSOCIATION! WHOSE PROFITS YOU ARE THREATENING!
Yes, the Oracle has about 6 wisdom.5 minutes later
A demon shows up
Yada Yada, fear not and all that crap, also, I am a Succubus, and you cant afford Litheria blossoms so dont get touchy. Ah, I see, going for the old "I will make a pact with every single evil entity trick? And you already are riders and just made a contract with hell? Impressively ballsy, but also hilarious. You are a pretty good fit for our typical employees. So, you will seek to unf*$@ this and return Golarion to Bikini supporting temperatures. Meanwhile, I shall consume some popcorn as I watch what stupidity you will come up with to involve Abbadon in this.
Bikini weather is a noble cause, indeed
Last night's adventure best summed up by a Sending I cast "Koya, where have you taken the Empress of Minkai? Bring her back to the fort at once... Ow, Ow OWW.. belay that last request, keep the Empress away from this massive Oni".
Gamed this past Sunday, spent most of the time leveling, but did avoid two fights and got into two actual fights.
Played some Giantslayer on Saturday. We are wrapping up the end of Book 4 by clearing the rest of the map after we inadvertently stumbled across the boss after clearing less than half of the area. Barely survived that fight and managed it due to some good rolls on our part. We are now level 12.
Party is:
Oradin (Oracle/Paladin, heavy focus on Oracle of Life, 8+/4 split. Tank and main healer)
Fighter (Two-handed furious focus and throws the AXE fairly far. AC too low to be tank but she hits HARD)
Inquisitor (Inquisitor 11 / Rogue 1, backup healer and melee support)
Magus (Eldritch archer all the way, our artillery that melts things)
Witch (me) ... (Well, MOSTLY Witch. White-Haired 8 / Strangler Brawler 2 / Sylvan Tricker Rogue 2... with VMC Magus. I can grapple nearly anything but generally don't unless it becomes necessary. I am [insert whatever is needed] whenever it is needed. UMD is my thing. I often stay back and fire off spells or crossbow bolts, keeping the Magus safe)
Well after a big fight with a pack of Diseased Trolls, my entire group got disease. All of them have Bubonic Plague and a couple of them also have Red Ache and the Druid's Badger had Plague, Red Ache and Blinding Sickness.
Druid only had 1 Remove Disease preped and used it on his Badger, successfully curing everything except the Bubonic Plague
(We are using the Unchained Disease Rules)
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Smuggler's Shiv / Skull & Shackles / Return to Freeport has been working perfectly!
Smuggler's Shiv was required to plant the seeds for one of the major confrontations in Skull & Shackles and allow the BBEG to use plots in Return to Freeport,
We've completed Return to Freeport (the later books are easier to shuffle into Skull & Shackles but I was able to use a lot of the stuff throughout the adventure) and are working our way to the end of Skull & Shackles.
I have absolutely loved running this weird, little amalgamation of campaigns.
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Well I had to end the session after 3 1/2 hours, My Ng cleric was in line to present gifts to prince Zeech(LE blackguard). He then called the prince a tyrant and something else and broke the gift and threw it at his feet.
So after my clerics outburst, the first thing I did was give the prince a response and an action. He replied "Thank you for noticing. Anything else or are you done making an ass of yourself" He then mentally summoned the rest of the "Black nuns of Hextor" (Erinyes Rangers with the mortal hunter PrC)
We then rolled initiative, Most of the guests stopped shmoozing and turned to see the spectacle. On the Clerics turn he accused the Prince of being in cahoots with the Ebon Triad. The other party members were busy burying their faces in their hands.
The rest of the Erinyes t-ported in along with mother superior arrived bringing the total to 16 and moved to surround the prince. The Cleric then casts Holy Word and banishes nine of them. One of the lucky erinyes t-ports with the Prince to a safe locale The party as well as the mod comes to an early end. They then leave the city
I love it, they absolutely hate this guy.
The Zeech revenge tour is about to begin!
Gamed last Sunday, we started our attack on the clock tower to fight a dragon. Managed to combine what looks like 3 different encounters into one.
Night Below
The Troll Hunt is over although they nearly lost the Armiger to the two-headed Troll Shaman (oof that bugger dished out a Lot into the poor guy). 7 levels I finally have them spending Hero Points.
Next week they will count up their treasure and return to the Deep Gnome Village
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Wrath of the Righteous
After 43 sessions, we finished running my non-mythic Wrath game.
If I get time, I'll make a "lessons learned" thread about changes I made. But first I've got to finish the players' guide for my next game: Age of Worms, PF1 version.
I would be quite interested in it!
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Wrath of the Righteous (Live Game) Players are now in the Dungeons beneath Drezen, Level 9/MT 2. They have absolutely obliterated the first few undead challenges, but they managed to catch a rest after clearing the upper floor in a single sweep.
Wrath of the Righteous: Sword of Valor (PBP) PCs have just hit Drezen, where I have created updated mass combat rules that fit the flow of PbP a bit better, and added some additional challenges and battles to Drezen proper. (Rules are available in the profile of the alias I'm using)
My group almost finished battling Crimson Throne's plague, some twists came up:
Since the gnome bard is into saving animals (and other creatures), Devargo had to be parted from his pseudodragon. Unfortunately, he sold the little fellow some moments ago, and allowed the frightening buyer to visit the lower part of the ship. When the heroes insisted to follow, combat ensued, with Devargo ending up dead. In the belly of the ship the party encountered Rolth with some zombie pseudodragons - and the wizard didn't get away, despite multiple tricks. Ugh. At least he just turned unconscious, so they brought him to the Guard citadel, not being sure about his identity. When they moved on, some Grey Maidens took Rolth to the castle and it was publicly announced that they caught someone responsible for blood veil. Soon enough, the party will encounter Rolth again.
The party witch cured a friendly gnome's blood veil. In return, he wanted the NPC to play a joke on the gnome bard PC. I still have to come up with something funny, hopefully an Internet search will provide enough inspiration.
The raging barbarian killed Ausio Carowyn in his manor because the noble held a knife in his shaking hands. The players spent more time on dealing with this murder than on cleaning the manor. Jolistina had a few strikes at them, but they rather found her odd than terrifying (sigh). Either way, after handing Ausio's corpse over to the temple of Sarenrae they were overly cautious when they found the hospital. They knew something was off, but nobody was willing to start a fight with official authorities. So they tried multiple other things, up to (down to) searching for a sewer entrance to the building, meeting some moderately friendly wererats on the way. At the end they were quite frustrated that they "didn't make progress" - I expect them to play more aggressively next session.
The only lawful character, a member of the Korvosan Guard, got arrested by the Grey Maidens for "loitering" (they monitored the hospital during night). He obediently walked with them, until close to the castle. Then the player panicked and started a fight. The four maidens were barely able to scratch him (high AC), one went down but didn't die. They retreated, but now I have to make up... consequences.
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Wrath of the Righteous
After 43 sessions, we finished running my non-mythic Wrath game.
If I get time, I'll make a "lessons learned" thread about changes I made. But first I've got to finish the players' guide for my next game: Age of Worms, PF1 version.
If you would like some background stuff, I have a bunch
Troll Treasure collected and a Return to the Gnome Village only to find that there has been some kind of commotion. One of the Gnome Alchemists was discovered to have betrayed the village and on discovery has fled, leaving a trail of explosions behind him. Some Gnomes were sent to capture him but not only did they fail, they lost one of their own to a sinister psychic presence. The Village elders are not willing to send more but the Heroes have agreed to help recover their friend. So with three Deep Gnomes leading the way they have found a strange cavern of tall cliffs and imposing stone pillars, where a makeshift village has been made in various caves and noocks. a veritable maze of chaotic robe bridges and ladders haphazardly connects it all. Even from a distance the Psion can feel an oppressive inhuman mind covering the region like a thin blanket.
Taking what precautions they can to protect their minds the group sneaks into the strange settlement and slowly moves their way around the mind controlled inhabitants.
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Library of Last Resort
Well my group managed to solve the maze of the menhirs and recover the three crystals needed to open the portal to Last Resort Demiplane They met with the guardians of the place and were given four quests(I think the writer of this had played one too many video games) to accomplish to gain access to the library where in fact they will find the location of Dragotha'a phylactery.
I did deal out 265 to our ranger with eight hits from an octopus tree, at this level death is just another condition
The info will then be released to the world. I really hate this part, the characters go through and do the four quest thing and then info becomes public domain. I have not been able to come up with a satisfactory alternative in which Dragotha finds out where the phylactery is. And he has to find out as the next section is a full on Giant vs. Dragon battle.
I am playing a Paladin of Abadar.
Look, I have no illusions about this. I know having a character in the party taking a strict moral high ground can be rough. And Abadar is not exactly a chill deity when it comes to, say, the law. But I try--I really, really try--to not get in the way of the party so that we can all have fun with the game. If the party comes to a decision that requires a little moral flexibility, and I can find a way to justify it without a bunch of mental gymnastics, then I make it work.
But my fellow players...some of them just seem to go out of their way to needle me, and while I know it comes with the territory I am just so tired of it. I shouldn't have to say things like "Can we please not brazenly steal s#@@ in front of the paladin?"
Certainly not more than once. :(
I am playing a Paladin of Abadar.
Look, I have no illusions about this. I know having a character in the party taking a strict moral high ground can be rough. And Abadar is not exactly a chill deity when it comes to, say, the law. But I try--I really, really try--to not get in the way of the party so that we can all have fun with the game. If the party comes to a decision that requires a little moral flexibility, and I can find a way to justify it without a bunch of mental gymnastics, then I make it work.
But my fellow players...some of them just seem to go out of their way to needle me, and while I know it comes with the territory I am just so tired of it. I shouldn't have to say things like "Can we please not brazenly steal s+$* in front of the paladin?"
Certainly not more than once. :(
Let me guess, there was no session zero where the whole team would discuss how will a Paladin of Abadar work in a party of serial violators of law, and property laws in particular?
Let me guess, there was no session zero where the whole team would discuss how will a Paladin of Abadar work in a party of serial violators of law, and property laws in particular?
There was. We've been playing together for over 20 years. We're mostly an in-person group, but we use private forums to communicate between games. Here's what I posted when we were discussing character concepts for the current campaign:
I think the "betterment of society" angle gives me the ability to play a firm but fair paladin, while also allowing for flexibility for when the greater good is served by unconventional solutions. As a player, I can break these down into
* the greater good requires bending the rules (the needs of the many etc. etc.)
* willing to provide indirect vs direct support for actions
* willing to turn a blind eye, and
* won't tolerate
But old habits die hard. Some players look for every angle to get loot or whatever to advance their character.
The most recent problem was around loot. We were hired to do a thing, and we're low-level still and needed some magic weapons, so the person who hired us gave us some loaners. Long story short: we were being used, the guy who hired us got exposed and arrested. And a couple of players wanted to sell the loaner weapons. Gang, we can't do that.
Earlier it was around prisoners. We took a prisoner who surrendered to us. The timing and location was very inconvenient and potentially dangerous for us. Another player wanted to solve the problem by executing them. Come on. I've played characters who prescribe to situational ethics before, but I tried not to entertain that stuff in front of the paladin or the LG party members.
I am not even sure how much of this is "it's what my character would do" vs players just wanting to game the game. Though TBH, both are exhausting.
The most fun needling I did to a Paladin in wotr was to spread, in Alyushinyrra, the rumor our mythic Paladin was a virgin.
OMG that is hilarious. And I would love this! This is what I'd like to deal with IC.
Ababars paladin code is, to be honest, pretty pragmatic, and its focus on anticorruption gives extra leeway when dealing with lawful but corrupt authorities.
And this fits the setting of our campaign pretty well, which is why I went this route. I felt like it was something I could work with, while having the added bonus of a deity that hasn't gotten much airplay in our games.
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Skull & Shackles / Smuggler's Shiv / Plunder & Peril / Return to Freeport / Fort Scurvy worked out better than I could've ever anticipated.
After 42 weekly six hour sessions the Shackles has been saved from insidious people and the evil machinations.
It has been absolutely wonderful running this game for my wife and friends, but for now, after 7 years of GMing, 6 Adventure Paths*, 19 modules, and a few PFS scenarios I'm taking a break from GMing for an unknown amount of time.
*In order: Kingmaker, Hell's Rebels, Mummy's Mask, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Reign of Winter, and Skull & Shackles.
Hmm, a case can be made that the loaner weapons are forfeit, there is definitly a legal way to do that to the benefit of the party.
One of the other players has already solved this: "I am still borrowing it."
And I am OK with that. The loan was a little open-ended, so until they ask for the return of the weapons...they are still on loan.
*In order: Kingmaker, Hell's Rebels, Mummy's Mask, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Reign of Winter, and Skull & Shackles.
Well done. But now this begs the question of how those compared to each other.
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*In order: Kingmaker, Hell's Rebels, Mummy's Mask, Curse of the Crimson Throne, Reign of Winter, and Skull & Shackles.Well done. But now this begs the question of how those compared to each other.
I have so many thoughts and they'll all be all over the place and disorganized! (And, TL;DR, I loved them all for various reasons; they all feel very different from each other with Hell's Rebels and Crimson Throne being the two that were the most simliar even though they were distinctly different.)
In order that I ran them:
Kingmaker: I knew that the BBEG was poorly foreshadowed so I looked to the forum and received invaluable advice and changes from DM Dudemeister. I really liked this campaign because of the world-building involved, how much time passed, and that the kingdom felt both important and like another character. Not a campaign I'd suggest for a first time GM as it's super open-world. It took up a lot of my free time as I was constantly going over all of the different places the PCs were likely to go and I am fully aware I constantly over-prepped for this game. All of the APs that came after were much easier to run.
Hell's Rebels: I cannot put into words how beautiful this campaign was. I didn't feel like anything needed to be changed or added. As a warning, GMs should read the entire thing as it (mostly) all takes place in one city and some of the characters, gangs, areas, etc aren't really discussed / fleshed out until later books (EG: A group of tengu are frequently seen on the bridge but there's no mention of them until book 4 or so). Two of my players picked the perfect backstories and it allowed me to connect stuff from later books to their characters. The story is so well connected and the stakes are big enough that so long as the PCs care about the city at all (which is fleshed out well enough that it would be nearly impossible to not care) any non-murderhobo group will thorougly enjoy this game. Manageable for a new GM but there's a lot of moving pieces so it might be over-whelming. An experienced group will get more out of it than a group of new players. Killing everyone when you first encounter them isn't an option, which could be detrimental to some groups. It was also a fairly emotionally campaign for my group and I am super proud of my players for this game as they fully immersed themselves into Kintargo. The events of this AP will stick with us for many years to come.
Mummy's Mask: Great campaign for a new GM and new players! Seriously, any time someone says they're a new GM and they want to run an AP instead of modules I suggest this one. Pretty linear campaign that switches things up enough that it stays entertaining and fun. The BBEG is mentioned pretty early and you very slowly learn more and more about him. Reading other reviews had me wary, but it's not all traps everywhere and the types of undead change so that it never feels like you're just hacking away at the same enemies over and over and over again. Not much room for role-playing, but after how heavy Hell's Rebels was we (especially me) needed something more light-hearted and a game where I didn't have to think like a evil jerk all the time and constantly try to figure out what he would do to the PCs and their allies. Super fun, great AP to run as written and pretty easy to follow along with what's happening. It's also easy to run the first two or four books if you want and it would feel like a full campaign, which is also why I suggest it to new GMs. (GMs would just need to remove minor connective tissue to the next book and the players wouldn't know that the campaign was cut short)
Curse of the Crimson Throne: Oh man, was this a tough one. So, this was my least favourite to run but that was mostly due to circumstances. COVID had started and lockdown made it so that the last few sessions of Mummy's Mask had to be done online. The we started a campaign where a plague hits the city... George Floyd was killed while the AP has the players helping the town guard.... Games are supposed to help people escape; Crimson Throne didn't do that. Yes, they stopped the plague, yes, the city guard really were good guys but... oh man. Bad timing. The story was good, but reality made it less enjoyable.
BUT! Scarwall! Oh man, Scarwall was amazing! Cinderland were good too. It helped that a PC was shoanti. I'm glad I ignored everyone saying to take out or change books 4 and 5.
I also changed how the plague started by using a chapter out of Rise of the Runelords and ran the players through a haunted house. Overall, if someone wants to run an urban campaign look at Hell's Rebels instead, but this was pretty good too. Better for new GMs compared to Hell's Rebels.
Reign of Winter: OMG! Baba Yaga! Russian Fairy Tales! Plane-hopping Chicken Hut!!
I frequently see people say that this AP is a railroad but I.... mostly disagree. It's as much of a railroad as most other APs, really. Yes, you have to go and do certain things to continue but, hey, what campaign doesn't have that? There's a Gaes put on the PCs early on but I ignored that as "if your character doesn't understand why you need to do the thing then either I failed as a GM to explain why it's important or you need to make a character that wants to save the world." I don't want to spoil things just in case people reading this will play through it later so I'll be somewhat vague. Half my group were from Irrisen and were fully on board with getting the final thing that was needed, one was ambivalent about it but knew what needed to be done to save the world, one was vehemently against it to the point that he refused a +2 to any stat for the entire campaign and we thought the game might end with him trying to destroy it once the world had been saved. Even though there was tension among the PCs they all knew what needed to be done and they all fully trusted each other. I really liked the AP as written but added in a module from Legendary Games at the beginning of book 5 to make it better. The in-character group dynamics made this AP really fun to play through, as well as the wonder and excitement at learning about the places they ended up.
Skull & Shackles: We wanted to play this one in person so we had to delay it due to COVID. After playing through two other APs first we finally got to play pirates! The first book sounded way too tedious and second book was too directionless so, as I've previously said, I used Smuggler's Shiv and Plunder & Peril instead. I did more customization for this campaign than I did for Kingmaker, which I didn't think was possible, but it was much easier to do. Even though it's a giant sandbox and the players can go anywhere there's enough of a story to point them in the right direction so that the GM can prevent them from getting too distracted.
I ended up buying a lot for this game and all of it was worth it. (Purchased: All 6 books, Souls for Smuggler's Shiv, Plunder & Peril, Return to Freeport, Freeport: City of Adventure, Fort Scurvy, Map Folio [best map folio! It looks like an old-timey, well-used map!], Isles of the Shackles [indispensable for fleshing things out], Ships of the Inner Sea [not super useful but good for if you want to have unique ships attacking the PCs], Pirates of the Inner Sea.... I think that's it?)
This is the campaign I'm most proud of because of the amount of work I put into it and how well I was able to intertwine the story.
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So, the inevitable "which one was the best?"
Honestly, all of them except Crimson Throne for various reasons. If forced to rank them they would probably be (other than all being tied for 1st):
1) Hell's Rebels because it was truly unique and we had the perfect storm of characters for it
2) Skull & Shackles because it was so much fun and it's a great story
3) Mummy's Mask because straight-forward games are sometimes needed
4) Reign of Winter because of the journey the PCs take and that there was low-level friction between the group even though they knew they all needed to work together
5) Kingmaker because of the large scale of it
6) Crimson Throne has a lot of potential but world events and also adjusting to online made it difficult
Oh man, I could go in to so much more detail on any of these campaigns but I already feel this is too long for most people to read.... If anyone has any questions about any of these APs feel free to ask, I'll talk your ears off.
Didn't play last time, so hopefully will be gaming next time(Sunday after next). Still in the Clock Tower of volume 2 of Reign of Winter.
We just leveled up(6th) last Sunday and have just the boss left for the Clock Tower. Though one player was at work so we will have to level him up next session.
Played today and good chance we will finish Book 1 of Reign of Winter next session.
Loving this AP so far.
One of the more interesting things I experienced in starting the new campaign (we finished Stange Aeons by VTT/Discord over an 18 month period) is the ‘performance shock’ we Players went through going from “unbreakable” level 16s back to super-fragile level 1s.
Currently at level 3, the team has worked out how to fight together efficiently, given many of us are playing new classes.
Other interesting thing is no full BAB PCs. But we have two combat pets: caster druid + death kitty, and hunter with death rhino; as well as an inquisitor archer, backed by a bard, buffing/healer cleric and Winter Witch.
What classes/races is everyone playing?
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Just finished up LoLR for Age of Worms, My guys are 18th level. They had a battle royale with an 18th level priest of vecna sporting the hand of Vecna, two 17th level monks, a noble efreet riding a Cauchemar(Gotta love the spirited charge/vital strike combo), a horned devil and a rogue 6/ranger 1/assassin 10
This was the first time I got the death attack action to come to fruition, our poor sorc took it.
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Going into the final battle of book 3 of Tyrant's Grasp tomorrow morning. My swashigator doesn't have a ranged weapon and is going to have problems.
Strange Aeons continues apace, with a discovery about the strange murals around town that certainly unsettled the party.
Getting the urge to run a campaign again, but it'll be awhile before a spot opens in our schedule.
Night Below campaign is going well. They are fighting against a nest of Grell at the moment and having a bit of a time with it, because the creatures can fly, the ceilings are high and my group has few ranged attacks.
After a rough fight they decided to investigate a side tunnel littered with Grell corpses. just to see what was killing them.
They encountered a Deep Spawn got horribly hurt and it might have killed some of them. If I hadn't rolled double 1s for the thing.
We use the Crit and Fumble cards. It drew Will save or Knock yourself unconscious. So the tentacled monstrosity lunges at the Armiger and smashes head first into the cave wall. By the time it managed to wake up they had ganged up and pummelled it to -85 hit points.
Half of them are still down to single digit hit points but I gotta laugh at how that ended.
WOTR Sane version:
We killed Baphomet! Ole chump haha!
About to do the same to Derpkari and perhaps Socothbenoth.
I am mystified by Baphomet not having proper mythic tiers.
It could have been rather nasty if the main DPR source of the party didnt have mirror dodge.
WOTR insane version.
--We stole Derpkaris super weapon, which was something he could have plausibly used to summon Iomedae, against her will, into the Abyss.
--We stopped the Tarrasque from using it to free Rovagug
--Turns out Anevia has been impersonated by a demon since early act 2
--Also, Galfrey was cursed, which we unf+@&ed
--Due to shenangians, we thought it prudent to seperate "Sarkoris reborn" and Mendev
--We took Raliscrad