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A little embarrassing as this is the first time I've attempted to do this, but I did a quick gif of Teacher Ot's runes at the end of his introduction.
I'll be running this through PbP, so it'll be a bit easier to have a visual for my players.
A little embarrassing as this is the first time I've attempted to do this, but I did a quick gif of Teacher Ot's runes at the end of his introduction.
I'll be running this through PbP, so it'll be a bit easier to have a visual for my players.
Nothing to be embarrassed about - I adore this!
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I think three to four is about the reasonable limit of downtimes for second chapter. You could go as high as five, but I'd personally hesitate to go over four.
For my game, I'm not going to allow players to store up more than one starred (i.e. pending) advancement per branch. I can control that some with how many downtimes I provide. Since the players are level 2 during the second chapter, the most they can be is Rank 2 in Primary and Rank 1 in Secondary. So if I provide three downtimes, they can reach their limits in the branches or they can reach the limit in the primary and store up an advancement for the next level. Then, if the players are digging the downtimes and the events during them (especially looking forward to the surprise party with the Tzeniwe's kids), I might do a fourth. This, of course, presumes simple success on the majority of players' Study rolls. Since Cramming is super detrimental, I'm going to discourage it for their first downtime, even if they are eligible for a catch-up. By the time of the First Masking, I'd like my PCs to just be able to have the attendant dedication since they become attendants at that point, but I can't force that. My general mode of running downtime is going to be:
- 1. Declare downtime and find out what PCs intend to do (Study or Cram).
- 2. Run narrative events, give players opportunities to interact with NPCs.
- 3. Let players roll their downtime checks with possible bonuses based on how the narrative portion went.
I'm wary of frontloading too many downtimes in chapter two, just because it runs the risk of burning the players out on them as soon as they're introduced. Ultimately though, the appropriate answer is "as many downtimes as your players want to do".
Not to self promote, but I made a similar suggestion to downtime in my Expanded Magaambya post. https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43fs9?Expanded-Magaambya
TL;DR: for each month, PCs get 7 days worth of downtime to spend on studying, clubs, crafting, etc. Studying enough to make a Study/Cram roll requires 14 days of downtime, and can only be done one per four-month term. This assumes the bulk of the adventure happens at various times during the non-downtime portion of the month.
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I had a question for people; what masks do you think the other students pick during the masking ceremony? I imagine Anchor Root picks some kind of avian, made of bone rather than wood. Haibram, maybe a bull painted black and red?
maybe Esi's would be a lion because Tempest Sun Mages and the Sun god is Chohar which is a lion? Might be a bit of a stretch lol
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Just curious, has anyone come up with a means for players to track their Branch Benefits? Something like a simplified extra sheet where they can track which additional skills/feats/etc that they get when they reach the appropriate level for their Primary and Secondary branches.
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Is there an overall listing of teachers, a basic description of their personality, and their area of specialty for teachers not mentioned in this first book? My group is really interested in roleplaying as students and I'm looking to see what options I have for classes, mentors, and so on while staying true to the AP.
I'm guessing we're going to wind up having to assemble such a list ourselves, once we have the AP in front of us.
The 3rd/4th issue should have the teachers' NPC section, once you are their peers.
Was the Perquisite intentionally named such? Because it's a prerequisite, which is a different word entirely.
USAGE
Perquisite and prerequisite are sometimes confused.
Perquisite usually means ‘an extra allowance or privilege’: he had all the perquisites of a movie star, including a stand-in.
Prerequisite means ‘something required as a condition’: passing the examination was one of the prerequisites for a teaching position.
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Was the Perquisite intentionally named such? Because it's a prerequisite, which is a different word entirely.
USAGE
Perquisite and prerequisite are sometimes confused.
Perquisite usually means ‘an extra allowance or privilege’: he had all the perquisites of a movie star, including a stand-in.
Prerequisite means ‘something required as a condition’: passing the examination was one of the prerequisites for a teaching position.
It's been named that for years, so even if it was an error originally (which I doubt), it's deliberate now.
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It could be rationalized that serving the local community is a privilege. I could see an experienced adventurer applying for entrance to the Magaambya having their Perquisite waived because they have already done many great deeds for the benefit of Nantambu (not that this would ever apply for adventurers going through this adventure path).
It's been named that for years, so even if it was an error originally (which I doubt), it's deliberate now.Was the Perquisite intentionally named such? Because it's a prerequisite, which is a different word entirely.
USAGE
Perquisite and prerequisite are sometimes confused.
Perquisite usually means ‘an extra allowance or privilege’: he had all the perquisites of a movie star, including a stand-in.
Prerequisite means ‘something required as a condition’: passing the examination was one of the prerequisites for a teaching position.
You'd think Paizo would do one of their quiet retcons... -_-;
Anyway, you have a page reference? I trust you, I just want the details. We are talking about an academic setting, so citing sources is good practice. ; )
The first reference I can find is in the Lost Omens Character Guide, pg 98, which was October of 2019.
...That recently?
And why didn't I notice it sooner! >_<
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Was the Perquisite intentionally named such? Because it's a prerequisite, which is a different word entirely.
USAGE
Perquisite and prerequisite are sometimes confused.
Perquisite usually means ‘an extra allowance or privilege’: he had all the perquisites of a movie star, including a stand-in.
Prerequisite means ‘something required as a condition’: passing the examination was one of the prerequisites for a teaching position.
Maybe it's my own personal retcon, but i read it in the other direction: Initiates are working to attain the Perquisite, at which point they are no longer probationary members of the school but have earned the rights and privileges of full Magaambya students. That's the point at which they get their mask that declarers to the whole world they are Magaambya Magi.
On an unrelated note: What is the proper pronunciation of Magaambya and what real world language is it derived from/inspired by?
On an unrelated note: What is the proper pronunciation of Magaambya and what real world language is it derived from/inspired by?
Seems to be either Mah-gam-bee-yah or Mah-gam-byah, depending on who is reading it in the streams.
Just had session zero recently and was asked a pretty insightful question from one of the players which I unsure of how to answered...
Is there anything you’d like me to incorporate into my characters backstory based on background and class? Like from a specific location or area?
For reference, he is playing a Sprite (Melixie) Wild Witch with a Cricket as a familiar and the Sponsored by a Stranger background.
I am so lucky to have the players that I have...
Creative Director
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I've always said "muh-GAWM-be-yah."
I honestly don't recall when we first used the word in print, and thus who made it up, but my guess would be that it was Mike McArtor. He was the creative lead for the Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting (the first hardcover setting book we published, and that predates the Pathfinder RPG itself), and I know we published the name there, but that book had 28 different authors. I was one of them so I can vouch for one of those, so it's probably one of the other 27.
Alas, no documents that record who wrote what for that book exist, as far as I know (I've tried to find them before and have failed every time), and Mike's long since passed away (still miss ya, man!), so it might remain a mystery forever, alas.
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While not original, Gabe Hicks (@GabeJamesGames) who has a writing credit in Lost Omens: Mwangi Expanse, spoke with me a bit about pronunciation.
He pronounces it "mah-gah AHM-beeya" with a definite break between A's.
My players immediately found the entrance to the tunnels under the Storage Barn. Does anyone have any advice about how their exploration of it should progress?
One player also spoke Undercommon and got a hint that the pugwampi were following some orders. They're now convinced the tunnels should lead to some bad guy.
Has there been any word of the Academic Calendar mentioned in the Academy Life section? It says it should be included with each book of the AP, but so far I've seen no sign of it.
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Also, on an unrelated note, I created a quick and dirty graphic to help out my players with regards to teacher and student branch affiliations:
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/819586479516811285/88242012536035741 6/Teachers_and_Student_Branches.png
Posting it here in case anyone else would find it useful.
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That's a reference to the fact that each adventure gives express opportunities to use this system, with the "down time" built in to apply it.
Ah. That's too bad, I was hoping it would give me a good sense for pacing, like how long semesters are and if there are any breaks. I guess that's up to GMs to decide.
Thanks for the clarification, by the way.
So for the different areas in the Magaambya such as Elephant Museum, the between, tree stump library, warden house etc. etc. how do you handle these locations in the earlier stages do you not let players know they're there until the campaign prompts those areas? do you prep some kind of misc thing there? or do you try to find info on those areas (I've had almost no luck with that btw.) so they can feel free to explore the campus and enter those areas?
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I had a couple of players spend some of their free time exploring the campus or the tunnels under it. They were content for it to be mostly background activity, so I didn't have to do a lot. However, I told the tunnel explorer that there were a lot of tunnels under the school and had them eventually come up in the storage barn they'd cleared out earlier that day. I told the campus explorer that they seemed to find quite a few buildings, mentioning a library that had been abandoned and setting the expectation that the campus' building use ebbed and flowed based on residency at the school and that, because a lot of students and faculty are out learning in the world at the moment, the campus is a little low on population.
I do want to bring up one weird thing that I had to deal with so that hopefully another GM doesn't get blindsided about it. Because the pugwampis (and the admonition not to kill) was back to back with the task gather oil, I had one PC just completely disengage from the fight with Umbo out of concern for getting in trouble for killing getting them in trouble. I just kind of let it ride as the party is oversized and Umbo wasn't presenting too much of an issue for the group, but it is a weird to have a "don't kill, no really, just don't" encounter followed up by a fight to the death and be aware your PCs may act based on the information previously given.
How long is the book supposed to take, in-game? I had assumed it was fairly flexible and somewhat "at the speed of plot", but the students get 4gp at the start of every month from Xhokan (page 16), and with the rules requirements for wealth by level / appropriate treasure rewards, this makes me feel like it's supposed to be a specific number of months? Or am I overthinking it?
RAW and RAI and whatever else you want to offer all accepted as responses, please help me with this :)
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How long is the book supposed to take, in-game? I had assumed it was fairly flexible and somewhat "at the speed of plot", but the students get 4gp at the start of every month from Xhokan (page 16), and with the rules requirements for wealth by level / appropriate treasure rewards, this makes me feel like it's supposed to be a specific number of months? Or am I overthinking it?
RAW and RAI and whatever else you want to offer all accepted as responses, please help me with this :)
4GP per month is exactly the amount needed for living comfortably, so that monthly stipend zeroes itself out.
4GP per month is exactly the amount needed for living comfortably, so that monthly stipend zeroes itself out.How long is the book supposed to take, in-game? I had assumed it was fairly flexible and somewhat "at the speed of plot", but the students get 4gp at the start of every month from Xhokan (page 16), and with the rules requirements for wealth by level / appropriate treasure rewards, this makes me feel like it's supposed to be a specific number of months? Or am I overthinking it?
RAW and RAI and whatever else you want to offer all accepted as responses, please help me with this :)
I sort of see that, but at the same time, cost of living mostly covers room and board which are both already provided by the school, as well as the 4gp which is specifically called out as being handed to the PCs during their encounter with Xhokan
How long is the book supposed to take, in-game? I had assumed it was fairly flexible and somewhat "at the speed of plot", but the students get 4gp at the start of every month from Xhokan (page 16), and with the rules requirements for wealth by level / appropriate treasure rewards, this makes me feel like it's supposed to be a specific number of months? Or am I overthinking it?
RAW and RAI and whatever else you want to offer all accepted as responses, please help me with this :)
I'm pacing thevame so it takes place over the course of 1 year.
Two main reasons:
One, it's stated in LOME that it usually takes initiates ”5 seasons" before they become an attendant/receive their masks. The PCs should be able to do this in a shorter amount of time, they're the heroes, after all.
Two, the Nantambu calendar is broken up so that each season has 3 months of 28 days and a extra week of feasting/celebrating to mark the solstices/equinoxes. This also provides a good way to break up the study checks/encounters in chapter 2; 4 study checks paired with 4 "meet the teachers" events brings us around to the players having the masking ceremony right around the time they entered the school a year ago.
Looking at Book 2, I'm going to keep that pacing. 4 semesters will get you through all the conservant tasks. I think I'll aim for 1 year a book, it makes it easy to keep track of the timeline/events for my notes.
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Is there an overall listing of teachers, a basic description of their personality, and their area of specialty for teachers not mentioned in this first book? My group is really interested in roleplaying as students and I'm looking to see what options I have for classes, mentors, and so on while staying true to the AP.I'm guessing we're going to wind up having to assemble such a list ourselves, once we have the AP in front of us.
For those curious, this list seems to be in Book 4. A good number of teachers are described in a similar format to the fellow students in this book.
They're really cool, too, and continue the apparent subtle theme of very cool neurodivergence representation. I have to assume it's intentional, and it means the world to me.
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I made a document for the names & addresses of the letters for the Emerald Boughs Assignment. I also used various fonts to represent different handwriting and glitched text, if that's hard to read then I made a version without those.
As someone new-ish to running 2e, I have some questions about the academia system, campaign difficulty, and how to approach adding new rewards for players to the campaign. Apologies in advance for the blitz of questions:
1)To what degree are the players intended to be able to take advantage of the academia system? Is it expected their primary/secondary branch levels will not lag more than a little behind their class level and half their class level, respectively?
2)Strength of Thousands uses the academia system on top of Free Archetype, which gives access to a very substantial number of additional feats and benefits; just how much additional power does this represent? How does it compare to Dual-Class PCs?
3)PF2e adventure paths have a reputation for being difficult; has this adventure been made more challenging than "baseline" guidelines to account for the PC's extra feats and benefits, or is the difficulty relatively relaxed in keeping with the "scholarly" theme?
4)What advice would you give to DMs looking to create additional homebrew rewards for their players? Would it be advisable to integrate them as alternative rewards from the academia system where possible to avoid further power escalation, or should the system still be fairly tolerant of additional rewards so long as they aren't straightforward power boosts?
I've added Numbers in your quote so my numbers line up with the part I'm talking about.
1) The books, from what I've read so far, are very light in this. It's ultimately up to the GM. Chapter 2 of book 1 says that they should have at least two opportunities in that chapter, but that you might give them a third or fourth. In my game, I have one player at max rank in their primary, with nothing in their secondary, one player maxed in their secondary and 1 rank off in their primary, and the rest are a mix.
I think I've been doing like...1 or 2 a chapter? Usually to put some downtime in between any challenging moments/fights.
2) The characters don't really become "Stronger" as much as they become more versatile. The math in 2e still checks out, your AC and to hit bonuses are still the same. You just have more methods/tactics to use. Power Wise, feels the same as a normal game.
3) So far my group has only had two close calls. One during the starday tournament 100% due to poor rolls, and one in the cave system at the end of the book 100% due to the players splitting up and getting lost. I wouldn't classify this story as anything above standard difficulty, but every table is different.
There are alot of fun RP encounters/moments that certainly fit the scholarly theme, be it side missions with fellow students or requests from teachers. IMO, while I liked Extinction Curse, it felt like a group of adventurers who were also in a circus. Not a circus going through adventures. This 100% feels like you are students in a school. Not adventurers with some school attached.
4) I haven't messed around much with the homebrew, so I'm not the best to ask in this. But for my opinion, I'd tie it into rewards from teachers and students. The book already has things like this in the form of study benefits and specialty spells/items as you befriend students. I could easily see you being able to tie homebrew rewards to the students and teachers as your players take an interest in them.
I had my happen just over the bridge leading into the welcome walk, with Ot waiting for them by one of the struts in the walk.
I made it so that Ot is a touch showmanlike, with the rain not falling on him, and the magical symbols appearing in a pleasing manner.
When he walked away, the rain started down hard again, leading into the Esi scene.
While a more mechanical game would require him casting specific spells, I've taken the custom spells to mean that magic can be invented at this school, so some of the spells the NPCs do aren't going to be ones found in the book.
(am now wondering if SoM will include custom spell making..)
This seems Like a lot of fun. I have been looking for places to put in additional combats.
I made a girdles map of the dorm. It's on PFS prep if anyone wants to use it: http://pfsprep.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?3545.last
xNellynelx, that's an awesome set of responses, thanks!
Can I ask how far your group has gotten? Or more generally, from anyone who is a decent way in, is there any advice you would give with the benefit of hindsight?
They've finished up book 1 and have started book 2 (Completed the first combat encounter of book 2).
As far as advice. I've done a bit of this and think (potential bias) that I've done it well. My players have enjoyed spending time with the other students, and I've had "events" planned around these interactions. So when they visit a student (or teacher) it's not always "This person is in there room doing nothing".
Book 1 has a "Students of the Magaambya" section which lists alot of their hobbies and common associates, so I've used that information for when my players interact with them. As an example, a player wanted to spend time with Ignaci. On the way to Ignaci's room, he bumped into Ignaci on his way to Chizire's room. That turned into the three of them (My player, Chizire, and Ignaci) hanging out together brewing experimental elixirs (something their Common Associates section says they do together).
With the advantage of having access to more books, Book 4 has a similar section but for the Teachers. So I can now implement similar things like this with Teachers.
If you've ever played Persona, I've been treating hang outs with students like the Social Link system in persona haha. Earning background "Points" when they spent time, unlocking their Study bonus and Specialty item/spell.
