Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Holy flying penalties and bonuses, Batman! I've tried to list all the things that can penalise/help the PCs on their skills in a separate document, as I'm sure I'll lose track of it during gameplay itself. It's not pretty, maybe someone can spruce it up, but here's what can modify DCs/rolls during the scenario, listed when it's applicable, not necessarily in the adventure itself. I've included the DCs of everything, though maybe that clutters things too much. DC X/Y means low tier/high tier). Each paragraph bundles bonuses/penalties to the same thing (so a blank line means the next paragraph modifies something else).
Befriend Oridius (teach them about Ulfen culture or DC 20/23 Diplomacy to cheer them up during Event 1): -2 to all DCs to interact with them.
Befriend Scourtail (be entertaining during the first three rounds in the fight in Event 2 with enough cool maneuvers, flashy spells, or DC 21/24 Acrobatics, Athletics, Deception, Intimidation, or Performance): -2 to all DCs to interact with him.
Befriend Crookscale by teaching him how to swim (first calm him down with DC 20/24 Deception, Diplomacy, or Performance, then a DC 19/22 Instruction/Teacher Lore to teach him): -2 to all DCs to interact with him.
Befriend Brulivex (buy the rabbit during Event 4 for 1 gp): -2 to all DCs to interact with her.
Befriend Manglefang (DC 22/25 Diplomacy, DC 20/23 Performance, or DC 18/21 Circus/Comedy/Theater Lore during Event 5): -2 to all DCs to interact with him.
Fail to calm Crookscale twice or fail twice in swimming lessons (less than DC 20/23 Deception, Diplomacy, Performance to calm him down, DC 19/22 Instruction/Teacher Lore to teach how to swim) during Event 3: permanent +2 to all DCs to interact with Crookscale.
Halgrim
DC 17/20 Performance: +2 circumstance bonus to interact with mothers.
Event 1: Snack Time
Mention mountain goats: +2 circumstance bonus to interact with the linnorms.
Mention vegetables, fruit, or plants: -1 circumstance penalty to interact with the linnorms.
Convince Brulivex to help with Deception, Diplomacy, or Performance (DC 20/23): lower DCs to interact with the others by 2.
Play up the danger of hunting goats to Scourtail: -2 DC to convince her.
Critical failure on Diplomacy to find the linnorms (DC 10/13 or below): -2 to all skill checks to interact with Nelar and Ogsen.
Influence crowd with Performance (DC 19/22): +1 circumstance bonus to interact with Nelar and Ogsen.
Fail to convince Manglefang twice (less than DC 18/22 Intimidation): +1 DC to influence Nelar and Ogsen with Diplomacy.
Fail to convince Oridius twice (less than DC 19/22 Society): +1 DC to influence Nelar and Ogsen.
Fail to convince Scourtail twice (less than DC 20/23 Deception, Diplomacy, Intimidate, Performance): +1 DC to influence Nelar and Ogsen.
Event 2: A Hunting We Will Go
Crit success Arcana (DC 30) at mission briefing: +1 circumstance bonus to find Brethul Scarp.
DC 21/24 Nature or DC 19/21 Survival: +1 circumstance bonus versus Scourtail this event.
Event 3: Bumper Boats
Give Crookscale a flotation device or other rescue aid: +1 circumstance bonus to Athletics to swim ashore.
Fail to convince a linnorm to stop playing: +1 to DCs to placate sailors per failed linnorm, up to 3 (4 if Brulivex joined).
Haul the goods out of the river (DC 20/23 Athletics): -1 DC to placate sailors. (Maybe 2)
Every 2 rounds beyond 4 to rescue all the sailors from the river: +1 DC to placate sailors.
Event 4: Shopping Spree
Fail to placate Manglefang and Scourtail (two DC 20/23 Athletics to grapple, followed by DC 22/25 Intimidation): +1 DC to placate locals.
Fail to convince Oridius to return the maps (DC 20/23 Diplomacy or Intimidate): +1 DC to placate locals.
Fail to locate the warehouse (less than DC 22/25 Perception, DC 20/22 Survival, DC 18/18(?) Architecture or Engineering Lore): +2 DC to interact with Crookscale and Efrith.
Present at least five pieces of evidence: -2 DC to convince Crookscale.
Audience With the King
Refuse to fight Revna in Event 5: +2 DC to all arguments.
At least 3 linnorms behave: -1 DC to all arguments.
Proper introduction (DC 23/26 Diplomacy): -1 DC to all arguments.
Recklessness, befriend Crookscale and Brulivex: -1 DC per befriended linnorm.
Combat Prowess, befriend Scourtail: -1 DC per won combat.
Cultural Knowledge, befriend Oridius and Manglefang: -1 DC per befriended linnorm.
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I was thinking of putting the befriending parts in the events where they happen, but I thought at the top of the page might be the most useful. Maybe bold it or use bigger font when you print it out so it's more visible.
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I've also made a potential hand-out for players for all the things they can do during the Bumper Boats. I've removed the DCs and some text regarding what happens after a success to obscure game mechanics to players. The last two options are in line breaks because they happen later and I plan to give those out in separate handouts when they become available. Don't want to spoil everything that's going to happen immediately. If you don't care, remove the line breaks and just give out as one document.
Everyone can do one of the following things each round. Each attempt generally takes 2 or 3 actions.
Abandon Ship: A PC can convince the linnorms to abandon the skiffs and play another game in the river instead. To convince a linnorm to abandon the skiffs, the PCs must succeed at a Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check, or a Performance or Society check to tempt them into a different game.
Craft Rescue Aid: A PC can quickly construct or scavenge a makeshift knotted rope, line, or flotation device with a Crafting check. On a success, they craft one device (two on a critical success).
Grab On: A PC can throw a knotted rope, line, or flotation device that they constructed with the Craft Rescue Aid action above to a person in the water (at the GM’s discretion, the PCs’ existing equipment may be able to serve this function as well). They must attempt a ranged attack.
Swimming: A PC can enter the water and lend aid to people in the water. They must attempt an Athletics check to Swim. A creature with a swim speed treats the result of their check as one higher for the purposes of this skill check.
Recruit Assistance: A PC can urge the crowd to lend a hand in rescuing people. They must attempt a Diplomacy or Intimidation check against the crowd. On a success, they convince the crowd to help. Each round, the crowd rescues one person from the river (two on a critical success). On a failure, the PCs fail to rally the crowd.
Scavenge: When Crookscale overturns a skiff, the skiff’s contents are dumped into the river. A PC can dive into the water to haul the goods back to shore. They must attempt an Athletics check to determine how long it takes to haul the goods to shore.
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That's all the prep stuff I did out of the way. I have a few questions/remarks.
- How big should I make the siblings if I want to represent them on a map? The adult version is Gargantuan, so I'm thinking somewhere between Medium and Large, to impress upon the players that they can't just bully them into submission and that they're dealing with powerful creatures.
- During Bumper Boats, in the Scavenge section on page 13 it says if you return the goods it reduces the DC to placate them by 1. In the Resolution check a little down, it says the check is reduced by 2. Which is it?
- On page 12, teaching Crookscale how to swim calls for a Profession check. That's probably a slip of the tongue and the author most likely means a Lore check.
- As I noted in the handout, the bonuses to influence people do some strange things. In the very beginning in act 1, some things give bonuses to players, while later on it increases/decreases the DC on the GM's end. It's probably the same thing in the end, but I found it interesting enough to note.
- On page 14 it asks for a DC 18 Architect Lore in low tier to notice something about the building. In the high tier it's the same exact number. I assume that it's 21: 3 higher, like basically all the other checks in high tier.
- The conclusion gives players a Martyr's Shield if they achieved the Thoroughly Impressed score, but it's nowhere on the chronicle. It does give a boon, which I presume is that shield. But as boons are available to everyone, how does the system know if they've earned it or not? Or does the success condition (box C) unlock availability to the boon? Can anyone who has already played this scenario help me on this? I mean, it's not super important, but I'd like to tell my players if they got it or not.
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Thank you so much for this! Maybe I will actually be able to finish this within four hours now at our local convention this weekend.
As for Martyr's Shield, it will become unlockable after you run/play the module under the boon section in your My Organized Play. Once you purchase it you will be able to download what amounts to a chronicle sheet. I'm not sure if this chronicle just gives you the Shield in question outright or just gives you access to it.
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Regarding the Linnorns' size, I plan on making them Large. While they are childlike they also need to be presented as dangerous.
I have a tonal concern with the adult NPC following a kid around then luring them into their private home and pampering them with pillows. The scenario makes the Linnorns VERY childlike, which has the unintentional effect of making Efrith's scene come off as creepy and uncomfortable.
Emphasizing that the Linnorns are NOT like a human child may help with that. So, I am going with Large.
If I had editorial feedback for Paizo regarding this, they should have had the NPC talking to the child in public. The PCs could make the same checks at her spice merchant booth. Her spellbook etc could be hidden in a cubbyhole or drawer, etc.
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None of the linnorms leave the water until the PCs have convinced all of them, and even if convinced, they linger in the water for a few rounds, leaving only after all of the sailors have been rescued and Crookscale is back on shore. To convince a linnorm to abandon the skiffs, the PCs must succeed at a DC 21 Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation check, or a DC 19 Performance or Society check to tempt them into a different game (DCs 24 and 22 for levels 7–8). Each time the PCs fail a check to convince a linnorm, the DC to placate the sailors increases by 1, to a maximum DC increase of 1 per playing linnorm, as noted in Resolution (page 13). If the PCs reach this maximum increase of 3 (or 4 if Brulivex is present), the linnorms ignore all further efforts and play until they lose interest.
So the optimal action here to not make any checks?
Succeeding seems to get you nothing as the Linnorns don't actually abandon ship until they lose interest — which happens when the encounter is essentially over.
It seems strange that a check either does nothing or makes the situation worse.
Edit: also the checks to rescue Crookscale are wonky.
You seem to have 2 options: Swim him in or teach him how to swim.
Teaching him how to swim requires multiple successes (higher risk of failure). In the narrative moment, I am sure many PCs would rather get him to safety ASAP so they can focus on other problems (like the sailors and their cargo that's washing away). This seems like the most reasonable course of action.
However, the scenario then dictates that if he doesn't know how to swim he won't befriend you. this seems rather punishing to me. Why can;t PCs teach him to swim in the scene afterward?
Edit 2: In Efrith's warehouse there is some good treasure. It's on the chronicle sheet. Are we to believe the Pathfinders get to take all this person's stuff just because she is a foreign spy? She asks for the guards to be called, it seems there is some sort of due process here. Seems rather thuggish.
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These are for players because there are so many options for every event. Each event page has a row for each dragon, showing what checks the PCs can make. On the pack of these pages are the resolutions (works out if you can print 2-sided).
Some of the events span more than one handout (for example bumper boat options changes when the boat capsizes, so that is its own handout).
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Doug: I only looked quickly through the handouts, but I noticed on page 8 below Development the sentence being very weird, and stopping halfway through.
Also, on page 7 it says you can teach Crookscale how to swim from round 6 onwards, but I think you can do that pretty much immediately, not just from round 6 onwards.
You seem to not list DCs in general, but in the Warehouse part (page 11) you give some DCs, but not all. The Spellbook part also isn't finished.
(I'm personally unsure about listing DCs for players. On the one hand, it spoils the mystery, but on the other hand, DCs are so codified by level that players can always guess at the typical DC. Not sure if this comment is relevant, but eh.)
Speaking of the Bumper Boats event, it's pretty tough to run. Actions and skill DCs are spread across pages 12 and 13, and what will happen on each round is on page 11. A lot of going back and forth during the scenario. I would definitely recommend trying to get all of that on one separate page so you don't waste too much time flipping pages.
My players only failed to befriend Crookscale, exactly like Doug says. My party dove into the water to drag him out, but because of that couldn't befriend him. I'd definitely allow them to teach him how to swim afterwards because yeah, that's a weird one.
The child grooming aspect feels a bit weird indeed, but I think it can be smoothed over depending on how you present it. But definitely something to look out for, yeah.
Just taking Efrith's loot is indeed quite thuggish to me, but my players didn't have any problems with it. My players also had a hard time accepting she gets away so easily. They had recovered enough evidence that she's dangerous, but the guards just wave her away. That breaks some of the suspension of disbelief.
I personally made Crookscale always laugh either like Muttley (from Wacky Races) or like Ernie from Sesame Street. Gives a nice bit of character.
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Thanks! Ill edit the handouts. They’re hot off the press. I appreciate it a lot.
Regarding teaching the linnorn how to swim right off the bat, I’m not sure how PCs would know he can’t swim before he falls off the boat in round 6. Maybe I missed something.
I think my comment about the checks to get them OFF the boat was erroneous. I think they will keep playing on the boats until the checks are made. So, they are mandatory.
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Updated doc. Hopefully it's better. I left in the Crookscale round 6 thing but added a note on the post. I'm not sure how I'll run that particular element. Thanks for the help!
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I ran this one yesterday and it is definitely not one of my favorites. I will post the highlights or this post will go on forever
The bumper boats scenario was the biggest mess, even with the cheat sheet. Upon further reading it seems to imply the PC's should not be making checks to get the linnorms off the boats until they start playing bumper boats (i.e. the fourth round) and focus on saving the sailors instead. I did not realize this and they started dividing their efforts immediately, pulling sailors out of the water with 2 of the PCs having swim speeds. They had all of the linnorms convinced to get off the boats within two rounds except for Whiny I mean Crookscale (I think I saw every eye at the table roll upwards when they told him to jump off the boat and he complained he couldn't swim and was afraid of water). This was well before the sixth round so Angry Amiri just swam out attached a line to his boat and they hauled him in with no goods from the skiff spilling in the water. They also had the crowd working together and had all the sailors in within 3 rounds.
Then came the fight with Revna and the Ulfen warriors. The text went into great detail as to what would happen if the PCs fought on after going under 15 hp. It said nothing (that I could find) as to what would happen if they accidentally killed one or more of them. Which was exactly what happened. Revna said nothing about using the flat of the sword or non-lethal spells (at least nothing I could find) and that was probably a big mistake on her part. All the members of Team Ulfen rolled like crap for initiative, ate a fireball, saw Amiri rage and down one of them with one critical hit (he was well into negatives after the hit so I ruled his head went sailing off into the river), and eat another fireball against which all failed their saves and 3 critically failed, once again putting them well into negatives. I had Revna call for quarter after the first round, realizing they had picked the wrong fight, she was down four warriors, and had no chance of winning. None of the NPCs were below 15 hp when any of the deaths happened so they had no chance to surrender. And since the scenario said nothing about punishing the PCs for any deaths on their hands, I just figured Revna would not hold it against them, as she realized she was the one who started it. Or something. It did give them a good laugh when Skarde Nineblades was crowing about the combat prowess of his warriors in comparison to the Pathfinder Society. And yes, Manglefang joined in. So much for setting a good example.
Maybe other GM's and groups will have fun with this, but I did not. There were some nice moments and laughs but way too much of me checking and rechecking modifiers and me offering nonexplanations of things that didn't make sense. Maybe part of the problem was the 4 hour convention time slot. A home group with more time on their hands (and maybe a GM with a better eye for details and conveying things subtly) may be able to get more out of it.
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It said nothing (that I could find) as to what would happen if they accidentally killed one or more of them. Which was exactly what happened. Revna said nothing about using the flat of the sword or non-lethal spells (at least nothing I could find) and that was probably a big mistake on her part. All the members of Team Ulfen rolled like crap for initiative, ate a fireball, saw Amiri rage and down one of them with one critical hit (he was well into negatives after the hit so I ruled his head went sailing off into the river), and eat another fireball against which all failed their saves and 3 critically failed, once again putting them well into negatives.
This is a good point. In such a case GMs can leverage the allowance for significant NPCs to follow the same Dying rules as PCs. This would give players a better chance to not outright kill NPCs.
However, it is not something all GMs will do because the scenario doesn't specify it (it probably should but until then there may be table variation on this issue). And it's a significant problem for magic users because magic is lethal unless you have a metamagic feat. So casters are sort of hosed here unless the GM uses the optional rule.
— Link: https://2e.aonprd.com/Rules.aspx?ID=372
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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Yeah, I did the same. In my mind, NPCs use the same rules for dying as PCs, but in most cases it doesn't matter too much. In cases like this, I would track their Dying condition. Two of my Ulfen indeed hit 0 HP, and my players were nice enough to cast Stabilize on them.
While there isn't any direct need to immediately calm the siblings down during the Bumper Boats, I would impress upon the players the chaos and mayhem they're causing. My players indeed focused on them first, which prevented the cargo from flying overboard. By the very literal interpretation of the scenario, the secondary objective is retrieving all of the cargo, which they didn't do, but common sense says that they prevented it from spilling in the first place and succeeded at that mission.
If the players try to convince Crookscale to come back before he falls into the water, I ruled that he already agrees because he doesn't like it there. They can then use their same turn to calm him down or bring him ashore, basically not wasting their actions that round.
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Ran it tonight. Unfortunately, I think this one needed another editorial pass. Our table held a discussion afterward — all were In agreement it could be a wonderful scenario but was held back by mechanical and thematic issues that could have been avoided. Here are some takeaways:
⠀• The child grooming elements felt inappropriate and unnecessary. Players thought it was a strange choice for Society play. Again… just have the scene in her merchant spice booth in public.
⠀• The scene in the warehouse really bothers me. How are PCs forcefully inspecting Efrith's spellbook and other personal items? They just barge in and start rifling through her stuff, breaking down doors, and taking things. The PCs aren't even "deputized" to have any sort of authority to investigate this person's home. I thought we were moving away from this kind of behavior in Society play.
⠀• The dragons are anthropomorphized as young innocent children, and also as sadistic beings. The tone fluctuated between dark comedy and lighthearted cuteness. Taken altogether, it felt thematially uneven.
⠀• Bumper Boats was incredibly frustrating for the players for the no-net-positive checks mentioned above.
⠀• Linnorns have a swim speed so people were confused that Crookscale can't swim; we ended up flavoring it like "believe in yourself!" Not sure if that was the author's intent, but some clarification would be good here because I think that's a hilarious way to play it.
⠀• Player also "killed" some of Skarde Nineblades's crew in the duel. I used the death and dying rules and they stabilized them, at least. Those NPCs seem really weak and many tables will be killing them on accident.
⠀• The scene at the end doesn't seem to matter if they have 8+ gold pouches. My group had the gold but had a difficult and frustrating time with DCs in the throne room. They wished we skipped the scene altogether.
⠀• The fact that it all comes down to the gold was frustrating for players (even if it's probably true to the "blood money" element of the cultures that Ulfen are based on, this doesn't translate well to a scenario about babysitting children).
⠀• The actions of the king seem illogical and tyrannical. She and her linnorn are purposefully letting the children wreck the city and hurt the population just to test out the Society. Surely there are better ways to achieve this goal… ones that do not involve hurting your own economy (you know, the trashed markets, the wasted livestock, etc). It is problematic the Society is aligning with someone who'd endanger her own people on a whim. While I suppose it fits the classic CN alignment the NPC has, it is also impractical for her kingdom. Lost Omen Legends makes White Estrid seem like a cunning and intelligent ruler — not a mercurial tyrant.
⠀• The scenario is too long. We play on weeknights and commute. It really needs a 5-6 hour slot for the roleplay to come through. I have said this on the forums before but for those of us who cannot play all day on a weekend and have wake up at 6:30/7 to be at work, 5+ hours on a work night is NOT tenable. (By all rights I should be in bed now). Instead of this huge length, it could have been a repeatable: let the GM choose 3 dragons to run and then have the scene at the end. This way the length would be warranted.
There is great stuff in here from the author. It's unfortunate there are mechanical and thematic issues with the final product.
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Venture-Agent, Netherlands—Utrecht
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⠀• The fact that it all comes down to the gold was frustrating for players (even if it's probably true to the "blood money" element of the cultures that Ulfen are based on, this doesn't translate well to a scenario about babysitting children).
My players actually liked that gold was the final deciding factor. But yeah, now that I'm looking into it, the audience at the end feels practically vestigial. 8+ gold for the best result would mean everything has to go nearly perfect, but you can still get there when failing (not crit failing) two events. 5-7 is still very generous, I feel. If you fail every resolution you'll still have enough to succeed. Only crit failing several appeasements will cause you to fail:
Event 1: fail, lose 1 fund, crit fail, lose 2 funds.Event 3: fail, lose 2 funds, crit fail, lose 4 funds.
Event 4: fail, lose 1 fund, crit fail, lose 2 funds. Possibly 1 more if they don't stop the fight between Mangefang and Scourtail.
Event 5: pay 1 fund if you lose (very unlikely), pay 2 funds if you cheat and get caught, get 1 fund if you win.
If you fail every single resolution, you still win the scenario. You'd have to crit fail several encounters to fail the scenario. Which is good for a PFS scenario, I guess, but it does take the bite out of it. If you're so unskilled that you need the audience at the end to bump you up, you're going to fail there as well, I feel.
I guess my main problem with the audience is that apparently White Estrid has already made up her mind as soon as you set foot in the castle. Yeah, the mission briefing said, "maybe this is some kind of test," but the scenario never really states if it is or not, until you reach the end. And then it's just 15 minutes of dicerolling and squeezing out all the modifiers you can, for absolutely no gain. Well yeah, maybe the shield, but chances are you're going to get it anyway.
As I said, my players really liked the gold was their measurement of success, instead of a few skill checks at the end. But I didn't tell them how they were judged, just that gold remaining was good. And since they only paid 1 Fund (and got it back in the fight in Event 5), they felt really good about themselves. Just don't tell them the mechanics, I guess. Once they realise how easy it is for them to win, the victory will feel hollow.
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⠀• The child grooming elements felt inappropriate and unnecessary. Players thought it was a strange choice for Society play. Again… just have the scene in her merchant spice booth in public.
My players didn't pick up on that. Maybe because we weren't aware of those issues, maybe we just had too much fun and our brains were turned off, but I think this won't be an issue for every table. That's not to say that it isn't an issue of course, just that your mileage may vary, I guess.
⠀• The scene in the warehouse really bothers me. How are PCs forcefully inspecting Efrith's spellbook and other personal items? They just barge in and start rifling through her stuff, breaking down doors, and taking things. The PCs aren't even "deputized" to have any sort of authority to investigate this person's home. I thought we were moving away from this kind of behavior in Society play.
Yeah, my players wanted to do a "citizen's arrest," and they made a whole lot of good arguments why she should be eaten by Boiltongue, but I guess she expects to slip out of any accusation leveled against her. Which, considering the players have several clear points of evidence that she's spying, strains against the suspension of disbelief.
⠀⠀• The dragons are anthropomorphized as young innocent children, and also as sadistic beings. The tone fluctuated between dark comedy and lighthearted cuteness. Taken altogether, it felt thematially uneven.
I've never really seen them as cruel, other than them just eating sheep, but I always portrayed them with some sort of childish innocence that young kids tend to have. They just don't have the capacity to think beyond themselves. For me it was pretty thematically straightforward.
⠀• Linnorns have a swim speed so people were confused that Crookscale can't swim; we ended up flavoring it like "believe in yourself!" Not sure if that was the author's intent, but some clarification would be good here because I think that's a hilarious way to play it.
I mean, I guess linnorms are mainly land-bound. The fact that they CAN swim doesn't mean they're able to so immediately when they hatch. Babies don't immediately sit up straight and walks away as soon as they roll out of the womb. There's a whole "nature versus nurture" debate to be had, but that's the easiest way to explain it, I feel.
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I don't want to quibble over every one of these issues here on the forums. That will not be productive and it feels a bit like you and I are the only people having a conversation here. Different tables will have different sensitivities. Hopefully, our notes help others talior their games.
Ultimately, these small-ish problems, mechanical frustrations, and plot holes aggregated together and greatly reduced our enjoyment of the scenario.
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Ran it tonight. Unfortunately, I think this one needed another editorial pass. Our table held a discussion afterward — all were In agreement it could be a wonderful scenario but was held back by mechanical and thematic issues that could have been avoided. Here are some takeaways:
⠀• The child grooming elements felt inappropriate and unnecessary. Players thought it was a strange choice for Society play. Again… just have the scene in her merchant spice booth in public.
⠀• The scene in the warehouse really bothers me. How are PCs forcefully inspecting Efrith's spellbook and other personal items? They just barge in and start rifling through her stuff, breaking down doors, and taking things. The PCs aren't even "deputized" to have any sort of authority to investigate this person's home. I thought we were moving away from this kind of behavior in Society play.
⠀• The dragons are anthropomorphized as young innocent children, and also as sadistic beings. The tone fluctuated between dark comedy and lighthearted cuteness. Taken altogether, it felt thematially uneven.
⠀• Bumper Boats was incredibly frustrating for the players for the no-net-positive checks mentioned above.
⠀• Linnorns have a swim speed so people were confused that Crookscale can't swim; we ended up flavoring it like "believe in yourself!" Not sure if that was the author's intent, but some clarification would be good here because I think that's a hilarious way to play it.
⠀• Player also "killed" some of Skarde Nineblades's crew in the duel. I used the death and dying rules and they stabilized them, at least. Those NPCs seem really weak and many tables will be killing them on accident.
⠀• The scene at the end doesn't seem to matter if they have 8+ gold pouches. My group had the gold but had a difficult and frustrating time with DCs in the throne room. They wished we skipped the scene altogether.
⠀• The fact that it all comes down to the gold was frustrating for players (even if it's...
I thought that astrid was CE. I was like Ok. Well, the society is neutral.
