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Thank you very much.
Players, don't read on. Especially my players.
I'm GM'ing RotRL at the moment, and we're just about finished with the Skinsaw Murders. My players are all very excited about Pathfinder, so of course the all signed on to the newsletter. The first one they received had a big adverticement for the new miniature; "Karzoug - the Runelord of Greed". Didn't take them much logical deduction to figure out that their current campaign, Rise of the Runelords, was probably tied to this Karzoug Runelord dude, and that he was probably tied to the murdering of all the Greedy people in Magnimar. Thanks for spoiling it all, Paizo.
Can we get a specific newsletter for GMs, please, and a spoiler-free one for players?
Creative Director
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Thank you very much.
Players, don't read on. Especially my players.
I'm GM'ing RotRL at the moment, and we're just about finished with the Skinsaw Murders. My players are all very excited about Pathfinder, so of course the all signed on to the newsletter. The first one they received had a big adverticement for the new miniature; "Karzoug - the Runelord of Greed". Didn't take them much logical deduction to figure out that their current campaign, Rise of the Runelords, was probably tied to this Karzoug Runelord dude, and that he was probably tied to the murdering of all the Greedy people in Magnimar. Thanks for spoiling it all, Paizo.
Can we get a specific newsletter for GMs, please, and a spoiler-free one for players?
We'll try to keep the spoilers out going forward... but that said, a few spoilers now and then can be good for the game. It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation. In the same way that a movie preview helps build anticipation.
I know it sucks, but the AP has been out in circulation for a year and a half at least
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It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.
Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
Yeah, I'd say use it, Entropi.
It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
Right there with you on the "Absolutely No Spoilers!" feeling - I'm constantly trying to fight against that impulse since, as James says, sometimes spoilers increases interest.
But yeah! - Take that TPK and run with it - have the city do a divination inquiring into their deaths and get this bizarre warning about the Runelord of Greed that no one understands. No one of course, except the new party (or a new character if most of them are being raised).
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It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
This is when you go "and if you all pitch in a few bucks, we can get the mini in enough time to have it painted by the time you face him, same for any other minis that may come out of this path directly."
This is when you go "and if you all pitch in a few bucks, we can get the mini in enough time to have it painted by the time you face him, same for any other minis that may come out of this path directly."It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
GMTA Cpt_kirstov! Actually, I'm paying for it, but still, Runelord of Greed... don't make him be the bad penny (literally) on the battlemap.
It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
How do you continue after a TPK?
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Players, especially my players, don't read on.
Xanesha's escape will, however, leave the party somewhat lacking on loot and XP as they face the Hook Mountain Massacre. To catch up, I plan to modify either E1: Carnival of Tears or LB1: Tower of the Last Baron, to take place on their journey to Turtleback Ferry.
Players, especially my players, don't read on.
** spoiler omitted **
Good ideas. Here's another one:
If you want some stats for advanced boggards, let me know. And if you really want some fun with them, give the boggards a natural attack with their tongues akin to a whip-trip attack. Because it's a natural weapon, it shouldn't provoke attacks of opportunity.
How do you continue after a TPK?It doesn't hurt the plot of Runelords TOO much if the players know that a Runelord of Greed is in there, and in fact that can help to build anticipation.Yeah, I guess they are even more excited now. And I guess they needed to get back at me after Xanesha delivered at TPK to them last monday, and figuring this out was a small victory for them. But still...
In my case, all the characters died except one. He skipped town because he was afraid a certain Ms. X would come after him.
So the rest of the players made up a new party. Since the beginning of Hook Mountain doesn't necessarily need to have the characters familiar with the sihedron rune and all that's gone on previously, the new party can proceed just fine. But you will need to introduce a character (for me it's the runaway PC) who can fill the new characters in on the full story.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Entropi,
At some point or another, Paizo has to mention some of the central features of its product line. I can appreciate you wanting to run RotR without spoilers, but I think we've reached the point where that's like running "Against the Giants" and trying to avoid the reveal that the giants are in league with the mysterious Drow, or watching "Empire Strikes Back" without revealing that the little green nuisance is in fact Luke's next Jedi master, or who his dad is.
The simplest solution might be to ask your players to stop visiting the Paizo site until the adventure is complete.
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Creative Director
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Damn it Paizo! You did it again!
The blog from october 5. I almost had my group convinced that Karzoug wasn't the main badguy after all, and then you go and spoil it! Again!
After a certain amount of time passes... we start to get less and less worried about "Spoilers," actually. And in the case of Runelords, the AP as written doesn't collapse if the PCs know they're up against the Runelord of Greed... in fact, a lot of our posters prefer this since the first two APs we did DID keep the nature of the villain a secret till quite late in the campaign... and I agree that this is not the best way to build a campaign. Keeping the PCs TOO in the dark about a campaign's storyline is greedy on the GMs part and starves the PCs for information.
Anyway... sorry about the spoiler, but if it's really that huge of a concern for you... you might just want to ask your players to not read the blog. Not a great solution, I think... a better solution might be to ask your players to be more mature about separating player knowledge from character knowledge.
Actually, given the lack of screen time for this villain, a spoiler might be a good thing.
After a certain amount of time passes... we start to get less and less worried about "Spoilers," actually. And in the case of Runelords, the AP as written doesn't collapse if the PCs know they're up against the Runelord of Greed... in fact, a lot of our posters prefer this since the first two APs we did DID keep the nature of the villain a secret till quite late in the campaign... and I agree that this is not the best way to build a campaign. Keeping the PCs TOO in the dark about a campaign's storyline is greedy on the GMs part and starves the PCs for information.
This is so true! :)
This proved to be a "lifesaver" for me, as the party's sorceress made a beeline to him when they finished the Catacombs of Wraith.
So, I was able to give them information on Alaznist (incliding identifying her statue), Bakrakhan, the war with Shalast, Karazoug, the other Runelords in general, the other domains in general, the basics of Sin Magic, and she learned the Thassilonian langauge from him.
While I was afraid that I "spilled" to much so early in the campaign, it seems to have actually helped, giving the players more context for what they are encountering. It also gave me a backstop (her relationship with Quink) when they missed a vital clue. ;D
In my own ROTR Campaign, I started a yahoo group for the players, where we post pictures and maps and weekly game recaps and they can post character backgrounds and town rosters etc.
In the pictures section, I posted the pic of Kerzoug with the title: The Last Runelord.
That should be enough to whet their appetite.
I think that sort of spoiler is a good thing. It's not like they're going to be wandering around Sandpoint and bump into Kerzoug while he's out buying Onions for his Varisian Stew and recognise him.
"Hey, that's the Runelord! Get him!"
So, I like to give them previews (and make them guess a little).